BSC #32: Kristy and the Secret of Susan

Tagline: Susan's different from other kids.

Kristy's newest baby-sitting charge is Susan Felder, who goes away to a special school. Susan isn't like most kids. While she can play the piano and sing beautifully... she can't talk to anyone. Susan is autistic. She lives locked inside her own secret world.

Kristy thinks it's unfair that Susan has to be sent off to school and is treated differently from everyone else. But Kristy's going to try to change that - by showing everyone that Susan's a "regular" kid, too. And then maybe Kristy' new friend can stay in Stoneybrook for good.

Kristy finds herself with a one month job of looking after Susan Felder. At first, Kristy's confused: she remembers Mr and Mrs Felder from when she lived across the street from Claudia, but she doesn't ever remember them having a child. Well, that's because Susan is severely autistic and normally goes to a special boarding school. However, the Felders are in the process of transferring her to another school, so in the meantime, Susan is home for a month. Since Mrs Felder has to take care of her 24/7 for this month, and since Susan is so severely autistic, Mrs Felder is looking for someone to watch her for 2 hours three times a week, while she goes grocery shopping, runs errands, and takes a moment to breathe.

At first, Kristy can't believe what she's hearing: Susan's own mother needs a break from her child? And they can't wait to send Susan away? Nope, not on Kristy's watch! Kristy decides to make it her personal mission to get Susan some friends and convince the Felders that Susan belongs in Stoneybrook. But Kristy soon realizes that Susan is worse than Kristy thought she was: Susan doesn't speak and doesn't interact or acknowledge others; in fact, the only time Susan seems to respond is when she's playing piano or reciting dates from memory.

Undeterred, Kristy starts taking Susan out and into the neighbourhood. She figures that Susan can bond with the Hobart boys, because they too have no friends and are teased for being different. The Hobarts are great, and talk to Susan as much as they can, James in particular, but it doesn't make a difference: Susan is still unresponsive. Kristy thinks Susan just needs to make more friends. Kristy is thrilled when people start knocking on Susan's door when Kristy is sitting, wanting to see Susan, but Kristy soon finds out that one of the neighbourhood boys (one of the ones bullying the Hobarts) has been charging kids a dollar to go see Susan do her tricks.

Kristy even looks into the special education class at her own school, where there's students with Down's Syndrome, and students with cerebral palsy, and even students who are deaf. Kristy does everything she can think of. Finally, it's the end of the month, and Kristy is helping Mrs Felder pack up Susan's things. They have a conversation, and Kristy realizes just how much the Felders love Susan, and how hard it is for them to send her away. Kristy learns more about how Susan was as a baby and her development (or lack thereof). The final straw is when Kristy takes Susan out for a walk, and Susan wets her pants and does not even react. It's at that moment that Kristy realizes just how severe Susan's condition is, and how much better it'll be for everyone for Susan to go to her special program.

Kristy says good-bye to Susan, and sees her off as her family leaves to drive her to school. She learns that the Felders are expecting another girl, and wishes them well. Kristy admits to Mr Felder that she thought she could fix Susan, and Mr Felder is surprisingly supportive. Overall, everyone agrees that it's best for Susan to go away, and the Felders turn towards planning their future with the new baby.

The subplot in this one is that the Hobart family moves into Mary Anne's old house. The Hobarts consist of Ben (11), James (8), Matthew (6) and Johnny (4). They're from Australia and are having a hard time fitting in in Stoneybrook. Kids make fun of the way they speak, from their accents to their slang, and keep comparing them to Crocodile Dundee. Eventually though, the kids realize that the Hobarts are just like Americans: they dress the same way and like the same things. The Hobarts find acceptance, and Mallory finds herself a new boyfriend haha

Random Thoughts:

• I was not looking forward to this book. It was never particularly one of my favourites as a child, and now that I'm an adult and more educated in special needs students, and now that the world is more politically correct than it used to be, I knew this was going to be tough. I was right. It totes did not age well.
• In addition to just the really vague descriptions of autism, just so much of it is outdated. We've made huge strides in understanding autism in the past 20 years or so. Plus it doesn't really do a good job of conveying that Susan is severely autistic, not just austic.
• It also bothers me that Kristy thinks she can "save" Susan, but at the same time, these girls seem to think they can save everyone and that they know best for everything, so maybe it's not really that big of a deal that she does it here too haha
• I was really surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be: on page 31, Kristy mentions that Susan is autistic, but doesn't understand what it means. Claudia responds, "Retarded?" Ah the 1980s... In fact, that word is everywhere in this book, especially used to describe people with Down's Syndrome.
• On a related note: I don't like when people use "retard" and "retarded" as a derogatory term (ie: "Haha look at the retard!" or "Wow, you're so retarded! As if you think that!"), but it does bother me that people seem to think that you can't use the word at all. No, it's a real word, with a real dictionary definition. It means to be slow or delayed. We use it in French ("Je suis en retard." which is "I am running late.") and we use it in music (a ritardando means to slow the music down).
• OMG!!! We just got our first mention that Mallory has red hair! Trust me, I've been searching and reading carefully whenever someone describes Mallory. Aside from her first book (where it's described as "chestnut brown"), the only other descriptions we've had is that it's curly/unruly (she and Nicky both have curly hair, while the rest of the Pikes seem to have straight hair). This is the first time it's legit been described as red: "...Ben was gorgeous. His red hair was much nicer than hers, she thought.") So even though she's been drawn as a red-head, this is the first time she's been described as such. I guess from this moment on, it's official haha
• I have a friend who's Australian. I only met him this year. What sticks out to me about him (other than his accent, of course), is the fact that he speaks so much better than a lot of people his age. I know him through the university I work with, and everyone else I've met through there is your stereotypical 20-something aggro dudebro kind of guy. They always make fun of me for how I speak, because I've always spoken at a highly elevated level. My Australian friend is one of the few people who speaks like me. And of course, all his crazy Aussie slang haha
• On that note, people do tease him, but not for being "Crocodile Dundee", but for being the "Crocodile Hunter". What a difference a decade or two makes haha
• I don't know what to think of the Felders having a baby. I mean, people have babies all the time, so it shouldn't be that much of a shock, but at the same time... feels kinda like a replacement goldfish?? They're even naming the kid "Hope", hoping that she'll be "normal". I know we see Susan and the Felders again in some other book. I can't remember what ends up happening with them (other than Susan being slightly better).
• There's more foreshadowing about Stacey's declining health. Yay continuity! =D
• When discussing name-calling and bullying, Mallory mentions that kids used to tease her and her siblings, calling them spiders (8 kids = 8 legs). Jessi mentions that she's been called plenty of names before, but says that they're not appropriate and quickly changes the subject. I would've liked to have seen more on Jessi and racism. Like, actual realistic racism, like Mallory saw in her first book. Not Jessi just automatically assuming that everyone is racist and blowing things out of proportion.

