Chloe and Maddie had been friends since kindergarten. Then in middle school, Chloe gains fame in a popular television series—but Maddie, who wears glasses, is “chubby,” and has dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder), is humiliated in an embarrassing viral video during a drama club performance that Chloe had pressured her into doing. Maddie (who happens to have two moms) blames Chloe and doesn’t like their growing differences in popularity; Chloe seems not to understand what went wrong and can’t quite understand why Maddie is upset. Their friendship falters—but the summer after seventh grade, however, they are thrown back together in a summer camp cabin, and have to figure out if they’ll give each other another chance.
The story, told in alternating chapters from each girl’s perspective, follows the girls at camp and in flashbacks to the earlier incident. Chloe is happy to be at camp and away from her mother’s ambitions for her, but has a love-hate relationship with her fame. She’s confident in her performing abilities (perhaps too much so) but doesn’t like being fawned over by the other campers. She’s also figuring out that she likes girls, and has a crush on a fellow camper, but isn’t sure if her mom will be accepting. She’s envious of Maddie, who has an easy relationship with her moms—but seems not to notice that Maddie, for her part, is jealous of her looks and popularity.
Maddie’s time at camp is also not going well because she ends up having to act again, in the camp’s production of Wicked, after her desired screenwriting program was cancelled. She must learn to be confident in herself and what she has to offer—to be the star of her own story, not an add-on to Chloe’s.
The girls begin by trying to foil each other—but ultimately, just might save their friendship as each grows and changes in different ways.
A sweet summer-themed read that will particularly (but not exclusively) appeal to theater nerds (which I say having been one myself).
Both girls are White; Maddie is Jewish. One of Maddie’s moms is said to a lesbian and the other bisexual—a rare and welcome bit of bi-parent representation, although neither mom plays a significant role in the book.
