Handbook for Boys

April 22, 2002
Returning to the setting for his 145th Street: Short Stories, Myers (Monster) constructs a penetrating profile of a community through the brief appearances of characters who file through Duke Wilson's barbershop. The author juxtaposes a sketch of 16-year-old narrator Jimmy Lynch's home life with nuggets of wisdom delivered by the barber with wit and tact. As the novel opens, Jimmy is about to be assigned to a youth facility for six months, until Duke offers to take him into his "community mentoring program." Initially Jimmy and Kevin, another teen whom Duke mentors, call the shop the "Torture Chamber." But as Jimmy shows up to the shop day after day at 3:30 p.m. to sweep, hang old photographs on the wall and polish spitoons, his anger and resistance erode and he begins to absorb Duke's advice. Organized into chapters with titles as straightforward as "Victims" (featuring a man who is evicted and whose marriage is in trouble because he "just go from day to day to see what event stumble into," in Duke's words) and as humorous as "The Blind Monkey Strut" and "Froggy Goes A Courting," the novel introduces various customers from ex-cons to a millionaire who demonstrate specific life lessons. Jimmy's change in attitude is gradual and credible, and his tenuous friendship with Kevin takes an unexpectedly poignant turn when Kevin falls back into trouble. The author's instructional prefatory note may be offputting, but once inside the book, readers will be hooked. Ages 10-up.

Starred review from March 31, 2003
"Returning to the setting for his 145th Street: Short Stories, the author juxtaposes a sketch of the 16-year-old narrator's home life with nuggets of wisdom delivered by the neighborhood barber with wit and tact," according to PW. Ages 10-up.

August 5, 2002
James's strong portrayals of the African-American men and boys in a Harlem barbershop aren't enough to help this audiobook overcome the preachy tone of Myers's novel. Duke, owner of a barbershop on 145th Street (familiar territory in Myers's works), has dedicated his golden years to starting a community mentoring program for boys headed for trouble. As a result, 16-year-old Jimmy and 17-year-old Kevin work after school in the shop instead of being sent to juvenile detention center for infractions they have committed. While at the barbershop, they hear countless life lessons from Duke and his cronies, who use various members of the community as examples of paths not to take. James gives Duke a slow, smooth and sonorous delivery and Jimmy a believable rhythm for his contemporary vernacular. Die-hard Myers fans will probably stay with this recording, but a good number of young listeners will be turned off by its didactic nature. Simultaneous release with the Harper/ Amistad hardcover.
Ages 10-up.

May 1, 2002
Gr 8 Up-Myers prefaces his new novel with an explanation of his belief that adult mentors can help teens choose positive paths in their lives. The book begins with a judge giving 16-year-old Jimmy the option of being assigned to a juvenile facility for six months for assaulting a classmate or to a community-mentoring program. Of course, he chooses the latter and begins his relationship with Duke Wilson, the owner of a neighborhood barbershop where he will work every day after school. Duke is an older man who, with several of his cronies, tries to give Jimmy and Kevin (another troubled youth) advice about the decisions and paths they will choose as they travel through life. This is imparted by using characters who visit the shop as good or bad examples of people who think independently, who take responsibility for their actions, who are on drugs, or who believe they can solve their own problems. Although the conversations provide valuable life lessons, they come across as didactic and preachy. Much more realistic are the one-on-one scenes between Jimmy and other characters, like his mother and, particularly, his contemporaries. The teen's perspective is the vehicle that carries the story and by book's end readers know he will make it while Kevin has more to learn. Marketed as a work of fiction, the book becomes transparent; as a handbook, it could touch many lives.-Joanne K. Cecere, Monroe-Woodbury High School, Central Valley, NY

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.