Penny Lane
Sitting For The Arnolds
The Girl With Colitis Goes By
Posts: 2,888
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Post by Penny Lane on Apr 12, 2008 9:50:03 GMT -5
Who's read this one? I was surprised that Sam flat out told Karen there was no such thing as angels. That seemed really strange at first, especially since later they did the nativity play and no one seemed phased by the Jesus talk. Karen even said something about Hannie's doll being a perfect baby jesus. I have to once again question both the president of the BSC and Watson Brewer allowing a 7 year old and a 4 year old to enter into a gift shop unsupervised. I also want to know why they were going to allow Karen and Andrew to buy the angel for the family tree out of their own money. I prefer a parenting technique that allows kids to be kids without worrying about purchasing items for the family. It just seemed really weird to me, that's all. Once again we have some Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrating thrown in, randomly, along with some volunteering for a nursing home and some doing chores for practically no money. Only $19 for a tree topper seems really cheap. I'm surprised it broke -- aren't the cheap ones usually made of plastic? We always bought stars or went without a topper, so I'm not actually sure on that. If I had my way, we would all go and plant trees for the winter holiday instead.
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Post by sweetvalleygirl99 on Apr 12, 2008 21:35:09 GMT -5
I read it, but don't remember much of it.
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Post by annieb on Dec 16, 2008 13:27:03 GMT -5
I've read this one, but don't really remember the plot. I just remember the cover.
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tiff85
Junior Sitter
Posts: 583
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Post by tiff85 on Dec 19, 2008 19:42:22 GMT -5
Karen's Angel was a very good book and I thought that Karen and Andrew should have been supervised, especially as young as they are.What was Watson thinking?
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Dec 6, 2009 16:18:00 GMT -5
Watson is such a cheapskate! I mean, sure, he pays the store owner the rest of the money that Karen and Andrew didn't have to pay for the broken angel with, but then he still expects to be paid back. A millionaire, demanding $10 and change from a 4- and 7-year old out of their Christmas money. It's not that I think Karen and Andrew should be able to smash whatever they want to in stores and have Watson pay for it, it's more that I would say after spending an entire day doing chores for other people for 50 cents each, they've shown that they really wanted to make things right, and if I were their parent, I'd accept that good-faith effort as payment. Especially since they spent all the money they did have and then had to make handmade gifts. And then he made them put a pipe cleaner angel on top of the tree because by gum they were supposed to spend their own money on an angel and he couldn't offer to let them pick out a replacement. Sure, there was a replacement tree topper that appeared on Christmas morning, but Karen and Andrew were supposed to have the job of picking out the angel they wanted, and that got taken away from them.
I think this is the most overtly religious LS book. I was a little surprised (it's been a long time since I read it) that they were doing a classic Nativity pageant. I was also surprised when Sam flatly told Karen that angels aren't real. It just seemed out of place.
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Post by booboobrewer on Dec 6, 2009 17:26:03 GMT -5
Agreed re: Watson. Karen and Andrew wanted so badly to do their "job." They broke down and cried when they confessed what happened. It's Christmas Eve, jeez Watson.
Aside from that, I loved this book. The Christmas preparations and Christmas Eve and Day at both the little and big houses sounded so fun and cozy. There's an illustration of Karen, Andrew, Nancy, Lisa, and Seth's parents that is super cute.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2009 16:30:02 GMT -5
I just read this book and agree with what's been said so far. Watson's behavior was really bizarre (especially considering this is the same guy who bought Karen a pony on a whim eight books ago). A normal parent would go to a store and have the kids pick out the angel they liked, or supervise an arts and crafts project. (Or, in the regular BSC series, Watson would've hired a friend of Kristy's to help Karen and Andrew acquire an angel!) Karen was really extremely motivated and self-directed for a seven-year-old.
The store owner's reaction to the broken angel was pretty weird, too. Sure, he took down Watson's number. But how did he know Karen wasn't lying? And why didn't he immediately say, once he knew they didn't have all the money, "Where in the world are your parents; you can't possibly be out shopping alone at your age?" In real life, even if the kids had enough cash, I think he would've wanted to lecture Watson about how his store was not a baby-sitting service.
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Post by anzuhana on Apr 25, 2010 17:21:32 GMT -5
I agree with what's been said about Watson. I can't believe he expected Karen and Andrew to pay him back the money he paid the store owner. And it's the holidays. Show a little holiday spirit, Watson.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Aug 20, 2011 17:52:08 GMT -5
Yeah, if they wanted to the financial life lessons, maybe they should have created a family that was middle-class and NOT a millionaire like Watson.
I liked what you had to say about this book, Penny Lane!
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 29, 2013 22:16:25 GMT -5
I loved Andrew in this story. My favorite part was when he mentioned that his preschool teacher sometimes called him an angel. To me, that was a reminder that (ordinary) people can be angels in the lives of others. I also thought Andrew dressing up as a lamb sounded sweet, possibly because I could imagine my favorite charge Jamie doing that and also for my dog Champ who we sometimes thought of as a little lamb. One question, why were Andrew and Karen at the Big House for 2 months? It bugged me how Karen gave the excuse that she forgot. She might have but the ghostwriter, well she may have too, but you know! I can see Watson allowing Andrew and Karen to go into the shop for a few minutes on their own but not over 10. There is no way they should have had to pay for the angel in full either. Although I have never liked pipe cleaners, the home-made pipe cleaner angel sounded like she meant a lot to Karen and could have been used in the first place.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on May 1, 2013 0:51:56 GMT -5
The months switch year to year, so they stay at the same house for December and January, so you don't end up with, like, all of the Halloween books being at the little house and all the Thanksgivings at the big house.
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Lila
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 293
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Post by Lila on May 1, 2013 2:23:26 GMT -5
Watson seemed like a money grubber to me. He lives in a fancy mansion and is always doing these charatable things with Elizabeth (at least in the beginning of the BSC books) then suddenly in every Karen book she is doing chores for 50 cents to buy dolls and other things. I understand the value of teaching kids things and she shouldn't always say "I want" and receive it, however, it strikes me as tight-wad. Perhaps I'm a more generous parent type, if my child wanted a doll I'd set a way up for her to earn it. I"d buy it and store it someplace and decide when she gets it (good test or all out helpful behavior) and she wouldn't know I had purchased the doll.
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Post by greer on May 2, 2013 10:18:51 GMT -5
Watson seemed like a money grubber to me. He lives in a fancy mansion and is always doing these charatable things with Elizabeth (at least in the beginning of the BSC books) then suddenly in every Karen book she is doing chores for 50 cents to buy dolls and other things. I understand the value of teaching kids things and she shouldn't always say "I want" and receive it, however, it strikes me as tight-wad. Perhaps I'm a more generous parent type, if my child wanted a doll I'd set a way up for her to earn it. I"d buy it and store it someplace and decide when she gets it (good test or all out helpful behavior) and she wouldn't know I had purchased the doll. I can see Watson wanting to teach Karen and Andrew the value of a dollar, which can be difficult when you're raising kids in wealth--just look at the Rich Kids of Instagram tumblr.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on May 3, 2013 15:40:09 GMT -5
I see what you're saying about teaching them a lesson and not freeloading, but he's such a cheapskate and miser, especially on Christmas, and I'm sure he was stingy like this with Lisa....
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Post by greer on May 4, 2013 12:59:17 GMT -5
I see what you're saying about teaching them a lesson and not freeloading, but he's such a cheapskate and miser, especially on Christmas, and I'm sure he was stingy like this with Lisa.... I hadn't read the whole thread nor the book... It is bizarre for any parent to expect a four and seven-year old to be responsible for the tree angel, and just plain irresponsible to send them into the store unsupervised.
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