What do you think?
Rate this book
Help! I'm Trapped...
Help! I'm Trapped in My Camp Counselor's Body
very clean ! in a great shape .
- GenresChildrens
131 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1998
About the author
Todd Strasser
227 books801 followersTodd Strasser is an American author of more than 130 novels for adults, young-adults, and middle graders.
His most recent novel is Summer of '69
Booklist review: "Drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, those hallmarks of the summer of 1969, are all here, but there's so much more. In this loosely autobiographical novel, Strasser introduces 18-year-old Lucas, who is bright and sensitive but also a screw up…. The picture painted of the Woodstock music festival shows the dark side of peace and love, and the prevalence of drugs is on almost every page…The best part of the book, however, is the one that transcends eras: Lucas' introspection as he contemplates his place in the world."
Kirkus review: "Strasser perfectly captures the golden haze of youth and life on the cusp of adulthood. Readers fascinated with this time period will find much to enjoy... Vietnam, Woodstock, road trips, and acid trips: a sweetly bittersweet, surprising, even melancholy bildungsroman set against a world in flux. Groovy, man."
His most recent young adult novel is Price of Duty:
2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
“Compact and suspenseful, the novel raises important questions about war.” – Kirkus
“This thought-provoking book is both welcome and imperative.” – Booklist * (starred review).
"Rather than attempting to sway the reader, it offers awareness." - VOYA
“Tightly wound and compelling ... appropriate for an older middle school and high school audience. VERDICT: Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal
Bio: Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His best subjects were math and science. He also liked to read, but he had trouble with spelling and grammar, and didn't do well in English. His favorite sports were tennis, skiing and fishing. Todd went to college at New York University for a few years, and then dropped out. He lived on a commune, then lived in Europe where he was a street musician.
All the while, Todd wrote songs and poems and lots of letters to his friends back home. Finally he decided to try being a writer. He returned to the United States and went to Beloit College where he studied literature and writing.
After college, Todd worked at the Middletown Times Herald-Record newspaper in Middletown, New York, and later at Compton Advertising in New York City. In 1978, Todd sold his first novel, Angel Dust Blues. He used the money to start the Dr. Wing Tip Shoo fortune cookie company. For the next 12 years, Todd sold more fortune cookies than books.
Todd now divides his time between writing books and speaking at schools and conferences. When he's at home, he likes to spend time with his children and dog, Cooper. He still likes to play tennis and ski, but his favorite new sport is surfing.
His most recent novel is Summer of '69
Booklist review: "Drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll, those hallmarks of the summer of 1969, are all here, but there's so much more. In this loosely autobiographical novel, Strasser introduces 18-year-old Lucas, who is bright and sensitive but also a screw up…. The picture painted of the Woodstock music festival shows the dark side of peace and love, and the prevalence of drugs is on almost every page…The best part of the book, however, is the one that transcends eras: Lucas' introspection as he contemplates his place in the world."
Kirkus review: "Strasser perfectly captures the golden haze of youth and life on the cusp of adulthood. Readers fascinated with this time period will find much to enjoy... Vietnam, Woodstock, road trips, and acid trips: a sweetly bittersweet, surprising, even melancholy bildungsroman set against a world in flux. Groovy, man."
His most recent young adult novel is Price of Duty:
2018 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
“Compact and suspenseful, the novel raises important questions about war.” – Kirkus
“This thought-provoking book is both welcome and imperative.” – Booklist * (starred review).
"Rather than attempting to sway the reader, it offers awareness." - VOYA
“Tightly wound and compelling ... appropriate for an older middle school and high school audience. VERDICT: Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal
Bio: Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His best subjects were math and science. He also liked to read, but he had trouble with spelling and grammar, and didn't do well in English. His favorite sports were tennis, skiing and fishing. Todd went to college at New York University for a few years, and then dropped out. He lived on a commune, then lived in Europe where he was a street musician.
All the while, Todd wrote songs and poems and lots of letters to his friends back home. Finally he decided to try being a writer. He returned to the United States and went to Beloit College where he studied literature and writing.
