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Post by aln1982 on May 7, 2006 16:05:16 GMT -5
I just read this one and didn't mind it but did recognize all of the things you all mentioned. Also some other things caught my attention - both positive and negative. Didn't get why Kristy was making such a big deal about having to take Jenny. She's not that bad. Also didn't see anything terribly weird about the "picky" way she was eating. I have my own strange habits of having to eat certain foods in certain ways. For some reason, I liked the whole taking the kids to the carnival. Realistic or not, I always enjoy reading about the group outings. Had to laugh about Karen being taken out of the haunted house since it reminded me of myself when I had to be literally carried out of one because I was paralyzed with fear when I was 10 (don't know what the problem was except I don't like people jumping out at me) while my 4 year old cousin reassurred me that it was okay. I really liked that Elizabeth and Watson decided to adopt and give a disadvantaged child a home instead of creating another one. The Pikes needed to take this advice! I thought it was so sweet when Watson told Karen that she was his little girl and then added "Kristy too." Don't know if this might have made Karen feel a little less special (have to admit that I have no personal experience with step families) but liked what it said about Watson's attempts to be Kristy's father - especially nice when she mentioned how out of the picture her own dad was and obviously felt bad about that. I know there is more stuff that I noticed but can't think of it right now.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 7, 2006 17:43:50 GMT -5
I get that Kristy doesn't have to like every kid she babysits for, but shrieking "EW! EW!" when hearing that Jenny would also be attending the carnival was just plain nasty and unnecessary.
Considering the BSC have their own hang-ups about food - you either are a health food freak or feel it necessary to gag at anything remotely nutritious - this seemed a bit weird and hypocritical.
Awww, you poor little thing!! Still, I thought it was very out of character for Karen, who's usually overwhelmed with excitement and fascination over the supernatural. Would've made more sense if Andrew had been terrified. I guess because Karen believes in that stuff so strongly it probably has more of an impact on her though.
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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 8, 2006 0:36:54 GMT -5
Considering the BSC have their own hang-ups about food - you either are a health food freak or feel it necessary to gag at anything remotely nutritious - this seemed a bit weird and hypocritical. ^ I wonder why Kristy would have been so adverse to nutritious food. I remember in one of the books about how it says that Kristy is one of the best athletes in the school, but she wasn't a natural like Abby was but had to work on it. So isn't part of working on it eating healthier foods?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 9, 2006 6:28:11 GMT -5
^ they seemed to forget that minor detail. On many occasions, Kristy seemed as opposed to anything remotely healthy as Claudia.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on May 11, 2006 7:36:51 GMT -5
Maybe she just did lots of exercise, but didn't necessarily do the food aspect of being an athlete... Do they always go hand-in-hand, especially with young teenagers?
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
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Post by alula on May 11, 2006 16:01:22 GMT -5
Fourth point. With what little I know about adoption, maybe I'm not qualified to comment. But I'd be pretty certain there's a lot more to it than coming home from a carnival and your mum announcing that some strange Vietnamese toddler is arriving as your new little sister tomorrow as if it's no more extreme and life-changing than if the family were heading to the shelter to get a new dog or something. Also, how happy would Elizabeth and Watson be, arriving home with their new daughter, hopefully planning to spending some quality time getting her acquainted with the family, only to find the daughters five best friends all hanging around? I dunno, that just seemed wrong to me. This bugged me so much! My dad was on the board of directors for a nonprofit that handled international adoptions, and adoption always has been really important to me, so I may not be representative of the average reader on that subject but even at age 8 or whatever I was distressed by the way it was handled. I mean, if Elizabeth was pregnant, they would tell the kids before they left for the hospital, right? Adoptions do sometimes fall through at the last minutes, but that's no excuse to spring it on everyone--especially little kids like Andrew and Karen and David Michael who are going to have some very normal mixed-feelings about there being a new "baby." It also seemed wrong to me, even at the age I first read it, that there wouldn't have been a home visit/interview, and that the person doing it wouldn't have wanted to meet the kids. At my dad's charity, not only do the adoption counselors meet EVERYONE in the household, with any kid older than six months, they spend some time talking pretty seriously about potential health problems, developmental delay, language acquisition issues,etc, that are common with international adoptions. I know that might have been kind of heavy in a BSC-level book, but by the time Claudia and the Great Search rolled around, I felt like the Brewer/Thomas family was really obviously not terribly educated on the subject. I don't have a lot of respect for "Love Bundles"--maybe Watson used his mad millionaire cash to cut through all the red tape and silly requirements! I did like Mr. Pike minding the babies who were too little to go to the carnival, though. Cute!
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Post by greer on May 11, 2006 17:20:21 GMT -5
First thing. I was surprised to see the word "farted" in a BSC book. Sure, it's a natural bodily function, but normally those BSC books are the epitome of prim and proper-ness. Granted the word was only featured as part of a silly kid song. Victoria Kent said "sucks" in a BSC book once--I think it was Mary Anne and the Playground Fight. I was really surprised scholastic let that in.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 11, 2006 17:53:39 GMT -5
^ wow, that's amazing. Obviously an oversight. The books don't even include the term "breastfeeding" (remember Jessi's BSC Remember chapter?) so it's unlikely that they'd knowingly allow a borderline swear word. Although they did allow "sexy" on at least two occasions I know of, so anything's possible.
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Post by hitzpink on May 11, 2006 20:05:32 GMT -5
The books don't even include the term "breastfeeding" (remember Jessi's BSC Remember chapter?) Just to derail the thread a little more -- I haven't read BSC Remember, what happened with the word breastfeeding?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 12, 2006 1:09:10 GMT -5
^ well, nothing, they just refused to even mention it. It was just "mama was the only one who could feed Squirt, she doesn't believe in bottlefeeding"
Heaven forbid you actually mention the method of feeding she DOES believe in!
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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 12, 2006 2:56:48 GMT -5
In Stacey & Mystery at the Empty House, Charlotte mentioned "wee-wee," as part of a joke though.
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Post by sotypical42483 on May 12, 2006 11:51:06 GMT -5
^wee-wee? As in pee or thingy?
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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 12, 2006 14:42:59 GMT -5
^ pee, but still if you gloss over the context it was written in you might think it was the thingy.
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on May 18, 2006 3:54:06 GMT -5
Agree with pretty much everything. First thing. I was surprised to see the word "farted" in a BSC book. Sure, it's a natural bodily function, but normally those BSC books are the epitome of prim and proper-ness. Granted the word was only featured as part of a silly kid song. I totally remember reading this song and Kristy kicking him. Strangely, the rest of the book was a blank slate for me. Heh. Two and a half. Marnie Barrett and Eleanor Marshall ain't got nothing on Gabbie Perkins' motor skills. Or speaking skills. Or anything really. Yes! Do they have to be involved with everything?! Seriously. Jenny Prezzioso's worse than insulin injections! Did anyone else think it was weird that they were making such a big deal about Mother's Day, and then Stacey goes and spends the weekend in another state? By the time she got back to NY, it would be Sunday night. I don't think an ugly homemade brooch would make up for that. Elizabeth says they have 3 spare bedrooms. Huh? Charlie, Sam, Kristy, David Michael, Karen, Andrew and the parents all have their own rooms. That's already 7, and the mansion is always described as having 9 bedrooms. Did they cheat because they wanted to make sure Emily and Nannie had rooms and still have a guest room? As if the mansion's not big enough. Eesh. Elizabeth sure married the right guy. I thought they were really dumb when trying to make up the lists of kids. They only have about 3 problems to take into account, and then they decide to ALL make different lists and then pick and choose from all of them? And some of them still put the wrong kids together? Tons of foreshadowing of Mimi and the McGill's divorce in this book. And the mummy's a she! Guess it makes sense, since it is Mother's Day.
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Post by aln1982 on May 21, 2007 23:49:58 GMT -5
I always reread this one on Mother’s Day but missed it this year as we were still on vacation. So I “pretended” that last Sunday was Mother’s Day and reread then. I liked it as always and it put me in a mood to celebrate with my mom again. The main plot of this book bugs me. I can’t stand how Elizabeth and Watson spring the adoption on the kids the day before it happens (at the dinner table if I remember right – fun dinner) and then all of the kids except Karen and Andrew are thrilled. I would have had a much, much different reaction (screaming, crying and a major tantrum would have probably been involved ;D) And then Kristy is the one who comforts Andrew. The only thing I like about this part is how Watson calls Kristy his “little girl” too. Usually I love Watson but not in this book. I am also glad, though, that they decided to adopt a poor foreign orphan instead of giving birth to another baby (I’m one of the rare people who supports limited family size and is concerned about the world’s population and in my opinion, Elizabeth already has too many kids. Don’t get me started on the Pikes… I just have to try not to think too much about it and remind myself that it is just a book Anyway, enough about the negative because there are many parts of this book that I do really like – especially the Carnival and the chapter of Claudia sitting for the Newtons. Jamie is so cute! So are all of the other kids at the carnival. I love it how Claire and Jenny get in the fight and how poor Margo gets sick and tells her dad about it and he makes the sarcastic comment about how mommy will be happy to hear that. I think the dads are great in this book. I did think the girls – Kristy especially – were a bit harsh about Jenny. I totally understand how one could eat their sandwich like that – I have weird, slow ways of eating things, too, and I always have (hopefully this doesn’t make me a BRAT! too ;D) I also liked how Stacey came back for the carnival. I always enjoy books where they sit for large groups of kids as that was one of the things I used to play with my barbies when I played BSC. This book gave me good material. So did Kristy’s Big Day. As long as I don’t think about the main plot and just kind of skim out the positive parts from that – the close relationships forming between Kristy and the Brewers – I like this book pretty well.
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