Tuesday, May 19, 2009

“I had no idea what a sitting job inew neighborhood would really mean”…..BSC # 11: Kristy and the Snobs

Memory Reaction

For some reason, what really sticks in my head from this one is the funeral they had for Kristy’s dog. And I remember how they made this huge deal out of Stacey using “reverse psychology” and even remind people of it in later books. Because whenever I hear the term, or see an example of it I think of the BSC.

Revisited Reaction

This book starts out a few weeks after Kristy has moved into Watson’s “mansion.” She is predisposed to hate the kids in her neighborhood for being “snobs,” so, she is a little bitchy to them. Of course, they are a little bitchy back, then they call each other snobs and jerks. There is sort of two levels of this conflict – one is the Delaney’s, the snobby kids she has to sit for. The other is Shannon, who ends up joining the BSC.

Shannon is pissed that Kristy is taking her baby-sitting jobs. So, they play some practical jokes on each other and try to ruin the other’s sitting jobs. But, they sort of bond over the fact that Kristy’s dog Louie is sick and gets put to sleep. Shannon ends up giving one of her dog’s puppies to David Michael. He names her Shannon, cause everyone wants to have a dog named after them. After that, Kristy and Shannon become friendly and they ask her to join the club.

Meanwhile, the Delaneys, are acting like a couple of spoiled brats. She calls them snobs, complains about them, etc. Stacey is apparently a mini-psych major and pulls “reverse psychology” on them. That weird them out, and they eventually, they start to behave.

High/Lowlights
  • Amanda is really annoying. Every day she talks about how much money her cat costs. You’d think they could make the rich snobs interestingly evil, like Gossip Girl, or something. Talking about a cat is just dumb.
  • Shannon always seems to be hanging out with Amanda Delaney in this book….it is kind of random considering their ages.
  • So, this is kind of cute. This book is right before Mrs. Perkins had her baby, and Myriah and Gabbie are talking about names they like. Myriah likes Laurie and Gabbie likes Beth…. which seems sweet since they end up naming her Laura Beth.
  • The Delaney’s living room is apparently all white. That doesn’t suggest rich to me, it suggests stupidity. Even rich kids can get messy.
  • Kristy lets the Delaney’s order her around because she wants the kids to be happy (so their parents keep calling the BSC). But, she can’t really turn around and complain about the kids, can she?
  • In this book, Kristy describes Dawn and her family as “semi-vegetarians.” Inconsistent, much?
  • Dawn sits for her brother, and they have a fight about him wanting to live in California. So then Dawn waits up until her mom comes home at 1:00 am. That seems pretty late to leave a 10- and 13- year old alone. I guess I never realized how much Jeff’s move to California was built up before it really happened.
  • I don’t really think reverse psychology would work….when I was ten, I would say I liked a messy room. If someone came to baby-sit me and tried to mess it up more, I would just go with it.
  • Wouldn’t people as rich as the Delaney’s have a maid? Why are they cleaning up after themselves anyway?
  • Stacey teaches them to play “Snail” which I remember them playing in later books.
  • So, Shannon orders pizza to come to Kristy while she is baby-sitting. Then Kristy tells the pizza guy to send it over to Shannon’s house. And of course, Shannon gets annoyed.
  • Kristy orders diaper service for Shannon? Is that like, an actual thing?
  • This is ANOTHER book where the Pikes are all sick. Five of them have chicken pox at once. Then during the job, Nicky and Vanessa end up coming down with it as well. And of course, they all eat dinner in their bedrooms cause they are not allowed out of bed when sick. I was five when I had the chicken pox, so I don’t remember that much, but I know I didn’t stay in my room the whole time. I just remember how they didn’t let me go to school on the last day of Kindergarten, and I was totally devastated.
  • Are cream cheese and jelly sandwiches really “sick” food? That is what the Pikes all eat while sick. Maybe the Pikes should serve them vegetables some time, instead of always letting them eat whatever they want…it might keep them healthier.
  • It is so sad to read about Kristy’s dog dying.
  • Kristy really does egg the “snobs” on. At least Shannon. She calls her jerk-face when they talk to her for the first time.
  • They drive Louie to the vet’s twice a day to get shots, as a final treatment method. Can’t they be taught to do it? Why drive to the doctor twice a day if you don’t have to.
  • They have a funeral for Louie. Kristy thinks it was Watson’s idea, even though Karen tries to claim credit for it. Brat.
  • Charlie gets all embarrassed to be digging a “grave” because Karen invited all the snobby neighbors.
  • Kristy actually misses a BSC meeting because she is so upset about Louie.
  • Karen is talking about the ghost “Ben Brewer” and says he roams the halls to get exercise. Then Mary Anne is all, “don’t you mean e-x-o-r-c-I-s-e?” Karen doesn’t get the joke, but wasn’t she always kind of a spelling snob? I know she is young, but I think she would have understood.

17 comments:

SJSiff said...

