Counting Scars

Volume XXIX / Issue 4 - September 23 / 2022
Counting Scars
Counting Scars
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Counting Scars

Author: 
Melinda Di Lorenzo
Series: 
Orca Soundings
Victoria, BC: Orca, 2022
113 pp., trade pbk., pdf & epub, $10.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459833555 (pbk.)
9781459833562 (pdf)
9781459833579 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 7-10
Ages: 
Ages 12-15
Review by: 
Allison Giggey (Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy)
3
Excerpt: 

Ugly as shit.

That’s my first thought when I see the welcome sign. It’s big and brown with red lettering. The wood is worn and the paint looks like it’s been redone a hundred times. I hate it before I even read the words. And it gets worse when I do.

Welcome to Camp Happy!
The sickly-sweet name makes me want to cringe and roll my eyes. I keep the urge to myself. Not out of politeness. It’s just self-preservation. I don’t want to annoy the social worker in the driver’s seat. I know for a fact she wouldn’t appreciate a negative reaction. She’s not a fan of rolling eyes. She also doesn’t like raised eyebrows. Or sarcasm. Or black eyeliner. Or maybe she hates her job. Hell. There’s even a possibility she doesn’t like me. It’s hard to say. She hasn’t been mean to me, or even rude. She’s just…bossy. Her pink lips are always tight. Even when she told me her name—which is Jane Cowley—she said it like it bothered her.

Do I care about any of that? Not really. Jane Cowley is the same as most grown-ups who are in charge of kids like me. They want to fix us. And we can’t be fixed. We don’t want to be. Deep down, I think they know it, and this makes them tense. But it doesn’t matter. Like I said, I don’t care. Jane is just a person I have to put up with until this is over.

Adele is a kid in trouble with nowhere to go. She hasn’t seen her father in over a decade; her mother recently overdosed and has been sent to rehab. As a result, Adele finds herself forced to choose between two less-than-ideal options: juvie or Camp Happy, a reform camp in the middle of nowhere with other troubled teens. When she arrives at the camp, she meets a group of other kids who are just as unhappy with their situations as she is. As she tries her best to keep her head down and not cause any trouble, Adele finds herself in the middle of a number of uncomfortable situations, including an awkward and unwanted love triangle with the mysterious Fergus and Andy, another camper whose good looks can’t hide his less-than-stellar personality.

As is the case with most novels in the “Orca Soundings” series, this story is short and well-paced. The first chapter introduces readers to Adele, and, right away in the second chapter, the intrigue regarding Fergus and his past begins to build. This fast pacing doesn’t leave a lot of time to lose interest, which is ideal for a reluctant reader.

The short length of the books in the “Orca Soundings” series can sometimes lead to a lack of character development, but, given the short amount of time author Melinda Di Lorenzo has (the book comes in at 113 pages), I would say she has done a good job. Adele’s interior monologue lets readers get to know her without being too expository; Adele’s pregnant roommate Sal is a fairly well-rounded and believable character, and even Fergus’ tendency to avoid others begins to make sense once he and Adele have a few short conversations.

This novel is the second I have read from Orca’s redesigned hi-lo series which features a dyslexia-friendly font, more white space on the page, and shorter chapters. These choices, along with the interesting and age-appropriate subject matter, make the books in the series more accessible to a wider range of readers, and Counting Scars is no exception. I’ll be happy to add it to our school library collection.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

Allison Giggey is the teacher-librarian at an intermediate school in Prince Edward Island.