The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

Norris Kaplan is a black French Canadian teenager who has been transplanted to Austin, Texas, as a result of his mother’s new teaching position. At Anderson High, he amuses himself by cataloguing the various students he meets while dreaming of a ski vacation at Whistler back in Canada and the 700+ days until he can finally return home for good. Eventually, those he has unmercifully labeled turn into real people for Norris, and he slowly begins to fit into his new environment. But when the prom comes along, Norris manages to antagonize almost everyone he knows and his life turns upside down. He has a choice: deal with the mess he has created or simply disappear and go back to Montreal.

In this debut young adult novel, Ben Philippe gives his readers a main character who is both entertaining and exasperating. On the plus side, Norris is obviously intelligent and witty. Readers will perhaps sympathize that he is far from home and may be feeling insecure in a new and difficult situation. Even his mom suggests that being a young black man isn’t easy in today’s world, although Norris seems to downplay her comments and her worry about him.

But the other side of Norris is the annoying and sarcastic young man whose smart mouth continually leads him into difficulties and occasionally into confrontations. He is selfish and self-absorbed and appears to think he is somehow above everyone he meets. He is an observer of life around him but is anything but impartial. In fact, Norris thrives on writing cynical, snarky comments in a little notebook which he constantly carries. Only later in the novel do readers realize that the field guide doesn’t so much describe the people around him as it does Norris, himself.

The supporting characters teach Norris a great deal despite his initial mockery of them. Aarti, Madison and Liam become true friends who try to support Norris as much as possible. As Norris gets to know them, he also learns more about himself. The characters fall into general categories, such as ‘jocks and cheerleaders’, ‘the loner’ and ‘the artistic soul’, but each one is developed by Philippe in such a way that they are realistic and interesting as well as pivotal to the plot and the final coming-of-age outcome of the novel.

There are many LOL moments in the book thanks to Philippe’s clever and witty dialogue. The novel has overtones of a television sitcom and will keep readers both amused and intrigued from beginning to end. Some of the repartee may be a little unrealistic for the average teenage high school student, but it is great fun nonetheless.

Much of the humour also comes from the stereotypes and clichés in the book. As mentioned above, Norris eventually learns from the clichéd characters such as the jocks and the cheerleaders. There are also laughs provided by the Canadian/American jibes. In the very first pages, Norris cannot believe that Texans don’t recognize his Habs t-shirt and give it the respect it deserves. Later on, there are references to maple syrup, and Norris is often called simply ‘Canada’ as a nickname. Carrying the Canadian stereotype one step further, hockey actually ends up being important in the book as Liam persuades Norris to help him learn about the sport, and this evolves into an actual team with Norris at its core.

There are more important themes developed by Philippe as well. Near the end of the book, Norris has to choose between cleaning up his mess and making amends or simply leaving Austin and returning home to Montreal. His absentee dad also becomes important later in the novel, and the change in the father-son relationship marks the extent to which Norris has grown since the beginning of the story.

Judith, Norris’s mother, comments on the difficulties her son faces simply by his being a black, male teenager. Although this is a very minor note in the novel, it is a theme which could have been examined more closely, and it’s one which should give young adult readers food for thought and discussion. As well, the author nudges his readers into thinking about our tendency to judge people too quickly and too easily, basing labels on first assumptions which may be far from truthful. More food for thought.

In The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, Ben Philippe takes his readers on an interesting and inspiring journey through the characters of Norris and the people with whom he interacts. It a journey similar to that of most teens, regardless of their colour or their social situation, and Philippe has let us travel and learn along with Norris while at the same time entertaining and amusing us. And entertainment and amusement are what good and memorable novels are all about!