CAMP UTOPIA AND THE FORGIVENESS DIET

A contemporary account of a timeless teenage conundrum: how to conquer self-doubt, release grudges, and ultimately, grow up.

It’s her last supper and Bee needs an out, ASAP. In less than twelve hours, 16-year-old Baltimore teen Bethany Stern is bound for a hellish summer of jogging and diet food at a California fat camp, and as usual, no one is on her side. Not even TJ, the magician next door and (unrequited) love of her life, who starts sounding like a frickin’ camp brochure as they dig into steamy pork dumplings at the China Hon Buffet. But that night, as perfectly timed as one of TJ’s illusions, Bee gets absorbed in a hypnotic infomercial that tells her “it’s not about food, it’s about forgiveness.” Can The Forgiveness Diet, which promises instantaneous weight loss by forgiving those around you, get her out of camp? Bee finds herself stranded in starvation hell where breakfast means yogurt and cantaloupe, afternoon swimming is mandatory and cell phones are “thtrictly prohibited” by their lisped camp director. When her camp nemesis delivers the ultimate blow, Bee bids sayonara to Camp-not-Utopian-at-all to begin what she believes will be her "real" summer adventure, only to learn that running away isn't as easy—or as healing—as it seems. Bethany is a sharp, sarcastic middle sister to Liza Palmer's Maggie of Conversations with the Fat Girl and Louise Rennison’s precocious Georgia Nicholson of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging. Her wry and honest voice bring humor and (not cloying!) poignancy for readers, fat or thin, tired of hearing "you'd be so pretty if…[insert unwelcome judgment about your appearance from loved one or perfect stranger]." SCWBI member Jennifer Ruden has worked with teenagers for over ten years as a writing teacher in her home of Albuquerque, New Mexico. With an MFA in fiction from the University of Oregon, she has published short stories and essays in Nerve, Salon, Eclectica Magazine, Literary Mama and High Desert Journal. She won an Orlando award for creative nonfiction, was named a finalist in Glimmertrain’s 2012 short fiction contest, and has been nominated for the Pushcart prize by the High Desert Journal and Literary Mama two years in a row.