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A review by ssshira
Claudia Gets Her Guy by Ann M. Martin
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