Young Adult Revisited

Kristy is hanging out with her whole family, enjoying dinner and probably being super smug about them when the phone rings. Elizabeth, her mother, comes back with a concerned look on her face. The caller is Patrick, their father, and he wants to talk to Kristy, Charlie, and Sam. He has some big news, which is that he's getting married and wants them to come out for the ceremony. Charlie doesn't even make it through the call before hanging up and leaving. Elizabeth lets them know that Patrick is sending plane tickets and wants them to stay for almost a whole week. It's their decision whether to go or not. Charlie instantly decides that he is not going, which makes her decide that if he doesn't go, no one else can. Kristy and Sam badger him for way too long because they really want to go and see Patrick again until Charlie finally gives up. After Charlie takes the window seat on the plane, Kristy suggests they break up who sits in the window to keep Sam fr...

It's the summer before eighth again, which makes me think that these girls must be incredibly stupid to keep repeating the same grade. Stacey is off to Manhattan for the summer, and Claudia's parents decide to make their vacation a surprise. Mary Anne, Kristy, and Abby all plan on going to Camp Mohawk, but at the last moment, Mary Anne decides to stay home. Kristy gets a call from Logan early on to say that he wants to drop out of the club to focus more on sports. She gets upset because she thought Mary Anne already knew but calms down when she finds out she didn't know. Then, she gets a letter from Jessi. She just got into a new ballet school that meets six times a week and has to drop out. Abby then reveals that she too wants to drop out to focus on soccer and have fun not sitting or dealing with meetings. Kristy is so upset that she stops talking to her entirely. They spend half the book not talking with Abby trying to explain things to her. Kristy fina...

Kristy and Cary really don't get along. She gives us a quick recap about what happened between them in the past and a recap about her friends too. This book comes after the Claudia/Stacey debacle so they aren't really talking. Mary Annie is still upset over breaking up with Logan but still thinks it was the right decision. Claudia, Cary, Alan, Cokie, and Kristy are all in the same English class. Their teacher is on maternity leave, so they have this cool younger guy named Ted teaching their class. He wants them to better understand the differences between fiction and non-fiction, so he gives them a new assignment. They have to read a fiction book and write a report on how it made them feel and do a biography of a classmate. He pairs Kristy up with Cary and Claudia with Jeremy. This will go well. Cary and Kristy immediately ask him to change his mind and give them new partners because of what happened when they paired up to teach that class before but he refuses....

Kristy and Abby are heading to Washington DC for a debating competition. The two randomly get chosen for the contest after a few debating lessons in English class. Seriously, that's what Kristy tells us. They literally just learned how to debate, and the teacher handpicked some students to go. On the way down, she mentions Melissa (from the Claudia-Philly trip book), who is still as wishy-washy as ever. When Kristy makes a comment about the guys being obnoxious, Melissa goes overboard about how annoying they are, and she can't seem to stand up for herself or form an opinion without seeing how Abby and Kristy feels. Conveniently, she's also their third roommate for the trip. Once they get to DC, Kristy sees a boy in the crowd who looks just like Terry Hoyt. Melissa runs up to a cute guy and announces that it's Lucas, her boyfriend from camp. He's pretty much the only reason she came to DC, and she sticks to him like a barnacle. Lucas introduced his f...

The problem with Stacey is that she doesn’t really have a problem. She and Claudia are now best friends again, and the two spend one night making pizza with her mom. Maureen is in a good mood, joking with the girls and making slices with anchovies. She even agrees to play a game with them before suddenly developing a headache and eating in her room. Stacey goes to NYC for a weekend with her dad and meets with Ethan. She mentions that she still likes him and might be in love with him but they need to take their time together. She spends a lot of time with Ed and his girlfriend Samantha. They check out a designer clothing exhibit, and get along really well. Ed tells her that they got engaged and Stacey realizes that she doesn’t really know Sam. Ed decides to call Maureen and tell her about his engagement. When Stacey gets back in town though, she breaks down and tells her mom herself. She later hears her mom crying and Maureen tells her that it’s just because things are changing. She ...

I always liked Stacey when I was a kid, but after this book I’m trying to figure out why! Stacey is still dating Ethan, but she’s ticked because he is always busy. He has a part-time job and can’t spend as much time with her as he did before. He signs up for a Sunday class because none of the other sessions were open, which means she can’t see him then either. He makes plans to come down and see her the following weekend. The next day, she sees the new guy at school. Mary Anne admits that he’s cute, and they talk about how noticing a guy doesn’t mean they don’t love their boyfriends any less. Claudia also notices him and thinks he is really cute. Stacey and Claudia meet him at lunch. His name is Jeremy and he seems nice (I guess). He sits with the BSC at lunch and they learn more about him. Claudia announces that she has a crush on him and Stacey agrees to find out if he likes her too. Of course, after one conversation with him Stacey decides that she likes him to...

Claudia and Alan Gray finally go out on a date. She actually has fun with him, but keeps looking around because she thinks someone might see them together. He brings her napkins for her popcorn so she won’t mess up her jeans, and acts really thoughtful. She won’t let him walk her home though because she’s worried the other members of the BSC might see them. They ask her a bunch of questions about where she was and she keeps changing the subject. After the meeting, she admits to Stacey that she went out with Alan. It doesn’t help that Kristy keeps bringing up new stories about stupid stuff he did in the past. Claudia took a job working at the library with Erica. She asks her mom about possibly updating the mural in the children’s room and her mom blows her off. She then mentions it to the head of the children’s department, who thinks that it is a great idea and lets her do it. The event turns into a disaster. The librarian lets the kids get involved, and they go crazy throwing pain...

Mary Anne is still having nightmares about the fire, but she won’t talk to anyone about it. She’s also feeling kind of left out and neglected, but again, doesn’t tell anyone. She’s also working on the school yearbook and constantly butting heads with Cokie, who’s one of the editors. Cokie wants to do a feature on the best/most likely to…students in the school. She wants to stick to traditional categories, but the other kids outvote her and get new ones added. The ballots go out to all the classes and Mary Anne and a few other kids count the responses. They notice that Cokie and her group sweep every category. When they look closer, they discover that some votes are missing, including most BSC members. They take it to the advisor and he decides to redo the ballots and let kids vote again. Cokie also spreads some rumors around the school, telling everyone that Mary Anne is obsessed with Logan. She says that MA called him so many times that he had to change his number. Logan talks t...