I loved reading Camp Sylvania (2023) by Julie Murphy, as an adult with a child who is now also an adult. I so wish that there had been books like it when I was a fat child or even a fat parent of a child. Books like Camp Sylvania are so, so needed, so that fat children can see themselves as the heroes of their own stories.
Fifth-grader Maggie is thrilled with the last day of school, because that means she and her best friend, Nora, are going to get to spend two weeks together at the performing arts camp, Camp Rising Star, where she will hopefully finally get over her stage fright. They have been best friends for years, live down the street from each other, and have been talking about nothing but this for forever.
But her parents have other plans. Instead of Camp Rising Star, Maggie is going to Camp Sylvania, just across the lake from Nora, which is a “wellness” camp run by influencer Sylvia Sylvania. Maggie’s mom was a fat kid but went to the same camp with the influencer and her sister, and they found community with each other, looking forward to returning every summer. Sylvia has recently bought the camp and Maggie’s mom wants her to have the same experience, and if she “gets healthier” as part of it, that would be great, too.
So Maggie goes, since 10 or 11-year olds don’t really have much of a choice but to do what their parents arrange for them. Luckily, she meets some kids who seem to be OK on the bus, and she ends up bunkmates with Evelyn, from England and Kit, who would rather be at astronomy camp. And there is a huge pod in the lake, and jet-ski’s; the craft barn is spacious and amazing; and, there will be an end-of-camp theatre production! So maybe it won’t be so bad. But there are some strange rules: campers have to donate blood, they only eat red foods as part of Sylvia’s diet plan, and they are absolutely not allowed out of their cabins at night. Counselors are not allowed inside cabins unless invited in. And Sylvia’s trailer is completely off-limits to all campers.
The rules seem strange, but as Maggie hasn’t been to any camp before, she rolls with it, until campers start disappearing. She is the lead in the play due to one of the disappearances, which is good, but maybe not, because there’s a kiss at the end of it with Logan, another camper who is kind-of a friend, and how will she deal with that? Maggie finds out that the recreational coordinator, Captain B, is actually Birdie, who was one of her Mom’s friends from camp, is tossing the letters they write home into the trash!
When she sneaks out at night and looks into Sylvia’s trailer, she gets confirmation that Sylvia is a vampire, and she finds out that they intend to make their parents forget about them during parent’s day, so they can be kept alive and imprisoned to donate blood for Sylvia’s new wellness product that guarantees a long life.
It’s up to Maggie and her friends to save the day, which they do brilliantly! Highly recommend this fat positive middle-grade mild horror/ thriller. There is a sequel–Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness, which I will track down and read as well.
Reading While Fat 