Boys Books

In her debut novel, M.P. Barker pulls together a page-turning plot that will thrill all ages while also bringing to life 1830s rural Massachusetts. As you bite your nails over what will happen to our heroes, Ethan and Daniel, you milk the cows with them, work alongside them in the kitchen garden, eat dinner with them in the Lyman parlor, and walk the pasture with them with their beloved horse, Ivy. The best part of A Difficult Boy is that you get the experience of a great story and the experience of what life was like for early Americans, which is the icing on the currant cake.

Ethan's family is in trouble. His father, a smalltime farmer in rural New England in the 1830s, owes money to Mr. Lyman, a wealthy storekeeper and landowner. To help pay off the debts and save the family's property, Ethan, who is only 9, is forced to work for Mr. Lyman as an indentured servant, in an arrangement that is only a few steps away from slavery.

Ethan is paired with Daniel, an orphaned Irish teenager who is also indentured to Mr. Lyman. Daniel has grown hard and sullen after years of being subjected to Mr. Lyman's bigotry and beatings, and at first the two boys have an uneasy relationship. But it isn't long before Ethan also feels the sting of Mr. Lyman's hand, and he and Daniel form a friendship forged by shared hardship and their love of a spirited horse.

In its second half, the book begins to take on the trappings of a detective story. The Lyman household has many secrets, and Ethan begins to suspect that his own family's desperate financial situation is not of their own making. As the plot thickens, the pace quickens, and "A Difficult Boy" builds toward a climax that is filled with revelations and suspense.

Through the judicious use of historical details, the author, M.P. Barker, creates a bracing sense of immediacy. Even the milking of an irritable cow becomes an occasion for tension and danger. Scenes of Ethan and Daniel riding bareback on Ivy, their master's horse, through an open field and later racing a scruffy peddler have a lyricism that will lift readers' hearts. "A Difficult Boy" is a deeply satisfying novel that both entertains and enlightens.

What a pleasure to read this book on so many levels. Not only is the story compelling, but the historical background material is totally accurate. I felt like I was right there!!!!
The author's eye for detail is exquisite. .....lovely to read.
I was caught up in the story from the first page. The characters are all realistic and seem to mirror 19th century customs and culture.
The story about prejudice and how it is overcome when you get to really know someone is fabulous, but does not hit you over the head with it.
It's a great way to show people that underneath it all we are all alike.
Loved, loved it and I can't wait for her next book.

MP Barker's A DIFFICULT BOY grabbed me from the beginning. Her main characters, Ethan and Daniel, are engaging, well-rounded and likable boys. I adored the horse element of the novel and would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read.

Although I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, I absolutely could not put this book down.

A Difficult Boy is the story of an indentured servant, Ethan, who gradually makes friends with another servant named Daniel. Everyone calls Daniel a difficult boy because he appears unfriendly and unkind. However, Ethan unravels the source of this unfriendliness: both boys are severely beaten by the man who owns the land that they work. Daniel is also beaten worse than Ethan, because he is an immigrant from Ireland and the owner of the land, Mr. Lyman, does not like him for this reason. Driven together through this, Ethan and Daniel forge a strong friendship that brings them together so that they can escape the beatings and that life.

A Difficult Boy is a worthwhile historical fiction that is both well written and interesting.

Growing up in Brooklyn certainly has it's own cachet, but I, a female, growing up in Massachusetts at the same time as E B, found so much that was familiar. The book is a wonderful treatise on growing up anywhere, but E B and his friends are so special that I didn't want to finish reading it. It was a splendid "read".

The book really took me back I grew up in East Flatbush in Bklyn in the 50's. It was a little before my time but I did remember alot of the places he talked about. I recommend this book to anyone it is fast reading,enjoyable and you just feel like your part of EB's many friends. I just emaied a few of my old friends an am passing the book on to one of them and telling the rest to go out an get a copy you won't be sorry. I wish there were more books like this out there I tell my children all the time about how great it was to grow up the 50's.

Gave a great deal of insight into the development of friendships and lifetime committments. "Bobby saves Jerry" and they remain friends for a lifetime. Just beautiful---Would love to see a sequel to this book. Interested in knowing the stories of the characters as they matured, including their successes, joys, heartaches and disappointments.

