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

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

We ♥ NY!

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

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

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

You bet!

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Random Thoughts:

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

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

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

BSC #18: Stacey's Mistake

Tagline: Stacey has never been so wrong in her life!

Stacey's so excited! She's invited her friends from the Baby-sitters Club down to New York City for a long weekend. It's going to be perfect - a party and a sleepover Friday night, a big baby-sitting job on Saturday, and lots of sightseeing on Sunday.

But what a mistake! The Baby-sitters are way out of place in the big city. Mary Anne sounds like walking guide book; Dawn's afraid of everything; Kristy can't keep her mouth shut; and Claudia's jealous of Stacey's friends.

Does this mean Stacey can't be the Baby-sitters' friend anymore? Will the Baby-sitters Club fall apart?

So Stacey has been in New York for awhile, and even though she's glad to be back in the city, has her friends, and is getting all the baby-sitting jobs, she misses the Baby-Sitters Club. Luckily for Stacey, her apartment building decides to have a meeting regarding the homeless problem going on around their neighbourhood, and 5 different families need a sitter at the same time. Sounds like a job for the Baby-Sitters Club!

Stacey and everyone is all excited for a long weekend, but it immediately starts to go downhill. Despite Stacey having said nothing about going up any escalators, the girls end up getting lost in Grand Central Station. Then they have to do a detour back to Stacey's apartment to drop off their stuff because Claudia packed a ginormous suitcase. They go out for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, where Kristy orders the "fill-it mig-nun". Stacey is super embarrassed, and quickly tries to keep the group moving. They end up stopping by Bloomingdale's, where the girls continue to embarrass Stacey by loudly exclaiming their excitement and awe at everything. Furthermore, Mary Anne mistakes the cosmetic testers from the counter as free samples, and is stopped by store security. Stacey quickly ushers everyone out, and takes them back to her apartment to get ready for the party.

But first, they stop to meet all the children, who all live in Stacey's apartment building. The girls (well, not Stacey) are surprised and sad to see that despite being a gorgeous day, all the kids are playing inside. Stacey explains that despite living within walking distance of Central Park, it's not a place to go unsupervised until you're well into your double-digits. That's why the next day was going to be so great for everyone, because they'd get to go outside and explore. They then head back to Stacey's apartment for the party.

At Stacey's, things unravel further. Mary Anne insists on having Stacey spot-check everyone's wardrobe, much to everyone's dismay. Stacey insists that everyone is fine, and that they should just dress however they want and just be themselves. Mary Anne, being a total hypocrite, then turns down Stacey's dressing advice, which is unfortunate, because her choice of dressing up makes her look particularly quaint and small-town.

Laine arrives before the other guests to help Stacey and the girls set up for the party. Stacey is excited to have everyone meet her New York friends, but especially to have Claudia and Laine meet each other. Right away though, Claudia starts acting jealous and challenging Laine, bringing up past indiscretions. Not one to back down from a challenge, Laine immediately starts fighting back. Stacey is dismayed, but figures that with so many other people and things to do for the party, that it'll blow over.

The party goes disastrously. Mary Anne keeps boring everyone with all her random tourist-y facts about NYC, then acts incredulous when the kids who have lived there all their lives don't know them. Eventually, Mary Anne decides to fall back on the old social standard: gossip. She starts telling them about how terrified of NYC Dawn is, and how she over-reacts to things the NYC kids take for granted, like cockroaches and mice. Don't be so uppity, Mary Anne: you were freaked too (just not to the extent that Dawn was).

Stacey invited a bunch of dudes to her party so that it won't be all unbalanced and a total chick-fest. When she realizes that her two groups of friends aren't interacting, she quickly sets up Kristy with one of the more sports-oriented guys, and is happy to see them hitting it off and talking. Soon they even start dancing! Of course Claudia can't have that. She's used to being one of the girls who hangs out with guys, and being surprisingly shy, she decides that the only guy approachable is the one who has already been broken in by a Stoneybrook girl: the one Kristy is dancing with! Coincidentally, just as a slow song starts. Kristy is surprisingly meek about all this, and spends the rest of the evening sulking on the couch.

So now everyone is pretty mad at each other, and Laine wants nothing of it, so when the party ends, everyone goes home and Stacey splits the girls up. They need a good night's sleep since the next day is their baby-sitting job!

