LS #29, Karen's Cartwheel

Karen is excited because some of the kids in her gymnastics class are going to be chosen to be on an invitational team. Karen is absolutely positive that she will get to be on the team, because she loves gymnastics and wants to perform in malls while people clap for her. Unfortunately, Karen can't do a cartwheel, even though everyone else in her class can. This doesn't stop her from having super lame fantasies about Daddy bringing the whole family to watch her do gymnastics in a shopping mall and everyone crying with pride. Karen practices her cartwheels over and over.

Here's the cover. Karen has pulled her hair into a side ponytail to help her balance on the beam. Smart thinking, Karen.


When the teacher announces the class members who have made the team, she says there are three kids. After she announces the first two, Karen waits for her to open her mouth again, then leaps up and yells "Yay I made the team!" only to discover that the teacher had called some other kid's name. Karen is embarrassed. I am entertained. Here is a drawing of that shining moment:

I love it.

Karen becomes obsessed with the idea that if she can just perfect her cartwheel, she'll be able to join the team. She is kind of obnoxious about it.

Meanwhile, Daddy has taken Karen and her friends to the toy store at the mall, where they fell in love with some dolls and really wanted them, but their parents won't buy them. Karen, Hannie, and Nancy start an odd-job business to earn money. They make signs to hang up in their neighborhoods. Daddy hires Karen to dig up dandelions from the backyard. Then on a weekend, he pays the girls to clean out the garage. Mrs. Porter sees the girls cleaning Watson's garage and hires them to clean hers, too. Karen, naturally, is kind of an asshole while cleaning the garage, taking the four brooms in the garage to be proof that Mrs. Porter is a witch. She also declares that a book they find is a book of spells.

Karen remembers that her gymnastics teacher lives in the neighborhood, so she shows up at the woman's house uninvited to show her how good she is at cartwheels now, and when that does not earn her a spot on the team, she asks to be hired to do odd jobs. Her teacher agrees. Karen shows up at 8:30 the next morning and digs up dandelions, walks the dog, sweeps the driveway, and waters the garden. Then Karen decides that since she did all that work, she doesn't want to put her money in the communal pot to buy the dolls with Hannie and Nancy. Hannie and Nancy, naturally, are a little annoyed at this because they have all agreed to pool their money. They have a brief fight but make up and then do a few more jobs until they have $41 to buy the matching dolls. They name them Merry, Kerry, and Terry, and then the Doll Sisters are mentioned in the Little Sister books off and on until pretty much the end of the series.

Karen is still upset though, because she is not good enough at gymnastics to be on the invitational team. Mrs. Porter sees that she is upset and asks what is wrong. Karen explains. Mrs. Porter says that Karen is good at a lot of things, and it's okay if she is not the best at everything. She shows Karen a picture of herself as a youngster (from the photo album which Karen had previously decreed to be a spellbook) and says that she was good at ice skating but always wanted to be an actress. Karen realizes that she can't be the best at everything she tries.

Karen has another gymnastics class and they get to watch the kids on the invitational team. Karen realizes she was not good enough at gymnastics to be on the team, like her teacher has been telling her all along. But she still enjoys gymnastics and has fun with the other kids in her class.

Overall, this book isn't really good or really bad. My score: 5/10.

Foods eaten in this book: pizza, ice cream, Orange Julius, popcorn, M&Ms, corn on the cob, fish, salad, peach.

#23, Dawn on the Coast

I have fond memories of this book. One day in fifth grade, my mom took me to the eye doctor in the middle of the day, and afterward, we went into the bookstore and bought this book, which had just come out. I took it to school and a few other girls were jealous that I had it because they didn't have it yet. It doesn't sound like much but for some reason, the memory has always stuck with me.

The book starts out with Dawn packing for a trip to California to visit her father during spring break. She hears her mom get home and "I could hear her kick off her shoes in the living room, drop her purse on the couch and her keys on the kitchen table. That's my mom, all right. I love her, but she is a little on the disorganized side." Judgmental much, Dawn? None of that seems egregiously disorganized to me.

Dawn is a little worried about leaving her mother all alone, but Sharon assures Dawn that she will be fine, because she has her parents (Granny and Pop-Pop) nearby and also is going on a date with the Trip-Man, who basically exists in this series for Dawn to whine about because she wants her mom to only date Mary Anne's dad. Like, in this book, she describes Trip-Man as "a real conservative type. Tortoise-shell glasses, you know what I mean?" First of all, no, I had no idea what she meant when I read this at ten years old. Secondly, being conservative is bad? Dawn, have you met Richard Spier?

Dawn goes to a slumber party at Kristy's house and the girls order pizza. Dawn wants broccoli on her pizza and everyone acts like that is the worst thing they've ever heard, although they do end up ordering broccoli on half of a pizza for her. I hate when people get all bitchy about pizza toppings, so I'm actually on Dawn's side here, and I hate broccoli.

On the flight to California, Dawn has trouble with a stewardess who looks like a Kewpie doll (another thing I had zero idea about at ten years old in 1989 when this book was published. I don't think I or any of my friends ever had one.) The stewardess doesn't serve Dawn a drink and messes up her meal, and then when the coffee and tea are served, and Dawn asks for real milk for her tea, the flight attendant gives her two packets of the white chemical stuff. THE HORRORS.

Dawn's dad takes her and Jeff to Disneyland. The first thing Dawn does is buy souvenirs for all her friends, then they go on several rides and attractions. It would probably have been easier to do the rides first and not lug the souvenirs around all day, just throwing that out there. Then, when they get home from Disneyland, Dawn goes over to her California best friend's house and discovers that Sunny has started a baby-sitting club of her own, the We <3 Kids Club. Dawn even takes a baby-sitting job for her old favorite clients.

There's a chapter where Claudia and Mary Anne babysit for the Newtons, their cousins the Feldmans, and the Perkins girls while their parents go out somewhere together. This is the second appearance of the Feldmans in the series and as far as I know it's the final one, which is too bad. (In their first appearance, Kristy threatens to punch Rob Feldman's lights out, which is not a thing she would say later on.) It's not a very interesting chapter.

Dawn's father takes Jeff, Dawn, and some friends to the beach. I guess this is the scene pictured on the cover, although in the book, Jeff tosses a sand crab on Dawn's lap instead of splashing her with a bucket. Dawn has a great day at the beach and thinks about how she really feels like she's at home in California. Then Dawn babysits for Clover and Daffodil Austin. Dawn informs us that their parents were flower children, which she thinks means hippies. Mrs. Austin is a weaver who works out of her home. I bet their whole house smells like patchouli oil, just saying. Mrs. Austin suggests that Dawn take Clover and Daffodil to a little carnival that is set up nearby. Clover likes the pony rides and Daffodil wins a pink stuffed animal at the ring toss. Dawn realizes she's gone the whole day without thinking of any of her friends or family back in Connecticut.

There's a chapter where Jessi babysits for Kristy's siblings, and Karen wants to play Let's All Come In. The boys don't want to play but Jessi says she'll play. There's nothing in the dress-up trunk to fit her, so Karen says they'll have to go upstairs in Ben Brewer's room and get some antique clothing for Jessi, because that's what people do with antique and vintage clothing in these books, is allow their kids to unpack old trunks and ruin the clothes. Karen gets freaked out because someone has written "TURN BACK!" in the dust on the stair railing and left an ominous note in the clothing trunk. Jessi deduces that it was Sam who did these things, but she makes no effort to tell Karen that, instead letting her think that it is proof the house is haunted. Great baby-sitting right there.

Dawn goes to another meeting of the We <3 Kids Club and thinks about how California is much more her style because the kids are more relaxed and eat health food. She wants to stay in California forever...or at least, maybe she does. She goes home and talks to her dad about staying, then makes a list of pros and cons about California vs. Connecticut.

Another random chapter where Kristy and Mallory babysit the gross Pikes. Mrs. Pike orders them to feed the kids canned ravioli and homemade coleslaw for lunch. That combination doesn't even sound good. Even Byron, the fatty triplet, complains about it. Adam mixes the two foods together and announces that they look like snake guts. I don't know why ravioli and coleslaw mixed together would look more like snake guts than any other kind of guts, but I guess it does. The triplets are being mean to Nicky and Nicky is upset. He talks to Kristy and says he misses Dawn. Dawn kind of misses him, too.

Dawn makes her decision. She is going to go back to Connecticut. When you even miss the gross Pikes, it is clear that your home is now Stoneybrook. She calls her mom and cries and tells her that she had considered staying, which doesn't surprise Sharon at all.

On the flight home, Dawn is on a flight with the same flight attendant who ruined her last flight, so she moves across the aisle to another section. Sharon brings the whole baby-sitters club to meet Dawn at the airport. She is glad to be home.

I don't even hate Dawn in this book and I enjoy reading all the descriptions of the things she does on her vacation. My score: 7/10.