BSC #56: Keep Out, Claudia!

Tagline: Who wouldn't want Claudia for a baby-sitter?

The Baby-sitters love getting new clients. So when the Lowells contact the club everyone is thrilled. For Mary Anne, sitting for the Lowells turns out to be a snap. The kids are adorable and obedient. But when Claudia meets the family, Mrs. Lowell will barely look her in the eye. And the kids are downright rude!

The next time Mrs. Lowell calls the BSC, she requests another sitter - anyone but Claudia. Claudia has no idea what she did wrong. But the BSC won't rest until they find out!

The book starts off with Claudia sitting for the Rodowskys. Shea is practicing for a piano recital, and Jackie and Archie both express a desire to perform too. This gets Claudia thinking about how maybe the Club should put together some sort of recital or show for their charges to be in. She brings it up at their meeting that evening, and the girls all agree that it's a great idea. Since none of them are particularly musically inclined, they figure they can just organize the children, and then let the children learn for themselves (since many of their charges DO know music). So there's our subplot right there!

Shortly after introducing this idea to the Club, the main plot starts: the girls receive a phone call from a new client, Mrs Lowell, who has seen their flyers and would like to hire a baby-sitter for her 3 children. Mary Anne ends up with the job.

Right away, we follow her to the job, where she meets Caitlin (8), Mackie (6) and Celeste (3). Mrs Lowell briefly gives Mary Anne a once-over, which unsettles her, before smiling and welcoming her into her home. Upon leaving, MA is inundated with questions from the children. They want to know all about her and her family. MA has to explain what step-siblings are, and how Dawn is another baby-sitter. This leads the kids to ask about the other sitters, and make awkward talk about religion (speculating that Mallory must be Catholic because of her family size, and wanting to know what religion MA is). She eventually gets them to play outside, and then finally settled in front of the TV. The kids can't find a show they like, but eventually come across something with two Asian kids. Caitlin and Mackie laugh about their eyes, but MA just remains oblivious and innocent. Soon after, Mrs Lowell returns, and MA goes to their Club meeting, forgetting all weirdness.

Next, we see Claudia baby-sitting for the Newtons. Jamie is bored, so Claudia calls up Dawn, who's sitting for the Perkins girls. The next thing Claudia knows, Stacey and Charlotte, and Mary Anne and the Hobarts have come over too. This gets Claudia to thinking, and the girls introduce their band idea to the group. The kids get excited, and soon invite more people over. Claudia is thrilled that her idea is taking off, as Mary Anne writes down the details and helps everyone get organized. Claudia decides that since she's sitting for the Lowells next, she'll invite them to the group too.

So it's finally Claudia's turn to baby-sit for the Lowells. Thanks to the cover synopsis, we know that it doesn't exactly go well. Mrs Lowell is all vague and curt with Claudia, while the kids keep trying to eat more food and won't obey her. Claudia thinks maybe it has to do with her wild outfit, since the kids and Mary Anne were dressed so neatly. Speaking of MA, she saves the day by calling Claudia up and inviting them all to the Hobarts for band practice. Things go well, until it's time to leave. Back at their place, the kids give Claudia a hard time and sneak food again. All in all, Claudia does not have a good time.

However, Claudia doesn't think much of it until their next Club meeting. Mrs Lowell calls, and asks to speak directly to Kristy. It's then that Kristy learns that Mrs Lowell wants any baby-sitter except for Claudia! Kristy then demands to know exactly what happened from Claudia. Claudia admits that it wasn't her best job, but that it wasn't a disaster. Everyone's confused, but eventually decide that maybe it was just a combination of small things, such as Claudia's outfit, her arriving too early (3:19 instead of 3:30), her having taken the kids out without permission. Jessi, who ends up with the job, decides to be on her best and most model behaviour, with the hopes of finding out more.

In preparation for her job, Jessi decides to update her Kid-Kit. She thinks specifically of what age and gender each of the Lowell children are, and adds things that she thinks will appeal to them: more books for Celeste, art supplies and matchbox cars for Mackie, and an office kit for Caitlin. Jessi then makes sure to show up exactly 5 minutes early. Upon opening the door, Mrs Lowell is immediately shocked. After staring at Jessi for several seconds, she finally says that she doesn't need a baby-sitter and that she forgot to say something and closes the door right on Jessi's face! No apology! Jessi goes to Mallory's house all upset, and later to the Club meeting. The girls can't figure out what went wrong. Mary Anne has another sitting job with the Lowells coming up, so she resolves to get to the bottom of things.

