Pigeonrat set up a cool new feature on the wiki which has the latest BSC-related headlines. I read this news story, and can’t help feeling jealous of this girl.

Her prize $500 gift card, well, “that’s sort of all gone now,” says Emily, a fifth-grader at Arnco-Sargent Elementary. She bought a trampoline, an American Girl doll — Molly, if you’re curious — Legos for her little brother and doodads from Claire’s Accessories. Books, too.

But there’s another part to the prize: Martin, the author, in the flesh.

Martin’s writing schedule usually keeps her from book tours, but she’ll be in Newnan on Monday to greet fans and sign books.

Emily is so excited, so nervous, she doesn’t even know what to say to the writer.

She expects to start with “hi.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, I doubt they would have picked a 22-year-old’s entry as the winner. But still. Completely and utterly jealous.

Best Friends is the latest book in Ann’s newish series, Main Street. You can read my reviews of the previous MS books and other MS-related posts here.

In this one, Flora’s best friend from her old city is coming to visit Camden Falls, and Olivia is freaking out because Olivia finds herself boring and uncool in comparison. Also, Camden Falls is celebrating their big 350th anniversary, Olivia’s parents are opening up a store, Nikki is worried her dad will come back, and Ruby is starring in a play for the aforementioned 350th anniversary celebration.

Something that is glaring about Main Street for the dedicated BSC reader, those of us who know Ann’s obsessions so well it is like they are our obsessions. Those of us who automatically think of Ann whenever they see something related to “I Love Lucy” or “The Wizard of Oz” know what I’m talking about. Just like in BSC, Ann makes no pretense of hiding them.

The most jarring and distracting one in this book is undoubtedly the name that Ann chose for Flora’s back-home BFF, which could not possibly be a coincidence. Her name is Annika Lindgren.

Confession time: When I was younger I loved Astrid Lindgren’s books, particularly the Pippi series and the Children of Noisy Village series. I sincerely wanted to learn Swedish and be transported back to the time of Astrid’s childhood so I could live the Noisy Village life. I also thought that Annika (which is the name of Pippi’s female next door neighbor friend) was the most beautiful name ever, and I wanted to change my name to it. Apparently Ann likes the name to, hence we have Annika freaking Lindgren in Main Street.

Moving on. One thing I don’t think Ann understands very well is poverty. In Stoneybrook, having a dad who was a partner in a law firm makes you “middle class,” when we all know from Sex and the City that partners in a law firm make BANK. Nikki is the token poor of Main Street, and Ann always makes sure to mention that everything at the Sheridans’ house is rundown. Nikki’s notebook is even “battered.” While it’s possible that Nikki found the notebook somewhere and it was already battered when she got it, my assumption is that the less you have, the things that you do have are more important to you and you would take better care of them. In my mind, it’s the kids who live in Kristy’s neighborhood who would have the battered notebooks, because they can always send out the housekeeper to the store to buy them five new beautiful Lisa Frank notebooks with dolphins and pandas on the cover. It’s just like, OK Ann, we get it; Nikki’s poor–but you don’t have to make every object she owns totally busted.

The Fongs’ dogs are named Mouse and Rosie, just like Ann’s cats were named. Mouse is a clever name for a cat, but for a dog it just doesn’t make sense. Sorry.

I read recently on a comment on The Dairi Burger that in Eleven Kids, One Summer, one of the eleven kids becomes friends with the characters from Just a Summer Romance. I would like this kind of thing to happen in Main Street. Not that Jackie Rodowsky would visit Camden Falls or something, but just a nod to universe of Stoneybrook and Palo City and Reese and Sea City. Something very subtle. I want Camden Falls to be on the same map as these other fictional places. I don’t even know why, but it is a very appealing idea to me.

I think that my hatred of Logan is one of my strongest and most steadfast BSC opinions. Thus, I can’t help but look at this book through special Logan-hating goggles.

One of the biggest illusions that the BSC gives its young readers is that the mousy, shy girl who can barely speak to the opposite sex will end up with the cute Big Man On Campus, despite the fact that if Mary Anne were a Monopoly property, she’d be WaterWorks. But I think that all of middle school losers should be thankful the boys made fun of us instead of making out with us, because we could have ended up with boyfriends like Logan.

In this book, however, Logan seems pretty sweet, being very understanding when MA doesn’t want to dance after clocking Mr. Kingbridge in the head with her shoe, or when MA runs away from her own birthday party. He doesn’t really show signs of the Draculogan he will become in the future, the one who gives iron chain bracelets as presents after being dumped.

