A Camper Full of Fun

Scholastic gave away books, pins, high-fives, and more

Kal was more than happy to stand in line for his turn to spin the wheel and give Clifford a hug.

Spinning the prize wheel

Madeline Strum Photography

There is a video of Kal saying this was the best thing ever because they gave him a pin promoting Jedi Academy and a bookmark.

“I spun a wheel and landed on Yoda,” Kal wrote. “The pins were designed to be pages of a yearbook, and I chose one of Darth Maul that said ‘Best Dancer’ was what he was nominated for.”

“The dog you were happy to hug.”

Kal did not seem to remember any of this when I showed him the stills. Clifford the Big Red Dog meant nothing to him at all. “Who’s Clifford?”

“Oh.”

It was fun at the time.

Kal says hi to Clifford

Madeline Strum Photography

Kal after hugging Clifford

Madeline Strum Photography

Did Kal Read It?

Remy came with a mask we still had almost three years later

“I got a book, Remy Sneakers VS. the Robo Rats, and because of the fact that I had been reading books with no pictures that were much more serious, I never really got around to reading Remy,” Kal wrote. I remember him complaining pictures weren’t fi nished and me trying to explain it was an uncorrected proof.

“I was much less interested in books that seemed really silly or, depending on what the book is about, a lot of pictures,” he wrote. But he was also reading plenty of graphic novels. Maybe Remy was too basic to make much of an impression.

Scholastic gave Kal his choice for summer reading

Madeline Strum Photography

Coloring a Friend

Kal tried out the interactive fun with Tigra

Kal received the Crayola version for Skylanders in 2016, but we never really played with it, so I wasn’t about to spend extra time learning about how many more companies were making 4D coloring pages. He colored at the Tigra booth like he had no idea what might happen. Other companies had recognizable licenses, like Rovio and Hasbro characters at Devar, but Devar was not open for kids to try out the technology. (In fact, there’s maybe one employee in the booth on our video.) For me, the best part of Kal playing with Tigra was quickly making a video of the process to share on Twitter.

Kal with the Tigra app

Madeline Strum Photography

Rovio's Angry Birds were so popular in our house in 2017

Madeline Strum Photography