N GARDEN HEIGHTS, TO BE A BOY implies, from a very early age, to prove that you are a man. Loyalty to your gang, to your family, to your ideals, its a weight that threatens to bring you down every day. Maverick Carter understands it in the most heartbreaking way. Angie Thomas explores masculinity and the painful transition to adulthood in the prequel to her bestseller The Hate You Give. If there is one thing that  Maverick Carter knows, its that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of an old gang legend, Mav does it the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With the help he gets, he can help his mother, while his father is serving a sentence in prison. Life isn't perfect, but thanks to his girlfriend and his cousin, who protect him, Mav seems to have everything under control. Until he finds out he's a father. Suddenly, he has a baby who depends on him for everything and it is no longer so easy to sell drugs, finish his studies and raise a child. At that moment he is offered the chance to turn his life around, and he knows he should take advantage of it. However when the blood of the King Lords runs through your veins, it is not so easy to just give up.