Friday, January 8, 2010

#69 Get Well Soon, Mallory!

Summary
Mallory has been feeling tired and run-down for the last couple of books. She's been getting lots of colds, and is too tired to do much of anything most of the time. One morning when she's especially sick (fever, sore throat, etc), Mrs. Pike takes her to good old Dr. Dellenkamp. She runs a few tests, and few days later, Mal gets the news: she has mono. The doc tells her that the only cure is bed rest, and lots of it.

After about a week, Mallory is so bored that she's ready to (as she tells us) burn her pajamas and blow up the tv. She starts to feel good enough that she asks to go back to school, but her parents say no. Her recovery has been much slower than they expected, and even when she IS back to normal, the only thing Mal will be allowed to do is school. That means no BSC, and no planned family trip to New York for Thanksgiving. Mallory breaks the news to Kristy, and tells her that they should start looking for a replacement sitter. The club holds an emergency meeting the next day, though, and they vote not to replace Mal for the time being. Instead, she'll be an honorary member until she's able to return to the club.

While all this is going on, the BSC is busy with yet another project. They're going to have a Thanksgiving party for the Stoneybrook Manor residents, complete with gift baskets and games. Mallory is given a list of things she can do to help without ever leaving her bed, and at first, she's glad to have something to do. Then, she gets to thinking. The club was shorthanded when Dawn left, and it's only gotten worse. Mallory feels they'd be much better off replacing her after all, so she decides to be so unpleasant to everyone that they fire her. She's rude to the club members when they visit her, and she refuses to help at all with the Thanksgiving project. Mal hates being that way with her friends, but she just wants to do what's best for the club. It doesn't work; the BSC knows exactly what she's doing, and they don't let her get away with it. The Thanksgiving party is a big hit, but the books kind of ends with Mal (kind of) on the road to recovery.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things
  • I HATED this book when I read it as a kid. Seriously. I considered writing AMM and telling her that, plus giving her some ideas for future books if she was having trouble coming up with any good ones on her own. I actually like it a lot better now.

  • No mention is made of Mallory's visit to the doctor in #68. At that point, she's told that nothing's wrong with her. Given her symptoms, wouldn't they have tested for mono at that point, too?

  • We get two holidays in this book: Halloween and Thanksgiving. I like that. :)

  • Giving the Manor residents toys in their gift baskets was a pretty good idea. Old people tend to get shafted when it comes to presents, because people DO kind of assume that they're only into boring stuff.

  • I loved the chapter where Claire and Margo play hospital with Mallory. It's cute!


9 comments:

  1. I HATE when Mal tried to make them fire her. Could you be any more passive aggressive and pathetic, Mallory?

    I always kind of liked the books that took place after this one where Mal is taking time off from the club, though. Sometimes the books seemed SO cluttered with everyone...the books like Stacey vs. the Cheerleaders where you just see Claudia, Stacey, MA, Kristy (with Jessi on occasion) hanging out seemed more fun to read about.

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    1. I agree - it is a rather hostile reaction - but on a brighter note, it's great to see the girls back together!

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  2. I don't remember this book...so I have to ask: Does it explain how Mallory got mono?
    I have a hard time believing that she got it from kissing any boys. She must be the victim of getting mono from the air.

    Poor tortured Mallory for having the BSC care about her.. Her suffering will be great for her future writing career, though.

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  3. No, we don't really find out how Mal got mono. It definitely wasn't from kissing, though! When her siblings came home from school and made fun of her for getting "the kissing disease," Mal flipped out because she'd never kissed anyone.

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  4. you can't help but feel sorry for mallory in this book, but omg mallory
    just quit the club instead of whine and complain about it.

    cause whining and complaining will get you nowhere. besides your way better off without the club anyways.

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  5. This book is actually one of the more memorable ones in my mind, although not because of the plot. I checked out this book from the library in my hometown in Alaska, moved to India without realizing that it got packed into my box, and five years later, moved back to Alaska and found out that for those five years, my father had been getting overdue library book notices, but had been chucking them in the trash because he had no idea that the book was still with me...

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  6. She might not have gotten a mono test on her first doctor visit--it took my doctor two visits to figure it out. Of course, I was about ten years older than prime mono age.

    It really bugs me that it's not mentioned how she got the mono! First of all, it would be relevant in the diagnosis (the apparent lack of a trigger could be why it took so long, though). Nobody else in town seems to have mono. Mrs. Pike keeps saying it's contagious and limiting Mal's access to the other kids, but manner of transmission is not mentioned, and you'd think that would be super relevant not only to the characters but to readers who might be exposed. Don't share drinks, people...

    Other bad mono advice in this book includes recommending acetominophen.

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