Hi, my name is Kal Hawley. I’m 18 years old, and I am so, so queer. And whether you are too, or you’re not sure yet, or you’re just bored and scrolling through The Daily Free Press, I hope this column can help you find something a little more interesting than a forced romance between two characters who really were better as friends or the “shy girl inexplicably wins the heart of popular guy” trope.

Some characters bring us comfort and joy, merely by being part of our lives.

I seem to still be trapped in an early 2000s time warp.

Although they’re constant and unchanged, these books aren’t stagnant. As I’ve found with rereadings, there are always more complexities and nuances to uncover, new interpretations to contend with. 

We’ve all seen at least one book-to-movie adaptation, given that in recent years there’s been a craze over turning novels, specifically young adult and middle-grade ones, into films. The popularity...