Much Ado About Anne

Much Ado about Anne is the second book in the Mother Daughter Book Club series written by Heather Vogel Fredrick. The story documents the seventh grade year of the four original book club members: Cassidy Sloane, Emma Hawthorne, Megan Wong, and Jess Delaney.

Plot summary
As their 7th grade year starts the girls get set for their second year in in the mother- daughter book club. However, a huge twist happens when their mothers announce their inviting their sworn enemy Becca Chadwick to join! But there are bigger problems than Becca when Jess learns that her family may have to sell their farm because of high property taxes.

Style
The book's perspective changes from chapter to chapter, rotating between all the girls, and the book documents all of the four seasons in the girls' crazy 7th grade year.

Megan
Megan, Emma, and Jess are all at Jess's home at Half Moon Farm after their first day of 7th grade at Walden Middle School. After getting tired of Jess's little brothers always eavsdropping on them, the girls mix an "invisibility potion" and trick Dylan and Ryan. After getting caught the girls go to the loft in Jess's barn. However their fun is spoiled when Cassidy arrives on her bike crying. She tells them the horrible news that her mother has started dating again.

Cassidy
Cassidy is still fuming about Stanley Kinkaid, who her mother met after her yoga class one day.Cassidy finds Stanley unattractive and finds herself comparing him to her deceased father.Her thoughs are interrupted during math class when she and Emma overhear the "Fab Three" talking about the school newspaper. Emma wants to join the staff but is afraid Becca will ruin it for her. At lunch Cassidy volunteers herself to be a photographer on the staff. Cassidy's day gets worse at book club when the mothers announce that they've invited Becca to join. The gilrs and their mothers decide to read Anne of Green Gables.

Emma
Emma and her mother are getting ready for the mother-daughter tea party that is being taped for Cassidy's mom show "Cooking with Clementine". Emma feels insecure about her weight, especially after Becca Chadwick called her "Porky the Poet" during a newspaper staff meeting.Emma decides to start ice skating at the local rink to get some excerise after her mom suggests she take up a sport. During the tea Becca constantly makes fun of Emma, and Mrs. Hawthorne mother tells everyone the story of Emma's imaginary friend Waldo making the teasing worse. Mrs. Sloane announces thatthe Channel 5 wants to do a promotional spot on their morning talk show the day the episode airs. Emma is confident that it will be a disaster.

Jess
The live interview for the "Cooking with Clementine" episode is getting ready to air and Cassidy, Jess, and Emma have a plan to prank Becca to get back at her for being so mean to Emma. As everoyne settles down Cassidy uses the garage door opener and lets her dog Murphy in the house. While everyone is distracted by trying to get him back outside, Cassidy pours the liquid from their invisibility potion into Becca's tea cup. However, their plan backfires when the T.V. host, Carson Dwason drinks the tea instead. He coughs and spits out his false teeth which lands on Mrs. Chadwick.

Emma
To make up for the stunt on the talk show Hello Boston!, Emma and Jess have to take turns dogsitting the Chadwick's dog, Yo-Yo while Becca's grandparents are in town for the New Year. Cassidy has to give Becca's klutzy older brother Stewart, private hockey lessons. Since Megan did not take part in the prank, as she is still friends with the Fab Three, she did not get punished.Fortunately, Becca's mom pulled Becca out of the book club. On her way home Emma runs into Stewart who she takes a liking to and walks home with. During Emma's New Year party Jess gives them all the sad news that her parents might have to sell Half-Moon Farm because of high property taxes. The girls decide to save all their money and make a toast to save Half-Moon Farm.

Cassidy
Cassidy is at a Bruins game with Stanley Kinkaid for her birthday. Her mom sent her back to Dr. Weisman after the stunt on Hello Boston! and eventually she talked to him about not liking "Stan the man". Dr. Weisman convinces her to give Stanley a chance. She finds herself shocked that she is having a fairly good time at the game and even wins the puck shooting contest. Since Stanley is the Bruins accountant, he knows the players and Cassidy gets to meet them after the game. All goes well until the coach asks Stanley if Cassidy is his daughter. After Cassidy finds out that Stanley has been talking about her behind her back to the Bruins she gets mad. After Stanley finds the private picture of her and her father that no one has ever seen before on her camera she leaves the lock room furious.

Megan
Megan is getting ready to send in her designs for the Flashlite people. After the book club meeting everybody goes outside on the Delaneys ice rink to skate. After Megan and the others corral the animals back in the barn after they escaped, Megan can't find her mother. When she does she sees her mother handcuff herself to a tree, to protest the taxes on Half-Moon Farm. Megan feels embarrssed especially after the Chadwicks and the news people show up.

Jess
Jess's parents talk to Jess about moving to New YOrk so her mother can get her acting job back. Jess doesn't like the idea of leaving behind the animals and her friends and strongly disagrees. At lunch jess realizes that her friends' won't be able to save enough money in time to save the farm. Becca also teases her and this makes little Kevin Mullins mad, he stands up for her,although Becca is not offended. Just then, Megan walks in the cafteria angry. The front page of the newspaper has an article about Megan's mom "Handcuffs Wong", and the paper says that Emma wrote it. The picture also claims to be taken by Cassidy. However, both girls know they did not write the article. Finally, Jess realizes that Becca switched the articles to frame Emma and Cassidy.

Emma
Emma is upset that Megan quit book club and that they aren't friends anymore. Ater the incident with the newspaper, Ms. Nielson decides to make Emma and Becca write an article on Megan's new fashion designs, with Cassidy taking the pictures. After the meeting, Zach Norton, Emma's crush tells her to ignore Becca and while Emma is happy he doesn't like Becca Chadwick at all, she notices that when she looks in his eyes she notices that he only sees her as a friend. Emma finds herself to upset to even write poetry anymore because of becca's "Porky the Poet" comment. Emma talks to her mother and the talk calms her down a bit about Megan.

Megan
Megan is not excited about their field trip to Walden Pond, however she makes sure to stay with Becca, Ashley, and Jen and away from Emma, Cassidy, and Jess. Eventually the class gets to go canoeing and the two groups of girls clash and dunk each other in the lake. Eventually they all end up arguing about the article again. After they sit out as a punishment, they all apologizto each other and Becca comes clean about writing the article and taking the picture. They all make a truce to get along. They compromise and make up a plan to save Half- Moon Farm by having a fashion show and start planning it right away.

Cassidy
Cassidy, Emma, Jess, Megan, and the Fab Three meet in the turret in Cassidy's house to discuss the fashion show plans. They decide to charge a hundred dollars per seat and to hold it in a giant tent, rather than Jess's barn because of the animals. Megan invites photographers at Flashlite and the Hello Boston! people as well as local T.V. stations to cover the fundraiser. Megan has made twelve outfits so each girl can model twice while she works behind the scenes. The girls happily try on the outfits. After the book club meeting Mrs. Sloane has a barbecue in the backyard. Stanley tries to reach out to Cassidy again but she still won't accept him.

Jess
It is the day of the fashion show and everybody is setting up for the tours of Half-Moon Farm. When the girls finally told their mothers about the fashion show the mothers were excited and started helping he girls out. Mrs. Delaney invited her actor friends in New York and Mrs. Sloane promised she would make a surprise appearance on the runway and to do the catering. Te other mothers help spread the word out. Before the show, Megan has a nervous meltdown but her mother is able to coax her out by telling her how proud she is. The girls walk the runway with Stewart (since Zach hurt his ankle)as an escort and each dress is auctioned off at a high price. Once the good news of Half-Moon Farm being saved erupts, Mrs. Sloane walks the runway. Stanley buys the dress for a thousand dollars and proposes to her. As eveyone cheers, Cassidy slams her boquet of flowers on the ground and storms out.

Megan
Cassidy is mad at Megan and claims that her mother wouldn't have gotten engaged if she hadn't designed a wedding dress for her mom to wear (even though it wasn't supposed to be a wedding dress). Megan and her mom arrive at the Hawthorne's for Mrs. Sloane's surprise wedding shower. As the mothers talk about their honeymoons, Cassidy is uncomfortable. Mrs. Sloane tells Cassidy that she will always remember her father. After everyone gives Mrs. Sloane their gifts, Mrs. Wong announces that they will all be taking a mother-daughter backpacking trip in New Hampshire. Everybody seems to be hesitant about this idea but they all agree to go. Megan plans on inviting the Chadwicks so she won't be too miserable.

Jess
It is the Fourth of July weekend and the girls and their mothers are all hiking on a trail. They are all tired and iwsh they could've stayed behind with the dads and the kids. Thegirls set up their tents and have a bland dinner from Mrs. Wong. Luckily the other mothers brought food to make s'mores. The gilrs all get to stay in a tent together and Becca suggest they play Truth or Dare. Becca is dared to throw Cassidy's dirty sock in her mother's tent. Megan dares Cassidy torun out and do a crazy dance in the middle of the campsite. When it's Becca's turn, Emma picks truth and Becca asks if she likes her brother. Emma doesn't want to asnwer but she admits that she does a bit. Becca starts teasing her and Emma gets mad. They do not talk to each other the next morning. When they all start hiking the next morning Mrs. Wong gets them all lost.

Emma
Cassidy tells them all to stay put since their lost. It starts storming outside and the girls and their mothers all squeeze in the biggest tent. They sing songs to stay calm and eat the little bit of food they have left. Becca gets herself to apologize to Emma for teasing her. Emma accepts her apology and also admits that she shouldn't have fired back at her. The glrs decide to sleep with their mother and Emma and her mom stay with Jess and her mom in the big tent. Jess asks Emma while she never told her about liking Stewart and Emma admits she wanted to keep it to herself after going through a lot of embarssing stuff with Zach. The next morning they wait and eventually Stanley Kinkaid and the rescue team arrive. When everyone arrives back to the cabin they set off fireworks a day late because of the storm. Emma and Stewart sit near the lake and hold hands. Emma realizs that Stewart likes her back.

Cassidy
Cassidy is sitting in the turret waiting for the wedding to start. She is till upset about her mother marrying Stanley and she refuses to come downstairs when her mother asks her to. Mrs. Sloane convinces Stanley to talk to her. Stanley talks to Cassidy about him trying to be nice. Eventually Cassidy caves him and tell Stanley that they can "maybe" be friends. After Stanley leaves, Cassidy stays up in the turret for a moment. She grabs the picture of her and her dad and faces it toward the carriage outside. Cassidy decides to give Stanley another chance, since she believes her father would have liked him. Cassidy then walks downstairs for the wedding.

Characters

 * Emma Hawthorne- One of the members of the mother-daughter book club. Emma remains close friends with Cassidy, Jess, and Megan. She is the prime target for Becca Chadwick because of her weight problems. However, after the girls make a truce at Walden pond Becca becomes nicer, although she sometimes slips up. Emma also becomes close to Becca's brother Stewart. The two develop a strong friendship and Emma and Stewart squeeze hands near the lake. Emma develops a crush on Stewart, though she does not realize it at first. She gets over Zach Norton after holding hands with Stewart, thinking "Zach who?".


 * Jess Delaney- One of the members of the mother-daughter book club. Jess is good friends with Emma, Cassidy, and Megan. Becca initially still teased Jess, though not nearly as much as she did to Emma. Jess found a way to stick up to Becca by insulting her with words she didn't understand. She still has a crush on Darcy, Emma's brother but only Emma knows.


 * Cassidy Sloane- One of the members of the mother-daughter book club. Cassidy is upset about her mother's decision to start dating again and is furious when she gets engaged. She does not accept Stanley Kinkaid, even though she thinks he is pretty nice. Eventually Cassidy succumbs, realizing that her father would want her mom to be happy and accepts him. She loves pranks but they always seem to backfire.


 * Megan Wong- One of the members of the mother-daughter book club. Megan maintains her friendship with Emma, Jess, and Cassidy. She also stays friends with the "Fab Three", mostly because their impressed by her designs. Megan is embarrsed by her mother sometimes, but deep down really loves her.


 * Becca Chadwick- An antagonist to Emma, Jess, and Cassidy. Becca continues to tease the girls, however she reconnects with Megan. Becca needles Emma the most out of the three girls, making Emma feel very insecure about her weight. Eventually Megan convinces both sets of her friends to promise to get along and Becca makes an effort to be nice. She was a former member of the mother-daughter book club, but her mother pulled her out after the Hello Boston! incident. She has very good ideas, and was helpful with the planning of the fashion show.


 * Ashley Sanborn- One of Becca and Megan's best friends. Ashley is a part of the "Fab Three" and laughs when Becca makes fun of people. After the Walden Pond incident, the girls make a truce and Ashley helps plan the fashion show to save Half-Moon Farm.


 * Jen Webster- One of Becca and Megan's best friends. Jen is a part of the "Fab Three". After the truce at Walden Pond, Jen becomes more friendly to the other girls. She helps design poster for their fundraiser to save Half-Moon Farm, as she is a very good artist.


 * Stewart Chadwick- Becca's older brother and Emma's latest crush. Stewart is considered a nerd and is very clumsy, studious, and wears glasses. After Zach twists his ankle Wolfgang has Stewart be an escort. He is then asked to be a model for "Flashlite". Emma and Stewart have a lot in common and become good friends. Stewart seems to like Emma just as much as she likes him.