BSC #59: Mallory Hates Boys (and Gym)

Tagline: Boys and gym. What a disgusting combination!

Mallory has never been a sports person. in fact, you could say gym is her least favourite subject. But now Mal's worst subject has turned into an absolute nightmare. Gym class has gone co-ed!

Mal feels totally gross in her ugly, oversized gym suit. And once they boys find out she can't play volleyball, they decide to make her life miserable.

Mal's always hated gym. But she's beginning to hate boys even more!

Right away, we're thrown into the busy pandemonium that is the Pike household. Mrs Pike tries to kick everyone outside, which is good because Mallory invited Ben Hobart over for a study session, but the quiet ends up being short-lived when the boys all come back in the house to bother Mallory and tease her about her ~*~boyfriend~*~. This leads to Mallory and Ben relocating to the Hobart residence, where Mallory was treated to a nice quiet household, younger brothers who do their own thing away from her and Ben, and homemade chocolate cake. Ben assures Mallory that it's not always like this, but Mallory sees the Hobart residence as heaven.

Things kick off though when Mallory goes back to school, and it's time to start a new unit in gym class. To Mallory's horror, not only is it volley-ball, but it's being done co-ed with the boys' gym class. At first, Mallory tries to stay home from school, but the rest of her siblings want to jump on the bandwagon, so that ends things quickly. Next, Mallory decides she's going to pretend to faint in the changeroom, just before class, so she won't even have to change. But then she gets nervous, waits too long, and "faints" with no witnesses. The phys. ed. teacher just tells her to haul her butt out into the gym.

The good news is that the teams are picked at random, so Mallory doesn't have to worry about one of her classmates deliberately picking her last. Unfortunately, once the game gets started, things go very very bad. The athletic boys on the opposing team purposefully target the ball right at her, and she keeps ducking or running away. A boy on her team tries to get the ball in her stead, but ends up plowing into Mallory when she doesn't get out of the way fast enough. Her gym teacher keeps yelling out advice to Mallory, but Mallory just feels even more singled out and targeted. All in all, it's an absolutely miserable experience for her.

Mallory's day doesn't get any better when she shows up at the Newtons for a baby-sitting job. Mrs Newton warns Mallory that Jamie's been acting up lately, but Mallory assures her that everything is going to be okay. Unfortunately, it isn't, and Jamie spends the whole time being a brat. He breaks all his crayons and throws them at Lucy's bedroom door while she's napping, claiming he's making "rockets". Then he screams that he wants to call and hang out with his friend, which wakes up Lucy. Then while Lucy's getting changed, Jamie runs off and hides, frightening Mallory. Eventually Mallory finds him, and they get into a juvenile insult match, before Jamie starts running around the house again. He eventually knocks over a vase, and then cuts himself on one of the glass shards. As Mallory tries to clean him up, Jamie fights and screams, acting more like Mallory's trying to amputate his finger than put a band-aid on it.!

Meanwhile, Jessi has her own baby-sitting woes with her siblings, in particular Squirt, who's being a handful. This leads Mallory to the come to the conclusion that all boys are awful! This is further reinforced during her next gym class, where things aren't any better. She gets clobbered in the face by the ball, and while the boy who served it apologizes, Mallory's had enough. She snaps at him, she snaps at her gym teacher, and gets sent off the court for the rest of class. Mallory goes home where her mom leaves her in charge of her siblings, because she has to pick up Margo from school. The boys annoy Mallory, and she runs to her room to wallow in despair.

Mallory eventually comes to the conclusion that if she benches herself, she won't have to play volley-ball. At first, she has an internal conflict, warring over her need to be good and have an unblemished school record, but eventually she decides to go through with it. It leads to her getting detention. Mallory muses that this might be the start of her descent into a life of mischief and crime, but ultimately decides that detention isn't so bad when she realizes that she can do her homework in peace and quiet, completely undisturbed. No volley-ball and time to do homework? This seems like a win to Mallory, until she's told that her parents will receive a written notification about her detention. This leads Mallory deciding that she'll just have to commit mail fraud and intercept the mail every day for the next few weeks, until the volley-ball unit and all her detentions are over.

At the next Club meeting, Mallory declares in front of everyone (including Logan, who was attending the meeting) that boys are pains and that they are no good. She mentions that Logan and Ben may be the exceptions (Ben waited after school for Mallory, even though her detention), but that overall, boys sucked. Later, Jessi tries talking to Mallory, saying that she's just equating boys with her hatred for volley-ball. Mallory insists that they're one and the same: boys love volley-ball, so volley-ball is horrible just like boys. When Jessi tries to tell Mallory that she likes volley-ball, Mallory stubbornly ignores her.

Eventually, Mallory sits for the Hobart boys, and realizes that they're perfectly fine. She then comes to the conclusion that it's because they're foreign, and that there must be something about the way Stoneybrook raises children that's adversely affecting the boys. Mallory eventually decides it's because of phys. ed., and how much importance is placed on boys and sports and winning. Mallory keeps contemplating all this while the Hobart boys calmly watch a martial arts film. Eventually Ben returns home, and is surprised at how good his brothers are being. Mallory cannot believe him, and keeps telling him how she'd trade brothers with him any day.

It comes to Mallory's attention that by constantly sitting out phys. ed., she runs the risk of failing, so she decides to try volley-ball again. Her teammates don't greet her warmly, and eventually Mallory gives up again. Instead of barking out encouragement, her teacher tries to actually talk to Mallory about what's going on. However, she ends up just further creating resentment in Mallory by equating quitting volley-ball in gym class to being a failure in life, and Mallory just doubles down on her detentions. Since clearly detention isn't a deterrent for Mallory, she instead gets assigned to wash all the pinnies from the phys. ed. classes using the washing machines in the home ec. room. This humiliates Mallory, as she has to keep the classroom door open, and everyone in her class stops by to tease her.

So things continue, with the Club members having trouble with the boys they sit for, and Mallory having trouble with phys. ed. class and the boys in her class. Then Mallory forgets to get the mail, and her parents finally find out about the detention. Her mom sits down and talks to Mallory, and Mallory breaks down crying, explaining everything. Her mom talks her through things, and Mallory realizes how good it feels to cry and get it all out and to stop trying to act so tough. She promises her mother to talk to her teacher and actually try volley-ball.

So Mallory talks to her teacher, and although her teacher isn't willing to make someone sit out and give Mallory pointers, she does offer to talk to the boys' gym teacher and have them lay off Mallory a bit. She points out that in terms of game strategy, they're playing exactly right, but that she can see how it's getting on Mallory's nerves and making her life miserable. Mallory survives the last 4 sessions of volley-ball, but is ultimately happy when it's over. Unfortunately for her, she now has to worry about getting impaled by arrows, as they're doing archery next and it's still with the boys. However, unlike volley-ball, there's a sense of order and precision to archery. Because of the high risk factor, everything has to be done on command: everyone shoots together, everyone retrieves together. Also: everyone was on even ground, because it was everyone's first time doing archery. Because of how few people could shoot at a time, Mallory gets lots of time to watch people and absorb the instructions and think about it. When she goes to shoot, she finds she can't even draw back the string, but her teacher then gives her a smaller bow. With a lighter bow, Mallory is actually able to shoot, and is actually pretty good at it! By the end of class, Mallory has a bull's-eye, and her teacher asks her to try out for the school's archery team!

Mallory then spends time agonizing over whether she should even bother trying out. Eventually, she does and predictably makes the team. When she gets home, she finds that her brothers had baked a cake for her and written "Congratulations Mallory" on it (well, as best they could haha). This proves to Mallory that maybe boys and gym aren't all bad all  the time.

The "subplot" in this one is all of Mallory's wanting to switch brothers with Ben coming to fruition. They switch brothers for one night. Mallory's expecting a night of peace, but what she gets is terror. First, the boys are really excited about bunk beds and sharing one room for all of them. They've always wanted bunk beds, and sharing one room made it seem even more like a sleepover party. Then Mallory introduces them to the rec room, which they interpret as the "wreck" room, and get excited about a place they're allowed to make a mess in (they have a living room and a den at their place). The girls get really excited about their guests, and teach the boys all about jumping up and down on furniture, which is something they apparently don't do at their home. The Pike household also had all sorts of games and things that the Hobarts weren't used to, and they weren't used to sitting at such an unusual dining space for dinner. (The Hobarts have a dining table that seats 6: their parents at either end, with two boys on each side on their own chair; the Pikes have a long table with bench-like seating, almost like a giant indoor picnic table.) Then with so many "siblings" to distract them, the boys couldn't settle for bed, and the girls were excited for new guests, and they tried telling scary stories and having one giant slumber party in the boys' room. Mallory cannot believe it, and can't wait to swap back with Ben. The night-time doesn't get any better, as the boys can't sleep all in the same room and bunk beds prove to be too distracting for them. Eventually Ben calls Mallory and asks if she wants to swap back. Mallory is expecting Ben to tell her how terrible her brothers were, but he says they were perfect guests and tells her about all the special things they did together. It makes Mallory realize that boys are boys, and to appreciate her own siblings a bit more.

