[bsc] #72 - Dawn and the We ♥ Kids Club
I haven't used any alternate made-up names for this book because the real name is just too awesome! However! If I were to make up a name, it would be something like this: Dawn Is Really, Really, Really, Really Gay For Mary Anne. This is the most MA/D book since #4, and really, there's only one conclusion I can draw:
In the BSCverse, California makes you gay! How else can you explain Ducky?
This book also contains Stephie, whom you might remember from California Girls as Mary Anne's underage girlfriend. (NB: I am just kidding about that part. Stephie is no more gay for Mary Anne than Charlotte is for Stacey) and the other three members of the W♥KC, before they got retconned out of existence.
Ducky makes zero (0) appearances. :(
I know, based on the TWoP forum, that lots of people don't like Peter Lerangis. I disagree. I think Peter Lerangis is the best ghostwriter ever, and believe that he is primarily responsible for the awesome that is Ducky.
There are several things I want to discuss about this book. I will list these items... now!
1. The We ♥ Kids Club, pre-retcon (mostly of interest to CA Diaries fans)
Ironically, given the punkrock glam --> straight A anorexic shift, Maggie is the most in character. ("Maggie hates talking about celebrities and movie gossip. Keanu Reeves has actually had dinner at her house, but she didn't tell us until weeks later" -- 15). The A-plot of this book is that the W♥KC gets some publicity, including a TV spot, and Maggie is really laid-back about it and also pretty knowledgeable. Obviously there's a major shift in characterization, but she's still recognizable.
Jill... is not. Jill is apparently quiet and serious, likes to read, sort of like a CA version of Mary Anne. Which, admittedly, doesn't bode too well for CA Diaries canon MA/D (which is a lost cause anyhow, given the "wow I really don't miss Connecticut at all!" bitchiness and Oh My God do I hate CA Diaries-canon Dawn so much!)... anyhow.
Dawn is so much more tolerable here than I find her the CA Diaries proper, and everything that changes in Sunny's characterization can be explained by the fact that her mother is dying. It made me so sad when Betsy Winslow gave them food and stuff. I was like... !!! ... no dying!
So yes. *sigh* It's weird how quickly CA Diaries became canon and will trump BSC canon every time. Except in terms of Mary Anne/Dawn.
BUT BUT BUT.
Moment of EXTREME GAY:
"It was a love for children that brought Sunny Winslow, Maggie Blume, Jill Henderson, and Dawn Schafer together. And they've become the hottest baby-sitting foursome around."
Which kind of demands that the following question be asked...
What is the hottest baby-sitting foursome around?
The cross-fandom CoreFourer in me demands I answer Mary Anne/Kristy/Claudia/Stacey. But maybe some of you have a different answer!
2. The Carol arc.
The B-plot of this book was about Dawn's father and his girlfriend Carol, who get engaged, which sends Dawn into a tizzy, which makes her steal her dad's credit card and fly herself back to Connecticut because she doesn't want to live with her dad if all he cares about is Carol.
I have to say... this really made me think. Obviously, neither of my parents is going to get remarried in the very near future, and my dad keeps saying that he doesn't want to... I had kind of thought that if my dad got remarried I'd be okay with that, since I think my dad deserves happiness. But Dawn's reaction made me wonder, and think about how hard it must be to share your father with anyone, even if she is a great person. So yeah. I can see that. It's not easy being a divorced kid. :(
I'd also totally forgotten that the engagement got called off. Needless to say, this will change!
3. The Stephie arc.
Stephie really wants a mommy, but her mommy died when she was very young. She pretends that Dawn is her mommy! It's really awesome! I don't ship them at all, and don't sympathize in any way whatsoever with this arc! Except for the part where I totally do.
Um. The end.
Wait! Quotage:
Stephie shook her head. "Oh, no. You always look so pretty, Dawn."
I do love Stephie. And not only because she says nice things about me.
Our friendship has really grown. When I first met Stephie, she was this frail little thing with terrible asthma, who always seemed on the verge of crying. Whenever I'd talk to her and try to draw her out, she'd only nod or give one-word answers.
So I decided not to force anything. I just quietly made myself available to her. Little by little she began opening up, and I discovered a sensative, fun-loving girl. The more I got to know her, the more she reminded me of Mary Anne. (In fact, when my friends in the BSC visited Palo City, Stephie and Mary Anne grew pretty close. -- 39-40
4. The Part You've All Been Waiting For -- extensive quoting and proof that Dawn/Mary Anne/Kristy is the One True Love Triangle.
