By Susan Saunders. Published 1987.
Kate’s birthday is coming up, and Patti, Stephanie, and
Lauren are planning on giving her a surprise party. Even though at the beginning of the book Kate
says she doesn’t like surprise parties, and they’re never really a surprise,
Stephanie says they should continue with their plans.
They also plan on going in together to buy her one big
present, rather than a few little ones. They each make separate excuses as to
why they can’t hang out with Kate, and go to the mall to figure out their
present. There’s a new pet store, and in the window there’s an adorable calico
kitten. Stephanie says Kate used to have one back in the city, but it died.
She’s sure she’d love it. They check on the price, and it’s $40, more than they
have. They’ll have to come up with the rest of the money. On the way out of the
mall, they run into Kate. Oops.
The girls pick up a couple of jobs around the neighborhood,
like washing cars and weeding gardens. Unfortunately, they also keep running
into Kate, and she starts acting funny around them. Oops again.
When they raise enough money, they go to buy the kitten,
only to find out it has just been sold. Well, shit.
There’s a party the girls are all invited to on a Friday night,
so they go to that before their sleepover. When Kate shows up to Lauren’s house
before the party, she’s not dressed like the other girls. And when they do get
to the party, they find Kate is dressed like Jenny and Tracy, two other girls
in their class. Then after the party, Kate goes home instead of spending the
night, after yelling at them all that Jenny has been acting more like a friend
than they have been.
So the other girls have finally freaking figured out
something is wrong. They decide to fix it by going ahead and having the surprise
early, the next day. When they wake up, Lauren’s mom is gone. When she gets
back, she has a box of four kittens, including a calico. She couldn’t let the
other three go to the pound.
Now that they have their present, for free, they start
planning the rest of the surprise, and they have money to make it good. They
figure Kate won’t let them in, but she will let in a deliveryman. They decide
to start with a singing telegram, then a little while later an ice cream cake,
then a heart shaped pizza. After those are delivered, they figure they can slip
in themselves with balloons and the kitten.
Of course, their plan goes off without a hitch, aside from
the singing telegram being terrible, but it makes Kate laugh, so it’s all good.
It sounds like a pretty kickass birthday to me. The girls make up, and Kate
admits she was definitely surprised.
o
The girls think about watching a movie called
Beach Party Bongos. That sounds dirty to me.
o
I appreciate the girls’ relationships with the
parents. They actually get in trouble for sneaking outside, and it’s remembered
the next day. The girls thank the parents for breakfast and for having them
over. They asked Kate’s mom’s permission first about the kitten. It’s a far cry
from some other series, and I just think it’s nice.
o
It’s never said what happens to the other three
kittens, but I have to assume each of the girls gets one. Maybe it will say in
the next book.
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