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nataliesboooks 's review for:
The Summer Before
by Ann M. Martin
I’ve always loved the BSC and I think somewhere along the line, I’ve read all of the books in the series, so when I found out there was a prequel, I had to pick that up to, if only to complete the series.
This book follows 4 storylines about the original members of the BSC and what they are going through in their lives before the formation of the club.
Kristy - wants to believe that her father will come back in her life. I thought this storyline was okay, but it seemed slightly out of character for Kristy to be so emotional. I felt for her though, and I really like the way this storyline was resolved.
Mary-Anne - tries to show her father that she’s more grown up than he believes her to be. I was surprised by this one. I liked Mary-Anne a lot more than I usually do (she’s probably my least favorite sitter) and I was pleased that she could show some backbone. It was a nice prequel about how she was introduced to babysitting as well.
Claudia - navigates her first crush. I didn’t care for this storyline at all. It seemed a little unrealistic that Claudia’s parents would allow a seventh grader to go everywhere all summer long with a freshman in high school. Or that Janine would like the same guy. I’ve always seen Janine as an almost female Sherlock Holmes - cerebral and detached - so to see her over the moon about a guy was odd. For all Claudia’s talk of how much more quickly she had grown up than Mary-Anne and Kristy, I thought she was the least mature of the 3.
And then Stacey - moves from NYC to CT. Stacey always was my favorite so maybe that’s why I liked her storyline the best. I liked seeing her with the kids she sat for in the city and I thought she handled the bullying from her former friend well. I also liked that her storyline ended with her meeting Claudia, who becomes her best friend.
Overall a cute prequel with more background information about characters we all know and love.
This book follows 4 storylines about the original members of the BSC and what they are going through in their lives before the formation of the club.
Kristy - wants to believe that her father will come back in her life. I thought this storyline was okay, but it seemed slightly out of character for Kristy to be so emotional. I felt for her though, and I really like the way this storyline was resolved.
Mary-Anne - tries to show her father that she’s more grown up than he believes her to be. I was surprised by this one. I liked Mary-Anne a lot more than I usually do (she’s probably my least favorite sitter) and I was pleased that she could show some backbone. It was a nice prequel about how she was introduced to babysitting as well.
Claudia - navigates her first crush. I didn’t care for this storyline at all. It seemed a little unrealistic that Claudia’s parents would allow a seventh grader to go everywhere all summer long with a freshman in high school. Or that Janine would like the same guy. I’ve always seen Janine as an almost female Sherlock Holmes - cerebral and detached - so to see her over the moon about a guy was odd. For all Claudia’s talk of how much more quickly she had grown up than Mary-Anne and Kristy, I thought she was the least mature of the 3.
And then Stacey - moves from NYC to CT. Stacey always was my favorite so maybe that’s why I liked her storyline the best. I liked seeing her with the kids she sat for in the city and I thought she handled the bullying from her former friend well. I also liked that her storyline ended with her meeting Claudia, who becomes her best friend.
Overall a cute prequel with more background information about characters we all know and love.