Jeff’s in
town for a visit, and since he hasn’t spent much time with the new
Spier-Schafer brood yet, everything’s awkward and difficult. Richard’s trying
too hard to get Jeff to like him, while Sharon and Dawn are falling all over
themselves to please him, even while he’s acting like a brat. It gets really
bad when they go on a long weekend trip to Boston, but they eventually realize
how stupid they’re being and enjoy each other’s company.
Meanwhile,
Mrs. Barrett found herself a boy toy who has four kids of his own, and of
course, the kids all hate each other. The parallels between the two plotlines
are obvious, and Mary Anne even draws them out loud in chapter seven, but it
doesn’t stop her from being whiny and annoying (as are Dawn and Jeff)
throughout the rest of the book.
Interesting
Tidbits
The
cover! Jeff’s doing exactly what you’d expect him to do if he were just about
to have his picture taken. After all, he’s a ten year old boy. (I still do
that, actually. My Facebook photo is me and The Pepper making pretty much that
same face.) Meanwhile, Dawn and Mary Anne caught a case of the bitch and
Richard and Sharon are all, “Aww, aren’t our kids cute?” instead of “Smarten up
or I’ll smack you upside the head!” like they should be. Best of all, it’s
almost exactly as the book describes the photo is taken (except that Sharon and
Richard should look less happy.)
Sharon
starts the book by asking Dawn for “that squirty stuff.” I think it’s supposed
to be an example of her being scatterbrained, but I think we’ve all had moments
like that. (If you haven’t, please
don’t let me know. I have them all the time; the other day I asked a coworker
to hand me “that thing you write on paper with” because the word pen wouldn’t come out of my mouth.)
Richard
wastes a bunch of time showing Dawn how to make Jeff’s bed up with hospital
corners. Now if Dawn-the-neat-and-tidy doesn’t see the difference, do you think
Jeff is going to care?
I would
totally watch The Care Bears Meet the
Smurfs. It would be Smurfy!
Avocado
cheese melts sound pretty good. I’m thinking I might have to try that on
tortilla chips for dinner.
Jeff’s
wearing a fanny pack when he gets off the plane. That’s one trend I seriously
hope never comes back into fashion. My mom wore one for years, using it as a
purse, but she called it a ‘bum bag’ because that’s how they’re known in
England. (‘Fanny’ has a whole separate meaning there.)
I think
it’s funny that everyone’s talking about how exciting it would be if Franklin
married Mrs. Barrett, because it would make a combined seven kids…the same as
Kristy’s family and fewer than Mal’s family. (Mal is the only one who doesn’t
comment on how insane it would be.) No one seems concerned about how the kids
will get along, despite the fact that Kristy herself didn’t want to meet Karen
and Andrew in the very first book. I guess this is because Buddy and Suzi
actually like Franklin, while Kristy didn’t care for Watson.
Mallory
suggests playing license plates with the Barrett and DeWitt kids, but probably
only Lindsey and Buddy are old enough to read license plates and know what
state it says.
How does
Mrs. Barrett, who, sixty books ago, couldn’t even clean her own house or take
care of her own kids, know that ‘all matinees start at two’? It would seem to
be more her style to show up too late than too early.
Dawn and
MA decide to coordinate their outfits for the family portraits, so MA drags out
every dress she bought over the ‘last three years.’ Now I can get away with
that, but are we really supposed to believe that MA still fits into a dress she
bought when she was ten? Or that she’d even want to wear that, since it would
be something her dad picked out? (Maybe they mean 1990 to 1993, all of which
was while she was 13…)
Why would
Dawn eat fried ice cream? Shouldn’t that make her scream and go brush her
teeth? I mean, processed sugars!
Ooh, I’d
watch all of these too: The Mutant from
Outer Space, Revenge of the Mutants,
The Mutants Fight Back, Son of the Mutant and The Mutant from Outer Space Part Two.
I can’t
fathom the logic of trying to ‘make’ the Barrett and DeWitt kids like each
other by cooking a fancy dinner and dressing the kids up in their best clothes.
They’re little kids! They’d probably rather eat mac and cheese with cut up
hotdogs in it on paper plates, and then they could actually act like kids.
