BSC #18: Stacey's Mistake

Tagline: Stacey has never been so wrong in her life!

Stacey's so excited! She's invited her friends from the Baby-sitters Club down to New York City for a long weekend. It's going to be perfect - a party and a sleepover Friday night, a big baby-sitting job on Saturday, and lots of sightseeing on Sunday.

But what a mistake! The Baby-sitters are way out of place in the big city. Mary Anne sounds like walking guide book; Dawn's afraid of everything; Kristy can't keep her mouth shut; and Claudia's jealous of Stacey's friends.

Does this mean Stacey can't be the Baby-sitters' friend anymore? Will the Baby-sitters Club fall apart?

So Stacey has been in New York for awhile, and even though she's glad to be back in the city, has her friends, and is getting all the baby-sitting jobs, she misses the Baby-Sitters Club. Luckily for Stacey, her apartment building decides to have a meeting regarding the homeless problem going on around their neighbourhood, and 5 different families need a sitter at the same time. Sounds like a job for the Baby-Sitters Club!

Stacey and everyone is all excited for a long weekend, but it immediately starts to go downhill. Despite Stacey having said nothing about going up any escalators, the girls end up getting lost in Grand Central Station. Then they have to do a detour back to Stacey's apartment to drop off their stuff because Claudia packed a ginormous suitcase. They go out for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, where Kristy orders the "fill-it mig-nun". Stacey is super embarrassed, and quickly tries to keep the group moving. They end up stopping by Bloomingdale's, where the girls continue to embarrass Stacey by loudly exclaiming their excitement and awe at everything. Furthermore, Mary Anne mistakes the cosmetic testers from the counter as free samples, and is stopped by store security. Stacey quickly ushers everyone out, and takes them back to her apartment to get ready for the party.

But first, they stop to meet all the children, who all live in Stacey's apartment building. The girls (well, not Stacey) are surprised and sad to see that despite being a gorgeous day, all the kids are playing inside. Stacey explains that despite living within walking distance of Central Park, it's not a place to go unsupervised until you're well into your double-digits. That's why the next day was going to be so great for everyone, because they'd get to go outside and explore. They then head back to Stacey's apartment for the party.

At Stacey's, things unravel further. Mary Anne insists on having Stacey spot-check everyone's wardrobe, much to everyone's dismay. Stacey insists that everyone is fine, and that they should just dress however they want and just be themselves. Mary Anne, being a total hypocrite, then turns down Stacey's dressing advice, which is unfortunate, because her choice of dressing up makes her look particularly quaint and small-town.

Laine arrives before the other guests to help Stacey and the girls set up for the party. Stacey is excited to have everyone meet her New York friends, but especially to have Claudia and Laine meet each other. Right away though, Claudia starts acting jealous and challenging Laine, bringing up past indiscretions. Not one to back down from a challenge, Laine immediately starts fighting back. Stacey is dismayed, but figures that with so many other people and things to do for the party, that it'll blow over.

The party goes disastrously. Mary Anne keeps boring everyone with all her random tourist-y facts about NYC, then acts incredulous when the kids who have lived there all their lives don't know them. Eventually, Mary Anne decides to fall back on the old social standard: gossip. She starts telling them about how terrified of NYC Dawn is, and how she over-reacts to things the NYC kids take for granted, like cockroaches and mice. Don't be so uppity, Mary Anne: you were freaked too (just not to the extent that Dawn was).

Stacey invited a bunch of dudes to her party so that it won't be all unbalanced and a total chick-fest. When she realizes that her two groups of friends aren't interacting, she quickly sets up Kristy with one of the more sports-oriented guys, and is happy to see them hitting it off and talking. Soon they even start dancing! Of course Claudia can't have that. She's used to being one of the girls who hangs out with guys, and being surprisingly shy, she decides that the only guy approachable is the one who has already been broken in by a Stoneybrook girl: the one Kristy is dancing with! Coincidentally, just as a slow song starts. Kristy is surprisingly meek about all this, and spends the rest of the evening sulking on the couch.

So now everyone is pretty mad at each other, and Laine wants nothing of it, so when the party ends, everyone goes home and Stacey splits the girls up. They need a good night's sleep since the next day is their baby-sitting job!

