Tag: ice hockey

Girl Talk #27: Perfect Match

This one is narrated by Katie. She and the gang are taking a computer class with a teacher named Mr. Young, who requires students to work in groups to write their own computer program. Katie, Allison, Randy, and Sabrina create a dating program for their assignment. Each student in the class answers questions and the computer pairs the classmates into boy-girl couples. Then, the teacher organizes a group date to the movies and to Fitzie’s, a local restaurant. It’s an interesting idea for a book, though I doubt it would realistically happen in life. Who knows, though. I suppose kids have done stranger school projects. And just because I’m not smart enough to write a computer program doesn’t mean middle-schoolers couldn’t do it.

Stacy Hansen, the group’s nemesis, spreads a rumor that Katie fixed the computer program so that Katie can be matched up with Greg Loggins. Stacy tells everyone that Katie likes Greg, which is untrue. Scottie hears the rumor and believes it. He starts freezing Katie out and giving her death stares. Sound familiar? This is typical Scottie in-a-rage behavior. As I’ve said before, Scottie doesn’t deserve Katie, and he doesn’t treat her right. Still, she thinks he’s sooo cute. She still likes him, and of course she basically tells him so at the end after she catches him flirting with Stacy to make Katie jealous. Katie sounds pretty mature when she tells Scottie she doesn’t want a serious relationship. I’m quite sure she says that only because these books are for young kids whom parents would think are too young to date. Otherwise, Katie would definitely want Scottie as her boyfriend. All he has to do is smile and wear that hockey letter jacket and she falls all over him.

This book gives us some insight into Greg Loggins. I believe he’s the jerk who said some obnoxious things during the 7th grade trip to Eagle Mountain in book #6, and I know he’s the obnoxious one who bugged Allison during the bowling trip when she was crushing on Billy Dixon in book #10. In this book, Katie still thinks he’s obnoxious until she gets to know him and realizes he acts out because it’s an attempt to get attention from his uncaring father. I felt bad for Greg when he was telling Katie that during their date. I thought it was the most heartfelt and true-to-life part of this book. I wish Scottie could show more vulnerability the way that Greg does.

The one part I didn’t like about this book was all the computer talk as they were learning to write their computer program. Perhaps it was necessary to include those bits in the book, though they bored me.

Happy New Year, dear readers. 😃

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Girl Talk #11: Mixed Feelings

This one focuses on Katie Campbell. The basic plot: Katie’s mother begins dating a newcomer to town, a man whose son plays on the hockey team with Katie at school. The son’s name is Michel, and the father is Jean Paul, and the twosome hail from Canada and have heavy, French Canadian accents. The accent is described by both Katie and Sabs as a French accent, which confused me. Would it really be called a French accent if they aren’t from France? As a child when I read these books I didn’t understand the difference between a race and an ethnic group, and I thought French Canadians were a different category of white and I even questioned their whiteness, and I believe the reason I did this is that the author makes mention of how dark Michel’s hair and eyes are, which made me think that he looks like a dark-featured Native American or a brown Hispanic. I’m not sure if this is what the author intended. I come from a small town in Georgia where most of the people are whites descended from Scotch Irish and have lived in this country for many generations. I didn’t hear too many foreign accents in my town and had never met any French or Canadian people. Reading these books as a middle schooler helped to introduce me to people outside my town, even though those people are fictional. Another great reason to read is that it opens people up to varying perspectives. I realize that a white writer might think of other white people as dark. Whereas, I’m a dark-skinned Black woman and rarely think of most whites as dark at all. In fact, if you’re past a certain shade, I question if you’re truly white.

Anyway, here are a few notable things that happened in this one:

  1. Katie’s mom meets Michel’s dad, Mr. Beauvais, when he applies for a mortgage at the bank where she works. Later in the series it’s revealed that the Beauvais family is stinking rich, so why are they applying for a home loan? Why wouldn’t they just pay cash?
  2. The title is a bit misleading. Katie doesn’t have mixed feelings about Michel. She likes him as a friend and doesn’t really think of him as more than that. She doesn’t spend much time thinking about him at all. Instead, she wants to win the big hockey game and make the playoffs. She also worries when her mother gets a makeover and announces that she’s seeing Jean Paul, and this is because he’s the first man she’s dated since Katie’s father passed away three years ago. Katie doesn’t have romantic feelings for Michel, and in fact she gets excited when she finds out that Michel thinks her friend Sabrina is cute. However, the blurb and cover photo lead you to think that there’s a love triangle between Katie, Michel, and Sabrina:

Mixed Feelings

3.  Katie changes clothes in a separate locker room away from the boys. Scottie Silver sticks his eye into a peephole and giggles. Katie squirts him with water and has a chuckle about it. If I were her,  I’d be horrified that a group of boys has a peephole into my private changing space. Katie doesn’t even tattle to the coach or report it to anyone to get the hole plugged.

4.   Remember how Scottie treated Katie so heinously in book #2 when she tried out for the team? He teamed up with the guys and beat her up on the ice by playing super rough. He even taunted her about it afterward. In this book, Scottie again shows jerk behavior. Jealous that Michel is a better hockey player than him and jealous that Katie hangs around with Michel, Scottie acts like a jerk and freezes Katie out by sulking, yelling at her, and staring off into the distance. I get that he’s a middle school boy and perhaps his age makes him prone to doing stupid things, but wouldn’t it make better sense for him to just ask Katie if she’s into Michel rather than mistreat her? After Katie becomes injured in a hockey match, Scottie starts to play rougher toward the other team as a way of lashing out and getting rid of his frustration about her injury, and this behavior gets him called for a penalty, which puts the team in danger of losing the big game. However, Scottie gets out of the penalty box in time to assist in the game-winning goal Michel scores. Scottie does eventually apologize to Katie for being so mean to her, and she instantly forgives him.

5.   Sabs, Randy, and Allison all act strangely and mysteriously around Katie. For instance, they stop talking whenever she walks into the room. Her birthday is coming up, so it’s obvious to the reader that they’re sneaking behind Katie’s back to plan a surprise party. Katie doesn’t catch on, and instead she becomes hurt and worried that her friends are keeping secrets from her.

6. This book reminds us how physically tough ice hockey can be. Katie is injured in this one to the extent that she needs eight stitches in her chin. If she were my child, I’m not sure I’d let her continue to play hockey, and while her mother dotes on her and babies her a little after the injury, there’s never a mention of Katie giving up the sport.

7. For me, the best part about the book is reading about Katie’s reactions to her mother dating Jean Paul. Even though her father’s dead, Katie feels that her mother somehow shows disloyalty to his memory by dating another man. Neither Katie nor Emily want Mrs. Campbell to date, but they cannot say they dislike Jean Paul. He treats them cordially and makes Mrs. Campbell happy. Also, the mother wants Katie and her sister Emily to be happy and is nervous to introduce them to Jean Paul for the first time. Later in the series we’ll see both families struggle as members of a blended family, which is a real-word issue that I think a lot of readers connected with.

Come back later this week for my recap of The Ghost of Eagle Mountain. I remember loving that one when I was a child, and I hope I still enjoy it now.

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Girl Talk Series #2: Face Off!

Face Off--pic

When I started reading the Girl Talk book series in middle school, Face Off! was one of my favorites. I thought the message was cool: girls are just as good as boys. I still think the message is cool, but the overall storyline is annoying at times.

Katie Campbell, the blonde, blue-eyed preppy of the friend group narrates this one. It begins with her at the local ice skating rink whirling around and enjoying herself. She’s a great skater, good enough to try some moves she’s seen on figure skating competitions on television. As a kid, I knew nothing about hockey or ice skating, and I remember that it intrigued me to read about this girl in a state I’d never visited who was doing things I had never done. Anyway, Scottie Silver, 8th grade heartthrob, skates past Katie and snatches her hat off her head. She speeds off after him and chases him around the rink. Just as she grabs him by his belt loop, they knock a couple of other skaters over. No one is injured. Scottie grins at Katie and skates off. I reckon this is his way of telling her he likes her.

At dinner that night, Katie’s sister Emily mentions the incident with Scottie. Katie’s mother warns Katie to be ladylike and not play rough with boys. Katie’s mom keeps the house neat as a pin and expects her daughters to maintain a certain decorum. Katie feels pressure to conform.

Later, we see that Katie’s on the flag squad at her school, which means she’s a kind of cheerleader responsible for cheering at games and pep rallies while waving a flag around. Stacy Hansen (a.k.a. Stacy the Great) teases Katie one day after practice about wearing an undershirt instead of a bra. Flat-chested and sensitive, Katie is terrified of being teased by anyone about anything, so she runs into the flag coach’s office, hands in her flag girl uniform, and quits the team. Part of the decision to quit is that she doesn’t like being around Stacy so much, but another big motivator is that she doesn’t love being a flag girl and was only doing it because her mother wanted her to and because her best friend from last year (who has now moved away) tried out for the squad with her.

Anyway, Katie’s mother and her sister Emily are surprised and disappointed that Katie has quit the team, and Katie feels guilty. During lunch at school, Sabs mentions the upcoming hockey tryouts, and Scottie Silver starts acting obnoxious and basically saying he’s the best skater in the county and calling himself a one-man team. Randy Zak, who can’t stand Scottie’s egotistical bragging, stands up to him and proclaims Katie a better skater than Scottie and that Katie will try out for the boys’ hockey team. Katie, who embarrasses just as easily as Sabs did in the previous book, gets angry at Randy. Later, Randy says she thinks Katie should seriously consider trying out. Randy encourages Katie to show everyone that girls are just as good as boys. Katie’s courage grows, and she agrees to try out.

At Monday’s tryout, Coach Budd tells Katie in front of all the boys and spectators that there will never be a girl on his hockey team. Quiet Allison Cloud stands up and tells Coach Budd that Title IX exists partly to ensure that girls and boys be treated the same at public schools that receive federal funding, or something along those lines. Coach Budd relents and lets Katie try out. She is immediately “othered.” She skates toward the locker room to put on her uniform and pads, but then she’s stopped by Scottie, who reminds her that she cannot share the boys’ locker room. Flip, the one guy on the team who’s nice to Katie during tryout week, points out the visitors’ locker room and tells her she can change in there. Katie is wearing a bra that day, which she never wears and is only wearing now because of how Stacy teased her about the undershirt. Katie has cast aside her undershirts and now thinks that wearing a bra is the more grown-up thing to do, which is silly since she has no tits. Funny story, I had B/C cups when I was in sixth grade, and I decided not to wear a bra to school one day because they were scratchy and I hated them. One of my classmates called me out because my tits were bouncing uncontrollably. I don’t feel sorry for Katie for taking longer to develop. I looked like a grown woman at twelve, and it was not fun. Anyway, Katie takes off her bra and puts on her hockey uniform in the changing room. However, the bra gets hooked to the back of her pants and she doesn’t realize it until she skates out onto the ice and everyone laughs at her. She’s humiliated, and her friends have to go into the locker room and give her a pep talk until she can stop crying and muster the courage to go back to the tryout.

She makes it through the first day of tryouts and then goes to Fitzie’s, the afterschool hangout. It’s a restaurant with a 1950s theme. They serve hamburgers and ice cream floats and banana splits, etc. Anyway, at Fitzie’s Scottie warns her that the guys will start to play rough with her on the ice soon, only it sounds more like a threat than a warning. I’m starting to like Scottie less and less. First, he brags about how great he is at lunch, and then he threatens a girl with violence. Granted, Katie is trying out for a dangerous, physical contact sport, but the way Scottie takes pleasure in the idea of her possibly getting hurt is too much. Katie and the other girls only seem to like him because he’s cute, which shows how shallow they all are.

At home, Katie’s mom tells her that she heard from someone at the grocery store that Katie has tried out for the hockey team. They get into a fight because Mom wants Katie to give up hockey and Katie is determined to go through with the tryout. Katie winds up screaming at her mother, which she claims she’s never done.

On day three of tryouts, the guys gang up on Katie. Every time she gets the puck, they knock her down or hip check (whatever that means). Even the guys on her team during the scrimmage don’t try to help or work with her. She bravely takes a beating. Afterward, she’s already sore and knows she’ll be bruised the next day. She can barely move her arms well enough to change out of her uniform and is trying to muster the strength to walk home when Scottie picks a fight with her outside the rink. He says she better stop being a wimp if she wants to play a man’s game. Katie, rightfully fed up with his crap by that point, tells him that he is so intimidated by a fast skating girl that he and his friends had to beat her up to feel better about themselves. I was so proud of Katie for telling him off. Then, Scottie leans over and kisses her cheek. Ugh! It’s like those old movies where a man and woman argue passionately and then do something sexual like kiss passionately or jump in bed. Katie and Scottie don’t jump in bed, though, thank God. Instead, after Scottie pecks her cheek he runs away. Katie’s dumbfounded and also excited that he’s kissed her. I get that baby girl’s hormones are raging, but I still think Scottie is a jerk and not nearly good enough for Katie. Anyway, Katie tells Sabs about it that night on the phone and Sabs is in disbelief but also delighted that Scottie, the “make out King” has kissed Katie.

On Friday, Katie finds out that she made the team. Teachers and even kids she doesn’t know well congratulate her. Scottie calls her that night to remind her to be at the rink on time for their Saturday game. It’s a short and awkward conversation, and he hangs up without saying goodbye. Katie calls and tells Sabs about Scottie’s call. Then Sabs calls Allison, who interprets Scottie’s behavior. She says Scottie likes Katie and that he was probably embarrassed to call her and so he made up some excuse about letting her know when to arrive for the game. Allison was always the intuitive one in these books. Earlier in this book she’s the one to notice Scottie watching Katie, even before Scottie snatches Katie’s hat and skates away with it. I like that Allison is intuitive, but I think someone should warn Katie to stay away from a guy like Scottie. First his arrogance is on display, and then he physically abuses Katie. Kissing her after trying his best to bruise her body is problematic to me. I would’ve liked Scottie a lot better if he’d been supportive of her or stood up for her during the tryout.

During the first game, Katie rides the bench until the starting left wing, Brian, is injured. Katie has to substitute for him. She steals the puck from the other team and passes it to Scottie, who scores the winning goal right before the buzzer. Everyone chants her name. Afterward, the coach tells her that he knew she was a winner when he chose her for the team. Scottie apologizes for being obnoxious to her on the phone, though he offers no apologies for ganging up on her during tryouts. She instantly tells him she forgives him. Ugh! Then he asks her to go to Fitzie’s for a soda. Stacy, who is supposed to be his girlfriend, storms off with her friends. Scottie offers to carry Katie’s bag to the restaurant, but she tells him she can handle it. The book ends with them laughing over her decision to carry her own bag.

Overall, I do like the themes of this book. There are two that I picked out. One is to never let bullies determine who you are or what you should do. The other theme is that hard work and perseverance pay off. These are good lessons for a middle schooler to learn. Still, I wish Scottie wasn’t such a jerk, and the way Katie easily forgives his behavior bugs me. Plus, Scottie has no redeeming qualities aside from being sooo cute. I guess his apology was a good gesture, but the fact that he bullied her to begin with irks the heck out of me.

Other observations:

  1. Stacy is “going out” with Scottie in this book, which I guess means that they hang out after school. Stacy was also “going out” with Alec, the boy Sabs crushed on in the previous book. Not trying to slut shame her, but how many boyfriends could a girl have during middle school? We’re also told that Stacy dated Nick Robbins back in sixth grade, so we know she’s had a least three boyfriends by age 12. She was also wearing diamond earrings at the ice skating rink in the first chapter of this book. This chick acts twenty-five instead of twelve.
  2.  Allison looks beautiful as always on the cover of this book, though she looks about eighteen instead of thirteen. Randy looks like her mullet-haired mom.
  3. In one scene Randy wears a flapper-style dress and cats-eye glasses. Where does she get such an outfit? I go thrifting sometimes, but I never find flapper-style dresses at Goodwill, and these books were written in the early 90s, so I know Randy didn’t order a 1920s-style dress off the internet. Unsolved mystery.

 

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