BSC #56: Keep Out, Claudia!

Tagline: Who wouldn't want Claudia for a baby-sitter?

The Baby-sitters love getting new clients. So when the Lowells contact the club everyone is thrilled. For Mary Anne, sitting for the Lowells turns out to be a snap. The kids are adorable and obedient. But when Claudia meets the family, Mrs. Lowell will barely look her in the eye. And the kids are downright rude!

The next time Mrs. Lowell calls the BSC, she requests another sitter - anyone but Claudia. Claudia has no idea what she did wrong. But the BSC won't rest until they find out!

The book starts off with Claudia sitting for the Rodowskys. Shea is practicing for a piano recital, and Jackie and Archie both express a desire to perform too. This gets Claudia thinking about how maybe the Club should put together some sort of recital or show for their charges to be in. She brings it up at their meeting that evening, and the girls all agree that it's a great idea. Since none of them are particularly musically inclined, they figure they can just organize the children, and then let the children learn for themselves (since many of their charges DO know music). So there's our subplot right there!

Shortly after introducing this idea to the Club, the main plot starts: the girls receive a phone call from a new client, Mrs Lowell, who has seen their flyers and would like to hire a baby-sitter for her 3 children. Mary Anne ends up with the job.

Right away, we follow her to the job, where she meets Caitlin (8), Mackie (6) and Celeste (3). Mrs Lowell briefly gives Mary Anne a once-over, which unsettles her, before smiling and welcoming her into her home. Upon leaving, MA is inundated with questions from the children. They want to know all about her and her family. MA has to explain what step-siblings are, and how Dawn is another baby-sitter. This leads the kids to ask about the other sitters, and make awkward talk about religion (speculating that Mallory must be Catholic because of her family size, and wanting to know what religion MA is). She eventually gets them to play outside, and then finally settled in front of the TV. The kids can't find a show they like, but eventually come across something with two Asian kids. Caitlin and Mackie laugh about their eyes, but MA just remains oblivious and innocent. Soon after, Mrs Lowell returns, and MA goes to their Club meeting, forgetting all weirdness.

Next, we see Claudia baby-sitting for the Newtons. Jamie is bored, so Claudia calls up Dawn, who's sitting for the Perkins girls. The next thing Claudia knows, Stacey and Charlotte, and Mary Anne and the Hobarts have come over too. This gets Claudia to thinking, and the girls introduce their band idea to the group. The kids get excited, and soon invite more people over. Claudia is thrilled that her idea is taking off, as Mary Anne writes down the details and helps everyone get organized. Claudia decides that since she's sitting for the Lowells next, she'll invite them to the group too.

So it's finally Claudia's turn to baby-sit for the Lowells. Thanks to the cover synopsis, we know that it doesn't exactly go well. Mrs Lowell is all vague and curt with Claudia, while the kids keep trying to eat more food and won't obey her. Claudia thinks maybe it has to do with her wild outfit, since the kids and Mary Anne were dressed so neatly. Speaking of MA, she saves the day by calling Claudia up and inviting them all to the Hobarts for band practice. Things go well, until it's time to leave. Back at their place, the kids give Claudia a hard time and sneak food again. All in all, Claudia does not have a good time.

However, Claudia doesn't think much of it until their next Club meeting. Mrs Lowell calls, and asks to speak directly to Kristy. It's then that Kristy learns that Mrs Lowell wants any baby-sitter except for Claudia! Kristy then demands to know exactly what happened from Claudia. Claudia admits that it wasn't her best job, but that it wasn't a disaster. Everyone's confused, but eventually decide that maybe it was just a combination of small things, such as Claudia's outfit, her arriving too early (3:19 instead of 3:30), her having taken the kids out without permission. Jessi, who ends up with the job, decides to be on her best and most model behaviour, with the hopes of finding out more.

In preparation for her job, Jessi decides to update her Kid-Kit. She thinks specifically of what age and gender each of the Lowell children are, and adds things that she thinks will appeal to them: more books for Celeste, art supplies and matchbox cars for Mackie, and an office kit for Caitlin. Jessi then makes sure to show up exactly 5 minutes early. Upon opening the door, Mrs Lowell is immediately shocked. After staring at Jessi for several seconds, she finally says that she doesn't need a baby-sitter and that she forgot to say something and closes the door right on Jessi's face! No apology! Jessi goes to Mallory's house all upset, and later to the Club meeting. The girls can't figure out what went wrong. Mary Anne has another sitting job with the Lowells coming up, so she resolves to get to the bottom of things.

But before that, we're treated to a chapter with Claudia baby-sitting for the Rodowskys. Jackie decides that they need a name for their band. After some brainstorming, they come up with "All the Children", which would be short for "All the Children of the World", since everyone came from such multicultural background. This serves as really really awkward foreshadowing for what we eventually find out is Mrs Lowell's problem, but in the meantime, it's just silly. They rehearse songs from Annie, before going to rehearsal. They tell the other kids their great band name idea, and of course everyone loves it!

Finally, we get back to the Lowell plot, only instead of Mary Anne sitting, it's Kristy. Kristy decides to switch because as President, she thinks it's her responsibility to find out what's wrong. Mrs Lowell agrees to the switch, although Kristy can sense that there's something more. However, when Kristy shows up (exactly 5 minutes early, wearing a skirt and blouse), Mrs Lowell is warm and welcoming. This gives Kristy the confidence to ask Mrs Lowell how she's finding the Club's service. Mrs Lowell says she's happy, and before Kristy can grill her further, the children arrive home. Upon Mrs Lowell's absence, Kristy takes it upon herself to question the kids about their sitters. They love Mary Anne, but refer to Claudia as the "funny looking one". Thinking that they mean Claudia's eclectic fashion sense, Kristy moves on, referencing how they never even got to see Jessi. Caitlin insists that Kristy describe her, and when Kristy mentions Jessi's skin colour, she's convinced that she hears Caitlin snort, "I guess that's why mommy didn't like her."

Kristy, bothered by this, goes home and eventually talks to her mom, Nannie and Watson. She tells them her suspicions, that she thinks that the Lowells are racist, and hopes that they'll tell her that she's being over-dramatic. Sadly, they tell her that it could be true, that racism is still a prevalent problem. It makes Kristy sad, and she decides to go to the Club with her thoughts.

Immediately, Claudia is hurt and angry. She doesn't understand why Jessi isn't more upset (at least Claudia got to go inside the house!), but Jessi just explains that she's used to it. But Claudia's never experienced racism before, and feels all sorts of thoughts and emotions she's never felt before. She feels ashamed, and defensive, and worries that her friends feel sorry for her. Jessi and Mary Anne explain that prejudice isn't logical, and that it's the Lowells that Claudia should be angry at. Claudia knows this, but still can't help but lash out at her friends, since they're the ones present. Dawn points out that the Lowells probably don't like a whole lot of people for various reasons, which doesn't exactly make Claudia feel better, and they get into a discussion about how there is still lots of racism and hate groups around like the KKK. In the midst of this history lesson, Mrs Lowell calls, wanting to request the "blonde haired, blue-eyed sitter". After some deliberation, the girls decide that none of them want to sit for the Lowells anymore. Kristy eventually comes to the conclusion that none of them would fit Mrs Lowell's narrow-minded bigoted standards because of their divorced families and non-traditional ways. The girls end their meeting on a good note, but Claudia still feels unsettled by everything.

At the next band rehearsal, Jackie manages to convince everyone to change their entire repertoire to Fiddler on the Roof. Apparently there was a production in Stamford, so most of the kids had already seen it. Everyone's excited and get right down to rehearsal. That's when Mrs Lowell shows up with her kids. At first, she simply remarks on how "assorted" the rest of the children are, but upon hearing the choice of program, she grabs her kids and whisks them away. The girls momentarily panic, but realize that this is on Mrs Lowell, and that none of the other parents will object to their musical choices.

Claudia's still bummed about Mrs Lowell though! Eventually, the girls come to the conclusion that there's nothing to be done with Mrs Lowell. It's not their place and they're just kids themselves. Mrs Lowell will keep on hating, and all they can really do is set a good example for the kids they sit for.

The rest of the novel is dedicated to the band subplot, which also helps Claudia to escape her funk. The children decide that their band needs matching t-shirts, so they decide to set up donation baskets the day of their concert. As the concert grows nearer, Claudia starts panicking and worrying, but the day goes off without a hitch. At the end of the concert, Claudia and the girls notice Caitlin and Mackie Lowell seemed to have snuck out to watch them. It strikes Claudia that perhaps they were just repeating things they'd learned, and that maybe one day, they'd outgrow their racism. The rest of the girls hope so too.


Random Thoughts:

• This was definitely one of my favourite ones as a child. Like I've said before, I always greatly enjoyed the books where the girls had to deal with more serious issues in a realistic manner. I've read this one a million times, but not recently.
• I know I definitely have not read this in the past 15 years at least, because right away on the first page, Jackie Rodowsky makes a mistake that I never understood until now. Shea is practicing piano, and Claudia asks Jackie what he's playing, and Jackie replies, "A doggie-o". Now, after 15 years of studying music, I know that Jackie most likely meant "Adagio"!
• It just occurred to me that none of the girls take music lessons! Out of 7 girls, not a single one of them did piano?? Even for a couple of years? That seems crazy to me. More of my friends took piano as children than who didn't.
• I like the idea of this book being Claudia's book, since she apparently hasn't faced much racism or discrimination, but we barely hear from her! There's a lot of chapters dedicated to other sitters' encounters with the Lowells, and then the stupid subplot of the band.
• I find it weird that American-born Asians don't seem to be discriminated against nearly as often as American-born Africans or East Indians. I mean, maybe that's not true, but based on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence from my friends, that seems to be the case. None of us have accents, but most of us are second-generation immigrants, with our parents all having heavy accents. But the darker the skin, the more discrimination and racism my friends have felt. The worst the Asians have gotten is being stereotyped as geniuses. Oddly enough, one of my best friends is a first-generation immigrant (she only became an official citizen a couple of years ago!), but despite her prominent accent, she's never faced any hardships or racism or discrimination. Then again: she's white, blonde, blue-eyed and Australian. The worse she gets is being asked if she's related to Thor.
• Even as a child, I remember thinking that "All the Children" was the worst name for a band ever. It sounded to me like a soap opera or a charity cash-grab.
• I really liked the conversations Kristy and Claudia have with their families. I wished we got more of those in the series!
• I especially loved Janine's little bit about the American Japanese concentration camps. I can't believe I don't remember this being mentioned here! I remember learning about them in history, but it wasn't until I was in university, and super into George Takei that they really made an impact on me and were permanently etched into my brain.
• I've always wondered about Mr. Lowell, since we never see him in this book. Is he just as bad as Mrs Lowell? Worse??
• I can't believe that the kids know and like Fiddler on the Roof! I first heard of it by reading this book as a child, and to this day, I still haven't seen a production of it. The only songs I know off the top of my head are "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Sunrise, Sunset". I still hear the kids singing "Tradition" the same way as I imagined it as a child!
• At one point, Claudia is sitting for Kristy's family, and among the activities the older crew are doing, it's mentioned that Sam was at a dress rehearsal for the drama club's latest play, which he helped to write. Uh, what?? What the fuck? Where's my story about this?? Why don't we know more about Sam??
• I feel like they've always depicted Charlie as the responsible, academic one, and Sam, while still doing well in school, as more of the goofball and extrovert. I know they mention that Sam is particularly good in math, to better pair him with Stacey, but other than that, I never pictured him as particularly academic. A solid A-/B+ kid. Good grades, but nothing spectacular. But now we find out that he writes and does drama club???

