Now found in all shapes and colors.
The Beacon Street Girls is a young adult book series by Annie Bryant. The series was initially published by B*tween Productions, but was licensed by Simon & Schuster. The books themselves sequence the mishaps of a group of close girlfriends as they venture through Junior High and are geared towards issues that pre-teen and teenaged girls might encounter in their life.
The series is designed for girls aged 9–14, and typically produced following consultations with various specialists in issues for girls. It was produced as an alternative to the perceived preponderance of provocative and objectionable messages aimed at youth culture, particularly the so-called "tweens". Initially, the series was self-published by B*tween Productions, but was licensed to Simon & Schuster in 2007. The initial runs of the series were limited to 5,000 to 10,000 printings, but sold out quickly.
The series itself centers around a group of five incredibly different girls who have formed an Odd Friendship with one another soon after Charlotte Ramsey moves back to the states with her father and strives to project herself as socially graceful and confident, unlike her generally clumsy, accident-prone self back in previous schools.
This series contains examples of:
- Academic Athlete: Anna is rather good at playing sports, often playing on the same teams as Avery.
- The Ace: Patrice Summers, Katani's popular and overachieving older sister.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Katani adores horseback riding.
- Alpha Bitch: Anna McMasters, although Kiki Underwood soon overshadows her as the meanest girl in school.
- Accidental Athlete: The usually clumsy Charlotte proves to be rather capable when it comes to soccer, which recruits her as the goalie for the school's team.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Charlotte Ramsey, the Bookworm of the group.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Katani Summers, the svelte, statuesque Fashionista of the group, fits the tropes description personality-wise, having been considerably aloof and icy toward the rest of the girls when they first meet.
- Asian Airhead: Downplayed with Book Dumb Avery, who occasionally shows signs of being a Genius Ditz.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Avery, who's often too hyperactive to truly put much focus into well, pretty much anything that doesn't involve sports.
- Birds of a Feather: Nick and Charlotte, down to their mutual interest in travel.
- Book Dumb:
- Avery, the token "sporty" girl of the group who seems rather disinterested when it comes to her actual schoolwork.
- Maeve struggles quite a bit with her schoolwork as well, although much of this is attributed to the fact that she has dyslexia.
- Brainy Brunette: Betsy Fitzgerald, the smartest and most studious girl in the grade.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Maeve to an extent, as well as Charlotte's father himself.
- Crazy-Prepared: Betsy Fitzgerald, who is organized and punctual to a fault and also chooses to work efficiently.
- Daddy's Girl: Charlotte, who was raised in a single parent household as a result of her mother's death.
- Deadpan Snarker: the girls each appear to reflect some trace of this trope every now and then, depending on the situation.
- Five-Token Band: Charlotte is the bespectacled blonde, Avery is Korean, Katani is Jamaican, Isabel is Mexican, and Maeve is the group's redhead.
- Friend to All Living Things:
- Fun Size: Avery, the tiniest among the girls.
- Genki Girl: Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, the Fiery Redhead and aspiring actress of the group.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Charlotte, a Cute Clumsy Girl who seems to be the polar opposite of mean girl Anna McMasters.
- Happily Adopted: Avery, who was originally adopted from Korea.
- Hidden Depths: Isabel was once a very talented dancer, but was forced to quit due to a knee injury.
- The Hyena: Avery laughs at everything and anything, even at the most mundanely funny jokes.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Charlotte spent a considerable amount of time traveling with her novelist father when she was young, and after a certain point, simply wanted to settle down in a calmer setting at her hometown in Massachusetts.
- Informed Flaw: Katani, who mentions that she greatly dislikes singing and isn't very good at it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Katani Summers, who's cold and standoffish toward the people she doesn't know well, yet caring and considerate of her closest friends.
- "L" Is for "Dyslexia": Maeve suffers from dyslexia, which makes her school life increasingly difficult.
- Little Sister Instinct: Katani towards her mildly autistic sister Kelley.
- Meaningful Name: Charlotte, the talent writer of the group is named after the titular character, Charlotte, from Charlotte's Web, as noted by her English teacher.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Charlotte, the arguable series protagonist, is an aspiring young writer.
- Naïve Everygirl: as the protagonist of a series geared at preteen girls, it's only natural that Charlotte would show some traces of this trope, although Maeve herself isn't too far off.
- Nice Guy: Nick, a popular, but kindhearted boy Charlotte develops a mutual crush on.
- Noodle Incident: Charlotte mentions that her first days at every new school she's been enrolled in has led to disastrous, painful, or just downright humiliating circumstances.
- Odd Friendship: the circumstances of the group's friendship initially seemed highly improbable, considering their clashing personalities and interests.
- Passionate Sports Girl:
- Avery, who is particularly passionate about soccer.
- Isabel is rather fond of and skilled at playing basketball as well.
- Pink Means Feminine: Maeve, the Girly Girl of the group, loves this color and is frequently seen wearing it.
- The Perfectionist: Katani, particularly when organizing events, during which she'll become a full-on Control Freak.
- Performance Anxiety: Charlotte often experiences this, unless she's performing magic tricks on stage.
- Shrinking Violet: Charlotte was portrayed as one initially, considering that she usually "hid behind a novel" and avoided confronting most people, although she eventually outgrows this.
- Smitten Preteen Girl: Boy-crazy Maeve, as noted by her group of friends.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Katani, described as being "a marshmallow disguised as a cactus" by Charlotte.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Isabel becomes incredibly flirtatious with Nick Montoya, Charlotte's crush, throughout Lake Rescue and becomes incredibly self-centered and disrespectful toward her friends, namely Charlotte herself.
