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The Horror at Camp Jellyjam

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The Horror at Camp Jellyjam is the thirty-third book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published in 1995.

The original 1995 cover illustration depicts Counselor Buddy with a manic, wide grin on his face.

The 2009 Classic Goosebumps cover illustration features King Jellyjam inside his cave holding a mop.

Blurb[]

IT'S NOT WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE ― IT'S HOW YOU STAY ALIVE!

Swimming, basketball, archery. King Jellyjam's sports camp has it all. Too bad Wendy isn't a total sports freak like her brother, Elliot. But how excited can you get over a game of softball. It's just a game, right? WRONG! Because Camp Jellyjam is no ordinary sports camp. And Wendy's about to find out why. Why the counselors seem a little too happy. A little too obsessed with winning. And why the ground is always rumbling late at night...

Plot[]

Wendy and her younger brother, Elliot, are on a long road trip with their parents. To quell their boredom, the kids decide to ride in the trailer hitched to their parents' car. After several minutes of riding in the trailer, the kids notice something odd: the trailer appears to be rolling in reverse. The kids soon discover that the trailer has become unhitched, and they are rolling uncontrollably down a hill. The kids are violently jostled for a period of time. The shaking only stops when they reach the bottom of the hill. The kids hear a knocking at the trailer door, and Wendy assumes that it's her parents. However, the person knocking is a man who addresses himself as Buddy, a counselor for a nearby sports camp called King Jellyjam's Sports Camp. Buddy offers to let Elliot and Wendy stay at this camp until they can make contact with the authorities. While making their way to the camp, Wendy sees a small girl in the woods. The girl warns Wendy not to go to the sports camp, but Wendy ignores this.

The siblings are brought to the camp. They see that the camp's logo is a purple blob monster. Wendy and Elliot are taken to separate bunks. Wendy meets her three bunk-mates: Dierdre, Ivy, and Jan. The three girls are now going swimming, so Wendy borrows a bathing suit from Dierdre to join them. Despite the fact that Wendy just wants to relax in the pool, it is reserved specifically for competitions. Wendy races with several other campers in a four-lap swimming race. She almost wins, but sensing Diedre really wants to win, she slows down, and ends up coming in second place. Dierdre wins the race and receives a "King Coin"; when campers win six of these, they get to walk in the "Winners' Walk", and Diedre just won her fifth one. Wendy doesn't really mind losing the race, but she is lectured by Counselor Holly, who saw her slowing down near the end, for not living by the camp slogan, "ONLY THE BEST." Meanwhile, Elliot is having a great time at camp. Wendy gets to watch Eliot play ping-pong against another kid named Jeff. Elliot wins and receives a King Coin. After Elliot leaves, Wendy feels an earthquake-like tremor. Noticing Wendy's concern, Counselor Buddy says that the tremors are normal occurrence for the camp.

That night, Wendy gets to watch kids march to the Winners' Walk. Dierdre, who won her sixth coin, is marching with several other kids. That night, Wendy, Jan, and Ivy plan on having a party with Diedre to celebrate her win, but Dierdre never returns. The three bunk-mates agree to search for Dierdre. They see several counselors walking towards an unknown location, but they don't find Dierdre. Just as they opt to return to the bunk, they are approached by a girl. It's the same girl who warned Wendy about the camp earlier. The girl, Alicia, is scared and shaking. Alicia says that she has been trying to warn people, and that everyone needs to run away. She vanishes after Wendy, Ivy, and Jan are temporarily distracted by two camp counselors. The three bunk-mates return to their bunk. Jan accidentally opens Dierdre's drawer only to find that it's been emptied.

The next day, Wendy begins searching for Dierdre again. She asks Buddy about Dierdre and Alicia, but he simply replies that Dierdre and Alicia are both gone. Later, Wendy tries to call her parents, but she finds that all of the accessible phones don't allow for outgoing calls. Wendy watches her brother compete against Jeff at basketball and lose, winning Jeff his sixth King Coin. After this, Wendy is told by Buddy that she needs to compete more. Buddy arranges for an entire day's worth of sports for Wendy. Wendy plays a round of tennis, against a friendly girl named Rose, who wins the match, and her sixth King Coin. Wendy then goes to play softball. She takes a practice swing but accidentally hits Buddy hard in the chest. Shockingly, Buddy is completely unfazed, and quetly suggests Wendy use a lighter bat. Wendy's softball team loses, but Wendy doesn't really care.

That night Wendy, watches Rose and Jeff, among others, marching in the Winner's Walk. The next day, both of them are gone. Wendy begins planning an escape for her and Elliot. Sadly, Wendy can't convince Elliot to leave. Elliot wants to compete in a race the following morning to win his sixth King Coin. That night, Wendy sneaks out. She follows several counselors. They lead her into a theater in a clearing. Wendy decides to investigate the building. She witnesses Counselor Buddy hypnotizing all of the counselors. Wendy sneezes, which draws attention to her presence. Wendy escapes through a door, which leads to a long passage. As she continues through the passage, she smells an increasingly foul odor. At the end, she enters a cave, and sees dozens of kids working hard, including Alicia and Jeff. All of the Winners' Walk champions are moving furiously with mops, sponges, and hoses around an enormous, purple, gelatinous creature, who sweats snails, and is wearing a gold crown. The children are trying to clean him. Wendy finds Dierdre, and Dierdre explains that the monster is King Jellyjam. She says that the camp counselors are hypnotized and pushing the kids in sports because "ONLY THE BEST" are chosen to be King Jellyjam's slaves. The creature can't stand his own stench so he needs the most athletic beings to keep him clean 24 hours a day. The earthquakes were from his burping. Anyone who refuses to clean him, or tries to take a break, gets eaten. Dierdre says she saw him eat three kids already. Wendy sneaks out, promising to get help.

