Honestly Ben
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the companion to Openly Straight, Ben confronts pressure at school, repression at home, and his passion for two very different people in figuring out what it takes to be Honestly Ben.The companion to the award-winning Openly Straight, called "remarkable...deeply satisfying and as honest as its appealing protagonist" (Booklist). Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green!Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.Except...There's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else . . . and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seventeen-year-old Ben Carver is under a lot of pressure. He's having a hard time in calculus, a subject that could torpedo his stellar GPA and ruin his chances at receiving the prestigious Pappas Award, which would look fantastic on his college r sum and provide a needed scholarship. He's also having difficulty with Rafe Goldberg, his gay former friend (with whom he got quite close in Konigsberg's Openly Straight), and might be falling for a girl named Hannah. The trouble is, Ben is in love with Rafe, but he can't accept the idea of being in love with a boy. Ben isn't homophobic, but that doesn't make it any easier for him to see himself captain of the baseball team, son of a farmer as gay or even bisexual. Konigsberg again realistically explores what happens when one's self butts up against the world's expectations and assumptions. Ben refuses to be labeled, and the result is a refreshingly honest exploration of modern relationships and an understanding that love can take many shapes and forms. Ages 14 up. This review has been corrected to remove an extraneous word.
