Club-Read: The Karen Tax: Baby-Sitters Little Sister #05: Karen's School Picture

It's tax time. We're getting closer to these being lumped into a multi-review, but for now we're back to talking about the agent of chaos. And this one is an important one in a way as Karen is now wearing glasses. We also have a book about image issues and dealing with school pictures. Does that lead to a good book? Well it's Little Sister, so I guess passable book makes more sense? Let's find out with Karen's School Picture.

Three covers to talk about this time, each varied just enough to actually have a reason to talk about them. The original cover is, I don't know why, eerie to me. Just this very static school picture shot of Karen's class. The tagline is "Look what Karen's wearing!" But I'll front with you, I couldn't really pick Karen out of that lineup. I guess she's the blond one with glasses given the story and all, but she's not even centered so she wouldn't even be the first kid you'd pick out. The reprint is better at this. Karen center in the back, with the glasses, clearly not happy about said glasses. It also is less off-putting compared to the original cover so it stands out so much better. The graphic novel is fine, but doesn't exactly scream "book about a school picture". Easy winner for me on this front is the reprint.

We open with Karen going to school. She's in Ms. Coleman's class (which yes, I'm aware there's a spinoff series about the whole class later on down the line. Will I cover it? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it). She's also supposed to be in first grade, but apparently was so smart she got pushed up to second. She likes school, but notes she's been getting headaches and eye pain lately. Another pain is Ricky Torres, a kid in her class that likes to annoy her and her friends Hannie and Nancy. Ms. Coleman announces to the class that school picture day is coming up in two weeks and they'll all have their class photo. Karen's excited, but hates the idea of waiting two weeks. 

More concerning is that Karen is still getting headaches and having a hard time reading. Of course everyone just shrugs it off initially as her being tired or having worked too hard at school, but it starts to become an actual issue to deal with. Watson notes that Karen may need glasses, given her mom wears glasses and he uses reading glasses, I guess bad eyesight is just common for them. This bothers Karen who doesn't want to wear glasses as she thinks she'll look funny in them. This of course gets worse when she tries to pour milk but completely misses the glass. She panics and runs off, only to trip over her cat Rocky. So whether she likes it or not, she's off to see the ophthalmologist, Dr. Gourson. The exam goes through and unfortunately for Karen, she has to wear glasses. Two pairs, actually. Karen, who has had dreams of movie star good looks, has her six year old world shattered. 

Karen gets her glasses and already things are looking good. Mainly in the fact that she can look at anything at all with any form of clarity I guess. In fact, her confidence is at an all-time high. I sure hope there's no bully kid that the book established earlier to make her feel bad. And that's confirmed when Karen returns to school and gets compliments. But Ricky calls her four-eyes and blind as a bat which mostly annoys Karen. Also, because of her vision, Ms. Coleman moves her to the front of the class, which gets Ricky to start calling her teacher's pet. Karen's already tired of Ricky bothering her, so she decides to just leave her glasses at home. No glasses, no derision. All's good. Karen's mom shows up and brings them to her, so that didn't work. With Ricky being a pain, Karen now has to come up with a way to get revenge. Which if this wasn't a book for children this would probably be a much darker book.

However, a couple days later, Ricky now is wearing glasses as well. Because I guess irony in the BSC world is hella serious. The kids pick on him for it, mainly as revenge for giving Karen a hard time, and he's still annoyed at Karen. Then the kids all call Ricky a girl because he's the only boy in the class wearing glasses which, I get it's kids but that's a rotten way to spin this. Karen comes to his defense, but her snaps at her, calling her "Ugly Duck." This one bothers Karen, as the whole crux of this book has been her image issues when it comes to her glasses. But her friend Nancy later reassures her that she looks fine and that Ricky's just lashing out. She heads to the Brewers for the weekend and gets compliments, which helps, but she also remembers that picture day is coming up on the Monday following and she's still concerned. Kristy however has a way to help her out.

The next day they head to the library to show Karen a bunch of books of people wearing glasses. Well, technically Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and a bunch of Disney characters, though the graphic novel switches it to famous people like Oprah and the Dalai Lama. I almost had a chance to do a Fifty Oprahs joke for the first time in ages. I'm guessing this is an era where the graphic novels are a bit more afraid of the mouse. Makes me wonder how the Baby-sitters on Board graphic novel's going to shake out. Picture day finally arrives and despite some concerns, Karen decides to wear her glasses anyway. Ricky opts not to, but Karen shows him up by not just wearing one pair of glasses, but having her others around her neck. Props to Karen, she knows how to one-up. Ricky and Karen talk as they get the class picture taken and apologize for all of the sniping. A few days later she gets the school pictures and gives them out to her family, so all in all, everything wrapped up in a neat little package.

I liked this one actually. Again, it's a Little Sister book so it's never going to be a book that wows me, but for what it does it does it quite well. The book being about Karen having to adjust to wearing glasses. Her anxieties, her concerns about her looks, feeling like she's ugly because of it, only to get confidence that she's not ugly at all. It's honestly a good book for kids who have to get glasses and likely having the same concerns and fears. The book also throws a decent curveball in having Ricky need glasses, and putting the shoe on the other foot. And Karen ultimately coming to Ricky's defense is good character stuff, even if it's all for naught because Ricky continues to lash out. I will say the further these stories have strayed from the Morbidda Destiny stuff the more I enjoy them and Karen as a character. Being less the chaotic character we've seen in many of the earlier books and kind of mellowing out. I'm sure she has some stories that show her in that chaotic light we know from her, but at least for now it's nice to get a quick fluff book that doesn't drive you nuts. Easy recommend. Karen's School Picture gets an A. 

Next time, Karen's jealous of her adopted baby sister. There's that chaos Karen we all know.

Jacob Two-Two

The Witch Next Door

Charlotte's Web

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Disney World

Santa Claus

Mrs. Claus

Winnie The Pooh

Owl

Geppetto

Pinocchio

The White Rabbit

Alice in Wonderland

Peter Pan

Scrooge McDuck

Spectacles