At Swift Nature Camp our campers tend to be those smart kids who like to learn and since they have no screens, they have plenty of time to read. At this old fashioned summer camp we have an achievement award for those campers that read while at summer camp. It takes a little prioritizing but their are plenty of opportunities to read, before bed, quiet time and even outside during activities. Our camp library is loaded with books that campers can choose from. However recently I found this article with a list of books that you might want to give your camper to read at camp
Summer Camps Activities 2020: Campers, Be Sure To Pack These Books This Summer
Sleeping bag: check! Flashlight: check! Books to read …
For children and teens not sure what books to bring to their overnight camp this summer, C.H. Booth Library’s librarians have them covered.
Children’s Librarian Alana Bennison and Young Adult Librarian Catherine Findorak have crafted a list of camp-specific books that will be sure to keep pages turning well after the campfires have died out and the counselors have called lights out.
Young Readers: First Through Third Grade
Camp would not be complete without some ghost stories, and The End of Orson Eerie? by Jack Chabert helps with just that. The spooky book is part of the Eerie Elementary Series, which consists of easy-to-read text and illustrations on every page.
Another popular children’s book series is the Bad Kitty series by Nick Bruel. It features Bad Kitty Camp Daze, which chronicles the hubbub that ensures when the main character, Kitty, bonks her head, causing her to act like a dog, and gets sent to Uncle Murray’s dog camp.
Grow Grateful by Safe Foster-Lasser and Jon Lasser is a lighthearted read for children that features character Kiko embarking on a campingq trip with her class where she learns about gratitude. The book even provides advice and tips for mindfulness and being grateful.
Campers looking for a heart-racing, white-knuckle inducing story can check out I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 by Lauren Tarshis. There, the readers will learn the dangerous tale of an 11-year-old girl coming face-to-face with a grizzly bear in the wild.
Another book shining light on the great outdoors is The Camping Trip That Changed America by Barb Rosenstock. The book highlights the true story of President Theodore Roosevelt and naturalist John Muir’s trip to Yosemite in 1903.
Middle Grade: Fourth Through Sixth Grade
Fans of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes will enjoy the follow up book Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier. The fictional journey takes the characters on an adventure they will never forget.
Out of the Wild Night by Blue Balliett will keep readers on their toes as they read about ghosts who select a group of children to help save the island of Nantucket.
Released just last September, The Light in the Lake by Sarah Baughman is perfect for campers by the water. It tells the tale of a 12-year-old girl studying Maple Lake’s pollution; what she discovers will cause her to make a pivotal choice.
The great outdoors is the setting in The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, where a robot named Rozzum unit 7134 — also known as Roz — finds herself on an isolated island where she has to find a way to survive in nature.
Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs is the third and final installment in the New York Times bestselling Moon Base Alpha series. As exciting as it is to travel the world, this book takes readers on an adventure in space to solve a murder and rescue the moon base commander.
Fans of Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adam Gidwitz, Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown, Claire Legrand, Nikki Loftin, Daniel José Older, Dav Pilkey, R.L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia will be delighted to read Guys Read: Terrifying Tales edited by Jon Scieszka. The book features a collection of ghosts stories from each author with illustrations by Gris Grimly.
Those looking for a fright in the night can also dive into The Haunting of Henry Davis by Kathryn Siebel about two kids who meet a ghost named Edgar. The duo goes on an adventure to find out who Edgar was when he was alive and why he has chosen to haunt Henry now.
Grades 5 And Up
A popular young adult series capturing the hearts and attention of graphic novel readers is Lumberjanes, Volume 1 to 13, by Noelle Stevenson. The series features five teenage best friends at Scout camp who go on adventures solving mysteries and fighting monsters.
Another graphic novel sure to delight older campers is the coming-of-age story All Summer Long written and illustrated by Hope Larson. When her best friend leaves for summer camp and our protagonist Bina is left to figure out how to spend her time, she discovers a new friendship based on a mutual love of music.
Grades 8 And Up
With the last book in the “Arc of a Scythe” trilogy by Neal Shusterman finally released last November, campers can binge-read all three books — Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. The dark series takes readers to a fictional world where humanity has conquered everything from hunger and disease to war, and even death. Two teens must apprentice with a scythe, whose job it is to take people’s lives, and if they fail, their own lives could be at stake.
The graphic novel This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki tackles some adult content as its main character, Rose, goes through the turbulence of fighting parents and the unexpected discovery of an older teenager being involved in something life threatening.
So, children and teens heading off to overnight camp this summer will need to be sure to scoot over their toothbrush and socks to leave a designated spot in their knapsack for these page-turning reads.
