#33 Claudia and the Great Search Part Three

[lippian]

Next bit! Warning: Perkinses.

Comments

[kakeochi_umai]

Next bit! Warning: Perkinses.
Oh God. *readies junk food to dull the pain*

Kristy is used to the fact that everyone throws food on the school bus, and is completely oblivious as "a dill pickle sailed over her head and landed in the aisle."
What the? I know a lot of tweens and teenagers are obnoxious, spitball-throwing shits on the bus, but how do they have so much damn food left at the end of the day?

Emily worries Claud by pointing at nothing and saying "boe!" I hope "boe" is Vietnamese for "made ya look!" but that's probably too much to ask.
I really want her to say "Bitch, please!" in Vietnamese like the Cool Asians in Mean Girls.

I can't help liking the plotlines where Claudia is good at tutoring a struggling kid because of her own struggles with schoolwork.

usually I don't mind the Perkins chapters as much as the other babysitting chapters, but in this book, they serve as a nauseating contrast to Emily's supposed problems.UGH. I love that it didn't occur to anybody, either a character or anyone involved in the writing/

[fairest1]

I don't even think Emily is slow; she's just never had the chance to learn a lot of English words so far -- if she picks up colors this fast with Claudia working with her, it's pretty clear that this is the first time anyone has ever attempted to teach her. Even a fast learner will struggle if expected to simply know things already.

[donna_c_punk]

Re: the address question. I don't know if it's this way now (I haven't looked at a residential phone book in years) but it used to list your street and house number along with your phone number. If that was just a local book or a big area, I'm not sure. I live in a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas, some we'd get a local book and a greater metro are book.

[donna_c_punk]

Yes, other (non-local) phone books can have addresses listed. I think the confusion lies in why the Selsams would have an unlisted number but a listed address.

[sifukatara]

My friend's nephew is exceptionally verbally bright. He was talking like Gabbi at around the age of three. And I've been around other three-year-old's through volunteering at daycare centers who talk like that as well. So it's not that uncommon.

[lippian]

Yes, but Gabbi is two. There's a huge difference between a two-year-old's vocabulary and a three-year-old's, just like a one-year-old and a two-year-old are so different. Emily's vocabulary at this point is about what you'd expect for a "normal" nine-month-old or so who'd been hearing English all her life... Gabbie is like an extremely gifted three-year-old, which means she's about on a five-year-old's level. And Myriah is better spoken than the 13-year-old sitters.

[masterdivinity]

I want to hear the conversation Claudia had "hello, just wondering if you still have a 13 year old girl"

[lippian]

She claims she was assigned to do a school project where she makes a family tree for people with unusual last names, and that those two last names were chosen for her by the teacher. Then she proceeds to ask them, not about their ancestors, but about themselves and their kids. Totally not sketchy.

[sloth_in_a_box]

Definitely a legit-sounding project.... :p

[duckay]

When I first read this book, I don't think I thought twice about how weird it was, but in hindsight, wouldn't it have been so much less sketchy to just say, "Hello, may I please speak to [daughter's name]?"? A young girl calling to speak to your daughter of a similar age seems way less weird than "Tell me about you and your kids, it's for a project".