Not a Happy Camper: A Memoir

by Mindy Schneider

Remember those long sultry summer days at camp, the sun setting over the lake as you sang Kumbaya? Well, Mindy Schneider remembers her summer at Camp Kin-A-Hurra in 1974 just a wee bit differently. Not a Happy Camper chronicles a young girl’s adventures at a camp where the sun never shines, the breakfast cereal dates back to the summer of 1922, and many of the counselors speak no English. For eight eye-opening and unforgettable weeks, Mindy and her eccentric band of friends — including Autumn Evening Schwartz, the daughter of hippies who communicates with the dead, and the sleep-dancing, bibliophile Betty Gilbert — keep busy feuding in color wars, failing at sports, and uncovering the camp’s hidden past. As she focuses on landing the perfect boyfriend and longs for her first kiss, Mindy unexpectedly stumbles across something infinitely herself. Hilarious, charming, and glowing with nostalgia, Mindy Schneider’s memoir is a must-read for anyone who’s ever been to summer camp, or wishes they had.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Humor, Biography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

***NO SPOILERS***

As someone who spent every single summer at camp and every single summer hated it, I grabbed this immediately when I saw it at the library and began reading with zeal. I expected an entertaining memoir about the author’s miserable camp experience(s). What I got instead were a series of humdrum anecdotes drawn from her one summer at a Kosher camp in Maine. They aren’t particularly unhappy or even so entertaining. I read to the end waiting for the ultimate anecdote that would make the book live up to its title. It never happened.

Schneider wasn’t such an unhappy camper. She was more a reluctant camper or a half-hearted camper. I continue my search for a book about true summer-camp misery so I’ll feel less alone--or maybe I should just write one myself.

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a funny memoir by a person who did a good job of sorting through her experiences at sleep-away camp in the 1970s. I'm not sure if people in other parts of the country have this, but in the northeast there are a lot of summer camps for Jewish kids ... maybe a little like church camp. Thirteen year old Mindy arrives at camp determined to get a boyfriend. Cringing results, but in a good way that I think most anyone who has been a 13 y.o. girl will relate to. It's an interesting look at the culture of Jewish summer camp, but there's plenty about camp in general. Color war!

Grade: A-
Recommended: To people who loved going to camp, and possibly even people who hated camp. Bonus if you were a girl during the 70s and will remember some of the fashions and fads mentioned in the book.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book, as I had very similar camp experiences to the author (generally, I hated summer camp but still remember with some fondness some of the people I met there), but gave up after 40 pages or so. The writing was adequate, but no more, and there was nothing particularly fresh here -- it's just the same teen angst situations you've probably read about a thousand times (girl wants boyfriend, desirable boy won't look at girl, girl's pretty friend gets all the attention, blahdeeblahdeeblah), but set in summer camp with a couple of characters that the author works awfully hard at making quirky and eccentric and lovable. Eh.

[Deb Victoroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an hilarious memoir of an adolescent's first summer at sleep-away camp. If you remember what it's like to play color wars, sing ridiculous songs which insult camp food, have your first crush, drink "bug" juice, well, then your experience is not even half as fun as Mindy's, whose camp's meals were salvaged from train wrecks, whose camp's truck was one that could only be ridden in for as long as you could hold your breath (against the fumes), and whose characters are 12 year old versions of Henny Youngman and Totie Fields.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast read. It was a funny memoir about summer camp in Maine. The person who runs the camp makes it look really good and exciting with all kinds of activities during his presentation, but in reality, it rains all the time and no one does much of anything (at least not anything organized.)

[Melitta Vanderbrooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great summer read. It's Mindy Schneider's memoir of summer camp in Maine, a place of few rules that is beyond rustic. The writing is hilarious, and takes you back to the 70's, when she was 13.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Light and amusing stroll through early adolescence.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The camp that Mindy goes to is not what she expected and does not fit the hyped up description AT ALL. But still, somehow, it brought together youth in such a way that they are forever changed and wish others could have shared the experience. Being a 70s kid myself, who never went to camp, I found the pre-teen details to be right on target and so hilarious. Mindy's voice is great and this is a quick, fun read. I like this gem of wisdom toward the end of the book about the camp owner, Saul:
"I think some people viewed Saul as the ultimate con man, the lying, scheming owner of a broken-down, worthless mosquito-infested camp who cheated unwitting parents out of their money. Others, meanwhile, saw him as a dedicated and exceptional social worker, a man with the capacity to gather up a campful of outcasts with nowhere to go and make them all feel like winners, a man who so believed in his own lies that he somehow turned them into reality. And some people, me included now, saw him as a little bit of both."

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Memorable Feast for Former Female Campers

If you were a 13 year old girl who went to sleep away camp, you're likely to find this memoir very true. Ten points if the camp you attended was coed, located in either upstate NY or New England, and was owned and operated by Jewish people. That's a unique camping genre. Mindy's story is in the early 70's, but it will totally ring familiar for those of us whose camping days were in the 60's. A girl's summer was defined by teenage angst. Will she or won't she have a camp boyfriend? Will they kiss? Will they go to the final social banquet together, after which they'll ride off into the sunset together? Mindy's adventures in this area makes for both sympathy and laughs. Fortunately for her, she had athletic skills that made her a champion. Great summer reading as well.

[Janette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up at the thrift store and had it on my shelf for years before finally reading it this year. I wasn't expecting much, so was very pleasantly surprised to find it actually quite entertaining. With some good jokes and a lot of teenage angst, it was a fun diversion to close.out the summer.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cute! Tells of Mindy on the brink of coming-of-age, but still fairly innocent.

[Manu Ribxs · Rating 4 out of 5]

had low expectations but it was a good read, really need to go camping now!

[Lee Schlesinger]

I enjoyed spending the summer at Camp Kin-A-Hurra. Now, Mindy, you should do a similar memoir about freshman year of college.

[Mary Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fortunately I never attended, or worked at a camp as terrible as this one. My Camp Fire Girls' camp in California was a wonderful place in the 1950s and 1960s, and nothing like Mindy Schneider's. I also worked at a private camp on Lake Sebago in 1969, and although I did not especially care for it, it was better than the one is this book. "Looking for the Klondike Stone" by Elizabeth Arthur is beautifully written and far superior to "Not a Happy Camper". Josh Wolk's "Cabin Pressure" is also better and Michael Eisner's book "Camp," while not strictly a memoir, is very good.

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished reading about Mindy Schneider's summer camp experience i wanted to know more about summer camps. We only had a select few types of camp where I grew up, and none of them involved more than a week away from home. I went the 4H camp, but there was church camp and gendered scout camp. Oh, and my sister got to go to band camp that sounded like fun to me, but involved being in the band.

anyway, more than you wanted to know. But this is a laugh out loud funny bookand just because it is considered an adult book, doesn't make it totally an adult book. Teens with a good sens of humor might think it is funny if they just allow themselves to be humored by something that doesntn't involve myspace.

READ IT for great belly laughs. I think I am going to buy this book to keep around for therapeutic moments.

I am currently reading this memoir of a summer as a camper in Maine and from the prespective of a 13 year old, it is hilarious. I laugh out loud every time I turn the page! I think I'll be sad when this book ends as Mindy Schneider has endeared herself to me tremendously.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't mind this book, part of it were funny, and it was cute, but it seemed like it belonged in a Good Housekeeping extended short story. Also, (and maybe this is just because we went to a religious church camp), I was shocked at the things the campers and counselors were doing in camp, even though it was the 70's. I didn't have a problem with the story, I just didn't like the author very much. She mentions in the book she always thought her family was poor, but then she and both of her brothers graduated from law school with no student loan debt, and my thought was "and you took that free education and wrote this crap?" But I'm probably just jealous. I did relate to the physical dangers the campers went through, from going on a hiking trip with no food and no idea where they were going, to passing out because they were riding in the back of a pickup, with exhaust fumes blowing in their face. Ah, camp.

[Daniela N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir was written about Mindy Schneiders camp experience. I was recommended this book by my own camp counselor and when I asked her why she told me that I would understand the messages throughout the book. When I started it, it seemed like any boring book that I would just read for fun but throughout the book I started to understand what she is talking about. Schneider has captured the meaning of camp in 256 amazing pages. The food, the bunkmates, the lake, the administration, the boys, the activities and the counselors. I would not recommend this book to many people because it would be like any other book about a kid that goes to a really crummy camp but has the best time of their life.
I would recommend this book to people that:
-are girls
-go to sleep away camp
-like sleep away camp
-like reading typical happy ending story books

My warning would be if you are 5 chapters into the book then stop.

