What Boys Do


Book Description

“Celebrates boyhood and encourages boys to embrace all the many things that make them each unique. Readers will meet boys who love to create, explore, try new things, ask questions, share feelings, team-up with others, pursue dreams and do things they’ve never tried. The rhyming is exceptional, with each sequence ending in a question to readers. What a clever way to encourage discussion …This is definitely a read aloud.”—Children’s Books Heal “The tone and intent of this title aimed at boys may be useful in a counseling environment, with the questions stimulating discussion…”—School Library Journal What exactly do boys do? The answer is ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! From eating to dreaming, making mistakes to exploring, to hurting and loving, there is more to being a boy than meets the eye. In this fun, affirming book that holds no restraints to traditional norms about what it means to be a boy, readers will rejoice at all of the possibilities.




Grow Happy


Book Description

Kiko is a gardener. She takes care of her garden with seeds, soil, water, and sunshine. In Grow Happy, Kiko also demonstrates how she cultivates happiness, just like she does in her garden. Using positive psychology and choice theory, this book shows children that they have the tools to nurture their own happiness and live resiliently. Includes a “Note to Parents and Caregivers” with information on how our choices and paying attention to our bodies and feelings affects happiness.




Wild Things


Book Description

A practical guide to understanding the way, the mind, and the heart of a boy. A boy’s endless imagination, hunger for adventure, and passionate spirit are matched only by his deep desire to be affirmed, esteemed, and loved. Yet over the past few decades, our culture has adopted a model of parenting and educating children that doesn’t affirm, celebrate, nurture, or embrace a boy’s wildness but rather seeks to tame it. As a result, many moms and dads find themselves frustrated, confused, and wearied by their sons’ behavior. The truth is, boys don’t need to be tamed—they need to be understood, loved, challenged, and encouraged. Based on clinical research and filled with practical tips and suggestions, therapists Stephen James and David Thomas Stephen James and David Thomas give fresh insight and much-needed encouragement on the road to raising boys by talking about: Parenting the different stages in a boy’s life Healthy discipline and correction Sitting still and paying attention Hot topics like screen time and dating Wild Things helps Christian parents, teachers, mentors, and coaches understand and explore the hearts, minds, and ways of boys and the vital role parents and caregivers play on the journey to authentic manhood.




You Can Be ABCs


Book Description

Based on the empowering and beloved viral video rap by six-year-old Sam White and his dad, Bobby, as seen on The Ellen Show and more, comes a book about the many careers kids can aspire to, from A to Z! You can be an A--an architect, a B--a biochemist, a C--a computer software developer, and so much more! It's all about doing what you love and putting your heart into everything that you do. In this alphabet book of careers, the options run from A to Z! And six-year-old social media sensation Sam White and his dad, Bobby, want every kid out there to know that they can reach for the stars and make their dreams come true, whatever they want to become. Just don't be a Z--a zombie, and let the world pass you by. With dynamic and joyful art by Robert Paul Jr. accompanying Sam and Bobby's viral rap, this book will have readers celebrating the potential in everyone.




Of Course They Do!


Book Description

Using sparse text and large, bright photographs, the book debunks commonly-held gender-myths. Misconceptions are stated matter-of-factly (Boys don’t cook.), but when the page is turned, each myth is proven false with playful language (Are you sure?) and a contradictory photo (a male professional chef). This jacketless book is perfect for young readers as well as read-alouds and will generate discussions about gender-based assumptions around play and work.




Up to No Good


Book Description

Up to No Good is a collection of hysterical stories from grown men about the havoc they wreaked when they were boys. Nothing is sacred in this collection that makes Eddie Haskall look like a goody two shoes--terrified nuns, electric fences, science classes gone bad--the list goes on and on. The storytellers are purportedly "perfectly decent grown men," although judging from these tales that's hard to believe. It's impossible to flip through the pages without remembering some of your own pranks--and punishments--and cringing at the thought of the poor adults who had to grin and bear it. For all the former bad boys who've been ensconced in corner offices and carpool caravans across the country, here's a great way to jog a heretofore selective memory and recall a time when gross was good and mischief was there for the making.




The Boys' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything


Book Description

A spiffy guide to anything and everything a boy needs to know!How to do almost anything in one handy book.Found yourself in a sticky situation? Inside you'll learn how to escape quicksand (p. 40), build a raft (p.41), start a survival fire (p.99), or fly a helicopter (p. 11).Want to impress your friends? Now you can rip a phonebook in half (p. 35), hypnotize a chicken (p. 56), or read their minds (p. 73).Boring Saturday afternoon? Not anymore when you find out how to make a waterbomb (p. 79), a boomerang (p. 95), or a volcano (p. 88).And loads of other keen things you need to know how to do!




When Boys Become Boys


Book Description

When Judy Y. Chu first encountered the four-year-old boys we meet in this book, they were experiencing a social initiation into boyhood. They were initially astute in picking up on other peopleOCOs emotions, emotionally present in their relationships, and competent in their navigation of the human social world. However, the boys gradually appeared less perceptive, articulate, and responsive, and became more guarded and subdued in their relationships as they learned to prove that they are boys primarily by showing that they area not agirls.a a a Based on a two-year study of boys aged four to six, a When Boys Become Boys aoffers a new way of thinking about boysOCO development.a Chu finds that behaviors typically viewed as natural for boys reflect an adaptation to culturesathat require boys to be emotionally stoic, competitive, and aggressive if they are to be accepted as real boys.a Yet even as boys begin to reap the social benefits of aligning with norms of masculine behavior, they pay a psychological and relational price for hiding parts of their authentic selves. a a Through documenting boysOCO perceptions of the obstacles they face and the pressures they feel to conform, and showing that their compliance with norms of masculine behavior is neither automatic nor inevitable, this accessible and engaging bookaprovides insightainto ways in which adults can foster boysOCO healthy resistance andahelp them to access a broader range of options for expressing themselves."




Deep Secrets


Book Description

ÒBoys are emotionally illiterate and donÕt want intimate friendships.Ó In this empirically grounded challenge to our stereotypes about boys and men, Niobe Way reveals the intense intimacy among teenage boys especially during early and middle adolescence. Boys not only share their deepest secrets and feelings with their closest male friends, they claim that without them they would go Òwacko.Ó Yet as boys become men, they become distrustful, lose these friendships, and feel isolated and alone. Drawing from hundreds of interviews conducted throughout adolescence with black, Latino, white, and Asian American boys, Deep Secrets reveals the ways in which we have been telling ourselves a false story about boys, friendships, and human nature. BoysÕ descriptions of their male friendships sound more like Òsomething out of Love Story than Lord of the Flies.Ó Yet in late adolescence, boys feel they have to Òman upÓ by becoming stoic and independent. Vulnerable emotions and intimate friendships are for girls and gay men. ÒNo homoÓ becomes their mantra. These findings are alarming, given what we know about links between friendships and health, and even longevity. Rather than a Òboy crisis,Ó Way argues that boys are experiencing a Òcrisis of connectionÓ because they live in a culture where human needs and capacities are given a sex (female) and a sexuality (gay), and thus discouraged for those who are neither. Way argues that the solution lies with exposing the inaccuracies of our gender stereotypes and fostering these critical relationships and fundamental human skills.




The Boy Crisis


Book Description

What is the boy crisis? It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science. It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women. It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison. It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose—being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner—are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification. So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect.