Will B. Free (an unapologetic LGBTQ+ teen coming of age hero): Be Free. Brave. You.

Will B. Free follows a dazzlingly unapologetic gay teenager who transfers into a conservative Ohio high school and immediately disrupts its social order by insisting on radical authenticity, kindness, and spectacle as moral acts. As Will forms an unlikely trio with Kevin, a brilliant and cautious boy hiding a secret heroic self, and Jessica, a fierce realist who refuses destiny narratives, the story explores how friendship becomes both armor and risk in a system built on hierarchy and fear. Will's fantasies blur constantly with reality, revealing how imagination functions not as escape but as rehearsal for courage, especially as he challenges the inevitability of popularity, cruelty, and silence embodied by Homecoming royalty and entrenched power. At its heart, the novel reframes heroism as the act of helping others become fully themselves, even when doing so invites danger, heartbreak, or loss. By the time Homecoming approaches, Will B. Free argues that freedom is not granted by crowns, votes, or approval - it is claimed through visibility, chosen family, and the refusal to shrink.