'Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different' by Ben Brooks with illustrations by Quinton Winter is a book of short biographies of men who changed the world with alternate methods to violence.

There are 77 one page biographies in this book. There are feminists, pacifists, men who were gay or otherwise oppressed and men who changed the world in other non-violent ways. The names featured include Alan Turing, Bill Gates, and Tank Man, among many others.

Each biography includes a great full color illustration (my favorite is the one for Frederick Douglass). The title including the word 'Stories' might be a tad misleading since this is all non-fiction, but the stories are compelling and interesting, for the most part.

Did I enjoy the stories in this book? Yes, I did. My main issue with this book is that it features people that are well known to me. It lacks that person or those people that you have never heard about, which is what makes similar books about females interesting: the author finds people that have been lost in history and brings them back to life briefly.

A fantastic book full of male role models. In a world where the focus seems to be on uplifting female heroines a book of heroes is a great thing too.

I feel the need to start by saying I find the title of this book, and others like it quite challenging. In the current climate of saying that any person of any gender can be who or what they want to be, we have a book that is marketed solely at male readers. (I realise that there are others marketed to a female audience already but why not have a book with mixture). Having said that however:

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories about key men and boys who have in big and small ways changed the world.

Each story is accompanied by a recognisable, colourful picture of the person depicted and is told in a way that explains the reasons for the person's actions to a young reader.
With a combination of famous characters such as Van Gogh and Barack Obama and lesser known Sergei Polunin and Ric O'Barry a wide range of lifestyles and projects are portrayed.

Aside from the title, I really cannot fault this book. It is easy to read and presents a good introduction to so many figures from history.

I received an eARC of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this wonderful book!

When I first noticed this, it reminded me of "Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls" which I own but haven't read yet.

This book is filled with the extraordinary tales and lives of men/boys throughout history. Some who have even been forgotten by time. Some I knew about and others I had the pleasure of learning about, I now know the names and stories of some truly remarkable people.

I cannot rate this below 5 stars, it was an absolutely amazing reading experience, filled with people from all different cultural backgrounds and walks of life, while also being packed with diversity (LGBT+, Feminism, disabilities, rights movements etc).

A book for everyone, not just boys, but everyone out there! A very inspiring book, also, the illustrations were incredible.

There were some incredible passages I could quote, but the one that really stuck out to me was: "We cannot teach people anything, we can only help them discover it within themselves." - Galileo Galilei.

It's important to give kids good role models. In recent years we've seen collections for girls about strong women. It's nice to give boys a collection of men who value women, who are true to themselves, who use their strength to work for the greater good rather than treating it as an end to itself. These are brief overviews, used to inspire interest rather than truly inform.

I love the idea of this book, but it wasn't executed as well as I hoped. There is potential, but for me it fell flat.

Such a nice book with a great mixture of historical pictures and recent personalities!
I also loved the mix of different personalities in this book, i think there is basically everything represented in this book from self starters to company workers... from astronauts to scientists.
The only thing for me personally was that the pictures where not my favourites. I wish it would have been done a bit more beautiful and less... well i guess it was funny comedic pictures? But that clearly is a personal preference and i am sure that there are quiet a few children out there that will love the way this book is done up!

I plan to market this book in my library as an excellent companion to Good Night Storie for Rebel Girls, but about boys and men who made a difference in the world using traits outside of traditional gender roles. This is an excellent read if you're looking to present a way to be a "man" that bucks toxic masculinity.

There were a few inclusions that felt a bit off to me, but other than that it's an excellent read.

It was enjoyable, and I did like reading about all those people, but I had kind of expected more of it. I thought it would be actual stories instead of biographies. Also, the formatting was a bit odd, with part of someone else's story suddenly being at the end of the previous person. I guess that was a mistake in the file, but still kind of distracting - having to scroll forward to the next person's story and back to read the rest.

Confused and frustrated. Did anyone edit this edition? The stories somehow got mashed together in no apparent rhyme or reason. Lots of inspirational pieces that span several centuries, genres and endeavors. Artwork was okay but sometimes appears before story started on another page and even in the middle of the previous story. You are reading about Louis Armstrong and discover Bill Gates mid life story. No cohesion or direction just bad editing. The stories were inspiring and could have had a great impact on children and young adults but due to hard to follow passages the continuity was lost. Maybe the next print will offer corrections and apologies. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to give my review of this book. One star for possibilities.

