Everything Changes (FFSS#1)

Original Publication Date: 1999

Ghostwriter? No. Ann dedicates to honor the birth of her goddaughter, Harmoni.

Synopsis:

This book starts the short-lived Friend Forever series of the BSC. As the title indicates, the members are dealing with some significant changes.

Kristy has recently decided to start keeping a journal, inspired by Mary Anne (who lost all but one of hers in the fire). We get to read a lot about her concerns that the BSC isn't going to fare well over the summer, when she, Mary Anne, Claudia, Stacey, and Abby will be away (Kristy, Abby, and Mary Anne at Camp Mohawk, Claudia on a family vacation, Stacey in New York with her dad). She's not sure that Mallory and Jessi can run it alone, especially since Logan and Shannon have been even less available than usual and Dawn will be in California until August. Then Logan calls to drop out of the BSC, citing sports commitments. Then Jessi calls to tell Kristy about a new ballet school opening in Stamford which will be on the same level as the one she attended in New York...and will meet six days a week, which doesn't really leave time for the BSC. She is accepted, and quits. Then Abby quits. Remember how she'd been feeling burnt out? She just has too much on her plate and the BSC has to go. Finally, Shannon tells Kristy that she won't have time to even be an associate member once school starts.

Mary Anne is worried that her dad will accept the job offer in Philadelphia. She's still suffering from a lot of turmoil after the fire, and elects to skip Camp Mohawk. She's also feeling smothered by Logan, who is trying to help but not actually helping. Her grandmother comes to visit, and brings some things that belonged to Mary Anne's mother. She also gives Mary Anne an heirloom ring that she never had a change to give her mother. It's a pretty sweet moment when she shares the things, and it helps Mary Anne heal a bit from the fire. Her dad also decides he'd rather not take the job in Philadelphia, which makes things yet easier. Even better: the family is able to rent out the house next-door to Claudia (the Goldmans') for a year while they renovate the barn to be a house.

Stacey is mostly enjoying her stay in New York, as she gets to spend lots of time with both her dad and with Ethan. However, her dad is concerned that Ethan might be too old for her (he sees him late one night outside a club "for adults"?). He limits Stacey to only spending fourteen hours a week with Ethan. A few days later, he tells Stacey that he is seriously considering asking  his girlfriend, Samantha, to move in (without being married! Shock! Horror!). Stacey's not happy with the idea, but some encouragement from Claudia and a talk with Ethan go a long way in convincing her to not hate Samantha just because she's newer in Stacey's life. Stacey's dad is also more willing to give Ethan a chance after hearing that he helped Stacey look at the other side of issue.

Claudia is not looking forward to her family vacation to small, isolated island off the coast of Maine. Her parents want the family to embrace a simpler lifestyle during their stay: no internet, no TV, no dishwasher (that last one is too much for me; my husband and I had no dishwasher for the first two years of our marriage and I like to bake from scratch). It's not long before she catches Janine with her laptop and internet cord, her mom reading a trashy romance novel, and her dad watching a baseball game on the neighbors' TV (with the neighbors' permission). She and Janine take an art class together (apparently the island is a popular destination for artists) and they have a great time together with it. Claudia ends up loving the stay, and wanting to go back a lot in the future.

When they meet up again after the vacations, Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Claudia admit to each other that they enjoyed the free time they had over the last month. They decide that since the BSC is down to its four original members, they'll cut back on meetings--maybe just once a week--and not try to recruit any more clients. It's still important to them, but it won't be the main focus of their lives anymore.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned since she's not at home, but the descriptions of all the lobster are making me hungry

Claudia likes lobster, so she is happy about that part of the trip.

Stacey decides to take up needlepoint...despite already knowing how to do it.

According to Kristy, Abby likes the chicken tetrazzini at camp. Interesting, since it calls for butter, cream, and cheese, and Abby's allergic to dairy.

Jessi, Mallory, and Shannon come up with a thoughtful gift for Mary Anne: supplies to make a scrapbook.

Claudia likes Salvador Dali. He's my favorite painter.


Their Families:

Mary Anne's family is renting a house in Stoneybrook for now.

This is not the first family vacation for the Kishis, nor the first one during the summer. They went to New Hampshire during the events of Boy-Crazy Stacey.

Given Stacey's experience with a "back-to-nature" vacation (written about in her Portrait Collection), I'm surprised she didn't have tips for Claudia.

Abby's mom cries when she leaves on the bus for camp. Didn't really expect that.

Stacey's dad has a fax machine in his apartment. Guess that's fitting for a workaholic.

Mary Anne's grandmother describes her mementos as some of "what remains of Alma," which makes me think of her physical remains. Which would probably be not in the best condition.


The Club (and clients): aside from what's mentioned in the summary, nothing new.


SMS: summer vacation.


PSA Time:

Did you know that whole lobster comes with the intestines still in it? Because I didn't when I ordered it a few years ago. Fun surprise, that. Ever since then when I've had lobster I just get lobster tail.


Misc:

One of the campers at Camp Mohawk is named Harmoni, presumably for Ann M. Martin's goddaughter. She's written to be a nice girl who everyone likes.

Kristy and Mary Anne are amused by an eight-year-old who brings eyebrow tweezers to camp. Thing is...I'd probably do that. I have brown eyebrows and the stragglers show a little too well against my skin. Probably wouldn't have done that at eight years old though.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 11

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 4

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-5, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 5

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 12

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 68

Students (other than the BSC): 213: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 30 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 149

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-11
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

The Fire at Mary Anne's House (RS#131)

Original Publication Date: 1999

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles. I'm a little disappointed there's a ghost writer for the last book of the series.

Synopsis:

The BSC decides to enter itself into a Best Sitter contest sponsored by a teen magazine. This allows them to reminisce about a lot of the adventures they've had. This plot hums along merrily until the main one comes along: Mary Anne wakes up to Tigger panicking and her dad calling for her as their house burns around them. Mary Anne, Richard, Sharon, and Tigger make it out safely, but the house is completely destroyed. (Dawn and Jeff were in California at the time; Dawn flies to Connecticut as soon as she can after hearing the news.)

The town rallies around Mary Anne's family, who will stay with Kristy's family for at least the meantime. While Mary Anne is grateful no one was hurt, it's so much to take in with everything being destroyed (like her mother's things). She feels mostly just numb, probably from such an overwhelming experience. She doesn't cry during the fire or when she's picking through the charred remains of the house, which confuses her a bit, and she's been having nightmares. Logan wisely suggests she consider talking to Dr. Reese, the therapist she's seen in the past. But Mary Anne just wants to be left alone, a difficult thing in Kristy's house. Further complicating things, Richard was recently offered a job in Philadelphia, and he and Sharon are thinking maybe they should just start over. Finally, one night Mary Anne can't sleep, and rides Kristy's bike over to the burned house, where she finally grieves for what happened. Dawn, who had followed, helps Mary Anne finally let out the emotions she didn't know she had.

The book--the series--ends without finding out if Mary Anne's family will move and without knowing who wins the best sitter contest.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: brownies and nachos (for Stacey) that she made herself, Twizzlers, Reese's peanut butter cups, Frookwiches

I disagree, Mary Anne. I'd be very surprised to see Abby in the Olympics running the 100 yard dash. It's the 100 meter dash, and when the US still used the Imperial system for track and field, the race was the 110 yard dash. I know Mary Anne's not an athlete, but with Logan on the track team and US schools using the metric system for track races when this was written, I find it funny.


Their Families:

Tigger (you know Mary Anne considers him family) keeps jumping on the pages of the magazine Mary Anne's trying to read. This is very accurate cat behavior. If you put any sheet of paper on the ground and tell my husband's cat, "This is very important," he'll come sit on it. However, Tigger likes having his belly rubbed, which, in my admittedly limited experience with cats, I find odd.

