|
Post by virgoscorpio on Jul 16, 2011 16:42:22 GMT -5
In the map in the Complete Guide to the BSC, it shows that Karen and Andrew (at the little house) live pretty close to Jessi. I don't buy that they were "too far away" to babysit. I always thought it was weird how, in the LS books, driving Karen to and from the big and little house seemed like such a big deal. Stoneybrook is said to be a small town so it shouldn't be that bad.
|
|
|
Post by virgoscorpio on Jul 16, 2011 16:46:35 GMT -5
Also I wanted to add another point into the discussion. Throughout this thread, people have been saying how they never really see Andrew as a "whole person" -- definitely paraphrasing here -- in the LS books. I completely disagree. If you consider Nancy and Hannie to be important characters, you truly cannot leave out Andrew. He is present in the books just as much. I also think we get to learn more about his development and character. For example, I recently re-read "Karen's Bully" and thought it was cute how Andrew got back at Bobby by scaring him with a fake snake. It showed that he can be brave, stand up for himself (and isn't always a crybaby).
|
|
|
Post by fairy3lf2 on Jul 17, 2011 1:14:57 GMT -5
But don't forget, everyone -- in BSC land, Andrew and Jamie live "too far away" from each other to play (even though, in reality, it's probably only a 5 minute drive from house to house. It is Stoneybrook, after all). I could see a plot where Kristy is worried that Andrew doesn't have enough friends and takes him with her when she babysits the Newtons. Wouldn't that be just like her? They could initially not like Kristy's meddling but grow to become friends.
|
|
|
Post by virgoscorpio on Jul 17, 2011 16:42:16 GMT -5
^ Very true! A good BSC babysitting chapter.
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Jul 17, 2011 17:03:35 GMT -5
^Great idea. They could have also interacted more at one of the BSC's numerous camps or play groups. It would be great to see a better, or at least bigger, map of Stoneybrook. Ideally the map would, instead of a legend, have in small print the names right on/above each place.
|
|
|
Post by wenonah4th on Jul 18, 2011 14:56:48 GMT -5
JAmie and Andrew would likely hit it off, imo.
|
|
|
Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 7, 2012 1:41:03 GMT -5
Aww, am I the only one who thought Andrew was a cute kid? Couldn't have been easy for him to have such a loud, active, bossy older sister. Then again he seemed really quite withdrawn at times and I guess it's a good thing he had Karen around, she'd probably help him grow out of his shyness. I totally loved Karen when I was young. I still read those books for entertainment value (I'm such a dork!), and I find her pretty exasperating now. Over on the BSC thread on TWoP someone once compared her to Michelle Tanner -- how she got away with a lot and could do no wrong in the adults' eyes. I think it's a pretty good comparison. Nonetheless, I still like to read about her. Some of my fave Karen books are the early ones in the series, they're just classic -- Karen's Haircut, Karen's Sleepover, Karen's Halloween, etc. I can plow through one of those babies in like 10-15 minutes, maybe less. I completely agree with your entire post, especially the part about Andrew. I also share the same affinity to LS and the early Karen books. i am always scared that my sister will turn out like one of those girls. she had a nightclub themed birthday party this year. she's eight. Bwahahahahahahahahahaha! *insert Claudia's "oh my lord" here*
|
|
|
Post by wenonah4th on Mar 3, 2012 16:19:21 GMT -5
How on earth did she get the idea?
|
|
|
Post by virgoscorpio on May 18, 2012 16:46:47 GMT -5
Karen's always mentioning she taught Andrew to read, especially in the mid-to-later Little Sister books. On one hand, it's kind of cute because (I feel) it's supposed to show how close they are as siblings. On the other hand, it somehow - at least to me - makes Lisa look inept or something, like Karen is taking over the job of what normally a parent would do. And I'm sure Lisa is more than capable of teaching Andrew herself. Lisa seems like a hands-on parent so I was always surprised about that.
|
|
|
Post by sparklymouse on May 18, 2012 18:00:57 GMT -5
I don't remember when/how I learned to read, but it wasn't in school or any form of "this is what the alphabet is, this letter makes this sound, etc. That stuff obviously helped me to read quicker/better, but the initial learning pretty much came from my mom reading to me and me staring at the same books over and over again. Karen loved to read and to hear her own voice, so it's a safe bet that she read to Andrew too. I can see where that would help him, and Karen translated that into "I taught Andrew how to read".
|
|
oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,232
Member is Online
|
Post by oldhickory on May 19, 2012 3:03:31 GMT -5
i could also see karen teaching andrew a couple of longer words and calling it "teaching him how to read" to anyone who would listen.
|
|
scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
|
Post by scrounge on May 19, 2012 10:35:18 GMT -5
In the book where Karen teaches Andrew to read (it's LS SS #4) he asks her at the start of the book and she promises him that by the end of the summer he will be able to read Hop On Pop. Then there are a few references throughout the book to her helping him read words out of the book, and then at the end he reads Hop On Pop all by himself and everyone is excited that he can read. So it may be more that he memorized the book and wouldn't recognize all the words out of context, but it's not like Karen is obnoxious and giving him flash cards and worksheets and trying to make him read the same books she does. They just practice with the one book until he can do it without help.
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Oct 4, 2012 11:40:39 GMT -5
I've been going all over trying not to make my "Wicked Step Sister" post wickedly long. I wanted to say that #31 was the first time (in the books leading up to it) that Andrew and Karen were "almost 5 and 7." I'll keep an eye out for when Karen turns 7. I wish Andrew had been allowed to turn 5. I think that was up there with Charlotte being demoted back to 3rd grade for me in terms of annoying.
|
|
|
Post by booboobrewer on Oct 4, 2012 12:31:03 GMT -5
^ It wasn't long ;D
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Oct 4, 2012 17:40:34 GMT -5
^It sure wasn't. In #32 Karen is already 7 but poor Andrew is still "almost 5." I know eventually he simply goes back (90% of the time) to being 4.
|
|