Welcome to the discussion post for week five! Don't panic if you haven't finished Dawn and the Impossible Three yet - we're all in different time zones, so things will be a little bit staggered. The post doesn't have an expiry date on it, so just comment whenever you're ready.
This is the post to discuss your reading of Dawn and the Impossible Three.
What was your favourite part? What was your least favourite part? Any memorable quotes you'd like to share? What had you forgotten about since the last time this book was read? If someone wrote a fic set during the timeline of this fic, what should they write?
There are no mandatory questions or points of discussion for this - anything you want to talk about in relation to this week's book, go ahead!
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stoneybrook2016-05-29 12:21 pm
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So I'm going to catch up today by reading the The Truth About Stacey, and Mary Anne Saves the Day.
I'LL BE BACK. \o/
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(Anonymous) 2016-05-29 05:19 am (UTC)(link)I had wondered if Sharon's disorganization was a trait that got blown out of proportion but here from the first Dawn book, she's doing weird things. I mean, there's disorganized and then there's mending clothes they outgrew years ago! It's honestly a little concerning. Or maybe I'm just a Dawn!
I like Mal hanging out with Dawn almost as a friend. I wonder when it was decided that she would join the BSC.
I had always missed that MA got contacts to replace her reading glasses; I wondered if they just got lost in Early Book Syndrome. Although, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't contacts for reading glasses impractical? Is it okay to keep taking them in and out as you would reading glasses?
Dawn doesn't mind Janine! Her trying to talk to Janine at her level is cute.
Aww, Kristy is trying not to be so bossy. We'll see how long this lasts. ;)
Dawn and MA redecorating her room is so much fun! Ugh, Kristy. Mary Anne is allowed to have two friends. You'd think after all you went through last book, you would realize you don't own her, Kristin Amanda.
Interesting that Dawn goes back and forth between Kristy and Mary Anne's lunch table and Claudia and Stacey's. I don't usually associate her with Claudia and Stacey, but I guess it makes sense back when the girls had non-BSC friends, because I think Dawn is a smidge more mature than Kristy and Mary Anne here, but less boy-crazy than Stacey and Claud.
I do feel bad for Kristy, though, especially with her feeling that she and MA were like sisters, as, of course, Kristy doesn't have a sister either (yet). And I'm glad Dawn at least realizes and feels bad. She is constantly trying to extend the olive branch to Kristy in this book, which is nice.
Ooh, more information about Watson's house! Nine bedrooms. That's a lot, even for mansions. I'm a bit surprised it's on a regular street with a bunch of other houses. Shouldn't it be on more acreage? Are these houses back from the street with long driveways, at least? And even with nine, that doesn't leave a guest room once Nannie and Emily Michelle are there. Do all the kids really have their own rooms later on?
Aw, they're not so impossible in their first job! I love how Dawn bonds with the Barretts over the divorce.
I think I was confused about Karen's age earlier, so this book has cleared something up for me. I thought she skipped two grades, but I see she's in first grade when the BSC is in seventh and she'll get stuck in second when they get stuck in eighth. She turned six sometime in the spring (before this book and the previous one which was Jan or Feb) so she'll turn seven next spring and stay seven. The time warp really starts in the first summer after eighth grade... before they go into eighth grade.
If Watson doesn't cook, who does? There's no mention of any hired help.
Okay, there are two guest rooms mentioned here, but I assume those might be taken over by Thomases.
Dawn and Kristy bonding! Them playing in the barn is adorable! I love how Kristy is a little afraid and Dawn gets to see that. I love how they talk and I love how Kristy just comes out with the alternate officer stuff. Was she really thinking about it, or did she just make it up right then?
I think it's pretty clear that Dawn's frustration with Mrs. Barrett lies in her frustration with her mother. I definitely didn't notice that as a kid, but I do now. Because I get a read that Mrs. Barrett is just overwhelmed right now, not habitually disorganized. She doesn't know how to prepare a baby-sitter because she never needed one (presumably) when she was married. My heart is really breaking for them here. Dawn is under a lot of pressure (mostly from herself) to look after her mom and Mrs. Barrett is pushing her to the breaking point.
