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#2 Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (Covers - Chapter 5)

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Alright! It's time for my second snark. As I've said in my previous post, I'll be doing the first ten books in order before going for what people voted for in my Dreamwidth post.

Claudia was my favorite when I was younger. I'm also an artist, and at the time I was slipping in my academics as well, so Claudia was a bit of a comfort character for me. I grew older and read more BSC books, I realized how much of a dumbshit Claudia is. You see, I started to identify with Janine more, as I'm good at Math and Science, I had to use the computer a lot for studies, and I'm a socially awkward bookworm loner with few friends too. After Claudia and Mean Janine, Claudia gradually shifted from my favorite to my least hated character.

Let's get on with #2, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls.


COVERS
Here's the first cover, the one with baby Kirsten Dunst:
2,_Claudia_and_the_Phantom_Phone_Calls.png
Claudia's sweater is appropriately quirky, but she looks more exasperated with the phone calls than scared. At least she looks 12.

Here's the second cover by Hodges:
This time Claudia actually looks like she's wondering who the caller is. Unfortunately the kid Claudia's holding seems to be struck by Hodges' disease and looks like a 35 year-old woman's head on a toddler's body.

Here's the UK cover:
Claudia uncomfortably reminds me of Junji Ito's Tomie. Maybe that's why Claudia's boyfriends always disappear after one book.

CHAPTER ONE
The book opens with a variation of “It was a dark and stormy night” as Claudia curls up with The Phantom of Pine Hill (which is not that spooky) and some licorice whips. Licorice is a disgusting candy with a very unappetizing color. Then again we have sour tamarind hard candy so who am I to judge?

Claudia's got her eye on brooding poet Trevor Sandbourne. The name Trevor always makes me think of either stoner skater boys or Trevor from GTA V. Claudia mentions her homework deal with her parents, which segues into a paragraph of exposition about the BSC.

I disagree with Claudia on homework. I think it helps you recall the lesson and practice what you've learned. Then again American schools are heavily standardized. I can see how school can make you hate reading. All we have for required reading are two fantasy classics and social commentary on the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, which is fine by me if it means not dealing with that dipshit Holden Caulfield.

I used to think Claudia had dyslexia because of her frequent typos. I was proven wrong, but I feel like AMM just missed a potentially interesting character trait that would add to the differences between her and Janine, plus it makes a good plot.

Book #455, Claudia and the Words
Tagline: Claudia always thought she was just stupid, but turns out, she's just special.
Claudia learns about dyslexia and decides to go see a doctor about her own problems with spelling and words, and sure enough, she's diagnosed with both dyslexia and dyscalculia. Her parents were denying it for so long just because they couldn't handle with the fact that their kid could have a disorder of any kind. That attitude led to Claudia thinking she was just hopelessly stupid. In an interesting plot twist, Janine reveals that she's also dyslexic.  She loves math because she can understand numbers, and she loves using big words because she wants to prove that just because she can't spell it doesn't mean she doesn't know what it means. Janine went to the doctor without telling her parents, a moment of rebellion that shocks Claudia. This leads to the Kishis admitting their mistakes and a closer bond between the sisters.

Then again, AMM and the ghosties would probably fuck it up somehow.

Claudia mentions that Janine's IQ , 196, is past the requirement for genius, while her own is also above average. From the way she acts in the later books, I feel like it went a whole lot lower. Because of her high IQ and Janine, everyone expects her to be just as amazing. Because of that, Claudia feels unmotivated to do well since she can never live up to Janine. This is a way better reason than the later books' “Claudia just doesn't give a crap”.

Claudia complains about the rant that Janine went on about people regulating the temperature around them instead regulating their own, when it's easier to just put on a sweater than install a heater. It's actually really interesting. I think I'll steal it for my STEM discussions in school.

Another Janine rant and Claudia goes over her homework with Mimi (!). Have I mentioned I love Mimi? She's so sweet and is the only truly good parental figure in the BSC-verse. Claudia and the Sad Goodbye managed to wrench tears out of my normally apathetic soul.

Only Mimi knows about her Nancy Drew obsession. The rest of her family wants her to read something more stimulating. I'm surprised they aren't content with her reading anything at all. Mimi brings up the topic of Halloween and Claudia thinks she's too old to go trick-or-treating. Hey, whoa. Trick-or-treating isn't really a thing in the Philippines, but in America, I'm pretty sure there is no real age limit when it comes to trick-or-treating. Plus, you're still twelve! Enjoy this while you can!

Claudia decides to hand out candy with Mimi and gets excited about dressing up, which leads to an outfit description! I've drawn it here:


Claudia wants to be a Smurf. Don't. I've seen some pretty disturbing attempts at a Smurf costume. Also, I've noticed that she didn't say which Smurf. I think while Painter Smurf is what she would go for, from her “I'm not conceited, it's true” attitude later in the books, she'd probably be Pretentious Smurf. I scrolled through a long list of Smurf names to find that Smurf. Mary Anne would totally be Passive-Aggressive Smurf.

Claudia decides to work on her portrait of Mimi. I remember when Claudia kept the painting as a memory of Mimi and I get a pang of sadness. Claudia asks Mimi about life in Japan. Mimi mentions that she and her sister were good friends. Claudia asks why she and Janine aren't friends too. Mimi gives her advice that Claudia will forget for the rest of the series: “Being friends takes work. To be a good friend you must spend time with someone. You must talk to her and try to understand her.”

Claudia replies that Janine is impossible to talk to and she never has time for her. Mimi counters by asking if she has time for Janine, and Claudia admits, “Not very often.” Mimi says one day they'll be friends. It's sad that Mimi can never witness that day.

The portrait is finished and Claudia thinks back to brooding poet Trevor. From the way Claud describes him, I can only picture some emo boy who writes pretentious poetry inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe if the BSC managed to run til the late 90s...


(I hate myself for drawing this)
The phone rings and Claudia hopes it's Trevor. Close enough. It's her female love interest, Stacey McGill, who's thinking of Sam. Stacey and Claudia sigh and swoon over Emo Boy and Math Geek Who I Now Headcanon As Janine's Math Nerd Friend From The First Book. Stacey asks if any calls for the BSC came in, foreshadowing how any conversation between the girls will be about their charges and only their charges. Stacey and Claudia decide to hang out with the other girls on Saturday.

CHAPTER TWO
They get together and just sit on the lawn because they can't do anything. Ah, days before the internet. Being a 2000s kid, I have never lived in those days. If this was set in modern day they could've been watching shitty videos on Youtube.

Kristy suggests looking at antique toys and Claudia and Stacey roll their eyes. A) Rude, and B) antique toys could potentially be cool! Didn't you read Clue in the Old Album, Claudia? The dolls described in that book almost made me want to go collecting.

MA suggests going to some cookie place, but remembers Stacey and drops it. Diabetics can still have sugar, AMM. Just not too much. Claudia suggests renting a movie for her VCR. Ah, days before Netflix. Sadly, the VCR is broken. So Claudia decides to talk about that sweet piece of ass, goth prince Trevor Sandbourne.

Kristy actually has a class with Trevor, who sits next to Alan Gray. Hey, it's the first recurring boy in the BSC-verse! Wasn't he built up to be someone's love interest before he went from “class clown” to “dickhead”?

They reminisce about the time Kristy pranked him by having Alan steal a fake lunch filled with dead spiders and mud pies. Now Alan just keeps messing with Kristy because he wants to protect his reputation. This segues back to Trevor and Claudia daydreams about him. I assume she's thinking, “He wears eyeliner, and I do too! We have so much in common!”

Her reverie is broken by a yell of “Aughhh!” MA found something in the paper. “Angry Pig Goes Hog Wild” and “Depressed Truck Drives Self Crazy” are what Kristy and Stacey see first. Is this what passes for news in Stoneybrook? Wait, what if both events are secretly related?

The pig ran out into the street onto the path of an incoming truck. There was fatal collision that killed both. It was later found that the driver, Paul Burton, was suicidal, and it is assumed that the pig was the same. Police suspect that this was a planned suicide pact between the two. More as it develops.

What MA screamed at was a headline reading, “Phantom Caller On Rampage In Mercer”. Does Stoneybrook really have no news at all that they report stories from a different neighborhood, twenty miles away?

There's a thief on the loose whose M.O. is to make calls to houses before he robs them. That's not very smart. I'm pretty sure at least someone who knows his M.O. would report him and the police would trace the call.

Stacey acts like it's no big deal because she's from New York and she's seen worse. I get it, New York is the best place in the world and nothing can ever compare to the wonders of New York. Not even the crime.

MA freaks out because apparently sometimes the thief steals from the houses while people are still in it, which is also dumb. Claudia remembers that someone called the Marshalls' twice during her sitting job, and Kristy holds an emergency BSC meeting.

CHAPTER THREE
It opens with Kristy moaning. How are they supposed to babysit when a burglar with a horrible and stupid M.O. is on the loose in a neighborhood twenty miles away? Stacey points this out to reassure everyone. She continues on a string of common sense that I nod at until she suggests a secret code over the phone.

If the burglar's in the house and threatening the babysitter with a kitchen knife, the girl is supposed to call another member and say “Have you seen my red ribbon?” This signals the receiver to call the police. Y'know, instead of calling the police directly. I don't think the burglar really cares who you're calling while he's stabbing you. The police definitely would once they've found the bodies. Bam! You're a witness now. Have fun in court.

Wait, there's more: what if the burglar is listening in through an extension? Why would a burglar want to listen in on a preteen girl's call in the first place? When a burglar sees a babysitter on the phone, he wouldn't instantly think “Oh shit! I'd better listen in and make sure she's not talking to the cops.” He'd think “Now's my chance to escape! Girls take forever on the phone!”

Claudia mentions that it happened in a horror movie called “The Night of the Weird”, which is one of the most generic-ass horror movie names I have ever heard of. What happens if the girls don't know where the caller is? They remember the record book, which segues into a paragraph of exposition about how the BSC works.

Then they move on and plan burglar alarms. MA suggests stacking tin cans in front of a door or window so you could hear the burglar. Where the cans will come from, we'll never know. I don't think a parent would appreciate you rooting through the trash and stacking garbage next to every window because of a burglar TWENTY MILES AWAY.

Kristy suggests a smell alert where you put garbage outside the house where the burglar can step on it, so you smell him before you see him. Claudia gets unnecessarily politically correct by saying that the burglar could be a woman too. I don't see what this has to do with burglars stepping in trash. Is Kristy saying that because the burglar's a dude, he'll see the trash and go “Oh goody!” and just start stomping on that sweet compost?

They decide on the answer to the code question being “No, the blue one”. That...doesn't sound right to me. “Have you found my red ribbon?” “No, the blue one.” The nitpicky English student in me wants to add an “only” in between “No” and “blue”.

If the sitter is sure the burglar is around, she'll reply “Now I'm in for it”, and if not, she says “That's okay”. They practice the code and everyone can't do it right. Y'know, this would all be solved if you just, I don't know, drop the code and call 911 and say “THERE'S A BURGLAR IN THE HOUSE AND HE'S THREATENING ME WITH A STEAK KNIFE!”

And the kicker? They decide to not tell the adults. Girls, I understand not worrying your parents. But if a burglar could potentially harm you and you don't feel safe, tell your fucking parents. I can't believe the Stoneybrook policy of “don't tell adults because they are useless” existed so early in the series.

CHAPTER FOUR
Trevor's leather wrapped ass has been sighted by Claudia Kishi. She attempts to go in for the kill but ends up crashing into Alan Gray. Claudia's hair seems to be afflicted with rat king. Alan catches on to it and taunts Claud about her crush. I miss class clown Alan.

Claud starts daydreaming about Trevor. I wonder why Claud thinks Trevor would like her if she doesn't understand poetry and can't even spell the word. The daydream's about her losing her virginity to Trevor in a closet they found in a maze during a school trip.

The daydream is broken because Claudia needs to pass her homework. Apparently she's confusing whole numbers and even numbers. Okay, that was a problem for me too, but that was when I was eight. Claudia's old enough to know better. See how much better Claudia would've been had she had dyscalculia? Nah, that would be an insult to people who do have it.

Claudia's also reading a poem called The Pond and she has to find a deeper meaning behind it. I never really liked those assignments. When my class had to do it in 9th grade, it took our whole group until the day before the due date to come up with something, and we were just paraphrasing the lines anyway. Claudia also can't spell October. I wonder why she was only sent back to 7th grade later on when she should've clearly been sent back to daycare.

It's lunch time, and Claudia would've snuck into the line next to Stacey had it not been for Alex Kurtzman, this kid who goes to school in a suit and tie with a briefcase for a bag. He sounds interesting. I wish he was in more books.

Book #811, Kristy vs. Kurtzman
Tagline: Who do you vote for?
Kristy's running for the SMS student elections. It seems that she's got this in the bag, since she already managed to brainwash the town of Stoneybrook. However, Alex Kurtzman comes back to Stoneybrook after a summer internship and is running too! Alex has a briefcase and a suit and tie, plus professional experience managing many people his age! It's up to Kristy to spike his water cooler with BSC Kool-aid before it's too late!

A rare sighting of the non-BSC friends known as the Shillaber twins, who will be killed off once Kristy gets fully possessed by the spirit of the BSCult. Apparently bringing lunch from home is babyish. Claudia, what would you eat: a sandwich you made at home out of what you have in the fridge, or a sandwich from the school made out of mystery meat and heavily processed bread?

We get a parade of characters, starting with Dorianne Wallingford, Emily Bernstein, Howie Johnson, Pete “Bra-Strap” Black, and Rick Chow. Can I just bring up something weird? Stoneybrook is supposedly racist to whoever isn't white, but they don't seem to have much problem with East Asians, except that one family in the racism book. So Stoneybrook can have Rick Chow and Claudia Kishi but they can't handle Jessi Ramsey? I knew Jessi was just exaggerating things and playing victim!

Dori's grandparents, Nana and Cramps (...Cramps?) were robbed the night before by...the Phantom Caller! For some reason Dori gives a dramatic pause. The Caller's at New Hope (*Star Wars theme blares*) and Claudia is reassured. The boys launch food at Emily's sweater and the girls go off to clean it up. The girls know about Claudia's crush on Trevor and Claudia instantly gets bitchy because she thinks Kristy told everyone. Kristy didn't, and no one knows who. Maybe it's just a painfully obvious crush. But no, this is a mystery book so everything has to be a mystery.

The principal announces that it's time for the Halloween Hop and Claudia thinks of Trevor and his tight leather pants. She sighs. Trevor doesn't even know she's alive. I think he'd notice the girl who follows him to class while staring at his ass, Claud.

CHAPTER FIVE
Hi-hi! It's a babysitting chapter about Jamie Newton. Mrs. Newton compliments Claudia's teddy bear barettes (soooo sophisticated) and Mrs. Newton says she'll get a pair...for the baby. HA! Mrs. Newton says she's hoping it's a G-I-R-L. Claudia doesn't know what that spells, so she just smiles and nods.

Claudia's working on her still life painting of an egg, a checkered napkin, a wooden spoon, and a pitcher. For some reason Mrs. Newton thinks the egg is the hardest part. Ma'am, drawing an egg is just doing an oval with only three colors (main color, shadow, highlight). That is literally the opposite of the hardest part.

Mrs. Newton leaves and Claudia is still nervous about the Caller. TWENTY MILES AWAY, CLAUDIA. While Claudia and Jamie play in the backyard, a light goes on in the house. Then the phone rings. Jamie thinks it's his dad. Silly Jamie, don't you know fathers in Stoneybrook are almost nonexistent? They hear noises and go to see who's behind it. They peek through the fence and an eye peeks through the same hole.

AAAAAAAAGGHH! They scream. Turns out, it was just Kristy leaving a casserole at the Newton's. Wait, it's Kristy. AAAAAAAAGGHH!

Kristy explains the light and the noises, but not the phone. Jamie still thinks it's his dad. Jamie, all fathers in Stoneybrook are off in Stamford all working for the same law firm. I wouldn't count on that.



I'll leave it off here. Thanks for reading my snarks!

#2 Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (Chapter Six - Chapter Fifteen)

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Let's finish this.


CHAPTER SIX
Claudia and Janine are doing homework. There's a thunderstorm outside, and Claudia and Janine start reminiscing about how they used to hide under their parents' blankets. Janine stabs the nice moment by mentioning psychology and Claudia kills it by telling Janine to shut up. Nooo! You two were actually starting to get along!