EB exceeded all of my expectations, and I am a very discriminating reader. It's a charming memoir of a very special time, and of a group of kids that everyone can see a part of themselves in. The backdrop of Flatbush, Brooklyn of the 40s and 50s adds a wonderful, nostalgic touch. How great to read something touching and good in today's times of turmoil and questionable ethics. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

I grew up in a small town, but I married a boy from Brooklyn who went to St. Vincent Ferrer. For 40+ years I have heard the stories of that life and those times, and it was a thrill to have it all documented is such a charming and factual manner. Bert Kemp put on paper what my husband has told me through the years.

I really loved this book!! I could barely put it down. It had a great moral: everyone has something special. Anyone I've talked to that's read it has loved it.

My 3rd grade son has never liked to read until he discovered the Captain Underpants series. When a friend (also a reading specialist) told me "The Adventures of Ordinary Boy" is a book that her son hid under the sheets with a flashlight to read after lights out, I ordered one. It is the first chapter book my son picks up to read voluntarily. I am thrilled that he is learning that reading can be fun.

My 11-year-old read this book over a weekend. He raved about it. Yes - I said my 11-year-old SON raved about a book. It isn't easy to find books boys will like these days, especially after they've finished all their Harry Potters. I'll be getting #2 Ordinary Boy asap.

I stood in line for a free autographed copy of this book at the annual Book Expo last year so that I'd have something to bring home to my kids. I will gladly pay full retail for the chance to read the second installment. My 5-year old son and 7-year old daughter both loved it as a read-aloud bedtime story. The humor was delightfully age appropriate for all three of us (and I'm 50). The pictures captured just the right blend of superhero and silliness. We all tried to solve the mystery along with Ordinary Boy and his friends. It was great fun.
A year later, my daughter says she re-reads this book whenever she runs out of library books, and wants to know when the next book is coming out. Though the second book is probably at the library by now, I'm going to order one from Amazon so she can re-read it while waiting for the third volume. I hope they keep them coming!

Great book. The characters are very creative. There are pictures of the charaters too.

The storyline is about trading cards. My 10yr old son can totally relate and couldn't put the book down. Not only did he read, he understood the excitement of finding "THE" card everyone in the book was looking for.

Just a note, I could not find this book in any bookstore in my area, which really surprised me because it's a great read and it's hard to find such great & interesting stories for boys. So Kudo's to Amazon.

I first saw this book and thought, okay, well, it's about some little Canadian hockey players in the eighties, that's weird. But having never played hockey nor lived in Canada or the eighties, I thought, well, I'll give it a try. And I loved it. Stephen Galloway's first novel is a remarkable story of two boys growing up together with a common love. The characters were wonderfully quirky. I've read this book about 3 or 4 times and I cry every time. It would make a beautiful movie as well.

Finnie Walsh. A book not only fun, but informative as well. This book, written by Steven Galloway is an awesome, book. Unlike the usual canadian books, it just great... If you like Hockey you'll love this book. If you don't like hockey you'll love this book. The book has relationships, between family, friends, and beaus. A wonderful, outstanding read.

Finnie Walsh in my opinion was an eye opening experience it is by far the best book I have ever read and everything about it made me feel more interested. There is not a single bad thing I could say about it! The characters alone made the book, how you understood how they felt at diferent times, how they were perfectly described! This book made me laugh, cry and made me feel emotions that have never occured before in my mind! I couldn't put it down and I will continue to read it over and over again because everytime I am sure that I will recieve more and more happiness sadness and information from the text! I am getting it for everyone for Christmas and I hope that everyone will enjoy this story as much as I did!

I picked up this book mainly because of my job working with high school teachers and students and ended up reading parts of it out loud to my own kids during a car trip. My 12 year old son was hooked, he read the book, then I finished it. It was amazing to have that 'secret book conversation' with my son. I/we both loved the book.

