BSC Reader's Request: Logan's Story

Tagline: Nobody's going to call Logan a girl and get away with it!

It isn't easy being a boy baby-sitter.

Like lots of guys, Logan enjoys baby-sitting. And being an associate memeber of the BSC means he can sit when he wants to, and still have time for Mary Anne and sports.

But now the Baby-sitters really need Logan. Logan wouldn't mind taking on the extra baby-sitting jobs, but he's busy trying out for the track team. And the jocks are giving Logan a hard time about hanging out with girls and babies.

Logan doesn't want to let the Baby-sitters down. But he's tired of being picked on!

So we have our first Readers Request! This one is narrated by Logan, where we learn it's not easy to be a boy baby-sitter.

Logan's at football practice. The guys are being dude-broey, but it's not too bad. Logan reflects that he's not like other guys, in that while he enjoys sports, he also enjoys baby-sitting. He likes kids, and he's used to taking care of his younger brother and sister. He mentions that he's an associate member of the Baby-Sitters Club, which means that he gets to have jobs that work around his sports schedule and doesn't interfere with his life. The guys like to rib him gently about it, but for the most part it's not too big of an issue

All that changes though when Logan gets home from practice. He's about to help his parents prepare BBQ for dinner when he's summoned by Kristy to an emergency meeting of the BSC. Rushing over to Claudia's, he discovers everyone looking very tense and Mary Anne in tears. Turns out that Dawn just received bad news: her brother has a ruptured appendix and will have to have emergency surgery, followed by an extended stay in the hospital. She and her mother are rushing to California right away to be with him. The reason why the Club looks so tense is because business has been better than usual, and with Dawn gone, they'll be even more strapped and short-staffed than usual. The Club then decides to invite Logan to take Dawn's spot

Further complicating matters, Logan's got track tryouts soon. Not only is he on the football team with all their practices, but Logan has track to contend with. Between it all, Logan's pretty spread thin. But Logan's determined not to let anyone down!

Immediately though, he ends up with a job baby-sitting for the Hobarts, which results in him missing his first football practice ever. He's pretty salty about it, but Logan ends up bonding with the Hobart boys, who enjoy having a male baby-sitter. They're playing in the Hobarts' yard when a bunch of boys from school (Clarence King, Pete Black, and then two rand-o's we've never heard of: Irv Hirsch and Jim Poirier) see him. They tease him and make him feel really stupid, which of course upsets Logan. He tries to brush it off though, and continues playing with the Hobarts.

He ends up taking on more jobs with the Hobarts, and ends up having to miss his second football practice in a row. This also cuts into his time practicing for track tryouts. At a Club meeting, they call Dawn, who tells them that she'll be in California longer than expected. This means that Logan will have to continue doing more jobs. More than that, he'll have to go to the Health Fair (more on that later) with the Hobarts and help represent the Club. Logan worries about how public the event will be, and thinks of all the people from school he might run into.

On the weekend, Logan decides to go to school and get some track practice in. Mary Anne is baby-sitting for Jenny and Andrea Prezzioso, and decides to go visit him to cheer him on. Logan's practicing with a bunch of guys (different ones from the footballers, but still rand-o's), and they immediately spot MA and the girls and start teasing him about it. Logan, already feeling kind of embarrassed and flustered due to his lack of exercise recently, smiles at them, but quickly tries to get back into focus. The guys decide to practice mile paces, and Jenny decides she wants to join. While the guys are running, she cuts across the track, and they manage to avoid her, but are all thoroughly annoyed. Logan feels bad, because he knows it wasn't MA's fault, but at the same time, he can't wait to get rid of the girls, so they all leave. The boys continue to tease Logan though.

Later that week, while baby-sitting for the Hobarts again, Logan tells them about trying out for track, and the boys immediately want to try it too. Knowing that the track should be empty (no football practice that day, so no one to avoid!), Logan takes them to SMS to play. The boys love it, and Logan admits that he's having fun, however it all comes to a crashing halt when some guys show up to practice on the track. They take their teasing up a notch, and start calling Logan "Lois". Logan takes the Hobarts home, and they all commiserate over how stupid people are and how teasing people is bad.

Logan finally gets his ass to a football practice, but it's pretty brutal. The guys all tease him (except for Austin Bentley, who unlike Pete Black, is maintaining his good guy persona this time around) and it's evident that Logan is very out of practice. The coach tells Logan that it'll be okay, just show up to Saturday's practice. Unfortunately, Saturday is when the Health Fair is. Logan doesn't tell his coach this though, and suffers through the rest of practice. Mary Anne shows up to walk Logan home, and he just stews and broods. His family is worried, but all Logan can think is how his double-life isn't working.

Things eventually come to a head at the Health Fair. Logan brings the Hobarts there, and quickly runs into the guys who've been teasing them. They see him with the Hobarts and at the Club booth and give him a hard time. Logan is fed-up and frustrated, but tries not to let it get to him and not to let it ruin the Hobarts' fun. Eventually Johnny asks to go to the bathroom, and King and the guys overhear, telling Logan he better take him to the potty. This upsets Johnny, and Logan, not wanting to get in the way of Johnny's independence, agrees to let Matthew and Johnny go to the bathroom without him. Matthew ends up getting distracted by the candy vending machine though, and Johnny ends up going through a different exit and getting all turned around. Logan and the Club frantically search for Johnny, before finding him back at the Club booth. King found him wandering, recognized him, and in a moment of decency, returned him to the Club.

Despite the girls all reassuring Logan that everything was fine, Logan realizes that he can't keep doing all these responsibilities. He quits the Club and re-dedicates himself to football and track. After a week or so, things start to settle with him and the guys, with only Irv and King continually razzing him. However, as happy as Logan is with sports, he's sad that things ended so badly with the Club. He misses baby-sitting and being able to sit with the girls every now and then.

Finally, the day of the track try-outs come. Irv and King are still harassing Logan, but he decides to just kill them with kindness. This catches them off-guard. As Logan prepares for his first event, he finds out that the Club, the Hobarts, and his siblings have come to cheer him on. At first, he gets given a hard time, but Logan doesn't even care. Bolstered by their support, Logan has a great try-out and makes the track team. Afterwards, some of the guys congratulate Logan, and even ask him about the girls, eying them and checking them out.

As things start to settle, Logan realizes how much he really misses the Club. He realizes that he needs balance in his life, and that includes baby-sitting. He goes to a meeting to apologize to the girls, asking if he could be an associate member again. They're happy to have him back, and as they leave, he and Mary Anne run into the Hobarts. Logan goes over to play with them, and of course King and the football guys show up. However, this time they don't tease him. Everything is back the way it should be in Logan's life.

There isn't really much of a subplot in this one. I think if this had been any other book, the subplot probably would have been the Health Fair and trying to get the charges involved and excited and all sorts of shenanigans haha as it is, it's just kind of mentioned in passing, and then it's where Logan takes the Hobarts and has his big showdown with Clarence King. The girls decide to have a booth at the Health Fair, and Logan suggests that it be about safe baby-sitting tips and tricks.

Random Thoughts:

• Sorry I've been gone for so long! I started a new full-time job last year, and then got completely swamped! I'm hoping I can get back to updating this blog on a regular basis (although it might not be super frequent). I actually started this recap last year, but then never got around to finishing it until now. I had to re-read the book!
• I have never read this one either! In fact, I have never even seen this one in person, until I acquired it! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!
• Okay, this wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it'd be. In fact, I think I almost would have enjoyed this book more if it had been from a different sitter's perspective. Particularly Dawn haha
• I definitely would have liked to know more about Dawn's story in this one!
• Logan describes Claudia as sexy, which is weird. I don't think we've ever seen the word "sexy" in these books???
• I don't see why the dudes heckle Logan so much. I mean, sure, baby-sitting is traditionally mostly girls, but if I were Logan, I'd have been like, "Whatevs, I have a steady girlfriend and I have money to take her out!"
• I feel like it was incredibly out of character for Pete Black to be teasing Logan. Pete's pretty friendly with the girls!

BSC #24: Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise

Tagline: Kristy's in for a big surprise!

Mother's Day is coming up, and the Baby-sitters have the same problem they do every year: What do they get theri mothers? Kristy, especially wants to do something nice for her mom. Mrs Brewer has been acting kind of strange and secretive lately, and Kristy's worried about her.

But then Kristy gets another one of her great ideas. Why don't the Baby-sitters treat their moms - and the mothers of the kids they sit for - to a day off without any kids around?

Together with Stacey, the Baby-sitters plan a gigantic baby-sitting party. It's a Mother's Day surprise that couldn't be beat!... until Kristy's mom reveals a very special surprise of her own.

This one starts off with Kristy contemplating families and what makes a family. It's pretty random, and the main plot doesn't kick off until the next meeting, when Kristy realizes how late into the year it already is: it's the end of April, and Mother's Day is coming up in three weeks. The girls don't know what they want to get for their mothers. Claudia knows that she wants to make something, and the other girls want to do something special and more grown-up than their usual generic gifts, but that's about it. Of course, Mary Anne doesn't have a mother, so it's kinda all awkward as the girls don't want to upset her.

Eventually Kristy comes up with the idea of giving their moms and their charges' mothers a day off. The Club decides that they'll take the kids out for something or other the Saturday before Mother's Day, getting the fathers to help with transportation and lunches and with kids too young or too old to join in. The next few chapters is the girls working out the logistics of everything. Claudia comes up with the idea of taking the kids a traveling carnival, which will then lead to a picnic lunch and then going back to her place for story time and creating cards for their moms. With so many kids coming, the girls decide to invite Stacey back for the weekend to help.

The day itself goes pretty well. The kids all act as expected. Karen demands to go into the walk-through haunted house, only to get too scared and need to leave using one of the emergency exits. To make her feel better, one of the workers tells her some of the secrets behind the scares. Of course Karen has the world's biggest mouth and feels the need to exert how much she knows, so she blabs it all to everyone. Margo gets sick on the merry-go-round. Jackie loses his free balloon, but explains that he's setting it free, prompting many of the other kids to do the same. All in all, it's a great success and the girls are pretty pleased with themselves.

The subplot in this one is Kristy's mother's surprise haha. Kristy's mom (and Watson, but to a much lesser extent), keep going on and on about family and children and how blessed they are and what not. They also keep asking the other kids how they would feel about expanding the family. Logically, Sam concludes that his mother must be pregnant or trying to become pregnant, and Kristy is inclined to agree. However, nope, we learn that Mrs Thomas and Watson have actually been in the process of adopting a little girl from Vietnam, and things have become finalized. Emily Michelle joins their family at the end of this book.

Random Thoughts:

