This is another one of
these BSC books in which the club takes on a ridiculously large project and, of
course, it goes well. The students at SES have gotten pen pals from a Zuni
reservation in New Mexico. A giant fire burns down the school and several of the
children's houses. Dawn can't stop thinking about those poor kids, so she
organizes a fundraiser and food and clothing drive. The kids really get into it
and it's a great success. To reward the kids, they have a giant sleepover with
all the kids who got involved. Dawn winds up exhausted but happy when the
principal of the school in New Mexico writes a letter thanking them for their
donation.
No subplot in this one.
Just a lot of "cuteness" as various kids use different schemes to
raise money.
Interesting tidbits
I'm so excited to try to
catch all the Brit-isms thrown into this book. It does not disappoint. On the
first page, Mallory refers to her siblings as "you lot" instead of
"you guys" or something American.
Even in England, Dawn
still has a case of the italics. I'm barely one page in and she's italicized
two, might, long, every, and her. All of that but the first is in one
paragraph, where she's describing herself. (This continues throughout the whole
book.)
Britishness for Chapter
1 (actually, it's called 1st Chapter): Mum for Mom; they describe Claire as
being in nursery instead of in kindergarten; junior school instead of
elementary school (although they still refer to SES and SMS); "a
brace" instead of braces.
British spellings:
storey, programme, jewellery, favourites, favour, pyjamas, theatre, armour,
practise, honour, cheque.
Jordan's pen pal asks if
they have the new Star Wars film. It's 1991; there hadn't been a Star Wars film
in 7 years or so. I want to say the American version mentions Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, but it's been 20 years since I read it. (BTW, they're called
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the U.K.)
The triplets think Pig
Latin is their secret language. Yet all the Pike kids know it. Great secret.
Chapter 2: Richard tells
Dawn and MA they can "lay the table;" Kristy wears a "polo neck
shirt, jeans and trainers;" British candy in Claudia's room, such as Hula
Hoops.
Heh. This is during the
MA-Logan break up, and Dawn mentions Logan in the past tense, then feels the
need to point out that he's not dead.
Dawn's surprised Jessi
doesn't get stage fright. She's been performing since she was itty bitty. If
she got stage fright, she would have quit dancing ages ago.
One interesting
difference it took me until chapter 3 to notice: In the U.S., they always say
Baby-Sitters Club. In the UK, it's Babysitters Club, which is, you'll notice,
how I always spell it. I've always thought that hyphen was pretty unnecessary.
Chapter 3: Kristy is
club chairman, and Claudia is vice-chairman; every Monday, Stacey collects club
subs instead of dues (I assume it's short for subscription); the group
"quietened" down at one point; Mallory says "you lot"
again; a petrol station caught fire.
Dawn and Mary Anne find
Claudia talking with her mouth full hilarious. You'd think they'd be used to it
by now.
Chapter 4: Richard picks
up some Mexican takeaway; a senior teacher from SMS talks to Dawn about her
idea.
Dawn gets MA's attention
away from a book by giving her spoilers. Nice...When Dawn tells Kristy her plan, Kristy says they'll need to have an emergency meeting as soon as the school decides to go with it. Since the school meeting would be on a weekday, the longest they'd have to wait for a regular meeting after hearing the news would be one day. (They end up starting their meeting half an hour early. That makes a lot more sense.)
Chapter 5: Nicky once had a paper round (instead of route).
I remember this from when I read the book as a child.
They're making a flier about the fundraiser and drive, and Kristy does a Who
What When Where Why. They're going through the Ws and Kristy says,
"Where's where?" It leads to this:
"What?" Claudia said.
"Where," Kristy repeated."Where's what?" Mary Anne said.
I thought it was a lot longer than that, though.
Chapter 6: Dr. Johanssen
had to do a casualty shift (I assume this means ER).
Stacey tells Charlotte
she can only have some low sodium crackers; later, she's described as eating
pretzels.
Chapter 7: Dawn calls
her homeroom teacher her registration teacher; the head teacher (principal) at
SES approves the assembly; Mallory and Jessi sit in the boot seats in the car
on the way to SES (I assume these are the rear-facing seats in a station wagon);
they park in the car park.
