Summer Fun: The Parents' Complete Guide to Day Camps, Overnight Camps, Specialty Camps, and Teen Tours [Paperback]

Marian Edelman Borden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

Summer Fun is a complete, easy-to-read reference that offers parents step-by-step guidance for choosing the right camp for their child from among the 8,500 possibilities that exist in the United States today. Parents will learn the how to prepare campers for the experience, what to pack, how to stay in touch, and how to handle the difficulties that can sometimes arise, especially for sensitive or special needs children. From selecting the best camp to coping with homesickness, from dealing with camp cliques to camp counselors, Summer Fun combines expert advice with practical tips on everything a parent needs to know before, during, and after their child's stay at camp.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Borden, the author of Smart Start: The Parents' Complete Guide to Preschool Education (Facts on File, 1997) and In Addition to Tuition: The Parents' Survival Guide to Freshman Year of College (Facts on File, 1995), now addresses summer camps. As the subtitle indicates, this guide thoroughly covers all types of camps, providing information on how to choose a camp, prepare a child for camp, and keep in touch with a child away for the summer. It is more comprehensive than Adrienne Popper's Summer Camps and Teen Tours (1988. o.p.), the last title to address this topic fully, and it supplements the standard summer camp directories, Guide to ACA-Accredited Camps and Peterson's Summer Opportunities for Kids and Teenagers. It should answer the question "How do I choose a summer camp for my child?" Recommended for public libraries.AJohn J. McCormick, New Hampshire State Lib., Concord
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Checkmark Books (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816038058
• ISBN-13: 978-0816038053
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,377,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The IDEAL RESOURCE Book about Camp, April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Summer Fun: The Parents' Complete Guide to Day Camps, Overnight Camps, Specialty Camps, and Teen Tours (Paperback)

I'm so glad that I found this book in time! - it helped me make the best decisions for my kids right before I signed them up for camp this summer. Next year, we'll get started even sooner. This book is top-notch, practical, easy to read, and well structured. You can learn everything - from how to evaluate and choose the best short-term day camp in your own neighborhood, to summer-long, transcontinental teen tours. The author has great suggestions, such as hiring someone to sew on all those nametapes! She also handles emotional issues, such as homesickness, and separation anxiety (for parents as well as kids). The checklists are very useful. But it's not all serious business; I laughed and cried when I read campers' fond remembrances and anecdotes, which kicked off every chapter.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This mom hasn't worked at camp, October 15, 2000

By 

bamboo (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer Fun: The Parents' Complete Guide to Day Camps, Overnight Camps, Specialty Camps, and Teen Tours (Hardcover)

This book is divided into three main sections: one on day camps, one on sleepaway camps, and one on teen tours. The best material is the section on day camps. The rest is mediocre.

As a mom who worked at camp for a few summers, I was surprised to read questions like, "Is there a counselor in the power boat when a camper is water skiing?" Stuff like this is so obvious that it's clear the author never worked at a camp.

The author also claims, "Toilet-papering the girls' (or boys') bunks are harmless tricks that can build unity and comraderie within a group." As the camp I worked at, this could have gotten a kid kicked out.