Boys’ Own Heroes: Review Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different

Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different is an inspiring collection of 100 tales of boys and men who have faced great challenges, made ground-breaking achievements and contributed to making the world a better place.

Similar to Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, this collection for boys covers a broad range of men from all walks of life, including Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Roald Dahl, John Lennon, Salvador Dali and David Attenborough.

You’ll find cover to cover explorers, scientists, poets, actors, philosophers, athletes and those who rose to life’s challenges and paved the way for others.

One of the highlights is the wonderfully appealing little revelations that even parents might be discovering for the first time. Who knew Barack Obama collected Spiderman comics or that Jim Hensen created his first puppet (Kermit the Frog) out of his mum’s old coat, a piece of cardboard and two ping pong balls?

A sample group of seven nine-year old readers rated as ‘most impressive’ the story of Paralympian Achmat Hassiem, who not only put himself in the path of a shark to save others, but survived the attack and went on to become a Paralympic athlete.

This inspirational book should be on the bookshelves of every little boy’s house. It’s a timely reminder that these positive stories of real life male role models should be shared with our young boys in a time when there are plenty of negative examples in the media.

Insightful, yet written in a way that 8 + readers can access, Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different would be the perfect choice for a bedtime story. Not only would you be sorted for 100 nights, but all of these stories are bound to be the beginning of a discussion about an abundance of important topics.

While older boys will have no trouble reading this one on their own, it’s worth setting some time aside to read it together. That way you can answer their questions and encourage them to seek out more information about the stories that spark their interest. 

Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different is also beautifully illustrated by Quinton Winter, making it a great collection of stories and artwork.

 Purchase a copy of Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different 

Ben Brooks was born in 1992 and lives in Berlin. He is the author of several books, including Grow Up and Lolito, which  won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2015.

Quinton Winter is a British illustrator, artist and colourist. He has worked for many clients including the Guardian newspaper, Walker Books, ‘Googlebox’, 2000AD, Vertigo Comics, Mojo and the BBC.