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Post by sparklymouse on Mar 25, 2006 21:33:38 GMT -5
Elizabeth must have been a good mother at one time because all of her kids seemed pretty awesome.
Sam was in the school band, on the math team, had a job, and was cool enough to have his big brother want to hang out with him all the time. I used to have a crush on him. He seemed like a lot of fun to hang around, although he may get a bit tiring.
Charlie was mature beyond his years and seemed so involved with Kristy's life. I remember in the Baby Parade book when all the families came to the graduation party, Elizabeth and Watson didn't go but Nannie and Charlie did. He drove the club members all over the place for basically free. I don't know any 17 year old guy who would willingly spend so much time with his little sister's annoying 13 year old friends.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Mar 26, 2006 0:11:06 GMT -5
That seems kind of weird, actually. How come Charlie was always available at the drop of a hat?
I really loved Charlie and Sam in the first FF big (Kristy's Big News). There is a lot more depth to there characters, and it was great to read about.
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Post by booboobrewer on Mar 26, 2006 17:07:25 GMT -5
Yeah, you'd think a 17 year old might find better ways to earn (omg) 50 cents than by driving his little sister to her club meetings. And you'd think they could change it up once in awhile and give Charlie a break by having Elizabeth, Nannie, or Watson give Kristy a ride sometimes. But despite that, it was still kinda sweet. Kristy and her brothers all seemed very close and I liked their interactions especially in Kristy's Great Idea and Kristy's Big Day. They seemed very involved with and protective of David Michael as well. Plus, the Thomas family sounded all-around cute. Kristy's pretty, and the boys all have dark, curly hair (I think in one book Kristy says that her friends are jealous of David Michael's curls? haha), and I agree that Sam was quite the endearing goofball.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Mar 27, 2006 17:19:52 GMT -5
I never really cared for Sam or Charlie. We were supposed to think they were these cool older brothers, but they were total dorks. Math club? Band? Prank phone calls? Okay, he's 15, the prank phone calls thing can slide.
I always thought it was hilarious when one of the boys wasn't available because they were at Math Club.
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Post by hitzpink on Mar 28, 2006 19:20:06 GMT -5
Charlie spent WAY too much time with Kristy and her friends. No way would a normal 17 year old guy be willing to drive his little sister to and from her baby-sitters club meeting 3x a week. Sam was a little immature, especially given the fact that 15 is basically middle-aged in the BSC.
However, I do like the Thomas family in general. They seem close and had fairly normal sibling relationships, despite Charlie always being available to give the girls rides anywhere and everywhere.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
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Post by macca on Mar 28, 2006 21:50:00 GMT -5
There were others available to drive Kristy to her meeting, it seems more realistic that the job would be rotated rather than Charlie being available EVERY Monday, Wednesday and Friday night. Even if he just dropped her off and then either Elizabeth or Watson could pick her up on their way home from work. Or couldn't Nannie drive Kristy in the Pink Clinker occasionally?
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Post by sotypical42483 on Mar 29, 2006 11:35:18 GMT -5
I would think Nannie would be available the most. But I guess it's easier to just say "Charlie drives Kristy everytime and we pay him to do so" rather than saying "Well, Charlie drives Kristy every OTHER Monday and Friday. On the opposite Mondays, she walks home with Claud and hangs out til Elizabeth picks her up. On the opposite Fridays, Nannie drives her. On Wednesdays, it kinda depends on who is available." I mean lord knows chapter 2 is full of enough explanations as it is, I thank them for not adding a lengthy description of Kristy's rides!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
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Post by macca on Mar 29, 2006 16:17:48 GMT -5
^ Ha, good point. But they could've just said something like, "given the size of Kristy's ENORMOUS family, there is always someone available to drive her to and from meetings" as opposed to "Charlie ensures he is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in order to earn $3 a week!"
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Post by sparklymouse on Mar 29, 2006 18:16:31 GMT -5
I think it's fairly typical for the older kids in a family to be given extra duties once they get their drivers' licenses. A lot of my friends weren't that excited to be able to drive because then they had to pick up their siblings from school, go to the grocery store at odd hours, that sort of thing. Elizabeth would have most likely made Charlie go pick up his sister even if she wasn't paying him. Hey, it's not dorky to be smart.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Mar 30, 2006 13:00:59 GMT -5
hah I don't think its dorky to be smart at all. I'm just saying... math club? Come on...
I agree Elizabeth probably would've made Charlie drive Kristy if he was available, no matter who else was. Partly b/c that's what kids do when they learn to drive... chauffer their siblings around, and partly b/c... well, I don't think Elizabeth and Watson could be bothered with such things.
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Post by hitzpink on Mar 31, 2006 20:53:32 GMT -5
I actually don't think that Elizabeth and Watson would have made Charlie give Kristy a ride to and from every meeting. I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to be available to drop Kristy off at Claudia's every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:30 and then go back and pick her up half an hour later (or hang out in the car or whatever until she was done). Personally, I'd be pissed if my parents expected me to do that.
If they split it up, on the other hand, and said "Charlie - you're giving Kristy a ride on Mondays. Watson's got Wednesdays, and Nannie's got Fridays", that I could understand. But three days a week, every week? No way.
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
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Post by Amalia on Mar 31, 2006 21:50:03 GMT -5
^ I don't think that Elizabeth would have made Charlie give Kristy a ride every other weekday either. But I think that Elizabeth would have done something to coerce him into doing it anyhow. Maybe guilting him into it. I dunno. Or maybe she would have paid Charlie an actual decent wage for it. I dunno. When I was seventeen I didn't really have anything to do from 3:00 to 6:00. So maybe Charlie didn't really have anything either. Did he play any sports in high school or was in any club or something? I always thought that when they (him, Kristy, etc.) went to a game, they just went to watch it. And I think Charlie was being really nice to have driven Kristy's ugly-ass float throughout the parade. I mean he went through the humiliation of being teased by his classmates while doing it. That was pretty classy of him to have stuck it out.
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inge
Junior Sitter
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Post by inge on Apr 1, 2006 12:49:16 GMT -5
I always wondered what Charlie did during the meetings. I mean, Kristy lives too far away to ride her bike, so driving back home would be pointless for Charlie. But I also never read about any interesting things in Claudia's neigbourhoods - no shops or anything. So what did he do? Just stand in front of Claudia's home, waiting? I think I can remember the girls sometimes telling Kristy her brother had arrived, so I don't think that's what he did. Maybe he just drove around? But that would be so expensive... aargh, just another weird BSC thing you just don't want to think about!
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
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Post by Amalia on Apr 1, 2006 15:18:31 GMT -5
The only suggestion I've heard is that he is secretly spending time with Janine or at least trying to catch her attention. I dunno. I always just imagined him running errands, snacking at Pizza Express or something.
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Post by aln1982 on Apr 1, 2006 16:04:33 GMT -5
I thought of the Janine angle too - that would be an interesting twist. Wouldn't she have been in Math Club too?
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