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sarahhyatt's review against another edition
1.0
Every time I think I’ve read all the babysitters club books, I find a new gem I haven’t read. Except this one wasn’t really a gem.
Abby marked the point around when the BSC jumped the shark, waltzing in with her personality traits summarized as being a twin, a dead dad, allergies, and... sports? Except Kristy already had sports so that one didn’t really count. And Mary Anne already has a dead mom, so there’s that. Abby. She’s funny? Or something.
Abby leads us through the most phoned in portrait collection book yet, maybe because I don’t really care about her, and maybe because allergies and parental death don’t lead to the same whimsical stories as, say, art or fashion.
In this book: Abby’s teacher makes no effort to tell Abby and her sister apart, tells her parents to color-code them (seriously), Abby’s parents AGREE (SERIOUSLY), Abby and her sister loathe color coding (shocking!) and her parents are like, “well, you’re twins, you can’t expect people to bother to learn to tell you apart or get to know you as individuals but maybe one of you could cut your hair or something.” They’re six. The girls don’t like this for a few paragraphs — completely warranted — and then they decide that the only way anyone will ever tell them apart isn’t by getting to know them or their faces, so Abby’s sister agrees to cut her hair. Thus begins another personality trait for Abby, who is now The Twin With Long Hair.
Then her dad gets killed in a car accident and her grandparents show up and tell her right there in the school office. Her mom falls into a depression and stops doing housework. They take a depressing, isolating vacation. The family falls apart.
Eventually, the book culminates in a move to Stoneybrook, Connecticut, home of the Babysitters Club. Because both Abby and Kristy’s personalities are sports! (and allergies for the former), they end up as neighbors. This means Abby’s widowed, single mother of two buys a house in a wealthy part of town (Kristy lives in a mansion with like a hundred other people, including a ghost living on a floor of their house that the family doesn’t even use, remember?)
Abby’s mother got “a promotion and a bonus” and buys an enormous five-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a living room, family room, den, and office, and hires an interior decorator to furnish the house in entirely new furniture. I want to understand a world where this is possible or even desirable. Because as much as I’d love an extreme home makeover of my own, I don’t really want to deal with a five bedroom monstrosity of a house for three people.
Abby’s depressed, widowed mom does though.
I suppose it’s possible this whole book is a well executed exploration into Abby’s tendency to procrastinate on her homework, a fact she mentions no less than once a chapter. The thrown together, rushed nature of the book would lend itself to “a thirteen year old threw this together a day before it was due.” It’s middle school though, so Abby earns an A- on this “autobiography assignment,” something that feels remarkably familiar to me where it doesn’t matter if your work is any good as long as the sentences are grammatically correct.
(Abby’s twin, Anna, describes her own autobiography in this book and honestly it sounds way better than Abby’s and maybe should have been published in its place, but Anna isn’t in the Babysitters Club so nobody cares about her).
Abby marked the point around when the BSC jumped the shark, waltzing in with her personality traits summarized as being a twin, a dead dad, allergies, and... sports? Except Kristy already had sports so that one didn’t really count. And Mary Anne already has a dead mom, so there’s that. Abby. She’s funny? Or something.
Abby leads us through the most phoned in portrait collection book yet, maybe because I don’t really care about her, and maybe because allergies and parental death don’t lead to the same whimsical stories as, say, art or fashion.
In this book: Abby’s teacher makes no effort to tell Abby and her sister apart, tells her parents to color-code them (seriously), Abby’s parents AGREE (SERIOUSLY), Abby and her sister loathe color coding (shocking!) and her parents are like, “well, you’re twins, you can’t expect people to bother to learn to tell you apart or get to know you as individuals but maybe one of you could cut your hair or something.” They’re six. The girls don’t like this for a few paragraphs — completely warranted — and then they decide that the only way anyone will ever tell them apart isn’t by getting to know them or their faces, so Abby’s sister agrees to cut her hair. Thus begins another personality trait for Abby, who is now The Twin With Long Hair.
Then her dad gets killed in a car accident and her grandparents show up and tell her right there in the school office. Her mom falls into a depression and stops doing housework. They take a depressing, isolating vacation. The family falls apart.
Eventually, the book culminates in a move to Stoneybrook, Connecticut, home of the Babysitters Club. Because both Abby and Kristy’s personalities are sports! (and allergies for the former), they end up as neighbors. This means Abby’s widowed, single mother of two buys a house in a wealthy part of town (Kristy lives in a mansion with like a hundred other people, including a ghost living on a floor of their house that the family doesn’t even use, remember?)
Abby’s mother got “a promotion and a bonus” and buys an enormous five-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a living room, family room, den, and office, and hires an interior decorator to furnish the house in entirely new furniture. I want to understand a world where this is possible or even desirable. Because as much as I’d love an extreme home makeover of my own, I don’t really want to deal with a five bedroom monstrosity of a house for three people.
Abby’s depressed, widowed mom does though.
I suppose it’s possible this whole book is a well executed exploration into Abby’s tendency to procrastinate on her homework, a fact she mentions no less than once a chapter. The thrown together, rushed nature of the book would lend itself to “a thirteen year old threw this together a day before it was due.” It’s middle school though, so Abby earns an A- on this “autobiography assignment,” something that feels remarkably familiar to me where it doesn’t matter if your work is any good as long as the sentences are grammatically correct.
(Abby’s twin, Anna, describes her own autobiography in this book and honestly it sounds way better than Abby’s and maybe should have been published in its place, but Anna isn’t in the Babysitters Club so nobody cares about her).
situationnormal's review
3.0
I love the portrait book series, but Abby's was my least favorite (maybe because there were less anecdotes and it felt more like necessary backstory for her character that we just hadn't gotten yet).
lberestecki's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
chicafrom3's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Abby's backstory, presented as an autobiography written for a class project. Focuses mostly on her relationship with her family and dealing with the loss of her father. Nothing that hasn't really been touched on in previous Abby books (the last chapter is basically a recap of Kristy and the Dirty Diapers from Abby's perspective), but well laid-out and it's nice getting such a sentimental Abby book.
hyattsarah's review
1.0
Every time I think I’ve read all the babysitters club books, I find a new gem I haven’t read. Except this one wasn’t really a gem.
Abby marked the point around when the BSC jumped the shark, waltzing in with her personality traits summarized as being a twin, a dead dad, allergies, and... sports? Except Kristy already had sports so that one didn’t really count. And Mary Anne already has a dead mom, so there’s that. Abby. She’s funny? Or something.
Abby leads us through the most phoned in portrait collection book yet, maybe because I don’t really care about her, and maybe because allergies and parental death don’t lead to the same whimsical stories as, say, art or fashion.
In this book: Abby’s teacher makes no effort to tell Abby and her sister apart, tells her parents to color-code them (seriously), Abby’s parents AGREE (SERIOUSLY), Abby and her sister loathe color coding (shocking!) and her parents are like, “well, you’re twins, you can’t expect people to bother to learn to tell you apart or get to know you as individuals but maybe one of you could cut your hair or something.” They’re six. The girls don’t like this for a few paragraphs — completely warranted — and then they decide that the only way anyone will ever tell them apart isn’t by getting to know them or their faces, so Abby’s sister agrees to cut her hair. Thus begins another personality trait for Abby, who is now The Twin With Long Hair.
Then her dad gets killed in a car accident and her grandparents show up and tell her right there in the school office. Her mom falls into a depression and stops doing housework. They take a depressing, isolating vacation. The family falls apart.
Eventually, the book culminates in a move to Stoneybrook, Connecticut, home of the Babysitters Club. Because both Abby and Kristy’s personalities are sports! (and allergies for the former), they end up as neighbors. This means Abby’s widowed, single mother of two buys a house in a wealthy part of town (Kristy lives in a mansion with like a hundred other people, including a ghost living on a floor of their house that the family doesn’t even use, remember?)
Abby’s mother got “a promotion and a bonus” and buys an enormous five-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a living room, family room, den, and office, and hires an interior decorator to furnish the house in entirely new furniture. I want to understand a world where this is possible or even desirable. Because as much as I’d love an extreme home makeover of my own, I don’t really want to deal with a five bedroom monstrosity of a house for three people.
Abby’s depressed, widowed mom does though.
I suppose it’s possible this whole book is a well executed exploration into Abby’s tendency to procrastinate on her homework, a fact she mentions no less than once a chapter. The thrown together, rushed nature of the book would lend itself to “a thirteen year old threw this together a day before it was due.” It’s middle school though, so Abby earns an A- on this “autobiography assignment,” something that feels remarkably familiar to me where it doesn’t matter if your work is any good as long as the sentences are grammatically correct.
(Abby’s twin, Anna, describes her own autobiography in this book and honestly it sounds way better than Abby’s and maybe should have been published in its place, but Anna isn’t in the Babysitters Club so nobody cares about her).
Abby marked the point around when the BSC jumped the shark, waltzing in with her personality traits summarized as being a twin, a dead dad, allergies, and... sports? Except Kristy already had sports so that one didn’t really count. And Mary Anne already has a dead mom, so there’s that. Abby. She’s funny? Or something.
Abby leads us through the most phoned in portrait collection book yet, maybe because I don’t really care about her, and maybe because allergies and parental death don’t lead to the same whimsical stories as, say, art or fashion.
In this book: Abby’s teacher makes no effort to tell Abby and her sister apart, tells her parents to color-code them (seriously), Abby’s parents AGREE (SERIOUSLY), Abby and her sister loathe color coding (shocking!) and her parents are like, “well, you’re twins, you can’t expect people to bother to learn to tell you apart or get to know you as individuals but maybe one of you could cut your hair or something.” They’re six. The girls don’t like this for a few paragraphs — completely warranted — and then they decide that the only way anyone will ever tell them apart isn’t by getting to know them or their faces, so Abby’s sister agrees to cut her hair. Thus begins another personality trait for Abby, who is now The Twin With Long Hair.
Then her dad gets killed in a car accident and her grandparents show up and tell her right there in the school office. Her mom falls into a depression and stops doing housework. They take a depressing, isolating vacation. The family falls apart.
Eventually, the book culminates in a move to Stoneybrook, Connecticut, home of the Babysitters Club. Because both Abby and Kristy’s personalities are sports! (and allergies for the former), they end up as neighbors. This means Abby’s widowed, single mother of two buys a house in a wealthy part of town (Kristy lives in a mansion with like a hundred other people, including a ghost living on a floor of their house that the family doesn’t even use, remember?)
Abby’s mother got “a promotion and a bonus” and buys an enormous five-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a living room, family room, den, and office, and hires an interior decorator to furnish the house in entirely new furniture. I want to understand a world where this is possible or even desirable. Because as much as I’d love an extreme home makeover of my own, I don’t really want to deal with a five bedroom monstrosity of a house for three people.
Abby’s depressed, widowed mom does though.
I suppose it’s possible this whole book is a well executed exploration into Abby’s tendency to procrastinate on her homework, a fact she mentions no less than once a chapter. The thrown together, rushed nature of the book would lend itself to “a thirteen year old threw this together a day before it was due.” It’s middle school though, so Abby earns an A- on this “autobiography assignment,” something that feels remarkably familiar to me where it doesn’t matter if your work is any good as long as the sentences are grammatically correct.
(Abby’s twin, Anna, describes her own autobiography in this book and honestly it sounds way better than Abby’s and maybe should have been published in its place, but Anna isn’t in the Babysitters Club so nobody cares about her).
finesilkflower's review
3.0
The Portrait Collection is a series of the Baby-sitters Club girls' school-assigned "autobiographies," which take the form of 2- to 3-chapter short stories about their childhoods. I'll summarize and review each story individually.
From Birth to Backpacks: Abby's childhood stories mostly center on the state of Being a Twin. It's almost mystical, the way she describes it. Abby seems to feel she has some sort of psychic connection with Anna, despite barely interacting with her in her actual books.
Red and Blue Just Won't Do: Basically a rehash of [b:Mallory and the Trouble With Twins|233787|Mallory and the Trouble With Twins (The Baby-Sitters Club, #21)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172965739s/233787.jpg|2162292] from the perspective of a twin. Abby and Anna are frustrated that their classmates can't tell them apart, and feel dehumanized when their teacher instructs their parents to color-code them (dress one always in red and the other in blue). Their dad suggests that one twin cut her hair, and Anna agrees to do it. They also get new outfits, with one twin's accessories focusing on her interest in music and the other's style being more sporty, WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE
Without Dad: We knew it was coming, but the story of Abby and Anna losing their dad in a random car accident is wrenching and emotional. Their mother remains depressed for a long time, as family members step in to care for the family. The story ends on a hopeful note as their mother finds the strength to step up and take care of keeping the household running again.
The Shooting Star: A year after Jonathan's death, Abby and Anna and their mother live in separate worlds, throwing themselves into work and activities to distract from the emptiness of their family life. They go on a vacation to reconnect, but end up falling into their old patterns and doing separate activities at the resort. Although the vacation was their mother's idea, it's Abby and Anna who convince her to actually spend time together as a family while they are there. They decide to create new family traditions, just the three of them.
New Places, New Faces: Abby's mom moves the family to Stoneybrook, CT to get a fresh start and get away from the same old sights and sounds that, four years later, still remind them every day of Jonathan. A rehash of the Abby storyline in [b:Kristy and the Dirty Diapers|208855|Kristy and the Dirty Diapers (The Baby-Sitters Club, #89)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387750129s/208855.jpg|202139] follows.
Grade: Abby's teacher Mrs. Belcher gives her an A-. Again, there is nothing but praise; as a nerd, I'd be asking where I lost points!
My Grade: I'd give this book about a C. It's not a bad read and it does have some emotional impact, but it doesn't expand on our knowledge of Abby as a character - it just doubles down on the facts we already knew about her. And summarizing a book that's already in the series is a cheat. None of the other baby-sitters did that (granted, Kristy summarized the movie). Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn offered nothing but new stories about themselves, even though their actual autobiographies definitely would have covered some important events we already saw in the series.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Jeanne Betancourt
From Birth to Backpacks: Abby's childhood stories mostly center on the state of Being a Twin. It's almost mystical, the way she describes it. Abby seems to feel she has some sort of psychic connection with Anna, despite barely interacting with her in her actual books.
Red and Blue Just Won't Do: Basically a rehash of [b:Mallory and the Trouble With Twins|233787|Mallory and the Trouble With Twins (The Baby-Sitters Club, #21)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172965739s/233787.jpg|2162292] from the perspective of a twin. Abby and Anna are frustrated that their classmates can't tell them apart, and feel dehumanized when their teacher instructs their parents to color-code them (dress one always in red and the other in blue). Their dad suggests that one twin cut her hair, and Anna agrees to do it. They also get new outfits, with one twin's accessories focusing on her interest in music and the other's style being more sporty, WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE
Without Dad: We knew it was coming, but the story of Abby and Anna losing their dad in a random car accident is wrenching and emotional. Their mother remains depressed for a long time, as family members step in to care for the family. The story ends on a hopeful note as their mother finds the strength to step up and take care of keeping the household running again.
The Shooting Star: A year after Jonathan's death, Abby and Anna and their mother live in separate worlds, throwing themselves into work and activities to distract from the emptiness of their family life. They go on a vacation to reconnect, but end up falling into their old patterns and doing separate activities at the resort. Although the vacation was their mother's idea, it's Abby and Anna who convince her to actually spend time together as a family while they are there. They decide to create new family traditions, just the three of them.
New Places, New Faces: Abby's mom moves the family to Stoneybrook, CT to get a fresh start and get away from the same old sights and sounds that, four years later, still remind them every day of Jonathan. A rehash of the Abby storyline in [b:Kristy and the Dirty Diapers|208855|Kristy and the Dirty Diapers (The Baby-Sitters Club, #89)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387750129s/208855.jpg|202139] follows.
Grade: Abby's teacher Mrs. Belcher gives her an A-. Again, there is nothing but praise; as a nerd, I'd be asking where I lost points!
My Grade: I'd give this book about a C. It's not a bad read and it does have some emotional impact, but it doesn't expand on our knowledge of Abby as a character - it just doubles down on the facts we already knew about her. And summarizing a book that's already in the series is a cheat. None of the other baby-sitters did that (granted, Kristy summarized the movie). Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn offered nothing but new stories about themselves, even though their actual autobiographies definitely would have covered some important events we already saw in the series.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Jeanne Betancourt
sammah's review
3.0
This was perhaps my favorite Portrait Collection Book when I was a kid. I think because we hadn't spent 100+ books reading about Abby, so she felt new and different somehow. In retrospect parts of this book were just rehashed from other BSC books. Some of the identical twin stuff seemed gleaned right out of Mallory and the Trouble with Twins, to be perfectly honest. Ah, well.
