Handbook for Boys - A Novel, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

In the groundbreaking tradition of his award-winning Monster and Bad Boy: A Memoir, Walter Dean Myers fashions a highly readable, powerful novel about the rules for success for young men, especially those navigating coming of age while Black.

Jimmy and Kevin could use a guide to life. When each of the boys gets in the kind of trouble that almost lands them in juvenile detention, their neighbor Duke steps in and offers them jobs in his Harlem barbershop.

The regulars at the barbershop seriously get on Jimmy’s nerves. Duke, Cap, and Mister M all seem determined to give the two boys a hard time. Still, it seems like everyone who walks through the door and sits in Duke’s chair has a story and a philosophy—whether they know it or not—and Jimmy is listening.

It drives Jimmy nuts when the adults in his life assume he doesn’t know anything—and he’s got a lot of anger to go around. But it might turn out that listening to the conversations in Duke’s shop could be the education on living that Jimmy needs. 

In his introduction to Handbook for Boys, Walter Dean Myers wrote: "I know as a troubled teenager I would have loved to have a neighborhood barbershop to sit in and a group of worldly and knowledgeable men to counsel me. Thinking about this was my motivation in writing this book, hoping it will be, in the least, a jumping-off point for many interesting conversations about success."

In a world of hard knocks and easy mistakes, can the wisdom of a neighborhood barbershop change a young man’s future?

• Mentorship for Young Men: Duke, Cap, and Mister M aren’t just barbershop regulars; they’re a council of elders offering tough love and hard-won wisdom about what it takes to succeed.
• Making Good Choices: With juvenile detention one mistake away, Jimmy has to navigate peer pressure, anger, and the lure of the streets by listening to the only men who tell him the unfiltered truth.
• Realistic Urban Fiction: Set in a vibrant Harlem neighborhood, this story tackles the real-world challenges and triumphs facing Black teens with authenticity and heart.
• A Story of Found Family: More than just a job, the barbershop becomes an unlikely sanctuary where two boys on the edge find guidance, community, and a place to belong.