Natasha
New To Stoneybrook
BSC Reread Update: no 115:Jessi's big break.
Posts: 198
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Post by Natasha on Oct 15, 2014 18:27:49 GMT -5
I really enjoyed this one, everything about it. Who knew Stacey would turn out to be a strict teacher?? I certainly didnt, this was my favourite part of the story.
And before I started reading it i was thinking about Skylar and her fear of tats and if it would show up again...and it did, at the Krushers game. And I liked how the kids surprised the BSC.
One of my favourites so far.
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Post by wenonah4th on Jan 11, 2015 14:42:05 GMT -5
I laughed out loud at Hannie, Jackie, and the "Sock Hop". That's SOOO Hannie!
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on Jul 15, 2015 16:05:57 GMT -5
I just read this one and really enjoyed it. I liked the descriptions of their bad outfits that they wore to the Rosebud Cafe at the end. The "thanks for being great sitters" part by the kids was so sweet.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Mar 5, 2021 3:02:23 GMT -5
Where does Claudia get off being a b*tch to Stacey ? Stacey was only trying to help.
Claudia doesn't have a learning disability she's just lazy. Because her sister is a genius Claud gave up long ago trying to do be a good student .
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Apr 8, 2022 1:20:42 GMT -5
Claudia does not have a learning disorder.
She's just lazy and gets distracted a lot. Daydreaming in class and I don't understand her attitude towards Stacey when she's only trying to help her.
Surprised she managed to graduate in the end.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Apr 8, 2022 4:16:04 GMT -5
I liked this one, although I cannot accept that Claudia also does not have a learning disability, which was finally confirmed. The secret-admirer subplot was sweet and I enjoyed Claud's journals. It's been confirmed she doesn't have a learning disability. She said so herself because in Claudia's Portrait she was tested for learning disabilities. She's just a lazy student and she's very smart. The only thing that interests her is art.
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Post by morbiddadestiny on Apr 11, 2022 14:22:05 GMT -5
i just reread this for the first time maybe ever--it wasn't one of my favorites as a kid that i would constantly go back to. what I'M dying to know is why there was a seventeen magazine laying around the rodowsky house that claudia could just give to shea for him to pick vocabulary words from
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 11, 2022 16:05:34 GMT -5
Lol, Seventeen was the classy teen magazine. Maybe they got it free with a different subscription. Or someone stole it from the dentist office...
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Post by oldmeanie on Oct 10, 2022 9:41:57 GMT -5
I think I've only read this one once or twice. I barely remember it.
Overall, I think it's decent. I just don't fully buy that Claudia doesn't have a learning disorder. She seems to struggle a lot with paying attention. I'm glad that not entry member of the BSC is great at school (it seems like everyone else but Claudia has almost no issues whatsoever, which isn't realistic. Although I guess we have Mary Anne and home ec. It's just odd that they all seem fine with all the main subjects. Also, they all seem to like it all right. Unrealistic), though. I don't really blame Claudia for being bored with it, and it must be frustrating/ exhausting to have to work that hard at something (and she does seem to have to work much harder than the others, which is why I think she should've had a learning disorder) that she absolutely hates. I don't know if I agree that she's lazy. Maybe a little bit in school, but overall, not really. School isn't really for everyone and some people who were poor students end up being successful adults. I'm the opposite; I was a nearly straight-A student but am totally lost in adult life.
I guess I mainly think Claudia's school struggles were poorly written. I've mentioned before that on re-read she's not really my favorite, but that's because of how she treated Janine in the early books. I think she actually becomes more likeable as the series goes on.
I do think she and Shea (BTW, I'll forever read that as "She-ah") make a good team and maybe they should've kept that up. It sucks that there are little developments like this throughout the series that don't continue. Maybe she wouldn't have had to go back to seventh grade (ignoring how ridiculous that notion is to begin with). I don't understand why the Kishis didn't have a regular tutor for her since her school struggles were a regular thing.
Mallory is late to a meeting because a job went until 5:30! I always note when something like this happens. It seems odd that they're always all there for each meeting. Clients even hurry home sometimes so they can make the meetings on time. It's... odd to me.
