BSC #57: Dawn Saves the Planet

 Tagline: She baby-sits, she recycles - she's Super Dawn!

Dawn thinks studying ecology is so cool. For a science project, she and Stacey are even teaching an ecology class to some of their baby-sitting charges. It's fun to get kids excited about cleaning up the earth.

But Dawn isn't through yet. She wants to start a recycling center at SMS. The Baby-sitters and most of the students are all for it, but Dawn needs a lot of help. And lately she's been so busy lecturing people about being environmentally responsible that no one can stand being around her!

Poor Dawn. She's trying to do a good thing - but she's driving everyone crazy!

So we're in Dawn's science class, and her teacher, Mrs Gonzalez, asks if the students think they can save the planet. Dawn, of course, thinks that yes, they can.Their teacher agrees, and assigns them to do an independent study project, where they tackle some sort of global/environmental issue, and try to figure out ways to solve it. Dawn can't wait. She's got all sorts of ideas, and can't get settled on one topic/issue. Stacey, who's in a different science class with Mrs Gonzalez, unfortunately can't think of any. Dawn isn't too worried, saying that they have plenty of time to think of something.

The next day though, Dawn gets some inspiration while sitting for the Barretts. She had checked out some books about ecology and marine life from the library, and starts telling them about how they can save dolphins and other sea creatures. Seeing their enthusiasm, Dawn decides that maybe she could start an after-school ecology club/class for their sitting charges, and use that for her project. Dawn, realizing how big this might be, recruits Stacey, and they get permission from Mrs. Gonzalez to do their project together.

Things get off to a great start. Dawn and Stacey get together and start organizing and planning their curriculum. It's decided that they'll do 6 weeks of classes, and call a number of clients to get them involved. They even agree on a final task, which will be a Green Fair, where their clients will present their own ideas for saving the planet. All in all, Dawn and Stacey are pretty stoked.

Their first class is a success. They do a general overview of recycling and how the Earth isn't as shiny and as clean as it may seem. They teach the children that if they don't take care of the Earth, the Earth might not be around for much longer. They then conclude with an experiment, where they bury an apple core, a piece of lettuce, some Styrofoam and plastic packaging in Stacey's backyard. The girls tell the kids that they'll dig it all up in a few weeks to see what's "good garbage" and what's "bad garbage". They then take the kids home and consider everything to be a success.

Dawn really gets into things, and does all sorts of extra reading. With her mind full of ideas and facts and figures, she ends up going to the next Club meeting with only one thing on her mind: recycling. Turns out that Stoneybrook only has one giant central recycling bin, and it's next to the courthouse. She wants to make the middle school another drop-off location. Everywhere Dawn looks, she sees how wasteful things are and how many more things can be recycled. The Club members laugh it off and mock her a bit for being so dramatic. Dawn gets frustrated, and doubles down on her efforts to raise awareness.

We're then treated to a chapter of Jessi and Mallory baby-sitting for the Pikes. Despite only Vanessa and Nicky being enrolled in Dawn and Stacey's class, the rest of household (including the triplets!) really take the words to heart, and start a "Green Patrol", trying to enforce all sorts of good and ecologically friendly habits. Unfortunately, Jessi and Mallory don't learn fast enough, and are forced to go to "Green School", where they have to recite the rules for saving the planet over and over. This definitely sours them on Dawn and all things ecological.

Meanwhile, Dawn has come up with a complete and comprehensive plan on how to turn SMS into a neighbourhood recycling hub, that will then bring things down to the courthouse for everyone. She runs it by Mrs. Gonzalez, who is 100% supportive of Dawn. Dawn then has to run it by Mr. Kingbridge, the vice-principal. He's definitely interested in what Dawn has to say, and is very impressed by all her planning and foresight, but he's not ready to run with something until she has more support. He gives her a week and a half to get the support of the student body, before he'll agree to move forward with her project.

