The Baby-Sitters Club #60: Mary Anne’s Makeover
So, Mary Anne is flipping through a fashion magazine at a BSC meeting when she sees a model with extremely short hair. She wonders aloud if it would fit her and Claudia flips out. The other girls giggle, telling her that it just wouldn’t look good on her. Originally she agrees, but the more she thinks about it, the more she really likes it.
She takes a picture to her dad and he agrees that it would look nice on her. They make a plan to hit the mall on Saturday and she asks him to keep it a secret from Sharon and Dawn. She gets her haircut and naturally loves it. They find a makeup store doing free makeovers and he not only lets her have one, but buys her some makeup. Then they hit a clothing store and she gets a few new clothes.
When they get home, she springs her makeover on Sharon and Dawn. No one says anything at first, but then Sharon decides that she loves it. Dawn doesn’t say a word, until Richard reveals the makeup and clothes. She gets kind of pissed off about Mary Anne getting so much new stuff right after Christmas. Which Christmas is this?
Mary Anne calls Logan and asks him to come over in the morning. She wants to keep her hair a secret, but Dawn picks up the phone and tells him all about it. Luckily he loves her hair and thinks it looks great. The next day at school, most people think her hair looks awesome and can’t get over her big change…except the members of the BSC.
This just shows how bitchy these girls truly are! Kristy points out that they already told her the cut wasn’t for her, Stacey says it will grow out and Claudia says that it’s just “okay.” Suddenly a rumor pops up that one of Sam’s friends thinks she’s cute and everyone starts talking about it. Logan is fine with that.
Then another rumor pops up that some hot sophomore named Carlos invited her to the high school Winter Dance. Logan hears it, believes it and starts avoiding her because he thinks it’s true. They finally make up when she tells him she doesn’t even know Carlos.
Things with the BSC start getting worse. Mary Anne makes Logan go with her to meetings because they keep making snide comments. She cancels a shopping date with Kristy and goes to Logan’s house. Kristy sees her leaving and makes a rude comment about girls that dump their friends for a guy. Mary Anne stops going to meetings until one of them apologizes or says something nice.
Dawn makes things even worse at home. She’s constantly making rude comments and not saying anything nice or even talking to her. In the span of three minutes, she makes a snide comment about Mary Anne’s clothes, Logan and her skipping minutes. Despite all this, Mary Anne tries to make up to her, but it leads to a fight. Dawn says she has a boy haircut and clown makeup.
Mary Anne cries for awhile and then goes downstairs and apologizes. So much for the new attitude! Dawn confesses that she was jealous seeing her with her dad and that she does like her haircut. She goes to another meeting and has a similar conversation. Personally I would only go back if every single member got down on their knees and begged for another chance.
Mary Anne, Logan, Dawn and Pete Black go to the big dance together. They see Sabrina Bouvier dancing with a good looking older guy and wonder who he is. Suddenly they all remember Carlos, say his name at once and the guy turns around. They all have a big laugh over it.
*According to Mary Anne, Claudia can put together an outfit like a slouchy hat (?), stirrup pants, sequined vest and lace up boots and look great. I beg to differ.
*Kristy wears a long dress and heels to the dance, Claudia wears a gold lame outfit, Stacey wears a silk dress that belongs to her mom and Dawn wears a black dress with a sheer top that has beads and decorations on it. Seriously, these kids are 13?
*Um, isn’t Richard supposedly super strict, or was at one point? Here he says that he “always” thought short hair would suit her, but never said anything because he thought she liked long hair. Uh, then why not let her cut off her pigtails years ago?
*I think it’s kind of crappy that Sharon and Richard never say a word about their fight. Mary Anne even says that they realize what’s going on, but don’t want to take sides. I’m sorry, but some of the crap Dawn says is ridiculous. By not taking sides, they are both kind of siding with Dawn.
*Mary Anne hangs out with other girls, including Susan Taylor and Sabrina. She points out that the BSC is kind of snobby, ignoring those girls and acting like they don’t matter. She wonders if the BSC is snobby because they think others are without knowing them. Uh, yes Mary Anne, you and your friends are very snobby.
*This book really pisses me off because the BSC is completely rude, bitchy and snobby. They ignore her/hate on her throughout the whole book. Then they barely apologize and everything is fine. When I was this age, it would have taken quite a bit more for me to forgive and move on.
*This is the book where Carolyn Arnold builds a time machine. She takes money to send kids back in time, but eventually realizes she can’t do it and gives everyone back their money.
*Ann’s notes are pretty random in this one. She talks about wanting to give Mary Anne a makeover so she could assert her independence, but she pretty much remains the same. Then she rambles about how she dresses just like Kristy in real life and wanted a character with short hair because she has short hair. Oh and she ends by apologizing because the girl that modeled for MA had to wear a wig for every cover after that. Of course had they moved past 8th grade, this would not have been a problem…
Did you notice that the 'Sabrina Bouvier' at the sms dance in this book has the same name as the little girl who won the paegent in the book you recapped only four books before this? Seems a little weird... how common would a name like that be, especially in little Stoneybrook? :)
ReplyDeleteYup, that's one of the major continuity errors that get brought up a lot. Maybe Sabrina was just the only person in Stoneybrook that was allowed to grow up? :)
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