Published by Aladdin

Summary:  Izzy Cervantes is apprehensive about her month at Camp Foxtail, even though her best friend Mackenzie is going with her.  Things seem a lot different from Camp Sweetwater, where Izzy has been a leader for the past several summers.  For one thing, she and Mackenzie are put in different cabins.  But she’s excited to learn that her cabin, the Willows, has a traditional prank war with the Wolverines, one of the boys’ cabins.  At Camp Sweetwater, Izzy was known as a prank queen, but the other Willows, all Foxtail veterans, don’t seem interested in her ideas.  So Izzy invents an older brother, Tomas, claiming he was a Wolverine and a pranking champion.  She pulls off a pranking victory, and finds herself in the middle of a popular group of Willows.  But their friendship comes with a price, and Izzy can’t understand why Mackenzie is acting so cool toward her.  By the end of the month, Izzy has learned a lot about friendship, telling the truth, and herself.  352 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  A highly readable summer book, filled with a host of diverse characters, and a narrator whose voice rings true.  Readers will be ready to sign up for summer camp after reading about the activities and hijinks and Camp Foxtail.

Cons:  There are a lot of characters to keep track of.