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Camp X #2
Camp 30
The thrilling sequel to Camp X, winner of the Silver Birch Award Jack and George have barely recovered from their ordeal in Camp X when they are relocated to Bowmanville, Ontario, where their mother has been offered a clerking job in a prisoner of war camp holding the highest ranking German officers.
Soon the boys are offered the after-school job of delivering the camp's mail, and Canadian agents ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for possible escape plans. For, as the boys are told, it is a matter of loyalty to their homeland that the German prisoners must try to escape, even if it costs them their lives—and the lives of two boys in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Soon the boys are offered the after-school job of delivering the camp's mail, and Canadian agents ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for possible escape plans. For, as the boys are told, it is a matter of loyalty to their homeland that the German prisoners must try to escape, even if it costs them their lives—and the lives of two boys in the wrong place at the wrong time.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2005
16 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
About the author
Eric Walters
156 books908 followersEric was born in Toronto in 1957, which makes him "real old". But, as Eric says, "Just because I have to grow old doesn't mean that I have to grow up!" In his many roles as parent, teacher, social worker, youth sports coach and writer he is in constant contact with children and young adults. He draws from these experiences and feels that this helps him to capture the realistic interaction between young people—the conflicts, tensions, stresses and interests that make up their lives.
Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.
Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).
"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.
Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.
Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.
The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).
Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.
Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).
"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.
Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.
Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.
The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 26, 2024
Once again I felt sorry for the bad guy and shocked that two kids are involved in this spy work. 2/6 complete.
December 20, 2019
I loved this book it is a great follow up to camp x. The boys start in a brand new neighbourhood and a brand new life except the camps, they move to this town and start delivering mail to the camp 30 prisoner of war camp with there mom working there two. They meet some people from the past and make some new contacts along the way. I love this book it was perfect for my age (13 year) and I would recommend this to a boy that likes fiction but also someone who is in to the world wars it truly fastening how the arbour right it but your always expecting something big to happen and it does it always keeps you entertained and wanting to read more I enjoyed this book I hope you can to.
May 23, 2017
I read this book with my dyslexic son who is 12 years old but reads at a lower level of a 10 year old. He really enjoyed it and even wanted to read the book as it was very exciting and suspenseful. We need more books like this that are written to appeal to young boys. The story was historical fiction so we also learned about what was going on in Canada during WW2 and the war of espionage. Great read highly recommended.
January 10, 2019
There are hardly many words to explain how much I love Eric Walters' work. This is the third or fourth book I've read, and I've found nothing, so far, to disappoint me. I like that he writes about subjects that are not plainly defined as right or wrong, where things are not just black and white, or people good and bad. He writes about those grey areas, those areas that actually show how this world full of humans is. Subjects in those areas are also heartbreaking precisely because right and wrong are not so easily defined.
In this story, you can feel George's conflict about the WWII German prisoners because he gets to know them, he realizes that they have families and miss them, the same way he misses his father, that they are brave, honourable, and good people, just caught up in an evil war that makes humans turn against each other. The Germans are portrayed as human beings, as normal people like you and I, and it makes you rethink about your feelings towards them.
You get caught in between wanting the prisoners to escape (if they were Canadian soldiers in a German camp, you'd want them to) and not wanting them to make things worse for the Allies by going back to Germany. And you just can't decide. That's how real life is. And eventually, you learn that you have to make a choice, a choice that can have drastic consequences even if it is the one that seems right, and you just have to learn to live with that.
I found this to be the case in Elixir and in Run. And it made me all weepy too, because I could just imagine that conflicting feeling, that feeling of despair, and the wishing that the world was not such a complicated place.
One particular aspect that I liked in this book was the Ajax-Whitby-Oshawa-Bowmanville setting. I lived in this area for a few years, and I saw surprised that there were camps in the 40s in Bowmanville and Whitby. I wasn't surprised about the munitions plant in Ajax, because that is believable. The camp in Whitby could have been since it is a bigger area, but a camp in Bowmanville seems so interesting and unreal. Now I feel like I need to visit Bowmanville, do some in-depth research about its history, maybe talk to some veterans, and find out if these details were real.
In this story, you can feel George's conflict about the WWII German prisoners because he gets to know them, he realizes that they have families and miss them, the same way he misses his father, that they are brave, honourable, and good people, just caught up in an evil war that makes humans turn against each other. The Germans are portrayed as human beings, as normal people like you and I, and it makes you rethink about your feelings towards them.
You get caught in between wanting the prisoners to escape (if they were Canadian soldiers in a German camp, you'd want them to) and not wanting them to make things worse for the Allies by going back to Germany. And you just can't decide. That's how real life is. And eventually, you learn that you have to make a choice, a choice that can have drastic consequences even if it is the one that seems right, and you just have to learn to live with that.
I found this to be the case in Elixir and in Run. And it made me all weepy too, because I could just imagine that conflicting feeling, that feeling of despair, and the wishing that the world was not such a complicated place.
One particular aspect that I liked in this book was the Ajax-Whitby-Oshawa-Bowmanville setting. I lived in this area for a few years, and I saw surprised that there were camps in the 40s in Bowmanville and Whitby. I wasn't surprised about the munitions plant in Ajax, because that is believable. The camp in Whitby could have been since it is a bigger area, but a camp in Bowmanville seems so interesting and unreal. Now I feel like I need to visit Bowmanville, do some in-depth research about its history, maybe talk to some veterans, and find out if these details were real.
