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Post by sotypical42483 on Mar 24, 2006 15:21:52 GMT -5
This was probably my favorite BSC book ever growing up. I loved how whole stuck on a deserted island thing. But re-reading it now, it's just kind of meh. Although, Mary Anne totally freaking out at Dawn over the phone message is absolutely CLASSIC. I love that.
I think Stacey's dad was totally unreasonable, and honestly I don't think a parent IRL would EVER react like that. I thought it was a stupid storyline to have him behaving like such a child. I know it's supposed to exemplify how Stacey's always caught between Stoneybrook and NY but give me a break.
Jeff annoyed me in this book. He's what, a year or two older than Becca and Haley? But he's like, mini-sitter looking after them? I know in BSC land, a year or two is like, decades, but come on. I especially thought it was weird he was "in charge" of Haley at points, because isn't Haley normally depicted as such a wonderful, responsible girl, taking care of Matt and all?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 24, 2006 18:52:39 GMT -5
^ Well, this is the series where 11 yr old Mallory has complete authority over her 10 yr old brothers
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 25, 2006 8:17:08 GMT -5
Aw, he wasn't *really* a mini-sitter! It was just when they were building the fort. Oh, I suppose he went fishing and provided for them (gee, that's unusual for feminist!Ann).
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Mar 25, 2006 15:15:47 GMT -5
^ ;D ha! Yeah, you'd expect him to be the one looking after the sick kids!
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Post by aln1982 on Mar 25, 2006 17:45:06 GMT -5
^ ugh yeah, I forgot about Stacey's dad. She didn't even know if two of her friends - one of them her best friend - were alive or dead, but Mr McGill expected her to enjoy dinner and a play?! And WTF was up with Stacey having to write nice things in her letter to make up for the "not so nice" things. Stacey's dad was a jerk, end of story - and he needed to be told in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that his actions were completely unacceptable. I totally agree! I reread this one this morning and was appalled by Mr. McGill too. The guy is such a jerk in almost every book. I usually don't encourage divorce but I can't blame Stacey's mom for not wanting to be married to him anymore. He is majorly selfish. As for the Ramseys, like in all books I tried to pretend that Jessi is like 16 instead of 11. The whole idea of the 11 year old babysitter doesn't work well for me so I get around being bothered by it by just imagining her as older. That's the beauty of books as opposed to reality. ;D
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2006 17:15:39 GMT -5
Aw, he wasn't *really* a mini-sitter! It was just when they were building the fort. Oh, I suppose he went fishing and provided for them (gee, that's unusual for feminist!Ann). But he was so hot doing it!
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inge
Junior Sitter
Posts: 767
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Post by inge on May 2, 2006 13:26:47 GMT -5
Mr McGill was such a jerk. Like Stacey would have any fun doing any NYC stuff when her friends are missing. Also Mary Anne overreacted completely over the phone call, but I guess that was just to add a dramatic twist. The most shocking part was indeed the Ramseys' child care - but it was really unfair of aunt Cecilia to blame Jessi for it.
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Post by hitzpink on May 2, 2006 18:31:42 GMT -5
Yeah, the Ramseys leaving Jessi in charge for the weekend was insane, but I agree that Aunt Cecilia reacted badly. Blaming Jessi and ranting to her about how irresponsible her parents were was not right. Of course that's just going to upset her and cause her to react defensively.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 2, 2006 21:28:11 GMT -5
Stacey should not have apologized and attempted to put "nice things to make up for the not-so-nice things" in the postcard she wrote on the train home. Mr McGill was totally out of line in this instance.
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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 May 23, 2006 16:05:48 GMT -5
I just read this one again and honestly? I was surprised at how boring and poorly written it was. I'm going to have to get my copy, come back, and post some of the quotes that really made me cringe. Not the best written one of the series, that's for sure, and it wasn't even written by a ghostwriter!
I completely agree about Mr. McGill's behavior, though...try a little sensitivity towards your daughter, why don't you!!!!
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Post by sugarmonkey on May 28, 2006 18:28:29 GMT -5
Okay, on pages 217 & 218 the illustrations are backwards. Or is it just my copy? I have Jamie on page 217 with his arms outstretched walking towards the Dawn, Claud, Haley and Becca. But on page 218 everyone else is facing AWAY from Jamie. They have their backs to him. Dawn's arms are outstretched...towards the edge of the book.
I didn't realize the other times I've read this book, but there is heavy foreshadowing to Jessi's Babysitter in this book. Jessi even says that what she learned from the experience is that the adults in her life don't trust her as much as she thought they did. Um, well then, why did the two most important adults in her life leave her alone with their most precious possessions?
It surprises me how quickly they went through the food. They thought of rationing it right after they came upon the island and yet by lunch (dinner?) the a day or so later it's gone? 15 candy bars in two days? even if they were divided up among 4 people. I know they only planned a picnic lunch but it sounded like they packed quite a bit of food and drinks. It's just hard to believe it all went so quickly.
And it's pretty convenient that they were only shipped wrecked for that 3 day weekend. They only missed one day of school!
I did like at the end how Dawn mentions that the castaways felt more comfortable together than with their families after they got home. It was just seemed to add some kind of pyscological content.
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on May 29, 2006 17:46:42 GMT -5
Yes, it annoyed me how they ate like ALL of their food immediately because they were afraid it would go bad. They brought: They ate all the sandwiches, salad and yogurt on the first night, and threw out the granola bars. Come on! At least save the peanut butter until morning. It can't possibly be a good idea to stuff yourselves, then live off almost nothing the next couple of days. By the way, those illustrations are on the right pages in my copy. Yours sounds funnier though.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on May 29, 2006 18:57:00 GMT -5
Why the bloody hell did they throw out the granola bars?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 29, 2006 19:45:40 GMT -5
Hmm, yeah, that was certainly good planning That scene always bugged me, although I suppose they wanted to dramatize the whole thing by making them have to find food.
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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 May 30, 2006 2:36:07 GMT -5
^ But didn't they save a lot of the food before Jeff brought in the fish? And when they saw that Jeff could get them fish, they decided that they could eat all of the food? I know that some of the little kids didn't like the fish but still.
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