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Pen Pals #5
Sam the Sham
Palmer is delightfully distracted when she starts receiving letters from new pen pal Sam O'Leary, but she is furious when she finds out that he does not attend Ardsley Academy, as he had claimed.
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 18, 2018
Sam The Sham
PLOT: Palmer's looking for a new pen-pal after Simmie, and has tons of new prospects. After she discards the undesirables she comes to one that has promise from an Ardsley student Sam O Leery who is the lead singer of his own rock band The Fantasy. The thing is no-one at Ardsley seems to know who he is. While out at the mall Palmer runs into the same guy in the pictures working in a shoe store? So who is this Sam O Leery and what game is he playing? In other plots, Shannon gets in trouble for trying to help Palmer by using the school's computers and contacting John to find out more about Sam. Also, Palmer, Shannon, and Kate are influencing kids they tutor in a good way.
MY THOUGHTS:
FINALLY, FINALLY, Palmer gets told off not once but TWICE by Shannon and Sam. And it's WELL DESERVED! Sam's instincts were correct and I'm not even sure why he wanted her back. When she found out that he worked at a shoe store she was out of there. And it was the first thing out of her mouth to the other Foxes. If anything we can say at least she was honest with him. But then even still he gives her a chance. (SMH). Sam she's not going to change. She's already showing her true colors. You have been warned! I just don't know. And then what lesson are we supposed to take here? Ladies and girls if the guy you like lies to you about who he is then all he has to do is write you a love song and he's off the hook? Even though in the book of lies guys tell I don't know if lying about what school you go to would make the top 5. Although I suppose it's not a good prequel if the guy starts off with lies. I guess the other thing is we never know who we'll influence in life. And this part reminded me so much of a similar experience I had and it's something that stayed with me over the years of two little girl's I influenced a very LONG time ago.
RATING: 5 Sam the Sham is supposed to be about not characterizing or judging a person based on superficial reasoning (or just what you perceive). Palmer is into Sam because she thinks he's a rich, rock, star. Because Gabby is attention-deficient she calls her slow and doesn't want to work with her. Sam, in turn, thinks Palmer is a snob because she ran away and because she was bragging about his status. (Well actually that judgment call was well warranted). Even though the books always try so hard to point us in the direction that Palmer's more than that and underneath it all she's a good person, it just never seems to stick. It's really a decent lesson because you shouldn't look down on a person because of what you see on the outside based on what they do or do not have. And you also shouldn't want to be involved with a person according to what they DO have and not who they are.
PLOT: Palmer's looking for a new pen-pal after Simmie, and has tons of new prospects. After she discards the undesirables she comes to one that has promise from an Ardsley student Sam O Leery who is the lead singer of his own rock band The Fantasy. The thing is no-one at Ardsley seems to know who he is. While out at the mall Palmer runs into the same guy in the pictures working in a shoe store? So who is this Sam O Leery and what game is he playing? In other plots, Shannon gets in trouble for trying to help Palmer by using the school's computers and contacting John to find out more about Sam. Also, Palmer, Shannon, and Kate are influencing kids they tutor in a good way.
MY THOUGHTS:
FINALLY, FINALLY, Palmer gets told off not once but TWICE by Shannon and Sam. And it's WELL DESERVED! Sam's instincts were correct and I'm not even sure why he wanted her back. When she found out that he worked at a shoe store she was out of there. And it was the first thing out of her mouth to the other Foxes. If anything we can say at least she was honest with him. But then even still he gives her a chance. (SMH). Sam she's not going to change. She's already showing her true colors. You have been warned! I just don't know. And then what lesson are we supposed to take here? Ladies and girls if the guy you like lies to you about who he is then all he has to do is write you a love song and he's off the hook? Even though in the book of lies guys tell I don't know if lying about what school you go to would make the top 5. Although I suppose it's not a good prequel if the guy starts off with lies. I guess the other thing is we never know who we'll influence in life. And this part reminded me so much of a similar experience I had and it's something that stayed with me over the years of two little girl's I influenced a very LONG time ago.
RATING: 5 Sam the Sham is supposed to be about not characterizing or judging a person based on superficial reasoning (or just what you perceive). Palmer is into Sam because she thinks he's a rich, rock, star. Because Gabby is attention-deficient she calls her slow and doesn't want to work with her. Sam, in turn, thinks Palmer is a snob because she ran away and because she was bragging about his status. (Well actually that judgment call was well warranted). Even though the books always try so hard to point us in the direction that Palmer's more than that and underneath it all she's a good person, it just never seems to stick. It's really a decent lesson because you shouldn't look down on a person because of what you see on the outside based on what they do or do not have. And you also shouldn't want to be involved with a person according to what they DO have and not who they are.
September 8, 2019
I seriously couldn’t feel sorry for Palmer regardless of the situation she was faced with. She really is a spoilt little brat that deserved everything she got.
January 14, 2009
At first I thought I might have only read the first 4 books in this series (I got them at the library), but when I saw the title I knew I had read this one. Such a dumb title! This series was pretty dumb too, but hey, I was 11 years old. Give me a break.
September 28, 2010
Awesome
January 30, 2016
I loved this series when I was young - can't remember the age that I was - perhaps 11-13. I just know I loved these books!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews