A High Five for Glenn Burke

This story is about Silas Wade and his decisions about who he is. At the beginning of the book, Silas is characterized by anxiety. He knows that he is gay. He also knows that he wants to come out to his best friend Zoey, but he is nervous. Although coming out goes relatively smoothly, Silas starts to worry about what will happen if other people find out about him. He thinks that he has already gone through his journey of self-acceptance, only to find that the reality of his situation is quite different. It is one thing to understand who he is privately; it is quite another to face the potential challenges of telling other people.

When Silas encounters anti-gay sentiments from his teammates, he retreats into himself. He becomes less openly silly, he lies about his friendship with Zoey, and his baseball playing worsens. The solution is not necessarily to come out to everyone. Silas is still very young and is not yet ready for that kind of pressure and scrutiny. Instead, with Webb’s help, Silas shifts his focus—not to a public declaration of his identity, but to authenticity. Being his authentic self without worrying what other people think sets Silas on the path toward being able to come out in the future.