Scan barcode
lunaseassecondaccount's review
3.0
Oh, Alan Gray. How my heart loves thee.
And oh, Claudia, who spells her name Caludia and spells madly maldy. Where would we be without you?
I am wondering, though, who would pair a Japanese family, who is struggling with English, with American Claudia who can't even pass third grade English. Speaking is one thing, but surely spelling would come into it at some point?
Ah, well. You go, Claudia Kishi. You get your guy. You tap dat ass.
And oh, Claudia, who spells her name Caludia and spells madly maldy. Where would we be without you?
I am wondering, though, who would pair a Japanese family, who is struggling with English, with American Claudia who can't even pass third grade English. Speaking is one thing, but surely spelling would come into it at some point?
Ah, well. You go, Claudia Kishi. You get your guy. You tap dat ass.
inthelunaseas's review
3.0
Oh, Alan Gray. How my heart loves thee.
And oh, Claudia, who spells her name Caludia and spells madly maldy. Where would we be without you?
I am wondering, though, who would pair a Japanese family, who is struggling with English, with American Claudia who can't even pass third grade English. Speaking is one thing, but surely spelling would come into it at some point?
Ah, well. You go, Claudia Kishi. You get your guy. You tap dat ass.
And oh, Claudia, who spells her name Caludia and spells madly maldy. Where would we be without you?
I am wondering, though, who would pair a Japanese family, who is struggling with English, with American Claudia who can't even pass third grade English. Speaking is one thing, but surely spelling would come into it at some point?
Ah, well. You go, Claudia Kishi. You get your guy. You tap dat ass.
finesilkflower's review
3.0
Claudia hears that Stacey and Jeremy broke up and it’s back on the train to Sweaty Palm Village. Although Jeremy gives her no more attention now than any hi-bye friend, Claudia decides to put it all on the line and ask him to the Valentine’s dance. Shy, she writes him a note, telling him she’s admired him for a long time; not wanting to risk misspelling Jeremy’s name, she addresses it “To a good friend.” She slips the note in Jeremy’s locker, but Kristy reports that Jeremy didn’t find it, and Claudia realizes she put it in the wrong locker: Alan Gray’s! Kristy and Claudia enlist Cary Retlin to help them break into Alan’s locker and retrieve the note, but by this time, the note is already gone.
Alan pulls Claudia aside and tells her he’s touched that she saw beneath his goony prankster surface to the incredibly tender soul beneath, and of course he will go to the dance with her. He’s so thrilled to have landed such a hottie that he begins showering her with presents, such as extravagant flowers and a romantic lunch date in an empty classroom. Claudia has never been attracted to Alan, but she is impressed by the presents. This turn of events has its downsides, though: the BSC, especially Kristy, are shocked and horrified that she’s dating Alan; Jeremy’s suddenly hurt that Claudia’s showing interest in somebody else; and Cary Retlin talks to Claudia like a Dutch uncle, telling her not to break poor Alan’s heart. At least Stacey and Claudia are back on good terms; back with Ethan, Stacey is no longer threatened by the daily prospect of losing fickle Jeremy, and of course she is perfectly happy to help Claudia go after Alan.
At the dance, Claudia actually has fun with Alan. Jeremy cuts in, and Claudia enjoys dancing with him, but it doesn’t feel as good as she daydreamed it would. She realizes she’d rather spend time with Alan, because although he is still an unattractive jerk whose only redeeming feature is his wallet, Jeremy is a huge douche. I mean... romance!
In a subplot, Claudia volunteers to teach a Japanese immigrant family English. Erica works with her. We hear a little more about Erica’s adoption-search plotline; I wonder if this was meant to be a longterm thing for a future book, had the Friends Forever series not been rightfully canned, or if it was just like, “Frig, gotta find something for freaking Erica to do. Uhhh.... what did we make up for her last time?”
This is basically the same plot a #113 Claudia Makes Up Her Mind, only in that one, both the cool-guy and dork love interests were well-drawn, compelling characters with positives and negatives, inviting the reader to have an opinion and to root for one or the other. In this book it seems clear that the only person the author cares less about than Jeremy is Alan.
At least Alan Gray is a longtime BSC fixture and gets plenty of hijinks in other books. I actually like the turn of events of Claudia dating him and it could have been done really sexy with a little effort. But Alan is barely a character in this book. While he often gets background flavor stuff to do in other books where he’s not even important, here, he’s not even mentioned until chapter 4, when he’s offhandly introduced in a parenthetical aside. It’s both insulting to him and just odd storytelling. Cary Retlin, a minor player in this story, is introduced in the same paragraph and gets several sentences of description. Jeremy, meanwhile, gets plenty of screentime, but he’s a giant zero of a human being.
Seriously, what is Jeremy’s deal? He’s taken up a massive amount of emotional space in both Claudia’s and Stacey’s books, but we still know nothing about him. All he does in this book is (1) be good-looking; (2) not talk to Claudia; and (3) get all huffy and snitty when Claudia shows interest in another guy, despite showing zero interest in her, having rejected her in the past, being five minutes out of a relationship with the girl he rejected her for, and otherwise having given every indication that she is at best friendzoned. I find it interesting that he doesn’t show any interest in Claudia until after she’s safey embroiled with Alan, suggesting that he never would have risked actually having to date her. He just seems to want credit for liking her. “Hi, Claudia, bye Claudia, hi Claudia, gotta run, Claudia, really got this thing I’ve got to get to Claudia, oh, you’re with another guy? Darn... Missed my chance!” Does he feel bad that he didn’t return her affections before, or does he just get off on being the unattainable object of desire?
Timing: It's Valentine's time again!
Revised Timeline: February of the third academic year post-grad. At least if time has passed it’s conceivable that high school class clown Alan could have substantiatively changed. Also, become rich.
Alan pulls Claudia aside and tells her he’s touched that she saw beneath his goony prankster surface to the incredibly tender soul beneath, and of course he will go to the dance with her. He’s so thrilled to have landed such a hottie that he begins showering her with presents, such as extravagant flowers and a romantic lunch date in an empty classroom. Claudia has never been attracted to Alan, but she is impressed by the presents. This turn of events has its downsides, though: the BSC, especially Kristy, are shocked and horrified that she’s dating Alan; Jeremy’s suddenly hurt that Claudia’s showing interest in somebody else; and Cary Retlin talks to Claudia like a Dutch uncle, telling her not to break poor Alan’s heart. At least Stacey and Claudia are back on good terms; back with Ethan, Stacey is no longer threatened by the daily prospect of losing fickle Jeremy, and of course she is perfectly happy to help Claudia go after Alan.
At the dance, Claudia actually has fun with Alan. Jeremy cuts in, and Claudia enjoys dancing with him, but it doesn’t feel as good as she daydreamed it would. She realizes she’d rather spend time with Alan, because although he is still an unattractive jerk whose only redeeming feature is his wallet, Jeremy is a huge douche. I mean... romance!
In a subplot, Claudia volunteers to teach a Japanese immigrant family English. Erica works with her. We hear a little more about Erica’s adoption-search plotline; I wonder if this was meant to be a longterm thing for a future book, had the Friends Forever series not been rightfully canned, or if it was just like, “Frig, gotta find something for freaking Erica to do. Uhhh.... what did we make up for her last time?”
This is basically the same plot a #113 Claudia Makes Up Her Mind, only in that one, both the cool-guy and dork love interests were well-drawn, compelling characters with positives and negatives, inviting the reader to have an opinion and to root for one or the other. In this book it seems clear that the only person the author cares less about than Jeremy is Alan.
At least Alan Gray is a longtime BSC fixture and gets plenty of hijinks in other books. I actually like the turn of events of Claudia dating him and it could have been done really sexy with a little effort. But Alan is barely a character in this book. While he often gets background flavor stuff to do in other books where he’s not even important, here, he’s not even mentioned until chapter 4, when he’s offhandly introduced in a parenthetical aside. It’s both insulting to him and just odd storytelling. Cary Retlin, a minor player in this story, is introduced in the same paragraph and gets several sentences of description. Jeremy, meanwhile, gets plenty of screentime, but he’s a giant zero of a human being.
Seriously, what is Jeremy’s deal? He’s taken up a massive amount of emotional space in both Claudia’s and Stacey’s books, but we still know nothing about him. All he does in this book is (1) be good-looking; (2) not talk to Claudia; and (3) get all huffy and snitty when Claudia shows interest in another guy, despite showing zero interest in her, having rejected her in the past, being five minutes out of a relationship with the girl he rejected her for, and otherwise having given every indication that she is at best friendzoned. I find it interesting that he doesn’t show any interest in Claudia until after she’s safey embroiled with Alan, suggesting that he never would have risked actually having to date her. He just seems to want credit for liking her. “Hi, Claudia, bye Claudia, hi Claudia, gotta run, Claudia, really got this thing I’ve got to get to Claudia, oh, you’re with another guy? Darn... Missed my chance!” Does he feel bad that he didn’t return her affections before, or does he just get off on being the unattainable object of desire?
