"I knew I had been pretty insistent about recycling but I never dreamed anyone would think I was bossy and obnoxious." #57 Dawn Saves the Planet

Oh boy. Dawn really outdid herself in this one. I think this book was the turning point in my Dawn-love. I was so incredulous reading it this afternoon I didn't notice any continuity issues, and the whole plot is totally over the top. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the environment or being green. I recycle, I try not to waste resources, and all that goes along with that. But Dawn really took it too far.

Dawn's science teacher, Mrs. Gonzalez (Mrs. G from now on-I hate typing Zs), assigns her classes a project of their choosing about the environment. Dawn and Stacey decide to do their project together and teach all the little kids they sit for about recycling. Their "class" will run for six weeks, and at the end, they'll hold a Green Fair to show everyone what they've learned, and any proceeds they earn will be donated to an environmental group.

There's a lot of statistics and facts about recycling and amounts of garbage in this book. They were probably all real in 1992, but I think they're now probably different numbers. I'm pretty sure I read the book 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth after I read this BSC. Stacey mentioned this book to Dawn, and Dawn felt like a heel for forgetting about it.

Well, Dawn and Stacey are having their class, and since Dawn's the only person in the whole world that cares about the environment, she starts getting all self-righteous and completely crazy about garbage and wasting things. She chews out Claudia for buying individually wrapped candies and throwing away a Coke can, she nags Mary Anne to use both sides of the paper in the BSC record book, and gives a classmate a premature heart attack for almost throwing away a juice can, just after Dawn had lectured poor said classmate about recycling.

Dawn's personal science project is to start a recycling center at SMS. "Because there's only one recycling center in Stoneybrook and it's way down by the courthouse." She shoots the idea to Mrs. G, who goes for it, and then Dawn has to talk Mr. Kingsbridge into it. He likes the idea, and lets Dawn spearhead a vote from the student body whether or not to implement the SMS Recycling Center. Also on the ballot is the choice of chairperson of the recycling program. Dawn lists herself first, because it's her idea, Mrs G is listed second, and third choice is a write-in. I hope the Lizard People win. Well, Mrs. G wins by a landslide. I wasn't surprised.

Back to their class. They've named it "Kids Care" and have 13 kids in attendance. They make badges out of cardboard (that could have been recycled, Dawn!) with glitter ink markers. The class is held at Stacey's house, because it's centrally located, on Thursday after school. Sorry, that was filler. I don't really care either. Slowly but surely, Dawn starts taking over every week and poor Stacey just takes it. Later on, instead of confronting Dawn about being such a psycho, Stacey makes snide comments about her friendship with Dawn being ruined. Honestly, on the side, I always thought Stacey and Dawn weren't ever very close. Maybe Stacey secretly cheered when Dawn left for California permanently.

Ok, I think this post is getting a little messy and off-track. Really, it's just about Dawn being way too gung-ho about recycling. She gets knocked down a peg or two when she overhears Cokie Mason and one of her cronies talking smack about her. Seriously, she cries in the bathroom for a half an hour. I thought she didn't care what people thought about her.

All's well that ends well though. She and Stacey turn in their reports about their combined project, and Dawn puts in an essay, I guess, about how she turned into a monster. She gets an A on the project, and she decides that the proceeds from the Green Fair should go to the SMS Recycling center. After she got Stacey's blessing, of course.

Continuity Issues:
Nothing of interest. I was too busy mentally beating Dawn with a stick studded with rusty nails to notice anything great.

WTF Moments:
Mrs. G letting Dawn and Stacey do a project together, even though they're in different class periods. I'm not sure I really have an issue with this, but I'm assuming that she let them work together only because they're BSC members, and we wouldn't really have a book without it.

There's a couple chapters about how all the kids the BSC sits for are now enviro-crazy. The Pike triplets form the "Green Patrol" and punish everyone for being wasteful. Charlotte Johanssen makes Claudia run to Stacey's house so she won't miss a minute of the Kids Care class. This must be before Karen's made to sort the recycling at the Big House, because she barely knows what recycling is in this book.


I'm not really sure which book I'm going to do next. I've gotten a lot of "new" ones lately, and my collection is really gaining some serious ground. It'll be either a Claudia or a Stacey. I'm up for suggestions.