Walter Dean Myers , a beloved author of children 's books , died on Tuesday following a brief illness , according to the Children 's Book Council . He was 76 . Myers 's career spanned over 45 years , during which he wrote more than 100 books . Some of his best-known work includes `` Monster , '' a fictional 1999 account of an African-American teenager on trial for a felony murder in New York , and `` Fallen Angels , '' a 1988 novel about the Vietnam War . Myers was born in West Virginia but spent much of his teenage life in Harlem . He frequently set his fiction in there , including a picture book titled Harlem . He was also a staunch advocate for diversity in children 's literature , arguing for a wider array of representation in a March opinion piece in the New York Times . `` My favorite quote from Walter is a clarion call to embrace the power of books to inform and transform our lives -- he said , 'Once I began to read , I began to exist , '' Richard Robinson , Chairman , President and CEO , Scholastic Inc. said in a statement . `` He will be missed by us all . '' Myers published two Newbery Honor Books , three National Book Award Finalists , and six Coretta Scott King Award/Honor-winning books . In 2012 , he was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People 's Literature and served a two-year tenure in the position . Myers lived in Jersey City , New Jersey . He is survived by his wife and his two sons . Myers ' thoughts on diversity in young adult literature . People we 've lost in 2014 .
Myers was a beloved children 's book author . He is best-known for the novels `` Monster '' and `` Fallen Angels '' which were adapted into films in 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,