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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Mar 30, 2018 16:38:52 GMT -5
If you could rewrite anyone of the books mystery, regular, LS or otherwise: what would it be and why?
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Post by booklover85 on Apr 2, 2018 23:31:49 GMT -5
I would turn the Baby Sitters' Little Sister series into a series of books that features the adventures of multiple clients, not just Karen.
However, book #1, Karen's Witch will remain the same, as well as book #12, Karen's Ghost. The arrival of Emily Michelle should be in a Super Special and it would feature the POV's of David Michael, Karen and Andrew.
Instead of bullying Mal in Hello, Mallory, Claudia tries to warn Mal about the cultish behavior of the club given what happened to her two books back.
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LovelyDay
New To Stoneybrook
just a sweet girl
Posts: 137
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Post by LovelyDay on Jul 27, 2019 8:59:47 GMT -5
If I could rewrite the BSC series in general, I would stretch their time out in seventh grade more, and actually have time move normally instead of backtracking and having fifty Halloween’s in one year. I also wouldn’t let eighth grade last so long, and have them go to ninth grade.
I also would have rewritten Keep Out, Claudia to instead make Jessi bring up that the Lowell’s are racist instead of Kristy.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jul 27, 2019 21:48:11 GMT -5
If I could rewrite the BSC series in general, I would stretch their time out in seventh grade more, and actually have time move normally instead of backtracking and having fifty Halloweens in one year. I also wouldn't let eighth grade last so long, and have them go to ninth grade. Better yet...I would have maybe twenty-five books on them in eighth grade, then move them up to high school with twenty-five or so books with each year from freshman through senior year. More potential epic plots in high school and new characters. Too many other series have the characters in seventh grade for hundreds of books. I also would have rewritten Keep Out, Claudia to instead make Jessi bring up that the Lowells are racist instead of Kristy. Why? There are non-black people who are also concerned about racism. It's way too predictable and unrealistic to always have Jessi bring up the racism issue.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jul 27, 2019 21:53:10 GMT -5
I would turn the Baby Sitters' Little Sister series into a series of books that features the adventures of multiple clients, not just Karen. However, book #1, Karen's Witch will remain the same, as well as book #12, Karen's Ghost. The arrival of Emily Michelle should be in a Super Special and it would feature the POV's of David Michael, Karen and Andrew. Agreed. It would be fun to see Charlotte Johanssen's or Jenny Prezzioso's POVs, especially in first-person. Instead of bullying Mal in Hello, Mallory, Claudia tries to warn Mal about the cultish behavior of the club given what happened to her two books back. I don't think the BSC was "cultish"...just young and insecure. That's why it would have been better to see the BSC eventually move on to high school.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jul 27, 2019 22:04:15 GMT -5
One part of the series I would re-write in the Friends Forever section...scrap the entire Claudia versus Stacey storyline.
That was the worst storyline of the entire series!
Stacey and Claudia came off as Jerry Springer/Sweet Valley characters there...and over a BOYFRIEND?
Some ghost writer must have been on drugs there because Ann Martin herself stated in one interview that she wanted to write her characters to be loyal friends and NOT have their lives revolve around boys and clothes and to NOT pit them against each other as "rivals" for male affection.
Even worse about that out-of-character plotline was that it dragged on and on with Claudia and Stacey refusing to speak to each other for almost a dozen books.
Then when they do finally speak, the writer states something to the effect of that they are still "dancing around" each other with lingering bad feelings.
What a waste of a storyline and plot.
If anyone wanted any of the BSC to have a huge fight, have it be something more than just a boyfriend or superficial appearances!
Maybe something to the effect of one of them being away for camp all summer when they'd already made other plans or something.
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LovelyDay
New To Stoneybrook
just a sweet girl
Posts: 137
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Post by LovelyDay on Jul 28, 2019 0:22:21 GMT -5
If I could rewrite the BSC series in general, I would stretch their time out in seventh grade more, and actually have time move normally instead of backtracking and having fifty Halloweens in one year. I also wouldn't let eighth grade last so long, and have them go to ninth grade. Better yet...I would have maybe twenty-five books on them in eighth grade, then move them up to high school with twenty-five or so books with each year from freshman through senior year. More potential epic plots in high school and new characters. Too many other series have the characters in seventh grade for hundreds of books. I also would have rewritten Keep Out, Claudia to instead make Jessi bring up that the Lowells are racist instead of Kristy. Why? There are non-black people who are also concerned about racism. It's way too predictable and unrealistic to always have Jessi bring up the racism issue. Okay, I can see where you’re coming from, but my intentions were never to say that “non-black” people can not be concerned with racism. Trust me, I understand this. Those were just my thoughts at the time. To shorten things up, I believe that everyone’s entitled to their own opinions if it’s just a kids book series.
