Every year, we get new camp counselors at Camp Penguin to help run the program. As a way to introduce them to you campers, we like to do a few ice breaker activities!
We asked camp counselor Richard Scrimger and Iain Lawrence today to tell us 2 Truths and 1 Lie. Use our drop-down menu to guess the false statement!
[contact-form][contact-field label=”Richard Scrimger” type=”select” options=”I have never seen a Marvel Universe movie.,I have never seen a 3-D movie.,I have never seen the movies Titanic or Avatar.” required=”1″ /][contact-field label=”Iain Lawrence” type=”select” options=”I stole a salmon from a bald eagle and cooked it for my dinner.,I went skydiving and ended up tangled in an electric fence.,I got charged by a bear riding a motorcycle.” required=”1″ /][/contact-form]
On the first night of camp, everyone is sitting around the camp fire playing Would You Rather? Here’s how our camp counselors Richard Scrimger and Iain Lawrence responded:
Be stuck in a comic book or in a Where’s Waldo book?
Richard: COMIC BOOKS offer way more scope than Waldos because they have action. I loved Archie and Jughead as a kid, but I’m older now, and I’d end up having to talk to Mr. Weatherbee or the lunch lady. Sigh. Maybe I could hang out with Wally from Dilbert, or Jeremy’s dad from Zits, or Calvin’ parents. They’re pretty funny. Probably funnier than Hobbes’ parents.
Iain: Be stuck in a comic book, because I’d be afraid of getting lost in the crowd. My first choice would be one of the old Classic Comics so that I could be on a never-ending adventure, sword-fighting across France with the three musketeers, or chasing whales with Captain Ahab.
Choose to live underwater or on land your entire life?
Richard: ABOVE GROUND is better because it lets you eat. How can you enjoy a sandwich with your mouth full of water? And your coffee would always be cold. I hate cold coffee.
Iain: Choose to live on land, because I never learned to swim. While I would like the chance to explore the underwater world and visit famous shipwrecks, I would miss the trees and the mountains and the sky far too much to stay there forever.
Be able to predict the future or have a talking ax?
Richard: I could never come up with a story like Hatchet. I admire people like Gary Paulsen, who write white-knuckle survival stories. I just can’t do it. BUT if the ax could talk! That’s a story I could have a lot of fun with. What do you want to do today, Sandra? I’d ask my ax, and she’d say, Chop down a tree! Chop up some furniture! Chop! Chop! Chop! Then I’d ask why she enjoyed destroying things. Who are you angry at? I’d ask her. Is it your mom and dad? Was there a bad person in your life? Poor Sandra. She’d question her whole existence. Maybe she’d end up in counselling. Or maybe she’d come after ME!
Iain: Predict the future, because I imagine that a talking ax would get rather boring after a while. How many times would I have to hear the story about how he split a round into five pieces in one blow?
Live in a cardboard box or be always wear a costume?
Richard: My costume would BE a cardboard box. There. I’d be a real superhero: The Man From Amazon! Here to deliver your world to your front door. I’d have towels inside, or books, or watches, or car parts, or appliances. Or a $33,000.00 chandelier (I just checked. You can buy one) As Amazon Prime I could sneak into the trunk of your car. I’d drop by drone into your backyard. Woo hoo! I’d be more popular than Santa Claus!
Iain: My first reaction is that I’d rather live in a cardboard box, because going around in a costume would be well outside my comfort zone. But when I think of the missed opportunities and all the things I’d never see, I would definitely force myself to choose the costume.
Ability to grow to a giant or shrink to a dwarf size?
Richard: Uhhhhh, let’s go with DWARF. First, giants have a bad rep. Throwing rocks and shouting Fe Fi Fo Fum. Bad guys. Dwarves are good guys, with happy songs and careers in mining. On a more practical level, giants have to duck under doorways and bump into chandeliers. What a pain. By contrast, dwarves fit everywhere. They find coach seats roomy, travel happily by uber pool, and buy cheap clothes from the kids’ section. The only downside (ha ha ha) to being a dwarf is not being able to reach things from a top shelf, or dunk a basketball. And – hey – I can’t dunk a basketball now.
Iain: That’s a tough choice. Dwarf size, I could sneak around without being seen, exploring all the mysterious places that I’ve only glimpsed through fissures and cracks. But as a giant I could travel such long distances so easily that I would have to choose that option. Plus, I’d get more respect.
Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book
By Marthe Jocelyn and Richard Scrimger
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
336 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Tundra Books
ISBN 9781101918937
When Wylder Wallace spills lunch on Addy Crowe at Toronto’s Comicon, she dashes to the bathroom, leaving behind the latest issue of her uncle’s steampunk comic hit: Flynn Goster in God Rush Train. Wylder, a fan of the comics, opens this new one eagerly, astounded to see the girl who was just yelling at him inside the comic.
The Skeleton Tree
By Iain Lawrence
288 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Tundra Books
ISBN 9781101918371
Less than 48 hours after twelve-year-old Chris casts off on a trip to sail down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they’ve got to find a way to forage, fish and scavenge supplies from the shore. Chris likes the company of a curious friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive.
