Gary Lutz (age 12) hates his life. His neighbor, Mr. Andretti, is a beekeeper who plays practical jokes on Gary because he knows Gary is afraid of bees.His 9-year-old sister also plays practical jokes on him and is stronger and braver than he is. Her cat, Claus, goes out of his way to scratch Gary.The three huge bullies in the neighborhood delight in pounding Gary's face in every day, leaving him with black eyes and other bruises.He's terrible at sports and is always picked last on any team. When he tries to flirt with any girls, he always does something klutzy that makes them laugh at him.Frankly, he needs a break from his crappy life.Luckily, it's the early days of the Internet in 1993. On his gaming forum he sees an advertisement: TAKE A VACATION FROM YOURSELF Change places with someone for a week! PERSON-TO-PERSON VACATIONS 113 Roach Street, Suite 2-B or call 1-800-555-SWAP Gary goes there to find a small dentist-like office filled with equipment that looks like something out of Star Trek. He signs up for the program. Only when Mrs. Karmen comes over to do the switch at Gary's house, she switches his mind into the body of a bee that had flown into the kitchen.Trapped inside a bee's body, filled with a craving for nectar and pollen, unable to communicate with his family, and knowing that he will die in autumn, Gary frantically searches for a way out. Will he ever be back in his real body again?...This was one of my favorite Goosebumps books when I was a kid. It delighted me to no end. Perhaps because body-switching is always so fun and cool.Some things are obviously silly! No, not the body-switching! That makes perfect sense, LOL. What doesn't make sense: - The company is fine with switching 12-year-old bodies with other bodies and no parent permission or knowledge is needed. - Gary is somehow still able to speak English (in a teeny-tiny voice) even though he has a bee's head and tongue. Just not possible. - Gary insists in talking to/yelling at humans while he is a bee. Dude: they can't hear you. Stop screaming at them all the time. They CAN'T HEAR YOU. I have no idea why he never seems to grasp this idea, even after he tries and fails about 80 times. - Dirk's parents fail to notice that their son has turned into a flower-munching, buzzing idiot.(view spoiler)[ Gary finally tells Mrs. Karmen what happened by using a microphone to amplify his voice. Dirk's body is possessed by the bee mind and has turned into a language-less, flower-eating idiot. Dirk's mind is in Gary's body and Dirk likes it in in there. He likes Gary's life. He wants to keep it. He is refusing to switch back. Gary sends a swarm of angry bees in to attack Dirk/Gary. He stings Dirk/Gary, and this makes him die and all minds go back to their original bodies. Gary and Dirk actually become friends after this. But Stine hints that the boys have kept some bee-traits such as a craving for pollen and super-hearing. :) But the brief time Dirk spent in Gary's body cleaned up his life a bit. The bullies leave him alone because Dirk/Gary beat them up. He also gave the pretty girls some skateboarding lessons so girls like Gary now. And Gary, since he lived as a bee, has really come to appreciate his loving parents and annoying little sister. (hide spoiler)]
Salah satu buku Goosebumps fave! Smpe skrg msh ada buku ini, walo udh agak lecek.. Dan sedikit menguning kertas nya. Hehe..Cerita nya ttg Gary yg benci bngt ma hdup nya.. Ada adik cewek nya yg nyebelin, tmn2 nya yg super jahil yg slalu jahatin dia. Hdup ny yang rumit.. Sampai suatu hari Gary leat iklan di internet.. Ttg liburan tukar tubuh. Nah, bingung kan? Begitu jg dg Gary,. Tpi akhirnya dia setuju jg.. Dia diatur buat tukaran tubuh ma anak cowok.. Dia butuh org buat ngerjain tgs2 dan ujian nya, sedangkan Gary cm mw bebas dr diri nya sendiri buat sementara.. Smua nya berjalan baik smp wktu mw ngelakuin pertukaran tubuh, tb2 muncul lah seekor lebah yg secara ga sengaja ikut2an tukaran jg. Jadilah Gary masuk ke dlm tubuh si lebah, Anak cowok itu jadi Gary dan si lebah jd anak cowok yg seharusnya Gary gantikan.. Kacau kan?Paling suka ma seri yang ini, ga tau kenapa. Selain ceritanya seru, ending nya juga ga nyebelin. Ga kaya buku Goosebumps yg lain, byk yang happy ending sih, tp agak ngegantung..
What do You think about Why I'm Afraid Of Bees (2005)?
Read this back when I was nine years old, during a study hall where I hadn't brought a book from home. Even then, I recall thinking how utterly lame and tepid the story was. Seriously, someone thought this even remotely qualified as horror, even for kids?! Beyond that, it's a generic, unimaginative kid's tale with the morale "be thankful for what you have!" Like the rest of RL Stine's works, it's an utter hack-job that he wrote in under a month. (New Goosebumps were released once a month for 4 years from 1994-1998) As you can imagine, they're repetitive as all hell, and the quality is disastrous.
—Vlad
This is the first of about twenty books where I have been able to identify with the main character. He did not fit in and it just seemed liked life was sucking for him, and so he wants to live in a different world for a while. I am sure we can all identify with this feeling, but unlike us, he got that oppurtunity. However, as predicted, things do not go as planned. The book was definitely interesting. I tried to see where the book was going with everything and I was right, however, I wish it would have ended differently, but since its a young adult book, it would not have ended the way I wanted, however I love the respect that the main character has at the end of the book, "walk a mile in my shoes"
—Dustin Spencer
http://www.davidasantos.com/Well its a cute little story. Somehow reading this kids life as a bee helped me escape my life as a human..The story is about a kid who accidentally switches bodies with a bee, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. The title is misleading because we dont actually get an explanation as to why he's afraid of bees. But overall its not a bad book. Not scary, not that suspenseful. If you want to start kids of on Goosebumps with a book that isn't too freighting, this would be a good choice. Despite the lack of horror or suspense, it still grabs you. The book is in first person, which makes it a fun read, because you get to see Gary's life through his eyes. All of his problems as a human and all of his problems as a bee. How would my dating life be different as a Honeybee? Hmm every girl I meet thinks shes the Queen, I can't do anything with my stinger or I'll die. What's the fun in having a stinger if you can't poke people? I guess its just one of those mysteries we should ask God when we see him "sigh"
—David Santos
