Title: Geography ClubAuthor: Brent Hartlinger
Publish Date: February 2004
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 240pp
ISBN: 0060012234
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 14 and up
Annotation: Russel Middlebrook and a couple of his friends form a geography club as a cover for gay/lesbian club.
Summary: Russel Middlebrook is pretty sure he is gay as he isn’t attracted to the opposite sex and seriously avoids the half-naked guys in the locker room every day after gym class. While not having an actual experience with another guy, Russell decides to surf the net for gay chat rooms. While doing this he friends another gay teen, one whom happens to attend his very same high school--Kevin Land, the star of the baseball team. The two meet off school grounds and decide they have to keep their relationship a hidden. After discovering that there are more people like him, Russell decides to form an un-popular club, the geography club, to use as a cover for a gay/lesbian club. A place where Russell and his friends can be themselves on school grounds. Everything is good for a while, then things start to go awry as intense peer pressure and insecurity take their toll.
Evaluation: A compelling read, detailing the lives of seven different teens who come together to start a gay/lesbian support group. The story depicts the feelings of isolation and fear that each homosexual and bisexual teen goes through. By forming a "geography group" they not only develop a support group but friendships. Ultimately this is a story about doing the right thing.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness:
- Discovering your identity, even when it’s not accepted.
- Accepting who you are.
- Accepting other people for who they are.
- Doing the right thing, even when that means you have to give up something you really want.
Reason this book was chosen: A secret gay support group under the auspices of a geography club in efforts to form a support group.
Similar Titles:
Author Website: Click HERE
Awards:
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2005
Book Sense Summer Pick Teen Readers, 2004
Awards:
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2005
Book Sense Summer Pick Teen Readers, 2004
