Elliot Sloyer

A boy at summer camp swallows a safety pin while fooling around with it. There are some nice literary features---repetition, one more person in each scene as help is gotten, but it lacks an obvious point. It is based on a true story and is the first of a series of summer camp stories. Based on the camp's name and the quotes found on the walls, the camp is Jewish, but nothing in the text says so. The prayers that the boys attend on Sunday morning are not specified and the exclamations are mostly related to Italian food. I suppose the yuck factor of how to know if the safety pin has been eliminated from the boy might be appealing to some otherwise reluctant readers. The book ends with a page showing the sources of the quotes found in the book. [N.B. As it says (unattributedly) in Pirke Avot, he who cites his source brings deliverance to the world.]… (altro)