Openly Straight

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg, 320 pages

Rafe is tired of being identified as just “the gay kid” and decides to go to a boarding school across the country so that he can change his image.  His parents have always been supportive and no one has ever bullied him but he has been overwhelmed with the fact that his gayness is the only thing that identifies him.  His parents don’t know his plan.  They think that he is switching schools to have a better chance at getting into an Ivy League college and are appalled when they find out what he is doing.  Because Rafe, although trying not to lie about being straight, is allowing the boys at his new all-boys school to assume that he is straight.  Unfortunately for Rafe, his feelings and who he really is haven’t changed and when he begins to fall for one of his new friends, he doesn’t know how to tell him the truth without driving him away.  A really good coming out story, different from most of the typical stories but no less valid.  A funny story that a lot of teens both gay and straight might like.