Beacon Street Girls

The Beacon Street Girls is a book series by Annie Bryant. The series, which is published by B*tween Productions, Inc., is designed for girls aged 9–14, and typically produced following consultations with various specialists in issues for girls.^[1] It was produced as an alternative to the perceived preponderance of provocative and objectionable messages aimed at youth culture, particularly the so-called "tweens".^[2]

Major characters

Maeve Taylor-Kaplan

Maeve wants to be a movie star. Bubbly and upbeat, she wears her heart on her sleeve. She is entertaining, friendly and fun.

Kat Summers

a.k.a Kgirl... Katani has a strong fashion sense and business savvy. She is stylish, loyal, and cool.

Isabel Martinez

Her ambition is to be an artist. She was the last to join the Beacon Street Girls. She is artistic, sensitive, and kind.She is always covering her room in art!

Charlotte Ramsey

A self-acknowledged "klutz" and an aspiring writer, Charlotte is all too familiar with being the new kid in town. She is intelligent, worldly, and curious. She also has a crush on Nick. She loves to dance and sing and also worked at a lot of places like Montoya's bakery and the brookline Movie house.

Avery Madden

Avery is passionate about all sports and animal rights. She is energetic, optimistic, and outspoken.

Minor characters

Anna McMasters and Joline Kaminsky

Anna and Joline are students at Abigail Adams Junior High, in the same grade as the BSG. Anna and Joline's claim to fame is their remarkable cruelty and general meanness, along with their perfect appearances and trendy outfits. They love to be mean to the BSG and anyone else who will not bow down to them. They are the most popular girls in the grade besides Kiki, but have a wicked streak, are always showing off and crushing other girls under their high heels. Anna is mostly the evil mastermind, Joline is just her faithful henchman. However, it's shown that Joline has somwhat of a soft spot for animals in the eighth book. They are called the Queens of Mean (QOM) by most of the school and BSG. They are partly friends with Kiki, another mean bee, but they don't really like her (especially Anna, because Kiki has tried to steal Joline from her).

Kiki Underwood

If Anna and Joline are the Queens of Mean, then Kiki is the empress. She tries her very best to torture all of Abigail Adams Junior High, even Anna and Joline. Her dad is famous and she sure knows it! She also has another side that is revealed in Book 15, the Great Scavenger Hunt, and she seems very kind and loving towards her parents, along with being cautious. In Book 13, she and her dad try to open a gum factory for her Tru Blu Gum, (Tru Blu Goo, as Avery calls it) when she wants to go green for the science fair.

Marty

Marty is the Beacon Street Girls beloved dog. They discovered him in the park during Book One (Best Friends/Worst Enemies). Avery takes a particular liking towards him but is unable to keep him at her house since her mother is allergic. His favorite toy is Happy Lucky Thingy that, when shaken too roughly, turns angry. In book 8 (Lucky Charm), a Red Sox player finds Marty who had gone missing and wants to keep him because he thinks Marty has given him a winning streak. In the end Marty is returned to the girls. Marty also has a crush on Ms Razzberry Pink's pink poodle La Fanny.

Chelsea Briggs

Chelsea Briggs is a classmate of the Beacon Street Girls. Chelsea was known not as Chelsea Briggs, but Chelsea "Biggs" by other classmates because of her size and weight. Although Chelsea is corpulent, she does not like the attention of the other girls' pity for her. Her hobby is photography, as described in book number six (Lake Rescue). After book six Chelsea is described as healthier and in better shape. She develops a crush on Trevor Miller, the new boy from California, who's also into photography. To her dismay, he seems to be friends with the QOM (Queens Of Mean), but he chooses to stay with her rather than them at the Valentine's Day dance.

Betsy Fitzgerald

Betsy is another one of the BSG's schoolmates. She is very smart and a talented student, but she can be "annoying" and "stuck-up". Betsy acts like a know-it-all, and is already thinking and bragging about her college application even though she is only in seventh grade. She even makes up her own extra credit questions and answers them on tests. The reason for this is because her brother is in Harvard, and she doesn't want to be anything less than him. She is always looking for another thing to do to extend her application. Betsy is Abigail Adams Junior High's best basketball free-thrower.

