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Post by booboobrewer on Dec 14, 2010 14:39:44 GMT -5
Now that I think about it, the BSC didn't have much tolerance for any adult that was overprotective, did they? Always rolling their eyes and such. They would not have liked my parents, haha.
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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 Dec 16, 2010 19:02:01 GMT -5
^ Of course they don't like overprotective parents. Overprotective parents don't ignore their kids, which in turn doesn't allow the BSC to come in and basically raise the kids for them since (naturally) the BSC knows best.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Mar 14, 2011 17:09:38 GMT -5
There's a good chance that I am reading this book for the first time. I think that it was one of the few books that wasn't included in my childhood collection. Interestingly enough, it's also one of the last books I am reading to add to my adult collection.
ANYWAY...
I liked this book. I love autumn -- it's my favourite season -- and although I live in Canada, and Thanksgiving is celebrated at a different time with different history, many of the parts are the same (including the present day food that's eaten). I also liked the fact that all the BSC members and their families held a joint Thanksgiving, but I also thought adding in Dawn was pretty random and rushed ... although it was probably nice for Dawn fans at the time.
QUESTION: Who are the kids on the front cover? I am assuming they are Betsy Sobak kneeling by the turkey, James Hobart and Buddy Barrett? I really want to say that the pilgrim is Haley Braddock, because "it" looks more like a girl than a boy, but with kids sometimes you never know. It could also possible be Carolyn Arnold? Either way, it's bugging me.
Also, the timing is off from the cover to what actually happens in the book (typical). Because shouldn't Betsy be a man with a moustache when Claudia is wearing that outfit (which is described in the book).
The following scene really surprised me: (p. 119)
We gave Squirt his juice. The chaos and noise continued around us. And then Squirt, well, gave me the juice. "Oops," I said. "His diaper needs changing." I stood up.
C'mon. REALLY? HE GAVE YOU THE JUICE. With that lame joke, I would expect this is a Lerangis book. But no - it was written by Nola Thacker! Seems like she's trying to establish some of Lerangis' style!
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Post by wiggir13 on Jul 24, 2011 13:50:26 GMT -5
Hahaha ^ I loved that he gave you the juice. It was a terrible joke but it made me chuckle.
I too love Thanksgiving. There is just something about that time of year and just being in a festive mood. I too would have appreciated more of the dinner and less of the play. I didn't read this one when I was younger so I wonder now how I would have felt about censorship in reading it. I do feel like this is a heavy topic for the kids that would have been in the age group to read it.
I super love in this one when they were almost late to the BSC meeting and the girls rush and say "Oh no the Kristy monster" - hehehe for some reason I loved that.
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 24, 2011 22:30:34 GMT -5
This one would have made an awesome Super Special. Besides hearing more about the dinner from each table, the day of, it could have been interesting to read what went on at Kristy's house during the adult preperation.
I also wouldn't have minded and "alternate" version where everyone's original plans had not been cancelled.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Oct 11, 2011 21:26:23 GMT -5
I felt like getting in the holiday spirit, so I picked up this book. I guess I forgot about Halloween because I skipped right to Thanksgiving!
I think I liked this book better when I was younger. This time I thought the Short Takes class teacher was inappropriate in allowing the students to write "Censored" all over the posters and stuff. I also thought it was weird that the principal of SMS allowed the students to put on the original play. It seemed like it was such a big deal at SES, but SMS was completely okay with it. I also found it annoying that none of the BSC clients were against the original play. Lots of the SES students had parents who disagreed with the play, but of course, none of them were clients. The BSC clients are always open-minded and acception (which I completely understand, otherwise the BSC wouldn't like them, but it still gets on my nerves sometimes!).
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Post by zoar3 on Oct 12, 2011 10:31:41 GMT -5
^ Afton, when you read this, ITA with you. I just read through the previous 3 pages of posts and was taken aback by this new thought. It might have worked better had the SMS students talked with the third graders asking them what they knew/celebrated about Thanksgiving. The play, then, could have been more centered on family tradition than politics. ITA with what Abby said to the crazed parents just don't think all that was necessary. In fact, different family celebrations would have tied much better into the BSC family dinner. U4me, wow, , I guess the panicked wave magically eluded Charge's parents. The other, related thing that I never thought of before, is why not one of the kids, charges or otherwise, just someone in the play, ever questioned what was going on. The play was supposed to be about them, not a holiday war. Guess goes back to "issue" books as so many others have said not being the best of the BSC batch by any means. Oh and I just had the other thought that it was unlikely that not one parent involved had a child attending both SES and SMS. We know Dee Pike did but besides a direct BSC family. Even if the SES student wasn't in 3rd grade, that seems to convenient to be true.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Oct 12, 2011 16:40:39 GMT -5
Going off of what u4me said, and also going off of another post which talked about the politics of the BSC members, I never saw any of the BSC members being Progressive Conservative (Canada) or Republican (USA). No offense to anyone who is conservative out there. That also goes with the BSC families, too. Maybe I'm just biased?
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Oct 12, 2011 16:44:31 GMT -5
I never saw them as Conservative either, but they weren't all super liberal either. I would say I'm somewhere in the middle, but tend to lean more conservative than liberal. but I never thought any of the ideas in the BSC were far off from my own views. I think they were all open-minded and accepting.
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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 Jan 6, 2012 1:14:50 GMT -5
I reread this one today, and I was surprised by how much more I liked it this time around. It's not that I hated it before or anything, as you can see from my previous posts in this thread. It wasn't ever on my list of really enjoyable books, though. I think it will be from now on. The Thanksgiving dinner was still my favorite part, but I enjoyed the play stuff a lot more than I ever did before. Also, I'm glad Claud at least mentioned the fact that Betsy Sobak was responsible for her broken leg...that seems to get left out way too often! I also LOVED Abby and her attitude in this one; they way she told off the angry parents was fantastic. I don't normally like Abby in any books but her own.
I have to disagree with those who feel that the BSC members were trying to push a political agenda on the kids. They were just trying to educate as to the basics of what the first Thanksgiving was really like, and I don't think that discussing certain issues equals trying to make kids feel a particular way about them. Women COULDN'T vote in colonial times....it's a fact. It's also a fact that (in some arenas, at least) some people feel that women aren't seen as equal to men. Some Native Americans do (I think?) refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving. No one ever told the kids that they had to start campaigning for women's rights or that they shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving anymore as a show of solidarity with Native Americans.
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Post by greer on Jan 6, 2012 11:39:18 GMT -5
Going off of what u4me said, and also going off of another post which talked about the politics of the BSC members, I never saw any of the BSC members being Progressive Conservative (Canada) or Republican (USA). No offense to anyone who is conservative out there. That also goes with the BSC families, too. Maybe I'm just biased? I never have either, especially since they seem to really push feminism in the books. But I'm also a liberal myself and always have been, so maybe that's why.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 6, 2012 14:30:58 GMT -5
^ I totally agree, greer. But maybe someone who is ultra conservative would see them that way? I guess it all depends on what your viewpoints are, and they kind of bleed into the series?
Also, zoar mentioned that this would have made an awesome Super Special and I agree. I was at the bookstore yesterday and I noticed the Boxcar Children Series has a WINTER Super Special and a HALLOWE'EN one. So we got some winter Super Specials but a Hallowe'en or Thanksgiving day one would have been awesome! I Would have preferred that over most of the current SS.
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Post by anzuhana on Jan 6, 2012 15:56:36 GMT -5
^ We kinda got a super special about Halloween. It was Fright Night. I will concede the fact that it was a super mystery and that it occured in mostly in Salem instead of Stoneybrook.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 6, 2012 16:01:46 GMT -5
^ Yeah, I know. I guess I meant a Super Special (not mystery) surrounding what each girl did for Hallowe'en. Maybe some of them went to a dance (Stacey, Claud) or some of them went trick-or-treating with clients (Jessi and Mal). Or they could have added a screepy plot about some Hallowe'en mystery or tale in Stoneybrook...
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Post by sparklymouse on Jan 7, 2012 0:10:08 GMT -5
This one is funny to me because in 6th grade we learned about the other side of Christopher Columbus (the not good stuff). Our teacher gave us the option to protest Columbus Day (we didn't get the day off from school). Nothing major, I think we all made necklaces to wear around school that day. I always think the parents in books like this or Spirit War or the one about banned books are so weird because when my mom heard about our lesson plan and protest she was all "If I had learned this kind of stuff I would have been so much more interested in school!". She never flipped out about anything.
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