It's showtime part 2 (ch. 6 - 11)
I just opened it up to Chapter 6 and guess what? It's Cokie's turn! I swear, the fact that Cokie has a chapter to herself is half the reason I bought this book. I was so ready to snark along with her about the BSC. And she doesn't disappoint!
We get a snippet of Cokie's handwritten entry. She doesn't want to deal with Jessi because "she's only a sixth-grader and I shouldn't have to pay attention to her at all." When I was in eighth grade, my sentiments were pretty much the same. Right after her entry, Jessi's annoying cursive appears, saying that she'll "call [Cokie] a conceited jerk only when I am talking about her with the other members of the BSC." Oh, how mature of you, that you will only talk smack about other girls with close friends (as opposed to ... people who aren't your friends?)
Back to Cokie. She reveals how she tricks various authority figures at school to put her in the same classes as Grace. We're supposed to see that as superficial, and yeah, it is, but I'm impressed. (Btw, AMM doesn't use ANY contractions. This might as well be a friggin' Karen book. I think she's trying to drive me crazy.) Anyway, Cokie and Grace are swapping notes about a soap opera they watch together (lame. Maybe they're snarking it?) when another girl passes a note saying, "The parts have been posted!!! There on the wall by the office. Try to beet the crowd!!!!!" Better spelling than Claudia. Cokie mocks the girl in typical snotty cool crowd fashion. She's such a Regina.
Class ends and they race to the wall by the office. Grace reads off that Cokie has snagged the role of Tiger Lily. Cokie's excitement is a little sweet. Then they read the whole list. Kristy is Peter Pan. Grace: "That girl gets everything." Again we're supposed to see this as snotty behavior, but it's really hard to hate these two when they get things right. Moving on: Dawn shows up and finds out she's playing Wendy. Cokie is frowny because although she "beat" Dawn by getting her coveted role, Dawn now has a bigger role. Eh, Cokie needs to be taken down a peg.
Claudia is there and shouting off other names for the benefit of her friends. Sam and Stacey are playing the Darling parents. Kristy finds out she's playing Peter, and her response is to whine about not getting to be Nana (Cokie thinks, "What a brat.") Also, Jessi is an unnamed pirate. Cokie knows that this will create some tension and revels in it. She reads that Claudia will be designing the scenery (whoop-di-frickin-do) and Mal is working on costumes. She bullies them to not mess anything up for her.
Chapter 7. BSC HQ. Everyone's congratulating Kristy. Jessi is moping. Kristy's actually proud that Karen managed to get a role that technically is never, NEVER offered as such. I would just be embarrassed. They list off all the kids who'll be in the play. Um, why? You know them all by name, who cares? Dawn and Claudia are worried about doing a good job. No one sounds really grateful about getting the good parts, and this makes Jessi explode. She's pissed about the "puny" role she got and reveals that she's now the assistant choreographer. An 11-year-old? Not likely, but I'll roll with it. Jessi claims Mr. Cheney says she was "too good" for the part, which is bull-shit. She snorts in general indignation and Kristy says she sounds like a horse. Wow. Great friends.
Claudia feels sorry for Jessi, but thinks that she kind of brought a lot of it on herself by being cocky. I guess that's about as good as any assesment about the situation.
Chapter 8. MA's sitting for the Broddocks, who are (duh) in the play so everyone's at the SMS auditiorium. MA keeps saying she doesn't want to be involved, even though this is the second time she's at the auditorium. the lady doth protest too much. She's with Matt and Haley backstage. She helps sweet little Jackie Rodowsky find his group and later helps him jump of a bunch of ropes he climbed. Then she helps stupid Karen find a shoe and generally ends up looking after every kid who isn't busy with the play. At the end of the day, Mr. Cheney (perhaps grateful for the help) asks her to be the "backstage babysitter."
Chapter 9. Mal is the apprentice costume designer. She calls the home-ec teacher in charge of costumes "young and glamorous." Yeah, a home-ec teacher. Anyway, Mal's subplot (as well as Claudia's and MA's) is boring: she must measure the cast members. Including boys. Get over it, Mallory. Suck it up and remember it's your job. Mal has a couple of run-ins with MA. First Margo is crying because she bumped her knee--MA assures Mal she's watching over her. Then Mal stops her brothers from shooting spitballs at people. MA's suddenly all "Mallory, I am the backstage babysitter. Please remember that." Whoa, ease up! I keep imagining her saying it in a Darth Vader-esque voice. When MA is pissed, she lets the whole world know it.
Chapter 10. Everyone's working on memorizing their lines now. It's Dawn's turn to be annoying: she thinks the play's sexist and wants to change it. Suddenly she's turned into a die-hard feminist. She complains to MA, who says Dawn should chill out. During next rehearsal, she tries to change Wendy's lines - you read right, change her lines - and Mr. Cheney has to listen to her lecture about women's rights and equality. Cokie makes fun of her. Is she the only one with enough balls to take Dawn down during one of her lectures? Mr. Cheney tells Dawn to read her lines as written. She does for a while, then tries to change another line. By this time, Kristy is telling her to get it straight. Meanwhile, Kristy is busy forgetting her lines (Cokie: "It's a miracle. Kristy Thomas is speechless." Ha!) Then we are randomly told that Logan gets thrown out of the play.
Chapter 11. Remember Logan? I guess AMM forgot about him too up to this point. He's a pirate along with Alan Gray and Pete Black. They get bored waiting backstage and start a swordfight with their fake swords. Good grief, who gives a bunch of 13-year-old boys plastic swords? Cheney, you're just asking for trouble now. Logan yells something about mutiny, he gets in trouble, and is replaced by his understudy. (Huh? He's a stupid pirate. How does he have an understudy?) End scene.
