YA Review: Nat and Cami’s Guide to Running an Undercover GSA (Karis Rogerson)

Cami is a 15-year-old lesbian, one of the few out queer students at her conservative boarding school for international students in Italy. She just wants to focus on getting her paintings in a student gallery and kickstarting a vaunted art career-but first, she’ll have to survive the next two-and-a-half years of bullying. Seeking respite from her roommate’s cruelty one night, she hides out in a bathroom-only she’s not the only one there. 

Nat is a senior, closeted even from herself, whose homophobic, missionary parents are pressuring her to win valedictorian. A year younger than her peers at 16, she’s still the head of her class, the fastest runner on the cross country team, and the captain of the girls’ soccer team, but her depression and insomnia keep her up all night. She takes refuge in the ground-floor bathroom where Cami shows up one night. 

As they spend time together over the following nights and Cami shows Nat how poorly the school treats queer people, the two girls concoct a mildly hare-brained scheme: to create an undercover Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) where queer students and allies can bond. They don’t expect so many kids to find a home with them. 

And they certainly don’t expect to fall for each other.

What I Liked: This book covers so many important topics, especially given the current state of the U.S. This book discusses being queer in a religious institution, the nuances of being out or remaining in the closet, the importance of community for LGBTQ+ youth, and the changes that can come from advocacy both for individuals and groups of people.

This book is told in dual perspectives, going back and forth between Nat and Cami, so that you are introduced to them through their own point of view. This dual perspective allows you to learn how Nat and Cami view queerness, and how they each are making sense of their experiences at the school.

The friendships throughout this book are nuanced, and it’s interesting to see how both Nat and Cami navigate both old and new friendships. Nat’s friendships through her sports team are complicated, especially as she discovers that she’s queer and knows that her friends won’t support her in this discovery.

Nat navigating her participation in the GSA with her parents’ expectations of her is heartbreaking, as you see her torn between the two. The relationship that Nat has with her parents is complicated, and it’s refreshing to see that Nat has her aunt, who steps in to support her in her exploration of her sexuality. Nat’s relationship with her aunt is a strong point in this story, highlighting the importance of having supportive adults around them to be successful in all aspects of their lives.

Cami’s friendship with Jennifer and Noah is an important aspect of the story, especially with discussions that occur regarding Cami being out yet Jennifer remaining in the closet. This conversation that continues to come up throughout this book is important to understand why people might not come out and how the choice is up to them. Cami’s talk with her mother about people coming out and how to respond to them is necessary for her to start understanding how it’s an individual choice, and how leaving that up to a person is part of respecting them and accepting them.

Final Verdict: Nat and Cami’s Guide to Running an Undercover GSA highlights the importance of visibility and advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth, especially in conservative spaces. This book is perfect for fans of Heartstopper, I Wish You All the Best, and The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School. This is one that young adults who are struggling with their sexual orientation because of their religious identity will cherish and find helpful as they navigate the intersection of those identities.