Random Thoughts:

• I don't remember liking this one. At all. I also get this one and Mallory on Strike mixed up. 
• I like how right on the first page, Mallory goes into her rec room, declares that it's pandemonium, and proceeds to repeat herself because "no one had paid any attention to me the first time". It's such a childish thing to do!
• I always like when the ghost writers take time to single Byron out as being quieter, more sensitive, not as athletic as the other two triplets.
• This book always makes me glad I only had one sibling, and that we were far enough apart in  age that I never saw him! It also makes me very very very glad I live alone now!
• Also: thanks to Mallory gushing over Mrs Hobart's homemade chocolate cake, now I want chocolate cake! The problem is: I'm not generally a fan of chocolate cake, so there's no point in my buying or baking an entire cake just for myself! haha
• In my middle school, we were allowed to wear our own clothes for phys. ed. class. In high school, we were given school t-shirts that we were expected to wear (the t-shirts came in 4 colours, and were evenly distributed, so it was a quick and easy way to always establish teams) but we could wear whatever we wanted on the bottom. I can't imagine having a standardized gym uniform. I felt ugly and awkward enough doing phys. ed., and I got to wear whatever I wanted!
• That being said, unlike Mallory, I always loved volley-ball. It was the sport I was best at (which really isn't saying much haha)! In middle school, our phys. ed. classes were segregated, but volleyball was one of the units we did together due to the limited amount of nets you could set up in the half-gym (in the half-gym, you only got 2 nets [one in each half, so each gym class would only have one court to play on]... in the full gym, you could get 3!)
• As annoying as Mallory's whining and moaning is, I have to admit, it's probably fairly realistic. I was fairly over-dramatic as a preteen/teen (I still am!) and I definitely was not the biggest fan of phys. ed.
• Her pretending to faint reminds me of how she pretended (and then actually did!) sprain her ankle to get out of the Sports Festival thing.
• Mallory notices that Jamie is acting up, deduces that he's probably feeling jealousy or resentment towards Lucy... but she still then goes on to gush about Lucy and talk about Lucy and be like, "OMG JAMIE, LUCY HAS CHANGED SO MUCH SINCE I LAST SAW HER, THIS IS GREAT!" Like, wow, baby-sitter of the year here haha
• Again, this just served to remind me how much I'm glad I don't have children and that I live alone! haha
• As juvenile and stubborn as Mallory is being, she actually does somewhat have a point about the way boys are taught in phys. ed. and how girls are taught in phys. ed. It's part of this toxic masculinity that makes boys feel like they have to be the strongest and the winningest at everything.
• I hate however how when Jessi says she doesn't mind volley-ball, Mallory is a jerk to her and just insists that Jessi is being crazy and has taken one too many balls to the head.
• I think part of what makes the Hobarts act up at the Pike household and the Pikes behave in the Hobart household is how the households are. It's hard to see yourself as a guest when it's a house full of children and the Pikes are clearly lackadaisical about child-rearing, whereas the in the Hobart household, everything is quiet and calm, so the Pike boys are able to better see themselves as guests and behave accordingly. Furthermore, Mrs Hobart made them a special dinner and they ate in a dining room, further reinforcing their status as guests. This is even lampshaded by Matthew telling Ben, "We had a great time. They have bunk beds and you can do whatever you want here."
• I have always wanted to do archery. I think I might do it this year! I'm sure I'll be terrible haha
• I can sympathize with Mallory not wanting to try out for the archery team. I spent my childhood and adolescence believing that I was terrible at sports (and while I generally wasn't great, I wasn't terrible either; I mostly lacked confidence. There were a few sports I enjoyed that if I had had more self-confidence and put more effort into, I probably would've been pretty good at!), and so that meant I could never do anything even remotely athletic. At all. It's taken a few years, but I now actually enjoy physical activity! I'm still not great at it, and I would definitely never call myself an athlete, but it's something I can do and feel proud of myself for.
• We of course, never hear about Mallory doing archery ever again. Never.

