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A review by ssshira
Abby the Bad Sport by Ann M. Martin
1.0
this is my first time reading this book.
ghostwriter [a:Nola Thacker|133114|Nola Thacker|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] writes what is one of the most miserable books I’ve ever read, baby-sitters club series or otherwise. abby is on a special olympics unified team, which essentially means that players with intellectual disabilities play alongside players without them. tough-as-nails coach wu from [b:Kristy and the Copycat|1383143|Kristy and the Copycat (The Baby-Sitters Club, #74)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1302692191s/1383143.jpg|1373145] is the coach of abby’s team, and she challenges abby by placing her in a defensive position. abby is mad, especially when one of the players with intellectual disabilities, erin, gets to play forward, abby’s usual position. first, abby tries to play “total soccer” (this is apparently when every player moves around the field playing every position and other players fall into the vacated positions -- abby claims this is what “great” soccer teams do but I’m not convinced) but coach wu gets mad at her for repeatedly leaving a defensive gap and the other teams keep scoring. abby tells erin that she thinks they could be a truly great team if they played total soccer and when erin isn’t responsive abby tells her that she knows more about soccer than her. erin finally calls abby out for thinking she knows less about soccer because she has intellectual disabilities, and things escalate to the point that they won’t pass to each other and end up losing a game and fighting about it (and abby actually says, “what are you, stupid?” to erin. in my opinion, you call someone on a special olympics team stupid, you get banned from special olympics allyship stuff for life, but that’s just me). coach wu is understandably mad and benches both of them for two games. abby starts to see the defensive perspective while benched and ends up apologizing to erin and playing her actual position once she’s allowed back in. first subplot is that abby’s mom is trying to get abby and anna to see their paternal grandparents again and to visit abby’s dad’s gravesite, which abby freaks out about but eventually comes to terms with. second subplot is that the bsc and bsc kids form a booster club for abby’s team, raising money for them to have jerseys.
highlights:
-when reading bsc books I frequently go back and forth between the print books from when they were initially published and the modern ebook editions via overdrive. this was a particularly interesting one for that, since in the original print books they used the term “mental retardation” to describe the individuals on abby’s team, but in the ebook version they swapped it out with the term “intellectual disabilities.” most of the time I don’t like modern edits, since I like reading these as time capsules, but for language that has fallen out of use and is typically only seen as a pejorative now, I can see the benefit.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby is truly the worst in this book. she is maybe even worse than mary anne in [b:Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation|371080|Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation (The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special, #3)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387711881s/371080.jpg|361047] and dawn in [b:Dawn Saves the Planet|371103|Dawn Saves the Planet (The Baby-Sitters Club, #57)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1174229864s/371103.jpg|1194798]. keep reading for some examples (beyond what you saw in the summary blurb I wrote above).
-the team goes to the ice cream shop where erin works, and she says she wants big scoops for all her friends, and abby thinks she's being a showoff. how? huh? she’s just being nice, dude.
-I touched on this above, but this interaction: abby tells erin that she thinks they could be a great team if they played total soccer and tells erin she knows more about soccer than her. erin says "because I have intellectual disabilities? do you think I can't play as well as you because of that?" and she tells abby that she's better at soccer than her. abby says "that's what you think." UGH.
-shannon the puppy gets away from david michael at one of abby’s games and tries to play soccer. and everyone laughs like it's so cute. maybe it’s cute but it’s also really inappropriate and annoying to let your dog run onfield during a competitive sports event. I'd be like, "get out of here with that dog, you brat!"
-haley calls the other team the "lawrenceville footballers" and karen corrects her by saying they're playing soccer, not football. but football is soccer! we just went over this in [b:Mary Anne and the Little Princess|646466|Mary Anne and the Little Princess (The Baby-Sitters Club, #102)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1176702443s/646466.jpg|38400]
-at one point instead of passing to erin who is open abby takes a shot and misses. erin does the same thing, and abby is mad about it (which I don’t understand why you’re mad, because she literally did the exact thing you had just done). then erin says abby should've passed to her, and abby responds, "and watch you blow the shot? what are you, stupid?" how is it even possible that they let abby on this team in the first place? how is it even possible that they don’t kick her off right then and there, for using that kind of oppressive language?
-abby says eggbeaters are fake eggs, but they're not. they're egg whites with thickeners and coloring put in.
-abby resents her mom and sister for going to long island without her even though she hadn't wanted to go.
-I know this is petty but I don’t like sports books in general. I don’t care about soccer, and I don’t find it interesting to read abby’s narration about soccer.
claudia outfit:
-"She was in a little crop-top muscle shirt that she had batikked green and blue. She'd sewed a bunch of buttons up the front as if it were a vest. She also had on skinny black shorts, one blue sock and one green sock, and black Doc Martens with one blue shoelace (on the foot with the green sock) and one green shoelace (on the foot with the blue sock). Her long black hair had been gathered into a single braid. A blue ribbon with more buttons attached to it was woven into the braid. Her earrings? Buttons, naturally."
jackie disaster:
-gets his foot stuck in a bucket at the car wash, stumbles, and crashes into mallory, who is holding a hose, so they fall down and water sprays everywhere
no snacks in claudias’ room.
ghostwriter [a:Nola Thacker|133114|Nola Thacker|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] writes what is one of the most miserable books I’ve ever read, baby-sitters club series or otherwise. abby is on a special olympics unified team, which essentially means that players with intellectual disabilities play alongside players without them. tough-as-nails coach wu from [b:Kristy and the Copycat|1383143|Kristy and the Copycat (The Baby-Sitters Club, #74)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1302692191s/1383143.jpg|1373145] is the coach of abby’s team, and she challenges abby by placing her in a defensive position. abby is mad, especially when one of the players with intellectual disabilities, erin, gets to play forward, abby’s usual position. first, abby tries to play “total soccer” (this is apparently when every player moves around the field playing every position and other players fall into the vacated positions -- abby claims this is what “great” soccer teams do but I’m not convinced) but coach wu gets mad at her for repeatedly leaving a defensive gap and the other teams keep scoring. abby tells erin that she thinks they could be a truly great team if they played total soccer and when erin isn’t responsive abby tells her that she knows more about soccer than her. erin finally calls abby out for thinking she knows less about soccer because she has intellectual disabilities, and things escalate to the point that they won’t pass to each other and end up losing a game and fighting about it (and abby actually says, “what are you, stupid?” to erin. in my opinion, you call someone on a special olympics team stupid, you get banned from special olympics allyship stuff for life, but that’s just me). coach wu is understandably mad and benches both of them for two games. abby starts to see the defensive perspective while benched and ends up apologizing to erin and playing her actual position once she’s allowed back in. first subplot is that abby’s mom is trying to get abby and anna to see their paternal grandparents again and to visit abby’s dad’s gravesite, which abby freaks out about but eventually comes to terms with. second subplot is that the bsc and bsc kids form a booster club for abby’s team, raising money for them to have jerseys.
highlights:
-when reading bsc books I frequently go back and forth between the print books from when they were initially published and the modern ebook editions via overdrive. this was a particularly interesting one for that, since in the original print books they used the term “mental retardation” to describe the individuals on abby’s team, but in the ebook version they swapped it out with the term “intellectual disabilities.” most of the time I don’t like modern edits, since I like reading these as time capsules, but for language that has fallen out of use and is typically only seen as a pejorative now, I can see the benefit.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby is truly the worst in this book. she is maybe even worse than mary anne in [b:Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation|371080|Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation (The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special, #3)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387711881s/371080.jpg|361047] and dawn in [b:Dawn Saves the Planet|371103|Dawn Saves the Planet (The Baby-Sitters Club, #57)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1174229864s/371103.jpg|1194798]. keep reading for some examples (beyond what you saw in the summary blurb I wrote above).
-the team goes to the ice cream shop where erin works, and she says she wants big scoops for all her friends, and abby thinks she's being a showoff. how? huh? she’s just being nice, dude.
-I touched on this above, but this interaction: abby tells erin that she thinks they could be a great team if they played total soccer and tells erin she knows more about soccer than her. erin says "because I have intellectual disabilities? do you think I can't play as well as you because of that?" and she tells abby that she's better at soccer than her. abby says "that's what you think." UGH.
-shannon the puppy gets away from david michael at one of abby’s games and tries to play soccer. and everyone laughs like it's so cute. maybe it’s cute but it’s also really inappropriate and annoying to let your dog run onfield during a competitive sports event. I'd be like, "get out of here with that dog, you brat!"
-haley calls the other team the "lawrenceville footballers" and karen corrects her by saying they're playing soccer, not football. but football is soccer! we just went over this in [b:Mary Anne and the Little Princess|646466|Mary Anne and the Little Princess (The Baby-Sitters Club, #102)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1176702443s/646466.jpg|38400]
-at one point instead of passing to erin who is open abby takes a shot and misses. erin does the same thing, and abby is mad about it (which I don’t understand why you’re mad, because she literally did the exact thing you had just done). then erin says abby should've passed to her, and abby responds, "and watch you blow the shot? what are you, stupid?" how is it even possible that they let abby on this team in the first place? how is it even possible that they don’t kick her off right then and there, for using that kind of oppressive language?
-abby says eggbeaters are fake eggs, but they're not. they're egg whites with thickeners and coloring put in.
-abby resents her mom and sister for going to long island without her even though she hadn't wanted to go.
-I know this is petty but I don’t like sports books in general. I don’t care about soccer, and I don’t find it interesting to read abby’s narration about soccer.
claudia outfit:
-"She was in a little crop-top muscle shirt that she had batikked green and blue. She'd sewed a bunch of buttons up the front as if it were a vest. She also had on skinny black shorts, one blue sock and one green sock, and black Doc Martens with one blue shoelace (on the foot with the green sock) and one green shoelace (on the foot with the blue sock). Her long black hair had been gathered into a single braid. A blue ribbon with more buttons attached to it was woven into the braid. Her earrings? Buttons, naturally."
jackie disaster:
-gets his foot stuck in a bucket at the car wash, stumbles, and crashes into mallory, who is holding a hose, so they fall down and water sprays everywhere
no snacks in claudias’ room.