Boying Up: How to Be Brave, Bold and Brilliant

by Mayim Bialik

Overview

Mayim Bialik, star of The Big Bang Theory and author of the #1 bestseller Girling Up, puts her Ph.D. to work to talk to teen boys about the science and pressures of growing up male in today's world. A must-have book for all teenage boys!

Why does my voice crack like that? What should I eat to build muscle? How do I talk to someone I have a crush on? What do I do if someone calls me names or bullies me?

Growing from a boy to a man is no easy task. Bodies are changing, social circles are evolving, hair is appearing in places it never was before — and on top of it all, there's the ever-present pressure to conform to the typical idea of what it means to be "manly" and masculine. But it's easier to do if you're armed with facts.

Using personal anecdotes as an overly observant mother of two boys and plenty of scientific information from her life as a neuroscientist, Mayim Bialik, PhD, star of The Big Bang Theory, talks directly to teen boys about what it means to grow from a boy to a man biologically, psychologically, and sociologically. Using the same cool, fun, and friendly tone that she took in Girling Up, Mayim takes boys—and their parents!—through the challenges and triumphs of Boying Up today.

In six sections (How Boys Bodies Work; How Boys Grow; How Boys Learn; How Boys Cope; How Boys Love; and How Boys Make a Difference), she takes a look at what it means for boys to come of age in today's world, how can they take control of their paths, and what can they do to help shape the types of futures they want for themselves.

Praise for Boying Up:

"A matter-of-fact mirror that reflects reality and respect, not bewildered embarrassment." —Kirkus Reviews

"Boying Up hits all the hot spots and should be included in tween and teen library collections." —VOYA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525515999
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/14/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	396,592
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Mayim Bialik is best known as Amy Farrah Fowler on America's #1 comedy, The Big Bang Theory, a role for which she has received four Emmy nominations and a Critics' Choice Award. She also starred in the early-1990s sitcom Blossom. Mayim earned a BS from UCLA in Neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish studies, and went on to earn a Ph.D. from UCLA in Neuroscience. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Girling Up, as well as Beyond the Sling, and Mayim's Vegan Table.

Mayim founded GrokNation.com in 2015 as a platform for sharing her writing on everything from religious observance and modesty to women's issues to parenting to politics. She seeks to present herself as a normal, imperfect mom trying to make everything run smoothly in a world that often feels out of her control. Mayim lives in Los Angeles with her brave, bold and brilliant sons.

You can visit Mayim Bialik at groknation.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MissMayim, and watch her videos at youtube.com/mayimbialik.

Read an Excerpt

When I was given the green light to write Boying Up, I was thrilled and excited—for a few seconds. Then I completely panicked. How would I write this book!? While I am trained as a neuroscientist and spent 12 years of my life in school to get my degrees, my knowledge of the brain, nervous system and endocrine system seemed suddenly insufficient when I thought about the real-life nuts-and-bolts process by which boys become men.

As the mother of two sons—one of whom is entering the tween phase—I was reminded again and again as I wrote this book that, despite my degrees, helping my boys navigate this journey isn’t an easy task. Our culture’s expectations of what that journey should look like has long been insufficient to encompass all of the kinds of journeys boys will go on as they Boy Up. Especially now, when our society is recognizing the power inherent in being a boy and urging boys to use that power for good—to speak out for what’s right and help to empower girls and young women—things can feel even more complicated. This Boying Up stuff is hard!

Boying Up is a journey I can only observe from where I stand: as a scientist, as a mom and as a part of a culture that often gives conflicting directions about how to Boy Up. The challenges are myriad, and I don’t have all of the answers. What I hope you hav eseen in these pages is the kind of analysis I have chosen to participate in so that I can best support my boys as they enter manhood—and best support you, too, so that you grow into smart, thoughtful, bold, brave and brilliant men. I hope this book is a conversation starter for anyone who is a boy, was a boy or is helping love a boy into manhood.

Thank you for coming along on this journey with me.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 How Boy Bodies Work 5

Chapter 2 How Boy Bodies Grow 36

Chapter 3 How Boys Learn 65

Chapter 4 How Boys Love 93

Chapter 5 How Boys Cope 131

Chapter 6 How Boys Matter 170

Afterthoughts 195

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Boying Up:

"A matter-of-fact mirror that reflects reality and respect, not bewildered embarrassment." —Kirkus Reviews

"Boying Up hits all the hot spots and should be included in tween and teen library collections." —VOYA

From the Publisher

2018-05-01
Body hair, biology, and boyhood are dissected and demystified in this guide to pubescence.As the XY follow-up to her XX exposé into what makes a preteen body tick, neuroscientist and actress Bialik (Girling Up, 2017, etc.) lends her scientific and maternal expertise to anyone fumbling through the boy-to-young man process. Replacing mystery and misunderstanding with science (proteins, chemicals, and hormones, oh my) the book scrutinizes the human body's pubescent evolution. This is a pragmatic and relatable tool for understanding how, why, and what you're chemically wired for, from hair growth to attention span, and it's careful to note that generalizations are guides not rules. In other words, there's no "right" time for the P word to kick in. What's happening to girls (breasts, ovaries, height) on the puberty periphery is also discussed, as is gender identity. (Of note: a global map of countries recognizing more than two genders.) Merging research with experience raising two young boys, the result avoids a myopic point of view by peppering pages with lighthearted line drawings and sidebars with firsthand accounts from anonymous men. Bialik assures readers that we all figure out this hormonal playground called our body: In other words, when it comes to puberty, you've got this. Knowing where to sit at lunch when you get to high school? That's another book entirely.A matter-of-fact mirror that reflects reality and respect, not bewildered embarrassment. (Nonfiction. 9-15)

Kirkus Reviews