Out of Left Field

by Jonah Newman (Writer / Artist), Donna Outney (Colorist)

A nerdy gay teenager jumps headfirst into the bro-y world of high school baseball in this semi-autobiographical LGBTQ+ graphic novel.

Ninth-grader Jonah is not a jock. On the contrary, he loves history class and nerdy movies, and his athletic ineptitude verges on tragic. So, what’s he doing signing up for the baseball team? Could it have something to do with the cute shortstop, Elliot?

For the rest of high school, Jonah faces challenges on and off the baseball field, from heteronormative social pressure to thrilling romance. Realizing who his real friends are, he figures out what really matters and finally recognizes and embraces his gay identity.

Based on debut author-illustrator Jonah Newman’s coming-of-age experiences, Out of Left Field is a big-hearted and funny YA graphic novel about learning to be yourself.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, LGBT, Sports, Queer, Comics, Contemporary

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2024

About the author

Jonah Newman is a cartoonist and editor. As an editor at Graphix, Scholastic's graphic novel imprint, he has worked with Dav Pilkey, Jamar Nicholas, Angeli Rafer, and many others. When he's not creating, editing, or reading comics, you might find Jonah binge-listening to history podcasts, playing in an LGBTQ+ softball league, or getting way too invested in his fantasy baseball team. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband (who's a human) and two kids (who are cats).

Reviews

[Bookishrealm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of Left Field is a YA graphic novel that focuses on main character Jonah as he comes to terms with his place in high school as well as his sexuality. He's really into history and movies like Lord of the Rings (it's called something different in the graphic novel for copyright purposes). In order to appear more "manly" he decides to try out for the high school baseball team. He definitely isn't talented, but he feels like being around the jocks will prevent anyone from noticing that he's gay. There are a lot of content warnings for this one including: homophobia, misogyny, outing, internalized homophobia. Please understanding that some of these behaviors go unchecked and come from authority figures (i.e. teachers). I really enjoyed the artwork for this one. Newman put in a lot of detail to the school design, the characters, and the action scenes when the characters are playing baseball. He also did a great job showcasing the emotions and struggles that are closely aligned with a teen that is trying to figure out their sexuality. Jonah battles with his attraction to a teammate while trying to keep a relationship with another student secret. Although Jonah experiencing a lot of horrible things, he did have a great support system in his best friend. Nevertheless, I think that this moved too quick. Readers experience all four years of Jonah's experience in high school in a little over 250 pages. That wasn't enough time nor space and everything felt rushed. This was definitely a solid read and one that I recommend giving to teen audiences.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big hearted graphic novel debut based on the author/illustrator's own experiences playing on a homophobic baseball team in high school and struggling to embrace his sexuality among his friends and peers. This was an honest look at how hard it can be for queer teens to be out in high school when there's such intense pressure to fit in. Highly recommended especially for fans of books like the Heartstopper series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Maia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This coming of age comic spans Jonah's four years of high school, including crushes, dates, a first sexual experience, and that teen classic, joining a sports team to impress a boy and gain popularity. Jonah is a nerdy, closeted gay freshman with few friends when he joins the team. On the team he gains confidence and a spot in the school cafeteria- but he also fails to stand up to his teammates when they make increasingly sexist and homophobic things about other students. I enjoyed the complexity of Jonah's relationship with a female best friend, and with a boy he wants to date, but isn't comfortable being seen with in public. The book doesn't have a neat ending; the messy way some characters interactions end mirrors of confusion of teen years.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too simplistic. Very quick to read. Almost DNF per the unrealistic stuff at school (teacher leaving room while bullies and Jonah remain; PE teacher asking if a Jonah is a faggot). I surely hope this stuff that gets teachers fired isn't happening.

An unrealistic error occurs just a few pages into the book, where teacher leaves the classroom w her coffee, while Jonah remains with a few class bullies. This does not happen in schools. Teachers know who the bullies are and never leave an unopened classroom with students still inside. These bullies simply knock down Jonah's report/display, but still, this unrealistic scene could have instead found one of the more numerous realistic places that real bullying takes place at schools.