The next day, the girls still aren't talking to each other, but Stacey insists on calling a truce so that they can get through their baby-sitting afternoon together. They are sitting for 10 kids: Natalie and Peggy Upchurch (very posh and sophisticated girls), Dennis and Sean Delucca (normal boys), Carlos, Blair and Cissy Barrera (rambunctious boys and a tomboy), Leslie Reames (a very fussy, gluten-intolerant [before gluten-intolerance became cool!] little girl), and Grace and Henry Walker (two shy African-American little kids). With 10 kids and 5 sitters, they decide to divide into groups of 2+1 to go about their afternoon.

Their first stop is the American Museum of Natural History. Everyone immediately wants to go see the dinosaurs, especially Henry Walker. So it's no surprise when they move on to the sea life exhibit, they soon discover that they lost Henry. Of course, he's still up with the dinosaurs. Everyone's sufficiently scared, but they find him right away.

Afterwards, they head to Central Park. As they walk through, they stop and see all the things that Stacey and Laine usually just zip right past. The girls are happy to see Stacey still be able to marvel and look at things with fresh eyes. It surprises Stacey to realize that perhaps, she'd been taking her city for granted. They take the kids to the children's zoo, and soon start to head back home. One the way home, the kids start singing a song for the girls, and Stacey finds herself mortified and embarrassed. She then realizes that she has nothing to be embarrassed about: the kids are being nice and showing their love and appreciation, and the small amount of witnesses are all smiling at the sight. Stacey feels ashamed, having realized that she's starting to become too cool for school, and doesn't want to be like that.

Upon returning the kids to their parents, Laine calls Stacey with an incredible offer: her dad (a "big-time producer of Broadway plays") has managed to get them tickets to a Broadway show. He also managed to get them a limo, so the girls decide to be friends again and go out for a night on the town!

Afterwards, they head back to Stacey's and have a big sleepover, with everyone apologizing and becoming friends again. They stay up most of the night, and have to be pried out of bed the next morning. Stacey promises them an authentic New York breakfast, and presents them with fresh bagels, lox and the New York Times. Soon though, it is time for the girls to head back to Stoneybrook. They pack up and Stacey sees them off at the train station.

Random Thoughts

• This book is pretty self-contained. It's almost like a bottle episode. It takes place in one weekend, and all the drama unfolds and then wraps up. It's very fast. All killer, no filler. I have zero feelings about this book. It's not my favourite, but it's not my least favourite either.
• Mallory and Jessi aren't in this book at all. It's kinda weird. In the later books, you totes know we would be flashing back to Stoneybrook for some sort of subplot with the two of them. Part of me is kinda curious as to what they were up to, but I mostly know it's nothing and I'm glad they didn't try to shoehorn some subplot in.
• Stacey is strangely self-aware in this novel. Although she doesn't anticipate the problems ahead of time, when they do come up, she acknowledges that she should have seen it coming.
• Stacey is a bit of a snob though. She's easily embarrassed by her friends. This will be a recurring theme in the books.
• Part of me is incredulous that Mary Anne would think that the cosmetics at the counter were free samples, but I'm pretty sure I thought the same thing when I was just a couple of years younger, the first time I saw an open cosmetics counter like that.
• I like that Kristy hit it off with that guy, and I'm sad that nothing ever came of it, despite the fact that they exchanged addresses with the promise to write. Even Mary Anne still mentions Alex every now and then.
• I like the idea that Stacey and her friends "don't appreciate" what they have around them. They grew up in NYC! Of course they're not going to think twice about things that seem amazing to Mary Anne, or know random historical facts. I think most people take their hometowns for granted and don't know much about them. I'm that weird person who is always the only local in tour guide groups, like haunted walks haha
• Fun fact: the show the girls see, Starlight Express, was a real show! And it was indeed in NYC on Broadway at the time of this book's publication. I didn't realize that until just now, when I decided to look it up haha
• Random fact: my boyfriend is a total bagel snob, and refuses to eat pre-packaged bagels. He would prefer his bagels to be all fresh, New York-style, but since that's not feasible where we live, he at least insists on getting "bakery fresh" "bag-your-own" bagels at the grocery store. Reading the Sunday breakfast scene made me think of him, cuz that's totes what he'd ideally like to do every Sunday morning.
• This book just ends. It literally just ends.

BSC #17: Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery

Tagline: When is Mary Anne's bad luck going to end?

Mary Anne should never have thrown away that chain letter she got in the mail. Ever since she did, bad things have been happening - to everybody in the Baby-sitters Club. With Halloween coming up, Mary Anne's even more worried - what kind of spooky thing will happen next?

Then Mary Anne finds a new note in her mailbox: Wear this bad-luck charm, it says, OR ELSE. Mary Anne's got to do what the note says. But who sent the charm? And why did they send it to Mary Anne?

If the Baby-sitters don't solve this mystery soon, their bad luck might never stop!

It's Halloween again, and Mary Anne's life is going pretty well. She's dating Logan, who is apparently the object of every girls' affection, and the Halloween Hop is coming up. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, apparently. One day Mary Anne receives a chain letter in the mail. It says that if Mary Anne doesn't forward it to another 20 people, she and everyone she loves will receive bad-luck. Not wanting to annoy all her friends and family with junk mail, Mary Anne tosses the letter away and doesn't think twice about it.

The next day, Mary Anne has one of her worst days ever. She falls out of bed, she spills orange juice on her white dress, she forgets her homework at home - you name it! Soon the other girls start realizing that they're experiencing bad luck as well. Even worse, Mary Anne soon receives a mysterious package in the mail: it's a bad-luck charm, complete with magazine cut-out letters telling her to wear it or else!

As their luck worsens, the girls decide to take matters into their own hands. They try to research ways to counteract the curse or to reverse their luck. Nothing works though, and soon the girls are resigned to their fate. If only they could figure out who sent the letter and the charm in the first place!

On the night of the Halloween dance, Mary Anne receives another letter, telling her and the club to go to Old Man Hickory's grave the next night (Halloween) at midnight... or else. With no other ideas, the girls decide to go through with it. So that they don't have to sneak out, Kristy decides to hold a late-night Halloween slumber party, with Charlie coming to pick up all the girls.

During the day on Halloween, Mary Anne finally confesses to Richard what's been bothering her (sort of): she doesn't tell him where she got the necklace, but she does tell him that someone told her it was a bad-luck charm. Richard laughs, and tells Mary Anne that it's a mustard seed, which is a symbol of faith. Relieved, Mary Anne reflects on how if it wasn't some universally known bad-luck charm, then how come she was getting all this bad luck, and why did Cokie say something about it being bad-luck at the dance...?

Suddenly it occurs to Mary Anne that she's been had! Cokie and her friends have been behind this the whole time! She quickly calls Kristy, who comes up with a plan to get back at Cokie. When Charlie comes to pick up the girls, he takes them to the cemetery. Since it's still another hour or so til midnight, the girls start setting up fake ghosts and other scary things. Soon enough, around 11:30, Cokie and friends show up. Mary Anne and the girls scare them silly, and are about to make them confess when a male voice interrupts them. It's Logan!

Turns out that Cokie and friends were going to set up a prank similar to what the girls did, to scare Mary Anne and the others. They called Logan, because they wanted him to see what big babies Mary Ann and the girls were, so that he'd stop hanging out with them and start seeing other girls. Logan quickly shuts them down, and says that he's well-aware that other girls exist, but he hasn't found any worth hanging out with. Besides, Mary Anne is his girlfriend, and he likes baby-sitting, so there's no reason for him not to hang out with the Club so often!

The girls head to Kristy's for their sleepover, and they laugh about how silly they had been about everything. There's just one question: Cokie and friends sent the necklace and threats, but who sent the original chain letter?

There was really no subplot in this one, other than Mary Anne finding out that her man is hot stuff and us hearing about how Cokie and Grace covet him.

Random Thoughts:

• As a child, I knew right away that Cokie and friends were behind the notes. Why else put such an emphasis on them so frequently throughout the book?
• I remember receiving a chain letter when I was like, 10 years old, and being so excited. On the envelope, there were 5 names/addresses. I was supposed to send the letter to 5 friends of my choosing, and then a postcard to the first name on the back of the envelope. Then on my friends' envelopes, I would bump the remaining 4 names up, and add mine to the bottom. I don't think I did it right, and I remember being really shy about asking my parents for stamps, so I never sent out the postcard. In the end, I never received any postcards either =(
• I agree with Mary Anne: getting mail is awesome! Sadly, the only things worth getting in the mail cost money: magazine subscriptions, online shopping, etc
• It's funny how Mary Anne acknowledges that they've abandoned all the friends that they used to have and eat with in grade 7. She even acknowledges that it probably has caused a lot of resentment, and that some people might even think that the girls think they're better than everyone else.
• It's Halloween again! Or is it for the first time in grade 8? BSC 10 was definitely the first day of grade 8. The next few books mention it being fall. In fact, we haven't had any new seasons from what I can tell. But then we've had 5 books cover ONE MONTH??? Fuck, how is the timeline already this confusing?? Anyways, "last Halloween" was apparently the Phantom Phone Caller, which jives with them being in grade 7.
• I kinda love how the girls are superstitious. I was totes superstitious at their age. I still am, kinda. I mean, I don't seriously believe in ghosts and breaking chain letters and broken mirrors, but if something happens and too many coincidences start to pile up... yeah, not gonna lie, I'm gonna milk the shit out of the superstition excuse haha
• Oooh! Continuity!! They mention that Jessi still has a regular job on Mondays and Wednesdays for the Braddocks!
• For once, the girls consider themselves to be children. When looking up witchcraft books, they wonder if they should look in the children's section or the adult section. Mallory says the adult section would be a lot more informative, but that they need to be really quiet, because the librarian doesn't take kindly to children fooling around in the adult section.
• How does Charlie not have anything better to do on Halloween than to drive his little sister and her friends around? It's also a Saturday night! When Halloween proper falls on a Saturday, that is a magical event. And Charlie doesn't have anything to do?? We always hear about how he's a good-looking, well-liked guy. I'm not saying he has to go to parties with underage drinking or other less-than-legal shenanigans, but you're saying he doesn't have a bunch of buddies who can get together at someone's house and eat pizza and junk food and watch horror films?? Or a hot date he can take to the movie theatre?

BSC #16: Jessi's Secret Language

Tagline: Jessi's learning a secret language for a very special child

Jessi knows a secret language! She learned it from Matt Braddock, the Baby-sitters' newest charge. Matt's been deaf since birth, and he uses sign language, too.

Soon all the kids in Stoneybrook want to learn to sign... which keeps the Baby-sitters busy. Jessi's the busiest of all: she's working on another super secret, just for Matt. Will Jessi be able to keep the secret and pull off her special event? Of course she will - she's a member of the Baby-sitters Club!

Our first Jessi book! It's really hard to tell the "main plot" from the "B-plot" in this one, because both are given pretty equal weight and eventually become intertwined, but I'll start with the plot as described on the back of the book: the Braddocks. They've just moved to Stoneybrook and are looking for a regular sitter two afternoons a week. Various members can't do it, so it falls on Jessi to take the job. There's just one catch: Matt Braddock is deaf and speaks in Ameslan, or American Sign Language.

Luckily, Jessi is great at picking up languages. She goes to the Braddocks where she meets Mrs Braddock, Matt and his older sister Haley. Over the course of the book, Jessi learns more about ASL, and what it's like for Matt to be deaf. For instance, it's hard for the kids to make friends, when Matt can really only communicate with Haley. At first, the other neighbourhood kids are frightened of Matt, because he can't talk, and whatever sounds he does make are jarring (since he's never heard them before). Haley has to go everywhere and translate for Matt constantly. With Mallory's help though, Jessi explains to the other kids that Matt knows a secret, silent language. That gets them all interested, and soon everyone is learning bits of sign language. Matt makes friends, and Haley realizes that she doesn't have to worry about him quite so much.

The subplot in this one is that Jessi's ballet school is putting on a performance of Coppélia. It's the first production they've done since Jessi moved, and she's quite nervous. She's the youngest in one of the advance classes, and the next two youngest girls haven't been treating her so well. Despite all this, she gets the lead role! She's very excited. One day after rehearsal while waiting for her dad to pick her up, she starts talking to one of the girls, Katie Beth. Katie Beth is there with her sister, and Jessi is surprised when she sees the girl ask for the bathroom using ASL. Even more shocking, when the girl is gone, Jessi learns that Katie Beth doesn't know any sign language at all! Neither do their parents. They send Adele away to live at a boarding school for most of the year. Jessi then realizes how lucky Matt is that his whole family learned ASL and that they try to include him as much as possible.

Eventually Jessi realizes that Matt's never been to a live theatre performance. With some help from Mrs Braddock and Mme Noelle (her ballet teacher), Jessi organizes a special performance on opening night for Matt and his 7 classmates. Instead of just simply performing the ballet and letting the music and dance speak for itself, Haley and Mrs Braddock briefly summarize each act before its performance, speaking and signing for the entire audience. Katie Beth's sister also attends, and Katie Beth tells Jessi that she's going to make an effort to learn some ASL and connect with her sister. Jessi performs well, and earns the respect of her classmates.

Random Thoughts:

• We have our first ghostwriter. I think. Or maybe because of all the sign language involved, AMM just had extra special help with the book. Either way, she would like to thank Patsy Jensen.
• My copy still says that "Jessica Ramsey" is one of six experienced baby-sitters
• This back when Jessi was more three dimensional. She doesn't want to be a professional ballerina (she just really enjoys ballet and dance), she loves jokes and she's great at learning languages. Let's just see how long these traits last haha
• Mallory's hair colour isn't described in this book. It's just mentioned as being curly. So is she brunette? Ginger? Time will tell!
• I love the fact that when Dawn tells the girls that she read that anyone who can touch their tongue to their nose would eventually be very well-endowed, Kristy was the only one who could do it, and she was THRILLED haha
• I also love that Haley is portrayed realistically. She's not this selfless saint who is more than happy to be her brother's keeper: she's a 9 year old girl. While she loves her brother, she can't help but wish he were "normal" at times.
• I find it interesting that Jessi planned her special ballet performance all in secret. It makes me like her more, because she's independent. While she obviously doesn't want to step on the toes of the older girls, she's not actively seeking their approval or permission either. She has an opportunity to do something outside of the club, and she goes for it.
• I know siblings don't necessarily have to look alike, or even remotely similar at all, but I was always confused as a child by Matt and Haley Braddock. Matt always looks vaguely Hispanic on the covers to me, while Haley is always described/drawn as being epically white, to the point where people often confuse her and Jeff Schafer on the covers.
• There is no reason at all to have Claudia baby-sit for Karen (and Andrew, and David Michael), other than to torture readers with more Karen crap. Seriously. She could have baby-sat for anyone else.
• We never find out what exactly Becca and Charlotte are planning when Kristy baby-sits for them. They go down to Jessi's dance room, giggle, and tell Kristy it's a secret. But then nothing happens.
• Adele, Katie Beth's sister, goes to a boarding school in Massachusetts. Eventually Mallory goes to a boarding school in Massachusetts as well. It's probably not the same school. Is Massachusetts just full of boarding schools? And Connecticut has none??
• I am really surprised that Katie Beth never bothered to learn ASL. Or her parents. Like, how rude and callous can they be? I can understand them not being fluent in it, because Adele isn't often at home, but not to learn it at all?? What do they do when she is at home?? I don't know why they sent her to a boarding school. Maybe they're giant jerks and want her out of the way and don't want to have to deal with someone "special". Or maybe they thought the school could provide for Adele's needs so much more than they could, and they sent her away to give her her best chance. But not learning at all? Yeah, that's pretty jerky of them.
• I think I would enjoy ballet more if it was done the way they did it for the special performance. Even though I always read up on the story ahead of time, and there's always a description in the programme, I would love for someone to summarize each act right before it was performed, just to refresh my memory.
• I always wonder what happens to these "regular jobs". I mean, sometimes they write in the book that it's ended, or that it was only for a short period of time. But others, nothing gets mentioned. We just know that Jessi is regularly sitting for the Braddocks now. And then at some point (probably by the next book), she won't be. I'd be interested in seeing some sort of continuity, where (in the next book at least), it's all, "Sorry, I'm unavailable at that time because of [regular sitting job set up last book]."
• Fun fact: I learned some basic ASL for fun when I was in grade 5. I still remember most of the words I learned, but especially the alphabet. I love it. I hope to one day take a formal class and learn even more.

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #1: Karen's Witch

Tagline: Is Karen's next-door neighbor a witch?

Back Cover: Is she Mrs Porter... or a witch?

Karen lives next door to an old lady named Mrs Porter. Mrs Porter wears long black robes and has wild gray hair. Her black cat is named Midnight. No wonder Karen thinks Mrs Porter is a witch!

Mrs Porter is having a meeting at her house. Karen is sure the meeting is for witches.

Are the witches going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave enough to send them away- once and for all?

Our first Little Sister book takes place in a single weekend. Here, we learn all about Karen Brewer, and how she leads a double life with her two divorced families. It's Friday night, and she's just been dropped off for her weekend at her dad's. Her big stepsister Kristy is baby-sitting for her, Andrew and David Michael. At the door, Karen finds Midnight, her elderly neighbour's cat. Karen is convinced that her neighbour is a witch. Determined to find proof, Karen attempts to stay up, spying out the window, only to fall asleep and have a nightmare about her neighbour. Kristy tells her it was just a nightmare, but Karen knows better. She then spends the night in Kristy's bedroom.

The next day, Karen spends all day with her best friend Hannie, spying on poor old Mrs Porter. She overhears Mrs Porter talking about a meeting at 12 o'clock, and determines that it must be a witch meeting at midnight. She finds an old alarm clock and sets it to wake her at 11:45. The next morning, she wakes up to find that she slept through the whole thing! This convinces Karen more than ever that Mrs Porter is a witch, because she must have put a spell on the clock and the whole house to have her meeting.

It's now Sunday, and cars have started arriving and people are going into Mrs Porter's house. Some people have books, others have papers, and some have brought casseroles. It's Mrs Porter's meeting! She meant noon, not midnight! Karen decides that she can't let a whole gathering of witches and warlocks ruin her town and take over the world, so she convinces Hannie to come with her to break up the meeting. Karen believes that when they face the witches and save the day, the mayor will reward them and give them medals and parades.

They knock on the door, and Mrs Porter, surprised, allows them to come in. Karen then announces to the entire room that she knows that they're all witches and warlocks, and that she won't allow them to cast spells and do evil things to her and everyone. To Karen's surprise, her maternal grandmother is there. Grandma Packett is not amused, and is in fact outright mortified. Turns out it was a just a meeting of the Stoneybrook Gardeners Club!

Karen gets taken home, and Watson and Elizabeth give her a stern talking-to. They make her write an apology to Mrs Porter, and to promise never to spy again. Of course, Karen knows better. She knows that maybe this time it was a harmless gardening meeting... but Mrs Porter is really a witch, and Karen will get her next time!

Random Thoughts:

• So I just happened to own the first Little Sister book, because it came in a large lot of BSC books that I purchased last year. I have a couple of others, so I'll do them when their time comes, but don't worry about these being a regular thing.
• I had completely forgotten that these books have illustrations in them!
• I read these books first when I was child, before I read the Baby-Sitters Club books. Since switching over to the BSC books, I haven't actually sat down and read any of the Little Sister books. I've briefly skimmed through a few at used bookstores out of nostalgia, but never for more than a few minutes. So it's interesting reading this one now. I'm glad that the first book takes place at the Big House, because now I get to see Kristy from a different perspective. Of course, it's a perspective that worships her, so we still see her in a favourable light, but it's still interesting.
• I didn't realize that Mary Anne was mentioned in this one either. Kristy at some point goes shopping with her, and Karen mentions her by her full name. Part of me is curious to see how much Mary Anne and Kristy and the rest of the Club are mentioned, and if their drama is ever referenced in the Little Sister books. But I don't wonder enough to actually want to go out and purchase the Little Sister books haha
• Karen is such a brat and gets away with murder. That was horrible what she did to Mrs Porter's meeting and friends. I'm kinda pissed that Watson and Elizabeth don't punish her more. Maybe if they did, she wouldn't get into so much trouble.
• Mrs Porter is such an eccentric little old lady. I mean, I can see how someone like Karen would get the wrong idea, and to be honest, I probably would have made up stories too as a child, but I would've kept them as just that: stories. And I would have never faced her. Mrs Porter is clearly lonely, as she's happy and delighted when Karen comes over. I don't know if it amused her that Karen thought she was a witch, or crushed her little old lady heart. 
• Karen is totally a mean girl. If she was 16 instead of 6, you better believe that she'd be as bad as Regina George. Hannie knows it's wrong to spy on Mrs Porter and she knows that they're going to get in trouble, but Karen is all (and this is verbatim), "Hannie. Don't you always do everything I say?" and when Hannie points out all the other times Karen's gotten her into trouble, Karen just dismisses it and says that she knows best. Earlier in the book, the two overhear a Mrs Porter talking to her cat Midnight, saying something about a meeting at 12 o'clock. Karen takes this to mean a witching meeting happening at midnight (cuz of course, witches), but Hannie is pretty sure she means Midnight the cat and the meeting is at noon (a time for normal old people). Karen quickly shuts Hannie up and dismisses her notions... only when Hannie turns out to be correct, Karen claims it was all her idea and that she knew it all along! Ugh, she is the worst!

BSC #15: Little Miss Stoneybrooke... and Dawn

Front Cover: Everybody in Stoneybrook has gone beauty-pageant crazy!

Back Cover: Dawn's a little jealous when there's a formal ceremony to welcome Jessi and Mallory into the Baby-sitters Club. Don't people know that Dawn's a special baby-sitter, too?

Then it's Dawn's turn to shine. Mrs Pike wants Dawn to help prepare Margo and Claire for the Little Miss Stoneybrookcontest. So what if Margo's only talent is peeling a banana with her feet? Dawn's going to help her charges win that contest any way she can.

The only trouble is... Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia are helping Karen, Myriah, and Charlotte enter the contest, too. And nobody's sure where the competition is fiercer: at the pageant - or at the Baby-sitters Club!

Although we never hear about Jessi's test baby-sitting job, it's assumed to have gone well because this book starts off with Mallory and Jessi being officially inducted into the BSC. Dawn is jealous because she didn't get a fancy ceremony, just a pizza toast. Further compounding Dawn's feelings of inadequacy is a special call that comes in from the Johanssen's, requesting that Claudia baby-sit for Charlotte, since Claudia was closest to Stacey and still calls Stacey all the time. Dawn isn't the only one feeling a little inadequate after that, it seems.

Dawn's feeling pretty down about stuff, including her home life and Jeff (more about that in a bit), so she goes to the next meeting early, where she learns about the Little Miss Stoneybrook beauty pageant that's being held. At first, all the girls in the club are in agreement that pageants are sexist, but Dawn's convinced that it could be fun to participate and dress-up. Kristy surprisingly agrees, and the rest of the girls concede that although sexist, they could see why a little girl might be into it. Jessi and Mallory remain firmly against the idea though. Which is ironic, because the next thing the girls know, Mrs Pike is calling requesting if Dawn would help them prepare for the pageant. Mrs Pike just started a new project at the library, and doesn't have the time for the additional prep and patience it would take to prepare two girls (Claire and Margo) for the pageant. She asks if Dawn will do it, because Dawn lives the closest and would be the most accessible. Dawn says yes, pleased that she finally has her own special job. The other 3 older girls are not pleased. Jessi and Mallory are too surprisingly too mature for such shenanigans.

Soon, the other girls start finding their own charges to prepare. Kristy, in an effort to cheer up Karen, mentions the pageant, and Karen's imagination runs away with her and is dead-set on being in it. Mary Anne sits for Myriah and Gabbie Perkins, sees Myriah fooling around, dancing and singing, and dressing up, and mentions the pagaent to her, since Myriah is actually talented and has taken all sorts of lessons. Lastly, Claudia cons Charlotte into entering. So it soon becomes a contest between each girl, with each one trying to prove that they're the best sitter. Because obviously, your child winning a pageant means you're the best baby-sitter.

Right away, it's a loss cause. Claire and Margo, although really excited, have no talent. It's decided that Claire is will "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", and try to make it interesting, while Margo will peel a banana with her feet and then recite "This Is the House That Jack Built". Karen has even less talent, but infinitely more enthusiasm, and decides that she's going to sing "The Wheels on the Bus", but drag it out to infinity by adding all sorts of made-up verses, such as "The people on the bus are tired and hot!" and "The dog in the carrier says Let me out!". Charlotte knows she doesn't have talent, and the only thing she enjoys is reading, so it's decided that she'll do a dramatic reading of the blueberry scene from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Myriah is the only one who should actually entering such a contest, and she decides to sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop" while tap-dancing.

The girls soon start to get downright nasty in their competition, taking all the fun out for the little girls. The little girls are rightfully confused when all they want to do is tell their friends what they're doing, but the girls drag them away and pit them against each other. Things start to get serious, as the girls prep their charges and coach them on what to say, instead of letting them go with their instincts. Luckily, the pageant is being held soon, or else I'm sure an all-out war would have started.

The day of the pageant, things start off tense for the girls. But as things go on, and the girls realize how woefully unprepared their charges are, they start to loosen up. Besides, they're faced with Sabrina Bouvier, who is stereotypical contestant, who's been trained in the art of beauty pageanting. When the girls see how manicured and manufactured Sabrina is, and how much of a stage-mother her mom is, the girls realize how silly they were trying to take the contest so seriously, and how sad Sabrina's life must be.