• I didn't bother re-reading the synopsis on the back of this before I read this one, so Stacey being invited back for the weekend was actually a surprise to me! haha I had no memory of her being involved in this book. That being said, I'm surprised at how involved Stacey is while she's gone. She's in New York for 15 books, which is apparently less than the school year, since she leaves in grade 8 and comes back in grade 8 (although I know SS#2 Baby-sitters Summer Vacation, happens in there, so maybe she comes back during grade 8 the second time around? I think this is where the continuity starts to break down...). In those 15 books, she has one where she narrates, which is roughly where her book should be had she never left (the girls should be narrating every 6-7 books or so). Then she comes back in this one for a visit.
• Another thing that surprises me about Stacey's visit is that apparently she doesn't need to be home with her mother for Mother's Day? I'm imagining the McGills having the worst weekend ever, with Mr McGill working for most of it, and Mrs McGill feeling lonely and rejected and bored, and therefore shopping. They probably fight and argue when they are together.
• Because yes, Stacey mentions in this one that her parents seem to be fighting and arguing more than usual. ~*~*foreshadowing*~*~!!!
• I'm surprised that it's taken Mary Anne this long to figure that she could get her father something for Mother's Day. Then again, maybe not. I guess as a child, everything is pretty linear and it's hard to think outside the box and be abstract and make the connection that Richard is technically Mary Anne's dad and mom.
• I like the continuity of them mentioning the fight they had in the last book. However, despite the fact that part of what sparked the fight was everyone bitching and moaning whenever Dawn asked for dues, they do just that again in this book.
• They're really foreshadowing the problems with Mimi in this book. In all the previous books, characters always mention that Mimi had a stroke and that her speech is slow and sometimes mixed up. In this one, we get 4 separate Mimi incidents, all of them progressively worse. As someone whose grandmother is slowly starting to wear down (don't know if she actually has dementia or Alzheimer's, or if it's just general old age), this was actually pretty scary to read:
• At first, we just get our standard explanation of Mimi and her stroke and speech, but Kristy further observes that she seems to be getting even slower and older. Kristy also remarks that she wishes that people didn't have to change.
• The next incident has Mimi wandering in during a meeting. Right away, the girls can tell that she's confused and isn't too sure as to where she is or why she's there. When asked what she's looking for, Mimi responds with, "The... cow." As Claudia escorts her out, she comes to and starts talking about making dinner and proceeds like normal.
• The incident after that comes in the very next chapter. The girls are getting ready for their Mother's Day Surprise, and are going over lunch arrangements with Mr Kishi. Mr Kishi says that Mimi's going to help him, to which she replies, "I've got to get that box over to the planet." Kristy says that stuff like this normally upsets the group, but that with 21 little kids counting on them, they couldn't afford to let it sidetrack them; still, it was frustrating for them not to understand what was happening with Mimi
• The final incident then happens as Mr Kishi and Mimi are dropping off the lunches. Mimi is confused as to what's going on, why they're at the park, with 21 little kids and 7 teens, and 28 lunches. Again, she references the box and the planet, saying, "But... but... box is not at planet. No, I mean is at planet, but where are my forks? And TV people. I try to watch Wheel of Fortune, and TV people are bother me. Will not leave alone." When Kristy tries to reassure her of "the TV people", Mimi suddenly comes to again, gives Kristy a strange look, and starts talking about what a big job it is to hand out all these lunches to people and asking where her Claudia is.
• We hardly ever get to see Claudia's parents. Mr Kishi seems pretty cool in this book, the little bit we see him. It makes me wish we got to see more of him and Mrs Kishi over the course of the series. 
• I always loved the customized brooches that Claudia, Stacey and Dawn make for their moms. I remember as a child wanting to do the same, but being unable to find miniatures that I needed.
• Again, they use the phrase "pretty much money" is used. Was this really a thing??
• I love how when coming up with the list of potential charges to invite, they actually invite Betsy Sobak. I had honestly thought we'd never hear about her again (unless it was plot related, like charges going through another prank phase).
• This book has a great Mallory moment, which reminds me of how awesome Mallory can be sometimes. Sometimes they write her as totally level-headed and mature, and to be honest, better than the rest of the girls (they seem really petty and cultish at times), but usually she's everyone's least favourite girl (understandably so). Anyways, the kids are getting cranky and their walk back to Claudia's place, and Mallory suddenly starts leading them in a rousing sing-along. This continues when they get to Claudia's place. She sings all these really awesome songs that I totes forgot about it, and Kristy observes that she has no idea where Mallory learned all these songs from
• Fun fact: at some point, she sings "Heigh-Ho, Nobody Home", which is a traditional English (as in England) folk tune or carol. I didn't know this song at all as a child, but we sang it in Choir when I was in high school. So I was really surprised this time around, reading it and recognizing it!
• Speaking of songs, Dawn later misquotes "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Again, I didn't really know that song as a child. Oh, I'm sure I had heard it on the radio or in movies or listening to my parents music, but I wasn't fully conscious of it. In fact, to this day, I associate the song with the Baby-Sitters Club, because of this very instance. I can never unhear "the girl with colitis goes by" haha
• A popular fan theory is that Emily Michelle is Watson's daughter from a torrid love affair/one night stand while travelling for business, and that's why they were able to "adopt" her so fast. It's true that they announce to the kids, "btw just adopted a kid and she's arriving this weekend!" out of nowhere, but they also mention that this had been in the works for some time, and they didn't want to say anything until it was a done a deal. They make it sound like they had been trying to adopt for awhile now, different children, and that this is the one that has finally stuck. I'm ambivalent on the idea of EM being Watson's biological child (although kudos on the fan theory, because it totes never occurred to me otherwise), but I am kinda miffed that apparently Watson and Mrs Thomas have been at this for awhile, and are only now just telling their family about it, days before bringing the kid home. What if everyone really had been like, "Wtf? More kids? Why would you want that?? There's too many of us as is!"? haha
• I find it funny that Kristy mentions telling Karen stuff is like telling it to the National Broadcasting Company. I don't think I ever made the connection as a child to them being NBC. NBC is a channel I know well. If someone were to mention NBC, I wouldn't think twice of it. But mentioning the National Broadcasting Company? It definitely made me think, "Oh, must be some American/'80s thing." haha

BSC #23: Dawn on the Coast

Tagline: Dawn's a California girl!

