Camp QUILTBAG

January 23, 2023
Via a perceptive dual narrative, Melleby (The Science of Being Angry) and Sass (Ellen Outside the Lines) weave the perspectives of two queer kids drawn together by a need for community. Desperate for friends following the publicizing of her crush on a friend’s mom and subsequent ostracism at her New Jersey Catholic school, 12-year-old lesbian Abigail Rabb wants to attend Minnesota’s Camp QUILTBAG, a two-week program for queer youth. Outside of Minneapolis, nonbinary 13-year-old Kai Lindquist, who uses the pronouns e, em, and eir, isn’t interested in the camp, but eir parents push for it after e experiences bullying, an injury, and the loss of eir best friend. The two couldn’t be more different in interests and motivation—Abigail’s into Jurassic Park and Laura Dern, while Kai’s a “former gymnast-turned-parkour wizard”—but they develop an unlikely alliance when the camp announces a competition: Abigail will help Kai’s cabin win in exchange for confidence lessons. While the contest is meant to bring all the campers together, the duo’s alliance, anxieties, budding romances, and trauma all clash, perhaps compromising further connections. Distilling many relatable experiences and engaging with themes of layered identity, this important story highlights the importance of queer camaraderie and education. Protagonists read as white; campers are portrayed as intersectionally diverse. Ages 8–12. Agents: (for Melleby) Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret; (for Sass) Jordan Hamessley, New Leaf Literary.

February 1, 2023
Abigail and Kai, two campers at a Minnesota summer camp for LGBTQ+ kids, navigate friendship and young love. Twelve-year-old Abigail, a White girl from New Jersey, has been shunned by her friends after being outed as a lesbian, one who's in love with her friend's mom to boot. She asks her parents to send her to Camp QUILTBAG, where people might get her. Thirteen-year-old Kai, who is also White, was bullied for being nonbinary (Kai's pronouns are e/em/eir). Now, though, e has a group of friends who accept em and isn't thrilled about being sent away to camp. Through making new friends and participating in camp activities, Abigail starts to learn to be proud of who she is, and both tweens begin to trust people again. The main characters stand as loving depictions of cis lesbian and nonbinary kids. Along with Abigail and Kai, who alternate chapters in close third person, there is a moderately sized supporting case that is diverse in terms of race, religion, gender, sexuality, and neurodiversity. There are teachable moments about many of these identities throughout, which eventually become a bit tedious. However, overall, this is a fun story that gently deals with real issues that LGBTQ+ middle schoolers face. It captures that camp feeling of getting away from home, meeting different people, and growing as a person, all over the course of just two weeks. At its heart, an enjoyable summer camp story. (authors' note) (Fiction. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2023
Grades 4-7 Middle-schoolers find increased self-awareness and solidarity at an LGBTQ+ camp in this empathetic, widely representative novel, which unites 12-year-old Abigail and 13-year-old Kai from the anthology This Is Our Rainbow (2022), edited by Melleby and Katherine Locke. The novel's protagonists arrive at Camp QUILTBAG as hesitant newcomers after Abigail was ostracized at Catholic school for her crush on Stacy's mom (Laura Dern's also got it going on), and Kai was injured by school bullies who refuse to accept em as e is. Their fellow campers reflect a wide array of often intersectional identities and are at varying stages of their own queer awareness. A camp-wide competition and several miscommunications lend plot tensions, while casual moments like swimming and dance lessons frame important insights around gender expression and identity. Prominent in queer middle-grade fiction, Melleby (The Science of Being Angry, 2022) and Sass (Ellen Outside the Lines, 2022) write with incredible compassion, crafting a sweet summertime romance while modeling difficult conversations and valuable lessons in inclusivity. An instructive, affirming pick for rainbow readers and allies.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2023
Melleby and Sass bring together the middle school�? aged protagonists they each created for the 2021 short-story anthology This Is Our Rainbow (co-edited by Melleby and Katherine Locke) in this novel set at a camp for LGBTQ+ youth. Melleby's Abigail (she/her/hers), all but ostracized by her friends since she admitted to a crush on one of their mothers, begs her parents to send her to the camp. Sass's Kai (e/em/eir) attends under protest: eir parents sign em up after a bullying incident. The two newbies form sometimes-bumpy relationships with each other and with the more seasoned campers in a safe but not necessarily awkwardness-free space. There's a heightened awareness (even more than in other settings) that anyone might be romantically interested in anyone else -- or might not. There's also, realistically, a wide range of knowledge about and comfort with queer identities among the kids: one of them launches a campaign for a more inclusive camp name ("there's no letter in the QUILTBAG acronym for pansexual kids, plus a lot of others"), while Kai tries to remember what pansexual means. Intersectionality in the differences between campers adds another dimension, especially in the area of religion: Abigail attends Catholic school; Kai is "kind of" Jewish and tentatively learns more about Judaism from another camper. This engaging, gently affirming novel should be valuable to young ­readers exploring their own identities or curious about those of others. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from May 19, 2023

Gr 4-8-Summer camp is a classic setting in children's literature, but few are as warm and affirming as the camp in Melleby and Sass's novel. Told in alternating perspectives, the book follows two children during their first year at an LGBTQIA+ camp: eager but anxious Abigail (she/her), a recently out lesbian, is yearning for accepting friends, whereas aloof, nonbinary Kai (e/em) would much rather leave in favor of eir parkour training. The two make an unlikely alliance during a camp-wide competition. Through crushes and the big feelings that come with having a better understanding of yourself, they learn how fulfilling true friendship can be. Melleby and Sass manage to teach readers a lot about identity, empathy, and boundaries without bogging down the text or adopting a didactic tone. They also deploy just enough humor to remind readers that growing up is difficult and awkward, but not without its share of laughs. Although Kai and Abigail are depicted as white, a wide range of identities-not just gender and sexuality, but race, religion, and ability-are represented, and it only feels natural that all of these folks would be welcome at Camp QUILTBAG. VERDICT A timely and necessary addition to any elementary or middle school library, especially as LGBTQIA+ children are seeking examples of loving communities who fully embrace every part of them.-Alexandra Quay

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2023
Melleby and Sass bring together the middle school�? aged protagonists they each created for the 2021 short-story anthology This Is Our Rainbow (co-edited by Melleby and Katherine Locke) in this novel set at a camp for LGBTQ+ youth. Melleby's Abigail (she/her/hers), all but ostracized by her friends since she admitted to a crush on one of their mothers, begs her parents to send her to the camp. Sass's Kai (e/em/eir) attends under protest: eir parents sign em up after a bullying incident. The two newbies form sometimes-bumpy relationships with each other and with the more seasoned campers in a safe but not necessarily awkwardness-free space. There's a heightened awareness (even more than in other settings) that anyone might be romantically interested in anyone else -- or might not. There's also, realistically, a wide range of knowledge about and comfort with queer identities among the kids: one of them launches a campaign for a more inclusive camp name ("there's no letter in the QUILTBAG acronym for pansexual kids, plus a lot of others"), while Kai tries to remember what pansexual means. Intersectionality in the differences between campers adds another dimension, especially in the area of religion: Abigail attends Catholic school; Kai is "kind of" Jewish and tentatively learns more about Judaism from another camper. This engaging, gently affirming novel should be valuable to young readers exploring their own identities or curious about those of others.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)