Friends Forever #2: Stacey vs. Claudia

 

Thoughts before reading:

I'm very sad that they're going to ruin this friendship. It's been my favorite of the series, and now it's going to be thrown away over a guy, of all things? 

The basics:

Stacey's upset because Ethan's taking a new art class on Sundays, and weekends are the only time they can see each other, because of the distance between them. He promises to come visit her in Stoneybrook to make up for it, which makes her feel a bit better, but she still has a vague feeling that something is off between them. 

That Monday, Stacey notices a really cute new boy in school. Her and Claudia both end up chatting with him in the lunch line that day, and learn his name is Jeremy Rudolph, and he's just moved from Olympia. They invite him to have lunch with their group, which he accepts. Both girls are instantly infatuated by him. Claudia tries to defer, reluctantly, by saying that Stacey met him first, but Stacey says she's still seeing Ethan, and therefore not available anyway. Claudia's instantly cheered up by the thought, but Stacey feels disappointed even as she's saying it. 

There's another new student in school as well, Rachel Griffin. Claudia, Mary Anne, and Kristy are all groaning over the news... they went to SES with her, and she was a real mean girl back then. They were all glad when she moved away after 5th grade. Stacey thinks they're overreacting though... after all, that was awhile ago, and when she meets Rachel she seems perfectly nice. She's in Stacey's English class, in fact, and the two girls end up chatting. They have quite a bit in common, namely that Rachel is also from a city, London, and really misses it. 

Ethan backs out of coming to Stoneybrook because he has to cover at work (he still works at the art gallery). He also mentions that he's really busy all around, and maybe they should cool things down for now. Stacey agrees, but still feels hurt and upset. In school the next day, she tells Claudia the news, and is annoyed to learn that Claudia really likes Jeremy and keeps mentioning him. Stacey finally realizes that she also has a major crush on him. After lunch period, Claudia asks Stacey to help her find out if Jeremy likes her. She agrees, very reluctantly. (I remember doing this exact sort of thing in junior high, haha.) 

Stacey realizes she needs to put Claudia over Jeremy and bite back her jealousy, because Claudia's her best friend and she just met Jeremy. (This is the #1 most sensible statement I've ever read in a BSC book! Too bad she doesn't hold on to this decision... but based on the book title, we know what's coming.) Stacey invites Jeremy to go hang out at the mall with her and Claudia, then cancels at the last minute so they can be alone. (Claudia knows about the plan ahead of time, of course.) Stacey feels terrible afterwards though, and keeps obsessing over Jeremy. 

Since Claudia never calls to tell her how the "date" went, Stacey calls her over that weekend to ask. Claudia tells her it was amazing, and thanks her profusely for helping. Right after they hang up, Jeremy stops by to see how Stacey's feeling. She asks him about the date, and he quickly says it wasn't a date at all, and he'd been really disappointed that Stacey wasn't there... then he asks her out. She's thrilled but quickly feels guilty, and promises to call later with an answer. 

Once he leaves, Stacey goes jogging to clear her head, and ends up running into Rachel. They get to talking, and Stacey explains her dilemma. Rachel tells her she has to talk to Claudia, and even though she'll be hurt, hopefully she'll understand. Knowing she's right, Stacey returns home and nervously plans a speech to explain things to Claudia, complete with index cards. The next day though, she finds Claudia sculpting Jeremy's head and chickens out. Stacey ends up telling her before the BSC meeting that same afternoon, but in her nervousness it comes out much more bluntly than she'd intended. Claudia's furious, feels betrayed, and they spend most of the meeting yelling at each other. 

The next day, Stacey agrees to hang out with Jeremy after school, and they have a great time. She decides he was worth all the trouble after all. When she gets home, there's several messages from Ethan on the answering machine, but she doesn't see the point of calling him back now. 

During school the following day, Jeremy pulls Stacey aside to ask about Ethan... who Claudia's just told him all about. Jeremy doesn't believe it's really over between them, and tells her he needs to think things over. Stacey confronts Claudia about it, and they have a really nasty fight, with cruel things said on both sides. Afterwards, Stacey talks things over with Rachel again, not wanting to put Kristy or Mary Anne in the middle. 

After avoiding her for a few days, Jeremy asks Stacey out again. She agrees, Rachel helps her get ready, and just after she leaves, Ethan shows up with flowers. He starts to apologize to Stacey for everything, but then realizes she's dressed up and about to go on a date. Stacey tells him she doesn't want to see him anymore, and her deep feelings for him are gone. They share an emotional, but quick, goodbye. 

Right after Ethan leaves, Jeremy shows up. They go bowling, out to dinner, and share a goodnight kiss. Stacey has a wonderful time. 

Timeline:

It's fall, 8th grade has begun for the last time.

Misc. thoughts:

*Stacey's studying American westward expansion in history class. That was always one of my favorite parts of history to study. (I'm a history nerd.)

*I'm glad Abby eats lunch with the OG BSC still, and that new people can join the group for lunch without any of that old weirdness. 

*Claudia and Josh are still friends.

*Stacey says the club still meets 3 times a week? I thought they agreed to scale back the meetings, but that hasn't been mentioned again. 

*Rachel's compared to Lucy von Pelt, Angelica Pickles, and Helga Pataki. It's weird to hear those 90s cartoon references in here, since none of those shows have been mentioned before in the series.

*The girls are still calling Logan about jobs, and he's annoyed about it. They had agreed to just turn down jobs, so between this and the meetings, they already aren't following their new rules.

*Why doesn't Kristy just look for some new members? Just because a few people didn't work out, look at all the ones who did... plus, she's clearly not ready to let go of the club. If they added a few people, they could at least keep up their job load throughout one more school year at least. 

*Stacey sits for the Rodowskys in here, and they skip over the whole job! It's awesome.

*Stacey and Claudia pass notes, like actual teenagers! I like that everyone seems much younger in the FF books so far, way more like how they acted at the beginning of the regular series.

*Maureen apparently goes jogging every Saturday morning and forgets her keys? This sounds a lot more like Sharon to me.

*The rule about boys having to stay in the kitchen when Maureen isn't home is mentioned again. Hooray for continuity!

*This wasn't quite as bad as I expected, although still annoying. It is a bad situation, and a messy one, I'll admit. It's not worth ruining a friendship over though. Both girls just met this guy, so it's not like anyone is in love. He's basically a stranger when they begin fighting over him. They're 13 though, so they just don't have the maturity to decide neither of them should date him. I get that, I just really wish they hadn't done this storyline at all. It not only ruins this good friendship, but it makes both girls come across as petty, annoying, and unlikeable. 

*Kristy wants to make a chart to assign free time on weekends?! Yikes, she's lucky anyone wants to be in the club still.

*Despite the nastiness of Stacey and Claudia's fight, I couldn't help but enjoy Stacey ripping into her about her spelling. Everyone's always just ignored it before, but it really is ridiculous.

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.

*This is the only BSC book with two character names in the title. I wasn't completely sure who was narrating until I started it. 

*Despite the circumstances, it was nice to see Stacey make a new friend. Everyone had stopped doing that for a long time. 

Books mentioned:

*The Midwife's Apprentice, by Karen Cushman

My rating:

2 stars. There was really nothing to enjoy about this for me, and I'm bummed that this story will dominate the FF books now. 

Friends Forever #1: Kristy's Big News

 

Thoughts before reading:

I don't know much of anything about the rest of this series, so we'll see. This one sounds promising at least. 

The basics:

Kristy's enjoying a family dinner when her father, Patrick, shocks everyone by calling. He has some big news: he's getting married again, and wants Kristy, Sam, and Charlie to come to his wedding. Charlie promptly hangs up, while Sam and Kristy reluctantly agree. Patrick's unbothered, saying he knew they wouldn't let him down, and he's sending them plane tickets ASAP. He doesn't even mention or invite poor David Michael. Charlie's (understandably) furious, and tells the others he won't go and can't believe they are. David Michael, of course, hears all this and keeps begging to go. It falls on Elizabeth to tell him he can't, and to try and explain. She also decides that if Charlie doesn't go, Sam and Kristy also can't. This gets Kristy upset, because she really wants to go, and thinks this will be an important turning point with Patrick. She explains to Charlie why it's important to her, and he agrees to go, for her and Sam's sake. 

It's not long before the tickets to California, where Patrick's still living, arrive, and the three are on their way to Sausalito. They arrive there to find things very different from what they expected. Their father is now a chef, has a big fancy house, and seems to be together now, although he offers them no apologies or explanations for the past. In fact, it's quite the opposite... he's easily angered by Charlie's open hostility towards him, still fails to even mention David Michael, and is clearly still a very selfish person. They do all like Zoey, his fiancé, who proves to be very warm and kind.

Patrick asks Sam and Charlie to be his best men, which Charlie angrily declines, much to Patrick's annoyance. He also refuses to go tux shopping, so Sam and Patrick go together, and end up picking out ugly yellow-orange suits. (I can't even picture what this would look like exactly, haha.) When Zoey, Charlie, and Kristy all agree that the suits are hideous, Patrick gets angry again. All this makes Kristy remember how easily angered her dad always was when he didn't get his way, or even when she didn't understand something right away. 

The next day, everyone goes together to get new tuxes. Patrick sulks and acts bored the whole time, like a put out little kid. Zoey finally snaps him out of it, to Kristy's relief. She's unsettled to realize she likes Zoey better than her own father. (Which begs the question, why is this nice woman marrying this loser?) Another day, Patrick wants the kids to go spend time with Zoey while he goes windsurfing, and isn't thrilled when she suggests he take them to Angel Island instead. (Why spend time with the kids you abandoned, after all?)

Kristy also learns that her and her brothers are Patrick's only family attending the wedding. His parents died before she was even born, and his younger brother declined to come because of a fight they had awhile back. Zoey also mentions that her and Patrick want kids, which leaves Kristy feeling sick and angry. 

Patrick ends up losing his temper with Charlie completely after an innocent comment (Charlie calls his tie a noose) and asks him if he could just "behave like a good son". Charlie responds that he never behaved like a good father, and Patrick has the nerve to then say they never gave him the chance because they didn't stay in touch! He even blames Elizabeth for how things have ended up, and calls Charlie spoiled. Kristy jumps in to defend Charlie, citing all he's done for the family. 

All this goes down right before the rehearsal dinner, which Patrick ends up leaving for alone. The three kids talk things over, and Sam points out that Patrick will never live up to their expectations. They all agree it's best to just not have any. Kristy thinks that it's this moment and realization when she finally gives up on the idea of Patrick as her dad. They decide to go to the rehearsal, for Zoey. 

Later that night, Kristy talks to Zoey and tells her about how their father just walked out on them. To her surprise, Zoey already knows. (To my surprise too! She really wants to make more kids with this guy??) She also says Patrick has grown up a lot since then, but will probably always be a bit of a kid, and she thinks he's learned from his mistake. (I don't! If he has then why is he blaming the kids and Elizabeth for it?) 

Charlie still declines to be a best man, but Sam goes ahead and does it, and Charlie even makes a brief toast at the reception. Kristy dances with Patrick, and he thanks her for coming. 

Back in Stoneybrook when everything's over, Kristy tells her mom all about the trip. Elizabeth isn't angry, and wishes Patrick and Zoey well, sincerely. This makes Kristy realize her mom loves her life and is truly happy. (Not to mention, Elizabeth is the much bigger person.) 

Later, Kristy talks things over with the BSC (by which I now only mean Stacey, Claudia, and Mary Anne... how weird is that??). She admits that although she loves her father, she doesn't like him. They sympathize and agree he's the one missing out on life, since if anything gets hard he just leaves. 

Timeline:

It's August. 

Misc. thoughts:

*No chapter 2 recap! No babysitting chapters! No side plots! This book is about Kristy alone, and we don't have any idea what's going on with the others back in Stoneybrook, or what babysitting jobs they have. It was really nice.

*Another nice change in this series already? The adults are actually around, and they watch their own kids! There's also parenting! Crazy, right? For instance, in a BSC series book, it would be Kristy explaining things to David Michael and trying to fix everything. Watson and Elizabeth would probably be off at an estate sale the whole time. I love that instead the adults are actually around now, and the 13 year old's are back to being kids. 

*I really, really hate Patrick. Poor David Michael. I really wish the fact that he just completely forgot about him had been addressed more. 

*Patrick apparently couldn't even pick Sam, Charlie, and Kristy up from the airport. He leaves them a car and directions to his house instead. 

*Charlie's anger and hostility is completely justified in my opinion, and I think Patrick really gets off easy. 

*I would love to read this story from Elizabeth's POV. I wonder what she was thinking this whole time, and what her and Watson had to say about it, away from the kids.

*Kristy says she wants to wear a tuxedo someday, like Princess Diana. 

*All I could think about while reading this was, thank god these kids have Watson. Also, I'd love to read a scene where Watson tells Patrick what he thinks of him...

*I already said it, but I have to again... the biggest mystery of this book is why Zoey wants to marry Patrick. She must be really lonely? Yet she seems perfectly nice and sweet... I'm sure she could do way better.

*Watson's paying for Charlie's college tuition. Aww. That's a real man and father for you.

*I liked seeing more of Charlie in here, as he's one of my favorite characters. It was also nice, and so overdue, to see how Patrick leaving has affected each of them, likely for the rest of their lives. Charlie's angry, which is 100% realistic, since he remembers the most, and as the oldest, sacrificed the most. As a result, he's grown up to be easy going and reliable, the real man that his father never will be. Sam's (heartbreakingly!) trying to get his dad's attention any way he can, and I'm sure this is why he comes off as such a goof. It will probably affect his relationships too, as his dad leaving him has clearly made him insecure and in need of extra attention/validation. Kristy's conflicted on how to feel, hence the bossiness... she takes control of everything she can control. 

*It was also interesting to see what kind of person Patrick is. Lends insight into what happened back when he walked out.

*I can't believe Patrick even wants to have more kids. He's clearly completely delusional... I really don't see him doing any better the second time around. He hasn't changed at all, if he's blaming his actions on his ex-wife, or on his kids for not keeping in touch... after he abandoned them and moved across the country?? It's infuriating how he can't own up to his mistakes or apologize, even after all this time.

*Kristy thinks that Patrick and Sam are similar, taking things lightly, avoiding what's hard or unpleasant. While this is technically true, I don't think it's fair. Sam has a lot more substance, and we've already seen his sweet, serious side. He isn't impatient or quick to anger either. I think he's just eager to please, mainly because of being fatherless. 

*Patrick and Zoey walk down the aisle to "Take me out to the ball game". How lame.

*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

4 stars. This was sad and infuriating in turns, but this story was long overdue. I'm very interested to see what the FF books do next, as this was a very solid start. I loved how all the formulaic aspects of the BSC series were removed, and replaced by a focus on character development, family relationships, and exploring old dynamics that we've heard little about before. 

BSC Friends Forever Special #1: Everything Changes

 

Thoughts before reading:

Everything changes all right, it just takes 15 years...

I haven't read this, or any Friends Forever, before, but I like the basic concept behind it, based on what I know going in. However, I think this whole idea of downsizing the BSC and changing things would have been 1000x better if the girls graduated 8th grade in this book, then we followed them through their first year of high school in this series. After doing 8th grade for over a decade, it would be so nice to see the biggest change of all actually happen: the passage of time. Then the transition to high school would account for all the other changes in their lives, and with the club, instead of just randomly happening. This book could cover the summer before 9th grade, and how starting high school is affecting everyone.

The basics:

It's summer vacation still, and Kristy's worried about the BSC because everyone's going to be gone in July, except for Mal, Jessi, Logan, and Shannon. (Never mind that something like this happened in every Super Special.) Mary Anne, Abby and Kristy are going to be CITs at Camp Mohawk, Claudia's going on a surprise family vacation, and Stacey's spending 5 weeks in NYC. 

While Kristy's packing for camp, things go from bad to worse. First, Logan calls her to drop out of the BSC... he says he'll be too busy with sports next year. Naturally, she's furious. Then Mary Anne decides not to go to camp, because she has too much going on at home, and she's still having nightmares. Kristy isn't very sympathetic, and gets mad at her for backing out. To top all this off, she finds out that Jessi's going to a new ballet school in Stamford, 6 days a week.

Mary Anne's living in a rental house provided by the insurance company for the time being. She's still worried that her dad will take the job in Philadelphia, as nothing's been decided yet. Logan's also been driving her crazy since the fire, being really overprotective. He's constantly hovering and making her feel suffocated, not to mention frustrated. She doesn't understand why he can't see that she's a strong person, and starts to question whether or not she still wants to be with him. 

She does get a little break from worrying about all this when her grandma from Iowa comes to visit, for the first time since her daughter died, bringing along boxes of things that belonged to Alma. There's photos, letters, toys, even grade school art. Seeing how much of her mother is truly left, Mary Anne feels much better. (Of course, all the things she had from Alma herself were lost in the fire.) 

Things get even better when Richard surprises her with some amazing news: he's turned down the job in Philly, deciding it's not right for him. He then suggests they renovate the barn to live in, an idea that Mary Anne and Sharon both love. It will take about a year to complete though, and their current rental is too small for them to stay in for so long. Richard and Sharon search for a new temporary home, leading to more great news... the Goldmans, Claudia's neighbors, are renting their house out. (They've just retired, and are spending a year in Florida.) Mary Anne is thrilled to be returning to Bradford Court, where she grew up, and she'll be right next door to Claudia!

