Editorial Content for My Near-Death Adventures: I Almost Died. Again.

He’s back! Stanley Slater is still finding trouble, finishing people’s sentences, telling them what’s on his mind (when he shouldn’t) and, in general, worrying his mother to pieces. Stanley’s mission in life right now is to find his missing father who is more infamous than famous. A boy needs his dad and the worse thing ever would be if his mom marries that Archibald Crutchley. Could she possibly make a worse choice?

“In this delightful second book of Stanley and his near-death experiences, we meet more wacky characters and have more crazy Stanley experiences. Author Alison DeCamp has done a terrific amount of research into the time period….”

Unfortunately for Stanley, he is now taking care of Cuddy Carlisle. Despite the fact that Cuddy is a pretty nice kid, this is a task that does interfere with looking for his dad. This all happened because of that teasing Mad Madge and her idiotic cousin, Nincompoop. If they had not been tormenting him causing him to run straight into Mrs. Carlisle and injuring her...well, it was all very unfortunate. Now Stanley walks Cuddy back and forth from school and is with him all the time (or so it seems to Stan). Plus, his mother is stuck doing Mrs. Carlisle’s laundry. It’s not a good situation.

Stanley also has to deal with his cousin, the annoying Geri who lives with them, and his very dangerous granny. Granny never misses a thing, but then, neither does Geri! Somehow life isn’t fair, but he will prevail --- especially since he now owns the wonderful “Mark Twain Self-Pasting Scrapbook” given to him by Stinky Pete. Stinky Pete is a good friend and nice guy. He also rooms with them and works as a lumberjack. But it is sort of strange how Stinky Pete seems to show up in the oddest places at the oddest times. To be truthful, it’s hard for Stanley to do any searching for his dad without someone getting in the way. But then, Stanley encounters the captain of a ship who happens to be none other than Capt’n Slater! So, I don’t mind telling you, this is where Stanley’s real adventures start!

In this delightful second book of Stanley and his near-death experiences, we meet more wacky characters and have more crazy Stanley experiences. All of the pages are sprinkled with reproductions of old advertisements from the 1800s and embellished with Stanley’s strange little comments. Author Alison DeCamp has done a terrific amount of research into the time period and provides additional information under her “Author’s Note” at the end. She also references some of her own fascinating family history that helped inspire her book. Teachers and librarians will find this useful for introducing students to the world of the late 1800s.

Stanley has the free spirit of Huck Finn and the daring of Tom Sawyer. His famous phrase,  “I don’t mind telling you,” is his constant refrain reflecting his self-approving activities and thoughts. Stanley is good-hearted, naive and anxious to become what he thinks his real father is. In the end he learns who is really honest, truthful, caring and important. Stanley is every young boy on the brink of something important and he is absolutely delightful!