In Ciera Burch’s CAMP TWISTED PINE, amid changes at home Naomi and her younger brothers are sent to sleep away camp. Naomi’s a fan of science but not an outdoorsy person, so the idea of two weeks in nature doesn’t thrill her—and the odd behaviors she notices at the camp combined with campfire stories about the legendary Jersey Devil believed to inhabit the forest around the camp don’t make her feel any more at ease. After Naomi has what she believes is an encounter with the Jersey Devil and the disappearance of several campers, she uses her scientific skills and rallies her bunkmates to embark on a mission to rescue those who are missing and find out who or what is behind their disappearance.

Naomi leads a diverse group of characters in this twist on the haunted summer camp story. With its engaging mix of folklore, friendship and family drama, and spooky summer scares, readers will enjoy following Naomi as she finds her voice and peels back the layers to discover what’s really going on at Camp Twisted Pine and saving the day in the process.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing an eARC of the book with me.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. I’m a sucker for a summer camp story, and middle grade horror is about as scary as I can handle! I’ve also been gravitating more to middle grade than YA lately (I think I’ve said it before - there’s more focus on friendship and less on romance, although this book does have some very cute tweenage butterfly moments). Lately I’ve found myself reading YA and thinking “Yeah, but what are the adults doing?” Reading this book, I kept thinking “Yeah, but what are the teenagers doing?” Which is *highly* unusual! It’s not that I didn’t like Naomi, but I feel like there was more to the story with the camp counselors, and I didn’t love the extra-broad brush the villain is painted with.

So let’s back up. Naomi and her twin brothers are being sent to Camp Twisted Pine, in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, for “just two weeks” of summer camp. Her parents are considering getting a divorce, and they need time alone to try to work things out (sidebar - I get that Naomi is our POV character, so we’re only seeing things through her 12-year-old lens, but I feel like this whole thing never gets resolved. Her parents never use the D-word, and it kinda seems like after 2 weeks they’re in the same holding pattern they were when the book started). Naomi is less than thrilled. She's a scientist, but she prefers to do her research in books, not in the field. The whole setup of the camp is weird from the beginning - Naomi and her brothers are part of a group of many new campers who have just arrived, but it seems like there are already people there? And it’s kind of understood that people usually end up staying longer than anticipated. I get that this is all explained in the end (sorta), but it is just rife with red flags. Like - you can just book a last minute reservation at this camp? And it’s just however many weeks you want? Don’t most summer camps have sessions? And you’ve paid to book your spot? So if you just decide to stay another two weeks…you can’t, because someone else needs that bunk bed. Maybe we’re supposed to think Naomi’s parents are too distracted to notice all of this, or maybe it’s supposed to add to that sense of dread, but it ultimately just feels lazy in a storytelling sense.

If we’d just stuck with the idea of “spooky summer camp,” I think it would have been fine. There’s plenty of plot to mine without getting into all of the extra tweenage detective work. Naomi getting used to being outdoors, bonding with her cabinmates, maybe having the tiniest little crush on one of them. I’d much rather read *that* story!

This is a perfect book for those middle grade students who like things a little spooky in their reading. Naomi as our lead protagonist who is just trying to maneuver her way through sleep away camp (outdoors, yuck) and some overheard conversations with her mom and dad. This books is filled with "tween" angst, friendships and just trying to fit in. If you thought you had it rough at summer camp wait to you see what Camp Twisted Pine has in store for its readers!

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a young girl who does not want to go to summer camp. She would rather be spending time with her dad and reading in the library. She is not an outdoorsy person. However, her parents send her and her little brothers to a camp in order to deal with their marriage. Naomi is scared that her family is falling apart but she always keeps her feelings in check and bottled up. Things quickly go downhill when strange things start happening at the camp.

I enjoyed this book! One of my favorite tropes is a haunted summer camp and this was a fun one. It took a lot of fun turns and even went a bit sci-fi (which was interesting). I liked the characters and felt like this book examined friendships and family relationships really well. I would recommend this book to kids who want something a little spooky and different.

It was not quite a 5 star for me because I felt like the beginning was a bit slow. I would still recommend it to people though!

With summer here, I was really looking forward to a scary camp book. This one fell a little flat for me. None of the characters were engaging enough to want to follow. The main character, in particular, was not appealing. She appears to be a know-it-all and does nothing to take advantage of the opportunities she has. The stories weren't that scary, in fact, they were a bit overdone.

In this middle grade novel, Naomi's parents are splitting up and she is sent to a camp with her younger brothers that she doesn't want to attend. While she has book smarts about nature, a lived reality comes into check as campers begin to disappear.