Better Nate than Ever / Tim Federle / 275 pages

In a nutshell, this book is about being different and finding your dream and being accepted.  Nate Foster is 13 and loves the theater, Broadway, and singing show tunes.  Unfortunately he lives in Jankburg, PA where these attributes are not considered acceptable in middle school.  Luckily for Nate, he has a best friend Libby who finds out about tryouts in New York for a  Broadway musical production of E.T.  Nate thinks this might be his big chance so he heads off to NYC by himself on a Greyhound Bus with $50 and his mom's ATM card.  Nate does get an audition and finds out a lot about theater, lifestyles in New York, his family, and the highs and crushing lows of living your dream.  While this book is not about Nate's sexuality because he states he's not ready to think about that or decide anything, he is exposed to different lifestyles in New York and also cruelly bullied by the kids at his Middle School.  This is a middle grade book that has a good message and leaves you pulling for all of the Nates in the world.