Sharon works for a small accounting business.

Stacey's mom makes a stack of sandwiches for Mary Anner's family and the firefighters while the house burns. That's very thoughtful of her.

Again, David Michael is very sweet: he offers all his bubble bath to Mary Anne when she heads to take a shower after shoveling through the debris. He also helps Emily Michelle draw a picture and learn a song to cheer up Mary Anne's family.


The Club (and clients):

Mrs. Prezzioso lends Sharon and Richard her cell phone in the aftermath of the fire so they call the insurance agent and so on.


SMS:

It's summer again. Mallory's still at boarding school, though.


PSA Time:

There's good fire safety information in this book, like touching the back of your hand to a closed door to see if it's hot before opening it, staying low to the ground to avoid smoke, not dawdling to grab things (like Mary Anne, I'd grab pets if they were in the room with me) as you escape the fire, regularly checking your smoke detectors, and continuing to move away from the fire itself until you're sure you're far enough from it.


Misc:

This is Mary Anne's last regular series book, and the last book period of the regular series.

The Prezziosos, Pikes, Braddocks, and McGills apparently live close enough to Mary Anne to wake up from the fire and come over in the middle of the night to offer help and comfort.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 11

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 4

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-5, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 5

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 12

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 68

Students (other than the BSC): 213: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 30 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 149

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-11
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Stacey's Movie (RS#130)

Original Publication Date: 1999

Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn.

Synopsis:

It's time for yet another round of Short Takes. This time, the classes will be taught by professionals in various fields. Stacey takes a class from a documentary filmmaker (Kristy and Logan are in it, too). The class is split up into groups of four, each of which will make a movie. Stacey's group, which also includes Pete Black, Erica Blumberg, and Emily Bernstein, decide to make a documentary after their attempts at a horror movie don't go so well. Kristy's in a group with Logan, Anna Stevenson, and Alan Gray. They make a documentary about the funny things BSC clients do or say. But Kristy causes troubles by following around Jackie Rodowsky, waiting for him to slip up. She's not subtle about it either and he ends up feeling pretty hurt. Kristy also steps all over Alan's assigned role as director. Stacey talks to Kristy, and she begrudingly lets Alan be in charge, only to discover that he's really good at it.

Meanwhile, Stacey's team is doing well getting a lot of information from different students at SMS. Interesting revelations including Abby's epiphany that she's a lot like her mother (trying to do too much at once), Jessi admitting that she feels out of place at SMS because with Mallory gone there's no one left that she has much in common with which emphasizes how different she is from most of the students in terms of both race and her love of dance, Cokie pointing out that the BSC can be just as exclusionary and stuck-up as any group, Claudia reacting to the pressure on her to do really, really well in school despite how hard it is for her (as in, not just pass but get great grades), Alan Gray wanting to be taken seriously, and most relevant to the plot, Mary Anne exploding that she gets angry with her mother for dying. Mary Anne really wants to remove her interview from the film, but the rest of Stacey's group think it's such a great one that they refuse. They do let Mary Anne have a moment to speak about how she really feels, which is also in the film after her interview.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: carrots (for Stacey)

Good continuity with Stacey liking Cinderella as a young child.

Abby's seeming sort of burnt out and stretched very thin between her various commitments.


Their Families:

Mary Anne considers Sharon a mother figure but not her mother, which I think is totally reasonable. My mom has a very nice stepmother who her father married when my mom was an adult (right around the time of my own parents' wedding) and Mom calls her by her first name, but my aunt who was still a minor at the time calls the same step-mother "Mom." It's all about what you're comfortable with and mutual respect.


The Club (and clients):

When BSC members are interviewed, they slip in references to the club. It's funny to me that they're so indoctrinated, but it also makes sense because it's a big part of their lives.


SMS:

This time students can sign up for what Short Takes classes they prefer.

Shouldn't the Short Takes teacher have told her class to secure written permission from anyone appearing in the films?

Alan Gray calls Kristy "Darth Vader" which amuses me more than it should.

