By BRENDAN CLARKIN
I had been looking forward to camp for months. Talked about it. Dreamed about it. Spent hours thinking about it. Finally, there I was, all packed and ready to go. Just sitting at the dining table, waiting for Dad to drop me off at school to catch the
bus.
It was only six o'clock and the bus wasn't due to leave until seven that evening. Plenty of time, but no way was I going to be late. Not for school camp. So I sat. And waited. Time to kill and nothing good on TV. And then Amanda, my baby sister, walked into the dining room and started winding me up.
`Lean Bean, guess what I'm going to do while you're at camp?'
My nickname at home is `Lean Bean' because I'm so skinny. Skinny and short. I'm shorter than other kids my age and I also don't have much hair on account of a bet I lost at school. The winner got to give me a free haircut at lunchtime. Add to that a bad dose of freckles and I don't make a pretty picture. After the `free haircut', it was only three days before Mum started talking to me again.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: $12.95
Age group: 8-11 years
