The Day Camp Disaster

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Summer Camp

  Chapter 2: A Nasty Prank

  Chapter 3: Flower Fiasco

  Chapter 4: On the Loose

  Chapter 5: The Clue in the Logbook

  Chapter 6: Another Suspect

  Chapter 7: Stakeout

  Chapter 8: All’s Well That Ends Well

  1

  Summer Camp

  Do you have your sunscreen?” Hannah Gruen asked.

  Eight-year-old Nancy Drew peered into her blue backpack. It was lying on the kitchen table, next to her breakfast bagel. “Check!” she replied.

  “How about your water bottle and lunch?” Hannah asked.

  “Check, check!”

  “Long pants for hiking, extra pair of socks, and sun hat?”

  “Check, check, check!”

  Hannah folded her list marked TO PACK and tucked it into her skirt pocket. “Good, I didn’t forget to pack anything. You’re all set to go, then.”

  “Yay!” Nancy said happily. She closed up her backpack and took a big bite of her bagel. “Thanks, Hannah!”

  It was Monday, and Hannah had packed everything for Nancy’s first day at Camp Northwoods. Camp Northwoods was a summer day camp on the other side of River Heights. Nancy would be going there every day for the next two weeks. Some of her friends from school would be going there too.

  Nancy was excited because Camp Northwoods wasn’t just a regular old camp. It was a nature camp. Nancy, George, and Bess would learn all about nature and how to take care of it. Plus there would be all kinds of fun nature activities and projects to do.

  Like catching butterflies and planting flowers and taking pictures of wild animals, Nancy thought eagerly.

  Hannah glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “Let’s finish up your breakfast, Nancy. Camp starts at eight o’clock sharp. And your ride is going to be here any minute.”

  Hannah worked as a housekeeper for Nancy and her father, Carson Drew. But Hannah was more than a housekeeper. She had helped take care of Nancy since Nancy’s mother died five years ago.

  Just as Nancy was finishing up her bagel, the doorbell rang. Nancy’s Labrador puppy, Chocolate Chip, began yipping loudly from the living room.

  “Be quiet, Chip! That’s Bess and George!” Nancy called out.

  Nancy ran to the front door. She opened it and stuck her foot out so Chip wouldn’t dash outside. A warm summer breeze ruffled Nancy’s long, reddish blond hair.

  Bess Marvin and George Fayne were standing there. They were both dressed in denim shorts and white and green Camp Northwoods T-shirts, just like Nancy.

  “Hi!” Bess said with a big smile. “Are you ready?”

  “My mom’s waiting in the car,” George piped up. Nancy saw the Faynes’ minivan in the driveway. Mrs. Fayne gave Nancy a little wave from behind the wheel.

  Bess and George were Nancy’s two best friends in the whole world. They were also cousins. But they didn’t really look like cousins. Bess had long blond hair and blue eyes. George had short, curly brown hair and brown eyes.

  They didn’t really act like cousins either. Bess liked to go shopping and watch videos and DVDs. George was really into sports.

  Hannah emerged from the kitchen. She handed Nancy her backpack. “Don’t forget this!” she said with a smile.

  Nancy giggled. “Oops! Thanks, Hannah!”

  “Hi Hannah! Bye Hannah!” Bess said. “We’re off to Camp Northwoods.”

  “My dad said that since it’s a nature camp, we’ll see lots of animals in the woods,” George told Hannah. “You know, like alligators and bears and stuff.”

  Bess’s eyes grew huge. “Alligators . . . and b-b-bears?” she stammered.

  “George is just kidding,” Nancy said to Bess. She turned to George. “Right, George? You’re kidding, right?”

  “I’m kidding,” George said with a grin.

  Hannah shooed the three girls out the door. “No more bear and alligator jokes. You’re all going to be late for camp!”

  “Oh no, let’s go!” Bess cried out.

  With quick hugs and waves, Nancy and her friends bid Hannah good-bye and rushed to Mrs. Fayne’s car.

  • • •

  “Okay, listen up, campers!”

  A tall man with short, spiky red hair walked into the Camp Northwoods lodge. He was wearing a Camp Northwoods T-shirt and jeans.

