Representation: Biracial (half Black and half white) and Black characters
Trigger warnings: Disappearance of a child, death of a father in the past
Score: Six points out of ten.
I own this book. This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

I am glad to say that the author didn't commit cultural appropriation. It's authentic. I never saw this novel before until I found this one in the library giveaway, so I picked it up. I put it off for a while until I had to get it again after I burned through some other novels and finally read it. When I finished Camo Girl, it was only okay, even though I appreciated some of its strengths. It starts with the first character I see, Emma, whose last name I forgot, living in a predominately white suburb near Las Vegas and goes to a PWI. She's the only biracial girl (scratch that! She's the only biracial person, given the circumstances) at school for the first few pages. Ella's only friend is a person named Zachary who as far as I can tell is neurodivergent, with an implied learning disorder/disability and most prominently, a wild imagination much to his detriment as no one wants him except Ella. Only a few pages in, another person, Bailey, arrives at her school as a new student (making him the only Black person in the institution), and everything is going well for Ella, but soon enough, the cracks surface. Here's where the flaws appear: the characters are likable, but not the most relatable. The only reason Bailey is the antagonist is that he tried to convince Ella to be popular by not being friends with Z. Other than that, he doesn't seem that bad. The central conflict is to listen to Z or not. She chooses the latter, and towards the conclusion, Z gets lost, but fortunately, the other characters find him, finishing the narrative on a high note. ( )

Ella 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. ( )

Children/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. ( )

Camo 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. ( )

Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-8

Plot Summary: Ellie and Z live life as if they are milady and milord. Ellie doesn't want to be disloyal or rude to her best friend but at the same time can't help but be taken under the spell of the charismatic Bailey, the new boy who happens to be the only other black kid in the school and who randomly shows up at her house to play basketball with her, even though she doesn't play. Now she's torn because she wants to be with both of them after school. Ellie feels it's her responsibility to be with and take care of Z, but she's getting tired of playing his game. She just wants to be real and honest wth her very best friend. What will she do? Who will she choose? How will the other react?

Setting: Las Vegas suburb - 30 min bus ride from the strip

Characters:
Ellie Cartwright - AKA Ellie-nor, smart, witty, funny, has a skin condition where her skin is patches of different shades
Zachariah - it's a secret he and his mom live in the Walmart, plays one game of chess with Ellie after school, goes to the library often
Bailey James - new kid, basketball, black, charismatic and confident
Keisha - Ellie's Mom, gone for 4 days every week for her job on the train
Grammie - lives with Ellie and her mom, takes care of Ellie when Keisha is away, goes to Vegas once a week to gamble
Millie - Ellie's former friend and neighbor, has a tree house in her backyard, not mean but just distanced herself from Ellie and Z, Ellie wishes her hair could be smooth braids like hers
Lynn - Z's mom, works at Walmart

Recurring Themes: mental health, tragedy, friendship, feeling different, acceptance, race, skin condition

Controversial Issues:
pg 76 heaven and hell

Personal Thoughts: This author is fantastic. This book is very well written. Would be great for a parent child book chat discussion.

Genre: realistic fiction, drama

Pacing: medium-fast
Characters: well developed, have an aura about them even if you don't know all their details right away
Frame: the end may need a bit of explanation to some students
Storyline:

Activity: ( )