When one of her two dads gets a new job in Seattle, 9-year-old Vega isn’t happy about moving from the family’s home in Portland, Oregon. Her well-meaning dads sign her up for Camp Very Best Friend, a summer camp with a stated goal of helping kids make friends, but Vega doesn’t want to go, since she already has a best friend, Halley, back in Portland. Vega finally agrees, though, after making a deal with one dad that he’ll try to make a new friend, too.
It soon becomes clear that strange things are going on at the camp, however, starting with the oddly robotic counselors. Vega reluctantly partners with the other campers to figure out the mystery, even as she tries in vain to stay connected with Halley. She puts her astronomy skills to use as the others contribute their various STEM skills, but the camp’s secret is something none of them could have predicted.
Inset panels focus on various STEM concepts, but the book offers just as many lessons about friendship. Quirky characters and a big dose of humor, plus incidental queer representation, make this graphic novel a delight.
Vega and her dads read as Latinx; other children in the book read as Black, White, and Asian.
