Back to reading more of the Point Horrors I found.

I finished #RLStine's The Babysitter yesterday. What an absolute pile of tripe. This is just insulting.

1. 80% of the book is the protag ruminating over her anxious thoughts:

"Sometimes he takes advantage of his sitters and stays up really late. He looks like an angel, but he can be a real devil."

Did he really mean that? Was Donny really capable of being evil?

Of course not. Have you lost your mind entirely, Jenny? Just calm down. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down.

That's like 80% of the book.

2. The love interest is a walking red flag. He has no respect for her boundaries. Even when told outright that he's violating them, he pushes on:

He cupped his ear with one hand. "What? I can't hear. You said yes?"
"No. I said no," she shouted, even though she knew he could hear perfectly well.
"What time should I come by?"
"I said no. I don't want you to do that."
"Please — don't beg. I'll come. Nine o'clock too late?"
"Chuck — " She hated the peevish tone in her voice, but she couldn't help it. He was really being annoying. "Don't you know when to stop?"
"No. When? That's what I'm asking. When should I stop by?"
She got up angrily. "You're not funny."
"Who's being funny? I'm serious."
---
Did someone say "harassment"?

Next example. He'd just turned up during her babysitting job when she'd clearly said no. He deliberately pretended to be a prowler then scared her in a creepy mask. He'd got the details by phoning Jenny's mum and lying that Jenny had given him the name and address of her clients, but he'd lost them. So, creepy stalker behaviour.

"Go away, you dork!" Jenny screamed. "Get lost! I mean it!"
He didn't seem to hear her. Or maybe he didn't realize she was completely serious. "I gotcha. I really gotcha. Whoa! That was incredible!"
"You're not funny. You're sick! You scared me to death." She started to slam the door, but he shoved his foot into the opening.
She felt a stab of renewed fear. He had moved so quickly, so deftly to block the door, as if he had done it before. She had the sudden realization that maybe he had come to harm her. Maybe he was the whispered voice on the phone. Maybe he truly was dangerous.
She didn't really know him, after all.
No one did.
"Move away, Chuck. I don't want to see you."
"You look cute when you're scared."
Was he trying to make her more scared?
"Go away! I really mean it. I'm furious at you. You're not funny. Stop smiling at me like that!"
The smile faded slowly. "Come on, Jenny — "
"No."
"It's cold out here. Just let me come in for a few minutes."
"No. Go away."
He gave her a pleading, little-boy look. "Please? I'll let you try on the mask!" More high-pitched laughing. He really thought he was a riot.
"I'm serious, Chuck. Move your foot. I don't want to see you. You had no right to scare me like that."
He finally began to realize that she meant what she said. He let the mask fall to the porch floor and shrugged. "Sorry."
"Apology not accepted," she said, pushing on the door. "Good night."
"You're right, Jenny. It was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking of. I just wanted to surprise you, I guess."
"Surprise me?! Well, you did a great job, Ace!"
A cold burst of wind caught them both by surprise. They heard a crash somewhere down the street, a garbage can being knocked over, the lid rattling down the street.
A cold burst of wind caught them both by surprise. They heard a crash somewhere down the street, a garbage can being knocked over, the lid rattling down the street.
"I'm really freezing, Jenny," he wrapped his arms around himself. She saw for the first time
that he had no coat, only a gray sweatshirt. He looked really cold, and really apologetic. And really cute, hugging himself like that, his eyes pleading with her like a little boy begging for a cookie. "Can't I come in?"
"I guess. Just for a second. Hurry." She backed away, and he eagerly stepped into the narrow hallway, shivering, still hugging himself.
---

What an absolute garbage human being. And in the end, they get together and his abusive behaviour is okay, cos he was just shy and insecure.

Eff you, RL Stine.

@theateam

#books #angrybookthread #PointHorror #yafiction #teenfiction #nostalgia #90s

I've decided to re-read #Janey by #BernardAshley. Another book that I read an excerpt of in an English textbook and wanted to know the whole story! I've read this twice before already. There was a part that I thought was going to get darker than it did, but luckily it didn't. But it does get pretty dark.

It's about a girl from an abusive home who befriends an old lady. I enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading it again. I need a break from all the insult-to-intelligence YA I've read lately!

#yafiction #teenfiction #80sfiction #books

I'm now reading The Guardians, by John Christopher.

It's a YA story set in the UK, about a sort of dystopian future, where the working class (Conurbans) and the gentry (the County) live completely segregated lives. We follow the life of Rob, a Conurban schoolboy. I'm enjoying it so far.

I read an extract of it from an old English Lit study book decades ago, and now I finally have a chance to read the whole story!

#yafiction #teenfiction #books #JohnChristopher

That thread made me nostalgic for the Point Horrors. I really do want to read more books, but the allure of YouTube is too strong. So I looked up Point Horror ebooks, I thought they'd be an easy read, and amazingly, the first to come up was the one I was planning to read first: The Perfume, which I remember being the first ever #PointHorror I read, back in Year 7. I felt so mature! Lovely coincidence! I like that!

Anyway, reading this, my gosh, are Caroline B Cooney's protags always this darn dramatic? I remember Christina from the Fog trilogy thinking a lot like this, all dramatic flowery prose, but I thought that was her character quirk.

Caroline, honey, teenagers don't think like this! Do you human? 😆

Take up poetry or something, gosh.

#yafiction #teenfiction #nostalgia #90s #90sbooks #books #carolinebcooney

@blockforest that's not even the worst of it. I seem to remember one where she describes a preteen as sexy. And there was one where a 10 year old girl fantasises about being molested by a dirty old perv. I didn't screenshot most of them though. The Girls series has the childish cover illustrations so kids and their parents think it's okay for 9 year olds, then you have a scene of grown men trying to drug and rape 13 year olds and they're like phew lucky escape, no harm done, let's not tell anyone. Actually, no, Wilson! It's a big freaking deal!!

Honestly, I wouldn't allow Wilson around any girls in my family. Reading her teen fiction as an adult, it's clear that 1. She seems to have a grudge against men and 2. She has a weird fascination with the sexuality of girls under 14 and normalises this. Teen pregnancy is no big deal to her. There's a difference between depicting the dark side of reality and normalising and romanticising it.

#JacquelineWilson #books #teenfiction