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Post by bsc4ever on Jul 10, 2010 16:13:33 GMT -5
I am just getting back into the BSC. I stopped reading before the series ended, so I am coming up on a lot of surprises. While reading "Claudia and the Perfect Boy", Claudia gets the column in the paper. A kid who is having family trouble writes in and Mary Anne suggests that Claudia tell him to see Dr. Reese, because she went to Dr. Reese when she was having some trouble. What book discusses when Mary Anne saw Dr. Reese? Why specifically did she need to go see Dr. Reese? I was so confused when I read that. I saw it mentioned again in "Claudia and the Little Liar" when Mary Anne suggests that they do a role play exercise with Haley. Thanks!!!
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Post by anzuhana on Jul 10, 2010 16:30:16 GMT -5
I think that Mary Anne visited Dr. Reese in Mary Anne and the Memory Garden but I'm not sure. In the Chain Letter book, Mary Anne goes to Dr. Reese because she her English grade began to drop and she became stressed because of it.
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Post by bsc4ever on Jul 10, 2010 16:45:54 GMT -5
I was thinking that it might have originated in Mary Anne and the Memory Garden, too, but that book was written after Claudia and the Perfect Boy. However, I checked and the Chain Letter book was written before Claudia and the Perfect Boy - maybe that is where it originated. Thanks!!! Now I just need to find a copy of that book . . .
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Jul 10, 2010 16:57:47 GMT -5
i always thought that it originated in the chain letter, because that's where MA admits that she has been going.
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Post by bsc4ever on Jul 10, 2010 17:59:21 GMT -5
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 11, 2010 18:32:43 GMT -5
I remember reading Chain Letter and being very surprised that MA had gone to a therapist. Those thoughts quickly turned to disappointment that we did not get to read about her first visits with Dr. Reese. Dr. Reese came across as a great character in Memory Garden and I would have liked to have gotten to know her earlier on. Plus, I think if we had gotten to read about those appointments, Mary Anne's character would have been better, more developed. The quick time span from break up to make up might have held more interest as well. Has anyone ever written a fanfic about MA seeing Dr. Reese after she broke up with Logan?
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Post by sparklymouse on Jul 11, 2010 18:33:28 GMT -5
Seriously? Mary Anne had a crap load of issues in the later books but what got her to go to therapy was a low English grade? Lame.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jul 11, 2010 19:07:05 GMT -5
A longer explanation:
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Post by zoar3 on Jul 11, 2010 22:32:03 GMT -5
Both would have made for a great regular book or even part of a Super Special. I think hints of MA feeling somewhat depressed and unsure should have been better shown right after the wedding. Then, perhaps it all came to a head after the break up. Probably Dawn was already having CA withdrawl by then and of course the new family wasn't really a family yet or ever imo. I really think there should have been an MA book in between VS and Misses Logan.
OT, but related to Misses Logan, there is a roller skating scene described in Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter. It begins on Page 132.
LOL, the banner ad at the top of this page says: "Need Someone to talk to? Let our Online Psychologists, support you, 24/7." Maybe "Dr. Reese!"
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Jul 11, 2010 22:45:51 GMT -5
it bugs me how they always say that MA had "trouble sorting through some feelings." it seemed like such a PC way of saying she was depressed.
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Post by bsc4ever on Jul 11, 2010 23:47:14 GMT -5
I totally agree, oldhickory! Especially for a series that is SOOO redundant (Claudia was exotic looking, Jessi was black, Mal hates her looks, Dawn is California causal), I was surprised that in the two books I read that referenced seeing Dr. Reese, the only explanation given was that she was confused about her feelings.
C'mon! You rehash all of the lame stuff in the SAME EXACT WAY book after book after book, but gloss over this?!
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Jul 12, 2010 19:41:17 GMT -5
See, I don't know what it says about me, but way before the reveal of Dr. Reese, Mary Anne read to me as someone with a really high predisposition to depression and anxiety. That may be why a lot of the qualities about MA others find obnoxious or hypocritical don't bother me nearly as much, because to me, they're completely familiar. Even that little description booboobrewer quoted above, about obsessing over a meaningless little remark, kind of gives me the shivers because, yup, that's me. And the worse the agonizing gets is usually a pretty good indicator for how bad I am overall. I don't have a basis for it, but I have a vibe that Ann is one of those people who is kind of uncomfortable acknowledging mental illness, though--at least, not the kind that isn't mostly situational--and my experience of talking to other people with chronic depression/dysthymia/anxiety is that what MA describes there is a lot more common as a chronic problem that has become an episode, and not just a manifestation of stress.
And even as a kid, I thought the whole Schafer-Spier drama would realistically have been insane on MA. Even if she wanted a mother, she's too old to simply accept Sharon as a replacement, and for most of her life she was the sole focus of Richard's attention. And then all the drama produced by bicoastal Dawn, and how THAT would affect her relationship with Sharon. . .I always thought it was impressive she wasn't MORE stressed out, hah.
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jul 12, 2010 20:28:00 GMT -5
Seriously? Mary Anne had a crap load of issues in the later books but what got her to go to therapy was a low English grade? Lame. Doing poorly in school can be VERY stressful!
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Post by sparklymouse on Jul 12, 2010 20:57:12 GMT -5
^True, but the sentence I was replying to made it sound like she had dropped from an A to a B or had one low test score. She wasn't suddenly failing all of her classes. I thought her grade was minor compared to stuff we saw in other books. (Depression when her friend died, suddenly clinging to her dad in the Camp BSC book, not really controlling her anger with Dawn moving, etc.)
The book I absolutely hated was Mary Anne to the Rescue. She had so much anxiety and was pretty much afraid of the world around her, and yet she was still just described as "shy". There's a big difference between being shy and being where she was in that book. I don't know if therapy was too dark of a subject for a BSC book, but I agree that it shouldn't have been glossed over so much. It's one of those things that's rather mysterious if you've never had any, so it may have helped kids understand the process better.
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Post by bsc4ever on Jul 12, 2010 21:42:47 GMT -5
What I thought was weird was in BSC across the USA, Mary Anne was having issues with Dawn's dad and his jokes. She held all of her feelings in and didn't confront the issue until Jack drew it out of her. I guess those sessions with Dr. Reese didn't help her understand and deal with her feelings as well as she claims. I know that she is shy and all, but it seems that type of issue would be something that she would have worked on with Dr. Reese - letting people know about your feelings when you are bothered, not just being upset for a whole vacation.
Even though I wasn't too familiar with the Dr. Reese situation, I have read the later books and at times thought, "Why is Mary Anne acting like that - I thought she understood her feelings better." Not at EVERYTHING, mind you, but there were just some points that made me wonder.
Maybe that belongs in the inconsistencies thread . . .
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