“Why couldn’t they have planned it on a different weekend?”…..BSC Super Special # 12: Here Come the Bridesmaids!

Memory Reaction

I remember reading the back of this book in the store and thinking, “why the hell would Mary Anne be a bridesmaid in Dawn’s father’s wedding?”  Except I may not have actually said “hell” since I didn’t curse that much as a kid.  But, in the actual book, Mary Anne isn’t a bridesmaid, which made me feel a little better about the whole thing.  I also remember thinking it was unrealistic that the BSC was so involved in Mrs. Barrett’s wedding.  That of course, does not get any better when you actually read the book.  Which may be why it was the last Super Special I read when it first came out.

The most important thing from this book though, is that it’s when Dawn came back from her “six month” stay in California.  Only a year-and-a-half had gone by in book time, and I was all proud of myself for being able to figure that out.  Looking back it was pretty obvious (she left at the beginning of the school year, was there in winter, summer, and then was going home on Christmas).

Revisited Reaction

Dawn’s father’s marrying his girlfriend Carol (in California).  After the wedding, Dawn’s coming back to Stoneybrook after her extended vacation with her dad.  Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne are flying out for the wedding, because all 13-year-olds fly across the country for weddings of people they barely know.   Back in Stoneybrook, Mrs. Barrett’s getting married too.  Since not all the girls can be at both weddings, Dawn decides to make a "wedding journal" about the whole thing. 

California:
Dawn’s a bridesmaid in the wedding and she somehow gets it in her head that Mary Anne is too, although she forgets to share this information with Mary Anne.  So, when Mary Anne gets out there, Dawn just gives her the dress she picked out and Mary Anne’s all annoyed/stressed.  But as soon as she gets used to the idea, Carol and Mr. Schafer announce that Dawn and Jeff are the only two in the wedding party, and Mary Anne’s rightfully pissed at Dawn again.  But she gets over it, and she wears the dress that matches Dawn’s, even though she’s just a guest.  Which makes the cover fairly accurate.  

Stoneybrook: 

Stacey was hired to help watch the kids at the Barrett/DeWitt wedding.  But then Mrs. Barrett asks Stacey to be a bridesmaid because the old friend who was supposed to do it no longer can make it.  Stacey’s thrilled of course, and Shannon and Mallory end up watching the kids at the wedding.  It’s pretty drama-free.

Un wedding related events:
Jessi gets roped into being the Santa Claus at Bellairs (since this is all happening in the weeks leading up to Christmas).  It’s not as weird as it sounds, she’s just walking around the store in costume chatting with kids.  And it's a volunteer spot, so it’s not totally bizarre that they'd have to resort to the BSC when the guy who was supposed to do it backs out.  She’s super nervous, but ends up loving it.

Mallory and Ben Hobart make plans to go Christmas caroling with some kids.  At the last minute Mal gets asked to help at the Barrett wedding, so she has to cancel.  Ben’s mad at her for agreeing to do the wedding after agreeing to go caroling, and they have a big fight.  But they make up at the end and go caroling on a different day.  Thrilling, huh?

Jeff gets a couple chapters in this one.  He’s worried that his father will fire their housekeeper now that Carol’s moving in, and he’s annoyed that Carol’s bringing her “ugly” furniture into their house.  But since Carol’s a “slob” they are keeping the housekeeper and the moving van with Carol’s stuff gets stolen, so things all work out for him.  He's also annoyed by how much Dawn and her friends talk, which doesn’t stop, but you can’t have everything.  My summary sounds boring, but he's actually one of the more entertaining narrators.

Suzi Barrett gets to narrate as well.  She’s less entertaining, but she’s a step up from the usual Karen chapters.  She doesn’t want to move because she doesn’t like the new house.  She’s also worried that the new place doesn’t have a chimney and that Santa won’t know they moved.  She writes him a letter but doesn’t think he’ll read it in time.  Logan gives her the idea to put a trail of cookie crumbs from the old house to the new one, which Mrs. Barrett actually helps her do.  And of course, Santa shows up.

In California, Kristy's busy criticizing the We Love kids Club for being too lax.  Because there's no reason to come up with new storylines when you can revisit such an exciting old one.  Everyone sort of ignores her.  Then Sunny says she wants to throw a surprise going away party for Dawn, but hasn't really thought it through.  Kristy jumps in with her super-planning skills and helps make it happen.

High/Lowlights

• Slightly unrelated, but did anyone else catch this article on the BSC? 

• They try and pretend that Stacey’s the BSC member who’s closest to the Barrett’s because she was a mother’s helper “lastsummer” and happened to be sitting when they picked out their house.  But it was really Dawn who had that specialconnection.

• Stacey has a sitting job watching the Barrett/DeWitt kids at the new house they're moving into, while their parents are busy supervising workers.  She's supposed to keep the kids out of the way.  But I don't get why they brought all the kids.  If they were hiring a sitter anyway, why not have her stay at home with the kids? It'd be much easier to keep them out of the way.  Maybe it was because they could only get one sitter?

• Also, Stacey has to keep all the kids outside so they don’t disturb the workers.  But it’s December.  It’s rather cold on the east coast around then.  You can certainly play outside, but it’s not the best time to spend a full day there.

• Mary Anne has a to-do list for getting ready to go to California.  She actually wrote “kiss Tigger goodbye” on the list.  Seriously?

• Did people not always need to get to the airport ahead of time?  Cause Kristy describes getting to the airport an hour before her flight as “early.”  But that seems pretty reasonable to me.

• Quote from Jeff….”if you want to fight you can just do it with your friends.  Then you can go home and chill and not have to kiss and make up”….It sounds like something a ten-year-old boy would say.

• Claudia’s parents originally say she can’t go to California because it’s too much money.  So, Mr. Schafer offers to pay for half if she helps with the wedding.  Cause they need her artistic genius of some crap like that.

• Mary Anne’s surprised that Mr. Schafer and Carol are getting married on the beach.   I can buy that she’s never heard of a beach wedding before, since she’s kind of young and they’re not that common.  But wouldn’t she have heard that from Dawn?  Did they not have any conversations about the wedding?  At all? How did that not get mentioned?

• It sounds like the wedding’s literally on the sand, not on some deck overlooking the beach like some weddings I’ve been too.  But I have to say, I was once at the beach when a couple came in and got married right in the middle of the crowd sitting there  People literally turned their chairs around to watch these complete strangers get married.  It seemed very unappealing to me.  Those pictures won’t be so scenic with random people in the background.

• Why the hell would Dawn assume Mary Anne was a bridesmaid?  Seriously, that makes no sense.  First of all, Carol barely knows Mary Anne.  Secondly, she's the groom's ex-wife's step-daughter. I don't even get why Mary Anne WENT to the wedding.   In one of the later super specials, Mary Anne talks about how Mr. Schafer sometimes “jokingly” insults her father.  Which is a much more realistic scenario, no matter how mature people are being.  (And I don't think Dawn's parents were very mature about things).

• Honestly, I’m surprised Carol would even want Dawn to be a bridesmaid, let alone her maid of honor.  They don’t exactly have a friendly past. Mr. Schafer must be great in bed.

• Dawn claims she assumed she was "in charge of bridesmaids," but again, this makes no sense.  Also, why is Dawn picking out her bridesmaid dress with only her friends, two weeks before the wedding?  No matter how low-key the wedding is, I'd think the bride would want to see the dress, or have input on the color scheme or something.

• Jessi talks about how dancers need to watch what they eat, but she doesn’t go too overboard with that.  But she adds…"I don't go crazy about my weight yet….I'll do that when I'm older."  I think I know what she meant, but it sounded like she's planning on eating disorder or something.

• One of the kids Jessi talks to as Santa is a little girl who says she wants her pregnant mother to have a boy, so that he won't take her toys.   Jessi convinces the kid that a sister would be nice because when the baby’s old enough to play with her toys, she'd have outgrown them.  Then the mother whispers "how did you know," implying that the baby is, in fact, a girl.  But shouldn't Jessi have convinced her both would be okay?  

• Buddy Barrett and Lindsay DeWitt are the only two kids in their parents’ wedding.  The others sit in the back of the church with Mallory and Shannon.   Now, that seems a bit mean to me.   I get that those kids are young, but if you’re getting married about have 7 kids age 8 and under, wouldn’t you try and make it a bit more kid friendly? 

• They acknowledge that there are two people named Ryan DeWitt in BSC-land (a kid in California and Mrs. Barrett’s new stepson).  Want to bet that someone who worked on the books used the name of a real-life friend, but forgot and did it again?

• Real children’s' literature shout out....someone's reading Freckle Juice.  I remember reading that book when I was little.  Cute story.

• Dawn ate cake that was served at her going away party and she says she actually loved it.  

• At the wedding reception, Claudia takes a picture of the girls in We Love Kids, shaking their fingers at people slicing the duck.  But if they eat fish and chicken would they really have a problem with duck?

• Also, Dawn was originally a vegetarian because it was healthier not because of animal rights.  I can deal with them changing history on that, but since they did, they shouldn't have them still eat fish/chicken.  Because it makes sense for someone to only eat fish if it's for health reasons, but not if it's for animal rights?  Do fish and chickens not get the some courtesy as cows and pigs?

• Fun fact: Mrs. Barrett guesses that Stacey’s a size 6 (when ordering her dress).   We don’t hear if it’s accurate though.

• Mary Anne explains some of Dawn's idiocy about the bridesmaid thing by saying she’s being scatterbrained like her mother.  But Dawn was always the organized one who helped keep her mom sane.  That’s not just a continuity error, that’s changing a person’s whole character.  

• Now, Mrs. Barrett, I can buy not remembering to ask Stacey about being a bridesmaid until the last minute (which she does).  

• I’ve never actually been a bridesmaid, but I know many people who have.  Is it believable that Mrs. Barrett could order a bridesmaid dress for Stacey just a couple of days before the wedding?  I guess if it’s a standard-ish dress and doesn’t need any alterations it could work.

• On the flight to California, Claudia, Kristy and Mary Anne get served Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Would they really do that on a plane?

• Dawn and Jeff fly back to Connecticut ON Christmas.  That seems like an awful way to spend the holiday.  And with a six-hour flight, plus losing three hours for the time difference, I don’t get how they had time for two big celebrations.  But whatever.   

“Right now they were fitting together pretty well”……BSC # 123: Claudia’s Big Party

Memory Reaction

This is another one that I didn’t read as a kid.  Going through these later books is really messing up my format.

Revisited Reaction

Claudia’s back in 8th grade and enjoying it.  But, it means she has less time to spend with her seventh-grade friends, including her boyfriend, Josh.  She realizes that if her two groups of friends knew each other, it would be easier to balance her life. Just after she thinks this, her parents announce they’re going out-of-town for the weekend and are leaving Janine and Claudia alone.  Great timing, right? Their aunt and uncle (Peaches and Russ) are still busy with their baby, so they can’t stay with them, but will be around in case of emergencies.  And for busting the inevitable party, but we’ll get to that later.

Meanwhile, Janine has been feeling lonely because she broke up with her boyfriend recently, but isn’t as close to her old friends as she used to be (because she spent all her time with him).  She’s kind of desperate to hang out with Claudia more, so, when Claud wants to have a party while their parents are away, Janine agrees.  The plan’s to have the BSC and her seventh-grade friends in one place to get to know each other.

Word gets out about the party and more people show up than expected. We’re not talking the whole school or anything like that, just a few extra people (Pete Black, Erica Blumberg, Emily Bernstein etc).  There’s not enough food, and people start spreading out over the house.  Claud had also made large cookies for them to decorate, which ends up making a mess, and someone breaks a vase.  Claud’s trying to keep everyone under control, but isn’t that successful.  Then Peaches and Russ stop by unexpectedly, see the party and are all disappointed.

Everyone leaves and Claud and Janine fight.  But they make up when Janine admits why she’s been lonely.   They tell their parents about the party, since Peaches and Russ would have anyway, and don’t get in too much trouble.  All their guests feel bad about the whole situation, so, they get together to buy a vase to replace one that was broken during the party.  Which gives them another chance to actually get to know each other.  So, it all works out perfectly.

There’s also a really boring subplot about how Bill and Melody Kormon are fighting a lot.  Eventually Mary Anne gets them to work together by pretending to be locked out of the house.  So, they’re being fairly nice to each other by the end.  It’s kind of annoying, because, sometimes, siblings just don’t get along and don’t become BFFs.  The BSC doesn’t have to save everyone that way.  And they shouldn’t act so scandalized at the fact that a brother and sister are arguing.

High/Lowlights

• Seventh-grade friend outfit: “Black velour vest…red ribbon roses decorating the bottom edge. With her black jeans, black suede shoes, and a long-sleeved white shirt it made a very cool outfit.”  I think I had an outfit like that when I was younger.

• Claudia outfit: “I’d worked hard on my outfit – a long black skirt, a white shirt with full sleeves, and a short vest that I’d covered with bright-colored buttons and bows. My hair was braided with strands of ribbons that matched the decorations.”  I did NOT have an outfit like that.  Although it doesn’t sound so bad.  Compared to Ms.Frizzle costumes anyway.

• There’s a triple date between Claud/Josh, Mary Anne/Logan, and Stacey/Ethan.  Which is kind of cute, I guess.

• Janine’s helping Claud with her homework, and she’s all, hey, “how about some C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁?”  The translation of this is that it’s the chemical compound for sucrose, which is her way of asking for candy. Did she really expect Claud to pick up on that?  I do like that this is good continuity, Janine’s admitted to liking junk food before.  But she really needs to learn how to speak to her audience.

• Mallory’s the one who broke the vase, so I’m not sure why everyone at the party chips in to buy the new one.  But whatever.

• Janine refers to “channel swimming” when she’s looking for something to watch on TV. 

• Claud tells Josh to come over before they go on their triple date, so they have time to hang out alone.  But like five minutes after he gets there it’s time to leave.  And they’re the last two arrive for the date. 

• Janine’s reading a novel about chess, and talks about how mathematical it is.  I kind of wish they had her secretly reading trashy romance novels or VC Andrews or something.  Her hobbies don’t all need to be science related.

• I think there was a whole book devoted to this, so I won’t complain about it too much now, but what’s with Claudia going back to 8th grade?  She was doing well back in 7th because they were right that she needed to relearn those “basics.”  Going back to 8th grade, in the middle of the year, means she only got half the basics, plus missed the first half of 8th grade.

• At one of the BSC meetings, the girls are passing the notebook around.  Which makes me ask, do they only read/write in the notebook at meetings?  I always figured they wrote in it at home and passed it to one another each day.  But then I remembered they don’t bring BSC stuff to school, because of the PhantomCaller thing.  So, how do they fit it all in?  And if they’re only writing in it during meetings, why not just talk about it.

