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Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Camp Wildwood has ended for the summer, and the five girls from Bunk 3 vow to get together on school holidays. Lia, winner of the all-around camper award, must switch gears from being popular to beginning seventh grade with only one good friend, her next-door neighbor Scott. Over the summer, he too has changed; he has grown and become ``cute,'' making Lia wonder if they can still be buddies. When the two of them attend an after-school dance class together and leave early, rumors circulate about them ``making out'' and cause a falling out. When her camp friends gather for a Halloween party, Lia shares her distress about the rumors with them, and they help her to understand that friendship is about sharing. All of a sudden, at the end of the book, a popular girl in Lia's class decides to like her. One of the campers says that Lia has had ``a week from hell,'' but the problems and situations presented here seem trivial compared with those that many children face today. Everything is given such a superficial gloss that it's hard to care about (or even keep straight) any of the characters. Stick with books by Marilyn Sachs or Ellen Conford.-Bonnie L. Raasch, C.B. Vernon Middle School, Marion, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cooper's (The Kids from Kennedy Middle School books) Holiday Five series begins on an entertaining, if not exceptional note with this sitcom-ish, intermittently realistic story. After being named the best all-around camper at Camp Wildwood, 12-year-old Lia returns to her suburban Chicago neighborhood, where she is pretty much ignored by the ``in'' group at school. Her one good friend, next-door neighbor Scott, has grown newly attractive over the summer; the popular girls like him, but Lia's the only one he'll dance with at the school's weekly dance classes. Malicious rumors about them spread ``like a hurricane'': Lia is scorned by boys and girls alike for allegedly ``making out'' with Scott in the boys' bathroom, while Scott seems to get off, well, scot-free. When Lia's camp friends visit her at Halloween, she tries to hide her ``reputation'' from them, but she ultimately breaks down--and receives their warm support. The prose sometimes lapses into well-traveled phrases and the stakes in this story are never very high, but Cooper's attention to details like hair and clothes, or the anxiety of going solo on public transportation, shows her keen understanding of upper-middle-class adolescent concerns. Ages 8-12. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
From popular YA author Cooper comes the first in a series about five camp friends who agree to meet on the holidays throughout the coming year. Lia Greene hated leaving camp, where she was voted best all-around camper, and returning home, where she has no girlfriends and is considered a nerd. She longs for the reunion with her camp pals, scheduled to take place at her house on Halloween weekend, but dreads it at the same time because she has not confided in them about her social problems at school. Things come to a head at the community center's Halloween party, where Lia is unable to prevent her friends from finding out about her problems at school. They rally to her side, of course, and she learns that true friends are those who are there for the bad times as well as the good. Cooper captures the social dilemmas and injustices without sounding preachy or sentimental. Even the parents are nicely drawn--seemingly obtuse at first, but with the right amount of sympathy and understanding when it counts. The conclusion leaves plenty of room for the next adventure in the series. A skillful and sensitive treatment of pubescent angst. (Fiction. 8-12)
Booklist Review
(It is Booklist policy that a book written by a staff member be given a brief descriptive announcement rather than a recommended review.) Gr. 4-7. Kathy, Jill, Maddy, Erin, and Lia are the Holiday Five, close friends from camp who get together around the holidays. In Trick or Trouble? Lia's popularity problems come to a head at a Halloween dance. Kathy faces The Worst Noel when she's supposed to spend Christmas with her father and his new family. Instead, she decides to visit Erin, causing problems for everyone in the process. ~--Sally Estes