A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marl Frazee
2009 Caldecott Honor Book

I love this book! It's a picture book with a cartooney feel. It's not in traditional comic book frames, but there are "talk bubbles" in the pictures. And it is funny.

It tells the story of a boy named James and a boy named Eamon who go to spend a week with Pam and Bill, who are Eamon's grandparents in order to spend a week at Nature Camp. It's based on real people and real events and is dedicated to Bill, Pam, James and Eamon.

What this book does delightfully and well is juxtapose the "what's expected" of these boys with their honest reality. There are lots of pages where the grown up world and the boys world are shown in their amuzing discordant harmony.  Mari Frazee, both author and illustrator, often does this by having the words and the pictures doing two completely different things . . . a couple of examples:
James arrived "with just a couple of his belongings" reads the text. The accompanying picture shows a pile of stuff about three times higher than the boy!
The text reads "They decided to stay home and enjoy Bill and Pam's company." the illustration shows the boys running of the side of the page, leaving Bill and Pam in a cloud of dust!

The heart of the story though, is "as the nature camp week went by, James and Eamon practically became one person. They did everything together in exactly the same way. To save time, Bill began calling them Jamon.

The thing I love about this story is how clearly it shows up  adult interest in organized activities for children.  .  ."On the way back that afternoon, James and Eamon described their first nature camp day to Bill.
James: I thought you are supposed to walk on a hike.
Eamon: Yeah, not stand and look at some flower for an hour."

. . . . In favor of just messing around with your friends!

Pam and Bill tolerate it all with warmth and hugs and stacks of pancakes, and are about as lovable as "Jamon"

Really sweet book. I think 5 and up would enjoy it. Adults and older kids will get more of the jokes.