Monday, May 3, 2010

“California is calling you”…..BSC # 88: Farewell, Dawn

Memory Reaction

I’ll admit, that I remember being sad at the end of this one. I’m not really a big fan of change, and the idea of Dawn leaving permanently seemed like the end of an era or something. I probably would have doubted that she was really leaving for good, if it weren’t for the fact that they had advertised a “name the new baby-sitter” contest for a couple months beforehand. And I admit, I submitted multiple entries for that contest. I think it was actually a contest to name the new sitter and her twin….but I’m not sure if I thought they would both be in the club or not.

I was also somewhat cynical, because I was very aware that they were having Dawn leave, in the book immediately following the one where Stacey rejoins the club. It almost seemed like they only brought Stacey back so she would fill the hole when Dawn left.

Revisited Reaction

So, Dawn’s missing California. Which is pretty much the equivalent of Dawn breathing. But it’s worse than usual, partially because her friend Sunny’s mother has cancer, and Dawn wants to be there for Sunny. Whatever the reason, she decides she wants to go back to California permanently. And she’s going to do it soon, so that she can get there before the school year starts.

Dawn wants to tell Mary Anne about the decision herself, but she’s having trouble figuring out how to do it. She does tell Kristy, because she’s BSC President and that’s what a responsible baby-sitter does. Kristy agrees not to tell anyone, but tells Claudia anyway, who tells Stacey, who tells Robert, who tells Logan…who tells Mary Anne. So, Mary Anne’s pissed that Dawn didn’t tell her, and she’s upset that Dawn’s leaving. Mary Anne’s upset, not just because Dawn’s leaving, but because she heard about it from Logan. She ends up acting really cold around Dawn – not angry, just cold. Dawn thinks Mary Anne’s just waiting for her good-bye party to make a big gesture. But, it turns out Mary Anne barely helps plan it. Finally, right before Dawn leaves, Mary Anne cries and tells Dawn how much she’ll miss her. They bond, cry, and make a promise to think of each other when brushing their teeth. The usual stuff.

Meanwhile, James Hobart breaks his leg while playing with his brothers and some of the Pike kids. It sucks for him, because it’s the middle of summer, and for an eight-year-old that means spending time outside running around or swimming. So, the BSC and some of their clients arrange a “Christmas in the Summer” party to cheer him up. They have to do this, because Dawn’s good-bye party’s NOT for little kids. So, they can’t have the sub-plot chapters be about kids planning that, they needed another reason.

The last chapter’s letters between Dawn and the rest of the BSC revealing that she gets there, they all miss her, etc.

High/Lowlights

  • The cover of this book's hysterical, because you have Dawn and Mary Anne looking like they are about to start crying, and Kristy looking like she can't wait for Dawn to leave. I thought they got over that jealousy plot ages ago?
  • What exactly do you think Janine does on her computer all the time? Shannon says she looked at the screen and couldn’t understand the program Janine was writing. I always pictured Janine typing stuff, reading, searching for porn, or something. But I guess she was programming?
  • I like that Dawn’s decision got out to Mary Anne via a gossip train, it’s very realistic for 13-year-olds.
  • However, are Logan and Robert supposed to be friends? They seem to run in different circles.
  • Dawn’s excuse for not telling Mary Anne’s sort of weak…she claims she wanted to find the right way to tell her, but she really was just afraid to have the confrontation.
  • It’s amazing but the going away party they have for Dawn, does NOT include kids. Stacey actually says that she doesn’t want to end up baby-sitting during the party. Which is realistic (for a change), but kind of bold of Stacey, since she’s still on “probation.”
  • Dawn says that her mother feels at home in Stoneybrook because she grew up there. But Dawn grew up in California, so that feels like home to her. Way to send a positive message to all the girls reading who’ve moved somewhere and are trying to adjust.
  • The whole “Christmas in the Summer” plot’s a bit contrived. The BSC recruits all their charges to help plan it, make food, decorate, and pick out “gifts” (cheap stuff). But, I don’t think all those people are his friends. I mean, the group includes Jenny Prezzioso. Just because they live in the same neighborhood doesn’t mean they’re friends.
  • Dawn cooks dinner for Mary Anne to try and mend fences a bit. So, she tells us that she’s making a dish called “eggplant roll-ups.” Then a half page later, she tells Mary Anne that she made “eggplant rollitini.” I guess both names could apply to that dish, but it seems weird.
  • Watson drives the entire BSC to the airport to say good-bye to Dawn. He’s really very nice, isn’t he? He invites those girls on vacations, he drives them places….The only other description I could come up with is creepy, but thinking about that just seems wrong.
  • It’s so self-centered of Dawn to assume Mary Anne’s planning something special for her going away party. I think she was the same way the other time she moved back to California. But just because Mary Anne says she wants to say good-bye “her own way,” doesn’t mean she’s planning a big gesture.
  • When they surprise James, he gets all confused and thinks it really is Christmas. Or something. Because in Australia, Christmas happens when it’s warm out. That’s the cultural awareness message in this book.
  • Dawn’s father MAILS her plane ticket to her. I guess that’s how people did things before e-tickets. But, what really surprised me was that he sends it to arrive on Friday, for a Saturday flight. Wouldn’t it be better to have a bit more time? Some things get lost in the mail.
  • It struck me that Jessi’s a really good letter writer. I remember her being good about it in other books, and in this one, she mails a letter out to Dawn before she even leaves, so it will be there waiting for her.
  • There’s a nice bonding moment, where Dawn and Stacey talk about the various changes in their lives. It’s too short to actually say anything meaningful, but I appreciate the effort.
  • In the photo slide show, we hear about a few past events like the Mini-Olympics and the Snow White/Captain Planet video. I always like the shout outs to other books….I still do actually. It’s like a pay off for all the hours I once spent reading these books.
  • The photo slide show also has pictures of the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant. Everyone remembers that one, right? The one where Jeff moves back to California and Dawn calls him a brat for hurting their mom? And swears that even though she misses California she would never do something as selfish as moving back?





17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never thought of Watson as "creepy", but now that's all I can think about XD

Lila said...

I never thought of Watson as creepy, either. I just always thought that he was really making an effort to be a good stepdad to Kristy (and that he was probably making similar overtures to Charlie, Sam, and David Michael, only we didn't see it). And the vacation thing--I think a lot of it is that he's a nice guy, but he also got free baby-sitters for the younger kids. And who could blame him for wanting some peace from Karen? :)

BSC Snarker, aka Kristen said...

I never really thought of him as creepy, and I'm sure it wasn't intended to be that way. But when I was thinking of it, I realized that it could be interpreted a different way.

Anonymous said...

i always hated the newer books

SJSiff said...

Yeah, Kristy and Claudia look way too happy on the cover of this book!

Interesting point about Jessi. In her first book (#16), she mentions she's "a terrible letter-writer." But I seem to recall she makes a New Year's resolution or something like that to be better at it.

caffeininspirated said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bazu said...

This always seemed really weird to me, because every book before this was about how much Dawn was getting used to CT, how she fit in and adjusted well (unlike Jeff), how close she and MaryAnne were, and especially how close she and her mom were. I feel that this book flies in the face of all that plot and character development.

Leila said...

So AMM has been doing the press rounds lately because of her new bsc book and one of the reporter people asked her what she thought the club members would be doing today. For most of them she mentioned specific jobs, but for Dawn it was just "she'd be in California. I'm not sure doing what, but she'd be there." (this is paraphrased from memory).

Dawn was probably my favorite from the early books but this shows how being Californian gradually really became her only personality trait.

I had never read this book, because I had read "Dawn's Big Move" and didn't want to read the same book twice.

BSC Snarker, aka Kristen said...

What's sad is that AMM also couldn't come up with anything for Mallory. She basically said, "oh, maybe she ended up writing...."

That's even less than she said about Dawn.

Anonymous said...

^ There's also nothing about Abby, Shannon and Logan, if I recall correctly.

Anonymous said...

I love your blog. Your thoughts are hysterical. I was so into the BSC when I was younger, and well into my teenage years...I know. Like you, I read them because they were so familiar and I liked to make fun of them in my mind. I think I shared your exact same thoughts on many of the outfits, parenting decisions, etc. I haven't been able to stop reading this blog. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

Anonymous said...

This was the last BSC book I got, though for some reason where I lived some of the mysteries were released before the regular series so my last mystery book was 26. So it was kind of strange, I never read where Abby joined the book, but in the mysteries she was already there and Dawn had already left.

Also this book did seem like a rehash of Dawn's Big Move. Why did she bother coming back at all!

Raf Nicholson said...

Very late to join this comment thread, but it's interesting that in the UK version of this book they changed the name of the dish Dawn makes Mary Anne to "aubergine roll-ups". Makes me wonder what else they changed to suit the UK audience.

micah said...

any body else remember in book #15 when jeff leaves, dawn tells her mom she will never ever leave her and doesnot need to worry about htat? wellapparently she does! for some reason I was always ticked off at dawn for leaving, the way she is about jeff

edkchestnut said...

I read this book for the first time not too long ago and could only think good riddance. By the time this one came out, Dawn's only character traits were selfish and bitch. Thank-God she left. It's a shame, too, because she could have been a good character if they had kept her the way she was in the very early series.

Marianna E said...

1. I never thought about Watson as creepy. Some people are just nice and generous.
2. I considered Janine coding or just doing homework. I never considered looking at porn because I’ve never been interested in that stuff so it’s not something I think about unless it’s blatantly pointed out that someone is actually looking at that.
3. Why did we need two books about Dawn moving? Why did she even come back for a few books if they were going to make her leave again, anyway? Why not bring in the new sitter a few books after Dawn left the first time?
4. I sent in a lot of entries for naming the new sitter and her twin, and was disappointed when Abby was introduced because I didn’t win the contest. But I ended up liking Abby, so I got over it soon.

Sara919 said...

I stopped reading the BSC somewhere in the mid 70s, but recently I found out I can check out BSC e-books from my library and read them right on my laptop, so I've been re-reading the series from the start and also reading the ones I never got to later in the series.

While I felt bad for Mary Anne, the person I felt really bad for was Sharon. Both her children have pretty much decided to pick their dad over their mother and leave her. I understand that Dawn wants to be there for Sunny since her mom is sick, but it's kind of ironic that Dawn is leaving her own mother to do so. It's too bad the books didn't take place in real time, because then maybe Dawn could have stuck it out in Stoneybrook until college, then moved back to California.

I guess Ann. M Martin and her editors decided they needed a change and felt that Dawn was better suited in California; I assume they had the California Dairies already planned? I've never read them but I would be curious to check them out. I was never a huge Dawn fan so I wasn't terribly sad when she left; just felt bad for Sharon, that's all.