Snake Camp

by George E. Stanley

Stevie Marsh is off for the summer to learn about computers at Camp Viper. He’s not happy about being in the woods with all the bugs and poison ivy and—yuck!—snakes. But how bad can computer camp be? Then Stevie finds out Camp Viper isn’t a computer camp at all. The vipers at this camp are the kind that slither!

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

George Edward Stanley was born in Memphis, Texas on July 15, 1942. He received a bachelor's degree in 1965 and a master's degree in 1967 from Texas Tech University. He earned his Doctor Litterarum in African Linguistics in 1974 from the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. He lived all over Europe and Africa, studying and teaching foreign languages, working for the U.S. government, and writing books for young people and adults. He started writing fiction while a Fulbright professor in Chad, Central Africa, where about the only diversion he found available was listening to the BBC on his short wave radio. That led to his writing radio plays for a program called World Service Short Story. Three of his plays were eventually produced. After writing and publishing over 200 short stories in American, British, Irish, and South African magazines and linguistics articles in major international journals, he started writing books. He wrote over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for young people including The Katie Lynn Cookie Company series and the Adam Sharp series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of M. T. Coffin, Franklin W. Dixon, Laura Lee Hope, Carolyn Keene, Adam Mills, and Stuart Symons. He was a professor of African and Middle-Eastern languages and linguistics in the department of foreign languages at Cameron University. He died from a ruptured aneurysm on February 7, 2011 at the age of 68.

Reviews

[Pearl Ju · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stevie learns two lessons in Camp Viper; first, he should not lie to hide problems and second he should face fears to get over being afraid. In my personal opinion, this only forty-four page story gives the decent messages to children if they actually catch them while reading it. I love the part that Stevie tries so hard to hide his lies as he pours lime jello on Jordan's face, who keeps doubting Stevie's fake snake, Horribilis Slimus Vipera, and later when other campers open his suitcase they think it escapes and help Stevie find it. His lie grows bigger. Also I love that Stevie overcomes his fear by the friendship with Emerald, the green snake which he meets in his bunk. I enjoy the way the author, George E. Stanley, tells the story and he covers not only fears, but also lies.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid. I thought it was hilarious, though I too would have been annoyed to be sent to a snake camp instead of a computer camp.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a cute story. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that the MC lied to fellow campers and never had to admit it. Maybe I'm too picky, but that felt like a bad example for young readers.

Otherwise, the story moved right along and would probably keep a child's interest, but Stevie's lying (several times), was hard to overlook.

[Jennifer Watt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of a silly book, but I still enjoyed reading it. It is simple and children will love the humor in it.

[CanadianReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lexile Level 360

[Michelle Damour · Rating 5 out of 5]

David and I finished our 3rd chapter book. He liked the story but still is a bit weirded out by snakes.