sarish
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,618
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Post by sarish on Apr 22, 2008 10:46:48 GMT -5
Perhaps they were not allowed to bring dates from other classes. We weren't allowed to at my 8th grade dance. They should have clarified it in the book!
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it grasped how Claudia would feel in that situation perfectly and enjoyed that she was able to take the art class. I also liked how she really did try in this book to do well in school. There was a lot of humor in the books with her in seventh grade and I really enjoyed them.
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courtky10
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,125
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Post by courtky10 on Jun 9, 2008 20:38:08 GMT -5
I didn't care too much for this book. It just seemed like another "pity Claudia" book to me.
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Post by lovelylemontree on Jun 30, 2008 23:10:59 GMT -5
I didn't realize I owned this book until I found it on my bookshelf last night. I'm only a few chapters in and I don't remember it at all, except I recognize the names of Rosa and Serena McKay.
I really can't stand Claudia so far. She is so irritatingly lazy. She has the worst attitude. If she thinks that Stacey and Janine will only confuse her more, why doesn't she ask someone else? She could call Kristy or Mary Anne or another classmate. Claudia is full of excuses. And then when she's in earth science, she doesn't even try to understand the material. She's too busy admiring the different bands of color. What a dumb ass. Rick and Emily are standing right there. What's the big deal about asking one of them, "Can you refresh my memory? I completely forgot what we learned yesterday." It's not that difficult.
Mr. and Mrs. Kishi are a huge part of the problem. Claudia should have had a tutor long ago and should have been tutored continuously. Also, the Kishis should be checking her backpack for her homework assignments. This isn't a new problem. Claudia's proven time and again that she can't be trusted to 1) do her homework, or 2) ask for help. And they shouldn't have allowed her to take Serena McKay's class. Claudia needs to realize that there are consequences to her laziness. I don't see the class as motivation, but as a reward. A reward for doing nothing. If Claudia had really been trying at school and still struggling, it would be different. But she was just lazy. She didn't try at all.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jul 1, 2008 0:43:54 GMT -5
Mr. and Mrs. Kishi are a huge part of the problem. Claudia should have had a tutor long ago and should have been tutored continuously. Also, the Kishis should be checking her backpack for her homework assignments. This isn't a new problem. Claudia's proven time and again that she can't be trusted to 1) do her homework, or 2) ask for help. And they shouldn't have allowed her to take Serena McKay's class. Claudia needs to realize that there are consequences to her laziness. I don't see the class as motivation, but as a reward. A reward for doing nothing. ITA. When I first read this book I was thinking, enough is enough, Claud. She was falling ridiculously behind in her work, and while I think it was compassionate of the Kishis to recognize that a lot of it had to do with fear on Claud's part (I remember they didn't really get angry with her when they sat down for a family conference), allowing her to take the art class was not really the best thing they could have done. Perhaps they thought it would give her a boost of self-esteem, something she doesn't have enough of.
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Penny Lane
Sitting For The Arnolds
The Girl With Colitis Goes By
Posts: 2,888
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Post by Penny Lane on Jul 1, 2008 15:15:40 GMT -5
I don't know. I personally think that it's the BSC that is bad for Claudia. The art classes give her something that she can really excel at, and set her apart from Janine. Also, art is something that will be good for her future as an adult. If I were her parent, I would make her quit the club, take the phone out of her room, and stop having her friends over every other day. I really think that is what takes up most of Claudia's time and energy, not art.
But then she wouldn't be in the books, and we wouldn't be reading about her plight. ;D
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Post by greer on Jul 1, 2008 15:40:50 GMT -5
I honestly don't understand why Claudia didn't get a tutor a long time ago. For a family that is so into academics it seems odd that they'd let her flounder like that.
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courtky10
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,125
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Post by courtky10 on Jul 12, 2008 16:42:15 GMT -5
I actually wished Claudia would have stayed in the seventh grade. I liked reading about her seventh grade friends, especially Josh.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jul 12, 2008 17:53:37 GMT -5
Her 7th grade friends sounded nice enough, but I could just never adjust to the idea of Claudia being in a different grade with different friends.
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fluffycakes
Junior Sitter
A silken-haired beauty with a laugh like pealing bells
Posts: 868
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Post by fluffycakes on Jul 13, 2008 14:42:09 GMT -5
^ I mostly agree with that. I thought it was a bold move from the Scholastic team, to make a change like that after having 100+ books with things staying the same. I sort of liked the idea of Claudia being held back, as it changed the dynamic between her and the rest of BSC. But it was also hard to adjust to that change.
I wonder why they did that, though. Sending her back to grade 7, I mean. It seems sort of pointless since they sent her on her merry way back to grade 8 two Claudia books later.
And this may be slightly off-topic, but does anyone know if Claudia has less trouble with school after she returns to grade 8? One of the last books I read in the series was "Claudia Makes Up Her Mind," so I don't really know. It would have made her move worth it if going back to grade 7 for a while actually benefited her in the long run - like if they said in a chapter two, "Claudia was sent back to seventh grade for a while. It was a hard time for her, but she's back in eighth grade with us again, and her school work has never been better!" or something like that. Did anything like that ever happen?
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 21, 2009 13:32:34 GMT -5
I'm bummed because I have really grown to love Claudia and then I got to this book. I just don't get how a kid can be demoted to a lower grade after she already earned the credits. I also don't understand why a public school wouldn't have remedial/applied classes available.
This book made it sound like all the grades were completely segregated from each other. Separate lunches, separate locker hallways, etc. Rolled my eyes at all the girls who copied Claudia's "Pebbles" ponytail the second day. So up until Claudia sat in their lunch hour they had never noticed the girl who came to school dressed like a clown every single day?
My lol moment. Alan Gray dressed up like Jim Carrey/The Mask for Halloween and a few chapters later Claudia said something about not wanting to go to the dance after all because "Who wants to put up with Alan Gray prancing around saying 'Smmmokin!' all night?". I went through a big Jim Carrey hate phase, so that cracked me up.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 23, 2009 21:00:22 GMT -5
I always thought the separate lunches for was ridiculous. I could understand it if the school housed elementary age kids like was K-8 but for just 6-8, very odd. I mean did they eat at like 12, 12:30, and 1 or something to that effect?
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Post by greer on Apr 23, 2009 22:28:43 GMT -5
At my high school there was an 11:30 lunch that went until 12:15 and a 1:00 lunch that went until 1:45. It wasn't determined by grade though.
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Apr 24, 2009 23:21:04 GMT -5
Our first lunch started at 10:45 in high school. The last one started at 1:00 (we had five shifts), and it wasn't divided by grade. Eating "lunch" at 10:45 makes for a loooong afternoon. This may be why I almost never eat lunch until 1:30 or 2:00 at my office now; it makes the time between then and going home seem much shorter.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Apr 25, 2009 12:42:37 GMT -5
^ I'm the same way...one year in middle school, lunch was at 10:45. I wasn't even hungry by that time on most days...
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Post by featherearrings on Apr 25, 2009 13:17:03 GMT -5
10:45? That's still breakfast! My daughter has lunch at 11:20 and I thought THAT was early...
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