Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell

Wyoming is still the least densely populated state with 5.1 people per mile (compared to a national average of 79.7) (2010 U.S. This gives Bell more time to show off how Camp Frontier works and it's in these details that the book falls apart.The camp is set in rural Wyoming. Had the entire book been written as a series of texts - such as the internet girls series by Lauren Myracle, or the diary posts from the Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennisen, I would have given this book five stars.Although the book is still told from Gen's first person point of view, it's told not through her writing, but more from an internal dialog. The few blog posts we get to read from Gen are actually hilarious. Their part of the story, while by the books, is rather well told.

Meanwhile Gen uses her smuggled in cell phone to micro blog about the experience in texts she sends to a friend.Gen and her family are a typical tween/YA dysfunctional family thrown into an unusual situation. They are forced to compete against other families and are graded on their progress. That subtext is there, however, adding yet another layer to ponder as readers suffer through their own parent-chosen vacation venues.Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell is about Gen Welsh and her family spending a grueling and frustrating summer living in the 'frontier' for their summer vacation.

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. 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. Complications ensue when she gets caught and get even more complicated when a TV crew turns up looking for the mysterious blogger. They, meanwhile, are posting her texts on a blog, which goes viral. 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. 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. 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.