Claudia starts working on the still-life and says it's hard to figure out what shape the shadow of an egg is. ...An egg casts an oval-shaped shadow. Duh. If she was trying to talk about the angle of the shadow then that'd make sense, but Claud. Eggs are round. Therefore the shadow is also round. Is Claudia one of those fabled children who put the square block in the circle hole?

The police are currently in a car chase with the Caller in New Jersey. Aw, c'mon dude, people already hate New Jersey! Go to New York or something and stop everyone's weird glorification of it.

It's time for Claud's sitting job with the Marshall kids. I don't remember the Marshall kids character trait. Maybe their lack of one is their character trait. Also, I've never noticed before, but the names of these kids are a little...outdated. I'm wondering why the only Jenny in the BSC verse is Jenny Prezzioso (ew, ew, ew!)

So turns out the guy the police were chasing wasn't the Caller. And wouldn't you know it, the phone rings right after the report! Claudia picks it up and gets nothing but silence.




She thinks of using the code, which is still a stupid plan. Claudia actually suggests watching TV, something that will disappear in future books as Kristy's Kool-aid seeps into the townspeople's bloodstreams. Nina says no because The Muppet Show is over. Remember the original Kermit concept for Wilkins' Coffee?

Because of the news, Claudia starts getting paranoid. The phone rings and it's Stacey. They chat a bit about Trevor and piercings, but Claudia hears a sound. Claudia and Stacey panic and mess up the code. This is why you shouldn't have a code in the first place! You're gonna fuck up saying the code anyway. At least make it just a word, like “banana” or “fremdschämen”.

The sounds were coming from the Marshalls, who just forgot their keys. Claudia opens the door and Mrs. Marshall calls her husband Mr. Marshall, which is weird. Could AMM not even take a few moments to think of a first name for Mr. Marshall? Like Doug or Greg or anything, as long as Mrs. Marshall doesn't have to call her husband Mister!

CHAPTER SEVEN
It's a notebook entry from Kristy. As I'm reading an e-book, I can't see her handwriting. I remember it being worse than ten year-old me's, though. Kristy being spooked out makes more sense because she's sitting in her real live millionaire stepfather's house. Wait. Doesn't that mean... OH NO.




Hopefully Hellspawn hasn't consumed Karen yet in this book. Watson's over doing Parent's Night at Karen's school. Wait, aren't the students usually around during Parent's Night? Maybe Parent's Night is just a euphemism for “school orgy”. Oh dammit she mentioned Morbidda Destiny. Apparently Morbidda Destiny cast a spell on Karen and now she has more freckles. She know because Mrs. Porter squinted at her and raised one hand. Dammit, Karen.

Every moment spent with you is another moment I have to remind myself that slapping a child isn't right. Andrew tried to fix them three bowls of peppermint ice cream, which sounds like a really bland ice cream flavor. Ice cream's already cold, so what's the point of peppermint flavor? Andrew also let Boo-boo out. Dammit, Andrew. Slapping children isn't right, slapping children isn't right...

Watson acts like an enabler to an addict and bought Karen a book called The Witch Next Door. Dammit, Watson. Slapping a grown man is okay, right? Kristy decides to read her a Ramona Quimby book. I remember that Beezus and Ramona movie that came out with Selena Gomez in it. Never watched it.

Mary Anne calls and is still scared of Mrs. Porter. I'd understand if it was because Mrs. Porter looks aggressive, but it's because MA bought Karen's shit and thinks Morbidda Destiny is real. Apparently, MA's a bit gullible and she believed some dumb shit that her camp mates told her in one book. The difference is Karen's SIX. She's half your age MA!

When the books go from first-person to kind-of-third-person, I always wonder how the main girl knows all the little details of the other girl's “adventure”. How the hell did Claudia know that Kristy “drew her hand back, afraid” while she was answering the phone? Kristy starts freaking out when sounds and shadows pass around her, but it's just Mrs. Porter and Boo-boo. Looks like Kristy bought some of Karen's shit too, probably with what's left of her intelligence, and thinks Mrs. Porter's gonna go all Morbidda Destiny on her.

Y'know, I think that AMM was just planning to write a book on a witch called Morbidda Destiny, but the BSC books interfered with that. She liked the name so much that she put it as much as she can in her books. Unfortunately, that meant lots of chapters with Hellspawn in them.

Mrs. Porter's mad because Boo-boo was eating a mouse on her porch, so she came to bring both Boo-boo and the remains of the mouse. Kristy decides she's not really a witch, not because it was said by a six year-old, but because if she was a real witch, then she'd have kept the remains for spells.

Dammit Kristy.

CHAPTER EIGHT
It's Stacey's sitting job for Charlotte Johanssen, who I thought was black for two years of my life. There's a rare sighting of Mr. Johanssen, and he also calls his wife Dr. Johanssen. Ann. It only takes a few minutes to think of a name for a minor character. Her name is Laura Johanssen. That one took me 40 seconds.

He leaves and a thunderstorm kicks in. The girls bond over hiding from thunder, and Stacey says they should put on the TV. I live in the Philippines, a magnet for typhoons and rain. The TV is the last thing we would turn on at that point, especially since according to the writing, the thunder came BEFORE the lightning. At that point you should be praying that you don't get fried.

Stacey says they should put on MTV. Ah, days when MTV still had music on it. Which reminds me, why aren't there more references to music in BSC books? It's always shows or movies from the 50s but never music. They decide to watch a horror show but the power conks out in the middle of an episode. The girls huddle together and freak out at everything. They decide to go get some candles and they keep hearing noises. Any sense of tension or fear is ruined by the constant sound effects. Yes, AMM, I know the floorboards are creaking. I don't need a “creak, creak, creak” every other line.

Turns out the sound was just the Johanssens' schnauzer, Carrot, who I have never seen outside of this book. The phone didn't ring at all during Stacey's job.

CHAPTER NINE
It's MA's sitting job for David Michael. Here, we have our first mention of I Love Lucy in BSC, except it's not described as everyone's favorite show yet. MA freaks out and starts setting up traps all over the Thomas house. Look, close or not, don't use the Thomases' stuff for traps that may or may not be needed. The only highlight is AMM's poor attempt at making up a fake metal band: MA puts on “Poundin' Down the Walls” by The Slime Kings. Unless that's just Sam's garage band mixtape, I doubt that that title and that band name could ever go far enough to have an album.

Like the other jobs, weird sounds and shadows show up and the traps go off, but it's just Louie. We also get our first apperance of allergy accent when DM calls MA “Bary Add”. MA realizes that she's pretty stupid for using a metal song for an alarm so she turns it off and gets DM half an aspirin. The rest of the Thomas family comes home to see a pile of their cookware and a tape deck next to the doors. They think it's funny for some reason. Kristy walks MA home.

CHAPTER TEN
Alan Gray doesn't know how to deal with feelings yet, so he's just been acting like a dick to Kristy so they could go away. Kristy says that Sam took a punk girl named Tamara to the movies. She calls the girl a “what” because her hair is dyed and her gloves are fingerless. She also claims that Sam only went out with her to shake up their mom. Tamara doesn't deserve this shit.

Stacey takes it really badly, because after a half-hour of playing Candy Land, she and Sam were ready to walk down the aisle together. It'd be understandable if she was just upset, but she cries about it. Stacey, you only spent a half-hour with Sam. Give it time first! Not every romance is gonna be like a movie where you go on your first date and have sex on the same night.

Apparently MA can't stand it when others are upset. That's because their tears are taking attention away from her tears. A Mr. Willis calls and Claudia takes the job without thinking. Then the subject goes back to Trevor Sandbourne. Claudia's still sad because Trevor still doesn't know her name, so there's no way he's asking her to go to the dance.

The girls suggest Claudia ask him but she says “This isn't the Sadie Hawkins dance!” And so what if it's not? Girls asking guys is perfectly normal no matter what dance! I always wondered why it was customary for the boy to ask the girl in American dances back then, because boys are usually less confident and a bit more dense when it comes to romantic attraction. Girls meanwhile are the ones who, if they see a guy they like, they do everything in their power to impress said guy, while said guy stands there and has no idea what's happening.

The subject changes from Trevor to babies. Thankfully, none of them show signs of the BSCult yet. No one talks about what do to when the baby arrives and just talk about when they were babies themselves. Claudia's still hoping Trevor's going to ask her. Claud, do yourself a favor and ask him. It'll help to end this book early.


CHAPTER ELEVEN
Claudia's doing homework with Mimi (!) again. She grumbles because the Math teacher gave her and only her extra work. Claud, your mailbox gets filled with letters from the school every day. You should know why.

In the middle of times tables, the doorbell rings and a Mr. and Mrs. Goldman who never appear again are behind the door. Look! Rioko (not a real Japanese name, even though Ryoko is) just called them Eileen and Arnold! AMM couldn't make up a name for Dr. Johanssen but she could make some up for two people who will never return again?

The Goldmans seem to have been robbed by the Phantom Caller, and they live next door to Claudia. Now you girls are allowed to freak out. It's not the real Caller, just some copycat, but that's still reason for concern. Mary Anne gets banned from babysitting because Richard's a Dick.

Claudia has another conversation with Mimi. She gives more great advice: “You know, my Claudia, that in order for things to change, you must change them. You will grow to be an old woman like me, if you wait for others to change things that do not please you.” All Claudia says in response is that when she does become old, she wants to be just like Mimi. Her personality and the time warp beg to differ.

Claudia's ready to say hi to Trevor for the first time. Instead she ends up dumping her Jell-O on Trevor's lap. Trevor and Claudia just stare at each other until Claudia runs away in embarrassment. Little did she know, Trevor was relieved, because it helped cover up his boner.

Stacey's going to the Hop with Pete Black while Kristy, MA, and now Claudia are going to just sit around at home. Have these girls heard of going stag? Claudia mentions that Dori and Emily are going to the dance too. She doesn't say who with, so I'll assume they went with each other.

The club meets up to fix the babysitting schedule and MA thinks she shouldn't be in the club anymore, what with Richard's strict rules. Before MA can escape the BSCult's clutches, they manage to convince her to stay with them. No, MA, you were so close! If Kristy offers you Kool-aid, DON'T DRINK IT!

CHAPTER TWELVE
Jamie's cousins are back. Wait, Mrs. Newton just called her husband Roger! Why the inconsistency, AMM? The Newtons and the Feldmans leave for a cocktail party. After the BSCult moment earlier, Kristy's beginning to grow in her role as cult leader, as the first thing she does is tell everyone what they can't do and if they don't comply with her rules, she'll hurt them. Cult jokes aside, if a babysitter threatened to beat up my kid, I'd never ask for their services again.

Someone calls the house three times. Later, the girls spy a shadow prowling near the property, so they call the cops.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The police caught the shadow and it turns out to be...Alan Gray! And he would've gotten away with, if it wasn't for those pesky babysitters!

Alan's been stealing the notebook from Kristy's desk and looking up the numbers and addresses. Kristy assumes it's to mess with her, but again, it turns out he just wanted to ask Kristy out and because he's an awkward preteen boy, he couldn't spit it out. I already said this in the previous part: Boys don't know how to deal with feelings, especially twelve year-olds.

Kristy handles it well and accepts.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
These last few chapters weren't very snarkable. I can't even make a book idea or a funny drawing out of them.

Claudia asks Kristy why she accepted Alan's offer. Kristy says it proves what her mom said, that if someone likes you, they pick on you, and admits that Alan's cute. This makes Claudia feel worse about the dance and Trevor. Claudia, if a guy likes you, it's either childish teasing, or awkward stupidity. Guess which one Trevor falls on.

Claudia gets home and Janine says she won't tell their parents about the police incident. Claudia says she snuck into the living room and Janine says it's sneaked. Google tells me it's both. Janine tells Claudia she's proud to be her sister, and Claudia asks why Janine and her don't talk like that more. Janine says “Because you usually tell me to shut up or go away or mind my own business.” If only Claudia would remember that more.

Janine also hides candy in her room, apparently. This small bit of extra characterization will be forgotten in later books like almost every extra bit that doesn't adhere to their main character trait.

Claudia realizes that she has no idea who was calling her. She suspects it's Rick Chow or Howie Johnson. It's pretty obvious who it really is by now.

Sure enough, Trevor tells her that he likes her, and he even wrote a poem about them. Alan found it and teased him about it. After Alan got caught by the cops, he decided to tell Trevor to man up and just talk to Claudia or else he'll get arrested. And so he did. Wow, these last chapters are boring.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Claudia and Stacey dress like hobos for the Hop. They all have fun and stuff and blah blah blah this is boring as hell.

Claudia got eighty-six on the Math test. A B! In a later book, when Claudia gets an eighty-one, her family acts like she failed again. However, this is an early book, so instead her family celebrates and Janine even gives her a hug. Bonding!

Because the Phantom's M.O. is stupid, he gets arrested. The BSC celebrates.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
AMM apparently did that phone code thing IRL with her friend Beth. Thing is, there wasn't any criminal on the loose, they just liked scaring each other. For some reason AMM thought this would work if there was an actual criminal on the loose.




I'm out. Call the cops and don't drink the Kool-aid.

#3 The Truth About Stacey (Covers - Chapter 5)

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This book is actually one of the few books I was able to read in my school library. My library had a lot of Stacey books for some reason. I also made up a ranking of each babysitter last night, from kinda liked to most hated:

1. Abby (She's a BSC snarker too, and she hasn't drank the Kool-aid yet)
2. Claudia (Again, she used to be my comfort character)
3. Stacey (The number of Stacey books in the library helped this)
4. Mallory (I have a thing for characters who get dumped on)
5. Jessi (She was boring but at least she wasn't that annoying)
6. Kristy (She is the BSCult leader)
7. Mary Anne (“Sensitive” is just a synonym for passive-aggressive manipulative bitch)
8. Dawn (“Junk food is gross and California is so much  better—” I GET IT, DAWN)

Also, my uncle has diabetes, which will totally affect my judgement of Stacey's books. Let's move on to #3, The Truth About Stacey.


COVERS
Here's the first cover by Dale Dyer:
Charlotte and Stacey actually look like children, but what the hell is Stacey wearing? Shades and an unbuttoned patterned shirt over a sweater? Pink and green can look nice together but the shades of color chosen don't look very good.

Here's the second cover by Hodges Soileau:
Stacey looks about 25. I think the look on her face is supposed to be wistfulness, but it looks more tired to me. At least Charlotte still looks like a child.

Here's the UK cover:
It's not as bad as the other UK covers, but Stacey's face and expression still look off.

AMM thanks a Dr. Claudia Werner for help on diabetes. I like to think that AMM was deliberately looking for a doctor with a fitting name.

CHAPTER ONE
Here's what was missing from the previous book: The BSC planning what to do when a baby is born! Why that's any of their business, I have no idea! My personal theory is that Kristy uses the BSC to indoctrinate the children into the Cult's beliefs. However, the BSCult spirit hasn't fully possessed Kristy yet, so she's just thinking of Jamie Newton.

It segues into a paragraph of exposition about the BSC, which segues into a paragraph of exposition about New York, which segues into a paragraph of exposition about Stoneybrook, which segues into a final paragraph of exposition about the girls. That's a lot of exposition, but at least it isn't as bad as the infamous Chapter Twos.

The girls start talking about what time they were born and MA pulls the “My mom is dead!” card by saying she doesn't know when she was born. MA knows that when she pulls that, she can get free support and sympathy.

Mimi (!) comes to check on the girls, and she knows when MA was born. MA curses under her breath, as the revelation takes away the free sympathy, but because it came from Mimi, she just smiles. Mimi turns to leave but bumps into Janine, who seems frantic.

After another “Janine has different interests so she's boring!” rant, Janine shows the girls a flier for the Baby-Sitters Agency! Gasp! Another babysitting business? In Stoneybrook? OH NO! It's not like two of those can co-exist or something! This means war, I tell you! WAR!

The BSCult spirit realizes how many children it wouldn't be able to induct, so it possesses the club, making the girls furious. Mimi and Janine leave, and the girls sit in the room, stewing in anger. HOW DARE SOMEONE ELSE MAKE A BUSINESS JUST LIKE THEIRS! HOW DARE!

MA puts on her reading glasses, which show up in this book and never again. I wonder if Mallory would've felt better about her glasses had this detail stayed in the books.

