Thursday, February 4, 2010

#79 Mary Anne Breaks the Rules

Summary

Jake Kuhn is still pretty depressed over his parents' divorce. Mary Anne thinks it might help him to have a guy around, so she invites Logan over to play with him while she's sitting at the Kuhns' house. It seems to do the trick; Jake is much happier, and Mrs. Kuhn compliments Mary Anne on the change in Jake's mood. Mary Anne tries to tell her that it's actually Logan who's helped Jake, but Mrs. Kuhn doesn't give her a chance. Logan continues to visit Jake, and Jake continues to enjoy the new friendship. Then, Mrs. Kuhn comes home early one day and finds him there. She's not happy that Mary Anne invited her boyfriend over, and Mary Anne doesn't want to tell her the truth. She thinks doing so will offend Mrs. Kuhn.

Mary Anne heads to a BSC meeting right after that, and before she can confess what happened, Mrs. Kuhn calls the BSC. She's pretty mad, and the other members of the BSC aren't exactly happy, either. As usual when a member screws up, the club is sure Mrs. Kuhn is going to tell all their clients and the BSC will go out of business. Also as always, the club seems to get far fewer calls in the days following Mary Anne's little mistake, and Mary Anne feels awful. Then, Jake and his mother show up on Mary Anne's doorstep one day. Jake had explained everything to his Mrs. Kuhn regarding Logan, and she wants to apologize to Mary Anne. They straighten everything out, and BOTH Logan and Mary Anne are invited back to the Kuhns'.

Meanwhile, there's a haunted house war going on in Stoneybrook. One group of sitting charges sets up a gross haunted house with help from Alan Gray, and one group sets up a funny one with help from Logan.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things
  • It's been well-discussed that Mary Anne should have just asserted herself and told Mrs. Kuhn the truth from the beginning, but...Mary Anne should have just asserted herself and told Mrs. Kuhn the truth from the beginning. :)
  • Poor chubby Jake...couldn't Hodges at least drawn a coat on him that fit well?
  • This book is classic Lerangis...lots of stupid puns and comments about vomiting.
  • More discrepancy between the 11 year olds in Stoneybrook: Tiffany Kilbourne is going trick or treating as a ballerina, when Jessi and Mallory have been too old for trick or treating for awhile now.
  • I went trick or treating through middle school; I was short, so I could get away with it. :)

13 comments:

  1. I also went trick or treating long after I should have. I didn't reach the five foot mark until fourteen years old. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm 17 and I've only just reached 5 foot! :D Yes I am a midgit :)

      Delete
  2. Um, I went trick or treating through high school. Actually, I'd still do it if I thought I could get away with it (which, being on the short side too and ridiculously young looking, I probably could). Does that make me a bad person?

    Why has no one ever suggested that Mary Anne just tell Mrs. Kuhn what Logan was really doing there?

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ali - No, that doesn't make you a bad person! I'd be right there with you, but I don't think I could pull it off anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I HATE the Mal/Jessi eleven year olds are sooooo sophisticated and then Tiff Kilabourne and I think Ben Hobart at one point soooooooo young. I hope to heavens none of the jobs Mal/Jessi got include sitting for the Kilabournes, because I'm thinking she'd be prettttttty annoyed about it. I would be, if some people the same age as me took care of me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had a possible insight into the Tiffany is a sitter/sittee that I posted about at my blog. I think she was more of a helper for Shannon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous and nikki- I reached the five feet mark when I was 9. I was a tall gal!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think the last year I went trick or treating was when I was 15... I'm short, too, and even in my 20s, I've taken kids trick or treating and dressed up. :)
    I think they should have made Jessi and Mallory 12 instead of 11 if they wanted them to be a little younger than the other girls. I hate how they're always being treated as inferiors just because the other girls are 2 years older than them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Maybe Jessi and Mal have just grown up faster than others and just don't want to go Trick or treating. Tiffany Kilbourne probably just wants to do it despite the age difference and we don't do Halloween in Australia so the Hobarts- Ben probably just didn't want to do it or just wasn't into it. :) ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm Australian too and we celebrate halloween? The kids trick or treat, houses are decorated and everything is halloween themed (tv, shopping centers etc)

      Delete
  9. I am personally getting a little annoyed with Jessi and Mallory. No t just in this book, but in a lot of them. Why can't they just accept the fact that they are eleven. Especially Mal, I understand that with taking care of 7 brothers and sisters, she feels that she needs to be treated older, but i mean, 13 is not any better than 11.

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow this was a late comment

    ReplyDelete