Camo Girl
By Kekla Magoon
4/5
()
About this ebook
Ella and Z have been friends forever, both of them middle school outsiders in their Las Vegas suburb. Ella is the only black girl in her grade and gets teased for the mottled colors of her face. (Her deceased father was white.) Z is the classic “weird kid” who maintains an elaborate—and public—fantasy life, starring himself as a brave knight.
Though Z is content with his imagined world, Ella wishes for a larger group of friends, so she’s thrilled when Bailey, another black kid, arrives at their school. He’s popular and wants to befriend Ella—but to join the cool crowd, Ella would have to ditch Z. Does she stay loyal to the boy who has been her best and only friend for years, or jump at the chance to realize her dream of popularity?
Author Kekla Magoon deftly navigates the muddy waters of racial and cultural identities in this contemporary exploration of one girl’s attempt to find herself.
Kekla Magoon
Kekla Magoon is the author of many novels and nonfiction books, including The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, The Season of Styx Malone, and Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People. Kekla received the 2021 Margaret A. Edwards Award for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. She has been a National Book Award finalist in addition to receiving an NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, a Printz Honor, four Coretta Scott King Honors, and two Walter Award Honors. Kekla teaches writing for children and young adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Visit her online at keklamagoon.com.
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Reviews for Camo Girl
35 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heartwarming and beautiful. A tale of finding ones self in the midst of the chaos of life and losing something daer.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camo girl begins with a story line that will be quite familiar to anyone who reads many books aimed at a middle grade audience. Narrator has a best friend who is kind of weird; an unpopular outcast. A new person arrives who is popular and seems to like the narrator. Narrator has to decide whether to remain an outcast but stick with her friend, or abandon her odd friend to join the popular kids herself. Now when you begin with that, you just know the book will end in one of two ways... either the narrator will realize that she must be true to her original friend no matter what; or the other popular kids will learn that they can like the weird kid too.But neither of these is exactly the way Camo Girl panned out. There were some unexpected turns in the river. Not "oh-my-God" shocking, but enough to give the book some freshness.Ella is the narrator. She is a black girl whose skins is patchy, with big light colored splotches. She feels an outcast herself because of this. Her weird friend is Z, a small white boy who lives in a fantasy world, calls Ella "milady" and pretends he is a knight, and the world is a medieval adventure. And then there is Bailey. He is black, instantly popular, and clearly likes Ella. And there is one thing that all three of them have in common - in one way or another, they all lost their fathers. Ella's father died. Z's father abandoned the family. Bailey's father is hospitalized indefinitely for PSTD.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ella Cartwright’s best friend is Z or Zachariah and he needs protection. Z lives in a fantasy world that she helped him create where he is a brave knight and she is a fair lady because sometimes the real world is just so hard to deal with since his father abandoned him and his mom. Ella has her own problems too; the cool kids, mostly boys, tease her about her uneven complexion calling her Camo Face because someone thought it looked like desert camouflage; her father has died of cancer, her grandmother lives with them because her mom spends part of the week at her job as a steward on the train from Las Vegas to Chicago. She is the only black student in school. Millie used to be her other best friend but she started hanging out with the popular kids, dropping Zachariah and Ella once they got to 6th grade. Z was always the weird kid but he seems to be getting worse. Then Bailey James comes to town, another black student, and seems to want to be friends with Ella. As Ella grows closer to Bailey, Z grows agitated and Ella does not know how to fix it. Everyone is keeping secrets and it all comes to a head in dramatic fashion. Themes of fitting in, friendship, standing up for others, and family are woven throughout and Ella’s story will bring you to tears.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Children/tween fiction; bullying/peer pressure. Meh, this one was ok. The cover, although it does feature an African-American-looking girl, doesn't really accurately depict Ella's appearance and neither does it do a very good job of selling the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this book. A book about friendship between 2 outcasts sticking up for each other, in the face of adolescent bullying (for lack of better verbiage right now). Ella/Eleanor is growing up in a town with a 99-100% Caucasian population (it appears), she is the only African American in the school until Bailey James arrives and befriends her. This cause turmoil in her relationship with Z, who sees Bailey as a threat to his relationship with Ella. Ella spends the story trying to keep friends happy. In the end, everything works out for the best.It didn't come right out and say she had vitiligo. That is good and bad; but for kids who can't figure it out, it would open up some discussion with an adult.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grades 5-8
Since her father died, sixth grader Ella has grown used to being on the outside. She and her friend Z, whose father left when he was younger, are all the other needs. When new kid Bailey seeks her out, she feels a real bond with him. At the same time, this makes her feel disloyal to Z, knowing that she's his only friend at school. But Z is living more and more in a fantasy world, and Ella is in over her head when it comes to trying to help him with day-to-day survival. This is a wonderful friendship story in which Magoon skillfully brings to life engaging and relatable characters. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is my favorite book of the year so far. I loved the characters, the language and how the story develops. Definitely Newbery quality.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ella brushes her teeth with her eyes closed each morning so that she doesn't have to see her reflection in he mirror. She once had a very best friend, but now her only friend is Z, a boy whose weirdness makes him a social pariah like Ella. The bullies call her "Camo Face" because of her mottled skin. You'd think Ella would be used to it by now, but every time hurts like the first time. But when Bailey James starts at her school, things begin to change. Bailey shows an interest in her... and yes, it might be because they're the only two black kids in their class, but Ella's enjoying her time with the popular kids. What will happen to her friendship with Z when she starts hanging out with Bailey? This is a well-written contemporary novel with rich language choices and imagery. With bullying such a hot topic right now, this is a great choice for a classroom discussion. I'd pair it with WONDER by R.J. Palacio for a discussion on judging people by their looks.