Claudia's family is going to Monhegan, a small island off the coast of Maine. They want to return to the simple life for awhile, or at least the adults do. Claudia's less than thrilled, and she's quickly bored on the island, with no technology and no phones. As time goes on though, she comes to love it, and ends up not wanting to leave. She even thinks she might want to move there someday.

Stacey's summer with her dad in NYC gets off to a rough start when he sees Ethan standing outside The Pony, an adult club. Based solely on this, he decides Ethan's a bad influence on Stacey. (Plus he has an earring! GASP!) She's now allowed to see him only 14 hours a week. He also sits Stacey down and announces that he's having Samantha move in, which she's less than thrilled about.

Ethan convinces Stacey to give Samantha and the move a chance. Her dad's so impressed, he lifts the new rules... just in time for her vacation to be over anyway.

At camp, Kristy and Abby are in the same cabin, assigned to 8 year old's. Despite her excitement about the summer, Kristy's depressed over what's happening to her "beautiful BSC". Then Abby pulls her aside at camp to talk, and tells her she needs to quit the BSC. She wants more free time, and time for other things. Kristy's beyond furious, and decides that Abby's a lazy traitor, a wimp, a bad sport, etc, etc. 

From then on, Kristy gives Abby the silent treatment, ignores her outright, gets her in trouble, and plots ways to torture her. It's only after one of their campers tries to reunite them that Kristy apologizes and finally comes to understand. 

Once all the girls are back in Stoneybrook, the OG BSC members get together. They all admit that they'd like to have more free time, and that when school starts things are going to be really busy as it is. Kristy's heartbroken, especially after calling Shannon, who tells her she was working up the courage to call and drop out too. Kristy's panicked about how the four of them could possibly ever do the work 9 of them struggled with... but she has to admit that even she would like more free time. The four girls end up agreeing to run the club on a scaled back basis: no new clients, less meetings, and if they can't do a job, they'll just turn it down. 

Mary Anne decides to break up with Logan, but is still unsure how to do it.

Kristy decides to start a new journal for this new chapter in her life, and wonders about who she'll be when there's no more BSC and she's just a regular babysitter. 

Timeline:

Opens on June 25th, and covers July and a little of August.

Misc. thoughts:

*This alternates POVs, just like all the other Super Specials, but only the OG 4. The whole book is comprised of letters and journal entries, complete with Claudia's spelling (but thankfully not her handwriting).

*Kristy says Mal and Jessi can't run the club by themselves, but they actually have before, in SM #1.

*Kristy's started keeping a journal, because she's been inspired by Mary Anne.

*Other summer plans include Jessi going to a special summer ballet program, Mallory's plan to write a book, Logan has joined a baseball league called the Panthers, and has football practice, and Dawn is in California until August. (Why, when that's her only Stoneybrook time? Plus she came to CT in #131, so why would she leave and then come back again later in the summer?)

*Didn't Kristy go to Monhegan in her Portrait book, or was that a different random island?

*Claudia still can't spell Mary Anne's name, after knowing her for her whole life? Sigh. Her chapters in here were really annoying, because the spelling was so distracting. They should have just said she used spell check and then had everything be written normally.

*Stacey's learning how to needlepoint? Didn't she already learn this in another book, way back? I thought she took a project to Sea City with her on one of the trips.

*The World Trade Center is mentioned.

*I'm baffled by the handling of Jessi's character. By the #80's, she was barely getting any books or storylines. Then her last series book was #115, quite awhile ago, and that was the Dance NY book. Since she never got another book, or wrapped up, and is now leaving the BSC to attend a dance school, why didn't she just leave back then? It would explain more and make so much more sense. 

*This book refers to the previous trip to summer camp from way back in SS #2 as having been last summer, which makes the time loop obvious and awkward. 

*Claudia's parents let her eat at McDonalds in here, which surprised me. 

*Apparently the last time Stacey took Ethan to Bloomingdale's, he embarrassed her by trying on hats in the women's department because he was bored, LOL.

*Ethan tells Stacey he only goes shopping when he needs something. Stacey figures this must be one of the great differences between men and women, which made me laugh.

*Also, Stacey and Ethan's entire trip to Bloomingdale's in here was hilarious, especially him trying to find the "guy couches" to read on, and getting all flustered in the bra department.

*This book was a LOT different than I expected. I thought there would be a bunch of big changes, life events, figuring out the BSC, farewells to characters... not everyone taking separate vacations and then writing about them. 

*I already like Friends Forever Mary Anne better. Her relationship with Logan spanning the entire BSC series was ridiculous, and I'm thrilled that she finally wants to dump him.

*Before their fight, Abby and Kristy both love camp, and Kristy loves getting to know Abby better.

*What's with Claudia's sudden lobster obsession? She's trying to eat it everyday on her vacation, which got really tedious to read about in her letters.

*It says in here that Mary Anne's grandma traveled with more luggage than even Stacey, but it's actually Claudia who always has the huge suitcases.

*I can't really blame Abby for wanting to be a kid and not be working so much... the most cult-like aspect of the BSC to me is how hard it is to get out of it. When anyone leaves, regardless of their reason, Kristy totally flips out.

*After all these years of not being allowed to read Nancy Drews, Claudia catches her mom reading a Harlequin Romance! Definitely my favorite moment of this book, haha!

*Claudia and Janine take an art class together, which I thought was sweet.

*Kristy is so mean to Abby in here that it's ridiculous. I'm surprised Abby even wants to be her friend anymore.

*There's an error in here where Claudia refers to "Claud" in a letter to Stacey, like it's someone else writing a letter to Claudia.

*No ghostie? 

*I wonder why they didn't have all the girls write to each other for this? It was always Claudia and Stacey or Kristy and Mary Anne. 

Books mentioned:

*Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

*Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

My rating:

3 stars. I loved the idea of this: a smaller, simpler club, a new focus on characters, more friendship driven, a return to the original four characters, actual changes/growth, and Mary Anne finally dumping Logan. I didn't like the execution so far though. Other than the first 10% and last 10%, this was so boring. There was no plot at all. I also really wish everyone, all 9 characters, would have had chapters in here, to wrap them up and say goodbye. Since there was really hardly anything going on in here, it would have fit in fine. Mal and Jessi, especially, really deserved better. 

#131: The Fire at Mary Anne's House

 

Thoughts before reading:

I can't believe I'm on the last series book! When I started this project, I couldn't even imagine getting this far.

I wonder how this came to be the last BSC book, exactly? Was it planned that way, or just weird luck? The idea for it is so different from the usual BSC fare, and such a dark ending to an idyllic series. Everyone else's last books were just normal, small plots, nothing special. Then we hit this last one and it's about a house fire. If it was planned as a way to change some things for the Friends Forever books, I wonder if they just were ready to do something different, or if the series had dropped in popularity. Friends Forever didn't last very long, after all. 

The basics:

Summer vacation has just started, and Mary Anne's relaxing and reading Teenzine magazine. She's excited to see that they're having a "Babysitter of the Year" contest, so she spreads the word to the rest of the BSC. They decide to enter as a group, going through the club notebook for essay ideas for their entry. Everyone starts reminiscing about all the crazy times the club has been through. They even gather testimonials from some of their charges. 

After a pleasant, ordinary summer day, which Mary Anne spends having a picnic with Logan in her barn, reading in a hammock, going to the BSC meeting, and having some family time, Tigger wakes her up in the middle of the night. It's 4:42 AM, and she hears fire alarms going off. Confused, she scoops up Tigger and leaves her room. The downstairs of her house is completely up in flames, and there's thick smoke everywhere. Her dad is out in the hall, and quickly guides her down the stairs, where they then crawl outside to safety. Sharon's already out there, and has just called 911. They huddle together outside, waiting, and watching their house burn. 

The firefighters quickly arrive and set to work, but the fire has done a lot of damage very quickly. They manage to save the barn, but the house is almost completely destroyed. Mary Anne watches everything unfolding, in complete shock and unable to cry. Stacey comes to wait with her at some point in the very early morning, and other neighbors keep stopping by.

Awhile after dawn, the fire is finally out. More neighbors, along with the rest of the BSC, stop by for moral support. Watson offers to let them stay with his family, which Richard gratefully accepts. Maureen brings everyone water and sandwiches. Someone calls Dawn and Jeff to let them know, and Dawn promises to come ASAP. Then a few firefighters lead the family into the wreckage to look for things to salvage. There's barely anything left, but Sharon's wedding ring and a pearl necklace of Mary Anne's are found. 

By late morning, Mary Anne finally goes to Kristy's house to sleep for a few hours. When she returns to the house later, her parents and many other volunteers are going through the wreckage, still hoping to find things to save. Kristy helps Mary Anne search for anything from her room. The whole BSC ends up returning to help, and Dawn arrives that evening. 

After a few days of salvaging and finding almost nothing, Richard calls a family meeting to discuss what's next for them. Right before the fire, he got a really good job offer in Philadelphia, and Sharon wants to quit her job and go back to school... so they think now this might be a good time to move. Mary Anne's stunned by the prospect of more changes. 

In the coming days, Mary Anne finds herself feeling helpless, numb, and unable to cry or discuss the fire with anyone. She's also having nightmares and trouble sleeping. One night she creeps out of the house alone after a bad dream, and rides Kristy's bike all the way to the ruins of her house. (The book makes sure to tell us this isn't a smart thing to do, but she does wear a helmet!) She looks at the items saved in the barn, and finally cries. Dawn shows up after awhile, having guessed where she went. They sit and cry together, and talk about the fire at last. Mary Anne realizes she's not alone after all. 

The BSC charges pull together to help write the history of the BSC, which inspires Kristy to finally write her essay on why she loves to babysit. (Included in entirety.) The essay makes everyone cry, even Logan. 

Timeline:

It's June, summer vacation. 

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*Almost 200 books later, Tigger is still a kitten.

*At the beginning of this book, Mary Anne's reading the "Hot Summer Fun" issue of Teenzine. Sounds like the BSC-verse version of BOP, haha.

*Mary Anne has a Cam Geary collage, to the surprise of no one. 

*We're told in here that Dawn's a very relaxed person who never judges anyone? (pg 5) OK, I like Dawn generally, but that's simply not true. She's really judgmental when people don't follow along with what she believes in, or agree with her. As the series has progressed, that's also gotten way worse. She's said and thought really harsh things about people who eat meat numerous times, even though she also eats it herself fairly often, for one example.

*Why did this house have to be the one to burn down, if they really wanted a house fire book? It was my favorite in the series, when I was a kid and still during my re-read.

*Mal isn't in this book, because Riverbend starts their summer vacation 2 weeks later.

*This book gets meta on us: "The BSC has had so many experience I'd have to write a whole book-- a whole set of books-- if I wanted to tell our complete story" (pg 22). 

*There was LOTS of reminiscing in here, which was both fitting and nice. While working on their contest essay, the girls look back on Jackie's injuries, Jenny's strep throat, making instruments with the kids, making Thanksgiving baskets for Stoneybrook manor, the ghost in the secret passage, Jake Kuhn going missing, the pet sitting, the Mother's Day Off free sitting event... and the original notebook entries are included. Normally I'd complain about filler, but it was fun to look back on the things from long ago. It already feels like it's been forever since I read those early books. They definitely knew this would be the last book when they wrote it.

*Norman Hill's apparently always trying to diet and likes to be kept from temptation? He's 7! More like his parents want him to do both...

*Sharon works for a woman who has her own small accounting business, but she's not happy with the job lately. That's called adulthood, Sharon. 

*The time loop is sort of acknowledged in here, albeit awkwardly... Mary Anne and Logan jump in the hay in the barn during their picnic, something she says she hasn't done in years. Technically she's right, but since she met Dawn during 7th grade, and 8th grade has just ended (in theory, although they're going to go through it one more time). So the longest it could possibly be since she even met Dawn is less than two years. Taking into account that she's entering 8th grade again in the fall, it would only be months. 

