School Library Journal
Gr 6-9 It's late November and for the campers, counselors, the director, and the camp nurse from Camp Menunkechogue, all roads lead to their annual reunion. After some nerves and awkwardness, the campers settle down to reminiscences that soon turn to revelations about both their summer personas and the people they have since become. The novel closes with promises to see one another again often, and surely at camp next year. The opening half of the book is devoted to background, including camp flashbacks and analyses of principal characters. This does serve to build suspense concerning the inevitable collision at the reunion, but this climactic moment is disappointing. The characters interact too randomly, and it's easy to lose track and interest in the goings-on. Marissa and the male counselors remain underdefined with personalities and motivations not as clear as others. Although things pick up at the end, it is never clear what the novel is intended to beit's not a romance, not a problem novel, but rather more a series of character sketches which leaves readers wondering what it was all about. Joanne Aswell, Long Valley Middle School, N.Y.