Summary

“Z.Z.’s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers” is narrated in first-person present by Elijah, a teenage boy at a summer camp for kids with sleep issues that was started by the camp director, Zorba, and his wife, Annie, a few years ago. Elijah and his friend, Emma, who he has a crush on, try to sleep together in the Thomas Edison Insomnia Balloon—a fake hot air balloon set up on the edge of Zorba’s property. Elijah tries to sing Emma a lullaby to help her go to sleep, but she cannot sleep. When she finally starts to relax, their friend Ogli interrupts to tell them that Annie is giving her Inspiration Assembly. The three friends walk through the woods back to camp.

They had all been...