BSC Graphix: Claudia and Mean Janine

Claudia and her sister, Janine, may as well be from two different planets. Claudia, who pays more attention to her artwork and the Baby-sitters Club's new playgroup than her homework, feels like she can't compete with her perfect sister. Janine studies nonstop, makes straight As, and even takes college-level courses.

But when something unexpected happens to the most beloved part of Claudia and Janine's family, will the sisters be able to put side their differences?

So here's something different! Obviously I've already reviewed BSC #7, Claudia and Mean Janine, but I saw this at my local library the other day and couldn't resist! Since I've already reviewed the main book, I'm going to mostly stick to reviewing the graphic novel and some of the changes they've made adapting the book to it.

First off, for those of you who don't know, they started releasing these books in the 2010s, right when they started re-releasing updated versions of the novels. These updated versions of the novels not only had all-new covers (ones that didn't involve the girls, so that they can be more timeless), but also updated content. They either took out the 1980s prices and dollar amounts, or inflated them to the new millennium. (For instance, in BSC #3, it mentions that a small popcorn and drink cost 1.25$, and poor Stacey only had a dollar on her. The updated version [which I don't have on hand], either just simply said that Stacey didn't have enough money, or I think they changed the price to 10.25$). They also updated the information on Stacey's diabetes, reflecting the research and modern medicines and treatments now available.

Sadly, the books didn't take off, and I think they stopped somewhere around #8 or so.

The graphic novels (and there's two versions: coloured and black-and-white) more or less follow the stories depicted in the updated 2010s releases. For some reason, they decided not to adapt #2, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, jumping instead #3. Then they did Mary Anne Saves the Day, followed by this one. Because of the combination of skipping books and updating the material, while this graphic novel stays true to the essence of its source, there are some changes.

For some reason, even though I own #1, this is the first time I've actually sat down and read one of the graphic novels from cover to cover, taking in the detail. It was really fun!

The book opens up with Janine helping Claudia study for math. It's a dark and stormy night, and it's pretty much an amalgamation of the opening scene from BSC #2 and the breakfast scene at the beginning of #7. Janine is trying to talk to Claudia and is getting frustrated because Claudia doesn't understand a word she's saying. Mimi then comes in to help her.

Because #5 and #6 never happened, this one takes place in the last week of school, followed by the start of summer vacation. Kristy's mom and Watson still aren't married yet, but Dawn is around and in the Club. Dawn and Kristy haven't had a chance to reconcile after the events of #4, so things are still really tense between them. Anyways, Kristy proposes randomly that they have a playgroup for their clients. Other than the set-up for the playgroup, it's pretty much the same as it is in the novel.

Also because #5 never happened, Kristy and Dawn's conversation in Dawn's barn happens in this one. It seems really random and comes out of nowhere, but it's still a really cute scene.

One of the updates to this book is that Janine now takes computer science courses, because she's working on her own personal website. I'm dying to know what her website is.

They added Claudia painting a family portrait in this one, which leads to a nice scene between Claudia and Janine. Claudia, in an attempt to connect to Janine, shows Janine the portrait. Janine really likes it, but offers Claudia advice on how to capture Mimi better. At first Claudia is offended, but then realizes that Janine is right.

There's some talk of adding Mallory to the Club at this point, mostly because I think they were planning on skipping the next few novels. But then they never ended up doing anymore (although there are rumors they might do 4 more now).

The subplot of Jamie Newton and Lucy Newton and her Christening are still here.

Random Thoughts:

• I really like how everyone is drawn. The girls are adorable and are all the correct heights and proportions compared to each other. Mallory is just about as tall Mary Anne and Kristy.
• To modernize Claudia and show how artistic she is, without having her dress really really weird (because I think they realized that her outfits would not translate well into a visual medium), they make it so her bangs are hot pink
• I don't like how they drew Mrs Kishi. It looks like she has curly hair. What kind of Japanese woman has curly hair???

BSC #31: Dawn's Wicked Stepsister

Tagline: Dawn thought having a sister was going to be fun. Was she ever wrong!

Now that Dawn and Mary Anne are friends and sisters, Dawn wants them to do everything together - share a room, talk all night long, wear each other's clothes.

But living with Mary Anne isn't exactly what Dawn expected. Mary Anne brags about having a date to the school dance, her kitten throws up on the rug, and she hogs Dawn's baby-sitting jobs!

Dawn's always wanted a sister. Instead, she got Mary Anne, the wicked stepsister of Stoneybrook!

This book picks up exactly where the last one left off, with Mrs Schafer throwing the bouquet. Mary Anne ends up catching it, which prompts some jealousy in Dawn. Dawn of course acknowledges that the whole thing is silly, and tries to move on, but this is just the first of many problems that pop up for them in this book. Their day ends with them going back to MA's old place for one last night.

The next day is moving day, and it does not go well at all. MA is cranky (understandably), and so Dawn is cranky too. Tigger, MA's kitten, is all disoriented, which upsets MA. But Dawn forges ahead, and reminds MA of all the cool stuff they can do now that they're sisters. In fact, the first thing Dawn wants to do is for them to pick out outfits from each other's wardrobe to wear. MA gets excited, and Dawn thinks that everything will work out alright. Just before he leaves though, Jeff voices his opinion that things are not what they seem. Dawn brushes him off.

