Camp

by L. C. Rosen

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

At Camp Outland, 16-year-old Randy feels like he can truly be himself. However, when Randy decides he finally wants to nab his longtime crush Hudson, he changes just about everything about himself to become Hudson’s dream guy — or so he thinks. Camp is a charming and fun story about growing up and learning to love yourself, with a hilarious and diverse cast of characters.

A Lambda Award Finalist, A Today Show Best Book, A Forbes Best Book, and an ALA Rainbow List Top Ten selection

Set in a summer camp, this sweet and sharp screwball comedy set in a summer camp for queer teens examines the nature of toxic masculinity and self-acceptance.

Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It's where he met his best friends. It's where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it's where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim—who's only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.

This year, however, it's going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as 'Del'—buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he's determined to get Hudson to fall for him.

But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself: How much is he willing to change for love? And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn't know who he truly is?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316537759
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/26/2020
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	686,110
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Lev Rosen is the author of books for all ages. Two for adults: All Men of Genius (Amazon Best of the Month, Audie Award Finalist) and Depth (Amazon Best of the Year, Shamus Award Finalist, Kirkus Best Science Fiction for April). Two middle-grade books: Woundabout (illustrated by his brother, Ellis Rosen), and The Memory Wall. And two young adult novels: Jack of Hearts (and other parts) (American Library Association Rainbow List Top Ten, Guardian’s Best Books of the Year, B&N Favorite Books of the Year) and Camp (Lambda Award finalist, ALA Rainbow List Top Ten, a best book of 2020 from Forbes, Elle, the Today Show, SLJ, Booklist and others), which is being adapted into a film directed by and starring Billy Porter. His books have been translated into many different languages and sold around the world. His next book, Lavender House, an adult historical mystery, will be released fall of 2022.

Lev is originally from lower Manhattan and now lives in even lower Manhattan, right at the edge, with his husband and very small cat. He has an MFA in fiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College and teaches creative writing. You can find him online at LevACRosen.com and @LevACRosen

Editorial Reviews

04/06/2020

At Camp Outland, a Connecticut sleepaway camp where everyone’s queer, 16-year-old Randy feels fully himself, enjoying “who-cares-if-your-wrists-are-loose-freedom.” He’s been a camper there since he was 12, and he and his friends in the drama cabin live and breathe theater. But this summer is different. Randy has butched up, gone out for sports, and started going by “Del” to land camp lothario Hudson, and not just for a fling, either: Randy’s been crushing for four years now, and he’s out for love. But can love be built on a lie? Rosen (Jack of Hearts ) portrays Camp Outland as an LGBTQ idyll replete with queer history talks and gender-blind theater casting. He also takes on the “straight-acting” gay men who look down on Randy and his friends— friends who, in turn, disapprove of masc4masc Hudson—and shows that the butch-fem divide may be narrower than it seems (Randy’s friends disapprove of masc4masc Hudson, and Randy has his own doubts) in a fun, inclusive story that’s sex-, romance-, and LGBTQ-positive. Ages 14–up. Agent: Joy Tutela, David Black Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2020

Gr 9 Up—Randy always spends the whole school year eagerly anticipating his month at Camp Outland, the sleepaway camp for queer teens where he lets his femme flag fly and participates in theater. But this year will be different: Randy has a plan to woo Hudson, the hottest boy at camp, who only dates masculine boys. Randy comes to camp without his sparkly nail polish and false eyelashes, but with toned abs and a new nickname, Del. Hudson doesn't recognize Del and the boys get to know one another through a new assortment of activities: hiking, obstacle course, and absolutely no theater. As they begin to fall in love, Hudson shares stories about his family, like bonding with his grandmother over makeup. As Del gradually shows off his feminine side, Hudson unleashes his internalized homophobia. Del—or Randy—has to question whether all this work is worth it to win over a boy who may never love the real him. Fabulous Camp Outland welcomes a diverse range of queer teens, with supporting characters who are trans, nonbinary, ace, and demisexual. Randy is white and Jewish; Hudson is Korean and Jewish. VERDICT Like Rosen's earlier work, Jack of Hearts, and with an ensemble cast well worth cheering on, this charming book describes sex in a frank, almost procedural way and is therefore best suited to libraries serving older teens.—Shira Pilarski, Farmington Community Library, MI

School Library Journal

2020-02-09
A lovelorn gay Jewish teen shrouds his identity and sets a man-catching plan in motion at a queer summer camp.

