Thoughts before reading:
Yikes, this one does not sound even remotely promising...
The basics:
Stacey and a girl named Barbara Hirsch are on the pep squad together, and they've just finished building a jaguar for the school's first big football game of the season. (Barbara was Amelia's best friend, as mentioned in #93. Working on this project was the first time Stacey's seen her enjoy something again, since losing her friend.) Right after they finish, it's ruined by a girl who accidently walks right into it. Her name's Tess Swinhart, and she's new to SMS. Stacey notes that she's awfully tall and awkward looking, not to mention dressed uniquely. After apologizing, Tess offers to help them fix their jaguar. (Alan Gray starts calling Tess "Swine-hart the Destroyer" because she spilled some papier-mâché on him after the jaguar incident. Due to this combination of her last name and the fact that she wears a ton of pink, kids start making constant pig jokes about her.)
Tess is transferred into Stacey's English class shortly after. They're just starting a project, to be done in pairs, on medieval culture, and Tess asks Stacey to be her partner. Stacey agrees, but is surprised by Tess's enthusiasm about the Middle Ages. She already has the idea for them to do their project on castles, which Stacey also agrees to.
As promised, Tess shows up to help fix the mascot, and she's really helpful and creative to boot. Stacey realizes how nice she is, and decides to try to help her with her fashion sense so kids won't keep teasing her. Immediately, she starts dropping hints about her getting contacts, instead of the thick black glasses she now wears. She also constantly drops fashion hints, and wonders why Tess doesn't pick up on them. (Maybe it's because Tess seems perfectly happy as she is... imagine that!)
One afternoon, Tess comes over to Stacey's to work on their project, and Stacey asks her straight out if she can give her a makeover. Tess reluctantly agrees, and Stacey spends an hour putting makeup on her, giving her tips, and even encouraging her to join the pep squad. Eventually Tess agrees to come to a meeting, but acts really bored and annoyed the whole time.
Tess decides to try some of Stacey's suggestions after she hears a kid oink at her in the hallway. She's also noticed that Stacey often seems uneasy around her, and thinks it's because Stacey likes King. (Remember him? He's been making fun of Tess, but she likes him and has been defending him. He even asks her out on a date... to a place called Hog Heaven.)
The pep squad decides to vote on a new mascot, and one choice that comes up is a pig. When Stacey holds up the pig card at a pep rally (for voting), she's horrified to see that someone changed it to a "Swine-hart" drawing. Tess is hurt and confused, and then in the midst of this kids start throwing hot dogs at her... which leads to her falling backwards off the bleachers. (Damn, this is veering into dark territory...)
Stacey feels guilty and rushes over as an ambulance is taking Tess away. Tess tells her she's not her friend, and to go away. She ends up having a broken ankle and a sprained wrist from the fall.
After Tess returns to school, Stacey can't figure out why she's mad at her. She decides to head over to Tess's house to find out. Once there, she's surprised by how nice Tess's room is, full of art prints and colorful animal patterns. She also learns that Tess went to school in Paris, and she sees photos of her with her group of Parisian friends. They all dress like Tess, down to the hair and glasses. Stacey realizes her look was the "in" look at her old school. The girls finally talk too, and Tess (rightly) tells Stacey that she's never listened to her, instead just pitying her and dropping self-improvement hints. Stacey knows she's right.
Emily Bernstein tells Stacey that King is planning another big prank to play on Tess, by taking her to Hog Heaven, then taking photos of her with pig merchandise and submitting them to the school paper. Stacey asks the BSC for help, and Kristy comes up with a revenge plan that Tess also loves. They meet up outside Hog Heaven together, then dump ketchup, blue paint, and whipped cream all over King, then take pictures.
Side plot: Nicky Pike is acting strangely again (this began a side plot way back in #9 too). This time, it's not just him though... Jackie Rodowsky is doing the same thing, and the boys keep whispering on the phone to each other. It eventually comes out that some boys thought Jackie stole a baseball jacket from one of them, so they wanted to beat him up. He hired Nicky Pike to be his bodyguard.
Timeline:
It's finally September, and school is obviously back in session.
Misc. thoughts:
*This cover features some pretty accurate 90s clothing. I had a sweater like Stacey's, and I remember when everyone wore them.
*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn.
*Is this the first time we've heard that SMS's mascot is a jaguar? It doesn't sound familiar to me at all.
*Also, when did Stacey join the pep squad? I feel like I'm missing something going into this book, but I've been carefully reading every BSC thing in existence here...
*Abby's really mean about Tess, repeatedly talking about how weird she is, even though she also says she doesn't really know her. Between this and #110, I'm starting to think she has a real nasty streak. Claudia even says, basically, so what if she's strange, and Abby still carries on making fun of her clothes.
*Stacey's unfortunately not a lot better, thinking Alan has a point when he says Tess looks like a pig in her pink outfit. Ouch.
*Stacey's English class is studying medieval poets? We didn't do that until 10th grade honors English...
*Stacey thinks it's weird that Tess adores the Middle Ages, but I loved history at their age (and I still do now.)
*I was a nerdy kid, who also got picked on, so I really don't think I would have liked this book much. I really looked up to the BSC girls, and they aren't very accepting or kind in here.
*Why does everyone try to get people to stop wearing glasses whenever they get a makeover? As a glasses wearer, I'm offended! This is like a preteen version of She's All That, ugh.
*As of this book, people are starting to get "cellular phones". Ah, I remember when Claudia was so excited to get a cordless phone! This series really spans a lot of time, and two generations of readers. Say what you will about these books, but that's impressive.
*Kristy calls Stacey out on claiming to be trying to help Tess, but not asking her to sit with them at lunch, which I liked.
*If Stacey could be any animal, she says she'd be a lion or a panther.
*Claudia tries to suggest that Stacey should let Tess be herself, but she insists that she's helping.
*Now apparently 2 sitters are needed to watch 4 of the Pike kids, but when the triplets are there they only send one? Makes no sense.
*Tess barely asks about the BSC and Stacey's jumping on telling her they don't need new members. You'd think they'd be more open to it after all the problems they've had trying to find members in the past.
*Despite Tess having obvious artistic talent, Stacey doesn't want to recommend the art club to her because, "it would be like passing my problem over to them". Wtf? Stacey totally loses sight of the fact that Tess is a PERSON...
*Moral of this story? Junior high is the effing WORST.
*Tess has a mobile in her room that's a replica of an Alexander Calder.
I can't say I'm a huge fan of his work, but this still makes me picture her bedroom as being pretty awesome.
*The details about how Tess's fashion sense was "in" where she used to live made this book even worse for me. Why should any of that matter? Kind of undermines all the lessons about being yourself and accepting what's different, doesn't it? They even imply that since Europe is ahead, fashion wise, these things will be in trend at SMS pretty soon.
*Tess is described as "big boned", but she looks like a beanpole on the cover...
*Hungry Hungry Hippos! One of my favorite games in the 90s. I used to go to my friend's house just to play it, because I never owned it and her family did.
*Best thing about this book? It was really short.
Books mentioned:
*The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
My rating:
1 star. I really hated this book. It didn't show anyone's good side, making even my favorite character absolutely terrible. It also didn't know what it wanted to say about bullying and acceptance, and therefore failed at making any points or morals about anything. The bullying in here was disturbing, especially in that it led to a real injury... yet the only conclusions the book manages to draw from any of it are that something that seems weird could be trendy soon? Ugh, what a mess.
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