I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.


I liked this cute story of Julia and her “adoption sisters” – two girls (Becca and Avery) adopted at the same time as her from the same Chinese orphanage. The three go off to summer camp together, and find themselves in a motley crew of a cabin. They can’t get any of the competitions right, and trouble ensues. Each girl in the cabin struggles in her own way, and they end up learning so much from each other. Eventually Julia overcomes her refusal to accept anything about her Chinese heritage and learns to strike a balance in accepting all aspects of her identity.

So many moments of this MG book felt very “real” to me. I appreciated the light religious undertones of the camp, since my own childhood included being a non-churchgoing child at a Christian camp. I also appreciated the truth of the 12-yr-old girls crushing on the much older male counselor! So cute! I adored the friends that Julia made, and the various descriptions of the competitions.

This is a book that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to a middle-schooler, as I think they would all benefit from this charming novel about adoption and self-acceptance.