Claudia Cristina Cortez is a single-minded seventh grader. In Camp Can’t, she is determined to become a junior counselor. She is great at managing bratty kids, peers, icky bugs, and her friend’s fear of horses, but she really struggles on the long swim. Through ingenuity and perseverance, she achieves her goal. “Claudia’s Camp Survival Tips” are interspersed throughout the narrative. In Dance Trap, she is on the committee to plan the first seventh-grade dance and immediately runs into trouble as popular Anna wants a fancy formal that boys wouldn’t attend. She creates a theme around her brother’s hot new video game, works really hard, and helps produce a fantastic event that everyone loves. Fans of TV shows like Hanna Montana or That’s So Raven will relate to these short novels. The texts have many formatting and font variations, as well as some graphic doodles. There are decorated chapter headings and black-and-white head shots of the various characters to break up the writing. Readers can refer to the four pages of “Cast of Characters” at the beginning of each book to see who is friend or foe. Discussion questions and writing prompts appear at the end. With their open format and short chapters, these titles are perfect hi/lo books for middle school girls. -Debbie Whitbeck, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, MI
Including picture books in sunshine hues, zestfully illustrated chapter books, and fast-reading novels, these breezy offerings for elementary students describe a time-honored summertime tradition with humor, imagination, and insight. There’s plenty of singing along and learning to get along as the protagonists leave behind familiar environs and venture forth to try new endeavors, make mistakes and figure out how to fix them, and weather the ups and downs of friendship. Varying in approach from realistic accounts to fantastical fun, these lively tales will captivate kids who are heading off to camp or who just like to read about it... During her stay at camp this summer, seventh-grader Claudia Cristina Cortez is determined to prove that she is definitely junior counselor material. Despite her less-than-perfect swimming skills and a few other setbacks, this likable main character demonstrates both her good nature and her good judgment as she perseveres. Featuring short chapters, an open format, and Brann Garvey’s cartoon-style character headshots, Diana G. Gallagher’s Camp Can’t (Stone Arch, 2008) makes a good high-interest choice for low-level readers (Gr 5-7). http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6659051.html?nid=3792&source=title&rid=1009307093
Including picture books in sunshine hues, zestfully illustrated chapter books, and fast-reading novels, these breezy offerings for elementary students describe a time-honored summertime tradition with humor, imagination, and insight. There’s plenty of singing along and learning to get along as the protagonists leave behind familiar environs and venture forth to try new endeavors, make mistakes and figure out how to fix them, and weather the ups and downs of friendship. Varying in approach from realistic accounts to fantastical fun, these lively tales will captivate kids who are heading off to camp or who just like to read about it... During her stay at camp this summer, seventh-grader Claudia Cristina Cortez is determined to prove that she is definitely junior counselor material. Despite her less-than-perfect swimming skills and a few other setbacks, this likable main character demonstrates both her good nature and her good judgment as she perseveres. Featuring short chapters, an open format, and Brann Garvey’s cartoon-style character headshots, Diana G. Gallagher’s Camp Can’t (Stone Arch, 2008) makes a good high-interest choice for low-level readers (Gr 5-7).
Claudia was beginning to think that nothing would go right that last summer at camp; the school bully was there, the self-centered Anna was in her cabin, and already she’d failed the swimming test twice. Without it, she couldn’t return as a camp counselor the following year! As Claudia meets and overcomes the hurdles of everyday teen life, she provides a great role model for readers who will identify with the issues she meets. Another Stone Arch book for reluctant readers, this should appeal to young teens. Recommended.
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