Extra Credit: "Camp Fire" by Alexandra Lampner

Zen sits in the, now, never known Garden of Eden

Pitch:

Camp Fire needs to be published for adolescents today because it challenges the only world that Generation Z has ever known. In the realm of technology, adolescent novels tend to play with dystopian aspects of technology taking over the world. Camp Fire however, tells the opposite tale. It reveals that there was a natural disaster due to climate change, and it destroyed all of the technology and information that ever existed. This destruction effectively created the second beginning of time. Anyone with knowledge pertaining to the old world is too senile to share, so the truth about the old world is only available through urban legends. A post-technology world in which religion and social constructs have been destroyed is a world in which there are entirely different societal norms because no beliefs have been formed. The main character of the novel, Zen, is asexual, and her friends are queer. Because this new world does not see them as part of an LGBTQ community (the new world did not oppress or condemn them,) they are as socially able as their straight counterparts and are perceived as such. This normalizes queerness/asexuality and shows adolescents that it’s one’s environment that shapes LGBTQ individuals as others -- Camp Fire shows that they do not have to feel like an other. Zen is asexual so the trope of a female protagonist needing saving or love is defied. Like other adolescent novels, the protagonist does defy an institution, but it is more complex because her parents are founders and recognize corruption, creating a strong relationship between adolescent and parent. Camp Fire is unlike other novels because of its unexpected storyline and its ability to challenge how religion, government, and technology have shaped Generation Z’s perception of the world.

Back of book:

Technology was lost in the Great Fire. There was a fire that swept continents -- some people think terrorists were involved and others think it was Armageddon. Now, the year is 2127 and screens are history. Only old people remember the screens. Only great grandparents can tell the story of what it’s like to swipe yourself into love -- nobody’s stories are that romantic anymore. The fire killed everything and a small private group, Camp, began to make decisions in society. Zen, a 17-year-old asexual female, is the child of two of the founders of Camp. Because Zen’s parents are insiders, they don’t let Zen go to school despite her desire to “learn.” Zen’s parents say that schools try to take young people’s insight, write it all down, and rebuild humanity as the Great Fire destroyed everything the world had worked for. But, Zen’s parents do not trust Camp, and want Zen to remain pure. Zen has two friends, Amelie and Craig, both of whom identify as queer. Amelie and Craig’s parents do not make them go to school because they trade goods all day and never consumed information themselves. Camp realizes that the world is void of information and knowledge, and that people will have to relearn and rebuild humanity. How humanity will be rebuilt is technically up to Camp, but Zen and her friends identify another path to restoring scorched earth and faith in the world.

“For her first YA novel, Lampner has managed to bring a technology consumed generation back to reality, and back to the beginning of time.” – Jane Teller, Adolescent Literary Review

“Camp Fire is masterfully written for all. It questions history’s implications and suggest that history, very well, may not repeat itself.” – David Jones, The New Yorker

“Spunky and gay, this illustrates an unexpected picture of an alternate reality. Young people and older alike will pour over Camp Fire’s wild plot and societal critique.” – The Atlantic

Zen spends a lot of time with her two grandparents because when she was growing up, her parents were always working and they thus took care of her. They met on tinder, which was dated by 20 years at the time, and Zen thinks that their story is a great love story.