Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies

I've had the life lesson of being a camp counselor the year we landed on the moon. I was 18 and frankly didn't know what I was doing there. Soon it became a whole different world. The boys stayed with us for at least a week at a time in an isolated canyon north of Los Angeles. It wasn't just 'Lord of the Flies', but a bizarre comedy of naivete, wonder, longing, petty fights, and a situation where the loonies were definitely running the asylum. Looking through this book everything that happened so long ago popped back into my head as if it were recent memory. We had our cook, who smoked while stirring the huge pots of something. He was rumored to be a cop killer. His assistant looked like a Hells Angel, but much dirtier. They retained their jobs despite the random cases of food poisoning. Perhaps it was our abject fear of them. The mid-summer septic tank "explosion". It forced the closure of 2 cabins and the double bunking of kids. Madness. The 'creek' flowed for the rest of the Summer. It may have been Mother Earth recoiling from our behavior. The midnight swims after the campers were sound asleep, the stunning nights under the stars, being outdoors for 3 months. No TV, no iPods, no Walkmans, just the rare radio. Ahh. Rumors kept us busier than middle-school girls. The whispers of trysts and the obvious romances, the commando raids into the kitchen to steal cigarettes, the cook and his mate teaching me the fine art of Bourbon drinking. That did wonders for my street cred. And, of course, the pranks pulled not on the campers but on each other. Then came our education on the variety of backgrounds, characters, and families of our boys. All were under-privileged, most from broken homes, some with psychological deficits, that just baffled us, and the rest just dirt poor. One of my charges was a black youth from South East L.A. He couldn't read. So I would read letters that his mama wrote to him. I totally lost it when she taped a dime to one of her letters so that he had something to spend. The saddest part was when the boys went home. I had the 12 & 13 year olds. It never failed, they all were bawling as they left. A surprising few continued to write letters to me for years. This book's subtitle should have been the title, small quibble. I say this because the stunts we pulled or hazing that was inflicted, seemed to us unique. Now I learn they are universal. Oh man, the pranks. It is a wonder no one was seriously injured. One such activity was to raid the archery locker and shoot arrows at each other. Real arrows, real people targets. Wish I owned a camera back then. Better yet this book makes me wish that I had been a camper. Excellent book, die-laughing photos, and a great experience. Enjoy.

Camp Camp is fun to read. Anyone who has gone to camp or is planning to go to camp can relate to the contents. Those who have not gone to camp can see what they missed.

"Camp Camp" pulls you back to your beloved camp days where your biggest worries involved looking good for canteen and the dance, waking up for morning line-up, and passing the deep water test. A former camper can flip open to any page, read any passage and look at any grainy old Kodak photo and relate completely. If you missed out on attending summer camp, than this book will make you wish you had gone and had a story about making a slip n' slide on the bunk floor with your bunk 27 buddies using your counselor's shaving cream, body soap, and shampoo. As the saying goes, "A picture says a thousand words." Well, a camp photo is worth ten thousand and can also evoke tears, laughter and a host of other emotions. Clearly, I am what many would call a, "camp person," having attended and worked at Camp Echo Lake for summers. Like another reviewer, my biggest disappointment with this book was the lack of my own camp's passage or photos; however I was extremely excited to read about the camp where I currently work, Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, http://www.campmkn.com/. A former camper, Todd, Rosenberg, the self-proclaimed, "Archer King," wrote a passage for the book discussing his glory days at Mah-Kee-Nac where he participated in an exciting archery competition which he thought about and worked on all year long with the thoughts of camp in mind. This book reminds you that you may leave camp, but it never leaves you, whether your hitting the books, sitting at your desk or just day dreaming. It encourages you to get back in touch with bunkmates and counselors. It is an absolute must for the "camp person," another way to relive those happy days.

Having just sent my oldest child off to her first year of sleepaway camp, it was very tempting to stow away on the bus and relive my camp experiences of the 1970s. But with this book, I don't have to, and it's a whole lot cheaper than actually going to sleepaway camp. While I must admit that I did contribute a few photos and a couple of anecdotes, I had no idea of the scope of this book until I actually read it--it's as funny as successfully short-sheeting a counselor's bed (and then getting the kid in the bunk that everyone hates blamed for it). There's a depth of depravity here that even I'd never expected--it's so brilliantly outrageous that I practically peed in my pants I was laughing so hard. My wife thought I'd completely lost my marbles--but she never had the camp experience. This book was lovingly compiled by a couple of truly demented (in a good way) folks, and they have captured the spirit of summer camp in a way that I thought only I remembered. Obviously, there are many others out there--and they should all read this book. If not, there's a purple nurple out there with your name on it...

Unlike the other reviewer, I spent 8 glorious years at Camp Akiba in the picturesque Poconos, and my only complaint about this book is that our camp isn't featured much. Despite this, I devoured every page of this wonderful trip down memory lane... from the big hair and big socks to the mix tapes to the rituals of Color War, Visiting Day, and floating our farewell candles on the lake. Every moment of the drama, the hysterical laughter, and the idea of "camping" in the materialistic 80's is captured and given the treatment it deserves. The strong sense of nostalgia that I think most campers have spills out on each page-- sometimes even in rainbow bubble letters-- and it is clear that this book was a labor of love. If you went to camp in the 80's, it is like spending a few hours with an old friend ...until that big bus pulls out of the parking lot and takes you back to reality. HIGHLY recommended!!