Want to beat the heat by staying out of the sun, but don’t want to pass on all that summery fun? Then we might just have the book for you to stay in the shade with this July. This month our additions are all camp themed. Consider checking one out and having an adventure from the comfort of home!
First we’re adding Camp by L. C. Rosen to the shelf. When teen Randy decides to remake himself to get his crush to fall for him, he winds up learning a lot about both himself and the world. Set at a camp for queer teens, the book deals with themes like love and toxic masculinity in a sweet, comedic fashion. From the book jacket:
“Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he performs in the big camp musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim…who barely knows he exists. Hudson is a masculine gay boy who is attracted to other masculine gay boys, and Randy is decidedly not “masc.” Still, he wants Hudson to be his boyfriend—and this year is going to be different.
Randy returns to camp as “Del,” masc and looking for love. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him.
But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much he is willing to change for love. And is it really love, anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who Randy truly is?”
Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz is set in a creepier sort of camp, the kind where everything the teens do is highly monitored and they are possibly being drugged. Teen Kivali attempts to navigate this dystopian, light sci-fi setting, where being binary is required. Kivali just doesn’t know where she fits—or if she wants to fit. From the book jacket:
“Fifteen-year-old Kivali has never fit in. As a girl in boys’ clothes, she is accepted by neither tribe, bullied by both. What are you? they ask. Abandoned as a baby wrapped in a T-shirt with an image of a lizard on the front, Kivali found a home with nonconformist artist Sheila. Is it true what Sheila says, that Kivali was left by a mysterious race of saurian and that she’ll one day save the world? Kivali doesn’t think so. But if it is true, why has Sheila sent her off to CropCamp, with its schedules and regs and what feels like indoctrination into a gov-controlled society Kivali isn’t sure has good intentions?
But life at CropCamp isn’t all bad. Kivali loves being outdoors and working in the fields. And for the first time, she has real friends: sweet, innocent Rasta; loyal Emmett; fierce, quiet Nona. And then there’s Sully. The feelings that explode inside Kivali whenever Sully is near—whenever they touch—are unlike anything she’s experienced, exhilarating and terrifying. But does Sully feel the same way?
Between mysterious disappearances, tough questions from camp director Ms. Mischetti, and weekly doses of kickshaw—the strange, druglike morsel that Kivali fears but has come to crave—things get more and more complicated. But Kivali has an escape: her unique ability to channel and explore the power of her animal self. She has Lizard Radio.
Will it be enough to save her?”
Lumberjanes Volume 1: Beware the Kitten Holy is a graphic novel collecting the first four Lumberjanes issues. By N. D. Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Waters, and Brooklyn Allen, the story is about fun and friendship at a camp where a lot of mysterious occurrences just seem to keep happening. Entertaining and enjoyable, come along for a supernatural adventure. From the back of the book:
“Friendship to the max!
At Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-types, things are not what they seem. Three-eyed foxes. Secret caves. Anagrams. Luckily, Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are five rad, butt-kicking best pals determined to have an awesome summer together…and they’re not gonna let a magical quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! The mystery keeps getting bigger, and it all begins here.”