Monday, July 20, 2009

#7 Claudia and Mean Janine



I think this book gets the prize for the most misleading title in the whole series...

Summary

The BSC has decided to run a summer play group three mornings a week for some of their charges. I guess they didn't get enough of large groups of children in the last book. :) The usual sitting hijinks ensue; Karen makes Jenny Prezzioso believe that Andrew is a monster, and also scares an entire playground full of kids into thinking that aliens are going to invade the earth.

On the domestic front, things are not well in the Kishi household. Claudia is fed up with Janine's lack of help around the house and the way she always manages to make Claudia's activities seem less important than hers. When Mimi has her stroke, Claudia gets even more frustrated. She ends up dropping out of the BSC play group and switching around art classes to sit with and care for Mimi, while Janine is let off the hook. Um, Claudia? You volunteered. Janine tried, but you interrupted her. She focuses on school because that's what everyone tells her to do. She makes your life seem stupid because she's hurt when you won't try and understand her better. Claudia and Janine end up talking things out, and both agree to try a little harder to get along.

Thoughts and Things

  • It sounds like Elizabeth and Watson have been back from their honeymoon for at least a few days when this book starts, but Kristy and her family don't move to the mansion until the middle of the book. Those living arrangements must have been interesting, since all the Thomases were apparently still living in their old house. I guess Watson could have just been staying with them, but I doubt it; Karen and Andrew were with him at that point, and weren't at the Thomases' house.
  • Claudia thinks it's her fault that Mimi had a stroke, because she threw a tantrum right before it happened and was rude to her. I actually feel sorry for Claudia; it's not that uncommon for kids to feel responsible for things like that.
  • Stacey gets her hair cut to her shoulders. I'm not an expert on perms, but wouldn't fluffy, curly hair just look like a fro if it was that short? Mallory's hair was even shorter when she got it cut in #21, and I just can't imagine that working, either.
  • Lucy Newton is christened in this one. Do people have big, fancy christenings anymore, with the fancy white baby dresses and the big parties afterward? I don't know anyone who actually had one, or who did that for their child.
  • Claudia wears a snake bracelet to art class. I'd wear a snake bracelet almost anywhere. :)

21 comments:

  1. Ugh, Claudia was SO mean to Janine. Even as a kid, I felt bad for Janine in this one, having to deal with Claudia as a sibling.

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    1. Same here-there were kids at school when I read this book that used to do that to some of my (undoubtedly geeky) friends.I knew firsthand what it was like, and Claudia always really annoyed me. I never really got over it. She was never my favourite.

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  2. I never actually picked up on how awful Claudia really was until rereading as an adult, so I guess you're a step ahead of me. :)

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  3. My sister and I had christenings, and she was born the same year as Lucy Newton....I don't know about now, but it makes sense for the time.

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  4. We had a big party for my goddaughter's baptism. But that's a little different than a christening.

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  5. my niece got christened on her FOURTH birthday, and her cousin that was born exactly 3 years after her, was christened the same day... on his first birthday.

    I always went "wtf" at mallory's hair not being as curly when it was cut short. I don't think AMM ever had curly hair.

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  6. This is probably the first BSC book I owned and read, I actually don't remember a whole lot about the fighting between Claudia and her sister aside from the big one before Mimi's stroke.

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  7. claudia was a bitch in that one. can't help but feel sorry for janine.

    the kishi parents are awful, most especially mrs.kishi.

    poor mimi suffering a stroke, and this continues on until she dies in book 26.

    kinda good book but its not one of my favorites.

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  8. this book was kinda awful. Janine wasn't even mean in this book. yeah janine was kinda smart allec and stuck up about it, but she wasnt mean. claudia was the one who was mean in this book.

    mimi was kinda mean too, but mary anne did deserve it for being pushy to mimi. i mean gheesh you guys, mimi just recovered from a stroke for crying out loud and she's old.
    cant help but feel sorry for mimi.

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  9. is this the book where mimi wak=lks in on a meeting and asks where the cow is? i really want to know ...plz help!

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    1. thats kristy and the mothers day surprise

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  10. I must say that I agree; Claudia is certainly the only one being mean in this book...

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  11. Yes! The title is so misleading. Claudia only thinks Janine is mean, but really Claudia is just being a brat (and she really was a brat at times, not just in this book). They keep mentioning how sophisticated Claudia is but she's an immature brat a lot of the times, especially when she narrates.

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  12. Karen and the alien invasion is actual in book 6 unless it is in this one too? I just finished 6 and Dawn takes Karen, David Michael, and Berk ? to a playgroup while adults plan the Thomas-Brewer wedding.

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  13. I thought janine was a poo-poo head when I first read this book.

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    1. Haha, same. But I thought both were annoying back then. Now, I can sympathize to Jaine a lot more...

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  14. Ok I will be the first to admit that I royally suck at math. But riddle me this: If the babysitters each pay one dollar every Monday, with five sitters they would make 20 dollars a month. They pay for Claudia's phone bill out of this too. Now if they pay Charlie 2 dollars a trip 3 days a week that would be 6 dollars a week---24 dollars a month. Am I missing something?

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  15. Janine never came across to me as mean. She wasn't blatantly nasty to Claudia. I get it that Ann M martin sort of based Claudia and Janine off of her relationship with her sister and it was a good book about sibling dynamics. it didn't feel one sided seeing as how Caudia and Janine make an effort to understand each other better. Though I think one thing that could have been touched upon was how parents can unintentionally cause sibling rivalry without even knowing it. The Kishis low key imply that Janine is better than Claudia because she excels in things that her parents value (academics).

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  16. Claudia needs to grow up, and stop being such a stuck up brat

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  17. I agree!! Claud was soo annoying in this book!! I hated her in the part where Jaine came back from her class and the dialogue goes like this:
    Claud: How was your class?
    Jaine: Oh, it was interesting-
    Claud: Hey! You didn't ask how Mimi was doing!!
    Umm, Claudia? YOU ASKED. It always annoyed me when people would ask a question and would not listen to the answer!! UGH!!

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