Most Memorable Middle Grade Novels about Summer Camp
Cute counselors, cabin pranks, new friendships, campfire singalongs, color wars, and canoeing—ah, summer camp. My love for all things camp-related started with the amazing (and amazingly difficult to find now) 1985 TV movie Poison Ivy, starring Michael J. Fox and Nancy McKeon. Then I discovered The Baby-Sitters Club: Super Special #2, Baby-sitters Summer Vacation, in which the gals go to Camp Mohawk; the Nickelodeon summer camp–centric series Salute Your Shorts; and Bug Juice, Disney’s reality show about kid campers. If a TV series/movie/book is set in a summer camp, it can count me among its audience.
Whether you’re packing up the kids to head off to Camp [fill in appropriated Native American name here] or just filling the young ones in on your own glory days at sleepaway camp, we’ve got an awesome list of memorable middle grade reads all about summer camp.
Letters from Camp, by Kate Klise
Letters that kids send home from camp usually amount to “Dear Mom and Dad, How are you? I am fine. The camp food is terrible, and I got poison ivy again. I also let Timmy in Cabin 3 shave my head. Please send more Snickers. Your kid, John.” But not in this campy adventure told through letters, memos, notes, news articles, and ledger entries. Three bickering brother-sister duos head to Camp Happy Harmony, run by the six washed-up Harmony Family Singers, to harmonize their sibling relationships. But the kids soon realize this is no normal camp, as they’re forced to do endless chores and eat terrible food. There’s a mystery brewing with plenty of secrets to uncover in this quick, funny read that will engage and entertain even the most reluctant readers.
Runaway Ralph, by Beverly Cleary
Ready for a break from his overbearing family, little mouse Ralph is jumping on his motorcycle and hitting the open road. He runs away to nearby Happy Acres Camp, but Ralph soon realizes that life free of his family isn’t all he hoped it would be. A strict watchdog won’t even let him into camp, a hungry cat tries to get his claws into Ralph, and a boy named Garf catches him and puts him in a cage. How will he convince Garf to set him free so he can return to his home? Find out in this awesome book about the meaning of family and friendship.
Nerd Camp, by Elissa Brent Weissman
Nerds, geeks, dorks—these may be words that a lot of kids wouldn’t want to describe them, but to many folks, these labels are synonymous with cool. Ten-year-old Gabe is super-smart and is excited about heading off for six weeks at the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment sleepaway camp. But Gabe does not want his cool soon-to-be stepbrother Zack to think (know?) he’s a nerd, so he keeps a chart of things he can tell Zack about camp—all the things that make him and his camp not sound nerdy—and the things he can’t tell Zack—all the things that prove he is actually a nerd. Will Gabe find a way to reconcile his love of academia with his desire to be accepted by Zack? You’ll see in this book that’s actually a lot like Gabe himself—smart and funny.
Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill, by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
Like most kids, Rafe Khatchadorian is stoked for summer camp—until he finds out that it’s actually a summer school camp in this fourth book in the bestselling Middle School series. But Rafe makes the best of things at Camp Wannamorra, teaming up with the guys in his cabin—including an unlikely friend, his bunkmate Booger-Eater (blessedly not the boy’s given name), who ends up being a great ally when some bullies from the Cool Cabin attack. Filled with lots of action, black-and-white illustrations, and middle school humor, the book is a stellar summer read.
Like Bug Juice on a Burger, by Julie Sternberg and Matthew Cordell
“Being here is worse than bug juice on a burger.” Eleanor’s Grandma Sadie is sending her to summer camp in this sweet novel in verse, and Eleanor is super-excited at first about carrying on the sleepaway camp tradition that her mother loved so much. But once she arrives at camp, homesickness sets in, the food is terrible, there are bugs everywhere, and she has to take swimming lessons. But with the help of some new friends and an adorable goat, Eleanor realizes camp might be a little bit fun after all.
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #2: Baby-sitters’ Summer Vacation, by Ann M. Martin
After watching The Parent Trap one too many times, the girls in the Baby-Sitters Club have signed on for a two-week stint as counselors in training at Camp Mohawk. And some of their baby-sitting charges will be there too. The book was first published in 1989, but thankfully, the fun that is summer camp never really ages. Claudia has a crush on a boy CIT across the lake, Stacey gets all manner of camp-related illnesses (don’t worry, though, her diabetes is under control), Kristy loses her confidence around her co-CITs, Mary Anne sneaks out to go see her boyfriend Logan on the boys’ side of the lake, Dawn gets lost in the woods on a campout, and Jessi and Mal become the camp’s first-ever junior CITs.
What’s your favorite middle grade book about camp?