Category: Boy Meets Book

Books from the male perspective for everyone.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Will’s older brother Shawn was shot and killed two days ago: “Blood soaking into a/T-shirt, blue jeans, and boots/looks a lot like chocolate syrup/when the glow from the streetlights hit it./But I know ain’t/nothing sweet about blood.” Reeling with anger and grief, Will attempts to follow the unspoken Rules of his neighborhood: 1) No crying. 2) No snitching. 3) Revenge. ‘They weren’t meant to be broken/They were meant for the broken/to follow.”  While his mother sleeps, Will sneaks out of his apartment with his brother’s gun, determined to hunt down the person who killed Shawn and close the circle of vigilante justice. But Will finds his mission delayed when the elevator annoyingly keeps stopping on each floor. His irritation quickly turns to confusion and fear when he realizes exactly who is getting on the elevator with him. In a kind of bizarro, Dickens Christmas Carol scenario, Will is visited floor by floor by the spirits of folks in his life who have died from gun violence–from his school yard crush to the father he never knew. Trapped in the elevator and surrounded by death, Will has to decide by the ground floor if he’s still ready to trade in his future in order to avenge his brother. This suspenseful nail-biter of  a novel is written entirely in free verse, which makes it move at the speed of lightning while also giving dreadful pause on each page. Rising YA star Jason Reynolds (who’s just been long listed for the 2017 National Book Award) has penned a provocative page turner about family, tradition and the cycle of violence that will stick in your throat and lodge in your heart for days to come. Landing in a library, bookstore or e-reader near you October 2017.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Dear Martin by Nic Stone


High school senior Justyce McAllister is feeling the heat of being an African American man in 2017. The news is full of stories of unarmed black men being shot by white cops. He’s arrested by a police officer for just walking down the street, when all he was doing was trying to keep his drunk ex-girlfriend from getting behind the wheel of her car. He gets dragged into a frustrating racial argument in his Societal Evolution class with classmates who believe in “colorblindness.” Disgruntled students at his exclusive private school suggest that the only reason Justyce got into Yale was to “fill a quota.” On top of all that, he’s also fighting a strong attraction to his debate partner Sarah Jane, who is smart, funny….and white. Life is becoming beyond complicated, so Justyce seeks out the wisdom of the one person he thinks might understand what he’s going through: Martin Luther King. In a series of poignant letters to Dr. King, Justyce tries to understand why “things aren’t as equal as folks say they are” and how he can keep moving forward when it seems like the whole system is bent on pushing him back. The writing helps, a little. But when Justyce’s world explodes at the end of a gun, his belief in MLK’s philosophy is shattered. Will he answer violence with violence or will he find the strength to rise above and be like Martin? Nic Stone’s debut novel reads like a timely fictional primer of the issues surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, galvanized by the frank and authentic dialogues that take place between Justyce, his friends and teachers like Dr. Dray, who teaches Societal Evolution. The topical, provocative discussions that take place in Dr. Dray’s class immediately took me back to the heated arguments that reverberated in Ms. Lemry’s Contemporary American Thought class in Chris Crutcher‘s YA classic Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Like Crutcher before her, Nic Stone is writing about the issues a new generation of teens care about in a raw voice that is undeniably true. You won’t be able to look away. Coming to a library, bookstore or e-reader near you October 2017.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier


Che’s sister ten-year-old Rosa isn’t like other little girls. She’s not afraid of anything, not heights or strangers or big dogs. She thinks it’s funny when someone gets hurt. She doesn’t make friends, she uses them. She wonders what it would feel like to kill something bigger than a bug. Che knows this because he is the only one Rosa confides in. Che is tired of listening to Rosa’s constant lies. He’s tired of trying to anticipate what terrible thing she might do next. But mostly he’s tired of his parents pretending nothing’s wrong. Because something is very wrong with Rosa. And now that their family has moved to New York City, Rosa has a whole new world to explore, new friends to exploit, new lies to tell. Che just wants to focus on boxing and getting a girlfriend, but he’s afraid to leave Rosa alone. Che tries again to tell his parents that Rosa isn’t right. But they just don’t want to hear anything bad about their darling, blue-eyed daughter. Now Che can only watch helplessly as Rosa’s deadly new plans unfold, and pray that she doesn’t target him next! Justine Larbalestier’s chilling modern take on The Bad Seed is utterly unputdownable. I downed this intense characterization of psychopathy in a little under 24 hours, and I have no doubt you’ll do the same when you snatch up this suspenseful tome about the terrifying toxicity of family secrets at your local library or bookstore!

