Natasha
New To Stoneybrook
BSC Reread Update: no 115:Jessi's big break.
Posts: 198
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Post by Natasha on Sept 2, 2014 23:45:54 GMT -5
I'm surprised Janine was relatively normal, considering the way her family treated her. Definitely not mean, though. Janine was never mean. Just very studious. You never see her insulting Claudia the way Claudia did. This book was not my favourite TBH.
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Post by thejunkbucket on Sept 24, 2015 11:59:30 GMT -5
Hah, Jamie had a lot of traumatizing experiences. In addition to those, he was subjected to the cigarette burn babysitter. He witnessed what he thought was Mary Anne dying in a pool of blood. Halloween! I'm sure there's more. He'll probably need therapy. Don't forget that he was also shipwrecked (along with Dawn, Claudia, Becca, Haley, and Jeff) in Island Adventure. Poor little guy should've had PTSD.
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Post by thejunkbucket on Sept 24, 2015 12:02:25 GMT -5
Re the the title: it's called Claudia and Mean Janine, because that's what Claudia called her, not because it's what the author thinks of Janine. This book is told from Claudia's perspective, so there's a certain bias.
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Post by candykane on Oct 2, 2015 7:48:16 GMT -5
Hah, Jamie had a lot of traumatizing experiences. In addition to those, he was subjected to the cigarette burn babysitter. He witnessed what he thought was Mary Anne dying in a pool of blood. Halloween! I'm sure there's more. He'll probably need therapy. Don't forget that he was also shipwrecked (along with Dawn, Claudia, Becca, Haley, and Jeff) in Island Adventure. Poor little guy should've had PTSD. Not only shipwrecked, but so sick that he was burning with fever and delirious. Poor Jamie is right!
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LadyDru
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 373
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Post by LadyDru on Nov 18, 2015 10:05:17 GMT -5
Okay, I can't remember what my first reaction was when I first read this book but I knew when I first heard the title I desperately wanted to read it. Claudia was harsh with Janine..however I do think it was mean of Janine to tease Claudia for not being as smart as she was..and I think the intelligence/genius with the big words is exaggerated and kind of showoffy..I mean, Ami Mizuno from Sailor Moon is said to have an IQ of 300 and she doesn't use big words..neither does her boyfriend Ryo or even Umino and he's the biggest geek. When Claudia raised a hand to hit Janine I was like O.O I am one of those who sees Claudia is smart but she is one of those who has a strong dislike of school so she doesn't want to do more than she has to..but then again there are some straight A students who hate school, too.. But anyway, it was so sad when Mimi had the stroke..and the playgroup sub-plot was an enjoyable read. I agree, the BSC is a bit hard on Jenny..I can see why they said she was bratty though..they must be referring to the way she has temper tantrums when given a friendly suggestion, how she would scream her answers at the top of her lungs..like how in Mary Anne Saves the Day she had a hissy fit when Mary Anne suggested inviting Claire over to play. It was funny when Andrew kept growling. Jamie is cute as always.."King Corn" never fails to make me laugh. I did like when Claudia and Janine talk things out at the end.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,268
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Post by oldhickory on Nov 18, 2015 17:27:06 GMT -5
^ It's pretty realistic for a 13-year-old to lose patience with a fussy little kid, especially since the only sitter who can stand Jenny is also a little fussy herself. But I do think that a more mature sitter could have handled Jenny with no problem.
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Enigma
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 128
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Post by Enigma on Dec 22, 2015 1:17:06 GMT -5
Re-read this recently and now I think this book should have been named "Claudia and the Emergency with her Grandmother"; (yes, there was a lot of sibling bickering/conflict both before and after Mimi's stroke) but I feel that Mimi was the primary theme far more than Janine (I really think scene when they discover her unconscious was well written for the target age group). I also like reading about how the family modifies their interactions with her while she's recovering without dumbing down their speech as well as the chapter where Mimi snaps at Mary-Anne for being too "teacher-ish" and pushy while trying to help her get her vocabulary back. I wonder why AMM had to kill off Mimi's character only a few Claudia books later (if it all, they should have waited til the end of the series). She was probably the best developed senior citizen character throughout the series and so likeable too.
Another unrelated note is how Claudia gets mad/looks down on Janine for using her computer so much as when this book was written as using a 'computer' regularly was something only a nerd would do in 1987 when it was first published (just programming and word processing and very simplistic games). How does the update handle Janine's computer?
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Post by booboobrewer on Dec 22, 2015 21:32:27 GMT -5
Probably Mimi would have gotten some "Lerangis treatment" later on in the series. I'm fine with her being a sweet part of the early books for me.
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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 22, 2015 23:32:12 GMT -5
^Ha ha, now I'm trying to imagine what a Lerangis-ified Mimi would be like.
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Post by sparklymouse on Dec 29, 2015 15:39:55 GMT -5
^Wacky granny mixed with Asian stereotypes and a touch of Sharon Spier flightiness?
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,268
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Post by oldhickory on Dec 30, 2015 12:32:21 GMT -5
Yeah, I can picture things getting pretty racist. I don't like that Mimi died, but I like that she never changed.
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Post by booboobrewer on Dec 30, 2015 23:47:20 GMT -5
Her speech also changed after her stroke. Ugh, I shudder to think. I love the pic of her holding hands with Claudia, Mary Anne, and Kristy in I think Mary Anne's portrait...she looks so pretty
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Post by wistfuldreamer86 on Aug 21, 2018 20:28:20 GMT -5
Maybe, I'm the only one who didn't dislike Claudia in this book. Yes, she was unfair to Janine, but she's 13. And she feels like Janine deliberately talks in a way that she can't understand. Which makes her feel dumb. My sister has a LD and I'm sure that I unknowingly made her feel dumb when we were kids. I think that's what's going on with Claudia. She also feels like her family favors Janine because she's so smart. And her parents expect her to be like Janine. But Claudia isn't Janine. Whether that's because she doesn't try, she has a LD of her own, or she's just more interested in art. Maybe it's a combination of all three since Claudia has shown in other books that she's smart in her own way. I think Claudia also felt like Janine was putting her down when they played the Trivia Game. Janine did know that Claudia isn't good at that stuff but pressed her to play the game anyway. And I think there were a few times when Janine implied that Claudia wasn't as smart as she was. None of this excuses some of the things Claudia said though, I just understood her pov here. And I think some of it was guilt, Claudia was upset and stressed about the whole thing with Mimi. She felt like Mimi's sickness was her fault and maybe she was really mad at herself, instead of Janine.
All that said, I also saw Janine's pov and felt for her. It has to be hard to always be "the smart one". They expect a lot from her and except nothing else to matter to her. They forget to include her in things. And she's also socially awkward, which I also relate to. It's obvious to the reader that Janine just doesn't know how to relate to other people. She doesn't always know what to say or how to say it. Even when Mimi asked for her company, she still isolated herself. So I think Janine and Claudia both needed to compromise and learn how to understand each other. Which they seemed to be doing by the end of the book. So I really liked seeing this dynamic change over the course of the book. I think it's realistic for siblings to believe the other is more understood/loved than the other. When in reality, they're loved equally. Their parents just treat them differently since they are different.
I agree that the title of the book was misleading. It made you think there was going to be loads more conflict than there actually was (which I'm glad about). It was more about Mimi and how her stroke actually brought the Kishi family closer together. It was sweet seeing Janine and Mimi walk down the street together at the end. And it was great that Claudia didn't try to get between them. That was a nice bit of character growth.
I usually enjoy the baby sitting stories but I wasn't a big fan of it in this book. But maybe I'd feel differently about it on a reread. I did like the stuff with Jamie and Lucy though. Like how Jamie's interaction with his sister made Claudia realize that maybe she was mistaken about Janine.
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LadyDru
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 373
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Post by LadyDru on Aug 24, 2018 14:50:13 GMT -5
Maybe, I'm the only one who didn't dislike Claudia in this book. Yes, she was unfair to Janine, but she's 13. And she feels like Janine deliberately talks in a way that she can't understand. Which makes her feel dumb. My sister has a LD and I'm sure that I unknowingly made her feel dumb when we were kids. I think that's what's going on with Claudia. She also feels like her family favors Janine because she's so smart. And her parents expect her to be like Janine. But Claudia isn't Janine. Whether that's because she doesn't try, she has a LD of her own, or she's just more interested in art. Maybe it's a combination of all three since Claudia has shown in other books that she's smart in her own way. I think Claudia also felt like Janine was putting her down when they played the Trivia Game. Janine did know that Claudia isn't good at that stuff but pressed her to play the game anyway. And I think there were a few times when Janine implied that Claudia wasn't as smart as she was. None of this excuses some of the things Claudia said though, I just understood her pov here. And I think some of it was guilt, Claudia was upset and stressed about the whole thing with Mimi. She felt like Mimi's sickness was her fault and maybe she was really mad at herself, instead of Janine. All that said, I also saw Janine's pov and felt for her. It has to be hard to always be "the smart one". They expect a lot from her and except nothing else to matter to her. They forget to include her in things. And she's also socially awkward, which I also relate to. It's obvious to the reader that Janine just doesn't know how to relate to other people. She doesn't always know what to say or how to say it. Even when Mimi asked for her company, she still isolated herself. So I think Janine and Claudia both needed to compromise and learn how to understand each other. Which they seemed to be doing by the end of the book. So I really liked seeing this dynamic change over the course of the book. I think it's realistic for siblings to believe the other is more understood/loved than the other. When in reality, they're loved equally. Their parents just treat them differently since they are different. I agree that the title of the book was misleading. It made you think there was going to be loads more conflict than there actually was (which I'm glad about). It was more about Mimi and how her stroke actually brought the Kishi family closer together. It was sweet seeing Janine and Mimi walk down the street together at the end. And it was great that Claudia didn't try to get between them. That was a nice bit of character growth. I usually enjoy the baby sitting stories but I wasn't a big fan of it in this book. But maybe I'd feel differently about it on a reread. I did like the stuff with Jamie and Lucy though. Like how Jamie's interaction with his sister made Claudia realize that maybe she was mistaken about Janine. I did not dislike Claudia either as I said in previous posts that Janine's genius persona was over-exaggerated..I know of genius characters in the world of fictions that don't use all the big words Janine does.
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Post by wistfuldreamer86 on Aug 25, 2018 16:41:21 GMT -5
^ That's a good point. If her IQ was THAT high, she wouldn't still be in HS, would she? Do they ever address that issue or are we left guessing?
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