wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on Jan 7, 2013 22:00:28 GMT -5
I have tons of stuffed animals in my apartment, but the stuffed dinosaur that I sleep with is actually the only one from my childhood. (He was a Ukrainian Christmas present, so today is his birthday. He's 25!) All the other stuffed toys I have here are ones I didn't acquire until I was at least 18. Most of them are souvenirs from vacations -- I came back from Disney World last fall with Lady from Lady and the Tramp, Mickey Mouse dressed up like Indiana Jones, and a snow leopard plush from Disney's Animal Kingdom. I also have trouble getting out of the science store without a new giant microbe or leaving Hallmark without buying something adorable from the half-price section.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Mar 26, 2013 13:34:13 GMT -5
I guess I have a new-found appreciation for this book. It was never one of my favourites growing up and I always barreled through it during my re-reads. Although I feel bad for Mallory. In the next book, Superstar Jessi is winning gold medals, making new friends and generally excelling at a new sport whereas Mallory becomes terrified of it. We all mentioned how her not winning 1st place was cool because it was very un-BSC. I wish she would have accepted her parents' offer for more lessons. I understand being scared of riding, but for Mallory's sake I was really rooting for her to continue as I think it would have built up her confidence and esteem. Also, the cover never really interested me. Sure Pax is pretty but I get more distracted by the kids. The younger girl looks like a mini Mallory and the boy's stance looks like he's going to take a bowel movement or something. I just feel a much better cover portrayal could have been used. Sorry Hodges! Finally, how come the BSC can be such great friends at one time and such dunces at others? How does Mal not know she's hurting Jessi's feelings? I can understand a conversation or two of oblivion but this went on for weeks.
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Post by wenonah4th on Oct 23, 2014 7:21:03 GMT -5
The lessons were the only converstaions Jessi acted that way about.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Dec 16, 2019 3:59:36 GMT -5
So let me get this right. A few books ago Mallory's father lost his job and five minutes later is employed again but they've had to scrimp and save in between.
Now Mallory took on extra baby sitting jobs to help out but I wonder how long that lasted because in this book she's asking for horse riding lessons! How can they afford that with ten kids? And she gets sick of it after a few lessons. Pfft. Waste of time.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Oct 1, 2020 9:49:41 GMT -5
So let me get this right. A few books ago Mallory's father lost his job and five minutes later is employed again but they've had to scrimp and save in between. Now Mallory took on extra baby sitting jobs to help out but I wonder how long that lasted because in this book she's asking for horse riding lessons! How can they afford that with ten kids? And she gets sick of it after a few lessons. Pfft. Waste of time. I think the deal she made with her parents was she would pay for half of the lessons and the horse riding place was offering a special deal on six weeks of lessons. She saw a flier about it in the mail and that's how she found out. This book holds the special honor of being the first BSC book I owned. I got it at my friend's birthday party - everyone's party favor was a BSC book! I don't know why I picked this one though. Jessi was pretty awful to Mallory in this but I could understand why she felt that way. She wasn't allowed to take riding lessons too and she was upset about that and then had to deal with Mallory calling her up after each lesson to gush about the horses. She probably felt like Mallory was rubbing it in her face. At the same time, I understand that Mallory was so excited about the horses that she just HAD to share with Jessi. I felt so bad for Mallory. She was way too overeager trying to make friends with the snooty kids in her lessons, who wanted nothing to do with her. I got so much secondhand embarrassment for her. Then Jessi gets mad at her. And she'd always dreamed of riding horses and now that she finally gets to do it, she realizes it isn't her thing. Snooze to the talent show subplot. Those were always super boring and overdone.
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swizzles
New To Stoneybrook
Claudia Kishi ruels ok
Posts: 83
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Post by swizzles on Oct 18, 2020 1:32:30 GMT -5
Wasn’t expecting to enjoy this re-read - am not a horse person- but I was wrong. It was really interesting! Poor old Mallory, never catching a break or being allowed to feel cool. I felt so sorry for her at the birthday party. Kudos to her for even going; I don’t think I would have had the nerve to rock up to a house full of people I didn’t know. Thank the lord she didn’t win first place a la the usual BSC way, but I did think it was a shame that she allowed the fall to scare her enough to stop lessons. Would have been a nice chance to show kids that they should proverbially but also sometimes literally pick themselves up and climb back on. Then again, maybe it’s just as important to have the freedom and confidence to say you’ve tried and don’t want anymore. Now I’ve contradicted myself and am unsure.
The Nina blankie plot was handled oddly. As someone else said - why didn’t her mother want to understand what Nina’s underlying issues were here? This was too much of an easy fix. Jessi was infuriating in this. I do get that jealousy is very natural and expressing it that way is particularly likely for an 11 year old. But this isn’t any regular 11 year old - she is an award-winning prodigy ballerina. So you’d think she could let Mal have this one measly thing. It looked like Jessi was gleeful to hear how Mal wasn’t enjoying herself and that no one was nice her her - it really did seem like this was the impetus for Jessi being nice to Mal again!
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Oct 18, 2020 9:50:09 GMT -5
Wasn’t expecting to enjoy this re-read - am not a horse person- but I was wrong. It was really interesting! Poor old Mallory, never catching a break or being allowed to feel cool. I felt so sorry for her at the birthday party. Kudos to her for even going; I don’t think I would have had the nerve to rock up to a house full of people I didn’t know. Thank the lord she didn’t win first place a la the usual BSC way, but I did think it was a shame that she allowed the fall to scare her enough to stop lessons. Would have been a nice chance to show kids that they should proverbially but also sometimes literally pick themselves up and climb back on. Then again, maybe it’s just as important to have the freedom and confidence to say you’ve tried and don’t want anymore. Now I’ve contradicted myself and am unsure. The Nina blankie plot was handled oddly. As someone else said - why didn’t her mother want to understand what Nina’s underlying issues were here? This was too much of an easy fix. Jessi was infuriating in this. I do get that jealousy is very natural and expressing it that way is particularly likely for an 11 year old. But this isn’t any regular 11 year old - she is an award-winning prodigy ballerina. So you’d think she could let Mal have this one measly thing. It looked like Jessi was gleeful to hear how Mal wasn’t enjoying herself and that no one was nice her her - it really did seem like this was the impetus for Jessi being nice to Mal again! Jessi was pretty terrible. I do get why she was bitchy to Mallory - it must have felt like Mallory was rubbing it in her face that she got to get riding lessons while Jessi's parents told her no. But at the same time, Mallory was just so excited to talk about it with her best friend and she thought since Jessi loved horses, she'd want to hear about it. Good point that Jessi should at least be happy Mallory found something she was excited to do, like her with her ballet lessons. I did feel bad for Nina, having to witness Blankie getting destroyed in the dryer. Good quick-thinking by Dawn to fix it but oh my god, if my precious stuffed bunny was torn up, I'd freak out just like Nina did LOL.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Mar 1, 2021 0:59:12 GMT -5
I found it a bit unrealistic that Jessi wanted horse riding lessons . How was she going to fit them in with her ballet lessons ? And her parents already pay for them . Did she think they were made out of money ?
I'm surprised Mallory's parents were able to afford them since her father recently found a job that paid less than what his old job did . And she didn't stick it out either for the long term . A big waste of money .
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Mar 1, 2021 1:00:41 GMT -5
I actually liked reading about Mallory at her riding lessons. I liked how Mal didn't win first prize, that would've been too typical BSC. I was sorry that the other kids in class were made out to be so snobby. At least Mal was inviting to a non-bsc related function. Too bad it sucked. I wish the lessons had continued though, it would've given Mal something more than just feeling ackward. The sublots were boring and numerous. There was actually a lot going on in this book! Nina Marshall had waaaay to strong an attachment to her blanket. Usually a security object means a child is feeling insecure about something else, they should've figured out what that was. She dragged the thing everywhere. And how does a blanket get ripped up in the dryer? Kudos to Dawn for the quick thinking. Honestly, I skipped the Pike talent show. There have been so many I just don't care anymore. Totally predictable how Jessi was jealous of Mal getting to take riding lessons. If she had she would probably blame the snobbery on racism anyway. They're thirteen year old baby sitters not parenting experts !!
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Mar 1, 2021 2:03:03 GMT -5
Also just because her parents said no didn't mena Jessi had to be a b*tch and take it out on Mal.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Mar 1, 2021 12:40:06 GMT -5
I found it a bit unrealistic that Jessi wanted horse riding lessons . How was she going to fit them in with her ballet lessons ? And her parents already pay for them . Did she think they were made out of money ? I'm surprised Mallory's parents were able to afford them since her father recently found a job that paid less than what his old job did . And she didn't stick it out either for the long term . A big waste of money . The agreement Mallory made with her parents was she'd pay for half the lessons with her babysitting money. And I don't think it was supposed to be long-term. The flier she got it the mail from the stables said it was a six-week class period they were having a deal on. So yeah, her parents were paying for part of it, but it was only for six lessons. I got so much secondhand embarrassment in this book from Mallory being so overeager to talk to the kids in her class, who had no interest in wanting to be her friend.
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Post by sparklymouse on Mar 1, 2021 13:45:46 GMT -5
I was just thinking about the baby blanket the other day. They should have called Karen to give a pep talk on the joys of having blanket chunks. She voluntarily ripped hers apart.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Apr 4, 2022 5:23:09 GMT -5
It was Ann M Martins book Me and Katie The Pest that convinced me to take riding lessons and I hated every moment of it. To this day I hate horses and I'm scared to death of them (yes even as an adult).
Anyways I liked this one but what was Jessi's problem? Just because her parents said no Jessi didn't need to take it out on Mallory. It was hardly her fault she was excited and if Jessi was a real friend she would have been happy too. Instead she was jealous and petty and that's not how a real friend should act. And besides Jessi should have realised with her already busy schedule how was she going to make time for lessons?
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 4, 2022 20:18:40 GMT -5
I think we've all been jealous of our friends sometimes. This is nice. The horse looks good. Mallory looks normal. The kid in front of her might be albino because that is some YELLOW hair. This is just the US cover broken up, but I like that the horse got its own closeup.
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 29, 2022 13:57:19 GMT -5
❤❤❤ Love it. Titles: Tine's dream comes true! Not like in the dream
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