<![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I know I'm super late to this game but OMG! Thank you for helping me figure out that whole rape-fear of the 80s thing! I always attributed it to some really bad choices my mom made in letting me watch some 20/20 but it was this damn book (with that exact cover!)! And Cagney! And DeeDee! JESUS! That was sooo disturbing and mainstream that it seemed rape was inevitable. I remember wishing it would just happen so I could stop worrying about it! SICK.

isadora

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> What a shock to see that cover again!

thehoyden

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @woolhat:
I, too, was in love with the vintage girl. I still remember the description of her cupid's bow lips or something like that. She just sounded so neat and I was so sad for her that she was raped.

@CautionaryWhale:
I, too, loved "Princess Ashley." Peck was the master of freaking you out in a vague,non-specific way. "Secrets of the Shopping Mall" and "Ghosts I Have Been" were the same way. I always felt unsettled, but was addicted to the story. Didn't he also write a book about a guy and his sister who go on a European cruise with their semi-estranged grandmother and he ends up naked hottubbing with the Swedish girls on the staff? Obviously that was lighter fare.



scribbles

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I haven't even read the review yet, but all I can say is THANK YOU for picking this book. The expression puppy love and the pill has been in my regular rotation ever since I read this at age 11.

scribbles

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> "When was the last time the hip divorcee totally copped out on the feminism thing??!!??"

Um.... three days ago?

I think this was one of the first books I threw across the room with the true knowledge that just 'cause I got straight As and my peers didn't think me an ineffable dork, that life wasn't gonna be fair.

Rooo sez BISH PLZ

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Does anyone remember a scary YA book about a girl who gets possessed by the ghost of a girl who killed her family with an axe? She keeps looking in the mirror and singing "Blood-red roses, rose-red blood," over and over.

Also, "Witch's Sister" really freaked me out, where she's afraid her sister is a witch. You're all set to learn a valuable lesson about getting along, when it turns out her sister really IS a witch and she's going to sacrifice their baby brother!!

oeditrix

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I read this when I was little (I think it was my older sister's) and it freaked me out. The "not wearing a bra" thing really confused me because I was so young, I though bras were supposed to be the ultimate sexy. Boobs without bras just meant you were flat like me.

And didn't Kim almost get date-raped on Different World? And Dwayne Wayne had to save her?

oeditrix

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Could we have some Cynthia Voigt soon, please? Dicey's Song, perhaps?

claire1404

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Suzette: god, that story freaked me out. and i think i was a junior when i read it. Oates is a master. I've reread "where are you going, where have you been" maybe eight times since then and it's still fantastic.

youwantedahero

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I'm still hung up on Emergency Breakthroughs... I was the victim of that a couple times, after tying up the phone for hours. Isn't that quaint? One phone line? With teenagers? Hardly seems possible.

ingaling

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I never read this one because the subject freaked me out too much. And I was, and still am a wuss. I DID finally get around to Laurie Halse Anderson's 'Speak' which was AMAZING (and the movie was excellent too) though I litterly spent most of the book/movie crying and crying and crying. Because- frankly- I'm a crier.

And I totally remembered being SO freaked out by the pede and the rape episodes of Diff'rent Strokes. It was one of those things where I'm sure they had the best intentions but it just came out all... gross. And creepy. And alienating the audience it needed to teach.

But on a different topic I LOVED Richard Peck's Blossom Culp books- Ghosts I Have Been particularly. I loved how she was kinda homely looking but she owned up to it and was all 'eh. whatevs. nothing I can do about it.' And also had this whole Titanic element to it which I loved at the time. Richard Peck wrote another one about the Titanic... Mranda Amanda or something like that? Pretty neat- about a maid who switches places with a socialite on the Titanic.

OH. And for nomination consideration? ANYTHING by Caroline B. Coony- the Time Travel Romance trilogy anyway. Fuckin' ATE THOSE UP when I was a kid.

Sunshineyness

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @haguenite: I read that book, too! I could swear it's from one of those series, something like Fear Street, maybe?