Are you looking for a spanky good read? Look no further than this sly little Canadian book about a couple of kids living in the middle of the province of British Columbia who play hockey. This book is a swift, delicious thing that has a devilish way of not letting you free of it. You'll want to read it until you arrive at the last page--it is, in the classical sense of the hyphenated word, a "page-turner". I loved it. It was touching, heartfelt, and uncommon. A novel with an elegant plot, developed synchronously with its characters' motivations. Galloway is a secret talent ready to explode on the scene.

A family in a Korean village in the 19th century try to keep a tradition of being firekeepers. A firekeeper is a man who climbs a mountain every night and lights a bonfire to assure the royal palace that invaders are not near. If the fire is not lit, soldiers are sent to defend the sea shore. Korea had a history of invasion, especially by Japan and felt it needed to keep a guard on the sea. The first firekeeper would keep an eye on the sea by day and light a fire by night. Then another villager on another mountain would light a fire by succession until the fires could be seen by a guard at the palace. This was done more than a 100 years in Korea. In this story a young boy helps his father with his job after a crisis and carries on the family's tradition.

Perhaps for centuries, the royal court of Korea kept infomred of invading forces and problems in it eight provinces through a series of bonfires lit from one hilltop to the next. In this story, a young boy and his father live in a seacoast village on the first line of defense for the bonfires. Each night, the boy's father lights a bonfire which is seen by hilltop after hilltop all the way back to the king. But when he in injured, his son must light the fire. But would it not be better to not light it, so that some excitement and soldiers will come to the village? Or does reponsibility win out?

I don't know why I feel this way, but you'd think there would be a lot of Newbery winning children's authors who'd switch their focus from time to time to picture books. And yet, this is not the case. In fact, it's rather rare for someone of Lunda Sue Park's stature to go about writing for children younger than her usual fare. It's almost as if she's slumming. But Park (who won the Newbery for "A Single Shard") has discovered what most winners fail to realize. That a picture book can be every bit as morally complex and intricate as a 230-some page novel. All it takes is excellent writing and an illustrator who knows their stuff. Which makes, "The Firekeeper's Son" a perfect example of a picture book that does everything right and ends up wowing the reader with its intensity.

Sang-hee lives in a small, unassuming, and peaceful village in Korea. One day, his father informs him that their little space is infinitely important (a fact that Sang-hee has a bit of difficulty believing). But his father is absolutely correct. Located beside the sea and just next to the first of a row of mountains, it understood that in the event of a seaward attack by Korea's enemies, this village is the first line of defense. That is why, every night, Sang-hee's father climbs the nearby mountain and lights a fire that can be seen for miles. Then, someone on the next mountain will see that fire and light their own. This continues all the way to the king's palace where, if the king sees the last mountain lit, he'll know that all is well. Of course, if the fire is not lit, the king would immediately send his soldiers out to battle with the enemy. Now this system has gone on for generations, but Sang-hee is not content. He would love to see the king's glorious soldiers more than anything else in the world. Then, one night, his father hurts his ankle while climbing up the mountain. Sang-hee is given the task of lighting the fire himself, but as he nears the pile of dried twigs he thinks about how much he'd like to see a soldier up close. And the hot coals are slowly burning out...

The book weighs an individual's personal wants and fantasies against the greater good of the whole, and does so beautifully. You completely understand Sang-hee's dilemma. On the one hand, there's the fact that not lighting the fire would be a callous lie. On the other hand, "Maybe there is a soldier who would be glad for a chance to visit the sea". Park's story is based on factual information, as she mentions in her Author's Note. However, the system by which bonfires informed the king of potential attacks was, in real life, far more complex than the one featured here. As Park herself mentions, "additional fires could be lit to convey further information, so the court would know not only which province was facing danger but things like the size of the enemy forces and how well armed they were!". She provides additional resources for further reading.

It was a real stroke of luck that Park was paired with illustrator Julie Downing too. Downing plays with lush watercolors and pastels that perfectly convey not only the cool blue nights Sang-hee must run through, but also the glow of the slowly dying coals and eventual hot orange flames. If you look on the cover of the book, you can see dream soldiers fighting in the fire and the bright orange flickers reflected in the black of Sang-hee's eyes. Downing's images are the perfect compliment to Park's deeply rich story.