Kristy groans that they're dead. These sitters are older and can stay out late more! The girls conveniently forget that most of the children are more emotionally attached to them, therefore they would still get business from their regulars. But no! These girls are THIRTEEN! A whole year older, therefore much more mature! Haven't you seen the difference between 11 year-old Mallory and the 10 year-old triplets? They can't even clean up their own milk! Claudia can't spell and Liz and Michelle can smoke! SO MUCH OLDER!

Claudia snots about Liz and Michelle. They have smart mouths and sass the teachers, which I misread as “ass” the first time. But wait! They also hate school (like you, Claudia?) and hang out at the mall! Like the girls were planning to in the previous book! Wait, what? No no, you see, the BSC are different from those snotty, sassy 13 year-olds!

CHAPTER TWO
Kristy calls the Agency and says she's 7th grader Candy Kane and that she need a sitter for her brother, Harry Kane, as she's going on a date with a football playing sophomore named Winston Churchill. I can't believe Liz fell for that, despite being a superior and mature 13 year-old. Liz also asked her who the date was with, which is kind of unprofessional but at least not too bad.

The Agency works like this: Liz and Michelle take the calls and find a sitter for the caller, which is not a bad idea. Liz calls back and offers three sitters, one of which is a boy: two thirteen year-olds and one fifteen year-old. We never hear of these babysitters existing in Stoneybrook ever again, so I'll assume Kristy had these three killed after the book ended.

The club is dismissed and Stacey runs home, which segues into a long exposition dump about her diabetes. It's actually needed here, as this is the first book to detail how Stacey found out and got diagnosed.

It started with a bunch of embarrassing incidents, involving fainting into her soup and pissing her pants at a sleepover. Stacey was diagnosed with diabetes by a psychologist, which is odd. Her parents were in so much denial that they kept trying to find treatments and cures and didn't tell anyone that Stacey had diabetes. Stacey ended up thinking she should hide it too, so everyone at school thought she was a freak, even her former best friend, Laine Cummings (hehe, Cummings).

I really hate those types of parents who deny that their child has an illness or disorder. Unless it's life-threatening, the parents insist their child's just a “little sick now and then” or “just having normal kid problems” or some shit. It's as if it's extremely embarrassing to the parent that their child has a disorder. Their main thought, instead of being “Is my child doing okay? How are they feeling? I should make sure they feel normal,”, is “What will the others say about me? They'll think I'm a bad parent!” It's disgusting.

CHAPTER THREE
Stacey turns her thoughts towards boys, specifically two: Sam Thomas and Pete Black. Stacey hasn't seen Sam as often as she thought she would, and Pete Black is only her sort-of boyfriend. Ah, normal preteen girl behavior. Also, Pete Black is my favorite non-BSC and non-charge side character.

Stacey comes home and her mom immediately freaks out because she's not hungry. It's the first instance of AMM inserting real people as characters, however this character won't be a mainstay unlike the Perkins girls. This instance is Dr. Werner, the same on from the acknowledgement. Like the Perkins girls, she gets one of those moments where characters go “Isn't this IRL person insert amazing?”

Stacey's parents are planning to bring her to New York to meet a doctor her Uncle Eric saw on TV. Stacey groans. This is another aspect of those disgusting parents I hate: when they try to look for treatments or even a cure for their children, just so that the kids can be more “normal” and the parents can be saved from the ire and criticism of their peers. (By the way, I have diabetic children and children with mental illnesses in mind when I talk about these parents.)

Her parents pull the “We do this because we love you and know what's best for you” card and Stacey is shut up. Kristy calls to announce their emergency meeting for the next day. At the meeting, Kristy comes up with ideas for how to improve services. She lists these:

1. Housework with no extra charge (haha, fuck no)
2. Special deals to regulars (You're already practically raising the kids, no need for deals)
3. Kid Kits (okay this one is actually good)
4. Lower rates (haha, fuck no)
5. Offering jobs to their older siblings (actually pretty good)

I've always wondered how big Kid Kits were. I always imagined a metal lunch box for some reason. Nowadays, I picture one of those huge printer paper boxes. But if Kits really were that big, I wonder how these girls carried it on their bikes. About that last one, everyone agrees until Kristy mentions Janine. Claudia forgets everything Mimi told her in the previous book and blows up.

Also, I've always wondered, why don't the older siblings ever interact, or even mention each other? They're close enough in age, plus they've also been living in the same area for all their lives. I mean, if Kristy and MA could be friends with Claudia but not close friends, why haven't we heard any stories of Charlie, Janine, and Sam hanging out when they were little kids too?

I like to think the three used to hang out when they were 6 or 7 and they gradually stopped being friends once Janine moved up to middle school at age 8 or 9. Janine would totally tell Charlie science stuff that he could use to prank Sam with.

Another thing, why don't we ever hear what Charlie does while the BSC meeting is going on when he starts being the chauffeur? Does he just jack off in the pimp wagon while waiting? Does he really spend some alone time with Janine in the next room? More G-rated, does he ever have awkward conversations with Janine?




Again, I like to think that Janine's telling Charlie what college is like and helping him write letters to universities.




Sorry about that tangent, I just needed a little cool-off after the disgusting parents rant I went on earlier. Also this community has turned me into a Charlie/Janine shipper. The girls decide on making Kid Kits, giving deals, and saving the siblings thing as a last resort.

CHAPTER FOUR
Stacey's sitting for Charlotte Johanssen and Dr. Johanssen asks her about her blood sugar, which is kind of weird, but I guess since she's a doctor it's okay. ...What kind of doctor is she anyway? I like to think the reason why we're never told is because she's an OB/GYN.

CharJo wants to know what's in the Kid Kit. Because this was made by Stacey, it has A Cricket in Times Square in it. Because she's from NEW YORK. I wonder if AMM is aware that New York isn't just the city. What part of NYC is Stacey from anyway? Probably Manhattan. *checks* Yep. I'd love it if a movie set in New York took place somewhere other than NYC, or a movie set in NYC taking place somewhere other than Manhattan, like how Spider-man: Homecoming was in Queens.

Stacey takes CharJo on a walk without telling either of her parents (STOP BRINGING KIDS TO RANDOM PLACES WITHOUT ASKING!) and CharJo says she doesn't have any friends. She won't say why and sticks her thumb in her mouth. I'm pretty sure seven year-old shouldn't be doing that, unless the Johanssens are such bad parents that CharJo's still sucking her thumb.

They go to a candy store and CharJo wants some. Stacey says they shouldn't, since it's close to dinner. Why the hell did you bring her there then? She's seven, of course she'll ask for a sweet. They leave and CharJo notices some of her classmates.

Her classmates call her “Char-Char” like it's an insult and not a cute nickname and chant “Teacher's pet” at her. CharJo leaves in tears and Stacey consoles her. They bump into Liz Lewis, advertising the BSA with balloons. She mistakes CharJo for Stacey's sister (aww) and hands her a balloon. Stacey feels the breeze of the BSCult spirit rush past her and she starts thinking of what to do.

CHAPTER FIVE
The BSCult spirit continues to possess the club, especially Kristy, who gets angry enough to tell Liz to her face that she's the BSA's mortal enemy and number one rival. Liz has no idea why the hell this chick is taking having another babysitting service in town so seriously and tells Kristy to piss off, further angering both Kristy and the spirit. By the end of this book, I'm pretty sure Kristy contacted the spirit directly and started working alongside it. Wait, did I go this far without making a book idea about it?

Book #666, The BSCult Spirit and Kristy
Tagline: Don't drink the water!
Kristy's reminiscing. A few day after forming the BSC, she discovers that the BSC is actually an acronym for a cult that her ancestors led. She decides to contact the spirit that the cult worshipped and instead of fighting for freedom from the cursed acronym, Kristy forms an alliance with the spirit. She makes a concoction from an old cult book that she puts in the water supply to weaken the minds of the Stoneybrookites. Back in present day, Kristy tells all the BSC members what she's done. Because of prolonged exposure to the spirit, everyone's cool with it. First Stoneybrook, then the world!

If I had time, I'd totally write a fanfic about that.

Kristy and Stacey are sitting for Jamie because Lucy decided to pop out early. They decide to throw him a Big Brother Party and invite CharJo and three Pikes, Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo, Vomit Dispenser, and the first appearance of fugly-with-a-capital-fuck herself, Mallory “Spaz Girl” Pike. And I know I just said this, but STOP BRINGING KIDS EVERYWHERE WITHOUT ASKING. They start working on decorations and food.

An “Aughh!” cuts into the air as Kristy gets the call from the Newtons. It's a girl named Lucy Jane! Welcome to the BSCult—I mean, welcome to the world! Jamie gets sad because that means he wouldn't be sat by Kristy anymore. Stacey asks why and Jamie says his mom wants an older sitter so the sitter can take care of the baby too.

Stacey feels like a cold weight was dropped on her chest. Stacey, the BSC is made up of 12 year-olds. You guys don't know how to take care of babies! Hell, three of you will soon act like babies are breathing dolls to dress up. Stacey thinks Mrs. Newton is a “traitor”. Fucking hell, Stacey.

Stacey and Kristy decide this means war. And I decide this means break time because I haven't eaten in hours and I have rice to cook.



See ya later. Have the song I'm listening to, it's quite calming.

#3 The Truth About Stacey (Chapter Six - Chapter Thirteen)

Migrating to Dreamwidth!

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Because a) it's more convenient to post on one site than to post twice and b) because everyone's at the Dreamwidth now.


I've got a new post up. See ya there!

Kristy's Book-Part 2

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Hey, guys! Sorry this took a while. I actually like this book, but it isn't that easy to snark. I've also been busy studying for my midterms. But I got around to writing more. Enjoy!

Next section: Breaking the rules
Chapter 3-
Kristy hated being bossed around by her brothers when she was five.
So I guess the solution is to grow up and boss your friends around? Hypocritical much. She also doesn't like that they're older and get to do things she can't do. Understandable thought for a young kid. Every time she gets permission to do something they can do, they're given another new privilege. Still Sam, at seven, is allowed to walk to a friends house on the next block by himself. Shows how different the times were. My mom barely let do that when I was eleven or twelve, let alone seven.
Her brothers only let her play ball with them when Patrick is around. It's sad, because Patrick actually seems like a pretty cool dad, teaching Kristy to play sports. But obviously he becomes a piece of shit later on. Anyway, Kristy really enjoys sports and slowly starts getting better.
Kristy starts school and tries to play sports with Sam and Charlie but they don't let her. Sam is in second grade, but he's described as much older, coming in, drinking orange juice right from the container and Burping. I can't explain, he just seems older. I guess because the BSC clients can barely mop up spills by themselves, but Sam acts like a teenager.
Anyway, Kristy is sad that she is young and small and that her brothers won't let her play with them. Not much to snark.

Chapter 4
Kristy makes a list of all the things her brothers can do that she can't.
1) Ride my bike in the road- this rule makes sense, she is only five.
2) Stay up as late as the boys do- a downside of having older siblings, I must say. 3) Go to and from school alone- Sam and Charlie shouldn't even be allowed to do that, to be honest, they're only seven and nine. 4) go to a friend's house after school without coming home first- since this is before cellphones, all three kids should really come home first-- what if Liz wonders where they are?
5) Play at the playground without an adult watching- again, very decent rule and Sam and Charlie really shouldn't be able to do that either.
6) drink juice and milk right from the containers- gross, and none of them should be allowed to do that
7) go to school without combing my hair- typical Kristy.
One day after school, Kristy notices Charlie and Sam aren't coming straight home. They're going with friends to watch a soccer game at the middle school alone, which they really seem too young to do, and then getting driven to the movies and staying there alone. Am I the only one who thinks they're too young for that too? Seven and nine year olds alone at a movie theater just doesn't seem like a good idea in my opinion. They may not have proper movie theater etiquette yet, they can get lost, lose their money, probably talk throughout the movie, and a whole bunch of other things.
But anyway, they're doing that, and going to see a movie called Car Man. Kristy is jealous that she can't go with them. She decides she's going to go to the game and the movie, she just has to figure out how. She comes home and Liz is there so I guess this is before she got her job. This is when, if I were Kristy, I would just mention the movie and maybe Liz can just take her. She could have just brought Charlie and Sam and their friends and taken Kristy, for that matter. But no logic is ever used, so Kristy tells Liz she's going to Claudia's, grabs ten dollars from her piggy bank, and sneaks off to the game. This is why five year olds shouldn't be trusted to walk to friends' houses alone, even when they're right across the street. I am not a parent yet and I'm an abnormally anxious person, but I feel like I would want to walk my kid over, even if it was across the street. If only to prevent what Kristy is about to pull.
She walks to the school and her brothers are extremely surprised to see her. The friends' mother picks them all up and believes Kristy's story that her mother said she could go to the movies. I don't know, it doesn't seem that responsible, I feel like she definitely should have confirmed with Liz. As the mother, I would assume if Liz was letting her go she would have called me. But the adults in Stoneybrook are useless so Kristy goes to the movies. Although the mother does wait for them to buy their tickets, which fixes the problem I previously said about the kids possibly losing their money.
They settle to watch the movie, which is a basic superhero movie about a guy who can transform into a car. It sounds cute.
In the middle of the movie, everything goes dark and Liz's voice fills the room, asking if Kristy is there.
At least she gave a shit enough to come after her. If this was a decade or so later, and it was Emily who had sneaked into the movies alone, Liz wouldn't even notice. It would be Nannie to come find her.

Chapter 5
Liz makes all three kids leave (it's not really fair to Sam and Charlie. She says Charlie should have known Kristy was lying, but he's a nine year old boy.)
The mother that drove them is there and too and apologizes. Liz says it isn't her fault but it kind of is. Unlike a nine year old, she's an adult who should have had common sense and drove Kristy home to ask if it was really true that she was allowed to go.
As they go home, Kristy sits in the front seat with Liz, which... isn't safe. All these things she isn't allowed to do, and she's allowed in the front seat? Not that she should be allowed to do the other stuff either.
Anyway, they get home and Elizabeth is going to speak to each of them privately.
Liz goes to Kristy and is rightfully angry. I do think she's being a little harsh on the boys, but what Kristy did was absolutely wrong. Liz also mentions that she crossed the street by herself. I can completely understand her anger over that. Five year olds should not cross big streets alone. It's nice to see that she at least used to be an attentive parent.
She asks Kristy if she has anything to say for herself and Kristy is a huge brat and tells us she isn't sorry at all and just asks Liz how she knew where she was (I have to admit I am curious about that myself.) Apparently, Liz was able to get it out of Mary Anne.
She says if Mary Anne hadn't told her she would have called the police. She tells Kristy she was worried she was lost or had been kidnapped and starts crying. I like this Liz. Although I hope she realizes that this stuff can happen to Sam and Charlie too. I just think she gives them too many privileges.
Kristy finally starts to feel bad, and she apologizes. Kristy does want to tell her she's just as mature as her brothers, and can take care of herself as well as they can, and no, Kristy. If you could, you wouldn't have sneaked off to the movies. And No nine, seven and five-year-olds can really take care of themselves.
Later, Liz tells Patrick what Kristy did and Patrick LAUGHS. Yeah, your five year old snuck to a ball game and a movie and worried the shit out of your wife. So hilarious. No wonder Kristy is the way she is, all I'm saying.
Her dad said what she did showed spunk and she shouldn't be punished. Worst parent in Stoneybrook award, although he already has that for abandoning his family. Liz is a good parent again and says she isn't going to raise Kristy to be irresponsible. For the most part she isn't, but something went wrong because she IS a bossy; evil dictator with psychopathic qualities.
Kristy really gets quite a punishment, because her previous privileges of walking to friends' houses alone and going to bed at 9
are taken away. The first one makes sense because she was trusted to walk to claudias and sneaked off to the game which means she really isn't mature enough to do that, and most five year olds aren't. And even if they are, as I mentioned before, I still Probably wouldn't allow it because anything can happen when you're dealing with a kid that young. Also, the boys get to go to Car Man again and she doesn't.
Kristy says she'll never get to see what happens. What about videotape? I know you have to wait for the release, but they had VHS tapes back
then.
Instead, Kristy gets another "brilliant idea." It's actually pretty smart. Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia "act out" Car Man with events that don't actually happened in the movie in order to get Charlie and Sam to tell them what really happens. They all play together and it's a cute scene.
--
<|lj-snark>
Sorry if that was boring, guys. But hopefully it gets juicier later!

Logan Likes Mary Anne! Part 1!

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Hey, gals! I'm still in a pretty good mood in a big part thanks to all y'all and your lovely comments and decided to snark some more! I did have to stop in the middle of this snark and despair because the Spoop Monster knocked over my nearly full glass of iced tea. And it missed my laptop by this much which nearly gave me a heart attack. But I gave her a spanking and got back to snarking. And you know? I love this book. I can't pinpoint why because I've never had an interest in boys or romance. I think I just like Mary Anne as a character. And this is an early book before the whole series went to Hell. It's just...pleasant! Plus is has my favorite BSC outfit and a kitten. It's just nice to take a break now and then. Well, let's go!

-Song of the Day!-


Chapter 1!

Ann earns my spite right off by having Mary Anne say that the BSC earns 'pretty much money'. Why does she always use that phrase? It's so clunky. Why not 'quite a bit' of money? It sounds like 'What we earn is pretty much money though some people pay Claud in half a kit kat bar or a single skittle'. This book takes place before the time warp and it's the end of summer before 8th grade. Mary Anne talks about how over the summer each BSC member had a big event. K Ron's mum got married, Mimi had a stroke, Dawn went back to Cali Cali and Stacey treated Mary Anne like shit because she had a boner for Scott. Mary Anne just glosses over that and talks about Alex. She says that she got along with him and learned boys are people too. She also says the exchanged rings which is preeeety serious if you ask me. I still stand by that Mary Anne and Alex totally kissed and she's been keeping it secret.

Mary Anne is just lazing around her room when Dawn comes over so they can walk to the BSC meeting together. Dawn is wearing-'hot-pink shorts with a big, breezy island-print shirt over a white tank top' which is certainly more interesting than anything Hodges ever puts her in. She says her dad sent it to her but why would he do that when she was just in California? On their way to the meeting, Mary Anne checks the mail and squeals about getting an issue of 'Sixteen' magazine. Not Seventeen,'Sixteen'. I don't know if Ann didn't want to shell out for the rights or she thought 17 was too old or she's just dumb. Place your bets! Mary Anne is super excited because there's an article on Cam Geary who is totally adorable! Dawn comments on how much Mary Anne has changed in that she's never shown so much emotion or interest in boys. I totally get how Mary Anne feels. I'm super shy but once I open up to you, I never shut up.

They get to Claudia's house and since this is an early book, they ring the doorbell rather than waltzing right in. They're also not total rude assholes by actually saying hi to Janine. And K Ron isn't the iron fisted dictator she was in the last snark which is a little of a shock to me because I was used to the meetings being super uncomfortable. Mary Anne breaks out her magazine and they start talking about Cam Geary. They think that the girl he's dating can't be 14 because of her huge tracts of land. Me and my C cups at 12 weep. Damn, can you imagine if I was in the BSC? They'd worship me and my boobs. The rest of the chapter is uneventful, with them just setting up jobs and noting how busy they are. Subtle.

Chapter 2!

On the first day of school, Mary Anne walks with Claudia and Stacey. K Ron takes the bus and Dawn takes a different route. Mary Anne names off all her school supplies and I used to love shopping for the new school year. I hated school but I loved school supplies. And this was back in the heyday of Trapper Keeper. My favorites were my horse and foal and my Lisa Frank leopard. I still rue the day of the yard sale where I got rid of a bunch of stuff I was 'too old' for. One of the confusing things is she uses gum to stick things in her locker because tape is verboten. Why not magnets? I never had a locker in middle school outside P.E. But aren't they usually metal? And I would think that the school would be more against nasty chewed gum than tape.

Mary Anne gets to her homeroom and is awkwardly wondering where to sit when Dawn comes in. They take a seat in the back and Mary Anne goes over her class schedule. I wish I could find one of my old middle school schedules because it seems like she has a lot more classes than I did. For one thing, I didn't have homeroom or study hall. But I did have two English classes instead of one. By lunch, Mary Anne is starving and heads to the cafeteria with K Ron. She says they feel like babies bringing lunch but nothing about the fact that Dawn does. She surprised when Stacey and Claudia join them because they usually sit with their other friends. Well, thanks, Ann. I now know when they went from club to cult.

After K Ron does her usual 'school food is nasty' shtick, they start talking about boys. Claudia says she wants a poster of Max Morrison from 'Out of This World' and I wonder if Ann knew that was a real show. It came out before this book and doesn't have anyone named Max Morrison in it. Mary Anne scans the cafeteria and nearly sprays everyone with milk (and I'd say drinking from a milk carton if more babyish than bringing lunch, just sayin') because she spotted Cam Geary! She alerts the rest of the BSC to this amazing discovery and Stacey tells her that's not Cam Geary but Logan Bruno who's in her English class. Mary Anne all but scratches Stacey's eyes out in a jealous fit and thinks Logan is like, the cutest boy evar!

Chapter 3!

On Friday, Mary Anne says everyone barely made it to the BSC meeting as they all had things going on. And in a moment I don't believe in a second, Stacey is vice president of the dance committee. K Ron allowed a non-club related past time? And she didn't pitch a fit that Stacey is vice president which is very close to president and she felt threatened? Okay, Ann. I believe it. *pssst* I don't believe it. Once club business is taken care of, K Ron announces her newest plan, to advertise the club at an upcoming PTA meeting. Dawn suggests they find a way to leave the parents fliers and K Ron says that's a good idea, which Mary Anne comments that's she's usually 'not generous with praise'.


They say that Elizabeth can make some copies at work and do at least say they'll pay for them. Also, because the Jem Jam has me addicted to it, I looked up how much $15 was in '88 and it's about $31. So, that's not so bad. It's more money than I have currently. After that's settled, they start talking about boys again. Mary Anne is like 'No one's as cute as Cam Geary. Except Logan! He's made out of golden rainbows and farts Chanel no. 5 and discovered the cure to that cancer that only affects homeless puppies!' and everyone is like 'Bitch, what?' Luckily the phone saves her and the subject changes to some rando girl at school buying a bra. Why would they know this? Who pays attention to that shit? Oh, Ann who loves boobs. Mary Anne admits she got a bra too and K Ron is shocked. She thought they were members of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee together! I was a D cup by the time I was 13. I would have killed for a flat chest. Boys suck.

Chapter 4!

At school, Claudia calls an emergency meeting at lunch. She tells them that since advertising at the PTA meeting, people have been calling non-stop to schedule jobs. They try to work everything out when a male voice says they've done lots of baby-sitting 'In Luevulle. Ah’ve haid plainy of expuryence'.


Everyone starts batting their eyes and adjusting their bobbies for Logan. K Ron invites him to sit with them and the boys at his table start hooting about how he's gonna be swimming in pussy and the tide is high. He sits next to Mary Anne who is just frozen in place. They tell him about the BSC (a kid kit and a blood oath is a requirement) and he talks about his experience. They agree to have him attend the next BSC meeting which barely gives Mary Anne time to panic.

Chapter 5!

The day of Logan attending the BSC meeting, Mary Anne rushes home to make sure she looks her best. She puts on a vest over a white shirt and hoop earrings which rarely come for non-pierced ears especially in '88. I know because I would have bought some for a faux cartilage piercing because I'm a scaredy cat. She makes it to the BSC meeting to find everyone there and excited. The doorbell rings and Claudia goes to answer it. While she's gone, Mary Anne does a quick scan of her room to make sure it's acceptable to male eyes. She spots Claudia's rag doll and stuffs it under the bed. Damn, my room is full of dolls and plushies. Good thing it's strictly 'No boys allowed'.

Logan comes in and takes a seat on the floor next to Mary Anne. And even though she planned this, she's still unable to talk to him. Why do you want to be close to him if you're just gonna make a fool of yourself? They take a few jobs to show him how the club is run (5:35 kiss K Ron's feet while chanting 'The leader is good! The leader is great! We surrender our will as of this date!') and Claudia tries to tell a story about Pete snapping a girl's bra strap but realizes she almost said bra in front of a boy. Logan tries to cover it up by offering Mary Anne some popcorn and she spills it. Everyone scrambles around and Claudia asks what his worst sitting experience was. He starts to tell about potty training a little boy but them realizes he can't finish the story because it's rated M for mature. So, Logan whipped out his dick in front of a kid and taught him to piss. Classy.

K Ron is embarrassed enough to not reprimand Claudia for suggesting she and Logan go get drinks. K Ron allowing a member to leave a meeting for a snack without breaking out the captain's daughter? This is an early book! While they're gone everyone bemoans how embarrassing it all is and wonder how they can hold meetings with Logan around. Mary Anne thinks she wants Logan to join but doesn't know how they'll handle meetings. Claudia and Logan come back with the drinks and they get a call from a new client, the Rodowskys. She sets up a trail job for Logan and Mary Anne is the only one available to co-sit. Let's see how different this goes from Mallory's trail job.

Logan Likes Mary Anne! Part 2!

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Greetings, dolls! First off I want to apologize for not getting this snark up sooner. I was just exhausted all week and sleeping. I would get up, play Animal Crossing a bit, scroll through Tumblr say 'I should work on my snark...' and fall asleep. But I got back on a better sleep schedule and got back to work. And aw, yeah! This part of the snark has outfits, outfits, outfits! That's one of the reasons I read this book so much as a kid. It fueled my love of fashion. Especially 80s fashion. Well, let's go!

Part 1!

-Song of the Day!-


I forgot the cover in the first part so her it is now


Mary Anne looks about ten years older than Logan here. He looks nine. Jackie is also clearly in love with him too. Well, since he looks only a few years older than him it's understandable. Also, their outfits make me really miss the 80s.

Chapter 6!

Mary Anne meets Logan at the Rodowskys and says how every time she sees him she creams her panties. Hell, she creams every time someone says his name. I can't relate. She's able to keep it together and asks Logan how much trouble can one kid be. She immediately thinks of Jenny who has never been any more trouble than Karen or Claire. And of course Jackie will prove to be less trouble than your average kid. When Mrs R answers the door, Mary Anne says she doesn't look like most moms because she's wearing jeans. Ann. We need to talk. You do realize mom jeans were at their peak in the 80s, right? You do realize your books take place in the 1980s and not the 1880s? Women weren't dressing like Jackie O to go to the market. I know you grew up when togas were the height of fashion, but try to catch up.


Anyhoo, Mrs R introduces them to Jackie and tells them where she'll be. Once she leaves, Jackie asks them if they want to see his grasshopper, Elizabeth. Mary Anne is like, 'Your male grasshopper is named Elizabeth?' and Jackie is like yup because he's progressive like that. Rather than going upstairs with him, Mary Anne and Logan stay downstairs and make awkward small talk. So, of course they're surprised when they hear a thump from upstairs followed by Jackie wailing. They run upstairs to check on him and find that he tried to do a chin up on the shower rod. They check him over and he's fine but wants some juice. They go to the kitchen and Jackie spills his juice while carrying it to the living room. Logan cleans up the spill no problem and I was gonna complain that no one has nasty ass soda water in their house but I remembered this is the Rodowskys and they probably keep some for cleaning.

After that's taken care of, they all go to Jackie's room and he shows them Elizabeth..and gets his hand stuck in his jar. They try to pull it off but to no avail. Finally Logan gets some margarine and gets him unstuck. By the time Mrs R gets home, Jackie has fallen off his bike, ripped his jeans and made Mary Anne fall into Logan's arms. My cousin has a five year old and that sounds like a normal day to me. Does Ann think kids just put on plays and marching bands and never have accidents? They're kids, not toys. Logan and Mary Anne leave together and talk about the job. Logan compliments Mary Anne by saying she has a pretty smile. And I'm not gonna lie, I find that pretty sweet. Like, I'm not a fan of romance generally but I do enjoy some of it. It might be that I like Mary Anne and enjoy seeing her happy. It's too bad Logan turned into such a douche waffle in later books.

Chapter 7!

Claudia has a sitting job at the Perkins and I will say Gabby calling her Claudee Kishi is kinda cute. Mrs P is in a scurry because their was a leak and Gabby pasted stickers all over her bedroom door. Maybe it's me, but I don't see why a kid shouldn't put stickers on the wall or wherever. Our house is coated in stickers and no one seems to mind. I'd never have a kid but if I did, I'd allow them to express themselves creatively however they pleased. Within reason of course. It's not like Gabby drilled holes in her door. Heck, my cats have done more damage to my doors than that.

Mrs P leaves telling Claudia that Myriah is at the community center and she'll have to pick her up later. Claudia and Gabby play dolls a little bit till it's time to get her. I think about the time my mom got me a Cabbage Patch doll (this was the 80s, you had to have one) and I was just like, 'Gee...thanks' because of my burning hatred for babies. I immediately threw in her my closet next to my My Child doll and went back to playing Barbies. Anyway, Claudia decides to take Chewy along with them and havoc ensues due to Claudia's stupidity. Gabby says she can't see Myriah so Claudia picks her up and drops Chewy's leash. He runs off, grabs Myriah's school bag and runs away.

Claudia and the girls take off after him but ya know, he's a dog, he's fast. He runs into the Newtons yard and nearly tramples Lucy (yeah, if only) and Jamie joins the chase. I thought Jamie was scared of big dogs? I know he was okay with Louie but I remember him being scared of a dog in some book. They run into the Kishis yard and Mimi actually tries to grab his leash because she's a bad ass ninja granny. She misses and Chewy almost runs into Charlotte. Myriah yells to get her bag and Charlotte nabs it but Chewy takes off again. Claudia decides to wait at the Perkins to see if Chewy comes home on his own. Because of this brilliant decision making, Chewy runs away to join the Moscow circus and is never seen again. The End. I mean, he steals cones from a road work crew. Claudia gets Chewy back in the yard and gives the cones back. She says when she tells Mrs P of Chewy's adventure, she's not sure she believes her but why wouldn't she? I'm pretty sure she knows her dog is a rascally little goofball.

Chapter 8!

At the next BSC meeting, K Ron tries to get everyone's attention but they're too busy laughing about Chewy. When she says she'll have to make the decision about Logan on her own they come to attention. She asks Mary Anne how the sitting job went and Mary Anne gives a glowing review. Mm hmm! I see. So! Handling accidents and being level-headed makes you a great candidate for the BSC. But handling accidents and being level-headed means you need to be humiliated with bogus tests and insults. How totally fair! K Ron asks if they should have Logan join the BSC but no one brings up how well he drew the digestive system. They just say it's embarrassing having a boy at meetings. Mrs Rodowsky calls needing a sitter and no one can cover it. Mary Anne asks why Logan can't and K Ron says he's not a member yet and she clearly can't let the Rodowskys have the number of an unofficiated sitter! All sitting jobs belong to the BSC! Doesn't Mrs R know that?!

Mary Anne, showing better leadership material than K Ron, says she's not baby-sitting that day, she just has to go to a dinner with her dad and some of his clients. Since that's super boring, she's sure he'll let her got to the Rodowskys if she explains the situation. She tells K Ron to call the Rodowskys and tell them either she or Logan will be sitting. K Ron's not happy about it because when is she ever happy about not getting her way, but okays it. Once that's taken care of, she asks again, what should they do about Logan? Mary Anne points out that the meeting with him there was super embarrassing and maybe he doesn't even want to join. They say they should call him and all look to Mary Anne. She's like, fine, I'll do it but I'm gonna call him in private.

When she gets home, Mary Anne says she only has a small window to call Logan before her dad gets home. She calls him up and asks Mrs Bruno for Logan. She tells him that they just had a meeting and he says he's decided not to join the BSC. Mary Anne quietly panics wondering why he decided not to. She thinks about the good time they had at the Rodowskys and him telling her she had a pretty smile. Uh, Mary Anne? That part has nothing to do with joining the club. He didn't say, 'Your smile is so pretty it makes me forget all about being the only person with a penis in a room full of girls!' Your pretty smile didn't make the meeting any less embarrassing. She forgets all about that when he asks her to the Remember September dance. A dance for September.


Actual photo of my face after reading that

So, it's about a week into the school year and they're already having a dance. What kind of budget does this school have that they can waste their money on a dance a month and yet serve the nastiest food this side of 'Kitchen Nightmares'? Well, Mary Anne ain't bothered by the fact that SMS could have used that money for a tutor for Claudia that'll teach her to spell above a concussed Shetland pony's level and says of course she'll go. She's thrilled of course even though she doesn't know how to dance and has social anxiety but still wonders why Logan doesn't want to join the BSC.

Chapter 9!

Stacey has a sitting job for Charlotte and Char is super bouncy. Stacey says how different she is from when she first started sitting her and that skipping a grade was the best thing for her. She says she brought 'Tik Tok of Oz' in her kid kit and I think about how much I loved Tik Tok in 'Return to Oz'. I never know why it always ends up on 'Scariest Kids Movies' list because I was enamored with that movie as a kid. I think it's amazing. But I was allowed to watch legit horror films as a kid so I was a bit desensitized. Wheelers aren't as scary as an alien that can take anyone's shape and bite off your arms when you try to defibrillate them.

Once Dr J leaves, Charlotte looks through the kid kit and finds 'Happy Birthday to You' by Dr Seuss. Stacey reads it to her and Charlotte says she can't wait for her birthday. Stacey tells Char that Mary Anne will be turning 13 soon and Char says they should throw her a surprise party. Stacey actually remembers Mary Anne's one trait and says she doesn't think she'd like a surprise party. Charlotte suggests they throw a regular party then bring out a cake which is still putting her as the center of attention but Stacey's a dumb blonde and says that sounds like a good idea. We'll just have to wait and see how well this turns out, no?

Chapter 10!

Aw, yeah! Shopping time! This chapter is one of the reasons I love this book. The BSC is off to Bellair's to shop for Mary Anne's first outfit for a dance. Richard even gave her his store card to buy it. He also teared up because he's adorable. When they get to Bellair's everyone has a different opinion on where to go first and of course Stacey suggests they look at the underwear first. Lol! They're not even pretending Stacey's not a total slut! She's really set on it too. Like, 'We know you're gonna get finger blasted, Mary Anne. You might as well wear a lace thong and look hot while doing so'. Mary Anne tries on-'a green sweater dress that made me look like a mermaid, and a yellow sweater dress that made me look as big as a house. Then Claudia handed me a full white skirt with the words Paris, Rome, and London, and sketchy pink and blue pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Tower Bridge, and other stuff scrawled all over it. She matched it up with a pink shirt and a baggy pink sweater'. And I'll admit, that's a damned cute outfit and I'd still wear it. They go to shoes and find some-'white slip-ons with pink and blue edging'. And of course she doesn't get new underwear because she's not a slut like Stacey.

The day of the dance, K Ron has been replaced by an alien replicant because she says they should cancel the BSC meeting to help Mary Anne prepare for the dance. Hell's bells! Later K Ron wouldn't even let Mary Anne go to the dance! After paying Janine to answer the phone (gee, sure is nice of Janine to do that for a bunch of brats who won't give her the time of day, ain't it?) they troop to Mary Anne's house and help her out like actual friends rather than stoning her for the sin of getting a haircut. Richard drives them all to SMS and Maureen will be picking them up at the end of the dance. Which ends at 9:30 which seems kinda late for a middle school dance. But what do I know? I don't write teenagers as wildly out of character as Ann.

And hey! We get a full paragraph of BSC outfits! 'Claudia was wearing short, tight-fitting black pants and a big white shirt that said BE-BOP all over it in between pictures of rock and roll dancers. She had fixed a floppy blue bow in her hair. Stacey was wearing a white T-shirt under a hot pink jumpsuit. Dawn and Kristy looked more casual. Dawn was wearing a green and white oversized sweater and stretchy green pants. Kristy was wearing a white turtleneck shirt under a pink sweater with jeans'. Hee hee! They're all so 1980s it hurts! I can still picture Claud's shirt perfectly. I'm pretty sure I saw it in the 80s.

Inside the school is a mob scene but Mary Anne spots Logan and goes after him. Logan gives her a smushed orange flower because he's a fool and nothing matches orange. Also according to Google, orange flowers are for grief. Mary Anne pins it to her sweater and it clashes because Logan didn't think to go with something safe like white. Mary Anne can't take time to appreciate the decorations because she's too busy worrying. Lucky for her, Logan doesn't want to dance right away so they drink punch and awkwardly try to keep a conversation going. Finally Logan asks her if she wants to dance and Mary Anne has to agree. At first Mary Anne tries some dance moves Stacey taught her then tries to imitate Logan which is pretty darn cute. He begins to fool around and when she follows his Rockette kick, her shoe goes flying off and nearly kills Mr Kingbridge. She goes to pick it up and some kids are laughing at her and that is super embarrassing. I probably would have died.

After Mary Anne gets her shoe she goes back to her traitor friends who are also laughing at her. She's like 'Fuck all y'all bitches' and peaces out to the bleachers. They leave her alone for a bit then Logan comes to comfort her. He says everyone's forgotten about her shoe so why doesn't she come dance some more? She doesn't want to so he sits with her through three more songs before asking again. She still doesn't want to but tells him to go ahead and dance. Logan dances with the other BSC members but keeps coming back to Mary Anne to check on her. By 9:30 he asks if she'll come down now and she laughs about it. He tells her he had a really good time and Mary Anne hopes there'll be other dance with him. Wait a week Mary Anne, I'm sure SMS will have a 'Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun!' dance.


Logan Likes Mary Anne! Part The End!

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Greetings, my dears! So, I should have had this snark up last night but it got too facking hot and I fell asleep in the middle of it. But today I got up bright and early and after Animal Crossing, I finished it up. I think this is my favorite book I've done so far. Not only is the plot not total ass but the BSC acts like normal human beings throughout it. It's actually kinda weird. I wish this had stayed consistent as the series went on. But obviously asking Ann not to write her characters as total nutty bitches was expecting too much. The series would 95% smaller if Ann didn't have them acting like prolapsed anuses. Well, let's go!

Part 1!        Part 2!

-Song of the Day!-


Chapter 11!

Oh, God. A Thomas/Brewer sitting job. K Ron writes in the notebook that Karen wasn't scaring her siblings for a change so, they acknowledge that Karen is a little brat but they let her get away with it every time because...spunk? Oh, because when Karen's scaring them they're too frightened to fight. So what's worse? A kid fighting with their siblings which all kids do or a kid terrorizing their siblings which bullies do? I'm this close to writing a self-insert fanfiction where my proxy is like 'What the Hell? This kid is a brat! Sit down and shut up!' and then spend the rest of the sitting job playing with David M, Andrew and Emily while Karen sits in the corner. On fire.

Since Mary Anne is busy dating Logan, K Ron calls Dawn and asks her if she wants to stay the night. Mary Anne says Dawn is thrilled because she knows K Ron is jealous of her for stealing Mary Anne's love. Aww, this book has Louie in it. He's pretty worn out though and my heart breaks. I ignore the kiddie antics and focus on Dawn and K Ron talking about Mary Anne and Logan. K Ron is grossed out by the thought of them kissing and I relate to that. The sound of kissing is disgusting. She tells Dawn that she thinks Mary Anne is more serious about Logan than Claudia was about Trevor. She laments a bit about Mary Anne growing up faster than she is and Dawn says yeah, but they're still friends. K Ron insecure? Dawn comforting? Early books are weird. The chapter ends with them discussing the party and what to get Mary Anne and who to bring. Yawn.

Chapter 12!

Mary Anne has a day of phone calls and it's so weird to read about limiting your phone calls to ten minutes. First Logan calls Mary Anne to tell her they're gonna show 'Meatballs' and she should watch it. I check IMDB and it's not too raunchy but not exactly Disney. After they hang up, Stacey calls her asking if she's coming to the party and asked Logan to come. Mary Anne is like, no, not really and Stacey yells at her. She says she'll call them right now and hangs up. She makes her calls and get permission from her dad and Logan says he'll go with her. This chapter is boring.

Chapter 13!

The day of the party, Mary Anne stalls around her house before heading to Stacey's. When she gets there, she realizes she's the last one there and it makes her a little uncomfortable. Surely throwing her a surprise party is a good idea. In the McGill rec room, the boys and girls are separate with the boys doing boys things and the girls watching them. Logan comes up to her and they sit on a couch and talk. Mary Anne wonders if she's in love and no. No you aren't. You're 12. After they all have pizza, the lights go out. When they come back on, Stacey is carrying a cake that somehow doesn't put her in a coma. They all sing happy birthday to Mary Anne and she panics, running from the party and all the way home. I can't snark that. It sounds like Hell. Sorry if this chapter's short, it was pretty boring.

Chapter 14!

Mary Anne gets home and Richard asks her what she's doing home early. Mary Anne tells him the party was kinda a bust and broke up. Mary Anne goes to her room and throws herself on the bed to brood over what happened. She wonders how her friends could have done that to her. She thought they knew her better than that. I don't blame her any. They should have known that throwing her a surprise party was a bad idea. I was just talking to my bestie about how I'll probably be living with her by my next birthday and I only like small intimate birthdays. She was perfectly understanding about that because she knows how shy I am. So, this really is something her best friends should know. Their heart was in the right place but they done fucked up.

Mary Anne does think that they might think she overreacted but that they still should have known better. She thinks one of them will give her a call and opens her door a crack to be sure to hear the phone ring. Ten minutes pass and no one calls so she thinks maybe they'll come over. An hour later she hasn't heard from anyone and thinks that they're through with her. She thinks she ruined the party and everyone hates her now. Again, this is all very understandable. I'm sure we've all had moments where we thought 'Well, that's the end of it. My friends hate me and I'm gonna die alone.' And I do feel bad for her because she's not really at fault. She obviously has social anxiety and I relate to that. She decides since she no longer has any human friends, she'll ask her dad if she can have a cat.

The next morning Mary Anne goes downstairs where Richard is drinking coffee and reading some papers. Ooo! Don't tell Dawn he's doing something totally innocuous and not affecting anyone in anyway or she'll flip a shit and punish Mary Anne! She asks him about getting a cat and he's unsure about it. He asks what they'll do with it when they go on vacation and Mary Anne says maybe Mallory can feed him. And I dunno, I love that idea. I'd like to think Mal would get away from her horrible life for a few minutes and bond with a cat. “Good God, cat, you wouldn't believe the bullshit my family pulled today! First the triplets chipped one of my permanent teeth, then Margo walked too fast and puked in my rain boots, and then my mom made me re-shingle the roof!'

Richard thinks on it a moment then says, okay, they can get a cat. Mary Anne gives him a big hug and Richard earns even more of my love by insisting they get a shelter pet. Omg, I want to marry Richard! Which hey, ladies! We should play 'Marry, fuck, kill' with the 'brook dads. I'll go first-Marry-Richard, Kill-Patrick, Fuck...no one. Okay, so asexuals shouldn't play marry, fuck, kill. Anyhoo, Mary Anne is thrilled and goes to call Logan. When he answers he says he's surprised she's talking to him because he thought she was really pissed. Mary Anne clears up that she wasn't mad and he says they all should have known better. They make up and Mary Anne tells him about getting a cat. She asks if he wants to go with her to pick one out and he agrees. But first she and her dad go shopping for cat stuff. It just makes me think of the time I was just derping around in my room when my Gramma walks in and hands me a black kitten, just saying 'Here. I got this for you'. No time for pet supplies just kittened out of nowhere. That was Ickis. We got him stuff later of course.

And then eeeeeee! KITTENS! Mary Anne, Richard and Logan go to the animal shelter and ask to look at the kittens. They only have one litter of two red tabbies, a calico and a grey tabby. Mary Anne says she'd like the grey tabby and Logan asks her if she doesn't want to play with them a bit first. She says no, she always wanted a grey tabby to name Tigger which really doesn't make sense because Tigger is orange. Why not one of the red tabbies? This has bothered me for 30 years. They take Tigger home and he cries all the way because he's a baby and I love him. At home, Logan gives Mary Anne the present he'd gotten for her birthday and it's a sliver bracelet. He also got her a bracelet when he un-broke up with her, so he's not very creative. He also asks if she'd go to the Fifties Fling with him...another fucking dance.


Chapter 15!

After Logan goes home, Mary Anne calls Stacey to explain what happened. Stacey is understanding about it which really throws me off. I'm not used to the BSC not being unbelievable douche canoes. She also tells her about Tigger and Stacey suggests they have a special meeting the next day at Mary Anne's house to all meet him. So, on Sunday, the BSC comes over with her presents and a piece of her cake. They ate the cake? Well, I guess if they thought she'd never speak to any of them again it makes sense but it's still kinda bizarre.

Mary Anne opens her presents and she got some good stuff. Dawn got her a blue shirt to match her famous cities skirt, Stacey got her some socks that match the skirt, K Ron got her a music tape and Claudia made her some jewelry in pottery class. I look up pottery jewelry on etsy and don't see anything I'd personally wear. It does all look very 80s though so I'll give it a pass. Alan got her a wind up sparky dinosaur which is delightful and Austin Bently got her a pin in the shape of a cow which is also great. They eat the cake and I want to throw Dawn in an industrial mincer because she whines about wanting to brush her teeth. Here's a thought Dawn. If you're gonna bitch about eating cake, don't eat it in the first place. That fucking cake was wasted on your bony ass. Because you know her insufferable ass was making faces and groaning about 'Ew! This isn't dehydrated hamster bedding bricks with organic fish milk icing! Why am I eating this? I'm too special for white sugar! Did you notice? Did you notice how special I am?' I fucking hate Dawn.

At the club meeting Monday, they get swamped with calls and wonder what to do. They also get a call from one Mrs Morgan who has four boys and is never heard from again. And ho, shit! Guess who comes up with the idea to make Logan an associate member! Ah haha! Well, it ain't K Ron! It's Mary Anne! Who's the fucking idea machine now, bitch?! I'm gonna start pointing out all the times a BSC member besides K Ron gets an idea. And because K Ron is a pair of deformed rat testicles she only says that's 'not a bad idea'. Mary Anne calls up Logan and tells him about the idea. And really the only thing K Ron came up with was the name associate member. I'm fucking rollin' Logan agrees and says he knows a few other guys that might be interested in joining too which will never be mentioned again. And that's all! Man, this book is bizarre! I still like it though. So, next up for me will be 'Keep out, Claudia!' so we can see what Ann thinks racism is like. Because all white people are so good at writing that subject. As always thanks for reading!

Keep Out, Claudia! Part 1!

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Greeting, lovelies! So, even though it's hot as Satan's ballsack I've been listening to music all day and that always makes me super productive. Like, I even decided to forgo Tumblr in favor of snarking. Because when you listen to music and an interesting video comes up, you have to decide if it's worth muting your music. And frankly, it's too damned hot for that kind of desicion making. So, I went the snark route. Well, let's go!

-Song of the Day!-


Let's start with the cover:


Well, there's your problem, Claudia! That kid is clearly Fuckface McClownstick! Why does Hodges keep drawing kids as that fucker? Celeste looks much older than two. But she acts older than two so there might be some shenanigans there. She's also giving Claudia the 'Redrum' finger. Claudia is actually wearing the outfit in the book so some points for Hodges.


I had to include the UK cover because it's hilariously ugly. The UK covers always remind me of when a horror movie gets a poster from like Thailand or somewhere. Claudia looks as old as Mimi and, I'm guessing that's Celeste, is just begging for a roundhouse kick to the jaw. Also, I'm pretty sure Claudia's shirt is of Bizzy Bee from 'The Venture Brothers'.


Chapter 1!

Claudia is sitting for the Rodowskys and says Jackie is looking at her from under his 'fringe of red bangs'. Uh, does Jackie have an emo haircut? Well, if I got picked on as much as he does, I'd be a sad boy too. They're listening to Shea practice piani and Jackie says he's practicing 'a doggie-o'. Claudia doesn't know what that is even though she informs us Bach is 'awesome'. This is like when Jem met Mozart and Kimber thought he was outrageous. Yes, that happened.


Jackie, of course, knocks over the Lego rocket he and Archie are building and Claudia suggests he take Bo for a walk. Once Jackie is off probably walking into oncoming traffic, Archie tells Claudia he wants to do something that makes people clap for him and that's easy peasy, Archie-kins, just throw Karen off a cliff. Claudia gives us some exposition and a lovely example of her spelling with 'sikiatrist', 'choklit' and 'chezkak' My God...the red lines...'Chezkak' sounds like a cat hacking up a particularly troublesome hairball. It's cheesecake btw.

Claudia gives a dig about Janine's glasses and 'frumpy, dowdy clothes' because dressing like a tie dyed Juggalo in a side ponytail is so much more fashionable and mature. Jackie comes back in with Bo and Archie is still saying he wants to be a star. That's easy peasy, Archie-kins, just take Karen out to the desert and let her get eaten by a graboid. Claudia's rusty brain cogs start turning and she thinks maybe the club can come up with some kinda musical project for their clients. What? Is it Tuesday already?!

