Whether your tween reader is enjoying summer camp this year or just looking for books about summer camp then this is the book list for you!
These chapter books about summer camp will make you feel like you’re experiencing summer camp right along with the characters. So pick up a few for the perfect staycation that makes you feel like you’re away at camp this summer.
For even more books, check out our list of best graphic novels about summer camp!
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The Best Chapter Books About Summer Camp
Spy Camp
by Stuart Gibbs
Ben Ripley is a middle schooler whose school is not exactly average—he’s spent the last year training to be a top-level spy and dodging all sorts of associated danger. So now that summer’s finally here, Ben would like to have some fun and relax. But that’s not going to happen during required spy survival training at a rustic wilderness camp, where SPYDER, an enemy spy organization, has infiltrated the spies’ ranks. Can Ben root out the enemy before it takes him out—for good?
Related: Spy School Books in Order
Camp Rolling Hills
by Stacy Davidowitz
A hilarious and heartfelt series about the particular magic of summer camp—a place where reinvention is possible and friends are like family—from a sparkling debut talent. Finally, it’s summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. And this year she’s especially happy to be back—she’ll have eight blissful weeks away from home, where life has been decidedly rocky. New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life.
He does not understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all! But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. Bunks are raided! Boxer shorts are stolen! And it’s up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.
The Sun Will Come Out
by Joanne Levy
Twelve-year-old Bea Gelman and her best friend Frankie are planning the BEST SUMMER EVER at Camp Shalom―a sleep-away camp. But at the last minute, Frankie bows out, leaving painfully shy Bea on her own. Just talking to strangers causes Bea to break out into ugly, blotchy hives. As if the hives weren’t bad enough, Bea gets pranked by a couple of girls in her cabin and is betrayed by someone she thought was a new friend.
Bea has had enough! She decides to spend her summer in the infirmary far away from everything that’s stressing her out. No more boys (including her crush, Jeremy), no more horrible mean girls, and no more fake friends! At the infirmary, Bea meets Harry, a boy facing challenges way more intense than stress breakouts. Inspired by Harry’s strength and positive outlook, Bea decides to face her fears―in a big way.
Gamerville
by Johnnie Christmas
Max Lightning is howling at the moon—he’s finally qualified for Gamerville, a championship where players compete to be top dog in the multiplayer video game Lone Wolf of Calamity Bay. But his dreams of domination are doomed when his parents send him to Camp Reset.
Gone are the long nights of downing energy drinks and getting copious amounts of screen time. They’ve been replaced with fresh air and group activities under the hot sun—a shock to the system for a lone wolf like Max. Can Max escape Camp Reset and level up at Gamerville, or has he finally played his last match?
The Matchbreaker Summer
by Annie Rains
Sixteen-year-old Paisley Manning has been attending Camp Starling since she was a little girl, when her parents ran it together. For the last few years, since her father’s death, she’s been the one helping her mom run the camp behind the scenes. This year, however, will be Camp Starling’s last hurrah because Paisley’s mom has met a guy online and they’re getting married.
Enter Hayden Bennett, who is working alongside Paisley. Paisley and Hayden are like oil and water. She follows the rules, and he seems to live to break them all. But when Hayden catches wind of Paisley’s predicament, he has an idea. If a matchmaker in some computer algorithm caused the issue, a couple of real-life matchbreakers can fix it.
As they work to break up the happy couple, Paisley discovers that maybe Hayden’s not so bad after all. Has she met her own perfect match in her fellow matchbreaker?
To Night Owl From Dogfish
by Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer
Avery Bloom, who’s bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who’s fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads.
When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends–and possibly, one day, even sisters.
But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they find themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can’t imagine life without each other, will Bett and Avery (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?
Nerd Camp
by Elissa Brent Weissman
Ten-year-old Gabe has just been accepted to the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment. That means he’ll be spending six weeks at sleepaway camp, writing poetry and perfecting logic proofs. S.C.G.E. has been a summer home to some legendary middle-school smarty-pants (and future Jeopardy! contestants), but it has a reputation for being, well, a Nerd Camp. S.C.G.E = Smart Camp for Geeks and Eggheads.
But is Gabe really a geek? He’s never thought about it much—but that was before he met Zack, his hip, LA-cool, soon-to-be stepbrother. Gabe worries that Zack will see him only as a nerd, until a wild summer at camp—complete with a midnight canoe ride to “Dead Man’s Island”—helps Gabe realize that he and Zack have the foundations for a real friendship.
There’s a Bat in Bunk Five
by Paula Danzinger
Lewis is thrilled when her former teacher Ms. Finney asks her to be a junior counselor at a creative arts camp. Finally, she’s on her own for the first time, away from family and school. It’s her big chance to reinvent herself. Marcy’s sure everything will be perfect—until the campers arrive. Being surrounded by nosy, giggling, joke-telling girls (and one nightmare camper in particular) is enough to make her want to jump in a lake.