Jenny the brat!?! Dawn, were you not just in the last book? I really do not get this brat stuff. The girls keep saying it and I don't see it. Poor Jenny. And how can you hate Mrs. P when she comes out to search for Buddy?
The first appearance of the Bizzer Sign! I don't know why but I'm delighted by Mal giving Byron the Bizzer Sign. I like that she's half a kid and half a baby-sitter.
Interesting talk about Kristy moving. I've wondered before about the actual size of Stoneybrook, since it seems much bigger later when they get new clients every book who they don't previously know. And there's no mention here of Kristy potentially having to switch schools.
I don't remember this Memorial Day picnic. I love this reintroduction between Richard and Sharon's parents! I'm glad they seem reasonable that he's actually grown up and become successful, though it's still frustrating and sad that they needed to make sure of that before they approved of Richard/Sharon.
Oh, missing Buddy. Mrs. Pike is so good and helpful. I love her. This situation is terrifying. Even though I knew what happned, my heart dropped when Jordan said he saw Buddy get in a car. (Look what an adult re-read will do?)
Poor Mrs. Barrett. She knows what's going wrong for her and it must hurt to be confronted with it by a twelve-year-old. But I like that Dawn is able to lay out her problems with what's going on and work out a solution.
Ooh, here's some forshadowing of Mal in the BSC!
And thus, the Charlie scheme is born. Because that's exactly what a high school senior wants to spend his afternoons doing!
A picture of the club for MA. <3 These girls are so sweet!
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Yes, I loved this too! ♥
I had always missed that MA got contacts to replace her reading glasses; I wondered if they just got lost in Early Book Syndrome. Although, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't contacts for reading glasses impractical? Is it okay to keep taking them in and out as you would reading glasses?
It seems seriously impractical to me D: I wear reading glasses - contacts would absolutely not be an option.
Ooh, more information about Watson's house! Nine bedrooms. That's a lot, even for mansions. I'm a bit surprised it's on a regular street with a bunch of other houses. Shouldn't it be on more acreage? Are these houses back from the street with long driveways, at least?
I WANT THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS
Dawn and Kristy bonding! Them playing in the barn is adorable! I love how Kristy is a little afraid and Dawn gets to see that. I love how they talk and I love how Kristy just comes out with the alternate officer stuff. Was she really thinking about it, or did she just make it up right then?
Yes! One of my absolute favourite scenes.
Oh, missing Buddy. Mrs. Pike is so good and helpful. I love her. This situation is terrifying. Even though I knew what happned, my heart dropped when Jordan said he saw Buddy get in a car. (Look what an adult re-read will do?)
Yes, omg. I got this feeling of utter horror when someone found the little red shoe that could have been Buddy's.
A picture of the club for MA. These girls are so sweet!
SO CUTE ♥
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- There seems to be a pretty big jump here. Dawn has already been in Stoneybrook "a few months".
- I really like Mrs. Pike. She has lots of energy and she loves kids. (She’d have to, I guess.) She’s patient and funny and hardly ever yells. She and Mr. Pike have been really nice to our family ever since we moved here.
Oh my gosh, the Pikes ♥
- I like that Dawn says Claud is a bit hard to get to know. I can't remember for sure if it happens or not, but I hope later they bond over their love of mysteries and creepy stories.
- Our kids and their kids are back and forth all the time.
I bet the Pikes have to put up with all the neighbourhood kids over all the time.
We’ll tap on walls and press the wood paneling, hoping for something to spring out or swing open.
Omg I love that they've planned this.
We plan to explore the attic, too. Maybe we’ll find an old diary or something.
FORESHADOWING
- Richard finally got laid, I guess
- CONTINUE ON IS REDUNDANT!
- Claudia was sitting cross-legged on her bed while her grandmother, Mimi, brushed her hair.
Ohhhh ♥
- jeez so MA saves the day takes place in Jan/Feb, and here Dawn mentions that Liz and Watson are getting married in autumn - they pass like half a year within three books!
- Sharon mentions earlier that the Spiers were poor (or poor by Schafer standards anyway) and then later she's all "he was tight with a penny" - SHARON, WHEN YOU GROW UP POOR YOU LEARN TO BE CAREFUL WITH MONEY
- Aw I feel really bad for Kristy here. But it's also kind of exhausting to have this tension there after all the fighting in the previous book.
- Oh I get so many feelings when Dawn sits for the Barrett kids ♥
- Andrew was wearing a red cap and a blue jacket decorated with gold braid. Hannie was wearing a skirt that reached to the floor; large, sparkly high heels with no toes; a fur stole; and a hat with a veil. In one hand, she carried a pair of spectacles attached to a diamond-studded stick. Behind her, Karen was dressed as Mrs. Mysterious, all in black, including a black eye patch and a black fright wig.
THIS IS ALL ADORABLE
- “I’m just staying for one night this time, Mr. Bill Capstan.” (Hannie has never once pronounced “bell captain” properly.)
OH MY GOD ♥ :D
- “When the house was first built,” I said, “there was nothing but farmland for miles around it. But Stoneybrook kept growing, and the people who owned the house kept selling off land until finally there were just one and a half acres left, with the house, an outhouse, a barn, and an old smokehouse. It sort of got rundown. By the time my mom bought the place, nobody had lived on the property for two years. We got it cheap.”
I find everything about this utterly FASCINATING. I really want a properly layout of Stoneybrook. I know I sound like a broken record, but: The canon map we have is SHIT.
- Kristy and Dawn bonding in the barn remains one of my favourite scenes of the entire series ♥
- LOL THE BIZZER SIGN
- Once I had even missed a meeting of the Baby-sitters Club. Mrs. Barrett had promised me she would be home by 5:30, and she didn’t get back until 6:05.
Oh, I like this detail! It makes sense that the girls would occasionally miss a meeting because they'd be at a job.
- Two days later, I came down with Suzi’s bug and spent hours in the bathroom. Mom and Jeff caught the bug from me, and the Pike kids caught it from Buddy, who had been spreading it around the afternoon I sent him to their house while I was taking care of Suzi.
Oh man, imagine all of the Pikes falling ill at the same time D:
- It took a lot of questioning and two phone calls to Mrs. Pike, but we finally figured out where the Barrett relatives belonged on the tree.
Oh my gosh they call Dee to help with Buddy's homework. Twice! ♥
- Oh and then Buddy takes his gold star to Dawn's house to show her, MY HEART ♥
- “Hey,” Kristy exclaimed, looking awed. “Mary Anne, where are your father’s glasses?”
“He got contacts,” Mary Anne replied.
“Your father?”
Mary Anne nodded.
“Got contacts?”
“Yup.”
I began to giggle.
“I don’t believe it. I absolutely do not believe it,” said Kristy. “It’s amazing. Get me a chair, somebody. I may have to sit down.”
Mary Anne made a great show of pulling up a lawn chair, and Kristy made a great show of collapsing into it with one hand pressed over her heart.
lmao this whole chunk is amazing ♥
- I tried to read the expression on Pop-Pop’s face. He didn’t look angry. I nudged Mary Anne and then Kristy. “How would you say my grandfather looks?” I asked them.
“Well, he looks very nice,” replied Kristy. “This is the first time I’ve ever met him, of course, but I’d say he looks good, although his shirt doesn’t exactly match his pants.”
DYING OF LAUGHTER
- Omg Pop Pop and Richard talking about banking laws and getting along like a house on fire. ♥
- Oh my gosh, Mary Anne's rainy day activities at the Barretts' are so ADORABLE
- I cannot express my glee for how often the Pikes are mentioned or show up in this book. I love them so much.
