Janet E Cameron

This novel is about a gay teenager growing up in a small town, trying to cope with his own developing feelings for one of his best friends and the homophobia among his schoolmates. Stephen tries to keep his secret from his mother, friends and acquaintances but is still bullied because he doesn’t fit in with the others. The author has done a great job of portraying the horrible reality that a boy like Stephen must face, but she does so with humour, and there are touching and hopeful moments too. There are mature passages and some disturbing scenes in this book, so I would not recommend it to younger teens, but this really is the sort of book that young people struggling with their sexual identity ought to read.… (more)

For those of us who were teenagers in the 1980s, we know there was a particular difficulty trying to be a individual during that era. Specific social norms were set out and – no doubt – the scars from trying to be ourselves AND being liked by our peers still show on us today. Janet E. Cameron has documented how difficult it was coming-of-age to adulthood then in her novel Cinnamon Toast and The End of the Word.
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