Sweet Valley Kids #63, Lila's Christmas Angel
I picked this book up yesterday at this great bookstore near my work that sells old-school YA and kids books for just 20-30 cents. Some days they have a better selection than others. Yesterday I found a whole ton of BSC books ... not so much in the way of Sweet Valley. But I did manage to grab a SVU book, plus this one.
Anyway I haven't read very many Sweet Valley Kids books but right away I noticed something different about this one...it's written in the first person! What the..? Were all the SVK books written in the first person later on in the series? Or was this some ghost-writer's attempt at making this book more special and magical (because it's Christmas)? Either way, there's something wrong about it (like in the Sleepover Friends when they suddenly started taking turns narrating instead of every book being told from Lauren's POV). Pick one point-of-view per series and stick with it, ghostwriters!
Now that that's out of the way...
Chapter One, Holiday Blues: Lila begins her story in a very perky manner, telling us straightforward how she's going to share a "wonderful story" about meeting her guardian angel. She doesn't sound very much like Lila Fowler (she's all, "You have a guardian angel, too! If you ever need her she will be watching over you! I promise!") She sounds like Chicken Soup for the Soul. However, she's a little more Lila-ish when describing her huge room (she can do eight cartwheels in a row without hitting a wall!), her rich daddy, and how she wants to someday be queen of an enormous country. Lila also tells us about Jessica and Elizabeth. She thinks Elizabeth is boring but she still envies Jessica for having a sister. Even Ellen Riteman has a sister (never mind that Ellen's "sister" becomes a brother named Mark by the time Sweet Valley Twins rolls around), Poor Lila is an only child, and she thinks that holidays are the loneliest time of all. :-(
After all the intro stuff, Lila and her friends are sitting around in their classroom. Jessica and Elizabeth are passing out invitations to their holiday "cookie party." Lila's envelope says To Lila and Mrs. Fowler. This makes Lila sad because -- in this ghost-writer's vision of Sweet Valley -- Grace Fowler wasn't run out of town by George, but she and George DID just have a regular old "irreconcilible differences" divorce, and Mrs. Fowler has only been gone for a few days. Lila doesn't even know where she is. Lila also doesn't want her friends to know about the divorce; she's afraid they won't like her anymore if they know she's "different."
(Did Lila have a mother in the earlier SVK books, or was this ghost-writer just all "screw continuity" and writing what they pleased?)
So Lila almost cries about her invitation but she manages to hold back her tears. Partly because she doesn't want nosy Elizabeth to know she's upset -- Lila knows that Liz will hound her about WHY she's upset (ha). Lila makes up an excuse about opening her invitation with her mother later on at home. Secretly, she vows to stop the cookie party.
Chapter Two, A Close Call: Later, on the playground, Lila tries to put her 'stop cookie party' plan into action. Lila and Jessica are waiting for their turn on the swings when Lila tells Jess she has a secret. Caroline Pearce wants to know what the secret is (at least the ghost-writer got Caroline right!). Jess tells Caroline to mind her own "beeswax", and Jessica and Lila go over to the water fountain.
Lila shares her "secret", which is basically Lila telling Jessica that her party idea is lame and all the kids hate it. Jessica looks like she's going to cry, which makes Lila feel guilty. Then some tertiary character named Eva runs over and gushes how much she's looking forward to the cookie party. Jess puts her hands on her hips and glares at Lila. Jess is like, "You LIAR!" and Eva's all, "What's wrong?" Luckily, Lila is saved at that moment by a mysterious "white flash." Lila has no idea what the flash is (a large bird?) but by the time it's gone, Jessica's suddenly all smiley and "Ha ha! Great joke, Lila!"
Jess, Lila, and Eva go over to swing. Lila wonders why the other two girls didn't seem to see the white flash. She shrugs it off and decides wisely that fighting with her friends would make her even more lonely. Lila calls off her plan to sabotage the cookie party. She swings, but her heart isn't in it, as she sadly wonders where her mother is.
Chapter Three, An Awful Surprise: That day, George Fowler picks up Lila from school in his "shiny green car" (what, no driver?). He tries to be a concerned parent and asks Lila what she learned in school that day. Lila mumbles some answer (her 'mommy' used to be the one who asked her about school and Lila doesn't like George in that role). She perks up a little when George tells her that he has a surprise waiting at home.
The surprise turns out to be this woman named Harriet Oleson. Just kidding about the Oleson. Really, Harriet is Lila's new nanny, which --needless to say -- Lila is less than thrilled about. Harriet's wearing a sweatshirt and sneakers, and Lila derisively thinks What a messy person (hee), although she secretly thinks that Harriet's long black hair would be fun to braid. But Lila doesn't want to braid Harriet's hair or have anything to do with her!
Lila makes her feelings known, telling Harriet, "You can go home now." Harriet's all, "This is my home." George says that he knows Lila would rather have her mommy, but that he thinks Lila will have lots of fun with Harriet. Oh ... there's an illustration at this point in the book that I wish I could scan, as Harriet looks very hip and late-80s (even though this book was published in 1995) and George looks very ... short (Harriet's height). Anyway, Lila stamps her foot and throws a tantrum. She screams at Harriet when Harriet tries to kneel down 'to child size' and speak condescendingly to Lila. Lila's all "I DON'T LIKE YOU! YOU LOOK LIKE A WITCH!" George makes Lila go to her room, and Lila throws herself down on her bed and sobs, thinking about how lonely and un-loved she is. Poor, poor Lila.
Chapter Four, An Angel Without Wings: Suddenly, Lila's crying is interrupted by a "sweet" voice telling her not to cry. Lila looks up to see a girl with huge green eyes, long blonde hair, and a flowing white dress sitting on her bed. Lila's all, "Who are you?" and the girl says that her name is Serena and that she's Lila's guardian angel. Lila's like, "My WHAT?" She thinks it's really some girl playing a joke on her, and she demands that Serena prove she's an angel. Lila tells her to fly. Serena sadly admits that she can't fly, because she doesn't yet have her wings. Lila accepts this, but she insists that Serena grant her three wishes. Serena points out that she's not a genie. Finally, Lila commands her to do a good deed.
So Serena does. Her magical angel powers enable her to know that Nanny Harriet has a headache. So they go into the bathroom and stare at Harriet in the bathtub (Lila peeks around the doorframe so Harriet won't see her). Lila wonders about Harriet seeing Serena, but Serena assures her that she's invisible to everyone but Lila.
Serena does indeed make Harriet's headache go away -- she even makes Harriet's bathwater bubble, and fills the room with "the scent of fresh flowers." Lila can tell it's working because Harriet looks all ecstatic and starts to hum! This bathtub scene is kind of weird. Anyway, Lila now believes that Serena really is an angel, but she's doubtful that Serena can solve her problems.
Chapter Five, Serena's Story: They go back to Lila's room, where Serena casually starts to play with Lila's dollhouse. Since she's invisible to everyone but Lila, I wonder, if George or someone walked into the room when Serena was playing, would the dollhouse furniture look like it was floating in air?
Lila asks Serena just why she is there, and Serena says she's there to help Lila with her problems. Lila is surprised that Serena knows about the divorce and the cookie party. Serena reminds Lila that she's her guardian angel -- she's always watching over Lila. She's not a very modest angel, as she brags about helping to avert the fight with Jessica on the playground that day (Serena was the "white flash").
Serena tells Lila to confess to her friends about the divorce. Lila doesn't want to, but Serena says that nothing good can come from lying! Serena learned the hard way. Lila asks what she means by that, and Serena says that she used to live in Lila's house until she was eight years old and ... died. (Creepy!) She tells Lila all about how her friends never came to visit her before she died, but that's because she kept her illness a secret. Likewise, if Lila keeps her sadness about the divorce secret, then her friends will never be able to help her. Lila thinks about this and vows to "try" to tell her friends about the divorce.
Chapter Six, First Try: The next day, Lila and Serena walk to school together. Serena's all, "This will be fun, I've already been in second grade so I know all the answers!" She promises to help Lila with her spelling. When they get to Lila's classroom, Lila whispers back and forth with Serena ... and of course since Serena's invisible, Jessica and Elizabeth wonder who Lila is talking to.
Lila doesn't mention her angel, but she does tell the twins that her mother can't come to the cookie party. But before she can explain why, Lois Waller comes over and kills the mood. Lila and Jessica don't like Lois because she's chubby (of course), because she wears her hair in pigtails and because she cries all the time. Liz is nice to Lois, but Jess and Lila brush her off. When Lois leaves, Elizabeth lectures Jess and Lila about how much Lois has changed and tells them they should be nice to her. Jessica dismisses Lois as being "just too different."
