Kristy and the Missing Child (M#4)

Original Publication Date: 1992

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Jake Kuhn goes missing one afternoon after a Krusher practice. The Kuhn parents are in the final stages of a divorce, and Mrs. Kuhn thinks Mr. Kuhn has taken him. Kristy was one of the last people to see him, and feels guilty that she didn't insist on walking him home. She's also not convinced Mr. Kuhn was involved in the disappearance. She spearheads an auxiliary search to the official one the police have. With a lot of help from Matt Braddock, who know the places Jake likes to frequent, Kristy's search team finds Jake in a construction site nearly two full days after he went missing. He's bruised and dehydrated, but okay.

Kristy ends up getting a special award at the eighth grade award ceremony for her efforts. Mary Anne gets one, too, the Most Improved Home Ec award. She'd been struggling with sewing and cooking, but stumbles upon the recipe for Jello Jigglers without realizing it, which gets her enough extra credit to bring her grade up.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

Kristy says that when she was eight, the furthest she'd been from home was Stamford. But we know (from Mary Anne Saves the Day that she's been to Florida, which I think was before her dad left, which would have been before she was eight.


Their Families:

It's implied a lot in this book, and others if you think about it, that Kristy is closer to David Michael than Sam or Charlie, despite being closer in age to her older brothers. I think that's reasonable; I'm closer in age to my older brother but have spent more "quantity time" (my brother's words) with my younger brother, including coaching him in sports.


The Club:

Shannon attends an emergency meeting AND has speaking lines!

Jake Kuhn has brown eyes.


SMS:

Faculty/Staff: Mrs. Ploof, home ec


PSA time: nothing new

Misc:

Patsy Kuhn thinks everyone has The Little Mermaid. I...do have it. And not because I now have a daughter, either.

Whoa. Mr. Kuhn has a lady friend...their divorce isn't quite finalized yet. Even Kristy is surprised that Mrs. Kuhn isn't jealous. Perhaps that's the reason for the divorce?


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 3

Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2

Summers after 8th grade: 2

BSC Fights: 6

SMS Staff: 26

Students (other than the BSC): 72; 50 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 10 sixth-graders, nine unspecified

Clients: 29

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 56 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)

Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-2 (Curtiis Shaller, Quint Walter)