Long Story Short

Starred review from June 1, 2022

Gr 9 Up-While Beatrice is technically a genius, the 16-year-old's blatant inability to connect with others makes her parents hesitate about sending her to Oxford. However, they'll agree to her college choice if Beatrice survives a trial run at a four-week summer camp. The catch is, it's theater camp, at which Beatrice must participate in the acting section while completing a list of parent-made goals. Oblivious to social norms, Beatrice's introduction to camp leads to a new enemy in the form of the camp founders' son, Nik. With her future on the line, this one shot to embrace teenage life forces Beatrice to explore the world beyond her textbooks. Kaylor's debut novel gives socially struggling individuals and theater lovers a space to feel seen. Beatrice's relationships with her fellow campers paints the trial and errors of connecting with people through conversation and consent. The monthlong camp creates a perfect setting for stepping out of one's comfort zone to become an active participant in life. Beatrice's anxiety is handled quite realistically, and with care, comforting those with similar issues. Delightfully, the first meeting between Beatrice and Nik leads to an enemies-to-lovers trope which doesn't disappoint. While the tidy ending might be a bit of a reach for some, a "happily ever after" seems plausible when you throw a bunch of overly emotional, entirely lovable theater nerds together. Beatrice is cued white, Nik is biracial (South Asian and white). VERDICT For the introverted and theater fans alike, this is a must-read summer camp romp.-Emily Walker

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2022
What better way to prove to your parents that you can be a regular teenager than to enroll in Shakespeare camp? Sixteen-year-old math genius Beatrice Quinn has been home-schooled her entire life, avoiding socializing and studying hard to secure her dream of attending the University of Oxford. When she confesses to her parents--sex therapists who share a practice--that she not only applied to Oxford, but was accepted to attend in the fall, they worry she is not prepared to move to another country by herself. Agreeing to do whatever it takes to convince them she's ready, the White Berkeley teen agrees to spend her summer at the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy with a parentally assigned list of so-called normal teenage experiences she must check off, including making a friend, engaging in small talk, hugging people, doing something outdoorsy, and pulling a prank. But no amount of research can prepare socially anxious Bea for the reality of theater camp, where she faces firsts like acting on stage, attending secret parties, and partaking in a Shakespeare-off. The cast members, varied in race and sexual orientation, may at first seem to conform to familiar types, but the characters are redeemed by backstories revealing their depths. Anyone who has also hardened their shell to protect their heart will be moved by Bea's growth in self-love as she sincerely navigates friendship and romance. Charming repartee and plenty of heart make for a delightful debut. (Fiction. 12-18)

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July 11, 2022
Brimming with wit, optimism, and adolescence’s seemingly never-ending awkwardness, Kaylor’s humorous debut follows one reserved, previously homeschooled teenager’s attempts to make friends and come into her own at a theater summer camp. White 16-year-old Californian Beatrice Quinn, who graduated high school at 14, has just gotten into the University of Oxford, her dream college. Her parents, however, don’t think she’s ready to live abroad alone. Desperate to leave the nest, Bea strikes a deal with her parents: if she will step out of her comfort zone and socialize at a theater camp, they’ll let her attend Oxford. Once she arrives at the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy, she meets extroverted Mia, her Black and bisexual roommate, as well as white Nolan, Mia’s gay “best camp friend” and costumer extraordinaire. Though she feels in over her head, Bea—with Mia and Nolan’s guidance—slowly comes out of her shell and develops a crush on Indian-cued Nikhil Shah, the handsome son of world-famous stage actors. Bea’s evolution from isolated academic to social butterfly, and her myriad cringe-worthy and applause-inducing trials and tribulations, are thoughtfully rendered, and a large, idiosyncratic cast populate her transformative whirlwind summer. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

July 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 While Beatrice is overjoyed to receive a letter of acceptance from Oxford University, her parents are reluctant to send their 16-year-old, homeschooled daughter so far away, given her lack of social skills. So they make a deal: she can go only if, while (reluctantly) attending a summer drama camp, she fulfills all eight items on her parents' "Teenager Experience" list. Uneasy but determined when she arrives at camp, Beatrice quickly makes a friend (item #1) who challenges her and cheers her on. And while her initial conversations with lead-actor Nik are painfully awkward, their public bouts of verbal sparring and their quiet but growing emotional attachment light up this beguiling first novel, which includes a production of Romeo and Juliet. Beatrice, who remakes herself as the less haughty, more approachable Bea, narrates her summer of change with intelligence and wit, as well as plaintive notes of insecurity. The camp setting provides an intriguing backdrop for the action and brings together a number of well-drawn, idiosyncratic characters. Recommended for fans of rom-coms with an amusing, Shakespearean twist.

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