The Graves Family Goes Camping Book

The highly unconventional Graves family - mad-scientist father Dr. Doug Graves, extremely innovative cook Shalleaux Graves, Venus fly-trap nanny Phoebe, young Hieronymus Graves (nicknamed Ronnie) and his two friends, Seth and Sara Miller, and the four toddlers - head to Lake Bleakmire for a camping trip in this sequel to their eponymous first adventure, The Graves Family . Here they encounter astonishing (and rather creepy) new species of spiders and toads, and, when Mrs. Graves' special treats, known as Jum Jills, are left out one night, a most unexpectedly un-extinct dragon! With a Jum Jill-obsessed fire-breather blocking their exit from the Lake Bleakmire valley, will the Graves ever get back to Union City...?

I enjoyed this second adventure with the Graves family, whose hilarious hi-jinks display the humorous, lighthearted side of Patricia Polacco's storytelling. These books are much more in the vein of madcap tales like The Bee Tree , than more historical stories like The Butterfly , or outright tearjerkers like The Lemonade Club , and while I admit that I prefer the latter, I do appreciate the sense of fun in the former. Polacco's creative naming here - Pitfall Bridge, Longbowel Cave - was particularly appealing.