BSC #37: Dawn and the Older Boy

Tagline: Dawn is falling for a California boy!

When Dawn meets Travis, she knows he's the perfect boy for her. Travis is good-looking, he eats health food, he's from California, and he likes Dawn!

But Mary Anne and the rest of the Baby-sitters aren't sure about Travis. First of all, he's much older than Dawn. And they don't like the way Travis is always telling her what to do.

Does Travis like Dawn as much as he says he does? The Baby-sitters don't know - but they're not going to let Dawn get hurt by an older boy!

The book opens with the girls having a sleepover at Kristy's. The next morning is Saturday, and figuring it'd just be Nannie and little kids around, the girls all traipse down the stairs in their PJs, their make-up from the previous night all over their faces. Of course, when they get there, they discover not only Charlie and Sam Thomas, but their friend Travis as well.The girls are mortified, and quickly retreat to Kristy's room to make themselves more presentable.

Upon returning, the girls sit down with the boys. Charlie casually mentions that Dawn is from California, like Travis, who recently moved. Dawn instantly sees a connection and falls head over heels in crush. Travis and Dawn talk for ever about their memories of California, and Travis departs with some words of advice: "Always wear blue. It brings out the colour of your eyes. Just like the ocean." Well, that seals the deal.

Dawn spends the next forever thinking about Travis, much to the girls' frustration and confusion. Mary Anne isn't even particularly sympathetic, despite being Dawn's best friend and stepsister. One Saturday though, while Dawn and MA are doing yard work, Travis shows up to surprise Dawn! He sits on the porch with her, and eventually gives her a gift: a blue beaded necklace with matching hair combs. Dawn is absolutely smitten and doesn't know what to say. She admits to not really doing anything with her hair: it's so long, she usually just brushes it and lets it hang down. That's when Travis suggests to Dawn that she cut a few inches off her hair and try wearing her hair pulled back from her face. Once Travis leaves, Dawn immediately runs inside to get MA to cut her hair.

A little while later, Travis surprises Dawn by showing up after school to pick her up. He says he needs help picking up a gift for his father, but really he just wants an opportunity to hang out with Dawn. He does take her to get his dad's gift first, but then they go to Burger Palace, where Travis orders for Dawn. Travis then takes Dawn to Merry-Go-Round, the accessories store, and picks out a pair of earrings for Dawn. She wants to wear them in her first set of holes (she's got two in each lobe), but Travis thinks she should get a third hole. Dawn gets all flustered, especially when Travis suggests they do it right then and there, but luckily for Dawn, he takes her home instead.

It's lucky for Dawn that he did take her home, because when she gets home, she discovers that her parents are already there, and they are not happy. They had asked MA where Dawn was, and MA being unable to lie, admitted that Dawn had gone shopping with a boy named Travis. Sharon and Richard get really upset at Dawn going out with a boy they don't know, an older boy at that. They start getting on her about being responsible and about what a boy his age could possibly want with a girl Dawn's age. Eventually Dawn appeals to her mom, who says that once they meet Travis, they'll reassess the situation. Of course, that sets Richard off, because strict Richard would rather ban Dawn from seeing a boy Travis' age altogether. So while Sharon and Richard are fighting, Dawn makes her big escape. Dawn admits to MA that Travis is causing problems, and that she's starting to feel uneasy about it all. Dawn's still pretty smitten though.

Sometime later a club meeting, Kristy talks about her older brothers, and mentions that Travis has a girlfriend. This upsets Dawn, who sets out to spy on Travis the next day. She runs to the high school just in time to see Travis and a girl leave. Together, they go to Burger Palace and Merry-Go-Round. Dawn's upset, and eventually admits to her friends everything that's been going on. They all take her side, and Kristy can't believe her brothers would associate with such a snake. MA admits that she and Logan have been talking about setting up Dawn with his cousin who is coming for a visit. Dawn feels slightly better about everything, but still needs closure.

She decides to follow Travis again and confront him with his girlfriend. Travis is pretty cool about it, and Sara (the girlfriend), seems to know all about Dawn. Dawn heads home, embarrassed. However, she still can't let it go. Finally, she decides to phone Travis and give him a piece of her mind. Travis is confused, and doesn't know what Dawn's talking about. Dawn continues though, and finally hangs up the phone on him, feeling free of his controlling and manipulative ways.

With Travis gone, Dawn turns back towards MA's letter from Lewis, Logan's cousin. They write back and forth for awhile, with the intent of hanging out when he comes to visit. But that's for another story.

The subplot in this one revolves around James Hobart and his friend Zach. Zach is one of the guys who bullied the Hobarts in their first book. Although he's supposed to be James' friend now, he's still a bully. He makes fun of James' hobbies and interests, and tries to turn him American: getting him to pursue his more manly hobbies and stop using Aussie slang. James is in the process of putting on a play that he wrote for his brothers and the Perkins girls (they're next-door neighbours). Every time Zach comes by though, he teases him for playing with girls (...his brothers are there too!) and for playing with babies (okay, yes, James is the oldest of the group by at least 2 years). Sometimes James gives in, other times he stands firm. It doesn't get resolved in the end, so I'm interested in seeing if Zach pops up again in another book. Anyways, it's meant to parallel Dawn's plot of letting Travis control her.

Random Thoughts:

• I don't know why, but this is one of the ones I remember reading a lot as a child haha
• lol in this one, to describe Janine, they mention that she's "the type of girl who sits around doing quadratic equations for fun." I have to admit, I fucking love quadratic equations. I don't sit around and do them for fun, but I definitely have fun doing them, and if I come across one, I have to stop what I'm doing and solve it haha
• More foreshadowing about Stacey's health! I'm loving the continuity in these books!
• Dawn also mentions that she once knew she was going to have an exciting day, and that was the day Claudia broke her leg. Dawn indeed was the one who went with Claudia to the hospital!
• How the eff does Travis find out where Dawn lives? Charlie probably knows vaguely (from dropping off Kristy), but probably doesn't know her exact house number (I never knew the exact house number of my best friends' houses when I was in high school, just how to get there, what street and what the house looked like... and those were my BEST FRIENDS), and even if he did, would he really give it to Travis??
• MA is pretty self-centred sometimes. I get that it's exciting for her to have a hot steady boyfriend in Logan, but it seems like whenever Dawn or Stacey express interest in boys, she's always dismissive of them. 
• It would've been interesting to see Dawn on the cover with shorter hair, wearing those hair combs. And then some continuity over the next books describing Dawn with long hair (but no longer the "longest hair ever").
• I need to re-read California Diaries to see how Ducky is introduced, because Mr Schafer in no way had an aneurysm like Mrs Schafer did over Dawn going out with someone who could drive haha and Ducky is the same age as Travis. And a lot less creepy-seeming haha
• Maybe Travis was genuinely being nice. Ducky is nice to the girls all the time, and gets them stuff or drives them around, and no one ever thinks twice about it. It's just unfortunate that Dawn has such a crush on Travis, so she immediately takes all his kind actions to heart.
• ...then again, maybe Travis was a creep. He's certainly very confident and pushy, unlike Ducky haha
• Part of me is all, "For such an individual, Dawn sure is quick to change to impress a boy..." But then again, that's pretty realistic for a 13 year old girl
• I'm kinda pissed at MA for trying to set Dawn up with Logan's cousin. As if Dawn is so lonely and desperate? I dunno...

BSC #36: Jessi's Baby-Sitter

Tagline: Jessi doesn't need a baby-sitter - she is one!

Jessi can't believe it. Her dreaded Aunt Cecelia is moving in to take care of Jessi and her brother and sister. How humiliating - Jessi's going to have a baby-sitter!

Plus, Aunt Cecelia is a drill sergeant. She tells Jessi when to go to bed, how to wear her hair, and she even forbids her to go to a Baby-sitters Club Meeting.

Jessi knows she's old enough to take care of herself - but how can she tell Aunt Cecelia that?

Jessi's at dance class and is surprised when it's her father, not her mother, who picks her up. Immediately, Jessi worries that something is wrong. Her father reassures her that that's not the case. Just the opposite in fact: he's off from work early to celebrate. When Jessi gets home, she finds out what the celebration is: her mother has finally found a job and is going back to work! Furthermore, to take care of Squirt during the day and help out around the house, Aunt Cecelia is moving in!

You might remember Aunt Cecelia from the time Becca got stuck on an island while Jessi was left in charge of her siblings for the weekend. If not, Jessi is quick to remind you of that. Apparently Aunt Cecelia remembers it too, because she immediately starts to micromanage their lives: she tells the girls what they can and cannot eat, what to wear and where they can be. They can't go anywhere because Aunt Cecelia's "never met them", never mind the fact that she's only been around for a few days. She insists on knowing exactly where they are at every minute. When Jessi is 10 minutes late coming home from the Rodowkys, Aunt Cecelia punishes her by banning her from that evening's Club meeting, threatening to ban her from more if she keeps up the attitude.

Meanwhile, Jessi and Becca keep pulling all sorts of pranks on Aunt Cecelia, hoping that if they're nasty enough, she'll want to move out again. They short-sheet her bed, leave plastic spiders in it, and put shaving cream in her slippers. Aunt Cecelia never says anything though, and the longer this goes on, the more nervous Jessi feels and the more she feels she can't go to her parents about it all.

Eventually Jessi realizes enough is enough and sits down with her parents. She confesses to them everything that has been going on. Her parents are disappointed that Jessi didn't come to them sooner, but quickly call a family meeting. At first Aunt Cecelia is all haughty and stubborn, insisting that if the girls are so independent, then she's not needed after all. But soon the family talks things out, and Aunt Cecelia admits that she was nervous coming into the family and was only trying to do her best. She also lets Mr and Mrs Ramsey know about the tricks the girls have been playing on her. Everyone apologizes, and decide to do better moving forward.

The girls aren't punished for their tricks, and Jessi spends forever wondering what's going to happen. The book ends with Aunt Cecelia pulling the same pranks on the girls, and everyone laughing it off.

The subplot in this one is the Stoneybrook Elementary Science Fair. Jackie Rodowsky kinda wants to enter it, but is afraid he'll mess up and embarrass himself. Mostly though, he just wants to make a cool volcano and watch it explode. Jessi gets so caught up in making sure that Jackie does it right and succeeds, that she essentially takes over the project and does it all for him. Elsewhere, Kristy is guiding David Michael on building a mobile of the solar system, Mallory is watching Margo build a shadowbox of life on the moon using Barbies, and Stacey watches Charlotte play music to plants. On the day of the science fair, Jackie becomes upset because he can't answer any of the questions, and more importantly, didn't really do any of the project himself. Jessi feels horrible and learns a valuable lesson about caring about people without invalidating them.

David Michael is just happy to get an honourable mention (essentially a participation award), because he gets a ribbon, and Margo just wanted everyone to see Barbie on the moon haha Charlotte actually wins third place!

Random Thoughts

• I love Jessi on this cover. That outfit is awesome. It's so '80s, but it's part of the good '80s haha Plus I just love her physical expression and stance. I think this is my favourite Jessi cover
• It's official: Mallory totes has red hair. This is the second time they've explicitly described her with such.
• I was interested to see that they started foreshadowing Mallory's father losing his job. I was always under the impression that shit happened in these books out of nowhere, but now that I'm consciously reading the books in chronological order, I'm seeing tons of foreshadowing on the major issues, like Mimi dying and Stacey's parents getting divorced
• Likewise, Stacey's still having health problems and keeps saying that she should make an appointment with her specialist, but is reluctant to do so
• In addition to all the foreshadowing, there's also a lot of continuity present, more so than I remember there being when I was a kid:
• Aunt Cecelia can't let go of what happened to Becca that weekend on the island
• The girls compare the science fair to what happened during the beauty pageant: only this time, they keep their heads and are way better about things
• Jessi mentions the time they all went to summer camp together and the school-wide ski trip as some of her favourite memories with her friends
• I don't find it weird that Aunt Cecelia would park Squirt in his playpen while she cleaned or made dinner. What I do find weird is that she won't let Jessi and Becca play with him instead
• Just like with Dawn and Mary Anne's families: I don't know why Mr and Mrs Ramsey didn't sit everyone down for a family meeting sooner. A lot of this book could have been avoided if Mr and Mrs Ramsey had just filled Cecelia in on what the general rules and routines of the house were. I suppose we wouldn't have had this book then haha
• On the otherhand, I totes understand Jessi being reluctant to bother her parents. One, it's hard to confront your parents with problems. Two, she didn't want to worry them or cause them any stress or grief during this already stressful time in their lives
• How late does Mr Ramsey work? Jessi mentions that her dance classes normally end long before he's ready to leave the office. Assuming her dance classes are at 4pm (most of their after school sitting jobs start at 3:30, and her dance classes are in the next town over), and they last an hour, she'd be done dance at 5pm (which also jives with her being able to just make Club meetings on time). I suppose an hour is a long time to wait, and leaving the office at 6pm isn't that late... Okay, nevermind, I rescind my query xD haha
• Is it bad that I want to try to replicate Charlotte's experiment so bad? I want to see for myself what the results are haha
• I feel bad for Aunt Cecelia. Yeah, she's strict (she's totally out of line for most of this book), but she's really not that bad once the family discusses rules and boundaries. She's probably more nervous and lonely than anything, and is trying to overcompensate. She's not nearly as bad for the rest of the series, as far as I can remember. Guess we'll see haha
• After school snacks were always a point of contention for me as a child. We ate lunch around noon, and I got home from school around 4pm. I was pretty darn hungry by the time I got home from school. However, in my family, we ate dinner at 5pm, so I really couldn't eat a large snack at 4pm, or else I really wouldn't have been able to eat my dinner later. Problem is, my tummy isn't satisfied with just a little bit of food. A little bit of food doesn't make my tummy a little less hungry. It actually makes my tummy more hungry until it's satisfied. That hour before dinner was always the longest hour of my life.
• That being said, Jessi's family obviously doesn't eat until 6:30-7pm. And they get home from school at like, 3pm, meaning lunch is probably around 11:30am. 7 hours is a long time to wait to eat something substantial, and 3 hours is more than enough time to work up an appetite again. I can see why Jessi and Becca normally eat a sandwich as an after school snack.
• Aunt Cecelia mentions that "sometimes black people have to work twice as hard to prove themselves". It's pretty deep for a BSC book. It makes me wish we had explored racism with Jessi more. Especially now with all the Black Lives Matters stuff. Crazy how something said in the 1980s can still ring incredibly true today.
• ...not that I wanted to get political. Cuz 1) I'm not a really political person, and 2) it's not that kind of blog haha
• I don't know if Aunt Cecelia was being hyperbolic to make a point, or if she was serious, but there is a huge difference between, "The girls are old enough to pick their own clothes and organize their own schedules" and "We don't need you at all anymore". The girls can't watch their brother during the school hours. It wouldn't be fair for them to have to consistently watch him every single day from 3pm to when their parents got home. Jessi would have to give up dancing, because not only would she now have to watch her siblings, there'd be no one to drive her to class. And there's all the cleaning and the cooking...

BSC Super Special #4: Baby-sitters Island Adventure

Tagline:  Who thought they'd end up... shipwrecked?

Only the Baby-sitters can save the day!

Dawn and Claudia have a perfect day planned. They've invited Dawn's brother and three other kids to join them on a sailing race out to Greenpoint Island. The girls have even packed a picnic lunch for the adventure.


But then a big storm blows up in the middle of the race. And Claudia and Dawn and the kids never return from the island.

The Baby-sitters can't believe it's true - two of their members are missing!

Super Special Gimmick: Dawn wants a record of her adventure, so she asks all her friends to go back and write about their memories of the weekend so she can put them together.

So Dawn and Claudia have been taking sailing lessons together at the community centre. On their last day, they decide to have a boat race. It's pretty close, and everyone declares it a tie. The counselors, pleased with how the girls handled themselves, say that the girls have officially completed the course and no longer need them to go sailing anymore - provided that they just don't sail alone. Claudia decides to call a rematch on the Saturday when they have a long weekend. Dawn agrees, but only if Jeff can come on her boat since he's visiting and she doesn't want to miss out on time with him. This prompts Claudia to want to a crew mate, leading Jessi to suggest her younger sister Becca. Becca tells Haley Braddock, who also wants to come, so to round out the group (and even out the teams), they rope Jamie Newton in on it. They decide to make a whole afternoon of it, and have a picnic. While on their race, a storm blows them off course, and Dawn's boat ends up getting a hole and sinking. They all use Claudia's boat to wash ashore on a random little island, but fail to secure it, so it soon washes out. With no boat, it's up to a rescue team to find them.

Dawn narrates most of this book. Her story starts before they set sail: she and Mary Anne are fighting because Dawn forgot to give Mary Anne a message from Logan, causing them to fight. However, she's pretty excited about the race and tries not to let Mary Anne get to her. Dawn has Jeff and Haley on her boat, and her picnic basket includes bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars and water and juice. Dawn learns over the course of the book that she's not as handy in an emergency as she thought she was. She's not resourceful at least. Luckily for her, she's got Claudia and Jeff helping her. Dawn ends up mostly taking care of Jamie Newton, who gets strep throat and an ear infection while on the island. The situation just gets to her and she ends up being more than a little cranky. It makes Dawn feel ashamed of herself, but she pulls through and now knows more about herself than she did before.

Claudia on the other hand, learns how resourceful she can be. Even though she's not school-smart, she's good at keeping her cool. She manages to keep her spirits up and tries to distract the kids. Claudia even manages to figure out a way to catch rain water for them to drink. She's also the one to find the piece of mirror and to see right away how they can use it to hail a plane. Pretty much everyone would've been fucked if Claudia hadn't been there haha I do have to shake my head though at Claudia packing 15 chocolate bars as part of her picnic lunch. Uh, that's like, 2 and a half chocolate bars per person!

Mary Anne is feeling super guilty. Because Dawn forgot to give MA a message from Logan saying he couldn't show up to the library for their study date, MA calls Logan and reams him out for standing her up. Of course, Logan gets upset that MA would even jump to such a conclusion and apparently thinks so little of him, so basically the two of them are having an epic fight. MA blames it all on Dawn, decides to stop talking to Dawn. She doesn't even come to the community centre to see Dawn and Claudia off, even though Claudia is her friend and three of her usual baby-sitting charges are there. Worse yet, her last words to Dawn are, "You know what? I wish I never had to see you again. I wish you would get out of my life - forever." So yeah, MA's wrecked with guilt, feeling as though maybe she inadvertently caused the accident. She's pretty much useless this book, mostly just baby-sitting for charges when their parents want to join the search.

Kristy is feeling surprisingly emotional, considering it's Kristy and she's not particularly close to anyone who is missing. I think mostly Kristy feels helpless. All the adults are reacting pretty well, keeping their heads, organizing search parties, and all that jazz, so there's really nothing for Kristy to do, no big ideas to save the day. However, she also had planned a big softball game against the Bashers on Monday, with the intent to hold extra practice on Sunday for her Krushers. Obviously, between everything that's going on, that's out of the question. So Kristy has to phone Bart to cancel. She's nervous about phoning Bart cuz she likes him, but she expects him to be cool and understanding. Unfortunately, he's not! He thinks Kristy's being a drama queen and is looking for reasons to cancel because she's afraid of her team losing the game. This upsets Kristy, but she tries to instead focus her energies on joining the search parties. After everyone is found and rescued, and Bart starts seeing the news footage, he realizes that Kristy wasn't exaggerating, and calls to apologize. He says sometimes Kristy gets carried away and it's hard for him to tell when she's being serious, or when she's just being hyperbolic out of excitement. Kristy promises to try not to send him mixed messages anymore, and they part on a good note.

Mallory doesn't have much to do in this either. She doesn't even have a plot like Kristy does. She's just there because her family goes out on two separate boats to search, allowing her and Kristy and Stacey to do some searching firsthand. She only has one chapter, and it's when they're out searching. However, Mallory's not even the one to make the discovery of Dawn's broken boat: it's Stacey.

Stacey is supposed to be spending the weekend with her father, in NYC. She heads down Friday evening as per planned, but Saturday evening, just before she's to go out, she gets the phone call about the disappearance. Stacey is understandably upset, and wants to go home. Even if she can't actively do anything, she wants to be around, and is too upset to really enjoy herself with her father. Plus she doesn't feel right going out to fancy dinner reservations and Broadway shows while everyone in Stoneybrook is worried and searching. Of course, Ed McGill won't stand for that! He guilts Stacey into staying, telling her how it's his weekend with her, and how hard it was for him to make these reservations and get tickets and what not. After another day of that, and still no word, Stacey digs in, and heads home early on Monday morning (instead of staying all day and heading back Monday evening). She writes a letter to her dad about how she doesn't feel like he (and subsequently her mother) are being fair to her about how she spends her time, and that she feels likes she's constantly being put in the middle of them. She gets back in Stoneybrook just in time to join Kristy and Mallory on the search, and is the one to find Dawn's broken boat.

Jessi has been left home alone for the weekend, in charge of her sister and her baby brother. Her parents gave Becca permission to go on the trip, so Jessi spends Saturday running around after Squirt and having a grand ol' time. Until Becca doesn't come home. After calling around, Jessi figures out that no one has come home. Realizing that something is seriously wrong, but not wanting to ruin her parents vacation (not like they could really do anything atm), she breaks down and calls her dreaded Aunt Cecelia. Of course, Aunt C arrives right away, and immediately starts blaming Jessi for everything. She determines that Jessi's parents are clearly incompetent and have given Jessi too many freedoms and liberties, so Jessi is essentially on house arrest for the weekend. Jessi can't wait for her aunt to leave, but even when her parents come back, Aunt C sticks around, mentioning how nice Stoneybrook is...

Random Thoughts

• Unlike the first three Super Specials, this was the first one I really enjoyed as child. I read this one a lot. I really like #5, #6 and #7 as well
• This is also the first one to have the illustrations in it. I really like the illustrations, although I was confused cuz Claudia totes does not look Asian in them haha
• There's a nice call back to Claudia liking skiing, which comes up periodically over the course of the series.
• Somehow, when the counselors said that Claudia and Dawn shouldn't sail alone, I don't think they meant to bring a bunch of random kids with them. Jeff going makes sense: he's Dawn's brother and has some boating experience. Becca and Haley are random, but whatevs, at least they're older. But Jamie Newton? A 4 year old?? Really??? As if his parents let him!
• Shame on Mr and Mrs Ramsey too, letting Jessi be in charge of her siblings for the entire weekend. My parents wouldn't have let me stay home alone for an entire weekend at age 11, let alone have me be in charge of an 8 year old and a toddler! I think I might have been able to stay home alone at age 12 or 13, provided that one of my immediate neighbours was around to check in on me regularly (instead of disrupting both of our routines by making one of us spend the weekend at the others' place). But they definitely still wouldn't have left me in charge of my siblings!
• I feel bad for Jessi though, because none of this is her fault. Of course if her parents say she can stay home and be in charge, she's going to do it! And they're the ones who let Becca go, with or without having left Jessi in charge. Really, Aunt Cecelia should be tearing Mr and Mrs Ramsey a new one, not Jessi.
• This book really makes me like Jeff. He's great with the kids, keeps his cool, and manages to figure out how to go fishing. It makes me excited for when Dawn's back in California. I can't remember much about Jeff, but I'm definitely liking him more during this read-through.
• I'm surprised at how much news coverage the story got. Must have been a slow weekend haha I mean, I'm not surprised that it was a big deal in Stoneybrook itself, with the staff and students of both the middle school and the elementary school getting involved. Stoneybrook doesn't seem like it's that big, so 5 of its residents (young kids at that) disappearing would be a thing. But I don't think being missing for 48 hours is cause for state-wide coverage. The group was to have come home by Saturday afternoon. By Saturday night, people are starting to worry. Sunday morning is a slow news day: how did out of town news people hear of the story?? At this point, the group had been missing for maybe 24 hours. I feel like if they hadn't been found when they were (Monday afternoon, approximately 48 hours missing), then the rest of Connecticut could have gotten in on the action. However, at just 48 hours missing and a happy ending? Seems like the state made too big of a deal. But then again, I don't really follow news, so I'm not sure what constitutes a big deal or not (short of week-long disappearances and murders haha)
• The book kinda makes it sound like the Pikes own their boats, but I'm pretty sure they don't. The Pikes don't seem loaded enough to be able to afford two boats. I think it's that Mr and Mrs Pike both have their sailing license, and are therefore able to rent boats from the community centre when they want to. Between the community centre and Sea City, I'm not surprised that the Pikes have gone on several boating day trips.
• Man, Mr McGill is total jerk. No wonder Maureen left him! This is just one of the many instances that he insists that since it's his weekend with Stacey, he gets to dictate everything that happens. Poor Stacey. Unlike most divorced kids who see their non-custodial parent regularly (like Karen and Andrew Brewer, who see their dad every other weekend), Stacey has to travel 2 hours by train to see her dad. Yes, 2 hours isn't that much, so she can see her dad more often than Dawn, but it's enough to take a toll on her. Especially when Mr McGill crams the weekend so full of stuff. At least Karen and Andrew get to spend a regular weekend with their dad: chilling at home, hanging out with friends, doing homework, family dinners, etc etc. It just happens to be in a different house. Essentially Stacey spends Monday to Friday in school, and then hops on a train, and from the moment she steps off, her dad whisks her to dinner and restaurants and shows and museums and events. The only time she's really at home is to change her clothes and sleep. She's even expected to do her homework on the train! I know personally, that would drive me crazy. And it's like that every time she goes to visit her dad. Then the one time something actually comes up, and she needs to change plans, it's a no-go.
• On another note: Stacey's subplot is probably my favourite of the book. I really like reading about Stacey and her struggles with her parents and the divorce haha
• This is my first time reading the series in order (like, consciously reading the books in order; I think I read the last 20 books or so in order when I was younger, but even then I didn't even read every single one and wasn't really making a point to), and so it's fascinating to me, because the next book in the series, Aunt Cecelia moves in with Jessi's family. I didn't realize that this happens immediately after the events in this book. 

BSC #35: Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook

Tagline: Can Stacey solve the haunted house mystery?

Unlike Claudia and Dawn, Stacey's never been much for mysteries and ghost stories. But when she and Charlotte Johanssen hear terrible noises coming out of the old Hennessey place, Stacey thinks the Baby-sitters definitely have a mystery on their hands.

Mallory claims the house once made her have a horrible nightmare. And Kristy discovers taht it was built on top of a graveyard!

Does Stoneybrook have a real, live haunted house? The Baby-sitters are going to find out - no matter how scary it may be!

Stacey's on her way home from another trip to NYC. She admits that while she has a lot of fun with her dad, it's tiring to go visit him. He crams so much stuff into a weekend, and Stacey admits that she's been more tired than usual. When she gets home, she pretty much just passes out, and spends all of Monday running late and feeling behind.

When Stacey gets to the meeting, she can't wait to tell her friends about her weekend in NYC. However, everyone's quickly distracted by neighbourhood news: some developer is tearing down one of the oldest houses in town to develop a series of condos. Stacey can't really figure out what the big deal is, but she's soon distracted by a phone call from Dr Johanssen: she and Mr Johanssen have to leave town for a week to help her father mend from hip surgery, and she was wondering if either Jessi or her would be able to house Charlotte. Jessi's family is headed to New Jersey for the weekend, so it's down to Stacey and Mrs McGill.

Stacey is thrilled. She's always wanted a little sister, and she loves Charlotte like one. She spends the rest of the week getting the guest room all set for Charlotte. Stacey expects it to be a lot of fun, Charlotte's more homesick and worried about her grandfather. Stacey decides to distract her by taking a walk past the old house that's about to be torn down. Even though it's only 4 pm, the workers have all left, leaving the place abandoned and spooky. While they're there, Stacey sees a face in one of the bedroom windows, while Charlotte hears some strange noises. When they both see a swarm of flies come out of the house, they decide to hightail it out of there.

Shortly after, while Kristy's baby-sitting for her siblings, she decides to check out Watson's old library to see if she can find any information about the house. In one of the books, she finds an old map of Stoneybrook, and all signs point to the fact that the old house was built on top of an ancient burial ground. The next day, she heads to Stacey's place with the books for her and Charlotte and Stacey to peruse.

Claudia takes the Perkins girls to the library for story hour. While the girls are busy, Claudia starts looking into the archives, trying to find out who owns the house. Eventually she comes up with a name, and through checking the phonebook, she discovers that the owner is actually still alive and living in Stoneybrook, albeit at the old folks' home. Claudia shares this news at the Club meeting, and it's decided that Stacey, Kristy, Claudia and Charlotte will go visit Mr Ronald Hennessy.

Before they go though, Stacey and Charlotte visit the house yet again. There, Stacey swears she sees a fire, but before she can put it out, it's gone. That night, she and Charlotte have horrible dreams, and the rest of the girls share their own stories of strange encounters at the house. Stacey is now convinced more than ever that the house is haunted.

Their fears are not assuaged by their visit to Mr Hennessy. Although initially surprised at so many visitors, Mr Hennessy soon opens up with stories from his lifetime of weird things happening at the house. Stacey and Kristy aren't too sure what to believe, but it does jive with what they'd heard and seen.

The next day, the house is torn down. Charlie and Sam Thomas stop to talk to some workers, and soon solve the mystery: one of the workers had stayed late the day Stacey saw the face in the window. The weird noises was from wind blowing through exposed pipes. The swarm of flies was really a swarm of hornets, their nest having been disturbed at the deconstruction. However, nothing can explain the fire Stacey thought she saw. In fact, after the house is torn down, Stacey swears she sees the ruins on fire, but no one else reacts! Determined to get to the bottom of things, Stacey quickly heads back to visit Mr Hennessy.

Sadly, it turns out that Mr Hennessy had passed away since their visit. He left her a note though, admitting to having made up all those stories. He hadn't had visitors in such a long time, and knew his life was drawing to a close. He just wanted to have a bit of fun and got so much joy and pleasure out of seeing the girls hang on to his every word. However, that still doesn't explain the fire Stacey saw. Stacey decides that it's probably best to keep that to herself, and the Club considers the mystery solved.

There really isn't a subplot in this one. Like I said, Stacey and her mom are looking after Charlotte for the week, and Charlotte's really homesick and worried about her grandpa. At least, that's all the McGills think it is at first. Eventually, Charlotte comes down with a fever and it's discovered that she has tonsillitis! She has take penicillin for a few days and miss a day of school, but soon she bounces back. She's still horribly homesick though, and while the mystery of the house helps to take her mind off of it, it also scares the shit out of her, so really she's a bit of a mess throughout the book.

Random Thoughts:

• Apparently this one was originally going to be called Stacey and the New Kids on the Block. It was advertised as that in the back of my copy of SS #3 and a few others. Does anyone know the story behind this? I know that it was originally going to be about foster kids. And then #33 was going to be this. Anyone know why they changed it?
• This is our first book to be ghostwritten by Ellen Miles
• I love that this mystery house is on Elm Street. Do they ever mention Stacey living on Elm Street again? Fuck, I wish I still had my copy of  The Complete Guide to the Baby-sitters Club haha
• There are a lot of continuity moments in this book:
• Stacey is surprised at how much Charlotte cries when her parents leave her. After all, she had spent two weeks away from them at summer camp, and had survived.
• Stacey mentions her massive crush on Scott from Sea City
• Stacey also mentions how big of a help Charlotte was on solving the mystery at her house
• Stacey mentions that even though her mom didn't work before, since the divorce happened, she wanted a job. Wanted? More like, needed, right?? I mean, I know Mr McGill is paying child support, but I should hope that whatever he is paying is not enough for Mrs McGill and Stacey to live comfortably in a house together without any additional income. Mr McGill should not be obligated to support Mrs McGill
• Stacey mentions having her diabetes being harder to control than usual, but she seems alright otherwise.
• Claudia takes the Perkin girls to the library for story hour, while she reads up on old Stoneybrook. At the story hour, one of the books they read is The Little House. Stacey makes such a big deal out of this book that I knew it had to be real. Turns out it's a bit of a critique on urban sprawl, which is essentially what is happening to the old house in Stoneybrook.
• Why would the Johanssens ask the girls if they could watch Charlotte? Why wouldn't they just call up either Mr and Mrs Ramsey, or Mrs McGill, and asked the adults first? Haha oh well
• I feel like we don't hear about Jessi's family in New Jersey nearly often enough, considering Jessi says that they were really close before they moved. I also find it curious that the next regular book in the series is the one where Aunt Cecelia comes to join the family.
• If I know anything about contractors, it's that they start at like, 7am, but then leave at like, 3pm haha

BSC #34: Mary Anne and Too Many Boys

Tagline: Two weeks of sun, fun - and boys galore!

It's Sea City Part II when Mary Anne and Stacey return there as mother's helpers for the Pike family. The girls can't wait to catch some rays, stroll along the boardwalk... and baby-sit, of course!

But neither of them expects to meet up with her boyfriend from last summer. And to further complicate things, little Vanessa Pike has a crush on the cashier at Ice-Cream Palace - only he has a crush on Mallory!

Will a summer romance come between Logan and Mary Anne? Will an older boy break Vanessa's heart? Only one thing's for certain: There are too many boys in Sea City!

Alrighty, so from the fuck out of nowhere, it's summer again. Which of course means another trip to Sea City. Even though Mallory is a sitter now, since it's technically a family vacation, the Pikes don't want Mallory working too hard, so they hire both Stacey and Mary Anne to come back.

The trip down to Sea City is fairly uneventful. Margo doesn't even throw up! The triplets (in a car with Mary Anne, Vanessa and Mrs Pike) taunt Nicky whenever the two cars pass each other. Claire briefly gets lost at a rest stop when she returns inside to get a new ice cream cone, and the rest of the family can't find her. All in all, they make it to Sea City in one piece.

After they arrive and unpack, they're able to spend some time on the beach before the lifeguards pack up. They're all set to hit the beach again the next day, only to discover that it's all cloudy and grey. The boys don't mind, so Stacey takes them while Mary Anne and Mallory take the girls to the boardwalk. They stop to get ice cream, which is where they meet the cashier mentioned in the book description. It's a pretty disastrous visit: Claire manages to dump her entire soda on herself and then the cashier, trying to impress Mallory, ends up getting whipped cream all over the place and making a mess.

The next day, they're all able to get to the beach. There, Mary Anne and Stacey run into Alex and Toby, the mother's helpers from before. Toby and Stacey are clearly all about rekindling their summer romance, while MA is all torn because of Logan. She's clearly into Alex, and he definitely is into her, but MA doesn't want to be disloyal to Logan. She figures she can see Alex as a friend, and never really have to tell either Logan nor Alex about the other.

Stacey ends up going on two dates with Toby, much to MA's displeasure. This year, the Pikes decide that MA and Stacey can have two nights off each, like last year, but that unlike last year, they have to take them separately. MA had planned on going out with Alex, only for Stacey to be a bitch and be like, "No, I'm going out tonight, you can go out tomorrow." But then the next night, Stacey's all, "We had so much fun, we're going out again!"

Eventually MA gets to go out with Alex. The first night, they have the time of their life, and MA starts to feel guilty. She thinks back to Logan, and how she really likes him, but how she barely thinks about him when Alex is around. MA greatly enjoys spending time with Alex. When they go out a second time, MA's expecting everything to be awesome, but instead things are awkward. Eventually they admit that they each have someone waiting for them back home. MA's relieved and doesn't feel so guilty anymore. Now that the ice has been broken and everything's laid out on the table, their date goes much more smoothly. They agree that they're great together at Sea City, but that's all they'll ever be. It's too much to expect that they'll keep it up during the school year.

Sadly, Toby's not as stoic or mature, and completely dumps Stacey and breaks her heart. Stacey apologizes to MA for being such a bitch, and all is forgiven. Sadly, it's time to head back to Stoneybrook, so the girls pack up and wave goodbye to Sea City.

There's not really much of a subplot in this one. Pretty much the girls are all scattered for the first few weeks of summer: Dawn's back in California, Claudia's family is going to Vermont, and then Stacey, Mary Anne and Mallory are in Sea City. That leaves Kristy and Jessi at home to do all of the baby-sitting. We're treated to a chapter of Kristy baby-sitting for the Rodowskys, where they go to the community pool. Dawn baby-sits for the children of Carol's friend, where we learn that Jeff is surprisingly good with kids. Jessi baby-sits for her siblings and Charlotte, where she learns that Squirt is perceptive and perhaps smarter than he seems.

I suppose the real subplot is Vanessa's crush on Chris, the Ice Cream Palace cashier. She decides to write him poems anonymously, leaving them out for him to find. He does find them, but ends up attributing them to Mallory, since Mallory is much closer to his age. At first Vanessa is absolutely crushed, but eventually handles it maturely. She decides to write one more poem saying good-bye, and never tells neither him nor Mallory the truth.
 
Random Thoughts:

• First time for ghostwriter Mary Lou Kennedy!
• I'm surprised we got another MA book so soon. It's only been 3 books since her last one. I think MA ends up with the most books in the entire series. This kinda makes sense, since AMM has always said that MA was kinda meant to represent her.
• lol I think this is my first time really re-reading the BSC since the Lord of the Rings movies came out. Plus usually when I read them, I skip the parts where they describe the club, the members and their families. Anyways, it just dawned on me that the Pikes named their hamster Frodo haha
• Even though I always think they sound gross, whenever they mention chocolate sodas in the BSC-verse, it makes me want one. Or at least some sort of milkshake. Or Starbucks frappaccino haha
• I know I've said it before, but my god, Jackie Rodowsky pisses me off
• Ah Mary Anne.... I've been there before too with the boys haha the fact that you'll never see them again outside of this two week period always makes things seem grey haha
• I love how judgemental and bitchy Mary Anne can be. It's funny, because she's always described as super sweet and sensitive, but it's always the quiet ones you need to look out for. She snarks about all the boys in Stacey's life, referencing both Scott and Pierre. MA notes that while Toby might be at the top of Stacey's list... for now... who knows how long he'll stay?
• We see Carol again. Even though she had no idea what Mr Schafer was planning, it still seems super flaky to me that Carol would just show up to his place with two random babies. If the person I was dating randomly showed up with little kids and was like, "Surprise! We're baby-sitting!", I would be seriously pissed.
• In this one, we learn that Mallory talks in her sleep. I have a friend who talks in their sleep vividly, like Mallory. He'll sit up, say something clear as day, and then fall back down, roll over, and continue sleeping. He'll have no recollection of anything the next day. It's creepy as fuck. I hope this gets mentioned again, but I have a feeling that it won't.
• I really liked Vanessa in this book. She's kinda annoying in a lot of the books, but mostly because we only ever see her from a little sister perspective, and they always focus on her incessant rhyming. Here, she's super mature and handles things well. I'd be interested in seeing what she was like when she was older.
• I also really like the poem she writes MA, thanking MA for her help with delivering the letters:

Love can hurt, love can sting,

A broken heart can never sing.

Boys will come, boys will go

but a friend is forever, this I know

A friend is rare and hard to find

everyone knows it's true

You helped me through a very bad time

I'll always be grateful to you.

• My favourite line is "a broken heart can never sing", even though I know that that's not true at all. I just really effing like how it sounds xD haha

BSC #33: Claudia and the Great Search

Tagline: Claudia thinks she's adopted, and no one understands!

It's no secret that Claudia and her sister are different. For one, they don't look alike at all. Claudia loves her wild clothes and funky jewelry, and Janine dresses... well, kind of nerdy. Janine is a genius, and Claudia brings home C's - when she's lucky.

Claudia opens the family photo album to see what she and her sister looked like when they were little. But there are hardly anybaby-pictures of Claudia! And when she goes searching for her birth certificate and a birth announcement in the newspaper, Claudia can't find them.

Is Claudia Kishi who she thinks she is? Or has she been... adopted!

The book starts off with Claudia reiterating how much she hates school. Luckily for her, class is cut short, because she has to leave for a family event. Unluckily for Claudia, that event is an awards ceremony for Janine. There, Claudia is reminded of how academically superior Janine is to her, and it not only makes Claudia jealous, but it also makes her upset. Even when Claudia tries to do something nice for dinner, her parents turn it back around to Janine. Upset and unable to concentrate, Claudia heads to her family's den to look at old photos. Claudia is hoping to find proof that her and Janine were more alike as children than what they are now.

Unfortunately for Claudia, she doesn't find what she's looking for. While there are albums and albums of pictures of Janine as a newborn and a baby, there are hardly any of Claudia. Claudia's upset, but doesn't think too much of it. Going into her parents' bedroom, Claudia hopes to find more pictures there. Instead, Claudia finds a lockbox. This convinces Claudia that she must be adopted and that's why there aren't more pictures of her, and that the lockbox contains the details of her adoption.

Claudia is unsure of what to do or how to proceed. She's convinced that she can't go to her parents because they wouldn't tell her the truth. Claudia tells Stacey, who isn't entirely convinced, but is very supportive of her friend. Claudia starts digging around, and the more she finds, the more she's convinced that she's adopted: she can't find her birth announcement and she finds out that Dr Dellenkamp wasn't her original pediatrician. Claudia decides to call all the families who had baby girls born at the same time as Claudia, and sees if any of them could be her parents. All their daughters are good and accounted for, except for one. Claudia is convinced she must be that girl.

Of course, Stacey believes her, but also doesn't think that just because Claudia has ruled out the other girls, it means she's necessarily this girl. Stacey finally convinces Claudia to talk to her parents and ask for the truth. Which Claudia does. Claudia's parents explain that sadly, they just don't have many pictures of Claudia because most parents don't have too many pictures of their second child. They show her her birth announcement (in a newspaper that went out of business several years before) and reassure Claudia that she is indeed their daughter. Mrs Kishi points out that Claudia is very similar to Peaches, whom Mrs Kishi is very different from. Mr Kishi also points out that Claudia greatly resembles Mimi when she was younger, and they even show Claudia pictures to prove it. Claudia goes to bed feeling better, and even ends up spending some quality time with Janine later.

The subplot in this one is Emily Michelle, Kristy's younger adoptive sister. Emily is far behind developmentally than she should be. The doctors and Watson and Kristy's mom figure it's due to her hectic past: her mother dying, then being raised in an orphanage for awhile, then being sent halfway around the world to learn a new language and culture she had never seen before. But Kristy's worried. Watson and Kristy's mom agree that it wouldn't hurt for Emily to get some tutoring and get used to other people. After a sitting job where Claudia starts teaching Emily about shapes and colours, they decide to hire Claudia as a tutor. There Emily makes great strides and improvements, so much so that she eventually passes her preschool interview, much to everyone's delight.

Random Thoughts:

• In the back of my SS #3, the coming soon lists this book as Claudia and the Mystery of Stoneybrook. Fans of the series know that this is eventually the title of Stacey's next book, #35. I have no idea why this changed. Does anyone?? I know why the title of #35 got changed, but I'm wondering why this one was affected, and why the whole shuffle around.
• This is definitely not one of my favourites. I suppose it's realistic that a 13 year old might think she's adopted and be too afraid to ask, but I dunno. I found the main plot really boring. I really enjoyed all the stuff with Claudia and Emily though.
• It's interesting, but at the beginning of this one, Claudia speculates the Peaches and Russ (her aunt and uncle) weren't able to have kids, because they hadn't done so as of yet.
• 1) That's totes presumptuous of her. Maybe they just didn't want to! Although, I suppose back in the 80s... plus as a 13 year old... that wasn't a common thought
• 2) Although I haven't read them, I know that eventually Peaches does get pregnant, but ends up miscarrying in a book. She later gets pregnant again, and has a healthy baby girl.
• Emily Michelle is a lot older than I thought she was. For some reason, I thought she was closer to age 1. The fact that's actually already 2 years old, almost 3, surprises me.
• We learn that Emily Michelle's mother died, and that Emily was stuck in an orphanage for awhile. They never mention her father. Now, maybe he was never around and it's a really dark and tragic story (rape??), but it does lend a bit of credence to the popular fan theory that Watson had a one-night stand (hired a prostitute? vacation lover?) while on a business trip, and is in fact Emily's legitimate birth father.
• I feel so bad for Janine. Again, she's definitely the unsung hero. She's nervous about receiving such a prestigious award, so she seeks outfit advice from Claudia. Claudia just dismisses her, figuring that all of Janine's clothes are boring and the same, so it didn't matter. Janine just gets confused and eventually leaves Claudia alone.
• Yet again, more foreshadowing on Stacey's health. Yay!
• Dr Dellenkamp is definitely like, everyone's pediatrician haha
• I'm sad that nothing seems to come from Claudia helping Emily. It would have been nice to have seen her parents acknowledge it.
• I find it weird that the adoption agency that Claudia looks into apparently only specializes in Vietnamese babies. Is there really such a market for that? I mean, I can understand specializing in babies from Asian, or all babies from Europe, or cross-continental babies or what not... but it seems weird to me to specialize in babies from one specific country. Then again, maybe not haha