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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
What a fun book! Great characters - you're going to love Gabe & his buddies. I smiled all the way through this book - the voice is fabulous and I love the unique take on summer camp!
Cute! A great book for smart kids struggling with identity.
Camp exploits very fun.
Gabe came into his own and was finally able to be proud of who he is. Read along with my 8yo and 11yo sons and they enjoyed too though the nerdier stuff was over their heads (yellow singing their song in binary!)
Gabe came into his own and was finally able to be proud of who he is. Read along with my 8yo and 11yo sons and they enjoyed too though the nerdier stuff was over their heads (yellow singing their song in binary!)
Gabe cannot believe how lucky he is to be getting a new brother; and even better, one who is the same age as him: ten! All his life, Gabe has hoped for a new brother, but since his mom and dad have been divorced for most his life, he never got his wish. Now that his dad is getting remarried, he is getting a new brother named Zack and all Gabe can think about is how much fun the two are going to have together.
What Gabe does not realize yet though, is the struggle he is going to feel when he actually meets and Zack and the worry that he won’t live up to the expectations of cool that Zack seems to have. Basically, Gabe is a nerd. He loves reading (geeky offense number one) and even though he is going to sleep away camp (which Zack is totally jealous about) it is a camp for gifted and smart kids. All summer, Gabe struggles with wanting to be cool in Zack’s eyes, and fully embracing the smart, talented, and yeah maybe a little geeky guy that he is.
This was such a fun book to read! I really enjoyed reading about Gabe’s summer adventures at camp and also wishing that I could help him understand that changing who he is to impress someone is not worth the trouble! It sounded like he had so much fun at camp, but it was always in the back of his mind, and in his algorithm chart, just how un-cool he must seem.
If you are looking for a fun and funny guys read pick for a tween book club, this is it! Gabe and his bunkmates get into all kinds of wacky situations and adventures! It puts a twist on the coming of age novel that many kids like reading and will get everyone asking to go to sleep away camp!
Characters: Gabe, Zack, Wesley, Nikhil, Amanda, C².
Subjects: Contemporary fiction, Geeks, Individuality, Realistic fiction, Stepbrothers, Summer camp.
References: Book information and award information retrieved from www.bwibooks.com. Accessed on October 22, 2011.
Nerd Camp. (2011, April 15). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from Book Links.
Elissa Brent Weissman. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.ebweissman.com/.
What Gabe does not realize yet though, is the struggle he is going to feel when he actually meets and Zack and the worry that he won’t live up to the expectations of cool that Zack seems to have. Basically, Gabe is a nerd. He loves reading (geeky offense number one) and even though he is going to sleep away camp (which Zack is totally jealous about) it is a camp for gifted and smart kids. All summer, Gabe struggles with wanting to be cool in Zack’s eyes, and fully embracing the smart, talented, and yeah maybe a little geeky guy that he is.
This was such a fun book to read! I really enjoyed reading about Gabe’s summer adventures at camp and also wishing that I could help him understand that changing who he is to impress someone is not worth the trouble! It sounded like he had so much fun at camp, but it was always in the back of his mind, and in his algorithm chart, just how un-cool he must seem.
If you are looking for a fun and funny guys read pick for a tween book club, this is it! Gabe and his bunkmates get into all kinds of wacky situations and adventures! It puts a twist on the coming of age novel that many kids like reading and will get everyone asking to go to sleep away camp!
Characters: Gabe, Zack, Wesley, Nikhil, Amanda, C².
Subjects: Contemporary fiction, Geeks, Individuality, Realistic fiction, Stepbrothers, Summer camp.
References: Book information and award information retrieved from www.bwibooks.com. Accessed on October 22, 2011.
Nerd Camp. (2011, April 15). Retrieved October 22, 2011, from Book Links.
Elissa Brent Weissman. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.ebweissman.com/.
Nerd Camp is based on the Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth, but anyone who has been to an academics-based summer camp will recognize the setting. Gabe is a 10-year-old nerd who is really excited about going to the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment for the first time, where he'll get to take classes in poetry and logical reasoning along with traditional summer camp activities like kayaking and swimming. But then he meets his soon-to-be stepbrother, Zack, a kid who is ultracool and makes fun of nerds. Gabe is caught between his love of learning and his desire to impress Zack.
It's a very fun story with delightful characters, but ultimately it's about embracing who you are and not worrying about what others think. In this day and age you'd think that we wouldn't need books like this any more, but with incidents like Star Wars Katie getting teased for her taste in pop culture, apparently it's a lesson that kids still need to learn. Though there are parts of the book that apply to non-nerds (like Zack), I'd say the target audience is still kids with a love of learning, particularly those who are starting to feel the pressure of being "cool."
It's a very fun story with delightful characters, but ultimately it's about embracing who you are and not worrying about what others think. In this day and age you'd think that we wouldn't need books like this any more, but with incidents like Star Wars Katie getting teased for her taste in pop culture, apparently it's a lesson that kids still need to learn. Though there are parts of the book that apply to non-nerds (like Zack), I'd say the target audience is still kids with a love of learning, particularly those who are starting to feel the pressure of being "cool."
Problem: Am I a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?
Hypothesis: No.
Ten-year-old Gabe is finally getting what he always wanted: a brother. His soon-to-be-stepmother has a son, Zack, who is his age. Gabe is sure that he and Zack will be best friends, but their first meeting is less than promising. Gabe quickly realizes that all the things he likes - math team, reading, museums and libraries - Zack sees as "nerdy". The only thing about Gabe that seems to impress Zack is that Gabe is about to go to sleep-away camp for the summer. What Zack doesn't know is that the camp is the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment, a gathering of nerdy kids from across the country. Over the course of the summer, in between kayak trips and Color War, logic proofs and poetry writing, Gabe keeps a list of his adventures as evidence for whether or not he really is just a nerd, or if he might be something more.
With an eye for quirky detail, Weissman develops Gabe as a sensitive, hyperintelligent 10-year-old boy. In the first chapter, Gabe recalls staying up on New Year's Eve with his math team friends, when they calculated the number of seconds from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. He then thinks about calculating the number of seconds until his train in the morning, but he decides that it will just make him too excited to sleep. From his love of math to his cluelessness about girls, we hear Gabe's perspective on everything. It's a slyly funny narrative, with humor that even clever Gabe probably won't pick on until he's a little older. This is a fabulous contemporary realistic middle grade novel filled with humor and adventure, a great combination. A kid doesn't have to think he might be a nerd to enjoy this book, although he might finish it thinking that such a thing might not be so bad.
Hypothesis: No.
Ten-year-old Gabe is finally getting what he always wanted: a brother. His soon-to-be-stepmother has a son, Zack, who is his age. Gabe is sure that he and Zack will be best friends, but their first meeting is less than promising. Gabe quickly realizes that all the things he likes - math team, reading, museums and libraries - Zack sees as "nerdy". The only thing about Gabe that seems to impress Zack is that Gabe is about to go to sleep-away camp for the summer. What Zack doesn't know is that the camp is the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment, a gathering of nerdy kids from across the country. Over the course of the summer, in between kayak trips and Color War, logic proofs and poetry writing, Gabe keeps a list of his adventures as evidence for whether or not he really is just a nerd, or if he might be something more.
With an eye for quirky detail, Weissman develops Gabe as a sensitive, hyperintelligent 10-year-old boy. In the first chapter, Gabe recalls staying up on New Year's Eve with his math team friends, when they calculated the number of seconds from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. He then thinks about calculating the number of seconds until his train in the morning, but he decides that it will just make him too excited to sleep. From his love of math to his cluelessness about girls, we hear Gabe's perspective on everything. It's a slyly funny narrative, with humor that even clever Gabe probably won't pick on until he's a little older. This is a fabulous contemporary realistic middle grade novel filled with humor and adventure, a great combination. A kid doesn't have to think he might be a nerd to enjoy this book, although he might finish it thinking that such a thing might not be so bad.
Unlike some of the other camp stories I read, Gabe, the main character of Nerd Camp, loves the camp he's attending and has a great time while he's at it. What he struggles with is what that love says about him. Spurred on by his recent meeting with his new (and highly anticipated) step-brother, Gabe battles anxiety about whether he's a total nerdy egghead, or if he's cool. While at camp he decides to keep a logic proof to determine whether his hypothesis, that he's not a nerd, is true or false. In order to keep step-brother Zack from discovering Gabe's nerdy obsessions, Gabe's letters home only reflect what Gabe determines cool, i.e. His bunkmates put music and sports posters on their cabin walls, cool! But, the posters are of treble and bass clefs, Beethoven and the rules of badminton, not so cool.
As he's at camp Gabe discovers much about himself, such as, although he's worried about what Zack thinks of him, he's also worried about what his camp friends would think of Zack, whose postcards are always amazingly poorly spelled.
The book was a lot of fun, had some good lessons in it, and a lot of interesting tidbits that any kid, no nerdiness necessary, would enjoy. It was very readable and enjoyable even as an adult, definitely something I'd suggest, especially for kids who like comedic stories.
As he's at camp Gabe discovers much about himself, such as, although he's worried about what Zack thinks of him, he's also worried about what his camp friends would think of Zack, whose postcards are always amazingly poorly spelled.
The book was a lot of fun, had some good lessons in it, and a lot of interesting tidbits that any kid, no nerdiness necessary, would enjoy. It was very readable and enjoyable even as an adult, definitely something I'd suggest, especially for kids who like comedic stories.