Ben Philippe

Ben Philippe is a Haitian-born, Montreal-raised author and screenwriter whose young-adult novels use humor to examine immigration, ambition, belonging, and the social roles teenagers perform. He won the 2020 William C. Morris Debut YA Award for The Field Guide to the North American Teenager and later turned to memoir and essays in Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend.

Photo: Ben Philippe via official author site · Source: Ben Philippe — official media and news index ↗

Titles2

Editions7

Media5

Years covered2019–2020

Works on Favedom.com

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

2019 · Contemporary

Print — Amazon

1 edition: Print · 2020

About this work & edition details

Norris Kaplan is a clever, cynical Black French Canadian teenager who moves to Austin, Texas, and enters an unfamiliar American high school. He copes by cataloging classmates through labels drawn from television and movies, from jocks and cheerleaders to loners. Aarti, however, resists easy classification. As Norris's observations turn into actual friendships and romantic uncertainty, the consequences of prom night force him to stop hiding behind sarcasm and see the people beyond his categories.

Print · Thorndike Striving Reader · 2020 · English

Charming As a Verb

2020 · Contemporary

Print — Amazon Audiobook — Amazon eBook — Amazon

6 editions: Print · 2020 | Print · 2022 | Audiobook · 2020 | eBook · 2020

About this work & edition details

From the award-winning author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager comes a whip-smart and layered romantic comedy. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jenny Han. Henri "Halti" Haltiwanger can charm just about anyone. He is a star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University. There is only one person who seems immune to Henri's charms: his "intense" classmate and neighbor Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri's less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school. Henri agrees, seeing a potential upside for himself. Soon what started as a mutual hustle turns into something more surprising than either of them ever bargained for. . . . This is a sharply funny and insightful novel about the countless hustles we have to keep from doing the hardest thing: being ourselves.

Print · HarperCollins Publishers · 2020 · English
ISBN 9780062824141

Print · HarperCollins Publishers · 2022-02 · English
ISBN 9780062824264

Print · HarperCollins Publishers · 2022-02 · English
ISBN 9781536474404

Audiobook · HarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing · 2020-09-08 · English
ISBN 9781799940623

Audiobook · HarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing · 2020-09-08 · English
ISBN 9781799940630

eBook · Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. · 2020-10-13 · English
ISBN 9780062824271

Podcasts & Discussion (5)

Lead the Team (Top 2% of Podcasts)CEO of the #2 Coffee Chain in the World (Costa Coffe's Philippe Schaillee) ↗2025-06-30 HODINKEE PodcastsThe Patek Philippe Calatrava Episode With Ben and Rich ↗2024-07-10 HODINKEE PodcastsThe Story Of John Lennon's Patek Philippe 2499 With Jay Fielden ↗2024-07-03 HODINKEE PodcastsChatting About The Latest Releases From Omega And Patek Philippe With Ben Clymer ↗2022-10-30 HODINKEE PodcastsMaking Sense Of The Tiffany Patek Philippe 5711 With Ben Clymer ↗2021-12-14

More About Ben Philippe

Ben Philippe was born in Haiti, raised in Montreal, Quebec, and moved to the United States for college. He earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 2011 and an M.F.A. in fiction and screenwriting from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. His work has extended across books, television, media and culture writing, short fiction, and teaching film studies.

His debut novel, The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, follows Black French Canadian teenager Norris Kaplan after a move to Austin, where his habit of classifying classmates begins to give way to friendship and participation in his own life. The American Library Association named the book the 2020 William C. Morris Debut YA Award winner.

Charming as a Verb keeps Philippe's attention on performance and belonging but shifts to Henri Haltiwanger, a first-generation Haitian American teenager whose charm, dog-walking hustle, and college ambitions begin to conflict. Philippe connected the novel's pressure around elite admissions to the 2019 college-admissions scandal and to young people who earnestly want access to those institutions. His memoir-in-essays, Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend, carries related questions of race, friendship, stereotypes, and connection into nonfiction.

Genres

Contemporary

Links

Official biography ↗Official books page ↗Official media and news index ↗Barnard College profile context ↗