Thoughts before reading:
Yet another book that I haven't read before, and I don't know much about this one. Sounds pretty mediocre, yet another Mary Anne and Logan plot...
The basics:
Mary Anne's been in a great mood lately. It's one of those rare times where everything is going well, and she has no worries. Of course, this sort of thing never lasts long. She's been babysitting regularly for the Kuhns, whose parents recently went through a divorce. Mr. Kuhn moved to Texas afterwards, and his kids all really miss him, but especially Jake. He's struggling now as the only boy in the family, and is also fighting with his friend Buddy Barrett because he's jealous that Buddy is getting a stepdad.
Feeling really sorry for Jake, Mary Anne discusses his problems with Logan, who says Jake needs a male role model to pal around with, and to get a break from his little sisters. Mary Anne suggests he come over and spend time with Jake sometimes while she's babysitting. Logan agrees, and stops by during her next job at the Kuhns to play ball with Jake. She keeps the girls busy inside with their new model skeleton toy. The one-on-one time with Logan seems to be just what Jake needed: he has a blast, and is much happier afterwards. Mrs. Kuhn is pleased by how happy the kids are when she gets home, and requests Mary Anne for three more days the next week.
Logan starts coming over to play soccer with Jake regularly during Mary Anne's sitting jobs, and Jake just adores him. Unfortunately, Mary Anne never mentioned this arrangement to Mrs. Kuhn, who comes home early one day and finds Logan there. She's not happy, assuming the worst, and only then does Mary Anne realize she never actually asked for permission. Logan hightails it out of there (wimp!) and Mrs. Kuhn pulls Mary Anne aside and asks her if she's had her boyfriend over often. Mary Anne admits she has, but doesn't tell her why, because she doesn't want to criticize her or hurt her feelings.
Once she leaves the Kuhns, Mary Anne runs to the BSC meeting, knowing she's in major trouble. Sure enough. Mrs. Kuhn calls Kristy to complain right off the bat. The other BSC members tell Mary Anne that Mrs. K was unlikely to have minded the situation if she had just explained it, plus Logan is a BSC member too, so she could have also hired him if she knew. Kristy wants them to write a letter to Mrs. K and explain (which is pretty reasonable). She also calls Logan, wanting to do "damage control".
Mary Anne starts letters to Mrs. Kuhn, but nothing sounds right to her, so she never gets very far. Logan had promised to attend Jake's soccer game, but decides not to since Mrs. K is mad. Jake is heartbroken, and Logan blames Mary Anne for suggesting he not go. They end up barely speaking to each other as a result. To top all this off, Mary Anne's having nightmares, feeling left out of the BSC, and now just utterly miserable. The other girls assure her they aren't mad, just concerned about ramifications, and business has slowed down since the incident. (Plus when jobs do come in, Mary Anne doesn't get any.)
This goes on for over a week, until Jake and Mrs. Kuhn show up at Mary Anne's house. Mrs. K explains that Jake told her Logan was coaching him in soccer, and spending all the time he was over with Jake, outside. She thinks this is just wonderful, and apologizes, asking why Mary Anne never told her any of this. She also gives Mary Anne another sitting job on the spot, and calls Logan and Kristy herself to apologize and explain.
The whole BSC apologizes to Mary Anne as well, and business is suddenly booming again (even though Mrs. Kuhn said she never complained to other parents).
The side plot is about some of the BSC charges wanting to make haunted houses for Halloween, and ending up competing to see who can make a better one.
Timeline:
It's October.
Misc. thoughts:
*Richard's on a health kick, trying to reduce his cholesterol, and planning to do a marathon. I doubt we ever hear about that again though.
*A dad joke, for your enjoyment: Mary Anne comments that her dad's omelet is all white, not realizing it's an egg white omelet. He replies, "the chickens who laid these eggs were raised in total darkness".
*Kristy chases Alan around the cafeteria after he puts a rubber hand in the salad bar, and it takes two teachers to pull her off him.
*Jessi's trying to convince Logan to try ballet, after he teases her by mimicking her leaps and she sees he's actually good at them.
*Mal hates coffee... I think that will change though, haha.
*Shannon wants to take sackbut lessons? I looked it up and it's a Renaissance trombone... how random.
*Mary Anne says her dad and Sharon married when she was twelve, but she was 13. We were well into the time loop by then, and she turned 13 way back in #10.
*Stacey and Robert go out for a fancy meal at Chez Maurice with their friends Wayne and Kathleen, but it's cut short when Wayne orders sweetbreads, not knowing what that is. He just wanted something sweet, and it's actually the thymus gland of a calf. Eww.
*I actually think Mary Anne and Logan were right about the male role model, and not doing anything wrong, so why didn't Mary Anne just ask Mrs. Kuhn? Might have been a little awkward, but the BSC interferes in family things all the time, and they never worried about parents feeling criticized before.
*Jake's on cloud 9 because of Logan, yet he never mentions anything about him to his mom? That's hard to believe.
*Also, why would suggesting her idea to Mrs. Kuhn hurt her feelings? She doesn't have to say "I think Jake needs a male role model." There's countless options, like, "I've noticed how much Jake's been missing his dad lately..." or "Jake was talking about quitting soccer and I knew Logan could help..." or "Jake and Buddy were having some trouble, Jake seemed to take the news about the wedding hard", "Jake feels left out when I'm over, being the only boy..." Etc, etc, etc.
*It was hard to tell if the BSC girls were really being colder to Mary Anne, or if she was just being overly sensitive about it, since we mostly just have her narration to go on. If I were one of them though, I would be annoyed with her inaction- not what she did, but the fact that she never calls Mrs. K or writes the letter. Since she hates confrontation, a letter is the perfect solution, much better than just sulking around being miserable.
*It annoyed me that Mary Anne got off the hook and everything was solved for her while she just sat around feeling sorry for herself. This is far from how real life works. She never had to apologize or explain or DO anything.
*The last 30+ pages were all side plot, yawn. The main conflict was resolved really early and not enough to fill a book.
Books mentioned:
*The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis
My rating:
2.5 stars. This was readable and entertaining, at first, but it was just so irritating that Mary Anne never had to admit that she did make a mistake by not asking Mrs. Kuhn's permission. Yet everything worked out perfectly for her anyway. Also, the ending was REALLY boring. With the conflict over by page 100-ish, the side plot took over, and long descriptions of haunted houses followed. It all felt like filler, because they didn't develop the plot enough for it to take up a whole book.
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