I am looking for a book I read somewhere around 5th grade. The year was 1977-78ish. Everyone was reading Judy Blume. The book I’m looking for was about a girl who went to summer camp. I think the girl was overweight. My recollection is that the girl was shy for some reason, or maybe that’s how I saw myself. Maybe the girl just wasn’t happy with the way she looked. Perhaps Judy Blume or another author popular at the same time?
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
There are a few different books on this topic. Laura’s Luck is one a lot of people remember, also Just Plain Maggie. There’s a Bat in Bunk Five might be a bit too late to be your book.
Any other details, even little ones, might help narrow it down.
Bathing Ugly by Rebecca Busselle? “Overweight Betsy finally gets her life-long wish to go to summer camp, where she endeavours to lose weight. She’s chosen to represent her cabin as a comical bathing ugly which she wins with flair and drives home the point that being “beautiful” is not the most important thing in life.”
YES! I was just searching for this book! I loved it as a tween. I was convinced it was called ‘Ugly Fish,’ but that’s apparently a children’s picture book? I just found Bathing Ugly by Rebecca Busselle by searching “summer camp fat ugly novel, and then also this post came up. Sheesh!!
I’m going to put in another vote for Paula Danziger’s ‘There’s a Bat in Bunk Five’. I think that’s your book. The ‘Fat Glenda’ series is also a possibility.
It definitely sounds like There’s a Bad in Bunk Five by Paula Danziger. It came out in 1980. The lead character had been featured in an earlier book, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, in which she was overweight. She lost a lot of weight between books, but still was shy because she continued to think of herself as overweight.
This might be it. I will get it and read it. Will update soon!
It could also be “Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby” by Jane O’Connor.
This sounds a lot like “Hail, Hail, Camp Timberwood” by Ellen Conford. I think it came out in the late 70s?
Another possibility is the story “Camp Fat” in E.L. Konigsberg’s “Altogether, One at a Time”. The girl was sent to a weight-loss camp and is helped by a mysterious lady counselor who gives her a rubbery ball to peel away the layers…
I doubt this is it but “In Summertime, It’s Tuffy”. All I remember is that the MC pretended that “Tuffy” was her nickname
Blubber by Judy Blume?
I’m adding another vote for “Laura’s Luck” by Marilyn Sachs. Not overweight, but she was unhappy with how she looked and was also shy.