When You’re a Boy

K-Gr 3–A trek through the great outdoors sets the stage for a meditation on healthy masculinity. A father and son set off on an excursion, wandering through vast meadows, sheltering from a storm in a quiet cave, crossing a river on a fallen tree, and scaling a high mountain. All the while, readers are treated to a series of poetic reveries on the essence of boyhood, in which force and cruelty are rejected in favor of beauty and tenderness. Nuto’s lyrical text resounds with gripping imagery (“sky-shifting thunders”) and metaphor (“the strong shield of slowly, and the sharp sword of sorry”), effectively matched by loose, energetic illustrations of the salt spray on ocean rocks and the crackling sparks of a campfire. Though the intention here is unquestionably well-meaning and forward-thinking, the premise—that boys as a group are currently held to these harsh expectations—may not be as applicable today as in generations past. Will a boy raised without such rigid gender stereotypes relate to (or even understand) a book that intones, “When you’re a boy, you are told how to be,” or will he feel suddenly burdened with ideas his family never laid on him to begin with? In his rush to subvert stereotypes, Nuto casually proclaims them as strong and widespread as ever, a simplistic approach that would have benefited from a little nuance.