As historical fiction picture books go, this one has to be one of the most beautiful on record. If you'd like a picture book that lures those sometimes hard to interest boy readers, but is just as doggone interesting to the girls of the world, this book's a safe bet. It's beautiful to look at and remarkably complex to contemplate. Art in the purest sense.

Linda Sue Park's The Firekeeper's Son is a picture book that tells of life in a Korean village several hundred years ago. At that time fires were lit as signals that all was well. It is an exciting story the pits a young boys dreams for excitement against his duty and responsibility. Julie Downing's illustrations showing traditional Korean village life really bring the past alive.

Set in Korea, some time in the nineteenth century, a young boy discovers the great responsibility of lighting the bonfires. When Sang Hee and his mother see that his father has not yet lit the bonfire, and see that there is no enemy coming from the sea, the boy takes up a responsibility that has been in the family for generations. He follows the path up the mountain to find his father injured and unable to climb the mountain. His internal conflict is against the temptation of satisfying his curiosity of soldiers versus responsibility. Good judgment outweighs his selfishness and the bonfire is lit. The systematic communication sends the message to the palace that the kingdom is peaceful. Park is an accomplished writer. The narrative is moving and interesting. The radiant colors of Julie Downing are well crafted.

This was a Christmas gift for a stepgrandson. I was not as impressed with it as I was Dangerous Book For Boys. My stepgrandson seemed pleased with the title when he opened it.

I purchased this book for my 9 year old son, who is a reluctant reader. He is now asking me if he can go to his room and read. I am only slightly scared of the ideas the book is putting into his head, but he's got a huge smile on his face, and wants to read, so what more can the parent of a pre-teen boy ask for?!?!

My son doesn't stay focused on reading for long periods. He likes this one very much. It can be enjoyed in short readings and in any order you choose. If you remember Boy Scout Manuals and how much fun they made learning, buy this for your son, he'll like it.

I gave this to my son for his 12th birthday and he loves it. He read it in a matter of days but I still see him re-reading it all the time. I think even a child who dislikes reading would enjoy this very much.

My nearly 10-yr-old son begged me to buy this book for him, and he has been transfixed ever since it arrived! He brings it in the car with him to read! He is in the advanced reading section in school, but I think this book would appeal to a wide age range. I wish I'd thought to keep it to give him during our summer vacation, but the way it's going, he'll be completely through it by then! And to parents -- the content isn't really "bad" -- it's just the right kind of intriguing to keep a young boy's attention -- i.e., breaking codes, spy secrets, obscure trivia, etc.

This book is exactly what I was looking for-- a workout routine designed for young athletes. I had always been involved in weight training, but routines adults used would not work for me, even if I modified them. This book was perfect in that it gave a workout that hit power and endurance. If you want a routine that will work and hit all necessary points, this is your book.

P.S. If they had a four and a half star rating, I would have chosen that because more attention could have been paid to nutrition.

Here's the deal: you can let life be something that happens to you, or you can take control of your own destiny, starting with your head and moving onto your body. Nobody has a better plan for that than Jake Steinfeld. The guy is a phenomenon, and in this book, you learn that he started out as a pudgy guy who had trouble speaking and had the self-confidence of a beaten puppy. I've got 3 sons who think Jake is tops -- not just because he's a monster physically, but because he's created a great life for himself and his family, pretty much from scratch. It all started for him as a teenager, and this book is more than his life story: it's a step-by-step way of thinking about what you want, and then methodically making it happen. It's got great ways to make muscles and gain the flexibility to use them, but it's a whole lot more. And it's a book that's clearly written from Jake's heart, and in his own unique style - straight to the point, as clear as can be, and often funny as all get out. My kids love this book, and you will too! A book that proves that now's the time to "Get Strong".