Class starts, and Jessica finally asks Lila why her mom can't come to the party. But after that exchange with Lois, Lila is reluctant to confess that she, too, is "different." She says that she'll tell Jess later. Serena floats over to Lila's desk (she was looking at the class hamsters) and encourages Lila to try again.
Chapter Seven, Serena's Wings: At recess, Lila and Jess and Ellen want to play hopscotch and argue over whose turn it is to go first. Serena calls Lila away (under the guise of Lila forgetting her purse in the lunchroom) and nags her to confess to her friends about the divorce. Lila is annoyed but promises to do it at recess.
However, before she can tell her friends, she overhears the other kids making fun of Winston Egbert, because Winston's family opens their presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas (gasp!). Lila joins right in the taunting-- but inside, she knows that it's just another example of being "different", and that the kids might tease her just as hard if they knew her secret.
Later, in math class, Serena the pest nags Lila again about confessing. Like Lila can do it in the middle of a lesson. Lila asks her teacher for a bathroom pass, and she and Serena have a discussion in the bathroom. Selfish Serena really only wants Lila to tell her friends so that her "good deed" can be finished and Serena can get her wings. Serena thinks she's failed, and Lila feels guilty. Lila suggests that Serena do a different good deed. She promises to help Serena get her wings, so long as she doesn't have to tell her friends about the divorce.
Chapter Eight, Daddy And Me: That day, Nanny Harriet picks up Lila after school. Lila is warming up to Harriet, and likes her candy-cane earrings, but she's not quite ready to be all buddy-buddy yet. She turns down Harriet's offer to go to the mall.
Instead, Lila goes home to her room, where Serena is once again playing with Lila's dollhouse. Serena announces that she thought up another good deed so she can get her wings (she's not even pretending to be watching out for Lila anymore). Serena knows that Lila resents her father for not spending time with her, and she vows to bring Lila and her father together.
Serena tells Lila to invite her father to make cookies together. Lila's hesitant, but Serena's all, "Lila, you PROMISED to help me!" So Lila goes to her father's study and knocks on the door. She's super-nervous about asking him to make cookies. Which is kind of sad and pathetic. But much to Lila's surprise, George agrees! They're going to make chocolate-chip, George's favorite!
Unfortunately, before Lila can even get the butter out of the fridge, George gets a phone call from someone named Bert. He goes back to his study, promising to "be right back." Lila and Serena wait impatiently for him to return. Finally, somebody comes back into the kitchen, ready for cookie-baking. But it's not George, it's Nanny Harriet. She tells Lila that something important came up, and George had to leave. Lila runs to her room and cries.
Chapter Nine, Serena's Recipe: Lila's still crying in her room when she hears somebody ask her why she's crying. It's Jessica!
Lila sees that Jessica has some flour on her nose. It turns out that Jessica also happened to be baking cookies, but Jess's recipe called for "flour, butter, sugar, and a best friend to help stir." So instead of settling for Liz, Jess came to get Lila? Lila herself is all, "What a strange cookbook!" Then she realizes that Serena must have re-written the recipe.
Jess once more asks Lila why she's crying, and Lila finally confesses about the divorce. Instead of making fun of Lila for being different, Jessica is kind and good. She gives Lila a hug and invites her over to bake cookies with the Wakefields. She tells Lila that she can be part of the Wakefield family for as long as she wants. Lila must really be lonely, because she thinks that sounds like a great idea.
Before she leaves, Lila looks around for Serena. She can't find her angel, and she worries. Lila hopes that Serena realizes that even though her second good deed failed, the first one was a success after all ... Serena can finally get her precious wings.
Chapter Ten, Almost Like Triplets: Lila and the twins are in the Wakefields' sunny, Spanish-tiled kitchen making cookies (with Alice) and having a grand old time. They're decorating sugar cookies to look like Santa with raisins, nuts, sprinkles, and Christmas-color icing. Yummy! Steven comes in and teases Elizabeth, but he's extra-special nice to Lila.
After the cookies, Lila and the twins change into their pajamas. All of the Wakefields (and Lila) gather in the family room to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Lila thinks the angel in the movie reminds her of Serena, and she misses her own guardian angel. Even though the Wakefields are nice to her, she still feels unhappy ... she's jealous of the twins and their (too) perfect family.
