I remember this being
one of my favorite Dawn books as a child, but I'm not sure why. I think it had
something to do with how she successfully tricks MA. I always wanted to pull
off a prank or something that required that much planning.
This one picks up after
the cliffhanger of #30. Mary Anne and her dad move into Dawn's house, and the
two families have trouble merging. MA and Dawn insist on sharing a room, which
does not go well. Eventually Dawn gets her family to talk to one another and
discuss their problems...except she doesn't take her own advice. Instead, she
tricks MA into moving into the spare bedroom, which makes them both happier.
Over at the Pikes, they
experience the infamous Pike Plague. Mallory has chicken pox, the triplets have
pneumonia, Claire and Margo had bronchitis, Nicky has broken fingers, Vanessa
sprains her ankle, Mrs. Pike injures her elbow playing tennis (while all her
kids are laid up...) and Mr. Pike burns his hand. There's no real plot, just a
few sitting jobs that are sort of chaotic.
Interesting tidbits
Oh, the cover. First of
all, MA is taller than Dawn in this picture, while Dawn is supposed to be the
tall one of the group. Jeff looks totally exasperated (and really super short,
like if he stood he'd come up to Dawn's elbow). I'm amused by the fact that
they're all wearing stripes. I have a shirt with stripes just like
MA's...except that it isn't five sizes too big, and I don't wear it tucked into
mom jeans with pegged legs.
Dawn thinks she should
have caught her mother's bouquet, just because it is her mom. If that's the
case, then what's the point of even throwing it? Sharon should have just tossed
it straight at Dawn. (It seems to always be the most unlikely ones who catch
the bouquet, like the four year old flower girl or a person who normally can't
catch anything.)
One thing has always
kind of bugged me about the story of Sharon and Richard. Dawn says that her
grandparents sent Sharon to school in California to get her as far away from
Richard as possible. Wouldn't Sharon have had some say in where she went to
school? I mean, she could have chosen to go to the University of Connecticut or
something. Maybe they threatened not to fund her schooling if she didn't go
where they wanted. I don't know, but it's a plot hole and it bugs me.
Dawn says all of MA's
grandparents are dead. Obviously, this was before it was decided that MA lived
with her grandma in Iowa for a year.
"But fate
intervened. (I read that sentence in a book once. Isn't it great?)" No,
Dawn, it's lame and clichéd. Just like the BSC!
Do Sharon and Richard
really not have any friends besides their coworkers? They invite the BSC, the
Pike triplets, and work friends to the wedding, and no one else.
Dawn is surprised when
Sharon takes Richard's last name. She says Sharon said it was okay for Dawn and
Jeff to keep their old last name, but why wouldn't it be? Especially because
I'm sure their dad would be all HELL NO to his kids taking their stepfather's
name.
Really? Charlie comes to
the wedding to pick the girls up and take them to MA's house. First, he's got
nothing better to do on Saturday afternoon? (Forget Sam. I think Charlie was
really the Thomas kid with the hots for one of the BSC members.) Second, eight
people in what is probably a car for four? Doesn't Stoneybrook have a public
bus or something?
Ooh, chapter two in this
book compares Kristy and Claudia! We don't usually get to hear that one!
There's an odd mention
of Claudia's one-off boyfriend from SS #2.
Wow, Dawn has a thing
for italics in chapter two. She italicizes once when talking about MA, twice
when talking about Jessi, three times when talking about herself, and five
times when talking about Stacey. Plus, she writes in all caps at one point.
(Actually, she continues to have this issue throughout the whole book.)
Tigger cries pretty much
the entire day after the Spiers move into Dawn's house. It could have been
worse--he could have hidden under the lazy susan and not come out for two
weeks.
You don't learn how the
BSC operates until chapter 4 in this book.
Dawn says the BSC
members are like sisters, and Logan is a brother to them all. Ew to Mary Anne
dating her brother.
I love it when MA gets
bitchy. She and Dawn fight over a sitting job, and MA tells her that she's fat.
Myriah Perkins makes MA
help her write a letter to the President (who, back then, would have been Bush
Sr.)
I know Cam Geary has
always been described as MA's favorite star, but is it an established fact that
he is on a TV show?
Claudia spelling:
yisterday, Piks (Pikes'), wehn, becuase, triplits, beter, realy (twice). She
also says couldnt' and uses you're instead of your. But the best part is when
she says about Mal: "Maybe you didn't lick being babbysat for
agian..."
The Pikes play
hospital...while Mallory has chicken pox and the triplets are at the doctor's.
Claire goes to the Pike hospital ER with a broken head.
Mal's being all pesty
while Claudia babysits, and Claud tells her to play with her kid kit.
