No Good Deed

May 22, 2017
Moldavsky (Kill the Boy Band) delivers an over-the-top farce set at a summer camp for teenage activists. Sixteen-year-old narrator Gregor Maravilla, an avid Superman fan, and teen movie star Ashley Woodstone are among the campers who find themselves competing over the chance to win an internship with tech billionaire, humanitarian, and camp founder Robert Drill, sabotaging each other and not acting at all like young do-gooders. Moldavsky dials every aspect of the story up to 11, including the causes that the various campers campaign for: Ashley’s is “Eat Dirt” (it isn’t metaphorical), and Gregor starts referring to the other attendees by their passion projects as a prank war heats up (“Water Conservation cut off the water to the girls’ showers. Abstinence and Sex Positivity had been locked in the sports shed together”). Ostensibly, it’s all in service of exploring what happens when good intentions and conscientiousness collide with the selfish side of human nature, but without much depth to the characters or storyline, the effect is that of a single joke that goes on too long. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

April 1, 2017
Teenage activism goes absurdist in this summer-camp novel.When he met his hero Robert Drill, a Mark Zuckerberg-esque figure, then-13-year-old Gregor was inspired by Drill's words: "You could feed the children of the world someday." Now 16, when he finds out Drill is sponsoring a summer camp for teen activists, he leaps at the chance to attend--even if the presence of white teen movie star Ashley Woodstone doesn't really fit with Gregor's idea of Camp Save the World. Among the campers, most of them belittlingly called by their causes instead of their names, Gregor tries to become a better activist. It's hard, though: Men's Rights keeps throwing money at Gregor for his campaign and calling him white, even though Gregor is half-Mexican. The girl Gregor likes seems too cool for him and possibly gay. And worst of all, Ashley is just...everywhere. Yet as Gregor becomes friends with Ashley, looking beyond her kooky Eat Dirt campaign, he discovers a girl who could become more than his friend. Will he mess it all up, though, as the campers become caught up in a competition to win an internship with Drill and Gregor learns more about his hero? Aiming barbs at the seemingly infinite array of causes among today's social justice warriors, Moldavsky's satire is both funny and foulmouthed, but the broadly painted characters and not-nearly-wacky-enough plot keep it earthbound. A comedy that is more mousy brown than black. (Fiction. 14-16)

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April 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old activist Gregor Maravilla is determined to make a difference in the world and is heading off to a summer camp in upstate New York-Camp Save the World-for teens just like him. He has high hopes that his chosen cause, Feed the Children, will catch the attention of billionaire philanthropist Robert Drill, the founder of the camp. Almost immediately upon arrival, however, Gregor discovers that camp will not be the idyllic experience he has dreamed of. The other campers are even more focused on being politically correct and having the most important world-saving cause than he is, and Gregor learns that Drill is not as involved in the camp as the teen expected. While the protagonist's friendship with movie star Ashley develops, the relationships among the campers deteriorate because of a competition for the best cause. Campers are soon known only for their causes (diabetes, Styrofoam, children), and protesting becomes the sole activity they engage in. Pranks ensue and chaos reigns as Gregor and his fellow campers realize that there is no way to out-activist one another. The biting social satire and witty wordplay in this fast-moving story will engage any socially aware teen but may leave less savvy readers lost in the intended humor. VERDICT A strong purchase for large high school library collections and recommended reading for fans of Moldavsky's Kill the Boy Band.-Kate Olson, Bangor School District, WI

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 A summer camp for aspiring activists? Gregor Maravilla's there. He's been committed to his Feed the Children campaign ever since he met his hero, philanthropist Robert Drill, the founder of Camp Save the World. At first, camp is everything that Gregor hoped. Sure, there's a few dud campaigns: Men's Rights is represented by a weirdly charismatic dude who spends all his time overexplaining things, and the famous actress Ashley Woodstone, who's a camper for some reason, has an Eat Dirt campaign that's exactly what it sounds like. Then the activism competition is announced, and suddenly it's full-on warfare. Gregor sucks at winning points, and worse, he keeps having run-ins with Ashley! Who's so weird and annoying! Right?! Moldavsky (Kill the Boy Band, 2016) offers up another madcap, totally wacky satire, with characters that are more caricature than meat. Despite all his good intentions, Gregor worries that he may sometimes be part of the problems he's trying to combat, and hilarious as his struggles are, they're also a valuable baseline for any real-life aspiring activist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 4, 2017
Voice actor Crouch reads this account of friendly competition gone wrong in a youthful, peppy voice that perfectly suits the teen summer camp setting. Sixteen-year-old Gregor Maravilla is attending a sleepaway camp for activist teens founded by his idol, tech billionaire Robert Drill. But Drill is entirely absent, and all the campers at Camp Save the World are hypercompetitive do-gooders competing for an internship with Drill at the end of the summer. Actor Couch captures the protagonist’s emotions, especially in the darker moments, such as when Gregor tries to convince his fellow campers that he’s not racist after attempting to sabotage a group project dedicated to social justice. Some of his vocal portrayals miss the mark, such as that of the teen celebrity Ashley Woodstone, whose valley-girl voice sounds too shallow during her more somber moments. The characters in the story are not all that developed, and Couch’s characterization only flattens them more. Ages 14–up. A Point hardcover.

July 1, 2017
Gregor Maravilla is determined to excel at Camp Save the World. Through his campaign to fight childhood hunger, he hopes to leave the camp a better activist. Unfortunately, the camp doesn't live up to its altruistic promise, and all bets are off when "The Prize" is announced. Though Gregor's moral dilemma is interesting, the humor and satire can feel forced.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)