Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp (Bailey School Kids #2)

Last night, we sat down at bedtime with our 7-year-old to read Werewolves Don’t Go to Summer Camp, which is part of The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. We have never read any other books in this series or by these authors. By the second sentence, a big red flag went up for us. Sentence one: a child confides in a classmate that she is scared about going to camp. Sentence two: the confidante rolls her eyes in response to the girl’s fear. From here, this atrocious book just gets worse. Kids and adults shame each other in moments of weakness and engage in physical and emotional cruelty throughout.The first, and least alarming, problem with this book is the terrible writing. It is all telling and no showing. The writing is simplistic and facile. Kids can read and understand much more nuanced and well-written work than this.Second, the characters are consistently cruel to each other. On page 1, Liza, the child who was afraid, worries that she will get lost in the woods and eaten by wild animals. Her classmate responds, “Only if we’re lucky.” Then the confidante tells her, “Don’t be stupid.” For the entire book, kids shame each other for being afraid. In addition to “stupid,” the kids call each other “moron” and “Twitter brain.”Third, the adult in the book treats the children completely inappropriately and the children respond in kind. The camp counselor spends the entire book yelling at the kids and body shaming the girls on no fewer than three different occasions (see other reviews for examples of how he pinches girls to assess how much fat they have and tells them to get more exercise or eat more). The kids do not like how he treats them, but also spend a lot of time dwelling on his physical characteristics, particularly his hair. They are critical of how much hair he has. This type of superficial judgment is not what we are trying to encourage in our own kids.When the Bailey School kids decide the counselor is a werewolf, their solution, which is never really questioned, is to break into his home and poison him with mistletoe and wolfsbane. After he indeed suffers a severe allergic reaction to the plants, there still is no discussion of the kids’ actions. In fact, the kids make it their sole mission to keep poisoning the man.Shame, emotional cruelty, and physical harm are the glaring characteristics of this book. There is nothing good here. If it at least were well written or if the characters at least thought through their actions and interactions, this might have some redeeming qualities. This was assigned reading for our child and we have sent a letter to our school about it. Steer clear! There are so many brilliant, uplifting, and exciting books out there for kids. This may be the worst children’s book we’ve ever read. Authors, if you are reading, I hope you will consider our reaction and take a different approach in your future work.

Bailey School Kids books are my sons favorite. He is an active five year but could sit through a reading of this entire book. He even asked to read it again the day after we finished! As the title suggests there is a little mythical mystery that may be frightening for more sensitive kids, but for an adventurous soul these are books are super fun.

These were my favorite books as a child and I bought them as a gift for my 8 year old cousin. They are short, easy to read, and highly entertaining. They came extremely quickly and were exactly as described. I can't wait to buy him some more from the series for Christmas.

My 8 year old daughter loves them and, since I'm usually the one reading them to her at night, I do as well. Clever premise but no worry about nightmares.

We love this book. We received it ages ago, and pretty fast too, but Amazon keeps telling me it is still on the way and running late.

Purchased as a christmas gift. I loved these books as a kid.

Me and my little boy who is 8 enjoyed this book so much. Super cute and my son was really into it.

Bought for summer reading for entering third grade. My son doesn’t love it but it’ll do!

Granddaughter loves them, great condition

great for reluctant readers

Bought as a gift to add to my daughter's collection

gift for my grandaughter

サマーキャンプへ行った子供達、ただでさえお家を離れて、みんなで生活するのに不安もあるでしょう。そこへもって来て怪しいスタッフが現れた日にゃ．．。子供に帰って子供の心理を感じながら読むと楽しいです。英語の勉強で買いましたが、面白いからサラサラ読めるので良いです。