Karen's School Picture

[greer]

It looks like they were illustrated by the same person, though.

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

I had a really good vision until up around the eighth grade. Then the summer right before high school I finally got glasses. I can't remember what they looked like though.

[scrounge]

My niece, who is in second grade, just found out she needs glasses. The next day she asked her teacher to move her closer to the board--she hadn't realized she had poor vision so she thought nobody could read the board from the back row and that they all just had to take turns being unable to see! Of course I thought of this book, but she's already very nervous about wearing the glasses so I didn't want her to read about Karen getting called Four-Eyes and Bat Woman. Maybe after she gets used to her glasses I'll send her a copy.

[Elsie13]

I love that the cover of this book has all of the kids on the front. Natalie Springer is absolutely adorable.
I like that bit when Karen says: "I'm always starving when I come home from school. I need food right away." I remember coming home from school as a kid and heading straight for the pantry >.<
I also love the way Kristy takes Karen to the library to look at books and find pictures and great characters who wear glasses and how Karen decides to wear two pairs of glasses in the school picture - I feel like that is a great example for kids about not being ashamed etc. I also love these earlier books when Karen and Ricky are enemies, they are so entertaining that sometimes it seems a shame that they got 'married.'

[sparklymouse]

I just read through the entire 10 page thread. It is 99% about our own eyesight problems. I'm still bitter that puberty stole my eyesight.

This book brought back a lot of memories for me with the eye tests with the capital E pointing in different directions, school picture days, art carts, first glasses hatred, carrying pictures in your wallet, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, etc.

Karen's eyesight was so bad that she completely missed the glass that she was pouring milk into.  I'm surprised that she wasn't walking into doorways.  Then she was upset that she stepped on Rocky, but that is a completely normal thing to do in my world.

I thought that Bat-woman was a cool nickname.    Ugly-puss, not so much.

Bobby was a buttface for trying to rip Ricky's glasses off of his face.  I'm glad that Karen ran over and told him that glasses are very, very expensive.  They are!  They didn't have cheap-o online and strip mall options back then.  Even now when I get a pair from a real eye doctor I'm paying $250+.

Karen's list of mean things has been talked about, but I like the illustration that went with it.  She was at her desk, writing and cackling with glee.

I also like the illustration of Karen trying on frames.  She had a pair of round Harry Potter glasses and a heart-shaped pair on the counter in front of her.  I would die if she had heart-shaped glasses.  She was also wearing a sweatshirt with a boy kissing a girl on the cheek on it.  I need some more details on that kids' clothing line, lol.

At the end she had just enough pictures to give all of her family members, Hannie, Nancy, Natalie, Ricky, and Amanda Delaney.  I liked that she added Amanda even though she was not mentioned in the book at all.