There’s a lot of Abby haters out there. Maybe it’s because she has to deal with being the reason for the exile of Dawn to California, to only be allowed back in Stoneybrook for brief visits. (Although I have said many times what a big fan of CA Diaries I am, and these would not have been possible if Dawn had not been sent back.) Maybe it’s because she was funny (like Jessi was supposed to be), and athletic (like Kristy), and street smart (like Stacey), and a half-orphan (like Mary Anne). Maybe it’s because her humor was only as funny as the ghostwriter who was writing her and relied a lot on stupid puns. Maybe it’s simply because she only came on the scene in #89 and some fans have not even read that far in the series yet. Whatever the reason, she just seems to get a lot of flak.
I happen to like her. Sure, her jokes are not that funny. But I like it how she always sticks it to Kristy, and how she is sort of one step ahead of all the other BSC members, jarring the perfect harmony of the club a little bit. She doesn’t have a best friend. Sure, she has Anna, but her and Anna’s relationship always seemed a little tense to me. The concept of having a “best friend” is kind of confining. I have a bunch of friends who I am really close to, but don’t rely on any one of them as my “best” friend above all others. I like that Abby was more independent. By the way, for some reason Mary Anne having both Kristy and Dawn as her best friends makes me thinking of Hugh Hefner having all those girlfriends.
Another interesting point about Abby is that because she is less close to the other girls, we get more insight into her family life. The Stevenson family errs on the side of dysfunctional. Her mom is really cold, her sister is pretty uptight, her grandma hates her sister, Mrs. Stevenson hates her sister… you get the idea. I think we see the Stevenson extended family the most out of all the BSC members. Some people don’t like the book Abby in Wonderland, but I have always really liked it. The party sounds fun, the subplot (with the Pikes bringing Sea City to Stoneybrook) is cute, and also it touches on some heavy issues without being heavyhanded, as is often the case in this series. Abby and the Mystery Baby is pretty weird, what with the “baby-on-the-doorstep” plot and all, but it’s interesting at least.
A lot of people don’t like Abby because they didn’t really read the later books, and they see her as an intruder without anything that sets her apart from the other baby-sitters. I like her for this because she is flawed and doesn’t quite fit. She provides contrast which highlights the cliqueishness and provincialism of the other members. She is the most “real” out of all the girls.
