Wednesday, March 31, 2010

SS#13 Aloha, Baby-sitters!

It's time for the SMS trip to Hawaii that the girls (and Logan) were all saving for in the last book.

Jessi is sad that Mallory can't go on the trip, so she spends all her time writing in a journal and taking pictures so Mal will get the full Hawaii experience.

Abby lies about her age, convinces some people filming a suntan lotion commercial that she's actually 18, and lands a spot in the ad. There's lots of talk about Steven Spielberg seeing her commercial and casting her in a movie. Gotta love Abby's imagination!

Mary Anne and Logan have been getting flak from their friends for spending too much time together, so they decide to be "together but independent" while in Hawaii. That means they won't avoid each other, but they won't try and spend every second together, either. They end hating the experiment, and sit together on the plane ride home. Also, Mary Anne accepts a sitting job for what she hopes will be a "typical Hawaiian family." She feels stupid when she realizes that they're really not that different from the families she sits for back home.

Claudia visits Pearl Harbor, realizes the full extent of what happened there, and starts to feel bad about being Japanese. She's convinced that everyone hates her for what happened, just because of her ethnicity. Mary Anne arranges for Claud to take a sitting job with the same family she herself sat for. The kids just happen to have a grandfather who fought in World War II, and she shows Claudia that she can't take the mistakes of her ancestors personally. They were different people, and it was a different time.

Dawn cleans up a messy beach. Is anyone really surprised?

Stacey is kind of witchy to Robert for most of the trip. Then, she's in a helicopter crash, and is missing for awhile. They make up after she's found safe.

Kristy and Mallory both stay home. Kristy's family is going to Hawaii not long after the SMS kids get back, and Mal's parents didn't have the money for her to take the trip. Instead, they both help out with a day camp at the Stone's farm. Mallory also pisses off some know-it-all mom at the park when she lets Jenny Prezzioso throw a tantrum rather than giving in and keeping her quiet. I should add that this is exactly what Mrs. Prezzioso told Mal to do.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things
  • I really, really like Super Specials, and I feel like it's been forever since I recapped one. Only two more to go! :(
  • This book makes me see why Robert cheated on Stacey....she was kind of a nightmare.
  • Speaking of Stacey, she's had it tough in more than one Super Special. In the first one, she has to clean Margo's barf out of a trash can on the cruise ship. In the second one, she's stuck in the infirmary. She gets in that car accident in the fifth one. She gets stranded in the snow in the seventh one. She has to watch Toby hit on freaking MALLORY PIKE in the tenth one. I guess she made up for by all the boyfriend stuff in the others. :)
  • I don't wonder how Abby managed to convince those commercial people that she was 18. Check out that picture on page 109!
  • The pictures in this one are, overall, better than interior pictures usually are. Abby and Dawn (page 86) look particularly good.

4 comments:

  1. I never thought about it before, but you are right. Stacey does have a lot thrown at her in the Super Specials. But remember, she had an awesome perm before she was stranded in the blizzard! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hate seeing parents give in to tantrums in public. My kid threw one in Target a few weeks ago. I put him in the cart and let him scream. *shrugs* I don't care.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, I definitely agree with you on the Stacey thing. Don't forget when she loses her suitcase in Europe!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, yeah...and to top it off, she had to carry a dead guy around with her for half the trip! At least that whole plot turned into a learning experience for her.

    ReplyDelete