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A review by ssshira
Kristy's Book by Ann M. Martin, Jeanne Betancourt
3.0
this potrait collection book by portrait collection writer extraordinaire [a:Jeanne Betancourt|79828|Jeanne Betancourt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1258759027p2/79828.jpg] is all about kristy, framed as being her autobiography that she had to write for school. here are the main stories she tells:
-within her first five years of life: her mom goes into labor while she and kristy's dad are at a yankees game. they almost don't leave the game because they want to watch it so badly. later in these early years chapters, kristy, claudia, and mary anne build a snowperson. one of their neighbors says she misses the snow people her kids used to make so kristy has her first great idea to build snowpeople for neighbors. the neighbors all pay the kids well because the kids plan to spend the money on a gift for mimi. they end up buying her a scarf that she wears every winter for the rest of her life.
-at age 5 1/2: kristy wants to be independent like her brothers, so when she finds out they are going to see a movie called car man, she schemes to get to see it with them. she tells her mom she's going to claudia's but actually meets up with her brothers and then tells her brothers that her mom let her go with them to the movie. kristy's mom figures out that kristy had lied and ends up going to the theater to take kristy out before the movie ends. desperate to find out how the movie ends kristy and claudia and mary anne play car man and convince sam and charlie to play with them so they can sneakily find out the ending from them.
-at age 6: kristy's dad leaves. he doesn't tell anyone in his family but tells his boss where he's going and the family just has to figure it out by calling the boss. kristy's mom gets a job and needs the kids to take care of themselves but they basically just eat pizza and chinese food every day and at one point louie gets sprayed by a skunk and they try to clean him but end up making a mess and getting locked in the bathroom. kristy's mom sees this as a wake-up call that they need to get better organized. after that they enact a chore wheel and start cooking instead of just eating pizza.
-at age 10: kristy goes to softball camp and gets involved in annoying drama. the cabins have too much spirit and it makes them hate each other too vehemently so they relentlessly prank war with each other. when the cabins are enmeshed for an all-camp team, they in-fight so much that the coach gets frustrated quits. but eventually they make it up to her and stop being jerks. kristy is sort of mature in this because she recognizes the other cabin's shortstop as a better shortstop than her and becomes friends with her
-at age 12: kristy's dad comes back and it's basically the plot of the bsc movie. he keeps trying to get her to stay out with him and lie to her family. at one point he gets her a baseball glove as a present but it's a righty and she's a lefty. she's really bummed out but decides to try to exchange it and turns out it was swag from a banquet that he got because he works in the industry (meaning, he didn't buy it for her but just took it as a giveaway to give to her). watson ends up getting her a new glove that is actually right for her because he's her REAL father in spite of not being her bio father. and then her bio father ends up leaving again without telling her AGAIN.
highlights:
-krisy apparently ran her first steps. why am I not surprised?
-the premise of car man: a used car salesman who could turn into any car he wanted. goshdarnit I love this so much. it's like if transformers were just totally uncool.
-apparently kristy's dad thought kristy had shown spunk when sneaking out and going to car man and didn't want to punish her. dear kristy's mom: I think you were better off without him, because this dude is not equipped to coparent.
-kristy gets short sheeted as a prank at the softball camp! wasn't I keeping track of short sheets in these books? there hasn't been one in a while. I believe the most recent one was [b:Jessi's Baby-sitter|558380|Jessi's Baby-sitter (The Baby-Sitters Club, #36)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387738550s/558380.jpg|2227765].
lowlights/nitpicks:
-sam tells his mom that it was her fault their dad left. woof.
-in the illustration of the junk food kristy and her brothers were eating when their mom got a job, there's a carob bar. really? carob as junk food? carob is what dawn eats. chocolate is junk food.
-patrick keeps insulting kristy's mom by saying she's too controlling and such. it's almost exactly what happens in the last chapter of the mary anne portrait collection book, [b:Mary Anne's Book|558343|Mary Anne's Book (The Baby-Sitters Club Portrait Collection)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387737143s/558343.jpg|545520], where her grandmother keeps insulting her father. I'm not saying it's badly done or anything, but it just seems like lazy writing to have such a similar plotline in two back-to-back portrait collection books.
-within her first five years of life: her mom goes into labor while she and kristy's dad are at a yankees game. they almost don't leave the game because they want to watch it so badly. later in these early years chapters, kristy, claudia, and mary anne build a snowperson. one of their neighbors says she misses the snow people her kids used to make so kristy has her first great idea to build snowpeople for neighbors. the neighbors all pay the kids well because the kids plan to spend the money on a gift for mimi. they end up buying her a scarf that she wears every winter for the rest of her life.
-at age 5 1/2: kristy wants to be independent like her brothers, so when she finds out they are going to see a movie called car man, she schemes to get to see it with them. she tells her mom she's going to claudia's but actually meets up with her brothers and then tells her brothers that her mom let her go with them to the movie. kristy's mom figures out that kristy had lied and ends up going to the theater to take kristy out before the movie ends. desperate to find out how the movie ends kristy and claudia and mary anne play car man and convince sam and charlie to play with them so they can sneakily find out the ending from them.
-at age 6: kristy's dad leaves. he doesn't tell anyone in his family but tells his boss where he's going and the family just has to figure it out by calling the boss. kristy's mom gets a job and needs the kids to take care of themselves but they basically just eat pizza and chinese food every day and at one point louie gets sprayed by a skunk and they try to clean him but end up making a mess and getting locked in the bathroom. kristy's mom sees this as a wake-up call that they need to get better organized. after that they enact a chore wheel and start cooking instead of just eating pizza.
-at age 10: kristy goes to softball camp and gets involved in annoying drama. the cabins have too much spirit and it makes them hate each other too vehemently so they relentlessly prank war with each other. when the cabins are enmeshed for an all-camp team, they in-fight so much that the coach gets frustrated quits. but eventually they make it up to her and stop being jerks. kristy is sort of mature in this because she recognizes the other cabin's shortstop as a better shortstop than her and becomes friends with her
-at age 12: kristy's dad comes back and it's basically the plot of the bsc movie. he keeps trying to get her to stay out with him and lie to her family. at one point he gets her a baseball glove as a present but it's a righty and she's a lefty. she's really bummed out but decides to try to exchange it and turns out it was swag from a banquet that he got because he works in the industry (meaning, he didn't buy it for her but just took it as a giveaway to give to her). watson ends up getting her a new glove that is actually right for her because he's her REAL father in spite of not being her bio father. and then her bio father ends up leaving again without telling her AGAIN.
highlights:
-krisy apparently ran her first steps. why am I not surprised?
-the premise of car man: a used car salesman who could turn into any car he wanted. goshdarnit I love this so much. it's like if transformers were just totally uncool.
-apparently kristy's dad thought kristy had shown spunk when sneaking out and going to car man and didn't want to punish her. dear kristy's mom: I think you were better off without him, because this dude is not equipped to coparent.
-kristy gets short sheeted as a prank at the softball camp! wasn't I keeping track of short sheets in these books? there hasn't been one in a while. I believe the most recent one was [b:Jessi's Baby-sitter|558380|Jessi's Baby-sitter (The Baby-Sitters Club, #36)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387738550s/558380.jpg|2227765].
lowlights/nitpicks:
-sam tells his mom that it was her fault their dad left. woof.
-in the illustration of the junk food kristy and her brothers were eating when their mom got a job, there's a carob bar. really? carob as junk food? carob is what dawn eats. chocolate is junk food.
-patrick keeps insulting kristy's mom by saying she's too controlling and such. it's almost exactly what happens in the last chapter of the mary anne portrait collection book, [b:Mary Anne's Book|558343|Mary Anne's Book (The Baby-Sitters Club Portrait Collection)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387737143s/558343.jpg|545520], where her grandmother keeps insulting her father. I'm not saying it's badly done or anything, but it just seems like lazy writing to have such a similar plotline in two back-to-back portrait collection books.