Camp, by Kayla Miller
Camp, by Kayla Miller
Camp is the follow up to Click—clearly I enjoyed that one so much that I immediately wanted more!—and follows Olive and her friend Willow as they attend summer camp for the first time.
Olive being Olive, she dives right in—she’s outgoing, chatty, loves trying new things and meeting new people.
Willow has a harder time. She’s shy, she’s embarrassed when in the spotlight, she’s anxious about trying new things on her own.
As the girls are getting their sea legs, they stick together. But as Olive starts to make friends with the other campers and as they both start to want to do different things, the problems start.
Willow begins to get more and more territorial—she gets annoyed when Olive is friendly with or even interacts with the other campers. She starts refusing to participate in group activities, and she tries to keep Olive with her, asking—and sometimes demanding—that Olive stay with her on the sidelines.
Olive knows that Willow is unhappy. She feels terrible about it, and she wants to be a good friend. But she doesn’t know how to fix the situation—if she does what Willow wants, that’ll make Willow more comfortable… but doing that would just shift the unhappiness over to herself, and that doesn’t seem fair either?
Oh, friendship troubles. I loved this.
• The characterization is great. Even though Olive is the protagonist, the book never demonizes Willow, even when she lashes out. She’s a jerk sometimes, and the book doesn’t excuse that, but we’re always clear on why Willow is acting the way she’s acting. It’s an empathetic and sympathetic portrayal on all fronts.
• The other campers (and the counselors!) are portrayed as three-dimensional people who ALSO have opinions and concerns about the Olive/Willow situation. I also loved that we see brief moments between the counselors, in particular, that make it clear that despite being quite devoted to their jobs, that they’ve got their own stuff going on, too.
• I loved seeing the girls process everything. They each have multiple one-on-one conversations with other concerned folks—counselors and campers—and each time, they walk away from those conversations with a new perspective on the situation to think about. It’s a nice reminder to kids that A) they’re not alone in having these problems, and B) they’re not alone, period. (OBVIOUSLY no situation is universal, but hopefully—hopefully!—most kids have at least one person in their life that they can talk to.)
• When Olive and Willow (spoiler?) eventually reconcile, they have a conversation that is more well-adjusted and emotionally mature than many adults that I know would be capable of. But it works?? It models a crucial skill for young readers WITHOUT coming off as preachy or didactic. (I think it’s largely because the girls come back to each other on their own, rather than having a counselor Sit Them Down.)
• I loved the camp itself!! So many activity possibilities, from music to skateboarding to MAGIC LESSONS, WHAT to more traditional “camp” stuff like arts & crafts and canoeing. And they have lots of things geared towards INDOOR KIDS—MY HEART and GOOD GRIEF, *I* want to go there now.
• Nightmare sequences! I admit it, I’m generally always here for nightmare sequences, and nightmare sequences that serve as metaphors for Friendship Difficulties, WELL. Count me in!
• Also always here for Dramatic Removal of Friendship Bracelets!!!
• DOUBLE ALSO HERE FOR BACKMATTER THAT INCLUDES INSTRUCTIONS FOR FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS!!
Like Click, definitely a great pick for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Victoria Jamieson, and Best Friends. It’s easy-going, it’s warm, it’s entertaining… and it promotes empathy and compassion and good communication.
Bonus Summer Camp recommendation:
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020): Powerful Netflix documentary about a summer camp in the early ‘70s that served disabled campers, and how many of those campers grew up to not just participate in, but spearhead, the disability rights movement. It’s very much about the power of community and a community’s collective voice, and it in no way falls into the realm of inspiration porn.
There are events in this documentary—particularly the ones around the decades-long fight for the ADA—that happened DURING MY LIFETIME that I didn’t know about, and that realization made me blisteringly angry—all of it should be common knowledge.
Related title on my TBR list: Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, by Judith Heumann, who is a major figure in the documentary.