Posted on by Jen Hubert

This is the Part Where You Laugh by Peter Brown Hoffmeister


Travis isn’t laughing much this summer. He lives in a trailer with his beloved grandma, who has terminal cancer. His grandpa is high all the time on his grandma’s medicinal marijuana. He searches the streets weekly for his mother, a homeless drug addict, and dreams of giving her all his saved landscaping money for a down payment on an apartment. When he’s not working, he’s performing endless basketball drills to prove to Coach that he’s not just a former juvie with an anger management problem, but a dedicated baller who deserves to be on the varsity team in the fall. Basketball and his best friend Creature are the only things that keep Travis going when everything else is falling apart. Then Travis meets Natalie. And for a moment, his life seems to be taking a turn for the better. But kids like Travis and Creature know that there’s no guarantees in a world where grandmas suffer, dads disappear, moms care more about drugs than their children, and Mr. Tyler down the street can get away with calling Creature, “a dirty coon.” But they’re going to do their best, not only to survive, but thrive. Even if that means shooting free throws eight hours a day, or pissing on Mr. Tyler’s porch when he’s not home. Because like Natalie, who ‘s fighting her own personal demons, says, “This is the part where you laugh. You just have to. When things are so shitty that there’s nothing you can do, there’s no other way to react.” It’s a pleasure to read a story about down-and-out teens that subverts stereotypes and provides an in-depth and heartbreaking look at how addiction fractures families.  While this fresh novel will probably make you cry more than laugh, its a strong testimony to the power of hope and the resilience of the human spirit.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Watched by Marina Budhos


Naeem has run out of choices. Failing out of school and picked up for shoplifting with a bag of weed in his backpack, the Muslim teen is forced to turn informant for a pair of detectives looking for terrorists nests in the vibrant, immigrant NYC borough of Queens: “I love Queens. I love its smells, its layout. Maybe because its so big and prairie flat, the wild moody sky overhead. The blocks start to spread, stretching to all these other neighborhoods–Corona, Woodside, Flushing, Bayside. On and on the borough stretches. Northern Boulevard, pas the frayed silver flags of the car dealers, the jagged skyline of Manhattan rises like some wrecked and far-off city, a jagged Kryptonite kingdom, comic-book surreal.”At first Naeem feels awkward, sure that everyone can see right through what he’s doing. But soon he is dipping in and out of internet cafes and neighborhood mosques like a pro, checking browser histories on public computers and making small talk with the imams who wonder where this new bright young volunteer suddenly came from. He discovers he has a talent for making himself seen, yet not seen: “The best thing about being a kid at the back of the room is you’re already a spy. You know how to fake it. The other guys who are…involved could never do what I can. I’ve got all the moves, the feints, the angles. I know how to rearrange my face, make it attentive…Half listen while a camera coolly spools inside my head.” He’s even making enough money from the dubious enterprise to enroll in summer school and boost GPA. But Naeem still feels guilty spying on his own community.  Even though he tries to tell himself he’s one of the good guys, it gets harder and harder, especially when the detectives ask him to focus in on an old friend. No Naeem has to decide which side he’s on and who’s using who. Because nothing about this situation is what it seems. Author Marina Budhos has penned a richly atmospheric read full of vivid neighborhood descriptions  and complicated character motivations that couldn’t be more relevant as this brutal xenophobic election season comes to a close. This nuanced depiction of surveillance and profiling is a timely must-read for anyone who’s ever felt targeted or anyone who’s ever considered themselves safe from become a target. In other words, all of us.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel


“If [my father] hadn’t belted Professor Cartland that night in the Academy of Natural Sciences, I wouldn’t have had the chance to see Rachel’s eyes up close.” The first time Samuel Bolt and Rachel Cartland meet, it’s over their fathers’ flying fists. Professors Bolt and Cartland are battling paleontologists, each determined to be the best at wresting centuries old dinosaur bones from the unforgiving rock of the American West. So when Professor Cartland challenges Professor Bolt’s latest find in front of a fascinated audience, the gloves come off and Rachel and Samuel are forced to wade in and pull their fathers apart. That’s their first memorable meeting, but it isn’t their last. Soon they are each on an expedition with their fathers that end up being only a few miles apart in the badlands of Wyoming. Against all odds, and unbeknownst to their mad dads, the two intrepid teens not only share information about their respective digs but soon fall in love. Adamant about being together, the lovers hatch a daring plan to discover and cash in on the greatest dinosaur find of all time–the Tyrannosaurus Rex–and leave their fathers behind in the desert dust. Meanwhile, their expeditions are being closely watched by a Sioux party who are none too happy about the fact that Rachel’s father desecrated one of their burial pyres. Can Rachel and Samuel find the fabled T-Rex bones before their fathers or the Sioux hunting party find them? More romance than adventure, this story moves a bit slower than some of Oppel’s other intriguing works, which range from a Frankenstein origin story to a steampunk pirate escapade. But what Oppel lacks in pacing, he more than makes up for in characterization, especially when it comes to headstrong Rachel. During a time period when women’s opinions were hardly considered, let alone valued, she is a brilliant, unrepentant scholar, determined to be acknowledged as a fossil hunter in her own right and unafraid to challenge the male authority around her (including Samuel’s) that threatens to stifle her dreams. Both she and Samuel are full of doubts and contradictions, still trying to understand who they are as individuals even as they try to define themselves as a couple separate from their greedy fathers. If you ever even just had a passing interest in fossil hunting, paleontology, American Indian culture or the Old West, you’ll fall hard for this super hip hist. fic. Coming to library, bookstore or e-reader near you October 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