Last week I saw Jake at Barnes and Noble. He was standing in front of a crowd talking about this book. I wasn�t very interested, him and I have nothing in common. I like hanging with my friends and playing with my Play Station II, he talks about exercise � something I definitely didn�t care about. I could hear him in the next aisle, and the more I heard, the more I listened. This time he was talking about something I could relate to, being a fat kid, not being popular, being invisible. I slowly started to walk over. He was talking about Get Strong. Finally it clicked. My brother has been an athlete all his life � the exact opposite of me. I always wondered why he got the good grades, the girls and had tons of friends. Jake said that all guys needed was a little physical fitness to get confident. I thought about it all the way home and asked my mom to get the book. I expected my brother to give me a hard time about it, but he thought it was cool. I have read the whole book twice and have begun exercising. My brother is a terrific coach and my family is really proud of me. I�ve only had the book a little over a week and it has changed my life. For one thing, I didn�t know that I was so strong. I plan on following this program until I am where I want to be � and Ashley Martin starts to notice me. I will keep you posted.

This book is great. I read it and I did all of the extersizes in it. The book is wonderful. Its the only book that I read that looked back into it (only for the extersizes inside it). I would recoment it to every teen.

This is the best book about fitness for teenage boys out on the market. I have experienced great results through it. It is an excellent book for building physically and mentally fit bodies. I recommend it to anyone who would like to take full advantage of life.

A teacher gave me this book in November 1978. The message from her reads: "For excellent work in first grade. Sincerely, Mrs R. Menache, First Grade Teacher".

My edition might be really old, considering it came from the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club, edited by Harper & Row and that the cover is green and not white.

I loved the book back then. Now, my 3-year-old daughter does, too.

My 4 year old loves every book but my 2 1/2 year old is very hard to please. Both of them love "Giant John". It's been a month now and my kids still ask for "Giant John" every night. How could a mom not love a book when she hears happy chants of "Giant John, Giant John!" at storytime.

This was my favorite childhood book. Mom says that at age 3 I could recite it from memory as she turned the pages. I'm hoping to find a great copy to pass on to neices and nephews.

Grab this book if you see it. The illustrations are whimsical and fun, and the story is a favorite for my kids, as it was for me when I was little.

...as the jungle cat in the black of night, this book slips into your very soul. The image of poor John's mother with her shoe on her plate is etched into the deepest folds of my grey matter.

That's right. Now that Jack Butler has completed his fifth novel, THE ILLUMINATION OF ELIJAH LEE ROSWELL, his great and classic Southern novel JUJITSU FOR CHRIST is going to be reprinted! I don't know if it's going to be this year or next year but it will finally be available again, as it should always have been. We'll now have two reasons to celebrate.

Well, shoot, I first read this novel 20 years ago and I fell for it as if I were a termite eaten trunk of any sort that stood in those piney woods. Finest kind, boy howdy. This novel is special, well, yes. It's special alright. But it's a whole lot more than that. This novel is not just a good read but uniquely so. So, get to it!

This little book ranks with "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "In Cold Blood" as a truly American classic.

Told through a "secret" narrator (at least secret until the final pages of the book), "Jujitsu for Christ" takes place in early 60's Mississippi during the initial struggle of black men, women and children to be free of the legacy of slavery. Although the books feature character Roger Wing is a young white man living in a primarily black neighborhood in Mississippi; the real main character of the book is not a character at all. It is the weaving of all of the characters as author Jack Butler adroitly links the attitudes, mores, people and historical time into an entertaining and yet deeply truthful book.

"Jujitsu for Christ" is a wonderful piece of literature that leaves nothing to chance and is a clear demonstration of the laws of Karma.
If you have the chance to read this book you might find that it changes, however minutely, how you think about the world.

Jack Butler, son of a preacher man, should be a national treasure. The man who brought us "Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock" and "Dreamer" first brought us this treasure of growing up in the south.

Complex race relations, uncertain zealotry, budding sexuality all mix well in this stew. Go to your local library (they probably have a copy) and give it a read. I finally found a good used copy and treasure it.

