Uses for Boys

Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own--until she discovers that she can make boys her family. From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high--the other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna's new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can't know.

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose--and something to offer. Real, shocking, uplifting, and stunningly lyrical, Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt is a story of breaking down and growing up.

Author: Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 01/15/2013
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.21h x 5.56w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9781250007117
Award: Literary Award - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 11/15/2012 pg. 45
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2012
Publishers Weekly 12/03/2012 pg. 79
Voice of Youth Advocates 04/01/2013 - Recommended - Better Than Most
School Library Journal 12/01/2013 pg. 135

About the Author

As a teenager, ERICA LORRAINE SCHEIDT studied writing at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and later received an MA in creative writing from University of California, Davis. Now a teaching artist and longtime volunteer at 826 Valencia, Erica works with teen writers in the San Francisco Bay Area. She's a 2012 Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts and is currently at work on a second novel for young adults.

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