Tug-of-War by: Katy Grant

Five minutes. We'd barely been at Camp Pine Haven for five minutes, and I was already tempted to push my best friend Devon into the lake.

In "Tug-Of-War," by Katy Grant, Chris Ramirez is excited to find out that her best friend, Devon, will be coming to camp with her. But she is a little worried about sarcastic, smart Devon (her best friend from home) meeting lively, out-going Maggie (her best friend from camp).

Devon, with her black hair and creamy white skin, is obsessed with her makeup, her clothes, and acting like she is thirty years older than she is. Maggie, with her own wild red curls and freckled face, is adventurous, full of fun, and reminds Chris of a lively puppy dog. They couldn't be more different. When Maggie wants to do sports, Devon wants to read her magazine or play chess. When Maggie eats meat, Devon insists that eating anything with a face is cruel. When Maggie acts crazy and starts joking around, Devon just sighs and flutters her eyelashes.

Upon arrival at Camp Pine Haven, Chris realizes that Devon and Maggie can never be friends. She feels like she is split down the middle. Half of her wants to be with Maggie, half with Devon. When she is with Maggie, she wonders if Devon feels lonely without her. When she's with Devon, Chris worries about all the fun things Maggie is doing that she herself is missing out on.

But it is about to get worse. An argument with Devon leaves Chris and Devon fuming at each other. Days later, they make up. By that time, though, Chris is mad at Maggie because Maggie caused a canoeing accident. Couldn't Chris be friends with both of them at the same time?

When Chris catches a fever and has to stay in the sick room for a few days, she comes out to find a huge surprise. Devon and Maggie are now friends! More than just friends, they are best friends, stuck together like super glue. Suddenly Chris is the one feeling left out. Maggie is now a vegetarian, like Devon, and she lets Devon put makeup on her. Devon now appreciates Maggie's sense of humor and actually is having fun at camp.

A rash of pranks have been going around, and Chris is convinced Maggie and Devon are doing them. After someone steals her teddy bear and leaves a ransom note, Chris springs into action. She does a mean prank to Devon and Maggie since she is convinced they are the ones behind it all. When she finds out that she was wrong, she quickly tries to set things right, only now her prank has gone wrong, badly wrong.

There are some great lessons in here on friendship, and it is an enjoyable book. However, it is more the type of book that would be enjoyed by younger ages, maybe eight to eleven or twelve.

I love camp stories and this one is my favourite camp story I've read so far. My favourite character was Devon. She was a little bit stuck up, and she was kind of mean because she didn't want to come to camp in the first place. Her parents forced her to because they wanted to go to Italy, without her, but she is funny and adds some colour to the book. This book isn't exactly the most well written book, or, as my mom would say, it's fluffy. The style of the book would definitely lean towards younger kids.

7 or 8/10 stars