Claudia's Portrait

[greer]

Sarah, Plain and Tall is SO BORING.

I have a summer birthday too. They celebrated all the summer birthdays on the last day of school, which was annoying cause I had to share my day with a bunch of kids. Kids came to my birthday parties though, cause I had a pool.

[supprazz]

I think it's so stupid how the kishis and the educators never intervened with Claudia over the years. If she wanted to go back to Stoneybrook Elementary that's fine, but couldn't they have put her in a special class like co-op, or even hired a tutor to come over and help her with her schoolwork?

And for someone who reads a lot of Nancy Drew, wouldn't things like that help her with spelling better? Every teacher I had said that reading helps you with your grammar.

As for the book, I liked reading about the presents she got at her circus party, the tooth she made in second grade, and her art project at the alternative school.

[booboobrewer]

The thing is, Claudia had a good vocabulary; she had to have picked that up from reading. But her spelling never improved...I think it should have.

I liked her presents too. Didn't Charlie and Sam give her their old train set? I thought that was cute.

[supprazz]

yep they did. I remember some of the presents like mimi giving her a paint set, claudia's mom giving her a birthstone ring, richard (love him!) giving her markers and a colouring book for example.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

Read this for the first time a couple of days ago and really didn't like it too much, but then again Claudia is one of my least favorite sitters. I felt bad for her when nobody came to her birthday party; I know how she feels. I have a summer birthday too (August 4th) and whenever I would invite someone from my class to go to my party they would call me up the day of the party to say that they couldn't come . Thankfully, I only invited 2-3 of my closest school friends and the rest of the party was family and my parent's friends and their kids and we just hung out together. The tooth fairy thing was slightly over the top and creepy (who would fear the tooth fairy and since she was in 1st-2nd grade wouldn't she have lost a tooth already?) and was a ripoff of Karen's Tooth. I'm relieved that I read this book long after I stopped believing in Santa and all those other people . And the school chapter was just boring and depressing.

[vgirl42]

I can't find what page it is, but did anyone else find a typo (besides Claudia's writing) near the end of the book?

[sparklymouse]

I just got this one fairly recently. I haven't read it yet but was really disappointed to see that the yellow swiggles around Claudia's picture on the cover were just yellow swiggles. I saw a picture of the cover online somewhere and thought they were twinkies.

[Amalia]

Sept 13, 2008 12:30:38 GMT -5 supprazz said:

And for someone who reads a lot of Nancy Drew, wouldn't things like that help her with spelling better? Every teacher I had said that reading helps you with your grammar.

Well, what I heard was that if you aren't consciously paying attention to the grammar (like if you are just paying attention to the ideas and stuff) then it will not actually help that much.

[starrynight]

I would think that the Kishis would want Claudia to read Nancy Drew books. After all, they're about a smart, resourceful girl who's independent and uses her brain to solve problems. The Kishi parents seem like they'd encourage those traits in their daughters.

[otempora541]

Feb 25, 2009 11:16:06 GMT -5 starrynight said:

I would think that the Kishis would want Claudia to read Nancy Drew books. After all, they're about a smart, resourceful girl who's independent and uses her brain to solve problems. The Kishi parents seem like they'd encourage those traits in their daughters.

There's a theory that the Kishis are secretly using reverse psychology on Claudia, and the more and more I think about it, the more I agree.

[firecausesburns]

This wasn't my favourite portrait collection, but I didn't mind it.
I remember passing out the invitations for my seventh birthday party at school. It worked out fine, but the circumstances were pretty different - it wasn't any special day (in the middle of the year), I wasn't inviting the whole class, and when I gave them the invitations I'd say something like "can you come to my birthday party?", and watched them read it. I figured with Claudia's party, some of the kids didn't open the invitations, some of them were away, and some of them just didn't want to come.
The tooth fairy chapter has probably spoiled a couple of kids about the tooth fairy/Easter bunny/Santa. I don't remember ever believing in them, but I read the books pretty young (I know I was reading them at 6) and at that age it seemed like most people still believed.

[vgirl42]

Yea I know, thats why i wont allow my seven year old sister to read this one. she still believes. So, this book is secretly hiding

[toshemeup]

I'm rereading this book now and just noticed something about the birthday party chapter.

Claudia says that everyone shares about what they're going to do over the summer. Wouldn't you think she'd tell about her party then? It seems so important to her and here's a perfect chance to talk about it!

[celaeno]

I just finished this one. Overall, I liked it. I liked it better than Stacey's.

I thought the story about Claudia, Kristy and Mary Anne putting their handprints in the cement was really cute. I liked reading more about Claudia, Kristy and Mary Anne prior to seventh grade.

The story about no one arriving to Claudia's sixth birthday party was also cute. But yes, I agree that it was extremely unlikely that NO ONE showed up, and even MORE unlikely that no one even RSVPed. I love the picture of Claudia (in her lion tamer outfit) and Mimi.

The tooth fairy story was boring. I never had any fears of the dentist or losing teeth when I was younger, so I couldn't relate.

I thought something was seriously off about the story about Claudia going to the Stamford Alternative Academy during the second half of her fourth grade year. OK, Claudia's problems extended WAY beyond missing her friends if she was really that depressed, isolating herself every hour of the day (both at school and home), crying all the time, and spending all her free time sleeping. Like, those are SERIOUS signs that she has some kind of issues, and I think it was WAY unrealistic that the chapter ended with Claudia doing a 180 and being completely thrilled and happy once she learned she could go back to SES. If Claudia really had those symptoms, it's really unlikely they would be solved by being allowed to attend her old school. It would more likely be a sign of a deeper issue.

Overall, the chapter reinforced my feelings that Claudia has some emotional issues - possibly some signs of depression. The sad thing is that I feel like Claudia could have made some great connections at SAA. I guess most of the students there would be in similar situations - meaning many would have similar learning problems, and she would probably be around people who, like herself, had artistic talents. If she had given it a chance, she could have made good friends to whom she could relate.

I liked the Sea Rose chapter. I like seeing more personal relationships between two of the girls. But seriously - who on EARTH would let a four-year-old go off by himself on a beach?!?!?

I also liked that they made several references to Claudia's chapter from BSC Remembers (when she made a butterfly self-portrait). Yay continuity!

[firecausesburns]

^ I kind of like that theory about Claudia having some emotional issues, I'm reminded of what happened in 101 when it really sunk in that she wasn't in the same grade as her friends anymore. I don't think she has much self-esteem below it all.
On the topic of birthdays being forgotten, I had one birthday, my 16th, that nobody outside my family (and one friend, but he's like a brother) remembered. . So it is possible, although I didn't plan a party. My birthday's in June, which is right in the middle of the school year in Australia, so my friends didn't have that (or being six years old) as an excuse.