I've kept copies of this book around for years just to pass out to friends. I've even taught this book in an English class. This slim little book is laugh-out-loud funny in places, heartbreaking in others. A simple description of the plot would not do this book justice. "Jujitsu for Christ" is about race relations, martial arts, comic books, super heroes, human heroes, born-again baptists, left-out losers, and the need we all have to connect with others and be included. The language of the book is sheer Southern poetry, flowing like sweet cherry wine from one word to the next, without ever being over-wrought or artificial. Displaying his mastery of language and cadence, Butler commits to paper in two pages of rhythmic, run-on sentences the most spot-on accurate description of summer in the deep South that's ever been written and goes on to pull off an astonishing narrative "trick" halfway through the book that impacts the novel's entire point of view. This is a beautiful book worth reading again and again. That it's out of print is a sad commentary on the state of publishing in America. Find it. Read it. Treasure it.

I read Karoo Boy with an eye for selecting a novel about other cultures for high school students to read. I devoured the book in one day and was completely swept up in the colorful, descriptive writing and word choices. Now, not being South African myself, I found that I was perplaexed by the meaning of many of the words/phrases, but I was usually able to asertain the meaning from the context of the paragraphs. And I enjoyed rolling the unfamiliar words around on my tongue and guessing at their meaning.

Unfortunately, because I love this book and think many students would feel the same, I don't think I will recommend that this book be placed on the list of "recommended books" for the assignment because of the sexual situations/comments. But I will recommend this book to students who are looking for a good coming-of-age novel, in the same vein of The Catcher in the Rye or The Perks of Being a Wallflower, that aren't using it for a required assignment.

This book has been my favorite summer read and I bet that you will think it is uniquely good, too.

Once you start reading, you cannot put this book down. This book is truly a way for people to visit Africa spiritually and experience another culture. Blacklaws' rich and detailed imagery takes readers on a journey of their own; this is probably why Chris Martin the singer of Coldplay said the book was so colourful. To truly enjoy the adventure u must read it with an open mind.

the african setting is poignant, evocative, romantic -- but the author's vocabulary and use of language raises this book to high levels of literary enjoyment...sort of like dylan thomas in its lyricism and poetic achievements...

This beautifully-written book is full of rich characters and convincing settings, but what makes this book special is the story. The protagonist of this coming-of-age tale (set in the South Africa of 1976) must wrestle with deep and painful problems under adverse circumstances. The ending is a stunner. I reread it within weeks of first reading it. Best book I've read in a long time.

"My mother's cry is a sky full of gaping-beaked seagulls." On the Cape in South Africa in 1976, Dee's twin brother is killed in an accident, struck in the head by a ball while playing cricket; the twin loses the other half of himself, his anchor. His mother can't forgive her husband, who threw the ball, determined to make him suffer for the tragedy. The small family unravels after Marsden's death, the parents drifting away from each other in their grief. In Cape Town, "an un-African Africa, death catches the unsuspecting off guard, dealing the cruelest blow." Dee soon realizes that every time his father looks at him, he sees the boy he killed, a constant reminder of his identical twin.

When Dee's mother leaves the Cape for the more rural Klipdrop, south of the Free Orange State border, the white boy finds himself in unfamiliar territory, a Karoo boy. The Freedom Movement has already begun and is growing in momentum, crowds chanting, the authorities responding with violence, bulldozing the Crossroads shanty town. Apartheid has not yet been defeated. Curious about the township, the black shanty town not far removed from the white enclave, the bright-haired Dee wishes to make friends with the Xhosa boys. Dee's new friend, Marika, defies her father to visit the township with the boy. This precipitates a series of unfortunate events, all of which could have been avoided had the adolescents realized the inherent danger they brought along on their excursion.

Caught between his affection for an old garage man, a black appropriately named Moses, and his friendship with Marika, a white girl his age, Dee's wants are few, mainly to live without conflict in his new environment. Moses is a precious commodity, his willingness to make friends with the white boy putting him in constant danger of reprisal, while Marika is careless, impulsive. But Dee hasn't reckoned with the harsh lessons of apartheid. His young world already broken apart by the loss of his twin, Dee's coming-of-age is painful, a rude awakening for a boy of generous heart in an uneasy land. The author sensitively handles his protagonist, exposing the boy's vulnerabilities as he is transplanted from the relative security of Cape Town to the chaos of his new home, where a carefully constructed world is transformed almost overnight and a fourteen-year old boy passes the boundaries from child to man. Luan Gaines /2005.