Second Chance Summer

by Sarah Kapit

Overview

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when it's with your best friend. Can these two ex-besties survive summer camp together?

Maddie and Chloe have always been best friends, until last year, when Chloe’s popularity and budding fame as an actor left Maddie in the dust one too many times. Their friendship is over, and they’re both ready to move on.

But when the girls arrive at summer camp, they discover that the universe isn’t ready to let go of this friendship just yet: They’re cabinmates, and each of them has to spend the summer with her ex–best friend. Is it time to try again, or are they doomed to drift apart for good?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250860903
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	05/23/2023
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	858,671
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sarah Kapit lives in Seattle with her husband and their goofy orange cat, and is the author of Get A Grip, Vivy Cohen! and The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family. She earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she’s always happy to talk about the history of women, medicine, and any other history geek topic. She has a longstanding involvement in the disability rights and neurodiversity movements, and serves as chairperson of the Association for Autistic Community.

Editorial Reviews

2023-03-14
An already-damaged relationship turns seriously nasty at theater camp.

Chloe and Maddie have been besties since kindergarten, but a lot has happened by the summer after seventh grade, when both go to Camp Rosewood in Southern California. Thin, redheaded Chloe, a White girl, has starred in Super Hero Kids, a popular streaming series; she’s instantly recognized and fawned over by other campers. Maddie, who has two moms, is “a chubby Jewish girl with thick glasses and a tendency to fall over at the worst possible moments.” Her dyspraxia led to an embarrassing incident on stage during the middle school musical this past spring—a video went viral. The girls’ bond has not survived Maddie’s humiliation and Chloe’s rising star status. The narration goes back and forth between the two protagonists and the summer camp and school settings—chapters are labeled with names and time periods but can still be confusing. Maddie is a vivid character, but Chloe feels less authentic; among other things, she is too clueless about why her relationship with Maddie tanked: “Is she jealous of me or something?” As the camp pulls together a production of Wicked, the girls launch vengeful plots against each other but also confront serious issues: Chloe, her first period and attraction to girls, Maddie, the question of whether “fat girls can be the stars of our own stories.” Drama kids will love the setup, though the emotional tug of war is protracted.

A sincere exploration of friendship’s ups and downs. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

★ "Readers who enjoy nuanced character studies will be entranced, and those who think friendship is always a simple thing will be left with much to ponder." —Booklist, starred review

"[The main characters are] each figuring things out about themselves, and what seems a simple case of an unbalanced friendship reveals itself to be more complex." —Horn Book

"A sincere exploration of friendship's ups and downs." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher