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| How to Ruin a Summer Vacation | 
 enlarge | Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Flux
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $5.28
You Save: $4.67 (47%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $0.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  (9 reviews)
Sales Rank: 457154
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0738709611
EAN: 9780738709611
ASIN: 0738709611
Publication Date: October 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
YALSA 2007 Teens? Top Ten "A breezy read." ?Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books ?Fresh, fun and fabulous! Guaranteed NOT to ruin your summer vacation!? ?Mari Mancusi, author of Boys that Bite How To Ruin a Summer Vacation Moshav? What?s a moshav? Is it ?shopping mall? in Hebrew? I mean, from what Jessica was telling me, Israeli stores have the latest fashions from Europe. That black dress Jessica has is really awesome. I know I?d be selling out if I go with the Sperm Donor to a mall, but I keep thinking about all the great stuff I could bring back home. Unfortunately for 16-year-old Amy Nelson, ?moshav? is not Hebrew for ?shopping mall.? Not even close. Think goats, not Gucci. Going to Israel with her estranged Israeli father is the last thing Amy wants to do this summer. She?s got a serious grudge against her dad, a.k.a. ?Sperm Donor,? for showing up so rarely in her life. Now he?s dragging her to a war zone to meet a family she?s never known, where she?ll probably be drafted into the army. At the very least, she?ll be stuck in a house with no AC and only one bathroom for seven people all summer?no best friend, no boyfriend, no shopping, no cell phone? Goodbye pride?hello Israel.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Hilariously, Interseting :) March 17, 2008
Right when i began this book i was mesmorized from begging to end, This book was funny, exciting and intersting.
Amy nelson only wanted to have a normal summer vacation but what she got was a trip to israel to visit her grandmother and family.
Leaving her new boy freind and best freind back in the suburb's.Many would think going to israel would be a very exciting experience, but not for Amy.Not when there are wars going on and going to israel with the sprem donor (a.k.a her father) doesnt seem like the ideal vacation.
Thinking her mother would surely not alow it her mother instead is all up for it and Amy is on her way to Israel. Nothing can be worse then this or can it, Every where she goes there are soldiers and gaurds.At least she'll be able to sleep in a nice homely hotel at least thats what she thought ,Instead shes staying in a small house with seven family members she has never met before, all in one house, sharing one small bathroom. Then there's her cousin Osnat who hate's Amy the minute she meet's her. Then she meet's a rude but very cute jerk, Avi, whom she see's every where she look's.Even though he's not the ideal nice guy she would ever be interested in she cant seem to get him out of her mind. Amy finally talks to her aba/grandmother and realizes the connection they have with each other.
Amy is now in a country/home with family who she does not know, a father who she dislikes and a rude but hot boy who has a secret that will lead Amy to finding out the real deal behind Avi
How to ruin a summer vacation is Funny, Exciting, and Amy will have you laughing and smiling all threw the book
I would recomened this book to any one who wants to read a book that is not only senseible but fun to.=)
 A ruined book? Not at all. January 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sixteen-year-old Amy Nelson is looking forward to her summer vacation until her absent father calls with news her grandmother in Israel is sick. He sends Amy a plane ticket and in no time she has left her priviledged American life behind to discover another culture.
At the beginning, Amy does not believe she can spend three months with family she's never met and a dad she barely knows. She rebels and is quite angry, but her father and family are persistent, and slowly she adapts to her surroundings.
Since Amy has such a new relationship with her father, and is in a country with family who are strangers, it's almost like the reader is discovering herself and her life at the same time she is.
Amy is a strong, opinionated, and outspoken teenage character. She is compelled to speak her mind, and sometimes her big mouth gets her into trouble and hurts the ones she loves most. Despite this, she has a good heart and her thoughts only come from the frustration of her chaotic life, and the feelings she experiences are justified given her circumstances.
Some parts felt a little forced, and the emotional scenes didn't connect me to the characters as much as they could have. I saw the potential though, and where the book was heading.
How To Ruin a Summer Vacation is a worthwhile read that touches on themes like finding yourself, new love, and accepting change. Fans will have fun seeing what kind of trouble Amy gets into next in the sequel, How to Ruin My Teenage Life.
 Great story line! But lacked the connection... December 20, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
There are some nicely done reviews here so I won't recap on what the story was about. I just wanted to add my comment about the book in general. Firstly, I enjoyed the premise of the book, it's witty and I was laughing. The author does a great job of centering a story on an unusual topic - spending the summer in Iraq! There are enjoyable situations that Amy finds herself caught in and I could definitely see movie material... for the first part of the book anyway.
Unfortunately, I felt like the book started to unravel a bit about half way through, and as the previous reviewer noted, the book is a bit rough in places. I felt like the roughness was due to not enough story development. For instance, I didn't feel the emotion when Amy had connecting moments with her Dad, or even with Avi and Osnat: those moments just sort of came out of the blue for me, and I felt unsettled, okay, a bit cheated, because I really wanted to make that connection but couldn't. I wished the author had taken some time to develop the story a little because it's a great story.
With that said, it's a good book, and I'll certainly read the sequels. The reason I rated the book a little low was mainly because of the rough places that pulled me away from enjoying the story as much.
not your typical chick-lit July 7, 2007
Based on the title, I thought this was going to be typical, annoying, chick-lit. It's definitely not. The main character, Amy, does some serious soul searching in a war-torn country, and eventually finds a part of herself that she didn't know existed. The plot and pacing were rough in a few places, and the characters were typical for chick-lit. But, overall, this is a good read, and had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too November 27, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
All Amy Nelson wanted was to have a regular summer. To spend time with her best friend, Jessica, and her new boyfriend. But that won't happen for Amy by a long shot. It seems that her estranged father wants her to go back to Israel with him to visit her grandmother. Sure, going to Israel may seem exciting to most people, but not for Amy. Not when there are wars going on and the fact that she has to go with a man that she hardly knows. The one good thing that may come from this is the coolest fashions that her best friend is always telling her about.
Before she knows it, Amy's mother makes her go and she's on the next plane to Israel. Things couldn't get any worse for Amy at this point; well, actually they can. When she arrives, Amy sees something totally different then what she would see at home in Chicago. There seems to be soldiers and guards at every corner. Not only that, but Amy just discovered that she isn't sleeping in a fancy hotel, but more like an old house, with one bathroom and seven other people that she's never met. Then there's her cousin Snotty, I mean Osnat, who seems to hate Amy the moment she sees her, and the no-shirt cute-jerk, Avi, who Amy happens to see everywhere she turns. If only she could just get him out of her mind. There's also her aba, or grandmother, that for someone she hardly knows, Amy discovers there's a deep connection between the two of them.
With an entirely new family and obnoxious people in a totally different country, it seems like this might be the craziest summer yet for Amy.
HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION, no doubt, was the greatest book I've read in a long time. Not only does the basis of the book pull you in, but the cast of characters all charm their way into your heart. Even though Amy may be a little bratty at times, every obstacle she goes through and every awkward situation for her makes reading the book worthwhile. Simone Elkeles eliminates all the myths we had about Israel and introduces a completely new culture that I, for one, hardly knew anything about. Not only will you begin to appreciate Amy's new culture, but you'll also think about your own culture and how unique it is. The sequel to this book, How to Ruin My Teenage Life, will release on June 1, 2007.
Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
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