Camp Frenemies: Bunkmates for Never

Camp Frenemies, a graphic novel by Liz Montague comes out May, 2026. It is the second book in this series about Bea, her bunny Roger, and her friends Virginia and Roxy. This second book starts at the end of seventh grade and Bea is looking forward to returning to her summer camp and her cabin mates Roxy and Virginia, who last summer, helped Bea 'come out' and be more herself. Except for one thing: Roger her stuffed bunny. This summer, while she takes Roger to camp, she has decided not to carry him around everywhere the way she did last summer.

When Bea get to camp, her friend Virginia is surprised that Bea looks different: her hair is down and she's wearing makeup, and she wears a purse 'for my things.' Virginia is upset at Bea's changes. Roxy, on the other hand, has changed too (she is trying to be more optimistic) and she is excited about Bea's changes. This makes Virginia think that Roxy and Bea are teaming up against her. Roxy tells Bea and Virginia that this year she is not going to help keep the peace between Bea and Virginia - they're going to have to figure out how to treat each other on their own.

The other issue facing these three friends is that the camp is understaffed and being the oldest group of campers, the camp seems to be favoring the younger kids in their programming. Bea and her friends question why they have returned,

One morning (following a very difficult day), Virginia wakes up to find Bea has left, and she's left without Roger, her stuffed animal. She and Roxy think Bea was kidnapped. One of the camp counselors tell them that Bea called her Dad and asked to be picked up early. Roxy and Virginia find this hard to believe as they feel Bea would never willingly leave Roger behind. So Roxy and Virginia decide to leave camp on their own and they show up at Bea's house - where they learn more about themselves and each other. Knowing each other better, the friends realize that even with change, investing in friends is important and worthwhile.

This is a story about adjusting to natural and self-imposed change. It is story about growing up. My only criticism about the book is that while it's about teens heading to high school, the art and format Montague uses has a younger feel - more like middle grades.

Teachable Moments:

One topic worth discussing with your students is how they notice and handle change. Life is full of changes and there are many different ways individuals and groups handle change. You might want to discuss groups handle change versus individuals - and what can we learn from this. You may also want to discuss different types of change and different strategies stuedents have of addressing and dealing with change.

A second topic worth discussing is friendship in general - Discuss different types of friendships - close friendships, friendships of convenience, close friendships versus casual friendships. What each entails and what problems might arise under eac one. Discuss strategies for those different types of friendships.

A final topic of discussion could be expectations. How do we set, evaluate, and deal with expectations: expectations of an event or program, expectations of adults, of friends, of siblings - how they are similar and different. How one navigates expectations and how one navigates when expectations fail or fall apart.

Please let me know what you think both of the book, this post, and the teachable moments.

Enjoy!!