Loyal to the List: 13 and 3/4: Friendship List #4 by Lisa Greenwald

Everyone needs to have at least one person in his or her life who makes them feel like everything is right in the world even if it's not. Just one person.

Best friends Ari and Kaylan are anxious about their upcoming school year and all the changes that will bring.

But for their summer, they've chosen separate summer camps again, Ari at Camp Silver, where her little sister Gemma is also going, and Kaylan back at Comedy Arts camp. They have friends from the previous year, and even special boys, Golfy and Otis, who will be there. How will that turn out? they worry. Will everyone have changed over the school year?

Kaylan has cold feet about it all.

"I don't want to be thirteen and three-quarters. It's too hard.

I want to be little, still. Little forever."

As since the summer before sixth grade, the two turn to making The List for the summer to guide them. Of course, #1 is "Keeping Their Friendship Strong" "Write Each Other Once a Week," and "Make A Time Capsule of Our Lives at Exactly 13 3/4 and Bury It." But the other items they come up with are special to their camps. Some are serious, like "Make a Difference," "Keep a Gratitude Journal" and "Help a Young Camper Start Their Own List," and some are silly camp things like "Master the Art of Tie Dye," "Help Two Counselors Fall in Love," "Sneak Out at Night," and especially, "Do Something Daring."

Some of the things on the list work out. After several weeks of what seems like constant weeping, Ari's little sister suddenly begins to love being away at Camp Silver. Kaylan and her Improv partner crack up even their fellow Comedy campers, but Kay suffers through Family Day with both her mother and her dad with "his person" both attending. Golfy and Otis give them their first real kisses. But when Ari and Golfy sneak out after curfew on their "dare to be daring" goal to drive a camp golf cart (Golfy's idea), they are caught and face the possibility of being unable to return to camp again--ever.

Ari and Kaylan have a lot to share with each other when they return home. School looms just ahead, and they feel both excitement and sadness as they say goodbye to their thirteenth year and bury their Time Capsule together.

The best friends realize that things are changing fast, and that they, too, are changing, but they are still grateful to have each other.

"The whole world is like a narrow bridge. But the most important thing is not to be afraid."

In her fourth book in her Friendship List series, Lisa Greenwald's Friendship List 4: 13 and 3/4 (Katherine Tegin Books, 2020) follows close on the heels of her third, Friendship List 3: 13 and Counting, and join her Friendship List 1: 11 Before 12 and Friendship List 2: 12 Before 13, (see my reviews here. Greenwald has a good ear for the voice of middle-class middle school girls in a time of life in which the change from childhood to young adult comes all too fast for them, a time when the ground beneath their feet seems to constantly shifting. Although Ari and Kaylan have comparatively comfortable lives, they face difficult situations with their parents' marriages, shifting peer relationships, sibling problems, the health of aged relatives, and with their own friendship which they must navigate, knowing when to be (or not to be) "loyal to the list," as they make their way through the changes of early adolescence.

Says author Lauren Myracle, "Brilliant, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and heartbreaking (in a good way)."

The Best Badge! Bug Blonsky and His Swamp Scout Survival Guide by E. S. Redmond

 

Abner Vanderpelt has six merit patches on his Swamp Scout vest. I have only three. OK, two--the yellow one is just a mustard stain.

Bug Blonsky has little hope of winning a bunch of merit badges at the weekend campout at Camp Win-Kee-Noo. For one thing, Abner Vanderpelt's mom is the Marsh Mother for the trip. Not only does her perfume attract mosquitoes (to Bug, mostly), but she is prejudiced in favor of scouts whose skills tend toward listening and following directions.

Bug's abilities, such as armpit farting and being a true Bigfoot Believer, seem unlikely badge producers. It doesn't help that Bug's mom packed his stuff in big sister Winnie's Sweet Dreams sleeping bag with the glitter-sprinkled pink cupcake on it. She also fails to pack toilet paper, of which there is a dire lack in the Camp Win Kee Noo, and the outhouse is already stinky enough to repell Bigfoot. Mom does, however, redeem herself by packing emergency supplies--Swamper Doodle chocolate cookies.

Since Bug has made paper airplanes out of his Swamp Camp Survival Guide, he has to wing it by composing his own camp manual, beginning with Rule #1...

Go to the bathroom BEFORE the bus ride.

It's a memorable day for Bug, his buddy, Louie, and the tenderfoot campers, with bug spray overkill, rubbery hot dogs, poison ivy, and a canoeing adventure in which Louie and Bug both lose their paddles and have to be rescued by the Buttercup Brigade girl scouts from across the lake, loudly chanting ...

"BUTTERCUPS RULE! SWAMP SCOUTS DROOL!"

At lights-out time Bugs and his best friend Louie decide to break out his cookies for a midnight snack for two, which tattletale Abner spies and says....

"You shouldn't eat sweets before bed, especially if you've already brushed your teeth!"

To which Bug replies...

"... Not a problem. We have no intention of brushing teeth or going to bed."

Bug and Louie have a daring plan: they use some of the cookies to set up an irresistible hairy monster trap and plan to pull an all-nighter waiting to capture Bigfoot. Just as they are about to fall asleep on stakeout, they hear woeful sounds coming from inside their trap. Is it Bigfoot? Or is it Abner Vanderpelt caught red-handed with Swamper Doodle crumbs all over his face?

It's Bug's best-of-a-lifetime chance to get even by ratting out goody-goody Abner to his freaked-out Marsh Mother. Should he?

But all's well that ends with Abner Vanderpelt's heartfelt nomination of Bug for the Steadfast Scout Award, in E. S. Redmond's forthcoming slapstick Blonsky saga, Bug Blonsky and His Swamp Scout Survival Guide (Candlewick Press, 2021). With type-cast cartoon characters and bad boy Bug Blonsky, still a believer in the powers of Bigfoot, coming together in Redmond's second book in series, this is a beginning chapter book just right for early elementary readers who go for wacky, boy-pleasing high jinks. E. S. Redmond's opener in this series is Bug Blonsky and His Very Long List of Don'ts.

An Indelicate Condition! Who Wet My Pants? by Bob Shea

COME AND GET 'EM! ALL YOUR FAVORITES!

Scout Leader Bear has do-nuts, especially chosen for each camper in his troop.

But his largess is rewarded by embarrassed looks from the other campers. They all stare, but not at the donuts.

"Ahem!"

Bear follows their glance. Uh-oh!

He vows that no one gets donuts until he gets a confession.

WHAT TH'...! WHO WET MY PANTS!

I'LL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS!

There's an awkward silence. Nobody allows himself even a small smirk at the unintended pun.

Timid Tim Turtle finally says that it's likely just an accident. Big Foot admits that he used to wet his pants sometimes. Dog suggests that it could happen to anyone. But Bear demands a confession from the culprit!

ALL I WANT IS JUSTICE... AND DRY PANTS.

But slowly the truth dawns on Bear. Could that gallon of lemonade with breakfast or those moments listening to the waterfall have had something to do with his, er, condition? Maybe his pants just sprung a leak, leading him to blame his friends.... all of which have tried to be understanding.

Bear decides it's time to change both the subject and his pants and pass the donuts, in Bob Shea's Who Wet My Pants? (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), a tinkle tale which will have kids giggling from the beginning, as Bear's denials grow louder as the evidence becomes more compelling. Zachariah OHora's detailed drawings only add to the snickers of this book about an unfortunate incident that is not all that uncommon among youngsters. Adds Booklist, "OHora has illustrated a number of picture books funny enough to make anyone wet their pants."

For more comic books from Bob Shea, don't miss his Dinosaur vs. the Potty (A Dinosaur vs. Book (2)) and other books in the Dinosaur vs. series. (Read reviews here).

Getting Away From It All! Herman's Vacation by Tom Percival

THE DAY WAS WARM AND SMELLED OF SUMMER. HERMAN AND HENRY WERE PLANNING THEIR VACATION.

Despite the stacks of travel flyers and posters, Herman and Henry are not having a meeting of the minds. Henry desires a deluxe vacation to some tourist mecca--Cake World, for example. Herman wants something... well, cheap! He claims that a camping vacation is all they can afford.

Henry is NOT happy, as the enthusiastic Herman packs up tents and cookout gear in what seems bulky backpacks and rents a couple of pack donkeys to ferry them to backwoods campsites at Camp Lucky Well. Even the donkeys balk at the long walk and Herman has to resort to the old-carrot on the stick trick.

Getting there is NOT half the fun for the recalcitrant Henry.

And Henry is not pleased with the budget attractions when finally they cross the ramshackle rustic bridge and put up their pups tents. Toasted (i.e., smoked) marshmallows are not cake! And it gets worse. A hooting owl scares him and his sleeping bag is lumpy. And then when he finally falls asleep, Henry's tent falls on his face, and in fighting his way out of it, he lands in the freezing brook.

Dear Aunt Winifred.
Have you ever been camping? Don't! It's awful.
P.S.: Please mail me some chocolate cake.

Meanwhile Herman is exulting in the outdoor experience. He, too, sends a post card home:

Dear Uncle Harold,
Wish you were here! Guess what? We're on a camping vacation and having the best time! Well, I am. Henry seems a bit quiet. I'm sure he's fine. Everyone LOVES camping, right?

But all is not fine. Henry does not love camping and he's making no bones about it. He keeps the mail busy with cards to his Aunt Winifred, requesting everything from hot chocolate to his living room sofa and television set. It's hard to get away from it all when you have it all shipped to you!

