Friday, November 14, 2008

The Isabel Factor, by Gayle Friesen


Right before Zoe and Anna are supposed to go to summer camp, Zoe breaks her arm and can't go. Inseparable as friends ("like crazy glue"), Anna does not know what to do but reluctantly goes alone. The summer promises to be busy as she and her friends from previous summers hatch a plan to finally win the camp competition against their arch rivals in cabin seven. However, there is a new girl (Isabel) who won't play along. Her resistance has striking consequences on old friendships. Soon, Anna is even reconsidering her friendship with Zoe and her priorities in general.

A bit of a rough read and treading on familiar ground, this story does not offer a lot. The ending is strong and some ambitious themes about peer pressure are approached, but this is overall pretty average stuff.

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