Randall “Randy” Kapplehoff now goes by Del. He’s 16, at an LGBTQIA+ summer camp for the fourth year, and ready to finally hook, line, and sink the masc4masc love of his life. Previous seasons have been about starring in the camp’s annual theatrical production in gender-bending roles and painting his nails to express his inner shimmer. But longtime crush, hunky Hudson Aaronson-Lim (a charismatic serial dater), is more soccer than sequin, so Del cultivates a disingenuous shell to attract him (which he does) and keep him as a boyfriend, turning his back on the production of Bye Bye Birdie (which he regrets). He finds that even in a safe place of self-expression, there are still lots of layers to figure out, labels to peel off, and pasts to evaluate. Sex-positive (and safe) sexual awakenings and activity are peppered throughout. Gender fluidity is de rigueur, and a little queer history is layered in to pique interest in the past. The underlying message is drag: We’re all in it at some point. But are you treating or tricking yourself and your audience? This novel has the appeal of a rom-com movie-makeover but with more substantive explorations of self-betrayal, self-evaluation, and eventual awakening. Secondary characters are ethnically diverse; Hudson is Korean and Ukrainian.

A drag act that plays with compassion and camp. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Camp:

Lambda Award Finalist for Best YA Novel
A Today Show Best Book of 2020
A Forbes Best Book of 2020
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2020
A Booklist Editor’s Choice Books for Youth 2020
An Elle Best Book of 2020
ALA Rainbow List Top Ten
Alma’s Best YA novel of the Year
A Bookcrushin Favorite Book of 2020
A United by Pop Best YA of 2020
An Overdrive Best Book of 2020
 
 "Packed with an amazing cast of unforgettable characters, Camp is the perfect read for anyone wondering if they're too much or not enough of their true self. It's the must-read book of the summer."—Julian Winters, award-winning author of Running With Lions

"A powerful, yet nuanced, illustration of every queer person's struggle with identity, presented in Rosen's trademark blend of levity and wit. Charming and clever, this story simply sparkles."—Phil Stamper, author of The Gravity of Us

"Camp has everything you're looking for: A winning romance, a celebration of queerness, a reflection on what it takes to embrace your most authentic self, and answers to questions most queer boys often don't know how to ask in the first place."—Caleb Roerhig, author of Death Prefers Blondes

Camp is a pitch-perfect, joyfully queer take on the classic summer camp sex romp. With a loveable lead and a fabulous cast of supporting characters, it's the sweetest YA romance I've read in a long time.—Tom Ryan, author of Keep This to Yourself

"The gay summer camp romp of my dreams: a romantic summertime joyride and a thoughtful examination of gay culture. Gay teens or anyone who knows a gay teen should read this book."—Cale Dietrich, Author of The Love Interest

"Camp is a divine treat. A subversive explosion of masc/fem stereotypes wrapped inside a sparkly, funny, heartstring-plucking romance. At once delightfully cynical and buoyantly hopeful, Rosen uses Camp to take aim at everything the LGBTQ community is currently wrestling with and needs to hear."—Adam Sass, author of Surrender Your Sons

"Joyful, exuberant, incisive, and terrifically queer. CAMP is a romcom with bite and heart, one that examines the walls we build around ourselves-and promises us we have the power to tear them down. This is literary wizardry."—Adib Khorram, award-winning author of Darius the Great is Not Okay

"Gloriously gay ... Highly anticipated"—NewNowNext

"This novel has the appeal of a rom-com movie-makeover but with more substantive explorations of self-betrayal, self-evaluation, and eventual awakening. Secondary characters are ethnically diverse; Hudson is Korean and Ukrainian. A drag act that plays with compassion and camp."—Kirkus

*"An essential pick for teens figuring out who and how to love."—Booklist, starred review

"...as inventive, cute, and glittery as its arts and crafts-centric cover. In this masterful mix of rom-com hijinks, theater references, queer history, and gender theory, Rosen plays with tropes and expectations in a way that will absolutely delight you."—Elle.com

"...successfully captures the fleeting feelings of first love and explores identity..."—Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher