alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on May 22, 2006 9:10:28 GMT -5
Back in 1989, when this book was written, there may not have been so many regulations on ear-piercing, as piercing in general wasn't the current "rebellious teen" trend and ear-piercing alone is a fairly conservative, mainstream thing. When I was 16 (late 90s) I took my then-8 yr old sister to have a second piercing in each ear and parental permission was not required. Tattoos, however, have ALWAYS been restricted to 18+, well as far as I'm aware anyway. Wow, when I got my ears pierced in 1991 (for my 10th birthday), the first place we went wouldn't do it because I was with my grandparents and didn't have specific written permission from the parentals--which was unfortunate because they were on vacation in Europe. I was sooo upset, because that was like my main birthday present. In several US states, I think the age to get a tattoo may actuallly be 21, not 18. Maybe there's a "bad" side of Stoneybrook with a non-licensed tattoo parlor that services middle-schoolors? (What else would be in the seedy underbelly of Stoneybrook?). Or else his older brother or someone did it--gee, they missed a chance to have us learn a very special lesson about hepatitis.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 22, 2006 18:08:28 GMT -5
Could you imagine the BSC ew-ing?! ;D
Ha, well it's not really plausible that a 13 yr old boy could look 18, let alone 21. The whole scenario is even more ridiculous.
I know tattoo parlors aren't the most ethical when it comes to this sort of thing, although these days with the chance of litigation they may be slightly more stringent. My friend in HS had a tattoo done at 16, but she looked much older than her age and they didn't ask for ID. Good thing her mum couldn't have cared less (she had plenty of tattoos of her own)
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on May 23, 2006 0:19:17 GMT -5
^ My friend got a tatto when she was 17, although that is pretty close to 18. But her friend did it for her.
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jun 30, 2006 20:54:28 GMT -5
Rereading this one. I think that the BSC team had to be pretty hard up for a plot to come up with this one, but it somehow works. I'm more inclined to believe that a middle school newspaper has a personals column than I am to buy a pack of pre-/teenage girls starting a summer camp for the neighborhood children.
As the former managing editor of my high school's newspaper, I found it very unrealistic that SMS could publish a weekly newspaper, but this is one of the books' less glaring inconsistencies with real life, so I can overlook it.
Loved Claudia saying Brian Hall looked a lot less attractive once she realized how dull he was! That is totally something I'd think.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Jul 6, 2006 6:48:42 GMT -5
Did Rock do the tattoo himself? I know he designed it himself... Maybe he did the tattooing as well... Ew. I remember trying to make a list of what qualities my perfect guy would have after reading this book
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jul 6, 2006 18:57:27 GMT -5
^I did that too! And I was like 8, so they were like, "Nice to animals" "Does his homework" "Has dibble Southern accent"
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Jul 6, 2006 21:31:12 GMT -5
^ awww, that's so cute.
I think I always understood that plots like this one and the BSC teen romances were nothing more than a far-fetched dream. Sigh.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Jul 12, 2006 16:26:00 GMT -5
Wow I didn't like this book at ALL. Claudia was soooo lame. The book opens up with her HUGGING HERSELF in her bed because she's all lonely and sad after walking home from school with Mary Anne and Logan. I can't believe no one brought that up! I just couldn't get too into this book after it started so awfully, which is a shame cause I was looking forward to reading it for the first time!
Anyway, this book was just too over the top, imo. "Rock" was dumb. Stacey writing the letter to Claud was sooo dumb. I don't know why on earth she would do that, talk about not planning ahead at all. Obviously Claud's gonna want to meet the guy! Claudia was just so desperate and pathetic in this book.
What was the subplot in this one again?
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jul 12, 2006 17:49:41 GMT -5
^IIRC, it was the Barretts giving their dog to the Pikes.
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Post by greer on Jul 12, 2006 17:57:41 GMT -5
A subplot which had no relation the rest of the book, unless it was a metaphor for claud trying to find a guy and the right one "giving her a home" when he's ready. Ugh.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jul 12, 2006 22:02:34 GMT -5
Claudia was soooo lame. The book opens up with her HUGGING HERSELF in her bed because she's all lonely and sad She certainly has the self-pitying down. CK, Live From WSTO starts like that too...she sees Mal and Ben together and feels sorry for herself for having no boyfriend. I think in the beginning she's the "exotic" one who had many suitors like Stacey (Will, Trevor, Terry, Timothy), but then it changed in later books as Stacey's boyfriend list became gigundoly big and her own love life was seen as less important. ETA: Duh, Mark Jaffe and Josh Rocker - forgot about them. Probably cuz I never really liked them. Mark was such a slacker and I didn't find Josh as cute and funny and adorable as they tried to make him out to be.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Jul 13, 2006 13:33:27 GMT -5
ah yeah the Pow thing. That was actually kinda sad. Absolutely hilarious, though, when Buddy's like "Let's get rid of Marnie! We've had Pow longer!" lol.
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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 Jul 13, 2006 14:26:14 GMT -5
I think if I'd read this one when I was younger, I would have been all over it. I LOVED any of the books that had dating and boyfriend stuff in them. Since I was older....I was actually pretty indifferent to this one.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Jul 13, 2006 22:15:59 GMT -5
And I can't believe I failed to bring it up. Yeah Claud. Being without a steady boyfriend at 13 yrs of age is tragic. Obviously you're destined for a life of spinsterhood
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Post by greer on Jul 14, 2006 17:38:35 GMT -5
I feel like this book, along with Mary Anne's relationship with Logan and Stacey's life and Jessi/Quint and SO MANY OTHER THINGS IN THE BOOKS, created a false idea for legions of young girls that they would have many suitors and an exciting dating life in middle school. I for one knew all of maybe five girls in my entire middle school who ever had a boyfriend.
What does everyone think of what Stacey did with her pretend Jason Priestly lookalike? I thought it was cruel to Claudia and the readers because it was pretty exciting the first time I read it and then... letdown.
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