Here's what's weird
about the Pike Plague. I know that in families with small children--especially
those with that many kids--germs go around and around and around. But usually
everyone gets the same thing at the same time. Either everyone gets the stomach
flu, or they all get the same cold, or whatever. But the Pikes have a little
bit of everything. And some of them aren't even sick, just physically injured.
I love that Dawn can see
how Sharon and Richard are not solving their problems, just skirting around
them, but doesn't see how she needs to address her issues with Mary Anne.
Richard organizes his
clothes by color. The colors in his sock drawer are in alphabetical order.
Sharon gets really upset
because Tigger throws up. At least Sharon didn't find the barf with her bare
feet.
Claudia's wearing a
candy necklace to the dance, and Dawn's only comment is, "You had candy in
your room and you didn't eat it?" (There goes that italics monster
again.)
We meet the infamous
Carol in this one, and she says that she'll never marry anyone. We all know how
that worked out. (Incidentally, I was talking to someone who read the
California Diaries books and she said that Carol and Dawn's dad have a baby
during that. While Dawn is still in eighth grade. So, in one year, both her
parents got married again and her dad managed to pop out another kid. They move
about as fast as Stacey's dad getting engaged just months after getting
divorced.)
Uh oh. Dawn's getting
deep. She wonders if "real" sisters (only she used italics, not
quotes) fight half the time and then are close the other half. She should have
met me and my sister--I'm in my thirties and she'll be thirty this year, and we
still get along best when we're in different zip codes.
Apparently, Mary Anne is
an awful liar. She ends up giggling when she tells Dawn that she's not giving
her a job simply because Jenny Prezzioso is a brat.
When Dawn and MA get
into a shouting match while doing their homework, Sharon and Richard come in to
mediate. I don't even think I was surprised when I was ten that Sharon took
MA's side, and Richard took Dawn's.
During a Kristy/Jessi
joint entry, Jessi says that Nicky and Vanessa will be back in school on
Monday. Does that mean that they were staying home from school for three broken
fingers and a sprained ankle?! My mom would have never let me stay home for
something silly like that. (Although it could be a bit of a problem for Nicky
if his broken fingers were on his writing hand.)
I've finally figured out
what was bugging me so badly about last week's Mallory book. It's that they
always describe Mallory as being sensible, partly because she's the oldest of
eight kids and partly just from her personality. So it bothered me that she thought
a cat was a ghost. Which leads me to....
While Kristy and Jessi
are helping out at the Pikes while all the Pikes (except, by now, Mal) are
injured or sick, Mal keeps giving them instructions. Breakfast is a set menu
and there are no substitutions. Kristy and Jessi think she's nuts, but she's
right. When Jessi gives Margo a banana (not on the menu), it turns into a
brouhaha and breakfast ends up going on for two hours.
Charlie is a saint. He
goes grocery shopping for the Pikes and then helps Jessi, Kristy and Mallory
cook dinner.
Instead of talking to
Mary Anne and trying to solve her problems like a grown up, Dawn decides to be
sneaky and scare MA out of her room. (*shakes head*)
She also decides she
needs revenge on MA for all the things she's done to her. Which is a pretty
stupid list, and half the things on it are about MA complaining about the
events of the book--which is exactly what I've been reading Dawn doing for the
last 123 pages.
Mistake: Charlie picks
Mary Anne up for a sleepover at Kristy's. Dawn runs out to meet them and says
hi to Kristy, Jessi and Sam. (Italics mine, not Dawn's.) Since Charlie
had just come from helping at the Pikes', I'm pretty sure Sam wasn't with them.
(And she probably would have greeted Charlie also.)
Dawn decides to pretend
to be a ghost in the secret passage, but she's not going to just be a generic
ghost. She has to pretend to be the ghost of Jared Mullray.
I remembered this as
soon as I started to read it. Claudia is standing on her head, trying to get
blood rushing to her brain, as she has a big test coming up. She believes the
extra blood flow will make her smarter. Kristy theorizes that, since she's been
sitting all day, she must have a really smart ass. (Only she doesn't get to say
that. They don't even let her say butt or bottom or anything. She gets cut
off.)
When she gets back up,
Claudia is light headed. When she asks if that's how it feels to be a genius,
Janine shouts out a no from her room. Claudia rolls her eyes, but I thought it
was kinda cute.
Dawn tells her family
they need to be more honest with each other. Pot, calling kettle. You are
black. I repeat, you are black.
Mallory has chicken pox
scars, and she won't tell where they are. But apparently Jessi knows...
Outfits:
Claudia: pink sparkly
high tops; short, flared skirts over leggings
Next week: I'm between
two Jessi books. I was going to do #103 Happy Holidays Jessi, but I'm a major
dork and figured that, next time Jessi comes up will be December. So it's
probably #22 Jessi Ramsey, Pet Sitter.
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