[.ca] Sleepaway: The Girls of Summer and Camps They Love (ISBN 0761126910)

Why did it take so long . . .:
. . . for someone to write such a great, classic book about sleepaway camps? Laurie has done the best job of capturing the memories, the moments, the beauty of the experience. I highly recommend the book, should also be a great gift for any woman who went to summer camp as a child.

Nostalgia:
This book brought back to life so many of my camp experiences. I send my children to the same camp that I went to and am fortunate enough to see alumni and keep in touch with camp friends. This book flew off the shelves of every bookstore in the Portland, Maine area this summer as everyone went in search of a copy. It is a fabulous book in which Laurie Kahn has brought to print all our wonderful camp memories. Read it - you might even see photographs of that camp where you spent your childhood summers!

Even appreciated by a young camper:
I am 15 years old right now, and i have been going to sleepaway camp for 3 years now. I went to camp not knowing many people, mabye 3 girls and now camp is something i can't live without! For four weeks, and starting summer '04 it will be eight weeks-i have thought about camp all year round. Camp is one magical place where you can get away, and this book captures that special feeling that camp gives you. For any camper old or new this book is amazing!!!

Camp Spirit from cover to cover!:
From the cover with the reminiscent red plaid sleeping bag graphics, to song lyrics, recipes, journal entries and photographs, this book speaks so perfectly to the universal appeal of all-girls camps in America. I was fortunate to have attended three years of girls camp & one of co-ed camp, and even the images that are 100 years old seemed to jump off the pages as if they were from my own memories from 15 years ago. I absorbed the pages voraciously, and immediately told my old camp bunkmate about the book. Wow. I cannot remember any other book touching my memories as personally, and intimately. S'mores, campfires, secret rituals within our tribe, rifelry & archery, war canoe, trampoline, running around in our underwear, singing into broom handles, medals & awards ceremonies, vespers; All girls who've attended sleepaway camps have similar testimonies--only I didn't realize how similar until I read this book! It is a wonderful gift, because it is an unexpected and pleasant reminder of a longed-for childhood gone by. It also reminded me that my own children should be afforded this same priviledge that I received! In my mid 30's I still sing my own silly camp songs as well as the ones my mother taught me from her Girl Scout camp days, and the ones Grandma taught her from her own camping memories. This book will help the traditions be preserved for another 100 years. Bravo! Can I contribute to the next edition? I have hysterical photos of costumed talent shows from an era when imitating Madonna & the B52's were considered "talents!" LOL You can't go wrong with this book, or with sending your daughters to Sleepover camps! :O)

A waste of time and paper!:
I bought this book, expecting to find an all engaging volume reminding me of the fun times of summer camp. Instead, I was greeted by dull and repetitive narration which could not have ended soon enough. 242 pages of camp nostalgia, please, by the end I was all too glad my camp days were over and were nothing but a distant memory. If you really must relive those days of disgusting camp food and sleepless nights filled with mosquitoes, save your money and take this book out from the library, where it must surely be collecting dust.