Karen's School (1-6)

[xenaeilonwy]

Been holding this snark inside me all night. This book is just...amazing. The whole thing reads like some big old sarcastic acknowledgement of how bratty, snotty, and misbehaved Karen really is while only PRETENDING the entire book is taking Karen's side. Because y'know, if you don't at least pretend, Karen will jump out of the book and punch you

Comments

[masterdivinity]

Love. This was a fun one to snark, looking forward to reading it snarked as well!....
It really annoys me that Karen's parents are the only ones in SA divorced, apparently rich snooby people in the Brook don't get divorced.... it actually really annoys me in this series that there is an unprecedentedly high number of nuclear families, there is a small number of single/divorced parents.

I also love how Karen always decides who she likes based on how they look- Porter is a witch because she wears black, Hoffman is mean because she has grey hair, Howard is a butt because he wears a tie

And Nancy is all kinds of adorable in this book

[mizusu_mal]

^ This made me laugh.

[kakeochi_umai]

it actually really annoys me in this series that there is an unprecedentedly high number of nuclear families, there is a small number of single/divorced parents.
What makes this even more fucked up is that the MAJORITY of the eight core BSC members (all except Claudia, Mallory and Jessi) have divorced or widowed parents. Practically all of the non-nuclear families in Stoneybrook (including Karen's) are concentrated in the BSC.

[masterdivinity]

it's annoying... even with their clientele there is little divorce/widows, the Barretts, the DeWitts, the mother from Super Sitter Stacey, the one father/writer from Matchmaker Stacey, (two latter whom we never hear from outside that one book), Lou in the two books she is in.... it's highly unlikely that there would be no widows, no grandparents raising kids, or aunts/uncles, is there anyone adopted? (other than EM).... for an author, she was rather uncreative

[anonymous]

wtf are guardian soul bounds?

[xenaeilonwy]

Part of my spirituality. (:

[mizusu_mal]

Good, good fifth grade story. I have surprisingly never been in a split class before. Not in my whole 8 years of being in a bunch of classes, ever.

[kakeochi_umai]

Karen finally answers Miss Colman's question about what makes people different with "our families do!" and oh god it's just a fucking set up for her to talk about her blended family for a whole chapter.
In my canon, Bobby Gianelli yells "Karen, we've been through this before: WE'RE ALL SICK OF HEARING ABOUT YOUR SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE TWO-TWO FAMILY!" You just know that if another kid's parents split up, Karen would either be a jealous hag to them because she's not the only Two-Two anymore, or appoint herself their Two-Two Teacher and take over the kid's life.

Karen is "Miss Karen"
What, does she think her teacher is called Colman Smith or something?

I was going to say Karen's assload of rules are ironic given her reaction whenever a substitute implements some, then I realised that the real problem in Karen's case is that the substitutes are Normies who don't belong to the Karen Can Do No Wrong hivemind. So it's actually not that different because the common denominator is Karen Must Be The Centre Of The Universe At All Times.

Karen

[masterdivinity]

What, does she think her teacher is called Colman Smith or something?

I don't know why but that struck me so funny, I burst out laughing until it hurt

[glitterberrys]

Karen is even more unbearable than usual in this book. Do kids really judge people based on appearances that quickly and thoroughly? I mean, I know they'll look at someone and make a snap judgment like every other person, but like do they really look at someone and decide to hate them just because of how they look?

"Miss Karen" makes some sense...some preschools have the kids refer to the teachers and aides and "Miss firstname" - which is also how kids address all adults they know familiarly in the South. I mean, not EVERYONE does it, but it's generally a southern thing. Not sure where Karen picked it up. In my elementary school we called the teachers by just their first names. Not sure why. I don't think it made us respect them less, which I would think would be a concern, but it's unusual I think. Maybe my school was kind of alternative and I didn't realize it at the time.