The school secretary
drives the BSC over to the elementary school. Unless she's a registered bus
driver and her car is a licensed school vehicle, this is illegal.
Dawn takes questions
from the audience and conveniently knows all the kids who have questions. Then
one of the triplets plays a trick on Mallory...ending the assembly.
The notebook entries are
the same as the U.S. version, with a few slight changes--mostly the spelling.
Chapter 8: Margo and
Claire make a fish pond in paddling pool; Marilyn and Carolyn arrange a
"hoopla" involving plastic skittles (bowling pins).
Dawn asks the triplets
why they call it a "free throw" when it costs a quarter, and they
just roll their eyes. You can't tell me she never played basketball in school.
I'd have rolled my eyes too.
Linny is helping at the
Pikes' carnival, even though he doesn't
go to SES and therefore, doesn't have a penpal. It happens again later, when
the Kilbournes and Delaneys, who also go to private school, are involved in the
yard sale. I guess the kids could still go to the slumber party and everything,
but I imagine the liability would be different for that.
Claire references
Fraggle Rock.
Spelling error: The book
mentions Gabbic Perkins.
How does the carnival
make money? They charge money for the games, but I can't imagine a quarter per
game even covers the price of the prizes, and I assume they have to pay the
young man (Goober) doing the dinosaur show. Are they charging admission?
Claudia spelling:
yestirday, Rudowskis, carnavel, remeber, assined, supervize, Jacky, Rudowsky,
disastr, mest. She also uses sail for sale.
Chapter 9: the Rodowskys
have a garden sale instead of a yard or garage sale.None of the girls wants to work the Rodowsky yard sale, so they actually draw straws to decide who has to take the job. It ends up being a borderline disaster, as none of the kids were asking for permission for the wares they donated. Some of the parents decided to let their items go, while others paid some money to buy them back.
Dawn and MA realize the
downside to having a contest for the donations. While some of the items donated
are pretty junky, others are really nice...too nice almost. Dawn discovers that
many of the items, like those at the yard sale, were donated without the
parents' permission.
Haley puts on a gypsy
costume and reads fortunes. Alan, Pete and their friend Justin come by, and
Alan decides to have his fortune read. First Haley mentions a handsome young
man and Pete makes a gay joke. Then, Haley, sensing a sucker, only gives Alan
half his fortune and insists on another quarter to finish.
Dawn shames the pizza
man into getting flour from the grocery store when his flour shipment doesn't
arrive in time. Later, she says all the pizza went really quickly, except for
the slices with anchovies. Who thought anchovy pizza was a good idea with kids?
Chapter 12: the BSC
clears up the mess left by the pizzas. (there were no good Britisms in 10 and
11.)
Real book: One
Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey.
We don't get to hear how
much money was raised, just that Dawn couldn't believe the amount.
Chapter 14: Various kids
keep saying they have to go to the toilet, rather than the bathroom (which in
Britain would have a bath or shower in it.) I was rather hoping they would want
to use the loo or WC (water closet).
Dawn says the Barretts
were the last parents to arrive. Was that Mrs. Barrett and Mr. Barrett
together? I can't imagine.
By the way, why do they
call her Mrs. Barrett, while Stacey's mom (also divorced) is Ms. McGill?
Very cheesy ending:
Haley mentioned she had written a letter to her pen pal from her psychic
alter-ego saying that a mysterious package would come from the East. The pen
pal replies, saying that everything came true. She wanted to know how
"Madame Levoux" knew all of this, how she got her (the pen pal's)
address, and so on...then ends the letter, "Next time, Haley, disguise
your handwriting better!"
Outfits:
Claudia: oversized
yellow man's jacket, orange ski pants (instead of stirrup pants, which I *know*
it was in the U.S. version), and a hideous, wide paisley tie, ankle boots, hoop
earrings; more damn Pebbles hair, with a bone "hair slide," pink, off
the shoulder shirt with polka dots, tights (no pants, apparently)
Next week: #15 Little Miss
Stoneybrook...and Dawn
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