Camp Murderface

by Saundra Mitchell, Josh Berk

Overview

Summer camp turns sinister in Camp Murderface, a spooky middle grade read perfect for fans of scare masters like R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. 

The year: 1983. The place: Ohio. The camp: Scary as heck.

Camp Sweetwater is finally reopening, three decades after it mysteriously shut down. Campers Corryn Quinn and Tez Jones have each had more than enough of their regular lives—they’re so ready to take their summer at Sweetwater by storm.

But before they can so much as toast one marshmallow, strange happenings start…happening. Can they survive the summer? Or will Camp Sweetwater shut down for good this time—with them inside?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062871633
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/26/2020
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Saundra Mitchell has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, and a denture deliverer. She’s dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. The author of fifteen books for tweens and teens, Saundra always picks truth; dares are too easy. She lives in the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Josh Berk is the author of Camp Murderface, The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin, and several other books for young readers. He is a librarian and lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with his family.

Editorial Reviews

04/24/2020

Gr 3–7—Tez and Corryn are about to spend their summer at Camp Sweetwater and become indispensable to one another—they just don't know it yet. Tez wants to be at camp more than anything after a lifetime of worried parents concerned about his heart condition; Corryn wants to be anywhere but camp. She knows that she is being sent away so her parents can work through their divorce. Ghost stories, crafts, swims in the freezing lake, and bullying counselors do little to break up the monotony of summer. Everything changes when the ghost stories become more than tall tales. Tez and Corryn seem to be the only ones aware of the mysterious happenings and how these events connect to a murder one hundred years prior. VERDICT Recommended for upper middle grade based on content. This horror title may not be suitable for younger readers. The pacing is well done and the main characters are relatable. However, the book leaves many unanswered questions that relate directly to the plot and character development.—Sarah Voels, Cedar Rapids Public Library, IA

School Library Journal

2020-02-26
Two kids team up to unravel a sinister, supernatural summer-camp mystery in 1983.

Corryn’s at Camp Sweetwater while her parents work on the divorce they think she doesn’t know about. She bonds with Tez when they see eerie faces in the bonfire after a strange stick is added to it during their first night there. In their alternating first-person, present-tense narration, scares come fast and furious, with only the duo seeing (or, at least, acknowledging) that something’s wrong. As the scares grow into physical dangers, action-oriented Corryn and scientifically minded Tez unearth the history of the camp. In a neat subversion of an oft-used trope, they learn that in the 1700s, the lake was cursed by the actions of a nefarious French trapper, leading the resident Miami Nation to abandon the area. Since the 1880s, the summer camp has opened and closed in 20-year cycles marked by disappearances—the first being the three girls whose faces the duo saw in the fire. Tez faces extra risks in physical scenes, as he has Marfan syndrome—only the staff knows; he’s enjoying having his peers treat him like a “regular kid.” Corryn presents white, and Tez is biracial, identifying as “half Chamorro” (his father is from Guam); other campers are diverse. While the main storyline resolves, a tantalizing ending suggests there are more chills to come in a planned sequel.

A ghastly good time. (Horror. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews