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Rating: 
Summary: Extremely helpful in my journey out.
Review: I found this book extremely helpful in my journey out. It is geared toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, or just plain curious teenagers. However, it would be helpful to anyone, no matter the age. The book is written in a simple style and very easy to read. There are lists of resources that a person can utilize to help them on their journey out. The most important part of the novel was the chapter on coming out. This chapter gives the reader advice on how and when to come out. Another plus is that there are little blurbs from actual people interspersed in the book. This book is a must read for anyone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely helpful in my journey out.
Review: I found this book extremely helpful in my journey out. It is geared toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, or just plain curious teenagers. However, it would be helpful to anyone, no matter the age. The book is written in a simple style and very easy to read. There are lists of resources that a person can utilize to help them on their journey out. The most important part of the novel was the chapter on coming out. This chapter gives the reader advice on how and when to come out. Another plus is that there are little blurbs from actual people interspersed in the book. This book is a must read for anyone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual!
Rating: 
Summary: Useful resource (though more useful eight years ago)
Review: Though it's out of date and the appendix containing addresses and phone numbers of gay-friendly religious organizations around the country and gay/lesbian/bisexual youth associations is sure to be inaccurate at this point, the text itself remains relevant. The book is well-written and researched and has content very appopriate for a questioning teenager. The authors continue to stress self-acceptance and express a compassionate and understanding viewpoint of differing sexual orientations that numerous people are still loath to accept nearly a decade after the book was written. Perhaps the most interesting and informative chapter is the one concerning religion and spirituality. Being older than the target audience for the book, I found little of the information in the first few chapters to be as enlightening as I might have at age fourteen or fifteen. However, the religion and spirituality chapter gave me some information to which I had not yet been exposed. In relatively simple terms, Pollack and Schwartz explain the ongoing battle against homosexuality by several religious groups. It's helpful to go to the source and discuss the exact biblical passages that spawned the controversy and also briefly discuss the vast cultural differences between the time period in which the Bible was written and the world today. Knowing these differences makes one wonder why it would be necessary to take the Bible literally as some continue to do. Another interesting chapter is the one that tells about gay history, which is somewhat of a refresher of one's high school or college world history class, highlighting a few points some teachers may have inadvertently or intentionally omitted, such as the fact that in Ancient Greece, young artistocratic boys often had sexual relationships with their assigned teachers and role models, who were older men. Some young people don't realize that homosexuality has such a history that most likely goes back to the beginning of mankind. Still, what is just as important is the continuous message the book sends to teenagers that they are not strange or sick, and they are not alone, since there are inevitably many closeted gays and lesbians, and whether we choose to admit it or not, we all question our sexuality at some point in our lives. For many of us, this questioning comes during adolescence, which is why books like this are essential.
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