It Looks Like This by Rafi Mittlefehldt


Mike is a quiet guy. Minds his own business, keeps his nose clean, doesn’t rock the boat. When his dad announces that they are moving from Wisconsin to Virginia for his job, Mike just goes with the flow. His new high school in Somerdale is fine. His friends Ronald, Jared and Terry are fine. Grace Fellowship, the church his family starts attending, is fine. His art teacher is a jerk and this one bully Victor always gives him some grief. But it’s nothing he can’t handle. And then one day Mike is assigned to work on a French project with new guy Sean. Which should also be fine. But it’s not. Instead, it’s amazing. With Sean, Mike feels like he can finally be himself. The version of himself that he has pushed down for so long he had practically forgotten it existed. But when Mike and Sean dare to be themselves for just one night, the world hits back in a big way and Mike has to decide if he wants to live a “just fine” life or a messy, real life with the all the joy and pain that comes with it. This quietly powerful book, by newcomer Rafi Mittlefehldt, moved me to tears with its’ spare, poignant prose and nuanced message of self love and acceptance. Set in a conventional suburban world that we all recognize, this compelling novel is both a love story and a brutal indictment of families and communities that still don’t affirm or recognize the individuality and strength of LGBTQ teens. Coming to a library, bookstore or e-reader near you September 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsburg


Carson already knows it’s going to be a bummer summer. His aloof therapist mom has moved them from the not so mean streets of Manhattan to the boring wilds of small town Montana, where they are tasked with taking care of Carson’s dying alcoholic dad who abandoned them years ago. Carson’s feelings about his father have been on lockdown for so long that they only way he knows how to deal is by making bad puns and staying far away from anyone or anything that might make him open up. Enter Aisha, a smart, pretty African American lesbian who’s just been tossed out of her house for being gay and is looking for a couch to surf. Aisha makes Carson feel feelings that he’d forgotten he even had, and even though she’s so not interested in being his girlfriend, she just might be his first real friend. They bond over their lack of family ties and the Porcupine of Truth, a prickly craft project that represents their shared skepticism of spirituality. Their new friendship is tested when Carson discovers a box in the basement of his dad’s house that provides clues to the roots of his dad’s alcoholism and why he hit the road so long ago. Turns out Carson’s grandfather had the same case of itchy feet and Carson is determined to find out why. Armed with his grandfather’s journal, the Porcupine of Truth and $100, Carson and Aisha set out in Aisha’s Dodge Neon on a cross country journey of personal discovery that delights, saddens and surprises them both. This sweet, funny road trip of a novel is perfect for warm weather reading. If family drama, highway hijinks and realistic relationships are your thang, than throw this lime green lovely in your beach bag.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks



Within the walls of the Nameless City, there are the conquerers and the conquered. The city is re-named each time it is taken over, but none of the names last for long, and none of the conquerers ever ask the citizens what they want. Kaidu, the bookish son of one of the current conquerers, is in training to become a warrior, which isn’t going so well. Rat, a conquered native, is a streetwise orphan who lives by her wits and is always hungry. They strike up an uneasy alliance when Kai sneaks out of his dormitory to explore the busy city on his own and soon becomes lost. Rat shows him the way home and reluctantly agrees to teach him her patented mode of getting around town quickly–by racing over rooftops–in exchange for food. It turns out that Kai is a much better runner (and friend) then he is fighter, and the two discover they have more in common than they ever would have thought. But when Rat gets wind of a plot that could help drive Kai and his kind from the Nameless City, she has to decide if her new friendship is worth more than her city’s freedom. Kai and Rat’s kinetic, shy-high exploits and hotly competitive relationship are expertly depicted by amazeballs graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks in breathless panels that ooze with color. This cross-cultural adventure (which seems to be set in or inspired by medieval China) feels contemporary and fresh, despite it’s historical-ish frame. If you dig Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints or Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, don’t hesitate to take a trip to the Nameless City (the first in a new series).

