41: Karen's School

[supprazz]

That was cute too, and how she felt when it turned out he was married LOL Their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory unit sounded like fun, I love that book! And I agree kids around Karen's age are egocentric like that and we saw it with Karen. She was also bored with Nebraska in the first day or two and adapted really well, and it became one of the best Karen books IMO

[wenonah4th]

We assume Mr. Howard was early 20s but he could have been a little bit older, too.

[supprazz]

He looked older than Wesley Ellenburg, and was married too.

[wenonah4th]

He looked a little goofy though, and like someone else in the books....

[supprazz]

^ goofy? cause of the tomato stain on his tie? Maybe he was just nervous and young, Karen was being a brat to him, I really didn't like her in that book.

Now that you mention it, he did look like someone else, maybe tom cruise?

[zoar3]

I think he looked a little like (an older) Beaver Cleaver. Nancy's crush and poem were much better than Stacey's on Wes. It would have been interesting, depending which book happened first, had Stacey somehow baby-sat for Nancy and they talked about teacher crushes. Now that I'm thinking about it, did any BSC member outside of Kristy when Nancy was playing with Karen ever sit for Nancy? I don't think they did. Yes, I know outside of Bobby and Alicia and the infamous "Camp BSC" and not so (IMO) interesting "Happy Holiday's Jessi with Ebon and Omar Harris, were any of the KIMCC BSC clients. That was probably so they could be a separate entity and the writers not have to create more details for those kids, which is what I loved about KIMCC books. Sorry, this got O/T! "Karen's School," was boring to me. It was wonderful to finally see Emily talking a little and interacting with Sari. I get very tired of Emily's chapter 2=Emily outside of her not saying much or preferring Nannie.

[supprazz]

Stacey and Charlotte did talk about their crushes though, someone in her class was bothering her cause he liked her right?

I was disappointed in the book too cause I liked playing school with younger kids, and really loved the book cover, but it was all about karen being a brat, and it was shortly after this book I actually stopped buying little sister and continued buying bsc although younger family members would pick up where I left off a few years later.

It would have been nice to see interaction for sure with the younger kids, and Karen was too controlling with the older ones

[zoar3]

I reread last night as schools have started up again. The cover is really cute. I love the little flowers on the wallpaper. Andrew's blue and white striped polo brought me a big smile to picture my Grandma wearing a similar shirt. Is Callie Bates the little girl sitting in the other chair? I wish we had heard more about Callie and her twin Keith. always good to see Andrew also have some friends. I can understand Karen going gung-ho into her school and being bossy at first. I did feel badly for her students and Karen did seem to forget from the beginning how young her kids were. She definitely tried and loved when she asked Andrew, Callie, and Keith to come back, promising to make the school fun and them apart of it. I had pretend schools as a kid but just with stuffed animals and mostly my playmobil kids--I loved those figures.

Nancy and Mr. Howard...honestly didn't do much for me.

A funny mistake on the chalkboard (love Karen had such a big chalkboard--I did have a smaller one as a kid) all the letters are capital followed by lowercase except for the m. It's mM instead of Mm. No biggie at all, just noticed that last night.

[LadyDru]

This was a book I wanted to read for many years, and I'm trying to decide if it was worth the wait. Karen was strict, but no worse than the other strict teachers..she was definitely bratty to Mr. Howard, though I know it could have been much worse (like most students were to Mr. Trout..gosh)..on the other hand, Mr. Howard was almost like a young male version of Mrs. Hoffman at times..or even Ms. Haruna from Sailor Moon. At least she did manage to keep most of her unflattering thoughts in her mind and recognized how it is a silly reason to hate him...also knew she meant well, deciding to be nice in spite of those thoughts. Her reaction to him blowing up was to be expected, and somewhat understandable..not wanting to talk is something I would have done (although I was mostly the quiet one in school)..but not wanting to work was going way too far. I like that she talked things out with him in the latter part.

[sparklymouse]

I thought that this was dull because the B plot was so similar to the A plot.

Andrew’s middle name is Edward.

Karen didn’t like Mr. Howard because he had a crooked tooth, wore ugly ties, and used stinky hair products. I will say in her defense that odors bother me, too. She was the kid closest to him all day long with her desk actually touching his. If you stink, you stink.

Nancy’s Luv Poem:

Ode to Mr. Howard

Oh, dear Mr. Howard
You are the best.
You are much better
Than all of the rest.
You are better than spring
You are better than fall.
You are better than
All of them
All of them,
All.

I don’t remember Natalie having a lisp in other books. Karen totally shouted her out with the “we don’t make her speak in public” bit.

One very minor part gave me such a flashback. Hannie said that Sari and Emily were scribbling with crayons. Emily was using Dusty Rose. Sari had Burnt Sienna. Do you remember getting a new XL box of crayons and checking out what the names were? Burnt Sienna was the ugliest flaming poo color that nobody touched. You’d grab it by mistake, see the name on the label, and shove it back into the box. To this day I hear “burnt sienna” and think of that crayon.

Kristy had a very kind statement about her “Ms. Colman” from her younger years. She was talking to Karen about why Karen hadn’t been a good teacher. I won’t write the whole quote, but I liked this part. “She made us feel important. You know what? I think school is not just about reading and writing. It is also about helping kids to feel good about themselves.” We have some teachers on the board. I thought of you guys when I read that. 

This book was very relevant to the times with all the striking going on! Unfortunately, the kids just took striking to mean not doing something because they didn’t want to.

[m0drnmoonlight]

I remember the part with the crayons too! Doesn't Karen get mad that the girls aren't coloring with the "right" colors?

[sparklymouse]

Yes, Karen wanted to instruct the kids with which colors to use. Hannie was the voice of reason and said they were just babies.