On Monday (so just a couple of days after the wedding), things are testy between Dawn and MA. Dawn trips over Tigger, which sets MA on edge, and MA is rude about the bean sprouts in the fridge, which then sets Dawn off. By Wednesday, things are downright nasty. A job comes up that both girls are available for, and MA starts sniping at Dawn, telling her that she doesn't look good in MA's clothing (implying she's fat) and insisting that because she was the one who had to move, she should get the job. Eventually they pull straws, and MA gets the job. A few nights later, when MA comes home from the job, she starts to rub it in Dawn's face, but eventually the girls start laughing at what the kids had done, and all is forgiven.

As time passes, Dawn starts to realize that she dreads the weekends. On the weekends, everyone is home and tensions run even higher. Richard keeps waking up super early and making giant breakfasts that include bacon, which of course Sharon won't eat. Even so, Sharon doesn't wake up til much later, and her breakfast is cold and mostly wasted. Neither of them will address the issue though. Same thing with meals. Sharon insists that MA and Richard can eat meat during lunch (when they're away from home), but that they should all eat a vegetarian dinner together. Richard and MA also always want to clean things right away (even wanting to spend an entire day doing cleaning), while Dawn and Sharon would rather wait til later. (Actually, Dawn concedes that she doesn't mind cleaning sooner rather than later, but at this point, it's more about siding with her mother.) When they do clean, MA ends up following Sharon around, cleaning up after her, which pisses Dawn off. Finally, Tigger throws up on the carpet, and Sharon freaks out, which somewhat surprises Dawn.

Another week goes by, and Dawn and MA are still arguing over everything. MA rubs it in Dawn's face that she has a boyfriend, and that Logan is so wonderful and taking her to the dance. Dawn gets all pissed, and ends up calling Jeff that night. Jeff mentions people needing emotional space, which prompts Dawn to think back to the Arnold Twins, and how they were constantly fighting until they each had their own room and personal space. Dawn considers it, but then reconsiders things when MA gets home, and they end up having a really nice chat from their beds side-by-side.

Dawn starts noticing that MA is spending more and more time with Kristy, initiating hangouts, which is something that's out of character for her. Dawn thinks that maybe MA is just as miserable at home as Dawn is, but can't quite figure out what to do. Things finally come to a head when the girls can't agree on how to do homework: in silence or listening to music. MA storms off and decides to do her homework and spend the night in the guest room (the room that would've been hers if Dawn hadn't pressured her into sharing). What strikes Dawn is the fact that her mom sided with MA, and that MA's dad sided with her. After talking to Kristy about dealing with new, blended families, Dawn realizes that everyone is walking on eggshells at home, and they really want things to work, but in forcing togetherness, it's just making everyone tense and take sides. More importantly, Dawn realizes that MA and her need separate rooms.

Of course, Dawn can't just explain this to MA. Dawn's afraid that MA will think that she did something to upset Dawn, or that MA will get stubborn and insist on trying to work things out. What Dawn needs is for MA to want to leave on her own accord, and not because of a fight with Dawn (which is what's been happening at this point). Dawn decides to use the secret passage to terrify MA into wanting to leave. One night, when Richard and Sharon are gone for dinner, Dawn pretends that the Pikes need help, and that she has to leave. That leaves MA all alone in the house, and more importantly, their room. Dawn then hides in the secret passage and makes noises and stuff. She rings the doorbell, and while MA is gone to answer it, she opens up the passage and leaves things in the room for MA. Of course, just before leaving MA alone for good, she takes all the stuff back so that MA doesn't have any proof of her "haunting". MA, thoroughly terrified, later tells Dawn that she can't sleep in that room anymore and moves her stuff out. The family then has a meeting and decide to talk things out and figure out how to make their combined household work. With more honesty and space, Dawn and MA go back to being BFFs.

The subplot in this was the "Pike plague": over the course of the book, pretty much every Pike got sick or injured in some way, shape or form. It starts off with Mallory contracting chicken pox for a second time, after having baby-sat for Jamie and Lucy Newton. Then the triplets come down with pneumonia. At some point, Nicky breaks his fingers (and for some reason, this constitutes staying at home and being treated like he's sick and miserable??) while Vanessa sprains her ankle. Margo and Claire eventually come down with colds. Finally, Mrs Pike injures her knee playing tennis and is unable to walk for several days, while Mr Pike severely burns his hand is unable to use it (including drive) for several days as well. Eventually, they all get better, obviously.

Random Thoughts:

• I have one of the first printings of the book. In it, it says that in the last book, Mary Anne had gotten Dawn a present, but in the last book, Mary Anne had said that it had been Dawn who gave the present. Also, in the "coming soon" list, it lists #33 as Claudia and the Mystery of Stoneybrook and #35 as Stacey and the New Kids on the Block. But fans of the series know that those aren't what those books ended up being.
• We've got more foreshadowing about Stacey and her health in this one. Again, we're reminded that Stacey's been put on a stricter diet than usual.
• Dr. Dellenkamp is mentioned in this one. She's the Pikes pediatrician (and probably for a lot of the other clients too). Is this the first time she's mentioned? I feel like I know her super-well, but I can't figure out why. I think maybe she was Karen's doctor too? And I read pretty much every single Little Sister book as a child. (I was part of the book club and thus got every book in the mail every month haha)
• When every single Pike is out of commission, Kristy and Jessi end up going to their place as emergency sitters to help get them through their Saturday. It's noted that the Pikes are in desperate need of groceries, so Charlie Thomas, on his way to pick up Kristy, goes grocery shopping. He even then stays to help make dinner. He is the greatest brother ever and I want so badly a mini-series of books regarding the series from his POV.
• Mallory admits that she has chicken pox scars in "unmentionable places". That part always stuck with me as a kid. I remember describing my lady bits as "unmentionable places" for the longest time xD haha
• It says that "[Mallory, Vanessa and Nicky] will all be in school on Monday." but Vanessa just had a sprained ankle and Nicky had broken his fingers. I could see maybe Nicky being kept out of school for a day to get used to the cast and maybe due to pain, but neither him nor Vanessa should have really been kept out for a long time.
• I really really really hate that Dawn tricked Mary Anne into moving out of her room. Seriously. It was Dawn's fault that MA was there in the first place, Dawn should have owned up to it and admitted that she was wrong. Although, I suppose it's fairly realistic that a 13 year old wouldn't want to be quite so honest and upfront about that stuff.
• This is the first we hear of Carol, Jack Schafer's girlfriend. We'll be seeing her lots whenever Dawn does stuff in California. 
• I find it weird that Dawn doesn't go to the dance because no one asked her to go. Whatever happened to being an individual? And why the fuck can't you go to a dance with your friends without dates? I never understood that mindset. When I went to dances in middle school, my friends and I just all went as a big group, although occasionally there was like, an unspoken agreement that one of us was going with a guy, or at the very least planning on dancing with a guy. In high school, we didn't go to dances at all because we all agreed that we were too cool for them haha
• New people move into MA's old house. Well, they don't move in yet, but the house has been sold. The girls find out that it's to a foreign family, and that they think they're from Austria. At this point, I remembered the Hobart family. I had completely forgotten that they had moved into MA's old house. (The Hobart family is from Australia, as we'll soon learn.)
• I like how even though sometimes Dawn gets jealous of Kristy's relationship with MA, she still turns to her for advice. I like it when Dawn and Kristy get heart-to-hearts, and it makes me wish that they did it more often. What stuck out to me particularly was the fact that after Kristy and Dawn talk about blended families and making things work, Dawn and Kristy hugged good-bye. Kristy doesn't generally seem like a huggy-touchy-feely person, but especially not with Dawn. I liked it.
• Like I mentioned last time, I still think it's super weird and stupid of them not to have talked about living arrangements prior to having lived together. Like seriously.

BSC #30: Mary Anne and the Great Romance

Tagline: It's Mary Anne and Dawn's dream come true!

It's official - Mary Anne's father and Dawn's mother are getting married! The Baby-sitters think it's so romantic, especially since Mr Spier and Mrs Schafer first fell in love when they were in high school.

But nothing can top Mary Anne and Dawn's excitement. They want a huge wedding with beautiful dresses, lots of presents, and a five-layer cake. After all, this isn't just any wedding. Mary Anne and Dawn are going to be baby-sitters, best friends, and sisters, too!

The book opens with Mary Anne and Dawn hanging out together as their parents go on another date.
It starts off pretty slowly, with everyone just going about their regular business, sitting for clients and what not. A few nights later, Dawn's mom has to work late, so Richard invites Dawn over for dinner with him and MA. He then tells the girls that he wants to do something special for Sharon's birthday (which is coming up), and asks the girls to help him plan something. Together, they decide to surprise Sharon with dinner (getting a friend of Richard's to set it up like a business meeting), and Dawn and MA excitedly go off to plan their presents. MA attempts to come up with ideas, but Dawn shoots them all down, giving MA no suggestions in return. MA's a little peeved, but they get past it fast.

Anyways, at the birthday dinner, Richard surprises everyone by proposing to Sharon. He and Sharon had already talked and agreed to get married, but Richard surprises Sharon with a ring (even though they had decided against them). Dawn and MA are overjoyed at the thought of being stepsisters, but MA starts to feel slightly off about things. She remembers that Dawn had mentioned that Sharon hated cats, but of course MA has Tigger. MA also wonders at how her super neatfreak father was going to be able to share a house with someone as disorganized and scatterbrained as Sharon. She quickly quashes these feelings and moves on.

As time goes on though, MA keeps thinking of possible conflicts. She and Dawn get to help plan the wedding, and the two girls have completely different ideas of what they want to wear as bridemaids. Dawn then points out that they haven't even been asked to be bridesmaids, and when Richard and Sharon mention getting married again, the girls immediately launch into long and elaborate descriptions of a lush and lavish ceremony they want to have. Richard and Sharon had been planning on just getting married at city hall, and having a nice dinner with the girls and Jeff. Eventually, everyone decides on a compromise: a small ceremony with only their 20 closest friends and family, followed by a lunch reception with everyone. Everything seems well and settled, until Dawn starts talking about how exciting it'll be to have MA living with her, and how they should share Dawn's room. MA immediately explodes, because she had no idea what the living arrangements were going to be, and is upset that Dawn knew about it before her.

Richard talks to MA, and explains that he meant to tell her sooner, but couldn't figure out how. At first, MA is livid at the idea of her and her dad giving up everything, and having to sacrifice it all for the Schafers. Richard then explains that no, both families will be getting rid of some things while keeping other things, and that it'll all work out fine. Even though Richard and Sharon make it clear that MA can have her own room and decorate it how she wants, Dawn convinces her that it'd be more fun to share a room, since they both always wanted a sister. MA calms down, but still can't quite shake the feeling that something is off.

The wedding day soon arrives, and it's a beautiful and simple ceremony. Things go perfectly as planned, and everyone gets down to the reception to order lunch. Although MA is happy for her dad, she starts feeling crabby. She starts wondering how they're going to prepare meals when Dawn and her mother are both vegetarians. She hears Sharon say something negative about having a litter box around. MA starts dwelling on her thoughts, and starts to miss her old room and how things were. But before she can work herself up into too much of a tizzy, Dawn gives her a silver bracelet, a "now we're sisters" present. Sharon then gets ready to throw the bouquet, and the book leaves off on that cliffhanger haha

The subplot in this one revolves around the Arnold Twins. Actually, it's more of a parallel plot, since it takes up almost as many chapters. Now that they're becoming more individual and have their own interests, they're starting to have their own friends. But it's hard for them, because they're starting to compete with each other in what they perceive is popularity and achievements and parents. Carolyn is more social and "trendy", with older friends such as Vanessa and Hayley. Marilyn is having a harder time making friends, and is more introverted. Eventually, things come to a head, and it's decided that the girls need more space, so they get separate bedrooms. They also learn that while their mother appreciates Carolyn's socialness and their father appreciates Marilyn's piano and introspectiveness, both parents love them equally. This serves as foreshadowing and paralleling to Mary Anne and Dawn for next book.

Random Thoughts:

• Stacey is on a stricter diet than usual. I know at some point (like, 15 books from now), she runs into problems with her diabetes. It'll be interesting to see if this is the start of that foreshadowing, or if it drops off altogether til then.
• Charlie acquires the Junk Bucket in this one. To find this out, we're treated to another chapter of Kristy baby-sitting for Karen and her siblings. Yay =/
• It occurs to me that we never see chapters from the other girls baby-sitting for their own siblings, unless it's Mallory's siblings because it usually involves two sitters. Yet we're treated to Kristy sitting for her siblings all the time. Mind you, the only other character who has younger siblings is Jessi, but yeah. Stupid Karen haha
• Anyways, Kristy deals with her own bouts of sibling rivalry. Particularly Karen is annoyed with Emily being around and in her way. It's ironic, because Kristy could say the same of Karen. Anyways, because Karen is like, 6 years old, she's particularly nasty, and blames Emily for making a mess, causing Kristy to punish Emily. Poor, poor Emily. Not only is she too young to really speak up for herself, she's extra confused since she's still freshly adopted and learning English. I hate Karen.
• How much time has passed?? When did Richard and Sharon go from dating other people, to dating exclusively, to deciding to get married?? It's insane. Of course, nowadays, they would've lived together for awhile before deciding to get married, but back in the day, AMM couldn't write about pre-marital cohabitation. If this had been written today, I bet you the surprise announcement would have been that they had decided to move in together.
• Also: I find it interesting that they announce that they're getting married, and then appear to get married in like, a month. You'd think they'd want to talk things out more with the girls, and logistics and stuff. MA is overly sensitive, but in this case, I don't blame her for being upset at finding out that she's moving in a few weeks.
• Also: MA is right to be worried about everything. Richard and Sharon really should've sat the girls down more and had more family discussions. All MA hears from Dawn is how Sharon hates cats. Obviously MA is going to be worried about her own cat. And the whole idea of making meals for everyone is also something that needs to be worked out.
• The interesting thing about this book is that it actually says "To be continued in book #31...". I don't think any of the other books in the series have anything like that in them.
• I love the cover of this book because it actually matches a scene in it, down to the smallest detail.

BSC Super Special #3: Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation

Tagline: Ready, aim... fire! The Baby-sitters are off for a week of winter fun!

A week of skiing, skating, and snowball fights. Why can't homework always be like that?

Every year, Stoneybrook Middle School (the whole school!) gets invited to Leicester Lodge in Vermont for a week of winter adventure!

This trip sure isn't like any other! A busload of little kids unexpectedly needs baby-sitters. Mary Anne uncovers a ghost in the lodge. Claudia and Stacey both fall in love with handsome French skiers. Kristy is helping her team win the Winter War... while California Dawn can barely stand up in her skates. And if it doesn't stop snowing, SMS may be snowbound until spring!

Super Special Gimmick: Mary Anne is both the historian for the trip, as well as compiling a journal to give to Logan, since he couldn't come due to a pre-booked family vacation.

Alright, before I break things down into the individual girls' plots, I'll kinda give an overall recap, since everything is kinda centred on one thing.

As the description says, the girls (and their entire school) is headed off on their annual winter trip. This time around though, the weather is particularly bad. Even before they left, there were massive snowfalls and snowstorms being predicted. Everyone thought that the trip was going to be cancelled. But it doesn't, and everyone leaves anyways. On their way to the lodge, it starts snowing really heavily. The bus the girls was on skids off the road, but with some help from another bus, manages to get back on track. They arrive to the lodge way late (had to move super slowly on account of the weather), but otherwise in tact. However, shortly after they arrive, two adults stumble in. They're the chaperones for a group of elementary students who were supposed to be staying at the lodge. They got hit bad by the snow, and ended up crashing into a tree off the side of the road. Everyone is okay, but the adults (who were obviously sitting at the front of the bus) have various injuries. Rather than sending the kids home, the BSC volunteer to look out for the kids and watch them and help out the adults when they get back from the emergency room.

In addition to this, there's a Winter War going on. There's two teams: Red and Blue. Kristy is the captain of her team, and Claudia is on the other team. They're super competitive because they're the two best skiers of the school. Other events include ice skating, snow sculpting, downhill skiing and cross-country skiing. There's also going to be a talent show and a dance.

Also: students get extra credit for volunteering to help run and organize events and things.

Kristy is the captain of the Blue Team and is helping to organize all the events in general. Kristy ends up getting way way way competitive, to the point where it actually ruins people's lives. Her first chapter is about helping to rescue the elementary school kids, but then afterwards, it's all about the Winter War. When her team loses the first event (more on that later), Kristy doubles down. At first, she'd been encouraging everyone to participate, but then decides that she doesn't need anymore klutzes on her team. She worries about potential snowfall cancelling the snow sculpting competition, which she doesn't want because she thinks she has it in the bag: Ashley Wyeth is on her team, and Claudia is stuck judging, so she's out of the competition. When Claudia and the teacher award someone else from Claudia's team, Kristy gets really nasty to Claudia. Realizing that her team now needs to win the cross-country skiing portion, Kristy goes back to recruiting. She figures that by having sheer numbers, she can hedge her bets. She manages to convince a bunch of reluctant people into participating, including a seventh-grader named Jay. Of course, that fails miserably, and Jay ends up breaking his ankle. At first, Kristy just seems upset at having lost the entire Winter War, to which people are like, "wtf Kristy? priorities!", but then it turns out that she's also feeling super ridiculously guilty about having pushed Jay into participating. She ends up breaking down and crying to Mary Anne, but eventually moving on and apologizing to Jay.