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick


Has a book ever changed your life? When her English teacher hands Nanette The Bubblegum Reaper, an out of print novel about a disillusioned teen named Wrigley who decides to “quit” society, she quickly becomes obsessed with it, underlining sentences and memorizing passages that seem to speak directly to her. Then her teacher arranges a meeting between Nanette and Nigel Booker, TBR’s reclusive author, and Nanette is hopeful that Booker will explain some of the book’s cryptic symbolism. But the old curmudgeon refuses to discuss the novel at all, and instead introduces Nanette to Alex, a teenaged poet who’s just as obsessed with TBR as she is.  Together they start breaking the rules of society that don’t make sense to them, just like Wrigley does in the book. Alex goes after middle school bullies in order to protect his young friend Oliver and Nanette, a star soccer player with college scholarship prospects, suddenly quits the team senior year. At first they are exhilarated by their own daring, but they end up paying a price for their rebellion that lands Alex in reform school and propels Nanette in a terrifying direction that she’s not sure she’s brave enough to explore. Is she strong enough to reject society’s expectations of her? Armed with her copy of TBR and a playlist of Pat Benatar music, Nanette’s about to find out. This latest offering from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook is a fresh, smart take on the tolls of teen angst and will appeal to lovers of The Catcher in the Rye, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You and The Fault in Our Stars. Or, basically anyone who loves philosophical books, or books about books, or books about being in love or books about loving yourself. Coming to a library, bookstore or e-reader near you May 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Snow Job by Charles Benoit


It’s the middle of winter in 1977 upstate New York, and seventeen year old Nick has decided he’s OVER being a burnout banger. So he ditches his pot-smoking friends, trades in his ratty concert tees for a shirt and tie and memorizes his new mantra: STAND OUT. STAND UP. STAND BY. STAND FAST. When his best friend makes a break for Florida, he makes a tentative plan to join once he has the cash. He starts logging serious hours at his crappy convince store job, but at a minimum wage of $2+ an hour, he’s hardly making any bank. Just as it looks like his beach dream may not come true, he is seduced by a Joan Jett look alike named Dawn who convinces him to dip back into the druggie world for one last big score. If Nick can pull it off, he will make enough for both he and Dawn to ride south into the sunset. Can he convince Dawn’s unstable drug lord boyfriend to trust him long enough to steal his stash AND his girl? This slow-burning thriller is full of twists and tension, with a setting that really captures the white 1970’s in rural/suburban America. I felt like I knew Nick and his crew pretty well, as they resembled the guys I stood next to at the school bus stop and watched trade cigarettes in the art and shop rooms at school. If you’re not entirely sure what I’m talking about, check out these 1970’s film gems about being a kid and teen back in the day and read SNOW JOB when it hits the library and bookstore shelves March 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

Dan vs. Nature by Don Calame


Dan’s divorced mom has never had the best taste in men, Dan’s dad included. So when she tells Dan that she has arranged a hardcore camping trip for him and her newest beau Hank so that they can “get some quality guy time in,” Dan is obviously less than thrilled. Dan is sure that Hank is going to be just “another one of Mom’s freeloading man-child boyfriends eating all our food, shedding body hair in the shower, and stealing money out of my change jar.” At least Dan is able to convince his sarcastic brainiac best friend Charlie to come along as a buffer. But Charlie has other ideas–“You need to convince Hank that he’s in way over his head with the stepdad thing. Be creative. Have fun with it.” So the boys plan a serious of disasters intended to drive Hank as far away from Dan as possible. These include, but are not limited to: an extreme B.O. situation, a puking event, and an intense case of flatulence + diarrhea + poison ivy–all while trying to survive in woods “Man vs. Wild” style. After putting himself through bodily fluid hell, Dan hopes that will be enough to make Hank head for the hills. But when the camping team is forced to scatter due to a crazed bear attack, Dan and Hank have to depend on each other to make it out of the woods alive, and Dan starts to wonder if his scorched butt campaign was really the smart way to go. This scatologically funny comedy could only have come from the hilariously warped brain of screen writer Don Calame. The last time I was so completely amused and grossed out simultaneously was when I read his equally raunchy and highly entertaining Swim the Fly trilogy (which I recommend unequivocally to anyone aged 14+) If you appreciate witty dialogue, drawn out fart jokes and quick tips about how to survive in the woods with minimal supplies (and honestly, who doesn’t?) you are going to want to catch, snare or trap Dan vs. Nature when it comes to library, bookstore or e-reader near you April 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock


Ruth would do anything to get out of Gran’s “old person smelling” house, but the results are disastrous when cute Ray Stevens offers a sleepover with benefits. Dora wishes she had a place she could call home because no matter how kind Dumping’s parents are, she can never forget that she is a guest in their house due to her father’s inability to stay away from the bottle. Dumpling always wears a red ribbon on the end of her braid for luck, but it doesn’t save her from what fate has in store. Alyce is torn between the two worlds of professional ballet and commercial fishing, and making a choice means disappointing one of her divorced parents. Hank is forced to take his two younger brothers on the run in order to find out where he truly belongs. This group of disenfranchised Alaskan teens living on the edges of their white, Athabaskan and Inupiat communities in the 1970’s end up coming together in complicated and unexpected ways that will delight and surprise readers. Based on the debut author’s own experiences growing up in Alaska, this character-rich, poetically-written, all-ages read will be available at a library, bookstore or e-reader near you February 2016.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely


Rashad is African American, an aspiring artist, the son of a police officer and a member of the ROTC. Quinn is white, a loving big brother, the son of a soldier who died in Afghanistan, and a member of a winning basketball team. Both boys find their understanding of the world challenged when Rashad is brutally beaten by a cop for a crime he didn’t commit outside a neighborhood store, and Quinn witnesses it from the sidewalk. Quinn is shocked and devastated to realize that the cop who beat Rashad is actually the older brother of his best friend.  Rashad is shocked and devastated to realize that the beating has brought up a painful incident in his father’s past that paints him in a new and disappointing light. In the week following the incident, Rashad and Quinn begin questioning the safety and fairness of the society they thought they knew.

Rashad: “I wasn’t sure what to do about any of it, or if I even wanted anyone else to do anything on my behalf. The looks on my friends’ and family’s faces–it hurt me to see them that way. Especially knowing that it hurt them to see me this way. I didn’t deserve this. None of us did. None of us.”

Quinn: “I wasn’t going to stand there and and pretend I knew what life was like for Rashad. There was no way. We lived in the same goddamn city, went to the same goddamn school, and our lives were so very goddamn different…Nobody wants to think he’s being a racist, but maybe it was a bigger problem, like everyone was just ignoring it, like it was invisible.”

With quiet lyricism and unexpected poetry, co-authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely help readers make sense of “the problem we all live with” with empathy and a serious appreciation for just how deep our biases run and how much we are trying–as a community, as a people, as a nation–to overcome them. This wise, timely book is thought-provoking, philosophical, and a call to action that anyone who reads it will have a hard time ignoring.

Posted on by Jen Hubert

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle



Almost seventeen-year-old-wanna-be-screenwriter Quinn Roberts has become very anti-social–“..which is what happens when your big sister gets killed in a car wreck, right outside the school on the day before Christmas break.” So, yeah. Now it’s summer, and things have just gotten worse. Quinn and his mom are subsisting on a steady diet of sorrow and Healthy Choice frozen dinners. Finally driven out of his house by a broken air conditioner and his concerned friend Geoff, Quinn shrugs off his grief long enough to take a shower and attend a college party where he meets a sexy older college guy named Amir who makes his heart go pitter pat. Did I mention Quinn is gay? He is, even though “I’m still not out. It just seems like a hassle to come out. I want to just be out.” Amir is a great distraction to what’s really going on with Quinn, which is a) once again, his sister and best friend Annabeth died b) the last text he sent to Annabeth was something he wishes he never had to think about again c) he is terrified to complete his application to a prestigious film program without her sarcastic but loving support. Without Annabeth’s direction, will the screenplay of Quinn’s life just die in development? This raucous dark comedy is full of author Tim Federle‘s trademark witticisms–I couldn’t stop chuckling and underlining such gems as these while I read:

“I became enamored of the idea of having my own little pool. I was going to make it in the shape of a Q, and the slash at the bottom of the Q was going to be the hot tub.”

“If you don’t know what hangover feels like, congrats. You’re smarter than I am. It’s like a sledgehammer eloped with a swing set and they honeymooned in your head.”

Sometimes Quinn’s voice is a little too frenetic as the wisecracks just keep coming hard and fast page after page with no rest in between. But what the reader quickly realizes is that Quinn has to keep quipping in order to maintain his sanity. Because once he really looks at what has happened to family and asks himself some hard questions about his part in it, there’s no going back. And there’s nothing really funny about that. While you sadly have to wait until March 2016 to experience the witty stylings of Federle’s YA debut, there’s no time like the present to check out his equally diverting Better Nate Than Ever books!