Home Sweet Home

Summary
Buster is fearful of attending summer camp without Arthur or anyone else he knows, but discovers making new friends isn't as difficult as he thought.

Plot
Buster has planned to attend Camp Meadowcroak, but unfortunately he is the only one going, since his friends will be busy. Soon Buster grows nervous about going to camp, and when the bus to the camp arrives, he runs off to the public garden to hide.

After Fritz and Buster's mom find him and they talk for a while, Buster decides to go on the trip after all, and boards the bus. At Camp Meadowcroak, as Buster is checking out the inside of his cabin, a kid named Irwin walks in and introduces himself to Buster.

Soon after another kid named Sanjeev walks into the cabin and Irwin knows the kid and Irwin tells Buster they both go to the same school. At lunch Buster opens and envelope and decides to tell both Irwin and Sanjeev the story about Fritz when he was a kid, which takes place in the summer of 1932.

After telling the story to the two boys Buster eventually ends up telling the story to virtually everyone at the camp during the night. Everyone who heard the story liked it and Irwin then hands Buster a marshmallow that was being cooked on the campfire.

Buster tells Irwin it wasn't bad, but tells him to try a different stick and Irwin writes that down on a notebook. The next day Buster is walking back to the cabin with a box and shows both Irwin and Sanjeev what's inside, which are tomatoes.

The two boys are a bit confused as to what Buster plans to do with them and Buster tells them to get various supplies. After Buster is done he has made what he has called the Tomato-wich. While Irwin and Sanjeev are eating Sanjeev tells Buster that he will now be known as Chef.

Buster then arrives back home and says goodbye to the kids, which also say goodbye to him. Buster then goes over to the garden to see Fritz who is all dressed up.

He then asks the Fritz why he is wearing it and Fritz responds that his daughter and him are going to a retirement community. Fritz tells Buster he will check on the garden once a month and before Fritz leaves Buster asks for the address of the retirement community.

Buster then writes a letter and sends it to Fritz who reads the story to the other elderly folks. One of the elderly men states Buster has quite an imagination and Fritz tells him he's also a very good gardener.

Major

 * Buster Baxter
 * Fritz Langley
 * Irwin
 * Sanjeev

Minor

 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Arthur Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * George Lundgren
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Unknown Male Bear (Number 8)
 * Unknown Male Goat
 * Unknown Male Bear (Number 9)
 * Unknown Male Cat (Number 2)
 * Unknown Male Rabbit (Number 6)
 * Unknown Male Rat (Number 2)
 * Tug

Background

 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * Meadowcroak Bus Driver
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)

Mentioned

 * Eric Beedlemeyer
 * Penny Papakostas

Trivia

 * This is the second appearance of Camp Meadowcroak.
 * Buster states no one he knows will be at camp, but some of the campers go to Lakewood. However, none of his classmates were there.
 * Camp Meadowcroak has been seen to have students from Lakewood, Mighty Mountain, and PS 22.

Cultural References

 * The retirement home Fritz goes to is called Shady Pines, which was the retirement Sophia Petrillo used to reside at in . In addition, one of the ladies in the presence of Fritz as he is reading a letter from Buster resembles Sophia.