Dawn calls Mary Anne on the phone.
Mary Anne went on about this book, which is the story of a girl lost in the wilderness of Alaska. I'd read it already, but I listened anyway. It was so great to hear her voice. She is the kindest, most sensitive, and most wonderful person in the world. -- 12
I... I really don't know what to say!
If the BSC were a car, Kristy would be the starter -- but Mary Anne would be the engine. -- 17
Please, feel free to continue this analogy! Dawn would of course be the solar panel or soybean fuel engine or some other energy alternative. Stacey would be the designer leather seats, and Claudia would be the sound system. Jessi and Mal would be tires.
Needless to say [Mary Anne] is the world's best, most caring sister. -- 17
(If you replace the word "sister" with "girlfriend" every time it appears in the BSC, you get a much more accurate reading. For instance, Charlotte and Stacey are so close, they're like girlfriends! Mary Anne and Dawn are so excited that they're becoming girlfriends! (It doesn't work with biological sisters, of course. Except Janine and Claudia. And maybe the Pikes.)
I should explain something. As I mentioned before, Kristy and Mary Anne are best friends. They grew up as next-door neighbors and started playing together when they were still in diapers.
When I moved to Stoneybrook, whoosh, all of a sudden Mary Anne became my best friend, too, and then moved into my house and became my sister. You can imagine how Kristy felt. I was not her favorite person. Fortunately things smoothed out over time. Kristy and I became friends and stayed friends. But a little germ of tension never quite went away. -- 55
I... I told you! One True Love Triangle!
It's all so mixed up. You resent people you love (like Nicky and his brothers), you love people who resent you (me and Kristy), you resent people who love people you love (me and Carol), you resent not having someone to love (Stephie and her imaginary mom), and you think people who love you resent you (me and Dad, or me and Mom).
Feelings are weird. I don't think I'll ever understand them.
As I approached the DeWitt's house, with three minutes to spare, I slowed to a walk. I wanted a glass of water. But even more, I wanted to be with Mary Anne. She knows a lot about feelings. She'd be able to explain things to me. -- 122-123
O_O
Sometimes I wonder if Dawn really loves Mary Anne as much as Mary Anne loves her. She's so carefree and confident and has a tendency to seem superior and sometimes even a little condescending and... and then things like this happen.
And they are just. I mean. I mean, really. It's like I said at the beginning: in this universe, California makes you gay!
Also in this book, Janine talks about production values. She would completely be the best fangirl ever. :)
In the BSCverse, California makes you gay! How else can you explain Ducky?
This book also contains Stephie, whom you might remember from California Girls as Mary Anne's underage girlfriend. (NB: I am just kidding about that part. Stephie is no more gay for Mary Anne than Charlotte is for Stacey) and the other three members of the W♥KC, before they got retconned out of existence.
Ducky makes zero (0) appearances. :(
I know, based on the TWoP forum, that lots of people don't like Peter Lerangis. I disagree. I think Peter Lerangis is the best ghostwriter ever, and believe that he is primarily responsible for the awesome that is Ducky.
There are several things I want to discuss about this book. I will list these items... now!
1. The We ♥ Kids Club, pre-retcon (mostly of interest to CA Diaries fans)
Ironically, given the punkrock glam --> straight A anorexic shift, Maggie is the most in character. ("Maggie hates talking about celebrities and movie gossip. Keanu Reeves has actually had dinner at her house, but she didn't tell us until weeks later" -- 15). The A-plot of this book is that the W♥KC gets some publicity, including a TV spot, and Maggie is really laid-back about it and also pretty knowledgeable. Obviously there's a major shift in characterization, but she's still recognizable.
Jill... is not. Jill is apparently quiet and serious, likes to read, sort of like a CA version of Mary Anne. Which, admittedly, doesn't bode too well for CA Diaries canon MA/D (which is a lost cause anyhow, given the "wow I really don't miss Connecticut at all!" bitchiness and Oh My God do I hate CA Diaries-canon Dawn so much!)... anyhow.
Dawn is so much more tolerable here than I find her the CA Diaries proper, and everything that changes in Sunny's characterization can be explained by the fact that her mother is dying. It made me so sad when Betsy Winslow gave them food and stuff. I was like... !!! ... no dying!
So yes. *sigh* It's weird how quickly CA Diaries became canon and will trump BSC canon every time. Except in terms of Mary Anne/Dawn.
BUT BUT BUT.
Moment of EXTREME GAY:
"It was a love for children that brought Sunny Winslow, Maggie Blume, Jill Henderson, and Dawn Schafer together. And they've become the hottest baby-sitting foursome around."
