Bummer Summer

By Ann M. Martin

Book Overview

When twelve-year-old Kammy has difficulty accepting her new family after her father's remarriage, a summer at Camp Arrowhead helps her to put her home life in perspective. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590436228
• ISBN13: 9780590436229
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Bummer Summer by D13

Are you out of good books to read? Then try Bummer Summer by Ann Martin. This book is mainly about a girl named Kammy, whose mother died when she was only four. Later on, when Kammy is ten, her father decides to re-marry a woman named Kate, who has a three year old daughter named Muffin, and a new baby. As soon as Kate married, chaos overcame the house. The baby was constantly crying and worst of all; Muffin decides to flush down Kammy's entire paint set down the toilet! While trying to settle in, Kate and Kammy's father sent Kammy to Camp Arrowhead where she faced many challenges such as bad food, finding distant bathrooms, and a very mean camper. Realistic fiction is my favorite genre, especially when the main character's life is filled with drama and struggle. I think this book is very exciting and I strongly recommend it to girls only around age 10, 11, or 12. I find myself reading this book over and over again, and I think you will too.

cool!

Kammy's summer is turning upside down: her father is getting married again. And she has to go to camp for the first time.

one of Martin's best books

I loved this book when I was nine years old because I really looked up to the title character, Kammy Whitlock, a confused twelve-year-old with a widowed father. At the time, I didn't know anyone who had had to live in a stepfamily, so I was very interested in how Kammy got along with her stepmother and stepsister and baby stepbrother. I also had had a bad experience with camp, and it was reassuring to know I wasn't the only one who would rather be at home reading a book than in a camp full of snotty girls who were always mean to me. This is a cute, engaging story that's great for an afternoon read.

Realistic and Sensitive

"Summer is supposed to be the best time of the year. But this summer looks like a total loss to Kammy Whitlock. First, her Dad gets married again. Then, his new wife Kate books in, and Kammy has to put up with her two children. They won't leave Kammy alone! Three-year-old Muffin flushes Kammy's best paints down the toilet, almost strangles her cat, and the baby cries for hours at a time. Camp has always sounded hateful. But when Dad and Kate suggest that Kammy go away to Camp Arrowhead, Kammy figures it can't be worse than staying home. How wrong can a person be? Arrowhead is a disaster. Now the only question is: what can Kammy do to save the summer from being a total bummer?" This is a brief synopsis of "Bummer Summer," Ann M. Martin's first book. Martin, who is better known for her prolific "Baby-sitters Club" series, deals realistically and sensitively with the subjects of divorce and re-marriage and of changing lives in general. Kammy is an interesting character, sarcastic yet sympathetic, and gives the book much of its humor. I wish someone would put this book back into print!