And it's Dawn on the coast.
Just another reason maybe Sharon should
have TRIED to stay in California
for her kids’ sake.
The cover is unremarkable, other than that Dawn looks like
she’s wearing granny panties and a sports bra on the beach instead of a
swimsuit. Come to think of it, I think I
had something that looked a lot like that when I was a kid…
We start with a note from Dawn’s dad saying he’s happy she’s
coming to spend spring break with him.
The next page says, “First off, you’re probably wondering who Sunshine
is.” Well, based on the title, I’m
guessing it’s you, Dawn! I really hate
it when authors do that. Just say, “So
my dad calls me sunshine,” or “Dad nicknamed me Sunshine when I was
little.” It just seems so
contrived!! We get our chapter 2 introductions
out of the way and Dawn’s mom comes home.
She’s a little misty at Dawn being gone, but says she’ll be fine. They decide to forgo the barley casserole and
go out for dinner at Cabbages and Kings, a vegetarian place in town. The way Sharon
talks, it sounds like she misses California
too…which again begs the question why she left.
There must have been something Ann’s not telling us!
Another chapter, another note. I also find these kinds a books so slow. If the chapter is going to tell us what’s
happening anyway, why bother? It’s so
tedious I generally skip them and actually read the chapter. Apparently any time anyone goes away for a
vacation, there has to be a party, so they have a sleepover going away party at
Kristy’s mansion. Of course Karen is
there for the weekend too so we have to put up with her Ben Brewer ghost
nonsense. They all squee and squidge
together as girls a wont to do and generally have a good time. Dawn promises MA a post card and lo and
behold, the next chapter starts with a postcard entry to her from the
plane. It’s an unremarkable flight with
a rude flight attendant. Her dad, Jeff
and her best friend Sunny meet her at the gate and Sunny promises a surprise
the next day at 5pm. Don’t be late,
Dawn!
Dawn’s trip starts with a day at Disney. She has a really good time with Jeff and her
dad. As the day goes on, it becomes more
and more apparent to her that she really has missed Jeff and her dad.
So, adter a lovely day at Disney, Dawn heads to Sunny’s
house for her surprise. Tada! It’s the we <heart> kids club! They have meetings, but things are way more
laid back than the BSC. No officers, no
calling back clients after arguing over who gets a job, no uptight idea hound
heading the ship AAAAND no junk food!
Dawn gets another letter from MA about a sitting job with
the Newtons/Feldmans and Perkins kids.
The only remarkable thing about this chapter is that it references the
immunities babies get from nursing. Why isn’t
that mentioned more in these books?
Couldn’t give equal time to the boob?
Ooops, said boob. Ahhhhh…..maybe
that’s why
Another postcard, another perfect California day for Dawn. She is spending the day at the beach with her
family and friends. Her dad strikes up a
conversation with her about life and Dawn is a little glum. It’s becoming obvious she doesn’t like having
her family split up, that she really misses her Dad and Jeff and is a little
lonely. After a great day at the beach
she calls her mom and they have an awkward conversation. Dawn is really happy in California
but she knows her mom is sad and lonely in Connecticut.
Well… you’re in a divorced family.
Already there are going to be feelings of loneliness. Add to it the giant split and the 5000 miles
separating the two parts of the family and it’s going to be really tough.
Dawn has a sitting job for Clover and Daffodil and she takes
them to a carnival. As she’s leaving to
head home, Jeff comes looking for her to tell her that her mom is on the
phone. Dawn realizes that she hasn’t
thought about most of the people back in Connecticut
all day long and she wonders what that means.
Well, it could mean you’re having a good time and enjoying yourself on
your vacation.
Jessi’s scrawl is on the next postcard. She sits for Karen, Andrew and DM and of
course Karen is all about Ben Brewer again.
At the end of the chapter we get another reference to the impending
adoption of EM.
Dawn is at Sunny’s for another We <heart> Kids Club
meeting and they’re talking about some of the kids they sit for. The way they’re talking is almost
like…mothers talking, not teens. The
other girls arrive and they hang out, working on healthy recipes for the kids
they sit for and talking about Dawn’s old classmates. Sunny’s mom invites her to stay for dinner
and Dawn wonders if she could just stay forever. Dawn kind of runs out of the room at the end
of the meeting to get home to talk to her dad.
Dawn is so very torn.
She doesn’t want to leave Jeff.
She doesn’t want to leave her Dad.
She doesn’t want to leave California,
the We <HEART> Kids Club and her friends here. But she loves her mom. She approaches her Dad with the idea over
dinner and he is excited to have her out there, but cautions her about some of
the possible setbacks. And, apparently, Sharon still technically has custody of Jeff even though
he’s living in Cali. I thought they had taken care of that in book
15? I dunno. Anyway, Dawn tells her dad not to call her
mom yet until she knows what she wants.
Jeff is super excited and wants Dawn to be there with him all the time
and prattles on about all these things they can do together again. Now Dawn, perhaps you should have brought
this up with your father privately, especially since you don’t seem to know
what you want to do? She tries to call
MA, but she isn’t home. Dawn realizes
she just wants to talk to her mom and have her help her figure out her
emotions. She wants her family back.
Kristy writes the next postcard about sitting at the
Pike’s. Did you know you can write
secret messages with milk and use an iron to make the letters stand out? I used to have a whole book on how to write
different types of secret messages. I wonder how many kids today use secret
messages. They probably all just text.
The postcard ends with Kristy telling Dawn that Nicky Pike misses her.
Dawn has a letter from her mom that tells her she’s excited
to see her. She also mentions she’s
going to a lecture on humor. Seriously
Ann? A lecture on humor? Wow…Anyway, Dawn goes over to Sunny’s house
to talk to her about it, but of course Sunny is going to tell her to stay. Sunny ends up backhandedly insulting some of
Dawn’s Connecticut
peeps, which peeves Dawn, so she heads home.
Dad wants to know if she’s made up her mind and he needs to know by the
next day at the latest. Dawn lays on her
bed to think, missing her mom and MA and wishing she could just bring them to California with
her. At the end of the chapter, she’s
made up her mind. And we don’t get to
know what her decision is, only that she sleeps the whole night undisturbed.
She tells her dad the next day that she’s going back to Connecticut and he
smiles and says he knew she would. Then
she calls her mom and asks her if MA can come to the airport too and her mom
asks why she’s so shaken up. Dawn
explains everything and Sharon
is pretty supportive, even telling her to seriously consider moving back if she
wants to. Dawn says she coming
home. She breaks the news to everyone
else and while Sunny is sad, Jeff is angry with her. Well, duh.
On Dawn’s last night in Cali,
they go out for dinner and Jeff asks if she’s not staying because they’re
boys. Oh, honey. Dawn explains her reasoning and they’re back
to their happy sibling relationship.
Dawn leaves the next morning and lo and behold, evil flight
attendant is back so Dawn moves seats.
This is in the era of flying when a) you were allowed to do that and b)
there were actually empty seats on a plane She sleeps through much of the flight,
although she’s awake for the movie Adventures
in Babysitting. This is an actual
movie and I think I’ve seen parts of it, but I’m not sure. It gets 6.6 at IMBD if anyone wants to watch
it.
There is a lot of avocado love in this book. Dawn even brings avocados back for her
mom. Were avocados not in the store in
the late ‘80s? Just not in the stores in
Connecticut? They way they talk, California is the only place to get an
avocado. Anyway, not only does Sharon bring MA to the
airport, but the whole club is there to greet her! They somehow manage to squeeze back into Sharon’s car and head
home. Dawn is happy to be back. Yay!
Now, throughout this book I’ve been trying to figure out
what kind of vegetarian Dawn is. She’s
not a lacto-ovo vegetarian because she eats fish. She’s not a pescatarian because she eats eggs
and some dairy. Perhaps she’s
macrobiotic or maybe a flexitarian. It’s
so hard to know!!
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