I Want to Go Home! (Hardcover)

I remember this as being one of my favourite books when I was a kid. I had forgotten how funny this book really is. Rudy Miller's dry sense of humour is, for me, what gives this book it's charm. Some of the things he comes out with are just laugh out loud funny. And the whole story with the beaver - I had completely forgotten about that.

I noticed that a few updates have been made over the last 20 years (in my day, it was just a regular portable tape player that Rudy used to shut himself off initially from his fellow campers, not a CD player) effectively, yet subtly refreshing this great story for a new generation. For those "older" folks like me, I highly recommend picking this one up for those of you who are nostalgic for life at camp, and for those of you who just want a good chuckle.

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Camp Algonkian Island is every campers dream. Or so the counselors and the camp director, Mr. Warden, believe. None of them are prepared for Rudy Miller. Rudy doesn't want to be at camp; he's determined to go home and he'll do anything he has to do in order to escape 'Alcatraz' (his preferred nickname for the island) and the clones (what he calls the counselors). His counselor in Cabin 13, Chip, isn't quite sure what to do with the Rudy when he refuses to participate in all camp activites by saying he 'doesn't do them'. Chip's problems have only begun when Mike Webster joins Rudy as another camper who would prefer to be elsewhere and finds himself swept up into Rudy's somewhat dramatic, and hilarious, attempts at escape.

Between repeated escape attempts, seemingly endless punishment duty, and an ongoing feud with cabinmate Harold Green, the counselors manage to force Rudy into participation and find that not only can he DO all the things he refused to participate in, Rudy has the abilities of a natural born overachiever! He wins at every sport, game and contest that he competes in -- but he still wants to go home.

Hilarity ensues as Rudy and Mike build dams, take boats, and escape from events off the island in their attempts to get away from camp while various counselors try to bribe Rudy into playing on camp teams (thus assuring they'd win); meanwhile, Rudy is slowly driving Chip toward a nervous breakdown.

Rudy's blase attitude and dead pan humor are dead on and this book is a masterpiece. No matter your age this book will be truly enjoyable.

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