Brain Camp 05/04/11

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)

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.