Thoughts before reading:
I've never read this before, but somehow I knew this was the book where Louie, Kristy's old collie, dies. I think when I was a kid one of my friends warned me, so I never read it. Things like that have always bothered me, and to be honest, they still do, even in a kids book. I think that scene in the Little House books where Jack dies is the saddest scene in all of children's literature. (Anyone who's read On The Shores of Silver Lake knows what I'm talking about!) For that reason I was dragging my feet about reading this one, so I'll be glad to have it done.
The basics:
Kristy's having a hard time adjusting to living in Watson's neighborhood. All of her friends and the BSC are far away, and she doesn't know anyone in her new area. The kids all seem really stuck up, and when she encounters some girls at the bus stop they tease her about her clothes/appearance. To top all of this off, her dog Louie is limping and seems unhappy. He's also starting to walk into furniture, and not always greeting them when they come home.
The Thomas kids (Charlie, Sam, Kristy, and David Michael) take Louie to the vet. She explains he has arthritis, which is causing him a fair amount of pain, and he is going blind. There isn't much she can do-he's just getting old. When they get home Kristy takes him for a short walk around the neighborhood, and she runs into the girl from the bus stop, Shannon. She makes fun of poor Louie and brags about her purebred mountain dog.
Shortly after this, Kristy gets a sitting job in her own neighborhood, something she's been trying to do since all the advertising in the last book. It's for the Papadakis family, who are friends of Karen. During the job, Shannon calls Kristy and tells her the house is on fire. Only after Kristy panics and rushes the kids out does she learn this is a "prank". Apparently Shannon is jealous and angry because Kristy is taking her babysitting jobs.
Kristy then gets another job sitting for the Delany kids, Amanda and Max, who also live on their street. They have a fountain in their front hall, a $400 Persian cat, and are insanely spoiled. Both kids order Kristy around like a servant and have no manners. Shannon calls and pranks her again, saying she's sitting for the Papadakis kids and needs help when she obviously doesn't.
Dawn's little brother Jeff is also starting to have problems during this time. He's angry and resentful because he misses California and his dad. He's having trouble in school and acting out a lot, being rude to his mother and sister, and saying he doesn't want to live with them. The whole BSC is feeling down because of all these things, and Louie is still getting sicker.
Stacey sits for the Delany kids and tames them using reverse psychology. When Kristy gets yet another job there, she has success doing the same thing. Of course, while she's sitting Shannon pranks her again by sending a pizza over. Kristy convinces the pizza guy to send the pizza back to Shannon, causing her to come over and confront Kristy in person. Somehow Kristy makes her laugh and they end up sharing the pizza.
Meanwhile, Louie has been declining rapidly, getting to the point where he has no control over his back legs. The family has to put him down. Afterward, they hold a nice little memorial for him, and Shannon comes over to apologize for how she treated him. Her dog has also just had puppies, and she gives them one for free. David Michael names it Shannon. Kristy makes her the newest associate member of the BSC.
Timeline:
There's no mention of the month or season at all. I'm not sure if the books are starting to purposely be vague or not about the passing of time, but I'm going to assume it's still September of 8th grade.
My thoughts:
Well, this was by far my least favorite so far, and not just because of Louie, which I had already been dreading. It's really just depressing overall. Nothing good happens, and everyone is really down for most of the book. Also since there are so many babysitting jobs for the "snobs" in Kristy's neighborhood, plus the regular babysitting chapters, this whole book was basically just sitting job after sitting job. Made for a really boring and repetitive read.
The parts with Louie were the only interesting parts in here, and wow were they emotional. I had a hard time reading about it, especially since I have a 15 year old dog right now. Between the awful kids making fun of him, the details about him suffering, and David Michael thinking he would get better, this just hit me hard. Towards the end when they have to put him down, everyone says goodbye to him one at a time before they leave for the vet. Even Watson and the boys were all crying. It broke my heart and I ended up crying. Definitely not what I expected from re-reading kids books, that's for sure.
Another thing I noticed was that Kristy seems weirdly unemotional in this book. When Louie can't stand, she's just watching him spin in circles. She doesn't move to help him, or really do anything at all. Whenever he's struggling during this book, she doesn't even comfort him. She doesn't even spend his last night at home with him in the den, like David Michael does. She barely cries, or narrates anything about how she feels. It came across really strange and cold.
Lastly, there's Shannon's character. I don't even know where to start expressing what I thought of this whole mess. This girl is really just straight up evil. During just this book, she makes fun of an old, dying dog, tells Kristy the house of the kids she's sitting for is on fire, and teases her about anything she can. Her other pranks, like calling the fake pizza order, were just pathetically stupid. I have absolutely no idea why Kristy kept falling for them. She was really gullible and dumb about the whole thing. Then suddenly Kristy makes a joke about throwing the pizza at Shannon's dog and they are instantly friends? It made zero sense, even by the standards of these books. I don't think a kid would find it believable either. Also no idea why Kristy instantly forgave her after the really effed up things she had done. The whole thing really just cemented the book being a flop for me. You can't enjoy a story when no one's actions or motivations make much sense. I'm starting to notice that being an ongoing problem whenever there's conflict in these.
Then there's Stacey's reverse psychology bit with the bratty Delany kids. A lot of time was spent on this, since we had to slog through her doing it and then Kristy doing it. Once again, it made no sense. I babysat a lot myself growing up and I have four younger siblings, and I can tell you this stuff would NOT work. Her methods included making a bigger mess to get them to clean up, and acting like she didn't know what they meant when they asked for something so they would get it themselves. For example, if they asked for cookies, she would go on and on about what type and how she would just have to get them all, until the kids got them for themselves. Most kids would just join in making a mess, or have a tantrum, or start name calling. This isn't really how you motivate kids. The only thing she had really going for her was implying the kids were too babyish to get themselves things. That would probably work in real life.
Misc.
*First book with a chapter 2 recap, although it doesn't take up the whole chapter yet
*Kristy gets up for school at 6:45, and their school begins at 8:30. Lucky girls, my Junior High was 7:30.
*I remember in later books Kristy flips out when people miss meetings, but in these early books it happens a lot and isn't a big deal. Isn't that why they have an alternate officer anyway?
Books mentioned:
None
My rating:
2.5 stars, this is one to skip
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