So I bought this book new a couple years back. The bookstore in the town where my parents live had some BSC books still on the shelf. Yellowed around the edges, but otherwise new. I bought three LS books and I think 2 BSC books that I didn't own, and I didn't have to get yucky old library copies off of ebay with tape all over them and broken spines. I mention this because I think I broke the spine on this book in the process of scanning some of the inside illustrations, and that makes me sad, but I think you will agree it was worth the effort.
There's Karen on the cover, rocking her side ponytail. I don't know why Karen always had a side ponytail on the covers, but she did, except for on the book where she got the mullet. She looks kind of freaked out here, like fish are gross and she is just now realizing it. Watson, on the other hand, is really gleeful with his net there.
Anyway, this book opens up at the very start of summer vacation, and Hannie and Nancy come over to play with Karen. They are all so happy they could just shit, because hells yeah summer vacation! Karen mentions that she does love school, and loves her teacher Ms. Colman. Hmm, Karen? If this is truly the start of summer, shouldn't Ms. Colman now be moved to the box of former teachers? Won't you be in third grade next fall? Look, over yonder, so tantalizingly close but yet completely out of reach, there's third grade over there.
A few nights later at dinner, Watson announces that he and Elizabeth think it would be fun to take a family trip to Shadow Lake for a week. Sam and Charlie beg off, because they've both just gotten new jobs. Sam will be washing dishes at the Five Happiness restaurant (Google results for this are for a restaurant in New Orleans; I guess Sam's got a bit of a commute) and Charlie will be making deliveries for an auto parts store. Those are actually feasible jobs. Sam's a little young, but does anyone else remember how he used to have a job delivering groceries for the A&P? It was at the beginning of the series, and I never really understood why a 14/15 year old kid with no car would be your go-to guy for grocery delivery. Nannie doesn't want to go either, because she has a big order coming up for her chocolate business. Elizabeth tells her, "If you need to stay home, that is okay," and I know I can't read tone here, but I'm thinking up sarcastic replies from Nannie when her daughter is giving her permission to stay home from a last minute vacation instead of just abandoning her customers.
I put this picture in just because two pages earlier, Karen was telling us how at the Big House they all sit on long benches at their table. Either Karen or the illustrator is lying to me.
Karen gets permission to invite Hannie and Nancy, Kristy invites Mary Anne, and David Michael gets to ask Scott and Timmy Hsu, but it turns out the Hsu family already has plans for that week. They're going to Adventure Land, and invite David Michael to come with them instead. Andrew won't be there either, because this is one of the books where he is living in Chicago with his mom and stepdad and Karen is living in Stoneybrook. Karen realizes that without Charlie, Sam, David Michael, and Andrew, it will be a girls week at the cabin! The only male will be Watson. Manicures and pillow fights ahead, yo!
Karen, Hannie, and Nancy are super duper excited for the trip and plan together what to pack, even deciding to each bring one book and trade when they are done reading. I guess this could be a little annoying, but I so totally would have done that when I was a kid. I loved making packing lists before trips. I remember one camping trip, I'd just been reading a Hardy Boys survival guide, and added aluminum foil to the list. My mom okayed it, but when she went to look for it, she found that I'd taken a long sheet of aluminum foil and folded it up tightly into a one-inch square so I could use it as a reflector or emergency cookware or whatever. I distinctly remember feeling really stupid when my mom went back in the house and just got the whole box of foil. Also now I really want to find that survival guide again. I loved it and read it probably two dozen times.
The only sadness for Hannie and Nancy is that they will be returning to Stoneybrook the day after Father's Day, and they will miss celebrating with their dads.
At Shadow Lake, Karen explains the layout of the cabin to us. There are two very small bedrooms, one of which is where Watson and Elizabeth sleep, a main living area, three bathrooms, and two dorm-like bedrooms with six sets of bunk beds each. The girls all head for the one they traditionally use as the girls' dorm, but then Kristy and Mary Anne realize that with no boys along, they don't have to share with the 7-year olds, and they head off to the other room. Karen, Hannie, and Nancy are super excited about that, because that means Kristy won't be around to tell them to shut the fuck up and go to sleep. They decide to sleep in different beds every night, and start out by making up three top bunks.
They go to the lodge, where Karen runs into her friend Keegan, who she met at Shadow Lake in an earlier book. (Karen's Ski Trip) Karen is happy to see Keegan there, but Hannie and Nancy are giving him the bitch-face-est bitch faces that ever faced.
