In Betsy Franco's YOU HEAR ME?, teenage boys speak for themselves with a frankness that many may find hard to take. The poems, stories, and essays included in this eye-opening collection are open and honest, and take on topics the world at large would much rather ignore. Let's face it, many find it easier to gloss over the truth than to face it head on. But not these boys; they address issues like parental responsibility, insecurity, conformity, hypocrisy, and ethnicity, to name just a few, with naked, raw emotion. From anger, envy, and despair to loneliness, sadness, and tenderness, the feelings expressed run the gamut and ask the question: How does one make sense of a nonsensical world?

Shattering stereotypes, this volume provides new insight into the lives of today's teenage boys. Read it for your self, then pass it on to your teachers, your parents, your friends. YOU HEAR ME? is a must-read for everyone.

   --- Reviewed by Tammy L. Currier

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