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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
note: upon opening this book, I found written in my cursive handwriting on the title page (circa 4th grade, when I learned cursive and exclusively wrote in it after switching back to print before 5th grade): "great so far!" apparently in the middle of reading this book, I was moved to update my future self about my enjoyment of it.
this book is a huge bummer, fyi. kristy is finally starting to get settled in her new rich kid neighborhood, but her interactions with the neighborhood kids are awful, considering the neighborhood kids wear private school uniforms and boating shoes, and they all have purebred pets and think little of louie the collie mix (i.e. they are snobs). louie is also getting really old and sick. eventually kristy discovers that the neighborhood kids are actually halfway decent, and the baby-sitters club gets a new associate member, shannon kilbourne.
no outfits. if you're here for outfits, just don't read this one. the only described outfits are snobby kids' boating shoes and polo shirts. boring.
highlights:
-the thomases play the song "brother louie" by hot chocolate (or maybe the stories cover of it) for louie, and he howls along with it. I love the idea of louie the collie being super into a mid-tempo funk song about interracial love.
-shannon starts the feud. I mean, maybe kristy does by trying to take shannon's baby-sitting jobs, but she doesn't mean to. shannon is the one who says that the papadakises' house is on fire and then laughs at kristy. I love that when kristy ends up in a prank war, she is not the one who started it, because she is such a mean-spirited prankster in general.
-the chapter where stacey "uses psychology" to trick the delaney snobs into behaving themselves is great. they say they don't want to clean their playroom because they like it messy, so stacey makes it messier until they clean it themselves. she keeps doing stuff like that and then eventually they all play snail together, which is a game that sounds FUN and I want it to not be a blizzard right now so I can go out and play it. here are the rules.
-bummer thing #1: jeff schafer is behaving really badly because he wants to move back to california. turns out his dad is getting used to the bachelor lifestyle and doesn't really want jeff there. being an unwanted divorced kid ten-year-old is rough. this introduces the plot of jeff moving back, which happens sometime soon (though I don't remember in which book).
-bummer thing #2: louie dies. this is SO ROUGH. I cried a lot reading it just now. I'm sure part of it is because I have a cat who has inoperable brain cancer and it's probably not going to be that much longer before I have to say goodbye to him too. but I think I would have cried no matter what. it is so sad. louie is so loved and just doesn't really know how to live in the world anymore. kristy's mom holds him while the vet puts him to sleep. agghhhh I'm tearing up again now and need to stop writing about this.
-non-bummer thing: the thomas/brewers get a new bernese mountain dog puppy from shannon kilbourne and david michael names her shannon. the first (but definitely not the last!) examples of the name confusion happen in this book.
lots of nitpicks:
-max delaney (snobby baby-sitting charge) is described as wearing docksiders. that's not a thing. sebago makes a boating shoe called docksides (minus the r), and sperry makes a boating shoe called topsiders (with the r, but top instead of dock), and they are very similar shoes, but there are no such thing as docksiders.
-kristy is a doormat with the delaneys because she's scared of making new clients not like her. I call bullshit. kristy is way too much of a tough badass to let those kids treat her the way they do.
-when boo-boo the cat is napping on the leather couch, kristy says, "I swear, that cat always picks the most uncomfortable spots for his naps." really? a couch is an uncomfortable spot for a nap?
-poking fun at karen, kristy jokingly suggests that ben brewer (the ghost) was a "herpitologist" when he was alive. spellcheck, anyone? the word is herpetologist.
two snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi bears in the pillow case
-m&ms (not specified)
-not in claudia's room, but she chews bubble gum at kristy's and a huge bubble pops, getting gum all over her face and hair. it's pretty funny.
this book is a huge bummer, fyi. kristy is finally starting to get settled in her new rich kid neighborhood, but her interactions with the neighborhood kids are awful, considering the neighborhood kids wear private school uniforms and boating shoes, and they all have purebred pets and think little of louie the collie mix (i.e. they are snobs). louie is also getting really old and sick. eventually kristy discovers that the neighborhood kids are actually halfway decent, and the baby-sitters club gets a new associate member, shannon kilbourne.
no outfits. if you're here for outfits, just don't read this one. the only described outfits are snobby kids' boating shoes and polo shirts. boring.
highlights:
-the thomases play the song "brother louie" by hot chocolate (or maybe the stories cover of it) for louie, and he howls along with it. I love the idea of louie the collie being super into a mid-tempo funk song about interracial love.
-shannon starts the feud. I mean, maybe kristy does by trying to take shannon's baby-sitting jobs, but she doesn't mean to. shannon is the one who says that the papadakises' house is on fire and then laughs at kristy. I love that when kristy ends up in a prank war, she is not the one who started it, because she is such a mean-spirited prankster in general.
-the chapter where stacey "uses psychology" to trick the delaney snobs into behaving themselves is great. they say they don't want to clean their playroom because they like it messy, so stacey makes it messier until they clean it themselves. she keeps doing stuff like that and then eventually they all play snail together, which is a game that sounds FUN and I want it to not be a blizzard right now so I can go out and play it. here are the rules.
-bummer thing #1: jeff schafer is behaving really badly because he wants to move back to california. turns out his dad is getting used to the bachelor lifestyle and doesn't really want jeff there. being an unwanted divorced kid ten-year-old is rough. this introduces the plot of jeff moving back, which happens sometime soon (though I don't remember in which book).
-bummer thing #2: louie dies. this is SO ROUGH. I cried a lot reading it just now. I'm sure part of it is because I have a cat who has inoperable brain cancer and it's probably not going to be that much longer before I have to say goodbye to him too. but I think I would have cried no matter what. it is so sad. louie is so loved and just doesn't really know how to live in the world anymore. kristy's mom holds him while the vet puts him to sleep. agghhhh I'm tearing up again now and need to stop writing about this.
-non-bummer thing: the thomas/brewers get a new bernese mountain dog puppy from shannon kilbourne and david michael names her shannon. the first (but definitely not the last!) examples of the name confusion happen in this book.
lots of nitpicks:
-max delaney (snobby baby-sitting charge) is described as wearing docksiders. that's not a thing. sebago makes a boating shoe called docksides (minus the r), and sperry makes a boating shoe called topsiders (with the r, but top instead of dock), and they are very similar shoes, but there are no such thing as docksiders.
-kristy is a doormat with the delaneys because she's scared of making new clients not like her. I call bullshit. kristy is way too much of a tough badass to let those kids treat her the way they do.
-when boo-boo the cat is napping on the leather couch, kristy says, "I swear, that cat always picks the most uncomfortable spots for his naps." really? a couch is an uncomfortable spot for a nap?
-poking fun at karen, kristy jokingly suggests that ben brewer (the ghost) was a "herpitologist" when he was alive. spellcheck, anyone? the word is herpetologist.
two snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi bears in the pillow case
-m&ms (not specified)
-not in claudia's room, but she chews bubble gum at kristy's and a huge bubble pops, getting gum all over her face and hair. it's pretty funny.
(LL)
This book does a good job tackling: wrong first impressions, dealing with rude people, and the death of a family pet.
This book does a good job tackling: wrong first impressions, dealing with rude people, and the death of a family pet.
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
I cried. Poor Louie. But a good lesson for young readers about saying goodbye to an old pet.
Also a good lesson to not jump to conclusions about people and assume the rich neighbors are snobs.
I did like the way Stacey taught Kristy how to deal with the spoiled children.
Also a good lesson to not jump to conclusions about people and assume the rich neighbors are snobs.
I did like the way Stacey taught Kristy how to deal with the spoiled children.
didn’t expect a BSC book to make me cry but here we are I guess
The only thing I remember about this book was Louie. This is the first book I think I cried over. And as an adult I was actually sobbing listening to the last few chapters. I think it hit me hard because when I first read this book I'm pretty sure we either just put our own dog down or she was very sick and we we're heading that way. Either way anyone who has pets will be sobbing when they read this and if you don't do you really care about your pets? As mentioned in the last book Louie is getting old, he has arthritis is going blind, can't use stairs and has accidents on the carpet. He eventually stops eating which for any living creature is a very bad sign. It all comes to a head when he nearly falls down the basement steps and the family goes to the vet and I'm in my house ugly crying while my own pet rabbits look at me startled and with great concern, and since one of my own pets is older made me cry even more. Besides the Louie story which to me is all that matters Kristy is adjusting to her new home and it's not going well. Kristy kind of brings a lot of it on herself by having an attitude, but what the actual hell Shannon? I'm fairly certain telling someone their house is on fire is some kind of a crime not to mention traumatic for the kids involved. I'm not a parent but I wouldn't let someone like that near any child I loved. They play stupid jokes on each other like ordering pizza or diapers, Stacey uses some mind tricks on the Delaney kids and they stop being assholes, Karen is still the worst. Louie's death brings them together though, as often happens. Death either brings us closer or drives us further apart. Shannon gives the Thomas Brewer family a new puppy and Kristy comes across really stupid for not knowing that Astrid is a girl's name. They name the dog Shannon and the actual Shannon joins the club like Logan as an associate member though why after she traumatizing the kids with the fake fire they let her is beyond me. So it ends well even if it was a heartbreaking read for me. Poor Louie rest in peace buddy.
Ah, I remember when I was 8 and this book always made me cry. Good times. One of the better BSC books, I think