The
Richard-Jeff thing reminds me of an episode of Queer as Folk in which a boy about Jeff’s age visits his dad he
doesn’t see too often. The kid acts like a little bastard through most of the
episode. Finally dad’s boyfriend (who thinks kid has a problem with dad being
gay) finds out that the kid thinks his dad overplans their time together and
forces him to ‘make the most of it’ by rushing from outing to outing. Finally,
they cancel the rest of their plans and sit around reading comic books and the
three of them get along better. Richard keeps planning activities for Jeff, but
they’re the kind of activities Richard
would enjoy rather than what Jeff would enjoy. The whole problem could have
been solved by Richard asking Jeff what he wanted to do and then planning that.
Mary Anne
only gets upset with Dawn because Dawn suggests her dad is the reason Jeff is
miserable. Here’s the thing about this: I don’t blame Jeff for being unhappy.
Not only is he completely the center of Richard’s attention (which is weird and
awkward, because they’re family but don’t know each other at all), but things
are difficult with the triplets because they haven’t kept in touch well and
aren’t interested in all the same things anymore. But he is acting extremely bratty about it all, more than the situation
requires. And the parents are making it worse by not laying down the law with
him (and when they start up, MA and Dawn). I know he’s on vacation, and they
don’t see him very much, but telling him to get his attitude straight isn’t
that out of line. You still have to be a parent, even when you only see your
kid now and then.
Actually,
this A plot is one of the most realistic plots in the entire BSC series.
Blended families don’t magically get along because their parents decide to get
married, the way the Brady Bunch (and the Thomas-Brewer Bunch) do.
We’ve
found the source of “Mary Anne the Walking Guide Book”: it’s genetic. Both she
and Richard carry guidebooks throughout their stay in Boston. Despite that fact
(and, you know, elementary school American history class), she has no idea what
the Boston Tea Party is.
Mary Anne
also insists on sleeping with Richard and Sharon because Dawn and Jeff are
being childish. Bet they loved that.
Of
course, Dawn writes multiple letters on her three day vacation. Interestingly,
she writes two each to Kristy and Stacey, three to Claudia and one to Jessi.
Notice anyone missing?
I think
the worst part of the vacation is the fact that Dawn can see that Sharon and
Richard are upset, yet she keeps siding with Jeff…even though she acknowledges
that he’s being a world-class brat. Sharon really wanted to see the art museum
Richard and MA go to, and Richard really wanted to go whale watching, but
because the kids are fighting, they go their separate ways. Sharon actually starts
crying after a full day of Jeff pulling crap to get out of hanging out with
Richard and Mary Anne.
You all
know how I feel about Dawn, but she’s definitely the most mature of the Spier-Schafer
children in this book, and even she throws a tantrum or two.
Ooh,
Claudia spelling! Actually, I was really thrown by this notebook entry because
I couldn’t figure out who was doing the joint entry with Claud. It looks like
Abby handwriting but obviously couldn’t be Abby. I had to read halfway through
to find out it was Shannon. (Shannon usually has tiny little neat handwriting.)
On to the spelling: wernt, problums, Baret, Shanon, notbook, becuase. She also
uses grate for great and no for know.
And of
course, because they’re BSC members, Claudia and Shannon ‘fix’ the
Barrett/DeWitt problem. This is obviously the counterpoint to me saying that
the other plot was realistic.
The title
quote is what Adam says when Jeff offers to get the triplets souvenirs from the
plane. When Jordan points out that the oxygen masks are only for emergencies so
Jeff can’t get him one, Adam responds, “Jeff can do anything.”
Outfits
Mrs.
Barrett: cream linen slacks, blazer, lavender silk blouse, pearl necklace and
earrings (and yes, she looked like a model)
Suzi and
Marnie: matching blue and white polka dot dresses, ankle socks, black patent
leather shoes
Buddy:
blue pants, white shirt, red bow tie
Jeff:
torn jeans, dirty t-shirt, ball cap; tan slacks, sweater
Dawn: red
t-shirt, blue shirt, jean skirt
Mary
Anne: old jeans, sweat shirt
New characters:
Lindsey,
Taylor, Madeleine and Ryan DeWitt (8, 6, 4 and 2): 29, 27, 25 and 23
Next
week: I have to say I underestimated Tessie. Not only did she not pack up my
copy of #62, she actually read it. So I guess it’s my turn to read it too.
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