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A review by ssshira
Abby's Twin by Ann M. Martin, Hodges Soileau
1.0
in this book by ghostwriter [a:Suzanne Weyn|99836|Suzanne Weyn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1225668404p2/99836.jpg], abby and anna both get a referral for scoliosis screenings. abby’s curve is relatively minor, so it doesn’t need correcting, but anna’s is intense, so she needs to get a brace. it’s not a milwaukee brace like [b:Deenie|37735|Deenie|Judy Blume|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348458671s/37735.jpg|2428922] or like joan cusack in sixteen candles; she can wear it under her clothes and no one will really know. anna mostly takes it in stride, especially after she finds out the brace won’t affect her ability to play the violin. abby freaks out though that anna is experiencing something that isn’t shared with abby. abby gets really clingy, constantly trying to do everything for anna and forgetting that anna doesn’t share every single one of her interests. the brace will mean anna has to size up in clothes, so abby gets $200 from her mom to buy anna a lot of new clothes, but she exclusively buys her brightly colored workout clothes that she would NEVER wear. abby even cuts her hair to look more like anna’s (it’s getting a little single white female in here…) and asks anna if she can try on her brace. when anna points out that it was built for her and her alone, abby says that they’re basically the same person. UHHH, okay, abby. whatever you say. finally anna has had enough and asks abby to not come to her last brace-fitting appointment. abby gets butthurt about it, but finally after talking to mary anne, she feels better: mary anne says that she thinks abby is upset that anna is going through something tough and abby can’t fix it and can’t go through it with her. but when abby mentions this to anna, anna points out that abby has horrible asthma and allergies, and anna has felt that way about it before. I think anna kind of gives abby a pass for really awful behavior, but whatever. meanwhile, the bsc host a winter carnival. at first they have to make money for it so they try to shovel driveways in kristy and abby’s neighborhood, but all those rich people have plows they hire, so they make no money. but then they clean off cars and shovel in claudia’s neighborhood and they make TONS of money. then it doesn’t seem like it’s going to snow and the carnival involves a lot of snow activities, so they feel like they have to cancel, but they gave out flyers instead of putting up signs, so they don’t know how they’ll cancel. but then it ends up snowing and the carnival happens. it’s weird how much time is spent on this mundane bsc event logistics plot, but it just goes to show you how repetitive and terrible the main plot is.
highlights:
-claudia is showing some bsc kids how to make snow sculptures in preparation for the carnival, so she makes a snow-stacey. the kids make a snow-dragon behind snow-stacey, looking like it's about to eat her. they leave it up with a sign advertising the carnival. cute!
-anna asks if she can, now that she will have the brace, play the violin. I wish abby were the one experiencing this, because when she got a yes from the doctor, she would definitely say, "well I couldn't before!"
-abby goes to gloriana's for her haircut. this is the shop karen goes to in [b:Karen's Haircut|1212174|Karen's Haircut (Babysitters Little Sister, #8)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1181922050s/1212174.jpg|2302793], and anything that makes me think of that book is golden. I mean, look at this cover:
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby is INFURIATING in this book. she doesn't listen to anna at all. at one point anna is watching a concert on the tv and abby insists that she stop so they can play video games, which anna doesn't enjoy and isn't good at. she says she doesn't like them and abby says, "everyone likes them. if you keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it." SHE ISN’T YOU, ABBY.
-abby even wants to wear anna's brace even though it's built for her body because she wants to know what it's like. this is so so so creepy and so awful.
-it confuses me that abby tries to make anna into her. I understand that she's tired of them being different and wants them to be more similar, but most people would start acting more like their twin, not try to force their twin to act more like them.
-abby ends up buying more than $200 worth of stuff when she goes to buy clothes for anna but just pays the extra with her own money. classic. just like when she's the president and does the same kind of thing in [b:Stacey's Broken Heart|176729|Stacey's Broken Heart (The Baby-Sitters Club, #99)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387742413s/176729.jpg|170751]. how does abby have such a snooty rich kid mentality when she just got rich recently?
-they should have already had scoliosis tests. it should be jessi and mal having them. when I was in middle school (which was when these books were coming out), they screened us in 5th and 6th grade. click here for facts about screening timelines from the scoliosis research society.
claudia outfit:
-"That day she had on multicolored, tie-dyed painter's overalls she'd dyed herself over a blue, hand-beaded, long-sleeved shirt. Five colorful, bead-studded papier-mache bracelets clattered softly on her wirst whenever she moved her arm."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-doritos under the covers on her bed
highlights:
-claudia is showing some bsc kids how to make snow sculptures in preparation for the carnival, so she makes a snow-stacey. the kids make a snow-dragon behind snow-stacey, looking like it's about to eat her. they leave it up with a sign advertising the carnival. cute!
-anna asks if she can, now that she will have the brace, play the violin. I wish abby were the one experiencing this, because when she got a yes from the doctor, she would definitely say, "well I couldn't before!"
-abby goes to gloriana's for her haircut. this is the shop karen goes to in [b:Karen's Haircut|1212174|Karen's Haircut (Babysitters Little Sister, #8)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1181922050s/1212174.jpg|2302793], and anything that makes me think of that book is golden. I mean, look at this cover:
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby is INFURIATING in this book. she doesn't listen to anna at all. at one point anna is watching a concert on the tv and abby insists that she stop so they can play video games, which anna doesn't enjoy and isn't good at. she says she doesn't like them and abby says, "everyone likes them. if you keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it." SHE ISN’T YOU, ABBY.
-abby even wants to wear anna's brace even though it's built for her body because she wants to know what it's like. this is so so so creepy and so awful.
-it confuses me that abby tries to make anna into her. I understand that she's tired of them being different and wants them to be more similar, but most people would start acting more like their twin, not try to force their twin to act more like them.
-abby ends up buying more than $200 worth of stuff when she goes to buy clothes for anna but just pays the extra with her own money. classic. just like when she's the president and does the same kind of thing in [b:Stacey's Broken Heart|176729|Stacey's Broken Heart (The Baby-Sitters Club, #99)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387742413s/176729.jpg|170751]. how does abby have such a snooty rich kid mentality when she just got rich recently?
-they should have already had scoliosis tests. it should be jessi and mal having them. when I was in middle school (which was when these books were coming out), they screened us in 5th and 6th grade. click here for facts about screening timelines from the scoliosis research society.
claudia outfit:
-"That day she had on multicolored, tie-dyed painter's overalls she'd dyed herself over a blue, hand-beaded, long-sleeved shirt. Five colorful, bead-studded papier-mache bracelets clattered softly on her wirst whenever she moved her arm."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-doritos under the covers on her bed