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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 27, 2021 12:38:27 GMT -5
I thought about this randomly yesterday. Mary Anne shouldn't have adopted a solo kitten. Some shelters don't even allow that unless you already have cats at home.
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Post by anzuhana on Apr 27, 2021 13:56:39 GMT -5
^ Why don't they? I've never owned any pets (so I've never obviously never adopted any). Is it because shelters want kittens to have interactions with other cats so that they'd know how to act?
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Apr 27, 2021 15:46:55 GMT -5
As an adult filing taxes every year, I’m always like “who claimed that lotto win in the BSC?” Shannon the puppy was like a $1500 gift that Shannon gave away to Kristy. It's Sharon who claims it I think. It's mentioned that Mr. Kishi been buying the tickets for awhile for Claudia, but Sharon buys the winning one when the jackpot go high. I just filed my taxes not too long ago and I went and checked this myself lol
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 27, 2021 16:22:49 GMT -5
^ Why don't they? I've never owned any pets (so I've never obviously never adopted any). Is it because shelters want kittens to have interactions with other cats so that they'd know how to act? They need a companion buddy basically. It's a form of comfort and entertainment for each other. You rarely have a kitten born without any litter mates. There are definitely adult cats who prefer to be "only children" if they haven't been around other cats much. Tigger was a baby, though, and then he was alone all day long while Mary Anne and Richard were at school and work.
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 27, 2021 17:46:25 GMT -5
Aww. My cat would have enjoyed the company when I got her as a baby, but I knew one would be enough. It’s for sure resulted in her being a very spoiled only child.
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cnj
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Post by cnj on Apr 28, 2021 0:46:39 GMT -5
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Apr 28, 2021 10:00:07 GMT -5
Aww. My cat would have enjoyed the company when I got her as a baby, but I knew one would be enough. It’s for sure resulted in her being a very spoiled only child. Aww your cat sounds so cute.
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cnj
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Post by cnj on Apr 28, 2021 16:05:27 GMT -5
Another striking thing now going back and re-reading the books was that despite some books describing Stacey as "sophisticated," it seems to me that most, if not all of the BSC, especially the senior BSC was rather sophisticated and grew more so as the books went on.
They all did a great deal of reading and had a great deal of knowledge about people.
They also were familiar with different cultures and were not provincial or naive.
Most of the BSC felt comfortable and almost at home in NYC...this is clear in Mary Anne and the Little Princess.
I think the BSC were sophisticated in different ways, though.
Reading both the BSC and the Sweet Valley books, the different levels of sophistication and wisdom between the two worlds is striking.
Although Sweet Valley is about an hour below LA, most of the Sweet Valley characters seemed less sophisticated, more small-townish and more provincial than the BSC to me.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on May 1, 2021 10:44:14 GMT -5
Definitely Jessi being allowed to babysit Becca and Squirt by herself for a whole weekend. While we're on that matter, I feel 11 is a little too young to be babysitting. Yeah, they're junior officers and they can't sit at night except for their own families. But when I was 11, I was allowed to just do my thing while the babysitter took care of my younger siblings.
For all Mallory whines about her parents being so mean, the Pikes were pretty laid back. Except when it comes to sparkly sweatshirts of course.
Also, when I was a kid, I loved Karen. I thought she was so cool and got to go on so many fun adventures. Now as an adult, I absolutely can't stand her. She's an annoying spoiled brat and the BSC and her parents let her get away with murder all the time. Not to turn this into a Karen debate, I know she's a polarizing character!
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cnj
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Post by cnj on May 1, 2021 12:40:59 GMT -5
I agree that it is a bit much to allow an eleven-year-old to babysit for an entire weekend. A few hours, yes.
I'm actually re-reading Karen's Plane Trip and so far, Karen hasn't been so horrible.
Sure, she complains a bit when her country Nebraska grandparents don't have a television, mobile or any modern city gadgets, but she ends uo growing to enjoy the farm.
That is one thing that is striking...that actually Stoneybrook is more of a city than most U.S. places and is not such a tiny, isolated town that some fanfics make Stoneybrook out to be.
Karen defintely seemed to be a city girl adjusting to a truly small rural town.
It reminded me of when Mary Anne visits her grandma Verna for the first time...at first, it's a struggle for the sophisticated city Mary Anne to adjust to being on her grandma's small-town farm.
And even on the plane when Karen longs to chatter away with the two busy adults beside her, she restrains herself and does not distract them because she sees that they are busy with work projects.
She has her "fun bag" to keep herself entertained and eventually goes to sleep.
Some seven-year-olds would not be so mature and well-behaved and would be oblivious to an adult that doesn't want to be disturbed and would chatter away or be reaching out to touch their computer or try to grab and see their book.
Some of the BSC fanfics go overboard with making Karen this horrible brat who "everyone" allegedly "hates."
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on May 1, 2021 17:06:02 GMT -5
Karen is one of those characters that you learn to hate less when you read the LS books. At last I feel sympathetic when she’s forced to pay for half her own bike.
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cnj
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Post by cnj on May 1, 2021 23:54:19 GMT -5
Karen was cute and funny and generally meant well. I'm sure she matured as she grew older.
I wonder if her blond hair grew darker as she grew older?
I have a cousin who had pale wheat-blond hair until he was fourteen or so, then his hair darkened to a near-black by the time he was eighteen.
I wouldn't be surprised if Karen was a fashionista in her teens like Stacey and Claudia. 😁😁😁😁
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on May 3, 2021 12:25:15 GMT -5
Karen is one of those characters that you learn to hate less when you read the LS books. At last I feel sympathetic when she’s forced to pay for half her own bike. I think that's part of it. When she's narrating her own story, you tend to side with her and understand her perspective. When she was a babysitting charge and the BSCers would go on and on about how funny/cute/smart/imaginative she was while ignoring her causing mayhem, that's when I'd get annoyed haha. Another thing as an adult I was surprised by was how for all the dances, they HAD to have dates and it was a big deal if they went stag. The only school dance everyone tried to have dates for was prom, in my experience. Everyone went to dances alone or as a group of friends. I think this was Ann's growing up in the 60s showing.
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cnj
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Post by cnj on May 3, 2021 17:37:19 GMT -5
Karen is one of those characters that you learn to hate less when you read the LS books. At last I feel sympathetic when she’s forced to pay for half her own bike. I think that's part of it. When she's narrating her own story, you tend to side with her and understand her perspective. So true...I'm glad Ann had books from Karen's viewpoint. I just completed re-reading Karen's Plane Trip and Karen is not the "annoying" brat that some fanfics depict her as. When she was a babysitting charge and the BSCers would go on and on about how funny/cute/smart/imaginative she was while ignoring her causing mayhem, that's when I'd get annoyed, haha. I think it's because the BSC remembers what it was like to be seven. Karen didn't cause any more mayhem than the typical imaginative seven-year old and I never found her any more "annoying" than any other seven-year old. Another thing as an adult I was surprised by was how for all the dances, they HAD to have dates and it was a big deal if they went stag. The only school dance everyone tried to have dates for was prom, in my experience. Everyone went to dances alone or as a group of friends. I think this was Ann's growing up in the 1960s showing. Agreed there. That was my school dance experience growing up in the 1980s. I'm so glad Ann didn't make the mistake of pairing off all the BSC girls off with boyfriends the way some other teen girl series like Betsy Haynes' Fabulous Five did.
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on May 3, 2021 19:40:41 GMT -5
Karen is one of those characters that you learn to hate less when you read the LS books. At last I feel sympathetic when she’s forced to pay for half her own bike. I think that's part of it. When she's narrating her own story, you tend to side with her and understand her perspective. When she was a babysitting charge and the BSCers would go on and on about how funny/cute/smart/imaginative she was while ignoring her causing mayhem, that's when I'd get annoyed haha. Another thing as an adult I was surprised by was how for all the dances, they HAD to have dates and it was a big deal if they went stag. The only school dance everyone tried to have dates for was prom, in my experience. Everyone went to dances alone or as a group of friends. I think this was Ann's growing up in the 60s showing. I don't remember them making it a big deal if they went stag, at least later in the series it was more viewed as more normal. You're right there, there's a lot of ways Ann was writing as if it was the 60s again.
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