Now that school is out, the season of summer camps is officially upon us. In a moment I'm going to tell you about two upcoming summer camps for young writers, which both promise to be outstanding.

I know many people who swear by the full-blown summer camp experience, who send their kids away for weeks at a time to wooded lakefronts for singalongs, crafts, and capture the flag. My partner and I have not as yet been so adventurous with our kids, and it remains to be seen if we will as they get older.

I never went away on an extended camp outing in my youth. I seem to recall having attended one day camp as a boy in Oklahoma, perhaps some place with an Indian name where I fumbled with archery and canoeing and macaroni art. But I couldn't swear to it—my memories are fuzzy. I was once talked into spending a week at Vacation Bible School with my next-door neighbor, but nothing about it smacked of either vacation or school. I just remember sitting in church a lot. So it's safe to say my day camp experiences have not left an enormous impression.

Here in Ann Arbor there are plenty of intriguing day camp options, and for the last few years our daughters have participated in arts-based camps offered by Rec & Ed or the Ann Arbor Arts Center. They've had good experiences. This year we've enrolled them each for a pair of YMCA day camps. I suspect some people rely on these camps as a form of day care—since most parents don't get to take summers off with their children, the camps provide a way for their kids to do something fun and productive while remaining supervised during the workday.

This indeed was the impetus for our choice of YMCA camps this summer, as I'll be on the other side of the summer camp equation for two of the next three weeks, helping lead writing camps for teens and tweens at the Neutral Zone. These camps are meant to inspire and challenge young writers to develop their craft and their voices, and to generate a ton of new writing. They expose young writers to a range of amazing instructors much richer than what's available in other writing camps for youth.

Next week, I'll be one of the instructors for the VOLUME Summer Institute (VSI) at the Neutral Zone, now in its ninth year. VSI offers a week of intensive workshops in fiction, poetry and nonfiction, culminating in a pair of gala readings in which both instructors and students share new work. The nonfiction section is new this year, and will be taught by Karen Smyte and Sarah Andrew-Vaughn. It's a great way for 10th- or 11th-graders to get a jump on writing college application essays without the overwhelming sense of drudgery usually associated with that task. If your teen is bored writing his or her application essay, then the admissions board will probably be bored reading it. VSI's nonfiction section will help take the boredom out of the equation, resulting in a happier teen and a happier admissions board.

Meanwhile, VSI's fiction and poetry staff this year are impressive as always. I will have the pleasure of teaching poetry with Patricia Smith, the 2009 National Book Award finalist and four-time individual National Poetry Slam champion. Another poetry workshop will be led by Roger Bonair-Agard and Kevin Coval, both highly decorated poets who continue to be an instrumental presence for youth writers around the country. The fiction workshop will be led by Adam Mansbach, author of the acclaimed novels Angry Black White Boy and The End of the Jews, among others. Any writer in town between the ages of 13 and 22 would do well to grab the chance to work with these literary heavyweights.

During the week of July 12-16, I will direct the Young Authors Camp at the Neutral Zone, designed for students of middle-school age (entering grades 6-9). This brand-new camp will feature daily writing activities led by poets and story writers from the Neutral Zone's Literary Arts programs. The activities will be lively and engaging while focusing on matters of craft—setting and action, beginnings and endings, etc.—drawing inspiration from music, art, board games, improv comedy, and more.

The VOLUME Summer Institute kicks off this Sunday with a 7 p.m. orientation, and then meets daily from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 28-July 2. The instructors' reading takes place July 1 at 7 p.m., with the student reading the following night. (There will also be a special reading on June 29 to celebrate the release of You Owe Me This, a book of poetry and prose by former Neutral Zone teen Spencer Kimball.)

The Young Authors Camp takes place July 12-16 from 1-4 p.m. daily. Both camps meet at the Neutral Zone. The cost for either camp is listed as $200, but it is on a sliding scale—participants are asked to pay what they can, and no one is turned away for lack of payment. For more information, and to register, go to www.neutral-zone.org.

Getting involved as an instructor with the VOLUME Summer Institute has changed my life—it has made me a better writer and teacher, and afforded me perspectives and opportunities I never would have enjoyed otherwise. I have seen it change the lives of students as well, building confidence in their voices and, in a few cases, launching them toward publication and legitimate literary careers. Both these camps have amazing potential for those who participate. We would love to see your budding writer at the Neutral Zone this summer.

Scott Beal is a stay-at-home dad who works in the Literary Arts programs at the Neutral Zone.