Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2025 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Art Portfolio Purchase Art WIP

Recent posts

Month in review

Reviews
The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
At Ease by Evan Bachner
The Avenue of the Dead by Evelyn Anthony
Bannock, Beans and Black Tea by John Gallant and Seth
Bollywood Babes by Narinder Dhami
Bone 09: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith
Brain Camp by Susan Kim
Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace
Doodlebug by Karen Romano Young
Early Hayward by Robert Phelps
Fullmetal Alchemist 01 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 02 by Hiromu Arakawa
Hands of My Father by Myron Uhlberg
Hattie the Bad by Jane Devlin
Havana Mañana by Consuelo Hermer and Marjorie May
How to Crash a Killer Bash by Penny Warner
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up? by Bill Martin Jr.
Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo
The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
The New Gay Teenager by Ritch C. Savin-Williams
The Nightmarys by Dan Poblocki
The Octonauts and the Only Lonely Monster by Meomi
The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade by Meomi
Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
The Phone Book by Ammon Shea
Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton
Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates
Welcome to Monster Town by Ryan Heshka
The World at Night by Alan Furst
xxxHolic 01 by CLAMP

Armchair BEA
May 23, 2011
May 24, 2011
May 25, 2011
May 26, 2011
May 27, 2011

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Brain Camp 05/04/11

cover art

Brain Camp by Susan Kim made it onto the long list of Cybils nominees for 2010 in the teen category. I read it before the short list was announced and have to admit that I was hoping it would make it to the next round. Unfortunately it was a year of some excellent books and the competition was fierce.

Dreamy Jenna and slacker Lucas meet at summer camp. Both have been sent to this SAT crash course in the wilderness by their families who feel they have no other options if their children are going to get into college. They don't expect to become friends but they have too when students go missing and others start acting strange.

Brain Camp is a wonderful combination of mystery, like Nancy Drew or Hard Boys, and horror, like Christopher Pike mixed with some H.P. Lovecraft. The artwork brings the details of the story to life and there are some gross moments and some scary ones. It was a great page turner.

Five stars.

Comments (2)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:


Comment #1: Friday, June, 24, 2011 at 00:45:32

bybee

This looks like so much fun. I love the Korean-Canadian connection as well!



Comment #2: Friday, June 24, 2011 at 12:13:04

Pussreboots

Brain Camp was one of my favorite graphic novels for this year's Cybils' short list. Happy reading.

Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis