“See, it won’t be so bad!”

From Whitney Gardner’s Long Distance.

When Vega is forced to move from Portland to Seattle for her dad’s new job, she is far from thrilled, not only because she doesn’t want to leave her home, but because she doesn’t want to have to leave her best friend, Halley. While their friendship initially works well as long distance, Vega soon feels that Halley is pulling away and replacing her with new friends. In an attempt to help Vega get out of her depressed mood and meet a few new, local friends, her parents sign her up for Camp Very Best Friend which promises to help connect kids for a camp experience like no other. Arriving at the camp, surrounded by the bubbly camp counselors and George, the friendship-seeking brochure model, Vera is unhappy to find there is no cellphone service because she’s convinced that she doesn’t need other friends when she has Halley. However, the longer she’s at camp, the more Vega feels that something is off with the entire experience. Vega partners with fellow campers Qwerty, Gemma, and Isaac because they’ve also noticed oddities about George, the camp, and the surrounding woods. While Vego never expected much from her time away at camp, she quickly stumbles into an adventure that is out of this world.

While this story presents an interesting premise, the details of the story come off just clunky enough to make the story less successful than it could have been. The illustration style is bright and unique, but the presentation of several characters seems overly stereotypical or forced. While not as good as it could have been, Long Distance does offer readers an important lesson in healthy friendships, both old and new.