scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Jan 27, 2013 13:28:26 GMT -5
Okay, I went and looked up the passage where Abby says her mom has no brothers or sisters. It's right after Abby describes everyone who is descending on them for the weekend, with a list of who is related to who and who's staying where. She says "Our mother doesn't have any brothers or sisters. For this I was grateful. Seventeen people was enough."
In Mystery Baby Abby states that she forgot completely of her aunt's existence, maybe she was just so excited to see people she knew and loved that she legit forgot the existence of an aunt she'd never(?) met, who wasn't a part of her life. Here is the quote from Mystery Baby: "You may think it's strange that I could have forgotten that my mother has a sister. It's not, though. Here's why: Nobody in our family has spoken to Miriam in years. Not only that, nobody talks about her. Not even her parents, my grandparents."
In that case, it would be more strange for Abby to think of her than it would be to forget about her.
Or, since Abby was just discussing who all was in attendance, the sentence could be interpreted as "Our mother doesn't have any brothers or sisters [who we would need to accomodate or worry about lodging for]."
Either way I don't think it's a huge continuity error.
This is my favorite Abby book and I like that her mom takes the time off work to make all the party food instead of just having it catered. I think it adds a special touch.
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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 Dec 18, 2013 23:58:24 GMT -5
Hehe, for some reason I really liked this line (talking about Jenny P):
I don't think the title of this book really makes any sense. It's not like Abby had recently turned 13. The book takes place in April, so she's been 13 for 6 months. And I don't really see what being lucky or unlucky has to do with anything in the plot. I guess it's "unlucky" she had the problem with the math test, but that's kinda a stretch.
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Post by maddieruns on Dec 19, 2013 1:40:35 GMT -5
lol that's a funny and odd prediction for future Jenny I agree the plot didn't really have anything to do with luck or bad luck.... maybe Mallory devised the title
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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 Dec 19, 2013 1:51:23 GMT -5
^HA HA, that would actually make perfect sense! "Being thirteen is so lucky!"
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andrew
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 353
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Post by andrew on May 25, 2016 11:14:00 GMT -5
This book was OK. $3 for a cheat sheet seemed too ridiculous - too much more would have been suspicious but Abby thought the others knew what it was. It's interesting to think that if she had just gone to the library again she probably wouldn't have gotten caught. Not fond of the TV-bashing in the series and here it was a whole subplot but in a humorous way. I didn't see Becca, Jenny or the Braddocks or Arnolds watching it so much their parents would be annoyed (or that they, including Karen, would by the end seem to lose interest). Funny that Becca was smart/strategic to avoid also getting banned and that Jessi was offended that Haley thought she might be lying that she didn't watch much TV. My mom didn't like me watching The Simpsons for a few years (I think around 7 to 9) and interesting that Hannie at 7 is a big fan and the parents allow it. Also funny that Abby notes Claudia hides her healthy snacks for no real reason (although the Kishis might think chips and even pretzels aren't healthy); on the other hand her claiming that she was among those who used to sit for Mallory seemed a clear, lazy inconsistency.
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mallorypike
Sitting For The Papadakis's
If I were thirteen instead of eleven, life would be a picnic...
Posts: 1,636
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Post by mallorypike on Jun 3, 2016 13:28:04 GMT -5
This is probably my favorite Abby book. I'm not a fan of Abby very much, but I do think she's the most unique sitter with her own voice. The way she narrates her books is different from everyone else's. I loved the part where Abby bought the copy of the test and she was suspended and she kept the suspension a secret from her mom. She behaved like a typical teenager. I don't think even Stacey and Claudia, the sophisticated, mature ones, would do that. I hated Mrs. Frost. She sounds like a terrible teacher. I liked the relationship between Abby and Mary Anne. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah (I don't remember) plot was interesting. It sounds quite stressful, though. I can see why Abby got stressed with the whole preparation and all. The party seemed fun. And didn't Kristy wear a dress? The subplot with no Tv was okay but cute. I agree that the price of the test copies was too cheap. It should've been $10 at the very least.
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Jun 4, 2016 10:59:49 GMT -5
I love the subplot when they write their own fanfiction. Mrs. Frost seems so mean.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on Dec 21, 2016 14:30:46 GMT -5
Maybe Brad charged more than $3 to most of the kids, who knew they were getting a copy of the actual test, but he didn't think that Abby and MA would be willing to pay more than $3 for something he claimed was a "study guide."
I'm reading the Bat Mitzvah chapter and I like the metaphor of Anna's violin playing as "a shimmering shawl of sound."
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Post by oldmeanie on Apr 11, 2023 14:55:52 GMT -5
This is such a good one. Abby's character development at this point in the series is great.
I think I ranted about this in another thread- I kind of hated that the BSC, for the most part, are straight A students, then there's Claudia. Yes, some of them occasionally struggled (MA with home ec and English, which I still have trouble believing, Kristy with science in #53, and Stacey fell behind in #43), but overall it was implied they did perfectly fine in school. I like that Abby is a middle ground. She's a lazy student and I love that (I reject the notion that Claud is a lazy student. She seems to honestly struggle and has to work harder)! Lol. It's more realistic. I was 100% an Abby in school in late elementary and junior high... it bored me and I didn't want to waste more energy than required on it. But I coasted by. This is getting too long... I just appreciate this aspect of Abby and can relate to it.
