This would be a great read for Christmas, but I didn't wanna wait that long to read it.
I liked that Beth said Josh was the nicest one and he does good drawings & Josh said Beth was the nicest one, cause she doesn’t yell at them like Eddie does.
For the school project, Caroline chose to interview Wally and him her and then they had to live how the other one does for a day. He came up with ridiculous things she’d have to eat, like parsnips and chicken liver, and read military strategy books. I love that she asked his mom about him and she gave her the real answers, so Caroline knew he was lying.
I LOVED when Caroline showed up for her report wearing Wally’s clothes, even his underwear!! And his ears turned red. Then the teacher went and ruined it and she didn’t get to finish her report, cause neither of them did the interviews right. They were just bent on annoying each other & not doing the assignment correctly.
Caroline takes all his clothes and puts them in his underwear and draws a happy face on them. He said if his mom saw the face she might think Caroline drew it with Wally in them! Lol
After interviewing each other for extra credit, Wally tells his brothers ‘“she’s not completely crazy,” was the way he put it.’
Of course when the boys saw Caroline hit Beth in the head with a hammer, it turns out the girls spotted the boys coming over and hatched that plan. I thought they were rehearsing a play. But it was so funny how they pretended to fight but were singing the lyrics to Jingle Bells!!! Hahaha.
“And the window of this loft faces the girls’ bedrooms?” asked Mother.
“Well, just Beth’s,” said Wally uncomfortably.
“Do you boys mean to tell me that you were sitting up in the Bensons’ garage after dark, looking in Beth Malloy’s bedroom through a pair of binoculars like some low-down, sneaky Peeping Tom?” Mother cried.
Wally, Josh, and Jake stood like statues.
“We were just holding a club meeting!” Wally squeaked finally.
“A club meeting at nine o’clock in the evening? In twenty-degree weather? You and a pair of binoculars?” said their father. “I’m ashamed of you boys.”’
And “But—but they know we meet up there!” said Josh. “They know we could have been watching. If they didn’t want us to see something, they could have pulled down their shades.”
“That is disgusting!” said Mother. “I don’t want you boys in that garage again. Do you understand?”
You can see Beth and Josh shaping up in this one:
“At least they boys are fun.”
“And cute,” added Beth. “Josh is, anyway. And Peter.”’
Wally says he thinks Josh sort of likes Beth a little in his letter to his friends. He also says:
‘Had a snowball fight the other morning with the girls, and Eddie went a little bonkers. You don’t exactly want to mess with Eddie.’ Haha!
The girls try to trap the boy’s in their garage attic by painting the stairs. Two boys simply jump down and the other two climb out the window. The girls think they made it without their mom noticing but their dad smells the paint in the garage and ends up with paint stripes on his jacket!
And to make it worse, their dad gives them the bill for his new jacket he had to buy! And is gonna make them apologize to the boys.
‘Calling the boy’s to apologize was the worst punishment of all.'
“I’ll do it,” Beth said grimly. “We’re all in this together. I’ll ask to speak to Josh. If anyone will understand, it’s him.”
Then the girls are getting jobs before Christmas and Josh felt a little sorry for them!
Wally’s ears burned when Caroline gave him his gift at school, because he got a gift from a girl, and Caroline at that, & because he almost gave her his underwear.
He thought Caroline might like him despite all he and his brothers had done to her!!
You don’t know where it’ll go next.
Wally’s mom finds the present he said was for his teacher,& dropped it off at school!
Then Caroline’s gift of cat vomit gets switched with her dad’s secretary gift and Wally thinks Caroline gave him a box for love letters!
Wally’s so worried about his mistaken gift to Miss Applebaum he hears ‘God rest ye, little Hartford boy,
For much to your dismay,
Remember what Miss Applebaum
Will open Christmas Day...’
-“Dad. Have you ever thought about living somewhere else?”
“Where did you have in mind, Wally? You want me to move down the block, maybe?”
haha how does the author come up with all of this?!
I love when Caroline and Wally tell each other what their real presents were supposed to be and how the wrong people got them and they’re both laughing. And Caroline asked for the present back from Miss Applebaum for Wally! That was so nice of her.
The girls end up shoveling snow from peoples walks and driveways around the neighborhood for money. The boys say they’ll help and let them have all the money, which is probably the nicest thing they've ever done.
'“Josh said we’re going to help so you won’t be mad at us anymore.”
“Shut up, Peter,” Josh muttered.'
So cute!
Of course it turns into a competition of who can shovel the fastest.
You can see the boys adjusting to life without the Benson boys, their best friends, and how their enjoyment and fun with the Malloy's is replacing them:
‘Mrs. Benson, mother of their five best friends, the best friends the Hartfords had in the whole wide world. Well, maybe.’
-Wally wrote all the girls exploits to the Bensons.
'“Wally, you jerk!” Josh said, still mad that he’d told on the girls.’
-“Come on, Jake, the girls have been fun and you know it,” said Josh.
This ended on an unexpected note. I hoped it would end on a good note, with Christmas cheer. It almost did. They all shoveled people’s driveways. Then Mrs. Benson showed up to check on the state of her house the Malloys are renting after everything Wally told her, about them painting the garage and 'killing' someone with a hammer, and the boy’s sent Peter over with a note to see if they’re moving & the girls wrote back they’ll have to wait for summer to find out! & did they notice it's snowing and the girls stole their shovels and they’ll have to pay $5 to get them back!!
It ended on a funny note, with the girls winning the prank. Now the ball is back in the boys' court and the next prank is on them.
The Hatford’s and Malloy’s were at it again. More fun hijinks they get themselves into. I smiled and laughed out loud throughout this. This would be a perfect holiday read.
You never know what's gonna happen with this group. I love waiting to see which prank will come next and seeing each side win. I hoped it would end on a peaceful note with everyone getting along since this was a Christmas book, but it ended in another prank. It set up the next book, so I'm looking forward to reading that. Another funny, enjoyable read.