No Coins, Please

This has the early Korman wackiness in full force, and although it's not quite up to the hilarity level of This Can't Be Happening or Bugs Potter, it is very funny indeed. We read it in the 1980s and then somehow it became quite an uncommon and expensive book when I wasn't looking. Korman fans PSA: Grab a copy if you can find one at a reasonable price!

I love this book! I have read it so many times and I just finished re-reading it and it really holds up. I love the premise - two eighteen year old guys (one rather reluctantly) decide to become counsellors to six eleven year old campers on a trip across the United States. One of their campers keeps disappearing and we read about all his crazy money making schemes.
I love the tone of the book, the language the author uses just makes it feel very realistic and very funny. I absolutely loved reading about all of the really unique ways that Artie makes money. I loved all of the different campers and how they all had really unique personalities and quirks. It was great to see how they end up really bonding together.
I loved the director and show more how true it is that someone who hates kids and camping could end up doing something like this for their career.
I wouldn't recommend for really young kids just because the two counsellors are always looking for girls to hang out with, also there is one day when they talk a lot about luck and superstition.
Overall though I would really recommend this book for young teens and I think teen boys especially would enjoy it.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast Season 2 episode 14
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185 show less

This is one of Korman's better books; the characterization was fun (if a bit repetitive), and the conclusion was satisfying. I loved the casino scam, as well as the attempted rescue by the Ambulance. The only thing I would really want to know is what Artie did to the Road Hogs! It seems like a loose thread that should have been resolved, but otherwise a good book.

A childhood favorite that doesn't stand up *quite* as well as some of Korman's other work -- the MacDonald Hall books still make me cry laughing, as do the slightly more young-adult work (as opposed to pre-teen, which this is). But it has Korman's signature wackiness and great dialogue, even if I feel like some the characters were padding.

Rob and Dennis get a summer job driving a group of kids across the country on a road trip. They think this is going to be an easy job until they meet Artie, a kid with one crazy money-making scheme after another.

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