No Coins, Please

Susan Rogers was a librarian with the Laurenval School Board (Adult Services), Deux Montagnes, Quebec.

Artie Geller, an eleven-year-old from Montreal, is the hero of Gordon Korman’s ninth novel. He is one of six campers and two counsellors who make up the ambulance group of Juniortours. Crossing the United States in vans, the groups meet at prearranged points across the country. The one rule is not to get lost.

Driving his counsellors to distraction, Artie manages to slip away from the group at every stop. He engages in money-making enterprises in every city. He sells attack jelly in New York and charges campers to milk cows in Nebraska. His schemes become more outrageous and more profitable each time, culminating in his final venture — gambling in Las Vegas. Here he finally meets his downfall, but the reader knows that eventually Artie will make a comeback.

Gordon Korman fans will not be bothered by the wooden characterization or the repetitive course of the plot. The action is fast-paced and humorous, and Artie’s wacky schemes are really clever. The reader wants to know what he’ll do next.