Kristy + Bart = ? (RS#95)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Kristy and Bart have been friends for a long time. Kristy even confides to us that they've kissed a few times. But lately Bart's been getting more serious. He introduces Kristy as his girlfriend, and he's more into making out than kissing. Kristy does like Bart a lot, but she's not entirely sure if they're on the same page. She's even less sure of it after her mom and stepdad catch them making out and she ends up grounded. After a lot of thinking and talking, Kristy and Bart end up friends and nothing more. While they like each other a lot, they're simply not at the same stage emotionally, and things can't progress beyond friendship.

Subplot: Kristy organizes the kids into a competition to make up and set crazy records. The kids love it.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

Abby is studying for her Bat Mitzvah (Anna is too).

Kristy thinks New York City is "the coolest place." That's news to me.

Kristy has a TV in her room.

Mallory has the decency to quietly tell Claudia that a couple words on some signs she made are spelled wrong. Embarassing at the moment, yes; but Claudia now has time to fix it before the public sees the signs.


Their Families:

Is there a genetic component to allergies? I know that they run in families, like asthma can. Would one identical twin have a higher chance of having allergies or asthma if the other twin had them? Anna doesn't have either.

Margo Pike still peels bananas with her feet.

The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS: nothing new.

PSA Time: nothing stood out.

Misc:

Kristy calls early March "weeks away" from baseball weather. In Washington, high school teams start practice the first week of March. From what I can tell, Connectict high schools have games the first week of April, so practices probably start no later than mid-March.

"Gaol" is not a synonym for jail. It's a different spelling. Even at the age of eleven, when this book came out, I knew that, and it bugged me.

The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0