• I thought it was weird when Mal says she got an 86 on a test and isn’t upset by it, since we recently heard about her being a super-good-student.  But Claudia points out it’s weird, and I realized it’s a set up for her going to boarding school in a couple books.

• Peaches calls Claud and wants to talk to Janine, and Claud tells her to call the other line so Janine can answer in the kitchen.  I must be getting old, because that sounds a bit lazy to me.

• Janine has gotten a modem for her computer and keeps talking about websites she’s found.  It feels strange since I was over the BSC by the time the internet became prevalent.

• People in books/TV sure are lucky.  My parents never let me stay alone overnight when I was a teenager.  And I was such a goody-goody, I wouldn’t have had anyone over.

• When Mary Anne, Kristy, and Abby hear about the party they ask if they can invite Logan, Shannon and Anna to the party, Claud says, “sure.” Then she adds “I’m leaving the asking up to you guys.”  The BSC thinks this means they should invite their “other friends,” but it’s a pretty weak explanation to me.  These girls almost never socialize with people outside their club or boyfriends, so it seems out of character for them to invite others.  Especially when Claudia told them the whole point was for her two sets of friends to meet.

• Here’s proof Claudia should have stayed in seventh-grade.  She invites the six other regular BSC members and her four seventh-grade friends. When she hears about three additional people coming she thinks, “hmm, I guess that brings the total number of people to ten or eleven?”

• Why do Bill and Melody have to be so happy together at the end?  Why not apologize but still not want to hang out together?

• Claudia’s party outfit: “I slipped into the black pants, then pulled a black turtleneck over my head. I had a fleece top with turquoise, hot pink, and lime green stripes and one thin line of red. It was a boxy jacket style and looked festive.”

• I like how the party’s described as wild/out of control, when there wasn’t more than 20 people at the thing.  They weren’t blasting music or drinking and having sex.  They were making a mess, but that’s not so outrageous.

• Peaches had invited Claudia and Janine over for dinner the night of the party, and Claud gets out of it by saying she and Janine had “special sister plans.”  Janine overhears and actually thinks Claud was serious.  I find Janine so much more likable now than when I was a kid, and feel a little bad for her here. Back then I think I would have just thought she was an idiot.

• When they tell their parents about the party, Mrs. Kishi asks if there was drinking. So even she was expecting more drama than we got in a book with “big party” in the title.

“That is a doggone shame”………BSC # 118: Kristy Thomas, Dog Trainer

Memory Reaction

Missed this one as a kid. But I’m comfortable saying that I probably would have liked it even less then.

Revisited Reaction

Kristy’s family has decided to become a “puppy walker” meaning they’ll raise a dog until it’s about a year old, and ready to go have regular training for becoming a guide dog. They’re inspired to do this by a co-worker of Watson’s, whose 12-year-old daughter just lost her eyesight to glaucoma. So, the dog they get is a chocolate Labrador retriever named Scout. We hear about Kristy going to pick up the dog and taking her to some obedience training class and other random places (including BSC meetings). There’s lots of talk about how cute the dog, is and what’s involved in training her. But honestly, it’s really boring, unless maybe you really love dogs or want to become a puppy walker yourself.

The only real plot is actually supposed to be the subplot. It centers on the girl who lost her sight and inspired the puppy walking. Her name’s Deb Cooper and all the BSC talks about her like they know her, but we’ve never heard about her before (unless she she’s mentioned in one of the books after #100 that I haven’t read). But, I guess they would have heard about what happened to her, since it’s a small town, so maybe that explains it. Anyway, she has two younger siblings and the BSC gets to sit for them. The two little boys are cute enough, and they feel bad for their sister, but don’t know how to act around her. Pretty realistic/typical I think.

Deb’s also at the house for a couple of the sitting jobs. She’s very bitter about the whole losing her vision thing, because that’s a pretty normal reaction. The whole thing’s very recent, so she hasn’t gone back to school yet and hasn’t let many people see her. She also hasn’t been given a cane or had much training in how to adapt. So, obviously, she’s not in a great place. The girls try to be nice to her, but don’t really know what to say and don’t get through to her. Then when Kristy’s at a sitting job, Deb says she wants to go to the video store (she likes listening to the movies). Kristy says they need to wait until Deb’s brothers are done with whatever game they’re playing. So, Deb tries walking there by herself and almost gets hit by a car. Kristy finds her and manages to talk her into being more open with people and letting them help her. But, they don’t make it seem like Deb is suddenly totally okay with being blind, which is surprisingly, but nice.

Meanwhile, one of Deb’s little brothers heard about Kristy being a “puppy walker” and wrote to the guide dog foundation about how to get a dog for Deb. They send back a pamphlet about the organization, and how Deb could get one when she turns 16. When he tells Deb about this, it seems to help make her feel better, but I’m not sure why her brother needed to be the one telling her about the idea of a guide dog. But whatever. At the end, the Cooper’s go with Kristy’s family to some celebration at the guide dog foundation.

High/Lowlights

• Shannon (the dog) is apparently still a puppy. Hasn’t it been like a hundred books since she was born?

• Kristy tries to close her eyes to see if she could tell the difference between different coins without looking. This totally made me think of a book I read in elementary school. It was about a boy who lost his sight while he and some other boys were playing with fireworks they found (it was around the 4^th of July). I can’t remember the name of it, but there was a scene where he’s on a train going to a school for the blind, and all these people offer to help him count his money while buying lunch. But, he lists out how to tell the difference between the coins by touch. Then everyone on the train tries testing this out themselves. I still remember how he described each coin.

• Stacey outfit: “She had on black jeans, a black cropped cotton sweater, and soft, scrunchy ankle boots. The color made her blue eyes look dramatic, and her earrings, which were tiny coils of gold braid, finished the outfit.” I actually really like the sound of that.

• Claudia outfit: “She was wearing spring on her sleeves, almost literally. Her ensemble included a giant Hawaiian print shirt worn over hot pink bicycle shorts, hot-pink-and-lime-green socks, and an ancient pair of formerly black Doc Martens that she had painted in swirls of electric color. She’d knotted a pink plastic flower into each shoelace and pulled her hair back with another plastic flower. Her earrings, which of course she made herself, were dangling sprays of tiny, pink, green, and yellow beads.” Kristy says it sounds blinding….she’s right. No way anyone could look stunning in that, not even Claud.

• How come Stacey’s wearing boots and a sweater on the same day Claudia’s wearing bicycle shorts and a Hawaiian shirt?

• Being a guide dog in training means Scout’s allowed to go anywhere a guide dog can (in stores, offices, restaurants, etc). Kristy brings her to the supermarket, and this one woman starts freaking out and talking about how disgusting it is for the dog to be there. When the manager says, yes, a guide dog can be there, she walks out of the store and says she won’t shop there again. Then other people clap (I guess because the rude woman was gone?). It seems really unrealistic. I know Ann M. Martin likes to show closed-minded people in a negative light, but he applause about it seems a bit over the top. I can see complaining about a dog before you know it’s a guide dog, but that’s it. And I say this as someone who’s about as far from an animal lover as you can get.

• I kept thinking of that other book about the blind boy while I was reading this one. There’s also a scene where he meets his roommate at the school for the blind, doesn’t realize the guy’s an adult, and ends up brushing his teeth with the guy’s shaving cream. And this is totally unrelated, but looking back I don’t see how he couldn’t have known based on the voice. Or that no one would tell them.

• Also, does anyone know what book I’m talking about? It’s driving me crazy.

• Kristy says we’d be amazed at how many people say ‘it’s okay’ when Scout tries to jump on them, and that she has to tell them it’s not, because Scout’s in training. I don’t find that surprising in the least. I’d expect a lot of people would be fine with a dog greeting them. I wouldn’t, but again, I’m not the norm in that regard.

• When Kristy tells the BSC that Scout can go anywhere a person can? And they’re all, “really, even McDonalds?” And…”really, like the Ballet?” Those questions came from Jessi and Claudia. Can anyone guess who asked which?

• Random fact: Kristy’s favorite book’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

• The girls come up with this idea to “help Deb.” The plan for Mary Anne and Claudia to just show up with the Hobarts and the Kuhns (their sitting charges that day) at the Cooper’s when Kristy’s sitting. The idea’s to try and get her to be around other people. They figure that if it doesn’t work they can just leave, which is what happens. But this is a bad idea in so many ways. First of all, why would Deb want to hang out with little kids? She’s 12. Secondly, if Deb’s not ready to be around other people, or doesn’t want them seeing her, I think it’s pretty terrible to surprise her with visitors. Maybe a surprise like that would have been helpful at some point, but it isn’t really the BSCs’ call to make. Losing your vision’s pretty traumatic, I think she’s allowed to take some time to deal with it.

• Ben Hobart goes along on this visit, and I guess he’s closer to Deb’s age. But that doesn’t even make sense because why would the Hobarts need a sitter if Ben was home and willing to hang out with his brothers This is the second book where Ben’s been categorized with kids they sit for and I find it really, really odd.

• At a Krusher’s practice, Kristy says when they got to the school playground they saw no one had “claimed the baseball diamond.” But doesn’t Kristy have, like, permission to use it? That was what they said in the book where she formed the team. I always assumed that meant she had it reserved or something.

“I came up with the same astronomical figure”…………BSC # 114: The Secret Life of Mary Anne Spier

Memory Reaction

I missed this one as a kid.

Revisited Reaction

This is one of the ones with a sort of convoluted plot: Mary Anne’s father lends her his credit card to do her Christmas shopping, provided she doesn’t charge more than she can pay him back. Using the card makes her not pay attention to how much money she spends, despite of the fact that she’s the organized and responsible one. And the fact that Kristy warns her about it out at every single store. But Mary Anne also figures that she’s saved up, and she’ll have six weeks of baby-sitting to earn any extra money. But, then she finds out that her father’s anal and always pays his bill the second he gets it, as opposed to waiting until it’s actually due, a month later. Which means she has to pay him back in two weeks, or he’ll make her pay the interest. You’d think he would have told her this earlier, but then we wouldn’t have a story.

At this point, Mary Anne totals up her spending and realizes she went way overboard, and knows she can’t make the money baby-sitting in the next two weeks. She’s too embarrassed to return any of the gifts, because she’d already wrapped them and put them under the tree. She decides to get a second job, and ends up working at the mall as an elf in the Santa village display they have. She’s too embarrassed to tell anyone, so they don’t understand why she’s suddenly so busy and tired. And she lies to her dad about why she’s going to the mall so often, telling him it’s to get donations for an event the BSC’s having.

Meanwhile, Dawn’s visiting, and Mary Anne feels like she’s being distant and acting like she’s too sophisticated for the BSC. The reason for this is that she’s now in the California Diaries series, which I guess are meant to appeal to a slightly older crowd. But Mary Anne’s crazy-busy, so she doesn’t get to hang around long enough to talk to Dawn about it. Eventually, she does confront her, and Dawn says she was feeling a bit disconnected at first, but started feeling more like her old self a couple days later. But since Mary Anne was working, she wasn’t around to realize this. So, Mary Anne admits everything to Dawn, who convinces her to tell everyone else. They all think it was a silly thing to lie about, and her dad’s a little pissed she went behind his back, but she’s not in any trouble.

While working, Mary Anne befriends a girl named Angela. Angela’s 17 and living at the Stoneybrook Women’s Shelter because her parents threw her out. We don’t get too many details about why, but it seems like they’re snobs and don’t like who Angela associates with. Because it’s a Christmas theme, Mary Anne invites her to stay with them on Christmas and it’s all very sappy. And Angela earned enough money for a plane ticket to California, where she has friends who want her to stay with them. It’s really a whitewashed story, but it’s the holidays, so whatever.

I guess the ghostwriter was feeling overly Christmas-y because we get another subplot that’s about giving back during the holidays. The hospital Dr. Johanssen works at usually has a program where they give kids in the hospital toys, but the budget was cut. The BSC decides to “save the program.” They organize a fair to raise money. It’s a huge success, but I’m not sure why they had to do something so complicated. Or why the BSC had to get involved in the first place. I’m sure the workers at the hospital would have made donations. Or people could have just gone door-to-door. Regardless, they help out sick kids, so I probably shouldn’t be too hard on them.

High/Lowlights

• Do they just let 13-year-olds use credit cards because their last name’s the same as the one on the card?

• Apparently, Mary Anne’s hair is long on her student ID. I guess this makes sense, since it was long when she first started 8th grade, but she’s also started 8th grade a bunch of times since she got the makeover.

• This book starts two weeks before Christmas. Now, I can buy that they’re still hiring people to work at the mall at this point. But, I can’t believe that the reason for this is that the mall’s Santa display is starting then. I know it didn’t always start as early as it does now, but it was never THAT late

• Mary Anne doesn’t seem like the type to not pay attention to how much she’s spending, but maybe that’s the point?

• I like Mary Anne, but she has the most boring “secret life” in the world.

• Mary Anne gets to the mall every day by taking the bus. In the early books, someone had to drive them to Washington Mall, that’s why it was a bigger deal to get there. They should have had her get a job at the department store in town.

• Also, it takes Kristy and Mary Anne 45 minutes to get home for the mall due to holiday traffic. So, why didn’t Mary Anne ever have trouble getting there/home on time. She was going after school some days, so if it really took that long, she couldn’t have been working many hours.

• I think saying she’s going to the mall to get donations is a pretty stupid lie to tell her dad. How many donations could she be getting? And, she says she’s going with other people in the BSC, which makes me think she’ll get caught when another BSCer doesn’t know about it. But it never happened.

• Since when does Stoneybrook have a women’s shelter?

• Richard makes stew for dinner and says he made it with meat and tofu. My first thought was that he made two pots, because that’s how I’ve seen other people handle that. But it turns out, he made one pot and put meat AND tofu in. Apparently, everyone’s okay with picking out what they don’t eat? But I’m a vegetarian and wouldn’t be okay with that…neither would most other vegetarians I know. If the meat simmers with the rest of the dish, it gets into everything else.

• Mary Anne refers to “her parents” letting her stay home from school so she can go to the airport when they pick up Dawn. It’s sweet that she thinks of Sharon that way. Or maybe the ghostwriter just forgot which girl they were writing about.

• I think it’s good that they’re portraying Dawn changing when she’s in California, but I don’t get why Mary Anne’s acting like it’s such a major change. Supposedly, Dawn was home for Thanksgiving (less than a month ago), so did Mary Anne not notice the difference then?

• Angela meets Mary Anne when they are both applying for the job and advises her to say she’s 16. Apparently, the place just took her word for it. She was getting paid in checks, so it seems like a pretty legitimate business.

• Mary Anne has to wear a big elf mask, which makes it easy for her to not get spotted by anyone she knows. The closest call is when Logan and Dawn end up there with Logan’s siblings (they took them to see Santa) and they’re standing right next to Mary Anne. Only Hunter (the younger brother) recognizes her, but he agrees to keep it secret.