Which kind of demands that the following question be asked...
What is the hottest baby-sitting foursome around?
The cross-fandom CoreFourer in me demands I answer Mary Anne/Kristy/Claudia/Stacey. But maybe some of you have a different answer!
2. The Carol arc.
The B-plot of this book was about Dawn's father and his girlfriend Carol, who get engaged, which sends Dawn into a tizzy, which makes her steal her dad's credit card and fly herself back to Connecticut because she doesn't want to live with her dad if all he cares about is Carol.
I have to say... this really made me think. Obviously, neither of my parents is going to get remarried in the very near future, and my dad keeps saying that he doesn't want to... I had kind of thought that if my dad got remarried I'd be okay with that, since I think my dad deserves happiness. But Dawn's reaction made me wonder, and think about how hard it must be to share your father with anyone, even if she is a great person. So yeah. I can see that. It's not easy being a divorced kid. :(
I'd also totally forgotten that the engagement got called off. Needless to say, this will change!
3. The Stephie arc.
Stephie really wants a mommy, but her mommy died when she was very young. She pretends that Dawn is her mommy! It's really awesome! I don't ship them at all, and don't sympathize in any way whatsoever with this arc! Except for the part where I totally do.
Um. The end.
Wait! Quotage:
Stephie shook her head. "Oh, no. You always look so pretty, Dawn."
I do love Stephie. And not only because she says nice things about me.
Our friendship has really grown. When I first met Stephie, she was this frail little thing with terrible asthma, who always seemed on the verge of crying. Whenever I'd talk to her and try to draw her out, she'd only nod or give one-word answers.
So I decided not to force anything. I just quietly made myself available to her. Little by little she began opening up, and I discovered a sensative, fun-loving girl. The more I got to know her, the more she reminded me of Mary Anne. (In fact, when my friends in the BSC visited Palo City, Stephie and Mary Anne grew pretty close. -- 39-40
4. The Part You've All Been Waiting For -- extensive quoting and proof that Dawn/Mary Anne/Kristy is the One True Love Triangle.
Dawn calls Mary Anne on the phone.
Mary Anne went on about this book, which is the story of a girl lost in the wilderness of Alaska. I'd read it already, but I listened anyway. It was so great to hear her voice. She is the kindest, most sensitive, and most wonderful person in the world. -- 12
I... I really don't know what to say!
If the BSC were a car, Kristy would be the starter -- but Mary Anne would be the engine. -- 17
Please, feel free to continue this analogy! Dawn would of course be the solar panel or soybean fuel engine or some other energy alternative. Stacey would be the designer leather seats, and Claudia would be the sound system. Jessi and Mal would be tires.
Needless to say [Mary Anne] is the world's best, most caring sister. -- 17
(If you replace the word "sister" with "girlfriend" every time it appears in the BSC, you get a much more accurate reading. For instance, Charlotte and Stacey are so close, they're like girlfriends! Mary Anne and Dawn are so excited that they're becoming girlfriends! (It doesn't work with biological sisters, of course. Except Janine and Claudia. And maybe the Pikes.)
I should explain something. As I mentioned before, Kristy and Mary Anne are best friends. They grew up as next-door neighbors and started playing together when they were still in diapers.
When I moved to Stoneybrook, whoosh, all of a sudden Mary Anne became my best friend, too, and then moved into my house and became my sister. You can imagine how Kristy felt. I was not her favorite person. Fortunately things smoothed out over time. Kristy and I became friends and stayed friends. But a little germ of tension never quite went away. -- 55
I... I told you! One True Love Triangle!
It's all so mixed up. You resent people you love (like Nicky and his brothers), you love people who resent you (me and Kristy), you resent people who love people you love (me and Carol), you resent not having someone to love (Stephie and her imaginary mom), and you think people who love you resent you (me and Dad, or me and Mom).
Feelings are weird. I don't think I'll ever understand them.
As I approached the DeWitt's house, with three minutes to spare, I slowed to a walk. I wanted a glass of water. But even more, I wanted to be with Mary Anne. She knows a lot about feelings. She'd be able to explain things to me. -- 122-123
O_O
Sometimes I wonder if Dawn really loves Mary Anne as much as Mary Anne loves her. She's so carefree and confident and has a tendency to seem superior and sometimes even a little condescending and... and then things like this happen.
And they are just. I mean. I mean, really. It's like I said at the beginning: in this universe, California makes you gay!
Also in this book, Janine talks about production values. She would completely be the best fangirl ever. :)