  George leaned over to Nancy. “I think he’s the leader of our camp,” she whispered.

  “His name is Mr. Crab or something,” Bess whispered. She was sitting on the other side of Nancy. “Or was it Mr. Shrimp? I can’t remember.”

  “Welcome to Camp Northwoods,” the red-haired man went on. “My name is Mr. Fish. These are your camp counselors, Max and Fiona.”

  “Mr. Fish,” Bess murmured. “Oh, yeah.”

  Mr. Fish waved to a guy and a girl who were standing behind him. They were both wearing Camp Northwoods T-shirts too. They looked like they were in high school or college.

  The Camp Northwoods lodge was a big, old-fashioned wooden cabin with a huge stone fireplace at one end. The walls were covered with posters of plants and animals. There were lots of shelves filled with books, art supplies, and games.

  All the campers were sitting cross-legged on the floor. They were divided into two groups: the Evergreens and the Oaks. The Evergreens were the seven- and eight-year-olds. The Oaks were the nine- and ten-year-olds.

  “First we’re going to go over some rules,” Mr. Fish went on.

  “Rules?” Rebecca Ramirez complained. “Rules? When do we get to do something fun?”

  Rebecca was in Nancy, Bess, and George’s third-grade class at Carl Sandburg Elementary School. Rebecca wanted to be an actress when she grew up. She liked to talk in a loud, dramatic voice.

  Next to Rebecca, Jessie Shapiro blushed and squirmed. Jessie was Rebecca’s best friend.

  Mr. Fish cracked a smile. He peered at Rebecca’s name tag. “Please be patient, Rebecca. The rules are important. We don’t want you campers falling into the pond or getting eaten by tigers!”

  Bess tapped Nancy on the shoulder. “First it was alligators and bears. Now it’s tigers!” she moaned.

  “There are no tigers in River Heights,” Nancy told her. “Except at the zoo!”

  After going over the rules, Mr. Fish made everyone introduce themselves. There were seven members of the Evergreens: Nancy, Bess, George, Rebecca, and Jessie, and a girl named Pell Kennedy and her younger brother, Harry. There were also seven Oaks. Nancy recognized Ned Nickerson and Greg Karoli, who were fourth graders at Carl Sandburg. She didn’t recognize the five other Oaks, who were fifth graders from River Heights Elementary.

  “I wanted to give you a tour of the grounds,” Mr. Fish continued. “But the weather isn’t looking too good.”

  He glanced out one of the large windows. Everyone else did the same. Nancy saw tree branches swaying in the wind. Big gray clouds filled the sky. It looked like the start of a summer storm.

  Nancy wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. She didn’t like lightning and thunder.

  “Let’s save the tour for tomorrow. Why don’t we get started on our craft activity for the day?” Mr. Fish suggested.

  The craft activity was making butterfly feeders. The counselors, Max and Fiona, had laid out all the supplies on several big tables. There were brown clay dishes with holes in the middle. There were paintbrushes and cans of paint. There were bottles of glue, spools of wire, and small plastic flowers to use for decoration.

  Max supervised the Oaks. Fiona supervised the Evergreens.

  Nancy liked making her butterfly feeder. She painted a clay dish with a pretty flower design. Then she glued some plastic flowers around the sides. Ne
xt to her, Bess was painting ladybugs on her dish. George was painting stripes and polka dots.

  Outside, it began to rain. Big raindrops beat against the windows. Lightning flashed through the sky.

  “I messed up mine!” the boy named Harry cried out suddenly. He threw his paintbrush down. Yellow paint spattered everywhere.

  “Here, let me help you,” his sister, Pell, said. She got a paper towel and started wiping up the yellow paint.

  “Mine is definitely the best,” Rebecca said smugly. Her butterfly feeder had moons and stars all over it. “What do you think, Jessie?”

  “Oh, definitely,” Jessie said quickly.

  “The butterfly feeders should be dry by tomorrow morning,” Fiona announced to the Evergreens. “We can hang them and put fruit slices in them and wait for the butterflies to come.”

  Nancy stared out the window. She hoped it would stop raining by tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to put her butterfly feeder outside and watch the butterflies eating their breakfast!

