«Lizzie B. Hayes and the Great Camp Caper» by Kathryn P. Carter

Lizzie B. Hayes and the Great Camp Caper, is a middle grade children’s fiction chapter book. It is the second book in the to the popular Lizzie B. Hayes series. Through historical fiction, KP Carter shares childhood coming of age stories about life in the 1960’s.
After the 1967 Newark rebellion, Lizzie’s Newark neighborhood has changed. Still surrounded by her loving grandparents, Cousins Shu Shu and Mookie, the precocious, accident prone ten-year-old Lizzie continues to yearn for her divorced parents to be re-united. Two years later, Lizzie gets ready to leave her beloved neighborhood again during the summer of 1969. Lizzie’s bad luck streak has ended, or so she thinks. Thanks to her mother’s tenacity and salesmanship, Lizzie wins a Girl Scout Cookie contest. The prize is an all-expense paid two-week camp trip. For the first time, Lizzie must learn to care for herself without the protection of her loving family and her Girl Scout troop leader.
While waiting to board the bus to Camp Chicktawanga, Lizzie encounters one of the grouchiest girls she has ever met. From the moment Lizzie encounters the “sour-lemon sucking face” Coco, she decides to stay out of her way. Unfortunately, Lizzie and Coco end up sharing a cabin. Trouble ensues the moment Lizzie, Coco, and the other two cabin mates head up the dusty trail to the cabin. Coco is unlike anyone Lizzie has ever encountered; plain old mean. When the troop leader tells Lizzie and Coco to “buddy up” for the overnight camping hike, Lizzie is undone. To make matters worse, Lizzie and Coco become separated from the rest of the campers and may have to spend the night in the woods alone. Will Lizzie and Coco work together to survive in the wilderness? What is the real reason Coco bullies everyone — especially Lizzie?
Lizzie B. Hayes and the Great Camp Caper addresses such difficult topics as bullying, aggression, and inappropriate teasing. Similar to Jacqueline Woodson’s Each Kindness and Trudy Ludwig’s Just Kidding, young readers learn valuable lessons about these behaviors and how to manage their own interactions.