My mom had a diaper service with us. It picked up the dirty cloth diapers to clean them and left us with clean ones.

When I got chicken pox in the second grade, I was terrified I'd miss trick-or-treating. Don't remember being at all concerned about my birthday, two days after Halloween.

Yes, reading about Louie dying is very sad.

meliasaurus said...

we had enough money to hire a cleaning lady.
when my parents both worked full time we had a cleaning lady come once a week. but my brother and i were responsible for cleaning our own rooms. my mom think it's important to learn to do chores and not sit on your butt all day and be spoiled.
when my mom started working part time we cleaned my brother and i got more responsibilities.

maria said...

I cried when Louie died.

Oh, and there is a part when Tiffany is sun bathing. Isn't she like, 10? Innapproriate much?
And yes, she was a sittee!

Another thing that got to me. Mrs. Papadikis let's Shannon sit for the kids right after that mean prank she pulled on Kristy. I would NOT have let her come sit for my kids after that. The fire prank was mean and could have been worse if Kristy had called the fire department.

If I was 13 and my mom had married a millionaire, I would most definitely have attempted to milk him for money for clothes. What kind of 13 year old is Kristy?!!

Jannie Girl Talk said...

OMG I started eating cream cheese and jelly sandwiches ( admittedly not for long) because of this book!! I also cried when Louie died!! :( And when Mimi died later on.
And OMG in 10th grade my friend and I totally sent a diaper service to this girl's house because we didn't like- and 10 anchovie pizzas from Little Caesar's as well!!!

Anonymous said...

Okay ... I've had the misfortune of putting down a fair number of pets in my 31 years on this earth (4 dogs, 6 cats) and never once were we allowed to bring the body home for burial. Yes, they will cremeate the body for you and ship you the ashes. Yes, they will freeeze dry the body and send it to a pet mortuary, but I don't think you're allowed to bring a dead animal back from the vet's office.

And few vets will allow an animal to live at home if it requires twice-a-day injections. The vet will require overnight care.

This book annoyed the bejesus out of me as I had a dog on the downward slope when I read it.

Sadako said...

I always thought that Shannon got off pretty easy. The fire prank was seriously dangerous.

And what is with naming animals after kids? Shannon the dog, Emily the rat? Can't you think of other names?

booboobrewer said...

Honestly, I wouldn't expect Karen to know what "exorcise" meant at her younge age.

nikki said...

Louie dying = me crying.

BSC Snarker, aka Kristen said...

I wouldn't expect a normal 7-year-old to know what exorcise means, but in BSC world, normal standards do not always apply.

Beth said...

Diaper service is still around! I would love to be able to afford to have someone clean my cloth diapers! :)

And I will admit - I was a spelling fool when I was a kid (not to toot my own horn, but in 5th grade, I only missed one spelling word the whole YEAR...and it was a dumb one [instead of clothes I spelled cloths]...yeah, the things that stick with you). Anyway, it took me YEARS to figure out what Mary Anne was spelling. I was wicked confused as a kid.

Lauren said...

I haven't read this book in years - it always made me cry way too much.

My family was always allowed to bring our pets home for burial after being put to sleep. Maybe it's a regional thing, I don't know.

Jen said...

I just re-read this one for the first time since I was a kid, and it made me bawl.

I thought Louie dying was handled really beautifully. Anne really nailed it. It was sad and realistic, but written in a way that as a kid you aren't going to be totally traumatized. I think I was more affected by it as an adult!

Anonymous said...

Louie dying was very sad.

I totally played Snail after reading about it.

I didn't know what "exorcise" meant for YEARS after reading this book!

Jennifer said...

I don't remember rereading this one when I was younger, I know I didn't have it originally so I must have just borrowed it from the library once....maybe a rereading is in order. I do remember Amanda's bragging about her cat, but that could be from another book. I think what I remember most about this book is seeing it listed as "Kristy and the Snogs" in one of the other books (#10? #12?)

Anonymous said...

I know I've come to the party about 2 years late (I just discovered this blog & have been reading it non-stop for the past few days!) but I just wanted to tell you that I empathize with you over missing the last day of kinder because of chickenpox! I totally missed out on Santa coming & everything! (I'm in Australia so the school year is the same as the calendar year). And then my mum came down with it & missed my Christmas concert :(

Also, my captcha word is gollyg...I find that highly amusing!

Anonymous said...

Omg that part about louie was soooo sad!!! i don't think the vet ever let us take home our dogs (although one died at our house, so i guess we could have just buried it there, but my mom said it was against the law). And I remember reading this book only once or twice as a kid even though i owned it (and i usually read each book atleast 10 times!) because of louie dying. it was sligtly traumatizing for me (even though i too think it was handled really well).

Haids said...

We had just put down a dog for the first time in my life when I read this book, so I sobbed so hard that my whole body was all red, and my mom thought I had the flu when she found me. What an awful, actual REALISTIC moment!