California Diaries

[lcsm_12]

When the CDs first came out, I didn't read any of them. Yesterday,  I read  CD # 1, which is Dawn's. And I was surprised. I knew they were mature themes and they delt with themes such as anorexia and Sunny's mom's cancer, but I wasn't expecting this.

These were the three main surprises:

1) Sunny gets drunk. I never expected someone like Sunny to get

Comments

[nothingtolose19]

Oh, I was completely shocked! I bought three: #1 of Dawn's, Maggie's, and Ducky's, on a yard sale, because I thought they looked interesting and saw that they were by AMM. Stupid me, it didn't click that they were a spin-off from the BSC until I was reading Dawn's diary about her missing her friends in Stoneybrook and I was like 'What??' Then I realized. I was soooo shocked about the drunk part, and also about the fact that the word 'Hell' is in there as well. Wow. Such heavy material.

[lcsm_12]

I forgot about the word "hell"! Very heave material. Can you imagine younger children who bought these books, thinking that they were good books, because of the BSC, and the shock seeing Sunny drunk?

[stone_poney]

I read them when I was a kid and for some strange reason it never registered with me lol. Now when I read them I'm like O_O
Maybe some kids are too young to understand and it just goes over their heads, so it doesn't shock them as much as us ;)

[superfroggie]

I know you didn't mean this in a bad way, but I'm still going to pick a bone with the word "good." These books are still "good"; just because they deal with heavier issues and have more intense language doesn't lessen their value.

[moon_kitty]

I remember being very surprised and kind of shocked by them. But I was still fairly young myself at that time.

(by the way - I think the mods at the community you linked would want you to friends lock this)

[livlol]

Were they meant to be aimed at an older audience? I remember they were in the young adult section of my library and BSC books were in the kids section.

[moon_kitty]

They are at mine too. They're on opposite sides of a whole big floor. Heh.

[tangldupinplaid]

My library just lumped them in with the BSC books. T_T

[blackflame28]

It's my belief that the libraries and the stores looked at the author, saw it was a spinoff without looking to see what it was about and just lumped it with the other books.

It would have done better with the younger side of YA books, agreed.

[anonymous]

[thepastperfect]

I agree completely. I do understand that they wanted a different group of characters than just the people from the We <3 Kids Club. But it seemed completely out of character -- Maggie's transformation, too, from punky to perfectionist.

[tangldupinplaid]

Whereas it's Sunny's turn to be the punky one.
For the longest time I'd gotten rid of my BSCs but kept the CDs (now I get to rebuy my CDs) so it seems so out of character in the other direction, now. I want to strangle BSC Dawn because I -liked- CD Dawn.

[tangldupinplaid]

whoops, I meant rebuy my BSCs! My CDs are safely in my room :]

[helenesylvie]

I remember Dawn calling Jill a "bitch," and being pretty surprised. Okay, actually, a "b----." I felt like Amalia's character kind of took the place of "old" Jill. As opposed to the CD Jill with puff paint teddy bear shirts. You know, Mallory-Jill.
I always pictured Sunny as being a bit of a wild child, so that part didn't shock me as much. Add in Maggie (children of movie business people=rehab before sixteen), and it wasn't too off.
I think someone else has mentioned this, but I felt like the CDs would have made more sense to me if they'd finally started high school, instead of still being in 8th grade. The transition between tofu-granola-babysitting and Lohans-in-training was a little abrupt.

[miss_myu]

I can't remember the exact context, but I thought Dawn was going to call Jill a baby, not a bitch...I'll have to reread it.

[helenesylvie]

My CDs are boxed up somewhere, but I remember it being a long strike-through, as though she were censoring it (b-----), not a sudden cut-off (b-).

[tangldupinplaid]

I went and got the book out:

"You have to let go of that, Jill. Quit being such a b -. Just grow up."

Hmm. That could be taken either way, I guess. When I first read them I thought she was going to call her a baby but held her tongue.