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.
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