Not a Happy Camper: A Memoir

I attended a book reading in Los Angeles for a friend of mine (Amy Cohen and her excellent memoir; The Late Bloomers Revolution) and struck up a conversation with another attendee, Mindy Schneider. I inquired how she knew Amy and she told me that they had met at a reading in New York where they were both promoting their books. What's the name of your book, I inquired, "Not A Happy Camper". I had read about the book and had Mindy direct me to her stack and after purchasing a copy turned to the author and had her sign it. So, I just finished my signed copy of, "Not A Happy Camper" and here to report that it is a delight. Mindy having written for TV sitcoms, knows her way around a joke and tells the story of her 13th summer in the backwoods of Maine at Camp Kin A Hurra with a wonderful sense of humor,bringing her fellow campers to life on the page and an abiding affection for those days gone by. I never attended camp as a child but after reading Mindy's memoir I regret missing out on the fun, the companionship and the barf-et up at Camp Kin-A-Hurra. A real treat and thanks again for signing my copy Mindy-you're all right.

Writer Mindy Schneider was 13 once, and she remembers it with photographic precision and pungent Jewish humor. Mindy's 13-year-old self is off to summer camp. Camp Kin-a-Hurra is, she believes, the place where she will meet her first real boyfriend, bond with sophisticated girls her own age, and learn something so secret about growing up that she's not even sure what it is. She doesn't even mind the long ride since, for once, she has the back seat to herself instead of being jammed in next to two brothers, one of whom invariably throws up when he gets in a car. One reason why Mindy is so thrilled to be going to Kin-a-Hurra is that she picked it out. Unlike the New York camps her parents swore by and argued about, where Mindy had endured two disappointing summers, Kin-a-Hurra is in Maine and run by the dynamic but possibly insane Saul. Saul visited Mindy at home to make his pitch, touting the many wonders of his paradise in the woods: photography, wilderness hikes, an international staff and heated bunks (dormitories). When most of Saul's claims turn out to be highly exaggerated, Mindy is not really upset. "I grew up," Schneider explains, "in a family that was so strict and had so many rules it made life crazy. Then I went to a place that had no rules at all and somehow it made perfect sense." She isn't upset when the toilets are out of order (because it means the girls get to crash the boy's side in search of relief) or when camp transportation consists of a rickety old station wagon on its last tires and something known as the Green Truck, about which one of Mindy's cohorts opines, "I think Saul bought it on sale after the Holocaust." Saul also tells Mindy and her parents that Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan had once been counselors at Kin-a-Hurra. Moshe Dayan had taught archery, Saul swore. To the 13-year-old Mindy, it seems logical enough. "It explained Mr. Dayan's eye and all." Mindy learns that a lot of Jewish freedom fighters did attend Saul's camp way back when. But not Golda and Moshe. The true lore of Kin-a-Hurra is imparted by Philip, whom she doesn't want for a boyfriend. Not surprisingly, Mindy and her fellow bunk-mates are nothing short of obsessed with the subject of boys. Constantly comparing herself to the other girls, speculating about which ones have more worldly experience, is part of Mindy's coming of age at Camp Kin-a-Hurra. She pursues a boy named Kenny because he is older, taller and cute, but winds up with the initially rejected Philip, because he is nice and likes her, two qualities too good to overlook. Yet, when they finally get in a clutch, the young but winsomely wise Mindy finds herself thinking, "When will it end? This kiss, this unpleasant moment, this whole hideous adolescence?" Mindy battles constantly with self-esteem: "Unless I lost fifteen pounds in my sleep I was going to be a big-nosed blob in a bathing suit dog-paddling my way through the next day's waterfront races." She can't sing, either. But she finds

This book was really funny and reminded me of David Sedaris's work. It made me feel cheated for not being able to escape my family for eight weeks of every summer, relatively unsupervised, where I could experiment with smoking and boys. Mindy has a wonderful eye for detail, like describing the boys' tents - strewn with clothing, potato chips, etc. - as appearing that every day was Super Bowl Sunday. For anyone like me who grew up in the 70's it really evokes a nostalgic time and place. I hope the rest of Ms. Schneider's life was filled with odd adventures that she can turn into future volumns.

This book's such a fun read. Schneider has a wonderfully witty and quirky voice. You actually feel like you're at this nutty sleepaway camp with her. I spent one summer at sleepaway camp myself and totally hated it - yet this book actually made me miss that time. It's the perfect summer story.