 | Golden boy's guide to bipolar Author: Reyes, Sonora | |
| Price: $14.99 | ||
Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Cesar Flores is finally ready to win back his ex-boyfriend. Everything would be perfect if it weren't for The Thoughts-the ones that won't let all his Catholic guilt and internalizations stay buried where he wants them. The louder they become, the more Cesar is once again convinced that he doesn't deserve someone like Jamal-or anyone really.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 5.20 Points: 15.0 Quiz: 556349 |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (07/01/25)
Booklist (+) (12/01/25)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/09/25)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 09/01/2025 *Starred Review* God told Cesar to kill himself. Was Cesar in the middle of a manic episode caused by secretly stopping his mental health medication? Possibly—but Cesar’s cousin Moni also told him how pharmaceutical representatives bribe doctors into prescribing certain medications, so were his meds really doing anything? Cesar doesn’t think so, but he also doesn’t see his behavior becoming erratic even when he starts dating his older sister’s ex-best friend to make her mad after breaking up with the boy he’s in love with. Stuck in a self-destructive spiral with symptoms of clinical psychosis, Cesar doesn’t notice how hard the people in his life are fighting for him, although their love for him will be clear from the reader’s perspective. Toward the beginning of the book, Cesar is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and each subsequent chapter is subtitled with the bipolar symptom that is most prevalent in that chapter. These symptoms are shown to affect not only Cesar but also everyone around him. Despite making poor choices and eschewing offered help, Cesar is nevertheless a sympathetic character who is easy to root for. Although Reyes establishes at the beginning that this is only about one person’s experience with severe mental illness, it offers an accessible and worthwhile peek into what a struggle with serious mental illness looks like for a teen. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.
