Students go to "Sex Camp" and write back love letters.

Sex Camp, By Brian McNaught. Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2005, 446 Pages. Cloth, $31.50; Paper, $21.75; Electronic, $5.95.

As a professor, I feel as if I've done something right when the overwhelming majority of my 500 graduate and undergraduate students read an assigned book and write comments such as "It's amazing. I've gone through four years of college and the most beneficial book I've read came in the final weeks of my college career." And "Sex Camp was absolutely amazing. I have never been so emotionally involved in a book. In every chapter, I was compelled to read on, excited to see what valuable lesson I would take away with me. I found myself drastically changing from laughter to tears from chapter to chapter. I believe that everyone needs to read this book to fully understand who you are and what you're about, because it certainly gave me insight as to who I was."

As expected, many students complained initially about the length of the book (446 pages), but when they turned in their evaluations, they literally gushed over all that they had learned about gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, transsexuals and transgender individuals, the impact being HIV-positive has on one's sexuality, the means with which people with disabilities experience sexual pleasure, the components of and obstacles to sexual health, masturbation, body image, and the full spectrum of sexual response.

Sex Camp is the fictionalized account of the Annual Workshop on Sexuality at Thornfield, an actual weeklong SAR that was held at an Episcopal Church retreat facility for 30 years, and led by some of the top names in the field, including Bill Stayton, Pam Wilson, Alison Deming, Dick Cross, Carol Dopp, and the author, Brian McNaught. (I spent more than one week in July over the years as part of the program.) McNaught created 32 fictional characters as participants, and the telling of their lives draws in readers and educates them about their own sexuality.

I used Sex Camp as an adjunct to a textbook and was delighted with the effect. McNaught's success at character development through inter-participant dialogue provided just the right balance of narrative intrigue and information for a generation hooked on reality programming.

I recommend Sex Camp for use in other sexuality education programs and to anyone of any age, gender, or orientation who wants to laugh and cry as they learn more about the multiple facets of human sexuality.

Reviewed by Sandra L. Caron, Ph.D., College of Education and Human Development, University of Maine, 3749 Merrill Hall, Room 220, Orono, ME, 04469-5749; e-mail: [e-mail].