Dilly'S Summer Camp Diary

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Good!!!
Review: Dilly's Summer Camp Diary is a great book! One of the main focal points of this book that I think draws readers' attention is the illustrations. They persuaded me to keep reading, even though I didn't want to put the book down anyway!

Rating:
Summary: Dilly Is Everygirl
Review: This book is causing me a problem right now because my 7-year-old girl refuses to let me take it back to the library. I'm definitely going to have to buy it! We had read the previous Dilly book and liked it too, but this one really struck a chord with my daughter. She insisted that I read it and I found myself not wanting it to end; I was so caught up in her trevails at camp, and it brought up similar memories for me of when I had had a lengthy camp experience that didn't go well at first.

Dilly sets off to camp with her best friend Meredith, assured she's going to have the time of her life. She comforts the already homesick Meredith, yet inwardly congratulates herself on her own independent and adventurous spirit. On arriving at camp, everything starts to go wrong; Dilly is literally roped off from the others during swimming because she fails to pass a floating test; every meal contains cheese, which she hates; everyone else gets tons of letters from home while she goes day after day with none; and she is assigned an exuberant but tiny horse that only makes her feel more self-conscious and geeky. To add insult to injury, Meredith blossoms, enchanting the other girls with her long braids and having no problem adjusting to the many other personalities in their cabin. One scene in particular brought a lump to my throat when Meredith loyally agrees to sit by Dilly on the bus but can't help playing boisterously with another nearby girl while Dilly sits dejectedly beside her.

Dilly is a great character; not the most popular or athletic girl in the bunch, she is forced to confront her own vulnerabilities and yet still comes out a winner when she learns to rely on her strengths and be herself.

Ms. Lewis: Please keep writing more Dilly books! We're waiting eagerly!