Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.