Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.5 stars
While I didn't love Camp as much as Lev Rosen's previous YA contemporary Jack of Hearts I still found it to be a fun summer romance. The book follows Randy a teen on a mission to win over his long-time crush. He has four weeks at his queer summer camp, Camp Outland, to win over the notorious playboy Hudson. The one problem is Hudson only dates "straight-passing" masculine dudes and Randy is a nail polish-wearing, theatre-loving fem guy. Randy devises a scheme to change his presentation and win over the guy of his dreams.
I was slow to warm to Camp mainly because of the contrived nature of the romance. The familiar tropes used by Rosen made the story lack a novelty that could have engaged me early on. Lovers of the secret identity, reformed playboy, and liar-revealed tropes may have a better time going through the motions than I did. I will admit I was eventually won over by the sheer cuteness of Randy and Hudson's relationship. Rosen captured youthful summer love well, so while the two made the predicted teenage missteps I was ultimately rooting for them to work it out
Camp's setting also helped elevate the familiar story. While I've never been to summer camp Rosen's Camp Outland was nostalgic and familiar. The ambling summertime adventures and shenanigans like stargazing, bonfires and midnight games were a delight to read. I especially loved the book's emphasis on the joys of theatre. As a musical theatre nerd seeing the camp put on a wonderfully subversive and queer production of Bye, Bye Birdie warmed my heart.
Rosen's overall message about being authentically queer and celebrating queerness in all its variety rather than conforming to the most "palatable" version of your identity is one I could get behind. While slightly less elegantly presented than I would have liked, I hope this story resonates with queer kids coming into their own. Camp wasn't a favourite, but it was breezy summer fun and I would recommend it to anyone looking for that.
While I didn't love Camp as much as Lev Rosen's previous YA contemporary Jack of Hearts I still found it to be a fun summer romance. The book follows Randy a teen on a mission to win over his long-time crush. He has four weeks at his queer summer camp, Camp Outland, to win over the notorious playboy Hudson. The one problem is Hudson only dates "straight-passing" masculine dudes and Randy is a nail polish-wearing, theatre-loving fem guy. Randy devises a scheme to change his presentation and win over the guy of his dreams.
I was slow to warm to Camp mainly because of the contrived nature of the romance. The familiar tropes used by Rosen made the story lack a novelty that could have engaged me early on. Lovers of the secret identity, reformed playboy, and liar-revealed tropes may have a better time going through the motions than I did. I will admit I was eventually won over by the sheer cuteness of Randy and Hudson's relationship. Rosen captured youthful summer love well, so while the two made the predicted teenage missteps I was ultimately rooting for them to work it out
Camp's setting also helped elevate the familiar story. While I've never been to summer camp Rosen's Camp Outland was nostalgic and familiar. The ambling summertime adventures and shenanigans like stargazing, bonfires and midnight games were a delight to read. I especially loved the book's emphasis on the joys of theatre. As a musical theatre nerd seeing the camp put on a wonderfully subversive and queer production of Bye, Bye Birdie warmed my heart.
Rosen's overall message about being authentically queer and celebrating queerness in all its variety rather than conforming to the most "palatable" version of your identity is one I could get behind. While slightly less elegantly presented than I would have liked, I hope this story resonates with queer kids coming into their own. Camp wasn't a favourite, but it was breezy summer fun and I would recommend it to anyone looking for that.