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Daring to Be Abigail
During her summer at Camp Nashaquitsa, eleven-year-old Abby tries to reinvent herself, while worrying about her mother, missing her dead father, and getting to know her equally self-conscious bunkmates
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Rachel Vail
58 books457 followersBirth
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 29, 2025
I first read this book when I was a kid and it was the book that turned me into a reader. I checked it out through Interlibrary Loan to see how I'd feel about it as an adult.
As a woman in my mid-thirties, I'm well past the target age for this book but Middle Grade is, and probably always will be, my favorite.
I'm giving this book 5 stars because it captured me as a kid. I always wanted to go away to camp but I never did. This book helped me live that dream vicariously.
There was a lot I had forgotten about the story over the 20+ years. I had forgotten about the bullying, the grief, and the letters home. But I remembered how the book made me feel, and how it made me want to read and read and read.
As a woman in my mid-thirties, I'm well past the target age for this book but Middle Grade is, and probably always will be, my favorite.
I'm giving this book 5 stars because it captured me as a kid. I always wanted to go away to camp but I never did. This book helped me live that dream vicariously.
There was a lot I had forgotten about the story over the 20+ years. I had forgotten about the bullying, the grief, and the letters home. But I remembered how the book made me feel, and how it made me want to read and read and read.
May 7, 2020
WOW OKAY.
so I got a copy of this book as a hand me down when I was probably like 8 or 9 and read it religiously as a kid throughout my childhood. somewhere along the way I lost my copy. last week while rewatching Wet Hot American Summer I remembered this book and a friend on Facebook found the title and I immediately bought a used copy on thrift books.
I AM EXTREMELY GLAD I DID.
this book should be up there with classics like “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and “Harriet the Spy” because holy crap, this is the most relatable book I’ve ever read about kids. I see why I revisited it over and over as a kid. every single character is well written and makes perfect sense and leaps off the page, you’ve absolutely known every one of these girls throughout your life. I didn’t expect this book to make me feel so many things and I definitely didn’t expect to cry at the end of a book about an 11 year old going to summer camp for the first time but like HERE WE ARE.
anyways if you were ever an 11 year old going through puberty and wanted desperately to be liked: read this book.
if you have any kids or know of any kids who are around that age: buy them this book.
this is a forgotten classic, I absolutely adore it. this book deserves way more praise. I’m never gonna shut up about this book now.
so I got a copy of this book as a hand me down when I was probably like 8 or 9 and read it religiously as a kid throughout my childhood. somewhere along the way I lost my copy. last week while rewatching Wet Hot American Summer I remembered this book and a friend on Facebook found the title and I immediately bought a used copy on thrift books.
I AM EXTREMELY GLAD I DID.
this book should be up there with classics like “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and “Harriet the Spy” because holy crap, this is the most relatable book I’ve ever read about kids. I see why I revisited it over and over as a kid. every single character is well written and makes perfect sense and leaps off the page, you’ve absolutely known every one of these girls throughout your life. I didn’t expect this book to make me feel so many things and I definitely didn’t expect to cry at the end of a book about an 11 year old going to summer camp for the first time but like HERE WE ARE.
anyways if you were ever an 11 year old going through puberty and wanted desperately to be liked: read this book.
if you have any kids or know of any kids who are around that age: buy them this book.
this is a forgotten classic, I absolutely adore it. this book deserves way more praise. I’m never gonna shut up about this book now.
February 10, 2023
I read this book for the first time when I was 10 and just going into 6th grade. I loved the book then and just reread it for the first time in 22 years. I have to say I still loved it just as much, although as an adult was much more grossed out by the prank at the end. This was one of the first books I read that made me say, I think I love reading. The books that I read before was more of a forced chore that I wasn't a huge fan of, but this book and a couple others made me change my way of thinking. It started me on a reading journey that has turned me into an avid reader and a huge lover of books. I am so glad I read this book and highly recommend.
July 21, 2017
A coming of age book, but the dialogue and storyline and immense number of girls' names introduced all at once made it difficult for me to follow or enjoy as much.
October 10, 2018
3.5*
This was good, but I hated the ending.