Stacey was weird in this one. I don't know why they made her such a strict and bossy tutor. Yes I'm mostly on Claudia's side for this one, although the two should've been honest about it not working. I agree that not studying in Claudia's room was a good idea to lessen distractions, but I thought Stacey went too far. She made the sessions miserable for Claudia, and that's not going to motivate her to work harder. Also, probably not a good idea for your best friend to tutor you.
I did like Claudia and Shea's friendship, but it was weirdly underdeveloped. There was a lot of time spent on figuring out the secret admirer. For some reason they're all convinced it's a boy specifically asking one of them to the Spring Dance, then they're convinced it's Cokie. I really do like the scene in the ice cream shop and Claudia's "bad" outfit (doesn't sound very different from some of her other getups). I'm also disappointed that we didn't get a description of the rest of the BSC's bad outfits. It was a cute scene.
Dawn also speaks of a friend in California that had dyslexia and wanted to sail the world after graduating high school. Kind of disappointed this was probably just a one-off idea/ comment (I don't remember her appearing in any California books and not in the CDs), because that friend sounds interesting. Sometimes these books include random details like this that are never mentioned again. It is possible that Dawn simply didn't reconnect with said friend when she went back.
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Post by Sideshowjazz1 on Oct 17, 2022 18:43:36 GMT -5
Claudia does not have a learning disorder. She's just lazy and gets distracted a lot. Daydreaming in class and I don't understand her attitude towards Stacey when she's only trying to help her. Surprised she managed to graduate in the end. I wish Claudia had had a learning disorder. It would be a good way to reinforce what they point out with Shea - that doing well in school and being smart don't necessarily go together and having a learning disability doesn't make you stupid (if I remember correctly, Claudia's IQ is above-average). She seems a bit ADHD, daydreaming a lot but super-focused on her art. But even then, Mac in New York, New York says she's very talented but lazy and undisciplined, so she does really well in art but won't develop her talent fully if she doesn't work harder at it, ie: she's even lazy at that.
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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 Oct 18, 2022 11:26:47 GMT -5
Partially agree - I think it's good to show that some people are just not great at school, but they are still talented and valuable humans. It would also be good to have a neurodivergent role model for kids to identify with.
But it would be bad if average students saw Claudia get a diagnosis and then wonder if being bad in school was a sickness. I wouldn't feel okay if the team made every student who struggled in school have a learning disorder.
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Post by Sideshowjazz1 on Oct 18, 2022 15:11:16 GMT -5
Partially agree - I think it's good to show that some people are just not great at school, but they are still talented and valuable humans. It would also be good to have a neurodivergent role model for kids to identify with. But it would be bad if average students saw Claudia get a diagnosis and then wonder if being bad in school was a sickness. I wouldn't feel okay if the team made every student who struggled in school have a learning disorder. Fair point. It's just that I feel like often, Claudia's grades just don't add up. How did she get from Cs and the occasional B to having to repeat seventh grade? It feels like she went from being a regular, not very good student who just about passed to failing everything no matter how hard she tried.
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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 Oct 19, 2022 9:38:57 GMT -5
Definitely, it was so inconsistent. Every character trait was exaggerated to the extreme. Early series Claudia would never have flunked a grade.
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Post by fernmariposa919 on Mar 23, 2023 11:19:45 GMT -5
I recently finished this and I thought the friendship between Claudia and Shea was really sweet. I've always liked the Rodowsky's. Maybe I feel a kinship with them because I, too, am a redhead. The B plot was dumb, especially with the baby-sitters thinking the notes (which were addressed to "the BSC") were specifically for one person, from some boy who wanted to ask them to the dance. Let's see, Kristy thought they were from Bart, Stacey thought they were from Sam, Mallory thought they were from Ben, and most head-scratching of all, Mary Anne thought they were from Logan. Why would Logan need to write her a lame note that says, "YOU ARE NICE" to ask her to the dance when they've been dating for like, five years? (Er, five months?) And she even cries over it. Good Lord. Honestly, since I've been re-reading this series, Mary Anne has really been grating on my nerves!
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