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 #34: Mary Anne and Too Many Boys

Tagline: Two weeks of sun, fun - and boys galore!

It's Sea City Part II when Mary Anne and Stacey return there as mother's helpers for the Pike family. The girls can't wait to catch some rays, stroll along the boardwalk... and baby-sit, of course!

But neither of them expects to meet up with her boyfriend from last summer. And to further complicate things, little Vanessa Pike has a crush on the cashier at Ice-Cream Palace - only he has a crush on Mallory!

Will a summer romance come between Logan and Mary Anne? Will an older boy break Vanessa's heart? Only one thing's for certain: There are too many boys in Sea City!

Alrighty, so from the fuck out of nowhere, it's summer again. Which of course means another trip to Sea City. Even though Mallory is a sitter now, since it's technically a family vacation, the Pikes don't want Mallory working too hard, so they hire both Stacey and Mary Anne to come back.

The trip down to Sea City is fairly uneventful. Margo doesn't even throw up! The triplets (in a car with Mary Anne, Vanessa and Mrs Pike) taunt Nicky whenever the two cars pass each other. Claire briefly gets lost at a rest stop when she returns inside to get a new ice cream cone, and the rest of the family can't find her. All in all, they make it to Sea City in one piece.

After they arrive and unpack, they're able to spend some time on the beach before the lifeguards pack up. They're all set to hit the beach again the next day, only to discover that it's all cloudy and grey. The boys don't mind, so Stacey takes them while Mary Anne and Mallory take the girls to the boardwalk. They stop to get ice cream, which is where they meet the cashier mentioned in the book description. It's a pretty disastrous visit: Claire manages to dump her entire soda on herself and then the cashier, trying to impress Mallory, ends up getting whipped cream all over the place and making a mess.

The next day, they're all able to get to the beach. There, Mary Anne and Stacey run into Alex and Toby, the mother's helpers from before. Toby and Stacey are clearly all about rekindling their summer romance, while MA is all torn because of Logan. She's clearly into Alex, and he definitely is into her, but MA doesn't want to be disloyal to Logan. She figures she can see Alex as a friend, and never really have to tell either Logan nor Alex about the other.

Stacey ends up going on two dates with Toby, much to MA's displeasure. This year, the Pikes decide that MA and Stacey can have two nights off each, like last year, but that unlike last year, they have to take them separately. MA had planned on going out with Alex, only for Stacey to be a bitch and be like, "No, I'm going out tonight, you can go out tomorrow." But then the next night, Stacey's all, "We had so much fun, we're going out again!"

Eventually MA gets to go out with Alex. The first night, they have the time of their life, and MA starts to feel guilty. She thinks back to Logan, and how she really likes him, but how she barely thinks about him when Alex is around. MA greatly enjoys spending time with Alex. When they go out a second time, MA's expecting everything to be awesome, but instead things are awkward. Eventually they admit that they each have someone waiting for them back home. MA's relieved and doesn't feel so guilty anymore. Now that the ice has been broken and everything's laid out on the table, their date goes much more smoothly. They agree that they're great together at Sea City, but that's all they'll ever be. It's too much to expect that they'll keep it up during the school year.

Sadly, Toby's not as stoic or mature, and completely dumps Stacey and breaks her heart. Stacey apologizes to MA for being such a bitch, and all is forgiven. Sadly, it's time to head back to Stoneybrook, so the girls pack up and wave goodbye to Sea City.

There's not really much of a subplot in this one. Pretty much the girls are all scattered for the first few weeks of summer: Dawn's back in California, Claudia's family is going to Vermont, and then Stacey, Mary Anne and Mallory are in Sea City. That leaves Kristy and Jessi at home to do all of the baby-sitting. We're treated to a chapter of Kristy baby-sitting for the Rodowskys, where they go to the community pool. Dawn baby-sits for the children of Carol's friend, where we learn that Jeff is surprisingly good with kids. Jessi baby-sits for her siblings and Charlotte, where she learns that Squirt is perceptive and perhaps smarter than he seems.

I suppose the real subplot is Vanessa's crush on Chris, the Ice Cream Palace cashier. She decides to write him poems anonymously, leaving them out for him to find. He does find them, but ends up attributing them to Mallory, since Mallory is much closer to his age. At first Vanessa is absolutely crushed, but eventually handles it maturely. She decides to write one more poem saying good-bye, and never tells neither him nor Mallory the truth.
 
Random Thoughts:

• First time for ghostwriter Mary Lou Kennedy!
• I'm surprised we got another MA book so soon. It's only been 3 books since her last one. I think MA ends up with the most books in the entire series. This kinda makes sense, since AMM has always said that MA was kinda meant to represent her.
• lol I think this is my first time really re-reading the BSC since the Lord of the Rings movies came out. Plus usually when I read them, I skip the parts where they describe the club, the members and their families. Anyways, it just dawned on me that the Pikes named their hamster Frodo haha
• Even though I always think they sound gross, whenever they mention chocolate sodas in the BSC-verse, it makes me want one. Or at least some sort of milkshake. Or Starbucks frappaccino haha
• I know I've said it before, but my god, Jackie Rodowsky pisses me off
• Ah Mary Anne.... I've been there before too with the boys haha the fact that you'll never see them again outside of this two week period always makes things seem grey haha
• I love how judgemental and bitchy Mary Anne can be. It's funny, because she's always described as super sweet and sensitive, but it's always the quiet ones you need to look out for. She snarks about all the boys in Stacey's life, referencing both Scott and Pierre. MA notes that while Toby might be at the top of Stacey's list... for now... who knows how long he'll stay?
• We see Carol again. Even though she had no idea what Mr Schafer was planning, it still seems super flaky to me that Carol would just show up to his place with two random babies. If the person I was dating randomly showed up with little kids and was like, "Surprise! We're baby-sitting!", I would be seriously pissed.
• In this one, we learn that Mallory talks in her sleep. I have a friend who talks in their sleep vividly, like Mallory. He'll sit up, say something clear as day, and then fall back down, roll over, and continue sleeping. He'll have no recollection of anything the next day. It's creepy as fuck. I hope this gets mentioned again, but I have a feeling that it won't.
• I really liked Vanessa in this book. She's kinda annoying in a lot of the books, but mostly because we only ever see her from a little sister perspective, and they always focus on her incessant rhyming. Here, she's super mature and handles things well. I'd be interested in seeing what she was like when she was older.
• I also really like the poem she writes MA, thanking MA for her help with delivering the letters:

Love can hurt, love can sting,

A broken heart can never sing.

Boys will come, boys will go

but a friend is forever, this I know

A friend is rare and hard to find

everyone knows it's true

You helped me through a very bad time

I'll always be grateful to you.

• My favourite line is "a broken heart can never sing", even though I know that that's not true at all. I just really effing like how it sounds xD haha

BSC Graphix: Claudia and Mean Janine

Claudia and her sister, Janine, may as well be from two different planets. Claudia, who pays more attention to her artwork and the Baby-sitters Club's new playgroup than her homework, feels like she can't compete with her perfect sister. Janine studies nonstop, makes straight As, and even takes college-level courses.

But when something unexpected happens to the most beloved part of Claudia and Janine's family, will the sisters be able to put side their differences?

So here's something different! Obviously I've already reviewed BSC #7, Claudia and Mean Janine, but I saw this at my local library the other day and couldn't resist! Since I've already reviewed the main book, I'm going to mostly stick to reviewing the graphic novel and some of the changes they've made adapting the book to it.

First off, for those of you who don't know, they started releasing these books in the 2010s, right when they started re-releasing updated versions of the novels. These updated versions of the novels not only had all-new covers (ones that didn't involve the girls, so that they can be more timeless), but also updated content. They either took out the 1980s prices and dollar amounts, or inflated them to the new millennium. (For instance, in BSC #3, it mentions that a small popcorn and drink cost 1.25$, and poor Stacey only had a dollar on her. The updated version [which I don't have on hand], either just simply said that Stacey didn't have enough money, or I think they changed the price to 10.25$). They also updated the information on Stacey's diabetes, reflecting the research and modern medicines and treatments now available.

Sadly, the books didn't take off, and I think they stopped somewhere around #8 or so.

The graphic novels (and there's two versions: coloured and black-and-white) more or less follow the stories depicted in the updated 2010s releases. For some reason, they decided not to adapt #2, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, jumping instead #3. Then they did Mary Anne Saves the Day, followed by this one. Because of the combination of skipping books and updating the material, while this graphic novel stays true to the essence of its source, there are some changes.

For some reason, even though I own #1, this is the first time I've actually sat down and read one of the graphic novels from cover to cover, taking in the detail. It was really fun!

The book opens up with Janine helping Claudia study for math. It's a dark and stormy night, and it's pretty much an amalgamation of the opening scene from BSC #2 and the breakfast scene at the beginning of #7. Janine is trying to talk to Claudia and is getting frustrated because Claudia doesn't understand a word she's saying. Mimi then comes in to help her.

Because #5 and #6 never happened, this one takes place in the last week of school, followed by the start of summer vacation. Kristy's mom and Watson still aren't married yet, but Dawn is around and in the Club. Dawn and Kristy haven't had a chance to reconcile after the events of #4, so things are still really tense between them. Anyways, Kristy proposes randomly that they have a playgroup for their clients. Other than the set-up for the playgroup, it's pretty much the same as it is in the novel.

Also because #5 never happened, Kristy and Dawn's conversation in Dawn's barn happens in this one. It seems really random and comes out of nowhere, but it's still a really cute scene.

One of the updates to this book is that Janine now takes computer science courses, because she's working on her own personal website. I'm dying to know what her website is.

They added Claudia painting a family portrait in this one, which leads to a nice scene between Claudia and Janine. Claudia, in an attempt to connect to Janine, shows Janine the portrait. Janine really likes it, but offers Claudia advice on how to capture Mimi better. At first Claudia is offended, but then realizes that Janine is right.

There's some talk of adding Mallory to the Club at this point, mostly because I think they were planning on skipping the next few novels. But then they never ended up doing anymore (although there are rumors they might do 4 more now).

The subplot of Jamie Newton and Lucy Newton and her Christening are still here.

Random Thoughts:

• I really like how everyone is drawn. The girls are adorable and are all the correct heights and proportions compared to each other. Mallory is just about as tall Mary Anne and Kristy.
• To modernize Claudia and show how artistic she is, without having her dress really really weird (because I think they realized that her outfits would not translate well into a visual medium), they make it so her bangs are hot pink
• I don't like how they drew Mrs Kishi. It looks like she has curly hair. What kind of Japanese woman has curly hair???

BSC Super Special #2: Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation

Tagline: Good-bye, Stoneybrook... hello, Camp Mohawk!

What could be more fun than going to summer camp for two weeks with your best friends? Nothing!

This summer, the Baby-sitters and a whole bunch of the kids they sit for are going to Camp Mohawk! With the girls as counselors-in-training, and the kids as campers, it'll be just like baby-sitting - in the woods!

The Baby-sitters soon discover that camp isn't just nature walks and making lanyards. Dawn gets lost in the wilderness overnight. Kristy learns how to use mascara, and Mary Anne gets caught sneaking over to the boys' side of the camp. Stacey spends the two weeks weeks with poison ivy... and Claudia falls in LUV with a boy CIT.

This is one summer vacation the Baby-sitters will never forget!

Super Special Gimmick: It's Stacey's first time doing an extended stay in the great outdoors and camping, so she's decided to keep a notebook chronicling the two weeks, and is making everyone else write in it too.

Stacey spends the two weeks in the infirmary, as the description suggests. She wasn't originally planning on going to camp, but soon everyone talked her into it. Her parents were all worried about the diabetes (which to be fair, is actually a valid concern this time) and being able to adhere to her diet while eating a mass meal. She runs into a few problems at first, what with the cooks thinking she wants special foods cuz she's spoiled, but Mrs Means soon explains and Stacey is able to put together a meal she wants. Of course, that then leads the campers to complain about how she gets special foods. This doesn't end up being much of an issue in the end though, because Stacey does end up spending so much time away. It's probably for the best. She's in a 6 year old cabin, with Karen Brewer. Her cabin essentially seems like a nightmare, between Karen, a girl with a lisp, a girl with pink-eye and a girl with a sore throat. On Stacey's first night, during campfire time, she ends up sitting in poison ivy, which accounts for most of her two weeks. The next time we see her, she's headed to the infirmary, not only with poison ivy, but also with pink-eye, a cold, and impetigo. She doesn't mind too much though, once she starts getting treatment. She has a roommate who is at camp all summer with a broken leg, so Stacey does realize things could be worse. Eventually Stacey gets to go back to her cabin, where most of her time is uneventful. In fact, the only other thing that happens to Stacey is that her cabin gets "Christmas'd" by the other 6 year-old cabin. It's a good thing Stacey insisted on everyone else adding to her notebook, or else this would be a really really boring story! haha

Kristy is in a cabin with the 8 year olds, meaning she has Charlotte Johanssen and Becca Ramsey with her. That works out well, because Charlotte is super miserable and hating camp. Over the course of the next two weeks, Kristy wonders why Charlotte doesn't just go home, but no matter how much Kristy and her parents tell her it's okay to go home, Charlotte refuses to give up. Kristy's other plot is that her fellow CITs are all stereotypical fashionable boy-crazy 13 year old girls, who pick Kristy apart and criticize her and mentally make her over for being a tomboy and not into clothes and what not. Eventually they do actually physically make her over. In fact, they do it twice: once as a test-run and once on the night of the big dance. Kristy doesn't like it, but eventually just goes with it. She admits that she enjoyed looking different for a few hours, being a different Kristy, but that like a snake shedding her skin, she couldn't wait to go back to being regular Kristy.

Claudia has one of the 9 year old cabins, with Haley Braddock and Vanessa Pike. Not a whole lot happens to Claudia. Early in the first week, they get a visit from 3 boys, inviting the girls' side to their side for a movie night and a dance the second week. One of the boys is Japanese, and Claudia quickly develops a crush on him. The other girls see, and make it their mission to find out who he is. Eventually they do, telling Claudia that his name is Will. They all then squeal and live vicariously through Claudia as she goes to movie night and talks to him. They totally hit it off and spend the whole evening talking outside the cabin, instead of watching the movie. At the dance, they spend the whole evening gazing into each other's eyes longingly. When the evening is over, they decide not to exchange addresses, because there really wouldn't be a point, so they leave off with their good memories and leave it at that. Of course Haley and Vanessa, ever the romantic and sneaky girls they are, manage to get his address, so they give it to Claudia and she starts writing him when they get home.

Jessi and Mallory are pretty much together the whole time, so even though they're both narrators, I'll summarize their story together. They're together in one of the 11 year old cabins. As 11 year olds, they qualify as actual regular campers, unlike the older members of the Club, who get to be CITs. But since they're ~*~*special*~*~ they've been deemed Jr. CITs and have been given the task to help the 8 year old cabin prepare something special for Parents' Night. More on that in a minute. So because they're already total besties, and Mallory's a total dork for making them matching "Jr CIT" armbands, and because they brought their special status upon themselves, the rest of the girls in their cabin (Mary, Mary, Maureen and Mandy) pick on them and make fun of them. The girls don't really care though, because they have each other and their special project. Maureen does pull the race card though, and calls them "Oreos", which doesn't make sense in this scenario, but does get her a warning never to say anything racist ever again. Anyways, the girls do their special project with the 8 year olds, which if you've been keeping track involve Charlotte and Becca. Jessi teaches them a few simple dance moves, and Mallory crafts a narrative, and together they put on a play with dancing. Of course, being Jessi and Mallory, their play is so ham-fisted with morals and crap: it's about a pair of twins (Becca and Charlotte, who you know, are black and white) who move to a new neighbourhood where they aren't accepted. But through the power of dance and love, they all overcome their differences and prejudices, and everyone lives happily ever after. Of course, after seeing this, their cabin is a lot nicer to them. Except for Maureen. Because she's racist.

Mary Anne is in a cabin with 7 year olds, including Margo Pike. She spends the whole book trying to prove to the other CITs that she's just as sophisticated and as cool as they are. Her main selling point is that she's got a hot boyfriend named Logan, across the way. Of course, the girls don't believe her, so they dare her to write him a letter and then sneak to the other side to deliver it. She writes him the most ridiculous and over-the-top letter, and of course gets caught about halfway around the lake. This is enough to garner her some respect, but the other girls are still skeptical about this whole Logan business. They try to convince her to let them pierce her ears, to which finally she gives in, calling their bluff. It works, and Mary Anne gains a bit more respect and doesn't lose her ears. Eventually, they see Logan for themselves and are in awe that he actually exists. They end up being pretty good friends to Mary Anne for her duration at camp.

Logan is in a cabin with the 7 year olds, and has Matt Braddock, Buddy Barrett and Jackie Rodowsky with him. He's fitting in just well, and it's all really boring and dudebro-y. But then word gets around that Mary Anne tried to sneak over to visit him, and soon the guys start razzing him about his girlfriend, calling her a "feeb" for attempting to get across. They then read the super-flowery note, and tease him more for that. So logically, Logan starts a food fight. The next time we see Logan, it's the night of the dance. The boys continued to josh him about Mary Anne, especially when she didn't show up for movie night (more on that in a bit), but then when they see her at the dance, they decide she's alright. Anyways, Logan's story is pretty boring.

Dawn has the other cabin of 11 year olds (not Jessi and Mallory's cabin, thank god). She's generally having a great time and is an old pro at both actually camping and being at summer camps. Her main plot is that one of her cabin mates, Heather, doesn't seem to really want to be there. She's not miserable and homesick like Charlotte, she just can't be bothered to entertain the rest of the girls and give into their shenanigans. Heather spends most of the time off by herself, reading or writing. The other girls start teasing her, but eventually just decide to ignore her. Dawn pities the girl, saying that if she just tried, she could have friends! (Uh, maybe she's happy, Dawn? Maybe she doesn't want to be their friend??) Anyways, the night before their big overnight trip (they get to camping in the middle of the woods for realz), their counselor is called away, and the replacement counselor is really flaky: before they leave, Heather has to remind them of several things they need to bring. Debra (the replacement counselor) doesn't know how to read the map, and instead of stopping to think about it, or to ask the other girls what they think, just decides to follow her instincts and starts making random turns, eventually getting the girls super lost. Eventually Heather proposes that they just camp where they are, and try again in the morning. The next day, Debra leads them in circles and they end up right where they had spent the night. Heather finally steps in and asks to see the map. At this point, all the girls realize that with all the reading she's done, Heather is super-capable and has all these skills and relinquish all control to her. With Heather leading, they find their way back to camp, where everyone is understandably worried (this is why Mary Anne missed movie night).

Random Thoughts

• This isn't one of my favourite Super Specials. I barely remembered it from when I was a kid. My faves growing up were always 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11.
• This Super Special also doesn't quite fit in nicely with the timeline we've got going on. Unless the girls literally did nothing else this summer. The previous books were definitely late spring. The next book is during the school year. It could be summer... but it's just surprising that this would be the only book. Then again, we know that in a few books, Stacey comes back "during the 8th grade", so I guess everything's all effed up now haha still, I would like the books to make some sort of chronological sense (not have a book that takes place in spring, then the next one happens in the summer, then the next one is spring again, or whatever)
• There still aren't any illustrations in this one. This one doesn't even have the weird drawings that the first one had. This one just starts each chapter off with a postcard.
• What do 12 year olds do? It says that Camp Mohawk's oldest campers are 11 years old (lolz Mallory and Jessi) and that you can't be a CIT til you're 13 year olds. So where are all the 12 year olds? Are you just not allowed at Camp Mohawk for a summer? Not a big deal if you go to variety of camps every summer and change it up or only go sporadically. But what if you're a lifer? What if you've been going every summer since age 6, looking forward to the day when you can become a CIT, and then eventually a counselor?? I imagine your life pretty much ends when you turn 12 and realize you can't go to Camp Mohawk that summer haha
• What prompts the girls to want to go to camp is having watched The Parent Trap (among other movies). When I first read this book, it was probably only a year or two after the remake with Lindsay Lohan had come out, so I had always assumed that of course, that was the movie they were referring to. It wasn't until a few years (I think when I was 12 and started having more access to the internet at school [still no computer at home]), that I started becoming aware of movie remakes and music covers. So embarrassing!
• I'm very curious as to how Matt Braddock was able to go to camp. Yeah, sure, Haley is there, but she's on the other side of the lake with the girls. And yes, Matt is in the same cabin as Logan and Buddy, but just how much ASL do those two know? I'm just surprised he was able to go.
• This book is also chocked full of foreshadowing and references to Mimi not doing so well, hence my placing it here, before BSC #26 Claudia and the Sad Good-bye.
• When getting ready to leave, Claudia mentions being worried about Mimi, causing Kristy (that chapter's narrator) to reflect that Mimi isn't in such great shape.
• Then when Claudia and Stacey reunite, Claudia tells Stacey all about how Mimi seems to be improving in terms of her body, but that her mind seems to be getting worse, referencing all the weird and non-sequitur things Mimi now says.
• Finally, Claudia gets picked up by her parents, as Mimi isn't feeling well, so much so that Janine has to stay behind to take care of her.
• This one mentions Dawn looking forward to going boating. This ties in nicely with Super Special #4 Baby-sitters' Island Adventure, where we learn that Dawn's been taking boating lessons.
• As if Mallory and Jessi  are Jr. CITs. That doesn't make any sense. Essentially, it means that they miss out on some of their camp stuffs to have to teach a bunch of 8 year olds to put on a show and dance. They still don't get to do any of the things the CITs do. All they accomplished was giving themselves more responsibilities and ostracizing themselves from their cabin mates. If the rest of the Club hadn't been CITs, I bet Mallory and Jessi would've been totes fine just being regular campers and having regular 11 year old kid fun
• Stacey gets a body wave done, which I'm assuming is a type of perm. It's fun re-reading the series, now that I know what perms are. I remember when I was little, like around 1994 or so, my parents contemplated getting a body wave done to my hair, because my hair was so thin and straight and lifeless. They never did. Part of me is sad that they never did, but part of me is glad they didn't, because I'm terrified that all my hair would have fallen out. I was like, 5 years old and my hair is in such a precarious state of being already! hah
• I love how Claudia gets paired with a Japanese boy. I feel like all she dates in Stoneybrook are white dudes (perhaps she's the only Asian around?) but then in all the Super Specials, they pair her up with Japanese boys all the time.
• ...okay is "pretty much" as a descriptor really a thing?? Because now we have "pretty much sign language". I have never heard "pretty much" as a quantitative descriptor before. "I know sign language." "I know some sign language." "I know a fair amount of sign language." "I know a lot of sign language." But "I know pretty much sign language"?? Nope, does not compute
• If a bunch of girls tried to pin me down and forcibly apply make-up to me and pluck and shape my eyebrows, I would seriously kill them all. Especially the eyebrows thing. I never wear make-up, except for stage/theatre/costumes. That's fine. Make-up, you can take off. But I have also never ever ever plucked my eyebrows. Could my eyebrows be more shapely and neater? Yes, absolutely, of course. But naturally, they're by no means a disaster; I don't have ginormous bushy eyebrows, or a unibrow, or anything drastic like that. I have zero interest in having to regularly pluck my eyebrows, and I know that once you start plucking... you can't go back. You gotta maintain them. And that is absolutely something I have zero interest in. So yeah. Touch my eyebrows, prepare to die!
• I like how Kristy cuts in on Claudia dancing. It seems like a nice callback to when Claudia did the same to Kristy. Only this time, Kristy is way nicer about it.
• At the end, it mentions that Kristy pretty much went back to being her usual tomboy self, but that occasionally she would put on mascara if she was going to be running into Bart that day. I wish that trait had carried over. I get it, Kristy is a tomboy who doesn't care what clothes she wears... but eventually they take it to such an extreme that she just seems more like a caricature and completely unrealistic. 
• I really don't like Jessi and Mallory in this book. It reminds me of why I never particularly liked them/their books later on. Which is too bad, because up til this point, I had been enjoying them and was like, "wtf! why didn't I like them??"
• I would totes be Heather, the girl from Dawn's cabin. Like, that would totally be me, wanting to be left alone. As an adult, I eschew all social interactions. People are always trying to invite me out, or get me to talk and engage and socialize, and it's like, "No, I'm here because I have to work. Once I clock out and the day is done, I want to go home and be alone and not deal with people anymore." Eventually people stop asking me out, which is good, cuz that's what I want. It bothers me when people always say, "You know, people would like you more if you went out with them." Or "We'd invite you more, but you're always saying no. The reason why you're alone is your own fault." Uh, yes, yes it is. Exactly. That is exactly what I want. I want to be left alone. I am perfectly happy alone and with myself, without having to pretend to like other people and go through all the fake niceties for the sake of social conventions. Dawn essentially does the same for Heather.

BSC Super Special #1: Baby-Sitters on Board!

I guess because this is the first book that's not part of the regular series, AMM didn't quite know what to do with it yet. She probably just wanted to do a fun vacation book that broke the formula. Anyways, because of that, this book doesn't fit into the continuity at all. It's published after Stacey moves and Mallory joins the club, but within the book, Mallory is still very much a charge and Stacey is still around. They say it's summer vacation, but even if it managed to be magically squeezed into their already full summer before the 8th grade, that still wouldn't fit because they mention being in the 8th grade already. So I'm reading it now, right before Stacey moves.

Front Cover: It's the baby-sitting adventure of a lifetime!

Guess who's going on a dream vacation? The Baby-sitters, of course!

Back Cover: Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia and Dawn are the luckiest baby-sitters in the world. This summer they're going on the greatest trip ever: a plane ride to Florida, a boat trip around the Bahamas, and then three days of fun - in Disney World!

Of course they have a million adventures. Claudia gets notes from a mysterious "Secret Admirer". Kristy, Mary Anne and Stacey make some unusual new friends. Dawn has her first real romance. And they still have time for what they like best of all - baby-sitting!

Super Special Gimmick: creating a memory scrapbook for their parents

So Mr Pike wins a contest at work for an all-expenses paid cruise and trip to Disney World for his whole family. Of course, with so many kids, he decides to hire Mary Anne and Stacey again (since they worked out so well in Sea City). When fancy rich Watson Brewer finds out, and furthermore finds out that Kristy has apparently never even been out of the state, he arranges for the whole family to go on the exact same trip, plus Claudia and Dawn too, so they don't feel left out. Thus begins our story.

Kristy: is an absolute nightmare. She's sharing a room with Claudia and Dawn. Kristy is messy and Dawn is super-neat, but Kristy goes out of her way to goad Dawn. She purposely leaves stuff lying all over the place (not just clothes, but food wrappers too) and does so staring pointedly at Dawn, just to watch Dawn get upset. Dude! It's not that hard to clean up after yourself! You don't have to fold your clothes asap, but you know, maybe contain your mess to one corner of the room? Anyways, her storyline mostly consists of being a brat to Dawn and befriending this old guy, Rudy Staples. Rudy's wife just died two months prior, so he's on the trip to do something different and try to forget about his troubles. He's pretty miserable though. Kristy distracts him and they end up hanging out a bunch. Rudy says that Kristy's the granddaughter he never had (he has six grandsons) and she says that he's like the grandfather she never knew. It's kinda cute, especially how Kristy keeps joking about setting him up with Nannie.

Dawn: meets a boy named Parker Harris, who's all mysterious and sketchy about who he's travelling with. It turns out he's on the trip with his dad, his new stepmom and his two younger stepbrothers who are 8 and 5 years old. He's all bitter about the divorce, the remarriage and the new family, but Dawn convinces him that the boys can't be brats because LITTLE KIDS ARE AWESOME! They end up spending an afternoon together at Disney World and Parker in the end warms up to them.

Mary Anne is baby-sitting for the Pikes, and while going around on the ship, she meets a girl named Alexandra Carmody, who is a couple of years older. When Mary Anne asks who she's travelling with, Alexandra says no one, and that she's an orphan. Later though, Mary Anne runs into her again, and Alex says something about her brother, leading Mary Anne to suspect she's lying. Eventually Mary Anne finds out the truth (from Mallory): Alex is on a trip with her younger brother and her two parents, who are famous singers (I keep picturing Donnie and Marie Osmond... except, you know, husband and wife, not brother and sister haha). Alex just likes lying because it's fun and it makes life interesting. Well, Mary Anne feels duped and decides that Alex is not a very nice girl and that she doesn't want anything to do with her anymore.

