What had happened to me in our relationship....BSC #41 Mary Anne vs. Logan

Memory Reaction

I must have really hated change as a kid, because I think I kind of hated this book. I am not sure though – I read the book where Mary Anne and Logan get back together more than I read this one. Again, proof that I hated change. The thing is, I couldn’t believe Mary Anne and Logan broke up. I was always so shocked whenever any big event happened to the BSC – Mary Anne and Dawn’s parents getting married, Dawn going to California, Stacey moving away, etc.

Revisited Reaction

Sometime leading up to this book, Logan changed from being “super-sensitive, wonderful guy” to being your average asshole. Mary Anne recalls some fights they have had recently, and says she has learned she and Logan don’t always trust each other and she can’t always count on him in a crisis. It is a good thing those are such minor issues in a relationship, or she would really have a problem. Anyway, Logan keeps ordering Mary Anne around and she gets so annoyed, blah, blah, blah. She finally tells him they should cool things down. Logan reacts by not talking to her for a couple weeks and then does a complete 180 and surprises with her with a romantic Valentines’ Day dinner. Mary Anne is pissed that he didn’t even talk to her about heating things up again and at the end, breaks up with him. Until about five books later, anyway.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Prezzioso is about to have a baby. Since she obviously knows her first child is a brat, she buys a bunch of stuff to bribe Jenny into being good about the new sister thing. Jenny is still a brat though. At the end, when the new baby is born, Jenny sees the baby and gets all mushy about her sister. I am totally sure that will last too.

Also: For some reason, Mary Anne and Dawn know that the Prezzioso’s are having a girl, and no one else in the BSC does because they want to be surprised. Does that even happen? Usually, if the parents know the kid is going to be a girl/boy, they tell people. I have never heard of people giving their friends the option, especially if they have a baby shower. The BSC actually helps out at the shower, and you would think some people would be giving little pastel dresses or something. Plus, you know Mrs. P decorated that nursery with a ton of pink. So, I don’t get how the rest of the BSC can just decide they don’t want to know the gender of someone else’s baby.

High/Lowlights

• Logan calls Mary Anne on a Friday night and wants to go to dinner. Mary Anne tells her she is baby-sitting and he tries to get her to pawn off the job on Dawn. Then he keeps calling her at the Prezziosos.’ Doesn’t he know the rules of good baby-sitting prevent Mary Anne from talking on the phone at a client’s house?

• Would new clothes really act as a bribe for a four-year-old? It seems like toys would work better. Clothes didn’t get me excited until I was closer to middle school.

• Kristy is from the most unusual family Mary Anne knows. But how is it more unusual then hers? They both lost a parent as a kid, had their single parent get remarried, and moved to a new house. Granted, Kristy’s family is bigger, and her story involves a millionaire, but really, they are pretty similar.

• Do Kristy and Mary Anne really have a lot in common? Besides the family stuff I just said, and I guess baby sitting, they have nothing in common.

• “A typical Claudia outfit might be black leggings, a baggy black-and-white shirtdress, low black shoes, and big wild earrings for her pierced ears.” What is a shirtdress?

• During a BSC meeting, Mary Anne sees a brown stain on Claudia’s bed, and everyone gets all grossed out. Claud smells it and declares it is chocolate. The scene leaves a really disturbing image in my head.

• Mary Anne outfit: “blue print pants that were wide on top but narrowed to the cuffs at the ankles, and a short-cropped T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up and this acute picture of a cactus wearing a cowboy hat.” She thinks she looks like a nerd, and I can’t disagree.

• Acute is another word the BSC made up for cool. Apparently, they do that all the time, so they can say things and no one else knows what they mean. That’s….mature. Although, Acute is a better word than “dibble.”

• “Claud was wearing an oversized raspberry-colored shirt, a short black skirt and black leggings (the layered look). On her feet were black cowboy boots, and dangling from an earcuff was a huge collection of beads and stones.” Good thing Mary Anne was specific. I would have though Claud wore the boots on her ears and the beads and stones on her feet.

• Logan drags Mary Anne to the park in the middle of winter. When she gets cold, Logan is all, “I’m not cold, so clearly you can’t really be cold.” A real prize, that Logan.

• So, Karen is all sad because she had a fight with her fake-boyfriend and doesn’t think they are getting pretend-married anymore. I total remember that Little Sister book. I wonder if it showed her having the conversation with Kristy. (Like I have said before, I was a sucker for that cross over crap).

• Logan wants to see Halloween III at the movies. That movie came out in 1983. This book was published in 1991. And they talk about it like it is a new movie. It was also rated R, so I don’t even know why 13-year-olds seeing it in a theater is an option.

• Okay, well, Mary Anne wants to see the Music Man, which is even older. But at least that is explained by the existence of an oldies theater.
  

• Mary Anne’s dad tells her she might be spending too much time with Logan and that he misses her. It sounds creepy to summarize, but I think it was supposed to be sweet. I hope, anyway. Anyway, she agrees, and it gives her the idea to tell Logan they should cool down.

• Mary Anne doesn’t tell any one from the BSC about her and Logan for over a week. So much for best friends.

• When she finally does tell them, they are all: “OMG, I thought you guys were going to get married!” First of all, that is pretty insensitive. But typical for these girls. Second of all, who really thinks about their friends getting married in 8^th grade?

• Jenny also gets a doll so she can learn how to change a diaper. Isn’t she a little young to help out with that stuff? I am the youngest in my family, so I have no idea what older siblings really do at what age.

• While they are “cooled off” Logan calls and asks Mary Anne to baby-sit for his siblings on Valentines Day. The rest of the BSC encourage her to take the job. Why would they do that? If she isn’t talking to her boyfriend, she should not have to go baby-sit at his house on V-Day. They didn’t know he was tricking her into a romantic dinner. Once you look at them through adult eyes, you see how insensitive these girls were to each other.

• Mary Anne has some really low self-esteem. During their “cool down,” she keeps imagining Logan with some rich blonde chick. Doesn’t she do this in some Super Special too?

• There is some foreshadowing to this book, when Mary Anne talks about how Stacey seems sick and tired a lot lately.

• There is a picture of a stork at the Prezzioso baby shower, leading Jenny to ask Mary Anne, Stacey, and Claud about where babies come from. Mary Anne is the only one smart enough to tell her to talk to her parents.

• When Mrs. P goes into labor they call all the BSC and finally get Jessi on the phone, so she gets the job. I bet Jessi felt pretty bad to know she was the last one they called. And I can’t believe they were counting on the BSC to watch Jenny while Mrs. P gave birth. What if she went into labor during the school day, or late at night?

• Wow. In the middle of this Mary Anne book, they start talking about Sea City. Stacey says something and then we get this direct quote: “But then Toby came along,” Mary Anne reminded me.” How did that mistake happen? I am thinking they pulled text from some Stacey book and then forgot to edit, but I can’t figure out what book it would have been.