Mary Anne is the trip historian, which means she needs to write a short report on the lodge's history, and chronicle how the week goes. However, she spends most of the time being mopey about Logan being in Aruba. She starts thinking he's going to leave her for some gorgeous outgoing girl he'll meet on the beach. She makes everything about her, and gets into a fight with Dawn (more on that in a minute), and doesn't even realize what she's doing. She also tries to avoid Mrs Halliday, the gym teacher, thinking that the teacher hated her from last year (Mary Anne's not exactly athletic). The gym teacher sets Mary Anne straight, and she starts feeling better. She interviews the workers at the lodge, and is convinced that there's a ghost. Eventually, she's set straight, and even better, Logan calls her and tells her that he misses her, so everything ends up alright. She finishes up her report, and even has time to write a whole new skit for Jessi to use in her Talent Show.

Dawn is not having a good time. She was originally looking forward to the trip, because despite being a California Girl, she isn't completely horrible at winter sports (at least, considering she's not even remotely athletic like Kristy is). Dawn's even gone skiing a few times when she lived in California! But things go all wrong for Dawn in the Winter War. In the first event, ice skating, Dawn is a total klutz and falls down a million times, and even drops the baton during the relay. Everyone laughs at her, and she feels bad for letting Kristy down (they're on the same team). Determined not to have a repeat of that, Dawn goes to the practice for the snowball fight, but soon leaves after Alan Gray is a jerk to her. She then decides to practice skiing (something she likes and knows), but the fails at getting on the ski lift. Completely frustrated and discouraged, she retreats to the lodge, where she hopes to find a sympathetic ear in Mary Anne. Of course, Mary Anne is all caught up in her "troubles" with Logan, and dismisses Dawn's feelings, making Dawn feel worse. Dawn later bonds with Pinky, one of the elementary school kids, and Dawn realizes that she's been kind of apprehensive and tense about everything, because this is her first time being away with people she sees every day, and it's important to her not to make a fool of herself. Of course, this puts added pressure on her, which makes everything worse. So Dawn decides to stop being so hard on herself. And that's pretty much it for Dawn. She eventually makes up with Mary Anne, and yeah.

Stacey meets a boy named Pierre, who lives up by the border ("almost in Canada"). That's about it. They ski together lots. Stacey pines for him. She says that she's never met anyone like him, that all her past crushes have meant absolutely nothing. That's her first chapter. Her second and last chapter is their last night together, at the dance. They talk about how they have to say goodbye, but it'll be okay because they'll write each other lots. Pierre kisses Stacey and Stacey vows to never wash her hand again (it has Pierre's address on it). Boring.

Claudia also meets a French ski dude (because apparently all skiiers are French? All French guys ski??), only he's older. His name is Guy (rhymes with "ski") and he's like, 25. But it's okay, because Claudia knows that true love transcends age. Anyways, Claudia's a little bummed because she's agreed to be the judge of the snow sculpting contest, which means she can't participate. (But it also means she gets extra credit, which we all know she needs. Badly.) However, she's really excited for the downhill skiing contest, since Claudia is indubitably the best skiier in the entire school. Just to make sure though, she signs up for some lessons, which is where she meets Guy. Guy takes a shine to her, and offers her a private lesson. Claudia is all giddy, and Guy keeps giving her tips and pointers (most importantly reminding her to concentrate and to stop being distracted). Claudia of course tells everyone what's happening, so that what happens next is especially embarrassing. After the ski competition (which Claudia aces), Guy decides to introduce Claudia to... his family! Yes, not only is he 25 and married, not only does he have a baby, but he actually has a little girl as well! Poor Claudia is heart-broken, but reminds herself that she still has Will.

Jessi in charge of the Talent Night, as part of her role for extra credit. Her story is pretty boring. For Talent Night, she holds auditions, and the kids who actually have a good act are allowed to perform their individual acts, and everyone else, if they want to, can do a skit or group performance, as organized by her. Jessi also helps the elementary school kids put together a skit of their own. Of course, for Talent Night, Jessi does ballet, which is special for her, because it's the first time she's performed it in front of her classmates and she still feels a lot of prejudice from them. Jessi has a running subplot with one of the elementary school kids, Pinky, who Jessi thinks is racist against her. Turns out that Pinky is just incredibly homesick and is being nasty to everyone, which people point out to Jessi, but it takes Jessi awhile to realize it. She also helps Mallory build a snow sculpture as part of the Winter War.

Mallory apparently has learned nothing from SS1, and decides to try the whole spying thing again. She ends up failing even harder this time, and gets pretty much none of the facts right. (She even thnks Mrs Halliday, the gym teacher, is crying because of unrequited love and rejection from the vice principal.) Eventually, Mallory concludes that she doesn't need to hone her observation skills, she needs to acquire them. (She also needs to learn to be more objective and stop jumping to conclusions, but since she wants to be a fiction writer, it's not as important and her imagination will serve her well.) After she abandons her spy pursuits, she then spends the rest of the book freaking out about the dance. Apparently, she has never really danced before and is afraid of making a fool of herself. Mallory tries to find excuses to get out of the dance, but eventually goes and discovers that it's not that big of a deal after all. She even dances with a boy from her math class, named Justin Price.

Random Thoughts:

• Totes not my favourite Super Special. At all. Everyone has such stupid, petty problems, and pretty much everyone is super self-absorbed. The only mildly likeable character is Dawn, and we don't see nearly enough of her. Overall, this is just really boring.
• I'm surprised we got another Super Special so soon. Only 4 books have gone by since the last one!
• This trip sounds ridiculous. They just close up shop for the entire week and transport everyone over? Plus it seems crazy to expect parents to pay for 3 trips (assuming their child goes to SMS all three years). Yeah, I know there's fundraisers and apparently the Georges subsidize the trip... but wtf! I think this would be far more realistic if it was like, a grade 8 treat. Plus, it would still be a great opportunity for the sixth-graders and the seventh-graders back home. With all those available classrooms, they could maybe do a week of special interest courses and studies. And the 8th grade students who didn't want to or couldn't afford to go on the trip could shadow a teacher for the week, and be their helper and learn about school from the other side of the desk.
• There's some foreshadowing in this one about Mary Anne and Dawn preparing in case their parents get married and they get to share a room. However, they fail at being bunkmates.
• This one has those weird drawings again. I know the next one for sure has illustrations. I like the illustrations much better. 
• I love how Dawn is always described as an individual, but in this one, she outright admits to caring what others think of her.
• It's super weird for me, as a 27 year old who is more or less single (I mean, I'm in a relationship, but it's definitely not super-serious or marriage worthy anytime soon), to read about a 25 year old being married with TWO kids. Like, wtf! But this was like, 25 years ago, so you know, different times haha (and some people still get married young and start a family right away too)
• Mallory super annoys me in this one. I can see why people don't like her as much sometimes.

BSC #29: Mallory and the Mystery Diary

Tagline: A locked trunk and a secret diary all add up to... a mystery for the the Baby-sitters!

Mallory and Claudia are helping Stacey unpack from her move back to Stoneybrook when they find an antique trunk in the McGills' attic. Stacey doesn't want the dusty thing, so she gives the trunk to Mallory... who finds an old diary in the bottom of it.

The diary once belonged to Sophie, a girl who lived in Stacey's house in the 1890s. As Mallory reads deep into Sophie's diary, she discovers a mystery. There may be ghosts that haunt Stacey's house!

The Baby-sitters have one big mystery on their hands to solve. Because Stacey's house isn't big enough for her, her mom... and a family of ghosts!

This one starts off with Mallory writing in her journal. She calls it a journal because it's her personal feelings and opinions, not just her day-to-day stuffs, which she says would be in a diary. Anyways, her mom interrupts her to send her to Stacey's: Mrs Pike has made a casserole to help with the move. Upon delivering the casserole to Stacey, Mallory discovers Stacey and Claudia packing up the empty boxes, and helps them move it to the attic. There, they discover all sorts of random things that had been left behind by previous tenants. It's super fun, and in the end, Mallory discovers an old antique trunk and decides to keep it.

Once at home, she and her siblings can't figure out how to open it. After agonizing it over a few days, Mallory eventually breaks and agrees to let the triplets break the locks. Inside the trunk, she finds all sorts of old clothes and things, which she gives to Vanessa. But at the bottom, she also finds an old diary. It belongs to a 12 year old girl named Sophie, and the diary is dated in 1894.

Mallory reads the diary and quickly learns of a mystery in Stacey's house! Sophie's father Jared, was not respected or well-liked in the community. Her grandfather, Grandfather Hickman, believed that Jared only married Sophie's mother for the money. Anyways, despite the fact that Sophie is twelve, and her mother is therefore well past her prime, Jared encourages her to get pregnant again, hoping for a son. Well, he gets the son he wants, but two days later, Sophie's mother dies from complications. Soon, a painting of the mother goes missing, and Grandfather Hickman blames Jared for it, calling him a thief and implying that he sold it for money. The diary ends with the mystery unsolved and Sophie claiming that no one's souls will rest unless the painting has been found and that Jared's name been cleared.

Mallory brings the mystery to the Club's attention, and they decide to try to solve it. The first thing they figure out is whether or not Grandfather Hickman is the same as Old Hickory, of the town's folklore. Turns out that he is, so that gives the girls some place to start. However, after much searching and research, they find themselves coming up empty handed. They decide to hold a seance to try to contact the spirits, but it turns out to be a bust.

The girls continue to puzzle over it while they baby-sit. Charlotte shares with Stacey a story, telling Stacey that sometimes things are not what they seem and that there might be a clue hiding right under their noses. Then Buddy Barrett comes over and takes a crack at reading the diary and searching the trunk. In his search, he gets his hand stuck in a hidden pocket. There, he finds a confession from Grandfather Hickman, confessing to having gotten the portrait painted over, because he couldn't stand the sight of his dead daughter, but didn't want her to be far away either. Mallory and Buddy run over to Stacey's house, and together they search for a painting that could potentially be the portrait. Eventually, they come up with one that has some paint chipping away.

Mrs McGill takes it to get restored and sure enough, it's the missing portrait! Stacey and her mom decide to hang it in their house, and everything ends all happy.

The subplot in this one is that Buddy is having a hard time reading at school. He's reading way below grade level, and Mrs Barrett just doesn't have time for him. So she hires Mallory as a tutor for him. At first, Mallory wants to do all the stuff his teacher gave him, and is super-serious. But eventually she realizes that she has to make reading fun for Buddy, and that it doesn't matter what he's reading, so long as he's reading. So she has him read comic books and Encyclopedia Brown novels. Eventually, Buddy's reading improves and he gets moved up in reading groups at school. He now loves reading and Mallory is totally proud of herself for a job well done.

Random Thoughts:

• Mallory is pretty whiny in the beginning of this one. She talks about how being 11 sucks, and how she feels like she'll be 11 forever. If she only knew... haha
• I'm kinda sad we don't see more of Stacey and Mallory forming a friendship. Living so close to each other, it would have been kind of cool.
• Reading about Mallory tutoring Buddy was super fascinating now that I'm a teacher. The struggle to get kids to read is real.
• I love how apparently Dawn and Mary Anne's parents have only been on 25 dates so far in their adult life. That's not that many. I've been dating my boyfriend for about a year now, and we've probably gone on more dates. Or less, depending on how you count them. We don't really go out so much anymore. He'll come to my house and we'll make dinner together, and then go and watch TV or watch a movie or play video games for the evening. Then he'll spend the night. Obviously Dawn and Mary Anne's parents aren't spending the night at each other's places. And they probably aren't having that many nights together in either. So yeah. 25 dates, even if they see each other once a week, is only 6 months. That's not that long. Especially considering Dawn's mom was definitely still dating The Trip-Man for awhile during that time. Yet the next regular book has them engaged!
• I'm with Mallory: I would totes have claimed that trunk for myself. It's funny, cuz as a child, I thought like Mallory too: omg don't damage the locks; okay, damage them just a bit so that it doesn't look horrible. Now as an adult, I'm like, "Whatevs... obviously try to minimize the damage, but then I'm totes taking it to get fixed. Hmmm... maybe a locksmith first??" haha
• I would kill for some antique clothes. I have no idea where or when I'd wear them, but it'd be fucking awesome haha
• I love that Grandfather Hickman and Old Man Hickory ended up being the same person, but I am also glad that it didn't turn out that Dawn's Jared was the same Jared. That would have been too much of a coincidence!
• I learned the word "pine" from reading this book as a child! haha

BSC #28: Welcome Back, Stacey!

Tagline: She's home for good!

Stacey's parents have been fighting a lot lately. Even so, she's still not prepared for the terrible news: her parents are getting divorced.

Not only is Stacey sad and angry, but now she has a big decision to make: Stacey must either stay in New York with her father, or move out with her mother... to Stoneybrooke.

Could Stacey really leave the city, her father, her best friend Laine, and all that great shopping? But then again, how could Stacey pass up going back to her old school, all the kids in the Stoneybrook... and the members of the Baby-sitters Club?

The book opens up with Stacey baby-sitting for Grace and Henry Walker, who live on the 18th floor of her apartment building (Stacey herself lives on the 12th floor). Right away, we're told that they're black, but that Stacey doesn't see them that way, because she doesn't see the world in colour like that haha Anyways, more importantly, we learn that Stacey's distracted. She's been thinking about her parents, who haven't seemed to be getting along so well lately.

Sure enough, when she heads back to her place, Stacey discovers that her parents are fighting yet again. Stacey wonders what her dad is doing home so early (it's only 5:30, and he usually works til 7:30 or so; her mom and her are getting used to eating alone), and stops to listen to the fight for a bit. Stacey finds that they're mostly fighting about money, and that it sounds serious. Scared, Stacey runs off to Laine's to cry and seek comfort. There, she also calls the Club in Stoneybrook, since they're just finishing up their meeting. Of course, nothing anyone says is really reassuring. Both Laine and Claudia don't know what to say, because their parents almost never fight. Dawn sympathized with Stacey about fighting parents, but I don't think that made Stacey feel much better considering Dawn's parents not only got divorced, but one of them also ended up moving to the other side of the country. Still, after talking to her friends, Stacey fee;s better and is calm enough to return home.

Upon her arrival, Stacey finds her parents are no longer fighting. In fact, they're sitting in the living room, talking, waiting for her to come home. Immediately, they drop the big one on her: they have decided to get a divorce.

Even though Stacey knows that they'd been fighting, and knows deep down inside that a divorce would be for the best, she's still in denial, and very very angry. She thinks about all her friends and classmates whose parents have divorced, and it just makes her feel worse. She wonders where her dad will go, how often she'd get to see him, and what to do if her parents started dating again. Her teachers are all sympathetic, and Stacey spends most of the first day just avoiding everyone and her feelings.

Everything starts to happen quickly: Stacey's mom immediately expresses her desire to move back to Stoneybrook. Immediately, Stacey realizes she'll need to choose between her parents. She won't be able to see them equally and flip-flop whenever she wants. She'll have to pick a city and a school to attend. She starts to think of how she can convince her parents to live closer together, to make the decision easier. Stacey then goes into full-blown denial mode, and tries to think of ways to set her parents back up again, and avoid the divorce. She spends the week trying to set them up, only to be foiled at every turn.

At the end of the week, Stacey and her mom head to Stoneybrook to go house-hunting. None of the houses are particularly attractive, but Stacey's mom is on a limited budget. She does find one house that she likes, but is on the fence about it, asking for another week to consider. Stacey then attends a sleepover with the girls, and reflects that while she misses them, New York City would always be home for her.

The following week is crazy for Stacey. Her father finds himself a new apartment, and starts slowly setting himself up there. Finally, Stacey realizes that the divorce is happening, and that she can't stop it. After some soul-searching, Stacey decides to go with her mom to Stoneybrook.

Stacey and her mom move, and soon things are back to normal. It's as if Stacey never left. She of course misses her father, but all in all, it's a pretty smooth transition for Stacey.

There's no subplot in this book, because duh, the divorce is a big deal haha

Random Thoughts:

• I always loved this book. In fact, I read it randomly before I was "supposed to" a few weeks ago when I wasn't feeling well. I don't know why, but I just had a mad craving for this one. I guess it's because most of the books tend to be frivolous or completely dramatic and unrealistic, so I like the few "issues" books that they do, where the characters actually have to face something serious. Stacey's parents getting divorced and how they handled everything was written very realistically.
• Looking back, this book is one huge "SPOILER ALERT!". I mean, the title and the picture give it all away: Stacey chooses her mom and Stoneybrook. Boom. Mystery solved. I guess I never realized that, since 1) I didn't read the books entirely in perfect order when I was younger and 2) since then, I've always known that she came back. But yeah. Even the back of the book gives it away, by saying "and reach seven experienced baby-sitters".
• I feel like the divorce came out of nowhere, even though I do know there was some foreshadowing. Still, it makes me wish we had had more books with Stacey in them. I know in BSC #24, Stacey mentions that they're now fighting and arguing more, and then in BSC #26, her father didn't come with them to Mimi's funeral, and Stacey again mentions them fighting. I would've been interested to see how things had progressed and developed. Because although they've been fighting, their bombshell that they're getting divorced seems to completely blindside Stacey. I know we don't see all of their latest fight, but it also seems weird to me that they would go from fighting and screaming, to calmly being like, "Yes, I think we should divorce. We should tell Stacey when she gets back from baby-sitting."
• Sometimes I think about how much fun it would be to live in an apartment. To have friends and people you know within minutes of your place. But then I realize I much prefer my house and being able to do my laundry whenever and to leave my clothes in the washer or dryer if need be and continue some other time, without worrying about my clothes going missing haha plus I probably wouldn't have room in an apartment for all my instruments and piano and treadmill and what not haha
• I'm kinda surprised at how fast everything goes down. I mean, I suppose the divorce papers and legal things don't get settled for awhile (and off-screen), but still, within a month, Stacey's entire life is changed, everyone's moving, and Stacey has to make a choice.
• Dawn's mom is still dating the Trip-Man. In fact, apparently Dawn's mom has been dating a lot of men. Which makes sense since it's been about two or three years since the divorce, but only a year in terms of story time