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Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & The Dynomite Summer of ’77
“Adolescent romance and mischief animate an endearing, gleefully raunchy coming-of-age tale.” – Kirkus Reviews
Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & the DYN-O-MITE Summer of ‘77 is a coming-of-age graphic novel celebrating the traditions, friendships, and idiocy that make up summers at Jewish sleepaway camp. Combining the nostalgic mood of The Wonder Years, the raucousness of Superbad, and the adolescent angst of Pen15, this 300-page graphic novel juxtaposes classic, black and white, comic strip art with an R-rated story to capture the tension created when the innocence of childhood crashes into the messiness of adolescence.
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"A fun, funny read" - Graphic Policy
"laugh-out-loud wacky" - San Diego Jewish World
"Cleverly constructed with a cute love story at its center" - The Forward
"Adolescent romance and mischief animate an endearing, gleefully raunchy coming-of-age tale." - Kirkus Reviews
Additional information
| Format | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Slice of Life |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 304 |
| Rating | Adult |
14 reviews for Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & The Dynomite Summer of '77
Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & The Dynomite Summer of ’77
Or
john edgar –
I grew up in the 80s, and I can not express exactly how much nostalgia I found in this graphic novel, from the first day of camp to the canteen, to the legendary camp mystery. Everything I read brought me back to some of the best times of my life.Every new page was like a story from my own life. The authors captured almost perfectly what that timeless summer camp experience in the 70s/80s was like. They even manage to tell a good story in the process.It’s worth picking up and reading.
Jerald Pope –
Eric Glickman’s graphic novel, Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & the Dyn-o-mite Summer of ’77, is a detailed and affectionate look back at the author’s golden summer as a senior camper at a Jewish sleepaway camp. Eric’s goal is to run the 4 bases of teenage lust (for the definitive discussion of these “bases,” see Meatloaf’s immortal Paradise by the Dashboard Light.) Besides sex, Camp Pock-a-Wocknee does a deep dive into the exclusively Jewishness of the camp. The subtitle of the book is “sleepaway camp… it was all a Jewlusion.” The author defines “Jewlusion” as the feeling of being a normally endowed human in the sex and athletics departments for eight weeks. A feeling that is incompatible in life amongst the Goyim. More on this later.Glickman assembles an ensemble cast of cabin mates and desirables from the girls’ side of camp, who – in the author’s reverie at least– are as enthralled by the potential pubescent fantasy of romance/sex as Eric’s squad of wannabe lotharios. What this type of camp offered was the chance to romp in a summery teenage world, where adult supervision is in the background, or provided by counselors who are only slightly older than their charges.The kids are identifiable types, as seen in unchained teen sex comedies like the 1982 trifecta of Porky’s, Risky Business, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Or perhaps “identifiable type” would be more accurate. In Camp Pock-a-Wocknee, in contrast to those venerable icons and fart jokes not excepted, these kids all seem good-natured, fair, rebellious-within-limits, and eager to whole-heartedly join in the goofy camp rituals, both official and not, that generations before and after cherish. Nostalgia is, by definition, a rose-tinted mirror. At this camp there are no bullies, no thievery, no depression. Heartbreak is deliciously just-bearable and joy is just around the cabin corner.The coed camp counselors, mostly former campers, are benign noncoms to their charges. They encourage, consult, and guide the kids toward what will be peak nostalgia in their future lives. Eric is, in fact, a legacy camper, in more ways than one. He was conceived at the camp when his parents were counselors there in their teens. They seem disturbingly eager for Eric to have what they experienced in their glory days. The cultural echoes of Wet Hot American Summer, amongst the counselors at least, are perhaps inevitable.While secure in my role of graphic novel reviewer as the author/illustrator of my own such work (shameless self-promotion? Indeed. See harebrandideas.com or “Jerald Pope” on Amazon), I am less secure on the subject matter of Camp Pock-a-Wocknee. My own camp experience was limited to two weeks at Boy Scout camp in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma. I was twelve, the camp was run as a paramilitary organization, and girls were a distant thunderstorm on the horizon. We marched, saluted, slept in tents, and did KP. The “brass” were generous with their punishments for silly teenage infractions. Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and its genre were so much beyond my class that I did not know they existed.Glickman has a breezy drawing style. The 300-page book is done in black and white line drawing without any shading or cross-hatching. The characters have a very stylized 70’s cartoony vibe – appropriate for era the book is set in. I have a quibble regarding the rendering of the protagonist, Eric. Out of his entire bunkhouse gang, he looks–In the world Glickman has created– like a female character. It took me a while to figure this out. It’s the way he draws the hair and the fact that at this age, most of the teenaged bodies presented are androgynous. This confusion lasted for quite a large portion of the book.Now to the Jewlusion:I am aware of the necessity of separate facilities for minorities brought about by America’s deeply held race, class, and religious prejudices. Camp Pock-a-Wocknee is very much a religious camp, steeped in Jewish traditions and group-affirming rituals. The Borscht Belt, Dirty Dancing, and an episode from The Amazing Mrs Maisel have given me that shallow brush of contact that counts for knowledge in contemporary America. Still the Jewlusion rings false. I was discussing this idea with my friend, Stephanie Wilder, and ended up loaning her Camp Pock-a-Wocknee. In response, she wrote the following review.We live in a part of Appalachia where Jews are scarce, so Jerald Pope, who was asked to review Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and the Dyn-o-mite Summer of ’77, found me, the lone Jew, and asked me for my thoughts.I read the book in one sitting and was delighted by the story and the characters, The illustrations were simple, but they got the point across. I laughed out loud at Uncle Milt’s balls falling out of his gym shorts.When I was a kid, my family didn’t have the money to send me to camp, but my children went to camp for several summers, albeit for only two weeks at a time. I never sent them to a camp based on our religion.I have a question about this idea of a Jewlusion. Were these campers such weenies that they felt inferior to other kids at their schools back home? Judging by the photos of the real characters at the back of the book, the campers were attractive enough. Why set up the idea that only when they were around other Jews were they able to feel comfortable and compete?Ant-Semitism is on the rise, and I wonder about the wisdom of creating a situation where Jews must huddle together in order to feel adequate. We Jews are diverse and interested in a wide variety of things and proficient at most of them.Was the writer’s intention to market this book only to Jews? Only Jews with enough money to go to an eight-week camp? Or would the same book be more globally appealing if the Jewlusion Idea were eliminated.Stephanie obviously speaks for herself, as I speak only for myself. The Author’s most basic privilege is to create the world the way they want. Glickman does use the first person singular when describing the Jewlusion, but I read the way it’s presented as being more widespread, if not universal. (It is part of the subtitle of the book.) Again, this is a quibble, but the Jewlusion brings a political context to the world of the book that adds very little and, for me¬, distracts from the sweet and gentle naiveté that characterizes Camp Pock-a-Wocknee & the Dyn-o-mite Summer of ’77. -30-
Yered H. Pita-juarez –
I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel. Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and the Dynomite Summer of ’77 is a charming coming of age story that captures the formative experience of summer camp. Despite that I am not Jewish, did not grow up in the late 70s, and never attended summer camp; I could not help but feel enthralled and identified with the main character Glick. I have to admit that it made me feel very nostalgic. The author makes a great job of giving you enough details to explain the cultural references. As the warning in the cover suggests, this is not a graphic novel for (little) kids; the graphic novel goes into some racy details that you would expect from teenagers away from their parents.
Amazon CustomerAmazon Customer –
This graphic novel captures the feeling of a summer camp for a kid who feels somewhat alienated and inadequate during the school year. While the summer camp in the story is for people of Jewish faith, the feelings of those teenage years and adolescent times feel very universal. While pop culture references are explained, those summaries & introductions delight and encapsulate those cultural moments.The main romance plot line which develops in the second half of the graphic novel is playful and captures the awkwardness and cheer of those youthful years. Hopefully, there is a sequel and we find out more about what happened with the main character and Amy(the love interest).
S. Karstetter –
I really enjoyed reading this coming of age graphic novel. So much nostalgia and brought back memories of my own summer experiences. Definitely worth picking up!
Ray –
First off, thanks to Black Panel Press for sending me an ARC for review!”Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and the Dyn-o-mite Summer of ’77” by Eric Glickman (called by his nickname Glick in the book) is a feel-good graphic memoir perfect for those who want a little bit of summer fun or to relive their summer camp glory days. The memoir tells the story of the author’s last summer as an attendee at a Jewish summer camp in the late 1970s. Much like other teen summer camp stories, this one focuses on our main character’s quest to get a girlfriend. Sex jokes and bravado-tinged tales of sexual conquest abound between the campers, bringing these endearingly immature teenagers to life. [Because of these scenes, I would recommend this book for mature teen and adult readers. Like it says on the cover: “Warning! This is not a book for kids!”] Like other summer camp stories, this one also features a camp mystery: The Man in the Poncho, who lurks ominously at the edge of the woods when the campers arrive each year. These two storylines keep the memoir grounded and progressing, though between these two I found the light romance between Glick and Amy more interesting and better developed. I quite enjoyed Glickman’s art style and found it to be the perfect way to depict this idealized summer of his. His characters are cartoonish and cleanly drawn, invoking the simplicity of childhood in a fun way. On the whole, readers will find Glick’s character likable and will root for him to get the girl and have the best summer of his adolescent life.With all of that said, this story is very much told through rose-tinted glasses. The nostalgia that the author brings to his writing makes this story pleasant to read, though it crowds out the hindsight that I would expect from a memoirist reflecting on childhood. What’s most unrealistic to me is how a camp of dozens of teens and pre-teens could live in what’s portrayed as a utopia all summer. There is no bullying or general discomfort at Camp Pock-a-Wocknee. Nothing amiss, nothing to worry about. I assume that was Glickman’s experience, but it seems unrealistic to me. For instance, Glick reveals early on that one of his counselors, “Grape Ape,” awards sodas to the boys who give him backrubs, and the amount of attention Grape Ape pays to Glick made me anticipate a dark turn to the story. However this relationship is played off as simply the innocent camaraderie between camper and counselor, nothing more. I’m surprised that the author didn’t on this relationship more, especially since the other kids are not portrayed as being so close to the counselors. No, not every story needs to have tragic elements to be good. But my experiences at camp (as a camper and a counselor) taught me that things don’t always go so smoothly. Kids get homesick, get made fun of, get grossed out by the accommodations, and bad actors take advantage of these kids sometimes. But none of that seems to be a factor in Glickman’s telling.Even with this critique, I still enjoyed reading Glickman’s memoir. The art was a joy to pour over, and the overall story is a fun read, if a bit jejune for my tastes. Readers looking for a breezy summer read — whether at camp or not — would do well to check out this graphic memoir.
Johnny DangerouslyJohnny Dangerously –
I’m not Jewish nor did I ever attend a day of summer/sleepaway camp but that didn’t keep me from having a blast reading this book! In fact, by the end it made me wish for these things. The author captured a time and place with utter hilarity, nostalgia and heartwarmth. Yeah it gets a little raunchy here and there but nothing that’s so far out of pocket that it makes it disgusting. Whether you want to face it or not, that is teenage boys and this is actually mild. At first, it felt like a play-by-play description book of what summer camp is, but after a few pages I realized it was just setting the scene for my mind to truly be at Camp with the kids. Then I was engrossed and couldn’t put the book down. Belly laughs all the way back to the bus.
Yered H. Pita-juarez –
I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel. Camp Pock-a-Wocknee and the Dynomite Summer of ’77 is a charming coming of age story that captures the formative experience of summer camp. Despite that I am not Jewish, did not grow up in the late 70s, and never attended summer camp; I could not help but feel enthralled and identified with the main character Glick. I have to admit that it made me feel very nostalgic. The author makes a great job of giving you enough details to explain the cultural references. As the warning in the cover suggests, this is not a graphic novel for (little) kids; the graphic novel goes into some racy details that you would expect from teenagers away from their parents.
zach –
This graphic novel captures the excitement and pressure of summer camp. It’s a coming of age story that’ll make you nostalgic for the good ole days. But it doesn’t shy away from the negatives either. In this book growing is hard, and summertime isn’t always a breeze.
Alina –
This graphic novel was a lot of fun. While I have never been to summer camp, I feel like the author captured the summer camp vibe perfectly (as well as the grossness of young boys). The book was full of humor, heart, and nostalgia 🙂 Worth a read!
zach –
This graphic novel captures the excitement and pressure of summer camp. It’s a coming of age story that’ll make you nostalgic for the good ole days. But it doesn’t shy away from the negatives either. In this book growing is hard, and summertime isn’t always a breeze.
Jason –
This graphic novel is a lot of fun. I could see it being adapted into a PG-13 movie or a limited series on a streaming platform like Amazon Prime. It’s fun, quirky, and really paints a picture of camp life and all the interesting characters that come with it. There’s a bit of nostalgia here, too, since it takes place before iphones and internet when kids actually got together for activities and in-person friendships. Give this a try. You’ll be entertained.
Stacy K. Mathewson –
Very funny and nostalgic. Reminded me of my summer camp experiences. Now I’m looking forward to a little afternoon delight!!
Amazon Customer –
I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy Camp Pockawocknee, but I was wrong. The story was nuanced, lots of humor and 70s pop culture references, and honestly, the last ten pages of the book brought it all together in such a sweet way, I was a little sorry it was over. Absolutely worth reading.