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The Adventure of the Backyard Sleep-Out
As the boys and the girls plan two separate outdoors sleepover, complete with tents and flashlights and attacking mosquitoes, they wager on who will last outside the longest.
61 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1992
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Nancy McArthur
20 books10 followersI grew up in a very small town, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Although our neighborhood was divided into city blocks with paved streets and sidewalks, there were only two houses on our street. We had fields on both sides, and I walked to school on a well-traveled path that was a shortcut through them. This was like living in the city and the country at the same time. A few steps from our neatly mowed yard were wild strawberries, milkweed, Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot), and vast numbers of other "weeds" whose names I never knew, all changing with the seasons.
My friends and I walked or rode our bikes all over town. We spent a lot of time playing at each other's houses. About the only time we needed to be driven anywhere was Saturday or Sunday afternoon, to go to a movie in a nearby town. In winter we went sledding on a not-very-steep hill and skating on ice which the fire department made by flooding an area near the school when the temperature was below freezing. The ice was just a few inches thick on the ground, so there was no danger of falling through.
In school, I was good at reading, writing, spelling, and social studies. Math was hard for me, but I kept trying and did all right with it. Reading has always been one of my favorite things to do. My parents liked to read, so our house was always full of books, newspapers, and magazines. They always gave me books in addition to my other presents for Christmas and birthdays. Some of my favorites were "Ferdinand" (I loved the pictures), "Caddie Woodlawn," "Treasure Island," "Little Women," and Nancy Drew books. Getting my first library card also opened up even wider worlds to me through reading.
I got interested in writing on my own outside of school when I was ten or eleven. An aunt gave me a page-a-day diary, and I started writing in that, a sentence or two a day about what I was doing. Then my father brought home an old typewriter. I wanted to play with it, so I wrote a little story about something our family had done. That gave me such a great sense of accomplishment that I wanted to do more. By the time I was thirteen, my New Year's resolutions included "to write more stories and get one published." About a year later, I had an article published in my high school newspaper. It was a dream come true, and I kept writing.
After college, where I was editor of the student newspaper, I worked in writing jobs, mostly in public relations, and wrote articles for magazines and newspapers in my spare time. Then I got a part-time job teaching journalism at Baldwin-Wallace College and started writing books.
My friends and I walked or rode our bikes all over town. We spent a lot of time playing at each other's houses. About the only time we needed to be driven anywhere was Saturday or Sunday afternoon, to go to a movie in a nearby town. In winter we went sledding on a not-very-steep hill and skating on ice which the fire department made by flooding an area near the school when the temperature was below freezing. The ice was just a few inches thick on the ground, so there was no danger of falling through.
In school, I was good at reading, writing, spelling, and social studies. Math was hard for me, but I kept trying and did all right with it. Reading has always been one of my favorite things to do. My parents liked to read, so our house was always full of books, newspapers, and magazines. They always gave me books in addition to my other presents for Christmas and birthdays. Some of my favorites were "Ferdinand" (I loved the pictures), "Caddie Woodlawn," "Treasure Island," "Little Women," and Nancy Drew books. Getting my first library card also opened up even wider worlds to me through reading.
I got interested in writing on my own outside of school when I was ten or eleven. An aunt gave me a page-a-day diary, and I started writing in that, a sentence or two a day about what I was doing. Then my father brought home an old typewriter. I wanted to play with it, so I wrote a little story about something our family had done. That gave me such a great sense of accomplishment that I wanted to do more. By the time I was thirteen, my New Year's resolutions included "to write more stories and get one published." About a year later, I had an article published in my high school newspaper. It was a dream come true, and I kept writing.
After college, where I was editor of the student newspaper, I worked in writing jobs, mostly in public relations, and wrote articles for magazines and newspapers in my spare time. Then I got a part-time job teaching journalism at Baldwin-Wallace College and started writing books.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 24, 2016
Interview with my 7-year-old.
Me: What did you think of this book?
7: Grrrrreat.
Me: What was your favourite bit?
7: My favourite bit was when they went out to camp and they thought there was termites or something in in their blankets.
Me: Why?
7: Because there were actually just biscuits in there.
Me: What did you think of this book?
7: Grrrrreat.
Me: What was your favourite bit?
7: My favourite bit was when they went out to camp and they thought there was termites or something in in their blankets.
Me: Why?
7: Because there were actually just biscuits in there.
August 14, 2023
An especially enjoyable book for backyard campers and cat and dog lovers, no doubt
(6.8/10)
(6.8/10)
November 9, 2025
This book ruled!!! Little Free Library, but I swear I read it as a child because I remember the conversation where the girls were squicked by clotheslines and it seemed so bizarre to me that these girls did not know about clotheslines. But grandma showed them how to hang a blanket over a rope suspended between two trees so that it functions as a tent, unless you live somewhere with bugs, which these girls don’t. Because Eric got a tent for his birthday and the boys are going to camp out in Eric’s yard, and Megan wants to camp out also. Hell yes! Modest hijinks ensue, while Megan’s mom leans out of the window and tells them to go to sleep.
As a woman who’s currently bedded down in the back of my car because I have less than two hundred miles of Ice Age Trail left, teach! kids! to! camp! And when to make modifications because camping is for fun. I could be in a tent right now but it’s freaking snowing and my car is better for the parameters of this hike. These kids got a taste for camping and maybe Eric’s dad will take them to a state park campground when he gets back from his business trip.
As a woman who’s currently bedded down in the back of my car because I have less than two hundred miles of Ice Age Trail left, teach! kids! to! camp! And when to make modifications because camping is for fun. I could be in a tent right now but it’s freaking snowing and my car is better for the parameters of this hike. These kids got a taste for camping and maybe Eric’s dad will take them to a state park campground when he gets back from his business trip.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews