Despite
what I said last week, there will be no making fun of anorexia. (Even I have
standards, no matter how low they may be!) There are enough other things to
make fun of in this book anyway!
Jessi’s
dance school is offering a free ballet class for underprivileged kids. Jessi
and her classmate Mary volunteer to assist with the class, and Jessi notices
that Mary is dieting to the extreme. She decides (with the help of the BSC)
that Mary is anorexic. Eventually, she tells Mme. Noelle, who helps Mary get
the help she needs. Meanwhile, because some of the kids are really getting into
the ballet class, Watson agrees to fund a scholarship so that two of the
children can continue.
In the B
plot, Kristy’s been busier than normal, while Shannon’s been less busy than
normal. Shannon starts hanging out with all the other BSC members, and Kristy
gets jealous and accuses her of stealing her friends.
Interesting
Tidbits
The
cover. Mary looks younger than Jessi, which we know isn’t true, because Jessi’s
the youngest member of her class. Other than that, it’s not bad. I’m assuming
those kids are Martha and Devon.
I don’t
remember how many times I read this as a kid, but this is the first time I’m
rereading it as an adult. I’m looking for all the signs and symptoms of
anorexia as I read. The first time Mary is mentioned, Jessi notes that she’s a
control freak and a perfectionist. A few pages later, she mentions needing to
lose weight.
Um….special.
Jessi mentions that Mal thinks she’s ugly, but she’s not that bad. Then, she
says that Mal is so nice and wonderful inside
that when you spend enough time with her, she starts to seem pretty. I get the
idea behind this, but it’s actually pretty insulting. (I really, actually do
get this. I wasn’t cute in middle school at all. Bad, huge glasses, terrible
acne, greasy hair in a bad style, plus awful mid-90s clothes. I’m a hell of a
lot cuter now.) Wouldn’t it be nicer if Jessi just said, “Mal doesn’t think
she’s pretty, but she actually is.”
At one
point, Schafer is misspelled as Shafer, despite the fact that it was correct
earlier in the same paragraph.
I’m
trying to figure out what it is about Claudia that she can look cool wearing
something that the rest of the world would look terrible wearing. They say that
in a lot of books. Is it because Claudia is Japanese-American and 'exotic
looking'?
There are
four other teens helping with the children’s dance class with Jessi and Mary.
One is Vince, whom Jessi is able to distinguish from the other boy because Mary
says he’s a snob and he looks like a
snob. (Apparently, in BSC-land, you have to be blond and rich to be a snob.
Vince is blond and stands up very straight. The only other time I can remember
them worrying about snobs it was Amanda and Shannon, and they’re both blonde,
too.) Then there are Darcy, Raul (whom Mary thinks is cute) and Sue.
The kids
in the class include Devon, Martha, Nora, Jane, Yvonne, Cherisse, Alphonse,
I don’t
know why, but I had a good laugh when Jessi feels the need to explain that
Linny is a boy.
I would
have loved the game Let’s All Come In as a kid, except for the fact that Karen
rules the game with an iron fist. The Karen thing aside, I do think it’s unfair
that the boy (usually David Michael, but Linny this time) is forced to be the
bell hop every time they play.
More
signs of anorexia (Jessi picks up on these ones): Mary is constantly checking
herself out in the mirror, more than the other dancers do, and pinching at her
alleged tub or chub. (Tub is on the stomach, chub is on the thighs. My mom says
this is technical terminology. Thanks, mom.) She also wears oversized clothes,
which keeps people from seeing how much weight you’ve lost, and of course, she
barely eats and pushes the food around, breaking it up, so it looks like she’s
eaten something.
So of
course, because Mary’s not eating, she gets faint and nearly passes out. I
could never be anorexic because I nearly did that because I didn’t have enough
protein for breakfast this morning.
The title
quote is what Jessi’s dad says when she asks him to pick her up at Burger
King…but wait outside for her. She’s already embarrassed by her dad. They grow
up so fast!
Kristy
keeps getting irritated because she’s super busy and doesn’t have time to hang
out with Shannon, so Shannon is calling all the other BSC members to chill
instead. (I guess she’s between activities?) But Shannon calling all the other
members is her idea, so I’m not
entirely sure why she’s so huffy. Maybe she should just take fewer sitting jobs
herself? Then she’d have time to hang out, too.
Kristy’s
going out with Bart for the evening, so Stacey babysits for the Thomas/Brewer
crew. Elizabeth says that Kristy, Sam or Charlie should be home by eleven. Um,
really? Kristy’s in freakin’ middle school! I had a ten p.m. curfew until I was
18. Now, I know my mom was a little…overprotective…but eleven seems a little
ridiculous for someone who doesn't even wear a bra yet.
I guess
it’s not so silly in BSC-land, because Shannon’s curfew is also eleven.
Mary
faints in their regular Friday ballet class. Mme. Noelle suggests she eat some
chicken soup to ward off the ‘virus’ she has. Jessi suggests the advice is
wiser than Mme. Noelle suspects. But Mme. Noelle’s not exactly a noob. She’s
been a dancer and a teacher for a while, so she must have seen eating disorders
over and over again.
There’s
this thing about how it’s harder being a minority ballet dancer than a white
dancer. Raul, who is Latino, keeps raging that Mme. Dupres, who is running the
free dance class, expects nothing out of the kids because they’re poor and a
number of them are minorities. Later, he says that Mme. Dupres was too hard on
Devon when he was being disruptive just because he’s also Latino and poor.
Kristy
asks Jessi to come sit at her house because everyone else is going to hang out
with Shannon. But here’s what made me laugh: Kristy’s going to be a planning
meeting for the spring dance. Doesn’t that sound more like something Stacey, or
maybe Claudia or even Dawn would do before Kristy?
Jessi
actually asks Aunt Cecelia for advice about Mary. Not only is AC helpful (and
gives the right advice), she actually compliments Jessi. She tells Jessi she
has good instincts.
Claudia
spelling: usualy, deap, breth, relly, nock, thogh, Tifany
One of
the girls in the class, Martha, has clearly taken ballet lessons before, but
insists she never has. Eventually her mother admits that she’d scrimped and
saved to enroll Martha in classes, but stopped because someone told her that
there was no room for people of color in professional ballet. But seeing Jessi
in the class makes her feel better about it, and Martha tries for (and gets)
one of the scholarships.
The other
kid who gets a scholarship is Devon, who was a problem for the first few weeks
of the class. However, after Mme. Dupres kicks him out of class one week, he
comes back and behaves and develops some good skills.
Outfits:
Claudia:
neon green tank top, fuchsia stirrup pants, oversized white man’s shirt,
colorful woven belt, ceramic bead earrings
Jessi:
(don’t get all excited; it’s just dancewear) neon green leotard, blue workout
pants, yellow slouchy socks (so…very…bright…)
Mary: big
white shirt, gray sweats
Next week: Mystery
#7: Dawn and the Disappearing Dogs
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