summer camp memories

It’s summer, so it’s time for Laura “Noodles” Newman to head back to camp. This is her second year, and she is ready to reconnect with her best friend Aries and get back on the radio. Last summer, her radio show had been a big hit, and Noodles knows that with Aries by her side again, she will be right back to that special place again, on the airwaves.

At first, camp is a lot like last year. She’s in a new cabin, with some old friends and some new ones. There is a farm this year, so Noodles can spend some time with the goats. But their counselor Bonnie is the one who is directing the play musical, so she encourages the Ospreys (that’s their cabin name) to come help out with the musical, Peter Pan.

Noodles and Aries agree to help out backstage, so they show up at the theater to help paint the sets. But Noodles is more excited about her radio show and just wants to talk about that. Aries is getting caught up in the theater. She’s enjoying being backstage and learning all about the musical and the backstage support for the show. Noodles’ older sister Jill got a role in the musical, so she’s happy for her sister, but mostly, Noodles just wants to get back on the radio.

Noodles and Aries did one radio show that went well, but once Aries got caught up in the theater, Noodles did a radio show on her own. Aries wasn’t available to help Noodles with her material for that one, and Noodles was hurt and angry, feeling like her friend abandoned her, and when she went on the radio, her show did not go well.

But then some of the older campers got the flu and had to go home, and Aries got promoted from backstage to a big role in the musical, that of Wendy. Noodles has a decision to make. Will she forgive her friend and support her in her new love of the theater, or will she miss out on being a part of the thing that makes Aries really happy?

Miscommunicamp! is a good, old-fashioned summer camp book about summer camp and those camp friendships that can make or break a summer. If you ever went to sleepaway camp or even if you didn’t, this book evokes a sense of nostalgia for those simple days of hiking, swimming, camp pranks, and s’mores. Learning to be a better friend is both simple and complex at this age (maybe at any age), and watching Noodles learn that lesson is a reminder to be compassionate and kind, no matter your age or location.

Aside from one bad week as a kid, I stayed away from sleepaway camps as a kid. But I spent a lot of time in my local library, and I loved reading books about other kids who went to camp. Give me Paula Danziger’s There’s a Bat in Bunk Five. Give me Ellen Conford’s Hail, Hail, Camp Timberwood. And now I have to add Miscommunicamp!, which took me right back to that feeling of being at camp, but without having to be covered in bug spray or drinking the bug juice. This book is sweet, warm, a little corny, funny, and full of small surprises, just like I always thought camp would be. It’s a good book to read for kids of all ages, as long as they can appreciate a punny t-shirt, random nature facts, and a rescue dog for campers lost in the woods.

A copy of Miscommunicamp! was provided by publicists Kelley & Hall, with many thanks.