It isn't easy being a boy baby-sitter.
Like lots of guys, Logan enjoys baby-sitting. And being an associate memeber of the BSC means he can sit when he wants to, and still have time for Mary Anne and sports.
But now the Baby-sitters really need Logan. Logan wouldn't mind taking on the extra baby-sitting jobs, but he's busy trying out for the track team. And the jocks are giving Logan a hard time about hanging out with girls and babies.
Logan doesn't want to let the Baby-sitters down. But he's tired of being picked on!
So we have our first Readers Request! This one is narrated by Logan, where we learn it's not easy to be a boy baby-sitter.
Logan's at football practice. The guys are being dude-broey, but it's not too bad. Logan reflects that he's not like other guys, in that while he enjoys sports, he also enjoys baby-sitting. He likes kids, and he's used to taking care of his younger brother and sister. He mentions that he's an associate member of the Baby-Sitters Club, which means that he gets to have jobs that work around his sports schedule and doesn't interfere with his life. The guys like to rib him gently about it, but for the most part it's not too big of an issue
All that changes though when Logan gets home from practice. He's about to help his parents prepare BBQ for dinner when he's summoned by Kristy to an emergency meeting of the BSC. Rushing over to Claudia's, he discovers everyone looking very tense and Mary Anne in tears. Turns out that Dawn just received bad news: her brother has a ruptured appendix and will have to have emergency surgery, followed by an extended stay in the hospital. She and her mother are rushing to California right away to be with him. The reason why the Club looks so tense is because business has been better than usual, and with Dawn gone, they'll be even more strapped and short-staffed than usual. The Club then decides to invite Logan to take Dawn's spot
Further complicating matters, Logan's got track tryouts soon. Not only is he on the football team with all their practices, but Logan has track to contend with. Between it all, Logan's pretty spread thin. But Logan's determined not to let anyone down!
Immediately though, he ends up with a job baby-sitting for the Hobarts, which results in him missing his first football practice ever. He's pretty salty about it, but Logan ends up bonding with the Hobart boys, who enjoy having a male baby-sitter. They're playing in the Hobarts' yard when a bunch of boys from school (Clarence King, Pete Black, and then two rand-o's we've never heard of: Irv Hirsch and Jim Poirier) see him. They tease him and make him feel really stupid, which of course upsets Logan. He tries to brush it off though, and continues playing with the Hobarts.
He ends up taking on more jobs with the Hobarts, and ends up having to miss his second football practice in a row. This also cuts into his time practicing for track tryouts. At a Club meeting, they call Dawn, who tells them that she'll be in California longer than expected. This means that Logan will have to continue doing more jobs. More than that, he'll have to go to the Health Fair (more on that later) with the Hobarts and help represent the Club. Logan worries about how public the event will be, and thinks of all the people from school he might run into.
On the weekend, Logan decides to go to school and get some track practice in. Mary Anne is baby-sitting for Jenny and Andrea Prezzioso, and decides to go visit him to cheer him on. Logan's practicing with a bunch of guys (different ones from the footballers, but still rand-o's), and they immediately spot MA and the girls and start teasing him about it. Logan, already feeling kind of embarrassed and flustered due to his lack of exercise recently, smiles at them, but quickly tries to get back into focus. The guys decide to practice mile paces, and Jenny decides she wants to join. While the guys are running, she cuts across the track, and they manage to avoid her, but are all thoroughly annoyed. Logan feels bad, because he knows it wasn't MA's fault, but at the same time, he can't wait to get rid of the girls, so they all leave. The boys continue to tease Logan though.
Later that week, while baby-sitting for the Hobarts again, Logan tells them about trying out for track, and the boys immediately want to try it too. Knowing that the track should be empty (no football practice that day, so no one to avoid!), Logan takes them to SMS to play. The boys love it, and Logan admits that he's having fun, however it all comes to a crashing halt when some guys show up to practice on the track. They take their teasing up a notch, and start calling Logan "Lois". Logan takes the Hobarts home, and they all commiserate over how stupid people are and how teasing people is bad.
