Your Fifteen Minutes

In the fast-paced image-based world of high school, having a smash hit video on YouTube can be the best thing that ever happened to you... or the worst.

Fifteen-year-old Simon Land has a good thing going. He's finally shed his vegan Oompa Loompa image. With the help of a thrift store full of cheap Abercrombie and Polo, now he's in the running for Best Dressed Prep. Even better, he's caught the eye of serious hottie, Lindsay Booker, and he's just about to take a major step up the high school social ladder. But Simon has a secret. He has an alter-ego, uberlonelyguy16, an emo air guitar fanatic who dreams of Internet fame. Not that it's likely, since his YouTube channel doesn't have any followers. Until one day, when he gets one fan, then another... then another. Now Simon is going to have to choose which is more important to him? Joining the ranks of high school royalty...? Or grabbing hold of his fleeting fifteen minutes of Internet celebrity.

A hilarious romp through the land of internet memes, high school dress codes, and depressed former Numa Numa guys, Your Fifteen Minutes takes on the many varieties of high school celebrity in the era of Rebecca Black.

And a blurb:

"YOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES is a hilarious blend of teenage angst and Internet celebrity that tackles labels and tears them to pieces. The razor sharp wit had me laughing out loud, and begging for just one more page. Uberlonelyguy16 rocks!" -Heather Brewer, New York Times bestselling author of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod

It is a funny, appropriate book with a male protagonist that will appeal to boys from middle school to high school age.

To learn more, click here.

The Schoolboy

It has been said that the game of golf reveals a person's true character. The game also teaches life lessons that cannot be learned in a classroom. This is especially true for junior golfers. The Schoolboy is a day in the life of a reluctant junior golfer who is forced to play in the local junior golf tournament. Tony Rosa captures the angst and insecurities of the protagonist, "Sam, the main character, is in the middle of his first day of being kicked out of the nest himself. His mother has done her work and it is up to him to see if he can fly."

Golf is the least of Sam's problems. His father died and he is feeling his way through his teens as the man of the house. He has a little brother in the tournament, too. Sam's grouping for the tournament is a slice of life from both sides of the tracks. His partners include a country club kid, a cheater, and a hustler. Sam's core values are tested from the first tee until play is stopped.

Set in the 1980s, Sam's world of golf does not include Tiger Woods, PS3, or junior golf programs. He learned the game from his grandfather. His golf resume consists of hitting balls in the park with friends. He is alone, yet he is brave. The Schoolboy was inspired from Rosa's own experiences as a teen, "I asked myself: What was the first time you ever felt like you were on your own? I immediately thought about my mother dropping me off at the municipal golf course to play in a junior golf tournament." He adds, "I signed up on my own and played with a group of strangers and could remember how alone, yet, how different things were going to be for me after I had proved I could do something on my own."

The saga that develops in The Schoolboy is a wonderful paradigm for young readers. Sam is tempted. Sam learns that guilt is a powerful emotion. Readers learn that if you are excluded based on your character and principles, then you have learned that bravery is not immediately rewarded. GOLFChicago highly recommends The Schoolboy for our junior golfers.

To learn more about Tony's book, click here.

Young Rupert, with a unquenchable thirst for knowledge and experience, has been raised in complete isolation from the world by his enigmatic grandparents. His life takes an extraordinary turn when a violent storm uncovers a long-concealed treasure. In the tempest’s aftermath, his grandparents vanish. Completely alone, the bewildered boy seizes the opportunity to leave his forest home at last.

Out in the wider world, Rupert encounters new friends, and learns that the kingdom’s beloved royal family had been slain by brutal usurpers, who now ruled with cunning and cruelty. But astonishing revelations convince Rupert that he has a pivotal role to play in restoring justice to the land.

As Rupert and his comrades face imprisonment, bloody skirmishes, desperate conditions, and alluring yet sinister encounters, their darkest moments may reveal thrilling wonders. Unfolding events take on a deeper meaning as Rupert’s mysterious gifts guide him towards the shattering truth about his identity and his destiny.

Marjorie Young is the author of this unique book. The Boy with Golden Eyes was written as a gift for her nephew, Sammy. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington with her two cats. This is her first novel. To learn more about Marjorie's very cool book, click here.