Dawn can't wait for this trip to California. Besides all the sun and fun, It's Dawn's first visit since her bother, Jeff, moved back to live with their dad.

California is better than Dawn ever remembered it. The beaches are beautiful, Disneyland is a blast, and Californians eat healthy food! Plus, Dawn's best friend, Sunny, has even started up her own baby-sitting club.

After one wonderful week, Dawn begins to think she might want to... stay in California, like Jeff.

Dawn's a California girl at heart - but could she really leave Stoneybrook for good?

It's spring break and Dawn is headed to California for two weeks to visit her dad and brother. Of course, Dawn can't wait, but she assures her mom that she'll always want to come back to Connecticut. Mary Anne is worried too, but Dawn also tells her that she has nothing to worry about. Despite the fact that she'll be busy, Dawn is sure that she'll miss Stoneybrook.

Dawn's flight to California sucks, as the flight attendant is too busy flirting every attractive man to do her job properly, leading Dawn to have to flag her down several times. The flight attendant even gave away Dawn's vegetarian meal! Luckily Dawn's seatmate is nice. Soon enough, Dawn arrives in California.

Right away, Dawn feels like she never left. She meets Mrs Bruen, who is the housekeeper that Jack has hired for Jeff. She makes the family an elaborate healthy breakfast full of fresh fruits and other fresh items. On Dawn's first day, so goes to Disneyland with her dad and brother. They know they can't do everything in one day, so before they leave, they create a plan of attack, and Dawn is grateful for how organized her father is, in contrast to how disorganized her mother is.

Upon getting back from Disneyland, Dawn goes over to Sunny's house for a surprise: Maggie and Jill are there too, and together they've formed their own baby-sitting club, the We ♥ Kids Club. Dawn's amazed to see how chill everything is: there's no Club Notebook, they just answer the phone, cover the mouthpiece, decide who's free, and then take the job. Plus the snacks are all healthy things that Dawn loves! Maggie and Jill, whom Dawn had known before leaving but was never particularly close to, tell Dawn all about the club.The girls line up a job for Dawn for two girls she used to sit for, Clover and Daffodil Austin.

The girls go to the beach, and then the next day Dawn baby-sits for Clover and Daffodil. Nothing too exciting happens, other than Dawn realizing how much she missed them and being able to just go to the beach whenever. Soon Dawn realizes that she's having so much fun, that she doesn't ever think of her mom and Connecticut until someone calls or brings it up. It makes Dawn think that maybe she doesn't like Connecticut as much as she thought she did, and that maybe it was a sign that she should stay in California.

Dawn's entire second week is basically spent waffling back and forth between staying in California or going back to Connecticut. She thinks about all the things she loves about California, and all the things she loves about Connecticut. Overall, the California list seems longer, but Dawn eventually realizes that the different items had different weights. Although there was a baby-sitting club in California, for instance, the W♥KC had way fewer clients than the BSC, and therefore they didn't really need her nor would she get as many jobs. Dawn also doesn't like the idea of leaving her mom alone, especially if that means pushing her mother more towards the Trip-Man. In the end, Dawn decides to go back to Connecticut.

There's really no subplot in this one. Back in Stoneybrook, the girls continue to baby-sit. Claudia and Mary Anne sit for the Newtons, Perkins and Feldmans all together. They're surprised to see that Rob, although still not too impressed with girls in general, really liked taking care of the babies and knew a surprising amount. Jessi sits for Karen, Andrew and David Michael, and we get some foreshadowing about Mrs Brewer wanting a baby. Mallory and Kristy sit for the Pikes, and Nicky tells them that he misses Dawn, which ultimately spurs Dawn to come back home, apparently.

