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I may be in the minority here, but when I read the book I had the problem where I liked the changes to the book a lot but also felt that they introduced themes and ideas that aren't ever ... addressed in the book again. I think the problem was that the changes were good and I enjoyed them, but that there weren't enough changes made.
First up, Dairine's kindle. Taken on its own, I genuinely liked the fact that Dairine uses a kindle whereas Nita reads paper books as it is a really neat way of showing the differences between the two sisters without making a big deal about it. It makes sense that Dairine would read her books off her kindle as opposed to reading paper books and foreshadows her character development in later books. The problem for me was that Dairine was walking about with a kindle while we had just been told that Nita's parents were so cash strapped that for her birthday she received clothes. Nita is seriously the unfavourite child!
While I was kidding about the unfavourite child remark, Nita's dad in particular does come across as unnecessarily heavy handed when dealing with her post-run in with Joanne. It seems a bit unreasonable to tell a girl to turn around and punch someone after they literally broke the glasses on her face. And yet, no-one broaches the obvious question of "well, why not ask the girl who broke the glasses to pay for their replacement?" This isn't to say that I don't like the glasses -- I think they're actually kind of cute! -- but that their introduction and subsequent breakage (and the way that it is handled) seems a little bit bizarre. Even a one line remark about how they had tried getting Joanne to pay for the replacement in the past and it never worked out might have fixed up that plot hole, I think.
That said, I have to admit finding it very true to adolescence to have Nita be more focused on getting her space pen back than fixing her glasses with wizardry. Nita has priorities and I can respect that! Even if I find them hilarious.
I also liked that the manuals have the cellphone interface that we're used to in the later books, with Nita and Kit being able to use them to talk to one another. But the thing that baffled me was with this introduction ... why does Kit call Nita on the landline at the end. It could just be me, but I don't even know people's landline numbers nowadays; I have their mobiles programmed into my phone and I don't even have a landline phone! I'm also not sure why Nita's books are getting stamped out - my local (tiny) library went across to computers in around 1992. Maybe things are different in NY?
Again, I want to stress that I really did enjoy the changes! I thought a lot of them were cute and interesting and I enjoyed the little insights into the characters. I just felt that there weren't enough changes! I still love the book a lot and it was worth the time I spent reading it.
First up, Dairine's kindle. Taken on its own, I genuinely liked the fact that Dairine uses a kindle whereas Nita reads paper books as it is a really neat way of showing the differences between the two sisters without making a big deal about it. It makes sense that Dairine would read her books off her kindle as opposed to reading paper books and foreshadows her character development in later books. The problem for me was that Dairine was walking about with a kindle while we had just been told that Nita's parents were so cash strapped that for her birthday she received clothes. Nita is seriously the unfavourite child!
While I was kidding about the unfavourite child remark, Nita's dad in particular does come across as unnecessarily heavy handed when dealing with her post-run in with Joanne. It seems a bit unreasonable to tell a girl to turn around and punch someone after they literally broke the glasses on her face. And yet, no-one broaches the obvious question of "well, why not ask the girl who broke the glasses to pay for their replacement?" This isn't to say that I don't like the glasses -- I think they're actually kind of cute! -- but that their introduction and subsequent breakage (and the way that it is handled) seems a little bit bizarre. Even a one line remark about how they had tried getting Joanne to pay for the replacement in the past and it never worked out might have fixed up that plot hole, I think.
That said, I have to admit finding it very true to adolescence to have Nita be more focused on getting her space pen back than fixing her glasses with wizardry. Nita has priorities and I can respect that! Even if I find them hilarious.
I also liked that the manuals have the cellphone interface that we're used to in the later books, with Nita and Kit being able to use them to talk to one another. But the thing that baffled me was with this introduction ... why does Kit call Nita on the landline at the end. It could just be me, but I don't even know people's landline numbers nowadays; I have their mobiles programmed into my phone and I don't even have a landline phone! I'm also not sure why Nita's books are getting stamped out - my local (tiny) library went across to computers in around 1992. Maybe things are different in NY?
Again, I want to stress that I really did enjoy the changes! I thought a lot of them were cute and interesting and I enjoyed the little insights into the characters. I just felt that there weren't enough changes! I still love the book a lot and it was worth the time I spent reading it.
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