Mallory is still very clearly a charge in this one, despite being 11 years old, and decides that she wants to be a spy like in Harriet the Spy, which she apparently just read. Mallory doesn't really do anything interesting, other than discovering the truth about Alex. She also thinks she's found a stowaway on board (we see him pop up periodically in other people's chapters) and she thinks she's seen Spider from the band Insects on the ship. All in all, it's a really boring plot.

Claudia has a mystery admirer. She keeps getting all these notes and gifts explicitly saying that she has one. Finally, Stacey thinks she's spotted him, and Claudia goes running after him. She ends up bumping into this guy, Timothy, who suggests that maybe the admirer is just shy, and offers to help Claudia out. They start to hang out and hit it off, but Claudia feels guilty that she's ignoring her admirer (who continues to give her things). It's pretty obvious that her admirer is Timothy. Anyways, eventually we learn that not only is Timothy Claudia's admirer, but he's also Alex's younger brother. He also enjoys spying on people, which explains why everyone in the book keeps finding him hiding around the ship, thinking he's a stowaway.

Stacey is baby-sitting for the Pikes, and while going around on the ship, she meets a family with a sick little boy named Marc. Marc has a weak heart, and thus is confined to a wheelchair most of the time. He can technically walk and stand and everything, but he's not supposed to, because it aggravates his heart. He also carries around an oxygen tank. Marc's parents are understandably very protective of him, but they loosen up enough to allow Marc to become friends with Margo and Claire (he's 7 years old like Margo). Eventually they confess to Stacey that this trip is kind of a just in case thing: he's about to undergo a serious operation that will allow him to have a normal life... but there are some serious risks. Stacey is sad, but tries to keep up appearances for the kids. After the trip, we find out that Marc pulled through spectacularly and is on his way to becoming a typical active kid.

Karen gets three chapters, and we basically learn that she's a spoiled brat with no consideration for others. I can't tell if she's a typical 6 year old, or if she really is particularly annoying. Anyways, in her first chapter, she and Kristy and David Michael and Andrew are headed to the pool, but she forgets her earplugs. She promises Kristy that she'll go back to the hotel room and straight back to the pool without getting lost. Well, she doesn't get lost, but she does get distracted, and manages to convince the cruise to charge her dad for a manicure and a soda. In her next chapter, she goes on the Haunted Mansion ride, and is convinced that she legit picked up a hitchhiking ghost. She then blames the ghost for her actions in her last chapter, where she announces at breakfast to their entire reserved dining room that it was her birthday, all so that the Disney characters and everyone would pay attention to her.

Byron gets a couple of chapters too, which is totes random. It's mostly about how he's read Treasure Island, and how he tries to convince his brothers to read it, but of course, they hate reading, so they don't. But the cruise is playing the movie, which the boys all see and love, leading them to trying to find hidden treasure on their trip. They find what they think is a treasure map, but it turns out to be Dutch instructions for a copying machine.

Random Thoughts:

• Another weird thing about this Super Special that's different from the later ones: there are no illustrations. Instead, we've got these pictures that look more like drawings. The later ones have actual illustrations that look awesome!
• It's fun reading this book so soon after having visited Disney World myself. I have never been on a boat cruise though.
• I do not remember reading this at all. I mean, I remember Parker, but yeah, that's about it. I had no idea that this book had anything to do with Disney World til I re-read the synopsis at the back. I don't think I owned this one as a kid, or if I did, I must not have re-read it a lot. 
• I would not want to have been the girls on this trip. I went to Disney World with friends, and we had 7 days to look at everything, and still we were exhausted and cranky and missed out on a few things. The girls kept getting stuck with kids (or in Stacey and Mary Anne's case, it was their job to be with the kids). I would've liked to have seen a chapter from Sam or Charlie.
• They mention chocolate sodas in this one. I remember when I was little, reading the Little Sister books, Karen was always mentioning them. She would get them as a treat when out on the town with her parents or Kristy. I remember thinking they sounded gross, but mostly being confused by them. Then they mentioned them here too. Was this an '80s thing? A Connecticut thing?? I still don't know what the fuck a chocolate soda is (I think it's club soda/seltzer water with chocolate ice cream? like a Coke float??) and they still sound gross to me haha
• The name Parker Harris has always stuck with me since reading this book, and I definitely used it a lot when writing fiction in elementary school and high school and even now haha
• While I don't believe it's fair for Parker to hate his stepbrothers, I hate the idea that Dawn is like, "They can't be bad: little kids are great!" Dude, he's 5 years older and 8 years older than them. I wouldn't want to hang out with them either. Plus, he went from being an only child to suddenly have two children as siblings. I feel for Parker.
• I always assumed that Marc was on the trip because of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (or something like it), but it seems like the trip was something his parents were able to do on their own. 
• If I know anything about a manicure (and really, I don't, but let's pretend that I do), between that, the soda, and actually going to the hotel room, we're looking at about 2 hours of Karen being missing. Of course, we know she must be somewhere on the boat since the boat hasn't docked yet, so her being missing isn't really the issue. However, 2 hours is still a long time, enough for her to get into serious trouble. Serious stranger danger trouble. If I were Kristy, I would have sent out a search party for her. Or at the very least, called back to the cabin and tried to find my parents.

BSC #9: The Ghost at Dawn's House

Front Cover: Creaky stairs, spooky noises, secret passages - it must be a ghost!

Back Cover: Dawn has always thought there was a secret passage hidden in her house. But she never thought there was a ghost... until now. All kinds of creepy things go on whenever Dawn's at home. There are even spooky noises behind her bedroom wall!

Dawn is sure there's a ghost in her house. And so are the other Baby-sitters. But they're so busy with their baby-sitting jobs that they hardly have time for a ghost hunt. Will Dawn and her friends ever solve the mystery, or will Dawn have to share her house... with a ghost?

It's the last two weeks of summer, and the girls are all reunited after their adventures in the last book. Dawn is back from her vacation in California, and she decides that now is the perfect time for her to really dedicate herself to the search for a secret passage in their old farmhouse. We're treated to several chapters of Dawn scaring herself silly, between the search, reading ghost stories, and the stormy weather.

But then one day, when trying to find a place to read in the barn, Dawn stumbles upon a hidden trap door. Following the passageway, Dawn finds that it leads straight to her own bedroom! She's excited, and continues to explore it periodically. However, Dawn starts to notice things: things start to show up and then disappear in the passageway. But if Dawn is the only who knows about the passage, how is this happening? The only thing Dawn can think of is this: her house must be haunted!

The subplot in this book is actually connected to the main plot: over at the Pikes, Nicky is feeling left out, because the triplets always want to hang out together and their own friends, leaving Nicky alone with all the girls. Mr and Mrs Pike decide to let Nicky assert his independence by letting him wander around the neighbourhood alone, so long as he adheres to a 2-block radius. Despite Nicky insisting that he does, Dawn can never find him whenever she sits for the Pikes and goes out looking for him (after the events of Buddy from book 5, she suitably sensitive about this). Eventually though, Dawn realizes that her own house is within a 2-block radius and concludes that Nicky must be using her passage. Sure enough, he has been. She says he can continue to do so, and everything ends well. However, Dawn still isn't entirely convinced that her house isn't haunted.

Another thing to note in this book is that we meet the Perkinses for the first time. They moved into Kristy's old house, next to Mary Anne.

