The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger

It’s also the story of Russel’s latest club, The Order of the Poison Oak, a secret society dedicated to helping its members see life’s hidden beauty, and accept its sometimes painful sting.

Geography Club’s Russel Middlebrook is back, and he and his friends are off to work as counselors at a summer camp. Summer camp is different from high school.

Russel quickly learns that he might have bitten off more than he can chew, and the mixed messages he receives from fellow counselor Otto don’t help matters. They all decide to serve as counselors at a camp for burn victim survivors. (Mar.After everyone at school realizes that their “geography club” is really a Gay Straight Alliance, Russel, Gunnar, and Min need to get away. Overall, this novel does a fine job of presenting many of the complex realities of gay teen life, and also what it takes to be a 'thoroughly decent' person. But Hartinger credibly captures high school pressure and intolerance, from the opening scene in the boys' locker room, in which Russel fears being found out, to a painful episode in which an outcast, thought to be the gay student, is humiliated in the school cafeteria.

Gunnar's foul-mouthed date comes across as too obnoxious ('That movie was so gay,' she says), and some readers may find it difficult to believe that Kevin, with the most at stake, would join the Geography Club. WANT A NOOK Explore Now Get Free eBook Sample Buy As Gift LEND ME See Details Overview Book 2 in the Lambda Award-winning Russel Middlebrook Series 'Summer camp is different from high school. Then, a teacher reveals in the school paper that a student approached her about starting a gay support group, making the school buzz over that student's identity. The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger 3.5 eBook 3.99 Instant Purchase Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. Russel begins a relationship with Kevin-but complications arise when another friend, Gunnar, unwittingly sets Russel up with an aggressive girl.

Then Russel learns that one of his best friends is bisexual and they form a small support group (called the Geography Club as a cover, since 'no high school students in their right minds would ever join that'). The story starts out strong, when Russel meets a jock from his school, Kevin, in a gay chat room their tentative decision to meet and their awkward initial conversation convincingly portray the conflict of wanting to reach out yet being afraid of being found out. A closeted gay high school sophomore narrates Hartinger's uneven yet realistic first novel.