You fit in or you're dead. What other choice do I have?
Short novel from age 13 - Collection Court toujours - Éditions Nathan
Paperback 70 pages
Digital version and audio version read by the author included via the Nathan Live app
"Silent boy... The one who doesn't bring it but you don't have to look for it. What other choice do I have? You fit in or you're dead."
Anton is a boarder at a difficult secondary school. His only means of decompressing is rugby training and chatting on an online forum, hidden behind his Silent Boy avatar. Because in real life, Anton never gives his opinion, never takes sides. Until he meets Nathan...
An intense, hard-hitting coming-of-age story about a pivotal moment in the life of a modern teenager.
SILENT BOY can be red on stage by the author in 15-20 minute extracts, with projections on a screen at the back of the stage. Don't hesitate to ask for more information..
AWARDS
PRIX LOUIS MATHIS Lycée Audoin-Dubreuil St-Jean-d’Angély 2021
PRIX DES COLLÉGIENS des Médiathèques Aveyronnaises 2023
Sélection PRIX FRANCO-ALLEMAND pour la Littérature de Jeunesse 2021
Sélection Prix Littérature et société Lycée Cassini Clermont-de-l'Oise 2023
Sélection Prix Ados Bretagne Centre Loudéac 2022
Sélection Prix Gr'Aisne de critique 2021-2022
Sélection Prix Alizé 2021-2022
Sélection Défi Babelio Ado+ 2021-2022
Sélection du Prix RTS Littérature Ados 2022 (Suisse)
Sélection du Prix Nord Isère 2022
Sélection Prix de l'Estuaire 2021-2022, niveau 3e-2nde
Sélection du Prix des lecteurs de la médiathèque de Cugand 2022
Sélection du Prix du livre jeunesse Marseille 2021-2022
Sélection Prix Va t'faire vivre! 2021-2022
Sélection Prix littéraire de la Mission locale Picardie Maritime 2022
Educational documents
The Mieux Enseigner website offers free access to a well-designed logbook for independent study of SILENT BOY by pupils in 4th and 3rd year, with a final task of defending an opinion in writing.
The Plan d'Études Romand (Switzerland) website offers a freely-available teaching sheet that enables pupils aged 13 to 16 to work on SILENT BOY for 2 to 4 periods.
INTER CDI : Far from being Manichean, this novel offers a nuanced reading of the attitudes and issues involved in harassment, and the emotions that run through the protagonists, especially the witnesses. It also raises the question of identity.
INTERVIEW
Gaël Aymon presents his novel Silent Boy, published by Nathan:
PRESS REVIEWS (extracts)
"A lesson in courage and tolerance" FRANCO-GERMAN PRIZE for Children's Literature
"The obscurantism of changing rooms and the tyranny of prejudice. A short novel that hits the nail on the head. Worth promoting!" RICOCHET
"A hard-hitting text. You read it in one go, you close it stunned." LIBRAIRIE DU PARC DE LA VILLETTE
"Necessary! We love it!" DIALOGUES BOOKSTORE Brest
A must read! LIBRAIRIE CYPRÈS, GENS DE LA LUNE Saint-Étienne
"Sincere, heartbreaking, cruel." LIBRAIRIE MÉMOIRE 7
"Gaël Aymon masters his subject from start to finish and gives us a portrait of a teenager who is hard to forget." NOUKETTE'S LIBRARY
"Gaël Aymon gets right to the heart of the strangeness of adolescence, culminating in a beautiful finale, a breath of fresh air after a plunge into a closed universe where hormones and the scent of virility reign supreme." DEDALE
"A perfectly written, hard-hitting story! I hope it will be in every CDI." LES DEMOISELLES DE CHÂTILLON
"Deeply human, intelligent, finely analysed, served up by masterly writing. The reader is in for a real treat!" ELFE LECTEUR
"Touched to the heart! The version read by the author adds even more depth to the characters and the accuracy of the dialogue." BESPECTACLED UNICORN
"To tackle so many important subjects in such a short text and to do it intelligently... Silent Boy blew me away!" OCEANICUS IN FOLIO
"A must-read for all students from 4th grade" EZEVEL
"Gaël Aymon is a fixture in the CDIs and has taken up this new challenge with flying colours! SYLVIEDOC
See the full press review (in French) :