YA Books For and About Boys --------------------------- compiled by Lisa Heggum (lisah@picnet.org) posted to YALSA-BK, August 2000 TEEN FICTION - YA FIC BANKS Banks, Russell - RULE OF THE BONE: a novel Chappie, a homeless kid rejected by his parents and in trouble with the police, takes refuge with a group of biker-thieves. TEEN PAPERBACKS - ROMANCE Book, Rick - NECKING WITH LOUISE 7 linked stories, set in 1965 Saskatchewan, about work, sports, making out, and breaking up. ADULT NON-FICTION (on order) Brooks, Bruce - BOYS WILL BE BOYS Brooks speaks directly to boys about parents, sports, friendships, and self-discovery. ADULT FICTION - FIC CARRO Carroll, Jim - THE BASKETBALL DIARIES An urban classic coming-of-age story about growing up with drugs and sex and about learning to survive on the streets of New York. TEEN PAPERBACKS - GENERAL Brooks, Martha - BEING WITH HENRY 17-year-old Laker Wyatt, is kicked out of his home and fate brings him together with Henry Olsen, an 83-year-old with family troubles of his own. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC CART Cart, Michael - MY FATHER'S SCAR: a novel Alternates between 18-year-old Andy Logan’s freshman year and various times during the past, describing the key events in a homosexual boy's growth to manhood and independence. TEEN PAPERBACKS - GENERAL Carter, Alden R. - BULL CATCHER Neil "Bull" Larsen is prompted to take a closer look at this life and learn some important lessons about himself when he submits his four-year baseball diary as his senior project. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC CHBOS Chbosky, Stephen - THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER This is the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. ADULT NON-FICTION - 305.235 DAL Daldry, Jeremy - THE TEENAGE GUY'S SURVIVAL GUIDE A humorous guide for boys offering advice on dating, sex, body changes, and social life. ADULT FICTION - FIC FINDL / PAPERBACKS--GENERAL Findley, Timothy - THE WARS Robert Ross, a young Canadian, enlists as an officer and is sent into the hell and terror of 1915 Ypres, unprepared for the horrors of war. ADULT NON-FICTION (on order) Foran, Charles - THE STORY OF MY LIFE (SO FAR) Told from the perspective of a boy, this book captures the childhood of Charles Foran between the years of 5 and 10. ADULT FICTION - FIC HEIGH Heighton, Steven - THE SHADOW BOXER Follows Sevigne Torrins, poet and boxer, as he moves from his childhood in Sault Ste. Marie to Egypt and Toronto and back again to the isolation of a tiny island in Lake Superior. ADULT NON-FICTION - 629.1092 HICKA Hickam, Homer H. - OCTOBER SKY: a memoir A memoir of a young boy who beat tough odds and achieved success launching rockets into outer space (adapted for film, originally published as Rocket Boys). CHILDREN'S FICTION - J FIC HOLT Holt, Kimberly Willis - WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, 13-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC HOWE Howe, Norma - THE ADVENTURES OF BLUE AVENGER On his 16th birthday, David decides to become the cartoon alter ego he invented after his father’s unexpected death, hoping to find a way to make a difference in the world. ADULT FICTION - FIC JOYCE / PAPERBACKS--GENERAL Joyce, James - A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN Joyce's semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age tale of Stephen Dedalus' journey to becoming an "independent" artist. ADULT NON-FICTION - 338.761004 KAT Katz, Jon - GEEKS: how two lost boys rode the Internet out of Idaho Describes a brave and difficult journey, as two self-described social misfits use the resources of the Internet to try to construct a new future for themselves, escape the boundaries of their dead-end lives, and find a community they can belong to. ADULT FICTION - FIC KEROU Kerouac, Jack - ON THE ROAD A Beat Generation journey with Sal Paradise as he wanders around the United States, visiting friends, getting drunk and searching for the meaning of life through sex, drugs and jazz. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC LEBER Lebert, Benjamin - CRAZY A teenager at a German boarding school learns about what friends are, what girls are, and how you find your way in a crazy world by just being your crazy self. ADULT NON-FICTION - 741.5092 MCCA McCall, Bruce - THIN ICE: coming of age in Canada One of America’s leading comic artists and writers, tells his story of adversity and transformation growing up in Southern Ontario. ADULT NON-FICTION (on order) Nikkah, John - OUR BOYS SPEAK: adolescent boys write about their inner lives A collection of essays, journal entries, stories, and poems written by young men. ADULT NON-FICTION - 305.23 Pollack, William S. - REAL BOYS: rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood Offers a compelling and comprehensive look into the reality that is today's boys' lives. ADULT NON-FICTION (on order) Pollack, William S. - REAL BOYS' VOICES Boys have their say on a wide variety of topics, including gender issues, friendship, sex, fear of violence, and relationships with their mothers and fathers. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC POWEL Powell, Randy - TRIBUTE TO ANOTHER DEAD ROCK STAR 15-year-old Grady must face his distant step-family when he returns to speak at a concert honouring his deceased rock-star mother. ADULT FICTION - FIC REIKE Reiken, Frederick - THE ODD SEA Philip chronicles how each member of his family copes with an inconceivable tragedy – the disappearance of his older brother, Ethan. TEEN FICTION - YA FIC SACHA / TEEN PAPERBACKS – GENERAL (on order) Sachar, Louis - HOLES Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. ADULT FICTION - FIC SALIN / TEEN FICTION - YA FIC SALIN Salinger, J. D. - THE CATCHER IN THE RYE This classic coming-of-age story portrays one young man's funny and poignant experiences with life, love, and sex. ADULT NON-FICTION - 819.154 SCOFI Scofield, Gregory A. - THUNDER THROUGH MY VEINS: memories of a Metis childhood Gregory Scofield reflects on his quest of self-discovery and his burning desire to belong when as a Metis of Cree, Scottish, English and French descent, he always felt displaced. TEEN PAPERBACKS - GENERAL Thomas, Rob - RATS SAW GOD To make up the credit for a failed English class, 18-year-old Steve York produces a journal revealing how he has gone from a National Merit scholar to an underachieving stoner. ADULT FICTION - FIC WHART Wharton, William - BIRDY An inventive, hypnotic novel about friendship and family, love and war, madness and beauty, and, above all, "birdness." TEEN FICTION - YA FIC WITTL Wittlinger, Ellen - HARD LOVE John Galardi, falls for Marisol, the creator of his favourite zine… who happens to be a lesbian. ADULT NON-FICTION (on order) Wolff, Tobias - THIS BOY'S LIFE: a memoir Award-winning fiction author Tobias Wolff recounts his own growing up in the 1950s.