After Cam’s parents are killed in a car accident in the summer of 1989—a summer when Cam also discovered she likes kissing her best friend, Irene—Cam’s Aunt Ruth moves to Miles City, Montana, to take care of her. During high school, Cam fantasizes about beautiful Coley Taylor. Cam and Coley become friends, and eventually more. They keep their relationship a secret until they are caught by Coley’s brother. Aunt Ruth sends Cam to spend the 1992–93 school year at God’s Promise, a “Christian School and Center for Healing.” She’s one of twenty kids in a program for “adolescents yearning to break free from the bonds of sexual sin and confusion by welcoming Jesus Christ into their lives.” Cam has no such yearning, and finds a couple of kindred spirits to help her endure. She also witnesses how some kids at God’s Promise struggle to reconcile who they are with what they are being told. Emily Danforth’s novel in three parts stands out for its look at the life of a gay teen who has no doubt about her sexuality and no worries that it’s wrong even as she is challenged to think otherwise. It also stands out for offering rich, nuanced characters that go far beyond stereotypes—something particularly unusual and refreshing when it comes to the portrayal of conservative Christians. Danforth’s ability to explore and convey feeling through action and imagery is wonderful in a book that nonetheless would have benefitted from editing to make it shorter. But even though Cam’s journey is long, it’s satisfying. (Age 14 and older)

The acclaimed book behind the 2018 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning movie

"LGBTQ cinema is out in force at Sundance Film Festival," proclaimed USA Today. "The acerbic coming-of-age movie is adapted from Emily M. Danforth's novel, and stars Chloë Grace Moretz as a lesbian teen who is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after she gets caught having sex with her friend on prom night."

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut that was named to numerous best of the year lists.

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Talor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship, one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.

Don't miss this raw and powerful own voices debut, the basis for the award-winning film starring Chloë Grace Moretz.