I really appreciated the specificity of each of the characters we get to know at Camp Resolution. Which of these characters’ life experiences and relationships with each other did you find especially compelling? Who were you rooting for the most? Summer camp culture, even when it’s relatively normal, can be wild. Do you have any vivid camp memories that have stayed with you? Do you have any formative summer experiences or friendships that hold a lot of meaning? Do you still keep in touch with any of them? Any camp horror stories? Discuss below!
In my childhood in Haiti, my family did not have the resources to send seven children to camp. How could my parents have chosen which child to choose? However the summer I turned eight, a new catholic priest took the girl choir to a week-long camp. It was my most exciting summer, until the day before we went back home. It was my birthday in July and one of the girls told the priest. He picked me up and threw me in the pool and I couldn't swim. I was drowning. He eventually jumped in his full regalia and got me out. He laughed. It wasn't funny.
Then I came to America. For years, I was terrified of water. I eventually learned to swim when my girls were also taking swimming lessons.
The characters in Cuckoo are really starting to grow on me. I appreciate Malcolm’s grit and figuring out how to be a man. Shelby is drawn so well, I can envision her body and her struggles and like how she is learning how to be a woman in this bizarre setting. My heart aches for Natalie and the horrific punishment she endured, it kept me up last night. In the midst of Camp Resolution’s horror, I like how they look out for each other…er except for Betty’s kicking.
I was in a “home” for children whose parents couldn’t care for them during my middle school years . We weren’t orphans, but folks viewed us that way. This guy Mickey had a crush on me. This gal Frances had claimed Mickey as hers. I wanted nothing to do with him, but Frances tortured me in subtle ways. The worst two were tearing out my journal pages and getting all the other girls to stop talking to me.
The first time I went to summer camp, I was around 8 or 9 years old. I didn't stay the full 3 weeks because I was homesick and my parents came to pick me up after the first week. But I'll always remember a delicious fizzy drink they served with our dinner called " Giggle juice," and my camp counselor, a young teenage girl who played the guitar and sang to me to cheer me up as we sat on my bunk bed and I waited to go back home.
I actually am still friends with a girl I met at summer “day” camp on our trip to Disney World… I was probably about 12 and she would have been around 10… we reconnected in HS because we went to different elementary and middle schools, and there was only 1 HS in our town…40+ years later ..
My favorite memories summer camp… seeing Grease and Star Wars ..
Imagine about 75 kids from 7-15 years of age all walking to the local movie theater!
Those were the best days…
Also our leader… Coach Bramson… the camp was walking back to park from a movie and it started to rain.. he said “don’t run, if you walk you can do it between the drops…” ❤️
In my childhood in Haiti, my family did not have the resources to send seven children to camp. How could my parents have chosen which child to choose? However the summer I turned eight, a new catholic priest took the girl choir to a week-long camp. It was my most exciting summer, until the day before we went back home. It was my birthday in July and one of the girls told the priest. He picked me up and threw me in the pool and I couldn't swim. I was drowning. He eventually jumped in his full regalia and got me out. He laughed. It wasn't funny.
Then I came to America. For years, I was terrified of water. I eventually learned to swim when my girls were also taking swimming lessons.
The characters in Cuckoo are really starting to grow on me. I appreciate Malcolm’s grit and figuring out how to be a man. Shelby is drawn so well, I can envision her body and her struggles and like how she is learning how to be a woman in this bizarre setting. My heart aches for Natalie and the horrific punishment she endured, it kept me up last night. In the midst of Camp Resolution’s horror, I like how they look out for each other…er except for Betty’s kicking.
I was in a “home” for children whose parents couldn’t care for them during my middle school years . We weren’t orphans, but folks viewed us that way. This guy Mickey had a crush on me. This gal Frances had claimed Mickey as hers. I wanted nothing to do with him, but Frances tortured me in subtle ways. The worst two were tearing out my journal pages and getting all the other girls to stop talking to me.
The first time I went to summer camp, I was around 8 or 9 years old. I didn't stay the full 3 weeks because I was homesick and my parents came to pick me up after the first week. But I'll always remember a delicious fizzy drink they served with our dinner called " Giggle juice," and my camp counselor, a young teenage girl who played the guitar and sang to me to cheer me up as we sat on my bunk bed and I waited to go back home.
I actually am still friends with a girl I met at summer “day” camp on our trip to Disney World… I was probably about 12 and she would have been around 10… we reconnected in HS because we went to different elementary and middle schools, and there was only 1 HS in our town…40+ years later ..
My favorite memories summer camp… seeing Grease and Star Wars ..
Imagine about 75 kids from 7-15 years of age all walking to the local movie theater!
Those were the best days…
Also our leader… Coach Bramson… the camp was walking back to park from a movie and it started to rain.. he said “don’t run, if you walk you can do it between the drops…” ❤️
I finished the book some time ago, and Gabe’s story is staying with me the strongest for the longest.