BSC Super Special #8: Baby-Sitters at Shadow Lake

Tagline: Campfires, ghost stories - summer vacations are the best!

Wish you were here!

Kristy's rich stepfather has invited all the Baby-sitters to his family's cabin on beautiful Shadow Lake.

What a way to start off the summer! At the lake there's water skiing, cute guys, plenty of kids to baby-sit for - and even a mystery.

The Baby-sitters don't know where to begin. The just hope the fun never ends!

Super Special Gimmick: Kristy wants to make sure that Watson decides to keep the cabin, so she keeps a diary (and of course, makes her friends join in) to show him how awesome the place is and all the great times they can have as a family.

Watson gets a letter from his aunt, saying that she and her husband are re-configuring their wills. Despite not having seen Watson in a bajillion years, they remember that he used to always have fun at their cabin on Shadow Lake every summer as a child, and want to know if he wants the cabin when they die. They invite Watson to come up to the cabin this summer with his family, so he can check out the property and make a better informed decision, and so they can have a chance to reconnect with him and meet his new extended family. Watson takes them up on their offer, and even extends the invitation to the friends of his kids. Sam and Charlie decide they're too old to invite friends over (they probably just didn't want to subject their friends to Kristy and all the little kids for 2 whole weeks!), and will instead "scope out the chicks at the lake" and make friends there, Andrew's and Emily Michelle's friends are all too young to be away from parents for 2 whole weeks, leaving Kristy to invite the whole Club, Karen to invite her two best friends, (Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis) and David Michael to invite two of his friends (Linny Papadakis and Nicky Pike).

Kristy discovers a small motor boat under their dock and learns how to operate it. She gets really excited and decides to invite all her friends to come with her on an overnight trip to the tiny island on the other shore. Thanks to Dawn (more below), the girls are sufficiently freaked out, but ultimately decide to go. On the island, the girls girls make s'mores and tell stories and gossip and have a great time, however, in the middle of the night, they all get freaked out and try to convince Kristy to take them home. Kristy tells them how silly they're being, and they all stay until morning.

Dawn being obsessed with mysteries and ghost stories, of course decides that she must figure out the secret behind Shadow Lake's name. She soon finds out that not only is its name a mystery, but there's also a monster à la Loch Ness Monster. Dawn starts interviewing and questioning people at Shadow Lake, and she discovers that on the small island just off the shore, there used to be a family that lived there. They were very isolated, and never left the island, sending all their servants out instead. On the night when one of the townsfolk was going to marry the eldest daughter, the whole family disappeared without a trace! A year later, family home burned down! No one knows what really happened to them. On the island, the girls find the old burned down foundation of the house, where Dawn finds a locket with the daughter's initials in it. She takes the locket and returns it to the girl's fiancé. Dawn feels better, knowing that she helped put the girl's spirit at rest, but still wants to return to solve the mystery of Shadow Lake.

Claudia finds out about this boat show that's taking place on the shore. She then decides that she wants to submit Kristy's boat as an entry. After thinking about it all week, Claudia finally comes up with the idea of decorating the boat and turning it into the Lake Monster. Because she's working with limited time and resources, the results aren't great, but Claudia is fairly proud. The day of the boat show arrives though, and Claudia realizes that their little motor boat is up against all these yachts and houseboats and essentially REAL boats. She wants to back out, but goes through with it anyways. Of course, she wins a prize. They give out 1st place to 3rd place, and then Claudia wins a ribbon for "Most Spirit".


Jessi meets a cute African-American boy (because of course) and feels guilty because of her "relationship"with Quint Walker. She spends the first half of the book ogling him from a distance, before he finally notices her. Turns out his name is Daniel, and this is his family's first time up at the Lake. He sees her practicing ballet at the lodge's studio barre, and asks for lessons. It's here that Jessi discovers that as cute as he is, as nice as flirting with him is, they have nothing in common. Daniel loves sports and hates reading. While Jessi doesn't hate sports, she definitely doesn't have too much experience with them, and of course, she loves reading. However, she does enjoy the flirting and companionship, so she agrees to go with him to the dance at the end of their vacation. Jessi is then worried about how she's going to let Daniel down at the end of the two weeks, and is really awkward and nervous at the dance. Daniel surprises her, saying that he just wants to be friends and that he has a girlfriend back home! So Jessi feels better and immediately writes to Quint upon returning home.

Stacey spends the whole time being teased and pestered by Sam Thomas. He keeps complimenting her in an exaggerated British accent (calling her "dahhhhling!!") and poking at her perm. At first, she totally doesn't get it and is just annoyed with him, but eventually he tells her how he feels. Stacey's all confused, because while she did have a huge crush on him in grade 7, she hasn't really thought much about him lately, plus he's just been super annoying. Sam accepts that, and leaves her alone. At the big dance though, he asks her to dance, and she says yes. She realizes that she really does like him, and they end the vacation off together, holding hands and being really cute.

Sam gets a single chapter, where we see his side of things. He's all insecure about being 15 with no facial hair, looking up to Charlie and what not. He doesn't understand why Stacey is so annoyed with him, despite him paying so much attention to her. Charlie finally tells him to cut the crap and just TELL STACEY EXACTLY HOW HE FEELS. Which he does. Sam's disappointed to see that Stacey once liked him, but currently isn't on the same page. Of course, we see that eventually everything works out.

Mallory is devoured by mosquitoes and other bugs, and is just generally miserable the whole time. She starts covering up TO THE EXTREME, wearing all sorts of long-sleeved loose clothing, draping towels around her, big jungle hats, mosquito netting, and practically bathing in bug spray. It really annoys the other girls, while she's all hurt that they don't understand and that no one wants to hang around her like that. She doesn't have much of a plot other than just being miserable outside.

Mary Anne spends most of the time worrying and freaking people out about stuff (or just annoying them), much like she did in New York. She doesn't really get much of a plot in this book. She mostly baby-sits and just kinda hangs out in other people's plots.

Karen and her friends find a small shack behind their cabin and a garden. They decide they're going to clean it up themselves and make it their secret hiding place. The problem is, in keeping secret, they don't tell anyone where they're going (not even like, "Hey, we're gonna explore the woods behind the cabin!") so people keep panicking over losing them (well, mostly Mary Anne; everyone else is just annoyed but figures they couldn't have gone far). Mary Anne eventually finds them, and convinces them to just keep the place a secret from David Michael and his friends, but to tell all the adults about it. Eventually the boys do discover it, but the girls claim it as their own, and challenge the boys to make a fort that's better than theirs. Loser has to do all the chores. The girls obviously win, but decide to be nice and make the boys only shine their shoes for the big dance.

David Michael is frustrated because Nicky and Linny aren't getting along, and he doesn't understand why not. Obviously it's because they don't know each other and are competing for his affections, but he can't see that. Anyways, they eventually discover the girls' playhouse and decide to build their own fort. It goes disastrously, since the boys can't work together and agree on anything, plus they have zero architectural skills. What eventually brings them together is when Shannon (the dog, because yes, the family brought the dog AND the cat with them) disappears, and they all have to rally to find her. She's missing for all of like, 30 seconds, before they call out enough and find her again, but the experience bring Nicky and Linny together.

Random Thoughts:

