Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

The novel Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg is a witty and realistic LGBTQ+ themed novel which follows the story of Rafe, a young adult who was openly gay in highschool. Rafe then transfers to an all-boys boarding school with a goal in mind - to not label himself, as to be able to "fit in" and not be seen as "weird". This plan starts off well, as he makes friends with several jocks, all of who are presumably straight. But it all changes when Rafe meets Ben, just another jock... Right? Wrong. The rest of the novel not only follows Rafe's discovery of being proud of being your real you, but Ben's self discovery as well. This novel is filled with life lessons for LGBTQ+ youth and non-LGBTQ+ youth alike, and as a young LGBTQ+ reader, I can confidently say that this book changed my life.