Karen, naturally, is positive that she is going to get the most points in her class and win the gift certificate to Phil's Sporting Goods. Pamela Harding is also sure that she will win the gift certificate. Pamela plans to spend the certificate on pom-pom socks. Karen doesn't know what she'll buy, but she knows it won't be goofy socks. She and Pamela get into an argument, leading to possibly my favorite line of Pamela dialogue in the series.
Karen decides that she and Hannie and Nancy need to get in shape to win their Field Day events. Borrowing from something Charlie and Sam have taught her, she decrees that they need Preparation, Practice, and Performance. They do jumping jacks and leg lifts and practice the wheelbarrow race. They borrow a workout video from Mommy and are exhausted by the end of the warmup, before they even get into the routine. It's about as interesting in the book as it is right here, but there are more words devoted to it.
Meanwhile, Ms. Colman has assigned the class to each write about a female ancestor. Hannie is related to some famous brain surgeon. Nancy is related to a woman who was a spy for the French in WWII. Karen doesn't know any stories about her female ancestors, so she talks to Mommy and Daddy. Daddy had an aunt who was famous for throwing lavish parties. You would think this would capture Karen's attention, but she's a bit disappointed. Mommy had a cousin who loved fishing, and a great aunt who was a bookie. Karen is reluctant to write her essay about a criminal, and isn't impressed by her mom's aunt who had huge feet or a scullery maid who sailed on a ship that sank. Well, she's excited at first because she's hoping the ship was the Titanic, but when it turns out it was just some ship nobody's ever heard of because it was made up for this book, she's bummed again. She interrogates Daddy again, but he doesn't come up with any better ancestors. He does, however, come up with a series inconsistency. He says that his grandmother Ida Brewer was an expert skier and gave ski instructions in Vermont, which is where she met his grandpa Bill. Now, anyone who knows anything about Karen Brewer knows that she is convinced the third floor of Watson's mansion is haunted by the ghost of Old Ben Brewer, a recluse who ate fried dandelions and was her great-grandfather. And it was established back in LS #12 that Ben Brewer's son Jeremy was Karen's grandfather. So I don't know who the hell "Bill Brewer" was but I can tell you that he was not actually Watson's grandfather unless both sides of his family happened to be named Brewer. Which is unlikely. Maybe Watson is just making shit up at this point, or maybe he slipped and said Bill instead of Ben. He also tells Karen that one of her long ago ancestors may have been a Cherokee Indian.
Karen had recently heard Kristy on the phone telling Mary Anne the plot of a movie called Morning Sky. Karen basically steals the plot of the movie for her ancestor report, putting her possible Cherokee ancestor into the main character's role and naming her Evening Star.
Field Day arrives, and Karen is ready to go. She is leading the class in points going into the final event, the water balloon toss, but she and Ricky lose, and that gives Pamela enough points to tie. I was pretty annoyed by this, but you know. I guess when you're the target age, you don't realize what a cop-out a tie is. Pamela and Karen have to split the gift certificate to Phil's Sporting Goods.
Ms. Colman comes up to Karen and her parents and asks some pointed questions regarding Karen's ancestor report, and as punishment for writing a fictional story when the assignment was meant to be nonfiction, she is ordered to redo the assignment using a real person. Then they eat hot dogs.
Sorry about the pictures in this one. I can't find the cord to connect my scanner to my computer so I had to use photographs. My scanning assistant was quite annoyed by me.
"If you wore them, they would be goofy pom-pom socks," said Pamela. "When I wear them, they will be stylish and fashionable pom-pom socks."You have to admit that Pamela might have a point.
Karen decides that she and Hannie and Nancy need to get in shape to win their Field Day events. Borrowing from something Charlie and Sam have taught her, she decrees that they need Preparation, Practice, and Performance. They do jumping jacks and leg lifts and practice the wheelbarrow race. They borrow a workout video from Mommy and are exhausted by the end of the warmup, before they even get into the routine. It's about as interesting in the book as it is right here, but there are more words devoted to it.
Meanwhile, Ms. Colman has assigned the class to each write about a female ancestor. Hannie is related to some famous brain surgeon. Nancy is related to a woman who was a spy for the French in WWII. Karen doesn't know any stories about her female ancestors, so she talks to Mommy and Daddy. Daddy had an aunt who was famous for throwing lavish parties. You would think this would capture Karen's attention, but she's a bit disappointed. Mommy had a cousin who loved fishing, and a great aunt who was a bookie. Karen is reluctant to write her essay about a criminal, and isn't impressed by her mom's aunt who had huge feet or a scullery maid who sailed on a ship that sank. Well, she's excited at first because she's hoping the ship was the Titanic, but when it turns out it was just some ship nobody's ever heard of because it was made up for this book, she's bummed again. She interrogates Daddy again, but he doesn't come up with any better ancestors. He does, however, come up with a series inconsistency. He says that his grandmother Ida Brewer was an expert skier and gave ski instructions in Vermont, which is where she met his grandpa Bill. Now, anyone who knows anything about Karen Brewer knows that she is convinced the third floor of Watson's mansion is haunted by the ghost of Old Ben Brewer, a recluse who ate fried dandelions and was her great-grandfather. And it was established back in LS #12 that Ben Brewer's son Jeremy was Karen's grandfather. So I don't know who the hell "Bill Brewer" was but I can tell you that he was not actually Watson's grandfather unless both sides of his family happened to be named Brewer. Which is unlikely. Maybe Watson is just making shit up at this point, or maybe he slipped and said Bill instead of Ben. He also tells Karen that one of her long ago ancestors may have been a Cherokee Indian.
Karen had recently heard Kristy on the phone telling Mary Anne the plot of a movie called Morning Sky. Karen basically steals the plot of the movie for her ancestor report, putting her possible Cherokee ancestor into the main character's role and naming her Evening Star.
Field Day arrives, and Karen is ready to go. She is leading the class in points going into the final event, the water balloon toss, but she and Ricky lose, and that gives Pamela enough points to tie. I was pretty annoyed by this, but you know. I guess when you're the target age, you don't realize what a cop-out a tie is. Pamela and Karen have to split the gift certificate to Phil's Sporting Goods.
Ms. Colman comes up to Karen and her parents and asks some pointed questions regarding Karen's ancestor report, and as punishment for writing a fictional story when the assignment was meant to be nonfiction, she is ordered to redo the assignment using a real person. Then they eat hot dogs.
Sorry about the pictures in this one. I can't find the cord to connect my scanner to my computer so I had to use photographs. My scanning assistant was quite annoyed by me.