• I am so super excited to read this one! I actually have never read it!! And I've managed to avoid reading most of the recaps and reviews of it over the years, so I really have no idea what it's about. All I know is that Sam and Stacey's romance really ramps up here. I'm excited to read this one because:
1. I'm obsessed with Sam and Stacey
2. My all-time favourite BSC book, Super Mystery #2 Baby-sitters Beware!, takes place here
3. I think a few others take place here? I seem to remember a lot about it, despite not having read this particular one?
• Yes! This one has the illustrations in it!! I guess starting from SS #7, they start having the illustrations that I always thought was super synonymous with the Super Specials. I always read #7, #10 and #11 the most, and have very strong memories of #9, so that's probably why I associate the illustrations so much with the books.
• I like how Watson's aunt and uncle apparently have not seen him in a long, long time, almost 20 years, and the last summer he spent at the cabin was at age 12, but they are like, "OMG LET'S GIVE WATSON THE CABIN."
• They haven't even met Karen and Andrew! Nor Elizabeth and the Thomas clan. Were they not invited to the wedding? Couldn't come? Didn't care??
• Damn. I do not remember any particular descriptions of the cabin. I knew it was huge, because they always take Watson's entire family, plus the Club, but apparently it can house 25 people?? And two of the rooms are dorm-style, with wall-to-wall bunk beds!
• Actually, now I'm just imagining the place having only 4 bedrooms: a master bedroom (2 people), a boys' dorm room (5 sets of bunk beds/10 boys), a girls' dorm room (5 sets of bunk beds/10 girls) and then two extra rooms that hold either 1 or 2 people. You could have a mini-camp there!
• Oooooh. Jessi included a floor plan. I was right! Only 4 bedrooms!
• Ooooooh. I think this is the first time they actually describe Mallory as having reddish hair!!
• This time around, it makes sense as to why they would give Karen and David Michael chapters: they're part of the family, and of course Kristy would want them to bolster her argument for keeping Shadow Lake. Charlie and Sam are too old to do a diary project (if they like the cabin, they're just going to beg and plead with Watson in person) and Andrew and Emily Michelle are too young. I may not like it when chapters are given to random people (especially Karen), but at least they didn't give chapters to like, Nicky or Nancy or something really random! haha
• Yep. AMM definitely hates Mallory haha
• There's some continuity, mentioning that Claudia sometimes tutors Emily Michelle! Yay!!
• I can't believe that Watson and Elizabeth would let Kristy take the boat out on her own. I love how their rule is that only people 12 and older can drive the boat, when there's no one there who is 12. Anyways, I'm not opposed to Kristy taking lessons to learn how to drive the boat. I'm just shocked that they'd immediately agree to let her take it out on her own and pretty much have free reign. You'd think it'd be like, "Sam and Charlie can have free reign, you can only drive if you stay by our dock for practicing purposes, or if you have someone older with you. Next time we come, we can see about you having free reign."
• Then again, considering the parents in these books, maybe I'm not that surprised haha
• Kristy spends an entire paragraph digressing about bikinis, saying that she'll never wear one, and that no one over thirty should wear one, but her mom looks pretty good all things considered, and how Kristy doesn't see the point in wearing a bikini when you don't have a chest to go with it, so at her rate, she probably won't wear one until she's 28 haha It's all very random and "out-of-character", except that AMM wrote this one, so it's perfectly in her character.
• Also: Kristy is convinced by the girls to get dressed up for dinner, so she borrows a dress from Mary Anne. I love AMM!Kristy.
• I can't believe that Watson and Elizabeth would allow Kristy and the girls to spend the night alone on the island. They don't know for sure it's uninhabited!! Or what if some other neighbour saw/heard them go over, and decided to go kill them??
• I think it's really sweet that at the end of the novel, when Watson is writing back to his aunt about keeping the cabin, he refers to Kristy as his daughter. I also really like that Kristy notices this and is thrilled. I wish we got to see more of Kristy and her relationship with Watson.
• I totally don't remember anything about Shadow Lake being haunted. Does this ever come up again? I know Dawn's not with them in SM #2. Do they return to Shadow Lake any other time??

BSC Super Special #7: Snowbound

Tagline: All the Baby-sitters wanted was a little snow - not a national disaster!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The weather forecasters keep promising snow, but what a joke that is. Not a single flake has fallen on Stoneybrook this winter. How can SMS hold a Winter Wonderland Dance when it's warm enough to go to the beach?

Finally, it does snow - like crazy - and no one's prepared. Jessi gets stranded overnight at her dance school. Mallory and Mary Anne are snowed in with the Pike kids. But Stacey's in real trouble. She and her mom were driving back from the mall when the blizzard hit. And none of the Baby-sittesr have heard from her yet.

First they couldn't wait for it to snow. Now they can't for it to stop. Where could Stacey be?

Super Special Gimmick: Kristy thinks that while the newspaper coverage of the snow storm is very informative, it is also super dry, so she gets her friends to write up about their adventures to send to the newspaper as a people interest story.

The book starts off with everyone super excited about the Winter Wonderland dance. Everyone has a date and the girls are all looking forward to dressing up and having a good time together. For days and days, the weather forecasters have been talking about a massive snowfall, but there hasn't even been a single flake. It becomes a huge joke to everyone. At their Monday meeting that week, they reflect that since they're all going to be busy and scattered on Wednesday evening (Mallory and Mary Anne sitting for the Pikes, Jessi at an extra-long dance rehearsal and picking up her date Quint, Dawn getting Jeff at the airport), they should just cancel their meeting that day. Of course, Wednesday is the day of the giant snowstorm, and the power goes out and the phone lines go down, and everyone is all separated, with no way of getting in touch with each other.

Kristy has the most mundane story, but it's pretty cute. She's sitting at home Wednesday afternoon, and she's pretty bored. She’s thinking about the winter dance and how excited she is to be bringing Bart. She then decides that now would be a good time to hang out with him. They've never really hung out on the week day before, so Bart's a little confused, but agrees. Kristy rents movies, and her mom invites Bart to stay over for dinner. This is pretty intense, and it makes Kristy all nervous. She likes Bart, but doesn't really know what to think. Is he her boyfriend? Is she ready? Is he ready? Can he handle her family? The kids spend most of the evening pestering them and totally embarrassing Kristy. Dinner isn't much better. It starts snowing at dinner time, and although Watson agreed to drive Bart home, he wants to wait until it stops snowing so hard. So Bart stays for dessert. After awhile, Bart says he really has to get going, and that he doesn't mind walking (he literally lives just down the street). However, when they try to open up the storm door (or screen door, as my folks always called it), they discover that they're snowed in! The snowfall has been super heavy, plus it has blown up against the house. So Bart spends the night. Kristy is super embarrassed and nervous about Bart seeing her in the morning, so she sets her alarm extra early and actually goes into the bathroom and tries to primp. She shaves her legs for the first time, puts on some make-up and even tries to curl her hair! Aside from her hair, Kristy is pretty happy with the results. Of course, her siblings all make fun of her for it, but Bart says she looks beautiful.

Claudia has the next most mundane story. She spends the afternoon taking calls for the Club, then runs across the street to sit for the Perkins. Just before all the power and phones go out, the Perkins call to say that they can't drive back home, so Claudia will have to stay the night with the girls. As Claudia's putting the girls to sleep, she realizes that she can't find Chewy, the dog, and starts to panic. Claudia's mother comes across the street, and helps Claudia look for a bit, before deciding that nothing more can be done in the weather and in the dark. Mrs Kishi then offers to spend the night on the couch, but Claudia insists that she can look after the girls herself, and that if anything were to happen, Mrs Kishi is just across the street anyways. Claudia soon goes to bed, but is woken by Gabbie, who hears something. They go and investigate, and find that Chewy's been locked in the corner of the basement this whole time! Everything is fine, and the next morning they have breakfast and build a snow family.

Dawn and her mom are headed to the airport to pick up Jeff. For some reason, even though he's flown a bajillion times before, Jeff's been nervous about this time. Dawn wants to make sure they get to the airport with plenty of time to greet him. However, the snow has already started to fall when they leave, and Sharon isn't the most confident snow driver. She goes slowly, and despite having left early, they only get to the airport just in time. Of course, that doesn't matter because with the snowstorm, Jeff's plane hasn't arrived yet. Dawn is worried about how Jeff is handling things, but Sharon figures everything will be alright. They spend the evening hanging out in the airport, waiting to hear about Jeff's plane. Finally, word gets to them that the snow is so bad, Jeff's plane has been rerouted to Washington DC for the evening. Just as they're about to call Jeff to see how he's doing, the power and phone lines go out. They're advised not to leave the airport to go driving, so Dawn and her mom are stuck there overnight. They mostly walk around, buy a couple of books to read, try to get some sleep. Dawn has a creepy encounter with a wandering toddler ending up in her face, but that's about it. The morning comes, and though feeling grody, Dawn and her mom are extremely happy to see Jeff again.

Jessi is at a super long dance rehearsal. They're putting on a production of The Nutcracker. Anyways, no one can concentrate cuz the kids all want snow, and Jessi wants Quint and the dance. About an hour before rehearsal is due to end, some parents start calling in, saying that they'll be late picking up the kids. As time goes on, Jessi realizes that there's no one waiting around to pick them up (usually the parents of the younger kids will watch the last 15-30 minutes of rehearsal). Finally, sensing that she's lost their attention, Mme Noelle calls an end to rehearsal. Once everyone finishes changing, Mme Noelle and the other teachers have bad news: the snowstorm is too bad, and the parents can't come to pick them up. Everyone is stuck overnight at the dance school. Luckily the dance school has a cafeteria that had recently been stocked with dried fruit and nuts and instant soup, so they're not going to starve. In fact, it's pretty much like a giant sleepover adventure. Except all the little kids are upset, and in typical Jessi-fashion, she decides to help the adults comfort the children and keep them busy. At some point, Quint shows up! He had arrived at the train station just before the snow got really bad, and after awhile, he realized that Jessi and her father weren't going to be able to drive and pick him up. So he asked for directions and walked to the dance school! He also helps get the little kids settled. Eventually Jessi and Quint are able to retreat to the classroom where the older students are, and they sit around and gossip and have a grand ol' time. The next morning, the storm is over, the roads are plowed, and while waiting for their parents to pick them up, they're treated to a feast from the coffee shop across the street.

Stacey decides that with the Club meeting cancelled, now would be a perfect opportunity to go get her hair permed, so that it's perfect for the dance. She and her mom leave well before the storm hits (not even a flake in sight!) and get to the mall. However, while there, the storm hits. Stacey's mom hates driving in snow, but thinks that if they hurry, they can somehow beat it and get home before it gets too too bad. Mrs McGill decides to bypass the highway, figuring it'll be congested from everyone attempting to get home. Instead, she takes the back roads. This doesn't work well, as they aren't plowed and have very little traffic to push away the snow as it falls. Eventually, she decides to pull over and try to wait things out a bit. This normally wouldn't be too bad, except that Stacey has diabetes and needs to eat soon. She has her injection kit with her, but very little food. Mrs McGill decides to try driving again, only to find out that they're out of gas. So now Stacey's got her diabetes, and they have to worry about freezing to death. At that point, a man drives up and asks if they need help. He says he lives just down the street, with his wife and baby. Stacey's worried that he might be a killer, trying to lure them in so that he can kill them, but Mrs McGill decides to trust him. Turns out to be a great idea, and Stacey and her mom pass the evening having a great dinner, playing with the baby and making friends. They're even almost sad to leave the next day. They're completely surprised when they come home and realize that everyone is worried about them and had no idea that they were missed!

