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Post by zoar3 on Sept 7, 2011 16:42:03 GMT -5
As I contemplate reading some of the books yet again : ) , I've been thinking how things might have been different for all the Spier-Schafers had Jeff stayed in CT. I know in one book, I'm blanking on which one, he said that maybe he might like to spent a semester in CT the way Dawn was in CA. Since a semester in Stoneybrook can be a number of years...even that might have changed the dynamics of the household. I'd like to think that if Jeff had stayed (even a little longer in CT), He, Dawn, MA, Sharon, and Richard might have actually spent time together, figuring out their family. I almost think Ann and Co. flew Jeff back early so that he'd be (more or less) out of the equation and we could focus on MA/Dawn. Who knows, maybe it might have made MA, Dawn, and Sharon, more likeable in the process. It still bothers me that for the zillion times Dawn came (without Jeff) to visit CT, Jeff never once came without Dawn. I'd have loved reading about that. I always also found it odd that Sharon would miss Dawn so much yet rarely mentioned Jeff. Shrug, maybe this is because I never liked the Spier-Schafer combo in general and think they might have worked much better separately. What do all of you think?
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,263
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Post by oldhickory on Sept 8, 2011 11:26:15 GMT -5
i agree with all of the above! we didn't get a dawn book until after she met MA, so we don't know if jeff was always horrible or if they just made the decision to kill him off and replace him with MA. but even though i honestly believe jeff belonged in california with his dad, i think the decision was made too easily -- like an escape or a quick fix. he was still stressing over the divorce and the move all at once and i feel like he would have been much better behaved once he had been able to process everything. he wasn't getting into trouble because he was "homesick for california", it was because the poor kid was dealing with too many changes all at once. he was so overwhelmed. so if the shock had worn off and he had gotten used to the fact that his parents were divorced BEFORE he moved cross country, he would have had a lot more success. but having said all that, i do think living with his relatively well-adjusted dad (especially at such an impressionable age) was more beneficial than living with a space cadet and eco nazi.
also, i think it's crappy that dawn got two going away parties and she and sharon cried about her moving constantly, but aside from the one book where jeff actually moves, sharon doesn't mention him at all. when jeff is in stoneybrook he's always out visiting friends and spends hardly any time at home, but in california scenes jeff isn't any closer to jack than dawn is. so i think dawn is just written as the favorite. part of this is probably because the series is for girls who want to read about a girl and her mom, not little brothers, but it's still really unfortunate that jeff's story wasn't important enough to tell. who cares if jeff comes home when we have dawn? lame.
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Post by zoar3 on Sept 8, 2011 15:22:10 GMT -5
I think despite the focus of the books being on the sitters adventures, family should have played a little more into things. With Jeff (and Dawn and MA, even Richard and Sharon) we were supposed to focus on how cool it was that Dawn and MA were stepsisters. As I and others have said before, Richard and Sharon took a huge backseat to that which was sad because it was their reunion that brought MA and dawn together as stepsisters. I still am sticking with thinking Sharon was horribly wrong for forcing her kids to move to CT, immediately after the divorce. Apparently, Jack had little or no say because obviously they moved. I won't get going on that again. I'll just say I'd much rather read about Jeff even hanging out with his friends than Dawn and MA.
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Post by Honeybee on Apr 15, 2014 11:59:32 GMT -5
I can't stand Jeff Schafer. He's jerk in Miss Stoneybrook and Dawn. Mrs. Schafer forgot to put the cap on her pen. The ink bleed through her blouse. He was making snide marks about it. "Everyone at the office was probably laughing at you," Jeff muttered. If, one of her works, did saw her blouse with ink. They'll probably told her. She could put her suit jacket on to cover it up. Unless, it happen, when she drive home from work. He also mention, it was gross. Don't talk to your parents like that.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 15, 2014 12:18:18 GMT -5
I think Jeff had so little time in the books that it was hard to really know him. I was thinking again the other night when I read MA and the Great Romance that I would have enjoyed hearing Jeff's call to the Pike triplets to invite them to the wedding. I was glad they did keep in touch. I think it would have been so easy for any of the writers to have occasionally added in during a Pike sitting chapter, especially with Dawn or MA, a hi for Jeff from Adam, Byron, or Jordan or maybe one of them asking Dawn for her dad's address so they could write Jeff, some acknowledgement that he was/is their friend. But then I know we don't hear much about Jeff's CA friends either. I did think Jeff was great in Island Adventure and loved him in MA and Too Many Boys when he saved the night by entertaining three year old Julie. ITA that in some books such as Family Feud, he was just awful but then in that so were Dawn and MA. I know Jeff truly never got a chance to really meet let alone know Richard and I can imagine he must have felt so out of place on that visit (Family Feud) when it was just he and Richard at home all day. However, rude is rude and he really was. Then I smile to remember his parts in Here Come the Bridesmaids (I love how close he seemed to Mrs. Bruen and also his answer sign was so funny) and like him.
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Post by greer on Apr 15, 2014 15:31:11 GMT -5
Jeff is pretty important in Welcome Home, Mary Anne if you're willing to read Friends Forever.
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Post by bscfan1997 on Nov 10, 2015 21:49:29 GMT -5
I know that a lot of people don't like Jeff. But I love him. He seems like a normal 10 year old boy. Yeah, he was a brat from #11 to #15. It was annoying how he was hurtful with his words to his mother and sister. He shouldn't have gotten into fights at school. But he was really struggling. He was loveable once he moved to California. I liked him in dawn on the coast, island adventure, the one when he takes care of a 3 year old girl and dawn takes care of a baby (what book was that anyway? I'm thinking MA and too many boys but not sure), dawn and too many sitters, and whenever he tells dumb jokes. I didn't like him in family feud, then again I didn't like anybody in that book. Also, he's a total hottie!!
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on May 16, 2021 6:15:45 GMT -5
I did a reread of a few earlier books and he was okay in his introduction, but I started to dislike him in book 64, 10 year old or not. He’s a brat in that book.,
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jul 13, 2021 15:16:38 GMT -5
Here's how I imagine Jeff as today in 2021... Jeff is a film editor living in San Diego today...yep, he loves the southwestern desert life. He is married today to a film producer named Gianna and they are expecting their first child in January 2022.
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