Camp Sylvania

By: Julie Murphy

Narrated by: Katie Ladner

From Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’, comes a hilarious and creepy middle grade summer camp story that takes a bite out of fat camp and diet culture. Perfect for fans of Spooky Stories and Starfish.

Magnolia “Maggie” Hagen is determined to be in the spotlight . . . if she can just get over her stage fright. This summer, though, she has big plans to finally attend Camp Rising Star, the famous performing arts camp she’s been dying to go to for three whole summers.

But on the last day of school, her parents break the news: Maggie isn’t going to Camp Rising Star. She’s being shipped off to fat camp—and not just any fat camp. She’s going to Camp Sylvania, run by world-famous wellness influencer Sylvia Sylvania, who is known for her soon-to-be-patented Scarlet Diet.

When Maggie arrives at camp, things are . . . weird. There are the humiliating weigh-ins and grueling workouts, as expected. But the campers are also encouraged to donate blood—at their age! The cafeteria serves only red foods and the oddly specific rules change every day. There are even rumors of a camp ghost.

Despite these horrors, Maggie makes friends and starts to actually enjoy herself. There are even tryouts for a camp production of The Music Man! This place might not be so bad . . . until campers start going missing and other suspicious things begin happening—especially after dark. The camp ghost might be the least scary thing about this place. . . .

A fun romp with a few clumsy bits

The book was fine. Writing decent. Plot moved along, if a bit predictable at times.
My two biggest problems:
I can’t help but losing my willing suspension of disbelief and the whole “making parents forget” thing. So what about all the other people who the kids know? Isn’t the parents coming home without their kids going to raise a few questions.

2. I couldn’t stand the whole gender swapped music man thing…..I’m fine with gender swapping -actors or roles….but The Music Man? There’s a whole important song and plot point that is based on the fact that a character’s name rhymes with librarian. Mario doesn’t even pretend to rhyme with librarian. And for no real plot reasons. They don’t even make it about “this is bad on purpose” it just happens and is nonsense.

Amazing & relatable

I loved how this was so relatable may people feel too big but you should be confident