Kirkus Reviews

James and Eamon spend a week with Bill and Pam, Eamon's grandparents, while they take in a week of nature camp—a week that turns out to be "the best week ever." A deadpan text narrates the events of the week, from the obligatory nature hikes and sleeping on an inflatable mattress downstairs to Bill's well-meaning attempts to engage them in wildlife study and Pam's great cooking. Frazee's hilarious round-headed cartoons romp across the page in snort-inducing counterpoint, abetted by the occasional speech balloon ("I think it should be called Sit-Around-Camp."). What emerges is a complete portrait of two thoroughly modern boys who watch TV, get messy, resist both nature and self-improvement—and still get won over by the spell of the great outdoors. The genius here is not that the boys finally get outside in the end; it's that their joy in being together is celebrated equally whether they're annihilating each other in a video game or building a replica of Antarctica on Bill and Pam's dock. As respectful of kid sensibilities and priorities as it's possible for an adult to achieve. (Picture book. 5-8)

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Friends James and Eamon stay with Eamon's grandparents while attending a nature day-camp. Though the boys tolerate camp, the real action happens during their unstructured time at home. Frazee's text plays straight man to her pictures; while the earnest narrative offers one version of events, the energetic illustrations and speech balloons provide a boys'-eye view of "the best week ever."

ALA Booklist (Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)

Frazee offers another riotous story that plays deadpan words off of sly, subversive pictures. Best friends James and Eamon head to Eamon's grandparents' house on the Florida coast, where they will attend a nature day camp. The straightforward words describe their trips to camp and then earnest nature talks with grandparents. The gleeful pencil-and-gouache illustrations, filled with dialogue bubbles, tell a different story: the boys play computer-game marathons, create tents from their mattresses, and enjoy other raucous indoor fun while generally ignoring the great outdoors. But on their final night, the friends discover a world of natural fun on the moonlit shore. A few of the pictures' winking references may hit more with adults than with kids, but plenty of children will see themselves in the high-energy scenes, particularly when the friends cheerfully disregard educational activities suggested by well-meaning grown-ups. Surprisingly few picture books celebrate the close friendship of two boys, and this boisterous story helps fill that gap.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Frazee (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Roller Coaster) salutes grandparents and slyly notes children's diversions in this breezy tale of “the best week ever.” After Eamon enrolls in nature camp, he spends nights with his grandparents, Bill and Pam, at their beach cottage. Eamon's friend James joins the sleepover, and although the text describes James as “very sad” when his mother drives away, a cartoon shows him exuberantly waving “Bye!” Humorous contradictions arise between the hand-lettered account (“Bill handed them each a pair of binoculars and a list of birds to look for. On the way home, the boys reported their findings”) and voice-bubble exchanges between the boys (Eamon, training the lenses on James: “His freckles are <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">huge.” James: “Yeah, and his tongue is <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">gross”). Bill tries to interest the boys in a museum exhibit on penguins; the inseparable friends (“To save time, Bill began calling them Jamon”) show no enthusiasm yet energetically build “penguins” from mussel shells. Frazee's narrative resembles a tongue-in-cheek travel journal, with plenty of enticing pencil and gouache illustrations of the characters knocking about the shoreline. Like <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Hello Goodbye Window, Frazee's story celebrates casual extended-family affection, with a knowing wink at the friends' dismissal of their elders' best-laid plans. Ages 6-9. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3 Light-hearted music sprinkled with hints of campfire songs opens Marla Frazee's humorous Caldecott Honor book (Harcourt, 2008) about two boys and their summer vacation experience. Narrators Fred Berman, Teddy Walsh, and Jasper Newell bring the characters to life as young Eamon is joined at his grandparents' beach house by his pal James. The boys embark on a week of "nature camp." Based on real people and events, the story is punctuated by comical contradictions where Frazee's wonderful pencil-and-gouache cartoon illustrations and text clearly represent opposing points of view. For example, James "arrives with just a couple of his belongings," while the illustration shows a boy surrounded by a multitude of boxes, toys, and luggage. As Eamon and James become more and more attached to each other, they are given the moniker "Jamon." Despite Grandpa Bill's repeated attempts at luring the boys to nearby penguin exhibits and outdoor adventures, they prefer to enjoy nature and visit the beach by gazing at the waves from an upstairs window. The narrator does an excellent job of punctuating Frazee's alliterative phrases ("Pam said she preferred people over penguins" and "people hugs over penguin huddles"), and the young male narrators wonderfully reflect the mood of the closing scene as James and Eamon excitedly show the grandparents their Antarctica creation. The book ends with simple directions on how to make a mussel shell penguin. A realistic intergenerational tale and a fun take on what it means to be a kid during summer vacation. Cathie Bashaw Morton, Millbrook Central School District, NY