Random Thoughts:

• This is the first one that's officially written by a ghostwriter: Jan Carr. I wonder if it's because it's so largely set in California. I wonder if Jan Carr wrote the California Diaries series.
• Okay, a quick check of my collection (I've only got 11/15 of the books) shows me that Peter Lerangis actually wrote most of them!
• We get another appearance of the Trip-Man. Funny how in just 7 books, Dawn's mom will be marrying Richard? We know it's currently spring... I wonder how many months pass before she marries him. How long did they date exclusively before deciding to settle down together??
• Dawn reiterates at the beginning of this book that she'll never leave her mom the way Jeff did. But then the whole plot of this book is Dawn contemplating leaving her mom! And of course, later on, we see that she leaves for an extended period, before leaving again for good.
• I've only flown a plane once (twice if you include the trip back... okay, 4 times if you include the layover), and that was technically international (I always forget that the US is international to Canada), so I am no way an expert on air travel. But when I flew, we had to be at the airport like, 2 hours beforehand. Again, part of the reason was because it was an international flight, so we had to go to customs and show our passports and what not, which obviously Dawn didn't have to do. But still. I'm amused by the fact that Dawn didn't even think about heading out to the airport until an hour before her flight. (And that's "in case of a traffic jam"!)
• Here, we learn again that Dawn is not a "strict vegetarian", she just doesn't like the taste of meat (especially red meat) and that the vegetarian dish on flights is always better
• In Disneyland, Dawn buys Mickey Mouse ears for everyone. Now, I went to Disney World last year, and though they varied in price, I believe Mouse ears were on average 15$-20$ each. That's a lot of money! Especially to buy 5 pairs! Plus a few other things
• We get some foreshadowing on the Brewer-Thomas household acquiring another child
• There's an error in my copy: Dawn talks about "Sam Brewer", but it should say "Sam Thomas". None of the Thomas kids took Watson's name
• At one point, they described a spinach lasagna they were having for dinner out in California. I fucking love spinach lasagna. Way better than regular lasagna. Now I want spinach lasagna >_< haha
• Apparently the Pikes are cool with the kids just taking a whole milk carton and dipping paint brushes into it for crafts. That idea disgusts me. I paint and do lots of arts and crafts. You can never get paintbrushes fully clean once they've been used. I would not touch that milk carton again.
• I like how Dawn considers the Trip-Man to be a bore. He just sounds like a modern day hipster to me: chamber concert, wine tasting, lecture on humor, tortoise-shell glasses...
• The funny thing is, we always hear about how strict Richard is, and how although Mary Anne loves him, and he clearly loves her, they're not particularly affectionate and cuddly with each other. Richard is also a lawyer and works standard 9-5 hours. If you ask me, that sounds pretty boring haha I mean, as an adult now, I'm cool with Richie, but it's just funny that Dawn considers the Trip-Man to be a bore, but never once expresses the same about Richard Spier. Probably cuz he's Mary Anne's dad
• ...god piss, now I want some chicken enchiladas!
• Even though it won't happen for another bajillion years, Jack Schafer suggests that Dawn bring the whole club next time, setting us up for Super Special #5
• And I just checked: SS#5 is published a year and a half later
• I love how they merely get delayed at the metal detector because Jeff has a pocket knife. Today, Jack and Jeff wouldn't be allowed through the metal detectors and to the gates, and if for some reason they were, Jeff would immediately get tackled and detained and interviewed for that knife
• On the way back to Connecticut, Dawn finds the list of plays her seatmate had suggested on the way down. A quick Google search tells me that none of these are real:
• Cat Dancing
• Romeo in Joliet
• Scheherazade's Tales
•  When Dawn gets back, she finds that the girls have already scheduled her to work a few baby-sitting jobs. I don't know if that would frustrate me or not. On the one hand, she'd probably have booked those jobs anyways if she had been around, but on the other hand, it's like, bitch please, I just landed after a 6 hour flight, and you've already got stuff lined up?? haha
• We don't get much of a description here of Sunny, Maggie and Jill, so it's easy for me to believe that they're still the same girls that we'll see evolve into the California Diaries characters. All we know is that Maggie loves ghost stories like Sunny and Dawn do, and that Jill likes painting their nails.
• Sunny's mom is still very much healthy in this book. I know one of the reasons why Dawn goes back to California for an extended visit is because of Mrs Winslow's cancer. The whole crux of Sunny's storyline and development in the CD books is that her mom is dying of cancer. I'll be interested in seeing which other BSC books this comes up in, and seeing the progression, since in CD, it's clear that Mrs Winslow is no longer fighting the cancer, but just letting the time run out and is dying.
• Every chapter in this one starts off with a postcard written either to Dawn or from Dawn. Like all the Notebook entries and other handwritten things, I tend to just skip them altogether now haha
• When Dawn takes Clover and Daffodil to the carnival, Daffodil only gets a prize when she manages to get all 6 rings on ring-toss. I'm surprised they didn't have smaller or medium-sized prizes for having achieved 2 out of 6 and 4 out of 6 rings.

BSC #5: Dawn and the Impossible Three

Front Cover: Dawn thought she'd be baby-sitting - not monster-sitting!

Back Cover: Dawn's the newest member of the Baby-sitters Club and everybody's glad - except Kristy. Kristy thinks things were better without Dawn around. That's why Dawn's eager to take on a big baby-sitting job: It's her chance to show Kristy what she's made of.

What a mistake! Taking care of the three Barrett kids is too much for any baby-sitter. The house is in chaos, the kids are impossible, and Mrs Barrett never does any of the things she promises. Dawn's got more trouble than she bargained for. But she's not going to give up until all four Barretts are under control and she's friends with Kristy. Or whichever comes first!

So the description and title of this book are very misleading. Let's start with the Kristy subplot: yes, Kristy isn't pleased about Dawn, but she's never outright antagonistic. It's very clear early on (to both the reader and even Dawn), that Kristy is just jealous because she used to be Mary Anne's only friend, but now Mary Anne has gone out and made a friend all on her own. At the beginning, Kristy does compete with Dawn for Mary Anne's attention, but Dawn soon realizes that yeah, Kristy is jealous and going through a hard time (what with the upcoming wedding and move), and decides to bond with her. They bond over divorces and moving, and eventually Dawn just outright asks Kristy if she wants to hang out. Kristy says sure, and they soon put aside their differences and realize that they're still both Mary Anne's friend. Kristy officially welcomes Dawn into the Baby-Sitters Club, and makes her the alternate officer.

The stuff with the Barretts is the main plot, and it really has nothing to do with Kristy at all. Dawn starts sitting for them, and because the kids like her so much, Dawn continues to be their regular sitter. Like I said, the title and description of the book is really misleading, because it's not so much the kids that are impossible, but moreso Mrs Barrett: she's just incredibly disorganized and essential a baby-sitter's nightmare.

Mrs Barrett has just gone through a messy divorce, and as such is trying to find a job, be a single parent and finalize arrangements. Plus who knows: maybe she was disorganized and scatterbrained in the first place. Her kids are Buddy, Suzy and Marnie, and they're not doing so well: they want their mom and are confused by everything. As such, they act out a bit, but no more so than you'd expect kids to react in such a situation.

So it's Dawn to the rescue, and she steps in and baby-sits for them, and while she's baby-sitting, she also does all sorts of cleaning and homework help and life help for the kids. Of course, the kids and Mrs Barrett love her, so of course they ask her back. This goes on for MONTHS, with Dawn griping to everyone, but never actually confronting Mrs Barrett.

This all comes to a head one day while Dawn is baby-siting for the Barretts. Buddy goes outside to play while Dawn gets Suzy and Marnie ready. When Dawn and the girls get outside though, Buddy is nowhere to be found. Dawn contacts his friends and neighbours, and soon a search is started. Jordan Pike then says that he saw Buddy get into a car, so the cops get involved. Eventually, it's discovered that Mr Barrett took Buddy to teach Mrs Barrett a lesson, since it was supposed to be his weekend with the kids. However, when Buddy isn't enjoying himself, Mr Barrett realizes that Mrs Barrett isn't even at home, and immediately returns. Poor Dawn.

