112: Two Celebrations, a Camper, and a Cold War Contest: Maryellen’s Taking Off
Dolls of Our Lives
Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2023
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode Notes:
Time for yet another tenth birthday and a great American road Tripp! In her second book, Maryellen celebrates her big day in style, throwing a movie star party that turns into a public health fundraiser. After doing her part to cure polio, Maryellen is free to enjoy her summer and look forward to her sister’s wedding. But Mr. Larkin (Dad) has other plans. Defying logic and possibly even gravity, Maryellen’s family sets out in a crowded airstream, visiting American landmarks and wreaking havoc in national parks. Upon their return, Maryellen finally has her STEM moment, leading the way in a rocket contest. We discuss this packed three plots-in one book, real controversies over polio vaccines, and the challenge of avoiding spoilers today. If you like to follow along, please note that we read the 2015 Beforever unabridged version of this book without illustrations.
Time Stamps:
0:00-7:00 Succession spoiler and Mary’s moving 7:30- 9:00 Love is Blind talk 9:00- 13:00 Taylor Swift breakup and Boy Genius record 12:57-15:36 - ad break 16:00- end - We discuss Mary Ellen, book 2.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | and now for a dramatic reading from the book of Mary Ellen. |
| 0:03.9 | Fighting polio, act one in Dr. Jonas Alk's laboratory. There was a very bad disease and polio was |
| 0:10.3 | its name P-O-L-I-O, P-O-L-I-O, P-O-L-I-O, and polio was its name O. Do you believe |
| 0:19.0 | that a similar hook could have changed the course of the COVID-19 pandemic? |
| 0:24.0 | Allison, I'd like to answer you in the form of song. Yes. |
| 0:27.8 | C-O-V-I-D-C-O-V-I-D-C-O-V-I-D-Get your booster shot and please stop making us sick. Thank you. |
| 0:47.6 | I love it. Thank you. I'll see you on the charts. |
| 0:52.1 | The medical charts. The medical charts. Welcome everyone to Dolls of Our Lives. This is the show where |
| 0:58.7 | we're reliving the American Girl Series book by book. I'm Mary Margaret. I'm still Allison and I'm |
| 1:04.8 | not quitting my day job to write pandemic jingles because I fear it's not there for me. |
| 1:10.8 | You know what? Like honestly, I'm so hyped up. This is like the sickness and my personality. |
| 1:15.4 | I get interested in something and then I'm like, but what if I tried my hand at that? |
| 1:19.6 | Like it could be anything. Like there are weeks where I'm like, I'm going to throw it all away |
| 1:23.2 | and become a woodworker. And right now, like just doing that with you, I'm like, I'm reminded of |
| 1:27.5 | the fact that Barry Manolo began his career writing jingles. He wrote the nationwide theme song |
| 1:32.9 | among others. And I'm like, I am a fan of Loebak. Could I channel Barry and do this? Can I go pro? |
| 1:38.6 | Like, can I hack it? Something I love about Mary Ellen is we're only getting to know her over |
| 1:45.9 | about three to 400 pages total. We don't have like a huge universe of Mary Ellen, but |
| 1:51.6 | right. They're basically, she's like a Barbie. There isn't a profession she won't try. |
| 1:57.8 | That is 100% true. I mean, the Barbie trailer is upon us. That's in the ether. And she, |
| 2:04.0 | she kind of is like Barbie. Like there's many, you can see her emerging as a multi-hyphenant for |
| 2:09.2 | sure. I think she'd be a great teacher based on what we've seen previously. She has aspirations |
... |
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