The chapter about her father's death was actually super depressing. It did make me feel for her as a character, and for her poor mom. It was interesting at least to read about how they all fell apart, but ultimately worked to become a new kind of family.
Then the last bit was just a rehash of Kristy and the Dirty Diapers but from Abby's POV. Welcome to the BSC, ya poor sod.
The chapter about her father's death was actually super depressing. It did make me feel for her as a character, and for her poor mom. It was interesting at least to read about how they all fell apart, but ultimately worked to become a new kind of family.
Then the last bit was just a rehash of Kristy and the Dirty Diapers but from Abby's POV. Welcome to the BSC, ya poor sod.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/portrait-collection-abbys-book
ssshira's review
2.0
this is the last of our portrait collection series, also by ghostwriter [a:Jeanne Betancourt|79828|Jeanne Betancourt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1258759027p2/79828.jpg]. the following are the sections of abby’s biography, divided by age and plotline:
-first grade: everyone thinks abby and anna are exactly the same and calls them abby-anna. the teacher forces them to wear different colors (abby always wears red, anna always wears blue), because she can’t be bothered to tell them apart. the kids tease them more, call them red and blue, respectively, and finally they switch clothes to test whether anyone notices the difference (very tia and tamera style). no one can tell that they switched, even their dad. they're bummed out that their dad doesn’t know the difference but it turns out he was playing along and knew they switched. they decide that anna will cut her hair so they can wear different clothes and people will tell them apart. they also get different clothes and stop dressing alike all the time.
-fourth grade: abby and anna’s dad dies. they sit shivah. but then their mom basically stays depressed and can't move on. the house is a complete mess, and she just wears their dad's bathrobe moping and eating nothing but peanut butter and crackers. she won't even wash the clothes and says they should buy new ones instead of washing their old ones. finally abby says that dad would have hated how the house had gotten, and that’s enough of a wake up call that their mom sort of gets it together.
-fifth grade: abby, anna, and their mom never spend any time together because their mom works all the time and abby and anna have after school activities. they take a family vacation to sanibel fl, but it's more of the same. mom just golfs all the time, abby does sports, and anna sits around talking about music, or something. abby’s upset and intervenes, and so they start a new tradition of having a family day on new years eve.
-seventh grade into eighth grade: abby figures out that her mom has been planning on moving the family to connecticut, partly because she got a promotion and has a ton of money to waste on a huge house for a small family, but also because she can’t deal with living in the town where she has so many memories of her dead husband. she encourages abby and anna to get rid of all their stuff and buy new stuff (which explains why there was so little stuff they moved with in [b:Kristy and the Dirty Diapers|208855|Kristy and the Dirty Diapers (The Baby-Sitters Club, #89)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387750129s/208855.jpg|202139]). they move and we see abby’s side of meeting kristy and co that happened in dirty diapers.
highlights:
-one of abby’s first memories is seeing herself in the mirror but thinking it was anna
-at the mall they meet identical twin adults named jan and jean who always dress alike and live in identical houses next door to one another. it’s creepy but also HILARIOUS.
-the dad death is handled well. the funeral is genuinely sad. kids at school feel sorry for abby and anna and don’t know how to act around them. the mom's depression is pretty real.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-what an awful teacher they had for first grade. she resents twins in general and forces abby and anna to each wear one color all the time so she can tell them apart. it’s your effing job to treat these kids like individuals, not to force them to wear things to accommodate you.
-I just don't think it's healthy to get rid of all your stuff and get all new stuff just because you miss your dead husband. he died four years ago. it’s time to move on, and by that I don’t mean to buy new furniture that he never sat on, cause that’s creepy.
-also it's annoyingly extravagantly rich and wasteful. I got rid of a lot of things when I moved from dc to michigan last year, but I still kept about 4 van loads of items (and most of what I got rid of was either stuff I didn’t use anymore or furniture that was in bad shape). and it was still extremely expensive. I can’t even imagine being so astonishingly rich that you don’t even care to keep things and just want to buy new EVERYTHING when you move.
-I don’t think we needed the abby perspective of the story in dirty diapers. it feels like a waste, when they could have told an additional actual story (maybe a babysitting story or something?)
