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Post by supernatural babe on May 23, 2006 11:53:04 GMT -5
The SMS students are a disgrace. I'm begining to think they should be locked up.
Poor Tess. It's a shame she got bullied because of what she wore. Some how I don't think she'd have been picked on if she was beautiful. Thought it was realistic with Stacey trying to makeover Tess. And then getting pi5sed off about it when Tess wouldn't take her advice.
I'm quite suprised the Teachers didn't catch on to the bullying. It was pretty obvious to everyone except Swinhart.
Mostly suprised at the influence Alan Gray has.
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Post by booboobrewer on May 23, 2006 19:26:16 GMT -5
The chanting from the stands during the game was totally over the top and I found it kind of shocking. Tess hadn't even been at the school long enough for the whole student body to develop that kind of reaction IMO. The clothes she wore and her facial features led her to being labeled as piggish-looking? Were there not any other not-so-good looking kids at the school? I suppose everyone had model good looks like Claudia or Stacey. Tess sounded really interesting IMO. Living in France and being artistic, she could have gotten along with Shannon and Claudia. A shame that she couldn't be a recurring character maybe, something similar to Barbara Hirsch (who she gets along with in the book). BH wasn't as recurring as someone like say Emily Bernstein, but she popped up now and again because Amelia Freeman was her best friend.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on May 23, 2006 21:20:26 GMT -5
I thought that most of Tess's outfits sounded far less bizarre than some things Claudia wore.
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Post by lovelylemontree on May 24, 2006 21:32:08 GMT -5
This is by far the worst Stacey book. I also believe it's the shortest book in the series. That's fine by me. I don't think I could stand to read another chapter or two of this dreck. Everyone, especially, Stacey is completely out-of-character. It's like a book from another series somehow got printed with a BSC cover.
I have no idea why so many bullies suddenly surface in the later books. These are the same kids who torment Mallory until she flees to boarding school. It's rather unrealistic. I can't imagine so many kids devoting so much time and energy to harassing another student. Sure, there are bullies in every school, but SMS appears to mainly consist of them. When did this happen? And when did Alan Gray go from being an immature prankster to being nasty and spiteful?
Also, I don't understand how the Spirit Club can just take a vote and decide to change the school mascot. Shouldn't that be a school decision? It took my old uni decades to change its mascot. It's a big deal and the Spirit Club would need permission from the principal, school board, and perhaps even the student government. Mascot changes are expensive.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 24, 2006 22:32:31 GMT -5
Sadly, it's actually not so unrealistic. Although it's strange how the school went from being very civilized early in the series to being overrun with bullies.
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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 25, 2006 2:16:43 GMT -5
I liked this one also. I thought Tess looked fine on the cover. I remember when kids were being bullied in School Spirit Wars and the school was totally inept in resolving that problem, also. I mean, in that one, it took 2 13-year olds to give them a very obvious solution that would have solved the problem long ago if thought of earlier. So I think that bullying can escalate, even that fast, as the school year goes along since it seems to be a common theme that the school is not able to be effective towards it or even catch on. In School Spirit Wars, it took the teacher a while to catch on also.
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Post by lovelylemontree on May 25, 2006 14:20:41 GMT -5
This is something I dislike about the later books. They have no regard for continuity or previous character development. Characters - primary and secondary - are altered to fit the story and its moral. The SMS of the later books is a much different place than the SMS of the earlier books. In the earlier books, the students have known each other all their lives and, more or less, get along. Then, for some reason, in the later books all these bullying cliques emerge from nowhere. They exist solely as plot devices, which is annoying in itself, but also the bullying is extreme and ridiculous. And the adults are either completely clueless or completely helpless at putting an end to it. It's just poor writing and plot development, as well as a poor understanding of middle school social dynamics.
I think the bullying in Stacey's Secret Friend is portrayed unrealistically. Practically the entire eighth grade takes part in it. And then the whole school joins in the chanting at the pep rally. It's just silly. Most of the students wouldn't know or care about Tess. They aren't going to tease or torment her simply on the word of Alan Gray. I've been apart of tight cliques that bully other kids, and it's impossible to get that kind of support while on a campaign of terror. Most students will dismiss you with a "that's mean" instead of anxiously jumping onboard. The storyline would have been believable had it been one group of students teasing Tess, instead of an entire student body devoted to harassing a single student.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 25, 2006 20:52:03 GMT -5
^ It can depend on the school and the students, though. When I was in HS, there were kids absolutely despised by everyone and the cruelty perpetrated against them was simply unbelievable.
I haven't actually read this particular book (although it sounds interesting) so I don't know about the whole pep-rally chanting, which does sound a little far fetched, but the clueless adult thing is disturbingly realistic. Any former victim of bullying will verify that in a heartbeat.
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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 26, 2006 3:16:48 GMT -5
I knew this girl in high school that was picked on a lot and even though teachers knew about it, they didn't even want to try to help her because even they looked down on her and some didn't even like her. Admittedly, I should have tried to help her out but didn't have the courage or whatever.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 26, 2006 5:49:12 GMT -5
Yeah, the same thing happened with a girl at my school. It's like the teachers are as anxious to be popular as the students.
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Post by aln1982 on May 26, 2006 15:55:46 GMT -5
I won't get into this too much here but just wanted to add my experience to these sad fact about adults not stopping the bullying. When I was bullied, the adults actually supported the bully and opposed the adult who tried to stand up for me. It was a horrible, horrible thing so I can totally relate to any victim of bullying. The ironic thing is, one reason that the girl singled me out is because I tried to stand up for others that she was picking on. Wish I had friends like the BSC who would have actually stood behind me and supported me. As for the book, I don't remember much about it but agree with what all of you are saying about the pep assembly chant being quite unrealistic (in my experience, a few would have chanted and most would have just sat by doing nothing) and the adults. What was the subplot in this book - another Pike talent show?
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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 27, 2006 1:17:48 GMT -5
^ The subplot is Jackie being the bodyguard of Nicky. I forget for what reason though.
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Post by morbiddadestiny on Jun 13, 2006 4:53:49 GMT -5
^ The subplot is Jackie being the bodyguard of Nicky. I forget for what reason though. a group of boys were trying to beat up jackie because they thought he had stolen one of their jackets, when jackie really had the same one. it was one of those babysitting subplots that was meant to magically tie in with the actually theme of the book--in the end, jackie realized he "didn't need nicky to protect him", just like tess, uh, didn't need stacey.
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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 Jun 13, 2006 23:19:46 GMT -5
^ yeah, her subplots and plots do tend to tie into each other. I guess it was to emphasize her point. To me, that just adds to her preachiness.
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Post by morbiddadestiny on Jun 19, 2006 11:19:29 GMT -5
okay, can we please take a look at this cover? i actually think stacey looks good--not 30, not with a hideous overbite, and actually dressed in clothes that were trendy in the 90s. also, what is the deal with the girl behind tess who appears to be shouting something nasty? LOOK AT HER OUTFIT. SHE HAS NO ROOM TO TALK.
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