Check out those hunks in the background!
Caroline B. Conney, I salute you. How can I begin to thank you for bringing this book into my life? It has everything I love in a camp book: multiple perspectives, quirky campers, crushes, a harem of cute boys to pick from, bffs, nasty bosses, overnight trips, bitchy co-counselors, and a bittersweet ending.
Sadly, I am at a lost for words when I want to blog about something that is good. (Maybe I should explore that with my therapist?) If you didn’t catch this one the first time around, it’s worth seeking out. The main characters are Marissa and Violet, who at first seem very different, but end up uniting over their hatred of bitchy dance instructor Cathy (think Jessica Wakefield). Vi is a real girly-girl, and brought a trunk of makeup, but ends up proving herself. Vi wanted to be a counselor because her cousin met her husband working at a camp, but Vi doesn’t think about all the responsibility that camp brings. She ends up loving her campers and crushing on the various boys they work with. There are almost too many, I lose track of them.
Marissa is really relatable. She’s been a camp counselor for many years, and loved it, but as she’s gotten older and dealt with more teenage stuff, camp starts to suck for her when she’s not the popular one and she doesn’t really fit in with the cool crowd. She’s upset that camp just doesn’t do it for her anymore. She’s lusting after Sinclair, who is lusting after Cathy. She ends up becoming friends with a guy named Heath who is working at camp to hide out from the media, his father pulled a Bernie Madoff and it is all over the news.
Among other fun camp hijinks.
Ah, camp books.
If you review Little Darlings (the movie) I’ll count it as my birthday AND holiday present.
Have you read the sequel, Camp Reunion? I came across it once in a used bookstore and passed it over, although now I’m curious about it despite its lukewarm editorial review on Amazon.
I’ll second the request for Little Darlings! One of my favorite movies ever.
My favorite camp books was Yours Til Niagara Falls, Abby by Jane O’Connor and Molly Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp.
My favorite camp books WERE Yours Til Niagara Falls, Abby by Jane O’Connor and Molly Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp. That’s what’s happens when you go back and insert words.
I remember reading a description of this book in the back of another YA romance novel:
“Welcome to Camp Menunkechogue (sp?)! For Marissa, finally a counselor, camp is what she lives for. For Vi, camp is a place to meet and catch a boyfriend. Grab your gear and join them for camp songs, romance, and great summer friendships!”
I then envisioned Marissa as having a major hard-on for anything related to camp, and Vi as someone who hits on every single guy she spots at the campsite.
Also: Sinclair and Heath? Seriously? Has anyone ever met a teenage boy with a name like that in real life?
OMG, I remember that description too! And the blurb for the reunion book had something about “tans have faded.” I remember being really jealous because as an Irish girl I NEVER tan.
When I did summer theatre in high school, there was a kid named Heath in my show. Granted, he was about 6.
Never heard of this one. The cover girl looks like a Wakefield. Is she posing gracefully for the boys, or what?
The only camp book I remember reading was There’s a Bat in Bunk Five. I remember the title, and it seems like I remember the main character was overweight and wanted to lose weight…or am I getting this confused with the Pistachio Prescription? Anyone else read Paula Danziger back in the day?
“There’s a Bat in Bunk Five” was the sequel to “The Cat Ate My Gymsuit” which I loved because the heroine was an overweight outcast who learned to stand up for herself. Sadly, I never finished the sequel because I was furious at the fact that she was now thin and had a boyfriend. Just like Robin Wilson.
By the way, how did the girls on the cover of this one, who I’m assuming are a counselor and two campers, get identical swimsuits??
Did anyone ever read the Camp Sunnyside Friends series? I really loved that one, but I don’t think it was around long.
Great new look on the blog and I nominated you for a major award on my blog!! love ur blog soo much!
I never read any books specifically about camp, but I loved the Babysitters’ Club camp specials. I don’t know why I found the concept so fascinating, because I think I would have hated going there myself (same with boarding school books).
The cover on this book is so sugary-sweet, it’s making me feel a little ill.
My favorite camp books are and will always be In Summertime It’s Tuffy and There’s A Bat In Bunk Five. Mainly because they dealt with seriously disturbed, borderline homicidal kids (Bat) and were the first mention I ever came across of Halva Bars (Tuffy). I was well into my late twenties before I finally found a Halva bar here one the west coast and was very disappointed that it tasted horrible! Maybe I got a rancid one.
I read Camp Reunion without ever reading the first one (this is the first time I’ve even heard the name!) and it was of the awesome. I especially liked that when Vi and Marissa reunited, it made people remember their own camp friendships, some maintained for 50 years(!) or some people wondering what happened to their counselors. I loved it.
Also, I read Camp Sunnyside Friends, and Pee Wee Scouts- remember those? I neither went to camp or was a Scout, but I had major envy based on those books.
Will you review Bat in Bunk 5, ihatewheat?? It would be the thing that was eight steps past amazing. Honestly.
Ooh! I remember this book. The cover, anyway. I don’t remember what the plot was about or anything, so thanks for the recap!