[Amy Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so hard to compete in humorous memoir these days - but there is just something about camp that intrigues me. I think it's yet another microcosm and I love microcosms!
In this story Mindy Schneider goes to a camp that is essentially a complete scam - nothing about it is what it is supposed to be and the head of the camp is basically a con artist - but paradoxically, this is just the sort of experience that a teenager is primed to enjoy. Less supervision, fewer routines, more time to obsess over boys.
It's somewhat poignant, often funny, and very true to life. I enjoyed it immensely, though it wasn't a perfectly told story, it was completely unique and entertaining.
Recommended for former campers.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that summer camp experiences can provide pivotal moments in many adolescent lives. Mindy Schneider was obviously one of those people. If you have similar memories, you might have a better appreciation for this author's stories than I did. My only camp experience was one week at mandatory sixth grade camp. While I remember having a good time, I've moved on, way, way on, with my life. Schneider's whining about her father's penny-pinching and her lack of money and material possessions wore me down. Although I felt she was really working the pity card, I didn't buy it. As stated before, this book may be more enjoyable for camp enthusiasts, it just didn't cut it for me.

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

The camp featured in this book could be the one Wet, Hot American Summer is based on. (Wet, Hot American Summer is my favorite movie, by the way.)

Most of the campers are Jewish kids. It rains all the time. Kids sneak over the the bunks of the opposite gender in the middle of the night. A lot of making out goes on. The campers are mostly unsupervised. The counselors are making out and getting it on instead of supervising the campers.

I thought the book would be funnier than it actually was. I chuckled a bit, maybe laughed aloud a couple of times, but it was by no means hilarious.

I recommend skipping the book and just watching Wet, Hot American Summer.

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read because the author's memories of her summer camp experience eerily mirrored mine... I could definitely relate to going to a hippy-dippy camp in Maine, and her sarcasm was hilarious.

Plus, Schneider and I are both alumni of the same college, so I felt a sort of connection to her and her adventures.

I will admit, though, that once I got past all of that, the last third of the book started to feel a little monotonous. I put it down before I finished it.

[melydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir about the author's experiences at an eight-week camp in the summer of 1974 is not one I would have read had I not won it in a contest, but it was a nice story. The author spends most of her time in the woods bemoaning her unpopularity and chasing boys, which is made more interesting with a thorough sprinkling of amusing anecdotes. While I don't expect this quick little read to appeal to anyone who was never a 13-year-old girl or a camper, it was a pleasant diversion.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The closest I ever came to summer camp was a weekend class camp experience that I basically removed from my memory banks, so perhaps the reason I didn't relate to this book was because I really don't have a true camp experience. I can't say I'm not happy to not be able to relate to this book because, well, I hate camping. Just seeing those teeny models of tents in sporting goods store make me cringe.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I spent summers at camp, so I looked forward to a revealing peek into that world. You know, all those embarrassing things that happen to us all, but we pretend never did! Unfortunately, there wasn't much of that. Some of the stories are cute, but not enough to make it a recommend. I was lucky enough to meet the author, and she is a funny and witty woman. That alone made me think I would give her another try as an author.

[Melisa Kjellander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, it was okay. I finished it a few weeks ago, and it's not standing out as totally memorable. I liked the voice of the adolescent heroine but just have a hard time believing some of the things that happened at this camp. It was poetic in its detail, but there wasn't much of a big picture behind the detail so it wasn't incredibly satisfying when it was over.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was sweet, a very cute memoir about a girl who goes to a camp that is nothing like the way it was advertised in a brochure. Still, the author manages to make the best of the experience, and despite the title of the book, has a fun summer. I thought it would be fun to read about because I had never gone away to a summer camp. It was fun to read about.

[Autumn Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was okay. It was a great idea for a book (the author wrote about her experiences at a summer camp). The ending was nostalgic but unfortunately what I remember the most after finishing the book are the complaints that the author made about her parents throughout the memoir. They seemed out of place in the story about camp...

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you ever wondered what summer camp in the 1970's was like, than this book is for you. Compared with the factionalized accounts of authors like Judy Blume, this memoir recounts the first summer of a girl at Jewish summer camp in the 70's. At times it was hard to believe how mellow everyone was, until I remembered the era of "peace and love". An amusing read.

[Bobbi Galvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

finished it...it was very cute, but also trite and predictable. If you have ever been to camp, you have lived through the same things as the author...the angst, rebellion, self-consciousness, clumsiness, first boyfriends, hating the idea of still being a kid, but oh, the fear of growing up! Some funny lines, some funny experiences...and I have lived them all!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick and entertaining read about two of my favorite things - NY Jewish culture in the 70's and summer camp. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is - a sweet, cute memoir. Perfect for reading by the lake as you work on your tan.