Camp Sylvania

After years of waiting, best friends and aspiring actors Maggie Hagen and Nora Taylor Whaley are jazzed to finally be headed to Camp Rising Star for three summer weeks. But on the last day of school, Maggie’s horror writer father and nurse mother suddenly announce that they’re instead sending her to Camp Sylvania, “a place for big dreams, big fun, and big weight loss,” run by fitness guru Sylvia Sylvania. Maggie’s mom, who is obsessed with her daughter’s weight, was once Sylvia’s peer at the same camp, and she wants Maggie to attend now that Sylvia’s bought it. Most of the counselors prove taken with influencer Sylvia and her Scarlet Diet. But a rebrand isn’t the only change the camp has undergone: the property is now haunted, advertised activities are off-limits, underage attendees are asked to donate blood, and soon, campers start disappearing. Through Maggie’s witty first-person narration, Murphy (Dear Sweet Pea) reveals the fat camp’s horrors, both benign and supernatural, as Maggie, who experiences performance anxiety, realizes that she and her body are just right the way they are. It’s a character-driven summer camp romp that takes on anti-fat bias while underscoring how parents don’t always get things right. Maggie is white, Nora has brown skin; racial diversity exists among the campers. Ages 8–12. (June)