Nick Montoya

Nick goes to school with the BSG. His family owns Montoya's bakery where he works. Maeve had a crush on him, but she lost interest after their unromantic date at her parents' movie house in book one (Worst Enemies/Best Friends). Both Nick and Charlotte like each other. Nick and Charlotte go on a date to the Science Museum in Boston in book 12 (Time's Up).

Dillon Johnson

Dillon is a big sports guy and loves anything that has to do with sports. He hates homework and thinks school is a waste of time. He also has a crush on Maeve. But in book fourteen (Crush Alert) he develops feelings for Avery, seeing that he asked Avery to the dance but Avery declined and told him to go ask Maeve. He also gets really jealous of Riley because he and Maeve spend time with each other a lot since she sings some of his band's songs and helps her when she is in trouble in book 7 (Freaked Out) at Julie Faber's party. In Sweet Thirteen he falls hard for Sophie Morel, Charlotte's friend from Paris, who thinks he and Avery like each other. Dillon is known as Mr.Popular, and when he ran for class president he only promised everything people wanted to hear.

Henry Yurt

Henry Yurt also goes to school with the BSG. He is the class clown and became class president in book five (Promises, Promises). He also has a crush on Anna McMasters, but goes to the Valentine's Day dance (in book 14) with Betsy Fitzgerald. In book 15 though it seems as if has a crush on Kiki Underwood. In Sweet Thirteen he has a Bar Mitzvah at the Science Museum and invites seemingly the whole school, including teachers.

Reggie DeWit

Reggie, a.k.a Math Boy, is very smart in the mathematics area. He has a crush on Katani, having shown so in book thirteen (Green Algae and Bubble Gum Wars) by giving Katani a yellow rose. Reggie had changed his appearance in book thirteen (Green Algae and Bubble Gum Wars) for Katani's attention.

Riley Lee

Riley is a musician, and has a band called "Mustard Monkey". Riley plays bass guitar. He has feelings for Maeve and almost asks her to the Valentine's Day Dance in book 14 (Crush Alert). Riley writes lyrics for songs based on Maeve and how she acts around him. Furniture Boy & Valentine Song are two of them. They sing a duet at the dance in Book 14. Riley is also very jealous of Dillon because of Maeve's fawning over him. He has unruly dark hair and likes dark clothes. After Book 14, Maeve starts to return his feelings. In Sweet Thirteen(Book 16), Maeve kisses him in thanks for his help on making her Bat Mitzvah happen.

Sophie Morel

Sophie is Charlotte's best friend from Paris and, at times, seems to be her only friend. She and Charlotte write each other and Charlotte tells her all about the BSG and what's going on. Sophie keeps her eye out for Charlotte's cat, Orangina, who disappeared before she moved away. Sophie's parents and Charlotte's dad arrange for her to visit Boston for Maeve's 13th birthday. She stays with Charlotte for 2 weeks. While there, everyone at school gets "French Mania" and starts dressing like her, learning French, etc. Dillon develops a crush on her the minute he sees her and starts helping her out, learning French, and dressing how she says French boys do. She and Charlotte know that they'll always be BFFs - Best Friends Forever, not Best French Friends, like they'd previously called it - and Sophie promises to write every day.

Sam Kaplan-Taylor

Sam is Maeve's 8 year-old brother who likes anything that has to do with the army. He also takes Tae Kwon Do, and in book 7 (Freaked Out), Maeve's whole family goes to see him get his next belt (yellow belt). He buys Maeve her dream dress for her Bat Mitzvah (using her money).

Kelley Summers

Kelley Summers is one of Kat's older sisters, who is mildly autistic. She is very friendly with the other members of the BSG, especially Charlotte, whom she calls her best friend. Her stuffed animal is named Mr. Bear, which she can't live without. When things are a little out of hand she yells, "It's a tragedy!" Kelley hates loud music; if anyone ever turns it on, she covers her ears and starts groaning. "Kelley can be embarrassing," Katani said. Kelley bothers everything that Katani evens leaves out, especially nail polish. Kelley takes riding lessons with Katani at High Hopes riding stables as part of her therapy. Kelley's horse is named Wilbur.