Random Thoughts:

• I have always loved Dawn on the cover of this. I love her outfit (I would totes wear something like that; back then AND now!) and I just think she looks super pretty and realistic. The cover also reminds me of the mystery/horror novels I used to read as a child, specifically Betty Ren Wright's The Dollhouse Murders.
• ...yes, I admit it: I just Googled the book Dawn is reading at the beginning Ghosts and Spooks, Chills and Thrills: Stories NOT to Be Read After Dark. It sounded good! I was hoping it'd be real haha it's exactly the kind of book I would have read at her age.
• I always imagined Dawn to be one of the taller girls, but either AMM has no concept of height, or Mary Anne and Kristy are MIDGETS, and Dawn is just as short as them: "Although I'd only fallen about five feet, it felt like five thousand. I was in darkness, but above me I could see a square of light". By grade 8, I was 5'2", and I pretty much stopped growing at that point (only gained a cumulative inch over the next 3 years, so I settled in at 5'3"). In grade 8, I was average height for the girls. There were a few girls a few inches taller than me, and a few girls a few inches shorter than me. But I don't recall anyone being much shorter than 4'11.
• I love Dawn's description of "Disneyland Daddy". It's so perfect: "...a guy who hasn't seen his kinds in months and feels really guilty. Guilty enough to take time off from work and give them a whirlwind vacation of beaches, amusement parks, shopping, dinners in restaurants, movies, treats, surprises... It was spectacular - except for the fact that a Disneyland Daddy doesn't feel like your father anymore. But I guess he's better than no father at all."
• I love the Perkinses. I think they're my favourite of the kids' charges. They are so not realistic kids at all, but they're adorable and I love them.
• We're also introduced to the Trip-Man in this book. While I don't entirely find it weird that Sharon is dating someone other than Richard (especially since the Trip-Man is the son of her parents' friends), I do find the overall timeline of everything to be weird. She essentially dates him off and on up until like, 6 months before finally marrying Richard. Maybe adult relationships are different, especially when it's a second marriage to a guy you already dated/knew for a long time earlier in your life, but it just seems sudden to me.
• I have always pronounced Myriah Perkins's name like Mariah Carey's. It has never occurred to me to pronounce it any other way. But in the past few years, through discovering fandom and what not, it came to my attention that it could theoretically be pronounced like "Maria" (think West Side Story and Sound of Music).

[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 talks about how as a child, she was obsessed with finding a secret passage in her house (even though it was a new house at the time!) and how she loved ghost stories. She decided to give these traits to one of her characters, and thus Dawn was born. AMM figures that her readers would love reading about things that interest her as a little girl. Again, we get a mention of how much she loved Nancy Drew and mysteries.

Notebook Pages


Dawn's new house is big and spooky. The spookiest place I've ever been is the old jail in Ottawa, Canada, that's now a hostel

It gave me the creeps because even though the lower half has been renovated to be a hostel, the upper half is still creepy as fuck, with the original jail cells and deathrow on display

The spookiest thing that ever happened to me was when I first moved into my house. I lived alone, and it was my first time not living with my parents. The house made all sorts of weird sounds, but the scariest thing was when I heard a crashing sound in my backyard. I woke up the next morning to find a giant weathered wood plank in my backyard. I have no idea where it came from

When this happened, I did nothing haha I just told myself that the plank must have always been there, that the wind just knocked it around, that everything was normal

One person who really scares me is Chuckie

This person scares me because he seems completely normal, wears button up shirts, mild-mannered and polite... but then every now and then... when you least expect it... he'll say something very disturbing or very not accepted by society... and he'll say it in a totally nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone, and then carry on like he hadn't said anything weird.

If I wanted to scare this person back, I would do nothing; I don't think Chuckie is scarable haha  

Dawn likes to read scary books. The scariest book I ever read was I don't know if they were the scariest books I've ever read, but Michael Grant's Gone series has always stuck with me and haunted me and once gave me nightmares haha

My favourite kinds of books are young adult sci-fi and horror

I like them because of the escapist factor. The things that happen in those books will never happen to me in real-life. I like being able to use my imagination

Dawn has a sleepover at her house. I've been to not that many, but a few sleepovers.

The most fun I've ever had a sleepover was when my friends and I did the 30 Hour Famine in high school

During Dawn's sleepover, the girls tell scary ghost stories. The scariest ghost story I've ever heard was about children. Children are always scary haha    

BSC #8: Boy-Crazy Stacey

Front Cover: Who needs baby-sitting when there are boys around!

Back Cover: Stacey and Mary Anne are mother's helpers for the Pike family for two weeks at the New Jersey shore. Things are great in Sea City: There's a gorgeous old house, a boardwalk, plenty of sun and sand... and the cutest boy Stacey has ever seen!

Mary Anne knows that Scott the lifeguard is way too old for Stacey, but Stacey's in love. She fixes Scott's lunch, fetches his sodas, and spends all her time wtih him... instead of with the Pike kids. Suddenly, Mary Anne's doing the work of two baby-sitters, and she doesn't like it one bit. But how can she tell Stacey that Scott just isn't interested - without breaking Stacey's heart?

So, this is not one of my favourites. There's nothing really wrong with it, but not a whole lot happens really.

This book picks up exactly where the last one left off: the Pikes are going on a two-week trip to Sea City, only this time they want some time to themselves, so they invite two sitters along. For various reasons, Mary Anne and Stacey are the only ones available. Both girls are very excited, because it's their first trip away from home (Mary Anne) since getting diagnosed with diabetes (Stacey).

The trip starts off pretty well. Mary Anne is all excited because it's her first two-piece bathing suit, but then she gets all self-conscious about it. Stacey's a good friend though and assures her that she looks fine (after telling the readers that Mary Anne doesn't quite fill it out as nicely as she, Stacey, does haha). They get down to the beach, and right away Stacey sees the lifeguards. She falls in love with Scott, who is 18.

From there, it's just Stacey obsessing over him. She and Mary Anne take the kids to various places, and we're treated to chapters of them eating at the Burger Garden and playing miniature golf. But mostly, it's Stacey obsessing over Scott. She ignores the kids and Mary Anne, and then can't figure out why Mary Anne is so pissed. She decides that Mary Anne is jealous, because the only person Mary Anne has to talk to is a dorky guy mother's helper. She also decides that Mary Anne shouldn't be so mad, because she does have the help from the male mother's helper, Alex.

Scott gives Stacey his lifeguarding whistle, and Stacey takes it as a sign that he loves her too. On their first Friday night, Stacey spends all of the girls' free time shopping around for a gift for Scott. She ends up blowing all her money on a box of chocolates. Of course, immediately after she does, she and Mary Anne run into him kissing a "much older girl" (who Stacey later admits is actually Scott's age). Stacey is heartbroken and runs off.

She spends the next week dreading running into Scott, but eventually decides it's not worth it. She's not entirely mad, because he is her first love, but she's over it. What helps is that Alex has a cousin named Toby, who Mary Anne arranges to go on a double-date with. Of course, Stacey instantly falls in love again.

Despite the fact that she ignored her for most of the week, Stacey and Mary Anne do end up a bit closer, and Mary Anne has her first encounter with love too. Of course, Mary Anne is a lot more practical, and knows that it doesn't really mean anything in the long run, but she's just happy for the time and memories of Alex, and that they'll be penpals now.

