Summer Camp Pick: Camp Shady Crook

Camp Shady Crook
by Lee Gjerstsen Malone
Aladdin
2019
276 pages
ISBN: 9781534422261

Archie Drake has the perfect scam at summer camp: pretend to somehow be related to THE Archie Drake, a famous billionaire. All the campers whisper and think he is the son or grandson of the guy
anyway, so why not just play along? Rich kids will give him money, candy, clothes and luggage if they think he's rich, too. The truth is: Archie is there on scholarship, but he's not fessing up to that.

When smart aleck girl Vivian shows up and threatens to ruin his scam, Archie cuts her in for a piece of the action. Secret partner Oliver doesn't want a girl to be part of their team, but Archie convinces him it's better to keep her close where they can watch her.

Camp Shady Brook is the worst summer camp on the east coast, maybe even in the entire nation. Ms. Hess runs it like an evil prison matron. The owners haven't spent a dime in upkeep on the camp and it shows. Screen doors hang loose on cabins, the lake is polluted, decks are full of splinters and shaky, the food is worse than slop, and the kids have nothing to do. Archie and Vivian make it their business to find out where all the tuition money goes, and they suspect Miss Hess of stealing it.

Camp Shady Crook is a delightful middle grade romp perfect for readers who love summer camps and cons. Even reluctant readers will find the short chapters an inviting and entertaining read.

Brilliant cover art and art continues on spine to make this book attractive in a book case or on a shelf in the library or retail book store.

Here is the spine art

Recommended grade 5 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.




































Camp Shady Brook









anyway, so why not just play along.


Archi Malone has the perfect

ISBN:

YA Review: No Good Deed

No Good Deed
by Goldy Moldavsky
Scholastic
2017
352 pages
ISBN: 9780545867511

Available May 30, 2017

No Good Deed is set up around a promising premise. Young activists are chosen by billionaire entrepreneur/do good-er Robert Drill (who is a caricature of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates) to  attend a teen summer camp/activism competition. Gregor Maravilla is excited to get an invitation to attend  his idol's camp. He dreams of winning the internship to work alongside Robert Drill, his long time hero.

Sarcasm and zingers abound but most of the characters never come to life. No Good Deed satirises  activism's flaws and the p.c. fishbowl that we live in.  Gregor keeps getting called "white" and insists he is half-Mexican although no one believes him. Half the humor comes from Gregor trying to direct his inner thoughts to be p.c. He has to keep apologizing to himself for even his own thought process.

Every camper is competing for his/her own cause--the more far-fetched, the funnier. At least that's how the book is supposed to read. The kids are so checked out and into themselves that they don't bother knowing anyone else's real name. They refer to each other by their specific cause. There's I Like Paint, Feed the Children, Men's Rights, Seat Belt Safety, and Diabetes.

Gregor is not excited that teen movie star Ashley Woodhouse is at the camp. Her campaign is Eat Dirt which she insists is a real thing. Eating dirt would save the planet according to Ashley and end world-wide hunger. Gregor keeps trying to avoid Ashley, yet everywhere he turns, she pops up.

Moldavsky's debut Kill the Boy Band is a tough act to follow. Goldy Moldavsky is still funny, but her humor is contagious when her protagonists are female and flawed. In No Good Deed, Gregor never engages as the central force of this novel.

Grade 9 and up. Some humor and funny moments, but this one falls short.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Middle Grades Pick: Just Like Me

Just Like Me
by Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
2016
256 pages
ISBN: 978149260427

"Tween readers will find much to identify with in this charming and refreshingly wholesome coming-of-age story. . . Filled with slapstick humor and fast-paced action, the novel will engage reluctant readers, while offering fuel for deep contemplation by those ready to tackle questions of identity and belonging."
says School Library Journal

"From pillow fights to pinkie promises, sock wars to s’mores, a red thread connects this energetic summer-camp story with Julia’s deeper journey to accept herself."
Megan McDonald, award winning author of the Judy Moody series and Sisters Club trilogy

My Review:

Who can resist a summer camp story? 

Just Like Me is more than just a summer camp feel good story about the woods, campfires, s'mores, canoes, and singalongs. It's a voyage of self discovery and self acceptance for main character and narrator Julia. She worries how she will ever get through a camp with her two Chinese "sisters." Though not sisters by blood, Julia, Avery and Becca were all adopted by American families from the same Chinese orphanage during the same time period. Avery and Becca live close to each other and  become best friends who love everything from the birth culture. They eat Cheetos with chopsticks and fan themselves with delicate Chinese fans. The girls are even learning Cantonese and Mandarin. Julia, on the other hand, is the "odd one out." She identifies with her adopted family's heritage: half Italian, half Irish but  decides to throw in half Chinese. Julia's mother pushes her to camp telling her it's a great time to be closer to her sisters.

Told through a series of introspective journal entries, the reader will see Julia become more accepting of herself and the others as the book progresses. When the three "sisters"  find themselves as roommates in a cabin with super-competitive campers and competition stars Vanessa and Meredith and Vanessa's "sort of" cousin Gina,  they must learn to work together to win camp games. 

Spot-on tween dialog makes this read a winner! Julia's journal entries add to the action of each chapter and allow the readers to connect with Julia's inner thoughts.

The cover art is a thing of beauty. Right away, you know the book is about summer camp. The girls in three canoes, a bottle of suntan lotion, a captured butterfly in a jar, dirty knees, mosquito bites covered with band aids and the perfect serene blue of the water capture that lazy summer day on the lake. The cover is sheer bliss!

For all those kids who never got a chance to go to camp (like me!) Just Like Me is that summer story they will embrace.
Highly recommended grade 4-7. Cavanaugh just gets it right!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. 
]

Can You Say Catastrophe? (The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair)

Can You Say Catastrophe?
(The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair)
Darby Creek
2013
160 pages

Available October 2013

Smart, sassy, and sparkling with wit, Can You Say Catastrophe? (The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair)will resonate with readers. April is a normal, socially clunky tween (she's twelve in chapter one) who embarrasses easily and often with the slightest provocation. She thinks her nose is oddly shaped and her "booty" is too small and non-existent. Her sisters embarrass her, her father embarrasses her, April even embarrasses herself every time she opens her mouth. She trips over her words and says the wrong things when she talks to "hot" boys. April's best friends Billy and Brynn are her constant companions and she's lucky to have them.

Life is getting stranger and stranger this year. Suddenly, there's a special electricity between April and Billy. They've been friends forever, but now something has changed. When Billy touches April, she suddenly notices. Hot new neighbor Matt has April thinking of love, too.

April makes a terrible mistake when babysitting her sisters, and her parents lay down the law. No more summer camp! April is horrified! Imagine spending the summer with your parents and little sisters cooped up in an antiquated RV rolling down the highway while your friends are having a blast at camp--WITHOUT you! April has a meltdown and acts like a spoiled brat but her parents don't give in. It's family vacation time.

Once they get rolling and seeing the sights, April realizes that vacations with her family aren't all bad. There are fireworks and amusement parks, boat rides and playing in the ocean, hotels (after the clunker RV dies), and family fun. April can't change her situation, but she does change her attitude--for the better.

Girls (and boys) will relate with April--she is the quintessential thirteen year old on the brink of puberty. She questions her body image, guys' body image, why guys act the way they do and other issues that tweens commonly wonder about.

Recommended grade 6-up. A couple of kisses, April worries over her mismatched breasts--one being larger than the other, and her non-booty.

FTC Required disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)