Dawn later confronts Mrs Barrett about everything, and says that the Club has decided that they can't sit for her family anymore. Mrs Barrett apologizes and promises to change things and to do better. So Dawn decides that it'd be okay to continue sitting.

Random Thoughts:

• The cover! Omg the cover. Dawn's face. In future books, they always describe Dawn as gorgeous (but naturally, not sophisticated and done up like Stacey), but in the last book, Mary Anne described her "not exactly pretty". This cover is ugly!Dawn haha
• The first few books take up much more time in story than the later ones do. This one takes place over the course of at least two months! Also, it's already heading into spring (probably March/April), but just a few books ago, it was the first day of school!
• I find it interesting that so much time has passed, but the only holidays that got mentioned were Halloween and Thanksgiving (and only in passing). We didn't see Christmas, New Year's or Valentine's Day at all.
• They mention that Kristy's mom is getting married in the fall. Unless something happens in the next book that I don't remember (completely plausible, because I know it's not one I've re-read often or recently) that bumps up the wedding date, that means we're getting a time-skip of about 5 months!
• Fun Fact: Buddy's real name is Hamilton Jr. I don't think it's ever mentioned again in the series. I definitely didn't remember that. If I had thought about it long enough, I probably would have conceded that yeah, Buddy was most likely a nickname (although, not necessarily) and most likely because he was a Junior.
• They foreshadow in this book what a great baby-sitter Mallory would be one day, and how maybe eventually the Club would grow so big and successful that she'd be able to join.
• I don't blame Dawn for wanting to tidy up while she's there. I would not be able to baby-sit in such a messy household. But I would probably only tidy up one room, like the playroom, not the entire house. Just enough so that the kids could actually play and I wouldn't go insane from the messiness. Otherwise, I just wouldn't sit for them at all.
• I really liked the part of this book when Buddy went missing. I always liked it when BSC got dark. That's probably why I like the California Diaries series so much.
• I like how one of the things Mrs Barrett decides to change is to ask Dawn to come over 10-15 minutes before she actually needs to, so Mrs Barrett can actually have time to tell her stuff. Uh, isn't that what most people do anyways?? And shouldn't Dawn have been arriving early anyways herself? If someone told me I was baby-sitting at 5:30, I would definitely make sure to show up at least 5 minutes early in case of instructions.

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:

AMM's note tells readers how they can avoid getting into a situation like Dawn's. Find out ahead of time what's expected of you in the job, and if you're to be doing housecleaning and more than just baby-sitting, making sure you're properly compensated for it. She also tells readers that while a parent should provide you with the contact information and important info, it's also up to the reader to be proactive and ask for those things too.

Notebook Pages:

Buddy, Marni, and Suzi Barrett give Dawn such a hard time that she calls them "the impossible three". When I have to deal with impossible kids, I grab whoever is being good/quiet and give them all my attention and ignore the bad ones; unless the bad ones are doing something dangerous.  

The most impossible kids I know are honestly, I've only ever really baby-sat for good kids; I didn't do a whole lot of baby-sitting as a kid. Oh, but I was a camp counselor, and there were two kids who were impossible! Darla and Kevin (not related, and at different camps). 

They are impossible because Darla would not shut up and kept interrupting me whenever I tried explaining things and would go off on tangents; in hindsight, she reminds me of Karen Brewer. Kevin did not want to be at camp. I felt kind of bad for him, but he got to the point where he wasn't just not participating, he was actively being destructive and didn't even want to do lunch and free time. 

The best kids I know are Winston

I like them because he is smart and sensitive. 

Kristy doesn't like Dawn at first, but then becomes her friend. One person I didn't like at first but am now friends with is Lexi. 

We became friends because we used to swap manga haha  

One person who doesn't like me, but who I still want to be friends with, is no one; I have completely given up on trying to make friends. I don't even care anymore haha  

We aren't friends because I'm not friends with a lot of people because I have absolutely zero patience for people haha 

One person who I would want to move to my school is ah the perils of doing these questions as an adult: I no longer go to school. I suppose if we switched "school" for "workplace", I'd pick my boyfriend. If only so I could have a ride to and from there and have an excuse to see him more haha