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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
Jessi feels bad for Mr. Trout, the nervous, awkward, nerdy, conflict-avoidant teacher of her short-term computer science class, but when the whole class pulls pranks--like everyone dropping their books on the floor at the same time--she doesn’t feel strongly or strong enough to oppose them. Though uncomfortable, she’s talked into playing Mr. Trout for the "Sixth Grade Follies," a sketch-comedy/talent show which includes playful fun-poking at the teachers. Mr. Trout disappears the next day, leaving Jessi to freak out that she drove him away. Her feelings are assuaged when some BSC charges inspired by Becca’s account of the follies perform the "BSC Follies," a skit about the baby-sitters, and she realizes it’s much more fun to be spoofed than left out. She also writes an apology letter which Mr. Trout answers, assuring her it wasn’t her, he’s just not cut out to be a teacher and he’s going back to grad school.
This is one of the harder books to read; it’s not bad, but Mr. Trout’s failure to stand up for himself and keep discipline in the class really makes me as uncomfortable as it makes Jessi. My three stars may be an inflated rating because I have such clear memories of this book as one of the "new ones just coming out" which I ordered from the TROLL catalogue in third grade. I remember the stupid set dressing, like Dolly One and Dolly Two, the Coneheads sketch, and the drawing of Mr. Trout with a fishhook in his mouth with the visceral legendary reverence of childhood. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I’d read [b:Mallory and the Dream Horse|539982|Mallory and the Dream Horse (The Baby-Sitters Club, #54)|Ann M. Martin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175635306s/539982.jpg|527368] as a child and I am subdued.
Lingering Questions: Why was Jessi cast to play a white male teacher of whom she had never hitherto performed an impression? The guy had a speech impediment; surely someone in the class had a spot-on mockery up their sleeve.
Signs of the Times: BASIC programming; Wayne’s World; Coneheads.
Signs of the Times of the Grown-ups Writing the Book: Dolly Parton; I Love Lucy (this is at least the second time in this series someone has done the "Vitameatavegamin" sketch for a talent show. ENOUGH.)
Timing: Springtime, near the end of the schoolyear.
Revised Timeline: Spring of junior year high school for Jessi and Mallory. Spring of freshman college for the others. If the "Short Takes" program had been introduced by one of the older girls, I’d swear it was code for college classes, but I guess we’ll have to take Jessi at her word that it’s just a rotating class with a variety of topics far broader than the normal school options.
This is one of the harder books to read; it’s not bad, but Mr. Trout’s failure to stand up for himself and keep discipline in the class really makes me as uncomfortable as it makes Jessi. My three stars may be an inflated rating because I have such clear memories of this book as one of the "new ones just coming out" which I ordered from the TROLL catalogue in third grade. I remember the stupid set dressing, like Dolly One and Dolly Two, the Coneheads sketch, and the drawing of Mr. Trout with a fishhook in his mouth with the visceral legendary reverence of childhood. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I’d read [b:Mallory and the Dream Horse|539982|Mallory and the Dream Horse (The Baby-Sitters Club, #54)|Ann M. Martin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175635306s/539982.jpg|527368] as a child and I am subdued.
Lingering Questions: Why was Jessi cast to play a white male teacher of whom she had never hitherto performed an impression? The guy had a speech impediment; surely someone in the class had a spot-on mockery up their sleeve.
Signs of the Times: BASIC programming; Wayne’s World; Coneheads.
Signs of the Times of the Grown-ups Writing the Book: Dolly Parton; I Love Lucy (this is at least the second time in this series someone has done the "Vitameatavegamin" sketch for a talent show. ENOUGH.)
Timing: Springtime, near the end of the schoolyear.
Revised Timeline: Spring of junior year high school for Jessi and Mallory. Spring of freshman college for the others. If the "Short Takes" program had been introduced by one of the older girls, I’d swear it was code for college classes, but I guess we’ll have to take Jessi at her word that it’s just a rotating class with a variety of topics far broader than the normal school options.
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/jessis-horrible-prank
oh jessi. sweet, sweet jessi. poor thing gets caught up in a series of pranks against their middle aged teacher whose only crimes seem to be pronouncing his r’s like w’s and trying to reach these kids through learning? points for recurring characters the dollies, two teachers who are both named dolly and look like dolly parton. i’d forgotten about these women. jessi deserves better! the ache of regret after not really going along with the pranks but also not stopping them is totally believable for a sixth grader. don’t worry jessica ramsey, sixth grade doesn’t last forever.
in this [a:Peter Lerangis|17216|Peter Lerangis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1273412599p2/17216.jpg]-ghostwritten book, jessi humiliates a middle-aged man. her short takes computer programming teacher, mr. trout, is the target of some pretty intense 6th-grade bullying. jessi's classmates pull the usual substitute teacher pranks (turning the desks around, dropping textbooks at the same time, etc.) but also some pretty cruel ones, like rube goldberg-ing a way to reveal that mr. trout wears a toupee. he is super awkward and lets them get away with everything because he obviously can't deal with confrontation. definitely not a dude who was made to be a teacher. meanwhile, the jessi is preparing to co-produce, choreograph, and star in the 6th grade follies, a play for which the premise is to embarrass faculty. she does a skit in which she pretends to be mr. trout as a klingon, and the next school day he has up and moved to vermont. jessi thinks it's her fault and petitions to get him back, but she finds out that he just straight up shouldn't be a teacher and is happier now.
highlights:
-is this the first appearance of the dollies (dolly one and dolly two, two sms teachers who look just like dolly parton)?
-kristy and claud talk about the prospect of noserings. kristy says she will look like a cow, and claud says "you get the side of your nose pierced, not the middle." you're right, claud. nobody gets the middle of their nose pierced.
-jessi feels bad for mr. trout and tries not to find the pranks funny, but she has trouble. I like this -- it's super believable for a middle school bystander.
-someone auditions for the follies with the vitameatavegamin sketch! it's been at least a few books since the last time there was an i love lucy reference!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-on nose piercing, jessi says that it takes awhile (sic) for some "African styles" to catch on. huh? am I wrong in thinking that side-of-nose piercing originally came from South Asian cultures and Oceanic Aboriginal cultures?
-the bsc kids make their own follies, making fun of the bsc members. it's not funny at all and really boring. they never call kristy a fascist, or mary anne a self-obsessed asshole, or dawn a pathetic classist racist idiot, or jessi a narcissist. I wish I could make my own bsc follies.
claudia outfit:
-"For example, at that meeting she was wearing '50s-style cat's-eye glasses frames, a plastic barette in the shape of an alligator, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and bell-bottoms."
in stacey's kid kit:
-book of word games
-mad libs
-markers
snacks in claudia's room:
-baked corn chips under her bed
highlights:
-is this the first appearance of the dollies (dolly one and dolly two, two sms teachers who look just like dolly parton)?
-kristy and claud talk about the prospect of noserings. kristy says she will look like a cow, and claud says "you get the side of your nose pierced, not the middle." you're right, claud. nobody gets the middle of their nose pierced.
-jessi feels bad for mr. trout and tries not to find the pranks funny, but she has trouble. I like this -- it's super believable for a middle school bystander.
-someone auditions for the follies with the vitameatavegamin sketch! it's been at least a few books since the last time there was an i love lucy reference!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-on nose piercing, jessi says that it takes awhile (sic) for some "African styles" to catch on. huh? am I wrong in thinking that side-of-nose piercing originally came from South Asian cultures and Oceanic Aboriginal cultures?
-the bsc kids make their own follies, making fun of the bsc members. it's not funny at all and really boring. they never call kristy a fascist, or mary anne a self-obsessed asshole, or dawn a pathetic classist racist idiot, or jessi a narcissist. I wish I could make my own bsc follies.
claudia outfit:
-"For example, at that meeting she was wearing '50s-style cat's-eye glasses frames, a plastic barette in the shape of an alligator, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and bell-bottoms."
in stacey's kid kit:
-book of word games
-mad libs
-markers
snacks in claudia's room:
-baked corn chips under her bed
(LL)
This book is good for tackling kids bullying the substitute teacher cliche, but stating the reason Mr. Trout deserved all the pranks and embarrassment was because he didn’t respond to them is not a good message.
This book is good for tackling kids bullying the substitute teacher cliche, but stating the reason Mr. Trout deserved all the pranks and embarrassment was because he didn’t respond to them is not a good message.
This is a fine book in some ways, but a disaster of a book in others. There is no real horrible prank - there's just a thing that Jessi feels bad about and is absolved from by every adult around her. It's fine, but I was expecting an actual horrible prank because of the title.