One of the essential questions that this book will ultimately raise in a reader is, “Why Mary Anne?” After all, sophisticated Stacey seemed interested. I have two answers for this. One comes from what we know about Ann. Mary Anne is an exaggerated version of Ann, and she wanted to give her doppelganger the chance of a dreamy junior high school romance that she never had. The other answer I have, from a very biased perspective that affects my analysis of Logan’s character, is that Logan wanted a girlfriend he can control. Looking at the character of Lyman Bruno, it’s not hard to see where that stems from.

Sorry for the long time between updates, but in the last couple of weeks I didn’t have time to sleep, let alone write a thoughtful and coherent blog post. Next on the agenda: my review of Best Friends and a look at Stacey and the Bad Girls.

I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that it is universally mocked for being a terrible, terrible book, I really like Mallory Pike, #1 Fan. Yes, it is quite strange how someone who writes stories about sneaker-wearing field mice would suddenly believe that only real-life experience begets good fiction, but still, I like this book a lot.

I like reading about Mallory’s internship with Henrietta Hayes, even though she messes it up. There was a thread on the BSC livejournal recently which posed the question whether #1 Fan was a response to all of the BSC fans’ questions. I.e., why do I keep on receiving form letters, how much of your own life is in the BSC, etc. Which is an interesting proposition, although it kind of promotes the idea that if you’re a fan of the BSC, you can just show up at Ann’s house and she’ll hire you for a job as a personal assistant, even if you’re, um, eleven years old. I do believe that Ann was still living in New York City at the time, and it’d be a bit more difficult in a doorman building to actually reach Ann’s apartment door than just simply riding your bike up to the front door, like Mallory does.

One thing I find slightly annoying is the Kids Can Do Anything Club. I don’t like do-gooding children all that much. The play is hilarious though, especially how Mallory was just so… thick when she was writing it. Ranessa? Delaware? Um, ok Mallory.

I also like how the BSC formula–Kids make anything better!–is not bought by Mallory’s teacher. Although I’m not sure that Mallory’s teacher is reasonable in his rejection of her proposal; it seemed at least as legit, if not more, as Jessi’s plan to type up the plots of some ballets and interview Mme Noelle. Oh well, plot device!

Do you think this book sucks, or do you actually enjoy it, like I do?

I received Best Friends today, so that’s what I’m reading now and what my next blog post will be about. But if you want to read along with my Stoneybrookite Book Club, the next BSC book I will write about is Logan Likes Mary Anne!.

Just so you all know, the newest Main Street book is shipping from Amazon! Mine is on its way, and I will post a review after I finish reading it.

Ann has also written a missive over at her site, which pretty much just pimps the Main Street online interactive stuff.

Finally, something I keep meaning to mention–if you have a website which deals with the Young Adult lit of our childhoods, send me the link and I will put it on my blogroll. While I don’t link non-YA lit sites, I do appreciate all of the people who have non-YA lit sites who have linked this blog. Thanks!!

As promised, here are my thoughts on Dawn and the We <3 Kids Club.

Dawn was my favorite member for quite some time. I liked her LOOOOONNNG white blonde hair. Being a platnium blonde myself, I envied her, as my mother didn’t let me grow out my pageboy until fifth grade or so. I also was what my boyfriend calls an “aspiring vegetarian.” And California seemed even more glamorous to me than New York City. Finally, I, too, wanted to be seen as a laid-back individual.

As we all know, Dawn is rarely actually a laid-back individual. This book is indeed one of those times where she defies her chapter 2 characteristics and is anything but laid-back.

This is a Dawn-in-Palo City book. I happen to enjoy reading about Palo City a fair amount. I am a big California Diaries fan. Thus, this is a book I reread fairly frequently. There are so many crazy things in this book, starting with the laid-back lack of school bells! OMG! I went to school on the East Coast and never had bells either, but I digress.

First moment of craziness–the W<3KC gets famous! They are in the newspaper and on TV! Dawn has a laugh like pealing bells! Kristy gets really jealous. Oh, Kristy. Kristy is pretty annoying in this book, so I don't want to focus on this part too much. Basically, despite the fact that the BSC has more business than they can handle, Kristy wants to equal, if not better, the W<3KC media attention.

But the W<3KC can't handle it! They are too disorganized! Dawn steers them in the right direction, starting with an appointment book for the CORRECT YEAR.

In this book we also get to spend more time with Carol Olson. Dawn’s newfound respect for Carol from California Girls! flies out the window when Jack and Carol announce their engagement. Dawn sees it necessary to steal her dad’s credit card, book a flight to Connecticut out of LAX, and rechristen herself “Marisol.” Lo and behold, she is not welcomed with open arms in Stoneybrook. Dawn=delusional. Mary Anne=rocking an LL Bean nightgown.

If I had done this at thirteen I would have been in such deep shit. If I did this at 22 I would still be in deep shit. All Dawn has to do is work back the cost of the plane ticket–a nice large sum, to be sure, but still.

Dawn’s punishment, however, is not mentioned in any subsequent book. It’s possible she worked it off fast, what with all the extra baby-sitting jobs the W<3KC got after their media blitz, but still.

Dawn’s actions also cause Jack and Carol to break off their engagement. Poor Carol. I would feel so bad if my future stepdaughter flew across the country to get away from me.

But don’t worry, she always pulls herself up to the top of heap. I still don’t really understand what that means. Jeff doesn’t either.

So yeah, this book pretty much encourages children to steal from their parents if they don’t like their future stepparents. After all, the punishment won’t carry over into the next book and you’ll totally get what you want: a break up! Yay!

For next time: Mallory Pike, #1 Fan.

Stoneybrookite.com was up for regular, non-domain squatter sale, so I snapped it up. Now blog.stoneybrookite.org, stoneybrookite.org, and stoneybrookite.com will all point to this site.

The reason why I’ve been slacking off on posting lately is because I have a lot of work to do before I graduate in May, and it’s difficult for me to sit down and ponder long enough to come up with something to post about. So I decided that until my graduation, I’d try a new format and post my thoughts of a specific BSC book. Regular posting will resume before the end of May.

First up is Kristy’s Great Idea. As well as the first book in the series, it is the first BSC I read. I got it in a set of three from the Collector’s Club with Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls and The Truth About Stacey at the end of first grade. I guess you could make the case that this is the book that got me hooked, but, truth be told, I don’t think that it would have mattered how much I actually enjoyed the book. I was so in love with the idea of reading the BSC that the quality of the book didn’t matter. It just seemed like such a grown-up thing to me, especially since my mom had to use my brother’s Scholastic book club form to enroll me.

As I’ve mentioned before on this site, I actually enjoy the later books more than the early books. They just have a different feel to them. While it’s cute to see them forming the club and everything, it feels very different from the later books. Plus it’s always strange to see the girls in seventh grade rather than eighth, and having Mal be a sittee rather than a sitter. I think that KGI is probably the most realistic book of the entire series, and I think we lose some of the Thomas family closeness later on. Plus, you don’t really see the sitters mouth off to their parents and teachers in later books like you do in this book, which I appreciate.

Hmm, maybe I like this book more than I thought I did!

Next up, in case you’d like to read along with me: Dawn and the We <3 Kids Club.

Over the past few months I’ve taken to reading 1bruce1 as I am falling asleep. Here’s the thing about the SV universe and me: I read one or two Sweet Valley Kids as a kid (the one about the Orchid Club is the one I really remember), read Elizabeth’s Diary and then one of the ones in the trilogy about modelling/fashion magazines much later. But that’s pretty much it. It seems strange to me now that I never really got into Sweet Valley. I remember really enjoying the Sweet Valley Kids books I had.

I suppose it comes down to the fact that for the other series I read–BSC, GirlTalk, Saddle Club–my mother had enrolled me in book clubs where three books were sent to my house once a month. I also remember her believing that I was a bit too young for Sweet Valley High when I was in elementary school. I suppose the question is would I have like SV better than Stoneybrook, had I ended up actually buying the books and reading them? In BSC, although I suppose I felt differently when I was the age of the clients, I am bored by the baby-sitting and prefer the “Stacey” kinds of plots, dealing with drama and boy troubles and shopping. This is more along the lines of Sweet Valley-esque stuff. But then again there is something that just seems… trashier about Sweet Valley.

I suppose that we’ll never know, as I don’t feel like starting another book collection and reading the 1bruce1 snarks is entertaining enough for me. But for those of you who read both, which do you like better and why? How would you compare them?

My friend’s millionaire stepfather likes to take people on vacation, so I’m going with six of my best friends for Europe for 17 days! It’s going to be so dibble and I’m going to make everyone keep a diary so we don’t forget one detail of this awesome trip!

Just kidding.

I really AM leaving for Europe tonight, though. But instead of a friend’s millionaire stepfather paying the bill, I just have a lot of credit card debt.

Speaking of which, remember in Here Comes the Bridesmaids! when Mr. Kishi won’t let Mr. Schafer pay for Claud’s ticket? What about Baby-Sitters on Board, Shadow Lake, BSC in the USA? Do you think the girls’ parents paid Watson/Jack back? They didn’t really mention this detail. Considering that for the Europe and the Hawaii trips, the girls had to raise half of the money it seems a bit odd.

Anyway, I don’t now if I’ll blog or not. If I don’t… just keep contributing to the wiki!