  • • •

  Tuesday morning was bright and sunny. As soon as they got to camp, Nancy, George, and Bess ran up the dirt path to the Camp Northwoods lodge. Their backpacks bumped against their backs as they ran. They skipped over a bunch of mud puddles that were left over from the storm.

  “I’m excited to see my butterfly feeder!” Bess exclaimed.

  “Me too,” George said.

  “Me three,” Nancy echoed.

  They went inside the lodge. Fiona, Max, Mr. Fish, and a few of the Oaks were gathered around one of the craft tables. Nancy could tell right away that something was very wrong.

  Broken brown clay pieces were all over the floor.

  “Wh-what happened?” Nancy cried out.

  Max turned around. He had a big frown on his face. “Someone wrecked the butterfly feeders!” he announced.

  2

  A Nasty Prank

  Nancy gasped. How could anyone be mean enough to wreck the campers’ butterfly feeders?

  “Is mine okay?” Bess exclaimed. She rushed up to the craft table. She picked up a broken clay shard with some red and black paint on it. “Oh no, that’s one of my poor ladybugs!” she moaned.

  Pretty soon, all the campers had arrived at the lodge. No one could believe what had happened.

  “Isn’t there any security in this place?” Rebecca complained.

  Ned Nickerson picked up a butterfly feeder that was still on the craft table. It was the only one that wasn’t broken. “They didn’t break mine,” Ned said. “I wonder why?”

  “Maybe the burglars had to make a run for it,” his friend Greg Karoli suggested. “Maybe they were jewel thieves looking for hidden gems, and they found a treasure in one of the butterfly feeders, and—”

  Mr. Fish waved his hands in the air. “Okay, campers, enough. Does anyone know anything about this?” he asked in a serious-sounding voice.

  No one said a word. Ned and Greg exchanged a glance.

  Mr. Fish frowned. “If anyone has any information about who might have done this, please come see me in my office as soon as possible. In the meantime let’s get some glue and see what we can do to fix the butterfly feeders.”

  “I’ll grab some glue,” Fiona offered.

  “I want it to be clear to everyone,” Mr. Fish added, “we do not tolerate pranks at Camp Northwoods.”

  Nancy, along with everyone else, began picking up the clay pieces off the floor. Her butterfly feeder had shattered into three pieces. It made her sad to look at it.

  Nancy glanced around the room. Did one of the campers do this? she wondered. Or was it someone from outside Camp Northwoods?

  • • •

  “Stay on the path. Stay out of the mud puddles. And stay away from those plants way over there with the three leaves. That’s poison ivy!” Fiona called out.

  Nancy, Bess, George, and the other campers were walking through the woods. Fiona was leading the way. The other counselor, Max, was bringing up the rear. The two counselors were giving them a tour of the campgrounds.

  “I got poison ivy once. I itched all over!” George told Nancy and Bess.

  Bess nodded. “I remember. Your mom had to give you camel-mine lotion.”

  “Uh, Miss Smarty-Pants, I think you mean calamine,” Greg Karoli called over his shoulder. He and Ned cracked up.

  Bess flipped her hair over her shoulders. “Whatever.”

  The first stop on the tour was a meadow just beyond the woods. Fiona and Max told the campers that this was a fun place to run around and play games like tag or hide-and-go-seek.

  There were yellow, orange, and purple wildflowers growing in the meadow. Butterflies flitted from flower to flower. Seeing them made Nancy think of the butterfly feeders.

  Then the counselors showed the campers a stream with tiny fish in it. Nancy couldn’t believe how big and pretty Camp Northwoods was!

  Next on the tour was a big pond. Nancy noticed tall green reeds and strange-looking white flowers growing in the water.

  It’s like a water garden instead of a regular garden, she thought.

  All of a sudden Harry screamed. Harry’s sister, Pell, and Fiona both rushed to his side.

  “What is it, Harry?” Fiona demanded.

  “Th-Th-There’s a monster in the lake,” Harry cried out.

  “A monster? Where?” Pell asked him.

  Harry pointed a trembling finger at the pond.

  “That’s just a rock,” one of the Oaks said.

  Harry shook his head. His light brown hair flopped back and forth. “No, it’s not!”

