52: Karen's Mermaid

[Katie]

I loved Margo Pike in this book. It was nice to see a relationship between Margo and Karen. I think Karen had kind of met her match in Margo since they were both bossy and had to be the leader whereas Hannie and Nancy were less assertive than Karen. It was cute in the end when Karen and Margo both ended up in the parade together after they'd been fighting and Margo had pulled the whole fake mermaid scam on Karen.

[aln1982]

^ I've only read this one once but remember liking it pretty well. I always like Margo, anyway, and enjoy seeing new relationships develop, too. I'll have to reread it soon.

[wanderingfrog]

I was thinking about this book when I was reading the threads about BSC and Little Sister parallels and stuff, because Karen goes to Sea City, and Margo isn't usually in LS books.

[aln1982]

^ I always thought that was a bit odd but liked it, anyway. Read this one when I was in my "Sea City" mood and am about to reread some of the Sea City ones so thanks for reminding me of this one, too.
Doesn't Nicky help Margo trick Karen? I remember thinking that I liked seeing the relationship between him and Margo as I always wish they could be better friends.

[wanderingfrog]

It's also nice to see continuity with Margo's bossiness, because that's usually only mentioned in earlier BSC books. In later ones, Calire's still silly and Nicky still doesn't like girls and wants to play with the triplets and Vanessa still speaks in rhyme, but Margo isn't really bossy.

[fluffycakes]

This doesn't relate to the plot at all, but I remember this book being the final straw for me for these books. I'd stopped reading this one, but every once in a while I was tempted to read more Karen books. But when I saw this one, I thought "Karen gets a mermaid now? She gets everything!" I definitely stopped reading the LS books after this one came out. I think I was jealous.

[aln1982]

Just reread and it was one of my less favorite LS books. Not even sure why. I did find it funny when the girls were trying to argue while smiling. Reminded me of how I used to "paste" on my smile the minute I would enter the horse show arena. ;D
I did also like it how Nicky helped Margo, even though I was mad they tricked Karen (sorry - I like Karen ;D Usually like Margo but not in this one). I wish the BSC books would have them - and Vanessa - spend more time together instead of always pairing Margo with Claire and making Nicky try to hang out with the triplets, who are so mean to him.

[msstock87]

I liked this book because it was a Sea City book. I felt so bad for Karen in this one though, everyone was laughing at her, even the store owner. She must have been so embarrassed!

[aln1982]

^ Agree about liking Sea City and about feeling bad for Karen. Maybe that's why I didn't like it because I have always hated being made fun of or picked on and it seemed (to me at least) that was kind of what the Pikes were doing.

[msstock87]

I never liked when people are being picked on either. I think this was the first book I read with the Pikes in it ( I read the LS before the BSC) and they didn't give me a very good first impression.

[aln1982]

^ It wouldn't have given me a good first impression of the Pikes, either. Glad my first Pike book was Mystery Diary because it made me like them, which is good since they're featured so much in the series. I probably wouldn't still be reading BSC books and wouldn' t have liked them as much if I would have started with this one and a negative view of the Pikes.

[wanderingfrog]

fluffycakes said:

This doesn't relate to the plot at all, but I remember this book being the final straw for me for these books. I'd stopped reading this one, but every once in a while I was tempted to read more Karen books. But when I saw this one, I thought "Karen gets a mermaid now? She gets everything!" I definitely stopped reading the LS books after this one came out. I think I was jealous.

LOL. If you're going by the book titles, Karen also "gets" a lot of other mythical creatures, including a witch, a ghost, a little witch, a leprechaun, monsters, an angel, and a unicorn.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

msstock87 said:

I think this was the first book I read with the Pikes in it ( I read the LS before the BSC) and they didn't give me a very good first impression.

I also read LS before the BSC and The Pikes didn't give me a very good first impression either. Margo was ten times bossier than Karen and Claire annoyed me with her constant baby talk. I remember groaning inwardly when I started reading BSC and found out that the Pikes were a big part of the series lol, but they are a lot better in the BSC than in this book. This was one of my least-favorite LS books.

[nothingtolose18]

Just read this one for the first time, and I think the Pike's were a little OOC. I mean, not Margo's bossiness - thought that was on par. It seemd kind of odd for the Pikes to be that mean, though. Maybe it's just because I've always really liked the Pikes (I read BSC before LS, I'm pretty sure). But the Pikes aren't usually that mean. And they even got Vanessa to help.
There's also one part where Nicky calls Andrew a baby. I dunno, just seemed kind of out of character to me. I know they could be mean to each other, but as for other kids, they always seemed to get along with them. Mostly, anyway.

[courtky10]

This was actually my favorite LS book.