Bought this around 1986 (6th grade book fair!) and cannot remember the title or main character names. Loved the story though, and hope I can find it for my daughter.
The hardback cover was green, and the picture was of three girls singing and stirring a fourth girl in a pot.
The story was of a girl in her early teens at summer camp. She ends up feeling saddled with another girl who is strange and a little disgusting – the weird girl borrows a barrette from the main character and uses it to clean her toenails.
There is a talent show (depicted in the cover art), and the weird girl is the one in the pot.
The main character ends up tossing the weird girl out of a canoe, and leaves her bobbing in the lake. She tries to make up with her before they leave camp, but the weird girl yells at her in the cafeteria.
The main character goes home regretting what she did, and tries to think of some way to make amends.
Pretty sure I read this one, too, but the exact author/title escapes me. Is it maybe Laura’s Luck by Marilyn Sachs? Or maybe it’s by Ellen Conford (I know she wrote some camp-setting type books).
Buddies, by Barbara Park. An Amazon reviewer writes: “Dinah has never been very popular. In fact, she really has only one friend who is kind of a nerd. For the next two weeks, she plans to live a different life while away at camp. Unfortunately, before she can even board the bus, she becomes responsible for Fern, a girl whose hygiene practices will prevent her from being popular. Dinah’s problem is that she is just too nice. When she meets two girls at camp who she really wants to be friends with it doesn’t take long before they all realize that Fern does not fit in with the group. But, how to tell her is the trick. Dinah spends a lot of time dealing with this issue.”
That’s it – thank you so much!! Fern was definitely the character I remember.