The Order of the Poison Oak

Brent Hartinger is funny and tender and real. Although this book (and his others) feature a gay teen, ALL teents and adults who like to read young adult books should read him. No matter your sexual prefernce, you will appreciate his messages of acceptance and understanding and his great writing.

This is a masterfully written novel. Unlike a lot of books that sort of read like the author just started writing and then one day just stopped, the whole construction of this novel seems very carefully thought out. Everything ties together! I especially loved the Rainbow Crow story, and the way the author weaves its themes throughout the whole novel. Bravo, Brent, bravo!

Russel Middlebrook, a high school student readers last met in the novel GEOGRAPHY CLUB, is near the end of a very traumatic sophomore year. He was outed in the previous book, and he faced up to the ramifications of that, some of which continue on in the form of low-level verbal abuse from other students. "I'd put up with this kind of crap ever since we'd gone public with our Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance, and frankly I was getting pretty tired of it. Yeah, yeah, sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. First of all, anyone who thinks that words can't hurt you has obviously never taken sophomore P.E. And second, did it ever occur to whoever wrote that stupid adage that hurtful words might be a pretty good indication that sticks and stones are on the way?" (p. 2). From the start, it's clear that Russel has a good sense of humor and that he is strong enough to weather the ups and downs of his newly admitted gay status. But that doesn't mean it's easy, so he is glad that summer arrives, and he is heading off to be a camp counselor with his best friends Min and Gunnar. He figures they'll goof off, swim, play games with kids, and generally have a great time. No one need ever know he's gay. What a surprise to find out how wrong he is! For the first two-week camp session, Russel is assigned a cabin of ten-year-old boys, all of whom are burn survivors. They go on the rampage almost immediately. At first Russel is inclined to cut them far too much slack because he pities them, but he quickly loses control. Some of the early laughs in the book come from his internal musings about what brats they all are and how helpless he feels trying to keep them in line. Pity doesn't help; he has to learn to treat them the same as other kids and hold them to the same standards. Meanwhile, he doesn't see that much of Min and Gunnar, but he does meet one of the other counselors, Web Bastian, who is a real looker. Unfortunately, Min is also enamored with Web, and Russel's friendship with Min could be at risk. In fact, his friendship with Gunnar suffers some slings and arrows, too, and Russel is at wit's end. Only Otto, another counselor who attended the camp when he was younger and is also a burn survivor, is a steadying force for Russel. The story reads very much like a teenager is narrating it. At the same time, Russel has an intuitive side to him that is a delight. His strong heart shines through every chapter of the book as he learns that scars-both internal and external-as well as secrets can bring people together and tear them apart as well. Hartinger shares the weaknesses in his well-written teenage character as well as his strengths. By showing the discrimination toward both gay youth and toward the scarred burn victims, the author makes it clear that any kind of unfairness, any kind of pain is hard on kids, and only by banding together for support can it be transcended. This is a funny, touching novel about the continued growth an

I loved "The Geography Club," so I had trepidations when I eagerly snatched up the sequel. But they were quickly short-lived as I quickly got involved in the machinations of Russel, Min and Gunnar at a summer camp. This sequel is a rarity in that the main character actually grows in a new direction from the previous book. Usually, the character just seems to go through the exact same journey. But we see Russel grapple with the whys and hows of expanding his romantic horizons and himself into the outside world from the confines of high school. His relationship with a caddish counselor is very compelling as is Gunnar's journey towards FINALLY getting a girlfriend. It's a real story well-told. Fast, funny and touching.