The pageant goes about as well as can be expected. Claire is adorable but a joke. Her answer to "What do you hope for most of all?" was "Santa. I hope he's real." Margo probably suffers more because she isn't as adorable. Sabrina Bouvier used up the world peace answer right before her, so when she gets her question, "What do you most wish to happen in the year 2010?", she freezes and then gets escorted off stage without answering. Karen has a moral dilemma when asked, "If your house was on fire, what three things would you rescue?" and struggles with her real answer and the "right answer" as coached by Kristy, and eventually settles for her real answer, which is, "I'd rescue Moosie my stuffed cat, and Tickly my blanket, and as many toys as I could carry. Oh, could I rescue a fourth thing? If I could, it would be my brother Andrew. Or maybe my pen that writes in three colours." Charlotte never makes it to the question portion of the pageant, because she completely froze up during the talent portion and ran off the stage in tears. Myriah has the best answer to her question, "If you could change one thing about this world, what would it be?" "It would be wars. I would stop them. I would say to the people who were making the wars, 'Now you stop that. You setlle this problem yourselves like grown-ups. Our children want peace.' That's what I'd change."

In the end, first place goes to Sabrina Bouvier (who sang a horrible rendition of "Moon River", but did it smiling and covered in make-up), and third place goes to some girl we don't know. Myriah wins second place though, which is a shopping spree at the toy store, so that's pretty awesome. The other little girls are devastated and the girls feel bad that they didn't prep their charges in case of loss. In an awesome moment of parenting (which rarely seems to happen in these books), the parents all tell the little girls how winning isn't everything, and how proud they are of them for having just entered.

The girls debrief at their next meeting, each of them admitting that they only entered the contest and used their charges to prove what an awesome baby-sitter they were. They all reflect on how terrible they are, and how they shouldn't do that kind of thing again, because they are all great baby-sitters, and they don't need to prove anything to anyone.

The ongoing subplot with Jeff finally wraps up in this one: Jeff asks if he can return to California and makes a serious case for it. After many phone calls, his mom arranges it for him to go back for 6 months as a trial period. Dawn is furious of course, but eventually decides that it's better to let him go. He ends up leaving the night before the pageant.

Random Thoughts:

• I remember reading this book. A lot. This is definitely one of the ones I owned when I was younger and read and re-read a million times. I have no idea why I did. But I just did haha
• Mallory is still described as having dark hair. Not a red-head yet! I'm still keeping an eye out for that.
• On the back of my copy, it says "Jessica Ramsey" under the list of experienced baby-sitters.
• Even though it's Dawn narrating, Karen Brewer is described as being "funny, daring, imaginative and outspoken", citing "who wouldn't love her?" Karen mildly exasperates all the baby-sitters, especially Dawn. Interestingly, the next book published in the entire Baby-sittersverse is the start of the first spin-off series, Baby-Sitters Little Sister, which follows Karen's adventures. I actually own the first book in the series, since it came in a whole pile of BSC books that I mass-purchased last year, so yep, that's going to be next.
• I like how Mallory and Jessi are way more level-headed than the rest of the girls, being like, "Pageants are sexist and stupid." I somewhat agree. I think constantly entering your child into serious hardcore beauty pageants, where their whole life is nothing but preparing for the next one and being groomed and manicured and manufactured, is bad and detrimental to their mental health and self. However, it's obvious that the contest held in Stoneybrook is in no way that hardcore. I highly doubt any of the parents or kids would have been seriously affected if they had won. It was clear that the parents didn't care and just thought it was a great opportunity for the girls to dress-up and have fun. It was interesting that it was the Club that got all crazy and hardcore, pushing the kids.
• I also love that Jessi and Mallory don't get all petty and jealous over jobs and over who's the best baby-sitter. They don't seem crazy and cultish like the older girls do. Although, I suppose only time will tell if that'll last. 
• The descriptions of Dawn's family foods always makes me hungry. I always want to eat more healthy, but I don't know where to begin. I totes need to remember to start buying brown rice.
• Why the fuck would a professional beauty pageant contestant like Sabrina Bouvier be entered in such a small regional qualifier such as Little Miss Stoneybrook? It's clear that she's been trained and educated as a serious contestant by her mom. You'd think that this was too small potatoes for her. The only thing I can think of is that her mom knew that this one would be a joke and thus an easy win, and who says no to another crown?
• This book is how I discovered the song "Moon River", and to this day, I can't hear the song or the title without thinking of this book.
• I love how in this book, the girls are in the wrong, and the parents are responsible people. Usually it's portrayed that the parents are useless and that it takes the girls to fix anything and get anything done, and that they know what's best haha