macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 6, 2006 1:50:28 GMT -5
As a kid, I remember thinking this one was totally boring. I didn't even finish it. This time around, it was marginally better. Highlights?
Believe it or not - the Karen/David Michael chapters. I was particularly touched at the end when Karen accidentally knocked over the fort and was about to giggle spitefully and then noticed how miserable DM and friends looked and instead called off their "bet". Karen may have been bratty on occasion, but in general she was a sweet kid.
Sam's chapter. Not often that puberty is addressed in the BSC - much less male puberty. Poor Sam. All he wanted was whiskers. I enjoyed reading about his brotherly relationship with Charlie though, those two seemed quite close.
Poor Mallory. Seventy eight insect bites. Ann was downright cruel to her in this one, putting her in that "beekeeper" outfit and all. The snarky comments from the BSC weren't overly endearing either.
THE JESSI CHAPTERS! Oh lord, the conflicts when it comes to eleven yr old relationships. How could Jessi consider going to a dance with Daniel when Quint was "waiting faithfully in New York"... what if Daniel was planning to "profess his love"? He's a WHOLE YEAR older than Ben and Quint after all! Horrors.
MA & Claudia chapters... boring. The token Super Special mystery was included of course (Dawn's chapters) and of course, this was yet another occasion where Watson's generosity was overwhelming.
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Post by booboobrewer on May 6, 2006 18:15:40 GMT -5
Haha, I like the part where Kristy is eager to show to Watson in their trip journal what a great time they're all having, and all Mal wants to write about is how miserable she is due to being eaten alive.
Dawn and her Loch Ness adventures were a little weird. It made sense that she was interested in the Bayard family mystery, but her Nessie excitement seemed off.
I don't remember Karen and David Michael's chapters all that well, but agree that they weren't too bad. I think there was a part where Karen and her friends feel SO GROWN UP because they could sit in a booth by themselves in a restaurant and eat french fries with forks.
And Watson the vacation idea thief was pretty generous with allowing Kristy to bring all her friends, and then that was cute at the end where she gets so happy about him calling her his daughter.
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on May 6, 2006 18:24:24 GMT -5
I thought their float must have looked pretty bad. I mean, didn't they make it with two green towels? I can't imagine how that would work at all. Then again, they didn't do a great job with actual float material in the baby parade. But whatever, they're 13. As long as they had fun I guess.
I wonder what DID happen to the Bayards?
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on May 7, 2006 0:48:25 GMT -5
Ugh, the mystery was boring. I skip those chapters. I loved the Sam chapters - has anyone noticed that he's one of the few males that doesn't write in all capital letters? Jessi's chapters were hilarious I love the bit at the end, in someone else's chapter, where they say that Jessi wasn't ready to tell them what happened yet, and she'd tell them a few days later. Who ever would've thought that young relationships could be so serious? They sound like adults!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 7, 2006 18:00:07 GMT -5
;D
Jessi's relationships always seemed to be very serious and passionate. She was an eleven yr old soap opera, that girl!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2006 11:13:06 GMT -5
I thought their float must have looked pretty bad. I mean, didn't they make it with two green towels? I can't imagine how that would work at all. Ha! But, dont ya remember the illustration--Claudia sure worked her magic and created a pretty good looking monster head out of a rolled up green towel. More re: the cars/transportation in this book. 20 people and 2 pets travel, what, two hours in only three cars--two of which I believe are described as just regular sedans (Watson's and Nannie's). Charlie definitely could have driven a fourth car (if not the Junk Bucket, then one of Watson's. He had quite a few and he can afford to have Charlie on the insurance as well), even if it was just him and Sam with the pets and most of the luggage. That definitely could have given everyone else more space and, you know, been a hell of a lot safer. But, whateva. Sam seemed a bit stalkerish in this book, imo. But, I loved the Sam and Stacey chapters. And doesn't Sam compare Stacey to a cake with lots of icing and frosting in this book?
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Post by sotypical42483 on May 8, 2006 12:20:20 GMT -5
This book was okay. It was one where I actually liked Karen's chapters. Karen, Nancy, and Hannie (I love Hannie!) fixing up their playhouse was really cute. Sam was totally LOLworthy in this book, talking about how he pays so much attention to shaving commercials and watches Charlies shave. LOL. Very age appropriate, which is a nice touch in BSC books! Dawn and her stupid mystery... snooore. Poor Mal, although honestly I don't see how it makes any sense that NO ONE else even gets bitten by a bug and Mallory's practically being eaten alive. And the BSC refusing to walk with her to the lodge was a bit rude, who were they expecting to run into on vacation? Oh wait, someones dream guy, right? I mean, they are on vacation!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 9, 2006 6:40:19 GMT -5
OMG that was so insanely STUPID. Could you imagine what it would've looked like in real life? Although this IS the girl that can make decent looking papier mache earrings. I can't see how they'd look good either, but according to the BSC they're dibbly fresh.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2006 16:59:20 GMT -5
Poor Mal, although honestly I don't see how it makes any sense that NO ONE else even gets bitten by a bug and Mallory's practically being eaten alive. I can actually sympathize here. I once went on a camping trip where I got over 300 bites and everyone else just got a handful. Ofcourse I did sit outside at night after it rained in just shorts and a bathing suit because the rest of my clothes were wet. And I never wore a beekeeper's suit. The car thing really confused me too. They fit all those people + their luggage into 2 cars? And it annoyed me how everyone in Stoneybrooke had cars that could seat 3 people in the front. I vaguely remember having a neighbour who had a car like that back when I was 6. But that's the only car I've ever seen in my 19 years that's been like that.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on May 11, 2006 7:45:39 GMT -5
Maybe it's like in Harry Potter... They magically expand so that you can fit lots more inside.
What I *really* didn't get was how the entire BSC fit in the Junk Bucket in Jessi and the Dance School Phantom. They *were* in the JB in that, weren't they?
Anyway, back to this SS... I agree about the green towel monster! I'm not sure *how* she could've made that. But hey, she's the artistic genius.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on May 11, 2006 19:16:24 GMT -5
My favourite thing about this book was that Dawn didn't actually solve "the mystery of Shadow Lake." I liked this for two reasons: 1) it means the mystery remained, well, mysterious, which it wouldn't have if she'd solved it, and 2) the unrealistic Mystery series with them solving all those mysteries drove me up the wall and it was nice to see them fail at solving one. Or fail at anything, really.
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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 May 23, 2006 16:22:53 GMT -5
My favorite chapters were also the Sam and Stacey ones....I liked them together!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2006 18:04:38 GMT -5
My favorite chapters were also the Sam and Stacey ones....I liked them together! Me too. And their relationship actually seemed realistic in this one. Sam was a typical 15 year old wishing he could shave so he could impress a girl. And everything he did to impress her was the stupid stuff that a teenage boy would think of that would clearly not work.
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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 30, 2006 2:38:28 GMT -5
^ But isn't the point of shaving to get rid of hair on your face? If you don't have to shave then hair is already off of your face, so why would you want to have hair to shave?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on May 30, 2006 6:07:41 GMT -5
^ ugh, that is confusing! ;D
I think he wanted manly stubble. A shaved face still looks different from one that simply doesn't have hair on it yet, particularly for dark featured males.
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