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 #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 Mystery #3: Mallory and the Ghost Cat

Tagline: It looks and sounds like a cat- but is it real?

One night when Mallory is baby-sitting for the Craines, she hears a cat crying somewhere in the house. But the Craines don't own a pet. So Mallory and the girls go exploring - and discover a mysterious white cat hiding in the attic. They name him Ghost Cat, and the mystery is solved. They think.

Until Mallory and the girls continue to hear eerie cries coming from the attic. If Ghost Cat is sitting right there with them, who - or what - is upstairs in the attic?

Mallory is excited. She has just gotten herself a regular gig sitting for new clients: the Craines (Margaret 6, Sophie 4, Katie 2). They're normally watched by their Aunt Bud (real name Ellen), but she recently broke her leg and has to be off her feet for a month or so. Mallory meets the girls and has a great time with them. However, on their first day when they're napping, Mallory hears the sound of a cat. Curious, since Mr Craine hadn't mentioned anything about owning a cat, Mallory searches high and low for it, to no avail. When the girls wake up, Mallory asks them about it, only to be told that they don't own a cat.

The next time she's there, Mallory double-checks with Mrs Craine to make sure they really don't own a cat. She's told again that no cat exists, however when the girls are baking cookies, they hear the sound of a cat. They go exploring and search all over the house. Eventually they enter the attic, where they find a white cat, all frail and scared and shivering. He runs out and they trap him in the laundry room. They decide to name him Ghost Cat, since he's so pale and frail. They get him some food, and the Craines decide to get him checked out and to put an ad up in the paper. If no one claims him, they'll keep him.

Ghost Cat starts eating and getting more healthy, but he's still easily spooked, so they keep him locked up in the laundry room. When showing him off to Mallory, he escapes, and they have to go hunting for him again. They end up back in the attic where they had found the cat originally, but instead of finding him again, they find a bunch of letters tied up in a bundle. Mallory brings them downstairs, and together the girls learn about an old man who once lived in the house a long long time ago. His name was Kennedy Graham, and he was sad and lonely, until one day he discovered a kitten hiding in the house. He adopted the kitten, and they became the best of friends. Until one day, the cat died. Kennedy Graham grew older and sadder, and was convinced that he could hear the ghost of his beloved cat (Tinker) still haunting the house. The girls are subdued after this, and return to the laundry room, only to discover that Ghost Cat was there the whole time!

This causes Mallory to think that maybe Ghost Cat really was a ghost cat. She enlists in Dawn to help her determine whether or not this is true. While she's sitting for the Craines, Mallory invites Dawn over, and they perform all sorts of tests on Ghost Cat. Dawn has a thermometer to check the temperature of the attic and around Ghost Cat (ghosts produce a distinct chill) and an ectoplasm meter that she mail-ordered from the back of a book (Mallory thinks it just looks like really sturdy cardboard, and Dawn admits she doesn't know if it actually works or not). Dawn also checks to see if Ghost Cat can be photographed, if he leaves footprints and if he can walk through things. He fails all of the tests, resulting in Dawn announcing that he is a real cat, not a ghost cat at all. Before Mallory leaves, they get a phone call from a man claiming to be the cat's owner, saying that the cat's name is Rasputin. He'll be by in a few days to pick him up.

On Rasputin's last day with them, to distract the girls, Mallory sets up a series of cat IQ tests, to see how smart he is. The girls have fun testing his cleverness and his name recognition, before preparing him a final meal of milk and tuna. While they're with Rasputin, Mallory continues to hear a cat crying from the attic. Before Mallory can think too much of it though, Mr Craine shows up and just in time too: Rasputin's owner arrives. He looks exactly like Kennedy Graham! The cat and the man walk away, happy as can be.

To wrap the story up, Mallory sits for the Craines one last time. The Craines have decided to get a new cat, a female named Tinkerbell. Margaret tells Mallory that ever since Rasputin went home with the old man, and Tinkerbell came to stay, they haven't heard any mysterious cat noises from the attic anymore. Mallory doesn't know what to make of it, but she's happy that there's no more mysterious noises, and that Rasputin and his owner are reunited, hoping that somewhere out there, Kennedy Graham and Tinker are happy as well.

