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Post by booboobrewer on Aug 20, 2007 23:58:04 GMT -5
Claudia "blonde" (or dumb) moment... when she was telling STacey that they were having a meeting near the end of the book on friday at 5:30 DUH CLAUD!!!!!!! She KNEW that!!! I just flipped through the book to see that and that's hilarious! Of course Stacey called at that time to talk to them all. What a total "duh" moment for Claudia...
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Aug 21, 2007 13:33:35 GMT -5
I really like the Mallory of this book, that awful jumper aside. (Although when I was helping my grandfather start packing for a move this past week, I was looking through his unsorted photos, and gosh did I wear a lot of patterned tights in the late 80s! Of course, I was six to eight at the time, but according to the BSC, I would have been totally dibble with my leggings and my splatter-paint denim skirt and skirted sweatsuits and jumpsuits and brightly patterned sweater dresses. And crimped hair, which is kinda like permed, but lower cost/upkeep and saner for a child, yes? My mom liked having a girl to dress once my brother refused to wear his Cookie Monster coat). She does bring the snark, and I think the beginning of her friendship with Jessi is really sweet--it makes me nostalgic for that time of meeting someone and just feeling like you connect on so many levels, which I also think sometimes happens for kids as they get into wider and wider groups. My friends from elementary school (I went to a very small school, too) were more about location, or are moms being friends, or just playing Barbies or whatever--it was in middle school that I first felt like I had the opportunity to find friends who I connected with in terms of sharing interests and hobbies and "deep" conversations and such. (My middle school friendships mostly imploded by the end of eighth grade, but I had similar experiences each new place I went, because I was either with a bigger group of people than the 30-odd kids my age who went to my elementary school, or else we were there because we self-selected out of the same interests). I don't think the BSC were intentional "Mean Girls" or Queen Bees--as compared to say, Cokie Roberts who is presented as someone who gets a lot of her self-reinforcement primarily by being a bully, which isn't the BSC. But I have always thought that the "tests" had very little to do with evaluating Mallory as a sitter and a lot more to do with enforcing unwritten peer group rules, and the older club members subconsciously enjoying their power and things like that. Sure, the transition from charge to sitter would be kinda complicated, but it isn't out of the blue, either--really, they've been prepping Mal since the play group in book #7, if not earlier (remember when Dawn yelled at poor Mal for stealing Marnie's brownie, because Mallory was together enough to remember her neighbor's allergies?). The tests they make up are so obviously cheating, full of irrelevent information (compared to, say, the kinds of stuff that Stacey asks the sitter (I can't remember which--Liz?) in #3, which is client specific, but at least applicable) that they themselves don't even know. There's no way they could have all thought that made sense from a "fitness to sit" perspective without some mass delusion about their own motives going on. (I don't mean they're hallucinating--I mean the kind of mass delusion that makes teenagers think constant tans win out of potential skin cancer, or to pay $100 extra for artfully ripped jeans instead of buying them and ripping them yourself, if you must. Or that acid-washed jeans ever looked good.)
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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 Aug 21, 2007 17:07:29 GMT -5
^ Isn't it Cokie Mason? I thought Cokie Roberts was the newscaster.....
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Post by aln1982 on Aug 21, 2007 17:18:41 GMT -5
Who exactly is Cokie Roberts? I recognize the name but can't remember anything about her. What's she like? I know some newscasters can be pretty ruthless so maybe Cokie Mason is named after her ;D
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Aug 21, 2007 17:55:21 GMT -5
Heh, you're right! That's what happens when you post on too little sleep. I totally meant Cokie Mason. I would go edit it, but that would probably make it more confusing now!
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Post by booboobrewer on Aug 21, 2007 19:29:24 GMT -5
I agree that the girls seemed to be enjoying their power over Mal when it came to the tests. They were getting pretty teacherly with her, and if I were Mal I would have been so irritated by Kristy "barking" at me.
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Post by Kylie90210 on Aug 21, 2007 21:17:32 GMT -5
I agree. Although, maybe they felt the test were necassary for an eleven year old to take before joining!!!
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Post by aln1982 on Aug 21, 2007 23:57:21 GMT -5
Haven't read for a while but agree with you Kylie. Also think that the tests were unnecessary but that it might have been weird for them to make the transition to viewing Mal as a sitter instead of a sitee - no matter how prepared they were. There is a girl who is now 21 that I've known since she was 3 and it is hard for me to talk to her about certain things now because I feel like she's still a little kid and I probably treat her that way. I don't think it was so much that the BSC was enjoying their power as they felt like it was their duty almost to show their power (if that makes any sense - I'm like alula and need to get some sleep ;D)
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Post by sotypical42483 on Aug 22, 2007 16:38:12 GMT -5
I definitely agree with aln. Its so weird to even read old BSC books where Mal is a charge. These girls (Claud, Kristy and MA anyway) have likely grown up knowing the Pikes at least casually and have always considered Mallory to be younger and less equal than them, so seeing her as a sitter would be strange. They were still total jerks though
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Post by Kylie90210 on Aug 22, 2007 21:51:10 GMT -5
I agree with that too.
I also love when Mal asks Kristy if she needs a sitter, haha, classic!
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Post by aln1982 on Aug 22, 2007 23:31:47 GMT -5
^ I had forgotten about that but it was great ;D I need to reread this one. It's been a while. I'm working on the mysteries right now, though.
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Post by Kylie90210 on Aug 23, 2007 21:16:10 GMT -5
I'm reading them in published order
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Post by sotypical42483 on Aug 25, 2007 12:40:13 GMT -5
Just finished re-reading them. I really like this one. Mal and Jessi are both very likeable in this book, and it's kinda cool to see that mallory actually had SOME friends before the BSC came about, whether she was close to them or not. It was funny reading about her referring to Jessi as Jessica at the beginning. Also liked that Jessi had a personality in this book, in earlier books she was kind of a jokester and it's def evident in this one. I liked that about her, I don't know why they had to turn her into a personality-free character. I like how Char was introduced to Becca, as well and how happy Becca was to have a friend to play with, really cute. Oh and Mal actually standing up for herself was pretty cool.
It made me laugh how they had their meetings in Mal's room but had to keep the door open so they could hear the phone in the hall, lol. Although I do have to say that throughout the book, Mallory comes across as like, having a huge crush on Jessi. It's kind of strange. she's like, smitten!
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Post by aln1982 on Aug 25, 2007 15:39:49 GMT -5
^ I also really liked Jessi in this one, especially Jessi's personality. She is becoming one of my favorite sitters, I think. I like seeing Mal stand up for herself, too, but have actually seen several other instances of Mal standing up for herself (Don't Give Up) but I know I tend to view her much more favorably than a lot of other people on here. Becca and Char's friendship is one of my favorite things in many of the books. forgot about the phone in the hall but that is funny. ;D I'll have to reread soon.
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Post by liss31d on Aug 27, 2007 2:30:04 GMT -5
Mallory comes across as like, having a huge crush on Jessi. It's kind of strange. she's like, smitten!Haha yes especially when she goes on about Jessi and her long long legs God why was she even staring at her legs in the first place?
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