R. L. Stine

Wendy discovers that Camp Jellyjam is no ordinary sports camp.

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam

Wendy, a nonathletic girl who does not fit in with the other kids at summer sports camp, cannot understand why everyone is so excited about a little game of softball, but she is about to learn why they are all so competitive.

Briar's Reviews

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam is perhaps the weirdest of the Goosebumps books I've come across. I hadn't read this one as a kid, so I was super curious what was in store with a name like "Camp Jellyjam." I had no idea why the title was that when the kids are at a camp full of every sport you can imagine, but you find out in the end why it's... Jellyjam.

This book is WEIRD. Like, the writer (ghostwriter or RL Stine? If gossip is to be believed...) must have been on something weird or had some crazy dreams. Kids have to work really hard at this camp to be the best at every sport they go into. When they win, they get a special Camp Jellyjam coin. Once you get six, you get to walk in the Winner's Circle. But... you then disappear the next morning, never to be seen again. Sounds... horrifying.

Wendy and Elliot are our leads. Two siblings who decided to jump in the camper their parents were towing behind their vehicle as they headed out on vacation. Unfortunately for them, the camper becomes detached and then lands at Camp Jellyjam. They decide to join the camp fun, only to be swept into the drama and horror that is... middle school camp.

The premise is super cool but also just so weird. I did enjoy the read though! It's a fun and goofy horror book that I would have ate up back when I was in elementary school. I highly recommend this book if you want a fun yet horror filled middle grade read. Lots of ooky spokes in this book!

Three out of five stars.

Maggie Gordon

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam is... one of the weirder Goosebumps novels. It doesn't compare to Camp Nightmare, but it wasn't as horrible as I anticipated. Though it does feel like an acid trip for kids...

In this book, Elliot and Wendy are separated from their parents after an accident, but they end up right near a camp specialising in sports that is happy to let them stay until their parents can be fond. Elliot loves it there, but Wendy is concerned that the counsellors seem a little weird, and everyone who succeeds as an athlete seems to disappear... When she starts snooping, she discovers that the camp is really a trap run by a giant purple monster blob who uses children to keep him clean and relatively unsmelly (he sweats snails somehow, and can't stand his own stench). Wendy defeats him by letting him stew in his own filth, and all the kids escape!

I can't deny that Camp Jellyjam is creepy, particularly with its cult-like counsellors and bizarre earthquakes, but it is very very strange. Goosebumps are never founded in reality, but a giant monster blob is one of the less believable creations Stine came up with. On the other hand, none of the characters are intolerable, and the parents are not around to mess up the plot so it's a lot more readable than the last several books I've picked up in this series.

Jess Houston

Unable to fit in with the other kids at summer sports camp, Wendy, a non-athletic type, cannot understand what all the hype is over a little game of softball, but she is about to learn the origins of everyone's obsessive competitive streak. Original.