Catra

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Rita, Bob and Sue Too - made me sure that I would fall for the babysitting family dad and end up with my knickers round my ankles in the front seat with my friend in the back waiting for her turn.

mepo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> As a teen I was so afraid of being babysitter rape fodder. I wrote my own obit one night when I realised that I was babysitting for the village pedo (I had only met his wife) who's name was (no lie) Mike Hunt. I refused to have him drive me home so his female neighbour had to. They never asked me back.

mepo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Although her father WAS dead, and that was his business partner who later adopted Sarah.

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> This book fucked me up for a bit. My fourth grade teacher just started letting me check out books from the young adult section and no other kids, and this selection was my reward? My cover was identical, but I either didn't have the "rape and its aftermath" line or didn't know what rape even was yet! I thought this was a mystery, comin from the RL Stine/Christopher Pike/BSC teen girl in jeopardy genre. I remember feelin all gross and scared someone would know I had read such filth and think I was a perv.
Also, that Little House plotline is AWFUL! I had no idea.

Tiny-Moves

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Debutante:

of course, that's A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Does anyone remember the name of the book that is about the little girl who is at school while her father is away at war. When her father is "killed" she has to move into the attic with the other maid girl. But the rich, exotic man (with a monkey) across the alley fills her room up with food and treats? And in the end her father isn't actually dead? I can't remember the title of this book (which is kind of a classic), and it is killing me.

debutante

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @spydriana: I KNEW I saw that ep. When she fell down, my dad cheerfully said "She's not pregnant now!" I think he was excited because of his special power where he can announce what's about to happen on tv just before it happens.

nardo218

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> i forgot all about that episode of Little House. not only was Albert's gf raped, but she got pregnant by the clown-rapist. so Albert wanted to marry her but Ma was against it, and then the rapist-clown came BACK for her and chased her into a barn where she climbed up a ladder to try and escape but the ladder fell down and she died. Pa was following the chase and shot the rapist, but it was too late. god, that show was dark sometimes.

spydriana

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> First off, to whomever mentioned Lurlene McDaniel, I TOTALLY remember those books. I think I went through a morbid romantic phase when I was like 12 and I remember there was always a love interest who had leukemia or who the girl with leukemia wanted to get with. Loved it. I opened one up a few weeks ago when I was cleaning out the basement and it was hilariously melodramatic. I mean, not that leukemia doesn't suck, but all the teen angst related stuff was so drama-overload.

Does anyone remember The Egypt Game? Also, Westing Game. Ooh! Or "Babysitting is a dangerous job"? That book made me half nervous and half excited for the point where I would inevitably get kidnapped while babysitting and I'd have to be brave and resourceful and help the kids escape.

redrover189

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Kataluna: And now it will haunt you forever and ever and always as well. Of course I could just text my sister to ask (it was her book after all) but she's celebrating carnaval, which means she'll be drunk for the next 3 days or so...

I can't believe there's no one else who remembers reading that book (and preferably the title/author).

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @dingosmom1: I was the only person I knew who read Jennifer, Hecate. I had forgotten the title but remembered the plot. P.S.: Those were good cookies...

TheFormerJuneBronson

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby: Oh! I remember Secrets of the Shopping Mall. There were a couple of those out at that time, and this was the scarier one of the two. I didn't think I'd read him at all.

TheFormerJuneBronson

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> There was a YA rape book called "Did you hear what happened to Andrea?"
[www.amazon.com]

It totally freaked me out because it all took place in my neighborhood in LA!

There was also a good molster one called "The Trouble with Wednesdays" which is about a girl beign molested by her dentist.

[www.amazon.com]


Procrasstinator

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Seriously, if you ladies want to read a GOOD GOOD AWESOME book by an adult author...read Jennifer Weiner. I cant believe they call her stuff "chick lit" it is so, so good.

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Kataluna:

yes yes. I was actually abused by my 4th grade teacher for reading SE Hinton in class, instead of listening to the math lesson. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. so scary. she was nuts.

But I still love SE Hinton and hate math. So get stuffed, Mrs. Ballard!

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I think I read everything by Richard Peck.

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @WorkerBee2000: The Brass Cupcake, baby.

rose0red

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: I am almost positive that the book you described about the little girl and the ghost is "Jane Emily" by Patricia Clapp. It was one of my favorite childhood books.

peeramid98

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Okay everybody...what about S.E. Hinton's books?

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> hee hee. Well, I didn't read "Looking for Mr Goodbar" until just last month, but as a kid (10 yrs old) I was given an adult library card because I had read most of the YA section already. So I got to check out and read the adult Judy Blumes, like "Wifey" and other random shit before I was even a teenager. Best times of my life.

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I have this notion that assigned high school reading of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Oates (along these lines but more so) (basis of film Smooth Talk, which complicated matters with the titillating Treat Williams) was part of some evil plot to make young women afraid all the time. Ugh.

Suzette

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @cinemaddict: I LOVED The Babysitter. I ended a friendship in elementary school because I lent that book to a friend and she returned it ruined. To be a kid again...

MissSamAdams

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @mynameisrio:
Do it! Cave to peer pressure! Mwaahhaahahahaha!!

Seriously, though, it's an incredible book.


BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Kataluna:
We're twins.


BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Kataluna, Besarcastic:

ok, I"m going to amazon that ferris wheel book right now.

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @BeSarcastic: I was a precocious morbid perverted mofo...I read "Finding Mr. Goodbar" when I was 12...along with "Hawaii" by James Michiner...alongside my babysitter's Club books.

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> i haven't read the book. at what age should i introduce this to my daughter?

wring

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @mynameisrio:
Admittedly, though, as a child I was a morbid mofo.


BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @greyeminence: aaaw i love that book

wring

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @BeSarcastic: I read a LOT. I remember a LOT. Books were how I learned about the world.

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Besarcastic:

yeah, right? It seems kids don't read these kind of educational books anymore - like Grimms Fairy tales are too much for them. But the violent sexy bits in the fairy tales are what they're about, and kids love that pervy shit!

And "I Want to Keep My Baby" it is SO realistic, and makes it clear that being a teenager with a baby is a NIGHTMARE. Every girl should read that book. Scared the shit outta me, that's for sure. And in "Don't Hurt Laurie" it helped me to realize that if my parents hit me any worse than they already did (bad, but borderline stuff), then it was wrong, and I could go to authorities.

Where are our modern fables?

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @TheGuvnah: Hahahaha....no worries.

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Kataluna:

Wow -- a quote from "The Girl Who Lived on the Ferris Wheel." Awesome. You're my hero.

BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @haguenite: YES, I can't remember it...involved puffer fish powder and an underground adoption ring...friend was half middle eastern...Cover had a pic of friends in bikinis, middle eastern girl scratched herself out...

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @greyeminence: X 2. Also please tell me how "Basil" should be pronounced. I loved a book called "Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth and Me, Elizabeth". One called "Taash and the Jesters". "A Wrinkle in Time". I loved odd books, I think. All books, really.

Mrs. DeLesseps To You, Dahling

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @mynameisrio: I so remember Don't Hurt Laurie, Loved it! Which is kind of weird now that I think about it. I also remember some book about a girl and her father who were homeless and lived in the mall or the airport- I think it was named after a bird that died after getting stuck in the ventilation or something.

99centbar

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: Not with a lake, but one with water colors and an old house...

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Okay, I think it's funny that while the book I was thinking of was called "wait till helen comes", but the description I give could be more books. If you are all willing to play along, can anyone else think of a young adult book where there was a young girl and a girl's ghost who was trying to take over her life, preferably with a lake involved?

MoonJewel

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @mynameisrio: Yes, read it, "PRINCESS! YOU'RE the Princess and I'm the SLAVE!"
@BeSarcastic: I want to keep my baby was made into a movie -- muriel Hemingway played the girl. It always disturbed me what happened to that baby before she gave it up...her "friend" gave the baby vodka in her milk, then she shook her and threw her down at the end before she gave the baby up...


Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @cinemaddict: @99centbar: You're absolutely right! Funny, you'd think I'd remember it was an R.L. Stine book. Though his Goosebumps series didn't become popular here until I was too old for them.

Now, does anyone recognize the book as described in the 9th comment to this post?

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @mynameisrio:
Another mother-abuses-daughter YA book: "The Girl Who Lived on the Ferris Wheel" by Louise Moeri. Heavy stuff.

Me as a child = books about death and abuse and real heavy issues.

Children today = Bratz dolls.


BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Why did I never read this?? As someone who had loving and attentive parents, I had a sick fascination with characters who were neglected by their parents. I mean, I still love me some Claudia Kincaid in "From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." Which, by the way, should totally be featured in the next installment.

greyeminence

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: The first book you described is titled "Jane Emily" and the author was Patricia Clapp.

On another note, I LOVED "Are You in the House Alone?" so I was really glad to see Jezebel take this one on today.

peeramid98

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I love these gritty late 70s early 80s YA novels. Don't make 'em like that anymore!!

Anyone remember "Don't Hurt Laurie" about a terribly abusive mom? Or "I want to keep my Baby" about teenage girl keeping baby?

Those did NOT pull any punches.

mynameisrio

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I, too, love the Fine Lines feature--it brings back so many memories. The abundance of '70s rape plots you point out was everywhere on TV at the time--don't forget the daytime soaps, where there were at least 19 rapes or attempted rapes between 1978 and 1981. And I have yet to track this down, but wasn't there also a rapist on Little House on the Prarie? Damaged me for life. Also wanted to point out that Are You in the House Alone? was a made-for-TV movie in the '70s, too. Another link between the TV shows that scarred us and books like this one.

DrTelevision

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> OKay, anyone remember one about a gifted girl who tutors a model, has a best friend named Wolfgang Amadaus?

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby: @stringbeanjean: And her mom's friend wore a shirt that was bejewelled and said BABY in big letters...I wanted one like that when I was pregnant, all because of that book. And the pervert uncle made them blueberry muffins after a sleepover...

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @LadySkittlehattington: I'm an idiot and just reread your post. Disregard!

TheGuvnah

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @LadySkittlehattington: Jenna von oy played Six. Sara Gilbert was on Roseanne.

TheGuvnah

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @lydia_gwilt: Hoo-boy, the "Albert's girlfriend" episode was a turning point in my life. I remember turning to my mom and asking her exactly what 'rape' meant. And I'm 35! That was totally traumatizing. He kept the mask in a drawer in a creepy house in the woods. Great family TV, I tells ya.
And thank you for this feature. I nearly pass out from waves of nostalgia every Friday. I so look forward to it.

maudiesplaytoes

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby: OMG mee too!!!!
Seriously, where were you guys when I was reading this stuff? None of my friends were avid readers like me...they thought I was weird...called me a nerd.


Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Kataluna: yes, that's it! i kept thinking Tiger Eyes, but that's a Judy Blume book. Thanks!

stringbeanjean

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Kataluna: Oh, yeah -- Silver! The friends were Patricia (PAL initialed necklace) and a girl named Asa! Why o why did I toss all my old books when I went to college?

I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I re-read this not long ago. Richard Peck was probably my favorite YA author. It's killing me that "Secrets of the Shopping Mall" is out of print. The one about kids who run away and live at the shopping and pretend to be mannequins? This was a childhood dream of mine.

I Will Not Stop Feeding My Fat Baby

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @stringbeanjean: Silver? The friend is abused by her uncle. They call the main character Silver because of her silver eyes.

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> STOP IT, Stop it PLEASE!! Get out of my bookcase!! HOW are you doing this?!

Kataluna

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> For those of you trying to find old books that you half remember Ask the A.V. Club is a good resource.

valosin

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @stringbeanjean: That's totally it! I did a book report on it.

