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Pen Pals #16
Boy Crazy
With spring in the air and the Foxes of Suite 3-D acting strangely, the girls find themselves at each other's throats over a gorgeous and rich new pen pal, Paul Grant, and it is up to Shanon to get them back together again
- GenresChildrens
119 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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!
February 24, 2025
Boy Crazy (Pen Pals)
Amy and Palmer are feuding because Palmer broke Amy up with Emmitt in the last book. Palmer is trying to get Germaine and Reid (who?) pen pals. Hold up! I wouldn’t give Germaine a bucket of water if her dorm room was on fire. In Too Cute for Words, did Palmer forget she tried to STEAL Simmie. She’s excited about a concert coming up that she wants Sam to take her too.
Max gets upset because Paul writes her this over-the-top letter saying how he’s in love with her. (Well infatuated by her). TOO SOON PAUL! Max suggests a turtle to Jose as a pet and feels good about it. Not so much about what to tell Paul. Meanwhile, Reid and Germaine turn their noses up at all the letters from boys they get and diss Sam’s letter (because he can’t take her to the concert and instead invites her to go bowling) when Palmer tries to impress her. Palmer then tries to impress them again with Paul’s letter (which she stole from Max) and both girls say they know him, but aren’t impressed with him. Then they tell Palmer if she’s smart, she’ll make her move on him, because he’s rich. And we know this is all it takes to get Palmer OPEN!
It doesn’t help that Amy’s soccer team is winning and Palmer’s tennis team is losing. Georgette mentions she should play with Sam because he’s been taking lessons (umm YEAH how would she know this), but Palmer is already over Sam and thinks the rest of the Foxes hate her. Amy gets pissed off when she finds Reid in her room with her letters to John (Palmer suggested him as a pen pal to her) and angry words are exchanged.
Palmer decides “help” Paul win Max over but all the while she'strying to get him for herself. I’m gonna skip over mentions of Shannon and Lisa as I’m sick of this plot. All we need to know is she’s still helping her deal with her parent’s separation. Max decides to invite the Foxes with her to pick out Jose’s turtle, but when she goes to find Palmer (who they can’t find) she notices Paul’s letter. She doesn’t think anything of it and that Palmer found it and was gonna return it to her.
In town, they predictably run into Sam who says Palmer hasn’t written him, and Gracie gets loose. While making posers that night, Max decides on the perfect gift for Maggie and Dan’s baby (a teddy bear). Palmer gets excited because for a minute she and Amy were ok, and Rain and Paul both wrote her. Palmer suggest to Paul that the way to Max’s heart is through her Dad (knowing full well how Max feels about people trying to get close to her because of her Dad’s fame. She also asks for a picture of him.
His next letter confesses to Max that someone else wrote the first letter and then follows Palmer’s advice. Max of course gets upset and says she doesn’t want anything to do with him. She happily shows his picture to her new friends, but hasn’t yet asked her parents if she can spend some weeks on Germaine’s yatch. Amy decides to write Emmitt, Palmer gets busted when Amy delivers a letter to Palmer from Paul saying he’ll be her pen pal because Max is a snob. But Max doesn’t say anything because she did say she hated Paul. Sam then shows up to deliver a pizza and he dumps Palmer. Palmer moves in with Germaine because Amy and Max are mad at her.
Amy says she can’t be trusted and later she gets a letter from Paul that says he got an anonymous letter saying the same thing. But she figures out it’s Germaine when she’s all up under him at Amy’s game. Palmer and Amy make up. Max and Paul make up. Palmer and Max make up. Paul finds Gracie and Amy gets a admiring letter from a guy named Nikos. All is well is Suite 4D.
My Thoughts:
RIDICULOUS! They all annoyed me in this one. Let’s go down the line. (Palmer) Again why do they keep giving this b chances? Palmer is just as much a psychopath as Jessica Wakefield! GOOD FOR YOU SAM! You walked away. It just took you too long. You saw who she was in (Sam the Sham). Did you REALLY think she’d change?
Let’s review in Book 2 (Too Cute for Words) she does the SAME THING. She goes behind Amy’s back and writes to Simmie. Only to get him and have him dump her for a girl he shows up with at a party. She’s never liked John who was her penpal once (Too Cute for Words) but then she dropped him to get to Simmie. Now she’s stealing him again from Amy (although technically he isn’t Amy’s anymore) to give to some random character named Reid. She has Sam, but then she’s also writing Rain (Max’s cousin which I guess there’s no rule you can’t write to two people) but she told Sam she’d be his girlfriend in (Dream Holiday). So, if you have a boyfriend, you really don’t need to be writing to a player in hopes that he’ll be yours exclusively.
But not only is Palmer materialistic she’s kinda not that bright. We see that when she tries to throw her pen pals (boyfriends) up in other chicks faces and is totally clueless when they (Germaine) tries each time to make a play for them. She then goes after Max’s pen pal thinking that she’s “helping her”. I’m surprised she hasn’t gone after Rob. But then she did offer him to Max. And they accept her apologies over and over and over again! I'd be so done and OVER Palmer.
(Georgette) I’ve come to the conclusion that Georgette is just SHADY as all get out! Did it escape anyone else’s attention that she sure did know a lot about Sam to have just gotten to meet him about a book ago.
(Sam) Out of all Palmer’s pen pals I liked him the most. He seemed to be a decent guy. But in this book, he’s not even broken up with Palmer and now we hear he’s writing to her little sister. YEAH! What is that all about? Not cool Sam. I can’t hate you for moving on from Palmer, but with her *sister*.
(Max) I don’t know. While I get what it can be like to be intimidated by someone you REALLY (really) want bad, Max kinda put the whole thing on herself because she kept running away from Paul. Yes the letter was WAY to over the top but if someone says you’re the most gorgeous person they ever meet, would you really not wanna write them back and put off writing them back for that reason? Even though true it’s a little weird to hear it when you hardly know someone. I actually applaud Max for being suspicious. But if it hadn’t have been Palmer it could have easily been some other girl had she waited around to long!
(Shannon)’s obsession I ‘m not even gonna discuss. And I already knew as soon as Maggie let them take Gracie, she was gonna break loose. But I really did think the Doberman was gonna eat her (or bite her).
Rating: 5
Amy and Palmer are feuding because Palmer broke Amy up with Emmitt in the last book. Palmer is trying to get Germaine and Reid (who?) pen pals. Hold up! I wouldn’t give Germaine a bucket of water if her dorm room was on fire. In Too Cute for Words, did Palmer forget she tried to STEAL Simmie. She’s excited about a concert coming up that she wants Sam to take her too.
Max gets upset because Paul writes her this over-the-top letter saying how he’s in love with her. (Well infatuated by her). TOO SOON PAUL! Max suggests a turtle to Jose as a pet and feels good about it. Not so much about what to tell Paul. Meanwhile, Reid and Germaine turn their noses up at all the letters from boys they get and diss Sam’s letter (because he can’t take her to the concert and instead invites her to go bowling) when Palmer tries to impress her. Palmer then tries to impress them again with Paul’s letter (which she stole from Max) and both girls say they know him, but aren’t impressed with him. Then they tell Palmer if she’s smart, she’ll make her move on him, because he’s rich. And we know this is all it takes to get Palmer OPEN!
It doesn’t help that Amy’s soccer team is winning and Palmer’s tennis team is losing. Georgette mentions she should play with Sam because he’s been taking lessons (umm YEAH how would she know this), but Palmer is already over Sam and thinks the rest of the Foxes hate her. Amy gets pissed off when she finds Reid in her room with her letters to John (Palmer suggested him as a pen pal to her) and angry words are exchanged.
Palmer decides “help” Paul win Max over but all the while she'strying to get him for herself. I’m gonna skip over mentions of Shannon and Lisa as I’m sick of this plot. All we need to know is she’s still helping her deal with her parent’s separation. Max decides to invite the Foxes with her to pick out Jose’s turtle, but when she goes to find Palmer (who they can’t find) she notices Paul’s letter. She doesn’t think anything of it and that Palmer found it and was gonna return it to her.
In town, they predictably run into Sam who says Palmer hasn’t written him, and Gracie gets loose. While making posers that night, Max decides on the perfect gift for Maggie and Dan’s baby (a teddy bear). Palmer gets excited because for a minute she and Amy were ok, and Rain and Paul both wrote her. Palmer suggest to Paul that the way to Max’s heart is through her Dad (knowing full well how Max feels about people trying to get close to her because of her Dad’s fame. She also asks for a picture of him.
His next letter confesses to Max that someone else wrote the first letter and then follows Palmer’s advice. Max of course gets upset and says she doesn’t want anything to do with him. She happily shows his picture to her new friends, but hasn’t yet asked her parents if she can spend some weeks on Germaine’s yatch. Amy decides to write Emmitt, Palmer gets busted when Amy delivers a letter to Palmer from Paul saying he’ll be her pen pal because Max is a snob. But Max doesn’t say anything because she did say she hated Paul. Sam then shows up to deliver a pizza and he dumps Palmer. Palmer moves in with Germaine because Amy and Max are mad at her.
Amy says she can’t be trusted and later she gets a letter from Paul that says he got an anonymous letter saying the same thing. But she figures out it’s Germaine when she’s all up under him at Amy’s game. Palmer and Amy make up. Max and Paul make up. Palmer and Max make up. Paul finds Gracie and Amy gets a admiring letter from a guy named Nikos. All is well is Suite 4D.
My Thoughts:
RIDICULOUS! They all annoyed me in this one. Let’s go down the line. (Palmer) Again why do they keep giving this b chances? Palmer is just as much a psychopath as Jessica Wakefield! GOOD FOR YOU SAM! You walked away. It just took you too long. You saw who she was in (Sam the Sham). Did you REALLY think she’d change?
Let’s review in Book 2 (Too Cute for Words) she does the SAME THING. She goes behind Amy’s back and writes to Simmie. Only to get him and have him dump her for a girl he shows up with at a party. She’s never liked John who was her penpal once (Too Cute for Words) but then she dropped him to get to Simmie. Now she’s stealing him again from Amy (although technically he isn’t Amy’s anymore) to give to some random character named Reid. She has Sam, but then she’s also writing Rain (Max’s cousin which I guess there’s no rule you can’t write to two people) but she told Sam she’d be his girlfriend in (Dream Holiday). So, if you have a boyfriend, you really don’t need to be writing to a player in hopes that he’ll be yours exclusively.
But not only is Palmer materialistic she’s kinda not that bright. We see that when she tries to throw her pen pals (boyfriends) up in other chicks faces and is totally clueless when they (Germaine) tries each time to make a play for them. She then goes after Max’s pen pal thinking that she’s “helping her”. I’m surprised she hasn’t gone after Rob. But then she did offer him to Max. And they accept her apologies over and over and over again! I'd be so done and OVER Palmer.
(Georgette) I’ve come to the conclusion that Georgette is just SHADY as all get out! Did it escape anyone else’s attention that she sure did know a lot about Sam to have just gotten to meet him about a book ago.
(Sam) Out of all Palmer’s pen pals I liked him the most. He seemed to be a decent guy. But in this book, he’s not even broken up with Palmer and now we hear he’s writing to her little sister. YEAH! What is that all about? Not cool Sam. I can’t hate you for moving on from Palmer, but with her *sister*.
(Max) I don’t know. While I get what it can be like to be intimidated by someone you REALLY (really) want bad, Max kinda put the whole thing on herself because she kept running away from Paul. Yes the letter was WAY to over the top but if someone says you’re the most gorgeous person they ever meet, would you really not wanna write them back and put off writing them back for that reason? Even though true it’s a little weird to hear it when you hardly know someone. I actually applaud Max for being suspicious. But if it hadn’t have been Palmer it could have easily been some other girl had she waited around to long!
(Shannon)’s obsession I ‘m not even gonna discuss. And I already knew as soon as Maggie let them take Gracie, she was gonna break loose. But I really did think the Doberman was gonna eat her (or bite her).
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2019
This book drove me bonkers. I really wanted to reach into the pages and strangle Palmer and slap Maxie. I honestly think this is the first book I’ve read where I didn’t like a single character.
May 1, 2024
Coming-of-age tale about the complexities of adolescence with humor and heart. Readers will relate to the protagonist's journey of self-discovery and first love. 🥹
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews