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Post by zoar3 on Jul 26, 2010 20:31:20 GMT -5
Karen should have indeed been told that she needed to tell her parents how she felt about the camp. Their were others enjoying the circus theme. I'm sorry she wasn't but the rudeness got very old quick. The Alicia thing wasn't even that believable. If she (once her mom left) never went on to have any fun during the rest of the day, then I could relate to her lasting extreme feelings. But she did. Perhaps part of the problem was that she (did she)? didn't know any of the other kids there other than her brother and through him as his friends. Not even Jenny P, whose mother was asked to be on call in case the girls needed an adult, attended--at least she would have been another 4 year old girl. It was weird, un-BSC, that no one, certainly not Mrs. Gianelli (though hey she was a parent in Stoneybrook) ever asked Alicia how they could make the camp better for her or maybe even directly why she hated to come.
The circus theme itself, once it was discovered that so many were against it, maybe it could have been the plan for the first week and have left it at that.
ITA with all the MA comments. The sprained ankle was pointless and so dumb.
Oh and once again Sharon is called Sharon Schafer Spier and MA talks about feeling all alone with just the Schafers or cooking Schafer-Spier Style. (Which of course means cooking food Dawn and Sharon will like not what Richard and MA will). I always hated that aside from #31, when Sharon outright said that from then on she and Dawn would plan/prepare meals over the weekend for the two of them and requested that MA and Richard did the same. Reasonable plan, except it never happened! I can definitely appreciate and see the MA and her dad trying some "health" food. Or doing what MA did with the bread, adding something of theirs that the rest of their family would eat to a meal. However, for the two of them to every day be told they could only eat ----- (food "approved" by Dawn and her mom) is crazy. And, most of you on here know I truly am a vegeterian, unlike Dawn.
One last "note," on the cover MA is wearing a purple T shirt with Camp BSC on it. In the book she tells us that Claudia designed cool tie dyed shirts for them to wear. I guess once again Hodges or whoever got lazy. Anyone want to take a guess who is supposed to be on the cover? Looks like Jackie, Karen, a girl in blue, and a second girl? in odd pajamas?
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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 Feb 8, 2011 15:26:11 GMT -5
if i had been there, i would have put karen and alicia in a pit and let them starve. or i would have forced them to fight to the death, but i wouldn't have let them back at camp. i absolutely could not stand either of them in this book, especially karen. if it had been jenny prezzioso complaining about camp and how she had been to circus camp already, all the bitchy whining would have stopped the first day. it's terrible to say that about a seven year old, but that's what it was. and for goodness sake. why did none of the sitters tell mrs gianelli that alicia was having so much separation anxiety? it was interfering with the sitters' ability to run camp smoothly and she should have stayed home. ugh. i just hate this book. i really hate it.
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Post by zoar3 on Feb 8, 2011 18:16:04 GMT -5
I am completely editing this after having read most all the LS books, including the one about circus camp. I still think Karen's behavior was extreme and annoying in this book, no change there! If that was Karen's "new" character it should have been rocketed to space as I said a couple years ago. I have to admit, I don't recall any other LS book where Karen was this negative a character. Maybe she was supposed to be acting out how MA felt? There definitely needed to be some parental intervention. I hated how the other Stoneybrook Academy kids ended up, complaining about the camp too mainly (it seemed) because Karen was. It's fine for them to have their opinions, not cool to be rude about it and put those who were having a good time down for doing so. I think Kristy and Co should have taken them aside, probably individually and asked if they were having a good time and wanted to stay, if so, how could the experience be made better for them. If not, then time to move on. Karen will never be my favorite BSC character and I probably will always feel in a lot of BSC books she was written to over-shadow David Michael and certainly Andrew. In some of the LS books such as "Karen's Prize," (spelling bee), enough really is enough with bragging. What I'm trying to say is having given her character a chance through the LS, I have gotten to see other sides of Karen and sometimes even feel for her. I wonder if she was pushed so much in the BSC to help sell the LS? In any case, I will never like her in this book but then lol this book itself is not exactly a favorite of mine either!
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sarish
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,618
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Post by sarish on Feb 8, 2011 22:17:02 GMT -5
I guess them not telling Alicia's mother really showed their immaturity for their ages. I agree that it should have been mentioned, however they always liked to prove how they could 'take charge' and make things better for every child. As everyone knows, the BSC knows better than their charges parents.
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Post by zoar3 on Feb 8, 2011 23:16:30 GMT -5
^Very true, Sarish, and good to see a post from you. (I think it's been a little while). In this case, the BSC did nothing for Alicia, except to enable her behavior to continue day in and out. I guess Bobby never told his parents that his sister stayed behind daily either, or for that matter, did Alicia. Actually as I type that, wouldn't a BSC Member have taken Mrs. Gianelli aside one afternoon and told her that Alicia was still having issues?
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sarish
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,618
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Post by sarish on Feb 8, 2011 23:32:10 GMT -5
I know that if I were a parent I would have been interested to know that my child was not actually attending the outings like Alicia didn't. What if there had been an emergency on the parents end and they had to pick their child up ASAP and thought they were out at a particular spot? This was before cell phones were so readily available to call and say, "Hey, I need to pick so and so up now." And thanks! I missed this place.
