BSC #39, Poor Mallory!: Get It? It’s Like a Double Entendre

May 2, 2010

BSC #39, Poor Mallory!: Get It? It’s Like a Double Entendre

I found Waldo!

Summary: Mallory’s father loses his job, so she and her brothers and sisters try to earn some money to help out their parents. They also have to put up with some of their friends making fun of them for possibly becoming poor, because children are truly horrible creatures. (Not the kids the BSC girls sit for, of course. They’re all angels.) Then Mallory’s dad gets a new job and everyone’s happy. Riveting stuff, I know.

The B plot is sort of part of the A plot: Mallory takes a month-long sitting job with the Delaney kids (as in Amanda “My Cat Cost $400” Delaney), who are also dealing with figuring out who their real friends are. They have a new swimming pool and kids keep coming over to swim, but when Amanda and Max want to do something else, the kids refuse. Mallory helps the kids figure out who really likes them and who’s just using them for their pool.

Thoughts: This is one of those books that I liked as a child, but as an adult, the lesson puts me off. Mallory tells off her supposed friends, and then the BSC girls place prank phone calls as revenge for them being mean. So the lesson is that if people are mean, you can tell them where to go and then annoy them? Somehow I don’t think that’s what the ghostwriter meant to accomplish here.

BSC slang explained: “Dibble” is short for incredible, “distant” means the same thing, and “stale” means the opposite. Don’t you feel enlightened?

Why do the Delaneys have two tennis courts? In case they lose one?

Also, are they really the only family in the neighborhood with a pool? And why did it take them so long to get one? Were the kids swimming in the indoor fountain before that?

Mallory tells Amanda that she hurt a boy’s feelings, and Amanda replies, “Well, he deserved it. He hurt mine once.” That kid’s going to grow up to be Lila Fowler.

As annoying as Karen can be, she’s a good friend to Amanda in this book, showing that she doesn’t just come over to swim in the pool. She also manages to make a suggestion for a game rather than control the activities. Aww, our little Karen’s growing up.

Mallory understands what a mortgage is but not any other aspect of finances? What a weird girl.

Jessi eats a pizzaburger and chocolate cake. Jonathan Reeves would be SO displeased.

Kids pay Vanessa to braid their hair? Are they crazy? Nine-year-olds are supposed to do each other’s hair for free. It’s part of being a girl.

If the Pikes had money from Mr. Pike’s severance package, why did they accept Mallory’s sitting money? I hope they paid her back later.

Best example of why this book wasn’t written recently: Mr. Pike is only unemployed for a month.

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