Aaaaiii! is the sound you might hear yourself making if you find a Crawly Thing sharing your sleeping bag... "Oops!" is what you should try not to say too often while it's your turn to be camp cook. Patrick McManus's descriptions of the circumstances that can produce these responses are hilarious. Along with the humor there is practical advice for beginning campers, dispensed with a generous helping of common sense.

Here you will find answers to hard questions such as how to tell the difference between hard-boiled eggs and raw... how to keep your matches dry... what to do if you encounter a cow-or a bear. In alphabetical order, these self-contained entries are capsule adventures in camping. Whether your kind of camping is sleeping out in the backyard or hiking to rugged country, you will be better prepared when you've read Patrick McManus on Air, Clothing, Dogs, Emergencies, Macho Guys-and he'll keep you laughing all the way to Zip. Illustrated by Roy Doty.