Thoughts before reading:
This is another one I read growing up, but didn't have any strong feelings about one way or another. I can't remember much about this besides the obvious, so I probably just checked it out from the school library at some point. I'm really not a fan of the ones where everyone gets mad at each other over the smallest things and then acts bitchy for most of the book, so not very excited to re-read this one. Plus I've really had enough of the storylines where the Spiers and Schafers are having trouble blending. We got more than enough of that by Dawn's Wicked Stepsister.
For some reason, the only specific memory I have of this is Jeff and Richard being super awkward with each other, since they are still essentially acquaintances.
Not a very flattering cover picture for anyone except Mary Anne. Even all pissed off, she looks cute and has the best outfit, haha...
The basics:
Jeff is coming to visit for a week, and the rest of the family is busy getting the house ready. Richard is nervous, because he's taking time off work to spend with Jeff alone. (Sharon can't get time off, and Mary Anne and Dawn have school the first three days of the week.) Jeff arrives excited for his vacation, and everyone's thrilled to see him. The family starts discussing plans for a weekend trip, with an option of going to either Boston or Washington DC. Richard and Sharon also want to have a family portrait done while he's in town.
The week gets off to a great start. Jeff plays with the Pike triplets all day on Monday, then the Spier-Schafers go out to dinner at Casa Grande, followed by a movie. Jeff picks The Mutant From Outer Space, which turns out to be so bad it's good. Everyone spends the whole time cracking up. They discuss the trip again, and everyone agrees on Boston. Dawn falls asleep happy, with the whole rest of the week to look forward to.
Unfortunately, things quickly turn sour the next day. Richard and Jeff start to butt heads over the dishes being done right after breakfast. (Richard's a neatnik; Jeff doesn't see the big deal.) Jeff then gets bummed out that the triplets are gone playing with a new friend and didn't invite him. He's left with nothing to do, and from there, he just gets more and more bored while Dawn's in school during the day. Mary Anne and Dawn even start bickering after Dawn makes a comment that Richard is going about befriending Jeff the wrong way, and that Richard is a dork when it comes to sports. Jeff ends up faking sick to avoid spending one of the days with Richard. Dawn is on his side, and Mary Anne isn't, causing further tension.
The morning of the family trip, Jeff starts saying he wants to go to DC instead, and sulks when he's told no. Mary Anne informs him that he's being a pest, which makes Dawn upset. When they finally reach Boston, Mary Anne refuses to room with Dawn and Jeff, because she says they're acting too childish.
In Boston, their first stop is the Freedom Trail. Mary Anne and Dawn bicker most of the time, because Mary Anne keeps correcting everything Jeff says. He also remains sulky and negative about everything. The second day everyone decides to split up, and the Schafers go whale watching while the Spiers go to museums. By this point, Dawn is getting tired of Jeff's attitude too, although she ends up loving the whale watching. That afternoon, everyone had planned to go to the aquarium together, but Jeff doesn't want to, so Dawn and Sharon miss out to stay with him. Then he also doesn't want to go out to dinner, so only Richard and Mary Anne end up going. Dawn notices her mom trying not to cry.
The next morning, the adults (finally!) put their foot down with all three kids about their behavior. They insist that everyone spend the day together. Jeff keeps making rude comments though, and the three of them even fight over seats in the car.
Back at home, the whole family is still bickering when portrait time rolls around, including Richard and Sharon now. The kids try to wear ratty clothes, the adults can't agree on where to pose, and Sharon's mad because Mary Anne wants Tigger in the picture. They finally end up laughing and making up after seeing how terrible the pictures are looking. Dawn apologizes to Mary Anne, and the photographer ends up getting some good shots at last. Afterwards, everyone helps Jeff pack and talks things out. Jeff admits he was being difficult because it was hard for him to see how different the family had become. The triplets also come over to see him off, and they make up.
The family ends up framing and hanging up one nice portrait and one funny one, to remind them not to let things get so out of hand again.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Barrett is now dating Franklin Dewitt, who has four kids of his own. They want to hire a sitter to get all the kids together, but it's a disaster. The kids don't like each other and don't like their parents dating. Everything that can go wrong does, and Mrs. Barrett ends up in tears. A few disastrous sitting jobs later, Claudia and Shannon come up with a plan to end the fighting. They separate the kids right away, then play games with them that are only fun with a lot of players, so that the kids will actually want to play together. Once the kids start asking to join each other, they make them promise not to fight first. Everyone ends up having fun and finally talking. It turns out they were all upset over the same thing: their parents acting different and things changing.
Timeline:
Still springtime. I think Jeff is supposed to be on his spring break from school.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner
*Jeff likes scary movies.
*Typo on page 32: "We were both silent for a little bit, thinking about how sad it was that Jeff was growing up and we weren't out us there to watch him." Probably supposed to be without us there to watch him?
*How sad is it that Mrs. Barrett and Mr. Dewitt can't get their children together for an outing without needing to hire a babysitter?
*The Dewitt kids are: Lindsay, 8, Taylor, 6, Madeleine, 4, and Ryan, 2.
*I can understand Dawn wanting to defend her brother, since they are close and she rarely sees him, but he was a huge brat in here. She could have tried to keep the peace and set an example instead.
*Jeff plotting things to do to Mary Anne while he was angry with her, like putting her on a bus to China, was really funny though.
*Lots of historical facts and information about Boston, which I must admit I liked. The parts about them touring the city were really fun to read about too, and interesting.
*Mary Anne gets her guidebook fixation from Richard, who does the same thing in here.
*Mary Anne doesn't know what the Boston Tea Party was. Shouldn't she have learned this by the 8th grade?
*Jeff really is the worst in here. I think he's gotten really spoiled from living with a bachelor dad without a mom nearby, and as an only child. Richard and Sharon don't help matters by letting him get away with way too much. If my kid acted this way, especially on a vacation, they would've known exactly how I felt about it. Since Sharon hardly sees Jeff now, she's clearly scared to discipline him.
*All 3 kids are really ungrateful about their vacation too, and act obnoxiously entitled. As a kid from a family that couldn't afford vacations, I can now see why I only read this once and why it wasn't a favorite.
*I hate Sharon even more after she made a big deal about Tigger being in the portrait. Listen to this: '"But Tigger's part of the family," Mary Anne protested. "He is Not part of the family," Mom said stiffly. "He's just a cat."'
Jeez, how stone cold could you be?? Anyone who's ever loved an animal knows they are 100% part of the family! And all this after she let her kid act awfully all week without doing anything... Worst BSC parent ever. Which is really saying something...
*My siblings and I did always fight over seats in the car though. I remember when stuff like that was a HUGE deal...
Books mentioned:
None
My rating:
4 stars. This was actually a good read, and very entertaining. The plots went together well, the trip was fun to read about, and there was good stepfamily dynamics. I could see kids in blended families being able to relate.
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