Poor Herman hates to see his friend unhappy. He throws all his energies into trying to please Henry. Sending for tools from Uncle Harold, he builds a deluxe but rustic log inn (Hotel Henry,) more up to Henry's standards, and constructs an exciting log flume water slide. Henry is at last pacified and the rest of the vacation pleases him.

Dear Herman,
Thank you for making my camping trip so fantastic. I had the best time ever! Same place next year?
--Your Best Friend, Henry

Young readers may be excused from wondering why the easy-going Herman continues to cater to his persnickety, wet-blanket buddy, but then, best friends, however hard to please, are hard to find, in Tom Percival's Herman's Vacation (Bloomsbury Press, 2016).

As in his earlier epistolary tale of this odd couple of pals, Percival's undeniably comic artwork carries the load (unlike the donkeys), dropping rib-tickling sight gags (a bale of hay is labeled "Donkey Fuel" and the "Free Donkey Ride" comes with the dangling carrot on a stick to get their mount moving), and interspersing the narrative with flaps composed of the vintage post cards home add a lot of fun to the story. This one, and its companion book, Herman's Letter (see my 2015 review here) make a great pair for summer reading.

Rafe on the Rocks! Save Rafe: (Middle School #5) by James Patterson

"You heard me!" Mom shouted on the other side of that door.

"YOU'RE GOING BACK TO HILLS VILLAGE MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!!"

Having gotten himself expelled from Hills Village Middle and similarly ejected from two private art schools, Rafe Khatchadorian finds himself on the educational rocks in more ways than one. His mother has no recourse but to try to re-enroll him at Hills Village.

"You're a PUBLIC SCHOOL! You HAVE to take him!" Mom pleads, but the administrators at HVMS are as hard-nosed as their names imply. Mrs. Stricker and Mrs. Stonecase offer Rafe only one chance to re-matriculate without repeating last year's work--successfully completing The Program ("a highly effective intensive program for behaviorally challenged children") (as in boot camp). Rafe knows he can't let his long-suffering mom down yet again.

But when he arrives at what is euphemistically called Base Camp and sees the rest of the motley crew of campers, he figures he may be the only kid there who is not a crazy, a delinquent, or a major loser. Okay, he has to admit, so far, he probably is all three. His leader, Sargeant Fish, is unhappy with the sorry performance of his charges in setting up camp, and nobody eats that night. And they have to survive seven more days of this torture!

"GOOD MORN-ING, COCKROACHES.

"Time to mow down another challenge," Sarge Fish said. "Move, move, move, move, moooooove!"

The next morning Rafe discovers something about himself--he's acrophobic! He freezes on the way up the climbing tower obstacle, where, by the way, the only lunch option is waiting, and barely makes it to the top, failing to win one of the twenty tokens he must have to pass the course. Even the other losers laugh at him.

After cutting trees and constructing a raft to float down the river, Rafe's team is up, well, down the creek without their paddles, which they lose while spinning dizzily out of control in the rapids. Wet and cold, the failed crew get only a chewing out from their leaders, who tell them to suck it up and head up the nearby mountain. "Move! Move! MOOOOVE!!

To make it worse, Rafe is partnered with Carmen, a tattooed tough chick who punches his arm unless he does all her work as well as his own. Rafe has to get those tokens: failure means washing out and ensuring that he will spend a minimum of four years in middle school. So he does her bidding, trying to stay out of range of her right fist as much as possible while he does her half of the chores. Still, climbing the Devil's Highway cliff, with the nineteenth token at stake, Rafe forgets not to look down and freezes in fear. And there's no help in sight except for Charmin' Carmen, gleefully grabbing for his best handholds.

"Don't be a wuss!" Carmen said. And then she pinched me.

"STOP IT!" I yelled at her.

"Make me," she said And this time her pinch felt more like a piranha taking a bite out of my side.

It was Ticking. Me. Off!

But this time Carmen has the right moves to save Rafe.

Down to the last token to go, Rafe hangs on, his only refuge his drawing notebook. But when the teams are required to collect firewood and build a fire with flint and steel in the pouring rain, Carmen points out that the only way they'll ever get their soggy kindling to burn is by using Rafe's precious notebook as tinder. Saving a few of his Leo and the Loozer pages, Rafe hands his book over to start the fire and win the twentieth token--his ticket home.

It's tough love like Rafe has never seen, as he begins to wonder why he ever screwed up his cushy previous life--a warm, dry house with a refrigerator and his mom to deal with all the problems, in James Patterson's latest in his hilarious Middle School series, Middle School: Save Rafe! (Little, Brown, 2014). After The Program, Hills Village Middle is going to be a piece of cake, Rafe figures.

Well, maybe. Patterson's other books in his best-selling picaresque hero series are Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, Middle School: Get Me out of Here!, Middle School: My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar, and Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill. (see reviews here).

