Secrets from the Sleeping Bag: A Blogtastic! Novel

Gr 4–7—Sofia Becker's parents are forcing (well, asking) her to go to Camp Krakatow for four dreaded weeks. Lacking technology to continue her Blogtastic blog, she makes sure to write down every juicy detail in her super-secret Pre-Blogging Notebook. As she says, if her parents knew they were sending her to a camp where there were "Bigfoots, rabid stray cats, flaming marshmallows, and food fights, they would've thought twice." She ends up in the cabin with the worst name (The Gray Hairstreaks) and the worst counselor-uptight Priscilla Jayne (nicknamed "Priss"). To make matters worse, Sofia convinced her best friend, Nona, to come along with her ("cutest boys ever" will be there!) only to discover that they are in different cabins. Despite her fears of creepy crawlies, bad food, and lack of friends, she soon makes the best of it and has one wacky adventure after another. Her delightful and irrepressible personality leads to a few embarrassments, too. She claims she's great at canoeing but ends up going the wrong way during a race. Everyone laughs when she unwittingly brings a humiliating Elmo towel to the beach. But Sofia redeems herself by creating some of the best pranks ever during the Prank War with the other cabins: putting baby powder in their blow dryers, eggs in their shoes, and jello in their sleeping bags. Cooper's writing captures the craziness and fun of summer camp. Humorous, captioned illustrations are sprinkled throughout.—Diane McCabe, Loyola Village Elementary School, Los Angeles