macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 5, 2006 2:54:32 GMT -5
Okay, I know this book was supposed to be sad and everything, but it really just seemed like the token book dealing with death. As jenlovesmorelli often reminds us, there is nothing too deep or profound in those BSC books, but seriously, it would've been much better if a character who had been, you know, mentioned on a previous occasion had died.
I just couldn't identify with Mary Anne's complete devestation and crippling grief over the death of someone whom - until this book - had never, ever made an appearance in her life. I know she'd have been sad and in shock because Amelia's death was so sudden, but I dunno... something about the whole thing just seemed off to me. I guess because Amelia didn't even exist until this book, my feelings about her were just... whatever.
Also, the Dawn plot was a little far fetched. Mr Cruickshank gave them his block of land because Stephie looked cute in gardening gloves?
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 5, 2006 18:41:53 GMT -5
Actually, Amelia is mentioned once before, in Dawn Saves the Planet. I suppose it was a little weird to have chosen her, but I guess they couldn't kill off Cokie Mason. ;D
Maybe Mary Anne's reaction has something to do with her mom, I dunno. She barely knew Amelia but wanted to get to know her better, she barely knew her own mother before she passed away....something like that.
I think it's great how Kristy channels her own grief into the Students Against Drunk Driving chapter thing.
And I never paid all that much attention to the Dawn subplot before...what were they cleaning up?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 5, 2006 19:20:53 GMT -5
I liked that too! And Dr Reese's reasoning that Kristy's reaction was more about the shock of death, the reality that it was something she couldn't control or "take charge" of made sense, too.
Dawn was babysitting for Erick and Ryan and one of the kids (Erick, I think) took a shortcut through a vacant lot where people had dumped their garbage. He ended up falling and his hand was punctured by a rusty nail, causing him to require a tetnus shot! Oh EW! Anyway, Dawn and Sunny angrily campaigned to have the "eyesore" cleared out and a garden planted in it's place.
They never recieved a response from the owner (Dawn's dad made a few phone calls and found out who he was) so they took it upon themselves to do it. The owner turned up (he'd been out of town and never got a chance to respond to Dawn's letters), appeared somewhat skeptical about the idea and then finally "melted" after seeing what a great job the kids had done, etc etc.
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 7, 2006 17:03:53 GMT -5
Ah, it's coming back to me now. That sounds familiar.
Gee, I can't imagine having my hand punctured like that, especially as a young kid...ew ew ew!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2006 1:25:17 GMT -5
I always assumed Mary Anne was grieving for what could have been, rather than for Amelia directly. Well of course, she'd also be grieving for her too. But I can understand being upset over a classmate's death, even though they may not have been exactly close. Especially as it would be the first time many would have actually come across death - I know Mary Anne's mother died, but she was just a baby, so the effect is different. But of course, it's a BSC book, and they don't generally have deep and meaningful insights or well thought out plots or anything...I always used to wonder what it would have been like if one of the members got killed. What would they say in Chapter 2? I can see why you wouldn't want to kill off a main character - and I would have been VERY upset as a child if they had - but it would be interesting!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 8, 2006 4:53:37 GMT -5
^ oh no, they certainly shouldn't get kill off a main character (and then refer to it 100 more times in future Chapter 2s!) but personally I think it should've been at least a regular minor character like Pete Black or Emily Bernstein. Someone who actually has a history. As a reader, I would've been able to identify a lot more with Mary Anne's devestation if it seemed as though the character originally served another purpose, not just randomly appearing as the token "girl who died".
But then, random characters were always thrown into BSC books out of plot-necessity and never heard from prior to or after the event.
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Post by aln1982 on Apr 8, 2006 7:45:25 GMT -5
I agree that the book would have had a lot more meaning if it would have been Pete Black (the multiple personality boy) or Shawna Riverson or someone like that (but maybe the BSC would have been happy about that after the cheating incident???) instead of Amelia that died. I haven't read this one for a while so can't say too much more on it until I reread but am now curious and probably will read again.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2006 4:01:32 GMT -5
Yeah, I agree that they shouldn't kill off a main character - just that it would have been interesting. And they definitely should have used someone with a bit of history. Even if they only introduced them in the previous 10 books or something, expressly for the purpose of killing them off. Mary Anne's grief would have made much more sense if Amelia had featured in one of Mary Anne's books before, even if it was just a minor character. But maybe they didn't plan the books out that much in advance?
And I have to say that after thinking about it more, that the entire student body's response was possibly a little exaggerated or idealised. I think that the presentation of the entire school as being devasatated was a bit...generalising it, if that makes sense. My school has never been that exact situation, the closest I could get would be a meningitis epidemic where one boy almost died, and we all had to be vaccinated and so on, and a few days ago when someone was run over near our school. And as the top form/grade can leave school for lunch, we all heard about it and didn't know for a while if it was a student (it wasn't), but I was very surprised at the reaction, which seemed to be mainly "How exciting! Lets go buy lunch today even though we weren't planning on it so we can see the action!" One girl even remarked to me how disappointed she was that the body had been moved and the blood cleaned up by the time she got there. She added as an afterthought that it was sad, I think because of the look on my face. Anyway, to get back on topic, if this is how 17-18 year olds react to something like this, surely some of the students at SMS would have been less than devastated at Amelia's death? Aargh...looking for deeper meaning in BSC books is giving me a head ache...
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 12, 2006 4:26:22 GMT -5
^ You know, I had the exact same thoughts, but didn't express as it's rather... tasteless, I guess. But the unfortunate reality is that many 13 yr olds kids, unless they were particularly close to the victim, would not be so completely shattered and hopelessly devestated at the death of a classmate. It's not particularly realistic that ALL the students would go through a complex 'grieving process' and be absolutely traumatized. Morbid curiosity is often the reaction to these things where kids are involved. Death becomes a reality, which is intriguing despite also being a cause for tears
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
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Post by jen on Apr 12, 2006 6:34:59 GMT -5
I was actually more surprised that the whole *school* was in mourning. I'd hazard a guess that most of the people in the grades below Amelia's didn't really know her, and that yes, they'd be shocked by the death of someone close to their age, and feel bad for Josh, but really... For every single one of them to be grieving that much?
That said, I did like the book, though. If you look away from the fact that it's a bit unrealistic, it was still a touching story. I loved the memory garden.
One thing, though - it's mentioned that this isn't the first time that Mary Anne's been to see Dr Reese. I know that that Dr Reese is mentioned in "Claudia and the Perfect Boy", but that was an offhand, "I've been to her; she's great" comment by Mary Anne. Did we actually ever have scenes with Dr Reese in them before this book?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 12, 2006 6:38:30 GMT -5
^ I think - but don't quote me on it - that she was mentioned in the Chain Letter book, Mary Anne's confession was that she'd had counselling.
Dr Reese was also mentioned in Claudia Kishi, Live from WSTO.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
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Post by jen on Apr 12, 2006 6:40:01 GMT -5
Hm, so the two Dr Reese mentions we have are both Claudia books... I haven't read the Chain Letter book  Is that where we first see Mary Anne go to Dr Reese? Or is the first in-Dr-Reese's-office scene in Memory Garden? |
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Post by buffykay70 on Apr 12, 2006 22:13:52 GMT -5
i think, but am not sure, that MA goes to Dr Reese for the first time in the chain letter book, because she has been having some difficulty with her school work, or something along those lines.
she then goes to see her after amelia dies in the car crash. i thought this book was ok, a bit sad, i felt sorry for Mary Anne because of how upset she was. and i loved how MA started up the memory garden, that was a really nice and sweet idea.
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
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Post by Amalia on Apr 18, 2006 20:23:53 GMT -5
I just have to say that I loved the cover.
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Post by aln1982 on Apr 19, 2006 7:55:30 GMT -5
just reread this one and liked it even less than when I read it the first time. Maybe I am just not a sympathetic enough person but I just wasn't that touched by the whole death of Amelia. It was too bad and the drunk driver did make me mad (also liked the way Kristy channeled her anger) but didn't care to read about it in a BSC book. Might have been a little too deep for me  Also, I am one of the few who actually likes most of the baby-sitting subplots and missed that in this book. As for the Dawn plot, I'm not a big environmental person (this post is probably making me sound like the world's biggest jerk) so didn't get into that. Though it was gross and awful that the Dewitt boy fell on the needle, why was he in the lot to begin with? Wasn't he trespassing? I don't know what I would have thought if I was the owner and came back to find a bunch of kids turning my property into a garden. It is bad to have a junk yard like that, but it was his property to do with what he wanted. I didn't read that part too carefully, though, so maybe I'm missing something. Anyway, just my thoughts on the book. I think it was about my least favorite ever. |
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Is that where we first see Mary Anne go to Dr Reese? Or is the first in-Dr-Reese's-office scene in Memory Garden?
Also, I am one of the few who actually likes most of the baby-sitting subplots and missed that in this book. As for the Dawn plot, I'm not a big environmental person (this post is probably making me sound like the world's biggest jerk) so didn't get into that. Though it was gross and awful that the Dewitt boy fell on the needle, why was he in the lot to begin with? Wasn't he trespassing? I don't know what I would have thought if I was the owner and came back to find a bunch of kids turning my property into a garden. It is bad to have a junk yard like that, but it was his property to do with what he wanted. I didn't read that part too carefully, though, so maybe I'm missing something. Anyway, just my thoughts on the book. I think it was about my least favorite ever.