We’re so excited about the release of Monster Camp, a spooky middle grade adventure by local author Sarah Henning described as Ghost Squad meets Hotel Transylvania! To celebrate the book's launch, Sarah’s coming to the Raven to host our very own Monster Camp at the Raven! Perfect for campers aged middle grade to adult, and free to all, Monster Camp is happening on May 9 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

P.S. If you preorder the book before the launch, you’ll get a signed and personalized copy PLUS Monster Camp stickers. Just let us know in the order comments who you want the book made out to! Preorder here!

Camp Activities

• Learn about "Monster Camp," an adventure for middle grade (and older!) readers written by Sarah Henning
• Ask Sarah all of the questions you have about being an author and writing books
• Come in your best costumes and cosplay a costume parade (optional)
• Make character sheets, get Monster Camp buttons, have the best time ever!

Meet Your Camp Counselors

Sarah Henning, Head Counselor
Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for The Palm Beach Post, The Kansas City Star, Associated Press, and more. She is the author of Sea Witch, The Princess Will Save You, Throw Like a Girl, and Monster Camp, among others. When not writing, she runs ultramarathons, hits the playground with her two kids, and hangs out with her husband, Justin, who doubles as her long-suffering IT department. Sarah lives in Lawrence, Kansas. Visit her at SarahHenningWrites.com.

Rebecca Coffindaffer, Costume Master
Rebecca Coffindaffer (they/she) grew up on Star Wars, Star Trek, fantastical movies, and even more fantastical books. They live in Kansas with their family, surrounded by a lot of books and a lot of tabletop games and one big fuzzy dog.

Past Camper Testimonies

“If I were to write a character sheet for Monster Camp by Sarah Henning, under ‘Features and Traits’ I would be sure to note that this is a monstrously good book full of werewolf and vampire rivalries, stick-on fangs and to-go cups full of punch, kids learning to care for themselves and others, LARPing expertise, REAL fangs with REAL blood in to-go cups, and one of the most touching stories for children I’ve read. Monster Camp is perfect to help middle grade readers be confident in who they are, and help adults who experienced the monster obsession-to-DND pipeline heal their inner child.”
—Wulfe, Raven Bookseller

About Monster Camp (The Book)

Ghost Squad meets Hotel Transylvania in this sweetly spooky fish-out-of-water middle grade story about a human girl who must put on the performance of her life when she realizes what she thought was a LARPing summer camp is full of real monsters!

With her stick-on fangs and widow’s peak drawn in waterproof eyeliner, Sylvie is an expert at pretending to be a vampire. More kids at school would know that if they bothered to join her monster LARPing (live action role playing) club. Not even her dad understands her passion for the undead and denies her request to attend a monster LARPing summer camp. But Sylvie is not so easily deterred.

She decides to tell her dad she’s attending another camp located near Monster Camp then sneak over to her real destination after he drops her off. Sylvie feels bad lying to her dad, but there’s no way she’s going to miss the chance to finally meet other kids that share her interests. And when she lays eyes on Monster Camp, she knows it was all worth it—the immersive campgrounds look like they came off a Hollywood lot!

But when an obnoxious kid dressed like a werewolf gets punished by being magically turned into a Pomeranian, Sylvie realizes she made a critical miscalculation. These aren’t LARPers, they’re real monsters, and Sylvie’s preferred costume means she’s placed with blood-sucking, human-biting campers who would breathe fire if they knew the truth about her. She has no choice but to try to stick it out by doing exactly what she does best: pretending to be a monster.