We're also treated a chapter from Kristy, where she baby-sits for Karen and Andrew. Fuck, I do not remember them being in these books this much. They decide to wash Watson's rich fancy car (with Watson's permission), and get all settled with soap, hoses and sponges. However, David Michael was at Linny's place with Louie, but Louie gets injured and it looks like he needs stitches. Kristy tries calling everyone she knows with a car in a panic, leaving Karen and Andrew outside with the car and the car washing supplies. It should have been fine, except that Karen decides that sponges aren't good enough, and ends up running back into the house to grab the steel wool that Watson uses on the pots. This of course ruins the paint on the car. In a surprise turn of events (this totes wouldn't have happened in the later books), Watson is actually angry at Kristy for having paid closer attention to the kids.

Random Thoughts:

• I love how Kristy was reading People magazine at the beginning of this book.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: all the references to the Jersey Shore (the actual location, not the show haha)
• I love the way Stacey looks on the cover. She looks a little older than 13, maybe closer to 14 or 15, but yeah. She looks young and innocent and it's awesome. Scott on the other hand, doesn't look 18. He looks like he's 25! haha
• I think this book would have been way more interesting from Mary Anne's perspective
• The job description makes it sound like Mr and Mrs Pike would be going to the beach with the kids, but they wanted the sitters around so that they could occasionally take an afternoon or evening off, or in case the kids wanted to split up and they needed extra hands on deck for different excursions. But it seems like Mr and Mrs Pike spend the whole time inside the cottage, essentially meaning that Stacey and Mary Anne are working the whole time.
• We find out a lot about the Pikes in this book, which I suppose for first-time readers, especially if reading in chronological order or as they're being published, would be exciting. But since I've read Super Special #10 [Sea City, Here We Come!] a million times, as well as just other books in the series, this wasn't that interesting to me.
• I'm not so sure what the big deal on bathing suits is. I wear a two-piece, but I wear swim trunks on the bottom. My two best friends both wear one pieces, also with swim trunks. We like to cover up haha our lack of skin doesn't make us any less adult, I don't think haha
• I'm surprised that the Pikes can afford to go to Sea City every summer. Apparently they'd been going every summer since Mallory was 2, to which I'm like "omfg why???" At that point, Mallory would have been 2, which is young for a family vacation, but okay. BUT, the triplets would have been 1 years old AND Mrs Pike most likely would have been pregnant with Vanessa. I cannot imagine trying to go on vacation with 4 kids in diapers WHILE pregnant. And it just gets worse from there. I think if the youngest kid is 2, then trips are feasible. 
• Also, the house they rent is HUGE. The boys all sleep in one room, the girls in two different rooms (same arrangements that they have at home, actually), and then Mary Anne and Stacey share another room, but are told that if they don't like it, they can choose another one. With so many rooms, I'm surprised the kids would want to share. This is probably their only chance to have their own rooms. Or at least split up the boys or something.

BSC #7: Claudia and Mean Janine

Front Cover: Claudia's sister makes everything impossible - even baby-sitting!

Back Cover: Claudia's sister is mean! She's too busy being smart to be nice. Even Claudia's grandmother, Mimi, can't get close to Janine. Plus, Mean Janine puts down the Baby-sitters Club. And that makes Claudia MAD!

This summer the members of the Baby-sitters Club are starting a play group in the neighbourhood. Claudia can't wait for it to begin. But then Mimi has a stroke... and the whole summer changes.

Now Claudia has to spend her time "Mimi-sitting" instead of baby-sitting. And things with Janine are going from bad to worse. One of the Kishi sisters has to start being nicer. And it's sure not going to be Claudia!

So this book picks up right after the last book. It's still July, and the wedding has just happened. Kristy decides that since last week and the group baby-sitting went so well, they should hold a play-group for their charges. After some discussion, it's decided that they'll hold it at Stacey's house, because her mom will most likely be home most of the time.

The play-group is all subplot to what happens with Claudia and the Kishis: Mimi has a stroke. A few chapters of the book are dedicated to Mimi being in the hospital and the family not knowing what's going to happen, while the rest of the book is dedicated to Mimi now being home and starting her recovery.

Claudia thinks she's to blame for Mimi's stroke, since she had just been fighting with Mimi before it happened. Of course, that's not true; the book foreshadows Mimi's ill health for a couple of chapters. But still, Claudia feels guilty. So she quickly jumps up and volunteers to spend all this time with Mimi. Since she does, the Kishis decide that there's no reason to bother Janine and make her miss school, so that's that.

All throughout the book, Claudia is very bratty and petty towards Janine. She's resentful of the fact that Janine never helps out and gets to go about her life without any interruptions. It's very apparent though that Janine feels left out. Their parents keep pushing Janine towards her schoolwork, so no one ever wants to interrupt her to include her in things, such as making dinner or taking care of Mimi. Whenever Janine does try to converse with Claudia, Claudia just snaps at her and tells her to get back to her computer. So obviously, Janine does.

Eventually, Claudia and Janine have a discussion and they agree to try harder to relate to each other and to not ostracize Janine so much. Of course, this happens a bajillion times over the course of the series, and the two never seem to be any closer each time haha

The book ends off setting us up for the next one: Mrs Pike has called, requesting two sitters to come with the family for a two-week vacation to Sea City as mother's helpers. Stacey and Mary Anne are the only two who can go, so they're very excited. Sea City, here we come!

Random Thoughts:

• I feel bad for Janine. Claudia is totally a brat to her.
• I would be all for a mini-series of companion books from Janine's perspective. And Charlie Thomas's perspective too, for that matter. Maybe throw Sam in there. But yeah. Definitely a series of books from Charlie and Janine's perspectives. But especially Janine. While I didn't LOVE her as a child, I never understood exactly why she was so hated by the girls in the story. Now that I'm older, I'm even more convinced that she's misunderstood and probably secretly the most awesome person in the series ever haha
• Kristy's play-group idea is reasonable. Again, we're still in reasonable territory, where the girls are realistic and aren't kid-obsessed. They only hold the play group for a few hours (not all day), only a couple of mornings a week (not every day), and only for two weeks (not the entire summer).
• I actually got confused and forgot that at this point in the series, Stacey's parents are still together haha I was wondering why Mrs McGill would be home during the day, thinking, "Shouldn't she be working? How does she support herself and Stacey??"
• Fun fact: Claudia is now thirteen. I think this is the first time a character is mentioned as no longer being twelve
• Mallory is also now 11
  

BSC #6: Kristy's Big Day

Front Cover: Kristy's a baby-sitter - and a bridesmaid, too!

Back Cover: Kristy's mom is getting married, and Kristy's a bridesmaid. The only trouble is, fourteen little kids are coming to the wedding, and they all need baby-sitters. Here comes the Baby-sitters Club!

Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, Dawn, and Kristy think they can handle fourteen kids. But that's before they spend five days changing diapers, stopping fights, solving mix-ups, righting wrongs... and getting sick and tired of baby-sitting!

One thing's for sure: This is a crazy way to have a wedding. But it's a great way to have a lot of fun!

