Rafe Khatchadorian is horrified that because of a missed science assignment he has to go to summer school; but instead of three weeks in a school room, he finds himself as a volunteer at BushyTail animal refuge, which is really hard, smelly work--and somehow he needs to use the experience (and the help of a girl he meets there) to produce a first-class science report.

"When Rafe Khatchadorian goes on a trip to Alaska, he's in for a blundering adventure that includes building igloos, racing across icebergs, and coming face-to-face with a polar bear"--

When Rafe is invited to attend an all-expenses paid art field trip in California, he jumps at the opportunity, but things go sideways, as they always do for Rafe, after he realizes he'll be participating in a "Cultural Campout" in the desert and a series of unfortunate events follow, including an encounter with a cranky crocodile, a claustrophobic trip into an ancient cave, and a plot to smuggle a legendary missing diamond.

After winning a school-wide art competition, Rafe sets off to Australia on an adventure, but he soon finds himself facing unwelcoming host-siblings, torturous temperatures, and animals ready to sting him or eat him alive all around.