After college, Todd worked at the Middletown Times Herald-Record newspaper in Middletown, New York, and later at Compton Advertising in New York City. In 1978, Todd sold his first novel, Angel Dust Blues. He used the money to start the Dr. Wing Tip Shoo fortune cookie company. For the next 12 years, Todd sold more fortune cookies than books.
Todd now divides his time between writing books and speaking at schools and conferences. When he's at home, he likes to spend time with his children and dog, Cooper. He still likes to play tennis and ski, but his favorite new sport is surfing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 30, 2022
Welcome back to my camp reading…thing. This time we’re staying out of horror but back to a series I touched on before. As I’ve said before, I read these Help I’m Trapped books plenty as a kid but haven’t come back to them much as an adult. I reviewed one on the blog and felt it held up as a solid story. I did a goodreads review for a vampire themed one in October and it wasn’t as good. It was fine but bogged down by the humor.
That wasn’t one I read as a kid but it was also the next to last in the series. I wasn’t sure which played more of a part in being a bit weaker. So now we’re back with this camp one, from later in the series, around 1998. And I hadn’t read it as a kid. There was another camp one, a follow up to First day of School which I did read plenty but I wanna save that for another time, possibly and give the series another blind shot.
And I liked it fine. I'd rank in the middle, it's a step up from Vampire but lesser than First day of School. I enjoyed it and while I can see some getting it a bit less, it had enough for me. Jake and pals are off to summer camp and Jake has seemingly picked an awesome one with state of the art stuff and tons of good food.
But things get hectic and he picks out the wrong one, and they end up at Camp Gtimley. It's a sruvival camp that leans into that, having no cabins and only mostly letting you have the food nature gives you. It's awful for everyone and their camp counselor Ted is really about nature in general. Eventually they have to a challenge where they group into teams and get taken out deep into the forest and have to make their way home.
Jake doesn't know how he'll get out of this one...until he remembers that the teacher who make the body switch machine gave him a mini one for reasons and now he has a way out, through another switch.
The main drawback here are some little things. It can get repetitive, as the characters often beat you over the head with stuff. Ted is a nature guy and they repeat that so much, it can get annoy. Josh and Andy are kind of alright but at times don't feel much better as friends than that guy in First day of school.
Thankfully it avoids being as mean as Vampire's body could be but boy are they judgemental of Ted's lifestyle. There's a thing they group goes that makes them kinda bad which is odd they turn around suddenly a bit later, that could have been cleaned up.
That said, it still mostly worked fine. It being a different camp means there's less of the typical stuff but I liked the wilderness survival vibe, especially when we get to the challenge. The kids do learn to be closer to nature and there is a bit of an arc there, as they grow closer to Ted. The ending is actually nice and there's a moral about helping out your fellow man, always a good lesson.
The swap isn't that important here, Ted's body isn't too wild. They tease a secret he has and i was guessing werewolf. Nah, it's rather tame but it's fine. You'll be let down if you expect focus on the body stuff but given that's usually the point of these, it;s fine if one wants to focus more on the situation and location than body swapping.
There's a note at the start with Jake about not being down on people for making mistakes, and I thought there would be a big moral about that. Kinda, but not really. We have the others being a bit too miffed and they get over, but it's not a clear arc or anything.
It's fun, we get survival stuff and some amusing moments. Not all the humor works, but there's nothing too bad. Even the repetitive stuff isn't awful but I do have a high tolerance for it. It builds to a solid ending.
I prefer First Day for it's tight plot and development but this was still good. It's nothing amazing, I wouldn't go o0ut of my way to read it again but for what I got, it's fine. I can see how we got to where we were in vampire's body but this at last tones some stuff down and varies things up.,
As a camp book, it's different enough to stand out so if you like wilderness stories, it's not a bad pick. Nothing great but fine for this outing. Maybe I'll come back to this series but I'm more interested in others. I wanna know how Help I'm Trapped in Santa's Body tuns out...
