It's carnival time,Summary
In honor of Mother's Day, Kristy decides to give the moms of some of their charges a day off. They're going to take the kids to a local carnival, feed them lunch, let them run around at the park, and then take them back to Claudia's house for crafts and stories. They even recruit Stacey's help for the weekend, since they're expecting 21 children total.
The outing goes pretty well. Margo Pike does manage to work in her requisite barfing episode on the merry-go-round, and Karen Brewer the Spook Lover gets so scared in the Haunted House that she has to be taken out. To make Karen feel better, one of the workers shares some of the tricks of the haunted house trade with her, and makes her promise not to tell. So (of course), Karen tells the other kids everything at the park later. I'm starting to see why so many people aren't Karen fans...
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer-whatever has been hinting about wanting another baby, and Kristy thinks that her mom and Watson want to get pregnant. Nope; they're adopting a little Vietnamese girl, and she's arriving on Mother's Day. Enter Emily Michelle Thomas Brewer, and (of course) the majority of the other Thomases and Brewers are thrilled, since all teenagers and children love having babies around the house. Heh. Kristy also invites the whole club over to welcome Emily Michelle home, since that kind of an occasion should no way be for family only.
Thoughts and Things
- Watson and Elizabeth pick Emily Michelle up at the airport. Don't prospective adoptive parents usually have to go to the child's home country to get them? I know she was adopted through an agency (at least, she was according to #33), but I wouldn't think that would make a difference, unless the agency was essentially buying children and bringing them over before placing them with families. So many issues with this adoption....
- I always picture Sudsy's Carnival as being sort of unsafe and temporary-looking. I mean, it's set up in a parking lot near a park in a small town; how high-quality could it really be?
- Mallory leads the kids in songs at one point during their outing. Isn't she supposed to be a terrible singer?
- Books that involve fairs and carnivals always make me want fair food: peanuts, popcorn, etc. Speaking of, I'm hungry. :)
- Claudia wears an outfit that involves blue, purple, and red. I hate purple and red together.
- This is the book where Dawn sings, "the girl with colitis goes by" instead of "the girl with kaleidescope eyes." :D Interesting that the CA hippie is the one singing the song about drugs...
I hate purple and red together too!
ReplyDeleteAnd should you really invite EVERYONE you know over for a newly adopted baby from another country? Wouldn't she be a bit scared?
I thought it was insane that Elizabeth and Watson were all, "Oh yeah. We adopted a kid. She'll be here...TOMORROW." What the hell? I think the process for adoption is a lot more involved than that and usually doesn't involve just springing on your kids.
ReplyDeleteAnd wouldn't the adoption agency want to know about the rest of the family that Emily was going to? Ugh. I really think that my reading the BSC was a major contributing factor to my happy, happy child-free status.
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ReplyDeleteWhen my parents adopted my sister, it was easily a year-long process. Age of the adoptive parents is considered -- my dad was 45 at the time and so some countries said no, thinking he was too old. They chose to adopte from Vietnam because travel wouldn't be required, but then that changed and they had to go for a month.
ReplyDeleteBackground checks were done on my parents, my older sister and myself because we were over 18. I think my younger brothers and sister were didn't have to have them.
Emily, is Michelle or something the BSC Emily's last name? Or what is it? This is one of the only books I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteEmily Michelle is her full first name. It's a two-part name, like Mary Anne. Come to think of it, Emily Michelle is a long name for a little girl who is just learning English. I read this one for the first time as an adult, and I find it mind-blowing that the Brewers sprung a new sibling on their children the day before she arrived. That is just sooo unrealistic. Don't adoption agencies usually do home visits before adoptive families are approved? I mean some animal shelters even do home visits! This may be THE most unrealistic story in the BSC books, and that's saying something!
ReplyDeleteI think the kids need time to react to have another sibling come along but this book was written in the 80's their process must have been diffrent back then
ReplyDeletetotally agree girl
ReplyDeleteBoth my brother and I were adopted through an agency, and we spent a month in China getting him, not including the two years it took to get an application in for him.
ReplyDeleteI was adopted by through an agency, and my parents waited about 5 ye years. I don't think they did house visits though.
DeleteI’m thinking that the time warp that kept the kids in the same grade for umpteen summers is the same time warp that ate up the time allotted for the adoption process 😂
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