Thoughts before reading:
I definitely read this as a kid, and liked it, but I didn't have any strong feelings about it either way. This wasn't a topic that really appealed to me. I do know that I hated Mary Anne's haircut, which she will now have for the rest of the series. Never been a fan of short hair on girls.
Since I became interested in the BSC again, I've heard that this is the point where the series goes crazy and starts being bonkers. I've been looking forward to seeing if that's true, although this plot sounds pretty tame to me.
The only thing I remember about this book is that the BSC gives Mary Anne a hard time about her makeover, but knowing her, I'm inclined to think it'll be because she gets snobby or starts acting different. We'll see...
The basics:
During a BSC meeting, Mary Anne sees a "short bowl cut but close cropped at the neck" hairstyle that she wants to try in Seventeen magazine. She mentions it to the girls, but is hurt when none of them think the style is really her. In fact, she remains in a funk over their dismissal of it, especially after she plays around with her hair in the mirror. She thinks it will look really great short, particularly around her jaw, so she decides to get it cut anyway. Mary Anne's nervous to ask her dad though, but he gives permission and even wants to make a day of it. Thrilled to be doing something just for herself, she agrees, and doesn't mention it to anyone else, figuring she can surprise them later.
Mary Anne and Richard have a father-daughter day out at Washington Mall: she gets her haircut, some expensive new clothes, new makeup, and they have lunch together. When they get home, she's excited to surprise Sharon and Dawn, but ends up hurt when Dawn doesn't have much of a reaction. Dawn doesn't say anything nice and seems mainly shocked. She's even acting hurt, but Mary Anne has no idea why. (She's jealous. Welcome to having a sister, Mary Anne. Better get used to it...)
To cheer herself up, Mary Anne calls Logan. She's planning to tell him the news, but Dawn interrupts the call and spoils the surprise by mentioning the haircut. Mary Anne's furious, and they end up ignoring each other all weekend. (Logan loves her haircut when he sees it in person.)
Monday at school, everyone gives Mary Anne attention and compliments. Dawn already told the BSC members the news though, and they all act annoyed that she went without them. She's also told once again that the haircut isn't really her, and not to worry because it will grow out. Mary Anne gets mad that none of her friends have anything nice to say, and that they are talking about her to each other, so she starts eating lunch with Logan instead. She also cancels her plans to hang out with Kristy. Logan suggests that maybe she's taking things too seriously, but she doesn't agree.
During the time Mary Anne had plans with Kristy, she ends up hanging out with Logan, and of course Kristy sees them. Kristy comments about it at the BSC meeting in front of everyone. Mary Anne decides she's not going to attend meetings anymore until someone apologizes to her.
Mary Anne also starts making new friends with some of the popular girls in school. There are also rumors going around that some high school boys have asked her out. Logan hears that she's going to the SHS winter dance with a high school boy named Carlos, and he ends up mad at her too. They clear things up pretty quickly, since this is obviously not true. Encouraged, Mary Anne decides to try to make up with Dawn too. Dawn's still not willing to talk though. She's clearly still angry, and insults Mary Anne again by saying she has a boy haircut and clown makeup. Mary Anne has a good cry over this, and then Dawn finally admits that she felt left out, and those feelings just kept getting worse because she was spending all her time with Logan. Mary Anne attends the next BSC meeting and makes up with everyone. Dawn also admits that what most affected her was seeing how close Mary Anne and Richard were, because she hardly gets to see her dad.
For a totally random side plot, we have Carolyn Arnold building a time machine in her basement. When it's finished, she starts charging other kids to use it. Surprisingly, it doesn't actually work, so she ends up giving the kids their money back. Everyone ends up playing a time travel game together instead.
Timeline:
It's January, so it appears we've gone slightly back in time.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis
*Mary Anne's New Year's resolution: to be the best person she can be, in all possible ways. (Haha, she has a lot of work to do...)
*Mary Anne cries during Beauty and the Beast.
*Everyone always says Dawn's secret passage was used on the Underground Railroad, like it's just a fact, but how do they actually know this? They didn't even know there was a passage when they bought the house. Dawn discovered it months later.
*Mary Anne takes all the credit for solving the Arnold twins' problems, when it was actually Mallory who handled most of them.
*The Wilders are still clients. I had wondered if they would be mentioned again...
*Not only is Richard not strict anymore, he's become a teenage girl's dream dad! He basically lets Mary Anne do anything she wants, as long as she asks him first. Now he's taking her out shopping and letting her get a makeover even.
*Dawn's reaction to the makeover is really annoying from an adult POV now, but I think it's a very realistic response for a teenage girl, especially a sibling. It is pretty unfair that Mary Anne got a special day out, with a bunch of new things, when Dawn got nothing. You can't really do this when you have multiple kids. Richard and Sharon should have talked about the plans, and then arranged for Sharon and Dawn to do something special together that day too. You know, communication...
*The responses of the rest of the BSC are way more of a mystery to me. I guess they were all jealous, because it's hard at this age when a friend changes? I also know friends this age get possessive of each other. Still, some of the reactions seem really out of character, which annoyed me. I could see Kristy being jealous, but why would Stacey and Claudia have cared? I would have expected them to be into it, and jump right into chatting about makeup and clothes with her.
*One of the big issues Mary Anne has in here is that she thinks everyone is talking about her behind her back. Since we are obviously in Mary Anne's POV, it's hard to know how much of this problem is real versus imagined though. She always takes herself really seriously, but I have a hard time believing that her haircut and new clothes would be the center of everyone's world. The only comment we actually read firsthand is the one Kristy makes about how some people give up their friends for their boyfriends (said after the plans are cancelled).
*After spending the whole book with Mary Anne fighting with her friends, we don't even get a scene where they make up, so we don't get any of the discussion or explanations either. This was really disappointing, and quite a big cop out, since I'd really like to know what most of them even had an issue with. Everyone suddenly says they love her hair, so were they all just mad because they felt left out? That just doesn't make any sense. Stacey and Claudia change their looks all the time, and we know Stacey goes with her mom to get her hair done.
*Stacey and Sam go to the January Jamboree together! Dawn goes with Pete Black. Sabrina, one of the girls spreading rumors about Mary Anne, goes with Carlos.
Books mentioned:
*The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
*Time and Again, by Jack Finney
*A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
My rating:
2 stars. Odd, pointless, and lacking a good resolution/any understandable character motivations. I wouldn't agree that the series is now off the rails, because these problems have happened before, and I know some regular storylines are still coming. This does kind of feel like the beginning of the end though.
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