-why do they need such a freakin’ huge house for three people? I mean, look at this thing!
no wait, that’s manderley from [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386605169s/17899948.jpg|46663]. here’s their house:
their dad's cooking mixtape:
-stop in the name of love - the supremes
-wooden ships - crosby, stills, nash, and young
-voodoo child - jimi hendrix
-ramblin rose - grateful dead
-everyday people - sly and the family stone
-fortunate son - creedence clearwater revival
claudia outfit:
"Yesterday, for example, she wore leopard-skin tights with a black velvet minidress to school. Her earrings were made out of fake-fur buttons."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
-first grade: everyone thinks abby and anna are exactly the same and calls them abby-anna. the teacher forces them to wear different colors (abby always wears red, anna always wears blue), because she can’t be bothered to tell them apart. the kids tease them more, call them red and blue, respectively, and finally they switch clothes to test whether anyone notices the difference (very tia and tamera style). no one can tell that they switched, even their dad. they're bummed out that their dad doesn’t know the difference but it turns out he was playing along and knew they switched. they decide that anna will cut her hair so they can wear different clothes and people will tell them apart. they also get different clothes and stop dressing alike all the time.
-fourth grade: abby and anna’s dad dies. they sit shivah. but then their mom basically stays depressed and can't move on. the house is a complete mess, and she just wears their dad's bathrobe moping and eating nothing but peanut butter and crackers. she won't even wash the clothes and says they should buy new ones instead of washing their old ones. finally abby says that dad would have hated how the house had gotten, and that’s enough of a wake up call that their mom sort of gets it together.
-fifth grade: abby, anna, and their mom never spend any time together because their mom works all the time and abby and anna have after school activities. they take a family vacation to sanibel fl, but it's more of the same. mom just golfs all the time, abby does sports, and anna sits around talking about music, or something. abby’s upset and intervenes, and so they start a new tradition of having a family day on new years eve.
-seventh grade into eighth grade: abby figures out that her mom has been planning on moving the family to connecticut, partly because she got a promotion and has a ton of money to waste on a huge house for a small family, but also because she can’t deal with living in the town where she has so many memories of her dead husband. she encourages abby and anna to get rid of all their stuff and buy new stuff (which explains why there was so little stuff they moved with in [b:Kristy and the Dirty Diapers|208855|Kristy and the Dirty Diapers (The Baby-Sitters Club, #89)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387750129s/208855.jpg|202139]). they move and we see abby’s side of meeting kristy and co that happened in dirty diapers.
highlights:
-one of abby’s first memories is seeing herself in the mirror but thinking it was anna
-at the mall they meet identical twin adults named jan and jean who always dress alike and live in identical houses next door to one another. it’s creepy but also HILARIOUS.
-the dad death is handled well. the funeral is genuinely sad. kids at school feel sorry for abby and anna and don’t know how to act around them. the mom's depression is pretty real.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-what an awful teacher they had for first grade. she resents twins in general and forces abby and anna to each wear one color all the time so she can tell them apart. it’s your effing job to treat these kids like individuals, not to force them to wear things to accommodate you.
-I just don't think it's healthy to get rid of all your stuff and get all new stuff just because you miss your dead husband. he died four years ago. it’s time to move on, and by that I don’t mean to buy new furniture that he never sat on, cause that’s creepy.
-also it's annoyingly extravagantly rich and wasteful. I got rid of a lot of things when I moved from dc to michigan last year, but I still kept about 4 van loads of items (and most of what I got rid of was either stuff I didn’t use anymore or furniture that was in bad shape). and it was still extremely expensive. I can’t even imagine being so astonishingly rich that you don’t even care to keep things and just want to buy new EVERYTHING when you move.
-I don’t think we needed the abby perspective of the story in dirty diapers. it feels like a waste, when they could have told an additional actual story (maybe a babysitting story or something?)
-why do they need such a freakin’ huge house for three people? I mean, look at this thing!
no wait, that’s manderley from [b:Rebecca|17899948|Rebecca|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386605169s/17899948.jpg|46663]. here’s their house:
their dad's cooking mixtape:
-stop in the name of love - the supremes
-wooden ships - crosby, stills, nash, and young
-voodoo child - jimi hendrix
-ramblin rose - grateful dead
-everyday people - sly and the family stone
-fortunate son - creedence clearwater revival
claudia outfit:
"Yesterday, for example, she wore leopard-skin tights with a black velvet minidress to school. Her earrings were made out of fake-fur buttons."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
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