Customer Reviews

How I Survived My Summer Vacation: And Lived to Write the Story

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Jack Monterey is trying to write a novel before school starts up again in the fall. His zany friends, New Age Publishing house parents, and some totally unexpected experiences are complicating his literary efforts no end! This hilarious novel for young readers ages 12 and up revolves around adolescent writer's black and the distractions of summer. How I Survived My Summer Vacation: And Lived To Write The Story is a unique, totally engaging, thoroughly entertaining, superbly written novel that will prove an instant favorite for any kid who has ever aspired to write a story of his or her own!

"How I Survived My Summer Vacation: And Lived to Write the Story" is a delightful book that kept me interested in the lives of normal kids trying to survive a typical boring summer vacation. Ms. Friedman captured the spirit of each character. I particularly enjoyed her characterization of Jackie Monterey, the protagonist of this story. For anyone who has had writer's block from a simple business letter to a major term paper, this is a book for you.

Poor Jackie! He's caught up with the ambition to write a novel before he begins highschool but had no idea how difficult it would be. His friends are no help as they are caught up with their own summer obsessions: his best freind Mallory, a theme park fanatic, is trying to win a contest so she can go to the Kingdom of Magic, Nick is too busy checking out girls, and Gary is too busy idolizing Nick (when he's not trying to perfect his english accent). Things get even more complicated (and fun) when almost everyone gets involved with new romances. So how is Jackie ever going to finish -- much less start -- his novel?

This is a funny, sometimes realistic, sometimes wacky book about the changes that take place between grade school and highschool. I enjoyed the reliving some of my own escapades and confusions of tis time of life. Jackie Monterey and his friends are a hoot. This is a delightful book perfect for some light over-the-summer reading...and it may even inspire a novel or two from your own kids.

This book is fun. The innocent hi-jinks, the troubles Jackie and his friends get into are the same troubles kids always experience and somehow manage to get by. The awkward first interest in girls, the bonding of the guys and the terribly embarrassing parents - we can all relate to these things. I brought this book on a bus trip with a group of young kids recently and the book went happily from one to the other.

A Review by Mike

Jackie, the main character, is on his summer vacation. He wants to write a novel but his mom, dad, and friends keep on interrupting him. He wants to be alone so he can finish his novels. Jackie doesn't know what his friend Nick is up too. Nick, his best friend, is trying to get him a girl friend. He did get him a date. The girl, Jackie, and his best friend and his girl went out on a date. Jackie's parents also try to make Jackie go to camp every summer, but not this time. His parents wanted him to go to computer camp this summer, but he didn't go.

I liked the story How I Survived My Summer Vacation. It was a great book for kids that are writing novels. They could learn how hard it is to write. Jackie, the main character, wasn't all that funny, but you could learn a lot from him. Jackie in the story he gives some good ideas to write about. Things I didn't like about the story are his mom and dad didn't seem all that funny or weren't talked about as much as Jackie was. They seemed like a boring couple of parents. When they said they were going to send Jackie to computer camp, I would have gone because they said if he went they would buy him his own computer to play with. I would have gone for it but he had to finish his novels.

I would recommend this book for people that have a good thinking skill. Plus for people who like novels or like writing novels. This book for starting up the year was awesome. What I mean is it was easy to read and follow in the story. It might also give you some ideas about the summer.

Jackie Monterey, and his struggle to write a novel over his summer vacation, but can't seem to get past the opening line. Jackie's friends are no help. Nick and Garus, are always trying to get Jackie to do stupid adventures with them. Nick, is always checking out the ladies. Garus, (Gary) is trying to copy Nicks slick moves to get the ladies, and trying to perfect his "English Accent." Mallory is a theme park fanatic. She is trying to write a essay to win five tickets to "Kingdom of Magic" ( a famous theme park). Jackie's parents are reporters and tell Jackie to write what he knows. Jackie's parents, are very weaird and cautious on what they eat. Jackie reminds me of a real life kid. He has trouble with girls, his parents are weaird, and he wants to write a novel. So, if you like a book where you can relate to the character's, "How I Survived My Summer Vacation and Lived To Write The Story" is the book for you.

How I Survived My Summer Vacation, and Lived to Write the Story, by Robin Friedman was one of the best books I have ever read. The plot revolved around a boy named Jackie Montery, who wanted to write a novel over his summer vacation. Each time he sat down to write, he was disrupted by his immature friends who wanted to fool around.
One immature thing they wanted to do was join the swim team. The main reason for this was to look at girls in bikinis. Another immature thing they did was crawl through a sewer and see where they would end up. Probably the most immature things they did were swear into a tape recorder and then replayed it and looked for a Playboy in the woods. The only one they found was one with its pictures cut out.
There were three main characters in this book, Jackie, Garus and Nick. Garus and Nick were Jackie's best friends who liked to do stupid things. Garus was always with Nick. He looked up to him also. He admired his way with the ladies. Nick was the brains behind all of the stupid ideas. Jackie always wanted to lock him self in his room and type.
The setting of the book took place in a town called Frog Hollow. It was a small town like Catskill, where everyone knew each other.
The mood of this book was kind of funny. I recommend this book to anybody who enjoys humor, especially for teens ages 13-14. My favorite part of the book was when they tried to crawl through the sewer.

Jackie Monterey had always thought of himself as a writer, and so he had vowed on the lives of his fish-Mark Twain, Dashiell Hammett, and Isaac Asimov-to finish a novel during his summer vacation. However, he never got past the opening line of his novel. In addition, he was convinced by his friends-Mallory, Nick, and Garus-to join the swim team. From there on, Jackie found everything going wrong; his coach¡¦s beautiful daughter seemed to like him, Garus began to disobey Nick, whom he had always admired, Nick started dating a dog-lover etc. Even his weird parents were making big money from their crazy, unfashionable health products. It wasn¡¦t until the last few days of his summer vacation that Jackie had found out what was wrong. He needed to have an open mind, a more accepting mind, and not see everything his way. With that in mind, Jackie wrote a winning essay about his summer that won five other people and him a trip to the Kingdom of Magic.
To me, this is just a typical contemporary fiction that talks about the problems of a teenager. It isn¡¦t really such an exciting story. The events that take place in this story rarely get my interests. Nevertheless, all these not exciting events accumulate to make a pretty good conflict. As a result, the climax turns out to be wonderful and the resolution was satisfying. It seems like the author suppressed all the good stuff throughout the book and released them on the last twenty pages.
My favorite part of this story is when Jackie is in the swim meet. The swim team from Frog Hollow has never beaten the swim team from Brewster before. But this year, the swim coach of Frog Hollow is confident in winning, in Jackie¡¦s talents. Jackie has never known of his swimming talents until he joined the swim team. He was trained for hours at a time by his coach and he was ready for the meet. When it was his turn to swim, Jackie just jumped into the swimming pool and swam naturally. He was calm and relaxed. When he finished his laps, he turned around and saw his opponent still struggling to finish his.

I love this book because it to so well-written, funny, and easy to read. The author does an excellent job in emersing the reader into the world of Jackie and his friends. Although I am not a twelve year old, reading this book brought me back to my childhood days of games and fun in the summertime. The author writes in mature language, yet keeps the reader engrossed by keeping it simple. Each of the characters are so well-developed and easy to relate to, they practically come alive. Interestingly enough, the cast represents people we all know today in some fashion. I especially love the "childhood romance" that Jackie experiences, and the ending is just as I would want it, but never as I would expect.

Read this book, and you'll see what I mean.