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Camp Rules
Freezing lakes, kitchen duty, canteen . . . chauffeurs? At Fern Lake Camp, no ensemble is complete without Prada sunglasses, and unwilling newcomer Penny Moore is so not into it. Plus, everyone else in exclusive Bunk One has been together forever. Camp is their life. It’s “The Promised Land,” the last haven where a Manhattan It Girl like Logan Worthe can still be a kid. It’s Logan’s last summer, and she’s ready to rule the camp . . . and Penny is in her way.
A surprise-packed care package for anyone who’s ever loved camp or wanted to find her own place to play.
- GenresFictionHumorYoung Adult
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 17, 2007
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28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 13, 2009
I was thrilled to come across a YA book with 16-year-olds who actually go to camp as campers (which is usually the case in the real world); summer camp books rarely have kids older than 13 or so, unless they're counselors (and almost no sleepaway camp will take counselors before they're out of high school). I went to camp--regular camp, not music camp or academic camp--until I was seventeen.
Unfortunately, the girls in this book act like they're 12 or 13 instead of 16, so it's sort of a wash. There's a lot in it about how summer camp is the only place where a 16-year-old girl can still be a girl, but "still being a girl" doesn't mean acting and thinking like you're 12, does it? I was pleased to find there wasn't any alcohol or smoking or serious sneaking out; Roter really did replicate that innocent atmosphere; but so few deep or angsty thoughts are expressed that the girls didn't seem real.
It's clear that Roter really knows and loves summer camp, but she also beats you over the head with it, the sense of belonging and tradition and there-are-no-cliques-here. And there aren't enough flies in this ointment. The girls consistently get along, and even the little kids are never annoying. The counselors step out of the picture whenever it's convenient. (My favorite was when the head counselor catches the girls having a food fight in the kitchen in the middle of the night, scolds them, tells them to clean it up, and then... leaves them there.) I do think it would be terrifically hard to capture the entire summer camp experience in a book, but this read like a fantasy half the time.
But really, the worst thing is that the writing is not very good. I can't imagine how this got past an editor and copy editors. One exclamation point is bad enough; three are inexcusable--and that's repeated throughout the book. And who says "sit Indian style" anymore? In what universe do 16-year-old girls (in 2007) have elaborate romantic fantasies about... David Hasselhoff?
I wish this had gone through the editor a few more times to remove some of the repetitious camp-is-paradise and add in some more conflict and age the girls a bit and remove all extraneous exclamation points. Then it might have been a very sweet book.
Unfortunately, the girls in this book act like they're 12 or 13 instead of 16, so it's sort of a wash. There's a lot in it about how summer camp is the only place where a 16-year-old girl can still be a girl, but "still being a girl" doesn't mean acting and thinking like you're 12, does it? I was pleased to find there wasn't any alcohol or smoking or serious sneaking out; Roter really did replicate that innocent atmosphere; but so few deep or angsty thoughts are expressed that the girls didn't seem real.
It's clear that Roter really knows and loves summer camp, but she also beats you over the head with it, the sense of belonging and tradition and there-are-no-cliques-here. And there aren't enough flies in this ointment. The girls consistently get along, and even the little kids are never annoying. The counselors step out of the picture whenever it's convenient. (My favorite was when the head counselor catches the girls having a food fight in the kitchen in the middle of the night, scolds them, tells them to clean it up, and then... leaves them there.) I do think it would be terrifically hard to capture the entire summer camp experience in a book, but this read like a fantasy half the time.
But really, the worst thing is that the writing is not very good. I can't imagine how this got past an editor and copy editors. One exclamation point is bad enough; three are inexcusable--and that's repeated throughout the book. And who says "sit Indian style" anymore? In what universe do 16-year-old girls (in 2007) have elaborate romantic fantasies about... David Hasselhoff?
I wish this had gone through the editor a few more times to remove some of the repetitious camp-is-paradise and add in some more conflict and age the girls a bit and remove all extraneous exclamation points. Then it might have been a very sweet book.
May 16, 2017
I enjoyed reading this story. However, the ending was not satisfying. I felt that the author just wanted to story to end.
March 27, 2020
This was cute and fun! I'm always looking for more books that take place in summer camp!
May 4, 2008
Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com
Camp really does rule if you've been going to the same one for eight years and now you're the queen bee, but when your parents decide to send you to camp for the first time when you're sixteen, it's a nightmare.
Unfortunately, it's Penny's nightmare.