Logan finally gets his ass to a football practice, but it's pretty brutal. The guys all tease him (except for Austin Bentley, who unlike Pete Black, is maintaining his good guy persona this time around) and it's evident that Logan is very out of practice. The coach tells Logan that it'll be okay, just show up to Saturday's practice. Unfortunately, Saturday is when the Health Fair is. Logan doesn't tell his coach this though, and suffers through the rest of practice. Mary Anne shows up to walk Logan home, and he just stews and broods. His family is worried, but all Logan can think is how his double-life isn't working.
Things eventually come to a head at the Health Fair. Logan brings the Hobarts there, and quickly runs into the guys who've been teasing them. They see him with the Hobarts and at the Club booth and give him a hard time. Logan is fed-up and frustrated, but tries not to let it get to him and not to let it ruin the Hobarts' fun. Eventually Johnny asks to go to the bathroom, and King and the guys overhear, telling Logan he better take him to the potty. This upsets Johnny, and Logan, not wanting to get in the way of Johnny's independence, agrees to let Matthew and Johnny go to the bathroom without him. Matthew ends up getting distracted by the candy vending machine though, and Johnny ends up going through a different exit and getting all turned around. Logan and the Club frantically search for Johnny, before finding him back at the Club booth. King found him wandering, recognized him, and in a moment of decency, returned him to the Club.
Despite the girls all reassuring Logan that everything was fine, Logan realizes that he can't keep doing all these responsibilities. He quits the Club and re-dedicates himself to football and track. After a week or so, things start to settle with him and the guys, with only Irv and King continually razzing him. However, as happy as Logan is with sports, he's sad that things ended so badly with the Club. He misses baby-sitting and being able to sit with the girls every now and then.
Finally, the day of the track try-outs come. Irv and King are still harassing Logan, but he decides to just kill them with kindness. This catches them off-guard. As Logan prepares for his first event, he finds out that the Club, the Hobarts, and his siblings have come to cheer him on. At first, he gets given a hard time, but Logan doesn't even care. Bolstered by their support, Logan has a great try-out and makes the track team. Afterwards, some of the guys congratulate Logan, and even ask him about the girls, eying them and checking them out.
As things start to settle, Logan realizes how much he really misses the Club. He realizes that he needs balance in his life, and that includes baby-sitting. He goes to a meeting to apologize to the girls, asking if he could be an associate member again. They're happy to have him back, and as they leave, he and Mary Anne run into the Hobarts. Logan goes over to play with them, and of course King and the football guys show up. However, this time they don't tease him. Everything is back the way it should be in Logan's life.
There isn't really much of a subplot in this one. I think if this had been any other book, the subplot probably would have been the Health Fair and trying to get the charges involved and excited and all sorts of shenanigans haha as it is, it's just kind of mentioned in passing, and then it's where Logan takes the Hobarts and has his big showdown with Clarence King. The girls decide to have a booth at the Health Fair, and Logan suggests that it be about safe baby-sitting tips and tricks.
Random Thoughts:
- Sorry I've been gone for so long! I started a new full-time job last year, and then got completely swamped! I'm hoping I can get back to updating this blog on a regular basis (although it might not be super frequent). I actually started this recap last year, but then never got around to finishing it until now. I had to re-read the book!
- I have never read this one either! In fact, I have never even seen this one in person, until I acquired it! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!
- Okay, this wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it'd be. In fact, I think I almost would have enjoyed this book more if it had been from a different sitter's perspective. Particularly Dawn haha
- I definitely would have liked to know more about Dawn's story in this one!
- Logan describes Claudia as sexy, which is weird. I don't think we've ever seen the word "sexy" in these books???
- I don't see why the dudes heckle Logan so much. I mean, sure, baby-sitting is traditionally mostly girls, but if I were Logan, I'd have been like, "Whatevs, I have a steady girlfriend and I have money to take her out!"
- I feel like it was incredibly out of character for Pete Black to be teasing Logan. Pete's pretty friendly with the girls!
This book sounds interesting, but I'm still not sure if I would pick it out and read it. I'm just not a huge Logan fan. Logan describing Claudia as sexy is really weird (like you said) and just very very awkward. Seeing this book from Dawn's perspective would've been ten times better. It would've made a good Dawn book. I wanted more insight with Jeff's exploding appendix, which never gets mentioned after this book. You also just mentioned it but Pete is always friendly with the girls, I mean he's never striked me as the type to tease. I hope you post soon!
ReplyDelete