Backyard Camping

Spring has finally sprung here in Ohio and my giant crocus and daffodils are in full bloom. Spring also means a trip to the Southern Kentucky Book Festival in Bowling Green. This time, Bobby and Emily will be joining me and will be seeing the sites as I sign books and present to a room full of children.

 

Although there are still a few days before we leave, I have been getting things ready. The snack box is filling up with items like sweet potato chips, Triscuits, apples, my favorite tea, and some Oreos because traveling just wouldn't be as much fun without a special treat. I'm also making my list of what to take so I don't forget anything, and I am making sure all the batteries for our assorted electronics are charged.

All of this packing makes me reminiscent of  my childhood vacations. Every year my father would take our family camping for a week. I mean the old fashioned canvas tent type of camping. The kind of camping where we were able to drink soda every day and roast marshmallows over the camp fire because it only happened once a year. The kind of camping where you had to make sure your coolers were locked up for the night so the raccoons didn't have a midnight feast.

And speaking of midnight feasting and camping, leads me right into the book I happened to review for this week. It is called Billie B. Brown - The Midnight Feast, and it is a story about what I just described___ tent camping and feasting.

Written for the very beginning chapter book readers, it is the story of Billie and her best friend Jack who are going to camp out in Jack's back yard in his brand new tent. Billie brings lots of treats, including marshmallows, so they can have a feast at midnight. But midnight is so far away, that the snacks start getting eaten. As their adventure continued and the darkness of night began to settle in, Billie and Jack heard noises and imagined large scary monsters. They were scared, but didn't want to give up their camping trip. The solution to their problem was a simple change of location.

I loved this book for many reasons. First because it took me back to my own childhood and camping, which also included backyard adventures. strange noises, and location changes, although the location change in my case was due to rain. So if you and your children love camping or even if you have never been camping, I think you will enjoy this adventure with Billie and Jack.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.