nature camp was bill's idea

I had the pleasure of reading A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever for the first time with a third-grader over 2 weeks or so, but reading this book would have been a pleasure any way I did it. Marlee Frazee jam packs her book with subtle humor in comedic asides and cool illustrations. I would describe the book's format as, like,...a comic book diary...from the third person omniscient...if such a thing exists. Frazee tells the story of James and Eamon (sounds like AY-mun) who go to visit Eamon's grandparents so they can go to a nature camp nearby. However, it turns out nature camp isn't quite as interesting as direct contact. Now, ask me how I knew how to pronounce Eamon's name? Because Frazee put the pronunciation on the character list on the back cover! This immediately made me like the book because I can't stand not being able to pronounce some of the more interesting names in literature (Hermione anyone?). It would have been especially embarassing as a so-called 'reading tutor'. Plus, I hate missing out and all the neat names. Another thing that immediately made me like the book as an in-between (not a child, yet not quite a 'responsible' adult), was the generation gap, emphasized by Frazee. The boys were very clearly in a world of their own that they knew how to navigate very well. And I will be the first person to admit that Eamon's grandparents are a little wacky, especially with Grandpa Bill's fondness of penguins, but Frazee does an awesome job at showing how age does sometimes bring wisdom. It's easy to see why it won the Caldecott. The only thing I didn't like was how the book became predictable, which would have been okay (many children's books are), but the ending I saw coming came at a moment I wasn't expecting it, making it a little abrupt.