The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens - Hardcover

Saval, Malina

3.28

65 ratings by Goodreads

9780465002542: The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465002544 ISBN 13: 9780465002542

Publisher: Basic Books, 2009

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Teenage boys have come a long way since the staid 1980s when they were all lumped into the Breakfast Club categories of Brains, Druggies, and Jocks. Crisscrossing the country—meeting with boys from different cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds—journalist Malina Saval introduces readers to the next generation of male teens by creating new archetypes and redrawing the ever-expanding social map. The Secret Lives of Boys offers an uncensored look into boyhood that reveals the spine-tingling confessions, heartrending sadness and isolation, unbridled optimism, and seemingly boundless resilience of male teens today. Saval asks the pertinent questions: Who are these boys? What do they think of themselves? A compelling and candid look at male adolescence in the twenty-first century, The Secret Lives of Boys uncovers what our young people want you to know.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Malina Saval's writing has appeared in Glamour, the Jerusalem Post, the Los Angeles Times, Heeb, Variety, Forward, RES, Moment, Unleashed, and LA Weekly, where The Secret Lives of Boys appeared first as a cover story. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

www.malinasaval.com

From School Library Journal:

Saval notes that the conventional wisdom about American boys is, to put it mildly, that they are in trouble: emotionally, academically, spiritually, and socially. She notes William S. Pollack's Real Boys (Random, 2000) and Daniel J. Kindlon and Michael Thompson's Raising Cain (Ballantine, 1999) as examples of how the media sees boys in the U.S. On the other hand, she cites Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia (Putnam, 1994) and Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes (Crown, 2002) as being more balanced views of adolescent girls. For her own book, she sought to find out if teen boys really were seriously at risk, and to offer, if possible, a more nuanced portrayal of young males. On both counts, she has succeeded. Through in-depth interviews and research, she portrays the lives of 10 young males. She asked each one to name his chapter, and the titles range from "The Mini-Adult" to "The Troublemaker," from "The Sheltered One" to "The Gay, Vegan, Hearing-Impaired Republican." As comprehensive as she tries to be, she is also clear-eyed and acknowledges that "Ultimately, this book can only be one version of the truth about boys today in America." Still, it is a fascinating take on the subject, written in a clear and lively style with a useful index and interesting endnotes that can lead to further exploration.—Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT END

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.