Chapter Eleven, Cookies!: The next day is the big cookie party! Todd Wilkins is there, and he wants to know what kind of cookies Winston brought. Winston calls his cookies "jam tarts." Liz is all, "I don't see any jam" and Winston admits that he and his dad got preoccupied with a game of catch, so the cookies didn't turn out so well. Todd assures him that they still taste good ("You can hardly tell they're burned") but the girls are all "Ewww!!"
Then Caroline Pearce and her mom come over, and Lila and Jess act all eye-rolly. Mrs. Pearce wants to know why Lila's there all by herself... she calls Lila a "poor baby." Lila feels like kicking Mrs. Pearce! Caroline's mom is just as nosy as Caroline!
But then the doorbell rings and Lila overhears Alice call somebody 'George.' Sure enough, it's Lila's dad! He came to the party after all! Lila asks him how he knew about it. George explains that he was working when his computer mysteriously shut itself off. He tried to call the repairman but could only hear loud music over the phone. So he decided to read his mail, and that's when he found the invitation... which somehow found its way from Lila's room to George's desk. (Didn't it say Lila and Mrs. Fowler? Nosy George...) Lila realizes that this was all the work of Serena.
Lila tells her dad that he's always too busy for her. George denies it, but Lila reminds him of the cookie incident. George is all, "Well why didn't you want to make cookies with Harriet?" Lila says that she likes Nanny Harriet, but he is supposed to be her father! George acknowledges that he has a lot to learn about being a parent. Then he makes a fake promise to always be there for Lila when she needs him, and poor Lila falls for it and feels happy and loved.
Chapter Twelve, Sort of Goodbye: In the final chapter, George is already sort of breaking his promise ... he starts chatting with Winston's dad. So a bored Lila goes out to the backyard. There, she finds Serena standing there with a big grin on her face. Serena tells Lila that she came to say goodbye. Lila is sad, but she thinks she doesn't need Serena anymore "because she has her father and her friends." Well, Lila, at least the second part of that might be true.
Serena says that she has to go help other kids (she must really need to earn her halo or something). She, too, promises that she'll always be there for Lila when Lila needs her. Lila cries, but she feels happier when she sees Serena fly away on a pair of beautiful, sparkling white wings!
Then Jessica, Ellen, Amy, and Liz all come galloping over. They're pretending to be horses. How Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike of them. The rest of the book is the setup for the next SVK book, which seems to be all about horses. Exciting.
***
I think this recap was almost as long as the book, which, by the way, I finished less than halfway into my 40-minute bus ride home!
Anyway I haven't read very many Sweet Valley Kids books but right away I noticed something different about this one...it's written in the first person! What the..? Were all the SVK books written in the first person later on in the series? Or was this some ghost-writer's attempt at making this book more special and magical (because it's Christmas)? Either way, there's something wrong about it (like in the Sleepover Friends when they suddenly started taking turns narrating instead of every book being told from Lauren's POV). Pick one point-of-view per series and stick with it, ghostwriters!
Now that that's out of the way...
Chapter One, Holiday Blues: Lila begins her story in a very perky manner, telling us straightforward how she's going to share a "wonderful story" about meeting her guardian angel. She doesn't sound very much like Lila Fowler (she's all, "You have a guardian angel, too! If you ever need her she will be watching over you! I promise!") She sounds like Chicken Soup for the Soul. However, she's a little more Lila-ish when describing her huge room (she can do eight cartwheels in a row without hitting a wall!), her rich daddy, and how she wants to someday be queen of an enormous country. Lila also tells us about Jessica and Elizabeth. She thinks Elizabeth is boring but she still envies Jessica for having a sister. Even Ellen Riteman has a sister (never mind that Ellen's "sister" becomes a brother named Mark by the time Sweet Valley Twins rolls around), Poor Lila is an only child, and she thinks that holidays are the loneliest time of all. :-(
After all the intro stuff, Lila and her friends are sitting around in their classroom. Jessica and Elizabeth are passing out invitations to their holiday "cookie party." Lila's envelope says To Lila and Mrs. Fowler. This makes Lila sad because -- in this ghost-writer's vision of Sweet Valley -- Grace Fowler wasn't run out of town by George, but she and George DID just have a regular old "irreconcilible differences" divorce, and Mrs. Fowler has only been gone for a few days. Lila doesn't even know where she is. Lila also doesn't want her friends to know about the divorce; she's afraid they won't like her anymore if they know she's "different."
(Did Lila have a mother in the earlier SVK books, or was this ghost-writer just all "screw continuity" and writing what they pleased?)
