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Post by sotypical42483 on Apr 5, 2006 16:35:17 GMT -5
Anybody even read/collect the Little Sister books? Thoughts?
Me and my sister buy them for our 6 year old niece. She loves them, and she loves Karen. At her age, I loved Karen, too. I read LS books before BSC books and had a HUGE collection of them. We moved from ND to AZ when I was 10 and I got rid of them because they were too babyish and I was embarrassed I still had them. I knew I'd regret that someday!
I tried reading a couple of the books we bought for our niece, but I just can't get through them. I can't stand how Karen can't use contractions.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 5, 2006 18:53:31 GMT -5
Unfortunately I never really got into the Little Sister books. I read a couple, the one that stands out the most is when Karen has a sleepover and Pamela Harding insists "I have to sleep in a BED" (why do I remember that so vividly?!)... I also remember the one where Karen refers to herself as Home Run Karen and Andrew sobs because he doesn't want to be in a "cage" to bat. The Little Sister books also had their own Chapter Two, IIRC. Karen referred to herself and Andrew as Two-Two's
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Post by aln1982 on Apr 5, 2006 19:01:38 GMT -5
I love the Little Sister books - not quite sure why because Karen is the kind of kid that would usually irritate me. I guess she is so obnoxious and dramatic that she's funny. I think I've mentioned it before in a post regarding sitting charges, but I might try to "borrow" a little from Karen's confidence. For some reason, when I'm feeling down the little sister books improve my mood. Andrew does bug me more in these books than in the regular BSC books. It seems like he's always tattling on Karen or complaining about something she's done. Agree about Chapter 2s. I usually skip them - especially in Little Sister.
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Post by sparklymouse on Apr 5, 2006 21:55:18 GMT -5
In some of the chapter 2s when Karen talked about her pets she'd mention Crystal Light II, her goldfish, and Goldfishie, Andrew's...panda bear/gerbil/horse/etc. Then she'd go "Just kidding! He's a goldfish too!" It was so incredibly stupid but it always made me laugh so I'd skim the chapters just to see what Andrew's pet was in that book.
I liked Karen much more in her books than in the BSC series. Something about seeing things from her point of view made her less bratty. Her lack of control was funny sometimes. Once she did something like a cartwheel in the middle of the living room to get Watson's attention, and was then all "Uh, oh. Daddy DID NOT look happy." No nuts, kid!
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inge
Junior Sitter
Posts: 767
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Post by inge on Apr 6, 2006 10:45:27 GMT -5
I collected the LS series - but then, only 8 were translated to Dutch, so it's pretty easy too collect them. I agree that Karen seems a lot less annoying from her own point of view.
When I read them again I did feel like a lot of attention went to Kristy and Karen and Andrews stays in 'the big house'. The BSC are mentioned soo often. I mean, OK, they are in Karen's life and all - but so are the other brothers she has in the big house and she never talks about them that much. That just makes it seem more-bsc-less-karen to me sometime. Besides that, I kind of like these books - they only take about 15-20 minutes to read and I think they're quite cute sometimes...
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Post by hitzpink on Apr 6, 2006 19:35:12 GMT -5
In some of the chapter 2s when Karen talked about her pets she'd mention Crystal Light II, her goldfish, and Goldfishie, Andrew's...panda bear/gerbil/horse/etc. Then she'd go "Just kidding! He's a goldfish too!" It was so incredibly stupid but it always made me laugh so I'd skim the chapters just to see what Andrew's pet was in that book. Haha, that's cute! Karen is so much more likeable in the Little Sister books. She can still be a little bratty at times, and the lack of contractions is annoying, but overall I like her in these books. I used to LOVE Karen when I was younger, and I will probably collect the Little Sister books once I finish my BSC/Friends Forever/CA Diaries collection. Some of the illustrations in these books are just adorable. I always liked when the BSC shows up in the LS books. I think it's fun. But I do agree that she spends an awful lot of time in the Big House considering she only lived there every other weekend (in the beginning of the series, anyway. I know they eventually lived 1 month in the Big House and 1 month in the Little House).
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Post by sugarandspicexx on Aug 20, 2006 5:46:13 GMT -5
When I was little, my mum started buying me the little sister books before I started reading BSC. I really enjoyed them and I owned quite a few. I probably would have been around Karen's age at the time of reading them.
I agree, thinking back these books did focus a lot about Karen and Andrew being at the big house. The only book I remember reading that didn't mention the big house much, if at all was the one where Seth and Lisa take the kids to New York for the weekend.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on Aug 21, 2006 19:06:34 GMT -5
It would have made a lot more sense if Karen and Andrew had started doing the monthly back-and-forth thing a lot earlier in the series.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Aug 22, 2006 5:54:19 GMT -5
I'm fewer than 20 books away from having the complete LS series. Some things about them bug me, I feel there are a few that give the idea that pets are disposable for example, and I don't think it's realistic that the kids can keep up with some of their fights as long as they do. In one book Andrew doesn't speak to Karen for two days. What four-year-old has that kind of attention span? Mostly though, I like them for their predictably silly plots. When my sister or I find a new one at a thrift store, we'll start out with "I bet Karen gets in a fight with all her friends because she's bossy, but she'll get to have a party and that will make things better!" Funny how often we're right. Karen is a spoiled brat, but the LS books are fun for me to read as an escape. I don't mind that they mostly focus on the big house. Karen's interactions with David Michael are more interesting than her sitting in her little house bedroom talking to her pet rat.
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gabbie
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 144
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Post by gabbie on Sept 2, 2006 9:40:01 GMT -5
I tried reading a couple of the books we bought for our niece, but I just can't get through them. I can't stand how Karen can't use contractions. That's why I don't really have them. The contractions drive me nuts. Otherwise I tend to flick through them when I come across them but I don't really go out of my way to buy them.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2006 20:45:54 GMT -5
the no-contractions thing drove me crazy...to this day my sister and I will randomly say "that is mean" or "i am sad" and then laugh about it.
the thing that annoys me now is after a year of working in a preschool is that andrew talks and acts like maybe a first grader, not a typical four-year-old.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Dec 16, 2006 0:36:53 GMT -5
Just started collecting and re-reading these... d**n they're funny. Frustrating, but funny. These chapter twos are classic, they always start with Karen dancing around like a lunatic because it's "going-to-Daddy's Friday!!" ... and Karen and the Three Muskateers have more fights than the BSC!!!
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gabbie
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 144
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Post by gabbie on Dec 16, 2006 18:37:12 GMT -5
Is it just me or does Karen always seem to want to go to her Dad's house?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2006 16:42:57 GMT -5
I also thought it was weird that "Let's All Come In" was never mentioned in any of the Little Sister books but it's a huge thing in the earlier BSC books when they were sitting for Karen.
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Post by sparklymouse on Dec 18, 2006 20:22:33 GMT -5
These are fun. Seriously, so much snarkability. I want to dislike Karen and roll my eyes at her but then she does something that makes me laugh. Holy cow though, the amount of festivals and parties that go on in these books! I've never heard of a family as into holidays as the Brewer/Thomas household. They celebrate every fricken thing that comes along. At Karen's school too. No wonder she liked Ms. Colman so much, they hardly ever did any school work.
This is an example of a series that went on way too long. They ran out of ideas. Some of the later books are like 3 short stories crammed together because they couldn't even fill a whole book anymore. I think my favorite WTF moment was in Karen's Hurricane. A hurricane hit Stoneybrook and flooded all the streets, and after it passed Kristy paddled around town in a rowboat helping people get from their stranded cars to their homes. It's been a while since I read it so I forget where exactly she got the rowboat from, but come on! That's so...weird.
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