religion, Utopias, dune buggies, and summer camp

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL (Bloomsbury, 2008) is the story of a teen sent by her father and stepmother to a spiritual summer camp against her will. Riley Rose's behavior has been decidedly un-spiritual of late. Perhaps a week at Spirit Camp will straighten her out. However, do not underestimate the power of one unhappy teen in the face of counselors who rouse campers with Bible passages and wear badges with cliched expressions. Riley is not about to become a girl scout just because of some camp rules. Instead, she sneaks off with Dylan a camp alum. Dylan also has some anger issues, mostly stemming from the accident that has left him a paraplegic. Unlikely that these two will connect, right? But, somehow, connect they do. Spirit Camp might just have a new meaning when Dylan and Riley are finished. Lots of good humor, bad behavior, and some small salvation in this quirky book.