Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-up (Hardcover)

by Christopher Noxon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
According to journalist Noxon, rejuveniles-adults who use childhood past-times as "a way of maintaining wonder, trust, and silliness in a world where these qualities are often in short supply"-are proliferating, and unlike other books on the topic of "kidults" (aka "twixters," "boomerangers," and "generation debt"), his book says this is largely good. Viewing the bright side of oft-bemoaned evidence showing increasing numbers of young adults living with parents and postponing marriage, Noxon has made an entertaining but incomplete read. In appropriately playful prose, he considers successful adults who play in rock n' roll nursery rhyme cover bands, attend Disney World without kids, and happily plunk down 10 bucks to see Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie. Avoiding "The Downside of Now" until the end, Noxon almost admits that he isn't telling the whole story of the rejuveniles: although it's "nice to think of rejuveniles as freethinking romantics," which he theretofore does, "it's clear that outside forces also have a hand in shaping who rejuveniles are." Those outside forces? Not crushing student loans, a stagnant job market or political age-bias, but "the media." Of course, Noxon would probably just as soon leave worrying to grown-ups of the old school-he'll be on the kickball field instead.
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Review
“I read Rejuvenile excitedly, eager to get to Noxon’s conclusions, feeling over and over that he was describing something I sensed was there but hadn’t quite put into words. An eye-opener.” —Ira Glass, host of public radio’s This American Life

“Geezers wearing blue jeans and watching cartoons and playing videogames is not precisely what Bob Dylan had in mind (‘May you stay forever young’) back in the countercultural day. But as Christopher Noxon smartly and definitively explains, never-ending youthfulness—that is, the mass refusal to swear off fun and comfort for the sake of grown-up propriety—is the enduring legacy of the Woodstock generation.” —Kurt Andersen, host of public radio’s Studio 360 and author of Turn of the Century

“Rejuvenile is better than any book out there about play. It sweeps together stories of real people being true to their core selves. This is not a book for escapists; it is a book for curious open explorers looking to lead more effective, flexible, adaptive, vital, and still responsible lives.” —Stuart L. Brown, M.D., founder and president, the Institute for Play

“Any book that inspires me to rediscover Four Square and Duck Duck Goose is A-OK with me. Rejuvenile made me want to play and it made me think—a stellar combination. Thank you, Christopher, for giving us a concept we actually need: a new, liberating redefinition of adulthood, where you can be a responsible grown-up and still maintain a sense of wonder.” —Sasha Cagen, author of Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics

“With Rejuvenile, Christopher Noxon brilliantly charts the continual turning of the Boomers, X’ers and Y’ers away from the brittle authority of work-obsessed adulthood. We seriously need more playful times, and Rejuvenile ... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Crown (June 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400080886
• ISBN-13: 978-1400080885
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #691,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insights, Great Research, Great Read, October 6, 2006

By	Jason Kotecki "Champion of Childhood" (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read this book over the course of several flights while traveling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a cartoonist who likes cupcakes and wearing superhero t-shirts, there should be no surprise why the book peaked my interest. But I was delighted to find that the book was neither an unstructured permission slip for irresponsible behavior, nor a "Harrumphing Codger" treatise on abolishing all forms of fun from life. Rather, it was a well-organized, even-handed, thoughtful and interesting approach on the phenomenon itself. I enjoyed the historical research, and although sometimes overly thourough, offered a lot of interesting background for the rest of the book. I also enjoyed the profiles of the people throughout the book. At times I found myself mentally cheering them on, while with others, I tended to react to with frustration (and sometimes even disgust). So ultimately, the book connected with me on an emotional level, and it made me think. Something all good books do.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you a Rejuvenile?, July 26, 2006

By	JLP (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

When I purchased my new Nikon D2X, a pro level camera, I couldn't wait to get it home and try it out. I went to Central Park even though the weather conditions were crappy for photography. That level of pleasure and enjoyment was the same if not greater than getting that new set of legos when I was ten for my birthday. I'm a rejuvenile. If you've watched the cartoon network with or without children present and enjoyed it then you are one too. Christopher Noxon documents a trend in adults that is much wider spread than you might think. In delightfully well written prose, Noxon documents the various types of rejuvenile and their various activities. You have adults who participate in kickball (the author is one of them and met his wife through that activity), still watch cartoons, collect and . . . yes . . . even play with action figures, read comic books or graphic novels and other such activities shared by ten year olds. Then there are the 32 year old children who move back with their parents, women who diligently collect the very pricey Madame Alexander dolls and other perhaps less obvious examples of rejuvenilia. Noxon ponders on the both the positive and negative aspects of this sociological trend. Clearly he believes it is overall positive and lambasts the critics. There is obviously a spectrum of rejuvenileness and the more extreme certainly gave me reason to pause (the adults playing with action figures and even more outré examples.) It seems to be impacting all levels of society - how adults raise and relate to their children, how those children are maturing and the various industries fed by these trends thus it isn't all fun and games. The book is a very interesting read that I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book, August 29, 2006

By	Granny6 (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Rejuvenile is my new favorite book--smart, funny, wonderfully written. Noxon's forte is finding amazingly quirky people who illustrate his thesis and describing them in delicious detail. The last section, "Into a Rejuvenile Future," ties it all together. "[W]e rejuveniles are attempting to hang on to the part of ourselves that feels most genuinely human," Noxon writes, and we can't help but celebrate our own inner senses of wonder and curiosity and the delightful and thought provoking journey this writer takes us on.