BSC #7: Claudia and Mean Janine

Front Cover: Claudia's sister makes everything impossible - even baby-sitting!

Back Cover: Claudia's sister is mean! She's too busy being smart to be nice. Even Claudia's grandmother, Mimi, can't get close to Janine. Plus, Mean Janine puts down the Baby-sitters Club. And that makes Claudia MAD!

This summer the members of the Baby-sitters Club are starting a play group in the neighbourhood. Claudia can't wait for it to begin. But then Mimi has a stroke... and the whole summer changes.

Now Claudia has to spend her time "Mimi-sitting" instead of baby-sitting. And things with Janine are going from bad to worse. One of the Kishi sisters has to start being nicer. And it's sure not going to be Claudia!

So this book picks up right after the last book. It's still July, and the wedding has just happened. Kristy decides that since last week and the group baby-sitting went so well, they should hold a play-group for their charges. After some discussion, it's decided that they'll hold it at Stacey's house, because her mom will most likely be home most of the time.

The play-group is all subplot to what happens with Claudia and the Kishis: Mimi has a stroke. A few chapters of the book are dedicated to Mimi being in the hospital and the family not knowing what's going to happen, while the rest of the book is dedicated to Mimi now being home and starting her recovery.

Claudia thinks she's to blame for Mimi's stroke, since she had just been fighting with Mimi before it happened. Of course, that's not true; the book foreshadows Mimi's ill health for a couple of chapters. But still, Claudia feels guilty. So she quickly jumps up and volunteers to spend all this time with Mimi. Since she does, the Kishis decide that there's no reason to bother Janine and make her miss school, so that's that.

All throughout the book, Claudia is very bratty and petty towards Janine. She's resentful of the fact that Janine never helps out and gets to go about her life without any interruptions. It's very apparent though that Janine feels left out. Their parents keep pushing Janine towards her schoolwork, so no one ever wants to interrupt her to include her in things, such as making dinner or taking care of Mimi. Whenever Janine does try to converse with Claudia, Claudia just snaps at her and tells her to get back to her computer. So obviously, Janine does.

Eventually, Claudia and Janine have a discussion and they agree to try harder to relate to each other and to not ostracize Janine so much. Of course, this happens a bajillion times over the course of the series, and the two never seem to be any closer each time haha

The book ends off setting us up for the next one: Mrs Pike has called, requesting two sitters to come with the family for a two-week vacation to Sea City as mother's helpers. Stacey and Mary Anne are the only two who can go, so they're very excited. Sea City, here we come!

Random Thoughts:

• I feel bad for Janine. Claudia is totally a brat to her.
• I would be all for a mini-series of companion books from Janine's perspective. And Charlie Thomas's perspective too, for that matter. Maybe throw Sam in there. But yeah. Definitely a series of books from Charlie and Janine's perspectives. But especially Janine. While I didn't LOVE her as a child, I never understood exactly why she was so hated by the girls in the story. Now that I'm older, I'm even more convinced that she's misunderstood and probably secretly the most awesome person in the series ever haha
• Kristy's play-group idea is reasonable. Again, we're still in reasonable territory, where the girls are realistic and aren't kid-obsessed. They only hold the play group for a few hours (not all day), only a couple of mornings a week (not every day), and only for two weeks (not the entire summer).
• I actually got confused and forgot that at this point in the series, Stacey's parents are still together haha I was wondering why Mrs McGill would be home during the day, thinking, "Shouldn't she be working? How does she support herself and Stacey??"
• Fun fact: Claudia is now thirteen. I think this is the first time a character is mentioned as no longer being twelve
• Mallory is also now 11