FF #4: Claudia and the Friendship Feud (Ch. 1-5)

[joykilldrama]

Well I’m back again with the Friends Forever series as I continue my snark on the entire series. Hopefully this book will be easier than Mary Anne’s Break Up. After all, while this series does have the girls acting more realistically, it does seem like just the title will make it easier. Also, this book is ghostwritten by Laura Dower. After a quick

Comments

[shatisarockgod]

Ditto with what I said about the Mary Anne cover, I'm just not picking up Claudia vibes from this model either. Yeah, I think the lack of crazy clothes is another thing throwing me off.

No, Claudia. Stacey thought that Dawn was in California and therefore she wouldn’t be stalked on this particular date. She didn’t realize that Dawn had somehow learned to magically project herself from California and into the body of Stacey’s former BFF.--lmao!

Claudia starts scheming on giving Erica a make-over--Please don't let this be like that Stacey book where she acted like a little shit towards Tess.

She puts her hair in two braids and Janine teases her for looking like Pippi Longstocking.--I'd think more along the lines of Laura Ingalls.

her parents are definitely not strict.--Yeah, Claudia's parents do a couple of things I don't like but they definitely don't sound as strict as the way Claudia paints them. I think of the junk food as an example. I wonder if they'd have a problem with Claudia eating only a little bit here and there instead of eating it all the time. Same goes for the Nancy Drew books--I know a lot of kids don't really like to read for fun and sometimes something will come out that will open that doorway up some. Didn't they say that about the Harry Potter books and how they got kids reading for the fun of it?

She also says that the fight with Stacey was bound to happen one day--So true.

[joykilldrama]

I have a headcanon that the reason they tell her NOT to read the Nancy Drew books is to make the seem forbidden so she'll read anything. It also let's them try to encourage her to read other books as well. You know they all have to know that she's reading Nancy Drew.

[author_by_night]

As an adult I always took the Nancy Drew thing to mostly mean they're supposed to be on the literary elitist end of things (the sort who make snide remarks about adults who read books like Harry Potter), but that's also an interesting headcanon. I may adopt it.

What grade level* is Nancy Drew? I tried the books at about Claudia's age and while they did seem a bit "young" to me, I'd still say they were middle grade, which is probably what Claudia's reading level is anyway.

*In theory, I mean, I actually have issues with grade level designations, but that's another rant.

[joykilldrama]

From what I've seen in an incredibly quick google search, Nancy Drew is between a 6-8 grade reading level.

And the only reason I don't believe that they are literary snobs is the fact that they seem to encourage Claudia to do the things she loves and Rioko seemed very against book banning in Mary Anne and the Library Mystery. Which makes me think that they actively encourage her to read other books while 'banning' Nancy Drew so they'll be forbidden and she'll read SOMETHING.

And we know that her parents have to know she's still reading them because several time her mother brings her books that are a tiny more advanced or simply not Nancy Drew on the grounds that as she likes Nancy Drew, she might like these detective books. I can't recall the exact book that happened in, but I think it happened at least twice.