Alice-Miranda at Camp by Jacqueline Harvey

Title: Alice-Miranda at Camp

Author: Jacqueline Harvey

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Publisher: Puffin

Published: 17^th September 2019/1^st September 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 352

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: This school camp is full of secrets and surprises!

An exciting announcement has been made, and Alice-Miranda and her schoolmates are going on camp. There are sleep outs, treasure hunts and so many other activities to look forward to! However, it’s not all fun and games. Alice-Miranda and Millie will need to keep a close eye on Caprice, the school’s newest student, who seems determined to cause trouble.

Next door to the camp is Pelham Park, where Alice-Miranda’s father, Hugh, grew up. These days, Hugh’s beautiful old house serves as a retirement home, but when some startling objects are uncovered in its cellar, the peaceful estate is turned upside down. With help from a much-loved relative, Alice-Miranda sets out to investigate.

~*~

Alice-Miranda is coming to the end of another term at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies. A new initiative has been announced, not only for her school, but for Fayle’s School for Boys. They’re all off to camp near Pelham Hall called Bagley Hall. But it’s not all smooth sailing.

The van Alice-Miranda and her friends are heading there in has been reported stolen, DS Freeman is sniffing around all the time, and there’s something about one of the retirement home residents that piques Alice-Miranda’s interest.

Not only that, but there’s also a new student called Caprice joining them, and she’s not that nice. She thinks she perfect, she hates Alice-Miranda and is determined to beat her at everything and show everyone that she is better than everyone else. With her bad temper and very high opinion of herself, she knows exactly what she wants. And how to get it, even if it means destroying the connections everyone else has already made.

In the tenth outing, Alice-Miranda faces new challenges, and has things thrown at her that everyone thinks is out of character for her. The teachers are astounded when things go wrong for her, but nobody realises what is going on. Millie knows, because Caprice keeps setting her up, and blackmailing her. She wants to make Alice-Miranda look bad, having taken an instant dislike to our beloved heroine.

Caprice is so bad-tempered and stroppy throughout this book, determined to undermine people and make herself look good. I got the impression she’d never been told no, or made to believe she was good at everything. And because she was good at somethings, she was the one character who thought she should win everything. Unlike the others, who supported each other in whatever they do.

Things get interesting when Hugh and Ed discover things they didn’t expect to in the cellar of Pelham Park. Where did they come from, and what is Mr Freeman and Fenella Freeman’s connection to Pelham Park and Hugh’s family? What happened? Something happened to tear the families apart, and this forms the mystery that grows across the novel and makes the story engaging and thrilling for readers of all ages.

 Reading all these Alice-Miranda books is such fun, and I’m getting through them all. I’ve still got a few to read, and one of my favourite things in this book was the way the teachers were suspicious about what was happening, yet couldn’t work out why. It showed that if someone wants to mess around, they can do it without arousing suspicion unless they draw attention to themselves. Caprice was definitely not my favourite character – bad-tempered, full of herself and unwilling to allow anyone else to be heard. It’ll be interesting to see if she changes throughout the rest of the series, and if she starts to get along with people.

Another fantastic Alice-Miranda book!