The Trouble With Patti

Sleepover Friends #22

by Susan Saunders

Is Patti playing dumb? Children's novel.

Genres: Young Adult

86 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

Reviews

[Tiffany Spencer]

The Trouble with Patti
Patti’s uncle Nick is visiting and he knows all kinds of neat science tricks. HE shows the Sleepover Friends how to bounce an egg (the trick is soaking it in vinegar for a day), make a magnifier out of a drop of water on a clear, glass, plate (its curved shape magnifies everything like a lens), then he shows them, jpw to separate salt and pepper by r putting them in a glass of water the pepper will rise. The salt will sink), and how to then he shows how a drop of detergent can make food dye spread in a glass of milk. Horace tries to show Lauren a volcano and it explodes all over him. Uncle Nick sends them off while he and Horace clean up by not soon after they hear a CRASH. Horace and Uncle Nick tried to make exploding bubbles, slipped on the liquid, and broke a bunch of dishes.

They discuss Uncle Nick being a klutz. Patti says it’s gotten worse since he broke up with his girlfriend Maureen. He took some time off from his job in France to come to the US to propose to her, but she turned him down. She said she didn’t want to move to Europe so that’s why he’s there with the Jenkins. So now he’s either been accident-prone or moppy. Stephanie suggests they find him a girlfriend. Patti feels funny she brought it up, but Stephanie says if they do it right, he’ll think it was his idea. She says they have to think of women in the same age group and that have something in common with him and eliminate the others. Kate comes up with Lucy Wilder whose a sales girl at “Just Juniors”. Cute, great dresser, great personality. But would they be compatible? They don’t know anything about Lucy’s interests. Patty says Uncle Nick’s hobby is “Oddjob” (a robot he put together in his spare time). He likes photography and music. But Lucy is always playing heavy metal and Uncle Nick likes golden oldies. Then they’re interrupted by a knock on the door. Uncle Nick and Horace have a new demonstration for “Odd Job”.

“Odd Job” can make bubbles with wires. Uncle Nick is having fun and Kate says he’s capable of working out his own problems, But she can’t get the words out fast enough before he trips over the rug and falls flat on his face. Water splashes from out of his bucket and drenches Stephanie. They decide to introduce Lucy to Uncle Nick tomorrow. Even if they have to drag him to the mall. In case, this doesn’t work they try to come up with a “backup plan”. So they go through the ‘Round Up” which is a yearbook with all the students and teachers. They pick up Mrs. Stienforth (the first-grade teacher), The other teachers are unavailable, married, engaged, or dating. Then they start talking about the Science Bowl (briefly). Then they also pick the art teacher (Mrs. Gilberto).

The next morning, Uncle Nick agrees to go with them easily enough when they tell him the mall has cheese and anchovy pizza (his favorite). Lucy seems attracted to Uncle Nick that is until the girls offer her some of the chocolate almonds they bought and she says she’ll have some of Nicks. But she opens the bag that Nick has that contains dead insects for Horace. And that’s the end of that attraction.

Mrs. Wainwright (the principal) is there instead of Mrs. Med. She tells them their teacher had to have emergency surgery to remove her appendix and they’ll have a substitute. Mrs, Chipley. All the boys seem to approve. Her red hair is in a French braid. They think she’s going to start off with introductions. She starts them off with a math quiz and then the circulatory system (which no one’s really studied). The only one who likes her is Carla. Henry is sent to the office for flicking a rubber band (which he says is an accident). Something they say Mrs. Mead wouldn’t do. She also gives them a ton of homework. By the end of the day, the boys decide to go to Charlie’s to drown their day in Coke floats and invite the girls, but they all have plans. Stephanie’s forgot all about her plan to hook up Uncle Nick with the art teacher, but she says she’ll think of something. Some of the other girls notice (and the Sleepover Friends) how much Carla is sucking up to Mrs. Chipley (which equals the kiss of death popularity-wise).

Stephanie comes up with the idea they’ll invite Nick to come look at the mural in the new art studio. Thursday and Patti says she can try but she thinks he suspected they were up to something when they took him to the mall. In class, Mrs. Chipley calls out Patti for getting an A on her math quiz and writing an exceptional paper. She goes on and on and on about what a model student Patti is. This is something in the beginning of the story it praised Mrs. Mead for not doing (making students seem not too smart or too overly smart0. This embarrasses Patti so much that by the end of the day, she takes off before Mrs. Chipley can say anything else to her.

Patti has a plan to get Mrs. Chipley off her case. At math, she’s called to go to the board to work out problem. Patti does the problem wrong on purpose. Carla is more than happy to correct Patti’s mistake. In science, she can’t get the simplest fact right. In reading, she acts like she can’t read. Lauren tells her she’s making a big mistake. The boys definitely buy it. By Wednesday, Mrs. Chipley is fed up and asks to see Patti after school. She tells her friends she just asked if she was having any problems. Patti says no and then she gives her a slip to give her parents. She says she’ll give the note to Uncle Nick, but she won’t stop pretending to be dumb for seven more days.

The note says she’s worried about the deterioration of Patti’s performance and it says she wants to meet with them. Uncle Nick isn’t mad tho, He’s more surprised. But he’s not getting any better. Patti gets asked to take part of the Science Bowl by two sixth-grade girls. There will be a camera crew filming for it to appear on a tv show. Mrs. Chipley doesn’t call on Patti at all that day. In fact, she seems to lighten up on the class. Patti is freaked out about doing the Bowl intead of all those people. She says she won’t do it. Lindsey (one of the sixth-grade girls) says if she doesn’t they’ll have to forfeit. Patti decides to do it after all.

Uncle Nick goes to the meeting and is vague about it but says “they’ll work it out”. He’s whistling a lot now and hasn’t broken anything. Uncle Nick shows up and the girls notice he waves to “The Chipper”. The rules are announced and the trophy is shown. Dr. Know is the host of ceremonies. There’s a tie both Hampton and Riverhurt get eighty. Patti wins the tiebreaker. Harriett, Lindsey, and Patti’s names will get engraved on the trophy and it’ll be displayed in a case outside the principal's office. “The Chipper” congratulates Patti, surprisingly knows their names, and tells Nick his niece is special. They don’t have to look any further for Uncle Nick to date. “The Chipper” whispers she’ll see him at seven. The art teacher (Mrs. Gilberto) is flirting with one of the guys on the camera crew. Henry (a boy in their class) tells Patti “Great Save!” and Lauren knows what her next Truth or Date question will be for Patti at their next sleepover. She might even make brownies with Congratulations on them.

My Thoughts
Normally books like this annoy me highly. This man just got dumped. LET HIM BREATH before you go trying to match make. People do not need people hooking them up with who THEY think they should be with. However, with this book, I’m going to make an exception because the Sleep Over Friends are in the fourth grade. I think their intentions were good and they’re just what10? This is something I would expect of kids. But Uncle Nick moved QUICK! He just got dumped and already he’s dating someone else. Don’t cha just LOVE how that happens in books? Not so much in RAL life. So he definitely didn’t need the Sleepover Friend’s help. Lucy could have been a little more understanding tho and at least given the man a chance to explain that the dead insects weren’t his. Not that I think she would have stayed interested if he’d went to rambling off science experiments to her but hey I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Geeky guys may not *seem* appealing but you will NEVER EVER find a more faithful companion and partner. So, I think she should have let that one little thing slip, and maybe if she asked him out she would have been pleasantly surprised. He seemed like a decent guy. Just a little klutzy. But I don’t know too many uncles that would have taken pre-teen girls shopping. Mine certainly wouldn’t have. Are you kidding?

Rating: 5

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you have to wonder who did these covers, and sometimes it's also more fun to make jokes about the covers rather than remember what this book was actually about. For some reason I feel like "The Trouble with Patti" was that she had a learning disability, but maybe it's because she looks like she's 35, while her friends are laughing at her and Kate is wearing a fugly hat. Lauren also has what looks like a mullet going on.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why, but I thought this book was a little boring, even though there were some great Sleepover Friends moments. Maybe it was all the science-y junk in there? Still, I liked Uncle Nick, it was nice to meet him even if he was a disaster lol.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of cute. Patti's parents are out if town and her Uncle Nick is taking care of her and Horace. Like everyone else in the family Nick is nerdy and teaches the girls science experiments. He is also very clumsy. The girls set out to fix him up with someone to disastrous effects. In b plot that as always blends with the main plot a new teacher is in town to substitute for Mrs. Mead who has to leave suddenly. Ms. Chipley is ruthless and nicknamed Chipper by the class. She picks Patti as her favourite after Patti writes a perfect essay and gets an A on a math quiz. Patti doesn't want to be the teacher's pet as everyone hates the Chipper and she doesn't want them to hate her too and so she begins to act dumb. This drop in performance leads to a note being sent to her home and Uncle Nick coming to talk to the teacher and the two plots collide. It ends with a science bowl, similar to that math competition Stacey did in the BSC and Patti deciding to be smart again and all is well with the world. As I said this one was cute. I loved Uncle Nick and his nerdy clumsiness. That and the fact that the covers of these books and pretty much all 80s tween series are kind of hilarious. I wish kindle used the original covers in this series. They are pure 80s art.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always hated the “pretend to be stupid” storylines in these 80s kids’ books and this one was no exception.

[Danika Gallen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but just not great. More like a 3.5