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Post by otempora541 on Feb 12, 2009 16:12:12 GMT -5
Just finished reading, so here are my thoughts
Stacey/Kristy chapters were the best- funny, adorable, and thought provoking.
Jessi- skipped her chapters, although Lerangis drops hints that Jessi might leave to go to Dance NYC program- or was that just me?
Mallory- like someone said, I don't think that Shakespeare could have been related to Mallory directly. Other then that, snore. Although, I wondered how one of her uncles ended up with the name of Jordan is beyond me.
Abby- I am a fan, but I had a feeling Lerangis hated her when he was writing the chapters, her plot was horriable.
Dawn- I was sad she only got a small chapter with Susan. I would've loved to see some thoughts about what's going on with California (time line of Maggie diary two after all).
MA- an absolute non plot. I think she was supposed to be as close as a third person narrative though, so like, an observer role.
Claudia- second best plot line. But what's up with hating Janine all of a sudden? I thought they burried the hatchet?
Overall- I thought that the book was disorganized. If they would've made more of an effort to include equal time between paris/london or dropped the playground off to another book. But yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it could've been.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Feb 12, 2009 18:05:46 GMT -5
Jessi- skipped her chapters, although Lerangis drops hints that Jessi might leave to go to Dance NYC program- or was that just me? She doesn't officially join them at any point in the series, but she WAS offered a spot in Dance NY during "Jessi's Big Break." Have you read that one? She decides she's not ready to move away from home and plans to accept the offer to join in the future.
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Post by greer on Feb 12, 2009 23:12:48 GMT -5
In FF she joins a more rigorous program at her Stamford dance school which is like every day after school and on weekends--that might be what gave you the impression that she joined Dance NY.
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Post by otempora541 on Feb 13, 2009 13:14:05 GMT -5
I guess I should've made myself clearer- in my head, I always say Jessi, (in 7th grade) agreeing to be in the program.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on Feb 16, 2009 17:55:51 GMT -5
Claudia- second best plot line. But what's up with hating Janine all of a sudden? I thought they burried the hatchet Dude, the first time they buried the hatchet was in #2, and then the entire plot of the next Claudia book was about Claudia hating Janine. Methinks it's gonna be a long, l o n g time before Claudia figures out that Janine is AWESOME.
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Post by helsieboo on Jun 16, 2009 7:49:55 GMT -5
This is another one that annoys me. Though the McGill's must have some money if Stacey is buying clothes in Harrods!
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Post by greer on Jun 16, 2009 7:56:37 GMT -5
It's pretty evident from the way that the McGills live in New York that they have a TON of money. Watson's not the only millionaire dad in BSC, it seems.
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Post by helsieboo on Jun 16, 2009 8:04:31 GMT -5
Absolutely. I bet Mrs McGill got a great divorce settlement.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 11, 2010 0:47:19 GMT -5
Weird story: I found this book at my local bank! They had a (small) pile of various old, used books for some charity laying on a random table. I looked at it and this one was amongst the few left!
I am from Toronto where the Canadian school who accompanies SMS is from...
I loved how Alan Gray was talking about the U.S. being AMERICA. This is a very typical U.S. thing to say - to kind of prove the ego a little bit - because the US is really the United States of America (meaning all of America).
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,270
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Post by oldhickory on Jan 11, 2010 19:13:52 GMT -5
to be fair, 2hearts, you can't call out a whole country as being egotistical based off a what a made up 13-year-old boy says in a fictional book. it's almost always referred to as "the US". plus it's easy to say "canadian", much easier than saying "united states-ian". so when somebody says "american" instead i don't think it's a big deal :] just to clarify, i haven't read this book in ages, so i have no idea what alan actually said.
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starlett2010
Junior Sitter
It's been YEARS but I'm back!!!! :)
Posts: 696
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Post by starlett2010 on Jan 19, 2010 3:15:43 GMT -5
^Alan refers to the US as America, and Michel (a Canadian student) corrects him, saying "You live in a country called the United States," or something to that effect. Basically, I think what 2hearts was saying is that as Americans, we commonly conceive of ourselves as living in America, when in actuality, we are from the United States because America actually refers to the collective Americas. So when Alan says he is "from America" he should have said from the United States or the States because "America" could refer to anywhere in the Americas. Michel was calling out Alan's ignorance by pointing out that Alan is from the U.S. It wasn't an issue of calling oneself American, but of the actual name of the country. Sorry if that was confusing; just trying to expand on what 2hearts had said in more depth. About the McGills having money: I find it so funny that Mrs. McGill can drop a small fortune at the Harrods, but when they first moved back to Stoneybrook she went on and on about how little money they had. So I guess the money from the divorce settlement when to furnish Stacey and Mrs. M's wardrobes?
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Post by booboobrewer on Jan 20, 2010 3:32:46 GMT -5
They also made the description of the "hug machine" sound much scarier than it needed to be, I think, although I guess it's nice they gave (sort of) a shout out to Temple Grandin, the autistic professor who invented it. I kind of wish they'd used her name and said a little bit more about her, because I think she is a really brilliant and amazing person, but maybe they felt that would be sending a mixed message, since her level of success and functionality sadly isn't the norm. I was rereading this thread and this caught my eye since I'd heard that a movie about Temple Grandin (called "Temple Grandin" will be on HBO in February. I was interested in it because David Strathairn has a part (love him and his films), but now that I actually know who TG is now, I'll make sure to see it.
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Jan 20, 2010 7:28:34 GMT -5
Ooh, I'm excited for that! She really is an incredible person, IMO.
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Post by sparklymouse on Mar 10, 2010 19:40:32 GMT -5
I just read this one for the first time and wanted to add my two cents to this conversation. Honestly my first thought when Jessi and Mal had that conversation was "STFU Jessi!" Because I hate Jessi. But also because Jessi was the one who blew her whole Hawaii trip writing a freaking transcript of what was going on at all times. Why was Jessi allowed to bring her dance shoes and clothes in her luggage and weasel her way into a production while on vacation but Mallory wasn't supposed to write?
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Post by anzuhana on Apr 19, 2010 16:49:00 GMT -5
My favorite storyline in the book was Stacey's because of the WWII history. I enjoyed the storyline where Stacey met the WWII veteran.I loved the interaction between Kristy and Stacey when it was found out that the luggage was mixed up. It's too bad that every member didn't go to Europe. It would have been nice if other European countries were visited.
As for the Connecticut chapters, I would say that my favorite is Dawn's. I liked reading about the hug machine that Susan used to help herself calm down. It would have been nice if they mentioned Temple Grandin by name instead of just writing that an autistic woman created the hug machine.
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