Gym coach for baseball in PE then says "If you're not a total dweeb, you'll already know the game." Again, very unrealistic. PE teachers do not overtly belittle students (do they?).

Jonah portrays his confusion of coming out well. The peer pressure by the baseball team took Jonah to a step with a girl I did not expect so quickly. The sex and language in this book make it for 17+, yet the graphic/quick-style is early teen. Feels mis-matched in content.

Girl on the boys baseball team never gets used in a game for four years?

Good head baseball coach portrayal, but even he could have done something before the last game of the senior year to get the bully-players to shape-up.

There is a diverse mix of student/teacher types, but almost no depth.

2.5* that I just can't seem to round up. I can think of many other books I'd rather recommend.

I've read some extremely good books so far this year, so maybe I'm a bit harsh. When I read multiple books at a time, the differences can be glaring.

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the illustration style and color work. Solid look at how difficult and complicated coming out can be in high school, but parts of the story felt off to me — like the the girl on the baseball team didn’t quite fit — there wasn’t enough about her to make it feel like a real subplot, but there was too much of her to ignore. And I didn’t love the big secret revealed during the party scene - it felt forced and didn’t really make much sense. I don’t know that I’d recommend this book, exactly, but I also wouldn’t tell anyone not to read it. Hopefully this story makes its way into the hands of readers it will resonate with more than me!

(Also: I was a dummy and went into reading this thinking this was a middle grade book, and it is *DECIDEDLY NOT* 🤣)

* thank you to Andrews McMeel for the finished copy!

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid YA graphic novel about being true to yourself and trying new things. I love any gay sports book, and though this had a little less sports than I wanted, I still really enjoyed how baseball was used to show the pressures teens are under to be "normal," even within an increasingly queer-positive society.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great coming to age sports graphic novel. I absolutely loved the art and the story even with how quick it was.

[vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah Newman graduated high school a year after me and this feels really true to the high school experience I had. It wasn’t pretty: the questionable bullying and verbal harassment, the weird romantic interactions, and the uplifting, great friendships. You were always trying to fit in while at the same time trying to carve your own way and be true to yourself. Ultimately, our main character finds change and authenticity post-high school. I also didn’t mind the baseball parts.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonah joins the baseball team not because he loves to play. If anything, he would rather nurd-out on Napoleon, or watch Lord of the Rings. But he gets a crush on one of the baseball players and thinks that might be a way to get closer to him. Jonah is not our, and as far as he knows, neither is the player he has the crush on.

This story follows his whole high school playing baseball, and he wrestles with his sexuality. He figures he is gay, but dates this girl who loves Lord of the Rings as much as he does.
The author based this story on his life, but it doesn’t follow it exactly. What he said he was going for were the emotions involved, rather than the actual things that happened. There is also a subplot about a young woman joining the team, and being treated like crap by the other young men. Unlike Jonah, who gets support from his coach for everything, Amelia never gets a break, hardly gets to play, and doesn’t have the coach on her side.

This has a lot of humor, as well as a lot of bullying. It is an interesting mix of things, because that is high school

THanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review. This book is being published March 26, 2024.

[Tom Garback · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Critical Score: B
Personal Score: B+

I love the colorful artwork a lot. The representation is strong, and there’s some great nuance thrown in a couple spots. But the plot is a bit plain and eventually quite unresolved, and the intended audience age is confusing; there’s F bombs and sex, but there’s also a sort of middle-grade vibe to it. There are many implausibilities throughout, like the way the teachers act, and I felt like we could have gotten a lot more story out of this—it’s so short. Enjoyable, though!

[Andrew Eder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going back and forth between 2 and 3 starts. The parts that we get are great!! But there’s so much left out that it felt super super rushed and surface level and almost fake? Like there were definitely more experiences with these side characters that should’ve been dug into to get more depth! Otherwise, they’re just pretty shallow.

Very gay and baseball which is a great combo! I’d recommend it because I enjoyed every minute reading it, but I’d also like to give the author some notes!

[Kayla Leitschuh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5. Not for a middle grade audience as I had originally thought.