Mary Anne and Mallory are sitting for the Pikes. MA's spent Tuesday night there, since the Pikes left for NYC early in the morning. They have enough food for the day, plus some emergency money, but Mrs Pike points out that she'll have to go grocery shopping Thursday morning ASAP. Tuesday night, the kids are bonkers, expecting snow. Of course, there's no snow, and they all go to school fine. Wednesday evening, and it's still business as usual. The kids are still hoping for snow, with the triplets teasing Claire about the Abominable Snowman, and MA and Mallory prepare sloppy joes for dinner. However, the snowstorm hits, and soon the power goes out. The kids are simultaneously excited and creeped out. Of course, the Pikes can't come home like they wanted to, so MA and Mallory are on their own til the next day at least. MA calls her dad to let him know what's going on, but he wants to stay home for Dawn and Sharon. MA points out that they'll be okay anyways. Then the phone lines go down, and Mallory points out that they're running out of food. They decide to eat the ice cream and anything that might go bad without power, but come the next morning, it doesn't leave them with much. They try calling for pizza and other take-out items, but of course, no one is open. MA calls Logan, just wanting to hear his voice. She explains how they're okay, but they're hungry. The next thing they know, Logan shows up on cross-country skis with a backpack full of bread, crackers, peanut butter and a few other things. The day is saved and now the Pikes can enjoy the snow!

So everyone's survived the massive snowstorm. They later learn that they had a record snowfall of about 2 feet. The dance doesn't get cancelled, and everyone goes and has a great time. Yay!


Random Thoughts: 

• This is my favourite Super Special ever. I must have read this one a million times as a child. I think it's because we always have huge snowstorms up here... but snow is just kinda a thing that happens, so it's almost never an actual event. I still fantasize about getting snowed in and losing power for several hours, if not days. Aside from the massive Northeastern blackout in 2003 (which only affected my area for that first evening; a very short time compared to some people), the power in my area rarely ever goes out, and when it does, it's for like, an hour at most. Boring haha
• This one has the illustrations in it! This is probably why I remember those illustrations so vividly and always thought they were in every single Super Special haha
• I always loved the cover on this one, but Mallory looks a bajillion years old! Definitely older than Mary Anne. And then the Pike boy has to be one of the triplets, since Nicky is always described as having glasses and curly hair like Mallory's, but that kid is not one year younger than Mallory! haha
• Stacey goes into more detail in this one about the Washington Mall, which leads me to think that Stoneybrook isn't a town or city so much as a small municipality/neighbourhood. I grew up in Ottawa. Now what is called "Ottawa" is technically the "greater Ottawa area" or the "amalgamated city of Ottawa". When I was younger, I grew up in what is technically called Orleans, which is now an area in the east end of Ottawa. Since it is generally assumed that everyone lives in "Ottawa", which is a pretty big city (can take an hour to get from Rockland in the east end to Kanata in the west end), most people will still refer to their individual areas/neighbourhoods. So if you send mail to my parents, you can either address it "Orleans, Ontario" or "Ottawa, Ontario", and it'll still be there on time with no confusion. Unlike if you wrote "Kingston, Ontario" or "Toronto, Ontario", which are very very clearly different cities from Ottawa and not even close haha
• Anyways, Stacey says it takes about half an hour to get to Washington Mall, and it's in the next town over. This reminds me of how when I was younger, it was a super big deal for my parents to drive me 30 minutes to Kanata, where Bayshore Shopping Centre was, which was a much bigger and more upscale mall than the one that was within walking distance of our house in the east end haha
• You can tell that AMM wrote this one, because Kristy is totally likeable, easy to relate to, and well-rounded. She's excited for the dance, and while she expresses a general dislike of dresses, she likes the one she's going to wear to the dance and points out that it's only for a couple of hours. She's also excited about seeing Bart, although she's not too sure how much he means to her. Furthermore, she owns a bit of make-up and puts it on for Bart. This is a great call-back to Super Special #2.
• You know it's a Super Special because Claudia is dating an Asian guy haha Here, her date for the dance is a guy in her grade named Iri Mitsuhashi. And we never see or hear from him again... at least, I don't think so! haha
• Part of me can't believe that the Pikes would leave Mallory and Mary Anne in charge for almost 24 hours... but then another part of me is like, "No... this kinda makes sense..." They leave at 6am, and from there, there's only 2 hours or so until the kids are at school. No sense in making a neighbour spend the night for that. (Although I probably would have had a neighbour stop by at 7:30 or 8am to make sure that everyone was alive and indeed going to school haha) Then they're at school, and come home. It's not unusual for the girls to baby-sit after school or prepare dinner or baby-sit after dinner. It's just weird for them to be doing it all for one job. Again, I might have had a neighbour over for dinner or for a few hours in the evening. I definitely would have arranged for someone to check up on everyone at 9pm. And then the Pikes were supposed to be back at 1am or so. So yeahhhh... Barring the snowstorm, everything would have been okay. But I'm still surprised the Pikes were simply like, "Okay, the neighbours know we're gone, so give them a shout if you need them!" instead of being like, "Okay, the neighbours know we're gone. Mrs Barrett will check in on you in the morning and Mrs McGill will be by in the evening, and you have all the phone numbers, etc etc etc". 
• Stacey particularly wants to go to the Washington Mall, because otherwise, she might end up at the salon downtown, Gloriana's House of Hair. That salon was first featured Little Sister #8, Karen's Haircut. I remember reading that one as a child. It traumatized me. I was forced to have a bowl cut for most of my childhood, so when I could finally grow my hair out, the idea of it getting cut too short again and having to wait for it to grow out was my biggest fear. But yeah. I will never forget Gloriana's House of Horror haha
• There's an illustration of Bart in this one, and he does not look at all how I picture him (totes not my kind of guy! how he's pictured on the cover of #95 is more my style haha) but he does look like he could have been the older sibling of the kids I went to elementary school with (when this book was published)!
• This one also mentions Mallory's sleeping habits again
• The Pikes apparently wake up to an oldies radio station. The first song they wake up to is "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". I remember hearing this song randomly when my parents were watching Beverly Hills, 90210 (Brenda and her friends were dancing and singing it in the Peach Pit??). I became obsessed with that song, but of course, this was before the internet, so I had no idea what it was or who sang it or how to listen to it again. So this kinda became a "one that got away" type obsession. Whenever I hear it today, I'm still like, "OMG THIS SONG!!!" haha
• On a side note: I just found out that that show lasted until the year 2000! THE FREAKING YEAR 2000 WTF!!! I thought this show was long over by 1997. I mean, the high school they used is also the same high school they used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I didn't think that the two shows overlapped. Man, I know they say that Beverly Hills, 90210 is like, THE quintessential '90s show, but I had no idea that it was literally on for the entire decade. It ran from 1990 to 2000. It did not miss a single year of the '90s!
• They also mention that a snowfall this big could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, what with global warming and all. It's strange to think that even as far back as 1991, they were referencing global warming in kids' books. And we've still done very little about it =/
• I have no idea wtf "snow cream" is that Claudia makes for the Perkins girls (sounds like they're eating the fresh snow with maple syrup?) but if they were to have used fresh thick pure maple syrup, and not eaten the snow, they would have almost ended up with maple taffy haha
• I never go anywhere without a travel-sized toothbrush, at minimum 2 books, some granola bars, extra socks, extra underwear, a shawl, a flashlight and a lighter, and a bajillion other things, so if I had been in Dawn or Stacey's shoes, I would have been great haha
• Quint is crazy. Wtf. Even now I'd be hard pressed to try to find directions to walk somewhere in a new town during a snowstorm, let alone at age 11! I'm dying to know how far the dance school was from the train station. If it's anything like my city, Quint could have been walking for a good 30 minutes! If not more!
• Unless the coffee shop owner lived above the coffee shop, and unless the power was still out and milk and things were on the verge of spoiling, why the fuck would he open up the shop and give away a feast of free foods? How did he know that there were people stranded at the dance school? No one would have blamed him if he had just ignored them and gone on his way!
• I don't know if I would have trusted Mr Schiavone. I mean, I don't have to worry about diabetes, so it would just be a matter of staying warm for me. But yeahhhhh... just because he said he had a family in a house just up the street didn't mean he necessarily did. I remember being really scared for Stacey the first time I read this book, even though I knew that 1) these books would never get that dark (at the time, I hadn't read the one about drunk driving or child abuse or depression or anything) and that 2) the only ones that would potentially go that way would be the Mystery ones, so yeahhhh....
• Now, maybe it's because my house doesn't have 9 people in it... but even when I "really need" to go grocery shopping, I still have plenty of food in my house. I mean, nothing I could make a meal out of or that I would particularly want to live on, but definitely enough so I'm not starving. Boxes and boxes of crackers, a few cans of vegetables, soup and tuna (actually, I could live on soup), rice cakes... even without the staples like bread, eggs and milk, I'd be okay!

BSC #49: Claudia and the Genius of Elm Street

Tagline: How could a seven-year-old make Claudia feel so dumb?

Little Rosie Wilder is perfect at everything. She can sing and dance, she plays several musical instruments, and her I.Q. is so high, it's off the scale.

So how did Claudia "C-" Kishi get stuck baby-sitting for Rosie the genius? Because Rosie is so obnoxious, no one gets along with her - not even Claudia's sister, who's a genius, too.

The Baby-sitters think that Rosie needs to be taught a good lesson. But what Rosie really needs is a good friend... like Claudia.

Claudia is at home, gearing up to watch a documentary on Andy Warhol. She laments having to sit through annoying commercials, especially this one of a little girl spilling chocolate milk on a white carpet. She had tried to tape the documentary to watch at her own leisure, but in typical fashion, messed it up. This prompts Claudia to reflect on how much of a dunce she is compared to her sister. Of course, she doesn't dwell on this too long, as she also points out that she's incredibly artistic. Inspired by the documentary, Claudia runs up to her room to start on a new art project until the Club meeting starts.

At the meeting, they get a call from a new client: Ginger Wilder, who has a 7-year-old daughter named Rosie. Ginger's mother has come down with an unfortunate series of ailments, so Ginger needs to spend a few days a week helping her. Rosie has a million lessons though, so she can't come along. Mrs Wilder needs a sitter to come over three afternoons a week and essentially just be around and occasionally help Rosie with homework, while her lessons and practice will take up most of the time (the teachers all come to Rosie's place, which makes it easy on both Rosie and Claudia). Claudia is the only one free for most of the days needed, so she gets the job.

Claudia's first day with Rosie is less than stellar. First she's introduced to Rosie, who seems to be a gifted automaton, barely emoting, and practicing with fervor. Mrs Wilder goes over all of the lessons and things that Rosie has, outlining the schedule for when Claudia comes over. After some intense practicing, Rosie shows off for Claudia, showing her a song-and-tap number she's doing, as well as some violin and ballet. Then she goes to do some homework, which stumps Claudia, prompting Rosie to snort derisively at her. Claudia ends up going home feeling very little.

Next time, Claudia decides to treat her sitting job as a project, and vows to be cheerful, and furthermore, call Janine when Rosie needs help with homework. Rosie and Claudia help themselves to an after school snack, where Rosie continues to make Claudia feel small. Rosie is already concerned for her health and cholesterol, and while talking, Claudia figures out that Rosie was the little girl from the carpet commercial, prompting Rosie to say that that's her college fund. Claudia knows nothing of nutrition and cholesterol, and she certainly hasn't thought about college tuition yet. Before her lessons, Rosie needs help with science homework, so Claudia recruits Janine. She zones out while the two of them talk science, but when Janine goes to leave, Claudia remarks that not even Janine could relate to Rosie. Rosie goes on to her lessons, while Claudia stays hidden, drawing. As Claudia draws, she can hear the lessons, and she realizes that damn, they're hella intense and that Rosie's teachers are really pushing her. It makes Claudia feel bad for Rosie, especially after the lessons when Rosie is all flush and her voice is all hoarse. Rosie asks to see Claudia's drawings, which sparks some hope for Claudia. However Rosie declines an invitation to sit and draw, instead running away to hide in her room.

Stacey and Jessi both take a turn at sitting for Rosie, which is pretty awful for both of them. Stacey is forced to read a script to help Rosie do an audition, and Jessi thought she'd be able to bond with Rosie over their love of ballet, but instead has to ask Janine over to help with homework. Rosie questions Janine's intelligence, causing mild-mannered, shy Janine to snap. Rosie then snaps at Jessi, stating that she only wants to see Claudia from now on. At their Club meetings, the girls reflect that Rosie doesn't seem to love all the things she does, that she seems more like an overworked machine than a little girl. This causes Claudia to feel sympathy for Rosie.

At another sitting job, Rosie is yet again being bratty, asking Claudia things Claudia doesn't know, and then questioning her about it. Finally Claudia snaps and tells Rosie that she won't play her games anymore. So while Rosie continues her homework in silence, Claudia continues to draw. Eventually, Rosie starts drawing, and Claudia notices that Rosie's got a lot of talent. She's about to say something when Rosie's father unexpectedly comes home. Rosie quickly hides her drawings, prompting confusion from Claudia.

After another sitting job, where Claudia witnesses Rosie's parents treating her like a performer (and themselves like managers) instead of a child, and Rosie having a meltdown, Claudia takes Mary Anne to the elementary school to watch Rosie participate in a crossword puzzle competition. There, the children are horrible to Rosie, but Mary Anne and Claudia manage to cheer her up. Upon returning home, Claudia and Rosie decide to unwind by drawing, only to be caught by Rosie's parents. Rosie's parents chastise Rosie for wasting her time, and Rosie throws another fit and storming off to her room. Claudia decides to talk to Rosie's parents, letting them know how talented Rosie is. Of course, this doesn't quite pan out the way she wants, as it prompts the Wilders to start thinking about fancy art studios and schools and lessons they can start enrolling Rosie in. Claudia realizes now why Rosie hid her art: Rosie figured that her parents would try to turn it into a new career path, and suck all the fun out of it. Claudia tells Rosie that her parents are okay with the art thing, but that Rosie should probably explain to her parents that she's tired of doing everything to the extreme all the time. Eventually, Rosie does, and she cuts back on her activities, settling on the three things she likes best: math club, violin and art.

The subplot in this one is that after watching her documentary on Andy Warhol, Claudia is inspired to do a series of pop-art portraits of her favourite subject: junk food! Eventually the girls decide that Claudia should do an art show, to display her art. They help her to clean out the garage and turn it into a gallery. Because of her newfound talents in art, Claudia invites Rosie to display some of her stuff too. Things start off fairly well, with many neighbours and charges coming to see the art show. Of course, we can't have things go too well, and soon Alan Gray shows up. At first, he just makes "witty" comments to Claudia, but eventually Claudia finds out that he's quickly creating sketches and doodles of crude things and posting them alongside her art. Claudia gets mad and tells him off, sending Alan on his way. Alan's departure is all too easy, as Claudia then discovers that he's left wads of chewing gum all over the place. Kristy vows revenge, and the girls quickly get things cleaned up and settled. Claudia even sells two of her paintings! Ms Besser, from the elementary school buys one, as does Kristy's stepfather Watson.

Random Thoughts:

• This one is ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis. I've come to notice that he doesn't make Claudia as stupid as the other ghostwriters do. She definitely struggles in school and with retaining knowledge and academic pursuits, but he also makes sure to highlight her artistic endeavors and her general observations and brightness. Case in point: she watches a documentary on Andy Warhol, and while she says that the documentary itself is boring, Andy Warhol isn't, and is actually inspired by his art style.
• I remember reading this one often as a kid. I enjoyed it well enough now.
• Although, I do have a bone to pick about calling Rosie a "genius". I don't her IQ is ever really mentioned in the book. While yes, she's clearly very bright and has a natural affinity for things, she's mostly talented and disciplined and well-trained. I feel like if she was a "genius" she'd be innovative and creating her own things, or not needing lessons or whatever.
• Also: the description on the back of the book totally sucks. Claudia gets stuck with Rosie because she was the only sitter available for the majority of the days the Wilders needed. Also also: the Club never thinks Rosie needs a good lesson. They find her trying, but generally agree that she's probably not very happy and/or is insecure.
• Some of what Rosie makes fun of Claudia for is for random trivia, like knowing whether or not foxes hibernate. I was pretty sure upon reading this that foxes don't hibernate, but I dunno if I was willing to fight to the death over it, because I honestly have not had to think about foxes and hibernation since elementary school science. That's why shows like Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? piss me off, because it's all dependent on knowledge that is freshly learned in elementary school, but largely unnecessary in real-life. Unless of course, you study foxes and/or animal hibernation habits... or are an elementary school teacher haha
• In case you were wondering: Foxes do not hibernate!
• However, Rosie does criticize Claudia's spelling, which is totally valid. Reading, writing and basic math are all skills that everyone needs, should learn, and should attempt to hone.
• In a bit of continuity, Claudia references the time when she studied under Mackenzie Clarke!
• I also love how the girls are realistically portrayed in this book. They want to help Claudia with her art show, but bicker and get cranky when making invitations and doing cleaning because it's not fun nor is it going particularly well
• Alan Gray is the worst in this one though. The worst. He's why boys suck haha Now I'm all bitter that he and Claudia eventually end up dating... even though that happens a billion years later, after repeating the 8th grade a million times and apparently slowly maturing over these years haha
• This book really made me want Doritos and Milk Duds. I want some now. Sadly, the weather is terrible, so I had it in my head to spend the day indoors, being cozy, warm and reading haha
• I know Claudia is talented and what not, but how the fuck does she, in the span of like, one month, sketch, draw and paint enough portraits of junk food to have an entire art show?? She'd need at least 6 to make it worthwhile. That's about one a week. And that's being generous. That's also whilst baby-sitting and attending school. Either Claudia did a really shitty job, and everyone is just humoring her, or... no, really, that's the only option. I honestly don't see how it's physically possible for her to turn out a minimum of 6 paintings in a maximum of 6 weeks, whilst still living her life haha god piss and my adult logic and reasoning!!!
• I've always wondered what would happen if a sitter was needed during a Club meeting. Because sitting jobs are always vaguely described, you can just kinda pretend that none of the jobs featured in the books happen to coincide with meetings. EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE. Ginger clearly states that she needs a sitter Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from after school until about 8pm. THAT'S CLEARLY DURING FRIDAY'S MEETING. There's even a chapter where Claudia says it's Friday, she picks Rosie up from school, and then mentions going for a walk together at 6:30! But the fact that the sitting job and the meetings overlap is never addressed!
• Furthermore: if I was Claudia's parents, I'd be like, "Wtf, no, you can't baby-sit from 3:30 to 8:30pm three days a week. When are you planning on doing your homework??" I mean yes, because of all of Rosie's lessons (that don't involve Claudia having to do anything), Claudia could theoretically do her homework then. But Claudia is notorious for skipping homework or needing help with it, plus her grades are so tenuous to begin with. I would not trust her to use her time responsibly and to stay on top of things. (In fact, us readers know that Claudia spends most of the time drawing!)
• The Wilders are horrible parents. They've scheduled every minute of this poor girl's life, turning every single talent or interest into a career path, parading her around to auditions and shows and various other things to show her off. I'm not surprised Rosie is the least bit bratty. She's either repeating things her parents have taught her, used to interacting with others only in a performance setting (other children are competition/distractions, adults are to be impressed), or she's incredibly stressed or under pressure. I don't want to say that the Wilders are abusive... but there's definitely something wrong about the way they treat their daughter. I shudder to think how Rosie would have turned out if Claudia hadn't encouraged her to say anything to her parents. Hell, we still don't know how Rosie turns out! For all we know, her parents quickly revert back to their old ways
• Apparently Rosie is featured in two other books, but they're both books I actually haven't read. But still! Those would still be two books theoretically only "later this year". Again, who knows how they'd be when Rosie was 10 or 13 or 16 or whatever.
• Apparently the Wilders ask Claudia to become Rosie's art teacher, but much like Claudia tutoring Emily Michelle, this never gets mentioned again haha

BSC Super Special #6: New York, New York!

 Tagline: They're not sleeping till they see all of it -

We ♥ NY!

The Baby-sitters have always wanted to be sophisticated New Yorkers like Stacey. Well, now here's their chance: Stacey has invited them all to the city for a vacation!

In between shopping and seeing the sights, the Baby-sitters manage to have plenty of excitement. Jessi meets a boy ballerina, Claudia and Mallory take fancy art lessons, and Kristy makes a special friend. Dawn eats her way through the city, and Stacey and Mary Anne have a baby-sitting mystery!

Is New York as good as they've always dreamed?

You bet!

Super Special Gimmick: Because Claudia's the catalyst for them all going to New York, she wants to keep a journal/record of their entire trip. She says she's going to illustrate it later.


The girls apparently have another two-week vacation, and Claudia has learned of some professional art classes that you can just sign up for and take whenever you want in New York City. She decides that she wants to spend her two weeks taking them, and stay with Stacey at her dad's place. Stacey's dad then says that any of Stacey's friends are welcomed, and the next thing you know, the whole Club is going!

Claudia is of course taking art classes. She's very excited, because she'll be studying with McKenzie Clarke, a real professional artist. This is the first time she's taking such a formal and serious art class, and one outside of Stoneybrooke. She's disappointed though, because Mac doesn't seem to like her, and only ever has criticisms for her work, such as telling her to slow down and stop being sloppy. Eventually, Claudia finds out that the reason why he was so critical of her work is because he can see that it's good; Claudia is clearly talented, but she needs to hone that talent with focus and discipline. Claudia ends up leaving feeling better about herself and everything.

Mallory, who has never taken an art class, decides to sign up with Claudia. She wants to draw cute round things and animals and become a children's book illustrator one day, and thinks maybe taking a few art classes and lessons might help. She's dismayed to find that she's out of her league, especially compared to Claudia, but Mac encourages her and is nice. Claudia of course, hates this, and is then angry with Mallory for most of the book. Mallory decides that she's not cut out to be an artist in the sense that Claudia is, but that she's happy with her art abilities and that it's good enough for what she does want in life. Mallory really doesn't get much of a plot, other than to highlight Claudia's.


Jessi meets Quint in this one! I have no idea why, but for some reason, I thought she had met him during the regular series, at a dance school or whatever. (Although now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I'm thinking of #115 Jessi's Big Break, and I know for sure she met him long before that...) Anyways, Jessi spends a lot of time with the girls going around New York, but also gets an opportunity to watch a performance of ballet. There, she meets Quint Walker, a boy dancer. Quint is apparently pretty talented (despite only taking one class a week) and is interested in auditioning for Julliard. However, the boys in his neighbourhood are jerks and tease him, and Quint isn't sure if he can handle the pressure and taking more classes. He invites Jessi to his place to watch some movies and goes on another date with Jessi. Through her encouragement, he decides to audition after all. He gets in, of course. He also gives Jessi her first kiss!

Dawn is terrified of New York, even more so than last time, despite clearly having survived her last trip. She spends the first few days of the trip in Mr McGill's apartment, only leaving when the group is going out as a whole. At first, Kristy takes pity on her, but even that dries up fast. Then one day, Dawn is surprised by a knock on the door. It's a boy from the apartment below. His parents know Mr McGill, who had mentioned that his daughter would be in town. Obviously Dawn is not Stacey, but Richie doesn't seem to mind. Richie recently broke his foot and is bored out of his mind. For the first few days, he simply visits Dawn, and they sit on the fire escape and talk. Richie can't believe that Dawn is too scared to properly experience New York. That weekend, Richie gets his foot checked, and a walking cast put on. He then takes Dawn out for a day on the town, where they sample all sorts of authentic cuisine and check out the different neighbourhoods and cultures of the city. Dawn loosens up and realizes that despite the large crime rate, there's a lot of great things about New York too.

Kristy early in the week, finds a dog in Central Park. She sneaks it back into Laine's place (where she, Jessi, Mallory and Mary Anne are staying), and tries to keep it secret, convinced that she'll be able to keep him when she gets back home. Of course, she can't, and soon Mrs Cummings discovers Sonny. She says that Kristy has the rest of her trip to find Sonny a home, or else Mr and Mrs Cummings were going to take care of it. So Kristy puts up flyers, and eventually Sonny goes to a 9 year old boy and his family who promise to take really good care of him.

Stacey and Mary Anne land themselves a baby-sitting job, watching the two kids of British diplomats who were staying in Laine's building. At first, they have lots of fun taking Rowena and Alistair around the city, being completely charmed by their accents and demeanor. Eventually though, they start to notice that they're seemingly being followed by a man in a rain hat and sunglasses. Initially, Stacey and Mary Anne think they're going crazy, but eventually too many sightings lead them to believe that it's true. Since the children belong to diplomats, the girls then start to think that the kids are going to be kidnapped for ransom and all sorts of other theories. Eventually, the girls come clean to the Harringtons. The Harringtons laugh and confess that the children have a bodyguard, Bill, and that's who the girls have been seeing around. They wanted to give their children a break from constantly being under scrutiny, which was why they didn't tell Stacey and Mary Anne about him, and why he'd been wearing the hat and sunglasses.

Random Thoughts:

• This one was also one of my favourites as a kid. I read it over and over. The copy I now own comes from one of my best friends, who coincidentally was purging her room of belongings at the same time that I was trying to recollect the series.
• This one also does not have the illustrations I remember, instead having what looks like hand-drawn drawings. I could have sworn that all, if not most of the Super Specials had illustrations the way the Little Sister series did. Am I going crazy??
• Although this one has an explanation: they're supposed to be Claudia's illustrations
• Fun fact: they're actually provided by AMM's father!
• I'm sad that neither the Fine Arts League of New York, nor McKenzie Clarke, appear to be real. I always like it best when the Super Specials put in some real things into the details. Especially since, you know, it's NEW YORK CITY!!!
• I find it weird that Mr McGill is all, "Any of Stacey's friends are welcomed to come and stay!" but then they all let the entire Club come at once, housing half of the girls at Laine's, which is apparently on the other side of the city. This just sounds weird to me.
• The Cummings (including Laine) are pretty cool for putting up with 4 girls they don't even know. Laine has only met Kristy and Mary Anne like, twice. And I don't think she'd ever met Mallory or Jessi before. I can't see myself letting random people stay at my house for two weeks. AND THEN THEY BRING A DOG??? Clearly the Cummings are crazy.
• Stacey mentions that the petting zoo in Central Park only costs a dime per person, and that it always will haha I just looked it up. Unless I'm looking at the wrong thing, it costs 7$ for children and 12$ for adults now haha
• Longtime fans and readers will know that the BSC uses their own brand of lingo, dibble (short for "incredible", I believe) and variations of it being the most common one. This one had chilly. I know they've used it before, but omg, it's rampant in this book in particular. I don't ever want to read about something being "chilly" ever again. Unless they're talking about ice cream haha or the weather
• Oooooh embarrassing: I didn't realize how much this book affected me as a child. Whenever I sing "New York, New York!", I always sing "what a wonderful town!" because of Mary Anne in this book. Stacey interrupts her, and tries to correct her, but Mary Anne retorts that she'll sing it her way if she wants. If prompted and I thought about it, I would probably remember that the proper lyrics are "it's a helluva town!" I definitely don't gasp and do a double-take whenever I hear the song on the radio or TV or movies. But I also definitely by default sing it wrong now. Because of Mary Anne.
• Just how professional are these art classes Claudia and Mallory are taking? They sound pretty loosey-goosey to me, being all drop-in/drop-out, take what you want kind of thing. They just happen to be headed by a professional artist. He doesn't really seem to teach them anything though.
• Jessi watches a performance of Swan Lake and another one of Coppélia. She mentions having danced in the latter, but not the former.
• Of course Jessi would not only meet a male dancer, but an African-American one at that! Can't have inter-racial relations going on!
• It makes sense that Mac would be so nice to Mallory: she's just 11 years old and is clearly passionate and giving it her best shot! I'm super nice to students who try their hardest and I do everything I can to encourage them. Plus Mac has a daughter, so he probably figures, "Omg little girl alone in NYC for the first time, I better keep an eye on her!"
• I'm pretty sure Quint is too young for Julliard full-time, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had some sort of "casual" classes for younger people who are looking to get serious and go on to be professional. I think full-time Julliard students study there as post-secondary education (or as high school seniors, looking to complete their GED). Quint would be simply attending really hardcore classes, but still going to a regular middle school during the day.
• Man, I know I must have re-read this one at some point in high school (and thus after 9/11), but it was only this time that I noticed that they make reference to the World Trade Centre:

Mary Anne was giving herself her own tour. "World Trade Center," I heard her murmur. 'Two towers, one hundred and ten stories each..."

• You know, for someone who is always described as such an individual, Dawn sure changes quickly to impress a guy. Richie manages to convince her to eat a piece of chocolate! haha
• When Mary Anne is worried that someone is out to get the kids, she claims to have a hold on Rowena tighter than Arnold Schwarzenegger. I lol at the reference!
• Feeling really down about her apparent lack of artistic talent, Claudia refers to herself as an eighth grade failure. Oh Claudia... if you only knew... haha
• How come the British people in this series are always diplomats or pseudo-royalty? They're always very polite and posh and sophisticated and charming. Where are all the lower/middle-class folks? The wankers and the blokes and the chavs and the people you'd see going on a pub crawl? haha although I suppose as children, they wouldn't really be those things... but you know, children who aren't wearing matching little sailor suits and constantly polite. I want to see some British monsters! haha
• Stacey and Mary Anne wait too effing long to mention anything to the Harringtons. If I thought someone was following me and the kids around, I would have let it go one day... wait to see if it continued the second day... and then mentioned it on the third day. The girls ended up waiting til their last day to mention anything!
• On the flip side, the Harringtons are irresponsible for not mentioning anything at all in the first place.

BSC #40: Claudia and the Middle School Mystery

Tagline: How could anyone accuse Claudia of cheating?

For once, Claudia's studied really really hard for her math test. And when Claudia gets her paper back, it has an A- on it. All right!

But then, Claudia's math teacher calls her to his desk and accuses her of copying off of Shawna Riverson's test!

Claudia can't believe it. Neither can the Baby-sitters. Claudia would never cheat! And they're not going to rest until they help clear Claudia's name!

The book opens with Claudia studying for math with Janine. Unlike usual, Claudia's starting to finally catch on, and is even enjoying having Janine be her study partner. After awhile, Janine declares Claudia ready for the test, and leaves Claudia to do the rest of her homework. Claudia still isn't convinced though: this is a huge test, worth almost half of her grade. Stacey and the girls are quick to talk her down that night and the next day before her test.

During the test, Claudia starts to panic, but soon remembers everything Janine told her. Taking her time, she tackles the test one question at a time. Claudia's surprised at how much she remembers, and when it comes time to hand in the test, she's feeling pretty good. She's not sure of the exact grade she's got, but it doesn't even matter to her: she knows she did well, better than usual, and that's all that's important.

The next day, Claudia is thrilled to find out that she did even better than she could have hoped for: 94%! It's one of the highest grades Claudia's ever received, and she's ecstatic. However, her jubilation is short-lived. Mr Zorzi, her math teacher, calls her and Shawna Riverson to his desk. Turns out that both girls got the exact same score. In fact, they made the exact same mistakes. The only conclusion to be made is that one of the them cheated off the other. Shawna's quick to defend herself, saying she'd never ever cheat. Since Shawna generally does well and has high grades, Mr Zorzi believes her and doesn't even give Claudia a chance to defend herself. Claudia is going to get an F on the test.

Claudia is in total shock and is severely setback. She figures, if this is what happens when she studies, why should she bother? She spends the rest of the day avoiding her friends and family, eventually just lying in her bed, not even doing art. When her family calls her down for dinner, they tell her that the principal informed her of the situation. Claudia doesn't know what to say, only that she didn't do it. To her dismay, it doesn't seem like her parents believe her initially, but Janine quickly steps in and takes Claudia's side without hesitation. Her parents quickly recant, saying that of course they believe Claudia, and that they'll figure something out. Claudia tells them that she'd like to do it on her own. She talks things over with Janine, and tries to feel better.

The Club is immediately on Claudia's side (with the exception of Mary Anne, who in trying to be sensitive, is actually very insensitive). Everyone realizes that Shawna is obviously the one who cheated, but none of them can figure out why or how to prove it. Dawn mentions that she has the locker next to Shawna's, and that due to a mix-up, for a few days at the beginning of the year, it was actually her locker, so she knows the combination. She suggests that they look inside it to find evidence, but everyone quickly quashes that idea.

The next day, Claudia is still pretty bummed out. Suddenly she spots Shawna and her friends laughing and talking, and decides to follow them. Hiding in a bathroom stall, she overhears Shawna talking about how lucky she was to have gotten away with cheating, and how she doesn't even feel bad, because what's one more bad grade to Claudia? Shawna continues to explain how she cheated because she had stretched herself too thin in terms of extra-curriculars, and hadn't had time to study. Claudia is enraged by what she hears, and when the coast is clear, heads to meet up with her friends. At first, everyone is excited, because this was the proof they were waiting for! Then they realize that it would still be Claudia's word against Shawna's, and that that wouldn't help her in the end. Realizing that desperate times call for desperate measures, they decide to break into Shawna's locker after all, to see if they can find anything incriminating.

After school, Dawn, Claudia and Stacey stay behind to look inside Shawna's locker. With Stacey on lookout, Dawn and Claudia rifle through Shawna's things. Claudia then notices a note stuck in the locker vent. It says, "Congratulations on your A-. Who would have guessed that C.K.'s paper would have so many right answers?" Dawn is ecstatic, knowing that they hit the jackpot. However, Claudia realizes that she would have no way of explaining how she got the note, and no way of proving that she hadn't just made it up to clear her name. After Dawn and Stacey leave, Claudia puts the note back, and continues to be upset.

Claudia then thinks she can guilt or goad Shawna into letting something slip, so she spends all of their next math class saying suggestive things, waiting for Shawna to respond or start freaking out. All Claudia manages to do though is annoy Shawna and Mr Zorzi, and effectively miss the entire math lesson.

Finally, Claudia decides that she just doesn't care anymore. At least, that's what she tells herself. She wears her most outrageous outfit possible, and spends the whole day acting all cheerful, and pretending that she doesn't care about school, her math test, her grades, anything. Come the end of the school day, Claudia is exhausted from all the pretending, and doesn't even feel any better. That's when she sees Janine. Janine is visiting the middle school so that she may have words with the principal. Claudia is mortified, but Janine reassures her that she's always been on good terms with the principal, and that she's merely going to have a conversation. Enough is enough; Janine wasn't going to let her little sister suffer in silence anymore.

After careful discussion and deliberation, the principal, Janine and Mr Zorzi (who got called down eventually) decide that Claudia deserves another chance to prove herself. The next day, Mr Zorzi allows Claudia to re-write the test (a different test, but on the same materials). Claudia passes the test with flying colours, doing even better on it than the first time. Mr Zorzi apologizes to Claudia, and then calls Shawna to his desk. He tells her that she'll have a chance to prove herself by retaking the test tomorrow. Shawna breaks down and admits to cheating. She gets sent to the principal's office, and is ultimately suspended for two days, as well as getting an F on the test.

Claudia is thrilled. Not only did she prove herself innocent, but she earned an A- fair and square. The Club (and Janine) take a moment to celebrate with Claudia at their next meeting. Claudia gives Janine a piece of art she made, specifically for her, thanking her for always having her back and helping her out. That night, Claudia's parents celebrate at dinner with a cake. For the first time, Claudia sees how proud they all are of her, and she's pretty damn proud herself!

The subplot in this one involves the Pike triplets. They were playing ball when the ball goes wild and goes into the basement window. None of the triplets will confess to who did it, so Mr and Mrs Pike decide to punish and ground all of them, until one of them fesses up. Over the course of the book, the triplets start driving everyone crazy, cuz they're going nuts from being cooped up, but still they remain loyal to each other and refuse to rat on the culprit. Finally Mallory comes up with the idea of "re-enacting the crime". Turns out it was nobody's and everybody's fault: One of the triplets pitched the ball, but it was a bad throw, another triplet attempted to hit it anyways, and it just glanced off the bat and continued running wild, and the third triplet attempted to catch it, but it glanced off his mitt and into the window. The triplets are official ungrounded and cleared of all charges!

Random Thoughts:

• I never read the plot synopsis' on the back of these books, because I generally remember what all of the books are about. I'm glad I don't. Jfc this one spoils so much! Claudia spends the first three chapters worrying about her test. Us readers already know what she got on the test!
• I've gone on before about how I don't under the American grading system, but this time, I'm SURE I've got it all mixed up. Claudia gets a 94% on her math test. Here in Canada, that would be an A+ (anything above 90% is an A+). I'll admit, it doesn't make sense in Canada that A+ has a 10% range, A- to A has a 10% range, and then all the other letter grades and their iterations have a 10% range. But okay. Anyways, Claudia's 94% is only an A-??? You'd think even in the US system, it'd be at least an A! (From what I understand, the US system is roughly a 5% range for every different grade?)
• Claudia's parents are horrible. First off, they don't immediately take her side. But more importantly, they don't do anything! I know Claudia was all like, "No, please don't get involved!" but my god, she's a 13 year old child! If after three days or so, I hadn't heard of anything being done, I would have marched into the school and talked to the teacher and principal myself! I mean, I'm not saying they should storm in their, guns-ablazing, but at least be like, "Look, let's have a meeting and talk this out."
• On the other hand, Janine further cements herself as the most awesome person ever in the series haha I love when Claudia gives her a chance and opens up to her and has all these great sisterly moments.
• I like how apparently this is the fourth window the triplets have broken in three months. Uh, didn't your dad just get laid off and then have to start a new job?? Way to go guys...
• PS: there was no mention of that drama at all in this one
• I always loved Claudia's "Ms Frizzle" outfit in this one. It's one of the ones that sticks out in my head whenever I think back on the series and Claudia's crazy outfits haha
• I also like how, of all the outfits Claudia wears over the course of the series, this is the one she feels the most silly in haha
• Claudia is clearly capable of learning and studying: it just takes her longer to do it than most kids. How is it that she's always on the verge of failing??
• Also: how is it that Janine's never given her test taking tips at all. How has no one?? As a teacher, I'm constantly reminding my students to breathe, take their time, skip questions they don't know, etc, etc, etc
• As if Mr Zorzi is all, "One of you cheated", and then when Shawna goes, "Not me!" he essentially goes, "Well, it's true: Claudia's grades generally suck. Okay!" and gives Claudia a zero. No questions asked. Nothing else. Seriously, I would have immediately asked both of them to redo the test, then and there. There is no way I would have relied on the word of just a student.
• Plus it seems suspect that Shawna was ready to defend herself so quickly. You know, almost as if she was expecting to be accused. If you accuse an innocent person of a crime, they're generally too shell-shocked to be able to defend themselves. They're like, "Wait, what? Is this really happening? How???"
• They say that Mr Zorzi is not their usual math teacher, but rather that he's taking over for their usual teacher. Doesn't Wesley, the student teacher, take over for Mr Zorzi later? So confused >_< haha
• American lockers confuse me. Whenever I see them on TV or movies, or described in books, it seems like they have the locks built into them, and that they don't change the combinations. Anyone who has ever used that locker can apparently continuously get into it, at least for the rest of the year, if not for ever. In my province (can't really speak for the whole country with any certainty), students are to provide their own locks, and give the office their combination. I like that much better, because I feel secure in knowing that I'm the only one with my combination. Also: it allowed me to keep the same combination all throughout high school.

BSC Super Special #5: California Girls!

Tagline: They wish they all could be...

California, here they come!

Who would believe it - the Baby-sitters have won the loterry! And with their winning money, the girls are all going with Dawn to... California!

What adventures they have. Jessi lands a (tiny) part in a TV show, Kristy gets into a kind-of fight with Dawn's We ♥ Kids Club, and Stacey turns into a surfer girl! And in between all that excitement, they still have time for baby-sitting, sight-seeing, and the beach.

How can they go back to Stoneybrook now that they've turned into California girls?

Super Special Gimmick: There actually doesn't seem to be one this time. Dawn starts off the book, talking about the lottery, plus you know, it's her house they're staying at. But there's no gimmick as to why the girls are taking turns chronicling their trip haha

Alright, so apparently Claudia has been getting her father to buy her lottery tickets for years now, and the Club has always made fun of her for it. Well, now the lottery jackpot is at an all-time high, so the girls decide to pitch in and each get their own lottery ticket, and then split the prize if they win. Dawn comes close, with 5 out of 6 numbers right, which means they win a consolation prize. Each girl gets just over a thousand dollars. It's then decided that they'll use the money and an upcoming two-week vacation to go to California and stay with Dawn's dad.

They take an airplane down, which lasts about 5 hours, but due to the timezones, only 2 hours have passed. They're all pretty out of it and jet-lagged, and have a quiet evening at the Schafer's, joined by Mr Schafer's girlfriend Carol, much to Dawn's dismay. The next morning, the girls still aren't feeling up to doing much, so Carol takes them all to the beach for a day of sun and relaxation. There, the girls start taking up different interests, which leads to them spending most of the two weeks pursuing their own adventures:

Stacey decides to take a beginner surfing lesson that first day. She instantly falls in love with it, and Dawn decides to introduce her to some kids she used to school with that are at the beach. They're all super into surfing, so despite being a few years older than Stacey, they hit it off. The next day, they pick her up and take her back to the beach for more surfing. They drive pretty recklessly, but Stacey doesn't think much about it. She's all excited about surfing, and takes risks, like riding waves she's not quite ready for. One day, her new surfer friends pick her up, and it's a new guy at the wheel. He's even crazier than the others at driving, but Stacey loves it. Mostly, she doesn't want to seem like a wetblanket, since the rest of the kids don't seem to mind. Dawn and everyone warns her to be careful. Anyways, several days go by, including some group activities with the girls (which I'll detail later), and eventually it's the middle of their second week. Mr Super Reckless (whose name is Beau) can't wait to get home after a day of surfing, and speeds away faster than usual. Fast enough for another one of the group to actually remark on it. Then they get stuck in traffic behind a slow truck driver. Instead of signalling and being a responsible driver, Beau just lane changes, and ends up causing a huge car accident. Despite it involving multiple cars and the truck, no one is seriously injured. Stacey is shaken up. Carol comes to pick her up, and together, they tell Mr Schafer what happened. Mr Schafer bans Stacey from ever seeing those friends again (not a big deal, since she's leaving soon and by her own admission doesn't particularly want to see them again either), and Stacey spends the rest of the week with the girls.

Dawn's storyline is mostly her conflict with Carol, her dad's new girlfriend. She doesn't like how Carol is always around, as if she had already inserted herself into the family. Furthermore, Dawn doesn't like how "cool" Carol acts, trying to be their friend and what not. Everything turns around though when Dawn sees how Carol acts in an emergency situation: Stacey's car accident. She and Stacey expected Carol to be all winks and like, "This is our little secret", but instead she immediately takes charge and tells them that they need to tell Mr Schafer. This earns Dawn's respect, and she sees that while Carol is cool and fun and young, she is also an adult and can be trusted to do the right and responsible thing when the time comes. Dawn decides to give Carol and a chance, and stops acting so bratty to her. They have a very pleasant last few days together.

Jessi decides to visit Derek Masters, who's in LA filming his TV show. Like what always happens when dealing with Derek, Jessi thinks maybe she should get an agent and start modelling or acting. This is further compounded by the fact that she gets chosen by the director to be an extra in one of the scenes. Jessi also fights with Mallory, who is busy trying to be a "California Girl" and essentially just being a giant brat. It's the first time they've ever fought over the course of their friendship. Of course, in the end Jessi decides to forget about all this Hollywood nonsense and stick with ballet. And she and Mallory make up.

Mallory has what I think the most annoying plot in the book. Going to the beach, she looks around and sees all these hot blonde girls, and decides that she wants to look like that. She convinces Carol to drive her to the Max Factor Museum of Make-Up, and then spends another day at the mall. It's on her trip to the mall that decides to get all this fancy high-end make-up, and blows all of her spending money. She buys wash-out hair dye and dies her hair blonde, and spends forever playing with make-up. Because she has no money, she has to borrow from Jessi. When she finds out that Jessi is going to visit Derek, she gets all obssessed with getting noticed and being on TV. When Jessi brings her (in an attempt to connect with Mallory and try to understand her obsession with being something she's not), Mallory gets rejected by the director to be an extra, saying she doesn't have the "right look". This leads to Mallory being all mopey and depressed and avoiding everyone for a full 24 hours, before Kristy puts her foot down and tells Mallory to get over it. Mallory sells her make-up to Stacey and Claudia, dyes her hair red again, and goes back to normal.

Claudia meets a boy on the beach. His name is Terry and he's Asian, and he's super intelligent. Claudia keeps bringing herself down, saying that she's not smart enough to be with Terry, and keeps dreading spending time with him. However, he seems to be really into her, and keeps asking her out, to which she keeps saying yes. He takes her to a fancy Italian restaurant, and then to an Italian film with subtitles. Claudia did alright with the food, but couldn't understand the movie nor read the subtitles fast enough, so she just mostly smiles and nods. Then he takes her to a fancy French restaurant, where she orders escargots, not realizing that they were snails. She tries to keep up in conversation with him, but really can't, and just goes home feeling humiliated. She even calls Janine, trying to get some intelligent world issues talking points. Janine tells her to just be herself, and to invite Terry somewhere with her instead. Claudia takes the advice, and ends up having a great time. They part ways, and promise to write, with Claudia talking of visiting again sometime.

Kristy gets all competitive with the We ♥ Kids Club, insulted by how relaxed and informal they are. Kristy, wanting to prove that she's the best and that everything she does is best, takes a difficult job from the girls. She agrees to baby-sit for Erick and Ryan Dewitt, the We ♥ Kids Club's toughest clients. Apparently the boys are very rambunctious and spirited, and need a firm guiding hand, or else they take advantage of the situation and run nuts. Kristy's convinced she can handle it though. They soon realize that the sitting job is on the same day that Mr Schafer had planned to take everyone to Universal Studios. Kristy doesn't see what the big deal is, and simply gets permission to bring the boys along. Of course, it all goes to shit. The boys run around, keep standing up on the tram, ask to go to the bathroom and then get into a water fight while trying to stick pieces of paper towel to the ceiling... When the tour asks for a child volunteer to demonstrate some of the special effects, and Jeff gets picked instead of them, they're loud and rude and just a nuisance. However at some point, they get scared by the effects, and Kristy tells them that they have to stay with her and Stacey from now on. By Kristy being firm and telling them they have to stay close, they can make it seem like they're not scared and are just following rules. Kristy learns that maybe she doesn't know everything, and that sometimes, being firm is what's needed.

Mary Anne also snags a sitting job with the We ♥ Kids Club. She's sitting for Stephie Robertson, a little girl who is exactly like Mary Anne, only with asthma. Stephie's mother also died when she was a baby, leaving her father to raise her. Stephie is shy, sweet and sensitive. Anyways, she and Mary Anne hit it off, and Mary Anne sits for her a bunch of times. Even though Mary Anne is told that Stephie's asthma is brought on my emotional stress, MA freaks out every time Stephie wants to do something active or is surprised or startled: pretty much anything that would make you take a deep breath. MA also decides to bring Stephie to Universal Studios, figuring the outing would be good for her. When the outing goes off without a hitch, MA finally realizes that Stephie's asthma is not the end of the world, and clearly Stephie can handle it and be a normal kid. Of course, this is the moment where Stephie has an asthma attack. It's MA's last time sitting for her, and Stephie starts to get emotionally distraught by the idea of MA leaving, which gets her crying, which gets her sobbing, which triggers an asthma attack. MA handles it well though, and although she loves Stephie and clearly knows what to do in case of an asthma attack, MA is glad to be going back home and to not have to worry about it anymore.

Random Thoughts:

• For some reason, I always thought this one took place later in the series. I mean, I know there's still another 10 Super Specials and only another 100 books or so left, so it makes sense that every 10 books, there'd be a Super Special, meaning this one would have to happen sooner rather than later, but still! haha
• This one was always one of my favourites. I remember reading it constantly in the summer, along with Super Special #10, Sea City, Here We Come!
• Also: damn, there's a lot of Super Specials in a row! It's only been like, 4 books since the last one!!
• I should have realized that this was one of the earlier ones: Dawn eats chicken!! She's not a super-strict hardcore vegetarian!
• You totes know that if the books were written now, she'd be a hardcore vegan. Maybe even gluten-free haha
• You can tell that AMM wrote this one, because in addition to Dawn not being a super-strict hardcore flanderized vegetarian, Kristy goes to the mall with Dawn and Claudia, and comes away with a matching charm bracelet.
• I guess another reason why I always assumed that this book happened later rather than sooner was because of how prominent Carol is in it. Carol and Mr Schafer don't get married until Super Special #12. They dated for a really really effing long time! haha which is actually realistic.
• It sure is nice for Mr Schafer to let 6 random girls spend two weeks at his place. I hope they all gave him some money, considering how much food they must have eaten!
• How the fuck does Dawn know kids that are 3 or 4 years older than her. When you're a little kid, that is practically another decade... even generation! And this is before California Diaries, where knowing older kids makes sense. And even then, Dawn and her friends were all like, "WTF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS". Uh, wouldn't you know the kids in the grade above you? Anyways, it would've been interesting if Dawn's rand-o surfer friends came up during California Diaries, but nope!
• We find out that one of the kids lives down the street from Dawn, and that Mr Schafer knows all their parents, so maybe the kids live in the neighbourhood, and/or Dawn knew them because their parents all knew each other?
• More foreshadowing on Stacey's diabetes not being good and her health being wonky.
• Poor Carol. She never said that Claudia should change her personality to get a guy. All she started saying was that she knew people who did... but then Dawn cut her off and that was that. Dawn and Claudia then went back to Dawn's room, and acted like all Carol had said was, "People change to impress other people". You totes know Carol was going to say, "I know people who change to please other people... but it usually doesn't end up working and it's best to just be honest and be yourself." Of course, it's really realistic to have a bunch of 13 year old girls take advice wrongly haha
• As someone who is only really driving for the first time, reading of Stacey's car accident was not fun haha
• Dawn would hate me. I'm 27, and I'm fairly "cool". My students always can't believe how much of their stuff I know and like, and will often just enjoy talking to me. Of course, sometimes I'm a total adult, such as assigning homework and making sure everyone is seated and being civilized. But yeah. I don't try to be cool to impress my students. I just act how I always act. It would feel weird and disingenuous to be all like, "I AM AN ADULT! I READ LITERATURE AND DRINK WINE AND CREATE CULINARY CUISINE AND THE ONLY MOVIES I WATCH ARE FOREIGN INDIE FILMS WITH SUBTITLES." Mostly because I do none of that haha
• I also like how Dawn makes it seem like Carol is a bajillion years younger than her father. Yes, Carol is rather young (at age 32, she would have had Dawn at age 19 if she was Dawn's biological mother), but I bet she's probably roughly the same age difference (if not less!) than me and my boyfriend are haha
• Was the Grateful Dead really the kind of band that 10 year old boys listened to in the early 1990s? I always thought that it was weird that Jeff was a fan, and always assumed that nah, it must be a made-up band. It can't be that band!
• For some reason, Claudia always finds Asian boys while she's on vacation, but she never dates them at home haha
• I'm all for Claudia being herself, and I like the idea that Terry, while super intelligent and primarily into indie and niche interests, also enjoys regular every day teen stuffs. However, the moment Claudia writes to him, he's going to see how dumb she is =/
• I'm surprised Dawn didn't spend more time with Sunny and her California friends. Or at least talk about wanting to spend more time with them