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Summary
Summary
A 2009 Caldecott Honor Book
When James and Eamon go to a week of Nature Camp and stay at Eamon's grandparents' house, it turns out that their free time spent staying inside, eating waffles, and playing video games is way more interesting than nature. But sometimes things work out best when they don't go exactly as planned.
This Caldecott Honor-winning book is a moving and hilarious celebration of young boys, childhood friendships, and the power of the imagination, where Marla Frazee captures the very essence of summer vacation and what it means to be a kid.
Author Notes
Marla Frazee was born in Los Angeles, California on January 16, 1958. She received a bachelor of fine arts at Art Center College of Design in 1981. After graduating from college, she worked for various companies in advertising, educational publishing, toys, games, and magazines. In 1990, she illustrated her first book, World Famous Muriel and the Magic Mystery, written by Sue Alexander. She has also illustrated The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman, Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild! by Mem Fox, the Clementine chapter book series by Sara Pennypacker, and Stars by Mary Lyn Ray. In 2003, she wrote and illustrated Roller Coaster. Her other works include The Boss Baby, Walk On!, and Santa Claus the World's Number One Toy Expert. She received a 2009 Caldecott Honor for A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever and a 2010 Caldecott Honor for All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-James and Eamon spend a week at Eamon's grandparents' beach house. The boys go to nature camp during the day and delight Bill and Pam (the grandparents) at night with their antics. Bill makes an earnest attempt to interest the young boys in his own hobby-studying Antarctica and penguins. He wears a penguin shirt and brings out maps and globes, but it appears that James and Eamon are not listening. Frazee brings out the typical energy of a couple of boys who may scoff at nature and seem to prefer watching TV, but it is through her artful illustrations that readers catch glimpses of just how savvy and creative these kids can be. The youngsters' circular cartoon faces are distinguishable only because of their small tufts of hair-one curly, the other straight. Endpapers depict a humorous variety of drawn photos that could have been taken during the week. A penguin craft is explained on the final end flap. This intergenerational story will elicit howls of laughter and requests for repeated readings.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Frazee (Roller Coaster) salutes grandparents and slyly notes children's diversions in this breezy tale of "the best week ever." After Eamon enrolls in nature camp, he spends nights with his grandparents, Bill and Pam, at their beach cottage. Eamon's friend James joins the sleepover, and although the text describes James as "very sad" when his mother drives away, a cartoon shows him exuberantly waving "Bye!" Humorous contradictions arise between the hand-lettered account ("Bill handed them each a pair of binoculars and a list of birds to look for. On the way home, the boys reported their findings") and voice-bubble exchanges between the boys (Eamon, training the lenses on James: "His freckles are huge." James: "Yeah, and his tongue is gross"). Bill tries to interest the boys in a museum exhibit on penguins; the inseparable friends ("To save time, Bill began calling them Jamon") show no enthusiasm yet energetically build "penguins" from mussel shells. Frazee's narrative resembles a tongue-in-cheek travel journal, with plenty of enticing pencil and gouache illustrations of the characters knocking about the shoreline. Like The Hello Goodbye Window, Frazee's story celebrates casual extended-family affection, with a knowing wink at the friends' dismissal of their elders' best-laid plans. Ages 6-9. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved