“Over the course of the past decade, boys have been reduced to an anxiety-inducing headline,” writes
journalist Saval. In these profiles of 10 teens, she attempts to dispel the stereotypes and statistics that have
fueled recent media hype about a generation of young, emotionally crippled men. Each chapter includes
commentary from psychologists and other experts, but it’s the boys’ raw, honest views on family, school,
love, mental health, and the future that make this title so noteworthy. Saval’s efforts to preserve her young
subjects’ voices extend to the chapter titles, which are self-descriptions chosen by each boy. Included
among the teens are “The Teenage Dad,” devoted to his young family; “The Rich Kid,” whose wealth has
not spared him from enormous suffering; the young, Muslim “Average American”; and “The Indie Fuck,”
who flunks geometry even as he skips school to read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and work on his
own novel. Taken together, Saval’s well-edited portraits reflect real-life’s nuances and messy
contradictions and offer a refreshing, often-optimistic sense of male teens’ strength and resilience.
— Gillian Engberg,
Booklist
