"Boys Will Be Human" by Justin Baldoni is a thought-provoking book that offers valuable insights into masculinity, self-esteem, and consent. This book has the potential to be a transformative resource for teachers and school staff, providing them with the tools to recalibrate how we teach boys. By incorporating the themes and lessons from this book into educational settings, we can create a more inclusive and compassionate environment for boys to grow and thrive.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperCollins for the ARC.

After lovvving Man Enough, I immediately went and requested Boys Will Be Human, knowing I’d absolutely need this book for my family. My boys are 9 and 5, and while this book is geared for boys 11+, I loved learning more concepts and language I can start using now before I have my oldest listen to this book when it’s more age appropriate. I am totally using this french fry analogy to describe consent - it was so good! I just loved this book. It’s everything I want my sons to hear and know. The whole time I was listening to this, I was also just thinking about how valuable this could be for single mothers, too, who may not have a solid male role model to connect with on some of these topics.

Anyway,
If you have literally any men in your life —> read Man Enough.
If you have sons or nephews or students in your life —> read Man Enough and Boys Will Be Human.

I am not the target audience for this book. However, as a mom of a boy and a teacher of many boys I wanted to read it before recommending my students take a look at it. Unfortunately I found it to be very boring and I don't see my students having the attention span for this book. I think there were a lot of great insights and gems inside the book. The prompts were great and I could see myself using those with students but some of the stories just dragged on. I often hook kids in with graphic novels and I could totally see them loving a graphic novel adaptation of this book. Or a possible workbook/journal type book where they read shorter stories and have space to reflect on the journal prompts. As any sort of independent reading I don't know if this would hold their attention.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Childrens for allowing me to read an advanced copy of the book!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great guide for anyone looking to become a better person but is geared for younger audiences.

I would love to live in a world of these boys and men. A beautiful and relatable echo of Justin's first book Man Enough, with helpful tips and tricks that young boys can process and use in their own lives. As a teacher, I thought it helped me to understand my middle school boys as they try to compete with the intense messaging of our society while beginning to lose touch with their inner voices. I hope to create this world in all the ways that I can so we can all be free from the current toxic messaging of masculinity that is helping no one. Thank you, Justin! If you're interested in more, I also follow the Man Enough Podcast and could not recommend it enough!

As a single mom of a young boy I was interested in this book to see if it would have anything I could use in talking with him about the obstacles he will face as he gets older. As a school psychologist I was interested in this book to see if there was anything that could be applied to my work with adolescent boys. The great news is that I found that there indeed was. With the way many parent groups are today it probably wouldn't be possible to get this into middle and high school libraries, but I would definitely talk to parents about checking it out and having their child read it. I thought the author did a great job of also bringing attention to the double standard we place on boys in society and how sometimes unfair expectations are placed on them. I think having this book written by a man from his own past experiences and perspectives rather than from someone with a PhD makes it much more accessible for young readers. The gut check prompts are a great way to have readers reflect back on what they have read and apply those lessons to their lives.

Written in a conversational tone, this book addresses a number of topics like body image, cultural expectations, sex, consent, and love. I think this will be a fantastic tool for addressing toxic masculinity. Per the publisher, it is for boys ages 11 and up, and acknowledges that some kids might not be ready for some of the topics (and that's okay!) at both the start of the book, and the beginning of the sex chapter.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

I hope that every pre-teen and teenage boy on the planet reads this book. We could get rid of toxic masculinity in the next 50 years if that happened. Justin is a wonderful role model for being a man who doesn’t claim to have all the answers on manhood—but he is seeking to do it better and help young men find their path to this too. I am sharing this book with my 17-year-old son. Highly recommended!

A wonderful guide for boys that will help stomp down the idea of toxic masculinity. This book will teach boys that they can be who they truly are or who they want to be and shouldn't feel any shame against it. I thoroughly enjoyed the "best friend pep talk" feel of the narrative. Boys will be able to relate to this and feel better about themselves. Well done!

In Boys Will Be Human: A Get Real Gut Check to Becoming the Strongest, Kindest, Bravest Person You Can Be By: Justin Baldoni we have developmental bibliotherapy at its finest.

Justin’s book is part memoir, part psycho-education, and most importantly a real talk guide on how to protect your personhood and keep your heart as a developing boy in today’s society. Justin discusses friendships, toxic masculinity, mental health, emotional and physical well-being, education, creativity, generational trauma, puberty, relationships, and sex among so many other crucial themes.

The book is written in a style similar to a conversation with a friend and there are pauses throughout to encourage the reader to reflect, process, and read at the necessary pace.

The gut checks incorporated in the text of the book include prompts to get the reader thinking and reflecting on their own values and experiences. As someone who uses bibliotherapy I enjoy that the book breaks concepts like male privilege, consent, and racism down. Justin deconstructs false beliefs boys internalize due to societal conditioning while replacing those harmful narratives with truer ones- for example, “In boys- coolness is associated with confidence but the problem is most people struggle with confidence.” He then provides concrete examples from everyday life that kids can relate to in order to drive these important points home.

One of the four goals of bibliotherapy in practice is to improve the clients capacity to respond by enriching internal images and helping feelings about these images to surface. This book is a helpful tool where developing boys, middle grade readers in particular, will find honest guidance and information about their developing minds, identities, and bodies.