So Lila almost cries about her invitation but she manages to hold back her tears. Partly because she doesn't want nosy Elizabeth to know she's upset -- Lila knows that Liz will hound her about WHY she's upset (ha). Lila makes up an excuse about opening her invitation with her mother later on at home. Secretly, she vows to stop the cookie party.
Chapter Two, A Close Call: Later, on the playground, Lila tries to put her 'stop cookie party' plan into action. Lila and Jessica are waiting for their turn on the swings when Lila tells Jess she has a secret. Caroline Pearce wants to know what the secret is (at least the ghost-writer got Caroline right!). Jess tells Caroline to mind her own "beeswax", and Jessica and Lila go over to the water fountain.
Lila shares her "secret", which is basically Lila telling Jessica that her party idea is lame and all the kids hate it. Jessica looks like she's going to cry, which makes Lila feel guilty. Then some tertiary character named Eva runs over and gushes how much she's looking forward to the cookie party. Jess puts her hands on her hips and glares at Lila. Jess is like, "You LIAR!" and Eva's all, "What's wrong?" Luckily, Lila is saved at that moment by a mysterious "white flash." Lila has no idea what the flash is (a large bird?) but by the time it's gone, Jessica's suddenly all smiley and "Ha ha! Great joke, Lila!"
Jess, Lila, and Eva go over to swing. Lila wonders why the other two girls didn't seem to see the white flash. She shrugs it off and decides wisely that fighting with her friends would make her even more lonely. Lila calls off her plan to sabotage the cookie party. She swings, but her heart isn't in it, as she sadly wonders where her mother is.
Chapter Three, An Awful Surprise: That day, George Fowler picks up Lila from school in his "shiny green car" (what, no driver?). He tries to be a concerned parent and asks Lila what she learned in school that day. Lila mumbles some answer (her 'mommy' used to be the one who asked her about school and Lila doesn't like George in that role). She perks up a little when George tells her that he has a surprise waiting at home.
The surprise turns out to be this woman named Harriet Oleson. Just kidding about the Oleson. Really, Harriet is Lila's new nanny, which --needless to say -- Lila is less than thrilled about. Harriet's wearing a sweatshirt and sneakers, and Lila derisively thinks What a messy person (hee), although she secretly thinks that Harriet's long black hair would be fun to braid. But Lila doesn't want to braid Harriet's hair or have anything to do with her!
Lila makes her feelings known, telling Harriet, "You can go home now." Harriet's all, "This is my home." George says that he knows Lila would rather have her mommy, but that he thinks Lila will have lots of fun with Harriet. Oh ... there's an illustration at this point in the book that I wish I could scan, as Harriet looks very hip and late-80s (even though this book was published in 1995) and George looks very ... short (Harriet's height). Anyway, Lila stamps her foot and throws a tantrum. She screams at Harriet when Harriet tries to kneel down 'to child size' and speak condescendingly to Lila. Lila's all "I DON'T LIKE YOU! YOU LOOK LIKE A WITCH!" George makes Lila go to her room, and Lila throws herself down on her bed and sobs, thinking about how lonely and un-loved she is. Poor, poor Lila.
Chapter Four, An Angel Without Wings: Suddenly, Lila's crying is interrupted by a "sweet" voice telling her not to cry. Lila looks up to see a girl with huge green eyes, long blonde hair, and a flowing white dress sitting on her bed. Lila's all, "Who are you?" and the girl says that her name is Serena and that she's Lila's guardian angel. Lila's like, "My WHAT?" She thinks it's really some girl playing a joke on her, and she demands that Serena prove she's an angel. Lila tells her to fly. Serena sadly admits that she can't fly, because she doesn't yet have her wings. Lila accepts this, but she insists that Serena grant her three wishes. Serena points out that she's not a genie. Finally, Lila commands her to do a good deed.
So Serena does. Her magical angel powers enable her to know that Nanny Harriet has a headache. So they go into the bathroom and stare at Harriet in the bathtub (Lila peeks around the doorframe so Harriet won't see her). Lila wonders about Harriet seeing Serena, but Serena assures her that she's invisible to everyone but Lila.
Serena does indeed make Harriet's headache go away -- she even makes Harriet's bathwater bubble, and fills the room with "the scent of fresh flowers." Lila can tell it's working because Harriet looks all ecstatic and starts to hum! This bathtub scene is kind of weird. Anyway, Lila now believes that Serena really is an angel, but she's doubtful that Serena can solve her problems.