The next day, Wendy stops Elliot from winning his race to show him what she's seen. Wendy brings Elliot to the theater to show him King Jellyjam. Once beneath the ground again, Wendy reveals to Elliot that she has a plan to defeat King Jellyjam. She orders all the children to stop cleaning him, and lie on the ground and stay still. King Jellyjam wails and attempts to grab the slaves, but he can't, as his fingers are too flat and clumsy. He then makes a desparate but futile attempt to wash himself. Because she is standing, King Jellyjam grabs Wendy, but, before he can do anything else, he suffocates from his own stench and melts into a pile of his own rancid, purple goo. Wendy, Elliot, and the freed child slaves rush out of the theater, but are stopped by the band of brainwashed counselors. Just as they are about to attack, the police arrive to investigate the source of the campground's stench, which had been plaguing a nearby town. The officer's whistles seemingly snap the counselors out of their trances. Wendy and Elliot are soon reunited with their parents and they go home.

Roughly two weeks after leaving camp, Wendy and Elliot are at their house when they hear a knock at the door. They find that a reformed Buddy has traveled to their house. He declares Elliot actually won the race, and he gives Elliot his sixth King Coin. After receiving the coin, the kids smell a disgusting odor, and fear the worst. Their fear quickly disappears when their mother informs them that the scent is coming from the kitchen, where she is cooking brussels sprouts.

Reprints and rereleases[]

Book Release date Type Media

Fright Light Edition

 May 1997 Collection Hardcover

2003 - 2007 reprint series

 September 2003 Standalone Paperback

Classic Goosebumps

 May 2009 Standalone Paperback

Differences[]

  • The 2003 reprint changed "ping-pong" in the tagline to "canoeing."
  • In the original prints of this book, whenever "ONLY THE BEST" is being read off a poster or pin, it is written in bold. This is changed in the Classic Goosebumps reprint.
  • Many words and sentences that have not been italicized the original release were italicized in the Classic Goosebumps reprint.
  • "Two swimming pools!" is changed to "The pool is huge!"
  • "I swallowed hard" is changed to "I took a deep breath."
  • "two pay phones" is changed to "a row of pay phones."
  • "sassafras trees" is changed to "oak trees."
  • "lodge" is changed to "dorm."
  • "trotted" is changed to "headed."
  • "jerk free" is changed to "pull free."

International releases[]

Classic Goosebumps


Differences[]

  • In Portugal, this is the thirty-fourth book in the original Goosebumps series.
  • In the Portuguese adaptation of the story there are some notable differences:
    • Wendy and Elliot are called 'Guida and Miguel'
    • Buddy is called "Zeca."
    • Alicia is called "Alice."
    • Diedre is called "Isabel."
    • Jeff is called "Gabriel."
    • Rose is called "Rosa."
  • In France, this is the forty-second book in the original series.
    • Wendy is called "Chloe."
    • Elliot is called "Christopher."
  • In the French Canadian release, Wendy is named "Mireille".

Audiobook[]

Audiobook Release date Length Narrated by Published by
May 7, 2024 2 hours, 36 minutes Amber Dekkers Scholastic Inc.

Merchandise[]

Goosebumps Graphix[]

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam was adapted into a Goosebumps Graphix story in July 2007 by Kyle Baker. It is the third story in Scary Summer.

[]

Artwork[]

Conceptional[]

Tear-outs[]

The original printing of this book included an iron-on "Decal of Doom" tear-out.

Trivia[]

  • According to the back cover of the Classic Goosebumps reprint, The Horror at Camp Jellyjam has sold nearly 2 million copies.[1]
  • According to the Goosebumps Holiday Collector's Caps Book, and later corroborated in The Art of Goosebumps, the original title for the book was Smelly Summer.
  • According to It Came from New Jersey!, Tim Jacobus used himself as a model when it came to painting this cover. He took photos of himself in the concept outfit for Buddy and based his art on those photos.
  • This is one of the few Goosebumps books not to have a twist ending.
  • The book references Diet Coke, chinos and the Chicago Cubs.
  • In Tim's original concept art, the buildings behind Buddy were depicted as old ramshackle wood cabins. These were changed to two large white perfectly intact two-story dorms after feedback from the cover editor.
  • Rose is stated to be African-American, making her the first confirmed black character in the Goosebumps series.
    • Interestingly, the Goosebumps Graphix adaptation also depicts Wendy and Elliot as African-American.
  • This is the first book of the UK releases to feature the standard Tim Jacobus cover artwork.
  • This episode was considered for adaptation for the Goosebumps television series, but the higher budget required (mainly the size of King Jellyjam himself) caused the episode to go unproduced.

References in other Goosebumps media[]

References[]

  1. ↑ https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81DkIMeygFL.jpg
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