LS #58, Karen's Ski Trip

This book starts with Watson announcing that since the children are off of school during the upcoming winter break, the family is going to go on a trip to Shadow Lake. Unlike their usual summer jaunts, this one will be a winter trip. There will be skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and fun. Ah, Shadow Lake. Home of the dorm-style cabin where the BSC can go on trips and have vacation romances. Oddly enough, Watson does not invite the whole world on this trip. It's limited to just the family. Karen is really excited. She's never tried skiing before and she's sure she's going to be fantastic at it. Before she leaves on her trip, Karen invites Hannie and Nancy over. They play Lovely Ladies and discuss the upcoming vacation, and Karen starts packing her stuff.

Hannie has a completely different face than she normally does in the illustrations. Karen, on the other hand, is rocking a side ponytail and looking much like she always does. Karen tells Hannie and Nancy that she is sure she'll be great at skiing, and that Andrew wants to try too but he's probably going to suck at it.

When the family arrives at Shadow Lake, everyone goes to the lodge. Karen notices that there is a Winter Carnival and a Valentine's Dance, both scheduled for the last day of the family's vacation. Everyone rents skis except for Sam, who tries snowboarding instead, and Nannie and Emily, who just want to hang out in the lodge, because what is more fun than trying to keep a two year old entertained in a ski lodge while she knows that her older siblings are playing outside and having fun? Not much, that's what!

After all the bragging Karen was doing about how she was going to be a natural on the slopes, it turns out to be quite the opposite. Karen is terrible and can't get the hang of skiing, but Andrew is a natural. After falling down a whole bunch, Karen stomps back into the lodge, returns her skis, and vows never to ski again.

Not skiing makes being on a ski trip a little boring for Karen, but the next day, she meets a boy named Keegan who is vacationing with his parents. Keegan doesn't really care for skiing, and he and Karen make friends and spend the day together. Karen finds out that Keegan likes ice skating, and she and Keegan decide that they will enter the skating contest and the snow sculpture contest at the Winter Carnival.

Karen has a dream that she is a famous Olympic ice skating champion. I know I put a ton of images in this post, but if you only enlarge one, it should be this one. Then you have to check out the faces of the judges. Look at the judge just to the left of Karen's hair. Did you ever see such a happy judge? She's given Karen an 11. I don't know why this picture cracks me up so much, but it does.

The next day, Watson announces that the whole family is going to spend the day together. They all help make breakfast, and then have a breakfast picnic on the cabin floor. They go snowmobiling, Sam shows off some of his snowboarding moves, they build a whole family of snowmen, eat lunch at the lodge, go ice skating, and then go back and make dinner together at the cabin. It is kind of nice to read about the whole family spending time together, because even though it's a family vacation, most of the family members are barely mentioned in this book. They're all just skiing or watching Emily or otherwise out of the picture.

On Saturday, the day of the Winter Carnival, Karen and Keegan meet up at the lodge. They're scoping out the best spot for their sculpture competition when there is a big commotion. Andrew fell while skiing and hurt himself badly. Karen and Keegan quickly rent skis and ride up so that Karen can hold Andrew's hand while he waits for medical attention. Does it really take that long for a kid to get rescued from a fall on the bunny hill? Karen didn't even get the skis right when Andrew fell, she heard people discussing the accident before  she rushed to his side. After Andrew is whisked away, Karen realizes she is up on the mountain with no choice but to ski down. Luckily, Keegan is able to teach her in two minutes what her paid skiing instructor couldn't, so she and Keegan slowly ski their way down the mountain, and Karen gets over her fear of skiing.

Karen and Keegan compete together in the ice skating competition. Karen does not have a fancy outfit like in her dream, so she has to wear jeans and a sweater. Keegan appears to be wearing a fetching sweater dress with leggings. They do not win the skating competition, which actually kind of surprised me but I'm glad they didn't.

It turns out that Andrew has twisted his knee badly and will have to use crutches for a while, so Karen and Keegan say that he can help them with their snow sculpture. They get Honorable Mention in the contest. Karen thinks it's just because the judges feel badly for Andrew because he got hurt. The winner of the snow sculpture competition makes a beautiful snow angel. Apparently this is what you should make if you ever enter one of these competitions, because the winner of the snow sculpting in Karen's Sleigh Ride also made a snow angel.

That night is the Valentine's Dance. Keegan asks Karen if she will be his date at the dance. It is a little odd when 11- and 13-year olds have romances at Shadow Lake but it is downright ridiculous when 7-year olds do. I may be a little biased here because I hate how young children are pushed to "date" or "be boyfriend and girlfriend". I get especially irritated when people post pictures of infants with their friend's same aged baby and announce that the two are betrothed. Still, Karen's parents see nothing wrong with her having a date to the dance, so I guess it's really none of my business. Karen and Keegan mostly stand around talking, but he does ask her to dance and they do. At least they don't kiss.

Foods eaten in this book: lasagna, salad, green beans, bread, melted cheese on crackers, fresh squeezed lemonade, chocolate milkshake, hot chocolate, bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, cereal, juice, coffee, pretzels, toast, soup, spaghetti, rolls, toasted marshmallows, punch, jelly beans, chocolate kisses.

Overall, this book is not one of the strongest in the series. It's pretty forgettable, and nothing in it is ever referenced again (Andrew's knee has healed before the next book.) My score: 6/10, and that's mostly for the picture of the happy judge giving Karen an 11.

#127, Abby's Un-Valentine

Abby starts out this book by telling us how stupid Valentine's Day is and how it's not her kind of thing at all. For those of you who don't know who Abby is, she's the Cousin Oliver of the BSC. She was added late in the series to help pick up sales or something. Abby's personality traits are as follows: she has asthma and allergies, she plays soccer, and she tells terrible jokes all the time. Like, she'll say something, and another character will stare blankly at her, and she will narrate that the other character didn't get her sense of humor, and I'll have to go back and read the preceding paragraph four times before I figure out what the "joke" was supposed to be. And it never turns out to be funny. Abby also has a twin sister named Anna who is the best 13 year old violin player ever. Because nobody in these books can ever have a hobby or interest they're mediocre at. Jessi can't just be a talented 11 year old ballerina, she has to beat out 17 year olds for leads. Abby can't just enjoy playing soccer as a way to stay healthy and have fun, she has to be the best on her team. Kristy can't just enjoy playing softball, she has to be the best left-handed shortstop in her school. Claudia can't just be a talented 13 year old artist, she has to be fantastic and even better than many adults. It's one of the most annoying things about this series.

Here's the cover. Abby looks utterly confused and annoyed that anyone would leave flowers by a locker.

Abby's English teacher is doing a unit on Shakespeare's sonnets. The class talks about love and the meaning of the sonnets. It sounds like the teacher is genuinely trying to keep students interested in Shakespeare by tying the unit into Valentine's Day, but Abby is tremendously annoyed by the whole thing and keeps trying to say in class that romantic love is a crock of shit. Her attitude catches the attention of a boy named Ross Brown, who chats with her several times after English class. Abby is glad to be making a new friend, but then Ross asks her to the Valentine's Day dance and she is horrified. She doesn't want to go to the dance with anyone, and she doesn't know how Ross could have misconstrued her friendly chatter for romantic interest. Stacey and Anna in particular are baffled that she turned Ross down, but some of her other friends, especially Kristy, support Abby's desire not to go to the dance with Ross.

Ross continues to try to pursue Abby. He brings flowers to her house, explaining that his mom is a florist, and they make Abby's allergies flare up. Then he leaves a carnation in her locker. Then he leaves her a book of cartoons from the New Yorker. Abby actually likes that gift, but then she finds out that he went to Stacey for advice and she was the one to suggest that Ross give her the book. Abby is furious with Stacey for giving Ross advice on how to woo her when Stacey knows full well that Abby is simply not interested in dating Ross or anyone else. Stacey is unapologetic. There is a pretty intense argument and Abby accuses some of her friends of being willing to date anyone just so they won't be alone. At a later meeting Abby realizes that the club is purposely avoiding talk of the Valentine's Day dance, so she apologizes for some of the mean things she said and tells them to go ahead and talk about the dance. They are supportive of her desire to avoid it and she can be equally supportive of their desire to go.

Ross makes some comments about loving classical music and having recently attended a performance by a quintet that performed a Bach piece, and Abby decides that between the flowers, classical music, and poetry, he would be a perfect match for Anna. Because Anna plays the violin, you see, so obviously she loves classical music and listens to it all the time. The best part is that Anna even has a bit of a crush on Ross already ever since the day he brought roses to the house. Abby invites Ross over so that she can introduce him to Anna, but because of some wacky hijinks, Ross ends up thinking Anna is Abby. The girls don't correct him for some reason, but when their mom gets home and calls them by the right names, Ross thinks they intentionally tricked him and storms home, furious. Anna is mad at Abby, too.

Ross won't speak to either of the girls, but when they both go to his house, he listens to their explanation of why they had traded clothes and whatnot. Then he invites Anna to go with him to a concert on Valentine's Day. She is over the moon, especially when she gets home from the concert and announces that he has invited her to the dance as well. Abby helps her get ready, and then has plans of her own. She spends Valentine's Day with Kristy, watching a zombie movie. I think the message of this book is that much like we learned in Kristy + Bart = ?, it's OK if you aren't ready to date someone and that not having a boyfriend is not the end of the world. Also in several places in this book Abby is bitching about kids making out and holding hands in the hallway, and she mentions that Mary Anne and Logan aren't like that and don't make her uncomfortable. You know why that is, Abby? They've been dating for TEN YEARS at this point. The initial giddiness has worn off.

There is one Claudia description in this book, in Chapter 2.

Today she was dressed in ski-lodge mode. That meant a woolly sweater, long black tights with thick blue socks, and hiking boots. But these weren't just any hiking boots--they were tied with shiny silver shoelaces with little snowflakes on the ends. They'd also been decorated--by Claudia--with a motif of snowcapped mountains running along the outside of each boot.

Claud's sweater was blue, white, and gray with a snowflake-patterned yoke. It was enormous, stretching almost to her knees. Her hair was pulled back in a long braid. From one ear dangled a silver earring in the shape of a pair of crossed skis, and from the other hung a small silver polar bear. This was actually a somewhat conservative fashion statement from Claudia, but you couldn't help noticing how good she made it look.

I recreated Claudia's outfit in Neopet form for you although I had to fudge the earrings a little:

 She looks damn good.

The subplot in this book is that Kristy's family has to give the puppy they've been raising back to the guide dog foundation so that she can train to be a seeing-eye dog, and Andrew is having a hard time saying goodbye to Scout, even though they knew all along they'd only have her for a year. Eventually the club helps him come to terms with the idea and Scout is sent off, never to return.