Club-Read: The Karen Tax: Baby-Sitters Little Sister #07: Karen's Birthday

It's time to celebrate, or given this is a Karen book, it's time to feel frustrated? You never really know with these ones. But what we do know is we have a birthday story this time around. This one could be interesting, given it's more status quo shifting for Karen and all, or it could just be like a lot of these books and mostly be fluff AKA that quality blog filler I do so well. Let's find out as we blow out the candles for Karen's Birthday.

Some variety with the three covers this time around. Weakest is the reprint. It's a nice enough scene with Karen and Andrew, but far from the most interesting of the three works. I swear I really am trying to not just knock the reprints. It just keeps happening. The graphic novel's is fun. I love the lighting. Gives Karen this really ominous look to her that I feel is so goofy it wraps around to being amazing. But the winner here is easily the original for one real reason. This is the first time we get a cover with the Engles, Karen's family in the little house. We get illustrations in the books, but having them on a cover is neat. The first cover with Seth and Lisa. I love how the cover gives Seth this very Bob Vila-esque look to him. Previous books established that Lisa looks a lot like Karen, especially with Karen now having glasses and all. And it's a nice little scene altogether. "Quaint" is the word that flies in my head when I see it. All in all three solid enough covers to represent birthdays in this franchise. 

The book opens with Karen and Andrew excited about an ad for the Happy Time Circus. They love the ad and are now transfixed on hoping to be circus performers, but they don't think they'll actually be able to see the circus itself. Well, that is until Watson calls Karen, bringing up her upcoming seventh birthday and that he's going to take the two of them and Karen's friends to the Happy Time Circus for her birthday. But while Karen is excited at the prospect of going to the circus, she isn't fully sure if that's what she wants for her birthday, so she asks her dad to hold on it for a bit. She mulls over with her rat Emily Jr. (who we were introduced to at the end of the last book) and thinks that she isn't too fond of the idea of having both of her parents giving different birthday celebrations and would much rather one big event instead. Oh, I bet you thought this was going to be a silly little birthday book, didn't you? Well SIKE! This is actually a book about a little girl dealing with her families being so separated following her parents' divorce. 

Karen talks with her mom about wanting a party for everyone, but she doesn't think it's all that possible, especially given she and Watson don't really talk that much post-divorce. She heads to Watson's and talks with him about wanting a big party with everyone invited, but that upsets everyone who think she's being way too greedy. She talks with Hannie who wants to get married to a new boy in the neighborhood, Scott Hsu, which gets Karen to thinking that maybe all she needs to do to rectify this situation is to get her parents to remarry each other. Oh we are in for some Miller-Boyett level hijinks aren't we? The plan? Act MORE greedy with her birthday requests to become a bit of a problem child around both parents so that they'll finally start to interact some more. You know, it's been a few books but I can at least say we're back to full-on agent of chaos.

At school, Karen trips and injures her knee. While in the nurse's office, the nurse calls Lisa while she sneaks in a call to Watson to get both parents there at the same time. Despite angering them both, they are talking more, so this worked... sorta? She heads to the attic to find her mother's wedding dress, only to find their wedding album, which she takes downstairs in hopes it'll jog up old feelings. The only thing jogging is Karen to her room when she gets in trouble for it. She then sends invites to the rest of the Thomas-Brewer family which gets an angry call from Watson, which leads to an angry argument from Lisa, which means that we're getting less the fun, silly misunderstandings and the more "custody battle's fixing to look worse" misunderstandings. She overhears her mother talking with someone else about how she's worried Karen hasn't been handling the divorce as well as she hoped. Karen calls Kristy, but Kristy is also on team "you're asking for too much and your vagueness on why you're doing all this is annoying the hell out of everyone." So, you know, no help there.

Karen heads to Watson's where she runs into Hannie, who didn't get Scott to marry her, and is more of the "in the friend zone" type kid, which upsets her. So, nobody's plans are actually working. Karen talks with Nannie about her not really wanting all the greedy stuff and decides that if she can only have one party, it'll be at her mother's, which will still remain just that side of the family. All while Seth and Andrew are working on some sort of special project. The next day she finds her presents and peeks inside, because I mean she's a kid. Who among us didn't want to do something like that? Screw the element of surprise am I getting what I wanted or not? Well, all the presents except Andrew's. Karen has a birthday party at school which goes well, followed by a party at her mother's, which also goes well. The project of Andrew and Seth was that they built a playground for Emily Jr. I mean that's more of a present for the rat than Karen, but you know, the thought that counts.

Karen then goes to the circus with her friends which also goes well, followed by a party at Watson's, which culminates in her getting a stuffed elephant from Hannie that Karen calls Babar. She reveals her whole "remarriage" thing to Watson, who tells her that isn't happening, but they still love her regardless of whatever weird scheme she got from TGIF sitcom she comes up with. BUT he talks with Lisa and they decide that maybe they should talk more often given that it's clearly bothering their kids to be so cold towards one another. 

This book isn't too bad. It's still a Karen book so as usual there isn't much to really talk about. I still plan to start making these into quicker multi-book blogs to help with things, but we're not quite at the monthly book era just yet. As for this book itself, I like what we get because we don't just get a silly birthday plot, but a book about divorce, and mainly how Karen's been dealing with it. We've had bits and pieces in the series up to now, it was a main part of one of the first conversations she has with Kristy in the series, but this is the first time that feeling of frustration from this whole situation enters the forefront. And what I honestly respect is that the book goes "no, actually. We aren't going to just have the situation be that her entire family comes together for this party". Instead the book makes it clear that things aren't always going to be perfect with this, but Karen still has two great families who are trying their best with this. 

That being said, it does bring up a good point about how Watson and Lisa have handled the divorce when it comes to Karen and Andrew specifically. That clearly things went bad with their relationship and it clearly led to bad feelings between the two. Enough to be cordial to one another, but not really in any way to at least patch things up in a friendly manner. And that clearly affected Karen and Andrew. So the book being like "Karen, set your expectations WAAAAY low, but mommy and daddy will at least try to interact with each other and maybe be friends again" is a fine enough way to wrap a bow on the situation. We also get a little bit of chaotic Karen in the story, mainly through her many poor attempts to bring the Engles and the Thomas-Brewers together for one big party. Nothing that's going to get her almost barred from a park or causing chaos at Disney, but still enough to satisfy. Overall, I liked this book. Little Sister hasn't been as rough a series to cover as I had feared. Not exactly the books I rush to cover, but for a little side-project, it's far from the worst books. Karen's Birthday gets an A-. 

Next time, Karen battles with something much more horrifying than a divorce: a bad haircut!

Jacob Two-Two

Roald Dahl

Matilda

Nicodemus

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Babar