Word Spelunking: (5th MMGM) Camp Rolling Hills by Stacy Davidowitz (top ten list & giveaway)

Check out the full 5th Annual March MG Madness schedule and enter to win a box of middle-grade books.

Camp Rolling Hills

by Stacy Davidowitz

May 10, 2016

Amulet

A hilarious and heartfelt series about the particular magic of summer camp—a place where reinvention is possible and friends are like family—from a sparkling debut talent.

Finally, it's summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. And this year she's especially happy to be back—she'll have eight blissful weeks away from home, where life has been decidedly rocky.

New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he's in for the worst summer of his life. He does not understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all!

But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. Bunks are raided! Boxer shorts are stolen! And it's up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.

goodreads / amazon

Praise for Camp Rolling Hills

"Camp Rolling Hills is funny and sweet. It brought me back to those amazing summer camp summers and my very first taste of young adulthood." --Michael Showalter, co-writer of Wet Hot American Summer

"Stacy Davidowitz gets the magic of camp and the wonder of being twelve just right. Camp Rolling Hills is both heartwarming and laugh-out-loud hilarious." --Elissa Brent Weissman, author of Nerd Camp

TOP TEN FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT CAMP

by Stacy Davidowitz

Hi, friends. As a camp lifer, and an obsessed one at that, you’ll see that a lot of my personal favorites about sleepaway camp inspire much of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series. I mean, you write what you know. Right? Here. We. Go!

10. LAZY WEDNESDAYS

A normal camp schedule is GO GO GO. Reveille sounds at 7:45am. You’ve got six periods jam-packed with activities. On Lazy Wednesdays, reveille is pushed back an hour. You eat donuts and cereal on your cabin porch. Bagel buffet lunch. BBQ dinner. Chill activities in between. It’s a nice break from the hustle.

9. TRIPS

Evening trips to the local movie theater and bowling alley are always a treat. And the trips get better with age: Washington D.C., Toronto, Montreal. Real adventures to look forward to toward the end of the summer.

8. CANTEEN / EVENING ACTIVITIES

Canteen is not only great for post-dinner frozen pizzas, hamburgers, and a gaga selection of candy, but it’s a chance to hang with your friends—boys and girls—in a lounge-type setting. Evening activities are often coed, too, and range from pool parties to drag beauty contests to talent shows to hypnosis acts to dances!

7. SPIRIT

So much spontaneous cheering. So much random clapping. Mealtime generates an average of 432 cheers. Sports events: 561. Color War events: infinity spirit.

6. COUNSELORS

Your counselors will hail from Canada, Australia, London, New Zealand, Israel, Russia, and so on. They’ll teach you about their culture and learn from yours. Or they’ll be once-campers turned counselors with legendary stories of their past high jinx. I am still close to the campers I counseled from freshmen (the little ones) to CITs (counselors-in-training). And I still keep in touch with some of the counselors I had growing up!

5. TRADITIONS

What is the Watermelon Sacrifice you ask? One-eyed Sailors? Wonder Woman Kidnap? Ghost Court? The Cisco and the Hawk? Lee Kweller songs? The Hatchet Hunt? Breakout? Fakeouts? The Burning of the Numbers? They’re random, inexplicably weird and awesome traditions that make my camp, Tyler Hill, unique and special. Traditions are the beating heart of every camp.

4. FIRSTS

First dance. First rock wall climb. First leg shave. First stained glass picture frame. First candy-stripe stitch friendship bracelet. First freezing shower. First skunk encounter. First handwritten letter home. First homerun. First raid. First kiss. All the firsts.

3. SING

There are usually three SINGs. One for Girls’ Side, one for Boys’ Side, and one for Color War. Let’s focus on the Girls’ and Boys’ SINGs. Each age group chooses a theme and writes a march (upbeat rally song) and an alma mater (heartstring pulling slow song) around that theme. The songs are popular radio hits or old school hits—the campers and counselors just write their own lyrics over them. It’s very competitive and requires serious planning and rehearsal. As a camper at Tyler Hill, my themes over the years were: Sophomore New Yorkers, Jedi Juniors, The Señoritas, Super Models, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As a counselor, my campers’ themes were Freshman Circus, Cadet Camelot, Cadet Newsies, Sophomore Stone Age, Junior J-Date, Double 0 Seniors, and Senior Sopranos. In Book Three of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series, to be released in Spring 2017, I actually recycled the alma mater I wrote for my freshmen girls back in 2002!

2. COLOR WAR

Book Three of the CAMP ROLLING HILLS SERIES is all about this! Basically at the end of the summer, camp is split into two teams for a weeklong fierce competition in all things camp: sports, trivia, the Apache Relay, Bucket Brigade, Rope Burn, Hatchet Hunt, and of course, SING! Being awarded Color War General was one of the greatest honors of my life!

FRIENDSHIPS

Your camp friends will be your best friends for life. They’ve lived with you, laughed with you, grown with you, and know you to your core.

There’s a million more reasons why camp is awesome. All million reasons are in the CAMP ROLLING HILLS series. So, kick back and soak in the summer fun:)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stacy Davidowitz is a Manhattan-based author, playwright, and screenwriter. Her Camp Rolling Hills four-book series is published by Abrams – Amulet. Her plays include The Rubber Room (Old Vic; Naked Angels), PINK! (NYIT Nominee; Lark Finalist), Sacred Water (Rag and Bone), JOAN: Voices in the Fire (co-writer, The Guthrie), and Miracle Village (Stage Left). Her musicals include Hank & Gretchen, Camp Rolling Hills, and One Day. Her short plays have been produced at The Flea, Sam French, Williamstown, NYMadness, Amios, NYMF, etc. Stacy’s screenplay adaptation of The Rubber Room is in pre-production with All the Way Around. Published by Broadway Play Publishing, Indie Theater Now, YouthPLAYS, Steele Spring Stage Rights. Education: BADA; BS, Tufts University; MFA in Acting, Columbia University.