#110: Abby the Bad Sport

 

Thoughts before reading:

Every time I've seen this book I've thought it was called Abby AND the Bad Sport, until I actually sat down to read it. I had just assumed this was another babysitting plot where the girls would have to deal with a problem situation and they'd magically fix it. A BSC member behaving badly (like a normal teenager!) sounds potentially more interesting. 

This poor girl on the cover with Abby here wins the award for worst BSC cover hair of all time, yikes. 

The basics:

Abby's soccer coach has recommended her for the Special Olympics Unified Team program, because she's been wanting to get more practice in. The team is made up of partners and athletes: the athletes have "mental retardation" (the book's terminology, not mine...), and partners don't. They are combined for training and competition, but Abby secretly expects to be a star. She thinks she'll stand out so much above the others that she'll basically be an assistant coach. 

At the first practice, Abby is given a defense position, which she hates... she's always been offense before. A girl named Erin gets her favorite position, center forward. Abby vows to stop her and show the coach what a mistake this is. 

Around this same time, Mrs. Stevenson takes the twins out to dinner and mentions that their dad's birthday is coming up. She thinks they should visit their paternal grandparents that weekend, then his grave. Abby doesn't say so, but the whole idea upsets her. She wants to leave well enough alone, and not open up her pain again. 

After a few practices with her new team, Abby's frustrated that the coach still hasn't switched her position. This isn't very surprising though, because Erin's a really good player. Abby gets jealous and starts making mean comments to her, as well as dropping hints to the coach, and having an all around bad attitude. She also avoids Erin, annoyed that everyone's treating her like a star. 

During the first game, Abby keeps trying to score instead of playing her actual position, and her team loses, 2-1. Abby blames it on Erin, then gets mad when Erin rightly tells her that it's her fault for not being a team player and doing what she's supposed to. To top all this off, Erin is one of the handicapped players, and she thinks that's why Abby's giving her a hard time. When Abby gets home after the game, she lashes out at her mom about the birthday plans.

Next game, Abby's still trying to play offense and score, and refusing to share the ball. Then when Erin gets it and does the same thing, Abby calls her stupid. The BSC and some charges are at the game to support her, and they are all shocked by how she's acting. The coach benches both girls for two games, which of course, Abby thinks is unfair. 

When Mr. Stevenson's birthday weekend rolls around, Abby lies to her mom and says she has an important game so that she can get out of going. Her mom believes her (and doesn't know she's benched), so Abby's allowed to stay with Kristy for the weekend instead. 

Watching game 3 from the bench, Abby's still thinking about how she could score more goals and do better than her teammates. Karen comes over to cheer her up about not getting to play, and learns the truth from Erin in the process. (Abby hadn't admitted to anyone what really happened when she got benched.) Of course Karen promptly tells Kristy, who's angry, but the rest of the BSC is sympathetic. Kristy calls Abby out on her behavior, and tells her flat-out that she's a bad sport. Abby refuses to listen and storms off.

At the next few practices, Abby listens to the coach more and finally works on her defensive skills. She also finally apologizes to Erin, realizing it's never ok to call anyone stupid (something she should have learned in kindergarten). Next, Abby apologizes to Kristy, followed by telling her mom the truth about everything that's happened. 

Side plot: Kristy has the idea to have a car wash to raise money for Abby's team, so they can buy uniforms and new equipment. 

Timeline:

It's August still... been quite an eventful month. 

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker. 

*This book opens with a BSC meeting, which is a rarity. 

*We get some new info on the car accident that killed Mr. Stevenson. He was hit by a truck, and the truck driver was barely even hurt.

*This book came out in 1997, but the terminology felt very dated to me.

*When Abby's meeting players on her unified team, she says one of the girls is 15 and goes to Kelsey Middle School? That's awfully old to be in middle school, isn't it? 

*Abby admits to expecting less of the players with "mental retardation", but soon realizes her mistake. 

*Considering that Abby's playing on a team for the Special Olympics, I just can't believe she doesn't get kicked off for her behavior. Isn't she supposed to be there as a role model? Instead she's throwing fits, refusing to be a part of the team by not playing her actual position, and she calls a handicapped girl stupid! I'm starting to like her even less than Mary Anne. She's just such a bitch in here, that it's pretty crazy, especially for a BSC book. 

*A boom box! I loved mine back in the 90s. 

*In this book, I could see why people think Kristy and Abby have sexual tension. I'm still undecided, but there were moments in here when they were angry at each other, and the vibe was unusually intense. Plus after Kristy goes off on her, she suddenly realizes everything she's done wrong and immediately fixes all of it.

Books mentioned:

*Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst

My rating:

1.5 stars. Too much soccer and too much Abby. This book was beyond dull, and so irritating on top of that. I couldn't stand Abby, and I really wish she had faced some consequences for her behavior.