J-Boys

While their parents can't stop talking about how hard Japan had it during the war, all nine-year-old Kazuo Nakamoto and his friends want is to be Olympic runners, drink real rather than powdered milk, and eat hamburgers like Wimpy in Popeye. Set in working-class Tokyo in 1965, the fifteen interlocking stories in J-Boys illuminate daily life in the period of rapid postwar economic growth, including a widespread fascination with Western culture and the economic and psychological repercussions of World War II on the next generation. Young readers will be fascinated by the intertwining lives of third-grader Kazuo, younger brother Yasuo, and classmates Nobuo, Minoru, and Nishino. In moving and lyrical prose, J-Boys also broaches important social issues like prejudice against ethnic Koreans and the struggles of rural farmers.

This authentic book is by Shogo Oketani. Mr. Oketani was born in 1958 and raised in Tokyo. Following studies in the humanities at Keio University, he became an active writer and translator. He will be touring the U.S. in August.

Below is some great Rave for J-Boys:

“J-Boys gives readers a chance to time travel . . . Rich with details of day-to-day life in 1960s Japan, and enhanced with photographs and notes, J-Boys offers deep and lasting insights into family and school life, foods, seasonal rituals, and the all-important sense of community.”

—Holly Thompson, author of Orchards, The Wakame Gatherers, and Ash

“Boys, boyhood, innocence, and friendship in the rich landscape of Tokyo, 1965 . . . a fascinating and endearing work.”

—Graham Salisbury, author of Under the Blood-Red Sun, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

“These stories are a sushi plate of delicious morsels, consisting of all flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, and hanbaagaa. Deftly told and delicately translated, these stories capture the crazy aspirations, the naughtiness, the tenderheartedness, and the irrepressible spirit of the J-boys.”

—Margi Preus, author of Heart of a Samurai, a 2011 Newbery Honor Book

“Shogo Oketani's intimately detailed view of life, through the eyes of young Kazuo, captures the excitement of the 1960’s westernization of Japan while at the same time delivering the penetrating sorrow of an ancient culture slowly slipping away.”

—Satsuki Ina, PhD, documentarian, Children of the Camps

“Here, created with affection and skill, is the whole lost world of the present generation, that childhood the memory of which still lives within us.”

—Donald Richie, culture critic and author, The Inland Sea

To learn more about J-Boys, click here.

Rex Riders

In stores June 21, J.P. Carlson’s REX RIDERS is a new book for young adults and adults young at heart. Illustrated by Marvel and DC great Jim Calafiore, it is the first in a series of pulp adventure stories that are as big and bad as the beasts themselves. The cover features artwork from the Italian paleoartist Fabio Pastori.

When fourteen-year-old Texan Zeke Calhoun discovers a juvenile T-rex with a bridle in its mouth protecting an unconscious stranger from a vicious pack of wolves, all he can think about is riding it! What Zeke doesn’t know is that rescuing the rex and his rider would plunge him and his friend Angelina into an incredible adventure in a prehistoric world, fighting a deadly alliance that could destroy both worlds. Imagine riding a juvenile T-rex the size of a horse through a prehistoric forest; fighting off a band of axe-wielding marauders atop feathered raptors; being chased down a riverbed by a ferocious Baryonyx; charging through the middle of a thundering herd of stampeding Triceratops…

To learn more about Rex Riders, click here.

Epic Adventures

Nothing is quite so awe inspiring, or inhospitable to humans as the world's tallest mountains. Journey to the European Alps, the Himalaya, the Karakoram Range, and the polar region of North America with one of the world's great climbers and discover how mountaineers reached the top of five of the world's highest mountains for the first time. Meet the pioneers who braved incredible dangers like rock falls, crevasses, whiteouts, and avalanches to summit against all odds. Large fold-out posters and gatefolds illustrate the story of each dangerous climb, and detailed maps show how later climbers changed the routes to the summit. Throughout it all, readers will explore the fascinating question of what drives these adventurers to reach the top, no matter the cost.

Macmillan's Adventure books are great primers for boys who prefer non-fiction. Click here for the series.

Nerd Camp

Elissa Brent Weissman’s hilarious middle-grade novel, Nerd Camp, is perfect summer reading for kids ages 8-12. Gabe’s new stepbrother is impossibly cool, and Gabe, who was looking forward to attending the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment, is now worried that maybe he’s too much of nerd. With a lice epidemic, a karaoke showdown, a whiz-bang Color War, and a secret kayak trip to Dead Man's Island, Weissman turns a stressful premise into a fun romp that will leave kids laughing all the way to Labor Day.

Click here for Elissa Brent Weissman's books.