*Mary Anne and Logan kiss in the hayloft? Is it just me, or does this sound like a euphemism, as in "a roll in the hay"? Maybe it's G rated BSC speak for making out?

*I liked that this book goes through the "last normal day" of Mary Anne's life in detail. Who doesn't do that in their mind after something life changing happens, especially when it's unexpected?

*Mary Anne crawls out of the burning house whole holding Tigger? That's impressive, but I think also pretty impossibly, unless she's on all fours. She couldn't really roll then though, as we're told she does.

*How did Sharon end up outside alone while Mary Anne wasn't even awake yet? I hope Richard made her go out to safety and to call 911, otherwise that's pretty messed up that she just left them both inside.

*This book would have terrified me as a kid, and was still unsettling now. The way the sequence of events is described, it's very clear that Richard, Mary Anne, and Tigger were mere moments away from being trapped in the second floor of a burning house. 

*Mary Anne thinks the saddest two movies ever made are Titanic and Roman Holiday. It's so weird to hear her mention a movie as recent as Titanic. These girls love their old movies, and like I've said before, these books will forever be stuck in an earlier era for me. I can't picture them past the early 90s.

*Mary Anne's kept journals ever since she could write? That's new info... I thought only Mal did that.

*I do think it would have been more fitting to give Kristy the last book, have this be second to last, and tie up some loose ends, while giving the BSC creator and narrator of the first book a better storyline to finish on.

*Items salvaged from the house during the later searches include a bathtub, andirons from the fireplace, a jumble of silverware, 3 pots, a colander, Dawn's porcelain dolphin, a tin box, a ruined stuffed animal, and one picture of Mary Anne's mom.

*If Sharon wants to move, it should be to California, so she can actually be in her children's lives and help raise them. I can't believe she'd consider moving anywhere else.

*The letter in the back of this book from AMM is about the Friends Forever series, which began only a month after this book. 

*Last Mary Anne book and last book in the regular series. She narrated 28 books. 

Books mentioned:

*Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh

*My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George

*101 Fantastic Hamburger Recipes

My rating:

4 stars. Mary Anne definitely got the best final book. This was well done, sad, and touching. 

#130: Stacey's Movie

 

Thoughts before reading:

I can't believe I only have two books left! It's weird that all the last books are such random plots that could have been anywhere in the series, and then Mary Anne's is a huge one about her losing her house. I wonder what went into these decisions, or if they were just whims?

The basics:

Stacey's taking a new Short Takes class about movie making, and it's taught by a real documentary film maker, so she's really excited. She really likes the teacher, Ms. Murphy, right away, and is hoping to be able to direct and produce. The class is three weeks long, during which each group of students will be creating their own ten minute film. She's assigned to a group with Emily, Erica, and Pete, and gets stuck with the job of screenwriter. They decide to make a thriller.

She has no idea what to write though, until she watches an old episode of the Twilight Zone and gets inspired. Stacey then ends up writing a script about a geeky girl who wishes everyone would go away, only to wake up and find that everyone is actually gone. She roams around school, and creepy things keep happening... then zombies burst out of the lockers and chase her. 

The rest of her group loves the idea, and they get right to work. (Emily's playing the lead role.) However, after trying to film the zombie scene and discovering how terrible it looks, they all begin to rethink the idea. Eventually they agree to do a documentary about the kids at SMS instead, and start interviewing kids. 

Mary Anne gets emotional during her interview (she had a fight with Sharon right before it) and she says she doesn't consider Sharon to be her mother, and she's angry at her mom for dying. Later she regrets the things she said and asks Stacey to take her interview out of the movie, but since it's their best one Stacey doesn't want to. Instead she gives Mary Anne the run around to dodge the issue. Despite this, Stacey feels guilty later and actually does try to remove it, but the rest of her group insists that it's too good not to use. Stacey calls Mary Anne to fess up, and gets hung up on. 

Stacey does the last interview herself, and she also says something she regrets, about crying in bed at night while her parents screamed at each other, right before the divorce. She asks the group to cut it out, but they refuse. (You'd think she would have learned from what happened to Mary Anne...) 

Now Stacey has a lot more sympathy for Mary Anne, and tries again to get her interview cut, but her group won't budge. Instead, Stacey has the idea to film Mary Anne explaining that she was upset about a fight with Sharon when she gave her interview. Everyone agrees, and the final film includes scenes of both her and Stacey explaining themselves. 

From this experience, Stacey learns that everyone's memories are like little films, trying to create a balanced picture. (Definitely her words, not mine!)

Side plot: Kristy gets pushy and power hungry in her quest to get good material for her film. (Is anyone surprised by this?)

Timeline:

Doesn't say, but it must still be spring.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn

*Stacey loves movies and is interested in being a director? It's awfully late in the series for new character info now...

*I love how the series had to squeeze in one more Short Takes class before the end. It's a weird choice for a final character book though. 

*More past and present Short Takes classes are mentioned in here, including Modern Egyptology, Contemporary Political Campaigns, Music Composition, Business Management, Athletic Physiology, and Architectural Design.

*Stacey's love of Cinderella as a young child is mentioned again, good continuity. 

*This book says Ethan's 16 instead of 15, which I know is an error, but eww. That'd be a HS junior dating an 8th grader. That's an important year, and therefore a really big difference. 13 and 15 is really pushing it already. 

*For this group of Short Takes classes, everyone got to choose from the different options. Stacey obviously picked Movie Making, as did Kristy, Claudia Architectural Design, Mary Anne Modern Egyptology, and Abby and Jessi Athletic Physiology. 

*Kristy's group's project is Stoneybrook's Funniest Kids: filming charges, then putting together the goofiest stuff. Sounds just like Kids Say the Darndest Things, which is actually hilarious. Naturally, this was Kristy's idea.

*I totally know which Twilight Zone episode Stacey was talking about, and it's actually my favorite! It's basically about a librarian who keeps wishing everyone would just go away and leave him alone, so he could just have endless peace and quiet to read. He gets his wish, and everyone vanishes... at which point, he accidently breaks his glasses, which he needs to be able to see anything. 

*Kristy does ask permission from the parents to film their kids. I was wondering if she would or not.

*Pete complains in his interview that he feels stuck because he can't drive or get a real job, like waiting on people or working a register, until he's 16. Now, he's technically correct, but in the context of these books, what a weird addition. There has never been a legal age to work in Stoneybrook, so what is he talking about? Logan, Stacey, and others have worked real jobs at places such as department stores and cafes. In Sea City there was even a 12 year old working in an ice cream shop, I believe?

*Abby's mom gets up at 5 for work everyday, and Abby has trouble going back to sleep after.

*Reading the interviews with various students was the most interesting part of this, and new things are actually revealed about a few of them. We don't often hear a lot of personal thoughts from anyone, so I enjoyed it.

*All along Stacey's thought she might go into engineering? That's awesome, but this is definitely the first we've heard of it.

*Interviewees include Pete, Jessi, Abby, Cokie, Claudia, Emily, Mary Anne, Erica, Alan, and Stacey. Not a very wide range.

*Alan refers to Kristy as Darth Vader, hahaha.

*Rosie Wilder is still auditioning for commercials? What happened to her only doing the few activities she enjoyed?

*The last Stacey book! Sniff. She had a total of 29, the most of anyone.

*BSC Friends Forever is advertised in the back of this book for the first time.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2.5 stars. I wanted to like Stacey's last book a lot more, but this was pretty dull. It's just so painfully obvious they were out of ideas by now.

#129: Kristy at Bat

 

Thoughts before reading:

The plots about sports/softball are my least favorite, so it's too bad that Kristy's last series book is one of them. Hopefully it'll be better than some of the others.

I like this cover though. Kristy looks really good on it, definitely one of her best ones.

The basics:

Spring break has arrived again, and Watson and Kristy are taking a vacation together to Bill Bain's Baseball Dream Camp. (Basically, a camp where you go and pretend to be a major league ball player.) They'll be attending a special father-daughter session. Bill Bain is Watson's childhood hero, and his favorite ball player since then, so it's extra special for him. 

Right before camp and the end of school, Kristy learns she's been demoted to the second string team (the middle school version of JV, sounds like). She's stunned, until the coach explains that other players had just shown more skill and determination than her. Then she realizes she didn't really try her best during tryouts, because she'd just assumed she would make it. Now that she feels like she's only "second best", Kristy loses all her excitement for Dream Camp. (Pretty ungrateful if you ask me.)

Shortly after Kristy and Watson arrive at the camp, he sees his idol, Bill Bain, in the dining area. After working up his courage, he goes up to him and introduces himself during lunch, only to have Bain say he doesn't like to be bothered at mealtimes, and not very nicely, either. Humiliated, he quickly returns to his own table. After this incident, Watson seems down, and Kristy's not sure how to help.

Spending time with Watson at the camp also makes Kristy think a lot about her dad, which in turn makes her feel guilty. She's still in a slump too, and not playing her best, but she does make an amazing hit one of the days, and she really wishes her dad had seen it. 

Bill Bain continues to be unfriendly, and is rarely around. When he is, he doesn't participate in anything. He even comes to a drill practice and snaps at the instructor. Kristy snaps back at him and tells him that he's let everyone who wanted to meet him down. She expects Watson to be proud of her, but instead he's angry that she was "rude to a legend like Bill Bain". 

On the last day of camp, everyone has a big final game together. Bill Bain shows up to coach, and he apologizes for being rude. Kristy hits a home run, Watson gets a run, and their team ends up winning.

At the final awards dinner, Kristy wins Best Coach.

Side plot: David Michael gets really into trading baseball cards.

Timeline:

It's early April.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*As much as this plot didn't interest me at all, it was nice that Kristy's last book was about her taking a trip with Watson. How far we've come since #1!

*The Brewer/Thomas clan has a baseball diamond in their side yard? Those are usually tiny! They must have some serious acreage, lucky kids...

*Abby's president of the BSC for the week that Kristy's gone. I'm surprised they tried this again after it led to the collapse of the BSC before.

*First base is Kristy's favorite position. 

*There's so much talk about Bill Bain in here, which was really boring since he only appears for the first time in this book, and he's a fictional player.

*Is Dream Camp a real thing? I've never heard of it before.

*Claudia appreciates baseball cards only as art objects, to David Michael's dismay, haha. 

*After all her years of playing and coaching, it really doesn't make any sense that Kristy would suddenly think she's a bad player just because of one tryout. Plus all her moping about it in here makes her seem like a bad sport.

*Leave it to Kristy to jump in and tell off Bill Bain, as well as help organize things at camp, make decisions, and call for votes. Hence the win for best coach at the end.

*I felt really bad for Watson after Bill Bain blew him off... he was all excited to meet him, like a little kid, and then he got so embarrassed.

*I liked that we saw more of Watson in here, and a different side of him as well. I just wish that it was in a more interesting plot.

*I wonder how old Watson is? The books never say, and Kristy makes him sound ancient, but then she says he's probably only a few years older than her mom! Her mom's only 37! So, since this is the perspective of a 13 year old, he's probably only like 40, haha. 

*This is Kristy's last regular series book, but of course she returns in Friends Forever. She also narrated 28 books, same as Claudia. 

*The time loop is more painfully obvious than normal in here, as we have a whole storyline about Kristy, an 8th grader, trying out for next year's softball team at SMS. She'd theoretically be in high school. I could be wrong about this, but it's already April, so I don't think it could be for the current school year.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. Another dud of a last book for me. 

#128: Claudia and the Little Liar

 

Thoughts before reading:

This is really not Claudia's best cover look, yikes...

