Synopsis
Gen's family is more comfortable spending time apart than together. Then Gen's mom signs them up for Camp Frontier—a vacation that promises the "thrill" of living like 1890s pioneers. Forced to give up all of her modern possessions, Gen nevertheless manages to email her friends back home about life at "Little Hell on the Prairie," as she's renamed the camp. It turns out frontier life isn't without its good points—like the cute boy who lives in the next clearing. And when her friends turn her emails into a blog, Gen is happily surprised by the fanbase that springs up. But just when it seems Gen and family might pull through the summer, disaster strikes as a TV crew descends on the camp, intent on discovering the girl behind the nationwide blogging sensation—and perhaps ruining the best vacation Gen has ever had.
Publishers Weekly
To her great dismay, 13-year-old Gen is spending her entire summer with her family at a frontier camp, where they must re-enact life from 1890, living without technology, growing their own food, tending a cow and chickens, and working on a project to better the farm. It's a fun premise that leaves Bell (Slipping) ample room for physical comedy, while touching on themes of family and the (dis)advantages of modern life. Gen holds onto her sanity by sending secret text messages to her best friends (“I am standing in the middle of a cornfield. I am holding a hoe.... [W]e are farmers now”), which they turn into a blog that attracts national attention. Cute Caleb, a fellow camper, is a welcome distraction for Gen, though he seems interested in Nora, the daughter of the couple that runs the camp, and the two girls butt heads. Gen's growing appreciation for the simple life is predictable (though she never entirely drinks the Kool-Aid—make that warm cow's milk) and the reconciliation between Gen and Nora feels contrived, but it's still a lively journey with empathetic characters. Ages 12-up. (May)