Skater Boy
Anthony Nerada
ISBN: 9781641295345
Published: February 2024
Pricing
Hardcover $18.99
eBook $10.99
Description
In this YA contemporary debut about pop punk, romance, and destroying the labels that confine you, a queer teen risks everything to write his own story.
Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, seventeen-year-old Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—probably because of his unchecked anger problem, rowdy friends...
In this YA contemporary debut about pop punk, romance, and destroying the labels that confine you, a queer teen risks everything to write his own story.
Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, seventeen-year-old Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—probably because of his unchecked anger problem, rowdy friends, and a recurring tendency to ditch his homework to fill his camera roll with random photos. So when his mom drags him to a winter production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn’t interested at all . . . until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself.
Wes knows he shouldn’t like Tristan; after all, he’s a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can’t seem to get Tristan out of his head.
Driven by a new sense of purpose, Wes enters a photography contest at school, determined to better himself before the end of the school year. When a falling out with his friends becomes inevitable, Wes realizes he has to take a stand—in more ways than one—and learn that being himself means meeting somewhere in the middle of who he is and who he wants to be.
Can Wes trade his skateboard in for textbooks, ditch his friends for the photography kids he once scorned, and blow up the bad-boy reputation he never wanted in the first place?
Perfect for fans of Sonora Reyes and Adib Khorram.
Media
“I have a soft spot for angry gays, and Skater Boy delivers one of YA’s all-time angriest! Wes is perfectly imperfect: defensive, emotional, and no, he does not have college figured out yet, thank you. Anthony Nerada is a fresh new voice adding to the much-needed growing wave of ill-behaved queer protagonists. I love love LOVED this one!”
—Adam Sass, award-winning author of The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers and Your Lonely Nights Are Over
“He was a punk (with a secret soft center). Skater Boy is a perceptive, vividly emotional, complicated love story, told with candor and compassion. Can I make it any more obvious that you should drop everything and read it?”
–Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
“A poignant unraveling of the binds spun by toxic masculinity. Skater Boy kept me rooting for the disaster boy to find his way.”
—Xiran Jay Zhao, #1 New York Times bestselling Author of Iron Widow
“A picture-perfect coming-of-age novel that will skate away with your heart.”
—Eric Geron, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Tale of Two Princes
“Skater Boy drew me in from the very first page and was absolutely unputdownable! Not only does Nerada turn stereotypes on their head in his brilliantly nuanced debut, but he does it while writing something universally relatable and utterly charming. Wes Mackenzie puts the oo in swoony!”
—Lynn Painter, New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies
“Nerada offers a nuanced and realistic glimpse into the pressure and the chaos and the growing pains of being a teenager, and what can happen when you open up and share your full, true self. A brilliant debut.”
—Rachael Lippincott, New York Times bestselling author of She Gets the Girl
“Skater Boy is the beautifully written, poignant story of Wes, an angry, lonely boy struggling to find his place in the world. Anthony Nerada deftly handles Wes’s character arc as he learns to love himself. An impressive debut.”
—Liz Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of The Agathas, The Night in Question and The Lucky Ones
“In his witty and vulnerable debut, Nerada reminds us that labels are pointless, love is for everyone and that it is a truth universally known that everybody LOVES a 'bad boy' with a skateboard and a heart of gold. Honest, authentic and charming, Skater Boy skillfully highlights that queer kids can't be put into a box! A voice to watch!”
—Amber McBride, National Book Award finalist and author of Me (Moth)
“Wes Mackenzie is one of the most authentic and refreshingly angry main characters I’ve read in a long time, and I ate up every word of his journey. Skater Boy is spectacularly queer and witty, and I have no doubt Anthony Nerada's debut will become a beloved addition to bookshelves everywhere.”