New-to-us student: Sarah Gerstenkorn (probably 8th grade)


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

This is Stacey's last regular series book.

My copy of this book was sold at a used bookstore for fifty cents.

"[The documentary film maker] told us how she had gone into the Australian outback and spent time with a group of aboriginal people until they trusted her enough to talk about their beliefs..." There has GOT to be a better way to phrase that so it doesn't sound like she gained the trust of a group of animals.

Stacey mentions getting inspiration from an old Twilight Zone episode. From how she describes it--an upopular school-girl wishes everyone would leave her alone and her classmates disappear, only to return as zombies--I don't think she watched a real episode. I'm pretty familar with the Rod Serling era and since she specifies old, I'm pretty sure it's made up. It also doesn't sound like a Twilight Zone episode, which are, frankly, better written.

"You can't make math a career"? What nonsense. Math is intergral so many fields of study! I'm not a huge fan of it and I can admit that. Beyond the obvious like physics, medicine, and engineering, math is important in a ton of things like baking (if you want to halve a recipe for example), travel planning, budgeting...I've even used algebra to write knitting patterns.

Part of the book touches on something that annoys me, which is the insistence some people have to know EVERYTHING. Some things are okay to keep private, in my opinion, and not everything needs to be made public all at once.

Alan's interview raises a good question: would you rather be hated or ignored?



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 11

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 4

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-5, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 5

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 11

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 68

Students (other than the BSC): 213: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 30 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 144

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-11
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Kristy at Bat (RS#129)

Original Publication Date: 1999

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Kristy and Watson are attending a weeklong father-daughter baseball camp in Delware run by a former MLB star who happens to be one of Watson's favorite players, Bill Bain. Kristy's excitement is overshadowed by learning that she's going to be on the second-string SMS softball team instead of first-string as she'd anticipated (and was...last year...which was still eighth grade...). She's put out in left field too, which is either a sign that Coach Wu doesn't have a lot of confidence in Kristy or does, since outfield positions see less action than infield positions and left fielders don't need to have as good throwing arms as other spots, but outfielders also need to be able to pay attention to everything and react quickly to make good catches and left fielders are more likely to get the ball than right fielders.

Anyway. Kristy still wants to make the best of camp, especially since Watson's so excited. And she does get into it for a while and has a fun time. She does have some trouble shaking the thought of having to play second-string, and is also dealing with conflicting thoughts wondering what her father would think of her sports talents now but feeling disloyal to Watson for it. Watson himself has a bit of a let-down when his sports hero turns out to not be very involved in the camp and rarely makes an appearance. But he's still enamored with the man enough that when Kristy calls Bain out on his neglect of the camp he gets angry with Kristy for being rude. He doesn't hold a grudge though, and is even more over it the next day when Bain shows up for the big game between the campers and admits Kristy was right. Kristy and Watson both do really well, including sharing a double play. After the game, Bain makes himself available for autographs. There's an awards ceremony and one of the several given out is to Best Coach, to Kristy for her help with organizing things when Bain was absent, which helps her realize that enjoying baseball and softball is more important than being the best at it. She and Watson end up with some really good bonding time out of the camp, too.

Back in the 'brook, David Michael gets seriously into collecting baseball cards and spends a few afternoons trading cards. But since he doesn't know the value of all of them, he find himself taken advantage of by a more knowledgeable kid. Abby steps in to show that a card's worth isn't limited to monetary terms, and that some might have sentimental value or other attributes. David Michael continues trading, but with a more relaxed group of kids.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Doritos

Foul: Chapter Two claims Anna's hair is longer than Abby's.

The cover correctly depicts Kristy in a left-handed batting stance.

Abby talks more about her dad in this book than any other (well, during a conversation; obviously he was mentioned in her Portrait Collection book). She has a rare baseball card that he gave her shortly before he died, of his favorite player.