Not only is she forced into camp, but it's the same camp that the local "It Girl" adores. Logan is extremely unhappy about Penny crashing her party. More than anything, Penny wants to go home, so when Logan demands Penny leaves, she agrees. Logan coerces Penny into a game of rule-breaking to make sure she leaves camp. Penny begins to settle in, even though she's not used to finding herself in trouble. She likes the other girls in the cabin and she likes her new daredevil self. She certainly doesn't want to leave camp, but Logan's made it pretty clear that either she'll get kicked out on her own or Logan will force her out.
CAMP RULES asks the question, "what if the rules of high school were different and you could be friends with anyone regardless of their reputation?"
Relive the carefree days of camp and read this book with a side of s'mores!
Camp really does rule if you've been going to the same one for eight years and now you're the queen bee, but when your parents decide to send you to camp for the first time when you're sixteen, it's a nightmare.
Unfortunately, it's Penny's nightmare.
Not only is she forced into camp, but it's the same camp that the local "It Girl" adores. Logan is extremely unhappy about Penny crashing her party. More than anything, Penny wants to go home, so when Logan demands Penny leaves, she agrees. Logan coerces Penny into a game of rule-breaking to make sure she leaves camp. Penny begins to settle in, even though she's not used to finding herself in trouble. She likes the other girls in the cabin and she likes her new daredevil self. She certainly doesn't want to leave camp, but Logan's made it pretty clear that either she'll get kicked out on her own or Logan will force her out.
CAMP RULES asks the question, "what if the rules of high school were different and you could be friends with anyone regardless of their reputation?"
Relive the carefree days of camp and read this book with a side of s'mores!
August 18, 2009
Penny isn’t too pleased when her 16th birthday present is eight weeks at a summer camp in Maine. She’s even less pleased when she’s plunged into the bizarre world of camp with a cabin full of girls who’ve been going to the camp for eight years, and who are less than pleased themselves to have a stranger in their midst. Things at camp have a way of working out, though.
I love how the author builds the world of the camp, noticing all the little details that make a camp what it is. She clearly loves camp as much as I do. The story is fairly slight, but it hardly matters; the point of the book is to spend a summer at camp along with Penny, experiencing all the wacky wonderfulness that is Fern Lake Camp.
I love how the author builds the world of the camp, noticing all the little details that make a camp what it is. She clearly loves camp as much as I do. The story is fairly slight, but it hardly matters; the point of the book is to spend a summer at camp along with Penny, experiencing all the wacky wonderfulness that is Fern Lake Camp.
October 14, 2009
This author attempts to create realistic teenage-girl dialogue and fails miserably. I read the first part of this book and had to stop when I realized I cared nothing for the characters (development is nil), who were simply exaggerations of stock characters. Plus, I had already successfully predicted the plot by the third page. A girl is forced to go to summer camp and doesn't seem to be fitting in with all of the snobby, mean girls. Her parents promise her that they will let her come home if she is not happy by the time visiting day arrives. What do YOU think happens?
March 23, 2014
I liked this haha. It was funny, and I loved the way it showed that camp can form bonds. I never went to sleepaway camp, but up until last summer, I'd gone to the same camp for 15 years, since I was 2 and a half. (worked there Summer 2010-2012, last summer was the first summer I hadn't gone as a camper or a counselor). But anyway, I formed bonds with the girls in my group, got close to counselors. I have some pretty amazing memories from the first couple years of my life because of my camp. I loved the story and I thought it was a really good book.
May 2, 2015
I've said before that as a kid I devoured every book about summer camp I could get my hands on. Many, many years later, I still do. This one was great. Each of the Bunk One girls had a distinct personality, and Roter has a flair for dialogue.The conversations between the girls was snappy and often hilarious.
May 25, 2013
I absolutely loved this book!!!!! I read it for the first time about four years ago. I loved it so much that I started writing a play of this book. Now, four years later, I am almost done with this play! This book has led me to love camp more and more, and everything about it is just absolutely amazing.
November 2, 2008
Love the twist on this mean girls story. But the incessant cheers were a little unnecessary...
September 25, 2009
This is a book about a girl named Penny going to a camp for the summer she really doesn't want to be at.
September 7, 2009
I liked it but beware it talks about skinny dippin' and has a few bad words!
August 11, 2012
At first it is quite boring but in the end you'll find so many twists. It tackles friendship that would always be remembered.
January 6, 2013
A book for someone who is bored with their summer lives. :)
February 25, 2013
This book is my jam.
"Slutty's just a word--it can mean whatever we want it to mean"
"Slutty's just a word--it can mean whatever we want it to mean"
November 6, 2008
a cute book, fun to read
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews