Field Guide to the North American Teenager

Setting: Austin, Texas. Identifying characteristics: Abundance of food trucks and concert T-shirts worn by adults. Habitat: 104 degrees. Basically, inhospitable to human life. Meet Norris Kaplan. As a Black French Canadian (and avid ice hockey fan) who has been recently plunked into Austin, Texas, he is not happy. Norris’s superpower has always been the ability to wield a sharp comeback and keep people at a safe distance. He’ll just do his time there until he can finally go back home. Having grown up on a steady diet of American TV, Norris knows just what to expect when he starts at a prototypical American high school. Sure enough, he soon encounters: Aarti, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Preys on sexually inexperienced, awkward teen boys Madison, the Beta Cheerleader: In the middle of the cheerleading pyramid. “Good listener.” Liam, the Loner: Sad eyes. Headphones not necessarily playing anything. Hairy Armpits, the Bully: Improperly groomed linebacker. Missing Link understudy.