Attending overnight camp is like entering a magical world in which kids can learn valuable life lessons in just eight weeks. Campers make new friends and meet people outside their at-home comfort zones. They explore activities they might normally be afraid to try and learn that even negative experiences can result in improved self-esteem and self-sufficiency. The fictional Camp Tova is the setting for Rachel Mann’s young adult novel, “ON BLACKBERRY HILL,” CreateSpace Publishing 2016, ISBN 97815325262910. The novel contains 31 chapters in 194 pages and is written primarily for readers ages thirteen and up. It tells the story of Reena, an eighth grader from New York City, who attends overnight camp for the first time. The book also includes flashbacks to twenty years earlier when her mother, Naomi, works as a counselor at the same camp.
Naomi dies when Reena is a baby, and Reena has only a vague understanding of what her mother was like. Reena’s relationship with her musician father, Jim, remains distant, and she is confused as to why her father’s connection with extended family is strained. Jim decides to go abroad on a summer musical tour, and he enrolls Reena at Camp Tova. Reena is reluctant to be “the new girl” at a camp that might be “too Jewish.” Hopes that her cousin — who has attended the camp for years — will ease her way are quickly dashed as it becomes clear the cousin is only interested in associating with popular girls.
Still, Reena is able to make friends and obtain an idea of who her mother was. She is amazed by the beauty of her mother’s hand-painted murals that decorate the camp. She hears stories from camp staff that bring her mother’s strong and adventurous character to life. Reena also discovers certain misunderstandings are behind the rifts in her family, and she uses this knowledge to improve relationships all around once camp is over.
What makes a young adult novel effective is the believability of the characters and setting. The dialogue in “On Blackberry Hill” is natural and brings readers further into Reena’s world. Reena’s fears and worries about starting camp at the ripe old age of thirteen and her confusion over family tensions are concerns any young teen can relate to. Ms. Mann beautifully captures Reena’s awkwardness on Visiting Day and the dreadful feeling of being the odd one out. “On Blackberry Hill” also depicts the devious nature of bullies, their ability to choose a new target in an instant and then go at her with full force. Ms. Mann has written a book in which no character is perfect and not all endings are happy. Cliches are avoided: not every camper at Camp Tova is particularly religious, and although Reena develops a stronger appreciation for her faith by the summer’s end, her father remains somewhat detached from Judaism. There is a wonderful lesson here, for the book shows that a child can embrace Judaism even if a parent does not. The book explores how loss can tighten bonds within a family or sometimes loosen them, how misunderstandings are often the cause of troubled relationships, the importance of talking out small problems so they do not grow into large ones, how what we view as superiority is simply a reflection of someone else’s struggles and the unfortunate reality that not everyone has a kind heart.
One of the book’s strengths is the descriptive writing. The sounds and smells of camp are vividly set forth along with details of camp life: the feeling of being crammed into a bunk bed, mastering the art of changing in a room full of campers, and the atmosphere of camp on a rainy day when normal activities are suspended. The reader is drawn into camp flirtations and excitement when color war breaks out.
Rachel Mann grew up on Long Island and has enjoyed writing stories since she was a child. She attended Camp Ramah for many years (both as a camper and a counselor), and, like Naomi in the book, met her husband there. Camp was a huge part of her childhood and remains firmly set in her consciousness. This is one reason she can so perfectly capture the camp experience.
Although the book goes back and forth between Reena and her mother, Reena’s story will be of more interest to the young reader. In addition, the author’s use of an “angel” in the guise of a long-haired young man who appears to both Reena and Naomi and sings about Hashem and the importance of following one’s heart seems a bit contrived in a story which evokes life’s little details with such realism. Still, “On Blackberry Hill” will appeal to young readers, whether they have attended camp or not. In the author’s words, the book “…makes one think about the importance of connections to: family, friends, and culture …” Ms. Mann’s superb descriptive details about camp life and her ability to convey the difficulties all young people face (without tossing in a traditional happy ending) make the book an excellent read.
This article was published in The Jewish Advocate on September 9, 2016.