• I don’t get how Hunter recognized her. I think it’s supposed to be one of those things where kids are innocent and can see the truth. Kind of like how little kids could see ghosts on Ghost Whisperer or Al on Quantum Leap.

• The fundraiser the BSC has is called “Santa-Hanukah-Kwanzaa Town.” Those girls are so multicultural and politically correct, aren’t they?

• The fundraiser they have seems like a weird way of making money. They get donations of old toys (to use for games at a fair), food (for refreshments at the fair), and new toys (to actually give to the kids in the hospital). But it still seems like a lot of un-needed work. But I guess we needed an excuse for kids to be around.

• Mary Anne sees Angela try to call her parents collect and hears that they won’t accept the charges. So, she decides to get Angela phone cards as a Christmas gift. She thinks this will be good for someone moving away. But it seems kind of mean, since it won’t solve the problem of her parents not wanting to talk to her.

• Mary Anne got the gift for Angela so she wouldn’t feel left out at her house on Christmas, when the rest of the family is exchanging presents. But then she gives it to her on Christmas Eve, when no one else is around. How does that make her not feel left out?

• It’s actually kind of funny when Mary Anne “confesses”? Dawn asks what wrong, and Mary Anne comes out with, “I’m an elf!” And Dawn’s all WTF? But then sort of laughs when she hears the truth.

“Get a life, Mom. That’s what I was saying”……..BSC Special Edition: Shannon’s Story

Memory Reaction

I HATED this book. Seriously hated it. I don’t remember reading it more than once, even though I owned it. In fact, once when I was a kid and re-read the whole series (up until that point), this was the only book I skipped. The reason I didn’t like it is because Shannon fails a test on purpose in this one. To my childhood self, that was one of the worst things that could happen. I think what made it worse was that Shannon was supposed to be a great student, and with an F, her record got a bit tarnished, even if she did well moving forward. It may have set off the perfectionist part of me.

I also remember how Shannon has to “take over” for her mother while she’s away, and the thing that stands out in my mind’s her being on a bus with her sisters going to the grocery store. The scene seemed a bit over-the-top to me, like she was taking herself so seriously. I could see her being asked to baby-sit, but not act like she’s in charge of the whole house (cause her father was home, albeit working, the whole time too).

Revisited Reaction

Shannon’s really excited because her French class is taking a trip to Paris right after school gets out for the summer. But while we’re waiting for that to arrive, we get to hear about all of Shannon’s family issues. You know her sisters, but now we meet her parents. First up is her dad….he works too much during the week and plays golf on the weekends. He basically has no idea what’s happening with Shannon and her sisters and hardly talks to her mom. This is pretty standard for rich girl father issues. Meanwhile, and more relevant to this book, is her mother. She doesn’t work and with the kids getting older, she has nothing to do with her time. So, she constantly asks Shannon about her schedule and criticizes what she eats/wears, etc. She also tries to hang out with her all the time and it drives Shannon crazy.

When Shannon finds out her mom’s going to chaperone the Paris trip, she loses it. She flunks her French final on purpose so that she isn’t eligible to go on the trip. Her mom still goes as chaperone and Shannon’s “in charge” while she’s gone. During that time Shannon has an epiphany about how hard her mother’s life is, how it must be tough to not have anything to do while her husband and children are busy, and blah, blah, blah. Shannon decides she’s going to start being nicer, starting with throwing a welcome home party for her. Somehow this makes her father try to be a better father/husband as well. And her mom might start working as well, so she has more to do.

Since the theme’s mother-related, the subplot is about the BSC doing something for mother’s day. The first part of this is that they have a “gift-a-thon,” where kids go to Mary Anne’s backyard to make presents. Jackie Rodowski causes a disaster involving the refreshment table, I’m sure you can picture it. The second part’s a mother-child softball game. It’s most of their regular clients playing their mothers (obviously). The mom team wins, which shouldn’t be a big surprise considering most of the kids are Krusher’s. I actually enjoyed this, because all the moms in town were talking to each other, which I don’t remember happening before. Unless the parent is also a BSCer’s parents (Mrs. Pike, Mrs. Brewer), they usually only appear long enough to give sitting directions or talk about how great the BSC is.

High/Lowlights

• This is taking place the first time Dawn’s in California, so Shannon’s attending regular BSC meetings. I guess that’s like how they had Logan “filling in” for Dawn in his first book. You can’t have a BSC book without BSC meetings!

• Shannon’s school lets students do independent studies on stuff they’re interested in, so she takes Astronomy and Psychology. Which I can see happening in a private high school, but not 8^th grade. I guess Shannon’s supposed to be advanced though. And does talk about being in the Astronomy Club in her section of the memory super special, so that’s some continuity.

• When Kristy and Shannon get to the Kishis’ for a club meeting, Janine lets them. It’s weird, because they’re always telling us how the girls go right in on meeting days. But it’s really just an excuse to remind us how smart Janine is…when Shannon greets her in French, Janine responds in kind.

• Stacey outfit: “Black leggings, a black sweater, a big black belt with an oversized buckle, black Doc Martens, and her hair pulled back with a black and gold scarf that picked up the gold of the gold chain earrings she was wearing.”