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Post by eternalstudent on Jul 29, 2019 18:01:48 GMT -5
1. I think it would have been nice if Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic had been in the regular series. I consider it to be a big plot-altering revelation about Mary Anne's past and just doesn't seem to fit within the haunted, missing, etc.-type mysteries of that series. Perhaps it should should have traded places with book #17 (Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery)? 2. As I mentioned in another thread, it would have been better for the Friends Forever series to take place in 9th grade as 14-year-olds. One thing that bothers me is that it made no sense for them to disband the club right at the beginning of the summer when they would have had a large amount of free time. As far as the timeline goes, this would mean: - The final BSC regular series book would have been a Graduation Day -type book
- Everything Changes would follow this book, and detail their summer as Jessie, Abby, Shannon, and Logan drop out of the club and it goes back to the original four.
- Instead of having the BSC disband based on the large-scale event of graduating, it wold have been a gradual thing: Claudia and Stacey's fight and willing to sacrifice their friendship for a guy (thus indicating they were getting older), being busier with school, less interest in baby-sitting, etc.
- The final Friends Forever book would have therefore detailed the end of 9th grade and been similar Baby Sitter's Remember
As it is, I like to kind of think of the BSC being in 9th grade in the FF series, since it has such a different feel to it.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Aug 1, 2019 18:14:27 GMT -5
1. I think it would have been nice if Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic had been in the regular series. I consider it to be a big plot-altering revelation about Mary Anne's past and just doesn't seem to fit within the haunted, missing, etc.-type mysteries of that series. Perhaps it should should have traded places with book #17 (Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery)? 2. As I mentioned in another thread, it would have been better for the Friends Forever series to take place in 9th grade as 14-year-olds. One thing that bothers me is that it made no sense for them to disband the club right at the beginning of the summer when they would have had a large amount of free time. As far as the timeline goes, this would mean: - The final BSC regular series book would have been a Graduation Day -type book
- Everything Changes would follow this book, and detail their summer as Jessie, Abby, Shannon, and Logan drop out of the club and it goes back to the original four.
- Instead of having the BSC disband based on the large-scale event of graduating, it wold have been a gradual thing: Claudia and Stacey's fight and willing to sacrifice their friendship for a guy (thus indicating they were getting older), being busier with school, less interest in baby-sitting, etc.
- The final Friends Forever book would have therefore detailed the end of 9th grade and been similar Baby Sitters Remember
As it is, I like to kind of think of the BSC being in 9th grade in the FF series, since it has such a different feel to it.
Mostly agreed...they should have advanced them to high school...but leave off Stacey and Claudia's fight over a guy. That fight was way off-canon and so ridiculous, it should have been left off the series completely. That was way too out of character and more fitting of a Sweet Valley or Fabulous Five book. In addition to being ridiculous, they dragged that "fight" on for way too long...it got tiresome reading endlessly about Stacey and Claudia blaming each other and each seeing herself as the "innocent," wronged party. None of the BSC would sacrifice their friendship for a guy, especially a fleeting romance, even though some of them had a boyfriend or major crushes from time to time. Each of the girls, especially the original four had worked hard to form a group of friends, so they treasure their friendship too much to throw it away so easily. If the FF series wanted to add a huge fight in there, maybe have Kristy and Claudia fight, but NOT over a guy...and of course, re-unite them within two or so books. Letting a boyfriend come between friends is not a sign of "growing older" or a sign of "maturity" at all...quite the opposite. Mature friends stay loyal, despite boyfriends and crushes.
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Post by eternalstudent on Aug 1, 2019 22:38:49 GMT -5
I think that the Stacy/Claudia fight definitely ruined it for a lot of readers because unlike the other fights that were resolved with 1 or 2 books (or even within the same book), it just seemed unlike the BSC to have a fight be so permanent. Of course, it's probably not a sign of maturity, but this plot seems like it might have been a way for the series to seem "realistic" and not so perfect and ideal. The problem is, the BSC was so popular because it revolved around strong friendship and being loyal to one another no matter what, so the fight over a guy kind of defeated the purpose of the books! Come to think of it, the Friends Forever series reminds me so much of the failed Nancy Drew on Campus series. Just like FF, ND on Campus was an attempt to appeal to older readers, since Nancy in the regular books is pretty innocent and focused on solving mysteries. In the Campus series, Nancy Drew was supposed to be a year or two older and a college student dealing with more adult issues like breaking up with her long time boyfriend, partying, drugs, and other young adult drama. Similar to FF being less about baby-sitting, the mystery was usually a small subplot, which completely defeats the purpose of the Nancy Drew books!
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