When did the BSC jump the shark?

[blossom114]

I actually liked STacey and the mystery of stoneybrook...then again i tend to like the books where a lot of others dont... but itw as mostly the stacey/charlotte aspect of it.
Hmm
I'm still trying to get over my shock from may when i found out that most of the books were ghostwritten

[memory]

i did not read a lot of post 66 books, some are good

[greer]

IMO the bsc was really good until jessi ramsey pet sitter. but then it got BETTER in a different way.

[fluffy]

IMO, the books kind of started to waver between the laste sixties and early seventies. There are still good books in the nineties and hundreds, but then that begins to give way to real stinkers like Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend. Personally I think the best books occured between #1 and #60, just after Ann stopped writing the BSC for good.

[aln1982]

^ Agree. Of course, I think the last one I read is usually my favorite ;D My very favorites tend to be the first ones (#5, 6, 9) but I think that's for nostalgic reasons and also like a lot of the later ones (Terrible Truth, Mr. Mom). The "best" average ones for me, though, are in the middle of the series, I think.

[Deleted]

For me most of the books that I like the best were the earlier ones in the series. I usually like AMM's writing more than the ghostwriters'.
IMO the books really started to go downhill when the plots began to get too complicated. When I could no longer remember all of the various things the club had done it was pretty much over. When Dawn left and the California Diaries came out I basically gave up on the BSC

[sotypical42483]

^I do agree that keeping up with all the dramatic things that happen is so confusing. I think that's why I can never keep Dawn's Big Move and Farewell, Dawn separate. I can never remember what happens in which because wtf does she need to move 14 times for?! That's reaching just a tish bit if you ask me.

[greer]

what happens in farewell dawn anyway? i also always mix it up with DBM.

[aln1982]

^ I do too and really need to reread. I think she and MA have a bigger blowup (at least that's what someone told me in another thread ;D) in Farewell. I just remember Richard and the underwear race in Big Move ;D

[booboobrewer]

well, Dawn leaves for good in Farewell She and Mary Anne have their big fight and don't speak to each other til right before Dawn leaves, the BSC gives her a farewell party, and they do the Christmas in summer thing for James Hobart.

[greer]

oh and he woke up and thought he was back in australia. right. and the bsc was too stupid to realize that in the southern hemisphere the seasons are opposite.

[cosmo]

hhehehehhehehehehe

I like the later books in the series, probably because I hadnt read them to death when I was younger.
I stopped reading probably after Stacey's Ex Best Friend, then years later, I saw Jessi's Horrible Prank in an Op Shop, bought it, then decided I needed to collect the whole series.

[murderedmymuse]

I think for me it was the first book in the mystery series when I realised the BSC had jumped the shark. I found that book to be such a bore and not that much of a mystery (and I was the type of girl to be fascinated by Trixie Belden so I really didn't have high 'mystery' standards). After reading the first mystery book, I only bought a few more of the regular BSC books, then I stopped reading them.

After recently reading Super Special European Vacation for the first time, I think a lot of the problem was the ghostwriters. Some (outside this forum) may think the BSC is a dinky little girls series, but I feel Ann really cared about the characters and the series as a whole. The first thirty BSC books have many inventive and unique plots/character/details and are very entertaining to reread as an adult.

However, when reading European Vaction as an adult, I just felt like the ghostwriter was phoning it in during the day camp parts. The was absolutely no character development between Claudia and Janine (compared to their portrayal in Everything Changes). It was as though Ann came up with the outline of the day camp parts (Claudia and Janine fight, Claudia and Janine talk, Claudia helps Janine stand up to Jerry), and all the ghostwriter did was add 'he said', 'she said', and a few descriptive details--that is not a story!, it is only an outline. Being that there is so little interaction between Cluadia and Janine in the series as a whole, I was very disappointed in European Vacation.

Even though Ann may not be the best writer, she cared about her characters, and that made all the difference in producing some entertaining YA fiction. Thank god the BSC was not ghostwritten from the start (like SHV) or forums like this might not exist today.

PS. The introduction of Abby was a bit of a Brady Bunch Cousin Oliver moment.

[lionessblack]

I agree about Claudia and Janine in European Vacation. There was a great opportunity for character development, and I love it when the Kishi sisters band together, but it all really wasn't there. And that makes me sad.

I think Abby was a really good character, but was placed badly in the series. If she had come in around #69, versus #89, I think she would have been more accepted into the group, from the readers' perspective. Also, if it hadn't been so convenient. "Dawn's gone, we need a new member and HERE! ONE! IS!" If, perhaps, there had been some more overlap.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

May 19, 2008 0:06:17 GMT -5 murderedmymuse said:

PS. The introduction of Abby was a bit of a Brady Bunch Cousin Oliver moment.

Hahahahahaha, I thought the exact same thing when Abby came. I was like, "Okay, where on Earth did she come from?" lol ;D.