Kristy's Book

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read this one before, but I've actually been looking forward to it. I want to learn more about her dad and the family's situation before Elizabeth met Watson. 

The basics:

*Born August 20th (so the movie was correct about her birth month). Her parents were at Yankee stadium when her mom went into labor.

*When she was little, she always wanted to play with her brothers, but they'd never let her. Her dad tried to include her in sports though.

*She lied to her mom when she was 5 so that she could go see Car Man in theater with her brothers, but she got caught because Mary Anne told.

*Her first "great idea" was to build snow people for her neighbors with Mary Anne and Claudia, to raise money to buy Mimi a gift. They ended up getting her a scarf, which she wore every winter after.

*We finally learn more about Kristy's father and his leaving, which was exactly what I'd hoped to find in here, when she gets her mom to open up about him:

During their marriage, they fought a lot, and he'd say things about being fed up with life, or how he'd be better off without the family. Then one night, he didn't come home from work. In the morning, when he still wasn't home, Elizabeth called his boss. He told her that Patrick quit and said he was heading west. 

Despite this blow, she hoped he'd come back, so she just told the kids he was away on business. Kristy knew something was wrong though, because her mom was crying all the time and getting angry easily. 

After a few weeks, Elizabeth finally told the kids that their dad had decided to live somewhere else. Sam was angry with their mom about it, which caused him and Charlie to fight a lot. Kristy blamed herself. David Michael, just a baby at the time, kept looking for their dad.

About 6 months later, Elizabeth got a full time job in Stamford. David Michael started going to daycare, and Charlie watched Sam and Kristy after school. This got off to a rocky start, considering Charlie was only ten. The kids ate junk food after school and invited their friends over every day. (Makes zero sense that Richard or the Kishis would allow this, since a ten year old was in charge, but okay...) 

One such afternoon, Louie got sprayed by a skunk and the kids gave him a tomato juice bath. The house got trashed, and the kids all got locked in the bathroom accidently until their mom got home. After this incident, she made them a chore list, everyone learned to pitch in, and they started eating less takeout. 

*The summer she was ten Kristy went to a girls sports camp, Camp Topnotch. It was a disappointment at first, more about pranks than softball, but Kristy ended up making friends with her rival and learning you don't have to be the best at something to have a good time.

*This also includes the story from the BSC movie about her dad returning in secret and seeing only her. It's not mentioned in any other BSC books, so I didn't even know it was canon. 

Timeline:

N/A

Misc. thoughts:

*Even when she was 6 years old, Claudia apparently had endless junk food of her own to share. These portrait books write the little kids way too old. They're less little kids and more like smaller versions of their teenage selves.

*Mary Anne's handwriting at ten is identical to her 13 year old self, already perfect cursive? Yeah right...

*Kristy's left handed.

*The chapter about Patrick coming was the same as the movie, just with a few more details, like how he gave her a softball glove as a gift, but it's right handed and turns out to be a freebie from a banquet he attended. 

*Kristy gets a B+ on her autobiography.

*Ghostwritten by Jeanne Betancourt.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

3 stars. Strong start, but kind of dragged later on. This would have been a lot better if the last chapter wasn't just a retelling.