CAMP AVERAGE

A new administrator’s efforts to remake an easygoing boys’
sports camp into an athletic powerhouse meet spirited resistance.

Loosely branded as a sports camp, Camp Avalon (aka Camp Average),
unlike its better-funded competitors, doesn’t specialize in one sport. While
directors annually remind campers about its sole baseball tournament win
(1951), many activities aren’t competitive or even sports—until director
Winston takes charge, canceling traditional events and activities and banning
hot dogs and sugary cereals. After exhaustive athletic-aptitude testing, each
camper is assigned a sport, which they’ll spend all day, every day, playing. Eleven-year-old
Mack Jones, white, and Andre Jennings, a dark-skinned, talented pitcher, both land
baseball, as does Nelson Ramos, YouTube celebrity toy-and-game reviewer, a
baseball newbie with awesome hand-eye coordination. Winning trumps all: Poor
test results consign brainy, well-liked Miles to keeping score and maintaining
statistics. Led by Mack, who misses water-skiing, the kids rebel, spectacularly
losing games against other camps. As Winston doubles down, adding “boot camp”
practice, war escalates. The athletes grow dispirited—losing intentionally is
still losing—but then Miles makes a discovery. Mack and friends are
endearing, authentic tweens, their bond transcending sports. Camp, campers, and
counselors (default white, with names conveying cultural diversity for the most
part) are portrayed with unsentimental affection. Sports journalist Battle,
past editor of Canadian children’s magazine Owl, brings a sharp,
satirical eye to trends benign and otherwise in children’s sports.

Hilarious, irreverent, and timely, highly recommended for
sports fans, summer-camp alums, and preteen-years survivors. (Fiction. 8-13)