This book, ugh. Did not like. I'll blame that on why it took me a year and a half to review it, not just my pure laziness. Of course, now I basically have to reread it to write this review so good job, past Jenn!
Okay, let's get on with it! This might be a short one. Kristy is at home on a lovely Saturday, watching the Thomas-Brewer clan when the Papadakis kids come over and announce that they (their parents, that is) are going to be a foster family. A foster family is a family a kid can stay with when his own parents can't take care of him. After he stays with his foster family for awhile, he can go back to his own family, or to relatives, or even to a brand new family. Nice, neat definition. Karen, Nancy, and Hannie (the Three Musketeers) want a girl of course, and start building a playhouse in the backyard to hopefully entice the foster kid with. Spoiler: it doesn't work.
On to a BSC meeting and What Claudia is Wearing! And eating! Claudia Kishi was under her bed. Only her purple-and-white-striped stocking feet showed--sort of like when the house fell on the witch after the tornado in The Wizard of Oz. ... A moment later she backed out from under the bed holding a bag of yogurt raisins. From various hiding places around her room she'd also produced a bag of sourdough pretzels, a half-bag of Mallomars, and a box of Frosted Flakes. ... Today she was wearing purple-and-white-striped tights, Doc Martins (except she'd taken them off to sit on the bed), a short black ruffly skirt that looked like it was part of a women's Olympic figure-skater's costume, a purple cropped sweater with silver button covers on the back buttons, and a scrunchy black velvet hat decorated with purple and red velvet flowers.
Bonus: What Stacey is Wearing! Today she had pulled her blonde permed hair back into a complicated braid threaded with a green ribbon. The ribbon matched her shoes. She was wearing silver capri pants, an oversized shirt with a green belt, a green checked short skirt, and gold leaf-shaped earrings.
These outfits are the best things about this book, I'm just letting you know right now! (And I obviously had issues with Stacey's.) The Papadakis' get their foster kid and she makes a big first impression by walking on the car and swinging into the open door to get her bags out. Lou (NOT Louisa) is a tomboy, whose dad died recently and she doesn't have a mom. Her brother was put in another foster family and Lou isn't happy about any of it. She shows it by showing out: pink is dumb, rules are dumb, playhouses are dumb, families are dumb, etc... But honestly, I don't blame her. The BSCers do though. For some reason, they're really hard on Lou and not forgiving at all. They yell at her a LOT, grab her when she very obviously does not like to be touched, and are just generally not nice to her. This is the main point that I don't like in this book. It's not like the BSC to just give up on a kid. All kids are redeemable. Klutzy Jackie Rodowsky, the Barrett kids and their scattered mom, even that girl that broke Claudia's leg! But Lou? The kid with no family? "...she is the absolute worst kid I have ever met."
So yeah, Lou goes to live with her aunt & uncle in the end, with her brother, and the BSC are glad to be rid of her. (They did try a little harder in the last chapter or two but it didn't really make it better for me.) There was also an auction at the middle school and the girls compete against Cokie Mason and her friends to get the best item. Mary Anne gets a genuine Cam Geary jacket donated OMGGGG! And that's it, thank goodness.
