I really would have loved to read and review this book but for some reason the download format would not open on any of my devices. I do like the cover and title though and those are what initially drove me to request it.

This one was super cute. I loved the art and the expressive storytelling. Great story about friendship, with an added mystery on top! It's a hit for me.

What a cute middle grade book about friendship, summer camp and what being a friend really means. It is so hard being a teen now and this book offered a lot of really good examples and lessons on what it means to be a friend. I don't know that Abigail is reflective of a lot of teens, but the things that she went through certainly are reflective of being a teen. All of the characters are different and they all have their own little quirks but being a teen in the world is what unites them.

*ARC was provided by Capstone through NetGalley.

This was a super cute middle grade read about what friendship looks like and what being a friend really means. The summer camp setting is a classic, and I was invested in the mystery all the way through. This took a little while to grow on me, but there's a sweet lesson about understanding and being patient with others.

A fun and warmly witty story about how what makes you different is really what makes you successful. Abigail's discovery of her own strengths is a worthwhile read, plus it's so cute! Kids will enjoy - and the friendship drama certainly doesn't hurt. A solid purchase.

Friendships are complicated, especially when you are in your tween years. Add to that being someone who is an academic genius who has skipped a couple of grades, and you really have your work cut out for you. Abigail has always struggled to have friends in her life. She knows what she is supposed to do on paper, but has a great deal of difficulty applying those concepts in real life. She also is extremely literal, which means she is often confused by her interactions with her peers. Honestly, she reminded me of someone on the autism spectrum.

Abigail is determined to make friends at summer camp this year. She goes about doing so in a methodical, scientific manner, attributing scores to her bunkmates via a matrix she has created to determine their worth as a friend. As expected, this does not go over too well, especially when the other girls find out what is going on. And add in a mystery as to who stole the forbidden phone brought in by one of the other girls, as well as some other shady happenings, and you get some interesting results.

From the friendship standpoint, I think a lot of kids will be able to relate to the difficulties of finding true friends during this trying years. Most of them are not going to go about it in the same way that Abigail does, but I think they will understand some of her confusion. I think they may also learn to be more tolerant of those kids whom they peg as "different" because of their intelligence or poorer social skills. Maybe they will learn how to communicate with some of those kids and find the value in befriending all kinds of people. The other girls at the camp learn how to do this. It's my favorite part of the whole book.

The mystery part is also a lot of fun, and definitely would have been right up my alley in my younger days. I admit that I didn't quite figure out who the culprit was until the end.

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable read. I gave it 4.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for my review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Making friends is hard. That is especially true if you are a socially-awkward, super intelligent girl who loves speaking French and wants to be an anthropologist when she grows up. Abigail is such a girl. In Rating Your Bunk Mates and Other Camp Crimes, Abigail is an Amy Farrah Fowler (Big Bang Theory) type character who has a little trouble making friends. Correction: A lot of trouble making friends. In fact, she’s never had a friend. Skipping three grades has made her an outcast among her classmates, and all she wants to do at summer camp is find a friend. She devises a matrix to rate three qualities of her five roommates to figure out who is the most compatible. But then a roommate’s phone is stolen, and they all believe Abigail is guilty. Abigail has to prove her innocence by finding the real guilty party, all while trying to make a friend as they all hike, craft, and campfire their way through summer camp.

I really enjoyed this book. Abigail is equal parts sympathetic in her social awkwardness and heroic in her confidence and smarts. The other girls in the cabin also work through character flaws, and seeing them all come together to make each other better people is super fun. This is my first book by this author, and I look forward to more from her.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a cute middle-grade story of friendships. Although I found it hard to believe Abby could think the way she did, I do not know many geniuses or prodigies so I cannot precisely comment on that exact aspect.

Abby has skipped a grade (or two) and has had minimal social interactions with the people her own age or even generally other children. Her understanding of 'cool' comes from internet searches and from watching french movies and a French Anthropologist. If all of these facts are taken into consideration, and we take the way she prepares herself as evidence, the rest of the storyline falls into place. She is in camp for the first time and has decided on a matrix to find the ideal sidekick. This does not bode well, primarily since she writes all this down in her journal. Things do not go well for her as she is terrible at reading social cues. Some events slowly spiral out of Abby's control.

It was fast-moving, had a dose of emotions and things smoothen themselves out as the story progresses. It was a nice change of pace from my other reading.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience as an adult with only memories of being the age of the protagonists.

Super cute book for middle grade readers. The summer camp setting adds to the fun mystery in this book. The main character is trying to find a friend and we get to experience her quest in trying to make friends with each of her bunkmates at camp. I would recommend this for any middle grade reader who enjoys a light-hearted mystery.

Plot: This was a fun Middle Grade book! There was a mystery in the book, which was fun. I liked how each chapter began with pages from Abigail's field notes journal.

Characters: They were good! All of the girls had distinct personalities. And I liked reading about Abigail and her quest to find a friend.

The Cover: It's cute! When I was that age, that cover would definitely had made me pick up the book!

Overall: This was a cute MG book! I liked that friendship was the main focus of it. And I liked how there was a mystery in it! If this book sounds interesting to you, I definitely recommend trying it! :)

3.5 stars

Main character Abigail appears to have the stereotypical characteristics of someone with autism.

She has gone to summer camp to try & make a friend and carefully rates her potential friends (or ‘subjects’ as she calls them).

The week revolves around a missing then broken phone and a snarky, sarcastic group of girls all blaming each other and throwing around nasty comments.

I didn’t really like any of the characters very much but I’m not the target audience so I appreciate that I might just be showing my age!

I felt like Abigail was a female Sheldon Cooper. I really liked her and the rest of the characters were a lot of fun, too. I liked the field notes and Abigail's observations. I would like to see this be a series with more of Abigail's adventures.

I was unable to finish the book due to formatting issues. However, I did enjoy the first 20% I was able to read.

Many people go to camp for adventure through outdoor activities. Our main character Abigail is going to camp for one reason, to find a friend. She is going to do this through a scientific lens with data, observation, and scores. The book goes back and forth between the events happening at camp and Abigail's Field Note journal. Though they never say Abigail is autistic you can tell by her mannerisms that she maybe on the spectrum. As she tries to figure out how to fit in her bunkmates a cellphone goes missing. Abigail has to figure out this mystery to clear her own name. Looking at the way teen girls interact through Abigail's critical lens may give young girls new insight into their own friendships. Children ages 9 - 14 will enjoy this book.

I need to preface everything I say about this book with: I’m not the target audience. Sometimes this doesn’t matter as I consistently read books that are intended for readers born in a different century than I was. However, I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older my tolerance for friendship drama has decreased exponentially.

Socially awkward twelve year old Abigail Hensley may have skipped three grades at school but she’s never had a friend. It’s not from lack of rigorous anthropological research on her part. Unfortunately other girls her age simply don’t share her interests - fencing, time travel, anthropology and French cuisine. They also have a bad habit of intruding in her personal space bubble, even though she has generously narrowed the recommended four feet to three and a half.

“No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to successfully befriend a girl my age. It’s like I’m helium, physically unable to mix with any other chemical element. Bonding with girls my age just doesn’t seem part of my atomic makeup.”

Joining Abigail in Clovis Cabin are:
* Sofia, Fia, Fia, with her impractical bejewelled fingernails
* Quinn, who speaks like she’s a Magic 8 ball
* Rachel, with her crooked name sticker and rule breaking tendencies
* Mary Elizabeth George (Meg), who lives in the shadows of her perfect older sister
* Gabby, who’s enthusiastic and agreeable. She’s Abigail’s roommate.

Despite being oblivious to social cues Abigail is trying her hardest to figure out the science of making friends. She’s determined to crack the code this week and will be making extensive Field Notes to help her navigate the process.

“I plan to use these notes to help me with my ongoing experiment: finding a friend.”

Unfortunately for Abigail this social experiment may not be as easy to implement as she hopes. Shortly after arriving at Hollyhock something is stolen from another Clovis camper and she’s the prime suspect.

While I’m always drawn to books where I get to attend summer camp vicariously (this was not something that was available when I was growing up and I’ve always felt I missed out on a rite of passage), too many of the conversations in this book revolve around accusations for my liking, so I didn’t enjoy my time at Camp Hollyhock as much as I had anticipated. I hope (and expect) younger readers will disagree wholeheartedly with me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone Editions for the opportunity to read this book.

Ohhhh my goodness this book was TOO cute! No kidding I couldn't put it down and read it in a day.

At first, I had a hard time relating to Abigail. She was just too much, and she felt like a robot. But a few chapters in, and she really grew on me.

Abigail is overly smart and has skipped 3 grades. She goes to camp to do girl bonding (I consider myself to be fairly social and I would never ever go to camp and I'm glad my parents never sent me) and make friends. I feel like her struggles were very realistic. Abigail doesn't understand what she needs to make friends - she feels like she keeps failing when she is only being herself.

Weirdly enough, it's those same qualities that end up helping her succeed! She did need to build up her social skills but she got there eventually.

I felt that this book perfectly conveyed what it's like to be a tween girl and how OTHER tween girls act. I could relate to Abigail, even being far past my tween years, and her analysis of girls behavior - "herd mentality" and "siding with your crush over other girls" - was very cute and informative. I think it could teach readers of the same age how to look out for those behaviors. Herd mentality is very common at all ages and horrible.

I enjoyed that there was no romance. Just a pure book about friendships. I absolutely loved it. And the cover art is great too; it encompasses the story well. The book really does have a lot of twists considering it's not a mystery! I kept being surprised.

A couple of things that I had issues with: I read the ebook edition and so on page 174, the character Meg comes out of nowhere when I was led to believe Rachel and Abigail were walking alone. So hearing her speak was jarring because I didn't think she had been introduced in the setting. Along with that, a few pages later, 182 or 183, Meg is described as having split from the pack, which Abigail notes as unusual. However, if she had been present on page 174, then she already knew the plan so it would be natural for her to side with Abigail. The whole Meg thing on these pages was confusing. Again, subject to change when the book comes out.

I also did not really get a feel for the setting; I live in Cali and have visit NorCal but I didn't pick up any specifics. It was camp and could've been anywhere. The only thing that possibly hinted at location were the banana slugs. But I only know that because a Cali school's mascot is the banana slug...I forget which one. CSUN? Anyway, I definitely got a feel for the CAMP setting, not the NorCal area.

Would read more from this author, and would highly recommend this book!! I loved it!!

If Sheldon Cooper took the form of a sensitive twelve-year-old girl who went to summer camp as an “experiment” to try to make friends, you’d have Abigail, the endearingly uptight main character in Jennifer Orr’s contemporary middle grade, RATING YOUR BUNKMATES AND OTHER CAMP CRIMES.

In this brilliantly-plotted mystery lite with a satisfyingly-surprising ending, Orr nails the obnoxious camaraderie that is preteen friendships and almost nails the sleep away camp experience (No food fight? No eating candy at 3 AM? Come on.)

In the age of “push all girls into STEM” mania, Abigail’s interest in a social science (anthropology, coupled with field notes) is a breath of fresh air.

Hello Again!


It's been a week guys, not even in a bad way, it's just been a week and it's only Wednesday. I just feel like this time of year is so busy and on top of everything else this time of year brings, I am trying to finish a bunch of books I am currently reading, assemble and order the rest of the furniture pieces for my townhouse, and still find time to relax. I love this time of year though if I am being honest and I feel like with my new job this year has been much less stressful than past years. I have really been able to decorate and enjoy the decor, think about baking (in a mindful not over baking kind of way, which I usually massively over bake for the two people that live here), watch television and movies I  enjoy and just work on reading or whatever else I want too. As a result of this, I have had time to read some middle grade that I have found interesting. I was fortunate enough to receive an E-ARC copy of this middle-grade book on Netgalley recently and decided to jump into it. 

SPOILERS  AHEAD


Abigal is not your normal 12 year old, see she is on a mission this summer, a mission to figure out the matrix to making friends. Abigal is incredibly intelligent and has skipped several grades (so instead of being in middle school, she is in high school already) and has no friends among her peers, however, this summer Abigal is going to summer camp with other girls her age! Abigal is an aspiring archeologist and looks up to a famous archeologist and her best friend who star in several movies. She plans to use their matrix to find a friend among her cabinmates. However, pretty much from the moment she rearrives things start to go sideways. One of her new bunkmates brought their phone to camp which is strictly against the rules but Abigal decides not to tell hoping it will make her a fast friend. But this does not go as planned, as her bunkmates (Rachel) phone is stolen! Everyone is quick to accuse Abigal, they say she is the new girl (she is outside of their established group of friends) and not like them.  However, Abigal is determined to clear her name and still make a friend. But will Abigal be able to do all of this before camp is over? Or will she go home with people thinking she is a thief?


Overall, I really enjoyed this middle grade, honestly more than I thought I would. I loved Abigal's character as well as the uniqueness of each of her bunkmates. I also loved the added layer of this not just being a camp story but also a mystery. Abigal was determined to figure out who actually took the phone and later on who took her field notes. Additionally, this book is written in a very unique style, via Abgial's field notes which just makes the experience even more interesting for the reader. To wrap things up, I am giving this book 4.5 stars out of five on Goodreads and I highly recommend picking it. It was a super cute middle-grade mystery read that has friendship and all the camp fun you can handle!





***I was given an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review

Young readers who are fans of summer camp will enjoy this title. More importantly, readers who feel isolated or struggle with making/maintaining friendships will relate to the main character. While Abigail’s personality can be a bit grating at the beginning, it is still good to see her change over the course of the story as she learns to grow close to others.

*received from netgalley for honest review* So this is a rather interesting book lol its a unique set up with the "Field notes" and the score thing is super funny (also maybe a bit over creepy at times but eh), overall tho it was a funny book. The characters could get annoying but (thankfully) they all learned some things. Good young/ middle grade book.