Review of Sophie Washington: Class Retreat by Tonya Duncan Ellis

 

It's time for another installment of my current favorite middle grade series, Sophie Washington by Tonya Duncan Ellis! This one, Class Retreat, is full of fun and some subtle lessons and discussion topics for kids. Check out an excerpt and further thoughts of mine. Let Tonya know in the comments what you think. And then be sure to follow the tour and enter the great giveaway!

There is no such thing as Big Foot! Or is there…

Sophie Washington and her classmates are on their way to Camp Glowing Spring for a class retreat. It’ll be two full days of swimming, eating s’mores around a campfire, tug-of-war, archery, and more! Sophie’s been looking forward to the trip all school year and can’t wait to spend extra time with her friends. It will also be great to get away from her bratty younger brother, Cole, and his constant stories about Big Foot. If Cole warns her about what to do if she sees the hairy ape man on the retreat one more time, she’ll put in ear plugs. Everybody knows Big Foot is a hoax!

Once the kids arrive at the retreat site things are as exciting as Sophie imagined. She has fun exploring nature with her besties, Chloe, Valentina, Toby, Nathan, and Mariama, and meeting new friends too. Then the kids see a giant footprint during a nature hike in the woods and the adventure really begins!

Read an excerpt:

“Wake up, Sophie!” Chloe rubs my shoulder. “We’re here.”

I twist my stiff neck until it cracks and rub the sleepy stuff from around my eyes. I must’ve napped for over an hour. My jeans feel drier, thank goodness. I won’t have to change my clothes.

The bus tires crunch over gravel as we drive past a white and green billboard that reads “Camp Glowing Spring: Established 1965.” The only drawing on the big sign, besides the green letters, is a pine tree with a swirly line around it, which seems like the perfect symbol for this place.

It reminds me of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale forest, beautiful, but spooky. Giant evergreens surround a long, one-story building, with a lake behind it. The bright sky stretches overhead like a canopy bed. Spanish moss drips from some tree branches like frizzy, gray hair. As we pass a foot trail that winds into the greenery, I shiver, remembering Cole’s warnings about Big Foot.

Camp Glowing Spring looks exactly like the woods from my nightmare. What if Big Foot comes to our cabin to get us at night? I blink and shake my head to snap back into reality. Big Foot is a hoax. I need to enjoy being away from my little brother’s tall tales for the next two days.

As the bus drives deeper into the campground, the hum of excited kids gets louder.

“Check that out!” Toby bounces on his seat and stares at a water park on the lake. There’s a wooden pier in the center and an inflatable blue and yellow water slide. A giant-sized, red, yellow, and blue plastic pillow floats beside it.

“That lake is probably 100 feet deep!” Nathan leans over Toby’s shoulder.

I wonder what lurks underneath the greenish blue waters. Does Big Foot swim?

“That’s the Blob!” Chloe points at the huge, plastic pillow. “Some eighth graders told me how much fun it is. I can’t wait to jump out there. If a bigger person flops on after you, your body flies high in the air before you hit the water.”

“Cool!” Nathan’s eyeballs widen behind his glasses.

I bite my thumbnail.

I’m scared of heights, and the idea of bouncing over a huge lake doesn’t exactly float my boat. I better make sure that I’m the last one on the Blob if I do try it.

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**My thoughts**

I'm always so excited to see a new Sophie Washington book come out! I have been following this series right from the start, and it's seriously my favorite current one for middle grades right now. In every installment, Sophie and her friends learn some important lessons, and sometimes even have something to teach others as well. Plus they are just full of all kinds of kid fun and adventures. This one was no different.

This time, Sophie and her class are going away on a class retreat at a camp. These are supposed to be a sort of bonding experience. I remember doing one my junior year in high school and actually kept flashing back to that as I read through this. 

So of course, you have your usual campground antics going on and the usual fun scuffles between the girls and the boys in Sophie's class and friend group. Then there is the mystery of the scruffy Bigfoot lookalike that keeps appearing around the campsites. Sophie's brother warned her ahead of time about encountering Bigfoot, so she's all kinds of concerned!

But a more important part of this book is how Ellis touches on racism and how nasty kids can still be, even today. It's quite blatant and the characters do acknowledge it. I kind of wish they would have gotten more into trying to resolve it. But at the same time, addressing it in a camping situation like they were in would be difficult. Maybe this is something that can be touched on again later? It definitely provides a great discussion point for adults to have with kids about identifying racism. And then perhaps they could brainstorm some ways to handle similar situations as a small group.

I was more impressed at the introduction of microaggression with a camp counselor. I know a lot of us still make mistakes and don't realize that our words and ideas are hurtful to BIPOC. We're all still learning a lot. I'm proud of Sophie for being able to address it with the counselor and of the counselor for acknowledging her mistake and suggesting that the counselors do some more diversity training as soon as possible so that they do not have this kind of incident again. It gives adults food for thought as well, and may also inspire some kids to be more mindful of some of the things that they say. Again, another great discussion point in this book.

And then, there's the lesson about how sometimes if you just try something new, it may not be so bad after all. I'm thinking of the various camp activities that Sophie is unsure of trying, convinced she will not enjoy them, but then ends up having a lot of fun. It's hard for kids to do, and even some of us adults.

Following the fun story is a lot of other fun related information, such as how to make s'mores, facts about Bigfoot, and more. I always appreciate those sections at the end of stories to help inspire kids to learn even more about what they have just read.

So as always, another great installment in this series. Sophie has grown so much and I can't wait to find out what she does next!

Thank you to the author and to Goddess Fish for providing me with a requested copy of this book to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Click on a title to read my review!

Queen of the Bee

The Gamer

Things You Didn't Know About Sophie

Hurricane

Secret Santa

Code One

Mismatch

My BFF

Class Retreat

Lemonade Day

Treasure Beach

Tonya Duncan Ellis was born and raised in Louisville, KY. She loves reading so much that as a child she took books with her everywhere. She knew she wanted to become a writer after an article she wrote was published in her hometown newspaper when she was a teen. Since then, Tonya has worked as a journalist and freelance magazine writer. A graduate of Centre College of Kentucky and Washington University in St. Louis, she’s an Amazon bestselling and award-winning author of the Sophie Washington children's book series, geared towards readers ages 8 to 12. The books recount adventures of Houston, TX preteen Sophie Washington and her diverse group of friends. Each funny and heartwarming story teaches lessons about friendship, responsibility, truthfulness and perseverance. Books in the series include Queen of the Bee, The Snitch, Things You Didn't Know About Sophie, The Gamer, Hurricane, Mission: Costa Rica, Secret Santa, and Code One. When she's not writing, Tonya enjoys reading, biking, swimming, travel, and spending time with her husband and three children. She lives in Missouri City, TX.


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