We get a snippet of Cokie's handwritten entry. She doesn't want to deal with Jessi because "she's only a sixth-grader and I shouldn't have to pay attention to her at all." When I was in eighth grade, my sentiments were pretty much the same. Right after her entry, Jessi's annoying cursive appears, saying that she'll "call [Cokie] a conceited jerk only when I am talking about her with the other members of the BSC." Oh, how mature of you, that you will only talk smack about other girls with close friends (as opposed to ... people who aren't your friends?)
Back to Cokie. She reveals how she tricks various authority figures at school to put her in the same classes as Grace. We're supposed to see that as superficial, and yeah, it is, but I'm impressed. (Btw, AMM doesn't use ANY contractions. This might as well be a friggin' Karen book. I think she's trying to drive me crazy.) Anyway, Cokie and Grace are swapping notes about a soap opera they watch together (lame. Maybe they're snarking it?) when another girl passes a note saying, "The parts have been posted!!! There on the wall by the office. Try to beet the crowd!!!!!" Better spelling than Claudia. Cokie mocks the girl in typical snotty cool crowd fashion. She's such a Regina.
Class ends and they race to the wall by the office. Grace reads off that Cokie has snagged the role of Tiger Lily. Cokie's excitement is a little sweet. Then they read the whole list. Kristy is Peter Pan. Grace: "That girl gets everything." Again we're supposed to see this as snotty behavior, but it's really hard to hate these two when they get things right. Moving on: Dawn shows up and finds out she's playing Wendy. Cokie is frowny because although she "beat" Dawn by getting her coveted role, Dawn now has a bigger role. Eh, Cokie needs to be taken down a peg.
Claudia is there and shouting off other names for the benefit of her friends. Sam and Stacey are playing the Darling parents. Kristy finds out she's playing Peter, and her response is to whine about not getting to be Nana (Cokie thinks, "What a brat.") Also, Jessi is an unnamed pirate. Cokie knows that this will create some tension and revels in it. She reads that Claudia will be designing the scenery (whoop-di-frickin-do) and Mal is working on costumes. She bullies them to not mess anything up for her.
Chapter 7. BSC HQ. Everyone's congratulating Kristy. Jessi is moping. Kristy's actually proud that Karen managed to get a role that technically is never, NEVER offered as such. I would just be embarrassed. They list off all the kids who'll be in the play. Um, why? You know them all by name, who cares? Dawn and Claudia are worried about doing a good job. No one sounds really grateful about getting the good parts, and this makes Jessi explode. She's pissed about the "puny" role she got and reveals that she's now the assistant choreographer. An 11-year-old? Not likely, but I'll roll with it. Jessi claims Mr. Cheney says she was "too good" for the part, which is bull-shit. She snorts in general indignation and Kristy says she sounds like a horse. Wow. Great friends.
Claudia feels sorry for Jessi, but thinks that she kind of brought a lot of it on herself by being cocky. I guess that's about as good as any assesment about the situation.
Chapter 8. MA's sitting for the Broddocks, who are (duh) in the play so everyone's at the SMS auditiorium. MA keeps saying she doesn't want to be involved, even though this is the second time she's at the auditorium. the lady doth protest too much. She's with Matt and Haley backstage. She helps sweet little Jackie Rodowsky find his group and later helps him jump of a bunch of ropes he climbed. Then she helps stupid Karen find a shoe and generally ends up looking after every kid who isn't busy with the play. At the end of the day, Mr. Cheney (perhaps grateful for the help) asks her to be the "backstage babysitter."
Chapter 9. Mal is the apprentice costume designer. She calls the home-ec teacher in charge of costumes "young and glamorous." Yeah, a home-ec teacher. Anyway, Mal's subplot (as well as Claudia's and MA's) is boring: she must measure the cast members. Including boys. Get over it, Mallory. Suck it up and remember it's your job. Mal has a couple of run-ins with MA. First Margo is crying because she bumped her knee--MA assures Mal she's watching over her. Then Mal stops her brothers from shooting spitballs at people. MA's suddenly all "Mallory, I am the backstage babysitter. Please remember that." Whoa, ease up! I keep imagining her saying it in a Darth Vader-esque voice. When MA is pissed, she lets the whole world know it.
Chapter 10. Everyone's working on memorizing their lines now. It's Dawn's turn to be annoying: she thinks the play's sexist and wants to change it. Suddenly she's turned into a die-hard feminist. She complains to MA, who says Dawn should chill out. During next rehearsal, she tries to change Wendy's lines - you read right, change her lines - and Mr. Cheney has to listen to her lecture about women's rights and equality. Cokie makes fun of her. Is she the only one with enough balls to take Dawn down during one of her lectures? Mr. Cheney tells Dawn to read her lines as written. She does for a while, then tries to change another line. By this time, Kristy is telling her to get it straight. Meanwhile, Kristy is busy forgetting her lines (Cokie: "It's a miracle. Kristy Thomas is speechless." Ha!) Then we are randomly told that Logan gets thrown out of the play.
Chapter 11. Remember Logan? I guess AMM forgot about him too up to this point. He's a pirate along with Alan Gray and Pete Black. They get bored waiting backstage and start a swordfight with their fake swords. Good grief, who gives a bunch of 13-year-old boys plastic swords? Cheney, you're just asking for trouble now. Logan yells something about mutiny, he gets in trouble, and is replaced by his understudy. (Huh? He's a stupid pirate. How does he have an understudy?) End scene.