Chapter 2!

Just your usual chapter 2 infodump with the BSC talking over their new project and Mary Anne landing a job with some new clients the Lowells and something else...what was it? Oh, yeah...THE BIGGEST LIE IN ALL CHRISTENDOM! Get a load of this shit! 'If kids don’t agree with Dawn, she doesn’t care'.


Huh wha a fuh huh?! How did that get printed without the printing press catching fire?! How did Ann write that without catching fire?! Dawn doesn't care when other people disagree with her?! Dawn Read Schafer?! Dawn who rewrote a play to fit in her ideals?! Dawn who bullied Mary Anne into sharing a room then scared her out because she wanted the radio off?! Dawn who pouted about people not liking her enough to put her in charge of a recycling center?! Dawn who tortured her sister and best friend for getting a haircut?! Dawn who threw the universe's most epic little bitch fit because she didn't agree with her dad's decision to remarry?! That fucking Dawn?! I've been staring at this page for fifteen minutes trying to find the words but I'm afraid Ann totally fried my brain. I'm just- I don't know. I believe in a lot of crazy things but even I have my limits so, let's just move on.

Chapter 3!

Hoo boy! What was I doing? Oh, yeah...snarking...yeah. So, Mary Anne has a sitting job with the Lowells, Caitlin (8), Mackenzie (6), and Celeste (2). And I hope no one here is named Mackenzie because as an 80s baby that name is ruined for me because of this fucker right here:


It's also ruined for me because it's common with suburban wine moms. You know the kind I mean. The kind that Mrs Lowell obviously is. Wine mom introduces Mary Anne to the kids and to Hodges' credit, they're dressed exactly like they are on the cover. Mary Anne says they look like dolls and don't smile. Mrs Lowell leaves and Celeste cries a bit but Mary Anne cheers her up. She asks them what they want to do and they say they want to know about her family. She tells them about Tigger and the queen of the harpies and the rest of the BSC. When she tells them Mal is part of a litter they say she must be Catholic. I know that's supposed to be bigoted but I find it hilarious. Mainly because my family is non-practicing Catholics and everyone but me has a shit ton of brats. Like yeah, kid, we think condoms were sent by the Devil and it sucks.

They ask Mary Anne what religion she is and she totally blows it by saying Presbyterian instead of doing what I'd do, scream 'Satanism!' and throw them the horns. Again, I should really be writing fanfic. After asking her a million questions, she takes the kids outside to play till Celeste gets tired. Caitlin asks if they can watch 'Leave it to Beaver' because that's the only other show besides Lucy and the Bradys that exists in Stoneybrook. Mary Anne says okay and somehow K Ron doesn't come screeching out a manhole about 'No! That's the devil box! Put on a play instead!' The two olda kids settle down with the Satan Square and Mary Anne watches Celeste draw. She hears the other kids laughing and when she goes to check on them, they're watching something with two Asian kids riding bikes. And even though they giggle 'Look at their eyes!' Mary Anne doesn't get it. Really Mary Anne? Because it's pretty fucking obvious what they're laughing about. I get that Stoneybrook is a community of sheltered toddlers but I would think she'd realize what they're laughing about.

Chapter 4!

Claudia is sitting for the Newtons (I couldn't remember their name and kept thinking 'Jamie...Kennedy?) and she asks Jamie if he'd like to have Myriah and Gabbie over. He says yeah, so she calls Dawn who's sitting at the Perkins. When the girls come over, Stacey calls asking if she can bring Charlotte over and Mary Anne does the same about the Hobarts. After a while, all the kids are gathered in the Newtons yard and...zzzz. Sorry, this is incredibly boring. I'm gonna skim the kids setting up a band and only point out a few things. Like the fact that getting the kids together to form a band was Claudia's idea and not K Ron's. In fact they make good headway in getting everything taken care of without K Ron even there. Mm hmm! What ideas has K Ron come up with on her own? Bullying her friends? Nah, that's not an idea. That's just how she naturally acts. The only other thing to note is that Charlotte is taking guitar lessons but in 'Stacey vs the BSC' she took piano lessons. So, that's either a continuity mistake or she playing in this bullshit band made her give up guitar. Take your pick.

Chapter 5!

Claudia has her first sitting job at the Lowells and when wine mom answers the door she looks at Claudia like she's pissing herself and giggling about what a joy it is. She enters the house and Mrs Lowell looks everywhere but at her. Claudia remembers she was eating on the way over and she probably has an entire mallomar stuck in her teeth. She does a quick check but her teeth are clean. She then realizes she's dressed as her usual hot mess self and thinks that must be the problem. Mrs Lowell seems hesitant to leave but finally does once the olda kids return home.

Claudia gives them a snack of oreos and they don't listen to her when she says they've had enough. They run around screaming and wake up Celeste. Claudia goes to check on her but they stop her and say they need to talk to her first. She thinks that's a good idea and lets them. After a minute she goes into her room and asks Celeste if she wants a snack. The olda kids yell about wanting a snack too and when Claudia tells them they just had one, they say they'll tell their mom she's mean. And if you cut the racist shit, I wish kids told this to the BSC more often. Like when Dawn was bullying Jenny and kicked her out of her own sister's room. Something to let them no they're not happy with how they run things.

Claudia tries reverse psychology on them by saying the better eat all the oreos then and they're like 'Cool beans!' Before she can dig herself out of that hole, the phone rings. It's Mary Anne who's at the Hobarts and wants to know if she wants to bring the Lowells to band practice. The band practice section is blessedly short and soon Claudia has to take the Lowells home. They whine and cry and don't want to leave Mary Anne. When she gets them home, she engages them in a game of memory. But they keep leaving and sneaking grapes. She tells them to stop it and they're like 'Uh uh! You said no more oreos!' and she prays for wine mom to return.

Kristy's Book part 3 (and I am sorry this part is kind of boring)

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Hi, guys I have been insanely stressed studying for midterms but I am here now with another part. It wasn't that snark-worthy so sorry if this is a little boring :/

--
On our own
Chapter 6
This part is a little sad because Kristy tells us that her dad left the family. Right after David Michael is born, too.
Kristy had asked Liz to tell her the story of her father's departure and essentially they had been fighting lately and Patrick said he was fed up with his life and one day never returned home from work. Liz called his office and they said he quit his job and went out west.
I can't snark any of this. That's got to feel really shitty. One day you have a dad and the next he's just gone. I actually feel bad for Kristy.
Liz keeps things discreet and finally tells them their dad has to decided to live somewhere else, and he will call them, which of course he doesn't. This is very hard to snark. This is actually the kind of thing that should be published in a book, maybe even to help kids who are going through the same thing. Kristy wonders what she did wrong that her dad would leave her. Guys, this is SAD.
I feel bad for Kristy.
Kristy mentions that David Michael started to bond with Louie and that he's their new puppy. But that would make Louie 7 when he died in the series (since David Michael is 7), and they had said that at that time Louie was really old. Seven isn't that old for a dog.
Liz gets a full-time job which means that Sam, Charlie, and Kristy are on their own after school. And Kristy tells us her mother is in for a surprise. Dun, dun, dun.

Chapter 7
Liz starts her job and they start to eat a lot of takeout and run out of groceries. They literally have nothing for breakfast. This reminds me of the Pikes and how they had literally no food right before a snowstorm. I want to fault Liz but I guess when you're not used to working this stuff happens. They mention they only have enough milk for one bowl of cereal and for David Michael's bottle but doesn't he drink breast milk, and if not, formula? Do babies that young drink regular milk? Also Liz doesn't seem to notice or care that her kids are eating cold Chinese food for breakfast. At least ask them to help out by walking to the supermarket and getting a carton of milk or something.
The kids start rebelling by having friends over after school and eating lots of candy (provided by Claudia.)
All Hell breaks loose one day when Louie gets sprayed by a skunk. They make a huge mess in the house and prepare to give Louie a bath with tomato juice. I have actually heard that works on skunk
Smell.
Kristy, Sam, Charlie, Mary Anne, and Claudia go into the bathroom with the door closed and the window open and I so know where this is going.
They make a huge mess and when Kristy goes to get cleaning supplies and then realizes the door is stuck. They somehow all got locked in. There's also somehow a photo of it captured that Kristy puts in her book but how can they have a picture taken of this considering they are locked in the bathroom and don't have a camera.
Sam tells Kristy not to yell for help out the window because Liz might get mad that they are irresponsible, but if they don't ask for help, Liz is going to come home eventually and find them in there so it makes no sense. Plus I don't really see how this is irresponsible. They didn't mean to get locked in there and even though they made a huge mess they had good intentions by trying to wash louie with tomato juice. Also they're a bunch of kids. The only thing Liz may be mad at is Kristy having friends over.
They start worrying they'll be stuck in there forever, and no, guys, eventually Liz is going to come home and let you out or call the fire department or something. She's not going to leave you stuck in there.
Anyway they try to clean up with little success then they see Janine out the window and call for her to help but then Liz comes home...

Chapter 8
Liz manages to open the door from the outside (I am still curious how they managed to get locked in there) and is freaked out because the tomato juice looks like blood.
Liz is mad, yo. I don't think the bath part was that horrible but it turns out Louie wasn't supposed to be let out alone, and she's mad at the mess and at them having friends over.
Later as the family discusses what happened, Liz says she takes some credit because she never specified what the rules were and was just like "okay you're on your own." That's a good point. Everyone was scatterbrained and traumatized from Patrick leaving. I was more annoyed with Liz for the whole lack of food thing.
They all get a list of chores to do and one of Charlie's is to give David Michael his bath every night, and I am sorry but why does he have to do that? That's not something that's done while Liz is at work because David Michael goes to day care and comes home when she does. Why can't she give her own baby a bath At that point?
anyway everything works out and everyone does their jobs and is happy. I am so sorry that this was boring and more of a summary than a snark. There just wasn't much to snark.

--

Keep Out, Claudia! Part 2!

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Hey, dolls! So, I'm up late playing around and decided to snark. This part isn't the funniest snark seeing as this is a Very Special Episode book but I tried. It wasn't easy not getting furious at this book but I maintained my temper. It's hard for me to read books about racists without getting that smashy smashy feeling. Well, let's go!

Part 1!

-Song of the Day!-


Chapter 6!

At the next BSC meeting, Claud is offering around paydays and Stacey asks for chips and Dawn asks specifically for wheat germ crackers. Claudia asks her if 'unsalted, stone ground wheat crackers' are okay and you ever notice that more more adjectives you put in food, the more likely pricks like Dawn are to eat it? Like Claudia could have said 'wheat crackers' and Dawn would have been like ew! Not special enough! Like, they're fancy wheat thins, you fuck. Get a grip. And I will point out how fucking nice it is of Claudia to take Dawn's fucking picky ass diet into consideration when Dawn would never show her the same courtesy. Dawn has shown when she needs to cater, she only makes what she likes. And then she gets pissy when nobody likes it. I fucking hate Dawn.

Once everyone is settled, the phone rings and it's wine mom. She asks to speak to K Ron and everyone's wondering what's up with that, yo? K Ron takes the call and asks who's free next Wednesday. Mary Anne tells her only Jessi is and what was she talking with Mrs Lowell. She says that Mrs Lowell said she needed a sitter but it had to be anyone but Claudia. I'm really curious what Mrs Lowell said because K Ron did ask her why she didn't want Claudia. What excuse did she use? She asks Claudia if anything happened at the Lowells and Claudia said no, nothing bad. Jessi asks if one of the kids is a 'walking disaster' like Jackie and fuck you, Ramsey. Claudia also earns a fuck you by saying all the 'horrible' things that happen when sitting for Jackie like 'broken vases, grape juice on the carpet, skinned knees, banged heads'. That the Lowells are 'angels' compared to Jackie. Riddle me this, bitch. Has Jackie ever oh, broken your leg? No? Stop acting like Jackie is some kind of big problem when you've had a sitting job you needed to call 911 for. I swear Ann has never spent a moment with a normal kid.

I don't know why Ann has these bouts of making her characters as stupid as imaginable. Like, when Claudia says the Lowells reminded her of the Delaneys Mary Anne is like, 'Durr, they do kinda look alike.' Mary Anne you numb fuck, she means they're bratty. Omg. When Claudia explains how the Lowells misbehaved K Ron says she should have told her and Claudia says she wrote about it in the notebook. Ho-oly fuck! Now who's not reading the notebook, your royal bitchiness?! I'm fucking screaming! I sat through an entire song giggling maniacally because I couldn't make this shit up if I tried. I'm not on vodka soaked tampons like Ann.



'I'm brainstorming with Captain Morgan tonight!'-Ann


They try to figure out why Mrs Lowell doesn't want her to sit but can't think of anything. Claudia says she figured it out! It was her outfit! Mrs Lowell doesn't appreciate meth clown chic! And she was a little early. K Ron says that's not a reason to ask her not to sit anymore. They get more calls which distracts them from the problem. At the end of the meeting, Claudia points out uh, no one else said I couldn't sit for them. K Ron says maybe she'll call Mrs Lowell on her own but says she feels weird about it. What a great leader and president! She's so good at taking charge and handling club problems!

Chapter 7!

After the club meeting, Jessi goes home and decides to prepare for her job at the Lowells. She goes through her kid kit and takes out some things to put in some books she thinks Celeste would like. She adds some stuff for Mackenzie then for Caitlin she asks Becca what she likes to play with. Becca tells her she and Charlotte like playing office so Jessi puts together office supplies and thinks how she deserves an award for it. I wonder how big the kid kit is. Because they always pack puzzles and board games along with a lot of other stuff. How are they carrying them when they take a bike? In the comics they're pretty big. I've always been curious about this.

This next part just breaks my heart and I have a hard time reading it. Jessi arrives at the Lowells and when Mrs Lowell answers the door she looks horrified. Jessi asks if she came at the right time and Mrs Lowell says she suddenly doesn't need a sitter anymore and slams the door in Jessi's face. Jessi stands there a moment, feeling like crying but she can't pinpoint why. She doesn't feel like going home so, she walks to Mallory's house and by the time she gets there, she's crying. It doesn't give us a play by play of Mal comforting her and instead cuts to the BSC meeting. They try to figure out why Mrs Lowell acted like a bitch and Jessi says maybe she expected someone older. Again K Ron says maybe she should call her but she never does. Mary Anne says she has a job with them coming up and she'll see what she can find out.

Chapter 8!

Claudia is sitting at the Rodowskys and the boys are trying to to come up with a name for their band. After nixing the Beatles and Jackie Rodowsky's All Star Orchestra the come up with the saccharine name All the Children. One of the things that gets me is they say their band is made of kids of 'all colors'. Hmm, I see two colors. Becca and a lot of white. Your 'we're so multi-ethnic!' angle doesn't work so well when you can't write more than a single token, Ann. She further shits the pool by saying they're diverse because the Rodowskys are Polish, the Papadakis are Greek and the Hobarts are Australian. In other words:



That's the Papadakis at the end


The rest of the chapter is unremarkable so I'll just post the highlights.
-Archie-kins has better rhythm than me on tambourine. The rhythm parts on Rock Band are my bane.
-Somehow Shea and Charlotte are going to be playing on the same electric keyboard.
-Karen doesn't know how to talk in a normal voice and yells everything.
-They decide to make a banner with the band name on it but they want to make it out of felt which means they'd need a big ass piece of felt when cotton fabric would be more sensible.
-The kids think they should put on a concert for their families.
-The band mostly consists of oatmeal can drums, kazoos, a harmonica and two keyboard players.
-This band blows.

Chapter 9!

On Thursday, K Ron called Mary Anne and asked if she minds if she takes her job with the Lowells because she's curious about them. She says it's okay of course because why wouldn't she obey K Ron? When K Ron gets to the Lowells, Mrs Lowell gives her a once over but welcomes her in. After she tells her where she'll be, K Ron asks her if she's happy with the BSC. She says she is and she asks why she doesn't want Claudia to sit and she says it's because the kids like Mary Anne. When she asks about Jessi, Mrs Lowell just cuts her off and yells for her kids.

Wine mom leaves and the kids behave for K Ron. When she gives them a snack she talks to them some about the band and Mary Anne. She asks them if they liked Claudia and Caitlin says she was 'funny looking' which Claudia takes offense to because the BSC is always talking about pulling a Buffalo Bill and wearing her skin. K Ron brings up that Jessi was supposed to sit for them but didn't. The kids ask about her and when she mentions she's black they choke on their juice and say they guess their mom didn't like her. At least that's what K Ron thinks they said. But it sounded like that's why she didn't like her.

