Book Review: The Path of Names by Ari Goelman

Dahlia is a 13 year old girl who loves all things related to magic.  She enjoys a good slight-of-hand and spends her time trying to master the art of misdirection.  One thing she is not interested in is Camp Arava - the Jewish summer camp that her parents are forcing her to attend.  She is dreading three weeks of outdoor activities, sing-alongs, and announcements in Hebrew.  Worst of all, her older brother happens to be one of the camp counselors, and by the end of the first day has all of the campers calling her "Squirt".  

So when she arrives and sees two young girls walk through the walls of one of the cabins, she thinks she has found someone who shares her affinity for magic.  She soon discovers that Camp Arava has a dark and mysterious past.  Children have disappeared from the area before, and Dahlia is the only one who can stop the disappearances from happening again.

This book is interesting.  I do not know much about the Jewish religion or the Hebrew culture, so I found the information about Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, very interesting.  I did get lost when it came to numbers for letters, different words having the same meaning, and mazes spelling things, but I tried to keep it together. Dahlia's character was likable, but she was a bit too forward thinking for a normal 13 year old.  She thought about consequences, and put two and two together much quicker than your average junior high student.  I also know nothing about summer camp other than what I learned in the movie The Parent Trap, so I had a hard time envisioning some of the situations.  

Overall, I found the story to be decent and the characters, although a bit predictable, enjoyable none the less.  This is a book that I would recommend to my more steady readers (and I already have).