Timing: It's Valentine's time again!
Revised Timeline: February of the third academic year post-grad. At least if time has passed it’s conceivable that high school class clown Alan could have substantiatively changed. Also, become rich.
sammah's review
3.0
Claudia and Alan Gray!!? I never knew I wanted this until I had it! Oh bless you, Friends Forever! You are giving me the BSC as I always dreamed that it would be: less baby-sitting, more drama, more insanity of the good variety!
ssshira's review
4.0
in this [a:Peter Lerangis|17216|Peter Lerangis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1273412599p2/17216.jpg]-style book by ghostwriter [a:Ellen Miles|286072|Ellen Miles|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], stacey and jeremy have broken up, and stacey has given claud her blessing to try to date jeremy. but when jeremy doesn’t instantly ask claudia out, she takes matters into her own hands by writing him a note asking him to the upcoming school dance. she is scared she may spell his name wrong, so she writes “to a good friend” instead of addressing it to jeremy. and then she slips it in his locker. as you could have guessed from this plotline, she puts it in the wrong locker. in fact, she puts it in the locker of class clown extraordinaire alan gray. she suspects alan will make fun of her for it, but he actually thinks the note was for him and is flattered. he starts trying to woo claudia, who is still vaguely trying to date jeremy. feeling guilty, claudia goes to the dance with alan gray (much to kristy’s chagrin, who is a hypocrite because she’s been to dances with alan in the past). and they have a great time; alan actually gets her in a way no other boy has (see highlights). and then she dances with jeremy, and it doesn’t feel romantic at all, so they decide to just be friends, leaving potential for alan to actually become claudia’s boyfriend. meanwhile, claud and erica volunteer for a program where they help immigrants adjust to living in the united states, like teaching them how to use money and such. the family claud mentors is japanese, so they introduce her to japanese culture in a way she's mostly been divorced from, especially since mimi died.
highlights:
-I like that though stacey and claudia have cleared the air, they are still not totally back to normal as friends. they’re friendly, but they behave a little coolly around one another. this is actually believable and not how these books usually work.
-alan makes a lunch date for claudia where he puts a tablecloth and fancy dishes and candle on couple classroom desks. he has "champagne" (sprite) and a whopper and fries, plus devil dogs, hohos, and twinkies. seriously, I want to date alan gray. so cute!
-a 7th grader, stephanie, has a crush on alan and tries to get claud to stay away from him. this is a fun little touch; we always get the perspective of bsc members who hate alan, so it’s nice to know why he continues to be a relatively popular kid at sms.
-cary, who is probably alan’s best friend at this point, tells claud that alan really likes her and basically gives her the “if you hurt him, I hurt you” speech. it’s very sweet.
-when alan compliments claud's outfit for the dance, she asks if he thinks it's too much. he responds, "sure it's too much. that's what's great about it." I've never known any boy to get claudia’s essence like this. I ship them so hard!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-jeremy continues to be the worst: the monday after he breaks up with stacey, he walks right by claudia without saying a word to her. later he passive aggressively says something about thinking she’d rather talk to alan than him. meaning he is mad that claudia didn't make a move on him. but she tried to and he avoided her, because he is the worst. I seriously hate jeremy so much.
-claudia takes the japanese family she is mentoring to the met and one of the kids asks if you can swim in the pool. claud says it's not that kind of pool because it's not very deep. but the kincaids bathe in it in [b:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler|3980|From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler|E.L. Konigsburg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327784751l/3980._SY75_.jpg|1384549]!
-claud mentions that she usually goes after boys who are unavailable. but what about josh, her most recent boyfriend (whom she dates from main series #113-128)? he is SUPER available.
outfits:
claudia:
-"I pulled on my favorite old cargo pants and a thermal shirt I'd tie-dyed in all the colors of the sunset and went downstairs."
-"[I wore]...that blouse [I] made from Mimi's silk kimono...[with] a swirly, short black rayon skirt...The black chopsticks in my hair complemented the kimono blouse perfectly."
-"I traded in the boots for a pair of platform sneakers, switched my sweater color to yellow, and added [black leggings and] some star-shaped earrings I'd made out of Sculpey."
-"I was wearing a short [black] retro dress I'd found in a thrift shop. It had white trim and white heart-shaped buttons. I think it was from the sixties. I also wore clunky black shoes with a stacked heel and a square toe. I had a wristful of hot-pink bangles, and I'd pulled my hair back with a couple of pink barettes."
maiko (one of the yashimoto kids):
-"Her black hair was fixed in pigtails with pink ribbons, and she wore a pink dress with smocking across the front."
alan:
-"He had on a nice new pair of cargo pants, a cool pair of suede Converse All-Stars, and a big-but-not-baggy red shirt."
jackie rodowsky disaster:
-falls out of bed and hurts his funny bone
snacks in claudia’s room:
-snickers bars in her sock drawer
-gummi bears behind the books on her bookshelf
-m&ms under her mattress
-combos (n.s.)
-mini snickers (n.s. - possibly the same ones already mentioned, but they weren’t previously described as mini)
-raisinets (n.s.)
-popcorn under her bed
-peanut m&ms under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
highlights:
-I like that though stacey and claudia have cleared the air, they are still not totally back to normal as friends. they’re friendly, but they behave a little coolly around one another. this is actually believable and not how these books usually work.
-alan makes a lunch date for claudia where he puts a tablecloth and fancy dishes and candle on couple classroom desks. he has "champagne" (sprite) and a whopper and fries, plus devil dogs, hohos, and twinkies. seriously, I want to date alan gray. so cute!
-a 7th grader, stephanie, has a crush on alan and tries to get claud to stay away from him. this is a fun little touch; we always get the perspective of bsc members who hate alan, so it’s nice to know why he continues to be a relatively popular kid at sms.
-cary, who is probably alan’s best friend at this point, tells claud that alan really likes her and basically gives her the “if you hurt him, I hurt you” speech. it’s very sweet.
-when alan compliments claud's outfit for the dance, she asks if he thinks it's too much. he responds, "sure it's too much. that's what's great about it." I've never known any boy to get claudia’s essence like this. I ship them so hard!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-jeremy continues to be the worst: the monday after he breaks up with stacey, he walks right by claudia without saying a word to her. later he passive aggressively says something about thinking she’d rather talk to alan than him. meaning he is mad that claudia didn't make a move on him. but she tried to and he avoided her, because he is the worst. I seriously hate jeremy so much.
-claudia takes the japanese family she is mentoring to the met and one of the kids asks if you can swim in the pool. claud says it's not that kind of pool because it's not very deep. but the kincaids bathe in it in [b:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler|3980|From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler|E.L. Konigsburg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327784751l/3980._SY75_.jpg|1384549]!
-claud mentions that she usually goes after boys who are unavailable. but what about josh, her most recent boyfriend (whom she dates from main series #113-128)? he is SUPER available.
outfits:
claudia:
-"I pulled on my favorite old cargo pants and a thermal shirt I'd tie-dyed in all the colors of the sunset and went downstairs."
-"[I wore]...that blouse [I] made from Mimi's silk kimono...[with] a swirly, short black rayon skirt...The black chopsticks in my hair complemented the kimono blouse perfectly."
-"I traded in the boots for a pair of platform sneakers, switched my sweater color to yellow, and added [black leggings and] some star-shaped earrings I'd made out of Sculpey."
-"I was wearing a short [black] retro dress I'd found in a thrift shop. It had white trim and white heart-shaped buttons. I think it was from the sixties. I also wore clunky black shoes with a stacked heel and a square toe. I had a wristful of hot-pink bangles, and I'd pulled my hair back with a couple of pink barettes."
maiko (one of the yashimoto kids):
-"Her black hair was fixed in pigtails with pink ribbons, and she wore a pink dress with smocking across the front."
alan:
-"He had on a nice new pair of cargo pants, a cool pair of suede Converse All-Stars, and a big-but-not-baggy red shirt."
jackie rodowsky disaster:
-falls out of bed and hurts his funny bone
snacks in claudia’s room:
-snickers bars in her sock drawer
-gummi bears behind the books on her bookshelf
-m&ms under her mattress
-combos (n.s.)
-mini snickers (n.s. - possibly the same ones already mentioned, but they weren’t previously described as mini)
-raisinets (n.s.)
-popcorn under her bed
-peanut m&ms under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
sidhe's review
4.0
I thought this book was actually quite sweet. It was nice to see Claudia find a guy who treated her right. It was also a relief to get some resolution over the Jeremy/Stacey/Claudia triangle.
I also enjoyed the subplot of Claudia teaching English to newly arrived Japanese immigrants and all of the tidbits about Japanese culture. There was nothing new to me but it was a nice touch.
This book certainly isn't going to go down as one of the great works of literature but it was an enjoyable little read for fans.
I also enjoyed the subplot of Claudia teaching English to newly arrived Japanese immigrants and all of the tidbits about Japanese culture. There was nothing new to me but it was a nice touch.
This book certainly isn't going to go down as one of the great works of literature but it was an enjoyable little read for fans.
More...