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Camp Rolling Hills is a SLJ Popular Pick!

3/29/2016

So excited to be a School Library Journal Popular Pick!

Counting Down to SLJ’s Popular Picks: Part 2By SLJ on March 28, 2016 In advance of the print debut of SLJ’s Popular Picks in the April 2016 issue, SLJ editors have chosen must-have works for kids and teens that appeared in the February 2016 issue.

DAVIDOWITZ, Stacy. Camp Rolling Hills: First Base. 240p. (Camp Rolling Hills: Bk. 1). Abrams/Amulet. May 2016. pap. $8.95. ISBN 9781419718854.
Gr 4-6 –Slimey is ready to get back to Camp Rolling Hills, having put in her 10 months in her regular life, and she wants to live her two months at camp to the fullest. Robert—soon to be known as Smelly—is new to camp and has been under a lot of stress lately; his mom has promised to send him his anxiety medicine if he needs it. A budding romance that culminates in a single three-second kiss and some hand-holding, the story is told mostly through funny, jocular dialogue among bunkmates and friends. Slimey is part of the older girls’ cabin and Smelly is her counterpart in the boys’ cabin. Camp high jinks and s’mores by the fire lend a feeling of semiautonomy and freedom away from parents, while the part-epistolary format gives the novel an authentic kid feel. Despite the generally upbeat tone, the characters work through some real anxieties and fears, relying on friends to help them through and build self-confidence. The “will they, won’t they” kiss conundrum lends itself to a slightly older, middle school audience. VERDICT A light summer read for the middle school set, especially those who enjoy summer camp stories with a touch of puppy love romance.–Ellie Lease, Harford County Public Library, MD

March Middle Grade Madness!

3/22/2016

Here's a post from http://wordspelunking.blogspot.com/

TOP TEN FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT CAMP
by Stacy Davidowitz

Hi, friends. As a camp lifer, and an obsessed one at that, you’ll see that a lot of my personal favorites about sleepaway camp inspire much of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series. I mean, you write what you know. Right? Here. We. Go!

10. LAZY WEDNESDAYS

A normal camp schedule is GO GO GO. Reveille sounds at 7:45am. You’ve got six periods jam-packed with activities. On Lazy Wednesdays, reveille is pushed back an hour. You eat donuts and cereal on your cabin porch. Bagel buffet lunch. BBQ dinner. Chill activities in between. It’s a nice break from the hustle.

9. TRIPS

Evening trips to the local movie theater and bowling alley are always a treat. And the trips get better with age: Washington D.C., Toronto, Montreal. Real adventures to look forward to toward the end of the summer.

8. CANTEEN / EVENING ACTIVITIES

Canteen is not only great for post-dinner frozen pizzas, hamburgers, and a gaga selection of candy, but it’s a chance to hang with your friends—boys and girls—in a lounge-type setting. Evening activities are often coed, too, and range from pool parties to drag beauty contests to talent shows to hypnosis acts to dances!

7. SPIRIT

So much spontaneous cheering. So much random clapping. Mealtime generates an average of 432 cheers. Sports events: 561. Color War events: infinity spirit.

6. COUNSELORS

Your counselors will hail from Canada, Australia, London, New Zealand, Israel, Russia, and so on. They’ll teach you about their culture and learn from yours. Or they’ll be once-campers turned counselors with legendary stories of their past high jinx. I am still close to the campers I counseled from freshmen (the little ones) to CITs (counselors-in-training). And I still keep in touch with some of the counselors I had growing up!

5. TRADITIONS

What is the Watermelon Sacrifice you ask? One-eyed Sailors? Wonder Woman Kidnap? Ghost Court? The Cisco and the Hawk? Lee Kweller songs? The Hatchet Hunt? Breakout? Fakeouts? The Burning of the Numbers? They’re random, inexplicably weird and awesome traditions that make my camp, Tyler Hill, unique and special. Traditions are the beating heart of every camp.

4. FIRSTS

First dance. First rock wall climb. First leg shave. First stained glass picture frame. First candy-stripe stitch friendship bracelet. First freezing shower. First skunk encounter. First handwritten letter home. First homerun. First raid. First kiss. All the firsts.

3. SING

There are usually three SINGs. One for Girls’ Side, one for Boys’ Side, and one for Color War. Let’s focus on the Girls’ and Boys’ SINGs. Each age group chooses a theme and writes a march (upbeat rally song) and an alma mater (heartstring pulling slow song) around that theme. The songs are popular radio hits or old school hits—the campers and counselors just write their own lyrics over them. It’s very competitive and requires serious planning and rehearsal. As a camper at Tyler Hill, my themes over the years were: Sophomore New Yorkers, Jedi Juniors, The Señoritas, Super Models, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As a counselor, my campers’ themes were Freshman Circus, Cadet Camelot, Cadet Newsies, Sophomore Stone Age, Junior J-Date, Double 0 Seniors, and Senior Sopranos. In Book Three of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series, to be released in Spring 2017, I actually recycled the alma mater I wrote for my freshmen girls back in 2002!

2. COLOR WAR

Book Three of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS SERIES is all about this! Basically at the end of the summer, camp is split into two teams for a weeklong fierce competition in all things camp: sports, trivia, the Apache Relay, Bucket Brigade, Rope Burn, Hatchet Hunt, and of course, SING! Being awarded Color War General was one of the greatest honors of my life!

1. FRIENDSHIPS

Your camp friends will be your best friends for life. They’ve lived with you, laughed with you, grown with you, and know you to your core.

There’s a million more reasons why camp is awesome. All million reasons are in the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series. So, kick back and soak in the summer fun:)

Booklist Online!

3/21/2016

Favorite pull quote from Booklist Online's review of Camp Rolling Hills!

"Readers who love camp should feel comfortable with the lively fun, but even noncampers will relate to the theme of friendships renewed. The dollop of romance is the extra marshmallowy goodness cementing the story together. For those looking for a new series to explore, this will more than suffice."

-- Booklist Online, March 2016

Kirkus Review is live!

3/3/2016

KIRKUS REVIEW

Here are the pull quotes from the Kirkus Review! Thanks, Kirkus! To read the full review, click here!

"An anxious boy and a grieving girl on the cusp of adolescence find nascent love at Camp Rolling Hills, a summer camp steeped in its own mythology and culture.

Slimey, age 12, has been going to Camp Rolling Hills since she was a little girl, but it’s Smelly’s first summer. Smelly, who suffers from anxiety and gains confidence over the course of the novel, is there because his parents need time to work out their marriage difficulties. Slimey, who works hard to hide her pain, is still heartbroken over the death of her father. It’s told from alternating third-person perspectives, Slimey’s and Smelly’s, augmented by funnily realistic letters home from other campers. The book celebrates summer camp as a safe place for children to reinvent themselves, to experiment and be more daring than they might otherwise be.

The author’s love for camp shines through, and it’s a strong choice for first-time campers and for those who find camp and its rituals delightful. (Fiction. 8-12)"

- Posted online March 2, 2016; printed March 15, 2016.

Camp Rolling Hills is a SLJ Popular Pick!﻿

March Middle Grade Madness!﻿

Booklist Online!﻿

Kirkus Review﻿ is live!

Stacy Davidowitz

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Camp Rolling Hills is a SLJ Popular Pick!

March Middle Grade Madness!

Booklist Online!

Kirkus Review is live!