Camp What-A-Nut

Donny McCoy is the smallest kid at Camp What-A-Nut, and everybody keeps reminding him of it. Then a walk in the woods with Whit turns wild - a mother bear charges, the two scramble up a tree she's too heavy to climb, and when she finally waddles off, they discover they're hopelessly lost. Back at camp, Ned is panicking over a carved wooden heart he's sure means twelve-year-old Gloria loves him, and Chas is laying a popcorn trail to lure a skunk into Marco's cabin... until the skunk trails him instead and sprays him head to toe. It takes a tomato juice bath and a talk from Marco about digging two graves to set Chas straight. Deep in the forest, Donny volunteers to climb clear to the top of a swaying tree, spots the camp below, and leads Whit home to a cheering crowd - and an apology from Chas. As Donny tells the story, everyone realizes a bigger kid could never have made that climb, and nobody calls him Shorty again.

Found on The Wildest Summer Ever Album 02 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

2 of 2 0032 Family Vacation When their car breaks down in a tiny town far from home, the Barclays discover that a ruined vacation might turn out to be the best part of the trip.

0033 The Day Independence Came A history-loving boy's quest to retrieve a book about Benjamin Franklin lands him in the middle of America's fight for independence.

0034 Stormy Weather A restless Connie, convinced she has no real friends in Odyssey, plans an escape to California - just as a violent storm bears down on Whit's End.

0035 V.B.S. Blues A young Sunday school teacher's big theatrical debut is in jeopardy when the three lead roles in his Bible sketch fall to the last kids anyone would trust on a stage.

0036 Kids' Radio When every station on the dial disappoints him, a kid with radio in his blood convinces Whit to help launch Odyssey's first station run by kids, for kids.

1 of 2 0037 Camp What-A-Nut A small-for-his-age boy hoping to escape his tormentor's nickname arrives at summer camp only to find the bully in his own cabin - and the wilderness holds bigger dangers than either of them.

2 of 2 0038 Camp What-A-Nut While Mr. Whittaker helps young Donny cope with being the smallest kid at Camp What-A-Nut, a walk in the woods turns into a wilderness ordeal - and back at camp, a skunk, a mysterious carved heart, and a boy bent on revenge stir up trouble of their own.

1 of 2 0039 The Case of the Secret Room A dropped transistor at Whit's End reveals a hidden basement door - and behind it, a forty-year-old mystery someone would rather stay buried.

2 of 2 0040 The Case of the Secret Room When a skeleton and a decades-old bank robbery surface behind his basement wall, Whit refuses to let a forty-year-old case stay closed - even as someone tries to scare him off the trail.

0041 Return to the Bible Room A quick detour into the Bible Room at Whit's End sweeps two children off their feet and into the storm-tossed story of a prophet who thought he could outrun God.

0042 The Last Great Adventure of the Summer When a mysterious stranger corners a boy and his boring shoe-salesman father outside Whit's End, a dull summer's final weekend erupts into a chase that reveals his dad is not who he claimed to be.

0043 Back to School When the first week back at school goes hilariously wrong, a girl prone to tall tales must face the real reason it felt so terrible.

0044 It Sure Seems Like It to Me Nobody believes Leslie's outlandish tale about giving her mother's new umbrella to a cowboy in a purple fire engine - so she sets out to prove it really happened.

Featured characters

John Whittaker Hal Smith

Minor characters & crew 5 more roles

5 supporting roles

Ned Lewis Steve Wunch Marco Dibiasi Will Ryan Donny McCoy Nathan Fisk Gloria McCoy Kari Kaylene Chas Wentworth Chad Reisser

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Steve Harris Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

Donny McCoy keeps a journal at Camp What-A-Nut, and by the middle of the week he has plenty to write about. The first few days were miserable, because everyone kept reminding him how small he was. When John Whittaker noticed how low he was feeling, the two of them took a walk in the woods, where a deer came right up and ate out of Donny's hand. What happened next was even harder to believe.

A bear comes after them. Whit prays out loud for a way of escape as they run, then points Donny toward a big tree and tells him to climb. Little bears can climb, Whit explains, but a bear that size is far too heavy. The bear circles the trunk, shakes it hard, and finally gives up, snorting and waddling off to tend her cubs. Whit's advice while they wait is simple: keep praying, and hold on tight.

Back at camp, Ned Lewis borrows Chas Wentworth's binoculars to watch a skunk in a tree, and warns Chas to stay well away from it. Chas hands over a package that a girl asked him to deliver to the arts and crafts teacher. Inside is a carved wooden heart with the initials N.L. and G.M. on it, and Ned is sure that Gloria McCoy, who is twelve, has fallen for him at sixteen. Marco Dibiasi tells him it is nothing he did wrong - kids come to camp and mistake camp for love - but that he will have to tell her gently anyway.

Chas, meanwhile, has been laying a trail of popcorn to lure the skunk into Marco's cabin, payback for being sprayed with water. He shuts both doors and forgets the windows. The skunk climbs out, trails him to the rec hall hoping for more popcorn, and in the shouting and scrambling that follows it lets loose all over Chas.

Whit and Donny climb down safely, only to discover they are lost. Whit stays calm, reads the moss that grows on the north side of the trees, and sets a course south and east - but the same rock and the same tree keep reappearing. Donny offers to climb a tall tree all the way to the top and look out over the forest. Whit hates the idea, then prays for him and lets him go. Halfway up the wind rises and the branches hide the ground, but Donny keeps climbing until he can see the camp and the trail below.

Ned finds Gloria by the lake and learns the heart was never meant for him at all. She made it for a boy in her class at church who happens to share Ned's initials, and she would hate for anyone to get the silly idea it was for her teacher.

Chas gets a cold tomato juice bath, the only thing that takes the smell out, and a talk from Marco along with it. Marco's papa used to say that anyone setting out for revenge had better dig two graves, because getting even hurts the one who tries it. People do not respect you for what you have, Marco tells him, but for how you act, and Jesus said it best: love your neighbor as yourself.

Donny and Whit walk back into camp to a crowd of kids, and Chas surprises Donny by apologizing for everything he has done to him. As Donny tells the story of the climb, it dawns on him that he could never have reached the top of that tree if he had been any bigger. Everyone else seems to notice it too, because nobody calls him Shorty anymore, and that suits him just fine.