Text Copyright © 2019 Frank Murphy
Illustration Copyright © 2019 Kayla Harren
Design Copyright © 2019 Sleeping Bear Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of
brief excerpts in critical reviews and articles. All inquiries should be addressed to:
2395 South Huron Parkway, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
© Sleeping Bear Press
Printed and bound in the United States.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Murphy, Frank, 1966- author. | Harren, Kayla, illustrator.
Title: A boy like you / by Frank Murphy ; illustrated by Kayla Harren.
Description: Ann Arbor, MI : Sleeping Bear Press, [2019] | Summary:
Encourages every boy to embrace all of the things that make him
unique, and to be curious, brave, kind, thoughtful, and more.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019010249 | ISBN 9781534110465 (hardcover)
Subjects: | CYAC: Conduct of life--Fiction. | Individuality--Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M8724 Boy 2019 | DDC [E]--dc23
LC record available at
For my boys, Chase and Griffin Murphy—who are now young men, kind and impactful.
And all the boys I’ve taught and the young men I’ve coached from Ronnie Garrison to
Andrew Note to Markus Stevenson to the lasting memory of #89, Shamus Digney . . .
— Frank
For my brother, the world could use more boys like you.
— Kayla
Thank you to the little village of pre-readers who helped this book along. Carla,
Haley, my dad, and my family, for your support, including Jumper, for sitting next to
me for countless hours as I wrote and revised! Some of my teaching family—Colin
McCarthy, Ro Carcaci-Foster, Christine Bailey, Amy Smith, Allie Bailey, the Caraccios,
the Mingaccis, the Wetherills, Kiley Malloy (my favorite poet), and especially Barbara
Dan and her family. In my KidLit family: Olivia Van Ledtje, you are an epic force of nature.
Paige Britt, you are pure goodness! Tami Charles, for your guidance. And Kathy
Morrison, my independent bookseller! Sarah Rockett—for being the champion of
and collaborator in creating this book; you are a phenomenal editor! Kayla Harren,
for illuminating this text beyond my imagining, and the team at Sleeping Bear Press.
Heather Hughes, for believing in me again, almost twenty years later—many thanks!
— Frank
