Writing this entry took a lot longer than I planned. It was hard, very hard, to form a cohesive statement on Dawn Schafer’s positive points. This was actually surprising to me, since Dawn did have a run as my favorite BSC character. I decided that instead of trying to make a cohesive, essay-type entry, a list would suffice.
Why I kind of like Dawn sometimes:
My natural eating inclination is closer to Claudia’s, but sometimes a girl needs to lose some weight or lower her cholesterol or whatever. I wouldn’t really know where to begin on my own, if I ever actually was serious about eating better. But I could go to my Dawn books and get some recipe ideas! Plus, she made sure that a generation of girls knew what babaganoush was, and what hummus was made out of (garlic, chickpeas, and tahini!). Even though the other girls in the BSC had the same reaction to Dawn’s diet as they did to Stacey giving herself shots of insulin, most of the stuff she ate, in retrospect, sounds pretty yummy.
The California Diaries are awesome, and without Dawn, there would have been no California Diaries series. Dawn is definitely the lamest character in the series, with her worrying and stressing about everything while all her friends have actual, real problems, but these books are SO GOOD! They can go places that the BSC can’t, since they are written for a slightly older audience, and have sly references to things like drugs (The Tea Shop sells more than just tea, if you know what I mean), and homosexuality (Ducky McCrae). You have to at least give Dawn points for this series.
For some people, this is another negative for Dawn. Pick a state and stick with it! I like it, though, because I can relate. Only I am not bicoastal, but bicontinental. Suck on that, Schafer! Oh, wait. This is what I LIKE about Dawn.
Sometimes it is nice to get out of Connecticut for a while and read Dawn’s Cali books. They include stuff like beaches and Disneyland, and Disney theme parks are one of my weaknesses. Dawn’s CA house also sounds really cool.
This is all I came up with, although I’m sure there’s more that have just escaped me at the moment, especially considering the fact that I, too, have double-pierced ears. So, tell me–what do you like about Dawn Read Schafer? Her birthday is coming in just a few days, so maybe I will put together another Dawn tribute post.
