Published: 3rd April 2018
Publisher: Quercus
Illustrator: Quinton Winter
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Junior Non-Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
Prince charming, dragon slayer, mischievous prankster… More often than not, these are the role-models boys encounter in the books they read at home and at school. As a boy, there is an assumption that you will conform to a stereotypical idea of masculinity. But what if you’re the introvert kind? What if you prefer to pick up a book rather than a sword? What if you want to cry when you’re feeling sad or angry? What if you like the idea of wearing a dress?
An extraordinary compilation of 100 stories of famous and not-so-famous men from the past to the present day, every single one of them a rule-breaker and innovator in his own way, and all going on to achieve amazing things. Entries include Frank Ocean, Salvador Dalí, Rimbaud, Beethoven, Barack Obama, Stormzy, Ai Weiwei and Jesse Owens – different sorts of heroes from all walks of life and from all over the world.
This is not connected to Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, which is misleading given the cover, format, title, and style. But Brooks has nevertheless made a great book about boys who dared to be different. Alongside Winter’s illustrations the lives of boys and men from around the world and through time are celebrated.
I was surprised by some of the men who were included in this. But I guess the point of it was to tell boys that there is more than one way to be a man, and men are made up of a variety of different types. From Galileo to Louis Armstrong, John Green and Jorge Munoz, Brooks tells the story of men who did it their way and changed the world for the better.
I wasn’t as inspired by it as I was Rebel Girls, fully aware that my own gender is going to inspire me more than another one. But I was still proud of these men, and I was intrigued by their stories that I had not known or knew little about. There were a lot more men I knew, because they’re men, so we know their stories. But their one page bios also provided a few new details about their lives, outside their famous discoveries or achievements. There are also a lot of unsung heroes which is why this book is so wonderful, it shows the men who are out there changing the world and doing things their own way, no matter what people expect of them or tell them they can’t do.
As Brooks writes, “it takes a true hero to go against the grain, to show kindness where others won’t, and to stand up for what’s right when others can’t.”
You can purchase Stories for Boys via the following
QBD | Amazon Aust | Amazon
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