Camp Average

Battle's story about a group of "average" campers and their new competitive director was a fabulous read. It reminded me of movies like Camp Nowhere and Heavyweights. You'll have to read it to see just how far the "average campers" will go to stay that way.

ARC from Netgalley

Yes! A fun, new summer camp book for boys. Imagine you're back at camp, and you're expecting an exciting summer of campfires, waterskiing, swimming, and the like. Then a new director, obsessed with sports and winning, joins the team. He believes the only difference between average and excellent is practice. He hi-jacks the schedule and assigns each kid to a sport. All normal activities are cancelled and replaced with a full day of sports practice. The goal? Beat the other camps.

Mack is not a happy camper at this turn of events. He gets all the teams on board with his plan to lose miserably at every game. His logic? Once the director sees how hopeless they are, he will drop the sports schedule. Unfortunately, the plan backfires. The more Mack digs in, the more the director digs in.

This is a book boys will read. It's summer camp, baseball, and protesting, all rolled into one. I love the characters. They are all different and play their part. I hope Craig Battle will write more books like this one.

This librarian generally reserves 5 star ratings for epic YA dystopia or heart-wrenching drama from authors like Bauer, Graff, and Lord. But this funny, summer sports camp, middle grades novel held my attention from page 1 til the end with lots of laughter and groans at the absurdity of it all. Absurdity because no summer camp director could really drill paying campers that hard, could he? And isn’t it unheard of for red-blooded American boys to lose baseball games on purpose? But Craig Battles’ characters are utterly believable and readers will root for their “losing” plan to right the wrongs being done to them as they struggle to force a return to the camp atmosphere that they knew and loved from all their previous summers. Readers will recognize the characters of Mack, Andre, Pat, Miles and Nelson as just like boys at their own schools and will be very familiar with coaches like Winston and Laker. With its rapid pace, moderate length, and highly relatable subject matter, this book will appeal to many middle grades library patrons, but will be especially useful for sports-minded, reluctant reader boys who seldom stray from the graphic novel genre. Librarians, parents and classroom teachers will be pleased at the total absence of profanity, violence and sexual contact. Librarians looking to add diversity to their shelves will find this book hard to categorize as descriptions and names do not seem to reveal any racial clues, but the book’s cover shows one pair of dark-skinned legs. Highly recommended for grades 4-7.

Mack is heading to Camp Average for a leisurely summer of sports and fun with his friends. Unfortunately, the new junior-camp director has other plans.

When Winston reveals his new game plan of day long practices and no down time, Mack devises a scheme to show the new director who's boss. Instead of trying their best, the kids intentionally sabotage each game, losing on purpose to teach Winston a lesson. But when Camp Average unintentionally makes it into the playoffs, the team has an opportunity to improve their reputation as well as get back the camp they know and love. Can they do it after a summer of goofing off?

I know just the readers in my classroom who will enjoy this book, and not all of them are sports fanatics! Anyone who loves a good underdog story will find themselves rooting for Camp Average!