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Fabulous Five #13
The Christmas Countdown
Melanie Edwards and the rest of her superlative group pound the pavements in a rare display of civic duty when they attempt to prevent the Christmas Eve killings of animals at a local shelter.
120 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1989
35 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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July 29, 2020As 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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June 24, 2024The Christmas Countdown
Melanie vents to her friends at Bumpers about wanting a dog, but her parents think it’ll be too much trouble to have one. So Jana suggests she talk to Mona who works at an animal shelter part-time. Maybe she can find out how much they cost or they’ll be free and she can gult her parents into letting her keep the dog because it’s Christmas. Mona invites them to go with her the shelter. When they get there, they see all kinds of puppies and kittens. Mona introduces them to her favorite (a multicolored dog named Rainbow). Someone who works at the shelter says that if they want her they’d better get her because the shelter is too crowded and a lot of the older animals will be killed to make room for the newer ones. Melanie vows to find a way to stop this from happening.
The Fab Five meets at Melanie’s. They find out from Mona about 15 animals need to be adopted for 25.00. So they’ll need to raise 375. They plan to get their boyfriends to help out but still don’t know what they’ll do with fifteen cats and dogs. They all have ideas at Bumpers and each Fab Five member will have a part to play. Christie will talk to her dad (the principal) about letting them have a table to collect donations. Beth will make posters. Melanie will sit at the table and be over the sign-up sheet. She’ll also collect the donations that will be mailed to her address. Jana will see if her mom can get an ad placed in the classified section of the paper. Katie says she’ll see if her mom will write the ad. (The sign-up sheet will see if the kids want a cat or a dog). On the way home, a neighbor (Mrs. Miller ) says her dog Duchess is missing. Melanie again tries to talk to her mom. She even suggests they get an older dog so it won’t be as much trouble. She tries to explain that they need to save the animals at the shelter by Christmas Eve, but Mrs. Edwards isn’t budging. Melanie goes in her room and decides to call Shane so they can work together to set up the schedule of who’ll sit at the table to collect the donation money and when.
The first day they set the table up goes well. A lot of kids donate. Even Laura and the Fantastic Four give money. But there’s still the worry of what they’ll do with the animals, The lady over the shelter says she can’t release them unless they have homes for them and adoption papers will have to be filled out. They’ve made a total of forty dollars and thirty (something) cents. They have eight more days (and I’m surprised they didn’t see the OBVIOUS solution not to just take up money at the school but at the mall because it’s Christmas time.) But the ad is in the paper and hopefully that will help. They still don’t know of anyone who’ll take the animals in. None of the kids signed up for any of em. Mrs. Miller comes by and says she still hasn’t found Duchess. So, they form a search party (all except Katie and Tony who have to go home). But they still don’t find Mrs. Miller’s dog.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards find out about the ad. Mr. Edwards gives Melanie 10.00 and says she can help the animals as long as she finds places for them other than at their house. Garett goes with her the next day to photograph some of the dogs and cats. She and Mona end up taking one with Rainbow. Even though her parents told her explicitly she can’t have the dog, she still tells Mona that if she gets the dog she can come play with it wherever she wants. After they leave, Melanie thinks of how she and her friends talked about how it might be a good idea to keep the animals in someone’s basement. But the lady at the shelter is serious about the adoption papers. They make you promise to feed the dog, take it to the vet, return it if you no longer want it, and not to experiment on it. But then immediately she scratches that idea and the idea that she can keep them in the storage shed her dad has outside. (It isn’t heated). Things just aren’t turning out the way Mel wanted. They don’t have the money. Then
don’t have homes for the pets and it hasn’t brought her and Shane closer (and he hasn’t asked her out). Then she thinks of another idea. She rushes home and calls Shane.
She asks him if his parents (who are hippies) will take in the animals temporarily until they can find homes for them. He says they might but they still have to ask Igo. Igot isn’t fond of cats or dogs but agrees to take in the cats. Melanie invites the Fab Five over for a sleepover and tells them to bring a bunch of rags. She decides after all to sneak the dogs into her dad’s storage house. With the rags, they’ll be able to keep warm. So, the Fab Five sneak all the rags into the house. Now they just have to raise the money.
