Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Salem Main Library | J Malone, L. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Independence Public Library | J FICTION - MALONE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Malone, L. 2019 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
It's Ocean's Eleven set in a summer camp as two kids try to one-up each other in a con competition at a camp that isn't quite what it seems...
For Archie, the start of summer means another stint at Camp Shady Brook, where there is a lot more to the camp than meets the eye--just like Archie and his now blended family. But thanks to a con Archie developed last year, he's finally somebody...and he's not going to lose that status to the new girl, Vivian.
For Vivian, thanks to an incident That Shall Not Be Named or Spoken Of, her summer of exotic travels with Mom and Dad has turned into traveling to a dump of a summer camp in the middle of nowhere.
But thanks to perfect timing, Vivian soon finds herself in a ring of kids trying to out-con each other--and discovers Camp Shady Brook is more like Camp Shady Crook. And when one final, massive con could cost Vivian the first friends she's had in a while, can she and Archie figure out a way to make things right?
Author Notes
Lee Gjertsen Malone is a Massachusetts transplant via Long Island, Brooklyn, and Ithaca, New York. As a journalist she's written about everything from wedding planning to the banking crisis to how to build your own homemade camera satellite. Her interests include amateur cheese making, traveling, associating with animals, shushing people in movie theaters, kickboxing, and blinking very rapidly for no reason. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, daughter, and a rotating cast of pets.
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
When a skillful (but lonely) con artist meets up with a clever (but friendless) trickster at summer camp, the outcome is sure to leave other campers suffering misfortune.Archie Drake's starting his fourth summer at the woefully run-down Camp Shady Brook, cleverly misguiding other campers into thinking he's richvery far from the truth. But the misperceptions help him with his cons, aided by Oliver, a counselor-in-training. And sometimes, Archie even rewards some of the other, poorer campers with bits of his payout, helpfully assuaging his underactive conscience. Vivian Cheng is new to Shady Brook, but she's there because of a scam she participated in at school that's left her parents feeling little trust in her. Under Archie's reluctant tutelage, she readily learns the tricks of the con trade while avoiding the attention of the camp director, the evil "Miss Hiss." But after the pair challenge each other to con two undeserving campers, the situation quickly spirals out of control, and both begin to experience the hurtful consequences of their acts. Writing alternately in tightly focused third-person from the two protagonists' points of view, Malone infuses into each enough believable personality to carry the story along to its satisfying conclusion. Vivian's name suggests she's Chinese-American, but Archie (and most of the rest of the kids) seems to be default white.A summer-camp story that's just right for summer reading. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Twelve-year-old Archie Drake is headed to Camp Shady Brook as a scholarship student for another six-week summer session. He doesn't mind being away from home, because he's devised a plan to be ""whoever he wants"" at camp and that person just happens to be a con man. Over the past summers, he's perfected his tricks, but he isn't prepared for meeting his match this summer: Vivian Cheng, dumped at Shady Brook because her parents didn't want to take her with them on a trip. Archie agrees to ""train"" Vivian the first week, thinking that's all she'll last. Not so. As the summer progresses at the rundown camp, the pair con the wrong people and must learn the importance of true friendship. Will their schemes lead to personnel changes and renovations at the camp, or even personal growth in the duo? Malone's funny mystery of evolving relationships and self-realizations depicts all the emotions most young campers experience at summer camp. The result is a playful and relatable story with an enticing touch of mischief.--J. B. Petty Copyright 2019 Booklist