The next day, the girls still aren't talking to each other, but Stacey insists on calling a truce so that they can get through their baby-sitting afternoon together. They are sitting for 10 kids: Natalie and Peggy Upchurch (very posh and sophisticated girls), Dennis and Sean Delucca (normal boys), Carlos, Blair and Cissy Barrera (rambunctious boys and a tomboy), Leslie Reames (a very fussy, gluten-intolerant [before gluten-intolerance became cool!] little girl), and Grace and Henry Walker (two shy African-American little kids). With 10 kids and 5 sitters, they decide to divide into groups of 2+1 to go about their afternoon.

Their first stop is the American Museum of Natural History. Everyone immediately wants to go see the dinosaurs, especially Henry Walker. So it's no surprise when they move on to the sea life exhibit, they soon discover that they lost Henry. Of course, he's still up with the dinosaurs. Everyone's sufficiently scared, but they find him right away.

Afterwards, they head to Central Park. As they walk through, they stop and see all the things that Stacey and Laine usually just zip right past. The girls are happy to see Stacey still be able to marvel and look at things with fresh eyes. It surprises Stacey to realize that perhaps, she'd been taking her city for granted. They take the kids to the children's zoo, and soon start to head back home. One the way home, the kids start singing a song for the girls, and Stacey finds herself mortified and embarrassed. She then realizes that she has nothing to be embarrassed about: the kids are being nice and showing their love and appreciation, and the small amount of witnesses are all smiling at the sight. Stacey feels ashamed, having realized that she's starting to become too cool for school, and doesn't want to be like that.

Upon returning the kids to their parents, Laine calls Stacey with an incredible offer: her dad (a "big-time producer of Broadway plays") has managed to get them tickets to a Broadway show. He also managed to get them a limo, so the girls decide to be friends again and go out for a night on the town!

Afterwards, they head back to Stacey's and have a big sleepover, with everyone apologizing and becoming friends again. They stay up most of the night, and have to be pried out of bed the next morning. Stacey promises them an authentic New York breakfast, and presents them with fresh bagels, lox and the New York Times. Soon though, it is time for the girls to head back to Stoneybrook. They pack up and Stacey sees them off at the train station.

Random Thoughts

• This book is pretty self-contained. It's almost like a bottle episode. It takes place in one weekend, and all the drama unfolds and then wraps up. It's very fast. All killer, no filler. I have zero feelings about this book. It's not my favourite, but it's not my least favourite either.
• Mallory and Jessi aren't in this book at all. It's kinda weird. In the later books, you totes know we would be flashing back to Stoneybrook for some sort of subplot with the two of them. Part of me is kinda curious as to what they were up to, but I mostly know it's nothing and I'm glad they didn't try to shoehorn some subplot in.
• Stacey is strangely self-aware in this novel. Although she doesn't anticipate the problems ahead of time, when they do come up, she acknowledges that she should have seen it coming.
• Stacey is a bit of a snob though. She's easily embarrassed by her friends. This will be a recurring theme in the books.
• Part of me is incredulous that Mary Anne would think that the cosmetics at the counter were free samples, but I'm pretty sure I thought the same thing when I was just a couple of years younger, the first time I saw an open cosmetics counter like that.
• I like that Kristy hit it off with that guy, and I'm sad that nothing ever came of it, despite the fact that they exchanged addresses with the promise to write. Even Mary Anne still mentions Alex every now and then.
• I like the idea that Stacey and her friends "don't appreciate" what they have around them. They grew up in NYC! Of course they're not going to think twice about things that seem amazing to Mary Anne, or know random historical facts. I think most people take their hometowns for granted and don't know much about them. I'm that weird person who is always the only local in tour guide groups, like haunted walks haha
• Fun fact: the show the girls see, Starlight Express, was a real show! And it was indeed in NYC on Broadway at the time of this book's publication. I didn't realize that until just now, when I decided to look it up haha
• Random fact: my boyfriend is a total bagel snob, and refuses to eat pre-packaged bagels. He would prefer his bagels to be all fresh, New York-style, but since that's not feasible where we live, he at least insists on getting "bakery fresh" "bag-your-own" bagels at the grocery store. Reading the Sunday breakfast scene made me think of him, cuz that's totes what he'd ideally like to do every Sunday morning.
• This book just ends. It literally just ends.