Their Families:

According to Kristy, Emily Michelle doesn't talk as well as most two-and-a-half-year-olds, but she talks better than my two-and-a-half-year-old. My daughter understands most of what's said to her, but just doesn't seem too interested in talking. She picks up sign language really well though, and is starting to say the words as she signs them. Kids develop at different rates; one of my uncles didn't talk until he was three (probably couldn't get a word in edgewise being the youngest of four born in under than five years). My daughter can communicate, which is what matters.

David Michael gives Andrew a few of his baseball cards that he has doubles of. At some point Andrew needs to learn that life isn't fair, but he's only four now and this was very kind of David Michael. He's a good big brother. And really, since Andrew ends with only five cards to David Michael's dozens and he's appropriately grateful, he probably gets it on some level that he doesn't need everything of his to be the same as everyone else's and he can be happy with what he does have.

Wow, Watson hits a triple. That's really hard to do, because you have to hit the ball far enough to run three bases while the other team is trying to get you out, whereas with a home run the ball goes out of the field and you don't have to run as fast to make it to home plate (there are in-the-park home runs, but they're rare; Kristy also hits a triple during practice but she's younger and faster).


The Club (and clients):

Abby is president while Kristy is away. Considering how well that went last time, I wonder why no one suggested Claudia, as vice-president, take over, perhaps under the guise of being fair and sharing.


SMS:

The SMS softball team only practices a couple days a week. When I coached cross country, I handled the middle school and high school programs at the same time. High school practiced Monday through Friday and middle school practiced Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, with the option to come on Wednesday. Saturdays were optional practices if we didn't have a meet (middle school races were held at the same locations about an hour before high school races so this was feasible). We also did four days a week when I myself was on the middle school soccer and track teams.


PSA Time:

I do think it's great to play through the pain, but listen to your body if the pain is bad. Not that I played soccer on a torn meniscus long enough to ensure I'd earn a varsity letter or pole vaulted with a probably broken wrist for a few weeks and still have a sore knee or occasionally drop things randomly from that hand or anything...


Misc:

This is Kristy's last regular series book.

My copy of this book appears to have once been sold at a used bookstore for $2.25.

Back to coaching...I am so glad I coached cross country and track and field rather than other sports (well, I did help with a third-grade soccer team once, but just to train goalies). I would have a tough time deciding who was varsity and who wasn't. With the sports I dealt with, it's obvious, because you can clearly see who runs faster, throws farther, or jumps higher. I admire coaches of more subjective sports who work hard to make those tough calls.

That "'Put Me In, Coach' song" is called "Centerfield" and it's by John Fogerty; Kristy should know the title if not the artist. It's a very fun song to listen to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04KQydlJ-qc

Yay! My Seattle Mariners get a mention! It's brief but I'll take it.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 11

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 4

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-5, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 5

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 11

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 68

Students (other than the BSC): 216: 122 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 30 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 144

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-11
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Dawn Diary 3 (CD#11)

Original Publication Date: 1999

Ghostwriter? No. The books is dedicated to Betsy Howie. Betsy is Mrs. Winslow's first name.

Synopsis:

Dawn is adjusting to having a baby in the house. She's bonded with Gracie, but of course a teething baby can get on anyone's nerves. She's craving something new and exciting, and feeling like she has far less to do in California than she would in Stoneybrook, where she had more close friends. So she's pretty thrilled when her favorite band announces it'll be playing nearby. Ducky scores four tickets to a special function with the concert that will allow him, Dawn, Amalia, and Sunny to meet the members of the band (Maggie doesn't care about the band). Dawn obtains permission from her dad and Carol to go with Ducky driving, and is willing to put up with Sunny for the privilege. She's been trying to reignite her friendship with Sunny lately, but it's not going so well. They put up with each other okay at the concert, until Ducky has a few drinks at the insistence of Sunny and a friend they meet up with, and then Sunny tries to convince him to drive anyway and Dawn intervenes and takes Ducky's keys (and rightly so). Dawn's dad and Carol are pretty upset with the situation, but do give Dawn credit for calling. Dawn's dad drives Ducky home too (Sunny was too angry and took the bus; Amalia went with her so she wouldn't be alone) and gives him a bit of fatherly advice, since Ducky's parents aren't around to dispense it.

