WELCOME TO FOCUSING ON FEAR STREET WITH THERESTHEGIRL
Book# 30
Published April 1995
Cover Art by Bill Schmidt
That is one fierce expression on Lily's face...I'm assuming anger? Lily's hair is described as black in the book but a dark kind of brown here. She is lunging forward to strangle her teacher, Mr. Reiner, and I think he's supposed to be scared but it's more like a "whoa!" kind of face. I like how his tie is flying backward over his shoulder and those papers falling on the floor. Also, I believe Lily is wearing some Laura Ashley...so the 1990s. Plus, Mr. Reiner looks like Andy Dick...kinda. I like the green, yellow and mahogany brown colors to make an interesting cover
There aren't a lot of different versions of Final Grade cover art around the world but as always Germany has some nice art. The first is the original and the second I believe is from an omnibus collection:
I think that is supposed to be a zip up pencil case or notebook with a rose, sort of broken and wilting, and splattered with some blood. The second is just a looming and ominous looking school building but the atmosphere of both is very creepy and mysterious...A+
Taglines: On the front: "Will Lily get an A in murder?" and on the back: "Everyone thinks she killed her teacher." I like the front but hello spoilers on the back! And the blurb even spoils that there will be another death before we even open it...bogus! I guess you have no choice to read it once that happens.
The First Line: "Lily Bancroft smoothed back her thick black hair and forced herself to take a deep breath."
Lily is stressing majorly about getting a B on her honors social science paper and question her teacher, Mr. Reiner, as to why it was not an A hen she didn't get anything wrong. The handsome, young teacher says he suspects more of honor students and that Lily didn't put in the effort. This makes her have a little fantasy of strangling him to death and it kind of weirds Lily out.
Her older sisters, Melinda and Becky, were valedictorians and Lily wants to be one too and get the Shadyside Honors Scholarship. Her best friend Julie Prince and her boyfriend Alex Crofts think she's taking it a little too serious and it also doesn't help that they use to date and when they are all together it is awkward to add to Lily's stress.
Her mother had a stroke and Lily has to work at her uncle's drugstore to help out, also knowing she'll need money to help even if she gets the scholarship. When she misses the bus to the other side of town, Lily accepts a ride from Julie's cousin, Graham, in his Porsche and we learn they don't really get along very well as they compete for the best grades since middle school and Graham is just as competitive and driven.
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| It may not be sea-green but damn some of these Shadyside kids are stinking rich! |
Lily's night doesn't get better when a guy comes into her uncle's pharmacy and tries to rob the place, pulling a gun on her and Uncle Bob but her uncle pulls out a pistol to scare him off. An employee of Bob's, Rick Campbell, tries to go after the guy but loses him...he's a macho kind of guy. He hits on Lily but she tells him she has a boyfriend and Alex meets Lily on her way home to walk her to her door...so sweet.
Lily stays up real late to get her loads of homework done (a little talk with Dad putting no pressure on her really about how proud he is and that Lily does more than what she is capable of) and receives a call from a mystery man with stalker dialogue and it creeps her out.
Lily heads to Reiner's classroom the next day to try and talk to him about doing some extra work to raise her grade and finds the teacher dead on the floor. So after the funeral, everyone starts to act weird around Lily and well you know it's in the freaking synopsis on the back of the book!
Anyway, Lily believes it was just an accident because Reiner was thinking about fixing a faulty light fixture in his classroom and must have had a very bad fall standing on his desk to do so. Perhaps that's all it really is...until the mysterious voice calls again
"I know all about you, Lily," the voice whispered. "And I know you got what you wanted...didn't you?"
Lily has another run in with Rick at work and his pestering her for a date makes Lily snap at him but they end the conversation on amiable terms. Leaving work, Lily heads over to the newspaper printing press where Graham's dad lets the school paper print their literary magazine and she almost gets crushed by the large rolls of paper used in the press!
Side note: I use to work at a printing company and those machines are nothing to mess with!
Was this another accident or coincidence? Lily and Graham are going head to head for valedictorian...is he behind this to rattle her nerves or is someone else out to ruin Lily's life? The teacher she hated had an awful accident but what happens next is much more tragic...
Halfway through this one all of your theories go out the window and it's just a matter of what happens next and how will it end. The ending is okay not really happy and no real lesson to speak of is learned.
Body Count: Mr. Reiner for sure, one possible and another definite in a very gruesome manner that still sticks with me all these years later.
Cameo Time!: Lisa Blume from The New Girl meets up with Lily before she discovers Mr. Reiner and let's just say I don't remember Lisa being such a gossip! I know she's the editor of the school paper but man I didn't know they had a gossip rag.
THE SHADYSIDE HIGH TIME CAPSULE
Lily goes to see a movie and it's suppose to be some romantic movie with Winona Ryder...so is it Reality Bites or The Age of Innocence at this behind the times movie theater?
Personally I'm thinking a horror movie is more appropriate for this situation than any romance or comedy laughs. Actually I have two in mind:
Here are a few songs that seem almost fitting to me...twisted romance depending on how you look at it:
NEXT BLOG: Have you ever wondered how your life could be Switched upside down by forces beyond your control? Oh boy...we tackle a personal fave ;)
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