Chapter Five, Serena's Story: They go back to Lila's room, where Serena casually starts to play with Lila's dollhouse. Since she's invisible to everyone but Lila, I wonder, if George or someone walked into the room when Serena was playing, would the dollhouse furniture look like it was floating in air?
Lila asks Serena just why she is there, and Serena says she's there to help Lila with her problems. Lila is surprised that Serena knows about the divorce and the cookie party. Serena reminds Lila that she's her guardian angel -- she's always watching over Lila. She's not a very modest angel, as she brags about helping to avert the fight with Jessica on the playground that day (Serena was the "white flash").
Serena tells Lila to confess to her friends about the divorce. Lila doesn't want to, but Serena says that nothing good can come from lying! Serena learned the hard way. Lila asks what she means by that, and Serena says that she used to live in Lila's house until she was eight years old and ... died. (Creepy!) She tells Lila all about how her friends never came to visit her before she died, but that's because she kept her illness a secret. Likewise, if Lila keeps her sadness about the divorce secret, then her friends will never be able to help her. Lila thinks about this and vows to "try" to tell her friends about the divorce.
Chapter Six, First Try: The next day, Lila and Serena walk to school together. Serena's all, "This will be fun, I've already been in second grade so I know all the answers!" She promises to help Lila with her spelling. When they get to Lila's classroom, Lila whispers back and forth with Serena ... and of course since Serena's invisible, Jessica and Elizabeth wonder who Lila is talking to.
Lila doesn't mention her angel, but she does tell the twins that her mother can't come to the cookie party. But before she can explain why, Lois Waller comes over and kills the mood. Lila and Jessica don't like Lois because she's chubby (of course), because she wears her hair in pigtails and because she cries all the time. Liz is nice to Lois, but Jess and Lila brush her off. When Lois leaves, Elizabeth lectures Jess and Lila about how much Lois has changed and tells them they should be nice to her. Jessica dismisses Lois as being "just too different."
Class starts, and Jessica finally asks Lila why her mom can't come to the party. But after that exchange with Lois, Lila is reluctant to confess that she, too, is "different." She says that she'll tell Jess later. Serena floats over to Lila's desk (she was looking at the class hamsters) and encourages Lila to try again.
Chapter Seven, Serena's Wings: At recess, Lila and Jess and Ellen want to play hopscotch and argue over whose turn it is to go first. Serena calls Lila away (under the guise of Lila forgetting her purse in the lunchroom) and nags her to confess to her friends about the divorce. Lila is annoyed but promises to do it at recess.
However, before she can tell her friends, she overhears the other kids making fun of Winston Egbert, because Winston's family opens their presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas (gasp!). Lila joins right in the taunting-- but inside, she knows that it's just another example of being "different", and that the kids might tease her just as hard if they knew her secret.
Later, in math class, Serena the pest nags Lila again about confessing. Like Lila can do it in the middle of a lesson. Lila asks her teacher for a bathroom pass, and she and Serena have a discussion in the bathroom. Selfish Serena really only wants Lila to tell her friends so that her "good deed" can be finished and Serena can get her wings. Serena thinks she's failed, and Lila feels guilty. Lila suggests that Serena do a different good deed. She promises to help Serena get her wings, so long as she doesn't have to tell her friends about the divorce.
Chapter Eight, Daddy And Me: That day, Nanny Harriet picks up Lila after school. Lila is warming up to Harriet, and likes her candy-cane earrings, but she's not quite ready to be all buddy-buddy yet. She turns down Harriet's offer to go to the mall.
Instead, Lila goes home to her room, where Serena is once again playing with Lila's dollhouse. Serena announces that she thought up another good deed so she can get her wings (she's not even pretending to be watching out for Lila anymore). Serena knows that Lila resents her father for not spending time with her, and she vows to bring Lila and her father together.
Serena tells Lila to invite her father to make cookies together. Lila's hesitant, but Serena's all, "Lila, you PROMISED to help me!" So Lila goes to her father's study and knocks on the door. She's super-nervous about asking him to make cookies. Which is kind of sad and pathetic. But much to Lila's surprise, George agrees! They're going to make chocolate-chip, George's favorite!
Unfortunately, before Lila can even get the butter out of the fridge, George gets a phone call from someone named Bert. He goes back to his study, promising to "be right back." Lila and Serena wait impatiently for him to return. Finally, somebody comes back into the kitchen, ready for cookie-baking. But it's not George, it's Nanny Harriet. She tells Lila that something important came up, and George had to leave. Lila runs to her room and cries.
Chapter Nine, Serena's Recipe: Lila's still crying in her room when she hears somebody ask her why she's crying. It's Jessica!
Lila sees that Jessica has some flour on her nose. It turns out that Jessica also happened to be baking cookies, but Jess's recipe called for "flour, butter, sugar, and a best friend to help stir." So instead of settling for Liz, Jess came to get Lila? Lila herself is all, "What a strange cookbook!" Then she realizes that Serena must have re-written the recipe.
Jess once more asks Lila why she's crying, and Lila finally confesses about the divorce. Instead of making fun of Lila for being different, Jessica is kind and good. She gives Lila a hug and invites her over to bake cookies with the Wakefields. She tells Lila that she can be part of the Wakefield family for as long as she wants. Lila must really be lonely, because she thinks that sounds like a great idea.
Before she leaves, Lila looks around for Serena. She can't find her angel, and she worries. Lila hopes that Serena realizes that even though her second good deed failed, the first one was a success after all ... Serena can finally get her precious wings.
Chapter Ten, Almost Like Triplets: Lila and the twins are in the Wakefields' sunny, Spanish-tiled kitchen making cookies (with Alice) and having a grand old time. They're decorating sugar cookies to look like Santa with raisins, nuts, sprinkles, and Christmas-color icing. Yummy! Steven comes in and teases Elizabeth, but he's extra-special nice to Lila.
After the cookies, Lila and the twins change into their pajamas. All of the Wakefields (and Lila) gather in the family room to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Lila thinks the angel in the movie reminds her of Serena, and she misses her own guardian angel. Even though the Wakefields are nice to her, she still feels unhappy ... she's jealous of the twins and their (too) perfect family.
Chapter Eleven, Cookies!: The next day is the big cookie party! Todd Wilkins is there, and he wants to know what kind of cookies Winston brought. Winston calls his cookies "jam tarts." Liz is all, "I don't see any jam" and Winston admits that he and his dad got preoccupied with a game of catch, so the cookies didn't turn out so well. Todd assures him that they still taste good ("You can hardly tell they're burned") but the girls are all "Ewww!!"
Then Caroline Pearce and her mom come over, and Lila and Jess act all eye-rolly. Mrs. Pearce wants to know why Lila's there all by herself... she calls Lila a "poor baby." Lila feels like kicking Mrs. Pearce! Caroline's mom is just as nosy as Caroline!
But then the doorbell rings and Lila overhears Alice call somebody 'George.' Sure enough, it's Lila's dad! He came to the party after all! Lila asks him how he knew about it. George explains that he was working when his computer mysteriously shut itself off. He tried to call the repairman but could only hear loud music over the phone. So he decided to read his mail, and that's when he found the invitation... which somehow found its way from Lila's room to George's desk. (Didn't it say Lila and Mrs. Fowler? Nosy George...) Lila realizes that this was all the work of Serena.
Lila tells her dad that he's always too busy for her. George denies it, but Lila reminds him of the cookie incident. George is all, "Well why didn't you want to make cookies with Harriet?" Lila says that she likes Nanny Harriet, but he is supposed to be her father! George acknowledges that he has a lot to learn about being a parent. Then he makes a fake promise to always be there for Lila when she needs him, and poor Lila falls for it and feels happy and loved.
Chapter Twelve, Sort of Goodbye: In the final chapter, George is already sort of breaking his promise ... he starts chatting with Winston's dad. So a bored Lila goes out to the backyard. There, she finds Serena standing there with a big grin on her face. Serena tells Lila that she came to say goodbye. Lila is sad, but she thinks she doesn't need Serena anymore "because she has her father and her friends." Well, Lila, at least the second part of that might be true.
Serena says that she has to go help other kids (she must really need to earn her halo or something). She, too, promises that she'll always be there for Lila when Lila needs her. Lila cries, but she feels happier when she sees Serena fly away on a pair of beautiful, sparkling white wings!
Then Jessica, Ellen, Amy, and Liz all come galloping over. They're pretending to be horses. How Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike of them. The rest of the book is the setup for the next SVK book, which seems to be all about horses. Exciting.
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I think this recap was almost as long as the book, which, by the way, I finished less than halfway into my 40-minute bus ride home!