Many people believe that Dawn got extremely annoying as the series went on, constantly proselytizing about the environment and never being able to decide which side of the country she wanted to live on. I am torn, as Dawn was one of my favorite characters growing up and although it is hard to bring myself to read Dawn Saves the Planet, I love the California Diaries.

There is an issue with Dawn, however, that as a notoriously picky eater I am unable to ignore. I was reminded of this problem yesterday, while I was rereading BSC in the USA. In this book, the Northern RV meets up with Mary Anne’s grandmother at the Mall of America, where Dawn forces everyone to eat at a health food restaurant. Now, Mary Anne’s grandmother traveled to come meet them. I feel like it should have been HER choice as to where people eat. Dawn can eat from the salad bar or something if she really wants to be picky. I myself am a picky eater, as I mentioned before, and if I’m with a bunch of people who all want to eat at a place that doesn’t have food that I like, I just go to McDonald’s afterward.

I remember Dawn doing this sort of thing a lot, forcing everyone to kowtow to her special eating habits or environmental practices or whatever. Stacey didn’t do this, and girl had a legitimate medical reason for her diet. I think that this is a large part of Dawn’s bad reputation among older fans. She often displays this sort of selfishness. I believe it was largely responsible for her fight with Sunny in the California Diaries series. Sunny was going through the most traumatic event of her life, and Dawn couldn’t be bothered to empathize with her; she just was angry with Sunny for not reacting to it in what Dawn felt was an appropriate manner. Dawn just never seems to be able to think about anybody except Dawn Schafer.