  The rock moved. Nancy gasped. And then she did a double take.

  The rock was a turtle. A really, really big turtle.

  “Oh, that’s just Bob,” Fiona said, chuckling.

  Bess’s blue eyes widened. “Bob?”

  “He’s been living at Camp Northwoods forever, so we named him,” Max explained.

  “We have some other outdoor pets at Camp Northwoods. We’ll introduce them to you,” Fiona told the campers.

  “Are they really your pets?” Ned asked Fiona.

  “No. We just like to call them that,” Fiona replied.

  The counselors and campers continued their tour. Along the way, the counselors pointed out the other “pets.” A family of squirrels was sitting on a high branch of an oak tree. Their names were Mr. and Mrs. Fluffytail, Acorn, and Baby Nut.

  The counselors also pointed out two brown bunnies that lived in the woods: Mopsy and Chocolate. The bunnies stared at the campers for a brief moment, then scurried into a hole in the ground.

  “Our other animal buddy is Rocky, but he only comes out at night,” Max told the campers.

  “Is he a bat or something?” Greg asked him.

  Max shook his head. “Nope. He’s a big, old raccoon. Raccoons are nocturnal animals, like bats. They sleep during the day and run around at night.”

  After the tour was over, Max and Fiona took the campers back to the lodge for lunch. Nancy, George, and Bess got their lunch bags and found a shady spot under an oak tree.

  “That was fun,” Bess said. She tore open a bag of pretzels. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about my poor butterfly feeder.”

  George bit into her peanut butter sandwich. “Did you solve the mystery yet, Nancy?” she asked. Her mouth was full, so it came out sounding like: “WID OO HOLVE THE YSTERY ET, ANCY?”

  But Nancy knew exactly what George meant. “You mean the mystery of who wrecked the butterfly feeders?” she asked.

  George chewed and nodded.

  “Not yet,” Nancy said. “I wish I could figure it out.”

  Nancy loved solving mysteries. In fact her father had given her a special blue notebook a long time ago so she could keep track of clues and suspects. He thought she was a great detective, even though she was only eight years old.

  “This camp is sooooo boring!”

  Nancy turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Rebecca and Jessie were sitting at a picnic table
nearby. They were throwing grapes at each other and popping them into their mouths. The other campers were spread around the grassy area outside the lodge.

  “Why do you think it’s boring?” Jessie asked Rebecca.

  Bess was about to say something to Nancy and George. But Nancy raised her finger to her lips and whispered, “Shhhh.” Bess clamped her mouth shut and nodded.

  Rebecca sighed loudly. “It just is. And you know what?” she said, leaning forward.

  Jessie shrugged. “What?”

  “I think I know how we can make things way more interesting,” Rebecca said with a mysterious smile.

  3

  Flower Fiasco

  Nancy was startled. What did Rebecca mean when she said she knew how to make things “way more interesting”? Was she talking about some kind of a prank?

  “I think she did it,” Bess whispered to Nancy and George.

  George frowned. “Huh? Did what?”

  “I think Rebecca Ramirez wrecked all our butterfly feeders,” Bess hissed. “She thought camp was boring, so she thought she’d do something bad. Just for fun.”

  George turned to Nancy. “What do you think, Nancy?”

  Nancy took a sip of her apple juice. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I guess she could have.”

  Bess stood up and glared in Rebecca’s direction. “I’m going to ask her about it right this second! She wrecked my poor ladybugs!”

  Nancy grabbed Bess’s hand and pulled her back to the ground. “No, you can’t ask her yet. First we have to get some proof.”

  Bess sighed and nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

  Nancy glanced over at Rebecca. She and Jessie had finished their lunch. They were heading inside the lodge.

  Nancy knew Rebecca liked drama. But that usually meant she liked acting in plays and being the center of attention.

  Does it also mean she would do something bad just because she’s bored with camp? Nancy wondered.

  Nancy wasn’t sure, but she decided to watch Rebecca carefully.

  • • •

  After lunch the campers gathered outside to hang their butterfly feeders on tree branches. Nancy was happy she had been able to fix hers so well. She could barely see the thin cracks where the clay dish had been broken.