So like I thought when I heard about the wedding in the last book, something happens to move up the wedding date. This book starts off with everything going well. Chapter 1 is all about the wedding being in September. There's a big family dinner, and Elizabeth and Watson tell the kids about their plans, offering each kid a role in the wedding. Everything is awesome and everyone is happy and excited.

Come chapter 2, everything goes to shit. Elizabeth is being sent on a business trip the day of the wedding, Watson's ex-wife wants to take the kids on some trip, a family has offered to buy the Thomas' house at full price, but they want it immediately... long story short: the wedding has now been bumped up and is happening in two weeks. Kristy is not amused. She was hoping to spend one last summer next to Mary Anne, and it's all very sudden.

Because everything is happening so fast, there's no time to really book all the usual wedding things. So the wedding is now taking place in Watson's yard, and while they found a caterer who can provide the main course on such short notice, everything else has to be done by the adults themselves. So to help out, all of Kristy's aunts and uncles come to town the week beforehand. Of course, they all have kids. And it being the '80s, they don't just have one kid, they don't just have two kids... each adult pair has 3-4 kids. As the book description tells us, all in all, it's 14 kids.

Originally, the adults figure that the kids can just run around Watson's while the adults worked, but even Elizabeth realizes that that won't really work and that it'll significantly slow down their progress. Kristy then gets one of her brilliant ideas and decides that the BSC can just watch all 14 kids at the Thomas' place. Elizabeth agrees, and says that if the girls would work from 9-5 for 5 days, she and Watson would pay the club 600$: 120$ each.

Kristy brings the idea to the girls, and at first they're not too responsive, but soon they get excited. The group crunches the numbers, and they realize that it works out to only 3 kids per girl, which they have all handled before. Plus, they'd be all together, so they could rely on each other for support. They decide to break the kids into groups, and assign a different sitter for each group, that way if they had to, they could do smaller activities based on age. They make nametags and all in all, get pretty well organized.

The rest of the book is dedicated to the week (probably making this the shortest time frame in the series so far), with each chapter saying what day it is and how many more days until the wedding. Each girl gets a chance to do a notebook entry, but only Dawn and Stacey really have their own separate adventures.

Kristy's chapter covers Monday, Day 1. The only real dilemma in this one was the start of everything. The girls weren't quite anticipating all the different instructions and parents and items coming with the kids, so there was a bit of organization and logistics to go on. And then all the kids were suffering separation anxiety at being dropped off at a new place full of unknown children and things. But the girls soon got everything under control, and halfway through the day, Kristy and Karen left to pick flowers. It was a pretty easy day.

Dawn's chapter covers Tuesday, Day 2. On this day, the girls decided to do separate activities for their groups in the morning, so as to give the kids a change of pace. Stacey took her group (the oldest kids) to the brook to catch minnows, Mary Anne's group (two babies) simply went for a walk, and Claudia and Kristy's groups (the next youngest kids) went to the library with Jamie Newton for story hour. Dawn's group was David Michael, Karen and Berk (a cousin). She took them to the playground. When she got there, she discovered that there were activities going on (I figure similar to the Parkticipate programs we have going on at playgrounds around the city here), so it should have been a fairly easy day. But no, she had Karen. Karen apparently got it into her head that Martians were going to land that night, and no matter what Dawn told her, she would not shut up. Not only does Karen scare David Michael and Berk, but she then goes on to scare the other children in the playground, and all but gets them banded!

Stacey's chapter covers Wednesday, Day 3. She tried taking her group (the 3 oldest kids) to the movies. Things get to a bad start when they're delayed (despite having arrived 40 minutes early), because Emma thinks she's lost her money. When they get seated in the theatre, the kids won't settle and won't shut up and they pretty much get kicked out.

Mary Anne's chapter covers Thursday, Day 4. To take a break from the babies, she and Kristy take all the boys to the barber shop so that they can get ready for the wedding. The boys are completely rude and unruly and unmanageable, and Kristy threatens to call Nannie (everyone's grandma) on them. Finally the boys stop fussing and just sit and get it over with.

Claudia gets Friday, Day 5. It's been raining all day, so the kids are going absolutely stir-crazy. In the end, they decide to put on a mock wedding to keep the kids organized. While this is going on, Emma decides to switch all the kids' clothing around (they're going to the rehearsal dinner right after), so the girls have to scramble and try to reassemble everything. They do in just the nick of time!

Saturday morning is the wedding, and it goes pretty well. Kristy loves her dress and shoes. Karen almost ruins everything when their neighbour, Mrs Porter, shows up, but Watson manages to clamp a hand on her mouth. Kristy's mom and Watson leave for their honeymoon, and Kristy finally manages to figure out what to give them as a wedding gift: a handmade family tree showing their new blended family.

Random Thoughts:

• I love this cover. Kristy looks so happy and pretty on it.
• Fun fact: the updated cover doesn't match the description in the books. In the book, Karen specifically states that her shoes are shiny and black. The updated cover has her in yellow shoes. Also, because I actually read and collected the Little Sister series for a few years when I was younger, I'm unfortunately an expert on Karen Brewer. She doesn't get her glasses until a few books into the Little Sister series (it's a big deal and the plot of an entire book), and the updated cover has her in glasses. She won't get glasses until at least another 20 BSC books.
• I love how Kristy is actually excited about getting a dress and heeled shoes in this book. You can tell that she still wouldn't want to wear dresses on a regular basis, but that since it's such a fancy and special occasion, she's kinda excited. I'm like that.
• Okay, Karen Brewer is super annoying. I never particularly thought so, because again, I started by reading the Little Sister series when I was 7, and continued reading them until I was 9 or 10, before I moved on to the BSC. So I was kind of used to her being the main character. Plus, you know, I was young and dumb haha But re-reading the BSC now, I'm starting to understand why people find Karen so annoying. Especially in this book. I get that she has an overactive imagination, and while imagination is good and you definitely want to foster creativity in children, someone needs to take Karen aside and put her in her place. She causes panic and mayhem with her stupid Martian stories at the playground, despite the fact that Dawn told her to stop. She also nearly causes a scene during her own father's wedding over her stupid next-door neighbour. It's only been 6 books, and I'm already sick and tired of hearing about Morbidda Destiny.
• I like how this book is called Kristy's Big Day, and it involves her mom re-marrying. Then the first book of the Friends Forever series is called Kristy's Big News, and it's about her dad re-marrying.
• I like the girls' reaction in this book when Kristy tells them the news of giving up an entire week towards baby-sitting: silence. It's not until she mentions how much money they'd make that they get excited. This is still early enough into the series that the girls' have lives and interests and aren't like CHILDREN! EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH MORE CHILDREN! HOW CAN WE TURN EVERYTHING INTO A BABY-SITTING EVENT???
• It's funny, because of all of their group events and group baby-sitting endeavors, this was the one that I could most relate to and the one that seemed the most feasible. Plus, I'd rather group baby-sit than solo baby-sit. Not so I could slack off or anything, but there's that freedom/convenience/security of knowing that if shit hit the fan, there'd be other responsible people around to help. Plus if you needed to, you could take a 5 minute breather and go to the bathroom and what not and not have to be like, "I hope the kids are alright..."
• I realized reading this one that I've stopped reading the notebook entries at the start of the chapters. I can't be bothered to try to decipher their handwriting, plus in these early books, their handwriting is kinda different from what I'm used to.