Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe

by Sarah Mlynowski

[whisperingchapters]

Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe wasn't what I was expecting. I guess I went in expecting a really fun summer camp story. While it was, there was too much drama with Sam that it was difficult to enjoy everything else.

Sam gets offered a chance to go back to camp as a counselor. She's hesitant since she didn't have the best memories there, but she still ends up going. She needed something to do since her boyfriend is traveling through Europe. It is there she meets Gavin, a guy who has a girlfriend.

This is where things go downhill. At first, everything was fun and enjoyable. I was loving the camp activities and the secondary cast, as well as the kids, so much! It is when Sam starts thinking about Gavin with flirty thoughts that things shifted for me. I'm most irritated by the fact that Sam is 19-years-old, yet she's acting like a 15-year-old. It was upsetting to and cringy to read her thoughts.

What I was mostly upset with was how Sam was mostly nonchalant about cheating. Sure, she'd have times where she would realize what she was doing was wrong. But she mostly cared about having fun with Gavin, not taking Eli, her boyfriend, into consideration. There were times where she wasn't even sure why she was cheating. She was doing it just because.

Taking Sam out of the equation, the rest of the book was enjoyable. I loved reading about color wars, freeze, and just all of the activities this camp had to offer. I loved that the kids were so present in the story. I especially loved the characters Botts and Jannelle. Both of these characters should have gotten more attention than they did. Jannelle brought so much spice and fire and energy to the story, and Botts brought a calmness and maturity that Sam and Gavin were definitely lacking.

Overall, Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe wasn't my cup of tea.