Rapkin, Mickey

"The first day of school means the first ride on the school bus. But who will I sit with? What if no one talks to me? Luckily this isn't a school bus, it's a pirate ship!"--Provided by publisher.

While a boy tries to face his bedtime fears, his stuffed rabbit, Floppy, tells a secret about his bed, which soon takes them to a play date with a dinosaur.

Traces the activities of three university a cappella groups, including Divisi, the Hullabahoos, and the Beelzebubs, examining their social controversies, rivalries, and traditions, and presents music criticism and related celebrity trivia.

Before there was Glee or American Idol, there was Stagedoor Manor, a theater camp in the Catskills where big-time Hollywood casting directors came to find the next generation of stars. It?s where Natalie Portman, Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Braff, Mandy Moore, Lea Michele, and many others got their start as kids. At age thirty-one, Mickey Rapkin, a senior editor at GQ and self-proclaimed theater geek, was lucky enough to go, too, when he followed three determined teen actors through the rivalries, heartbreak, and triumphs of a summer at Stagedoor Manor. Every summer a new crop of campers has entered Stagedoor Manor to begin an intense, often wrenching introduction to professional theater. Some campers have agents, others are just beginning. Eye-opening, funny, and full of drama and heart, Theater Geek offers an illuminating romp through the world of serious child actors.

Founded in 1975, Stagedoor Manor, the premier summer theater camp for children and teenagers, continues to attract scores of young performers eager to find kindred spirits, to sing out loud, to become working actors--or maybe even stars. These kids come from varying backgrounds--the offspring of Hollywood players work alongside kids on scholarship, and the camp provides an intense, often wrenching introduction to professional theater. Journalist and theater fanatic Mickey Rapkin tracks a trio of especially talented and determined teen actors through their final session. Via original interviews with former and current campers and staff, Rapkin also recounts Stagedoor Manor's colorful, star-studded history, and explores what the proliferation of theater camps says about our celebrity-obsessed youth and our most basic but vital need to fit in.--From publisher description.