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Post by sparklymouse on Jul 6, 2011 22:05:07 GMT -5
i know she had a couple of girls in her cabin at the camp, and she kind of went crazy with the junk food there too. so apparently it's no secret, and everyone knows except her parents? Was it in Winter Vacation where she knew where all the vending machines in the lodge were? I always thought that was funny.
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 6, 2011 22:37:32 GMT -5
^It was. I remember someone (probably Claudia) making a big deal of telling/showing them to Jessi and Mal
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Post by Honeybee on Nov 15, 2011 14:59:43 GMT -5
This was okay book. I'm surprised that Mr. Trout lasted that long. When the kids acted up in class. If, he didn't want to teach. Why, teach in the first place? I thought, the follies was funny.
the sub-plot was okay too.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Dec 12, 2011 23:33:24 GMT -5
I'm sure Mimi HAD to know about Claudia's candy stashes around her room.
Is it weird that it bothered me that this book was published in May instead of April? To me, it would have made much more sense for this to be an April book, to go along with April Fool's Day. They should have swapped this with Kristy and the Copycat.
The Follies was an interesting plot but Jessi was OBSESSED with it. She mentions how it was on her mind all the time, many times! And she`s always so nervous. You`d think all of the dancing that made her into such a `superstar`` would have helped her be more self-assured.
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Post by helsieboo on Feb 2, 2012 13:24:46 GMT -5
Auuuuuughhhhhh. I just re-read this book and remembered why I hated it. Is it just me, or did Jessi have a real thing about being black in this book?
"We want to get a good cross-section of the school." Jessi takes this as "not only white students." Is this really what was meant? Surely Dolly One just wanted as many kids as possible involved?
She comments about Mr Rademacher being uncomfortable because her family is African-American. I thought it more likely that he was just wary about leaving his son with strangers - he was very polite and not rude.
She also assumes that Jamie wants her to be a Folly Dolly because she's black and it would be funny to have a black Dolly Parton. Maybe they just thought Jessi would be genuinely funny?
Auughhh, this book annoys me.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Feb 2, 2012 14:15:01 GMT -5
"We want to get a good cross-section of the school." Jessi takes this as "not only white students." Is this really what was meant? Surely Dolly One just wanted as many kids as possible involved? You're right! I never really thought about that, but, as you mentioned, I'm sure Dolly One meant range of kids from different grades. Not races. Besides, there's probably only a few ethnic kids at SMS anyway (as we all know since Jessi points it out so often). In my elementary school, there were a handful of Asians and only a couple Black people. I have to mention that the black people all came from the same family. I went through the Catholic school system. I think it might be a bit different in public schools.
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Post by greer on Feb 2, 2012 14:27:05 GMT -5
You're right! I never really thought about that, but, as you mentioned, I'm sure Dolly One meant range of kids from different grades. Not races. Besides, there's probably only a few ethnic kids at SMS anyway (as we all know since Jessi points it out so often). In my elementary school, there were a handful of Asians and only a couple Black people. I have to mention that the black people all came from the same family. I went through the Catholic school system. I think it might be a bit different in public schools. The Follies were sixth-grade only, though. Given how white we know Stoneybrook is, I can see where Jessi's coming from on this one.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Feb 2, 2012 14:47:01 GMT -5
^ You're right. It was six-grade only. Then that changes things a bit. Even if she did mean it racially, I don't think that's necessarily a racist comment. I'm sure Dolly One wanted all races to be included. Affirmative action, anyone? (This might start a whole other debate, haha)
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Post by sparklymouse on Feb 2, 2012 16:18:50 GMT -5
I remember being really grossed out by the Dolly 1/2 nicknames in this one. In what world is it ok to basically comment on your teacher's boob size? And both teachers liked the nicknames too. Ew, no.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Feb 2, 2012 16:43:19 GMT -5
^ ITA. I'm pretty sure Lerangis made it up (?), which speaks for itself. Maybe he had a Dolly Parton fetish?
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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 2, 2012 16:59:14 GMT -5
maybe the cross section just meant kids with different interests. jessi was the dancer so aybe she would bring that to the performance, and maybe they needed some strong writers to put the show together. or it could mean they needed everyone from popular kids, nerdy kids, athletic kids, etc.
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Post by helsieboo on Feb 3, 2012 3:20:56 GMT -5
maybe the cross section just meant kids with different interests. jessi was the dancer so aybe she would bring that to the performance, and maybe they needed some strong writers to put the show together. or it could mean they needed everyone from popular kids, nerdy kids, athletic kids, etc. This, this is what I thought Dolly 1 meant.
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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 Sept 11, 2012 21:35:43 GMT -5
I'm surprised to see that most of the people in this thread didn't like this book! I just read it for the first time and I think it's my new favorite Jessi book. It was absolutely painful to read about Mr. Trout, but in a good way. I was a lot more emotionally involved with this story than I usually am with a BSC book.
I related to Jessi a lot in this one - at that age I too was the goody two shoes who felt guilty about doing the things that all the other kids were doing, and I'm sure I would have been just as guilt-ridden as she was after Mr. Trout left. And like her, I too probably would have over reacted and wanted to create a petition asking him to come back.
I did have a teacher like Mr. Trout once, and it was absolutely painful to watch him. It was actually in college though, not middle school. One semester I was an exchange student in Hong Kong and I was taking a gen ed biology class, and the professor was this unbelievably timid guy who had no authority over the students whatsoever. Every session he would get in front of the class and basically just quietly and awkwardly talk into the microphone, while the entire class just openly chatted away and talked on their cell phones - it was like he was completely invisible. I was shocked seeing it, because while US students aren't known for being particularly respectful, I had NEVER before been in a class that was *that* disrespectful to the teacher.
It kinda bothers me that Mr. Trout appears at least middle aged (since he has graying hair and is bald, anyway) - are we supposed to think that he's been teaching grade school this badly for 20+ years? What an unbelievably sad existence. I feel like the plot would have made more sense if he was in his 20s - not too long out of college, and coming to the realization that his career choice in teaching is probably not a wise one, so he goes back to grad school. But then we probably couldn't have had the crucial toupee plot.
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Post by wiggir13 on Dec 18, 2012 22:42:52 GMT -5
I'm not sure why I reread this again! I will say that they should have called the bsc follies ... Chapter two live! And seriously, did dawn need to be included?
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Post by candykane on Dec 21, 2012 23:09:17 GMT -5
It kinda bothers me that Mr. Trout appears at least middle aged (since he has graying hair and is bald, anyway) - are we supposed to think that he's been teaching grade school this badly for 20+ years? What an unbelievably sad existence. I feel like the plot would have made more sense if he was in his 20s - not too long out of college, and coming to the realization that his career choice in teaching is probably not a wise one, so he goes back to grad school. But then we probably couldn't have had the crucial toupee plot. I've only read this one once and forgotten Mr. Trout was supposed to be middle aged. I agree it would have made more sense for him to have been in his 20s. He really seemed more like a completely inexperienced teacher that had no idea what he was doing.
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