Karen's Lucky Penny

[sparklymouse]

If you found a wallet with no ID and $800 in cash, what would you do? Personally I'd think it was either fake money or stolen. ;D I alway wonder if you turn something in how do you know someone really claimed it?

I liked Karen a lot in half of this book and hated her a lot in half. She was bratty thinking the wallet's owner should give her $400 as a reward. The $100 he gave her was plenty generous. I also thought she was bratty to Nancy and Bobby with harrassing them to pay Lisa back. She gave the money away, it should have been her responsibility to pay it back.

Taking Nancy and Hannie to the movies and buying Andrew a toy were nice. I thought it was sweet how she gave everyone in the neighborhood a quarter to buy Andrew's lemonade because she wanted him to be successful.

[sweetvalleygirl99]

I haven't read this book in a long time but I remember it being good. This is the one where Karen and her friends go to Funland at the end right?

[aln1982]

^ This was the one. I really liked it, too, especially the funland trip and how they found Seth's wallet.
I also thought the wallet looked a bit suspicious but reminded myself it's a LS book. ;D I probably would have kept the money (actually, I probably would have done almost just what Karen did - all the way through) so can't fault Karen too much (or at leat can relate ;D)

[greer]

In russia if i found that wallet i would have thought it was a con and ran away it's a common trick for people to drop a wallet, wait for a person to pick it up, and then claim that there's money missing from the wallet when it is returned.

In the us i think i would give it back. However, i thought it was pretty stupid of that guy to be carrying around THAT much money! It would have been much smarter to put it in the bank and carry around a debit card instead!

One thing that has always struck me is how tan karen's legs are on the cover.

[aln1982]

^ ;D This cover is an interesting one, from what I remember. A lot of the LS covers are very strange looking. I think this might be the one, too, where Karen looks like she has jewels (like the Dwarves in Snow White ;D) in her eyes when she's looking down at the wallet. ;D

[scrounge]

I completely didn't understand the guy giving her 100 entire dollars as a reward when it turned out he had a large family with lots of kids and was made out to be fairly poor. You'd think that in that case he would have given her $5 or $20 or so, because you gotta assume that his tons of kids would be thrilled with that amount, and he'd figure Karen would be too. I could buy it much easier if he had cash like everyone else in Stoneybrook. Of course, that would ruin the fun of watching Karen spend her money. So realistic. I would have done the same when I was a kid.

[mckay]

This book made me hate Karen, because she was DISAPPOINTED with getting $100. She was upset that he didn't give her HALF of his money. Even if he had been rich, that's incredibly bratty.

[aln1982]

^ I guess you’re a much better person than I am because I probably would have been disappointed too – just wouldn’t have been as honest about it. ;D That’s one thing that I notice and like about Karen is her honesty and I also think it’s one of the things that contributes to people’s perception of her as a brat – she admits how she truly feels.
I really like this one for the trip to Funland. I’m ready to go there right now! Can also relate to feeling “greedy” and wanting everything. I go through that for some reason right after I do get presents. ;D

[sparklymouse]

I thought it was cute how Karen wanted to look like the tacky Funland girl who was either wearing or carrying every souvenir possible in the commercial.

This was finally a money situation that made sense and made the parents look fair. Admission to the park was $40 for adults and $25 for kids. The parents paid the entrance fees and made their kids buy their own crap inside. What a concept!

[greer]

I think it would have been better karen got NO money for returning the wallet, or not have accepted the reward, or chose to donate it. Her dad's a millionaire and seven year olds shouldn't have that kind of money!

[sweetvalleygirl99]

sparklymouse said:

I thought it was cute how Karen wanted to look like the tacky Funland girl who was either wearing or carrying every souvenir possible in the commercial.

Lol, I forgot about that part ;D. I thought it was cute too .

[mckay]

aln1982 said:

^ I guess you’re a much better person than I am because I probably would have been disappointed too – just wouldn’t have been as honest about it. ;D That’s one thing that I notice and like about Karen is her honesty and I also think it’s one of the things that contributes to people’s perception of her as a brat – she admits how she truly feels.
I really like this one for the trip to Funland. I’m ready to go there right now! Can also relate to feeling “greedy” and wanting everything. I go through that for some reason right after I do get presents. ;D

Maybe NOW I'd feel disappointed, though I'm so jaded I wouldn't expect anything, but at that age I remember how huge an amount $20 seemed - a hundred would have felt like a million! I probably would have passed out.

Of course, my father wasn't a millionaire

[aln1982]

^ ;D I think different kids have different skewed perceptions of money. When I asked my little cousin how much she was charging for a used video in a garage sale, she told me $100 and was mad when I said "no way!" ;D

[Kylie90210]

I just finished this last night, and have to agree about being annoyed Karen was dissapointed over $100. I totally expected her to get $20 or something. I was like, "Wow!" When she got $100. I love how realistic it was that the money quite literally disappeared. I always spend my money like that, and then wonder what happened to it.

Karen looked awful on this cover, she looked better on the next one as a clown!

Andrew did such a great job earning money, I have expected he would have to shout Karen at Funland.

And $800 is ALOT of money, even by today's standard. But I would definately hand it in, cause that's what I'd want someone to do for me.

[msstock87]

I was annoyed with Karen's selfishness in this book as well. 100 dollars to even me now, is a lot of money. I did like the whole Funland story though, it seemed like it would be a place I would want to go when I was a kid, (Okay maybe as an adult too).