@rachystyle: @Tramputee: Thanks! I remember thinking it was kind of weird that she was having this long mailings with some old guy. Kind of creepy.

MoonJewel

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: I think the book you're talking about is "Wait Till Helen Comes." I love mysteries and ghost stories when I was little, and that one totally freaked me out.

Does anyone remember a book about a girl who lives in a trailer park but tries to hide the fact that she's poor from her rich, popular friends? she's also abused by the father of one of her friends, i think. the only other detail i remember is that she buys a pair of guess jeans at a thrift store and she wears them all the time since they're the only "nice" clothes she has. i read it in the early 90s.

stringbeanjean

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @WOOLHAT
Oh! And yes, that silent film scene was incredibly bizarre and I loved it.

spinsteraunt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @ MIKEY375
Yes, I remember that scene, too ... I thought it was so sad.

spinsteraunt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Richard Peck's "Princess Ashley" is still one of my favorite books ever. I haven't read this one, but I'll try to get my hands on it.
Ah, R.L. Stine...after all these years, "Twisted" still freaks me out. Even though I haven't read it for 15 years. And I can't remember the plot minutae at all.


cautionarywhale

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: Omigod! That second one is "Anastasia at this Address" by Lois Lowry! I loved loved loved the Anastasia series, especially since it was the last "age-appropriate" reading of my childhood...it was all Stephen King after that until I was 14 and I discovered Burroughs (ok, I was a weird kid)...

Anyway, the other two don't ring a bell...

Tramputee

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @haguenite:Goosebumps was his kids series but he also did more young adult thriller type stuff like the author Christopher Pike. I read tons of books like that though so I really can't help with the author.

99centbar

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel:

The second one is part of the Anastasia series by Lois Lowry. That one is Anastasia At This Address.

rachystyle

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MoonJewel: Does the first one involve her becoming trapped in a mirror while the ghost girl takes over her life? And a teddy bear with glowing red eyes?

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @haguenite: That would be Babysitter I, the book I mentioned I was rereading as we speak. And it's way lamer than I remembered. Def RL Stine.

cinemaddict

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @flackette: Well, I had to watch the Hogan Family on the sly because my mom banned me from watching it. I was in love with Jason Bateman.

Do you remember the Blossom SNL sketch where Blossom's dad finds condoms in her purse and Six (played by Sarah Gilbert) goes, "They're balloons! For a party!"?

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @LadySkittlehattington: I must have missed that one! But I do have a vague memory of several different shows that involved parents finding out their lovely daughters were on the Pill.

flackette is frustrated

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @lydia_gwilt: i remeber that so well! i thought i had imagined it! no one seems to remember that episode and how deeply traumatizing it was. i was so freaked out by it, i stopped watching Little House....

lele

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Anyone remember they made a TV movie out of this - I remember that Dennis Quaid was the rapist.

jupiterspaw

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @99centbar: R.L. Stine did the goosebumps series, right? Don't think it was him (her?). Ugh, it bugs me to no end. I know these books are sitting in my parents' attic somewhere, but I highly doubt they'll appreciate it if I ask them to go up there and find the book with the pretty dark-haired girls with the blue eyes and nice boobs on the cover...

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @flackette: Remember the episode of the Hogan Family where their house burned down?

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @solaana:
Speak was fantastic!!

La_Panique

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @lydia_gwilt:

No! But I am so glad I never saw it! That would have screwed me up but good. (I loved Little House! I hate clowns!)

Westcoastsally

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I love this feature. Since I need some help identifying three books I read as a kid, I hoping some you well-read jezzies can help: all were late 80's, two were mysteries, there was one where the little girl is talking to the ghost of girl and is trying to ruin her life, I remember there being a lake involved... The second one was part of a series and in it the young girl is going to attend a wedding but the bride kept getting woks as gifts, and she starts a correspondence relationship with some old guy.... The last one is a mystery about a girl and she ends up working with her crippled double first cousin who goes to live with her and her brother(?) and they hook up, which I recall creeped me out cause it was like her kissing her brother (gross!). Anyway, if anyone remembers these books, thanks for the help!

MoonJewel

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I read "Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack," but the only thing I remember about it is somebody pretending to lose a retainer in the cafeteria mashed potatoes. And it was years before I figured out what the title actually meant.

Shemp Baldwin

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I was just talking to a friend about how when I was a kid, when a prime time show tackled something like rape or alcholism is was so somber- there was something about it that just told my six year old self that This Is A Serious Issue. But now it seems to just be about shock factor?

Maybe it's more about being six and being 28, though? And less about actual changes in content and presentation?

Westcoastsally

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @lydia_gwilt: I totally must have missed that episode of Little House, but it sounds very disturbing.

I do remember an early to mid-80s outbreak of prime-time shows having "Very Special Episodes." Weirdly, one of them was a Mr. Belvedere on AIDS.

flackette is frustrated

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @solaana: We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates is a great book on this topic.

taylay

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I remember this book! I loved it.
Smart high school girl heroine, unapologetically and responsibly sexually active -- which was pretty much a non-issue, except of course that the repressed rich kid psychotic rapist latches onto it as his excuse for terrorizing her. But no one else blames her, which seemed very revolutionary at the time. And very few books for teens were so class-conscious.


City_Dater

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @MakeMeSmile: I meant to write her rape was REALISTIC (not UNrealistic)

MakeMeSmile

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @athertonmerriweather:

I didn't read that, but I love everything by Cynthia Voigt, so now I'll have to look it up!

Westcoastsally

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I never read this one because I knew what it was about and the idea of it freaked me out. Peck's "Unfinished Portrait of Jessica" is still one of my favorite books, however. I really love this feature.

kbcirca98

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @BeSarcastic: That reminds me of Lois Lowry's A Summer to Die. That book was heavy.

flackette is frustrated

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> You know what, you're *totally* right--there was a rash of rapes on 80s television! WTF?? And let me just say that Melfi's rape still, to this day, haunts me. It was just too unrealistic. I was heartbroken and completely shaken.

MakeMeSmile

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @99centbar: They are especially fun to read aloud to get the extra dramatic effect. Also funny? This book description on Amazon.

[www.amazon.com]

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I am also 34, and learned about most bad things from Diff'rent Strokes (rape, check. pedophelia, check, bulimia, check). On an unrelated note, I believe the Knight Rider car was KITT (two Ts).

And I never read the book; I can clearly tell from the cover that it would have freaked me the hell out.

mmh

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> The book that sticks in my mind is 'Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack' anybody ever heard of that one?

Boop97006

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @AfternoonAttendee: dude, that kept me from babysitting for almost a month!

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @LadySkittlehattington: Those look and sound simply delightful!
My best girl friend and I could peruse through them while watching Harlequin Classic movies with a glass of wine.

99centbar

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @kpjones: Oh good. We can start a book club in hell then.

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> My generation had it so easy. The scariest babysitting book was Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls.

AfternoonAttendee

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Oh, I loved this book. Which I guess is sick. But I remember being really scared by it, and loving Gail's toughness against the evil rapist, and I totally had a crush on Sonia (or whatever her name was), the cool artsy loner girl who wore neat vintage clothes. She was also raped.

And I was really confused by the silent movie their drama teacher showed them, that she had starred in when she was very young. It was some scene where a guy in a mask either climbs into a woman's room or starts assaulting a woman on a balcony (in a "romantic way," of course). I was horrified, esp. seeing it through Gail's eyes, but also turned on by the idea of the movie.

I am kind of embarrassed to write that, and also glad I have therapy in an hour.

woolhat

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> this book was way before my time. for some reason, my middle school preferred race/poverty stories (roll of thunder, hear my cry) to sex abuse.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I never read this one, and I think now I have to. But I just wanted to chime in and say OMG on all the rape listings (and as I recall, Natalie escaped being raped, but Tootie almost became a teenage prostitute just for wanting to go to the theater in New York; there's a comeuppance for you), and I seriously did notice that 90% of the plots of 90% of the crime shows before 2000 would be completely implausible in the age of cell phones. Damn cell phones, taking the drama out of everything in the new millennium. No wonder TV and movies have sucked.

TheFormerJuneBronson

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @LadySkittlehattington: Eh, then I'm going with you, cause I thought they were hilarious too. Teen melodrama usually is.

kelsium

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I actually still have this book and came across it recently, reread it and realized that not much has changed when it comes to this subject. Pretty much the woman has to prove it beyond any reasonable doubt, alot of the time all on her own. I also remember the TV movie that had Dennis Quaid as Phil Lawver. Vividly.

sasha89

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> [www.randomhouse.com]

I used to have a blog devoted to the hilariousness of Lurlene McDaniel's books about people having cancer. I'm going straight to hell.

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @solaana: Speak is fantastic.

kelsium

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @Leiakat: I believe that's by Lurlene McDaniel, the author of the most hilariously depressing books of all time.

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Just one more way that the Young Adult aisle of the Craighead County Library traumatized me. I'm pretty sure Phil would have been on the receiving end of some Country Justice around those parts.
I guess the question is: Why was I so compelled to read those "in jeopardy" books?


BAngieB

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Did anyone read "When She Hollars" by Cynthia Voight? That's another one that scarred me. About a teenager being abused by her stepfather and then she goes nuts and gets her revenge?

AthertonMerriweather

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @rose0red: Also loved Hunter when I was clearly too young to be watching it. And remember the DeeDee rape and almost rapes. The women cops really did get victimized a lot. But DeeDee McCall was still super badass.

Um...and you forgot about Webster when his little girl friend was "touched" by their creepy schoolteacher.

WorkerBee2000

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Oh, god, isn't this the one where her father basically falls apart, and she thinks he's at work and she sees in his suit sitting on a park bench, full of impotent rage and just sitting there?
That killed me.

Mikey375

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @BeSarcastic: There was also "Don't Die my Love," where the teenager loses her childhood boyfriend to leukemia.

@lydia_gwilt: I remember seeing that rerun as a teen and rushing home to see part 2. That episode confused the crap out of me....

Leiakat

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I only just read this book a few years ago because I was jonesing for some of that "gun-toting grannies who spit tobacco" middle grade fiction that Richard Peck does so well. This was kind of a shocker. I kinda felt like Richard Peck was just really the wrong author to be writing this.

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Andersen deals with this subject matter in a more realistic way, I feel.

Lady Skittlehattington

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @haguenite: I think I read that one too- could it be from someone like R.L. Stine?

99centbar

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I would love to have someone read Speak, or even a bunch of books about this stuff and compare them - I can't think of any other book about rape (other than Speak - refuse to count The Lucky Bones) but then I'm not really trying.

solaana

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @whoneedslight: Oh my God! Who could watch Cheers after that?

lydia_gwilt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Finally took the time to read the whole post, and for a while there I thought I *had* read this book. But I think the one I read had the same premise (the rapist, or perhaps a murderer, the babysitting, the phonecalls) but the creep didn't succeed in raping/killing the babysitter and he turned out to be the father of the couple she was babysitting for.
Again, a book title I can't for the life of me remember!

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Ahhh, early 80s sex abuse... "Something About Amelia" anyone?

whoneedslight

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @hortense:
Hold me.


BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I think this was before my time and I don't know if I would have read it. I had already been molested and didn't need to read books about bad things that could happen since I knew what was out there.I preferred to read about being desperately in love with some boy, life 's unfairness (ala Jacob have I loved) or fantasy books involving unicorns and magical places. Sounds interesting though.

99centbar

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @BeSarcastic: Oh my god! That one messed me up as well!

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> This book traumatized me too. It was rough.

hortense

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Raped by a clown?! That is the ultimate nightmare. Or at least mine. I'm scared now...

keldo

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Can we pick the next traumatizing YA novel you review? I vote for Patricia Hermes' "You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye" (1982), about a girl who loses her mother to cancer.

Yowza. That book did a number on me.

BeSarcastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> This book was very popular at my jr. high, it took forever to get it from the school library. When my mom caught me reading it she asked why I couldn't just stick to reading Judy Blume.

Jane Hudson

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Slightly off topic, but I HATED Chase for the Melfi rape. It seemed utterly gratuitous.

bowleserised

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @katastic: Me too. I haven't read this one either, and now I want to.

DorothyZbornak

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @soleil-moon-pie: Okay. I definitely read this. I remember the no-bra-blame aspect.

I must have been so upset by it, I blocked the whole thing out.

lydia_gwilt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I remember the cover of "Are You In The House Alone?" so vividly, I feel I must have read it, but have no memory of it whatsoever.

Does anyone remember when Alfred's girlfriend was raped -by a clown- on Little House on the Prairie? I was completely traumatized by the rape outbreak during family hour in the early 80's.

lydia_gwilt

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I work in a library and I'm totally checking out our available copy now. Good timing too, because I am finishing Stine's Babysitter I and II. My boyfriend thinks I'm backsliding into idiot territory now.

cinemaddict

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I nearly hyperventilated when I saw this title as the subject of this week's "Fine Lines"! This book has haunted me since I first encountered it as a mystery-loving 4th grader. I had no idea what was going on -- it was certainly no Agatha Christie.

ThePlasticMac

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Lizzie: Yes, they did rape DeeDee on Hunter. I saw that one, and another one a couple years later, where DeeDee is almost-raped.

I'm so ashamed to admit that once I liked Hunter. I see it now and wonder WTF I was thinking.

rose0red

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Don't forget Jean, from Billy Jack. The sheriff's son BER-nerd raped her too. Damn those high society bys and their lack of impulse control!

Mrs. DeLesseps To You, Dahling

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Wow, the girl on the cover lookseerily like "If You Had My Love"-era J. Lo.

bifteck-frites

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> Eaten comment? Gosh, I hope so...

I don't know that book, but it reminds me of this other book my sister owned, that I can't remember the title of. It was about two friends (girls) and I think babysitting was involved. One of them had lost a baby brother, I think, possibly because he drowned. The other also had a baby brother, but he suddenly died. While the friend was babysitting him. I think. Anyway, in the end the baby brother turned out not to be dead. Some lady had poisoned him with poison from the fugu fish, and he'd been declared dead and been buried, and then the woman (or a man) had dug him up and sold him to a rich couple. And the friends figured this out and were poisoned in their turn (I think) but they survived and all ended well. Oh, and one of the friends was blonde and the other Asian. (Again, I *think*)

To make a long story short, does anyone know which book I'm talking about?

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> This book scared me! It was very graphic, nothing like the "almost" rape in the Sweet Valley High books.

AthertonMerriweather

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> @katastic: Agreed, even when I haven't read the book, these are still enjoyable.

AndSheWas

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I love these posts. Love.

katastic

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I just want you to know that I wait for this feature all week. It's the best part of a Friday workday.

Pinkosaurus

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> If I remember correctly, our Gail didn't wear a bra, which was one of the reasons the bad guy thought it was okay to rape her?

SoleilMoonPie

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I forgot all about this book! The copy I read had a different cover that had a million questions on it: "Are you in the house? Are you alone? Are you? Are you alone in the house? Are you in the house alone? Are you are you?" It was dizzying!

SoleilMoonPie

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> I feel like some of these reviews need footnotes for those of us who were locked in the basement with only PBS to keep us company. heh. Interesting!

Meanmllemustard

]]> <![CDATA[<i>Are You In The House Alone?</i>: One Out of Four, Maybe More]]> OMIGOD i am only skimming this because this book fucking traumatized me. my skin is actually crawling just looking at this. i did not know what rape was before i read this book, and after i just felt so dirty and gross and exposed. i remember being out with my dad the night i read this book and thinking that every adult could read my mind and know that i was a girl who read about rapes. didn't he beat her with a fireplace poker before raping her?

taylay

]]>