The subplot in this one (which to be honest, is more of the main plot; it takes up a really big chunk of the book) is Mallory's Uncle Joe. He's actually her Great-Uncle Joe, as he's Mr Pike's uncle. Mr Pike has all those great memories of the guy, and it turns out he just recently transferred to the Stoneybrook Manor, so Mr Pike wants to invite him to meet the family and stay with them for an extended visit. The kids are all excited, having heard all these stories of this lively man who would perform little magic tricks and take Mr Pike fishing. Now, Mr and Mrs Pike warn the kids that he's older now, so they'll have to be a little more quiet and change their routines a bit, including eating less savoury foods so as to not upset Uncle Joe's digestion. However, when the day arrives for Uncle Joe to visit, the kids are all shocked: he's a very stand-offish old man who doesn't seem to make the least bit of effort to get to know the kids. No stories, no tricks, nothing. As the month goes on, the kids get more and more discouraged and disappointed. It's hard for them to continue being quiet and calm, to continue eating bland and tasteless foods. Uncle Joe still hasn't learned any of their names and is starting to do odd things, like forget where he is, what time of the day it is, what he's saying mid-sentence. Finally Mr and Mrs Pike call another family meeting, and decide that it's time for Uncle Joe to go back to the nursing home. They admit that he's coming down with the early stages of Alzheimer's and that he needs more care than they can give him. The kids are sad, mostly because they can see how hard this is on Mr Pike, but they do their best to get Uncle Joe ready. On his last day, while the kids are all drawing pictures for him, Mallory discovers that Nicky has disappeared. After searching the house, she discovers that Nicky is in Uncle Joe's room. Nicky is sitting on his lap, and Uncle Joe is showing him a trick. He even remembers Nicky's name! The family discovers that Uncle Joe is better off seeing the kids only a couple at a time, and so they spend the rest of the afternoon visiting with him in pairs. A few weekends later, they go to visit Uncle Joe at the Manor. He seems a lot happier and more adjusted, playing Scrabble with his roommate. They stay for dinner, and Uncle Joe surprises Mallory with a bottle of hot sauce: he says he can't stand eating bland foods!

Random Thoughts:

• This was a cute mystery. Nothing actually really happens and it's all left up to the reader: was it mundane or was it supernatural??? Reminds me of the old episodes of The X-Files. I really liked that first season, where we still weren't too sure if the supernatural and paranormal and extraterrestrial really existed or not.
• Apparently this is the only Mystery narrated by Mallory. It never occurred to me that she never narrates another one, so when someone pointed it out, I had to go back and check my collection. I can't believe her and Jessi only get one Mystery each! I guess they thought us readers couldn't suspend our disbelief so much that we'd buy 11 year olds as detectives haha
• Why the fuck would the Pikes think it would be a good idea to have Uncle Joe stay with them for a month?? I'm 28, and even I wouldn't want to spend a month in a house with 9 people I have never met before, even if they were family! Especially if their house wasn't even big enough for them! Not unless it was absolutely necessary (like I was on an extended trip job searching or interning or something else that wasn't paid for). And that's me, as a totally healthy young adult! Even if they didn't realize how far gone Uncle Joe was, that's still a lot to ask of an old man whom the nurses had warned the Pikes about early on-set Alzheimer's. Especially since he has never met the kids before! Why didn't they arrange for the kids to visit him at the Manor first? Or arrange for a short weekend visit at their place. Jfc this subplot pissed me off. I never particularly liked it as a child, but as an adult, it seems downright stupid and irresponsible.
• Ugh! I keep thinking about it, and it pisses me off! Like, Mrs Pike is on the verge of losing her job, because her boss is upset from all the time she takes off to spend at home looking after Uncle Joe. Isn't that a sign that he shouldn't be there for an extended visit??
• And why would they make everyone eat the same bland foods? I mean, I get not wanting to make a million meals, but it seems like the Pikes are already well-versed in picky eaters and variations. Why not make the bland chicken, cauliflower and mashed potatoes... but then have gravy on the side that the kids could add? Salt and pepper on the table? Ketchup and hot sauce? Cheese sauce for the veggies??
• I also wonder if Mallory ever ended up telling her parents about Uncle Joe and the hot sauce haha
• Mallory reads A Wrinkle in Time. This is not the first time that book has come up in this series, but Mallory talks about it a lot in this one, so it particularly stands out to me. People always cite it as a beloved children's classic, and I hear references to it fairly regularly, and it's being made into a movie next year. Well, I finally read it for the first time last year. I dunno. I just didn't get it.

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 #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

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.