Honestly Ben

by Bill Konigsberg Narrated by Dan Bittner

Overview

In this 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.

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.

Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green, Honestly Ben is a smart, laugh-out-loud novel that will speak to anyone who's struggled to be "honestly ____________" in some part of their lives.

Editorial Reviews

MAY 2017 - AudioFile

Dan Bittner’s narration develops the unique personality of 17-year-old Ben, a secondary character in Konigsberg’s earlier book OPENLY STRAIGHT. At the end of that story, Ben has pushed away Rafe, his best friend with whom he had a brief lover relationship. In this follow-up, Bittner quickly reveals Ben’s intelligence and introspection. His delivery continually contrasts Ben’s sensitivity with the insensitivity of others—his gruff and domineering father, his macho baseball teammates, and his elite classmates at the boarding school to which he’s earned a scholarship. In a complex portrait, Bittner captures Ben’s confused central conflict—is he gay, or straight, or is he only “gay-for-Rafe”? Keeping the plot engaging, Bittner highlights Ben’s search for his identity. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 01/02/2017
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 résumé 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. Agent: Linda Epstein, Emerald City Literary. (Mar.)This review has been corrected to remove an extraneous word.

From the Publisher

Praise for Honestly Ben:

* "Konigsberg has again done a remarkable job developing characters and inviting readers to consider the meaning of friendship with all its rewards and challenges. Extremely well written, this novel of ideas is deeply satisfying and as honest as its appealing protagonist." — Booklist, starred review

* "Well-rounded characters take readers from serious, thoughtful discussions to typical teen pranks with ease . . . Equal parts serious and funny as it addresses homophobia, hazing rituals, and cheating while also delighting readers with a slice-of-life tale set at a private academy." — School Library Journal, starred review

* "Konigsberg again realistically explores what happens when one's self butts up against . . . the world's expectations and assumptions . . . The result is a refreshingly honest exploration of modern relationships and an understanding that love can take many shapes and forms." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Honestly Ben is funny, complex, joyful, heartbreaking, and exceedingly wise all at once. A teenager with any question about the right way to live couldn't ask for a better read." — Geoff Herbach, author of Anything You Want and Stupid Fast

"It's hard to write a good sequel, keeping what people loved about the first book, but adding something fresh and new. Not surprisingly, Bill Konigsberg pulls it off wonderfully in Honestly Ben." — Brent Hartinger, author of Geography Club and Three Truths and a Lie

Praise for Openly Straight:

Winner of the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor

YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection

Lambda Literary Award Finalist

"Funny, unexpected, peppered with terrific dialogue — and best of all, achingly honest." — Ned Vizzini, author of It's Kind of a Funny Story and House of Secrets

"For anybody who ever wished they could be someone else (and who hasn't?), Openly Straight provides a fun and intriguing, twisting-and-turning romp through sexuality, identity, friendship, and love." — Alex Sanchez, author of Rainbow Boys and Boyfriends with Girlfriends

"Bill Konigsberg hands a great high concept to a really compelling narrator and presents us with a terrific read. Openly Straight is smart, funny, and unflinching. Read this book." — Chris Crutcher, author of Deadline, Whale Talk, and Period 8

"Konigsberg's lovely novel invites us to walk with Rafe through his season of assumed identity and his costly emergence into honesty. It's beautiful. It's a story of salvation." — The New York Times Book Review

* "Lambda Literary Award-winner Konigsberg 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... Openly Straight is altogether one of the best gay-themed novels of the last ten years." — Booklist, starred review

* "Readers and discussion groups looking for new and deeper ways to think about what it means to live honestly in a world that sorts by labels will find this fresh and evocative." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

"For a thought-provoking, creative, twenty-first-century take on the coming-out story, look no further." — The Horn Book Magazine

"An original, thought-provoking, hilarious story about the importance of embracing your true identity, and the cost to yourself and others when you don't." — Julie Ann Peters, author of Luna and Keeping You a Secret

"Openly Straight sports a sharp plot with a twist, sympathetic (and totally hot) characters, and universal appeal. It's a must-read for openly everyone!" — Lisa McMann, bestselling author of the Wake Trilogy

Praise for The Porcupine of Truth:

Winner of the Stonewall Book Award

Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult

A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection

"Words like 'brilliant' are so overused when praising novels—so I won't use that word. I'll just think it." — Benjamin Alire Sáenz, author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

"Bill Konigsberg's The Porcupine of Truth is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking, a funny and thought-provoking road trip with remarkable friends Carson and Aisha, who share tough lessons about mending fractures, forging bonds, and discovering grace. Undeniably human and unforgettably wise, this book is a gift for us all." — Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle and Winger

* "Konigsberg weaves together a masterful tale of uncovering the past, finding wisdom, and accepting others as well as oneself." — School Library Journal, starred review

