“They were definitely the work of a lunatic”…BSC # 38: Kristy’s Mystery Admirer

Memory Reaction

I think even when I was a kid these books were predictable. I remember being so annoyed that Kristy couldn’t figure out it was Cokie sending her creepy notes. I mean, it was always Cokie, right? She’s the go to bad guy for the BSC.

I also remember that Bart and Kristy went to the dance dressed as lobsters. I remember how thrilled Kristy was that she didn’t have to wear a dress and how horrified Shannon and Karen were at the idea of Kristy not dressing up in a regular dress.

Revisited Reaction

The copy of the book I had was missing about thirty starting around Chapter 4, but I think I got the basic plot covered. Kristy and Bart are planning a “World Series” between the Krushers and the Bashers. They are also totally into each other and Kristy asks him to a Halloween dance at school (he says yes). Then Kristy starts getting “love notes.” Or what passes for love notes to a 13-year-old…your typical cutesy/nice stuff. At first, everyone tells her it is Bart, but she thinks it is Sam playing a joke.

Then the notes start getting a little weird….they make a bunch of references to death and even have fingernail clippings in the envelope. Then Kristy thinks the notes are from Bart and everyone else thinks they are from Sam. Then they all decide that some crazy lunatic is sending them (yet, Kristy doesn’t mention this to her parents). Eventually, Kristy and the rest of the BSC decide Bart is sending them after all, in order to psych her out for the World Series. So, Kristy stops talking to him.

Bart finally shows up at Kristy’s house and demands to know why she invited him to a dance then stopped talking to him. She shows him the letters, and Bart admits he sent the early notes (the nice ones), but not the creepy/threatening ones. So, they make up and all is forgiven. But they still don’t know who the other letters came from.

At the World Series (the Krushers/Bashers one), Kristy sees Cokie at the game, and is all, “WTF is that bitch doing here?” Kristy goes to talk to her, and when she does, Cokie accidentally quotes one of the creepy letters. She tells Kristy she did it because of the time when the BSC made Cokie look like a fool in front of Logan at the Graveyard. Which, I guess happened in one of the other books where Cokie tortured the BSC on Halloween. You know, that other Halloween when they were in eighth grade?

Anyway, things wrap up nicely and everyone goes to the dance and has fun. Kristy and Bart go dressed as lobsters, he kisses her, and she decides she is totally in love. Oh, and the Krusher’s win the World Series. Which only consisted of one game, so can’t really be called a series.


High/Lowlights

• After a Krusher’s game (an early one, not the World Series), Kristy says that she hears the kids telling their parents about winning a game. It seems very different from the first game when the kids’ parents actually showed up for the games.

• Kristy says that practically the only time she wears skirts is when she plays field hockey in gym. Do people really wear full uniforms like that in gym class? We always wore whatever sweats/shorts we brought in ourselves.

• Kristy also says she wishes she could practice in jeans and T-shirts….what is it with the BSC and thinking jeans are good clothes for athletics?

• How big is Claudia’s room, exactly? At a meeting, Claudia is stretched out on the bed because her leg is bothering her, so Mal, Jessi, Mary Anne, and Dawn sit on the floor, while Stacey sits at the desk, and Kristy sits in the “director’s chair.” And why does Claud even have the director’s chair?

• Kristy speculates that the notes are from an actual psycho who wants to kidnap her to get ransom from Watson. And Shannon, is all, “Wouldn’t a kidnapper take Karen or Andrew? They’re his ‘real’ kids.”

• The theory about Bart sending the notes to sabotage the Krusher’s in the World Series is actually all Shannon’s. Isn’t she supposed to be smart?

• You would think that it would occur to at least one of these girls that the reason the first few notes were really nice, and the next set really creepy, is cause there are two people writing them. Kristy talked about it at school, so obviously, someone else could have found out.

• Buddy Barrett hits Shannon in the head with a baseball and she asks to keep the ball. So then he gets a crush on her. I guess that is kind of cute.

• Suzie is making fun of Buddy about this, and he makes her shut up by threatening to tell about something she did. We never find out what, which actually makes me a little annoyed.

• Charlotte, Haley, and Vanessa dress up as the three stooges while cheering (cheerleadering?) at the World Series. The clothes practically fall off them during a practice game.

• Kristy keeps the letters hidden in a copy of The Cat Ate my Gymsuit. I can’t remember if I ever read this, but I remember seeing it in my school library all the time, and thinking of this book. Only, the book my library kept, had this cover.

• When Bart shows up to talk to Kristy, she brings him up to her room. First of all, if she really thinks he is sending her mean letters, why let him come upstairs? Keep him downstairs where other people are around. Secondly, a thirteen-year-old letting her boyfriend into her bedroom?

• Kristy keeps claiming she doesn’t have any enemies. Except, um. She does. Cokie.

• I like David Michael, Karen, and Andrew are always trying to “bulk up” by eating a huge breakfast before Krusher’s games in the books. I don’t think I had any idea what that meant at the time, but I still knew it was a joke.

• Kristy and Bart win a prize for Most Unusual Costume.

• Shannon and Claudia explain to Jessi and Mal that while boys may be “clods” in sixth grade, they go through a metamorphosis, which I guess makes them fabulous young men in eighth.

• Kristy’s “revenge” on Cokie? She is going to let everyone in the school know what Cokie did. Um, how is that revenge? People who are friends with Cokie will think she pulled off something cool, and people who are friends with Kristy probably already think Cokie is a loser.