But before that, we're treated to a chapter with Claudia baby-sitting for the Rodowskys. Jackie decides that they need a name for their band. After some brainstorming, they come up with "All the Children", which would be short for "All the Children of the World", since everyone came from such multicultural background. This serves as really really awkward foreshadowing for what we eventually find out is Mrs Lowell's problem, but in the meantime, it's just silly. They rehearse songs from Annie, before going to rehearsal. They tell the other kids their great band name idea, and of course everyone loves it!

Finally, we get back to the Lowell plot, only instead of Mary Anne sitting, it's Kristy. Kristy decides to switch because as President, she thinks it's her responsibility to find out what's wrong. Mrs Lowell agrees to the switch, although Kristy can sense that there's something more. However, when Kristy shows up (exactly 5 minutes early, wearing a skirt and blouse), Mrs Lowell is warm and welcoming. This gives Kristy the confidence to ask Mrs Lowell how she's finding the Club's service. Mrs Lowell says she's happy, and before Kristy can grill her further, the children arrive home. Upon Mrs Lowell's absence, Kristy takes it upon herself to question the kids about their sitters. They love Mary Anne, but refer to Claudia as the "funny looking one". Thinking that they mean Claudia's eclectic fashion sense, Kristy moves on, referencing how they never even got to see Jessi. Caitlin insists that Kristy describe her, and when Kristy mentions Jessi's skin colour, she's convinced that she hears Caitlin snort, "I guess that's why mommy didn't like her."

Kristy, bothered by this, goes home and eventually talks to her mom, Nannie and Watson. She tells them her suspicions, that she thinks that the Lowells are racist, and hopes that they'll tell her that she's being over-dramatic. Sadly, they tell her that it could be true, that racism is still a prevalent problem. It makes Kristy sad, and she decides to go to the Club with her thoughts.

Immediately, Claudia is hurt and angry. She doesn't understand why Jessi isn't more upset (at least Claudia got to go inside the house!), but Jessi just explains that she's used to it. But Claudia's never experienced racism before, and feels all sorts of thoughts and emotions she's never felt before. She feels ashamed, and defensive, and worries that her friends feel sorry for her. Jessi and Mary Anne explain that prejudice isn't logical, and that it's the Lowells that Claudia should be angry at. Claudia knows this, but still can't help but lash out at her friends, since they're the ones present. Dawn points out that the Lowells probably don't like a whole lot of people for various reasons, which doesn't exactly make Claudia feel better, and they get into a discussion about how there is still lots of racism and hate groups around like the KKK. In the midst of this history lesson, Mrs Lowell calls, wanting to request the "blonde haired, blue-eyed sitter". After some deliberation, the girls decide that none of them want to sit for the Lowells anymore. Kristy eventually comes to the conclusion that none of them would fit Mrs Lowell's narrow-minded bigoted standards because of their divorced families and non-traditional ways. The girls end their meeting on a good note, but Claudia still feels unsettled by everything.

At the next band rehearsal, Jackie manages to convince everyone to change their entire repertoire to Fiddler on the Roof. Apparently there was a production in Stamford, so most of the kids had already seen it. Everyone's excited and get right down to rehearsal. That's when Mrs Lowell shows up with her kids. At first, she simply remarks on how "assorted" the rest of the children are, but upon hearing the choice of program, she grabs her kids and whisks them away. The girls momentarily panic, but realize that this is on Mrs Lowell, and that none of the other parents will object to their musical choices.

Claudia's still bummed about Mrs Lowell though! Eventually, the girls come to the conclusion that there's nothing to be done with Mrs Lowell. It's not their place and they're just kids themselves. Mrs Lowell will keep on hating, and all they can really do is set a good example for the kids they sit for.

The rest of the novel is dedicated to the band subplot, which also helps Claudia to escape her funk. The children decide that their band needs matching t-shirts, so they decide to set up donation baskets the day of their concert. As the concert grows nearer, Claudia starts panicking and worrying, but the day goes off without a hitch. At the end of the concert, Claudia and the girls notice Caitlin and Mackie Lowell seemed to have snuck out to watch them. It strikes Claudia that perhaps they were just repeating things they'd learned, and that maybe one day, they'd outgrow their racism. The rest of the girls hope so too.


Random Thoughts:

• This was definitely one of my favourite ones as a child. Like I've said before, I always greatly enjoyed the books where the girls had to deal with more serious issues in a realistic manner. I've read this one a million times, but not recently.
• I know I definitely have not read this in the past 15 years at least, because right away on the first page, Jackie Rodowsky makes a mistake that I never understood until now. Shea is practicing piano, and Claudia asks Jackie what he's playing, and Jackie replies, "A doggie-o". Now, after 15 years of studying music, I know that Jackie most likely meant "Adagio"!
• It just occurred to me that none of the girls take music lessons! Out of 7 girls, not a single one of them did piano?? Even for a couple of years? That seems crazy to me. More of my friends took piano as children than who didn't.
• I like the idea of this book being Claudia's book, since she apparently hasn't faced much racism or discrimination, but we barely hear from her! There's a lot of chapters dedicated to other sitters' encounters with the Lowells, and then the stupid subplot of the band.
• I find it weird that American-born Asians don't seem to be discriminated against nearly as often as American-born Africans or East Indians. I mean, maybe that's not true, but based on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence from my friends, that seems to be the case. None of us have accents, but most of us are second-generation immigrants, with our parents all having heavy accents. But the darker the skin, the more discrimination and racism my friends have felt. The worst the Asians have gotten is being stereotyped as geniuses. Oddly enough, one of my best friends is a first-generation immigrant (she only became an official citizen a couple of years ago!), but despite her prominent accent, she's never faced any hardships or racism or discrimination. Then again: she's white, blonde, blue-eyed and Australian. The worse she gets is being asked if she's related to Thor.
• Even as a child, I remember thinking that "All the Children" was the worst name for a band ever. It sounded to me like a soap opera or a charity cash-grab.
• I really liked the conversations Kristy and Claudia have with their families. I wished we got more of those in the series!
• I especially loved Janine's little bit about the American Japanese concentration camps. I can't believe I don't remember this being mentioned here! I remember learning about them in history, but it wasn't until I was in university, and super into George Takei that they really made an impact on me and were permanently etched into my brain.
• I've always wondered about Mr. Lowell, since we never see him in this book. Is he just as bad as Mrs Lowell? Worse??
• I can't believe that the kids know and like Fiddler on the Roof! I first heard of it by reading this book as a child, and to this day, I still haven't seen a production of it. The only songs I know off the top of my head are "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Sunrise, Sunset". I still hear the kids singing "Tradition" the same way as I imagined it as a child!
• At one point, Claudia is sitting for Kristy's family, and among the activities the older crew are doing, it's mentioned that Sam was at a dress rehearsal for the drama club's latest play, which he helped to write. Uh, what?? What the fuck? Where's my story about this?? Why don't we know more about Sam??
• I feel like they've always depicted Charlie as the responsible, academic one, and Sam, while still doing well in school, as more of the goofball and extrovert. I know they mention that Sam is particularly good in math, to better pair him with Stacey, but other than that, I never pictured him as particularly academic. A solid A-/B+ kid. Good grades, but nothing spectacular. But now we find out that he writes and does drama club???

BSC #12: Claudia and the New Girl

Front Cover: Claudia might give up the Club - and it's all the new girl's fault!

Back Cover: Claudia has always been the most outrageous kid in her class.. until Ashley Wyeth comes along, Ashley's really different - she wears hippie clothes, has six holes in her ears, and and is the most fantastic artist Claudia has ever met.

Ashely says Claudia has artistic talent, too. She thinks Claudia should spend more time on her "calling" and forget about the Baby-sitters Club: It's just a waste of time.

The Baby-sitters are sick of Ashley Wyeth, and they think Claudia's a traitor. Claudia's got to decide: either the Baby-sitters Club or the new girl - one of them's got to go!

It's still the start of the school year, and Claudia is already falling behind. But even so, she still makes time for baby-sitting and art. One day, a new girl joins Claudia's English class. Ashley Wyeth dresses weirdly (ie: like a hippie instead of the '80s), but Claudia soon discovers that Ashley is an artist, the real deal. Ashley takes an interest in Claudia's art, and soon the two become fast friends.

Claudia's never had an artist friend before, and she gets swept up by Ashley's talent and big ideas. Ashley's just moved from Chicago, where she studied art at Keyes, a real art school whose teachers actually sell and display their art. A far cry from small town Stoneybrooke. Ashley is very serious about her craft and thus dedicates all her time to it - and she thinks Claudia should too!