By Wednesday they’re up to 123,00 dollars but donations from the kids at school are starting to slow down, They have money for five pets. Melanie has an idea that maybe they can give Mrs. Miller one of the pets since Duchess hasn’t come back yet. John says it might be too soon. Melanie says she’ll ask her mom and then thinks if she can get her mom to go with her to pick out a pet for Mrs. Miller, she can manipulate her into falling for Rainbow like she has and then she’ll cave.
It takes them too long in my opinion but they finally realize it’s Christmas and they can probably get more money at the mall. They set up their poster by the pet store and get a dollar and fifty cents before a security guard tells them they need a permit. They’ll need to go to the main office, fill out a form, and have it reviewed. But it’ll take a couple of days and they don’t have that long. When they get back, Melanie has seven letters and gets a total of 33.00. But then Mrs. Miller comes over and says she got a call from someone who called her and found her dog dead. It had been hit. Melanie and her dad go out to get the dog and then take it home to bury it. Before they tell Mrs. Miller where, Melanie gives her a red carnation from a vase in their house.
Melanie thinks of another idea. She asks if John’s mom can give them a spot on TV and she loves the idea and says they can be on the isix o clock news. The kids are organized in a circle and each of the thirteen is given an animal to hold. The animals break loose from the kids and start to go after each other and it turns into chaos. Melanie thinks this has ruined their chances of being on TV but jon’s mother says it’ll be an even better look thanif the animals had behaved. Later, Melanie finds out that Mrs. Duchess broke her ankle and her mother says it might be a good time to get her a pet. So after the news, they go to the animal shelter. Melanie has convinced her mother and father to let her adopt Rainbow but then Mrs. Gram says someone else came earlier that saw her on the news and will be back tomorrow to adopt he
The next day at school, the Fab Five are excited. All the students have seen them on tv and they got some more donations. Later, Mel and her family take Jo Jo (the white shaggy dog they picked out for Mrs. Miller) to her and she gets emotional. Her nurse’s aide (Mrs. Crenshaw) speaks to Melanie about how it’s important for elderly people to have pets. Melanie asks if she knows about thirteen other
people that might want a pet and she says that with the help of other visiting nurses and aids she could probably come up with that many.
They get down to needing eighteen dollars for one more pet. The kids are now tapped Melanie decides they’ll continue to keep trying to get donations for the pets to give away to the elderly people past Christmas. (It’s a good idea but don’t they see how hard it is to keep getting money out of the students?) They all agree to go in pairs and drop off the animals to their new owners on Christmas Day. Mrs. Chrenshaw calls and says she got the thirteen names and then surprises Melanie by saying all the aids and visiting nurses were so impressed they’ll donate eighty-five dollars. So now all the animals will be adopted. On the day all the pets are taken to their new homes, Melanie goes to the back where all the animals were and wonders if Rainbow is gone yet. She’s then told one of the pets wasn’t adopted. She finds out it’s Rainbow and she wasn’t adopted because she’s pregnant.
On Christmas Day, she delievers eight puppies. Her father asks if she still has the list of people who wanted to adopt but her mother aks how they can even think of giving the puppies away.
My Thoughts
This was kinda cute. I heard this plot before tho. It’s one of those “cliché” ones. I’ve read it also in Girl Talk. I’m sure it was in others. I thought they waited a lil too long to try to get donations at the mall, but I didn’t know that you needed a permit to take up donations. So. I thought that continuing to raise the money to get animals for elderly people was a commendable idea, but I think they might want to expand because these are middle school students. Most of them don’t have jobs so they saw how quickly they’re money was limited. Unless they’re just hoping on getting the kids spare change every now and then. But they have to remember this was during *Christmas* time. They might not can get forty or even thirteen dollars on a week-to-week basis. They might actually want to consider getting that mall permit. I’m glad it worked out and Melaine got Rainbow but EIGHT PUPPIES!? I was fooled for the longest thinking Rainbow was a puppy. We’ll see how long Mrs. Edwards thinks those puppies are so adobrale when they start messing up her floors and tearing up her house. But it was heartwarming! Melanie got Rainbow. Mrs. Miller got Jo=Jo. All the animals got homes. All the elderly people got pets. This definitely had a Christmas feel too it. Even with the little things about it like the cookies and the gingerbread men Mrs. Edwards was baking. It kinda reminds me of how my aunt prides herself on how we each got a *special present one y ear. That was a present that we were told no we couldn’t have (so we weren’t expecting it and were a little disappointed). Then on Christmas, we’d go over to my grandparents house and there it would be under the tree (sometimes wrapped, sometimes not and already put together). Good times!
Rating: 7
Melanie vents to her friends at Bumpers about wanting a dog, but her parents think it’ll be too much trouble to have one. So Jana suggests she talk to Mona who works at an animal shelter part-time. Maybe she can find out how much they cost or they’ll be free and she can gult her parents into letting her keep the dog because it’s Christmas. Mona invites them to go with her the shelter. When they get there, they see all kinds of puppies and kittens. Mona introduces them to her favorite (a multicolored dog named Rainbow). Someone who works at the shelter says that if they want her they’d better get her because the shelter is too crowded and a lot of the older animals will be killed to make room for the newer ones. Melanie vows to find a way to stop this from happening.
The Fab Five meets at Melanie’s. They find out from Mona about 15 animals need to be adopted for 25.00. So they’ll need to raise 375. They plan to get their boyfriends to help out but still don’t know what they’ll do with fifteen cats and dogs. They all have ideas at Bumpers and each Fab Five member will have a part to play. Christie will talk to her dad (the principal) about letting them have a table to collect donations. Beth will make posters. Melanie will sit at the table and be over the sign-up sheet. She’ll also collect the donations that will be mailed to her address. Jana will see if her mom can get an ad placed in the classified section of the paper. Katie says she’ll see if her mom will write the ad. (The sign-up sheet will see if the kids want a cat or a dog). On the way home, a neighbor (Mrs. Miller ) says her dog Duchess is missing. Melanie again tries to talk to her mom. She even suggests they get an older dog so it won’t be as much trouble. She tries to explain that they need to save the animals at the shelter by Christmas Eve, but Mrs. Edwards isn’t budging. Melanie goes in her room and decides to call Shane so they can work together to set up the schedule of who’ll sit at the table to collect the donation money and when.
The first day they set the table up goes well. A lot of kids donate. Even Laura and the Fantastic Four give money. But there’s still the worry of what they’ll do with the animals, The lady over the shelter says she can’t release them unless they have homes for them and adoption papers will have to be filled out. They’ve made a total of forty dollars and thirty (something) cents. They have eight more days (and I’m surprised they didn’t see the OBVIOUS solution not to just take up money at the school but at the mall because it’s Christmas time.) But the ad is in the paper and hopefully that will help. They still don’t know of anyone who’ll take the animals in. None of the kids signed up for any of em. Mrs. Miller comes by and says she still hasn’t found Duchess. So, they form a search party (all except Katie and Tony who have to go home). But they still don’t find Mrs. Miller’s dog.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards find out about the ad. Mr. Edwards gives Melanie 10.00 and says she can help the animals as long as she finds places for them other than at their house. Garett goes with her the next day to photograph some of the dogs and cats. She and Mona end up taking one with Rainbow. Even though her parents told her explicitly she can’t have the dog, she still tells Mona that if she gets the dog she can come play with it wherever she wants. After they leave, Melanie thinks of how she and her friends talked about how it might be a good idea to keep the animals in someone’s basement. But the lady at the shelter is serious about the adoption papers. They make you promise to feed the dog, take it to the vet, return it if you no longer want it, and not to experiment on it. But then immediately she scratches that idea and the idea that she can keep them in the storage shed her dad has outside. (It isn’t heated). Things just aren’t turning out the way Mel wanted. They don’t have the money. Then
don’t have homes for the pets and it hasn’t brought her and Shane closer (and he hasn’t asked her out). Then she thinks of another idea. She rushes home and calls Shane.
She asks him if his parents (who are hippies) will take in the animals temporarily until they can find homes for them. He says they might but they still have to ask Igo. Igot isn’t fond of cats or dogs but agrees to take in the cats. Melanie invites the Fab Five over for a sleepover and tells them to bring a bunch of rags. She decides after all to sneak the dogs into her dad’s storage house. With the rags, they’ll be able to keep warm. So, the Fab Five sneak all the rags into the house. Now they just have to raise the money.
By Wednesday they’re up to 123,00 dollars but donations from the kids at school are starting to slow down, They have money for five pets. Melanie has an idea that maybe they can give Mrs. Miller one of the pets since Duchess hasn’t come back yet. John says it might be too soon. Melanie says she’ll ask her mom and then thinks if she can get her mom to go with her to pick out a pet for Mrs. Miller, she can manipulate her into falling for Rainbow like she has and then she’ll cave.
It takes them too long in my opinion but they finally realize it’s Christmas and they can probably get more money at the mall. They set up their poster by the pet store and get a dollar and fifty cents before a security guard tells them they need a permit. They’ll need to go to the main office, fill out a form, and have it reviewed. But it’ll take a couple of days and they don’t have that long. When they get back, Melanie has seven letters and gets a total of 33.00. But then Mrs. Miller comes over and says she got a call from someone who called her and found her dog dead. It had been hit. Melanie and her dad go out to get the dog and then take it home to bury it. Before they tell Mrs. Miller where, Melanie gives her a red carnation from a vase in their house.
Melanie thinks of another idea. She asks if John’s mom can give them a spot on TV and she loves the idea and says they can be on the isix o clock news. The kids are organized in a circle and each of the thirteen is given an animal to hold. The animals break loose from the kids and start to go after each other and it turns into chaos. Melanie thinks this has ruined their chances of being on TV but jon’s mother says it’ll be an even better look thanif the animals had behaved. Later, Melanie finds out that Mrs. Duchess broke her ankle and her mother says it might be a good time to get her a pet. So after the news, they go to the animal shelter. Melanie has convinced her mother and father to let her adopt Rainbow but then Mrs. Gram says someone else came earlier that saw her on the news and will be back tomorrow to adopt he
The next day at school, the Fab Five are excited. All the students have seen them on tv and they got some more donations. Later, Mel and her family take Jo Jo (the white shaggy dog they picked out for Mrs. Miller) to her and she gets emotional. Her nurse’s aide (Mrs. Crenshaw) speaks to Melanie about how it’s important for elderly people to have pets. Melanie asks if she knows about thirteen other
people that might want a pet and she says that with the help of other visiting nurses and aids she could probably come up with that many.
They get down to needing eighteen dollars for one more pet. The kids are now tapped Melanie decides they’ll continue to keep trying to get donations for the pets to give away to the elderly people past Christmas. (It’s a good idea but don’t they see how hard it is to keep getting money out of the students?) They all agree to go in pairs and drop off the animals to their new owners on Christmas Day. Mrs. Chrenshaw calls and says she got the thirteen names and then surprises Melanie by saying all the aids and visiting nurses were so impressed they’ll donate eighty-five dollars. So now all the animals will be adopted. On the day all the pets are taken to their new homes, Melanie goes to the back where all the animals were and wonders if Rainbow is gone yet. She’s then told one of the pets wasn’t adopted. She finds out it’s Rainbow and she wasn’t adopted because she’s pregnant.
On Christmas Day, she delievers eight puppies. Her father asks if she still has the list of people who wanted to adopt but her mother aks how they can even think of giving the puppies away.
My Thoughts
This was kinda cute. I heard this plot before tho. It’s one of those “cliché” ones. I’ve read it also in Girl Talk. I’m sure it was in others. I thought they waited a lil too long to try to get donations at the mall, but I didn’t know that you needed a permit to take up donations. So. I thought that continuing to raise the money to get animals for elderly people was a commendable idea, but I think they might want to expand because these are middle school students. Most of them don’t have jobs so they saw how quickly they’re money was limited. Unless they’re just hoping on getting the kids spare change every now and then. But they have to remember this was during *Christmas* time. They might not can get forty or even thirteen dollars on a week-to-week basis. They might actually want to consider getting that mall permit. I’m glad it worked out and Melaine got Rainbow but EIGHT PUPPIES!? I was fooled for the longest thinking Rainbow was a puppy. We’ll see how long Mrs. Edwards thinks those puppies are so adobrale when they start messing up her floors and tearing up her house. But it was heartwarming! Melanie got Rainbow. Mrs. Miller got Jo=Jo. All the animals got homes. All the elderly people got pets. This definitely had a Christmas feel too it. Even with the little things about it like the cookies and the gingerbread men Mrs. Edwards was baking. It kinda reminds me of how my aunt prides herself on how we each got a *special present one y ear. That was a present that we were told no we couldn’t have (so we weren’t expecting it and were a little disappointed). Then on Christmas, we’d go over to my grandparents house and there it would be under the tree (sometimes wrapped, sometimes not and already put together). Good times!
Rating: 7
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2024
I never got into the series, but enjoyed this read cause I love Christmas stories. I would have loved a dog that looked like Rainbow
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