A Bear? Where? Scare a Bear by Kathy-Jo Wargin

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SCARE A BEAR?

WOULD YOU SHOUT, "I DECLARE, ITS A BEAR. PLEASE BEWARE!"

When the camp kids see a nondescript wooden sign which says "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SCARE A BEAR?" nailed to a tree, they are a little bemused. None of them has packed a copy of 1000 Ways to Scare A Bear in his or her duffel bag.

WHAT IF THAT BEAR ISN'T EASY TO SCARE?

WHAT IF THAT BEAR WANTS TO FISH FROM YOUR BOAT?
DO YOU THINK HE'D FIT? WOULD YOU TELL HIM TO SIT?
WOULD YOU SHARE YOUR POLE? AND YOUR BEST FISHING HOLE?

Nose to nose with a bear, would you share your cheese even if he says "Please?" and give him the top bunk in your cabin? And what if he snores too loud for you to sleep? Confronted with the possibility of sharing the camp experience with the likes of a bear makes the usual motley crew of bunkmates look pretty good.

In the companion book to her popular Moose on the Loose, Kathy-Jo Wargin again teams up with artist John Bendell-Brunello in their latest Scare a Bear (Sleeping Bear Press, 2010) which takes a light-hearted look at the creatures of the wild. Once again Wargin packs her irresistible verses with internal rhyming schemes which move this mock cautionary tale along with a wiggle and a giggle, and Bendell-Brunello's bear is a comic hero who keeps the kids guessing what he'll do next. A nice non-scary storytime outing for the camping season!

Into the Woods: Piper Reed, Campfire Girl by Kimberly Willis Holt

"Now, about the camping trip. All in favor of trying to convince our parents that another weekend would be better?" I said, "Aye!"

Stanley pointed his arm toward the ceiling. "Nay! I want to go camping. I've only been once. With the Boy Scouts. I wanted to earn that campfire badge, but I didn't...."

"Stanley," I said, "we don't earn badges in the Gypsy Club."

"Maybe you should," he said."We could have special shirts and as we earn badges we could have them sewn on the collars. Then when people asked about them we could tell them how we earned them. We could make it challenging to earn them, but not too hard. We could....."

He went on and on. My stomach felt queasy. Stanley Hampshire was ruining my life.

Piper Reed wants a regular Halloween. In Pensacola. With her friends in the Gypsy Club, the club for Navy brats who move a lot. She wants candy and costumes and jack-o'lanterns, and cheery neighbors handing out lots of treats--and she doesn't want Stanley Hampshire in on it.

Stanley is the middle child in a Navy family who has just moved onto the base. He's shy and jittery, and reserved--until he starts to talk. And then he can't stop. Words roll out of his mouth like Niagara Falls. And worst of all, he's been invited to go along on their camping trip, scheduled for, yikes! the whole Halloween weekend. There will be no trick-or-treating in the woods...but it looks like there is going to be plenty of Stanley.

In Kimberly Willis Holt's fourth book in the delightful Piper Reed series of easy chapter books, there are plenty of complications along the way to those delicious s'mores: Uncle James gets lost, as usual, and is hours late delivering his AirStream camper to the family for the trip; Nicole comes down with a fever and sore throat and spends the weekend inside the camper; The Chief's boat turns over in the lake; Piper's dog Bruna gets lost in the dark woods, and is found only with Stanley's bright idea to call out "Liver Lumps" as they search: and Piper's impromptu Halloween costume as an apple tree in a windstorm turns out to have some unexpected complications. Stanley offers to help her find some suitable leaves to decorate her outfit. There are no apple trees in the woods, but Stanley spots some perfect big green leaves on a vine near the camp.

"Great find, Stanley! See, your Boy Scout skills have come in handy."

"Those leaves look familiar," said Stanley, "but I can't remember why."

Readers will readily know where this one is going. Predictably, Piper's Halloween disguise turns out to include lots of red spots and pink calamine lotion, but the camping trip is a qualified success despite the surprises, and it's "Happy Trails" for all as the Reeds pack up and head back to the base after a Halloween Piper will never forget.

National Book Award-winner Holt knows how to craft characters that are both universal and yet intensely themselves, and Piper Reed, Navy brat, is a funny, resilient, and very real protagonist who is learning to deal with her middle status between her studious and supercilious big sister and her pesky little brother as she adapts to life in yet another new community in Piper Reed, Campfire Girl: (Piper Reed No. 4) (Henry Holt, 2010). As one reviewer insightfully puts it, "These are the Bobbsey Twins or the Happy Hollisters in a brave new world of dyslexia diagnoses, clinical shyness, and heart-breaking loneliness . . . peopled by nine- and ten-year-olds brave enough to overcome the lot."