- Mr. Barrett's name is Hamilton ('Ham') and Marnie makes "the ham face" when she's happy OH MY GOD ♥ I thought 'ham face' was just a nonsense thing but it totally makes sense now and it's like a nod to her dad! THAT'S SO CUTE.
- Oh my gosh the Club picture at the end ♥ SO SWEET.
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Kristy and Mary Anne and I had brought our lunches. Kristy’s and Mary Anne’s were the same. They had each brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, a bag of Doritos, and a box of fruit juice. They brought that lunch almost every day. It must be the Connecticut state lunch or something. Hahaha. I'm a creature of habit and tended to bring the same lunch every day when I didn't buy a hot lunch, but I never considered it to reflect on my state, plus or minus :p
WSTO (1313 on your dial). I assume that's just a mnemonyic and not the actual call number (it would be multiples of 10)? More to the point, Stoneybrook is big enough for its own radio station?
I don’t like guns. So no guns when I’m around. Dawn justifies this later on, but I hadn't remembered the plot of this book and I felt like this was setting up to be more of a sticking point, or at least something maybe not worth fighting a little kid who wants to play cowboys or something on.
“Oh, yes. He has a new suit of silver,” replied Hannie, not getting the joke. I have no idea whether I would have gotten this the first time around even if it was spelled out to me like that.
The barn scene was I guess necessary as a plot point for Dawn and Kristy to make up but at one point it felt like it was just there as an excuse for an infodump about the early history of Stoneybrook.
In California, one o’clock means two or two-thirty. That explains some things about Dodger attendance ;P
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Aw, this is true! I think Richard is a natural worrier -- like Mary Anne. Sharon came along at the right time, I think.
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Like Vanessa Pike's personality is basically "rhyming" but I really get attached to the Barretts here and I can't really explain why. I love them. ♥
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-Ok so, WAY to give Dawn a trial by fire into the Baby-Sitters Club. More like Dawn and the Impossible Mom. I mean, jeez!
-So, Dawn was very much an equalizer that the BSC needed after that huge fight! I like that she’s described as going back and forth between Kristy and Mary Anne’s table and Stacey and Claudia’s table.
-It’s nice that there’s now at least one friend of Claudia’s who tries to be friendly-ish with Janine.
-Haha, I think Dawn talking to the weatherman has some callbacks in a future book
-What would I do without you, Dawn? *remembers that Dawn leaves later* *is sad*
-Awww, I like that Dawn is quite insightful and understanding of Kristy’s jealousy. And the patching up scene in the barn, HOW CUTE. I would love to have a barn like the Schafers’!
-Hahaha, is the Bizzer sign like the Pike’s version of Monica and Ross Geller (from Friends’) I-am-secretly-flipping-you-off sign?
-Ahhh man, poor Buddy. He's looking for congratulatory hugs from his babysitter for heaven’s sake. The part with Suzi and Buddy calling Dawn just to talk breaks my heart.
-SO, Mrs. Barret is so much more interesting to me now! Young and hot and glam, the state of the house is terrible, it seems she’s STILL easing into the idea of having a family… Also, aside from the BSC parents, she’s the ONLY parent whose age is mentioned so far, so that we know she had Buddy at 25.
- Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I think it’s implied that her first kid was an unplanned pregnancy and she just married Hamilton Sr. without planning ahead? Idk.
- Mrs. Pike sure is the person to go to in a crisis. And I know Mrs. Barrett was irresponsible, , but that's also a dick move on Ham Sr.’s part. Come on, you two, wise up.
-This may be how a war gets started- Dawn says this kind of thing a lot in later books!
-But I can’t be a good babysitter unless the parents give me a little help. – I really like that this is the moral of this particular book. It’s doesn’t just make possible babysitting readers aware of how to call out disorganized parents. It also makes the kids of those kinds of parents aware that this kind of thing isn’t okay.
-Maybe one day the Baby-sitters’ club will be a huge organization, and Mallory will be part of it. Oh Dawn. It’s gonna happen sooner than you think.
-“Charlie!” cried Mary Anne suddenly. *ships MA/Charlie totally out of context*