Dawn (California Diaries, No. 1)
by Ann M. Martin
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Book Reviews of Dawn (California Diaries, No. 1)
Book Review: Well, one point for trying
Summary: 2 Stars
I don't feel like writing reviews for every single California Diaries book, so I'll just write some stuff here at the first one:1. Ann M. Martin is TRYING to write a decent young adult book and I give credit for that. Those Baby-Sitters Club books are horrible -- perfect girls with perfect familes in a perfect town leading perfect lives. The California Diaries are better. At least good enough to keep me reading.
2. Dawn should not have been so shocked to see drinking and smoking at that party. Living in urban California, she ought to know that high-schoolers drink and smoke. I am 14, I have been drunk before, I have smoked, I have even used recreational drugs. And I live in rural Ohio.
3. It would help if she actually mentioned sex. Yes, thirteen-year-old girls have sex! I am 14 and still a virgin, but if my boyfriend and I had so chosen we could be lovers now. We decided to wait. But I bet Sunny has lost her virginity by now, with all those boyfriends. And probably Ducky too -- many sixteen-year-old boys have had sex. And what about Amalia, hasn't she ever made out on James's couch?
4. More swear words would help too. Occasionally Ms. Martin writes "hell", but that's the extent of it. Most teenagers swear, and swear frequently.
There. That's all I have to say. At least she's trying, aye?
Book Review: I Used to Like Dawn, I Don't any More.
Summary: 2 Stars
The First thing I want to say is that yes this is a much more realistic book than the original Babysitter's Club Series. But the second thing I want to say is that the reason I read books is to escape into a better world, not one that mirrors real life. So that is why I didn't like this one all that much. The part I don't like the most is the excerpt when Dawn says that she doesn't miss Stoneybrook and her Stoneybrook friends at all. She doesn't even miss Her real mother. Her and Mary Anne are supposed to be best friends, best friends don't just forget about each other, like Dawn does. One part of the book I do understand is the way Dawn and Jill stop being friends. I mean it would have been one thing if Jill was just acting a little immature but She was acting (and dressing) like she was in Elementary school, so I know why Dawn stopped being friends with her. I mean if all the California Diaries are like this one, I wouldn't be surprised if Dawn or one of her friends (Like Sunny, for example) ends up getting pregnant or drug addicts. Dawn used to be a good role model but she isn't any more. Read this book if you want a realistic book. But I still prefer The original Babysitter's Club Series.Book Review: A Fair Book... and Series
Summary: 3 Stars
I read about the California Diaries series with high hopes. That was a long time ago, and now I've come down to Earth. This book is about the former Babysitter's Club member, Dawn Schafer, who has moved to California, and is re-establishing all of her relationships with her old friends. This book is about Dawn's move to a new school, and how she and her friends, as well as the upperclassmen, dealt with it. When I initially read about the series, I was pleased that these books would reflect real life, and deal with the real problems that teens have today. When I read the first few books, however, I was slightly disappointed. This books simply don't seem like REAL incidents. There are too many realities that are screened out. Believe it or not, there ARE more problems then wild parties in the lives of teens these days, and this series doesn't reflect this.I would reccommend this for a younger reader to whom a little bit of teenage life was to be exposed, but a real teenager would have zero interest.
Book Review: Good how Dawn is a girl who knows her feelings
Summary: 4 Stars
Interesting and amusing in a diary style. I like how Dawn is in tune with her feelings and the normal, but bewildering changes of adolescence. The thing I love about the BSC books are that they are first-person accounts, so you feel as if you're really in the character's head. Dawn is attempting to be a wonderful friend to Sunny and admits that it isn't always easy. The party scene was funny, yet had a serious message about drinking and freshman hazing. I was glad that the kids who threw the party got it GOOD! One character I admire is Jill. I hope Dawn doesn't end her friendship with Jill for good, because even though Jill is a bit childlike, she is a wonderful listener and reminds Dawn of Mary Anne. I liked how Jill refused to join Sunny and Dawn at the party. If you ask me, Sunny is being the immature one, not Jill. I hope Dawn eventually sees that. I wish they'd be a diary which Jill writes and is about her. She's probably apprehensive about growing up also.Book Review: spoiled brat!
Summary: 1 Stars
I like the fact Ann M. Martin was a little bit more realisitic about suburban teenage life, but Dawn shows herself to be a selfish, uncaring person that makes you wonder what happened to traces of the old Dawn. In Stoneybrook she seemed to be picky and arrogant and always picking a fight with Mary Anne because she's being so stupid and unappreciative of her wonderful stepsister with a sensitive heart, and yet sometimes she had a social conscious and did a fund raiser for kids in new mexico or trying to start an environmental club at school and becoming great friends with a girl with Down's Syndrome, but in this book she exposes her true colours. We've seen traces of Dawn snobby attitude through the little Mary Anne fights and jealousy towards Richard, and how rebellious she was when she flew to Connecticut from California stealing her dad's credit card. Bye bye Dawn, hello typical California trailer trash