Summer seems to be here…

… and there is occasionally actual sunshine. Madness!

This summer I’ll be doing the usual round of summer camps – in June/July I’ll be teaching Novel Writing at CTYI, DCU, and later in July I’ll be co-facilitating Song and Writing with Dara Black. In August I’m back at Inkwell4Kids. (I have a few other workshops lined up, and some ongoing projects, but generally speaking the summer is mostly stuff for kids/teens.)

I love summer camps – the intensity, the fun. Almost always everyone there wants to be there, which makes for a brilliant environment. People make new friends (and enemies, sometimes, and crushes) so quickly, and sometimes it’s a space where they get to be a version of themselves they don’t in their ordinary school-year lives.

They also make for brilliant settings, fiction-wise, so in honour of it almost being summer-camp season, here are my very favouritest YA and MG summer camp reads (some are artsy/academic camps, some are of the more traditional variety):

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) – Justina Chen Headley

Empress of the World – Sara Ryan

The Order of the Poison Oak – Brent Hartinger

There’s a Bat in Bunk Five – Paula Danziger (sequel to The Cat Ate My Gymsuit)

Sleepaway Girls – Jen Calonita

Dramarama – E Lockhart

Camp Girl-Meets-Boy and Camp Reunion – Caroline B Cooney

Love and Betrayal and Hold the Mayo – Francine Pascal (the third Victoria Martin book)

Summer Switch – Mary Rodgers (sequel to Freaky Friday)

The Babysitters Club Super Special #2: Babysitters’ Summer Holiday (or Baby-sitters’ Summer Vacation in original US version) – Ann M Martin

I have Nerd Camp by Elissa Weissman on the to-read list. Are there any other summer camp books you’d recommend?