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Laura is a couple weeks shy of turning twelve, and is headed for camp for the first time due to a family crisis. Despite her unhappiness Laura is determined to be a "good sport" but the situation deteriorates until she winds up in the infirmary. Why can't she just enjoy her vacation like her younger sister Amy is doing?

Well done story by an author whose other works I thoroughly enjoy, and this one is not an exception. Like Beverly Cleary, Marilyn Sachs has truly captured childhood and pre-teen angst without subjecting us to all the whining found in other works of this genre. ( )

One of my favorite books about the "camping experience" ( )

Perhaps the quintessential summer camp story, if a little mired in period (John Garfield!). I never went to camp, but I'm fairly certain that if I had, I'd have been a lot like Laura. ( )