While Sunny was absolutely in the wrong about the drinking, one can hardly blame her for being out of sorts. Her mother has come home...permanently. The chemotherapy is doing more harm than good, and she's receiving pallative care only. She's come home to die. The finality of this reality finally spurs Dawn and Sunny to restart their friendship, albeit with a heavy pallor cast over it.



Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Ducky):

Dawn's pretty opionated and pushy. Not only does she try to force Sunny to handle her mother's health problems the way Dawn thinks is right, she tries to force any conversation with Maggie to food and weight.

Mary Anne might visit over spring break.

Dawn's had tequila.

Ducky quit his job at Sunny's dad's bookstore in January or February.


Their Families:

Dawn's dad pays her to watch Gracie and Jeff, which I think is appropriate. I got money sometimes for watching my younger brother, although not every time. It was more that once in a while Dad would give me some cash because I'd watched him a few times.

Carol nurses Gracie in front of Dawn and Ducky, and it bugs Dawn even though she tries to tell herself it's natural. I know that a lot of mothers will nurse anywhere with varying layers of clothing, but being a pretty private person I prefer to have a light blanket covering myself and if I can, will go to a different room or less crowded area. But when the baby's hungry, the baby's got to eat! However, I can cut Dawn some slack because Gracie is old enough that a little extra time to sit at on the couch instead of across the table from Dawn's friends wouldn't hurt Gracie.

Gracie takes a bottle sometimes. It's not specified whether it has expressed milk or formula. Since she was born in June, she's eight months old. My daughter was eating a few foods by then; rice cereal and bananas and that sort of thing. I nursed her until she was 15 months old, though she was down to just once a day, at bedtime, by then.

Wow, Carol's been able to take this much time off work and doesn't have to go back for two or three months! Combined with her bedrest before Gracie was born, that's about a year off from work. Good for her that she was able to do that.

I have to say, I'm pretty annoyed that Sunny's mom used to smoke. It reads like the cancer is her fault. I'm not saying that people who smoke deserve cancer (because I would love for my grandmother to still be alive), but I really hate how it comes off as blaming the victim. While you can do things to mitigate your risk factors, when it comes down to it, diseases don't really care whether you've been a good person or not, and people will or won't get cancer regardless of how they've lived their lives.


PSA Time:

Just to echo Dawn's dad's instructions: never get in a car driven by someone who's impaired. It's simply not worth the risk. Get the person's keys if you can, too.

It's just a bad idea to not get your own drink at a party or concert. If you get it yourself, you can be sure of what's in it more easily.


Misc:

This book takes place from early February to mid March, although it wasn't published until April. Valentine's Day is on a Sunday in this book, although it was a Saturday in Abby's Un-Valentine. But it was a Sunday in 1999, and in Ducky's first diary.

This is the last book narrated by Dawn.

Whoever owned this book before me wrote "Drohan" on the inside front cover. I'm assuming it's someone's last name, and from the handwriting could be either a child or an adult, maybe a teacher who had BSC books in the classroom. One of my cousins who teaches grade school keeps BSC books on her shelves.

In general, I try not to call people before 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning and not after 9:00 at night. A few people, like my grandparents who stay up late, I know I can call later, but generally people are up for phone-answering between 9:00 and 9:00.

Most juice isn't all that healthy. It's not really a good substitute for a piece of fruit. If you compare sugar contents on a lot of it, you may as well have pop.

Dawn mentions a restaurant called the Tea Shop, at which "you can buy an awful lot more than tea there, and I don't just mean food." Curious.

Speaking of babies, I was going to put this post up on Thursday, but I had a baby instead. She was a week early like her older sister and is doing well!


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 10

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 67

Students (other than the BSC): 209: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 26 7th graders, 47 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 130

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-10
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0