Her only solace is her nights out with Ted, a sweet, guitar-playing boys’ counselor. But is Marcy ready for that? Can she handle a potential boyfriend and the demands of twelve campers for an entire summer? And are there really bats in the ceiling of the dining hall?
Cheesie Mack is Cool in a Duel
by Steve Cotler
Illustrated by Adam McCauley
Cheesie and Georgie are back, and this time they’re off to the greatest summer camp in Maine. As the oldest of the Little Guy campers, they’ll get to make the campfires and choose the sports teams. It’s sure to be their best summer yet!
Then disaster strikes. Cheesie and Georgie are put in a cabin with the Big Guy campers, including Cheesie’s archenemy, Kevin Welch. Now the youngest—and smallest—of the Big Guys, Cheesie has no choice but to use his brains to fight Kevin’s brawn—he challenges the bully to a Cool Duel. The adventure that follows includes a toilet on a wall, a headless skateboarder, a garter snake mustache, and the scariest ghost story ever told. Will Cheesie survive to start middle school?
Brain Camp
by Susan Kim
Neither artistic, dreamy Jenna nor surly, delinquent Lucas expected to find themselves at an invitation-only summer camp that turns problem children into prodigies. And yet, here they both are at Camp Fielding, settling in with all the other losers and misfits who’ve been shipped off by their parents in a last-ditch effort to produce a child worth bragging about.
But strange disappearances, spooky lights in the woods, and a chilling alteration that turns the dimmest, rowdiest campers into docile zombie Einsteins have Jenna and Lucas feeling more than a little suspicious . . . and a lot afraid.
The Girls of Firefly Cabin
by Cynthia Ellingsen
Lauren, Isla, Jade, and Archer meet the first day of summer camp, and friendship magic is made in Firefly Cabin. If only they could immortalize their summer memories by winning the contest to be the face of the camp’s website. But it won’t be easy; not with rival cabins, distracting crushes, and of course, the girl’s own secrets getting in the way. Can friendship—and the Fireflies—triumph over all?
Genius Camp: The Smartest Kid in the Universe
by Chris Grabenstein
Jake McQuade is the smartest kid in the universe—and he’s back to defend his title! This time, he is heading off to a camp for geniuses sponsored by billionaire tech mogul (and brilliant inventor) Zane Zinkle.
But genius camp is not like regular camp. There are limo buses, robot polar bears, and high-tech cabins with high-tech toilets! But it isn’t all fun and brain games at camp, especially when Jake goes up against the artificially intelligent Virtuoso quantum computer—the smartest machine in the universe—which also happens to be Zinkle’s latest genius creation! It’s boy versus bot in this epic showdown packed with s’mores, puzzles, action, adventure, and hilarious, jelly bean-fueled fun!
The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten
by Krista Van Dolzer
Twelve-year-old painter Esther can’t wait to attend Camp Vermeer, the most prestigious art camp around. But when her stepdad accidentally drives up the wrong mountain, she lands at Camp Archimedes — a math camp! Determined to prove herself to the other campers, she tackles a brain-teaser that’s supposed to be impossible, and solves it in a single day.
But not everyone is happy about it… someone wants her out of camp at any cost, and starts leaving cryptic, threatening notes all over the grounds. Esther doesn’t know who to trust. Will she solve this riddle before it’s too late?
Chunky Goes to Camp
by Yehudi Mercado
Hudi finally embraced his love of art and comedy, but his class clown antics keep getting him in trouble. After Hudi’s artwork lands him in detention again, his parents decide a change is needed when summer arrives, and they sentence him to four weeks at summer camp.
Hudi is hesitant about Camp Green—a Jewish sleepaway camp in the blazing Texas desert. At least he still has Chunky. Then Hudi meets Pepe, a fellow camper who’s also Latinx, Jewish, and a comedian like Hudi, and who—get this—can also see Chunky! What?! The rest of Hudi’s bunkmates are also a motley crew of misfits. Has Hudi finally found his people?
This new friendship with Pepe leads Hudi and Chunky into all kinds of hijinks, including a prank war with a few rival campers: the rich, preppy trio of Joshes. Hudi soon realizes that Pepe is driven by more than just making people laugh and he’s not telling Hudi the truth. As the pranks escalate further than Hudi wants, he’s at risk of getting labeled a troublemaker again—can Chunky help Hudi save this new friendship? Or will it flame out?
Related Book Lists:
- Graphic Novels About Summer Camp
- Books About Video Games
- Body Swapping and Switching Books for Tweens
- 2024 Summer Books for Tweens
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