• Claudia outfit: “An enormous pair of pants held up with a man’s belt and a pair of neon purple suspenders, an enormous purple T-shirt over a tie-dyed long-underwear top, her long black hair pulled back into a braid clip at intervals with little-kid barrettes, and these dangly peace-sign earrings.” Is it weird that I want to know what earrings she wore in her third hole? I like when they specify.

• When planning their Mother’s Day event, they refer to the Mother’s Day Surprise book where Emily Michelle was adopted. But they want to do something different this time.

• This book really makes Shannon seem like a brat. She gives up a trip to Paris with her best friends that she was looking forward to all year because she doesn’t want to be around her mom? And she does it by flunking a test purposely? Seriously, an embarrassing mother isn’t the worst problem in the world.

• Mrs. Kilbourne buys matching Laura Ashley dresses for her and Shannon, which of course Shannon finds mortifying. And, yeah, I can understand that. I’m surprised her mother wouldn’t have gotten the matching dress for Tiffany or Maria who are both younger. But then again, they’re not narrating this book.

• Also, when her mom wants them to wear the dresses to dinner, Shannon tries to say it’s at the cleaners. But what 13-year-old takes their own clothes to the cleaners?

• I won’t talk about how going to Paris is a crazy unrealistic school trip because Shannon goes to a private school with all the rich kids in town, and it’s only her French class going. It makes a little more probable than SMS trips.

• When planning the softball game, one of the girls says they’ll provide sitting for kids who are too little to play. My reaction to this was to say that 2 ½ year-old Gabbie Perkins plays on the Krusher’s. Who are they thinking will be too little to play? But it turned out they meant actual babies.

• Shannon’s all embarrassed that her mom uses her childhood nickname, Shanny, in front of her friends. But that’s really not so bad as far as childhood nicknames go.

• The back of the book says “Shannon Kilbourne, Straight-A Student,” but her final grades are three As, 2 Bs and an F (which was intentional). No one comments on how her Bs are rare, so I’m thinking the back of the book thing was written by someone who didn’t actually read the book.

• I can’t tell if her mom knows what Shannon did with the test. Mrs. Kilbourne gives her this speech about how she’s surprised and it makes her think Shannon doesn’t want to go, but she knows Shannon would have said something if that was the case. It’s either some kind of guilt trip or she’s really clueless.

• Shannon’s teacher and guidance counselor do meet with her after her test score comes in to try and find out what happened. Because, it’s really weird for someone who’s gotten As all year to suddenly totally bomb a test in the same subject. But there’s nothing they can really do about it.

• When Mrs. Kilbourne’s leaving, Shannon reminds her not to worry because her dad will be there and he has a beeper, so they won’t have trouble getting in touch with him. I remember when beepers were popular. But it’s amazing how the existence of cell phones makes such a difference in life, because this whole conversation would have been different if it was written today.

• When Shannon goes grocery shopping with her sisters, she doesn’t let them buy any junk food that they ask for. Which seems a bit harsh. I mean, I was always a total goody-goody but I would have bought something sweet in those circumstances.

• The mothers who play in the mother-child softball game are Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Papadakis, Dr. Johanssen (even though Charlotte a cheerleader, not a player) Mrs. Pike, Mrs. Rodowski, Mrs. Braddock, and Mrs. Brewer/Thomas. It’s kind of fun to see them all athletic and competent instead of people who need teenagers to tell them what’s happening with their kids.

• Shannon also plays on the mothers’ team because Maria wants to play and her mom’s in France, but we don’t get to hear whether she’s any good or not.

• It’s kind of weird…when planning the game, the girls say they’ll play on the mom team because there are fewer mothers than kids. But we don’t hear about any of them playing. Kristy coaches the kids (and I guess they needed one person to do that), and others are mentioned as selling refreshments, but that’s it.

• Shannon’s realization about what her mom’s dealing with is a bit too obvious for me. She’s in the kitchen thinking how she’s done whatever she had to do and maybe she should just go talk to her sister, and literally says to herself, “this must be what mom feels like.”

• It’s not clear if the grades Shannon gets are for her final exams, or actually her final course grades. If they’re her course grades, she really screwed herself because getting an F in French would mean she doesn’t move up to the next level with her friends, and wouldn’t get to go on next summer’s trip. But I guess it doesn’t matter since she’ll never get out of 8^th grade anyway.

• I’m guessing they are actually her test grades, because how big an impact could the test have had? She said that until the final, her French grade was higher than all her other grades. So, say she had a 95 average. If the test was 25% of her grade, she could have gotten a 0 on the test and still gotten a 71 in the class. But I’m probably putting more thought into this than the ghostwriter, so whatever.

• I’m not really sure what made her dad resolve to be around more and delay a business trip to be there when Mrs. Kilboure gets home. Because he sees his daughters making a welcome home cake for his wife? It seems a bit forced. I’m guessing they wanted to wrap up the conflict in this book since it’s a one-off and we won’t be going revisiting Shannon’s life the way we will with the other girls.