Sarah Henning Camps with Monsters in Her Latest YA Novel

Sarah Henning’s latest young adult novel, Monster Camp (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2023), follows 11-year-old Sylvie Shaw’s life-defining adventure during the summer before seventh grade. Drawn to the supernatural as an avid costume role-player (a LARPer), Sylvie frequently adopts a vampire persona with the help of stick-on fangs and waterproof eyeliner. Her persistent attempts to recruit classmates to a role-playing club are met with little success until she receives a mailed invitation to a mysterious and amazing location: Monster Camp.

Layered with symbolism about the youthful process of personal identity, self-realization, and self-confidence, Monster Camp is a delightful coming-of-age story that reflects issues and themes that Henning has often explored.

Now with eight books to her name, and two more along the way, the prolific Lawrence author has covered an array of topics from contemporary love stories against a backdrop of high-school gridirons to action-packed fantasies with mermaids or a disputed crown.

“Princesses, sports, witches, it really does hit all over the map,” Henning says. “But I think the one thing my characters have in common is that they’re all really resilient.”

That description certainly fits Henning’s latest hero, who hoodwinks her father to check into Monster Camp and find the thrill of her life: vampire-mansion housing, elaborate costumes, and dramatic werewolf portrayals from other campers. In this idyllic setting, Sylvie begins to forge her first friendships of shared interests.

But after witnessing some suspiciously true-to-life costuming and special effects, Sylvie realizes she has made a crucial mistake: Monster Camp is not for humans.

Turning to survival mode, Sylvie fully commits to concealing her homo sapien identity. She substitutes the mess hall’s monster delicacies with protein bars, maintains her vampire complexion with a thick layer of sunscreen, and deceives fellow campers into thinking her fruit punch is blood. These complex deceptions work for a time, but soon collapse the foundations of friendships and the trust of those who had been the first creatures to embrace her unusual spirit.

I think the one thing my characters have in common is that they’re all really resilient.

Sarah Henning

Like Henning’s previous YA novels, Monster Camp carries an overarching theme of empathy, albeit with a monstrous flavor. The youth at Monster Camp are subject to daily Human Understanding and Resource Training (HURT) sessions where they are lectured about humankind—the danger people present and the rare instances of acceptance. The skeleton and yeti counselors who conduct the course convey many inaccuracies through their instruction but also stumble upon important lessons, for young monsters and humans alike.

“My editor and I talked about it, and we really wanted it to feel like that scene in The Little Mermaid where she’s looking through her treasures from humans and she’s wrong; she combs her hair with a fork,” Henning says. “It was really fun to think about what would someone looking at us from the outside mistake.”

Henning says the theme of establishing personal identity was also a key force in her decision to set the story at a summer camp.

“That’s the thing about summer camp; it’s so intense and it’s so short,” Henning notes. “I’m sure there’s somebody going to a sleepaway camp this summer who’s going to be like ‘I’m going to go by a different nickname for a week.’ You kind of try on a different personality sometimes when you’re in a situation like that, but it’s still important to try to be yourself. That can get lost when you’re trying to be something different.”

Henning, who released her first book, Sea Witch, in 2018, says that part of the reason she was drawn to YA and has continued to focus on the genre is because of the gap in age-relevant literature she experienced growing up as an avid reader.

“They didn’t have a lot of YA when I was a kid, so I ended up reading adult murder mysteries; it was that or what was in class,” Henning says. “You went from Ramona Quimby to adult books.”

Henning has spent her career writing characters who aren’t afraid to push boundaries as they find themselves in situations and worlds that fill this thematic gap for young readers. She says she believes it’s important for her audience to connect with protagonists trying to find their place in the world, a feeling she trusts her audience will appreciate.

As Henning notes, “I think younger readers are more perceptive than we give them credit for.”

Story by Elizabeth Walters | Photography by Brian Goodman

Based on an article appearing in the summer 2023 edition of Lawrence Magazine

The Henning Collection

One of Lawrence’s most prolific and commercially successful authors, Sarah Henning has now released eight young adult books, with two more to be released. Henning’s work appears in an anthology of girls’ sport stories, Out of Our League—set for release in January 2024 by Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends. She is also author of a yet-announced adult contemporary fantasy set for release in fall 2024 from Macmillan/Tor Teen. Here is an overview of Henning’s other works, grouped by series.

Kingdoms of Sand & Sky trilogy (2020–2022 Macmillian/Tor Teen)

The Princess Will Save You, The Queen Will Betray You, and The King Will Kill You

• A princess rescues her stable boy, causing devotion and courage to oppose cynicism and courtly intrigue.