A great book for boys! It teaches them to be brave and take their own path! Inspiring! I highly recommend this book. It is awesome!

This is a truly wonderful book with engaging illustrations. The author presents brief biographies of men who have done just about anything that you can imagine. From Confucious to Louis Braille, from Daniel Anthony (father of Susan B) to David Attenborough, from Patch Adams to Galileo and more, the list of boys who became men that followed their dreams goes on and on. There are men you have already heard of and men that you will be so pleased to meet. This is genuinely a book that tells young boys that they can do anything they set their minds and hearts to. While this book is written for boys, I believe that girls and adults of all persuasions will relish this testimony to what the human spirit can achieve. Thanks for this book NetGalley. It is sooo good.

Whilst there’s still a part of me that questions whether this book needed to exist, it is certainly true that the demand is there. And it’s definitely nice to see society celebrating guys who aren’t mega rich or famous or sporty for a change.

Interesting collection of short bios of men and boys who succeeded in different ways. Some bios will be more interesting than others to different readers.

I think that the book has a very good concept. It is a book that I enjoyed and is full with the stories of famous and not so famous boys who dared to be different and make something that had an impact on them and on others. It teaches what masculinity means and that you do not have to follow the stereotypes to be a man. On the other hand, I didn't find some of the stories to be inspiring but I thought that the boys on them got a little luckier than others.
The illustrations that accompany the stories are beautiful and they match the stories perfectly.

Thanks NetGalley for the free ebook!

This was such a wonderful book. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Ben Brooks got inspired by Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women to write this version about boys and men. I'm really glad this book tells the stories of 100 wonderful men that did amazing things without the need of violence, "manning up" or supressing feelings like boys are taught to do stereotypically. I think it teaches a very good lesson about what masculinity means, and that you can be an equally valid young man even if you choose not to follow the stereotypes. I've discovered men that I haven't heard of before who achieved incredible things and deserve more attention for their actions than, for example, famous athletes or artists that are looked up to for being good at kicking a ball or playing an instrument even if they are bad people who did horrible things.

Being Argentine, I'm proud that Lionel Messi was included here, because I think he's a good man that fought for his dream in spite of all the obstacles in the way, and I do believe he is an example for young boys, unlike Maradona, who may have also been a very good football player 40 years ago, but he is known to be a drug addict, a sexist, wife-beater pig who should not be looked up to. I would have been very mad if he was included in this collection of stories.

Even if this is a kind of "plagiarism" to the Rebel Girls books, I appreciate the concept was used for good to depict positive male roles in this collection and I encourage every adult to read this to young boys and teach them how to become fine men while avoiding toxic masculinity.

I love the books idea, childen can be inspired to be themselves and persue their purpose in life. However I don’t understand what boys can learn from someone who became transgender because he could not accept himself the way he was, or an actor that got lucky in playing a big role. Boys need to lern to grow were they are planted and give their very best. Some people from this book did not dare to be different they just had a chance that others did not have, they literally did nothing for it.
I don’t think today’s boys and tomorrows men need an impolse to be this kind of different ( to pursue any crazy idea that comes to you). I think they need to see people that that impacted the world and that did something for other, even if it was the smallest gesture. This is the kind of different boys have to dare to be.
Running after “the first man” title takes you nowhere. Helping others, that is a true heroes job.
Boys that dare to help others, that would have been an inspiring title for todays generations!

This book can be used in many ways at class, children can learn from good and bad. They can analise each character and see which way they want go in life.

I would give
5/5 stars for the books idea
3/5 stars for its role models
2/5 stars for its title
5/5 stars for illustration and presentation

Thanks to Perseus Books / Running Press for the ARC!

Some might think of this book as the male version of "Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls", even though they aren't associated at all.

One of the differences I noticed between them is that in this case the names aren't presented in alphabetical order. For some reason, this bothered me a bit. I don't know if children care about that, but I do. I didn't know what to expect next.

I really enjoyed reading it, because I believe it's always a good idea to bring good examples for children. I also like the fact that we have examples that kids may not know, and also some that they know really well (like the boy who played Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe). The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and will definitely get their attention.

Great read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

My 9 year old son was glued to this book tonight. We read it together and it was well written for his level of reading and very informative. It covered a wide range of historical figures and his hero, Messi, made it a perfect read for him. Perfect for boys to encourage their reading and to gain knowledge and little snippets of info!