This was good, but I hated the ending.
January 17, 2022
Teleurstellend. Er was niet veel aan het verhaal, absoluut geen aanrader.
May 16, 2017
This is a horrible, disgusting book and I wish I had never read it.
September 22, 2012
I just finished reading this - very quick read. There were some things I liked about it and some things I hated about it.
On the plus side, I think it was a very realistic portrayal of what summer camp is like for many kids. Having never gone, I can't be positive. But the cruelty of the girls, and the ineptness of the boyfriend, were great. I also loved the counselor, Kat. Great attitude for a camp counselor, in my opinion.
The story was interesting, and I thought the ending worked out just fine. It was obvious that Abigail was having difficulties dealing with her father's death from early on, so the ending was fitting and expected.
What I didn't like was the author's habit of hopping into numerous character heads to tell us what that character was thinking or feeling. I felt like I was in Abigail's head from the beginning, and it was very jarring to find myself in another camper's head from time to time with no warning. I would have been much more prone to a higher rating if that hadn't been prevalent throughout the book. Having said that, I'm still planning on reading Wonder when I get the opportunity. Hopefully it will be more readable.
On the plus side, I think it was a very realistic portrayal of what summer camp is like for many kids. Having never gone, I can't be positive. But the cruelty of the girls, and the ineptness of the boyfriend, were great. I also loved the counselor, Kat. Great attitude for a camp counselor, in my opinion.
The story was interesting, and I thought the ending worked out just fine. It was obvious that Abigail was having difficulties dealing with her father's death from early on, so the ending was fitting and expected.
What I didn't like was the author's habit of hopping into numerous character heads to tell us what that character was thinking or feeling. I felt like I was in Abigail's head from the beginning, and it was very jarring to find myself in another camper's head from time to time with no warning. I would have been much more prone to a higher rating if that hadn't been prevalent throughout the book. Having said that, I'm still planning on reading Wonder when I get the opportunity. Hopefully it will be more readable.
November 2, 2012
For me, the story was really sad. Because the main character, Abigail, wanted to build a new reputation for herself at this camp she was going to for the summer she ended up not having much fun at the place. She pretended to be someone else; to be known as the fun, bold kid who "never said no to a dare". But her actions were risky and in the end she paid the price for her mistakes. She ended up getting kicked out of camp, having disappointed her mother and having made no new friends.
Yeah, this book talks about peer pressure. Abigail was a young, confused adolescent who wanted to fit in with the people at camp. She went along with the crazy antics that her friends came up with, she was an accomplice in bullying the weird kid, Dana. But what did she get in the end? Nothing. She was better off being herself than acting like someone else. And that, I guess, is the moral we get from this story.
Yeah, this book talks about peer pressure. Abigail was a young, confused adolescent who wanted to fit in with the people at camp. She went along with the crazy antics that her friends came up with, she was an accomplice in bullying the weird kid, Dana. But what did she get in the end? Nothing. She was better off being herself than acting like someone else. And that, I guess, is the moral we get from this story.
February 12, 2012
This was recommended at a CCBC class I took in the late 90's. I saw it at a library book sale. It read fast and easily. I liked the hand-written letters to Abigail's mother. The cruelty of the girls read real.
March 15, 2012
I really liked most of this book! But the end was TERRIBLE! And i mean EXTREMELY HORRIBLY TERRIBLE!!!!!! It just kinda left you hanging on a sad note. This book left me a little bit depressed. Wouldn't recommend it.
June 25, 2008
it's such a cute book!
December 3, 2009
Blah. The cover didn't really describe what the story is really supposed to be about. Hm... it was OK!
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December 12, 2009i didnt like this book very much i dont know why but i didnt my siter (whichs name happens top be abigail) didnt like very much either
May 12, 2012
This is a good book teaching you a lesson not to try to be someone else, to just be yourself.
March 14, 2016
One of my favourite childhood books
January 13, 2011
I thought it was a great book. I showed problems that were resolved.
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October 24, 2014I wrote my 6th grade book report on this book i loved it so much.
January 29, 2016
Fantastic insight into kids and their desire to be popular
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews