by Jeff Hobbs
First published 2020
Jeff Hobbs follows four teenage boys through their senior year at two Los Angeles high schools as they face college applications. Tiofilo skateboards through his days while secretly planning for elite universities, despite his father's doubts. Carlos works to follow his brother to Yale while his undocumented parents deliver packages across the city. Owen struggles with his ambivalence toward school while trying to meet his accomplished parents' hopes. Sam studies for academic decathlon competitions in his cramped apartment, counting days until he can leave home and gain independence from his Chinese mother and Jewish father. Each boy confronts different obstacles shaped by family income, immigration status, and cultural expectations. The college application process reveals how vastly different their resources and opportunities are, even within the same massive school district of nearly 700,000 students. Through their stories, Hobbs examines how young people forge their futures while navigating the competing demands of family loyalty, personal ambition, and social mobility in contemporary America.
Genres: family-life, american, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Los Angeles, Yale
Period: Senior Year
352 pages · Kindle Edition · Scribner