Camp Boulder

Camp Boulder by Palliser
Camp changes people.

Banner Credit: Rory

Helen Thinks: “Camp Boulder” is the story of Parker Nelson, a teenage boy forced to go to football camp by his father, trying to fit into a world where he knows he shouldn't be. He's the new boy in the “green team”, a family that have slowly formed throughout the years of camps and he's readily accepted by them all, even his silent room mate 'Stone' who has never had to share his room before. Together, the two room mates help each other. Parker helping Stone to become more social and Stone helping Parker realise that he does deserve to be on the team, despite his clumsy way at playing football.

At first, I was worried that this story would be too much about the football rather than about the growing relationship between the two main characters, as well as the rest of “green team”. Palliser, however, manages to have a perfect balance between the football/sport element of the story as well as the relationships which made for a fantastic read and, for the first time in my life, actually had me interested in a sport related story. Each individual character has their own personalities that Palliser develops perfectly throughout the story, making you relate to the characters through celebrating their wins and mourning their losses as well as anxiously waiting for that moment where the chemistry just gets too much for the protagonists.

There was the minor spelling error/typo here and there but, apart from that, this story flowed fluently. There was a great balance between dialogue and narration. The dialogue is believable with witty banter between the boys, awkward chats about emotion and stubborn headed moments where they just plain refuse to talk to each other.

If reading this story, I'd suggest you have time to do it because once you start, Palliser has you hooked from the first word.