The Acorn People

The Acorn People is a short nonfiction memoir recounting how Ron Jones, a first-time camp counselor in the early 1970s, forms an unlikely bond with a group of children with disabilities at Camp Wiggin. Over five transformational days, the boys (Spider, Benny B., Aaron “Arid” Gerawlski, Thomas Stewart, and Martin) defy assumptions, forging their own team called the “Acorn People” and teaching Ron what true courage, creativity, and friendship look like. Set in an era when people were still fighting for core disability rights in the US, the story explores several themes, including Mentorship and Reciprocal Teaching, Nature as an Equalizer, Redefining the Meaning of “Ability,” and The Transformative Power of Community.

This guide refers to the 1977 Bantam Books print edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of ableism, child death, substance use, and cursing.

Language Note: The source material uses outdated language to refer to people with disabilities, and the guide replicates this language in quotations for analysis purposes.

Summary

Narrator Ron Jones watches children with disabilities arrive for a summer camp at which he is a counselor. He received little notice that he would be supporting campers unable to participate in most of the common camp activities. His closest fellow counselor is Dominic, who is eager to work with children with disabilities; however, as Ron watches parents part ways with the campers, he regrets his choices and feels apprehensive about the rest of his time there. Getting the children settled requires extensive work, and by dinner time, he is angry with the children. When he finally goes to sleep, he has nightmares about the bodies of children with disabilities.

The next morning, he must help several children who have wet the bed. The memoir then introduces the five campers under Ron’s supervision: Benny B., a lively child with polio who is preoccupied with acting like a high-speed racer; Spider, who has no arms or legs but loves to talk; Thomas Stewart, a despondent teenager with muscular sclerosis; Martin, an energetic, blind 14-year-old; and Aaron “Arid” Gerawlski, who has no bladder and must use urostomy bags that smell unpleasant.

In a craft session, Ron strings acorns together on a necklace, explaining that he feels “nutty” in his surroundings. The kids express how they feel similarly “crazy” and overwhelmed. They begin calling themselves the “Acorn People” and make a necklace as a gift for the other counselor. Afterward, all the children enjoy time in the pool, to Ron’s surprise, as the buoyancy allows the kids a reprieve from many of their harnesses and wheelchairs. Spider, in particular, stuns everyone by showing that he can swim. By the end of the second day, Ron feels happier and more hopeful about the trajectory of his time at camp. The group, now the “Acorn Society,” has its first meeting, wherein they begin telling each other stories.

Mr. Bradshaw, the camp administrator, drops in intermittently to recommend schedules and approaches for life at camp, but Ron finds that Mr. Bradshaw’s guidelines for how the day should be structured are based on the expectations set for children without disabilities. His children decide to ignore this schedule and go to the pool again, where they play and flirt with female campers. Aaron becomes the potential boyfriend of a blind girl named Mary. The children decide to make as many necklaces as they can and give them to every camper and staff member.

Ron’s crew then becomes determined to climb Lookout Mountain, a common test of skill and endurance for Boy Scouts. The trek is arduous, and the path is not suitable for wheelchairs, though Spider helps boost morale by pretending that they’re old-time explorers in a wild jungle. They reach the top by exiting their wheelchairs and scooting up, and they all feel a sense of victory.

They return to the camp food hall, disappointed to find that Mr. Bradshaw was upset at the camp’s “unruly” activities and schedules and demanded that everyone return to the prescribed schedule before parents visit the following day. In addition, he instructs the campers to create labels for everyone, and Ron’s crew jokingly labels everything in the camp.

The next day, Mr. Bradshaw invites all visitors and campers to watch a film about water safety, with a water ballet demonstrated by the Red Cross at the film’s end. Ron goes to sleep frustrated but is later awoken by the nurse, Mrs. Nelson, wandering around camp drunk as she removes all the labels. The campers are happy that Mrs. Nelson did this, as they all dislike being defined by a label.

The campers then organize a dance, an experience that many have never had. The counselors announce the “King” and “Queen” of Camp Wiggin: Aaron and Mrs. Nelson. Aaron is thrilled but overwhelmed since he’s used to being friendless.

The kids become melancholy as the end of camp draws closer, but Mrs. Nelson motivates everyone by suggesting that they put on a water ballet like they saw in the film when the parents come to pick everyone up. They will create a story to accompany it, and she will ask reporters to attend and film it. They decorate the pool area and begin practicing.

When the parents arrive, they put on a show wherein Ron plays a pirate captain competing with the campers (who pretend that they are native islanders) for treasure hidden near their shores. This includes a water ballet and swimming competition, which Spider wins against Ron. The parents and children are delighted.

Afterward, amid the flurry of campers leaving, the Acorn Society leaves without saying goodbye to Ron, and a young girl admits that she has a crush on Ron. In the Epilogue, Ron recounts that the Acorn Society children all died within a few years of the memoir. He ends with a detail about Benny B.’s funeral, in which Benny’s mother gave Ron an envelope with an acorn necklace in it, saying that Benny gave the necklaces to everyone he met.