August 9, 2025
Teacher and kids' books fan here - this is perfect for its target audience of 10-14yos, or anyone who enjoys action, spies, and a surprising corner of WW2 history. Normally I'm not of that last one, but as a US citizen, I'm not as familiar with the history of our neighbor to the north and their fight on the homefront.
Jack and George are a fantastic pair of realistically written brothers, and there is plenty of believable action and adventure that is also age-appropriate and age-realistic...no Alex Rider, over-the-top, might as well be an adult book kind of stuff. Grown-ups also are believably written, not dumb or ridiculously menacing.
Jack and George are a fantastic pair of realistically written brothers, and there is plenty of believable action and adventure that is also age-appropriate and age-realistic...no Alex Rider, over-the-top, might as well be an adult book kind of stuff. Grown-ups also are believably written, not dumb or ridiculously menacing.
August 23, 2019
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I am, however, always constantly irritated when characters make silly decisions in order for suspenseful moments to happen. At the end, I was a bit 'really?' . That said, I really did enjoy this book and think I would have much more so if I were in the target-audience age range. I will look up the next one in the series.
March 26, 2024
There being a second book stretches the believability and the good government propaganda even thinner...but plotwise I thought the author worked in this second story fairly well. Kept many of the things that worked but in a new way. I like that it did some humanizing of the enemy and showed that people on the other side often don't want to be there either and have their own families, shows how even good men can do evil things when they choose to follow their government. I don't buy that this is at all how stuff like this goes down at all but oveall a good story.
October 11, 2020
Another fun entry in the Camp X series.
It’s not quite a good as the first book but it’s still enjoyable. The history of Camp 30, a prisoner of war camp, is interesting and I presume accurate. The book is a bit of a slow starter but I like the protagonists, back from the first book, so it wasn’t an issue. The jump tot he action is almost to sudden but the ending is as thrilling as the last.
It’s not quite a good as the first book but it’s still enjoyable. The history of Camp 30, a prisoner of war camp, is interesting and I presume accurate. The book is a bit of a slow starter but I like the protagonists, back from the first book, so it wasn’t an issue. The jump tot he action is almost to sudden but the ending is as thrilling as the last.
June 1, 2021
I loved how this book highlighted what it was like for the German soldiers, fighting for their country, not Hitler, with families they loved and missed, and a duty to serve their nation. Eric Walters created such a heartfelt storyline, amazing characters, and drove home the point that everyone is a person no matter where they're from.
August 23, 2021
I liked Camp X better than Camp 30, although I liked how the boys moved to Bowmanville and we got to learn more about the German prisoners. I thought this book was going to end on and cliffhanger and I’m glad it didn’t. Nothing too violent for the age range.
November 14, 2021
it was a very good read although it was not as good as the first book. I liked the amount of action there was in the book. Was kind of questioning and mysterious at the beginning and then it got better.
February 6, 2021
I am reading through this series with my 8 and 10 year old sons. We all loved this one (book 2) just as much as Camp X (book 1). We’ll be starting Fool’s Gold soon!
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March 9, 2021This book had mystery, adventure and a first point of view
February 19, 2022
4.5 stars. Not as good as the first one but still amazing. The author is good at finding genius ways to bring these boys into situations where they would need to utilize their spy skills. Love it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2024
Good stuff.
January 16, 2015
By the time you reach this second book in the series, Jack and George are your friends, as real as the kids next door - or your own siblings. Typical familial bickering and closeness makes them real and believable, while their adventures are a little wild. But aren't adventures supposed to be?
This is another enticing read based on the Whitby-Oshawa-Bowmanville area in the 1940's and is as appealing as the first. Storytime is still a superior way of learning about history! A perfect summer reading adventure for kids...
This is another enticing read based on the Whitby-Oshawa-Bowmanville area in the 1940's and is as appealing as the first. Storytime is still a superior way of learning about history! A perfect summer reading adventure for kids...
February 21, 2014
A great sequel to Camp X, Camp 30 follows up the mentioning of the POW Camp made in Camp X and goes on to explore it very well. It was also nice to see Bill and Little Bill again. And to readers who have read the first novel, everyone knows that for Jack and George, at the end of the day, no one, not even the Nazis, is scarier than their mum!
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May 15, 2013Although this is not in my interest area or age range, I've considered taking a look at this book as I live in Bowmanville, and have been to camp 30. Is it worth a look for someone who wouldn't normally be interested in the plot?
July 12, 2016
Excellent sequel to Camp X. Engaging story. Great characters. Walters offers an interesting take on WWII through the eyes of two curious and courageous young Canadians. Great Canadian history through fictional story telling. Can't wait to read the next one in the series.
November 13, 2010
eric walters can to our school to talk about this book :)
March 7, 2012
Another hit for both of us! My son really enjoyed this one . . . the action was slower to build but the ending kept us reading chapter after chapter to find out what would happen next!
November 21, 2014
This was a great book. I especially like how the whole series, especially the first two are based and wrote with real information
December 31, 2013
The nicest, least violent of all the Camp X books by Eric Walters.
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July 19, 2016goood
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews