by Mike Thaler
BY
MIKE THALER •
ILL
USTRATED BY
JARED LEE
24
#24
T HE
SUMMER CAMP
F R OM THE
BLACK LAGOON
Hubie is being sent far away to summer camp
®
®
THE
SUMMER CAMP
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
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by Mike Thaler
Illustrated by Jared Lee
SCHOLASTIC INC.
®
THE
SUMMER CAMP
FROM THE
BLACK LAGOON
In loving memory of Joe Belperio,
the best Schneid of all
—M.T.
To Skipper the dog
—J.L.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into
any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means,
whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without
the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding
permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department,
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
e-ISBN 978-0-545-55268-4
Text copyright © 2013 by Mike Thaler
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
scholastic and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of Scholastic Inc. black lagoon is a registered trademark of Mike Thaler and
Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc. All rights reserved.
First printing, June 2014
Contents
Chapter 1: Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: Bummer Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 3: Call of the Wild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 4: Packin’ It In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 5: Bearmare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 6: The Early Worms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 7: Busted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 8: Buzz Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 9: High and Dry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 10: Out to Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter 11: For Goodness’ Snakes! . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 12: In the Swim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 13: What’s Canoe with You? . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 14: Yay, Camp Sherwood . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 15: Playing Chicken . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6
CHAPTER 1
exile
Mom doesn’t love me anymore.
She’s sending me away.
She’s shipping me off to
summer camp for seven days.
I’ve never been away from
home for more than seven hours.
I’ve never missed a dinner, or
spent a night out of my own bed.
7
This camp is far away . . . over
mountains and through forests.
I’ll have to eat there.
I’ll have to sleep there.
I’ll be all alone.
Mom isn’t coming with me.
CHAPTER 2
BUMMER CAMP
Mom shows me the camp
brochure.
There’s a picture of a big lake . . .
the one I’ll drown in.
10
There’s a picture of a big
forest . . . the one I’ll get lost in.
There’s a picture of a big
mountain . . . the one I’ll fall off
of.
11
Mom says it looks beautiful.
If it looks so beautiful, why
doesn’t she go and let me stay
home?
CHAPTER 3
CALL OF THE WILD
I’m desperate. I call Eric for
sympathy.
He’s happy. He’s going to
baseball camp. They get to play
baseball all day.
They get caps and uniforms. I
wish I could go there.
13
I call Derek. He’s happy, too.
He’s going to tennis camp. They
get to play tennis all day.
He’ll have a ball. What a racket!
14
Randy’s going to soccer camp.
That’ll be a lot of kicks.
15
Freddy’s going to cooking
camp. All he’s taking is a knife,
fork, and spoon.
16
Penny and Doris are going to
ballet camp. That should keep
them on their toes.
17
I’m going to a wilderness camp.
My only sport will be survival.
And with all my friends away, I
won’t know anybody, and nobody
will know me.
18
CHAPTER 4
PACKIN’ IT IN
Mom says we should start
packing. She has a list from the
brochure. We have to take a first-
aid kit (oh, great!), a flashlight,
warm socks, a backpack, and a
sleeping bag.
19
The list says we have to sew my
name into all my clothes. That’s
so they can identify the body.
I want to take my video games,
my computer, the TV, all my
baseball cards, and my entire
closet. Mom says they
’re not on
the list. But I can take my pillow.
Now that we’re done packing,
Mom says I should go to bed
because we have to get up very
early. Don’t most executions take
place at dawn?
21
CHAPTER 5
BEARMARE
I can’t sleep. I try to count
sheep. But instead I count
bears, mountain lions, wolves,
skunks, coyotes, snakes, spiders,
scorpions, mosquitoes, bats, and
alligators. Finally I do fall asleep
and have a dream.
22
It’s “Hubie and the Three
Bears.”
Mom has sent me to the deep,
dark woods to pick berries. I get
lost. There are no street signs
or streetlights. Suddenly, I see a
light between the trees. It’s a little
cabin just like the ones at camp.
I go in. There are three bowls of
porridge on a wooden table. I’m
hungry. I eat them all. Then I see
three beds. I’m tired. I lie down
and fall asleep.
23
Suddenly, I’m woken up by a
hairy paw shaking me. There are
three bears standing over me.
“It’s Goldilocks,” says the baby
bear.
“That’s not Goldilocks,” says
the mamma bear, reading the
label sewn on my shirt, “it’s
Hubie.”
“Let’s eat him” says the poppa
bear.
24
The alarm goes off. Saved by
the bell. I open my eyes, but it’s
still dark outside.
“Rise and shine!” chirps my
mom from the other room.
I hate camp already.
25
CHAPTER 6
THE EARLY WORMS
I sit numb in the car as the sun
tries to climb out of the night.