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Post by anzuhana on Mar 6, 2011 21:38:26 GMT -5
I hated Karen in this book. She was horrible.
I agree. I think the BSC should've said something to Mrs. Gianelli about Alicia .
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Post by virgoscorpio on Mar 8, 2011 0:49:28 GMT -5
I agree that Karen was a b*tch in this book. I think she might have turned out to be a bitchy, all-about-her attitude as an adult.
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Post by zoar3 on Mar 8, 2011 12:44:48 GMT -5
^ She very well might have been since everyone thought she ruled as a kid.
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Post by wiggir13 on Jul 18, 2011 21:34:31 GMT -5
I'm not sure there is a redeeming anything in this book. I friggin don't like MA or Dawn or Karen so it was like stabbing my eyes with a fork.
Wait I take it back, I did like the dog show thing with the dogs doing all their tricks in a little skit....but that was all.
It definitely made me want to order some takeout!
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 18, 2011 21:56:17 GMT -5
^The "dog thing" was hilarious. I also admit to Lol-ing when MA asked if they could order take-out at the drive-in movie theater. Otherwise, this book went to the turkey dogs.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Dec 19, 2011 21:41:00 GMT -5
Hmm. Some of the healthy food that they make in this book actually sounded delicious! I loved the salmon, vinegar, asparagus, and freshly baked bread meal that Dawn and MA prepared. It sounded yummy. This book made me hungry because it was constantly mentioning food ... whether it be take-out, Chinese, hamburger, salads.
Was the sprained ankle part even necessary? I had forgotten that MA sprains her ankle, maybe because they don't make such a big deal out of it like Claud breaking her leg (which got an entire book!)
Someone mentioned "the two girls on the cover" earlier in this threat, and the girls are Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. I guess their wearing PJs because their parents might want to put them in bed right after the cookout? I assumed it was a sleepover from looking at the cover, but the kids never stay over.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Jul 10, 2013 1:01:45 GMT -5
I just re-read this book and now I want to launch Karen Brewer into the sun. What. A. Brat.
Mary Anne was kind of a baby about missing her dad but Sharon was irritating too. Takeout every night is one thing but not cleaning anything up isn't charmingly scatterbrained, it's just gross.
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celaeno
Sitting For The Papadakis's
I have to share a room with Vanessa
Posts: 1,514
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Post by celaeno on Nov 2, 2013 18:42:00 GMT -5
Man, I didn't have any sympathy for MA (or Alicia) in this book. I was one of those kids who had no trouble at all being separated from my parents at any age - I looked forward to sleeping at others' houses and wished my parents would actually go away once in awhile (neither had jobs that involved travel, and they didn't go away on trips by themselves). I would have LOVED baching it with Sharon and Dawn and ordering lots of takeout (another thing my parents wouldn't do). Seriously, I'm jealous even reading it now, so I can't really muster up any sympathy for MA.
I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet - the handwriting on two of the chapters seem messed up. The notebook entry at the start of Chapter 7 is in Mary Anne's handwriting but it sounds like it's supposed to be Kristy's. Chapter 9's is in Kristy's handwriting and sounds like it's supposed to be Logan's.
Also, in Chapter 1 Richard says he's going to Cincinnati, and in Chapter 6 it changes to Cleveland. (And as someone else previously mentioned, MA kept calling the kids SES and SMS kids, when it should have been SES and SAS kids. This book seemed full of mistakes.)
It's already been mentioned it seems ridiculous that half the kids at camp had been to circus camp; I think it's even more ridiculous that they mention that they went to different circus camps. How many circus camps are there to choose from?!?
There were actually a bunch of smaller items in this book I liked. I loved reading Sharon and Dawn's bachelor girl activities (because like I said above, it genuinely sounded fun!). I love that they watched Plan 9 From Outer Space (have you ever seen it? It really is funny). And there's so many great food descriptions in this book! Dawn's three-cheese macaroni, Mary Anne's double garlic and onion toast, Richard's going away brunch (cold poached salmon with asparagus vinaigrette, homemade bread) plus all the takeout food (which sounds delicous to me!).
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Natasha
New To Stoneybrook
BSC Reread Update: no 115:Jessi's big break.
Posts: 198
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Post by Natasha on Sept 29, 2017 9:54:54 GMT -5
This book sucked. It was so boring! It made no sense that the ONLY families who needed sitters during this 3(?) weeks were kids at camp. The Rodowsky's didn't need anyone? The Perkins? I skipped all the circus junk. Snore. Also WTF half the kids have been to "real" circus camp?! Who has EVER been to CIRCUS camp?! I mean it just seems awfully coincidential that half these kids went to a random friggin circus camp. I thought it was cute how MA missed her dad though. I like her relationship with him later in the series. Most Mary-Anne books are boring, with the exception of Mary-Anne and the Memory Garden and The Fire at Mary-Anne's house. The most boring Mary-Anne book is Maid Mary-Anne. Ugh, pointless-my 2nd least favourite Mary-Anne book. My first being Mary-Anne and the search for Tigger.
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