Claudia is torn between all the other things she loves, and spending time with Ashley and art. Inadvertently, Claudia starts missing Club meetings and consequently does less baby-sitting. She starts falling even further behind in school. The girls are all mad at Claudia for ditching them and not being a real friend. But Ashley keeps insisting that Claudia just needs to focus more on her art. Since Claudia loves art, she keeps going along. Ashley has all this experience and talent and ideas - so she must know best, right?

All the while, there's an art show contest going on, which is what really fuels Ashley and Claudia's quest for art in this book. They're going to create sculptures out of clay. Ashley decides that she wants to sculpt something unusual, an inanimate object, and goes around Stoneybrooke with Claudia, eventually deciding to sculpt a fire hydrant. After a couple of weeks of searching, Claudia still hasn't decided on anything, and is feeling discouraged and uninspired. The more Ashley tries to help and push her ideas on Claudia, the worse Claudia feels.

Eventually Claudia realizes that Ashley isn't really much of a friend, that she just likes Claudia for her art. Claudia also realizes that while she loves art, she also loves her friends and family and baby-sitting, and doesn't want to give everything up for only one thing. Maybe eventually, but not right now. Claudia and Ashley fight, and Claudia goes back to baby-sit the Rodowskys. It's watching Jackie and his infectious smile that inspires Claudia, and Claudia decides that it's Jackie she's going to sculpt!

Unfortunately, it's too late, and Claudia runs out of time for the contest. However, Mrs Baehr enters Claudia's work as a Work-In-Progress piece, where it wins an honourable mention. Claudia makes up with the girls, and everything ends well.

There's no real subplot in this one, but we get more of Dawn's brother Jeff acting out. Yay continuity!

Random Thoughts

• Fun fact: I have 6 holes in my ears. Well, one of my ears. The other one only has 2 haha
• Claudia looks like she's about to be kidnapped on the cover. She doesn't look conflicted or annoyed, she looks downright "no" haha
• I understand the girls being annoyed/hurt by Claudia, but I think they should have tried talking to her first instead of doing all that mean stuff. Also, they were way unnecessarily mean about Ashley. Especially whenever they talked about how weird she dressed, considering what Claudia and Stacey usually wear. I can understand them being annoyed by the fact that she seems to only talk to Claudia and how she tries to dominate/change her, but yeah.
• People cite this as the start of when the girls started to get really creepy and cliquey and obsessive with each other. I agree. Especially when Claudia feels so guilty for even just eating lunch without the club. I think that if the girls want to do something else during lunch, they should be allowed to without feeling guilty or being ostracized. Especially since Claudia was like, "Hey, sorry, but I won't be eating with you today." I could understand if she stopped eating with them every day, or didn't even talk to them about it, but the first time she does, Claudia immediately feels like she's done something wrong.
• I like how much they reference Claudia needing and seeking help with school. I don't remember that in the later books. Here, she actually has a period in the resource room, which is very realistic (their schedules and the way their classes are organized are far more similar to the way they are in high school here; the only way that they're similar to our middle schools is the number periods they have in a day). I miss how realistic Claudia and her school problems used to be portrayed.
• I love the ongoing continuity and arc of Dawn's brother acting out. It lasts a surprisingly long time, to the point where I'm interested in seeing where this goes (even though I already know).
• It seems really weird to me that Claudia would want to sculpt Jackie. Isn't she just trying sculpture for the first time? Why choose something so complicated as a person?? And why the fuck Jackie?? That has always bothered me
• Their art teacher, Mrs Baehr, doesn't seem very supportive or open-minded. I think sculpting an inanimate object is awesome!
• While I knew what "inanimate" meant when I first read this book, it was this book that really cemented the word in my mind and brought it to full consciousness. I had always thought it was a fancy big vocabulary word, the kind I tried to avoid using around my peers and only used around adults. But if it's in a Baby-Sitters Club book, it must be a normal, common word! haha

BSC #10: Logan Likes Mary Anne!

Front Cover: Mary Anne has a crush - on a boy baby-sitter!

Back Cover: It used to be that Mary Anne had to wear her hair in braids and ask her dad before she did anything. But not anymore. Mary Anne's been growing up... and the Baby-sitters Club members aren't the only ones who've noticed.

