Little Blog on the Prairie (review)

Gen's mother has decided that it's time to take her dream vacation—a summer-long family stay on a farm that replicates the living conditions of the 1890s. Now Gen's stuck in an electricity-free zone with three other families and the snooty, know-it-all daughter of the camp's owners, who looks down on Gen because she doesn't know how to milk a cow or weed a cornfield. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, she has sneaked her precious cell phone into the camp, and she is texting her friends about her adventures while the battery lasts. They, meanwhile, are posting her texts on a blog, which goes viral. Complications ensue when she gets caught and get even more complicated when a TV crew turns up looking for the mysterious blogger. Despite some predictable lesson-like messages about family values and the consequences of selfish behavior, the plot takes enough unpredictable turns to provoke engagement on multiple levels as Gen learns about nineteenth-century farm life, the wondrous adaptability of little brothers, the dangers of getting to know your food, and the sheer deliciousness of Diet Coke and Quiznos when you've eaten nothing but beans and corn for weeks. Interestingly, it appears that only the children are called out for selfishness; the adults who chose the experience are never interrogated for the imposition of their desires on their families, even when it turns out that they too hate much of what they're doing. That subtext is there, however, adding yet another layer to ponder as readers suffer through their own parent-chosen vacation venues.