#72 Dawn and the We Love Kids CLub

Summary

Dawn is still in California, and still loving life out there. She's happily adjusted to the more laid-back style of the We Love Kids Club, and she's been getting close to Stephie Robertson, thanks to all the jobs she's getting through the club. One day, when Dawn, Sunny, Maggie, and Jill are having a meeting, someone from the local newspaper calls, wanting to do a story about the group. At first, they think it's a joke, but when the call the number they were given, it turns out to be the real deal. The reporter, complete with hot photographer named Lance, arrives at Sunny's the next day to conduct the interview. The girls have to wait five days before the article comes out, though. When it does, it attracts a lot of attention from the girls' friends, families....and the local tv station. They want to do a human interest story on the club, which is pretty exciting for the girls. It's exciting, that is, until they actually see how much waiting around is involved in making tv. The interview takes hours, and when it airs, it only ends up being four minutes long. That four minutes has an awful lot of repercussions, though. After the We Love Kids Club appears on the news, they're swamped with job calls. The end up double booked, and one family even ends up booking two sitters. Dawn decides that it's time to make the club a little more efficient. That means regular meetings, and maybe even officers. The other girls don't want the We Love Kids Club to turn into another BSC, but they're willing to make a few changes to prevent the problems they've been having from getting even worse.

Once Kristy finds out about all the publicity that the We Love Kids Club is getting, she gets jealous. After all, the BSC has been around a lot longer, and they've never been on tv or in the newspaper. She tries calling several local newspapers, but they're not interested. Then, she wants to either make a video and submit it to the local news, or try and get them to come and interview the club. Too bad she didn't consult the other members before going ahead and making these plans; the other girls don't really want or need any more publicity at the moment. They're awfully busy with both Dawn and Mallory out of commission, and they don't think they can handle much more. Bummer for Kristy.

While Dawn is dealing with the We Love Kids Club's newfound fame, she's also dealing with Carol. Her dad is still pretty serious about her, and Dawn still finds her kind of annoying. She likes Carol, for the most part, but finds her attempts to be young and hip to be sort of irritating. Then, Dawn's dad drops a bombshell: he and Carol are getting married. That's when Dawn realizes that she hates Carol. She's hurt that her dad couldn't at least wait until Dawn was back in Stoneybrook to make this huge change. After all, she came out west to spend time with him, and now he's going to be with Carol 24-7. Dawn starts to feel unwanted, so she decides to go back to Stoneybrook. She steals her dad's credit card number, and after everyone has left her house for the day, she sneaks back in and books a flight to Connecticut. When she gets there, she doesn't exactly get the warm welcome she'd hoped for. In fact, her mom is pretty furious. Not only that, but Sharon has already booked Dawn a flight back to California, leaving the following afternoon. During her time in Stoneybrook, Dawn is only allowed to talk to Mary Anne. She starts to feel pretty stupid about the stunt she pulled, and she starts to worry that no one is going to want her. Not true; her mom and dad just want her to learn to live up to her commitments, and to include everyone in the decision when she's ready to come back to Stoneybrook.

Back in California, Dawn talks things out with Carol. Things are better, in a way, but there seems to be a lot of tension in the house. Then, Jack and Carol come back early from a date, in the middle of a big fight. Carol seems to think she's at the bottom of Jack's priority list, and doesn't like it one bit. They end up breaking up, and Dawn feels responsible. Jack assures her that it's not her fault, and that he and Carol had been having problems for awhile. So...no wedding for the time being.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

• I've never been able to explain exactly why I enjoy this book as much as I do, but I've always really liked it.
• I'm confused about who's who on the cover. I'm pretty sure that Dawn is the one in the red swimsuit, playing with Stephie's hair. Maggie is obvious, but which one is Sunny and which one's Jill? Jill is supposed to have the darkest hair of the four, which would make her the one sitting on the red and white lawn chair. The girl laying on the ground, though, doesn't look anything like the Sunny I see in my head.
• I bet it's going to take Dawn ages to pay back those plane tickets. Last minute airfare isn't exactly cheap, in most cases.
• I'm actually kind of sad that Jill is the one that gets shut out of the CA Diaries series. I feel bad that her friends essentially end up ditching her because she didn't grow up as fast as they did.