[RaspberryRoses · Rating 3 out of 5]

A perfectly competent story, but nothing special.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 A sweet and lovely story.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this upper YA graphic novel that’s part memoir part fiction story about a teen boy coming to terms with who he is through being a part of a baseball team.

CW: coming out (theme), forced outing, slurs, bullying, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, toxic friendship, alcohol

[ashley marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of a 3.5, than a true 4, but I enjoyed the messiness of it, so I'm rounding up. I really enjoyed this book. It felt authentic to the high school experience, used modern references, and was stylistically appealing. My biggest critique would be the pacing. Some years, we're given the full experience, while others, we jump right out of it. It felt like if we're going to label the seasons or semesters, you should have all of them included.

Our main character, Jonah, is trying to survive high school. He is not sure where he fits in or who he wants to be, so he tries his hand at baseball and making friends. I liked Jonah. He's flawed, but trying. You see a lot of typical teenage drama, but you also see great examples of communication. There is an okay cast of characters. I did enjoy Sophie and Jonah's friendship though. It also helped shape Jonah's journey in sexuality. The discussions surrounding it were honest and showed the pressures or discussions happening around teens too.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend it as a read. It's a great story of exploration and being a teen. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was spirited and easy to read.

I don’t think that it was too much of a coincidence that the main character, here with this pioneering story of sexual acceptance to learn and emulate, looks a lot like Archie Andrews, America’s comic book sweetheart. But hey-surprise! Jonah is a real freckly-faced and very likable dude who’s telling his real life story of navigating the asshats while finding the supporters on his coming out journey as a high school athlete.

Not a ton of depth -Jonah keeps this light- but I imagine this would be a comforting, easy read for any high schoolers finding themselves in the same situation.

I found the art as fresh and accessible as the story. I didn’t like the lips on the female characters-found that a little distracting-but the coloring was bright and as effortless as your favorite Archie comic.

[Lisa Pineo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great YA graphic novel/memoir about figuring out yourself in high school. Jonah joins baseball because there's a boy he likes on the team, but he won't admit it to himself for a while. He tries to get better at baseball, get a girlfriend, and become more popular with the team, with mixed results. It's not until he admits his sexuality to himself that he can move toward having a boyfriend. Of course that doesn't go smoothly either since he's scared to out himself. I really liked the honesty and realistic portrayal of a teen boy's feelings and how messy everything was. I also liked that the author used his own experiences but also fictionalized parts for greater interest and mostly focused on what he had been feeling. Great writing and artwork with additional queer rep.

[Gabriele | QueerBookdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Representation: gay white protagonist, gay white secondary character, lesbian white tertiary character, queer tertiary characters of colour, tertiary characters of colour.

Content Warning: outing, alcohol, homophobia, homophobic slurs, sexism, misogyny, bullying, internalised homophobia.

Review to come...

[Jami Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know books like this have a place in the library, but I'm reading for a specific age range, and this is definitely not what I'm looking for. Profanity, alcohol use, slurs about sexuality, and teen sex are too much to ignore.

[Pierce Samuel ✞︎ (My Girlfriend's Ver.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO. This book was good, it had like 2 of my favorite things (Queer books and baseball), but it didn't really like stick out to me, yk? Like definitely good, and I'd recommend it for a quick read, sure! But I couldn't really get myself to really enjoy it if yk what I mean

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great representation of the complexities of being a teenager and learning to be comfortable with yourself. It's a solid graphic novel and a solid story with imperfect characters. However, I wanted a little bit more depth and emotion from this.

[Sean O’Halloran · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s like a shallow sports version of Heartstopper, such an easy fun read

[Lucy Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel did a great job depicting the messiness of high school and falling under peer pressure to hide who you really are.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need more sports MC graphic novels with LGBTQIA+ books. I liked that this one covered most of freshmen year - the end of senior year.

[kelly {BookCrushin} · Rating 4 out of 5]

perfect for summer pride lists! Baseball, queer, coming of age, and a graphic novel!

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute quick graphic novel

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this had the potential to be so much better but it just felt a bit too rushed and super unrealistic.

[chats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, cute. Kind of simplistic art wise but I liked that it doesn’t have a neat happy ending! I would have loved to have this as a baby queer middle schooler

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4