Elena Maria

Elena Maria is Isabel's older sister and always acts like a sister to the other BSG. She helps Maeve buy her first bra (Green Algae and Bubble Gum Wars), by telling her where the "appropriate" and cute bras are. In many of the books, Isabel and Avery are trying to set Elena Maria up with Scott, Avery's older brother. Elena Maria has a major crush on Scott, and the girls know it. In book 16 (Sweet Thirteen) they officially become boyfriend and girlfriend. They are definitely excited when Elena breaks up with her boyfriend Jimmy, who always took advantage of her. Elena Maria can be bossy, and tried to ruin Isabel's party plans in "Freaked Out".

Scott Madden

Scott is Avery's older brother. He likes to cook, just like Elena Maria. When he is older, Scott would like to have his own cooking show. Scott has a crush on Elena Maria, and they went on a 'date' in book thirteen (Green Algae and Bubble Gum Wars). Scott has sandy-blond hair and is labeled "Cute" by Maeve. During Elena Maria's Quincineara in the book Isabel's special adventure she along with a few of Elena Maria's friends goes to San Antonia. There he secretly bakes a magnificent cake for Isabel's Quincineara.

Matt

Matt is Maeve's math tutor. Maeve states him as "Dreamy". In book thirteen (Green Algae and Bubble Gum Wars), it shows that he has a girlfriend named Bailey. Matt's nickname for Maeve is Mix Master Curl.

Mrs. Fields

Ruby Fields is the Principal at AAJH as well as being Kat's grandmother. As it says in the books, she is "as motherly at home baking apple crisp as she is in the office." She is very kind and was the other member of the original BSG(with Sapphire Pierce). As a principal she makes everyone feel comfortable.

Ms. Rodriguez

Ms. Rodriguez is the BSG's homeroom teacher at Abigail Adams Junior High. She is pretty and open to ideas. She is very nice and fair to everyone. All the BSG love Ms. R. She was also the sponsor for Maeve's blanket project.

Miss Pierce

Sapphire Pierce is the landlady who lives on the first floor of Charlotte's house. She is a retired astronomer and was part of the original BSG. She is considered a recluse. Charlotte has similar interests to Miss Pierce; they both like to look at the stars. She goes missing for awhile, but it turns out she was helping out an old college on a top-secret NASA mission. She and Yuri like each other and they go out on Valentine's Day, with Yuri bringing her a rose. Miss Pierce is half-Chinese.

Mrs. Weiss

Ethel Weiss is the owner of Irving's Toy & Card Shop. Maeve loves going there for the Swedish Fish. She got to know Maeve when she tried to steal out of the store. Mrs. Weiss is 90 years old and loves all her costumers.

Mrs. Weiss is also not just a character in the books. In real life, she really owns Irving Toy & Card.

Ms. Razzberry Pink

Ms. Razzberry Pink owns Think Pink, a store that sells all pink products. Ms. Razzberry Pink really loves pink. She even has pink hair. She has a glamorous poodle dog named La Fanny, whom Marty is constantly chasing after. The Beacon Street Girls consider La Fanny to be Marty's girlfriend. She changed her name, but will not tell anyone what her name used to be. She is also Maeve's idol.

La Fanny

La Fanny is Razzberry Pink's pink poodle. Marty has a crush on her.

Yuri

Yuri is a friend of the BSG who sells fruit. He pretends to be a grumpy Russian immigrant, but he is hard on the outside with a good heart. He sometimes gives the girls free apples and helps Isabel with her Spanish. He likes Miss Pierce and worries about her when she's missing. He brings Miss Pierce a rose on Valentine's Day and they go out on a date.

Books

References

1. ^ Boston Globe: `Beacon Street Girls' goes beyond kid stuff. URL accessed 14 June 2008.
2. ^ Pop Goes the Library: Interview With Addie Swartz of B*tween. URL accessed 13 June 2008.

External links

• The Beacon Street Girls Official Website

tween-teen books