The Perkins Girls

[mckay]

The Perkinses - well, Mrs. Perkins, anyway, I can't remember a blasted thing about Mr. Perkins! - seemed really nice and supportive, though, not the sort to say "Why can't you be more like your sisters?!" Laura might do that to herself, though, which would be hard, unless she turned out to be as advanced as her sisters.

[aln1982]

I don't think it would come from her parents as much as from everyone else - teachers, neighbors, etc. My grandparents actually didn't compare my mom and aunts but went to the opposite extreme of "labeling" them as good at different things and they still got the comparisons from everyone else. Hopefully this won't be the case with Laura, though.

[anzuhana]

They sound really cute. I love Gabbie's "Tosh me up."

[sugarandspicexx]

I like them well enough - when I can actually accept what they're supposedly able to do. I cannot accept Gabbie going around calling everybody by full name. Even some 4 year olds I ask don't even understand what a second name is yet. I do know though some 2 year olds actually will know their own second name, but generally if that's been drilled into them by their parents.. A 2 1/2 year old that goes around calling everyone by both names seems ridiculously unrealistic to me..

[Lauren]

I can't stand the Perkinses. They're too perfect and boring for my taste. Myriah making perfect cookies at the age of 5- yeah right.

[zoar3]

^More (Comparatively) realistic than Gabbie being a good hitter for the Krushers. Even Jamie at 4 was said to always duck, but not Gabbie and her wiffle ball. This is horrible, but it would have been interesting just how *perfect* the Perkinses were had they been boys. I say this because we know what Ann generally thinks of the male species.

I liked them in Snowbound, one of my very fav SS's and Chewy sounded high strung but sweet. Lol, we can "assume" that the real Mr. Perkins was named John who practiced law and that was why Ann named almost every Dad John and made him a lawyer. Same with her Elizabeth as a name fetish.

I always pronounce Myriah like Mariah Carey also.

[liss31d]

If you look on Ann M Martin's Facebook page, roughly around May 2012, there are photographs of what the real Perkins girls (the daughters of Ann's childhood best friends) look like today. They are called Myriah, Gabbie and Laura, and it was showing photos from Gabbie's wedding shower!

[starrynight]

^ I saw those when they were first posted...it was kind of strange! Just like seeing photos of the real Cary Retlin...

[candykane]

Have we ever figured out when the Perkins girls made their last appearance in the series? I just read #100, and they got a brief mention, but weren't part of the storyline.

I also recently read Ann's book Me and Katie (The Pest). She dedicated it to Myriah Leigh Perkins and Gabrielle Ann Perkins.

[zoar3]

^I asked Wanderingfrog to keep an eye out for this in her re-read. I always mean to but never remember. The girls just seem to have fewer mentions, then during a meeting the BSC will get a call for a job at the Perkinses, and finally they just vanish. I recently looked in the beginning of Kristy and the Dirty Diapers to see how many games the world series was (best of 5) and was surprised Gabbie was at practice. I didn't think the girls had made it that far along in the books. That was nice of Ann to dedicate a non BSC book to them.

[oldhickory]

^ even the ghostwriters got tired of them. honestly i don't mind reading about what them, because they seem sweet and really care about each other. but i can do without the narrator gushing about how perfect they are. i find the other characters' reactions to the perkins girls a lot more obnoxious than anything the girls said or did.

[virgoscorpio]

Maybe, as they got older, the Perkins girls didn't want to be featured in the books as much as when they were little? Or maybe the ghostwriters knew of Ann's connection with the Perkins girls and decided not to really touch them.

[zoar3]

^Well said, Oldhickory! I just read one of my favorite books, "Kristy and the Krushers." It is so glaring how only Myriah got positive (comments) from Kristy right off the bat on her softball skills. Even Gabbie with her wiffle ball was better than some of the older kids. I have always wondered how all three Perkins girls felt about being in the books and how they were portrayed. Virgo, I think that is probably right on, too. Either that or maybe their parents wanted more privacy for their family.

[Kylie90210]

To me, as the books went on, they focused more on the SMS kids, and less on the charges. Maybe this had something to do with it?

[candykane]

Today Ann posted a picture on FB of herself with the real Myriah.