Young Adult Revisited

Stacey is sad because Robert is going to spend the summer on Fire Island. He was supposed to spend August there, but decided to leave early so he could work on the local ferry. He wants to spend one last weekend with her, but she has to go to New York and spend Father’s Day with her dad. Luckily her dad plans to take two weeks off and lets Stacey pick anywhere she wants to go, so she picks Fire Island. Claudia gets to go too because her dad invited her, but Stacey doesn’t tell her about Robert. They also make plans for Shannon, Kristy and Mary Anne to come out for the 4 th of July weekend. Stacey notices pretty quickly that her dad is spending a lot of time at a friend’s house and that he’s rarely around. Within the first night in town, Claudia discovers that Robert is there. She’s a little unhappy, but willing to work with it. Stacey starts spending every free minute with Robert. She wakes up early, just to see him before the first ferry and then sneaks back be

Having a stepsister isn’t as much fun as Dawn thought. Mary Anne catches the wedding bouquet and gloats about it to everyone that listens. The two girls spend one last night together at Mary Anne’s house and she cries constantly because everything is her last. She cries even harder the next day when the Perkins girls bring over brownies they baked and the movers come. She whines about giving up their couch, not having enough space in their shared bedroom and worries that the movers will kick Tigger. Jess takes Dawn aside before going back to California and tells her that he won’t be coming back for awhile because their family has some problems. He also tells her that he doesn’t like the side of Mary Anne he saw after the wedding, but she just blows him off because she thinks everything will be fine within a few days. Of course things aren’t fine. They exchange clothes the first day and everyone thinks it is so cute. When they both want the same sitting job, Mary

Kristy is sitting for Karen, Andrew and David-Michael when they decide to practice baseball with some friends. The kids all suck, but one reveals that a guy in the neighborhood has a softball team for kids that aren’t so good. Kristy agrees to talk to Bart, but he doesn’t have space on his team for a bunch of kids. Kristy tells the other BSC members to keep an eye out for kids that might want to join the team she decides to start. Of course dozens of kids want to join and she has a full team on her hands. Jamie is scared of the ball and ducks every time it comes near him, Claire throws massive temper tantrums when she strikes out and barely anyone can communicate with Matt. She keeps practicing and encouraging the kids to get better. Bart suggests they play against each other and she starts training the kids even harder. Bart and some of his team show up during a practice and his kids make fun of the team. The only one they seem to like is Nicky, who is a pretty

The Unicorn Club is in turmoil. They lost half their members, i.e. the non-bitchy members, to another club and they can’t pick a new president. Lila, Jessica and Kimberly all want the job. They keep rotating the club meetings, but agree to let Ellen host the meetings until they pick a new leader because her house is neutral. I actually like this book because it expands on the character of Ellen. She knows that she is a klutz and says the wrong thing sometimes, but can’t help herself. She begged her parents to get her a fancy new ice skating outfit in purple and they finally got it for her as a birthday gift. Wearing the outfit gives her more confidence because all the girls wish they had it and all the guys keep staring at her. She accidentally trips while skating and rips a huge hole in her skirt. Ellen feels bad about it, but feels even worse when everyone starts making fun of her. The guys that saw her start reenacting her fall in class and even the other members of the

The Unicorn Club is starting a cheerleading squad for the middle school, known as the Boosters. The girls are absolutely disgusted by some of the people signing up and want only the best looking girls. Liz is extremely worried about Amy because she’s a great baton twirler, but she isn’t cute enough to make the squad. Liz is doing a story on the cheerleader tryouts and basketball tryouts, which are happening at the same time. Amy pretends that she’s a bad twirler and Liz thinks it’s so she can drop out easily, but it’s just because she doesn’t want them to know how good she is. She also sees Ken getting picked on for being short and being a sucky basketball player. She invites him over to the house to get some tips from Steven. Steven pretty much gives up on him, but she gives him some advice on practicing with a tennis ball because it’s smaller. Lila calls and mistakes Liz for Jessica. She tells her about trying to figure out ways to get the bad girls to drop out.

Dawn is going back to California for two weeks for spring break. Sharon is a little sad about her leaving, but takes her out for a celebratory dinner. After a breakfast of dry granola, she hops on the plane. She thinks her flight attendant looks like a kewpie doll and the woman ignores her the whole time to flirt with the guy sitting next to her. From the moment she gets to California, she feels like she never left. Her dad takes them to Disneyland, the housekeeper makes healthy dishes all the time and she loves the sun. Sunny invites her over for a surprise and reveals that she started her own babysitting club with some girls in the neighborhood. They have meetings, make their own kid kits and are making their own collection of healthy recipes for kids. One of the girls even loves scary stories just like Dawn. Dawn also gets a sitting job with two of the kids she once babysat for. She takes Clover and Daffodil to a carnival and loves being with them. The more

Lea is new to Shadyside and since her parents love restoring old house, they decide to buy one on Fear Street. Suki Thomas’s mom is the real estate agent and she tells them about a mysterious locked room in the attic. Years ago, someone was murdered there so they shut the door, barricaded it with wood planks and let the room closed off. Somehow they don’t find this even slightly odd. She has a hard time fitting in with other people, but she does make friends with Deena Martinson. One day in the cafeteria, she trips and spills chili all over popular girl Marci. Cute guy Don helps her clean up the mess and asks her out on a date for the next weekend. Deena warns her that Don and Marci have been dating for years, but she ignores her. The night of their date, she gets ready and just sits in her room. Lea calls Don’s house and his mom tells her that he went out with Marci. Convinced that he used it as a cover story, she calls Marci’s house. Marci answers and cracks up