Thoughts before reading:
I did read this growing up, but only because it's a Dawn book. The subject matter didn't really interest me back then, so I probably only read it once. I definitely don't remember any details now. Based on the back cover summary, it sounds like its going to cover an unhealthy relationship, a pretty mature leap from past books. That definitely has me curious.
Is it just me, or are all the kids on this cover really creepy? Not sure why they are even there, unless Dawn is trying to babysit while being on a date? She looks cute though, definitely like a 13 year old infatuated girl. Her love interest looks like a Ken doll come to life.
The basics:
The morning after a sleepover at Kristy's, the BSC girls shuffle down to breakfast in their pajamas and are stunned to find a gorgeous guy eating with the family. His name is Travis, he just moved from CA, and he's a new friend of Sam and Charlie. The girls are mortified, fleeing back upstairs to work on their hair and makeup. Afterward, Dawn ends up chatting with him about California and is instantly infatuated.
A few days later, Travis stops by Dawn's house to see her. She's beyond flattered, and completely fascinated by everything about him. He loves talking about himself, bragging that he's 16, has his own car, plays a ton of sports, and everyone just loves him. Then he gives her a present: a necklace and some hair combs, and begins telling her how she should cut her hair and wear it pulled back. Dawn's so infatuated with him, she sees nothing off about this, and gets right to work on her hair when he leaves.
The next time she sees Travis, he picks her up from school to hang out. They have lunch, where he picks the restaurant and orders for her. Then he takes her shopping, buys her some earrings, and insists that she get a third piercing in each ear. She refuses, knowing how angry her mom would be, but then worries because Travis seems angry.
When she returns home, she gets in trouble with her mom and Richard for going out with a 16 year old without asking first. She blames Mary Anne for telling them, but quickly backs down and realizes she was right to tell. Sharon and Richard argue also, because he's against her dating Travis at all, and she just wants to know about the dates beforehand.
Dawn gets a sitting job for the Hobart boys, and is disappointed in James (the 8 year old) for letting his friend Zach walk all over him (see #32). James lets Zach tell him what to do, how to act, and changes his whole personality to please him. Dawn's baffled as to why anyone would let someone treat them this way.
Shortly after, Kristy accidently mentions that Sam told her Travis has been dating a girl from the SHS swim team for the past 3 weeks. Dawn's devastated, but she knows her and Travis weren't exclusive. She decides to follow him and this girl, figuring it's the only way to see how he feels about her. She immediately sets about stalking them, following the couple from the high school to downtown Stoneybrook, where Travis takes the girl on the same date he took Dawn on. Afterwards, they kiss in the park. Dawn returns home crushed. She tells her friends at the next BSC meeting, and Stacey angrily declares him a creep for leading Dawn on. Mary Anne mentions Logan's cousin Lewis is coming to town soon, and he's single. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't cheer Dawn up much.
Dawn arranges to bump into Travis and his girlfriend downtown, so she can catch him in the act and embarrass him. He's not upset in the slightest though, and she ends up humiliated instead after his girlfriend, Sara, calls her a little girl and says Travis probably turned her into a beauty. Dawn ends up rushing off home while they laugh at her. She does call Travis again though, to say she knows he was trying to change her , but she's happy how she is. He still doesn't see the problem.
Mary Anne and Logan inform Dawn that they've sent her picture to Lewis and told him about her (both without asking her first). They then beg her to give him a chance, and she reluctantly agrees. Her and Lewis become pen pals.
Timeline:
No clues, once again. The plot definitely takes a few weeks though, which has been pretty standard.
My thoughts:
This book didn't go as dark as I expected from the beginning. I was expecting Dawn to get tangled up in an emotionally abusive relationship and struggle to get out of it. Obviously I knew it would still be very light and BSC style trauma, but none of that was what happened. In the end I was mostly just baffled by what Travis' motives even were. I guess he just liked the attention and flattery? I'm assuming if he hadn't met a girl his own age he liked more, then he would have kept up what he was doing to Dawn? Or did he just quickly give up because she said no to one of his demands and he wanted an easier target? Otherwise, why would he mess with her, mostly by controlling aspects of her appearance, but never try to date her or have a relationship? Clearly he didn't really just want to give her a makeover, so the whole thing was bizarre. It mainly came across as the most G rated way possible to warn little girls about bad relationships, which I guess is exactly what the point was...it's just insanely forgettable now.
That being said, Travis was disturbingly controlling before he just dropped Dawn. There's no question from reading this from an adult perspective that he'll be a future abuser. His entire interest in such a young girl was creepy, but made total sense. He was so self-centered and domineering, and a younger girl would be so much more easily flattered and manipulated by him. I actually knew a few girls in Junior High in abusive relationships just like this. They get so excited that an older boy likes them, they will agree to anything at all. Travis was so weirdly fixated on things, like the length of Dawn's hair and how she wore her earrings, that only make sense if he's the type of emotional abuser who has to control every little thing. I have no doubt that not only will he grow up to be an abusive husband, but he will also end up dating a younger girl again when he finds Sara not as easily controlled.
The only thing I really liked about this book was getting to see one of the BSC girls acting like a young teenager. Instead of obsessing about babysitting, it was refreshing to see Dawn getting in trouble for something a normal teenage kid would do. She's annoying about Travis, of course, but she is only 13. Travis is her first semi relationship, so it's not hard to believe she would start changing herself for him. This is a relationship lesson a lot of older people learn the hard way too.
I also couldn't help but notice that when Dawn was briefly mad at Mary Anne, she immediately backs down and realizes Mary Anne is right. Admittedly, this was one of the few times I thought MA was right, but still, she never gives others this same courtesy. Plus when Dawn was angry, MA started crying. When she's the angry one, she never cries in fights. It's pure manipulation.
Misc:
*This was ghostwritten by Mary Lou Kennedy
*I enjoyed the scene where the BSC girls were bantering and teasing each other at their sleepover. It was a funny and sweet scene, the kind I wish we got more of. This would be a stronger series if it focused more on the friendships and less on babysitting constantly.
*Everyone in CA does not eat granola all the time.
*Susan Felder (#32) was referred to in here as a handicapped girl, which had me wincing. She's autistic, which isn't close to the same thing.
*The parallel storyline with James Hobart and Zach was really heavy handed, but probably effective for young readers. A lot of BSC aged readers would be more likely to have a controlling friend than relationship anyway.
*This book was pretty much the first time Sharon has acted like a parent instead of a kid, but even so, she backs right down.
*Dawn's back to saying she eats no meat at all.
*There were a lot of references to specific past babysitting jobs in here, good continuity.
*Mallory has her first date with Ben.
*I hated how Mary Anne and Logan talked up Dawn to Lewis without asking her. I would have told them to shove it, this is terrible timing. A new boy isn't the cure for having her heart broken by an abusive jerk.
*Stacey's seeming sicker by this time (she's been feeling unwell for quite awhile now).
Books mentioned:
Absolutely none.
My rating:
3 stars, a very forgettable book.
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