Ms. Frost is a bit of a jerk, but I can see her POV at the same time. I think she should have investigated the "study guide" more or at least has Abby go to the VP/ Principal. Just suspending her outright felt wrong. Abby isn't a saint in this situation (another thing I love about this book), but Ms. Frost seems unreasonable to me.
Abby was naive to buy the study guide. She absolutely did the wrong thing by sneaking around. Honestly, she would've been so much better off just letting her mom know outright. She would have been in less trouble for sure. But I like that Abby deleted the message from the school, hid the mail, had Anna help lie for her, and snuck out. It's so wild for a BSC book and is totally something a teenager would do. Omg though, the anxiety when her mother caught her at Pizza Express... oy. I feel it. Lol. I'm not a huge fan of Rachel Stevenson, but I think her punishment was fair (especially compared to Elizabeth's in the last book, wtf was that), if a bit impossible to enforce.
The Bat Mitzvah chapters were great! We don't get to see many of the sitters' extended family much, and the Stevensons seem close. Food sounded great (carb heaven), the ceremony itself had a very serious tone to it but was perfectly done imo, I loved the mention of the Horah (I have only seen this in movies and shows, but it looks so fun), and the mention of her father. So beautiful, honestly.
I'm sad that this book only had 14 chapters. It's one of the better later series books.
Subplot was dumb. The Stoneybrook kids never seemed addicted to TV. Why are they all the sudden addicted and all the parents are suddenly banning it? Wtf? The first chapter of this covers 3 different sitting jobs, and it's honestly so poorly written (a stark contrast to the rest of the book), boring, and seems to drag on forever. Reading about mopey kids is NOT FUN. In all honesty, since this book came out in 1996, I think a sudden explosion of kids obsessed with video games would make more sense, then obviously a subsequent ban on them. Video games are extremely easy to get addicted to and I think it would be more believable. I think since this book was published right after Pokémon Red and Blue were released, it might've been too early to reference that, but there were plenty of other games around that time, especially on home consoles. Super Mario World, Tetris, Metroid, Zelda etc. I think it would be more believable than a sudden TV obsession.
I cannot believe that Claudia took the Prezziosos' door off. Looking back, it's so ludicrous that I just want to laugh, but seriously! What the hell?! It could have fallen on either her or Jenny. That situation was not an emergency. She should have either called them (can't remember where they were at, but still) or just let it be and Jenny would have gotten in trouble. It's just such a breach of boundaries that I can't believe a BSC member would do that.
But still kind of hilarious in hindsight. Also, Jenny snuck in to watch infomercials. WHAT?! WHY lol. Such an odd obsession for a 4 year old to have, but kids can be odd.
I talked about the subplot longer than I planned. But yeah, this one's really good. I haven't been rating the books as I go through the series (wishing I have been), but overall, this one is an 8/10 for me.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,258
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Post by oldhickory on Apr 13, 2023 10:11:35 GMT -5
I think she should have investigated the "study guide" more or at least has Abby go to the VP/ Principal. Just suspending her outright felt wrong. Abby isn't a saint in this situation (another thing I love about this book), but Ms. Frost seems unreasonable to me. I agree, and for some reason the authors of this series like to make punishments feel over the top unfair. I don't know why they wrote so many "me against the world" stories. Sometimes you screw up and you just have to take your lumps, but you probably wouldn't be in these situations anyway because most adults wouldn't be so unfair in the first place. I used to watch a lot on late night informercials when I couldn't sleep. It's the reason why I know so much old music, but the Magic Bullet infomercial was my favorite and it was a good night when that one came on.
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Post by oldmeanie on Apr 13, 2023 12:18:53 GMT -5
Looking back, you're right... like how Claudia was just assumed to have cheated back in Middle School Mystery (go Janine for sticking up for her sis! Janine doesn't get enough credit from the BSC).
It's weird that 2 books back to back had the narrator getting in major trouble, and the punishment being OTT. So weird.
I've always hated commercials. But I can see how kids would like the jingles. I don't think I ever sat through infomercials; maybe I don't know what I'm missing lol. I do know they can be addictive though. I like old music too.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Apr 16, 2023 10:14:53 GMT -5
Considering the BSC was so anti-TV (and so is Ann, going by her biography), it felt kind of random that all of a sudden the kids would be watching TV a lot. There's another book where Kristy says TV is a last resort and she never likes doing it.
I did enjoy this book and I agree that it was refreshing to see one of the BSC members struggle with school because it felt like they were all mostly straight-A students except Claudia. I learned about bat mitzvahs from this book too!
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,258
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Post by oldhickory on Apr 17, 2023 12:25:40 GMT -5
It's weird how many I Love Lucy references they make for people who hate TV. Video games would have been a more realistic story for 1996, and it makes me think the authors are out of touch with kids that they wouldn't know that.
If this book ever became a graphic novel, they'd have to change it to social media because kids now grow up with screens. TV is probably pretty mild compared to the platforms my little sister uses.
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Post by oldmeanie on Apr 19, 2023 19:02:14 GMT -5
Phone addiction is absolutely rampant too (and I am part of the problem ngl). I feel like it's worse than TV ever was (overall). Combining that with social media could make for an interesting and believable subplot. The TV thing just felt so random, and I agree that it seemed like the authors were out of touch. Now that I think about it, this would have been an interesting plot for the Netflix series.
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 20, 2023 17:05:01 GMT -5
It’s crazy to think how the characters would be with phones today. Who is likely to develop a smart phone addiction? Maybe that should be a poll.
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