Jonah Newman

** spoiler alert ** Eeeeeeh, this one is hard. On the one hand, yay queer teen! Yay for figuring your stuff out, however messy that may be, and for, in general, treating people like human beings. I think it's cool that Jonah decides to try baseball and expanding his interests. I think it's even cooler (although, not gonna lie, a little weird) that he's so into Napolean. History is super cool. Napolean? Not my Jam. I love that he makes friends with a girl in his nerdom and proceeds to create show more a really lovely friendship based on mutual respect. I love that the relationships in this book show a tremendous amount of emotional maturity, and model how to make mistakes and still maintain kindness.

On the other hand -- I guess this is me putting my reader's hat on. Why is the character of Angela in this book? She tries out for the baseball team, has loads of talent, and is just treated like crap by the entire team and the coach the entire time. And there is no resolution. There is no point at which the main character (or anyone, really) sticks up for her or publicly questions how she is treated, aside from Angela herself. And I'm like... ok, maybe this is just so very based on the author's actual life that he needs to have her in the picture? But really, the message I get as a reader is that you think it's not ok to be a jerk to gay people, or people you are in a relationship with, but it _is_ ok to watch misogyny all around you and do nothing. I suspect, strongly, that that isn't the message this author intends to send, but as a reader, that is the message I am reading, loud and clear. And it makes me angry. And because I can't tell what the message there is supposed to be, I would not hand this book to anyone.

So gosh. That's a pity. It's a decent book. Do better. The book wouldn't have suffered at all for not having Angela in it. Or for a moment of calling the coach on his bs. Do better. show less

I liked the bones of this story, a fictionalized memoir of the author's own experiences with coming out as gay and coming to terms with that as a teenager. The art was inviting, and the writing was clear and solid. I just had a really hard time getting inside the head of Jonah, the main character. The reader could surmise what Jonah was thinking much of the time, mind you, via textual and visual cues, but it was more difficult to read him in the more introspective moments beyond "he's show more anxious" or "he's uncertain." I would have liked more nuance than that--something that would have made it easier to empathize with him when he was making questionable decisions.

Good, but could have been better. show less