After they leave the lodge, Hannie and Nancy are all, "Dude wtf, it's a girl vacation, why are you talking to that guy? I swear to god if you ruin our girl trip--" and Karen doesn't want to be rude to Keegan so she convinces Hannie and Nancy that they can have a mostly girls week with a little Keegan time.
There's several chapters of the stuff they do while at Shadow Lake, and it mostly falls into the category of fun to do but boring to read about. The girls practice fishing to prepare for the big contest, but they don't catch anything all week. Emily catches a fish though. Watson tells them stories about the alleged Lake Monster. Karen wants to photograph it, so they build a shelter to wait and see the monster come up for air. In the Shadow Lake Super Special, didn't Dawn basically make up the Lake Monster because she is annoying as hell? Yet now Watson has stories of it. They play doubles ping-pong with Keegan. Mary Anne and Kristy start a business selling earrings made from fishing lures. One rainy day, Keegan shows the girls how to catch worms, and Karen catches a coffee can full of them for a Father's Day gift for Watson. For some reason Keegan's worm catching methods involve carefully digging away dirt around the worms, then getting them to wriggle onto sticks, and picking them up that way to dump them in the can. Because if it's raining and the worms are at the surface, just picking them up is too easy? I really don't know. Elizabeth helps the kids make Father's Day cards. Kristy makes a Father's Day card for Watson. Karen tells us that Kristy never sees her bio dad. Hannie and Nancy are still sad that they won't see their dads on Father's Day. Nancy finally catches a fish. Karen invites Keegan to go on her family's boat for the fishing contest after finding out that his parents are separating and this leads to my favorite Watson line pretty much ever.
"Hmm," said Daddy. He scratched his chin. "Actually, I am not sure we will have room for Keegan."Ha! That's what you get for letting all of your kids bring everyone they know on every vacation you go on.
I stared at Daddy. "Oh, no! But we have to make room for him somehow. His parents are separated. He is so sad. I just cannot tell him that we cannot take him with us."
"Maybe we can work something out," said Elizabeth. "I bet we can find a way to fit Keegan in. Right, Watson?"
"Yes, I guess so," said Daddy with a sigh. "I have no choice but to end up with a hundred children on my boat, as usual."
On Saturday afternoon, there is a huge surprise! Everyone else comes to the cabin to stay through Sunday. Sam, Charlie, David Michael, and Nannie; Nancy's parents and baby brother; Hannie's parents, brother, and sister. Everyone is very happy that they'll get to spend Father's Day with their parents and/or kids. Oh, except, wait. By everyone, I guess I mean everyone but Mary Anne. Karen knew about this surprise, which is why she is looking smug as fuck in the illustration.
Sunday morning comes, and Karen discovers that the can of worms she caught for Watson has tipped over and all the worms escaped, so she gets a pot and wooden spoon from the kitchen and runs through the cabin banging on the pot and yelling "Worm alert!" to wake everyone up. Instead of telling Karen what a horrible brat she is for waking everyone up so abruptly and rudely, Watson laughs and says worms can't travel very far, so Karen spends the next half hour rounding them up while her stepbrothers laugh at her. There is an illustration of her picking up a worm with a pair of tongs, and again, I don't really understand this worm catching method. Is Watson going to take the tongs with him on the boat to put the worms on his hook? I don't think so. So why can't Karen just pick them up and skip the theatrics? Oh, right, cause it's Karen.
They go fishing. Karen takes a bunch of pictures, but the only thing she catches is an old waterlogged baseball glove. Everyone laughs at her. Keegan wins the prize for biggest fish in the 12 and under division. Oh I forgot to mention that a few different times in this book, when they're discussing the upcoming fishing contest, Karen and Nancy make reference to wanting to win a prize for biggest or most beautiful fish. Because most beautiful fish, that's a thing, right?
The families all have a big fish fry, and the next day they go home. Later in the week, Karen's got her pictures back from the developer, and she invites Hannie and Nancy to see. They almost piss themselves laughing at the picture of Karen holding up the glove she caught, and they find one picture from the fishing contest where there is a shadow on the lake that shouldn't be there, and decide that clearly the shadow is actually the Lake Monster, lurking just below the surface. So Karen's pretty happy after all.
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