Overview

Out of place at an experimental high school, sensitive high school junior Bryce Hughes steals his father's pharmaceutical sales samples to stay steady and share recreationally with his wealthy, spoiled, nihilistic friends at their wild weekend parties. Hopelessly hung up on his ex-girlfriend, Paige, whose emotions are as fickle as her taste for fashion, Bryce can barely see the quiet scholarship girl, Jaycee, who adores him. Over the course of a single school year, Bryce and his crew from The Dream Academy have to survive classes they don't understand, work in the real world, pressure to uphold their school's public brand, betrayals, and cyberbullying that threatens to push one of their own over the edge. Each lost Dream Kid must find a way to save their future, their sense of self, and their passions, while fighting to reconcile who they are at heart with who they are believed to be by others.

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9781925965841

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Reviews

"""Dream Kids is a beguiling exploration of the perils of high school, the commodification of youth, and the dangers of cyberbullying. Reminiscent of Helen Schulman's This Beautiful Life, Michael Wayne Hampton's searing novel is a deeply unsettling portrait of privilege and proof that the kids are not alright."" David James Poissant, author of Lake Life and The Heaven of Animals ""How anyone survives their teen years is a mystery, but Michael Wayne Hampton has come close to solving it in his singular novel, Dream Kids. Hampton fastens a remarkable and rich cast of characters to a plot from the headlines, capturing the wallop of punk rock and the yearning of a text sent at midnight. Uncompromising, unrelenting, and understanding, Michael Wayne Hampton has reached that stunning artistic achievement of opening our eyes and not letting us look away."" Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales"

Dream Kids is a beguiling exploration of the perils of high school, the commodification of youth, and the dangers of cyberbullying. Reminiscent of Helen Schulman's This Beautiful Life, Michael Wayne Hampton's searing novel is a deeply unsettling portrait of privilege and proof that the kids are not alright. David James Poissant, author of Lake Life and The Heaven of Animals How anyone survives their teen years is a mystery, but Michael Wayne Hampton has come close to solving it in his singular novel, Dream Kids. Hampton fastens a remarkable and rich cast of characters to a plot from the headlines, capturing the wallop of punk rock and the yearning of a text sent at midnight. Uncompromising, unrelenting, and understanding, Michael Wayne Hampton has reached that stunning artistic achievement of opening our eyes and not letting us look away. Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales

Author Information

Michael Wayne Hampton is the author of five books of fiction. His criticism, essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous publications such as Atticus Review, The Southeast Review, 3AM Magazine, and Fiction Southeast.In 2013 he won The Deerbird Novella Prize, and in 2012 his work was nominated for Best American Short Stories. In the past he has been a semi-finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Prize, and a two-time finalist for the World's Best Short Short Story Contest. In 2014, he was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.Learn more at michaelwaynehampton.com.

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