Rising eighth grader Claire is excited to return to cultural heritage camp as a counselor-in-training, but younger sister Michelle is far from thrilled when their parents announce she is going to camp, too - she had plans to cement her friendship with popular girl Jess, concluding with her end-of-summer party. Michelle is resistant to camp at first, though she sees Claire differently in an environment where she thrives and is...popular? Both Claire and Michelle make friends with Izzy, a camper who has just moved to the U.S. from Taiwan, and who brings a new perspective to them both. Michelle, who loves singing, tries out a song in Taiwanese, but struggles to get the pronunciation right; meanwhile, she frets over her relationship with Jess over text messages, and when she sends Jess a picture of Claire in traditional Taiwanese dress, Jess's older sister Kat spreads it around, making fun of Claire and leading to a huge fight between the sisters. Ultimately, however, they make up, and Michelle comes to like camp; she realizes at Jess' party that "Claire's right. These aren't my peeps." The following summer, the sisters and their parents enjoy a trip to Taiwan, visiting all the places Izzy told them about.

See also: Summer at Squee by Andrea Wang

Quotes

"Some things are different from how they look." (Claire, 89) ( )

First sentence: Claire and I had many daring adventures with our dolls.

Premise/plot: Michelle (our narrator) and Claire (her older sister) are at odds in Unhappy Camper. Michelle wants to blend in--fit in, be liked, be popular--with her friend group and peers. Claire wants to be true to herself and express her most true self--which in this case means embracing her Taiwanese culture a thousand percent. Claire has gone many years to a Taiwanese-American summer camp. Michelle has never once wanted to go. This year her parents have decided she HAS to go. They hope these two sisters will learn to get along better and become greater friends. Michelle, meanwhile, spends a good deal of time worrying about her friends back home. Her friends seem to pity her for having to go to this "weird" "awful" camp. [That's the impression I got.] What will Michelle learn about herself? her sister? her friends?

My thoughts: Graphic novels are not my go-to choice at the library. But I always try to read a few per year. This graphic novel is a coming of age novel that deals with relationships--the relationship between two sisters, the relationship(s) with friends. Michelle is building towards an "aha" moment where she realizes that her friends may not be true friends that truly care about her. ( )

* reviewed from uncorrected eARC via netgalley *

children's middlegrade graphic fiction - Though her older sister Claire has always been proud of her Taiwanese roots, middleschooler Michelle prefers to try to blend in with the white popular girls at her Seattle school. To Michelle's dismay, her parents decide to send her to Taiwanese-American camp where Claire has been hired as a junior counselor for three weeks at the end of summer.

Michelle spends 95% of the book being uncomfortable and/or miserably regretful, making this story quite a bit more serious (and less funny?) than Be Prepared or Sisters, though those stories do share some similarities. I did find Michelle's situation relatable and I enjoyed learning a little bit about Taiwanese language and food; I'm sure that plenty of kids out there will also relate, though Unhappy Camper may not quite reach "mainstream" popularity.

Note: Illustrations had plenty of kid-appeal, but textual clues (and different hairstyles) were very useful as well as necessary in telling characters apart--sisters Claire and Michelle looked like twins but Claire wears her hair in a ponytail; senior counselor Andrea was a little taller and had a longer ponytail than Claire; Kat is taller and has wavier hair than Jess.

See also: Betty Tang's Parachute Kids. ( )