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Openly Straight
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Series:
Openly straight volume 1.
Published:
Scholastic Inc. 2013
Accelerated Reader:
IL: UG - BL: 4.7 - AR Pts: 12
Lexile measure:
HL: High-Low 680L
Status:
Checked Out
Description
A funny, honest novel about being out, being proud... and being ready for something else.

The award-winning novel about being out, being proud, and being ready for something else. Pre-order the companion novel Honestly Ben now (out 3/28/17)!Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben... who doesn't even know that love is possible.
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More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
05/28/2013
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780545509909
ASIN:
B00B9FWZPS
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 4.7, 12 Points
Lexile code:
HL: High-Low
Lexile measure:
680
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Bill Konigsberg. (2013). Openly Straight. Scholastic Inc.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Bill Konigsberg. 2013. Openly Straight. Scholastic Inc.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Bill Konigsberg, Openly Straight. Scholastic Inc, 2013.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Bill Konigsberg. Openly Straight. Scholastic Inc, 2013.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
LibraryOwnedAvailable
Shared Digital Collection10

There is 1 hold on this title.

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Grouped Work ID:
660378a4-385e-c703-5501-f2a86435e117
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
May 27, 2022 13:06:31
Date Updated:
Nov 07, 2023 06:08:50
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 16:37:47
Last Metadata Change:
Jan 30, 2024 08:02:40
Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 16:37:51
Last Availability Change:
Mar 10, 2024 22:46:30
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Mar 28, 2024 08:43:19

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fullDescription
A funny, honest novel about being out, being proud... and being ready for something else.

The award-winning novel about being out, being proud, and being ready for something else. Pre-order the companion novel Honestly Ben now (out 3/28/17)!Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben... who doesn't even know that love is possible.
gradeLevels
      • value: Grade 3
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        June 17, 2013
        Konigsberg (Out of the Pocket) raises compelling questions about stereotyping and self-actualization through the story of openly gay high school junior Rafe Goldberg. Though Rafe has a supportive family and community in progressive Boulder, Co., he still feels stifled by being known as "the gay kid." In order to try to live a "label-free life," Rafe transfers to an East Coast boarding school with the intention of keeping his sexuality a secret ("The only way I would actually lie was if I were asked directly, ‘Are you gay?' "). At school, Rafe is quickly befriended by a group of jocks, and even kissed by a girl at a party, but he begins to question his experiment when his feelings for a friend develop into something more. Introspective essays Rafe composes about his life for a writing seminar seem overly scripted, and the plot becomes predictable long before Rafe faces a crisis of conscience. Even so, Rafe's story about seeking a different kind of acceptance should spur readers to rethink sexual identity and what it means to be "out." Ages 14–up. Agent: Linda Epstein, Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        May 1, 2013
        Going back into the closet isn't as easy as it seems. Coloradan Rafe Goldberg has always been the token gay kid. He's been out since eighth grade. His parents and community are totally supportive, and his mom is president of his Boulder-area chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. On the outside, Rafe seems fine, but on the inside, he's looking for change, which comes with the opportunity to reinvent himself at the prestigious Natick Academy in Massachusetts. There for his junior year, Rafe cloaks his gayness in order to be just like one of the other guys. He hangs out with the jocks, playing soccer and football, and gets exactly what he wants--until he starts to fall for one of his new best straight friends. Konigsberg's latest (Out Of the Pocket, 2008) might sound like fluff, but it actually works as a complicated, poignant story of a teenage boy trying on a new skin. Rafe's exploration happens in reverse of the traditional coming-out story, and his motives, observations and feelings are captured in mini-essays he pens for his creative-writing professor, who then provides him with life-coach-like feedback on both his decisions and his writing skills. These snippets feel prescriptive, but the rest moves swiftly as Rafe tries to cover his feelings and fit in with his new friends. An eye-opening story of wish fulfillment. (Fiction. 13 & up)

        COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: School Library Journal
      • content:

        July 1, 2013

        Gr 9 Up-Rafe is gay, but he hopes no one will notice at his new all-boys high school in New England. He's not in the closet exactly. Back home in Boulder, his stereotypically progressive and understanding parents championed his coming out in the eighth grade. Since then, Rafe has been unable to escape being the poster boy for Gay Pride. Tired of labels and limitations, he hides his true self in order to fit in and be just one of the guys. For a while it works, and he plays football, pals around with the jocks, and blends in with the straight guys. His best friend back home is furious with him for changing, and things really get complicated when he falls in love with Ben, the intellectual, brooding jock with whom he experiments one night. In the end, he just can't keep up the charade, and coming out of the closet for a second time results in the creation of some new friendships, but also the loss of some others. The book is peppered with Rafe's journal entries for a class, the only place where he's honest about his sexuality. His teacher's responses, while encouraging, don't add much to the plot. The book tackles issues of sexuality and coming out from an interesting angle, but at times the central message (honesty is the best policy) is a bit heavy-handed. Recommend this one to fans of Brent Hartinger's Geography Club (HarperCollins, 2003), Michael Harmon's The Last Exit to Normal (Knopf, 2008), and Julie Anne Peters's Define "Normal" (Little, Brown, 2000).-Nora G. Murphy, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, LaCanada-Flintridge, CA

        Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from June 1, 2013
        Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Now a junior in high school, Rafe, who has been out since he was 14, is thoroughly sick of being labeled the gay kid. So he does something bold: he leaves his Colorado school to enroll in a private boys' academy in New England, where no one knows he's gay and he can be a label-free, openly straight part of a group of guys. Does this mean he goes back into the closet? No, he tells himself, not exactly: It was more like I was in the doorway. But is he fooling himself? Can you put a major part of yourself on hold, and what happens when you then find yourself falling in love with your new (straight) best friend? Lambda Literary Award winner Konigsberg (Out of the Pocket, 2008) has written an exceptionally intelligent, thought-provoking coming-of-age novel about the labels people apply to us and that we, perversely, apply to ourselves. A sometimes painful story of self-discovery, it is also a beautifully written, absolutely captivating romance between two boys, Rafe and Ben, who are both wonderfully sympathetic characters. With its capacity to invite both thought and deeply felt emotion, Openly Straight is altogether one of the best gay-themed novels of the last 10 years.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: The Horn Book
      • content:

        May 1, 2013
        Rafe is sick of being the poster child for all things gay at his uber-liberal Colorado high school: no matter how accepting everyone is, it feels like they only see one part of him. When he gets into a Massachusetts boarding school for his junior year, he decides to reboot himself as "openly straight." By refraining from volunteering any information about his sexuality, he reasons, he will be able to live a "label-free life." Soon he's on the soccer team, increasingly torn between worlds as he enjoys the boys'-club camaraderie he finds on the team but also bonds with his prickly misfit roommate Albie, whose best friend is gay. Most complicated of all, Rafe's growing friendship with sensitive, thoughtful teammate Ben turns into a profound crush. Rafe is an effective blend of earnest, perceptive, and flawed, and the deepening hole of deception he digs for himself infuses the plot -- a well-constructed web of interpersonal dramas -- with almost unbearable tension. Konigsberg eviscerates the "don't ask, don't tell" philosophy, slyly demonstrating just how thoroughly assumptions of straightness are embedded in everyday interactions. For a thought-provoking, creative, twenty-first-century take on the coming-out story, look no further. claire e. gross

        (Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

      • premium: True
      • source: The Horn Book
      • content:

        July 1, 2013
        Rafe is sick of being the poster child for all things gay at his uber-liberal Colorado high school, so when he gets into a Massachusetts boarding school for his junior year, he decides to reboot himself as "openly straight." Konigsberg slyly demonstrates how thoroughly assumptions of straightness are embedded in everyday interactions. For a thought-provoking take on the coming-out story, look no further.

        (Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

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shortDescription
A funny, honest novel about being out, being proud... and being ready for something else.

The award-winning novel about being out, being proud, and being ready for something else. Pre-order the companion novel Honestly Ben now (out 3/28/17)!Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of...
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awards
      • source: Young Adult Library Services Association
      • value: Best Fiction for Young Adults
publisher
Scholastic Inc.
atos
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      • code: YAF031000
      • description: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / LGBTQ+ / General
      • code: YAF052040
      • description: Young Adult Fiction / Romance / LGBTQ+
      • code: YAF058120
      • description: Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Friendship