Camping. Nancy Hundal. Illustrated by Brian Deines. Toronto, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002. 32 pp., cloth, $19.95. ISBN 1-55041-668-5. Subject Headings: Camping-Fiction. Family life-Fiction. Camping. Grades 3-6 / Ages 8-11. Review by Val Nielsen. Reviewed from prepublication copy. ***/4

Camping is Nancy Hundal's third picture book collaboration with gifted artist Brian Deines. As she did in Prairie Summer(1999) and Number 21(2001), the author has drawn from her childhood memory bank to create her story. Nancy's family would like to spend their vacation visiting museums, malls, video arcades, fancy hotels. Nancy herself longs to visit Disneyland...

But money is scarce, so we'll try camping.
No paintings or fluffy towels, no clothes racks,
jackpots or mouse ears.

Camping.
Mosquito bites,
burnt food.
Camping.

     The thought of burnt food, bugs and work doesn't exactly delight Nancy, but it isn't long before the pleasures of camping begin to work their quiet magic. At night she wonders at the blackness of the night and the stars overhead.

Millions
bajillions
quadrillions, stream from one end
of the sky to the other...

     Swimming in the lake, sitting blanket-wrapped around the campfire toasting marshmallows ("black charry bits scabbed to the stick") climbing trees, watching birds and just doing nothing combine with less TV and less washing to make "...more time, less o'clock," a phrase that surely sums up the essence of camping.

     Brian Deines' vibrant paintings capture perfectly the setting and mood of the camping experience. His nighttime illustrations play up a city-bred child's fear of the all-encompassing dark of the countryside, providing a wonderful contrast with his super-bright renditions of summer days. Hundal's narrative style is, as always, playful and poetic. Metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia and alliteration abound in the fragmentary prose which makes up the text. Unfortunately a recurring problem with first person, present tense stories lies in matching the narrator's voice with appropriate levels of vocabulary and sophistication. When the author's poetic talent overrides the 10-year-old voice of the narrator, no matter how delightful the imagery, credibility is strained and the reader is jarred.

     Campingis the sort of picture book that will appeal mainly to older elementary children. It will be best appreciated by teachers who wish to inspire their students to write about camping memories or to play with language as the author does.

Recommended.

Valerie Nielsen, a retired teacher-librarian, lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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