K Ron thinks this over all day and that night she asks her mom if they can have a talk. And wow, Elizabeth actually asks if it's 'girl talk' which may be the closest mention of menstruation in these books. K Ron says no, there's no puberty in the 'brook outside of growing boobs and says she wants Watson and Nannie to join their discussion. They all go to the living room and K Ron tells them her suspicions that the Lowells are racists. They pretty much confirm it but can't think of anything to do about it. Frankly I'd spray paint 'Go back to Europe!' on the hood of their car and take a shit in their mailbox.

Chapter 10!

Oh, God. I was dreading this chapter for the utter stupidity in it. At the next BSC meeting, K Ron beats around the bush about what she suspects of the Lowells. She finally gets around to it and Claudia is furious and Jessi is just resigned to it. They start talking about racism and Mary Anne utters the stupidest line in a book where Dawn 'doesn't care' when people disagree with her-'“This is scary,” she whispered. “I wonder if those skinheads could get me for anything. I think maybe some of my ancestors were Russian. I wonder if that’s a problem.”' Yes, Mary Anne. Those white supremacists are going to hate you for being white. I wish Jessi fucking kicked her in the throat for that.



Mary Anne's family history


They get a call from the Grand Wizard Lowell herself asking if she can have one of the Aryan sitters she's heard about. Whaaaat? H-how? How did she hear about them? Was she asking Mrs Newton about the BSC and like 'Gimme the chapter two on them all.' Did her kids see them at a band practice and say 'Say, mommy. Turns out the BSC has some almighty whiteys in it.' It's just bizarre. Both Stacey and Dawn say they wouldn't be caught dead at the Lowells and K Ron actually gets an idea. She calls Mrs Lowell back and says no one's available but Logan. Oh, what's that? Boys don't sit? Well, I might be able to sit if I'm not taking care of my very Vietnamese sister. What? Something suddenly came up? Okay, bye, scrote.

Everyone cheers K Ron and I will admit that wasn't half bad. K Ron says Mrs Lowell probably wouldn't like Stacey or Dawn either because their parents are divorced. And a line I always liked, Claudia says 'I'm telling! I'm telling Mrs Lowell!' I dunno what it is about it, but it makes me happy. Mary Anne says they all have something against them but her own 'fault' is pretty lame in that she has a stepsister. What about your Russian roots, Mary Anne? I'll never get over the stupidity of that. That night Claudia talks to her family about the Lowells and they say yeah, they're crusty assholes but the important thing is that you aren't. Since this post was a little heavy, have a funny gif.



R.I.P. in pieces

Regarding the developments on LJ

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I have no idea what's going on any more than post people. But in any case, remember we have a sister comm on Dreamwidth. I imported entries this past winter, and am importing again as we speak. If you have an account, by all means join and post.

I've also considered possibly starting a page on tumblr, but I'm not sure how that would work. Does tumblr have communities?

Claudia, Queen of the Seventh Grade - Part 1

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Hello! I’m a long-time lurker and almost first-time snarker (I think I tried snarking the BSC postcard set many years ago but only did a fraction of them). I'm also incredibly shy, so I don't comment much, even though I read and love the entries that you all post. I've been wanting to snark a book for awhile now, and I finally have some free time, so no excuses! I kind of suck at sarcasm (I’m on the autism spectrum), so if I’m not witty enough, feel free to give feedback.

I was going to snark “Claudia Makes Up Her Mind,” but I was confused about Claudia being a queen, especially when there’s also a class president. And I know SMS has a dance every time someone shits, but they also have a Prom? So yeah, page 4 and so confused that I realized I needed to read this one first.

Chapter 1
We open with Claudia leading a study group. Actually, we open with the stupidest line ever:
“Wait. You mean you can’t have a cross between a monkey and a horse because they’re not in the same family?”
*blinks*
I’ve been rereading Harry Potter for the past few months, and they’ve got some really nifty animals, but I’m having an impossible time trying to figure out what a horse-monkey would look like. So is Google, apparently. I just searched for “half horse half monkey” and the results include a monkey-elephant, horse-squirrel, alligator-duck, and a couple pictures of half of a horse (like, head, shoulders, front legs, and tail. And the half of a donkey is the head, hind legs and tail).

Gogmangog on DeviantArt came through!


Hmm, one sentence in and my head is already spinning. Where was I? Oh, Claudia is leading a study group and is trying to explain species versus families. She impresses me by knowing the order of species grouping: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. She further impresses me by explaining the “Kishi Learning System,” where she used the mnemonic “kindly pass Claudia Oreos for goodness sake!” Clever. She said she tried to use artists’ names but that it was too difficult (Kahlo, Picasso, Cezanne, O’Keefe, Frankenthaler, Gauguin, and Seurat).

Claudia tells us that she started out in 8th grade and was sent to 7th. That does suck, because from what I’ve read and you’ve all written in your snarks, it sounds like while yeah, she’s not a “real genius,” she’s not stupid, either. Didn’t someone just recently do a book where she admitted to not having done much any school work all year? It’s hard to feel too badly for her when she has a sister and parents and a best friend who are all more than willing to tutor her and she just blows them off.

And then I read the line where she says she felt “devastated, destroyed, and humiliated,” and I feel like a jerk for not being as sympathetic.

Claudia talks about her 7th grade friends (I have not read any of the books from the time she was sent back to 7th grade through now, so I’m curious to see how Kristy’s dealing with this whole other set of friends) and we learn that Claudia has a Very Special Friend. No, not that type of special friend. Jeannie is special because she’s Asian-American too (Korean, not Japanese). Jeannie is crazy about clothes too, but she gets her fashion guidance from YM (props to Ann for mentioning an actual 90s magazine. Fun fact: I’ve always been a “late bloomer” so to speak, and when I was in 7th grade I decided I wanted to be like the “cool” kids, so I begged my mom for a subscription to YM. She agreed without reading the magazine first, and when my first issue showed up, that’s when she decided to make sure it was appropriate. There was an advice column and this girl had written in about how she was 13 or 16 and had had sex with three different men, including her best friend’s father, and she was pregnant and had no idea who the father was. My mother wasn’t sure whether to hand over the magazine or not, but I think she ultimately decided to because I was finally showing interest in “normal teenage girl stuff”).

Here’s our first outfit description:
Leopard-pattern blouse, sixties-style hip-huggers, a wide headband, and plain black flats with white ankle socks. I wish I had my old laptop with Photoshop so I could make a picture of this outfit.

As Claudia is pulling up her ankle socks she notices that she only has 22 minutes to make it back to her bedroom in time for the BSC (more about it later) meeting, including travel time. As she’s getting ready to leave, her friends hem and haw about a “surprise,” which turns out to be that they nominated Claudia for Queen of the Seventh Grade.

Finally, answers to the “why is there a queen and a class president” question! Turns out, SMS has been doing this tradition since “World War I,” where each grade elects a king and a queen. Then there’s a coronation ceremony, the winners pick their best friends to be attendants, and they all work together to plan the problem prom (ha, the e-book does say “plan the problem together.” Foreshadowing by a cheeky editor?). Oh, and get this: On prom night, when the King and Queen are dancing to the class song, everyone chants “Kiss! Kiss!” and I don’t think they’re talking about Gene Simmons. Is this how it is at real proms? I didn’t go to mine. But in what world is it appropriate for two students who are not a couple (or even if they are) to be expected to kiss?

Anyway, Claudia is kind of annoyed at being nominated, but after her friends (other than Jeannie, there are Josh, Joanna, and Shira) reassure her, she starts to get excited. She doesn’t think she will win (but of course she will because why wouldn’t she?) but she thinks it will be a great way to get to know more of her new classmates.

And she’s on her way to see her best friends in the entire world. Of course they’ll be thrilled for her too!

Chapter 2
I haven’t read a BSC book in so long that I think I’ll try and read this chapter. Even as a kid I skipped this stuff. Then I learned that I was missing out on some weird shit when my friends were discussing a Chapter 2 where Dawn says that if you can touch your tongue to your nose, you’ll have big boobs, and Kristy is freaking out because she can do that.

Let’s see. Claudia arrives just in time to see Kristy hanging up her phone, because of course it’s okay for her to answer calls outside of club hours. She says she was calling 911 because Claudia wasn’t there yet, and Claudia fell for it, and then there’s a marshmallow fight. Kristy ends up juggling a few of the marshmallows, and at 5:30 she catches one of the marshmallows in her mouth. You know, the marshmallows THAT HAD BEEN PICKED UP OFF THE FLOOR during their food fight.

Hey, this sounds fun: Baby-sitters Club, the musical. Book and lyrics by Mallory, choreography by Jessi, and set design by Claudia. Fan fic idea, anybody?

Our B plot is introduced: The Addisons need a sitter every Thursday for the next month. Apparently their son Sean is an arsonist? The BSC caught him setting fires in the library because of course they were the only ones capable of doing so. There’s some hesitation in the BSC accepting this assignment, but since we need a B plot, they need to take the job.

And now that that’s squared away, Claudia makes the mistake of bringing up non-club business. Mal and Jessi are thrilled about the Queen nomination, but her 8th grade friends all react rather shittily. Kristy, of course, worries about the time commitment. Stacey says it would be cheating, since she’s thirteen and that makes her an 8th grader. Does Stacey not understand the concept of having a birthday during the school year? I turned 13 in 7th grade and they didn’t let me go over to 8th. Claudia points out that she wasn’t allowed to attend the 8th grade Halloween dance (which implies that there were THREE separate Halloween dances this time-loop?) and she’s not allowed to eat with the 8th graders, so she’s a 7th grader and not a cheater, so just shut up, Bitch!

She downplays her disappointment by stressing that she doesn’t think she has a chance at winning. Best friends my ass.

Chapter 3
English class, which means books! They are comparing Call of the Wild and Hatchet. I don’t really remember Call of the Wild (I read that in 5th grade, I think), but I loved Hatchet. I wanted to be Brian. Claudia mentions that compared to last year, when she felt forced to read the books, this year she’s finding that she enjoys them so much that she can’t put them down. Wouldn’t it be great to see that attitude show up in a Chapter 2, where she reads something more than just Nancy Drew?

Here’s where we meet the boy we know will be King. Mark Jaffe, who has luscious brown eyes and high cheekbones. And the girls all look at him like he’s a rock star.

Claudia makes a clever joke about the lunch bell being the real “Call of the Wild.” Amen, sister! I’m a case manager and I get so caught up with work that I forget to eat. It’ll be about 2pm when I start to get hangry.

Claudia’s friend Josh has taken it upon himself to be Claudia’s P.R. person, so the entire lunch period consists of people saying hi to Claudia and telling her they would vote for her. Oh, and her friend Shira’s mother should adopt Dawn. Mrs. Shira sent cans of chicken noodle soup to school with Shira because she wants her to start a food drive. And Mumsy has also been on the local news leading a protest, plus she has like a million bumper stickers on her car for different causes.

On their way out of the cafeteria, 7th grade friends run into 8th grade friends. I feel bad when I read this line: “seeing my BSC friends on their way to eighth grade lunch is painful…I missed going to lunch with them. I missed our conversations. Every day I wondered what they were talking about, what jokes I was missing, what gossip I’d be the last to hear.” I can relate. I went to four different school districts, and the place I went to in 5th and 6th grade, you had to sit with your homeroom class for lunch, so even though my two best friends that I’d known since kindergarten were in my same grade and ate lunch at the same time as me, they were in one homeroom and I was in another. It especially sucked in the 5th grade, because that was the year we started middle school, so there were kids from 5 different elementary schools.

Abby and Stacey try to include Claudia in a discussion about the Addisons, but when Claudia tries to include her friends Josh and Jeannie in the discussion, things get awkward.

Since this is my first book snark, I’m just tackling the first three chapters this time. Thanks for reading.

Keep Out, Claudia! Part The End!

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Greetings, lovelies! How is everyone doing this fine, sweltering day? Me? I'm sweltering. But I'm also productive so, I finished this bitch up! I also wanted to announce that this will be my last post on LJ. After that I'm switching to Dreamwidth. I'll probably be deleting my whole account within the next month. Sorry about that but LJ's kinda going through bullshit as you know and I just don't have the spoons to deal with that stress. So, here's my farewell snark. Wish it was something funnier but whatcha gonna do? Welll, let's go!

Part 1!        Part 2!

-Song of the Day!-


Chapter 11!

This chapter is a fucking bore. At a goddamn kids' band rehearsal, Jackie makes the announcement that instead of doing the music from Annie, they should do it from Fiddler on the Roof. Because Ann likes making the Ramsey family idiots, Becca asks what the Hell is Fiddler on the Roof. Actually, that makes me an idiot too because I would have asked the exact same question at eight. I would think it'd be a precious few that would know that musical well enough to make that their set. I'm 30 years older than these kids and all I know is 'If I Were a Rich Man' and I only know that because that pop singer who sampled it in a song I'm too lazy to look up. It makes no sense and is only there for *gasp!* drama! Of course, these are Stoneybrook kids Who were probably singing the whole of Jesus Christ: Super Star outta the womb. But I can't fault them wanting to do Fiddler as I have a weakness for a Jewish guy.


Come to my house and kill me, Danny boy

After that's agreed upon, who should show up but Mrs White Power USA and her brats? Claudia actually greets her with a hello when a heil would be more appropriate. I would have done it. Nothing pisses off racists more than telling them they're racists. I do feel bad for Claud being awkward around this shitty woman. I wish I could give her my 'fuck you' attitude to be boring holes of 'I would fucking kick you in the ovaries' in her face. Shit lady mutters hi then walks up to Dawn all, 'Are you a sitter because it looks like we have so much in common! Isn't ketchup spicy?! Do you use spf 453 when you go out?! Isn't having blue eyes because of mutation great?!'

She asks Dawn if she's in charge and this is probably the only time Dawn isn't the worst person in the conversation. Dawn says actually, Claudia's in charge. Fish belly has nothing to say to that and just comments on the 'assortment' of kids there. Dawn realizes she means...ethnicities? And again, this doesn't fucking work with all white children! There's not even any Jewish kids till Abby comes along! And unless one of them is running around in a yarmulke, who the fuck can tell?! She's not the fucking Terminator with special vision that tells all the kids' ancestry! And again!! They're all WHITE!! Just like I, a mild mannered, sex-repulsed asexual, should not write a book about hardcore fucking, Ann, a fucking white woman who writes nothing but white characters, should not be writing a book on racism! I'm fraught with the stupidity of it all!

Dawn tells her that they're going to be playing music from Fiddler and Mrs Mayo '92 shits a puppy right there and calls her kids to come here now, we're going home! The kids complain and she all but drags them away by their hair. I just realized what Mrs Lowell is. She's one of those boomer bitches that always asks to speak to the manager. The kind that votes for a pussy grabbing, POS POTUS. The kind that screams outside abortion clinics but wants to cut funding for children. The kind of woman who won't get her kid vaccinated but hits the tanning bed every weekend. The kinda bitch with an asshole so tight she can barely shit out a single grain of rice. Holy fuck! I managed to piss myself off! Aaaahhhh!

Okay, I made myself a Valium smoothie and feel better. When Herr Lowell leaves she gives Claudia a disgusted look and I wish Claud had drop-kicked her in the ass on the way out. Hmm...I just realized I have Sims...urge to kill rising. Anyhoo, the BSC gathers around Claudia and comforts her in an uncharacteristic show of compassion. K Ron was all ready to snatch Mrs Lowell bald for dissing Emily. Uh, if you want people who don't like Emily, look to your parents who adopted her on a whim and spend exactly zero time with her. They worry a bit that other parents won't be happy with them doing Fiddler but realize only non-BSC families are shitty. Yeah, that's how it always goes.

Chapter 12!

Hoo boy, I knew I was in trouble when I read Karen was involved in helping Claudia. We'll get to that in a minute. First I want to point out how really sheltered kids in the 'brook are by Claudia saying she never thought there was anything different about her. That people would treat her differently due to her race. 8 year old me cries at the thought of not being made fun of for my eyebrows or my arm hair in the middle of class. About strangers coming up to me asking '¿Cómo estás?' and not being able to answer because being Mexican was shameful so I was never taught Spanish. Why I'm still not able to let go of Euro-centric beauty standards and hate my skin, my eyes, my hair. I would have killed to think there was equality between me and my white friends till I was 13. And also I call bullshit on all that because the BSC is known to make a very big deal about the fact that Claudia is Japanese. They're constantly talking about how different she is. Just because it's positive doesn't make it any less racist.

Anyways, Claudia has a sitting job at the Brewer/Thomas mansion for all the kids because spending time with your children you only see every other weekend is for losers. I'm kidding of course. If I had Karen as a kid I'd move to Jupiter, so, I don't blame Watson any. Case in point, Karen says they need to practice their music and appoints herself All Glorious Leader without asking any of the other kids what they want to do. David M even points out the bullshittery of this but Karen says it was her idea that's why she gets to decide everything.

The kids start up their band and it's mostly percussion with a kazoo and a harmonica so you know it sucks. Karen stops and says so and then is like, we need uniforms! Which means an obligatory mention of movies from another decade. The only reason I know about The Music Man is because of the monorail episode of The Simpsons. Best episode ever bt-dubs. The kids think that's a good idea and Karen starts bossing them around again because she's 'full of ideas'. No wonder K Ron adores this little butt fart. They both talk over everyone and never let them speak so they think their ideas are flawless. I fucking hate Karen. And in another K Ron moment, her idea is complete shite because she just dresses like a reject from RuPaul's Drag U. Yeah, not Drag Race, Drag U. The boys are like 'Your idea is bad and you should feel bad'. And omg, do I fucking die when it's Nancy who comes up with the idea to all wear jeans and a red shirt. So, yeah, Ann basically wrote the same annoying taint stain twice and called them Kristy and Karen. She couldn't even think of a different letter to start their names with. This chapter is fucking stupid and it ends there. And no I don't know what Karen did to help Claudia.

Chapter 13!

The BSC is going over the fliers for the 'concert' and they had stupidly put Claudia in charge of making the fliers so they had to throw out a bunch because she's a facking moron. Seriously, she spelled 'band' 'bad'. I wonder what kinda fucking mush mouth Ann thinks Claudia is if she can't see that there's an n in band. Just like how she randomly add Rs into words that have zero r sound. Th rest of the chapter is a fucking snore. I wouldn't care about this shit if I knew these kids personally. The only thing I'll point out is Claire throws a epic fucking tantrum and the BSC just sits by. No Claire is 'impossible!' Claire is a 'brat!' Just 'let's see how this pans out'. This book is a bigger headache then I'd thought.

Chapter 14!

God, this book got boring fast. At a BSC meeting, K Ron wants to discuss what to do if Mrs Lowell calls them. Claudia says to do exactly what they should do and say they don't associate with bigots. K Ron says they can't do that and uh, why the fuck not? You're not supposed to tiptoe around the feelings of racists. You're supposed to punch 'em in the Goddamn jaw and make them cry like a little bitch. Claudia also says they can say they don't sit for blue eyed blondes and Dawn gets mad because she's the kinda fuck head who thinks reverse racism is real and Stacey backs her up because she's also a fuck. They come to no satisfying conclusion and just say they won't take any jobs with her till she gives up. They spout a bunch of hippie shit about hate the sin, love the sinner and I say fuck that noise. Sorry to break it to you Ann, but I fucking loathe racists. These people want me dead. They want my friends dead. They could all die in the most painful way possible and I'd fucking hold a ten year party. Fuck racists and fuck you Ann for acting like we have to tolerate them.

Chapter 15!

I literally don't give two shits about this bullshit kids' band so, I'm cutting to the end. The band does well and we'll never hear about it again like so many other things that were going to be a monthly thing. That was fucking boring so I'll leave you a clip from my favorite musical: Jeepers Creepers: Semi-Star.

Next up for me will be Stacey's Choice for no other reason than I liked her outfit and the shopping trip. Stay lovely! Thanks for reading!


Need a snark? Head on down to DreamWidth!

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Hey, gals! Like I said I'll be posting only on DreamWidth from now on but I gots mods' permission to give you guys the links to my snarks if you still want to read them. And if you do I adore you and could eat you with a spoon. So here's the link to my newest snark-Stacey's Choice! Here's hoping to hear from you! Snark on my wayward son!

Kristy's Book-Part 4

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Everyone seems to be going to Dream Width now so I will switch to that as well. But I am going to finish this snark on here.

Chapter 9
Play Ball
Kristy is now ten years old. Everyone is adjusted to their routine. It turns out Kristy's deadbeat dad did send some money at that point, but not much. Nice. And four kids on one salary isn't exactly easy. Kristy says summers were difficult because Liz couldn't really afford child care for them. She finds an overnight softball camp for Kristy to go to. I would think camp would be expensive, too. Most are.
Nevertheless, Kristy checks out the ad for the camp, called camp topnotch. It's just Kristy's type of place.
Oh, okay. They can't afford it but they can apply for a scholarship. That makes sense. You also have to get into the camp apparently and can't just go because Kristy has to write an essay about why she wants to go. I went to sleep away camp and never had to do any of this but I guess because it's a competitive sports camp it's different.
She gets the scholarship and is set for camp. She practices softball and has reasonable nerves about leaving her family and friends.
The first day of camp arrives. A nervous Kristy goes to her cabin and tells one of her cabin mates that she's shortstop. Another girl named Samantha who's in a different cabin is also a shortstop and apparently if Kristy is better than her she can be first string. I feel like this is going to lead to rivalry. Kristy's cAbin is called the blue jays and Samantha's is called the robins. And sure enough, they are rivals. At dinner, the blue jays put sugar in the robins' salt shakers. I feel like at the camp I went to we would never be able to get away with this stuff. It was really rigid and people got in trouble easily.
Anyway, not too much else of interest happens. Kristy has trouble falling asleep because she's never slept in a top bunk (wonder if she'll pull a Claudia and step on the hand of the person on the bottom) and she's homesick. This is understandable and not at all snark-worthy.

Chapter 10
When Kristy wakes up, she feels better because she's excited to play softball. the other short stop, Samantha, is very good, but Kristy decides she's going to be the best. She and Karen are the same I swear.
Samantha and Karen are each shortstops for their cabins. Kristy runs into Samantha later, who calls her "shorty" and says she's going to be first string. Great, she's an obnoxious brat.
Everyone is obnoxious to each other for the remainder of the game. The robins laugh at a girl on the blue jays who falls flat on her face. Also, she fell because they tied her shoes together. I hate shit like that. It reminds me of dawn's book when they glued the blocks together.Then they win the game and are complete sore winners. Kids suck.
Kristy's cabin gets revenge by putting buttered noodles in their beds and tricking them into thinking it's worms. The counselors tell them to cool it but laugh it off at the same time. The next day, Kristy's team wins and this time she is a sore winner by chanting "we won because we won.""Even though I had thought it was obnoxious when the robins did that the day before, I shouted "we won" louder than anyone else." Nice being a hypocrite, Kristy.
Next, the robins hid the bluejays' bathing suits when they're going to go swimming. That prank is pretty harmless, at least. However, it makes them late to swim which docks them points for cabin of the year.
Their counselor tells them that if they earn best cabin, they can win a trip to Splish splash amusement park. Okay, that park is freaking AWESOME. I am surprised Ann is acting referencing something I've heard of. That park is right in New York about forty minutes from where I live and it is an amazing water park. Just saying.
Kristy says "I wasn't enjoying the pranks very much. I wished we'd stop playing them and concentrate on playing softball." Okay, Kristy is being reasonable for once. Color me shocked. And I completely agree. I realize I sound like a goody goody mother Theresa, but why do they have to torture each other? Why can't they just have fun?
When Kristy goes to bed that night, she realizes her bed has been short-sheeted. There's also a note that says "a short sheet for a short stop" and there's a picture of it so I guess Kristy saved that of all things to save.
Kristy starts to feel concerned that she isn't a good player because everyone else is so good. Why can't you all be good?
They have their first game and Samantha gets first string shortstop. I actually feel bad because it reduces Kristy's confidence and because Samantha is such an epic Bitch about it.

Chapter 11
Everyone is still too obsessed with competing with each other which affects how they play. Luckily they finally get reprimanded for it. They continue to act like little assholes and blame each other for everything and insult each other.
Their coach stops them to say she's talked about team spirit until she's blue in the face so someone's like "she's a blue jay." Lame.
She ends up quitting as their coach and I can't say I blame her since they are acting like assholes. Kristy's depressed about everything and wants to go home.
Kristy comes home to a letter from Mary Anne which cheers her up. They're supposed to be ten but Mary Anne has handwriting like an adults. It really doesn't look like a ten year old wrote it.
Kristy is listening to everyone in her bunk act like jerks and realizes she's been one too. This is very rare and refreshing for Kristy. I wish this would carry on to her present day character. Kristy demands that they all have a meeting. Taking charge like the Kristy we all know. They write a note to their coach asking her to come back and promising team spirit. The coach decides to observe the next practice and then decide. I am glad she's not indulging them by immediately agreeing to be their coach again.
They do well with their game and although they don't win a trophy of best cabin they become friends and Samantha becomes Kristy's best friend. Kristy gives us this beauty:
"I learned you don't have to be the best at something to have a good time." She should really pass that along to Karen.

More snarkitude here!

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Hey, gals! I got to work on the second part of Stacey's Choice and you can find it here! I'd really appreciate you having a look as your comments mean so much to me! Hope to see y'all there!

I'M STILL ALIVE, PEOPLE!!

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 Just dropping by to let you guys know that I am planning a comeback soon. Working on getting my bookmarks and things moved to my bedroom laptop...then I'll be back when I can.  Life is good, my daughter's doing well and getting big. She's starting to crawl a bit, laughs/smiles all the time and is wonderful.

Thank you all for your well-wishes and for the enormous amount of emails. It really does mean so much to me and my family. Also thanks for all the new snarks you guys have been doing, they make me laugh and keep me busy when it's naptime.

Thank you all again and I shall see you soon!

Karen's Cowboy, Part 4 (FINALE)

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First of all, here's part 3, since I'm not allowed to edit tags on the Dreamwidth version of this journal:

http://bsc-snark.dreamwidth.org/638453.html

That being settled, let's finish this.

Chapter Dezesseis: The Real Annie Hancock
The treasure hunt (see the previous chapter) is fruitful, revealing old Life and National Geographic magazines, Zane Grey books and - I am not making this up -

Lots of grown-up books with covers showing bare-chested, long-haired muscle men grabbing women who liked as if they were about to faint.

There are also old-fashioned kids' books, one of which is a 1932 book called Talks for Girls, which is all about how "girls should be cheerful, polite, clean, and honest." Karen actually has a pretty good reaction to that:

Really! Who would go around thinking you should be grumpy, rude, filthy, and dishonest? Not even Pamela Harding, my best enemy back home, would say that.

Granted, she most likely wouldn't say that because I can't really imagine a seven-year-old regularly using words like "filthy" and "dishonest," but whatevs. :P
As a side note, I believe this is the both the only mention of Pamela in this book and her last mention in the entire series, since this was the last BSLS book.
Anyway, Karen and Jenny eventually find some Nancy Drew books and a clipping about Annie Hancock. It pretty much reiterates what we already know - great archer, great dude ranch hostess, bla bla bla. It also mentions a local historian who was writing an article on her for the county historical society. Unfortunately, it's not in the library. Fortunately, there's always the Internet, and even more fortunately, the ghost writer knows that the Internet exists. Karen asks Kate if she can go onto the Internet, claiming that she wants to show Jenny a "kid's site." She admits that she's not being entirely honest, but why? It's just the historical society website. It's not like it's a porn site or Tumblr or something. :P

Anyway, the girls find the article and print it off. It reveals the true story - Annie was actually the one who started the silver rush that led to the founding of the ranch when she found a silver nugget, which her parents were able to use to buy not only the land that made up the ranch, but also a fancy bow-and-arrow set that Annie had always wanted. Not only that, but the ranch was named Arrow-A after her. And so, in a coincidence rivaled only by the later Harry Potter books, it was actually Annie who inadvertently brought her future husband's family to Colorado. As cheesy as this is, I can't help feeling all warm and fuzzy over it. ^___^

Oh, and you know the land she had to sell after her husband's death? Turns out it wasn't her family's property, but said husband's. Anyway, Karen speculates that maybe Annie haunts the mine because it's where she found the silver nugget that made her life so great. I'm not sure that hauntings can be caused by happy spirits, but meh.

Chapter Sytten: The Real John Wayne
The next day, all the adults and Andrew have plans (no mention of Phil, though), so Karen and Jenny are able to stay behind to carry out their sooper-seeckrit plan to restore Jon's confidence. The previous day, they'd found some old guestbooks in the library, which apparently weren't important enough to mention then, but anyway, they copy down some stuff from the guestbooks all morning, and at lunch, interview the other guests. Finally, they go riding with Punkie (I'm sorry, but I still can't get over how hilarious that name is) and Bill and interview them about Jon.
That evening, they do some craft project which isn't described yet, but finish off their plan, which they'll put into action at the hoedown. Sorry this recap is so short, but Karen and Jenny are being so cloak-and-dagger that it's hard to describe anything. :P

Chapter Tizennyolc: The Wild, Wild West
On the last full day at the Arrow-A (hey, that rhymes!), the hoedown begins with the ranch hands demonstrating their tricks. One of Punkie's lassooing tricks (even though he was the archery expert when he was introduced) makes Andrew more determined to practice his mad rope skillz, and Karen sighs, knowing that she's going to practice on her. I'd say good for him, but, as I've said, I don't hate Karen as much as I probably should.
Anyhoo, after a barbershop quarter performance, the guests get to show off what they've learned. Naturally, Karen, chosen vessel of Artemis, gets a prize for most accurate shot, followed by a relatively uneventful barbecue and a square dance. After the dance, Jenny signals to Karen to put their plan into action...but what could it be?

Chapter Hehadaah: Annie and Jon - Happy at Last
During a break in the music, the girls get Jon's surprise, then find Jon, who greets them with "Howdy, pilgrims," in case you hadn't gotten the reference with his name. They reply with "Jon, we must talk to you" (Karen) and "It is critical that we speak" (Jenny), because of course seven-year-olds talk like that.
Unnatural dialogue aside, the three head to Jon's study to show off their surprise - a folder decorated with Western-themed magazine cutouts, filled with guest-book quotes and interview answers from the guests and ranch hands all about what a great dude-ranch host and boss Jon is. The last page is a note from Karen herself, thanking Jon for reassuring Andrew about the wolves and helping Granny feel at home. Jon thanks Karen and Jenny, but admits that while he doesn't exactly believe that Annie's ghost haunts the mine, he doesn't exactly not believe it either, and wonders out loud if he would be better off just giving up the land. Karen responds to this by pulling out her trump card - the historical-society article. Somehow Jon didn't know any of this, despite being a direct descendant of Annie Hancock, but naturally, Karen the Golden Child was able to find it out, and thanks to this new revelation, he decides to stay on. I actually liked this moment because, despite the heavy-handed reference in his name, I really liked him and thought his intergenerational friendship with Karen was pretty sweet.

Chapter Dudek: Back West Again
The Brewer-Engle clan is on their plane back home, and Karen misses the Arrow-A already, to the point where she doesn't feel like doing anything - not even pretending to barf into the barf bag. I'd chalk that up as a good thing, personally. Andrew is also sad because he wanted to hear the wolves again, but they never returned. Thankfully, this sad moment is broken by Lisa pointing out how much Karen will have to tell Hannancy when she gets home. Thanks for throwing them under the bus, Lisa. Oh, and remember how this is technically a Halloween book? Well, Karen and Andrew have decided on costumes! Karen is going to be Annie Hancock, and Andrew is going to be a wolf, demonstrating by pretending to howl. A flight attendant pretends to be scared, and Andrew gives her a mini-lecture about wolves that reminds me of how I would sometimes explain a lot about things I'd been learning about for fun to adults, so I can't fault him too much for that.
Now Karen feels better and thinks about how she wants to go back to the Arrow-A someday, but even if she doesn't she'll always remember it. She joins Andrew in a wolf howl, and nobody even tells them to use their indoor voices. Somehow, that seems like the perfect ending to the Little Sister series, but I'd like to finish it off with my personal favorite Old West song:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ezkMLIdE-Kg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Aaand that's my first snark completed! It was harder than I thought, but pretty fun, too. So, until next time!
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