Dawn gets Mary Anne to help her make a sign and recruit students the next day. Things seem like they're going well. Dawn starts by talking to Erica Blumberg, who's a good student and heavily involved in extra-curriculars. Erica is open to the idea... until Dawn shouts at her for not recyling her soda can. The problem is, there's no place to recycle it! Dawn soon starts lecturing everyone over everything, and as MA points out, alienates people and turns them off from her cause. MA finally gets fed up, and leaves Dawn, citing homework to do. Dawn's all confused though. She doesn't understand how being passionate about something that's so important is a bad thing.

Dawn starts getting progressively more and more bossy. At one of the later eco-classes, Claudia attends with Charlotte, and Claudia sees first-hand how over-the-top Dawn is. Dawn barely lets Stacey get a word in, and kills the children's enthusiasm by chastising them for not spreading the word about recycling. Stacey and Dawn had originally planned on getting the kids to make the flyers, but since she's there, Dawn asks if Claudia can do it, citing that it's more important for the posters to look good. Later on, Stacey calls Claudia to complain. Claudia doesn't think it can be that bad; afterall, Dawn is passionate about such a good cause! However Stacey tells Claudia that if it weren't for the kids, she'd have quit the project a long time ago and have done something on her own. She worries that this project is killing her friendship with Dawn.

Meanwhile, Dawn continues her efforts to get the SMS recyling program going. She spends her week and a half grilling the entire student body, and finally it comes down to them filling out an anonymous survey about their interest. Not only will the survey greenlight the project, but it also asks them to name a person to run it all, with Dawn and Mrs Gonzalez listed (and then an "other" open for suggestions). At the end of the day, all the votes are tallied, and it turns out that yes, the students are definitely interested in recycling! However, to Dawn's dismay, they also voted Mrs Gonzalez, not her, to be head of it all. At first Dawn rationalizes that it's because they'd rather have an adult in charge, but eventually she overhears some of the students talking about how obnoxious she's been lately and how they can't stand her. This really hurts Dawn's feelings, and she breaks down in the bathroom and cries.

Dawn then completely retreats from the SMS recycling program. The day for the grand opening comes, and she hasn't helped at all, nor was she interviewed for the paper or given much credit. All in all, Dawn feels pretty crummy about everything. However, she doesn't fully learn her lesson, as she still bosses Stacey around about their ecology class and is completely overbearing with the Club, trying to get them involved in the Green Fair. Finally, the girls have had enough, and tell Dawn exactly what's going on. Dawn gets sad again, but the girls point out that she had good intentions and that they love that she's passionate: she just needs to tone it down a bit and stop making everyone feel like a criminal. Dawn agrees, and they all make up.

The final event of the story is the Green Fair. After a few hiccups (which really, when you involve that many kids, something's bound to go wrong; overall nothing disastrous), things start really picking up. All the parents are impressed by how enthusiastic the kids are, and how much they've learned. Mrs Gonzalez shows up to support Dawn and Stacey. The kids raise a lot of money and a lot of awareness. Dawn and Stacey decide to donate all the money raised to the new SMS recycling program.

Lastly, Dawn and Stacey turn in their final reports for their projects. To show their own individual work, they each wrote separate personal essays for their own reports, detailing what they learned from the project. Stacey writes about becoming more aware, and wanting to continue studying ecology in the future. Dawn writes about how while recycling is important, she learned even more about herself and how to deal with her passions and others. Mrs. Gonzalez is impressed, and tells Dawn that she knows that Dawn is disappointed by how the SMS recycling program all went down. She offers to let Dawn be co-leader, provided that the students agree with a vote. Dawn doesn't think they will, but Mrs Gonzalez says that Dawn's learned a lot over the past two months, and that she has no doubt that Dawn will be a better leader for it. Dawn walks away from the whole experience with an A, and a new outlook on life.