Finally, we pull into a parking
lot. There are lots of moms
shoving unhappy kids onto a
purple bus that says Camp
Sherwood.
26
I Sherwood like to go home.
Mom kisses me on the forehead,
hands me my backpack, and
marches me onto the bus.
It’s full of sleepy kids with
morning mouth.
Some are crying. Some have
quietly accepted their fate.
27
I’m still hoping for a pardon
from the governor.
I sit down next to the biggest
kid.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
He looks at the label sewn
inside his shirt.
“Jerry,” he says.
I look at my label.
“I’m Hubie,” I say.
28
We shake hands.
“You know any camp songs?”
he asks.
“No,” I answer, “but I know a
knock-knock joke. Knock-knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Sherwood.”
“Sherwood who?”
“I Sherwood like to go home.”
“Me, too,” he says, and smiles.
CHAPTER 7
BUSTED
The driver closes the door and
starts up the engine.
The moms all wave good-bye
as we pull away.
“I think this vacation is for
them,” says Jerry, looking out
the window.
30
All signs of civilization slowly
disappear.
No more buildings, billboards,
street signs, fast-food restaurants,
stoplights, streetlights, or neon
lights.
It’s a good thing we have our
flashlights.
31
Jerry asks the bus driver if he
knows any camp songs.
He says he knows one, and
starts to sing “Ninety-nine Bottles
of Root Beer on the Wall.”
By the tenth time through
we all know the words, and by
the twentieth time we’re driving
under an old wood sign that says,
Welcome to Camp Sherwood:
Home of the Bears.
CHAPTER 8
BUZZ OFF
We all pile out of the bus and
line up. I stay close to Jerry.
I look around—we’re in the
middle of eight little cabins, just
like the ones in my dream. Maybe
this is a dream. Maybe I’ll wake
up.
A guy blows a whistle.
“Welcome to Camp Sherwood,”
he says. “My name is Buzz.”
I wonder if his last name is Saw.
He’s big. He has one eye. We find
out later he lost his other eye last
summer. I wonder what he’ll lose
this summer. . . .
34
“I’m the camp safety director
and your counselor,” he says.
He blows his whistle again.
“Pick up your gear and follow
me.”
I don’t have any gear . . . I’m on
automatic.
CHAPTER 9
HIGH AND DRY
Buzz leads us to one of the
cabins.
“Go pick a bunk and meet me
at the mess hall.”
“Why do they call it a mess
hall?” I whisper to Jerry.
36
“You’ll find out,” he says, “and
be sure to get a top bunk.”
“Why?” I ask as we hurry in.
“Bed wetters,” he says, while
climbing up to a top bunk.
I grab the last one.
37
CHAPTER 10
OUT TO LUNCH
We all march into the mess hall
and sit down. I still don’t know
why they call it a mess hall.
Then they bring out the food
and I figure it out.
38
Echh . . . it’s a mess! Mashed
everything.
Mashed potatoes, mashed
peas, squashed squash.
The chef must be King Kong.
This makes the school cafeteria
look like a four-star restaurant.
Well, the good thing is you don’t
have to cut anything . . . or even
chew it.
39
After lunch it’s time to go
swimming. I hope we wait at least
a half hour so we don’t drown.
CHAPTER 11
FOR GOODNESS’
SNAKES
We march back to our cabin
and put on our bathing suits.
Then we walk barefoot down to
the lake.
There are all sorts of sharp,
prickly things on the ground.
“Ouch!” “Ouch!” “Ouch!”
Pine needles, pine cones, sticks
and stones that can break your
41
bones. I walk carefully.
We get to the lake and it looks
cold. Maybe we should go ice
skating instead.
“Jump in, boys,” shouts Buzz,
and he blows his whistle.
We just stand there. I raise my
hand.
“I’d like to know a little about
the aquatic life before I leap in,” I
say. “For i
nstance, are there any
snapping turtles, piranhas, or
sharks?”
“No sharks.” Buzz smiles. “But
look out for the snakes.”
“Snakes! No way, I’m not going
in there.”
43
44
Buzz winks his good eye, “In
ten years, I’ve only seen one.”
“Yeah, well that one won’t see
me.” I sit down on a log. “Ouch!”
This log has just as many
sharp places as the ground.
Uncomfortable!
45
All the kids are splashing
around. Looks like they’re having
fun. There are snakes in logs, too.
May be I’ll take my chances in the
water.
CHAPTER 12
IN THE SWIM
Wow! Swimming is cool. I can
swim down to the bottom and
open my eyes. It’s got a lot more
stuff in it than a swimming pool.
46
There are plants, and rocks,
and little fish. It’s sorta like an
aquarium. Jerry and I play sunken
pirate ship and look for treasure.
47
Jerry finds an empty soda can,
and I find a rubber sandal.
When Buzz blows his whistle,
no one wants to get out.
We’re having too much fun.
