Kids in Ms. Colman's Class #4 - Second Grade Baby

[glitterberrys]

With a title like that, you know this is going to be Natalie's book. Sigh. (Also, does the title remind anyone else of that book called Fourth Grade Rats? First grade babies/second grade cats/third grade angels/fourth grade RATS!!! No? No one remembers that but me, huh?)

The dedication reads This book is for Kate Gibbel. No further detail is

Comments

[xenaeilonwy]

...Natalie is supposed to be the ugly one? How? o.O From those pictures, it looks like she is going to grow up to look like my guardian, Quistis.

That "Natalie loves Miss Colman" thing makes me sad as fuck. I keep remembering the book where Miss Colman scolds Natalie for defending herself against Ricky. In elementary school I had horrible shitty teachers but I'd actually claim "I love my teacher!!!" because I knew my parents were too incompetent to get me out of their classes even after all the horror stories I was telling, and I had no soulbonds at the time. So I was like "Might as well learn to love this bitch who treats me like scum of the Earth, nobody's gonna actually do anything about her." ): Poor Natalie.

Natalie's clothes in the second illustration are cute. (: And wtf Natalie's mom, you DON'T DO THAT. That is just asking for trouble, especially for a kid who is already being fucking bullied. Why do all the parents in Stoneybrook fail? Why? Is it so the BSC can have more opportunities to come to the rescue or something?

[glitterberrys]

The sad thing is that I think AMM genuinely thinks that Ms. Colman is an awesome teacher.

I do think that Natalie's mom is well-meaning but clueless, though. Really, REALLY clueless.

[anonymous]

why is karen in the back row? I thought she wore glasses and thus sat in the front row like natalie?

[glitterberrys]

this one is set before Karen and Ricky got glasses. Natalie is the only four-eyes in this book, of course.

[gamma_x_orionis]

I like Natalie a lot. I don't see any reason that she'd be picked on - she seems so sweet, and you know what? She's pretty too! (Seriously, in that first picture, she looks really lovely. I want her hair.) If I were in second grade, even if I were as shallow as the second-graders in this book, I'd want to be her best friend.

I took ballet for years and never once was I supplied with a change of underwear. I can't think of any reason to be. We weren't allowed to wear underwear under our costumes for recitals, but otherwise, I can't recall a single instance in which underwear even came up. I think AMM invented this whole "needs-a-change-of-underwear-after-ballet" just to inflict pain on Natalie. *Nods*

Bobby grabs Natalie's bag of underwear from her, shouting that he wants to see Natalie's underwear.
I blame children's books with plots like these for my humiliation kink.

[glitterberrys]

They complain because Natalie has droopy socks and snorts when she cries (which is a lot, apparently). Yep. This is why they pick on someone. Not because they're smug (Pamela), bitchy (Leslie), obnoxious (Karen)...but because a generally nice kid cries easily and snorts when she does it.

[kahran042]

If someone snorted when they cried, that would be a good reason not to pick on them. :)

[glitterberrys]

That...is actually a really good point XD

[harpsi_fizz]

Is AMM trying to imply that kids who love school are losers and babies?
Naaah. In just about every Karen book, she talks about how much she loves school, and AMM would rather chew off her own foot than imply there was anything less than perfect and wonderful about her presh Karen. She just likes making Natalie the "pity friend".

Natalie was not so crazy about the weekend.
That entire paragraph reads like a biography portrait in a magazine cover story about... well... I just finished reading We Need to Talk About Kevin so that's where my mind is right now.

I can relate about the not going out on weekends due to City Limitations. It extended all the way through the end of high School for me, which makes it super bizarre to see the BSC girls being allowed to do anything at all. I'm glad to hear that you have good memories of your dad, though :)

[glitterberrys]

Franklin from WNTTAK would fit right in with Stoneybrook's horrible clueless parents...(weirdly I never found myself hating Eva as much, though I think I was supposed to. I think because her husband was such a useless moron I spent the entire book screaming "For god's sake, just leave them both! Let him deal with the little monster and get your life back!")

[kakeochi_umai]

Franklin is totally to Kevin what everyone in the 'Brook is to Karen. I wouldn't wish on Ann what Kevin did to Franklin, but I'd have such a moment of schadenfreude if she actually had a Karen and raised her that way only to discover that her little angel had zero respect for her.

Also, quote from TV Tropes: "Idiot Ball: From Eva's account, it looks as if Franklin acquires one and clutches it in an unrelenting death grip from the moment he finds out she's pregnant."

[glitterberrys]

I was actually really upset by what Kevin did to Franklin - because I felt it let him off too easily! He should've been forced to live with the consequences of the kid's actions, not Eva.

[anonymous]

i dont think AMM couldve contemplated not wearing socks. I mean, how else is everyone supposed to judge your worth as a person, if not by the height of your socks?
My theory is that since all anyone pays attention to in stoneybrook is socks, theyve taken one look at Karens very un-droopy socks and decided to judge her soley on that, allowing them to ignore what a bitch she actually is. Hence everyone excusing Karens behaviour book after book- theyre too dazzled by how high her socks are pulled....