The basics:

Claudia has a babysitting job with the Braddocks, and they have a new rule that Haley has to do her weekend homework on Friday nights. She's resistant though, so Claudia's put in the awkward position of enforcing it. She tries to be firm without making a big deal over it, even after catching Haley on the phone instead of working. Claudia does ask to see her finished work though, and so Haley shows her a book report. When her parents get home, Claud tells them that the homework is done and she checked it... only to learn Haley showed her an old assignment to trick her. Haley gets grounded for lying, and she blames Claudia for telling on her. She doesn't let it go either, from there telling all her friends that Claudia got her in trouble, so they'll also be mad at her.

Lately Claudia has also been feeling like something's off in her relationship with Josh. They're such good friends, and so comfortable together, that she's not feeling a spark. All this is on her mind when Josh asks her out to the movies, but she has to decline because it's her dad's birthday. Later that evening, she realizes she has the wrong weekend. Instead of calling Josh to tell him she's now free, she decides to take advantage of a rare free night alone, and ends up getting lost in her new Nancy Drew mystery. While she's reading, Josh calls. He wanted to leave her a message, and is surprised to find her at home. She feels guilty that she didn't tell him about her change in plans, so she fibs and says her dad got sick.

The next week Claudia gets another job with the Braddocks. Once again, Haley won't do her homework, and talks on the phone instead. Claudia makes her get off, and tells her she has to show her the finished work again. Once it's all done, Haley immediately gets back on the phone with Vanessa, and Claudia overhears her telling Vanessa that Claudia's a traitor and a tattletale. 

When Mrs. Braddock returns, Haley reports that she was trying to go over her math with Vanessa, and Claudia kept interrupting. She also says that Claudia told her homework isn't important. Luckily Mrs. B sees through this and apologizes to Claudia, telling her that lately Haley's been a handful and they aren't sure what to do with her. 

Naturally, Kristy promptly starts worrying about the BSC's reputation. Claudia tells Josh about the problem too, but is frustrated because he barely seems to be listening. Later on, he asks her if she thinks things between them are working out. She says yes, but then later wonders if that was honest. She loves him, but doesn't know if she's in love with him. 

Abby overhears Haley telling a bunch of other kids that the babysitters are really spies for their parents. It's not long before the whole BSC starts to have trouble with kids not trusting them, believing that they are spying, and giving them a general hard time. 

During her next sitting job with the Braddocks, Haley tells Claudia that Matt has to make a poster for school, but he doesn't have any paints to use. Claud calls Stacey, who gets her mom to stop by Claudia's house to pick up hers, then bring them over. After this is all done, Haley claims to have told Claudia to call Nicky Pike and get a lizard book for Matt. Claudia's furious, but Haley just says she's crazy, because she never said that. When her parents get home, Haley then tells them Claudia was hanging out with Stacey and forgot to call about Matt's book... and she told Haley to cover for her, or else she'd tell everyone Haley was lying. 

Mrs. B pulls Claudia aside and assures her that she doesn't believe Haley, but they will be using a new sitter for now because Haley's been at her worst when Claudia's around. (Great parenting solution...) Mary Anne takes over the jobs, and predictably has the same problems. She suggests that they try a role play with Haley, to reenact that first sitting job so they can find out what went wrong. (Mary Anne learned this technique in therapy... good continuity!)

Stacey invites Claudia and Josh to NYC with her and Ethan. Claudia confides to her that she never has the desire to kiss Josh. Stacey tells her that it sounds like her romance is turning into a friendship. Realizing she's right, Claudia knows she has to now tell Josh, but she's worried about losing his friendship if she hurts him. 

Luckily Josh ends up asking her to talk first, and brings up the same problem. Relieved, they mutually breakup and plan a friend date. 

During the reenactment, Haley's still trying to lie about how things happened. When challenged, she finally admits that the book she was supposed to read was too hard, and she runs out crying. Claudia realizes that what's been bothering her all along was really her school work. She opens up to Haley about being held back, and her own struggles. It comes out that all Haley's lying began when Haley lied to her teacher about why her work wasn't done, and the teacher believed her. As the school trouble deepened, lying made her feel powerful.

Side plot: The BSC and Josh are helping out with a girl's basketball league (made all the more random by the fact that chapter 1 begins with this already happening). Apparently Kristy volunteered them all to help at some point.

Timeline:

It's March.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.

*Claudia's allowed to have Josh in her bedroom when her parents aren't home? Even though Janine's there, I'm still very surprised. Most of the other girls have stricter rules, even Stacey, who has to stay in the kitchen with boys.

*When Haley misses basketball practice because she's grounded, Kristy makes Stacey fill in. None of the girls are pleased, and Stacey mentions that she's been playing basketball longer than most of these girls have been alive. Uh, what? The girls in question are 8-9... was Stacey on some sort of toddler basketball league that we've never heard about before?

*Kristy tries to bench Stacey for talking back, which is actually pretty funny.

*One of the kids in here says you can't trust anyone with a double digit age, haha. Definitely kid logic.

*Annoying as Haley was in here, it's about time a kid and a sitter don't get along. It's something that would actually happen a lot, but never does to the BSC. Also, this is the problem with having sitters close in age to yours kids. In real life, there would be a lot of kids refusing to listen to them and questioning their authority.

*Claudia and Josh don't have sexual tension, basically, but the book refers to it as "romantic feelings". 

*Haley was a weird choice for this plot, since she's always been so well behaved, and in here she's crazy! This 9 year old is literally gaslighting Claudia, and she's not bad at it, either. She's actually a scary good liar, not to mention manipulator. She easily pulls Claudia into several of these no-win situations.

*Mr. Brooke is still a client.

*Claudia's final regular series book, although as a founding BSC member, she returns in Friends Forever. She narrated 28 books total. 

Books mentioned:

*The Great Brain, by John D. Fitzgerald

*The Case of the Artful Crime, by Carolyn Keene

*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L' Engle

My rating:

2.5 stars. I appreciated the attempt, and even the concept, but this still wasn't very good. It's sad that it's taken until book 128 for something like this to happen...