This Camp is Doomed (Anna Zobel, Puffin)

In her first upper-primary novel, Anna Zobel turns her knack for writing emotionally intelligent, likeable, mildly eccentric, diverse characters to the task of creating an engrossing adventure-mystery story for imaginative readers. The kids of Dennith Grange School inhabit a world where coming-of-age challenges include not only the social vagaries of pre-adolescence but also the spontaneous onset of one’s individual ‘powers’ (anything from premonitions to shapeshifting), which are as much emblems of growth, transition and individuality as they are superpowers. But this isn’t a fantasy novel; it’s a journey into a world only slightly different to ours, where ghosts are still mysterious and school camps a labyrinth of challenges (for teachers and students alike!). One of the book’s strengths is its refusal to pander to predictability at any level, from character construction to relationship dynamics, plot progression and the ultimate resolution—yet the narrative decisions never feel self-conscious or forced. An example is the relatable, believable tensions between the kids on camp, which aren’t simplified into formulaic scenarios such as bullying but are based on more interesting inner qualities and needs. All the characters have vulnerabilities, challenges, strengths and passions, and all are worth getting to know. (The third-person limited perspective shifts between one teacher and two students, but the second teacher and eight other children are all equally unique.) Whimsical, a tiny bit spooky, affirming, engaging, sincere, insightful and occasionally funny, This Camp is Doomed surely won’t be the only Dennith Grange Misadventure Puffin publishes.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor and writer, and a bookseller at the Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews