LS interest following reading prequel?

[zoar3]

Try number two to ask this. First time after hitting "post message," I got the reply of "Internet Explorer cannot display the web page." Lo and behold no post. Oh well. I hope this is being posted in the right place, I wasn't sure if it ought to be in the Polls Section.

As I was wondering, has reading The Summer Before influenced any other (formerly non LS fan, like myself) to contemplate reading and/or collecting them? I've now read the prequel 3 times, just finished KGI for the umpteenth time and am still yearning for new and/or "olden day" BSC books. Back when the Club was newer, the girls had fuller characters, and well the stories seemed livelier, like a breath of fresh air. IMO, the later the books get the less they have that feeling. Thus, I am thinking about looking for some LS, at least the early ones.

Am I merely getting old (my birthday is in less than 2 weeks), and being nostalgic or has anyone else felt this way?

[wanderingfrog]

I kind of know what you mean. I own every LS book but have read less than two-thirds of them. I really should read some of the others sometime, and do some rereads, too.

[zoar3]

I know what I said was sort of sketchy. Maybe I'm just wishing for some more (new) fan fiction on what-ifs. I just truly wish MA had not become an almost totally different person than the one presented in the Prequel and that even if they both moved, Dawn had come, she and Kristy had retained their "almost sister" relationship. K, MA, and Claud rarely hung out together once Dawn came either.

The other stuff...as we all know once 13 came (forever) the girls were like adults, less like kids, and well the original appeal was changed. I'm currently reading "Phantom Caller." No way in the later books would MA and Claud both have called Kristy to check in on her during a sitting job, or would the downright funny interactions between Jamie/Claudia and Kristy and Mary Anne and the Thomas-Brewers (post her alarms) have occurred. One of the girls would have taken quicker action, if need be called Sgt. Johnson or heck taken the "mystery" into their own hands. The story would have been centered around not on their budding friendships or the Club but on being the people to capture the burglar all without of of course alerting any adults to their doings!

[rainbowgirl28]

Karen is a brat and the adults in her life are generally ridiculous. I decided awhile ago that I don't want to collect them, because I don't want my kids reading them. Reading The Summer Before certainly did not change that.

[zoar3]

I fully admit to not much liking the LS I have read, rainbowgirl. Karen is not only the center of the universe in them but Andrew is basically completely overlooked as is anything that does not fit in with Karen's beliefs or desires. I guess I was just hoping, even though I don't think they do, some of the early ones had some connection to the BSC books aside of course from the Thomas-Brewer family standpoint.

[wenonah4th]

Sometimes there's a value in the negative examples in books. I'm not telling you that you should take up the space with books you don't want though!

[Lila]

Karen isn't as spoiled as most people think she is. SHe has to earn her money, dispite her having a father who could buy it all for her. She makes 10 cents A DANDILION root when she has to pull weeds for whatever doll she wants.
A spoiled kid would of gotten her doll sister without all the stupid slave labor her family made her do.

Karen was also really goodhearted to people as well. A Spoiled brat wouldn't of felt bad for needy children

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

Karen juggles being a brat and a really good kid in these books. They seem to make her more real in the LS books over the bsc ones.