BSC #24: Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise

Tagline: Kristy's in for a big surprise!

Mother's Day is coming up, and the Baby-sitters have the same problem they do every year: What do they get theri mothers? Kristy, especially wants to do something nice for her mom. Mrs Brewer has been acting kind of strange and secretive lately, and Kristy's worried about her.

But then Kristy gets another one of her great ideas. Why don't the Baby-sitters treat their moms - and the mothers of the kids they sit for - to a day off without any kids around?

Together with Stacey, the Baby-sitters plan a gigantic baby-sitting party. It's a Mother's Day surprise that couldn't be beat!... until Kristy's mom reveals a very special surprise of her own.

This one starts off with Kristy contemplating families and what makes a family. It's pretty random, and the main plot doesn't kick off until the next meeting, when Kristy realizes how late into the year it already is: it's the end of April, and Mother's Day is coming up in three weeks. The girls don't know what they want to get for their mothers. Claudia knows that she wants to make something, and the other girls want to do something special and more grown-up than their usual generic gifts, but that's about it. Of course, Mary Anne doesn't have a mother, so it's kinda all awkward as the girls don't want to upset her.

Eventually Kristy comes up with the idea of giving their moms and their charges' mothers a day off. The Club decides that they'll take the kids out for something or other the Saturday before Mother's Day, getting the fathers to help with transportation and lunches and with kids too young or too old to join in. The next few chapters is the girls working out the logistics of everything. Claudia comes up with the idea of taking the kids a traveling carnival, which will then lead to a picnic lunch and then going back to her place for story time and creating cards for their moms. With so many kids coming, the girls decide to invite Stacey back for the weekend to help.

The day itself goes pretty well. The kids all act as expected. Karen demands to go into the walk-through haunted house, only to get too scared and need to leave using one of the emergency exits. To make her feel better, one of the workers tells her some of the secrets behind the scares. Of course Karen has the world's biggest mouth and feels the need to exert how much she knows, so she blabs it all to everyone. Margo gets sick on the merry-go-round. Jackie loses his free balloon, but explains that he's setting it free, prompting many of the other kids to do the same. All in all, it's a great success and the girls are pretty pleased with themselves.

The subplot in this one is Kristy's mother's surprise haha. Kristy's mom (and Watson, but to a much lesser extent), keep going on and on about family and children and how blessed they are and what not. They also keep asking the other kids how they would feel about expanding the family. Logically, Sam concludes that his mother must be pregnant or trying to become pregnant, and Kristy is inclined to agree. However, nope, we learn that Mrs Thomas and Watson have actually been in the process of adopting a little girl from Vietnam, and things have become finalized. Emily Michelle joins their family at the end of this book.

Random Thoughts:

• I didn't bother re-reading the synopsis on the back of this before I read this one, so Stacey being invited back for the weekend was actually a surprise to me! haha I had no memory of her being involved in this book. That being said, I'm surprised at how involved Stacey is while she's gone. She's in New York for 15 books, which is apparently less than the school year, since she leaves in grade 8 and comes back in grade 8 (although I know SS#2 Baby-sitters Summer Vacation, happens in there, so maybe she comes back during grade 8 the second time around? I think this is where the continuity starts to break down...). In those 15 books, she has one where she narrates, which is roughly where her book should be had she never left (the girls should be narrating every 6-7 books or so). Then she comes back in this one for a visit.
• Another thing that surprises me about Stacey's visit is that apparently she doesn't need to be home with her mother for Mother's Day? I'm imagining the McGills having the worst weekend ever, with Mr McGill working for most of it, and Mrs McGill feeling lonely and rejected and bored, and therefore shopping. They probably fight and argue when they are together.
• Because yes, Stacey mentions in this one that her parents seem to be fighting and arguing more than usual. ~*~*foreshadowing*~*~!!!
• I'm surprised that it's taken Mary Anne this long to figure that she could get her father something for Mother's Day. Then again, maybe not. I guess as a child, everything is pretty linear and it's hard to think outside the box and be abstract and make the connection that Richard is technically Mary Anne's dad and mom.
• I like the continuity of them mentioning the fight they had in the last book. However, despite the fact that part of what sparked the fight was everyone bitching and moaning whenever Dawn asked for dues, they do just that again in this book.
• They're really foreshadowing the problems with Mimi in this book. In all the previous books, characters always mention that Mimi had a stroke and that her speech is slow and sometimes mixed up. In this one, we get 4 separate Mimi incidents, all of them progressively worse. As someone whose grandmother is slowly starting to wear down (don't know if she actually has dementia or Alzheimer's, or if it's just general old age), this was actually pretty scary to read:
• At first, we just get our standard explanation of Mimi and her stroke and speech, but Kristy further observes that she seems to be getting even slower and older. Kristy also remarks that she wishes that people didn't have to change.
• The next incident has Mimi wandering in during a meeting. Right away, the girls can tell that she's confused and isn't too sure as to where she is or why she's there. When asked what she's looking for, Mimi responds with, "The... cow." As Claudia escorts her out, she comes to and starts talking about making dinner and proceeds like normal.
• The incident after that comes in the very next chapter. The girls are getting ready for their Mother's Day Surprise, and are going over lunch arrangements with Mr Kishi. Mr Kishi says that Mimi's going to help him, to which she replies, "I've got to get that box over to the planet." Kristy says that stuff like this normally upsets the group, but that with 21 little kids counting on them, they couldn't afford to let it sidetrack them; still, it was frustrating for them not to understand what was happening with Mimi
• The final incident then happens as Mr Kishi and Mimi are dropping off the lunches. Mimi is confused as to what's going on, why they're at the park, with 21 little kids and 7 teens, and 28 lunches. Again, she references the box and the planet, saying, "But... but... box is not at planet. No, I mean is at planet, but where are my forks? And TV people. I try to watch Wheel of Fortune, and TV people are bother me. Will not leave alone." When Kristy tries to reassure her of "the TV people", Mimi suddenly comes to again, gives Kristy a strange look, and starts talking about what a big job it is to hand out all these lunches to people and asking where her Claudia is.
• We hardly ever get to see Claudia's parents. Mr Kishi seems pretty cool in this book, the little bit we see him. It makes me wish we got to see more of him and Mrs Kishi over the course of the series. 
• I always loved the customized brooches that Claudia, Stacey and Dawn make for their moms. I remember as a child wanting to do the same, but being unable to find miniatures that I needed.
• Again, they use the phrase "pretty much money" is used. Was this really a thing??
• I love how when coming up with the list of potential charges to invite, they actually invite Betsy Sobak. I had honestly thought we'd never hear about her again (unless it was plot related, like charges going through another prank phase).
• This book has a great Mallory moment, which reminds me of how awesome Mallory can be sometimes. Sometimes they write her as totally level-headed and mature, and to be honest, better than the rest of the girls (they seem really petty and cultish at times), but usually she's everyone's least favourite girl (understandably so). Anyways, the kids are getting cranky and their walk back to Claudia's place, and Mallory suddenly starts leading them in a rousing sing-along. This continues when they get to Claudia's place. She sings all these really awesome songs that I totes forgot about it, and Kristy observes that she has no idea where Mallory learned all these songs from
• Fun fact: at some point, she sings "Heigh-Ho, Nobody Home", which is a traditional English (as in England) folk tune or carol. I didn't know this song at all as a child, but we sang it in Choir when I was in high school. So I was really surprised this time around, reading it and recognizing it!
• Speaking of songs, Dawn later misquotes "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Again, I didn't really know that song as a child. Oh, I'm sure I had heard it on the radio or in movies or listening to my parents music, but I wasn't fully conscious of it. In fact, to this day, I associate the song with the Baby-Sitters Club, because of this very instance. I can never unhear "the girl with colitis goes by" haha
• A popular fan theory is that Emily Michelle is Watson's daughter from a torrid love affair/one night stand while travelling for business, and that's why they were able to "adopt" her so fast. It's true that they announce to the kids, "btw just adopted a kid and she's arriving this weekend!" out of nowhere, but they also mention that this had been in the works for some time, and they didn't want to say anything until it was a done a deal. They make it sound like they had been trying to adopt for awhile now, different children, and that this is the one that has finally stuck. I'm ambivalent on the idea of EM being Watson's biological child (although kudos on the fan theory, because it totes never occurred to me otherwise), but I am kinda miffed that apparently Watson and Mrs Thomas have been at this for awhile, and are only now just telling their family about it, days before bringing the kid home. What if everyone really had been like, "Wtf? More kids? Why would you want that?? There's too many of us as is!"? haha
• I find it funny that Kristy mentions telling Karen stuff is like telling it to the National Broadcasting Company. I don't think I ever made the connection as a child to them being NBC. NBC is a channel I know well. If someone were to mention NBC, I wouldn't think twice of it. But mentioning the National Broadcasting Company? It definitely made me think, "Oh, must be some American/'80s thing." haha