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Dear Diary #3
The Dance
Lizzie had thought she could rely on her best friend Nancy for everything until Nancy announces that she does not intend to attend their first school dance, an event that Lizzie has been anxiously awaiting
- GenresYoung AdultFiction
149 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 25, 2022
The Dance
There’s a big sixth-grade dance, Lizzie worries about it. Nancy isn’t interested. Dad freaks out because it’s his little girl (even though she didn’t say it was a date).
The Grandmother has a gentleman friend who isn’t really a friend. She of course, drops the bomb she wants to get married. Lizzie is upset. Her mother is upset (because it’s her mother). Lizzie cries. The mom cries. The Dad blows up because he thinks they’re all being ridiculous (other than Adam and Darcy who are happy for Gram. This goes on and on and the final straw is when the baby (Rose) goes off on Gram and won’t let her touch her.
Gram then calls off the wedding and dumps Ralph. Now that that worry is over (although Lizzie seems to be oblivious to the fact that Gram is miserable) on to the next thing.
She can’t dance and doesn’t know what to wear to the dance. So she decides to follow Sam and Candance around the mall (and drags Nancy) to see what kind of clothes they pick. She still doesn’t get anything because Samantha looks so gorgeous in everything how could she compare? Does anyone else get the sense that maybe Lizzie is bi and has the hots for Sam?
After someone Gram works with on the sly points out that they’re all acting crazy, and it’s affecting Gram, Lizzie and the mother agree. The mother (instead of going with Lizzie to admit she was selfish too) just pawns the task off on Lizzie. Gram is happy again.
Now Lizzie needs to learn how to dance. She tries to dance with Adam (her brother) but she’s BAD! Nancy (of course) turns out to be a wonderful dancer. And maybe I’m just old skool but there is no *skill* in slow dancing. You kinda just lean in time to the music.
Gram gets married and then goes on her honeymoon. Lizzie misses her like crazy and sometimes goes to the attic. (Secretly she wants her parents to give her the attic).
Gram comes back and helps her (and Nancy) pick out clothes for the dance. Nancy decides at the last minute she’ll go. It starts off awkward but then a boy asks Lizzie to dance and then Billy (who dances with her most of the night). Nancy even finds a boy to talk to. But Sam doesn’t get asked to dance AT ALL. Nancy and Sam find her crying in the bathroom and Nancy feels bad for her and tells her they want to tell anyone.
Later that night Lizzie and Nancy talk about the dance and Nancy says she thinks it’s because Sam is TOO perfect and that makes her intimidating. But Lizzie says she doesn’t feel sorry for her. MMM! But you’ve spent the whole book, all on her tail sweating her!
My Thoughts:
Irritating! Even though I swore I only read the first book in the series, it *felt* like I read this one. Or maybe I read a similar one. In any case (sighing) it’s like this. And maybe this is just my position on it but Lizzie is in the sixth grade. First of all, I first started *really* noticing boys when I got in the sixth grade. So, it’s only a matter of time when it hits Lizzie and THEN she’ll start to understand when she falls for the first time.
Then as I was about to say, the older you get, the harder it is to really find someone that makes you happy. I know that a couple of years ago, my mom met this guy that she knew when she was younger. He was her brother’s friend. They meet up at a funeral and after that, they were like the sky and the clouds. And what’s worse he was always around! Twenty-four seven. But what I didn’t allow myself to see (because I didn’t want to deal with it because I’d gotten so close to the last guy she dated and it felt like this one just came out of nowhere) was how happy he made her and how devastated she was months later when he passed.
I also see that the older I get I may not find that kind of happiness (not to say I won’t and can’t have it in other passions).
So what I am saying is maybe I can excuse Lizzie but I really can’t excuse her mother for being slightly selfish. It’s not like this is months after her Dad passed. Everyone needs someone who will make them happy. Luckily in life, some are fortunate to find love. So if someone close to you does find, you might have to swallow some other feelings that rise up but you just have to smile and find it in you to be happy for that person. Especially if they are older!
So I was happy that Dad told everyone off and Nancy told Lizzie she was making a big deal out of nothing. Gram is NOT moving to Australia!
Then I swear, all this girl knows how to do is cry. Gram gives her the news, she cries. She has a fight with Nancy. She cries. Samantha embarrasses her. She *wants* to cry.
Then it’s book 3 and she’s still SOOO obsessed with what Sam. This girl has ZERO brains to just wear whatever she thinks looks HOT on her. I think I like Nancy more in this book for calling her out on all her dumbness. This girl is so head over heels for this chick she’s staring at how wonderful her underwear is. YEEEAH! She was probably thinking GOD SHE LOOKS HOT! I HATE her but I low-key am in love with her. MARRY ME SAM AND TEACH ME ALL YOUR SECRETS!
Rating: Not great! Half of it is Lizzie obsessing over Sam and the other half is Lizzie obsessing about losing her grandmother because her grandmother has a man.
There’s a big sixth-grade dance, Lizzie worries about it. Nancy isn’t interested. Dad freaks out because it’s his little girl (even though she didn’t say it was a date).
The Grandmother has a gentleman friend who isn’t really a friend. She of course, drops the bomb she wants to get married. Lizzie is upset. Her mother is upset (because it’s her mother). Lizzie cries. The mom cries. The Dad blows up because he thinks they’re all being ridiculous (other than Adam and Darcy who are happy for Gram. This goes on and on and the final straw is when the baby (Rose) goes off on Gram and won’t let her touch her.
Gram then calls off the wedding and dumps Ralph. Now that that worry is over (although Lizzie seems to be oblivious to the fact that Gram is miserable) on to the next thing.
She can’t dance and doesn’t know what to wear to the dance. So she decides to follow Sam and Candance around the mall (and drags Nancy) to see what kind of clothes they pick. She still doesn’t get anything because Samantha looks so gorgeous in everything how could she compare? Does anyone else get the sense that maybe Lizzie is bi and has the hots for Sam?
After someone Gram works with on the sly points out that they’re all acting crazy, and it’s affecting Gram, Lizzie and the mother agree. The mother (instead of going with Lizzie to admit she was selfish too) just pawns the task off on Lizzie. Gram is happy again.
Now Lizzie needs to learn how to dance. She tries to dance with Adam (her brother) but she’s BAD! Nancy (of course) turns out to be a wonderful dancer. And maybe I’m just old skool but there is no *skill* in slow dancing. You kinda just lean in time to the music.
Gram gets married and then goes on her honeymoon. Lizzie misses her like crazy and sometimes goes to the attic. (Secretly she wants her parents to give her the attic).
Gram comes back and helps her (and Nancy) pick out clothes for the dance. Nancy decides at the last minute she’ll go. It starts off awkward but then a boy asks Lizzie to dance and then Billy (who dances with her most of the night). Nancy even finds a boy to talk to. But Sam doesn’t get asked to dance AT ALL. Nancy and Sam find her crying in the bathroom and Nancy feels bad for her and tells her they want to tell anyone.
Later that night Lizzie and Nancy talk about the dance and Nancy says she thinks it’s because Sam is TOO perfect and that makes her intimidating. But Lizzie says she doesn’t feel sorry for her. MMM! But you’ve spent the whole book, all on her tail sweating her!
My Thoughts:
Irritating! Even though I swore I only read the first book in the series, it *felt* like I read this one. Or maybe I read a similar one. In any case (sighing) it’s like this. And maybe this is just my position on it but Lizzie is in the sixth grade. First of all, I first started *really* noticing boys when I got in the sixth grade. So, it’s only a matter of time when it hits Lizzie and THEN she’ll start to understand when she falls for the first time.
Then as I was about to say, the older you get, the harder it is to really find someone that makes you happy. I know that a couple of years ago, my mom met this guy that she knew when she was younger. He was her brother’s friend. They meet up at a funeral and after that, they were like the sky and the clouds. And what’s worse he was always around! Twenty-four seven. But what I didn’t allow myself to see (because I didn’t want to deal with it because I’d gotten so close to the last guy she dated and it felt like this one just came out of nowhere) was how happy he made her and how devastated she was months later when he passed.
I also see that the older I get I may not find that kind of happiness (not to say I won’t and can’t have it in other passions).
So what I am saying is maybe I can excuse Lizzie but I really can’t excuse her mother for being slightly selfish. It’s not like this is months after her Dad passed. Everyone needs someone who will make them happy. Luckily in life, some are fortunate to find love. So if someone close to you does find, you might have to swallow some other feelings that rise up but you just have to smile and find it in you to be happy for that person. Especially if they are older!
So I was happy that Dad told everyone off and Nancy told Lizzie she was making a big deal out of nothing. Gram is NOT moving to Australia!
Then I swear, all this girl knows how to do is cry. Gram gives her the news, she cries. She has a fight with Nancy. She cries. Samantha embarrasses her. She *wants* to cry.
Then it’s book 3 and she’s still SOOO obsessed with what Sam. This girl has ZERO brains to just wear whatever she thinks looks HOT on her. I think I like Nancy more in this book for calling her out on all her dumbness. This girl is so head over heels for this chick she’s staring at how wonderful her underwear is. YEEEAH! She was probably thinking GOD SHE LOOKS HOT! I HATE her but I low-key am in love with her. MARRY ME SAM AND TEACH ME ALL YOUR SECRETS!
Rating: Not great! Half of it is Lizzie obsessing over Sam and the other half is Lizzie obsessing about losing her grandmother because her grandmother has a man.
April 8, 2014
I remember reading this a child and while it's nice to be re-reading them. I wish I could remember my initial thought after reading it to compare to my feelings about it now. Lizzie is a brat, she refuses to support her Gram getting married but demands support and seems to be baffled when she doesn't get any when trying to deal with going to a dance.
Reading this as an adult, makes me look at this as a great lesson about teaching kids about trying to grow up too fast.
Reading this as an adult, makes me look at this as a great lesson about teaching kids about trying to grow up too fast.
July 9, 2009
Wow, looking at this cover brings back SUCH memories! My sister had all these books when I was little but for some reason after a while Mum decided they were 'inappropriate' and chucked them all out. I can vividly remember slowly picking out the tagline 'how can she dance with too left feet?' before I could read very well and wondering what on earth it meant.
August 8, 2012
Bacanya pas kelas 5 SD
(First book I bought with my pocket money)
(First book I bought with my pocket money)
August 10, 2018
Lizzie is so wrapped up in her own problems, including the fact that her grandmother is dating, that she doesn't notice her best friend Nancy desperately trying to hide her dyslexia.
July 17, 2013
wow i can't believe I found this one of course i can't remember what it's about because it's been 23 years since I read it.
February 3, 2016
Seri ini juga dulu minjem, tapi yang ini bukunya punya ^ ^)
Pas dulu itu penasaran juga.., "dunia" anak-2nya beda dengan dunia yang dialami sendiri (^..^)
Pas dulu itu penasaran juga.., "dunia" anak-2nya beda dengan dunia yang dialami sendiri (^..^)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews