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Post by supernatural babe on Oct 2, 2006 15:21:33 GMT -5
@ the title. Claudia practically bullied Janine at every possible chance. I thought she was a spoilt b*tch in this book. She bursts into Janine's room and lays into her for not helping clean up when Janine was oblivious to the clean up. Dismisses Janine's day plans as boring and then strikes hard by boasting that she's hanging out with stacey and going shopping. Friends. The one thing J is sensitive about and claudia flings it in her face. Nice. Is found boasting that her and Mimi often forget about Janine's existence as she is close to mimi and J isn't. Lmao! Is this supposed to be the 'sophisticated and mature' Claudia that claudia is often saying she is. She really is an relative hogger. Not enough that she monopolises Mimi and Peaches and Russ, the minute her parent glances at Janine she throws her toys out the pram. Luv it. ;D
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Oct 2, 2006 15:29:19 GMT -5
This was always one of my favorites, but even as a kid, I felt that Claudia was the one at fault for most of the problems she was having with Janine.
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inge
Junior Sitter
Posts: 767
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Post by inge on Oct 2, 2006 15:55:01 GMT -5
Claudia was absolutely the mean one. I mean, come on, she is completely mean to her sister and then complains about how they are not close. Wonder why, huh?
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Post by aln1982 on Oct 3, 2006 7:44:41 GMT -5
Totally agree. I think Janine always tries really hard (just read Claudia and the Middle School Mystery and could have hugged her) and Claudia is usually the jerk. She's obviously jealous of Janine. I think that's why she doesn't "try" in school too. In the back of her mind, she says that since she can't be as smart as Janine, she's going to dismiss school as unimportant. At least that's how it seems in some of the books (in most of them I honestly believe that she has a learning disability). Anyway, the title of this book is totally wrong. It should be reversed. How many books has Claudia acted like an immature brat in? I think she's a bit of one in Claudia and Crazy Peaches and Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby and those are just the two I can think of right at first thought.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Oct 4, 2006 17:19:29 GMT -5
ITA with everyone else. This book should've been named Janine and Mean Claudia. Ask Janine how school was and then b*tch her out, calling her "selfish" when she answers your question? Makes tons of sense.
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Oct 5, 2006 16:31:40 GMT -5
A lot of the BSC titles kind of sucked, IMO. Jessi's Gold Medal pretty much ruined the ending, and Dawn and the We Love Kids Club should really have been called, like, Dawn Steals Money and Flies Across the Country.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Oct 7, 2006 19:44:27 GMT -5
^ a lot of titles were misleading, as well. MA Breaks the Rules sounds a lot more exciting than it actually was.
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Post by liss31d on Oct 8, 2006 11:02:30 GMT -5
I felt really sorry for Janine in this book, it must be awful to feel pushed out by your own family. Sometimes I think it must have been hard for Janine when Mimi always called Claudia "My Claudia" and yet she wouldn't say "My Janine." Also her parents would always tell her to go study and rarely ask her to get involved with anything other than work. And Claudia jumping down her throat with rude accusations every two seconds couldn't have helped. Janine never even insults Claudia in the book and yet Claudia raised her hand to hit her and later called her a "nerd" with contempt just because she knew an answer to a question. Also the whole making dinner thing and helping with Mimi was ridiculous - Janine didn't even know Claudia was making dinner and yet she got all mad at her for not helping. Claudia jumped in before Janine could say anything and volunteered her mornings for Mimi and yet she said to Janine, "I got stuck with the mornings with Mimi while you got off scot free," Claudia you have the memory of a teaspoon
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Post by sotypical42483 on Oct 9, 2006 13:18:54 GMT -5
^Yess. I always wonder if Janine feels bad when Mimi refers to Claud as "My Claudia". It's kind of odd because Mimi doesn't seem like she'd be the type to choose a favorite, ya know?
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Oct 9, 2006 14:43:10 GMT -5
I'm surprised Janine was relatively normal, considering the way her family treated her. Definitely not mean, though.
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ktag
Junior Sitter
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Post by ktag on Oct 9, 2006 20:52:49 GMT -5
And even worse is that she called Mary Anne "my Mary Anne" sometimes too. Claudia was childish for being jealous, since Mary Anne is motherless. But I'd totally understand if Janine felt slighted by that, since Mimi never "my"ed her at all.
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Post by booboobrewer on Oct 9, 2006 21:38:21 GMT -5
I'm curious, any theories as to why Mimi never said "my Janine"? I wonder what their relationship was like when Janine was around 3 or younger, before Claudia was born.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Oct 9, 2006 22:16:48 GMT -5
^Yess. I always wonder if Janine feels bad when Mimi refers to Claud as "My Claudia". It's kind of odd because Mimi doesn't seem like she'd be the type to choose a favorite, ya know? Maybe it was just like a "pet" name for Claudia because she was the youngest or something? My littlest sister was always called a "lil tiger" and other cutesy names that my other sister and myself were never called. Or maybe when Claudia was a baby, Mimi spent a lot of time caring for her when the Kishi parents were busy with work and looking after Janine, so Claudia became "Mimi's" Hmmm... maybe Mrs Kishi did a shocking thing in BSC Land and actually stayed home with her baby girl for the first couple of years, therefore Mimi never developed the "surrogate mother" role with Janine early on? Mimi seemed a lot more involved with Claudia and her friends than with Janine. And MA probably latched onto the motherly attention because her own mother died as a baby, so Mimi had a soft spot for her, thus "my MA"
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Post by booboobrewer on Oct 11, 2006 19:24:27 GMT -5
Still...I agree with ktag that I'd understand if Janine felt a bit hurt by that. I guess it kind of speaks to her character that it was never something she deliberately brought up to make Mimi, or anyone else, feel bad about. Claudia often didn't give Janine enough credit for her patience. She had a lot of it.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Oct 12, 2006 10:40:34 GMT -5
I have to say, I'm liking Janine a lot more because of this discussion. Everyone is bringing up such good points!
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