Next time, the wheel finally brings us back to horror with a series I've been wanting to read from, see ya then.
That wasn’t one I read as a kid but it was also the next to last in the series. I wasn’t sure which played more of a part in being a bit weaker. So now we’re back with this camp one, from later in the series, around 1998. And I hadn’t read it as a kid. There was another camp one, a follow up to First day of School which I did read plenty but I wanna save that for another time, possibly and give the series another blind shot.
And I liked it fine. I'd rank in the middle, it's a step up from Vampire but lesser than First day of School. I enjoyed it and while I can see some getting it a bit less, it had enough for me. Jake and pals are off to summer camp and Jake has seemingly picked an awesome one with state of the art stuff and tons of good food.
But things get hectic and he picks out the wrong one, and they end up at Camp Gtimley. It's a sruvival camp that leans into that, having no cabins and only mostly letting you have the food nature gives you. It's awful for everyone and their camp counselor Ted is really about nature in general. Eventually they have to a challenge where they group into teams and get taken out deep into the forest and have to make their way home.
Jake doesn't know how he'll get out of this one...until he remembers that the teacher who make the body switch machine gave him a mini one for reasons and now he has a way out, through another switch.
The main drawback here are some little things. It can get repetitive, as the characters often beat you over the head with stuff. Ted is a nature guy and they repeat that so much, it can get annoy. Josh and Andy are kind of alright but at times don't feel much better as friends than that guy in First day of school.
Thankfully it avoids being as mean as Vampire's body could be but boy are they judgemental of Ted's lifestyle. There's a thing they group goes that makes them kinda bad which is odd they turn around suddenly a bit later, that could have been cleaned up.
That said, it still mostly worked fine. It being a different camp means there's less of the typical stuff but I liked the wilderness survival vibe, especially when we get to the challenge. The kids do learn to be closer to nature and there is a bit of an arc there, as they grow closer to Ted. The ending is actually nice and there's a moral about helping out your fellow man, always a good lesson.
The swap isn't that important here, Ted's body isn't too wild. They tease a secret he has and i was guessing werewolf. Nah, it's rather tame but it's fine. You'll be let down if you expect focus on the body stuff but given that's usually the point of these, it;s fine if one wants to focus more on the situation and location than body swapping.
There's a note at the start with Jake about not being down on people for making mistakes, and I thought there would be a big moral about that. Kinda, but not really. We have the others being a bit too miffed and they get over, but it's not a clear arc or anything.
It's fun, we get survival stuff and some amusing moments. Not all the humor works, but there's nothing too bad. Even the repetitive stuff isn't awful but I do have a high tolerance for it. It builds to a solid ending.
I prefer First Day for it's tight plot and development but this was still good. It's nothing amazing, I wouldn't go o0ut of my way to read it again but for what I got, it's fine. I can see how we got to where we were in vampire's body but this at last tones some stuff down and varies things up.,
As a camp book, it's different enough to stand out so if you like wilderness stories, it's not a bad pick. Nothing great but fine for this outing. Maybe I'll come back to this series but I'm more interested in others. I wanna know how Help I'm Trapped in Santa's Body tuns out...
Next time, the wheel finally brings us back to horror with a series I've been wanting to read from, see ya then.
October 31, 2021
Jake switched bodies with his camp counselor after accidentally signing him and his friends up for survival summer camp.
A good entry in the series. I go back and read this one a lot and always have fun.
A good entry in the series. I go back and read this one a lot and always have fun.
July 9, 2019
Pretty corny, but I liked it.
April 29, 2011
I was able to read this book this last fall with the second grade class that i was observing. The children loved this book and thought it was funny. I thought the book was pretty good, just not my favorite. It was a great easy read for the children. They seemed to get a kick out of it. They also loved having chapters to read. They seemed pretty excited to be reading something so big!
September 21, 2013
LOVE this book! Couldn't put it down.. A light, enjoyable read! :)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews