#54 - Mallory and the Dream Horse

Timeline
No timeline, but the weather is nice and nothing has been mentioned, so we can assume it is still spring, of their second 6th grade/8th grade year

Plot
Mallory and Jessi love horses. So much so that they lay around on Saturday afternoons talking about their dream horses. It's kind of weird and creepy. 

Mallory finds a flier for riding lessons, and her and Jessi both immediately freak out and plan to take them. Mallory convinces her parents by offering to pay for half, but Jessi's parents are a hard no and she can't convince them otherwise. So Mallory does it by herself. And holy fucking shit...she finds her dream horse. Pax is his name. And Mallory creepily brings his treats and like hugs him and makes out with him every class, even if she doesn't get to ride him. 

But the lessons aren't great. Her outfit is old and not professional and no one in her class wants to be her friend. She, like, creepily tries to make friends but it doesn't work. Mallory is just kind of creepy.  And she keeps calling Jessi to talk to her about it, but Jessi is annoyed that she's not taking the lessons so she basically quits talking to her, too. So Mallory is miserable. Then she falls off her horse, flat on her back and knocks the wind out of herself, so then not only is she miserable, but terrified of horses. She suffers through the rest of her class, and then learns the horrible fact that at the end of the session they have a horse show. 

She tries to keep it quiet, but somehow her parents and all her friends find out and attend. She gets to ride Pax, and she ends up getting sixth place! Her parents are so proud they offer to pay for all of the lessons from now on. But then Mal tells them how miserable she was, and they tell her the offer is on the table even if she wants to wait. Then Mal goes to make out with Pax and say goodbye to him.

While all of this is happening, her brothers and sisters are planning and executing a talent show in their backyard with the entire neighborhood. Oh, and Nina and Eleanor Marshall are babysat a lot in this book, and Nina is obsessed with her blanky. It's huge and she even takes it to school with her, and kids make fun of her. But then Dawn rips it while taking it out of the dryer and she shows Nina how she can hide it in her pocket. Problem solved.

Takeaways
Mallory, like, tries to force kids to be friends with her. She invites them over and gives them her phone number, but then no one calls her because they all go to the same school and they don't understand why this creepy, badly dressed girl is so desperate to be their friend. And to be honest, I don't get it either. Between babysitting, the BSC and her family, it's not like she has spare time. But I guess when you are young, you always want more friends. I am just old and my friend capacity is full. 

Jessi is also kind of a big baby about the whole thing. Like yeah, her parents told her no, but then she pretty much refuses to let Mallory talk about it at all. It's not Mallory's fault your parents said no, Jessi. Also why would a ballerina want to risk their body by riding on a horse?

The whole Nina/Blanky story line makes no sense. 1. This blanket has never been brought up, and they have been babysitting that family for awhile. 2. Why would her parents even allow her to take it to school?

The younger Pike kids arrange an entire neighborhood talent show. The oldest of the younger Pike kids is 9. 9 fucking years old. So a 9 year old, an 8 year old, a 7 year old and a 5 year old can arrange a community event and pull it off without a hitch? Right.

Best character
Dawn, for her quick thinking of shoving that stupid blanket scrap in Nina's pocket so she could hide her creepy obsession with a blanket.

Worst character
Mallory, for being a creep. 

#53 - Kristy for President

Timeline
No timeline is mentioned, so springtime of their 8th grade year. Which makes no sense, why are they holding elections when the school year is almost over?

Plot
It's election time for Stoneybrook Middle School, and Kristy decides, with some prodding from Stacey and Claudia, to run for 8th grade class president. Mallory also decides to run for 6th grade secretary. Jessi helps Mallory with her simple campaign, and all the other girls help Kristy, with Claudia acting as campaign manager. 

Kristy becomes very un-Kristy in this book. She forgets deadlines, starts running late, kind of half asses her way through life and starts neglecting the Krushers. She fails a science test not once, but twice. She then realizes she has taken on too much and drops out of the race. Everyone seems to understand. Mallory wins her election. 

Also, Jamie Newton is trying to learn how to ride a bike and is a serious crazy person about it. And he sucks at it.

Takeaways
Claudia comes up with the slogan "K+" for Kristy's campaign. I don't think that is that great.

Kristy's competition is Pete Black, Alan Gray and Grace something. If Alan and Grace are really the horrible students that the girls always say that they are, how do they have the GPA's to run in the first place. Kristy votes for Pete Black and he wins. 

During one of the campaign events, Grace has like a mini movie crew recording people. At the end, her and Kristy get into it and Kristy looks right into the camera and tells Grace to go off and be a loser. It's super mean. But Grace and Cokie are bitches, so I get it.

Jamie is a complete moron about his bicycle. So his parents like order it from somewhere and it gets delivered when  babysitter is there. So she puts it together and then they start walking up and down the driveway. Jamie cannot grasp it, but for some reason he asks his dad to remove the training wheels and his dad FUCKING does it! Why does he do that? What a terrible father. Jamie is like 4, I highly doubt he knows what is best for himself. Also, while every single babysitter spends all their time walking Jamie up and down the driveway, his little sister Lucy is just sitting in a playpen that entire time. Awesome.

Best character
I would have to say Claudia. She runs Kristy's campaign for her and does all the posters, pins, marketing materials, etc. And then Kristy drops out of the race and Claudia is just like meh, whatever is best for you. 

Worst character
Jamie Newton. He's a little brat.