Ainslee’s Reviews > Dawn and the We Love Kids Club > Status Update

--This is in reality a book about making sure to communicate properly. ACTUALLY I just realized that's the whole resolution of the We <3 Kids Club subplot so IT ACTUALLY IS THE LESSON??
--It's also a really strong lesson to not keep your credit cards strewn across your dresser.

--Dawn in this book says her dad is the nicest guy alive, and Mary Anne in SS#14 says he's a huge jerk, and both were ghostwritten by Lerangis so it's up to you the reader to decide! (Mary Anne is closer)
--Dawn's mom up to finding out about the engagement is like "I don't know WHY you would pull this stunt and fly here" and then afterwards is like "Oh. Gotcha."

--Dawn refers to the Pike triplets as "monsters" at one point in a way that I THINK was supposed to be kind of kidding but comes after they're jerks to Nicky, so who knows!
--Dawn's mom doesn't know Jack and Carol are engaged until Dawn tells her driving back from the airport in Stoneybrook, which feels like something JACK SHOULD'VE HAVE SAID ON THE PHONE?!

--Jeff tells Dawn after her crosscountry disaster that he would've gone to Stoneybrook too if she told him she was doing it (but never says anything bad about Carol so???).
--The We <3 Kids Club stuff (and Kristy's irritation that the BSC isn't get the same publicity) actually feels like the prototype for the whole of Mallory's Christmas Wish (including Dawn complaining about how boring filming is).

OTHER NOTES:
--Jack keeps his multiple credit cards on top of his dresser. What a maroon.
--Dawn pretends she's sick to her friends to have an excuse to go back home to pack and go to the airport, and they're Not Impressed when they find out (although there's no indicated lasting fallout).
--Kristy is an asshole in this book but thankfully never gets a full chapter (and Dawn's just like "That's our Kristy!").

There's actually a fair amount in this one of Dawn analyzing how love works and how alone and in your head you can feel about stuff, and how she feels like no one cares about her but ends up realizing that Carol feels that way too. It's kind of surprisingly mature! Despite the SUPER IMMATURE credit card theft! So it's... It's kind of worth it??

Dawn for her part does feel awful about creating that initial emotional burden for Carol (she recognizes that it must've felt HORRIBLE for Carol, which is nice) but never actually apologizes (which, she's 13, I'm not expecting her to do). And plus THIS way we get a minor engagment/marriage trilogy between this, #77, and SS#12.

Also, I remembered it as Jack immediately breaks up with Carol as a result, but in REALITY, it just creates enough stress and tension to bring a whole bunch of other issues to the fullfront. (Carol wants to go out more; Carol feels Jack values everyone including his ex-wife more than her; Jack doesn't feel Carol values his kids enough...)

OKAY SO actually this book is more bearable than I remember. Dawn stealing her dad's credit card info was cringy as hell when I was a seven-year-old and to this day horrifies me. That whole saga actually makes up just three chapters of this book (and I think is never mentioned again? Maybe?) but is so emotionally taxing that it kills the book for me.

Then the We <3 Kids Club ends up on the local news (in addition to the newspaper article that kicks the plot off), and there's a bunch of kids there to watch including Jeff, and the guy doing the interview apparently is a"fantastic mimic" who "put on a little act for us. (I could see Jeff in the crowd, looking at him in awe.)"