SubscribeI work in a bookstore. I have lost track of how many times someone, usually a harried looking mom, dashes up to me and begs me to find her a book that her teenage son will actually read.
It’s usually a son between the ages of 14 and 16. I guess by the time the son is 17, either he has managed to find his own way in the wonderful world of reading, or, if not, then the mom has finally given up on trying to show him where the path starts.
If the son is still in Junior High School, or not quite there yet, (so, between the ages of 10 and 13), there are tons of books to choose from right in the “Kids” section. The moms can find it. Often it’s books they remember reading when they were around that age. The boys are still at an age where it might be interesting to them to check out what Mom suggests, and also at an age when reading, while no longer considered to be “cool”, might not yet make them a target for ridicule if they are caught doing it in public.
Things change once your teen hits High School. He’s no longer a boy, he’s not yet a man, he’s a “guy”. He’s more resistant to reading anything at all, especially if Mom is the one suggesting it. Mom doesn’t usually know much about the books in this new “Teen” or “Young Adult” section of the bookstore, and her guy will not read the books that are allocated to the “Kids” section.
Usually, Mom is not quite ready to have her teen randomly reading things from the regular Fiction section at this point. To add to these difficulties, the guy usually is not a big reader. It’s not his favorite activity, or even in his top ten favorite things to do.
It’s not easy to find stuff that “guys” will read. So, the next few Bookwyrm U.S. entries are going to be dedicated to “Books for Guys”. It doesn’t mean that I think the following books will only be enjoyed by male teenagers. I like the books I’m about to recommend, and I am neither male nor teenage. What I mean is that here are a few books where the main character is a guy, who is telling his story in a way that other guys will get.
So, here we go with Part One of “Books for Guys”.
Holes by Louis Sachar
Stanley is on a bus, on his way to camp. It’s not the kind of camp where you go swimming, make crafts, and sing around campfires. It’s the kind of camp that might be referred to as “work release” or “community service”. At this camp, you dig holes. You do this every day, and it is the only activity you do.
Stanley isn’t actually a juvenile delinquent. He is a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a family curse of bad luck. Things are not looking good for Stanley.
This book is much more than just another tale of “poor me”, or an After School Special story of “what happens when you make bad choices”. There is a mystery going on. What exactly is it they are digging for? What does the Warden hope to find? Little clues are given along the way.
In addition to this, there are little short pieces about some of Stanley’s ancestors. They seem a bit out of place, like a commercial breaking up a televised movie, at first. But, by the middle of the book, all the separate pieces start to come together. The book is way more uplifting and positive than I ever thought a book about a kid sentenced to digging holes in the hot desert sun would ever be.
One good thing: There is a movie made about this book, so, guys who don’t usually like to read might decide to read this book if they liked the movie.
One not so good thing: I found this book in the Kids section of the bookstore, not the Teen or Young Adult section. Might make a guy hesitant to carry this book around with him as he finishes reading it.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Reuven is a mostly typical teen, growing up in Brooklyn, right around the time W.W.II is getting going. He listens to the radio, and plays baseball. What isn’t so typical about Reuven is that his mom is dead, (he is being raised by his father, with the help of a maid), and he wants to become a rabbi when he grows up. Reuven goes to a school where the entire student population is made up of Orthodox Jews, just like Reuven and his father.
Down the street lives Danny, who is the same age as Reuven, and also Jewish. The have never met, because Danny and his family are Hasidic Jews, and the two groups do not mix. Danny’s father is the rabbi leader of the Hasidic Jews in the neighborhood, and Danny is expected to take his father’s place someday. That is simply the way things are to be. No one even considers that Danny might want a different life than is expected of him.
One day, Danny and Reuven are on opposing teams in what turns out to be a passionately violent baseball game. Reuven ends up in the hospital, after being injured by Danny. These two boys seem destined to hate each other, but, oddly enough, become friends. After a while, they are each other’s best friend. It is a struggle to stay that way though, because they come from two very different worlds. How long can they really hang out with each other before it becomes a big problem for the rest of the neighborhood?
If that’s not enough going on, there’s also the war, which unfolds in pieces. All the characters are affected in profound and devastating ways. It takes something that is usually presented in school as a list of boring facts about events that happened way before you were born and makes it interesting, terrifying, a story, instead just something you took notes on in History Class one day. I don’t usually like reading about wars, but found this fascinating.
There is also quite a bit about Jewish history woven into the main story line. I am not Jewish, and knew absolutely nothing about any of this before reading this book. Most of it was an interesting story all by itself.
The main reason I selected this book as part of the “Books for Guys” is that my brother liked it when he was in High School. He’s not Jewish, isn’t at all interested in history, and doesn’t particularly care for baseball. Most of the books he enjoyed at the time were either written by J.R.R. Tolkien, or Douglas Adams. Those two writers are very different from Potok. Still, my brother was the one who recommended I read this book in the first place. He liked it that much. I’m still not entirely certain what it was specifically about this book he dug. If I had to guess, I think what he really liked was the complexity. It’s a deep book.
One Good Thing: Guys who like history, especially W.W.II will enjoy this book. And, oddly enough, so will guys who like baseball. There’s a ton of description of baseball games in this book!
One Not So Good Thing: The complexities of this book may intimidate guys who aren’t looking for something deep to dive into. Also, this book may be hard to connect with for some guys, because it does not take place in “today”.
All right, that wraps it up for “Books for Guys, Part One”. Stay tuned for Part Two!
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