Walter Dean Myers was born in West Virginia in 1937. After his mother, Mary Green, died when he was two years old, his father, George Myers, struggled to care for his kids. Myers was taken in by foster parents, Florence and Herbert Dean. Florence was the first wife of his biological father, and Herbert was her new husband. They raised Myers in Harlem, New York, and he later adopted their last name as his middle name to honor them.

Though Myers grew up in the 1950s and ’60s—more than 20 years earlier than his protagonist in Scorpions—his childhood has many similarities to that of Jamal. Like Jamal’s Mama, the Deans provided Myers with a loving and devoutly religious home. Even so, Myers had a tough and lonely childhood. He had a speech impediment and “often found [himself] leading with [his] fists when teased” (“About Walter Dean Myers.” Walter Dean Myers website. 2023). He got in fights and was a disruptive student who struggled academically. Jamal, similarly, is most often aggressively defensive when confronted. Even though Jamal is smart and enthusiastic about some subjects, he struggles in school because the system is not designed to support or engage him.