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Fabulous Five #30
Sibling Rivalry
No one in Beth Barry's family takes her seriously--especially not her older sister Brittany. So when the Barrys go away on a skiing vacation, Beth is determined to prove she's just as mature as her sister. She doesn't have much luck, though, until an incident on the slopes shows just how mature she can be.
128 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1992
31 people want to read
About the author
Betsy Haynes
123 books109 followersABOUT ME
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
Maybe it's because my feisty grandma chased tarantulas around with a broom when we lived on an oil lease property when I was a baby that made me love danger and adventure. And maybe it was my father's spending nights as a trombonist with the bands of his day and his days spent drawing sketches that sparked my artistic side. Do you suppose that because my mother stood only four feet ten inches tall that I feel like a giant at five feet? And I'm sure my FBI (Full Blooded Italian) step-father, his seven brothers and sisters and their families are responsible for my LOVE of Italian food. That's who I am. Who are you?
My First Book, Peppy The Frog That I Wrote In The 2nd Grade
I'll always be a child at heart. Whenever I close my eyes, wonderful, funny, awful, embarrassing memories of middle school/junior high come flooding back to fill the pages of my contemporary novels. My childhood friendships and rivalries with old enemies all find their way into my books. I've even spied on my own kids for story ideas.
Unlike most kids who can't wait to grow up, I've gotten younger--at least my stories have. I've stepped into the world of 7 to 10 year olds.
I and my husband, Jim, live in Texas on Lake Lewisville north of Dallas. We are owned by our greyhound, Miller. Our favorite things to do are traveling the world and boating.
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June 6, 2024Sibling Rivalry
Beth’s family are going on a ski trip to Beth’s disappointment because it’s around the time of the Winter Carnival. It’s a big event in town that there are several events including a tug of war between the high school and junior high. A sculpture contest (I think) and a dance where the Snow Queen and King are chosen. But Mr. and Mrs. Barry aren’t hearing anything about Beth staying home. When they get there, the boys get a room together (Todd and Brian) and the girls get a room together (Beth, Alicia, and Brittany). Beth has to share a bed with Alicia which she isn’t happy about because Alicia is a restless sleeper. Brittany also immediately tries to hog most of the drawer space. But when she leaves Beth puts some of her things in the second drawer. Not long after this Brian and Brittany leave to find something to do and Beth is left with Todd and Alicia. She thinks the trip has GOT to get better.
While exploring the lodge, Beth, Todd, and Alicia find Brian and Britanny in the lobby with some girls about their age (Julie, Molly, and Sarah). There telling them about some things about the lodge. This is the room where everyone comes to warm up and the fire is keep going twenty-four seven. They have a band that plays every night and at night there’s night skiing-with lanterns-. The girls invite Brian and Brittany to go to the beginner’s class with them in the morning. Some “hot doggers” come in-guys that are always trying crazy stunts like coming down “The Jaws of Death (the wildest slope). This fascinates Todd and he and Alicia go over to them. So, Beth goes to talk to the teenagers and invites herself to come to the lessons. Brittany isn’t happy (and lets Beth know) but the other girls don’t seem to mind and invite her to go to the beginner’s lessons. Brittany teases Beth and suggest she take the “Tiny Tot” ski course-Beth smarts over this later at dinner and wonders why Brittany always treats her like a baby.
She vows to show her older siblings she’s just as mature as they are. The band starts to play and Beth’s parents are the first on the dance floor. A dark-haired boy comes over and Beth thinks he’s going to ask her to dance, but he asks Brittany. Beth wonders if it’s the hair. Another boy comes over “a hot dogger” and Beth thinks she doesn’t want to dance with him. Instead, he goes over to Todd and asks him to go to the video arcade. Mrs. Barry suggests Beth dance with her dad, but Beth thinks she’ll die of embarasement. She doesn’t want to hurt her dad’s feelings so she dances with him. Even tho she tries to get out of it by saying she’s got a stomach ache. To make it worse, the song is a slow song. Beth sees her brother dancing with Molly laughing at her.
Her father tells her he’s going upstairs to bed and tells her to watch her sister (well all of them) and then send her upstairs. A handsome guy walks into the room and he gets everyone’s attention. He looks older but Beth just wishes he’d ask her to dance. Julie says his name is Marcel and he’s the ski instructor. We can already see Brittany’s gonna make a move on him. The guy isn’t married so this means Brittany has the green light. He never asks anyone to dance but plenty of girls have asked him. Julie says he does dance with the girls if they ask him but doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in any of them. Brittany tries to get Marcel’s attention with her dancing. Beth gets fed up with being left ofut and goes upstairs-telling everyone she’s tired-.
At the skiing lesson, Marchel goes over how to put on their boots, how to fall, and how to get back up. Beth concentrates and tries to follow his directions. Brittany makes an ass of herself so he’ll help her. Then he teaches them walking (rather “gliding”). He also teaches them how to turn on their skis and how to do a side step. Then he takes them to the Bunny slope. Brittany is the first to go up the hill and Marcel gives her praise. He then teaches them how to (snow plow)? Beth wonders how he can be into her act. Beth is good at this and gets complimented on by Marcel. Brittany doesn’t hear it tho. She’s with the other girls and they’re all acting like airheads. Jana starts to think about how much she misses her friends. She’s lonely there and there’s no one there to talk to.
She decides to call Jana long distance but she’s not there. So she calls Melanie. She’s not there either. So she then calls Kaie and gets the answering machine. Todd is getting good at ski. Still, his parents warn him to slow down. He’s not as good as his new friends. Beth secretly wishes she were as good. That night, Brad asks Brittany to dance but she says she’s tired from the skiing. So,Beth asks him to dance. They slow dance but don’t talk during it and at the end of it he just thanks her. So not to face Brittany she walks out the room and sees Marcel in the game room. Molly comes in for a minute and tries to find out the scoop on Brian. Then he comes in and they leave to go on a walk. Marcel comes over to Beth and tells her how good she did on the lesson and he thinks she’ll do even better tomorrow. Then Brittany and her friends come in and Beth thinks that’s that.
Btiyysny bolfy sdkd him if they can come dance with them and he says they have time before the money. He’s going to watch a Bogart movie. Brittany makes it known she’d like to be invited to the movie. Marcel asks if she like Bogart also. Beth says sure. Odd, Jason, and Mike (his friends) ask Beth to borrow the money she’s saving for England to go visit Christy. They say they need it for the video games but Beth says no way. Marcel sees them and laughs. He tells her when they grow up they’ll feel differently about each other. Beth can’t believe he just called her a child. Then she says she’s turning in.
The next lesson, Beth makes it all the way done the snow plow without falling and Marcel again compliments her. It’s a new run and they spend the rest of the class practicing. Beth decides she loves the feeling of the cold air on her face. Bri Brittany tho ruins her high and tells her stop being a show off. Beth accidently falls on the slopes, knocks down half the class, and lands under the farm house. Marcel tells her she was smart to land under the house. Todd’s new friends give her a tip on how to bend their knees to go faster, but as she suspects its just so she can trust them to lend them money. Surprisingly later, Brittany invites Beth to play tennis. But she sees Marcel in the pool and suddenly she wants to swim. So just Brian and Molly go to play tennis. Beth wasn’t invited so she decides to go swmming.
All the girls are again showing off (their bodies) and trying to get Marcel’s attention. Then they start racing. Then they challenge him to see if he’s as good a swimmer as skier. He is (he does a perfect jack knife dive). Then he tells them he’ll see them tomorrow. He says good bye to Beth and she’s happy he knows her name. Brittany ells her it’s just because everyone was calling her name that morning. Julie tells her to leave Beth alone and they go back to swimming. Beth tho doesn’t care. He didn’t call her mademoiselle and told her he’d see her tomorrow. The next lesson is parallel skiing. The next afternoon, Brittany and her friends decide to go all the way to the top of the mountain and ski down. Beth wants to go to but Brttany is sick of her tagging along. Her friends convince her she might not get another chance. So, Brittany reluctantly says she can come. When they get to the top she sees Todd doing his thang and holding his own on the slopes (which makes her proud). Beth decides to separate from Brittany and her friends and meet up with them on the trail. She starts to wish the rest of her friends were there. Then she realizes when she doesn’t see anyone, Brittany must have sent her on another trail to get rid of her. So, she just skiies alone.
After a while the slope gets steeper and stepper. Then she realizes. It’s “The Jaws of Death”. She has to ski down it but how without killing herself. Then she remembers a slide move Marcel did. So slips a little and then stops. Slips a little and then stops. She keeps doing this down the ledges until she hears a voice. It’s Todd and he’s hurt. The other guys were ahead of him and when he tried to catch up he crashed and hurt his ankle. Beth realizes that it wasn’t Brittany’s fault. She was angry and distracted. She debates whether she should go and try to get help.
As it gets dark, Beth makes a burrow for them to sleep in to keep them covered from the cold. Marcel finds them and the ski partrol is called. They bring their sled and take him back to the restor. Beth skis down with instructions from Marcel. Brittany apologizes and Beth realizes she’s been treating Todd the way Brittany treats her. So she apologizes to him and offers to give him some money but he says he’s tired. We find out that Brian isn’t all that into Molly. He likes her but thinks s he’s too clingy and doesn’t know if he’ll write her. Marcel tells Beth he admires what she did and he thinks she’s more mature than her sister and his friends. She calls Jana and she tells her the winter carnival was canical because all the snow got melted. At night skiing, Marcell asks Beth to lead the procession.
My Thoughts
This one wasn’t good because it dragged! I just wasn’t interested in hearing about Brittany and her friends making fools of themselves over this guy. It reminds me of the Super Special BSC Winter Vacation where Stacy meets that guy Pierre and falls in love with him but it turns out he has a wife and a child. I kinfs expecting that to happen here. That he either have a girlfriend or be gay and have a boyfriend. It was also boring to read about Beth moping around all vacation. Another one of those books were either the friends or the couple act like it’s killing them to be apart for A COUPLE OF DAYS or weeks. Then over half this book was about skiing and that just wasn’t interesting to me either.
Rating: 5
Beth’s family are going on a ski trip to Beth’s disappointment because it’s around the time of the Winter Carnival. It’s a big event in town that there are several events including a tug of war between the high school and junior high. A sculpture contest (I think) and a dance where the Snow Queen and King are chosen. But Mr. and Mrs. Barry aren’t hearing anything about Beth staying home. When they get there, the boys get a room together (Todd and Brian) and the girls get a room together (Beth, Alicia, and Brittany). Beth has to share a bed with Alicia which she isn’t happy about because Alicia is a restless sleeper. Brittany also immediately tries to hog most of the drawer space. But when she leaves Beth puts some of her things in the second drawer. Not long after this Brian and Brittany leave to find something to do and Beth is left with Todd and Alicia. She thinks the trip has GOT to get better.
While exploring the lodge, Beth, Todd, and Alicia find Brian and Britanny in the lobby with some girls about their age (Julie, Molly, and Sarah). There telling them about some things about the lodge. This is the room where everyone comes to warm up and the fire is keep going twenty-four seven. They have a band that plays every night and at night there’s night skiing-with lanterns-. The girls invite Brian and Brittany to go to the beginner’s class with them in the morning. Some “hot doggers” come in-guys that are always trying crazy stunts like coming down “The Jaws of Death (the wildest slope). This fascinates Todd and he and Alicia go over to them. So, Beth goes to talk to the teenagers and invites herself to come to the lessons. Brittany isn’t happy (and lets Beth know) but the other girls don’t seem to mind and invite her to go to the beginner’s lessons. Brittany teases Beth and suggest she take the “Tiny Tot” ski course-Beth smarts over this later at dinner and wonders why Brittany always treats her like a baby.
She vows to show her older siblings she’s just as mature as they are. The band starts to play and Beth’s parents are the first on the dance floor. A dark-haired boy comes over and Beth thinks he’s going to ask her to dance, but he asks Brittany. Beth wonders if it’s the hair. Another boy comes over “a hot dogger” and Beth thinks she doesn’t want to dance with him. Instead, he goes over to Todd and asks him to go to the video arcade. Mrs. Barry suggests Beth dance with her dad, but Beth thinks she’ll die of embarasement. She doesn’t want to hurt her dad’s feelings so she dances with him. Even tho she tries to get out of it by saying she’s got a stomach ache. To make it worse, the song is a slow song. Beth sees her brother dancing with Molly laughing at her.
Her father tells her he’s going upstairs to bed and tells her to watch her sister (well all of them) and then send her upstairs. A handsome guy walks into the room and he gets everyone’s attention. He looks older but Beth just wishes he’d ask her to dance. Julie says his name is Marcel and he’s the ski instructor. We can already see Brittany’s gonna make a move on him. The guy isn’t married so this means Brittany has the green light. He never asks anyone to dance but plenty of girls have asked him. Julie says he does dance with the girls if they ask him but doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in any of them. Brittany tries to get Marcel’s attention with her dancing. Beth gets fed up with being left ofut and goes upstairs-telling everyone she’s tired-.
At the skiing lesson, Marchel goes over how to put on their boots, how to fall, and how to get back up. Beth concentrates and tries to follow his directions. Brittany makes an ass of herself so he’ll help her. Then he teaches them walking (rather “gliding”). He also teaches them how to turn on their skis and how to do a side step. Then he takes them to the Bunny slope. Brittany is the first to go up the hill and Marcel gives her praise. He then teaches them how to (snow plow)? Beth wonders how he can be into her act. Beth is good at this and gets complimented on by Marcel. Brittany doesn’t hear it tho. She’s with the other girls and they’re all acting like airheads. Jana starts to think about how much she misses her friends. She’s lonely there and there’s no one there to talk to.
She decides to call Jana long distance but she’s not there. So she calls Melanie. She’s not there either. So she then calls Kaie and gets the answering machine. Todd is getting good at ski. Still, his parents warn him to slow down. He’s not as good as his new friends. Beth secretly wishes she were as good. That night, Brad asks Brittany to dance but she says she’s tired from the skiing. So,Beth asks him to dance. They slow dance but don’t talk during it and at the end of it he just thanks her. So not to face Brittany she walks out the room and sees Marcel in the game room. Molly comes in for a minute and tries to find out the scoop on Brian. Then he comes in and they leave to go on a walk. Marcel comes over to Beth and tells her how good she did on the lesson and he thinks she’ll do even better tomorrow. Then Brittany and her friends come in and Beth thinks that’s that.
Btiyysny bolfy sdkd him if they can come dance with them and he says they have time before the money. He’s going to watch a Bogart movie. Brittany makes it known she’d like to be invited to the movie. Marcel asks if she like Bogart also. Beth says sure. Odd, Jason, and Mike (his friends) ask Beth to borrow the money she’s saving for England to go visit Christy. They say they need it for the video games but Beth says no way. Marcel sees them and laughs. He tells her when they grow up they’ll feel differently about each other. Beth can’t believe he just called her a child. Then she says she’s turning in.
The next lesson, Beth makes it all the way done the snow plow without falling and Marcel again compliments her. It’s a new run and they spend the rest of the class practicing. Beth decides she loves the feeling of the cold air on her face. Bri Brittany tho ruins her high and tells her stop being a show off. Beth accidently falls on the slopes, knocks down half the class, and lands under the farm house. Marcel tells her she was smart to land under the house. Todd’s new friends give her a tip on how to bend their knees to go faster, but as she suspects its just so she can trust them to lend them money. Surprisingly later, Brittany invites Beth to play tennis. But she sees Marcel in the pool and suddenly she wants to swim. So just Brian and Molly go to play tennis. Beth wasn’t invited so she decides to go swmming.
All the girls are again showing off (their bodies) and trying to get Marcel’s attention. Then they start racing. Then they challenge him to see if he’s as good a swimmer as skier. He is (he does a perfect jack knife dive). Then he tells them he’ll see them tomorrow. He says good bye to Beth and she’s happy he knows her name. Brittany ells her it’s just because everyone was calling her name that morning. Julie tells her to leave Beth alone and they go back to swimming. Beth tho doesn’t care. He didn’t call her mademoiselle and told her he’d see her tomorrow. The next lesson is parallel skiing. The next afternoon, Brittany and her friends decide to go all the way to the top of the mountain and ski down. Beth wants to go to but Brttany is sick of her tagging along. Her friends convince her she might not get another chance. So, Brittany reluctantly says she can come. When they get to the top she sees Todd doing his thang and holding his own on the slopes (which makes her proud). Beth decides to separate from Brittany and her friends and meet up with them on the trail. She starts to wish the rest of her friends were there. Then she realizes when she doesn’t see anyone, Brittany must have sent her on another trail to get rid of her. So, she just skiies alone.
After a while the slope gets steeper and stepper. Then she realizes. It’s “The Jaws of Death”. She has to ski down it but how without killing herself. Then she remembers a slide move Marcel did. So slips a little and then stops. Slips a little and then stops. She keeps doing this down the ledges until she hears a voice. It’s Todd and he’s hurt. The other guys were ahead of him and when he tried to catch up he crashed and hurt his ankle. Beth realizes that it wasn’t Brittany’s fault. She was angry and distracted. She debates whether she should go and try to get help.
As it gets dark, Beth makes a burrow for them to sleep in to keep them covered from the cold. Marcel finds them and the ski partrol is called. They bring their sled and take him back to the restor. Beth skis down with instructions from Marcel. Brittany apologizes and Beth realizes she’s been treating Todd the way Brittany treats her. So she apologizes to him and offers to give him some money but he says he’s tired. We find out that Brian isn’t all that into Molly. He likes her but thinks s he’s too clingy and doesn’t know if he’ll write her. Marcel tells Beth he admires what she did and he thinks she’s more mature than her sister and his friends. She calls Jana and she tells her the winter carnival was canical because all the snow got melted. At night skiing, Marcell asks Beth to lead the procession.
My Thoughts
This one wasn’t good because it dragged! I just wasn’t interested in hearing about Brittany and her friends making fools of themselves over this guy. It reminds me of the Super Special BSC Winter Vacation where Stacy meets that guy Pierre and falls in love with him but it turns out he has a wife and a child. I kinfs expecting that to happen here. That he either have a girlfriend or be gay and have a boyfriend. It was also boring to read about Beth moping around all vacation. Another one of those books were either the friends or the couple act like it’s killing them to be apart for A COUPLE OF DAYS or weeks. Then over half this book was about skiing and that just wasn’t interesting to me either.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 29, 2020 As a kid every Saturday we went to Kmart, and every Saturday my mom would let me buy one thing, and it was ALWAYS a fabulous five book. (The cover looks like a spiral notebook cover... I thought that was very clever)
I also managed to track down all the Taffy Sinclair books at a thrift store.
I wonder if this series is still at my parents I would definitely read them again.
I remember in the Taffy books Melanie was chubby and it make references to her eating brownies and then one day she was like NO i don't want the brownie... and then she got skinny.
This is a very vague memory... so don't quote me on this one, what you CAN quote me on is that Taffy had a crooked bicuspid, and Jana ate cream cheese and jam sandwiches,... which I tried because of her and they were DIS-GUS-TING, and I never trusted her again.
I also managed to track down all the Taffy Sinclair books at a thrift store.
I wonder if this series is still at my parents I would definitely read them again.
I remember in the Taffy books Melanie was chubby and it make references to her eating brownies and then one day she was like NO i don't want the brownie... and then she got skinny.
This is a very vague memory... so don't quote me on this one, what you CAN quote me on is that Taffy had a crooked bicuspid, and Jana ate cream cheese and jam sandwiches,... which I tried because of her and they were DIS-GUS-TING, and I never trusted her again.
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