August 25, 2024 KNOCK ON WOOD

I absolutely LOVED 4-H camp. Went for two weeks every summer--I'm pretty sure it was in Pomfret. Super rustic cabins--10 campers to a cabin--bunk beds--spider webs and NO ELECTRICITY. Girls on one side of the pond and boys on the other. Family style meals while singing and doing other ridiculous things in the Lodge. Those were the days. Woke up in the morning at 7:00 to Reveille and didn't stop til lights went out and Taps played at 9:45. We swam, canoed, learned archery, fished, made millions of pom poms at arts and crafts AND formed long lasting friendships. We'd write letters throughout the year and meet up again at camp. One of my favorite things to do was sit around the campfire at night and sing the classics--Kumbaya, The Day is Done, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. If you've been--you know the songs. Good clean American fun. All this camp stuff came back to me because I just finished The God Of the Woods by Liz Moore which happens to take place at Camp Emerson in the Adirondack Mountains--a summer camp for kids in 1975. As this thriller unfolds, Lorraine, a counselor in the cabin Balsam, wakes up one morning to find that one of her camper's is missing. Thirteen year old Barbara isn't just any camper, her family the Van Laars' own the camp and the Van Laar Preserve that surrounds it. The novel then jumps to 1961 the day eight year old Peter "Bear" Van Laar went missing while out hiking with his grandfather. How could two children from the same family go missing? Is it a coincidence or is something else at play? This mystery, family drama has many twists and turns as the story jumps between 1961-1975. The point of view also changes as several charcters including the mother Alice, father Peter, camp counselors, campers, investigators tell the story. This is a fascinating story--great plot--character development--a pretty easy read--that I did NOT figure out til the bitter end. Give it a try and let me know what you think.