Thoughts before reading:
I definitely read this one at some point, but it wasn't part of my collection. I don't remember what I thought about it back then though. This time around, I'm hoping it will be one of the better mysteries, since I am curious to learn more about Mary Anne's mother and family. This is actually the type of mystery a real thirteen year old could be involved in, which I know is very rare for this series.
Really liking this cover, too. It's a really cute picture of Mary Anne. She actually looks her age, and this is definitely how I picture her.
The basics:
Mary Anne has a dream about her mother, which leaves her in a funk afterwards, feeling a bit down and confused. This feeling keeps gnawing at her, especially when she hears that Stoneybrook Elementary is having a Heritage Day festival. The students are doing projects about their family histories, such as making family trees. Mary Anne ends up helping Charlotte work on hers, which gets her thinking more about how she doesn't know who she is or anything about her mom's family. Charlotte knows all kinds of details about hers, and even had a big box of old pictures and heirlooms.
With all of this on her mind, Mary Anne ends up looking through the old boxes in her attic. She's worried about what her dad will say, so she does it in secret, eventually finding some pictures and letters that were sent between her maternal grandparents and her dad. Reading them, she learns she lived with her grandparents in Iowa after her mom died, and they even wanted to keep her. Instead her dad took her back when he was back on his feet, and they ended up losing touch. Mary Anne is shocked, and feels betrayed that no one ever told her any of this. Now she starts questioning her identity even more.
Not long after this discovery, she accidently picks up the phone and overhears her dad talking to her grandma. Her grandpa has just passed away, and her grandma regrets not having seen Mary Anne in so long, and wants her to come visit. Mary Anne misunderstands, thinking that her grandma is seeking custody of her. This sends her freaking out all the more. Then an official looking woman stops by the house (while the whole BSC is there, and everything is in chaos). Mary Anne assumes she's a social worker. This finally prompts her to talk to her dad, who explains she just lived with her grandparents for a short time while he got himself together and grieved. They did want to keep her, but ultimately the custody was settled peacefully. (The lady who stopped by was a census taker.)
Charlotte's parents end up not being able to attend the Heritage Day event, so Mary Anne takes her. The rest of the BSC is also there, because they're running a booth where people can take their picture with cardboard cut-out historical figures: local ones, like Old Hickory, and Sophie (from the painting in #29). There's also skits, food, and all the family projects on display.
Mary Anne does end up going to Iowa and meeting her grandma. Her dad gives her a letter her mom wrote her before she died as well. It was intended for her to open when she turned 16, but he decides she's ready now. There's no chapter on the trip, just letters, but it seems to go well.
Timeline:
Not made clear, but it's not winter, or summer vacation.
Misc. thoughts:
*Charlotte's ancestors are from Denmark.
*I would probably have felt bad for Mary Anne in here if she didn't feel so sorry for herself. It got really annoying really fast.
*Heritage Day actually sounds like a fun event, much better than most of the ones in these books. I also liked that it wasn't put on by the BSC, but a school instead. There should definitely be more events in Stoneybrook that aren't thought up by Kristy...
*Claudia is put in charge of making signs, yet again! Will these girls never learn?!
*Mary Anne cheats on Logan, AGAIN, accepting a date from a boy in Iowa. She writes to Dawn about it, and tells her not to tell anyone. I'm no Logan fan, but if he did this to her she'd flip out and make a huge deal, so it's pretty messed up.
*This did turn out to be a nice change, from a random, cheesy mystery, to a personal, relatable one. Even though it was one of the better mysteries so far, it was frustrating still, because this whole story could have been solved quickly with a little communication. If Mary Anne had just asked her dad about everything right away, instead of spending the whole book worrying, crying, and torturing herself, then this would have been able to actually be about her trip to Iowa.
*I also enjoyed the lack of side plot and random babysitting chapters! Everything tied into Heritage Day instead, which was how Mary Anne got started thinking about her past. For once, the plot itself was really well put together.
*It seems in here like Mary Anne has never seen anything of her mother's before, because she doesn't know her dad even keeps a bunch of boxes of her things in the attic. This raises a continuity issue with The Summer Before. In that book she looks around the attic and finds some things, like her mother's old dolls. Did Ann M. Martin never read this one, or did she just forget about it?
*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.
*Mary Anne also doesn't talk to any of her friends, or tell them what's going on for most of the book. Not only did that seem weird, but she was needlessly making things harder on herself.
*There's a sweet scene towards the end, where Kristy asks her mom about what she remembers from around the time Mary Anne's mom passed away. Elizabeth tells her a memory of encountering Richard walking little Mary Anne in her stroller. He was smiling proudly and told her to look at his beautiful daughter. This sounds beyond adorable!
*It seemed like a real cop out that we didn't get to read the whole letter Mary Anne's mom left for her, or even learn more about her mom's life or death. Since we also don't read firsthand about the Iowa trip, only hearing about it through very generic letters, this book basically left out all the most interesting parts. Felt like very lazy writing.
*Mary Anne ends up realizing her dream from the beginning is actually a memory.
Books mentioned:
None
My rating:
3.5 stars, it was ultimately just nice to have something different, despite the flaws.
No comments:
Post a Comment