FATAL GLITCH: CAMP ZERO, by Erin Entrada Kelly, Eliot Schrefer, Jeannette Arroyo, Stonefruit Studio, July 21, 2026, Hardcover, $14.99 (ages 8-12)
A tween with an attitude problem gets sent to a creepy summer camp in Camp Zero, by Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer.
Eleven-year-old Sofia Mendoza is a gamer, not a camper. She should be at home building landscapes and fighting monsters in Sandbox, not deep in the forest with six other kids, who might as well be playing her favorite game in tutorial mode.
Even worse, there’s something off about this summer camp. There are creepy, mechanical vultures, cloaked NPC figures, and the only adult is Monarch, a grim woman in combat boots.
And then the game of elimination begins.
Sofia may be caught in the clutches of Camp Forestjaw, but she’ll do anything to survive. Anything. The problem is, in Forestjaw, everything you’ve ever done―no matter how long ago―comes back to you . . . —Synopsis provided by Stonefruit Studio
Camp Zero is the first book in Fatal Glitch, a new middle-grade horror series that features tales of technology gone wrong.
And Camp Zero is a great start.
The book follows Sofia as she becomes a camper at the weirdest summer camp she could imagine. Sofia is, quite frankly, obnoxious. In contrast to the other campers, she comes across as self-centered and manipulative.
Sofia’s the type of character you hope experiences a comeuppance. And authors Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer don’t let you down, but they do it in an unexpected, delightfully twisted way.
At 144 pages and with illustrations throughout, Camp Zero is a quick read. Kelly and Schrefer’s easily set the tone and tension with accessible text and a compelling story that devious and unexpected. This fun new series has broad appeal.
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