Welcome to Camp Fill-in-the-Blank | CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Volume XXVI / Issue 15 - December 13 / 2019

Welcome to Camp Fill-in-the-Blank

Author:

Hope Dalvay

Charlottetown. PE: The Acorn Press, 2019

266 pp., trade pbk., $12.95

ISBN:

9781773660264

Grades:

Grades 4-7

Ages:

Ages 9-12

Review by:

Stephanie Johnson

Excerpt:

I spent the next few weeks brainstorming ideas for the summer camp. I would be taking care of Crusoe and Danj for seven weeks, so I needed seven camp themes. Think, think, think! I had nothing. My mind was drawing a blank. Hmm…a blank. That’s it! I thought. The name of the camp would be ‘Camp Fill-in-the-Blank.” Each week, we would ‘fill in the blank’ with a new theme.” Okay, choosing a name for the camp is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what to do with the boys for each camp, I reminded myself…What would boys like to do at a pretend summer camp?...I decided to ask Dad for advice. He is a member of the male species, after all.

Page, 14, has grown up in Saudi Arabia where her parents work though originally they are from Prince Edward Island where they still have lots of family. After a bombing closes down her school, Page finds herself shipped off to PEI for the summer to babysit her two younger cousins who are known for being unruly and full of trouble. To keep the two boys busy for the entire summer, Page devises a summer camp which has them digging holes in the backyard to find treasure, creating obstacle courses, and even shooting bows and arrows at balloon targets. Chaos and fun ensue as new friends are made, shenanigans are had, and Page finds out if she can really handle an entire summer with two boys who refuse to be “babysat”.

The plot is a fun one, and the book is chalk full of creative ideas that you could use yourself for entertaining kids or which may inspire kids to try themselves. Strewn throughout are interesting facts about Saudi Arabia and PEI, such as taxis being called limousines in Saudi Arabia. The writing, itself, is a bit clunky, and the sentences don’t flow well from one to another, possibly because of a lot of short sentences which can sometimes make it feel like you’re reading a list. On the other hand, this book may be a good introduction to reading longer chapter books as it does have a fair number of pages, but the sentence structure isn’t very advanced.

A good summer read for kids longing to go to summer camp, Welcome to Camp Fill-in-the-Blank may help them discover the infinite possibilities a backyard can hold.

Recommended

Reviewer:

Stephanie Johnson, a graduate of the Master of Library and Information Studies Program from the University of Alberta, is the Director of Devon Public Library in Devon, Alberta.