* "Konigsberg... crafts fascinating, multidimensional teen and adult characters. A friendship between a straight boy and a lesbian is relatively rare in YA fiction and is, accordingly, exceedingly welcome." — Booklist, starred review

"Equal parts funny and profound." — Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal

★ 01/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Ben Carver works hard trying to please his friends, his teammates, his teachers, and, most important, his father. Barely keeping up with his classwork, extracurricular activities, and friendships, Ben wonders if he does all of these things for himself or just to placate those around him. He grapples with staying true to himself, even if he isn't sure who that self is yet. This follow-up to Openly Straight is told from Ben's perspective as a scholarship student living among privileged classmates as well as a teen wrestling with the consequences of living by other people's expectations. Well-rounded characters take readers from serious, thoughtful discussions to typical teen pranks with ease. A boarding school story along the lines of Andrew Smith's Winger, this is equal parts serious and funny as it addresses homophobia, hazing rituals, and cheating while also delighting readers with a slice-of-life tale set at a private academy. VERDICT A first purchase for public libraries wishing to add diverse titles to their collection; give this to fans of Andrew Smith, Brent Hartinger, and John Knowles.—Jenni Frencham, Columbus Public Library, WI

MAY 2017 - AudioFile

Dan Bittner’s narration develops the unique personality of 17-year-old Ben, a secondary character in Konigsberg’s earlier book OPENLY STRAIGHT. At the end of that story, Ben has pushed away Rafe, his best friend with whom he had a brief lover relationship. In this follow-up, Bittner quickly reveals Ben’s intelligence and introspection. His delivery continually contrasts Ben’s sensitivity with the insensitivity of others—his gruff and domineering father, his macho baseball teammates, and his elite classmates at the boarding school to which he’s earned a scholarship. In a complex portrait, Bittner captures Ben’s confused central conflict—is he gay, or straight, or is he only “gay-for-Rafe”? Keeping the plot engaging, Bittner highlights Ben’s search for his identity. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2016-12-06
Not your average boarding school drama. Seventeen-year-old, New Hampshire-farm-raised, proud Czech-American Ben Carver has just been elected the captain of posh, private Natick School's famed baseball team in his junior year. He's also been told by the headmaster that he's next in line to win the school's coveted scholarship—awarded to only one Natick student annually. (Like his teammates, Ben is white; unlike them, he's not "exceedingly wealthy.") He's a huge history buff; he's kind. He's also struggling between what he feels versus what he yearns to feel. Earlier in the year he experienced an intense, romantic connection with his best friend, Rafe, that still haunts him. However, when he meets an outspoken student from the nearby all-female academy, he thinks he can finally dampen the sparks Rafe ignites. Maybe. Konigsberg's latest is full of heart. Not only is Ben fully fleshed with an honest, admirable set of emotions and principles, he's also 6 feet 2 inches and muscled—exactly the kind of protagonist that readers will be drooling over. Every other character is rendered in the same thoughtful way—even the douchebags have hearts. The plot unfolds naturally from Ben's point of view, and despite a somewhat forced ending it still ends on a high. Packed with literary references, pranks, heady conversations, humor, honesty, and tribulation, this is one that will be remembered. A fresh, insightful, inspiring take on what it means to come out. (Fiction. 13-17)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171291198
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/28/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

Read an Excerpt

From Honestly Ben:My pulse went rogue on me. Wild, crazy, strange, nonsyncopated beats. I felt my heart soar, and then plunge, and then soar again. I hadn't been pulled toward Toby and Albie subconsciously it was Rafe I'd wanted to see, and that was just crazy.I slowed my pace but continued walking, and there was Rafe, illuminated by the moonlight, all bundled up, about six inches below the powder surface. He was making a snow angel.He was wearing the same bright red jacket and black hat he'd worn when we'd gone skiing in Colorado over Thanksgiving. I flashed on Rafe skiing in front of me, his legs moving from side to side like a pendulum while his upper body stayed totally still. On the long chairlift rides, his visible breath dissipated into the cold mountain air, while everything around us felt crisp and clear and right.It had been one of the happiest days of my life.But that was then. Now my insides were all messed up about it, and I knew if I let myself feel even a little bit of that it would be a lot, and I didn't have room for a lot anymore. I wished I could just disappear."Snow angels have no place in an igloo community," Toby said."Maybe igloos have no place in a snow angel community," Rafe yelled.I shifted my frigid legs, and it made a sound, and I silently cursed my stupid, thick body. Toby looked over, and he gave a tiny, tentative wave."I think there could be communities of snow angels that have yet to be discovered," Rafe said, hoisting himself up with his arms. That's when he saw me standing there, maybe fifteen feet away.Rafe smiled, a questioning smile, like, Can we be okay, please?No. Yes. No. I didn't know.

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