Random Thoughts:

• I have never read this one before! But I know that it generally involves Dawn starting with a good idea/intentions, but making a giant nuisance of herself haha
• Dawn looks sooooo snooty on the cover! Her nose is literally in the air!
• Huh. On the re-print editions (the ones with their faces going down the left-hand side of the book, the way all the later ones were published by default), they kept everything the same, EXCEPT Dawn. They put in a completely different Dawn. She's in front of the exact same kids, pointing to the exact same chart (looks like they kept her hands!) but they changed her. Now she's looking at the kids, and she's smiling, and she's in an outfit that I more associate with Dawn (still jeans, but now a sleeveless button-up tank in blue).
• Also: I never read the book synopsis on the back before I start reading these. I'm very glad I didn't this time! It really gives everything away!
• This one has TWO ghost writers!
• I love how even in the early '90s, climate change and how much we're fucking up the Earth was already a thing. It's been nearly 3 decades later, and we're still having these discussions and debates and assigning these projects to our kids. WHY HAVEN'T WE LEARNED FROM DAWN AND THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB???
• They write Dawn to be sooooooooooo smug even right from the get-go. I'm already not looking forward to reading this one.
• Whoa. Dawn describes Kristy as having chin-length hair in this one. Most of the books just mention the hair colour and that it's always in a ponytail. I was always under the impression that it was at least shoulder-length. Chin length seems super short!
• Dawn also describes Stacey as very thin, citing her diabetes as the reason for her thinness. Now, I'm not an expert, and I realize that there have been great medical advances in the past 20 years... but every teen I know who has diabetes (and who is treating it properly with diet and injections and/or whatever else their doctor prescribes) is pretty average. Some of them are heavier than others, some are thin, but they're generally no different than the other kids, other than that they seem unusually pale at times or tired. No one is ever "Omg you're sooooo skinny! Diabetes man!"
• Definitely a sign of the times: I'm not surprised that Stoneybrook only has one recycling facility, but I am surprised that people need to bring their recyclables there themselves. I was part of an ecology club in my elementary school when I was in grade 1, and I think that's when there was a big push for public recycling, which was 1995. I don't think I'd recycle, nor my parents would, if our recycling wasn't just automatically picked up by the city with the garbage. I'm all for sorting my own shit and separating the garbage from the green bin from the black bin from the blue bin. But if I had to drive to dispose of all of it? Yeahhhhh... that wouldn't be happening. 
• I feel a bit bad for Dawn, in that she's really passionate about this thing, and no one seems to care. Furthermore, it's not like she's being passionate over a boy band or a fad: taking care of the planet is important! For everyone! But at the same time, she goes about it the wrong way. However, she's 13, so this is fairly realistic.
• I can't believe the Pikes regularly and normally use paper cups and plates! Wtf!
• I have to admit, I'm really impressed with Dawn's plan. I don't think I could come up with something like that to implement in my school NOW, and I'm a TEACHER.
• Whoa. They just mentioned Amelia Freeman! I haven't read the book yet, but I know she's the student who dies in #93 from being hit by a drunk driver. I didn't realize she pops up this early! Damn!
• I just checked, and it's the same two ghostwriters. I wonder if they based Amelia on someone they knew? Or if they just thought, "Hey, for continuity, we should try to mention these 5 random students in the background at least once in our books!" and then when it came time to kill someone, they were like, "Ooooh! It can be one of the characters we mentioned, so it's not a complete rand-o!"?
• I think it's realistic, but completely crazy, that Dawn would think that the students would vote for her to be in charge of the SMS recyling initiative, instead of Mrs Gonzalez. 1) Mrs Gonzalez is a teacher, and therefore more likely to be able to keep up with doing stuff and the responsibilities and have some pull and sway with admin, and 2) Mrs Gonzalez hasn't been shouting at and lecturing students day and night about it!
• Wtf would Dawn and Stacey have to do to get an A+??? They taught a class, spread awareness, organized an educational fair with little kids, raised money, and then donated it to a good cause! That is going above and beyond. Furthermore, Mrs Gonzalez should have taken into account Dawn's extra planning and side project of the SMS recycling program, and at the very least boosted her mark to an A+ because of that. Like, omg!

BSC #54: Mallory's Dream Horse

Tagline: Mallory's gone horse crazy!

Mallory loves horses. She loves reading about them. She loves writing about them. And most of all, she loves daydreaming about them.

Then Mallory's parents agree to let her take professional riding lessons. It's a dream come true! Mallory is so excited she can hardly concentrate the the BSC meetings anymore. But then the lessons begin and Mallory discovers that dreaming about horses can be a lot more fun than actually riding them.

The book starts off with Jessi and Mallory hanging out at Mallory's house after school. They're reading horse books and talking about how much they love horses. Claire comes into the room, using a mop as a pretend-horse. The girls then decide to go downstairs and watch The Black Stallion, while continuing their conversation about horses. They talk about their dreams, and Mallory says she wishes she could ride a horse all the time.

A few days later, Mallory gets a chance. She's checking the mail, and apparently there's a stable just outside of Stoneybrook giving 8-week courses. Mallory takes the brochure to the Club meeting, and her and Jessi decide that they want to sign up for lessons together. Everything is perfect and Mallory can't wait. She rushes home and puts together a strategy to approach her parents. At first her parents are hesitant, but Mallory wears them down, promising them that it was just a temporary expense and that she'd pay for half. Finally, they agree, and Mallory excitedly goes to tell Jessi the good news.

Sadly, Jessi's parents decide that with all of Jessi's ballet lessons, she doesn't really have the time or money to also do horseback riding. Mallory feels bad for Jessi, but mostly she's disappointed because it means that she has to do the lessons alone. Jessi's definitely jealous and sad, but Mallory's too busy dreaming of riding to really notice.

Mallory's first class is not quite what she expected. Her instructor is very cool, has a British accent and looks like she's stepped off the cover of one of Mallory's horse novels. However, the rest of the class is less than welcoming. Mallory instantly feels left out, as everyone else has proper riding gear, and Mallory's wearing a hodgepodge of things. Everyone seems vaguely standoff-ish, and Mallory is very self-conscious. She does alright in the class, but still feels as though everyone is judging her. However, she survives and things are made better by the fact that she spots her dream horse. Turns out that all the horses in the class belong to the stable, which means Mallory will get to ride him if she wants. Mallory quickly forgets about all the bad stuff, and rushes home to gush to Jessi about her dream horse. She tells Jessi about how wonderful the class is, which of course makes Jessi feel terrible. Mallory can't figure it out though.

At Mallory's second lesson, she makes it a point to go up to as many people as she can and introduce herself. It's apparent to the reader that the other students are only being polite, but Mallory seems to think she's made friends and invites them all to phone her and/or hangout. She also gets to ride her dream horse, which makes things even better. She calls Jessi to tell her all about it, and again, completely alienates her. Mallory goes on and on about how this riding class is just the most important thing in her life right now, and about all the friends she made and how they'll be calling her soon. Jessi, understandably upset, makes excuses to get off the phone. Mallory can tell that something's wrong, but has no idea what it is. She tells herself that it doesn't matter, because she has all these fabulous new riding friends, only then she realizes that she has no way of contacting them. A week passes, and Mallory realizes that not only do she and Jessi not talk, but that none of her supposed new riding friends call her.

Mallory's third lesson is a disaster. Not only do none of the kids really acknowledge her, but she ends up with a nightmare of a horse, and gets bucked right off. Mallory's alright, but badly winded and shaken, so her mom picks her up and takes her to the ER, just in case. Of course, Mallory's crying because of the shock to her system, and the rest of the class is giggling at her. Poor Mallory!

Mallory's mom wants her to give up the lessons, but Mallory's dad says that it should be Mallory's choice. Mallory is feeling pretty embarrassed by the whole situation and doesn't want to compound things further by quitting, so she insists on seeing this through. Her parents agree, so long as she doesn't ride that same horse again. The horse gets replaced, but it doesn't matter: Mallory's confidence is shaken and she's now terrified of riding any horse. She's completely miserable and dreads lessons. Worse, she has to suffer alone, because she doesn't want to admit to her parents that after all the begging she did and the all the money she spent, she hates the lessons. Of course, Jessi still isn't talking to her, because last she heard, riding was the most amazing thing ever. Poor, poor Mallory!

Mallory continues to struggle in class, and the kids are pretty mean about it. However, Mallory thinks she's gotten her big break when one of the girls invites the whole class to her birthday party. Mallory is excited, and spends several days agonizing over what to wear. It becomes apparent that she was trying to dress to impress when she shows up all dressed up, and everyone else is wearing bright and funky teen clothes. Being a rich girl, the party is way out of Mallory's league: about 50 kids, a pool, large sound system with giant TV screens playing MTV. Mallory tries to introduce herself, but obviously no one wants to hang out with the shy awkward kid, so they all quickly make excuses to be elsewhere. Mallory spends the party awkwardly hanging out by the foods table, counting down the minutes til her mom gets her. Upon getting home, Mallory immediately calls Jessi, wanting to fix their friendship and tell her everything. Mallory flubs her words though, and it sounds like she's calling Jessi to humble-brag about the "awful cool kids party with all the music and pizza and stuff". Again, Jessi is all distant, and Mallory realizes that she wants to tell Jessi the truth about how awful riding has been, but that she can't seem to find the words. Instead, Mallory awkwardly ends the phone call, and goes to bed feeling worse than ever.

Eventually, Mallory is down to her last lesson. She should be relieved, but the last lesson signifies a riding showcase. Mallory had hoped to skip the riding showcase, but her parents find out about it and are all excited. The Club finds out too, and they're happy for Mallory, asking her if she's ready for it. Mallory then breaks down and admits how miserable she's been. On the way home, Jessi confronts her about everything, and admits that she was jealous about how great Mallory made everything sound. Mallory realizes how ridiculous she had been and unfair to Jessi. They reconcile and everything is right again.

Finally it's the day of the showcase. Mallory gets to ride her dream horse, which is the only consolation for her. Her instructor lends her a proper riding habit, so Mallory doesn't stand out in the class. Jessi calls to wish her luck, and everything goes well. Mallory is extremely nervous at the show, but with her family and the Club to cheer her on, she gets through it. She even comes in 6th place in her class, exactly in the middle! Her parents are super proud of her, and even offer to pay for the next 8 weeks of lessons. Mallory then confesses to her parents that she hadn't really enjoyed herself much, and that she'd rather not continue. Her parents are surprised, and ask if she's sure. Mallory is: she'd much rather look at horses than ride them!

There's two subplots in this one. Cuz y'know, Mallory can't have a whole book to herself! haha

The main subplot is that Nina Marshall has just started preschool and is having a hard time. She's having separation anxiety and refuses to leave her blanket, Blankie, behind. The other kids notice, and it's really getting her down. The girls try to find ways to convince Nina that she doesn't need him, but Nina remains firm. Then one day, Dawn arrives to baby-sit, only to be told that Blankie is in the dryer. When the dryer is done, Dawn goes to take Blankie out. However, Blankie is so old and worn through that he starts tearing and disintegrating. Nina is, of course, completely devastated. With some quick thinking, Dawn is able to convince Nina that this is for the best: Blankie is now in small little travel-sized pieces. Dawn shows Nina how to hide Blankie so that he'll always be with her, but now he'll be her little secret. It all ends well!

The second subplot is that the younger Pikes decide to put on a talent show with the kids from the neighbourhood. It's super lame. Buddy gets Pow to do tricks, Sean Addison apparently can play the tuba, Nicky learns to walk on stilts, and a few other things.

Random Thoughts:

• I have always hated this book and was not looking forward to reading it. At all.
• And now that I have, I was right. I really did not like this book.
• It's funny, because what frustrates me so much is that Mallory is an oblivious little brat in this: but technically she's acting exactly like an 11 year old! A realistic 11 year old! I guess I got so used to these girls being mightier and holier than thou.
• But yeah. How could Mallory not realize that Jessi was upset at being left out of riding? It's super obvious to the readers, but yeah. I guess that's kinda realistic haha
• I really really really liked Mallory's outfit for the party: gold and brown kilt, matching gold cotton sweater, penny loafers. It's totes the exact kind of outfit I'd wear now as a teacher, when I'm trying to pretend to be a grown-up haha But yeahhhhh... definitely a faux pas for a cool kids party at age 11
• I love how Blankie is such a big deal, but we never ever heard of him before haha
• Why the fuck would Jessi and Mallory ever want to hang out at Mallory's house if they're not baby-sitting? Okay, maybe once or twice, but seriously? If I was Mallory, I'd be looking for every excuse I could find to get out of the house!
• I love how Mallory's parents are all like, "Ehhhh... we can't really a one-time 8-week course on horseback riding lessons..." when they've apparently been paying for Jordan to have piano lessons for quite some time!
• Now that I think of it: what the hell is up with that?? How come Jordan is the only kid who gets to take lessons? I mean, I imagine the rest aren't too keen on piano in particular, but are you saying none of the other kids have ever wanted to do lessons or a sport? I mean, I guess the triplets do Little League (wow! Jordan gets to do TWO things??), but the rest of the kids either do nothing, or do the Krushers, which is free. Mallory asks to do horseback riding lessons, and her parents are suddenly all quibbling. Granted, Mallory did mention that the full price is quite a bit, but that with her covering half, they would be less than Jordan's piano lessons, but still! Poor Mallory has to pay for 8 lousy lessons, and Jordan gets to do all the piano lessons he wants, not to mention him and the twins doing Little League! haha
• Man, in the past year or two, reading BSC blogs and other BSC fandom things, I read that apparently fans generally conclude that AMM must have hated Mallory, because she's either a total loser or just has the worse luck. I remember her not exactly being the coolest of the girls, but yeahhhhhh... Now that I'm re-reading the series, Mallory really does get the short end of the stick. She's written as a total dweeb in this one, socially awkward, trying to impress cool kids, and then gets thrown off her horse and is terrified of riding for the rest of the book!

BSC #47: Mallory on Strike

Tagline: How could Mallory ever get tired of baby-sitting?

Mallory couldn't imagine not being in a big family like hers. There's always someone to do things with, and she likes to help take care of her younger brothers and sisters.

But now Mallory's working on an important writing project, and she needs peace and quiet. So why won't everyone leave her alone? Nicky needs help tying his shoes, Claire wants a sandwich, and soeone has to break up the fight among the triplets.

Mallory feelings like a baby-sitting slave.

And there's only one thing to do: This Baby-sitter is going on strike!

Mallory is at school and is sitting in a special creative writing class. She's especially happy and excited because her teacher just announced a special writing contest that will culminate in a celebration called Young Author's Day. It's in 4 weeks, and Mallory knows she just has to win! She wants to win the Best Overall Fiction for the Sixth Grade category. Mallory rushes home, intending to get all of her homework done and out of the way that afternoon, so that when she gets home from her Club meeting, she can dedicate the whole weekend to coming up with the perfect story.

Things quickly go awry for Mallory though. Upon getting home, she discovers the triplets terrorizing Claire, who for some reason is under the impression that their mother is kidnapped. Mallory gets the boys to go outside, but then has to take Claire around to find their mother. Instead, they find Margo, who has gotten into all the make-up. Mallory manages to hand Claire and Margo off to Vanessa, but no sooner has Mallory sat down before Nicky comes bursting into her room, having lost their pet hamster Frodo in the house. Mallory helps him search, and the next thing she knows, it's 5:15 and time for the Club meeting. Feeling overwhelmed, Mallory heads to the meeting, having not done any of her homework. There, she has to turn down a 4-Saturday job with the Hobarts, because she wants to be able to concentrate on her writing. Mallory feels like she's letting the Club down.

Mallory's weekend doesn't get any better. She wakes up especially early, with the intent on finishing all her homework and then spending the rest of the weekend working on her novel. Two hours later, she's all finished, just in time for breakfast. She helps her mom to serve the family, and then kicks Vanessa out of their room so she can work. However, her parents soon need her to help baby-sit for half an hour while they go check out a yard sale. Although they are true to their word and are only gone for half an hour, the rest of the day doesn't go much better for Mallory. She's constantly disrupted and disturbed, never having more than half an hour at a time to settle in. 6 hours later, all she has to prove for her efforts is a single sentence.

At school, Mallory feels awful because she hasn't gotten much done on her story. Her teacher seems disappointed as well, making Mallory feel worse. She decides to set up a schedule for herself, allotting specific time for homework and specific time for writing. Unfortunately, she keeps getting interrupted and doesn't much get to adhere to the schedule. Finally, it's Friday afternoon, and to Mallory's delight, she's left alone all afternoon. She gets a solid 2 hours of writing done, but loses track of time and is late to a Club meeting. After turning down two jobs, the Club asks her what's wrong, and she explodes, explaining that she's really stressed, under pressure and doesn't have enough time for her writing. The Club is sympathetic, although Kristy expresses displeasure at Mallory having turned down jobs. This makes Mallory feel even worse.

She then has a job with the Barretts, something that had been scheduled before the writing contest was announced. The kids are driving her crazy and while she's trying to help out Marnie (who's only a baby), Buddy and Suzy knock over a bag of flour in the kitchen. Which wouldn't be too bad, except before Mallory can really stop them, they decide to mop up with water, creating a bigger mess. Then Suzy lets the dog in, and it's more than Mallory can handle. She tells them that enough is enough, she'll clean up the mess. While she's doing that, Buddy asks if he can ride his bike, and Mallory says sure, as long as he takes the dog with him. Then Suzy takes Marnie away to go clean up. Just as Mallory is getting a handle on things and putting stuff away, she hears a cry from outside. Buddy's gotten tangled up in his bike, and has cut the bottom of his foot. Turns out that since Mallory wasn't there to supervise and tell him instructions exactly, Buddy decided to go bike riding without any shoes. In the moment, Mallory handles it well, and Mrs Barrett soon returns, but overall Mallory feels terrible for being such a bad and irresponsible baby-sitter.

Enough is enough. At the next Club meeting, Mallory asks to be demoted to associate member. If Kristy won't let her, then she'll outright quit. The Club is flabbergasted, and the girls all try to talk Mallory out of it. She won't budge though. Mallory is at the end of her rope, and it's time she starts taking a stand! Kristy tells Mallory to take time off for the next two weeks (which is when the writing contest is over), and says that if after the writing contest is done and everything has settled, if Mallory still wants to quit, they'll let her. Mallory agrees, and heads home from her last meeting for awhile.

It's Saturday again, and there's only one more week left to finish her story. Mallory is all set for a day of work, when she realizes that she probably won't get much (or any) done. She then decides to go on strike. She tells her whole family off and locks herself in her room. Her parents, true to their word that they won't disturb her, then hire Mary Anne and Dawn for a last minute baby-sitting emergency. When Mary Anne goes to check on Mallory, she finds out what happened, Mary Anne points out that although striking worked that day, Mallory's parents still don't really know how Mallory is feeling. She encourages Mallory to speak to her parents.

So Mallory does. She tells her parents how she feels stressed and taken advantage of. Her parents apologize and decide to give her an entire day to herself: a Mallory Appreciation Day. Since Mallory made so much progress on her story, she decides to take the day immediately. The next day, she and Jessi head to the mall. They spend the whole morning there (2 hours to be exact) and then get lunch, go to a movie, and eat ice cream sundaes. At the end of it all, Mallory is feeling much better, and is even missing her siblings.

Finally, the big day has arrived. It's Young Author's Day, and the middle school is host to all sorts of guest speakers and workshops. Mallory has a blast, and of course wins first place in the Best Overall Fiction for the Sixth Grade category. Everything is perfect. To make it all up to her siblings, she takes them on their own special day, and all is right in the world. Mallory decides that she could never ever quit baby-sitting.

There's no subplot in this one. Instead, the chapters of baby-sitting are dedicated to the Club sitting for Mallory's siblings, and reflecting on Mallory's situation. Jessi has to look after Margo and Claire while Mallory goes to the orthodontist, and the rest of the kids go shoe shopping. Margo and Claire are mad at Mallory because she won't play with them and is crabby. Jessi tries to get them to work out their feelings, but it ends with them making a mean play about Mallory, which obviously upsets her.

At some point Kristy gets a chapter, where she feels like she gets a taste of what Mallory must face. She was planning on going shopping with Mary Anne when her parents suddenly need her to baby-sit due to an emergency. It's raining outside, and the kids are all cranky. David Michael invited a friend over, and Kristy is less than pleased to now be stuck with five kids. However, his friend's parents aren't too pleased to find them at home without an adult, and decide not to let him stay. They instead invite David Michael over. However, since this friend is new, and Kristy knows that their parents haven't met him or his parents, she decides that it'd be best not to let DM go over either. This sets him off and he storms up to his room. The remaining three kids aren't much better, with the cat eating their lunch and Andrew dropping a glass and shattering it. Suddenly, Kristy feels a lot more sympathetic to Mallory's plight.

Random Thoughts:

• This one has TWO ghostwriters! Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner
• Right in the beginning, Mallory describes her family (herself included!) as having chestnut brown hair! From what I can tell, that's a dark brown with some reddish overtones. Definitely a brown, and not a red. Then why is Mallory always drawn and described as a redhead???
• Mallory's parents are horrible. They just take advantage of her. It's not even like she wants to be left alone to hang out with friends. As we know, before she met Jessi, she didn't even have any friends! She said she never needed them/got a chance to know them because she was always so busy with her family!
• That being said, I don't know why Mallory didn't just go to the school library or the public library right after school. She could've gotten 2 hours of solid, uninterrupted work time in. It's not like her parents could be like, "No! You have to come home and fix Nicky's finger and play with Claire, and make a snack for Margo, and mediate the triplets!!!" Even they would realize how ridiculous that sounded. It's easy to lose track of how many random and meaningless tasks they're asking of her when they do it in the moment when she's around. I mean, it wouldn't have solved anything in the long-run, but as a short-term solution, there's merits.
• I hope the writing contest was opened to the whole school. They made it seem like only the writing club would be participating, and that's only 10 members! I'd like to think that there's a writer out there who's better than Mallory, but doesn't have the time or patience or need for the club haha 
• I find it hard to believe that the Pikes would let Mallory cut up their family photos to create a collage for book cover. I know that with the negatives, you can get re-prints done, but I remember as a child my parents being super strict about family photos. We always got doubles of everything, and anything I wanted to take to school or use for a school project, it had to be a photo we had a double of, and even then, I had to take very good care of it and not do anything permanent to it. I'm definitely glad that digital photos exist now, so I can print and re-print photos all I want for all my art project needs haha
• I'm glad that Kristy was able to sympathize with Mallory, but one inconvenienced afternoon is nothing compared to what Mallory puts up with. Mallory's family is always 6 younger siblings, and they live in a regular-sized house, where everyone has to share rooms. Kristy's family may be large, but they live in a mansion, where everyone gets their own bedroom, even Karen and Andrew who only live there some of the time. Furthermore, even with Karen and Andrew around, Kristy only has 4 younger siblings, and most of the time, it's really only 2. The rest of the household is older, meaning there's always 5 people to share in the child-rearing duties. That's 6 baby-sitting aged people (Kristy plus her older siblings, plus the adults) for at most 4 children. As opposed to Mallory's family, which is 3 baby-sitting aged people for 6 children.
• This book, plus a few comments from one of my students, plus some new reviews on an old fanfic I wrote a few years ago, really make me miss writing. Maybe in the new year I can set up a schedule and get back into it. I need time to read, to write, to crochet and to run haha
• I know they say to write what you know, but Mallory's story is a bit too on the nose: it's about a girl who feels neglected by her parents. Her older sister is an academic star, but her younger brother is a troublemaker, leaving her caught in the middle. Oddly enough, it does sound exactly like the kind of novel you'd find in an elementary school library haha