Summer Camp Archives

To Night Owl From Dogfish

by Holly Goldberg Sloan, Meg Wolitzer

This modern-day version of The Parent Trap is fun for the whole family. This collaboration between two highly successful authors—one who primarily writes for kids, the other for grown-ups—features two twelve-year old girls living on opposite coasts who strike up an unwanted correspondence after they discover their single fathers fell in love at a building conference and are now dating. This relationship is not good news to either of them, as they make clear in the ensuing emails that comprise the book. Their situation goes from bad to worse when their fathers force them to attend the same summer camp, hoping they’ll become friends. Things go horribly wrong in more ways than one, but there's not a single page here that doesn’t feel fresh, funny, charming, and real. A big-hearted story for readers of all ages. For fans of C.C. Payne’s The Thing About Leftovers and Rebecca Stead’s The List of Things That Will Not Change.

Loveboat, Taipei

by Abigail Hing Wen

In this fast-paced YA debut, a girl travels halfway around the world to find herself, and maybe find love, too. Ever Wong is an eighteen-year-old Asian American girl in Ohio, a talented dancer who, unknown to her parents, harbors dreams of pursuing professional dance. When her parents find out she's considering dance instead of med school, they send her to Taiwan to spend the rest of the summer at Chien Tan—an immersive high school program devoted to language and culture. When Ever arrives she's surprised to discover that far from the scholarly summer she expected, the students themselves call the program "Loveboat," because it’s tons of fun and so many long-term relationships begin here. I enjoyed the audiobook version, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller.

Once More with Feeling

by Elissa Sussman

Sussman follows up her smash hit Funny You Should Ask with a pitch-perfect second-chance romance. When persona non grata Kathleen Rosenberg is offered the starring role in her best friend’s musical, she can’t say no. This is the best thing to happen to her since her music career went down in flames ten years ago. But there’s a catch: the director is Cal Kirby, and he’s the reason the whole world hates her. Nevertheless, Kathleen says yes, and the story takes us from auditions to workshop to out-of-town tryouts as Riveted! gets ready for its big debut, and Cal and Kathleen reckon with their past—and present. Bold, sassy, and packed with the same flavor of gossipy industry and (fictional) celebrity dirt that made Funny so much fun. For fans of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After and Ava Wilder’s Will They or Won’t They?

The God of the Woods

by Liz Moore

Moore’s latest is a family saga, missing persons tale, and 1970s summer camp story rolled into one. One August morning in 1975, a camper vanishes without a trace. But not just any camper: she’s the daughter of the wealthy family who owns this camp, and fourteen years before, her older brother similarly disappeared. As the family, the campers themselves, and the neighboring blue-collar town residents gather to search for the girl, everyone suspects the two missing children must be linked, but how? The mystery is a driving force, but Moore’s story is complex and carefully layered, with a large cast of believably drawn characters who add texture and nuance. A character-driven, compulsively readable literary mystery that I've recommended for my teenage daughters, my mother's seventy-something-year-old friends, and dozens of readers in between.

Lisa and Lottie

by Erich Kästner

Did you know the movie The Parent Trap is based on a German children’s book? Shannan shared this fact in a meeting earlier this summer and it blew my mind: how could I not have known? In the 1949 original tale, two 10-year-old girls meet at summer camp and figure out they’re twins, then conspire to get their divorced parents back together. This landed on my TBR after Shannan read it and reported back that it was worth the reading time. (Dare I try it in the original German?)

Beware the Kitten Holy (Lumberjanes Volume 1)

by Brooklyn Allen, Grace Ellis, ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters

This middle grade graphic novel series set at summer camp is an absolute delight. But this is no ordinary summer camp: the five best friends Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley must figure out how to solve puzzles, defeat yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons, and evade the watchful eyes of their counselor. What, like magical quests and supernatural critters weren’t part of your summer camp? (This volume includes Lumberjanes #1-#4.)

The Interestings: A Novel

by Meg Wolitzer

This story introduces us to a group of friends who first meet at an artsy summer camp in 1970s upstate New York, and follows them for decades, well into mid-life. For as much as I'd heard about this book, I was still surprised to find how exactly it suited my reading taste; it hits the same notes as Cara Wall's The Dearly Beloved. Major thanks to team member Ginger for raving about this book for years.

Summer Camp

To Night Owl From Dogfish

Loveboat, Taipei

Once More with Feeling

The God of the Woods

Lisa and Lottie

Beware the Kitten Holy (Lumberjanes Volume 1)

The Interestings: A Novel

a gateway

to reliable joy this summer

Buckle Up!

summer reading starts May 16th