Logan Bruno likes Mary Anne! he has a dreamy southern accent, he's awfully cute - and he wants to join the Baby-sitters Club.

The Baby-sitters aren't sure Logan will make a good Club member. And Mary Anne thinks she's too shy for Logan. Life in the Baby-sitters Club has never been this complicated - or this fun!

It's time for school to start again, and the girls are now in the eighth grade... for the first time! Yay! Mary Anne is excited. She has a new wardrobe and newfound confidence from her adventures over the summer. She also just got fitted for her first bra. However, she also doesn't quite feel ready, since she is still 12 years old. Her birthday is about halfway through September.

At school, Mary Anne discovers that a new boy has just moved to town: Logan Bruno. He looks exactly like Cam Geary, her favourite celebrity. Logan is in Stacey's English class, but he's nice and friendly to all the girls. Right away Stacey can see that Logan and Mary Anne like each other, so being the good friend she is, Stacey tries to introduce them and get things going.

Throughout all this, the Club is busier than ever, so the girls consider asking Logan to join the group. Even though he does a great job at the Rodowskys (our introduction to Jackie!), everyone just finds it so awkward, because the girls and Logan don't know how to act around each other in a close intimate setting like Claudia's room. A lot of their stories and conversations trail off when someone or other decides that they can't finish that thought in mixed company. Eventually it's decided that Logan will just be an associate member: someone the girls can call on in a pinch, but who won't actually have to attend meetings.

Another subplot is that it's Mary Anne's birthday soon. Stacey wants to throw Mary Anne a surprise party, but she knows that Mary Anne wouldn't like being the centre of attention. So instead, Stacey decides to just throw a regular party, a back-to-school party, and then just surprise Mary Anne with a cake. However she and the girls get all excited again and carried away, and it ends up turning into a surprise birthday party anyways (except without everyone hiding and jumping out). Mary Anne is understandably overwhelmed and panics, running away from the party.

The girls think Mary Anne is mad at them, and Mary Anne thinks that the girls are mad at her. When she calms down, she realizes that the girls were just trying to do something nice for her, and that she ruined it. They all talk and everything gets sorted out and they're the best of friends again.

Mary Anne ends up getting a kitten for her birthday from her dad, and she and Logan are better than ever.

Random Thoughts:

• They "earn pretty much money" through the Club. Editing fail, haha
• I love how Logan mentions that he's got other guy friends who would be interested in being associate members... and then nothing ever comes of it. It's too bad. It would be cool for the girls to have had a handful of guys they could call on in a pinch. But I suppose as the club grew, the chances of there being an evening that needed more than 9 baby-sitters would be slim, especially since I'm sure a lot of people had regular baby-sitters who were not club members (like Erica Blumberg)
• Like Mary Anne, I too would have hated having a surprise party in my honour. I used to fantasize about it, but it was always such a stupid fantasy, because I would imagine a surprise party like what you see in movies and TV, but I hate social gatherings that are more than 10 people (and even then, it has to be like, 10 people I know very well and are comfortable with), so yeah haha I think the girls should have just had a surprise party with just the 5 of them. I would love that.
• I like how at the end of this book, Mary Anne and Logan aren't suddenly magically boyfriend and girlfriend. Yeah, they're hanging out, and they talk on the phone, and they've gone to a dance together, but they haven't actually said the word "boyfriend/girlfriend" yet. I like it.
• I also love how instead of having their Friday evening meeting, the girls decide instead to get ready for the dance, and just pay Janine to answer the phone and take the messages haha that would have never happened in the later books. I can't remember if they ever end up getting Claudia an answering machine. I feel like they must have. If not, that definitely would have been a good investment haha
• At the birthday party, Logan and Mary Anne are having a really good heart-to-heart, and Mary Anne acknowledges to the reader that it's the first time since they've started talking and hanging out that she's felt comfortable. Logan picks up on this, and some of the stuff he says just... rubs me the wrong way:

"Well, when I first met you, I liked you okay, but you were so quiet and shy... If you could just open up more - I mean, be the way you are right now - people would have a much easier time getting to know you. I almost didn't ask you to the dance, you know... But you have a sense of humor, too, which is nice. The only thing is, sometimes you're too sensitive. I really wasn't sure things would work out between us."

Uh, dude, you've only known each other for like, 3 weeks. I think it's a little early to be passing judgments on her. I mean, I get where he's coming from, but yeah. It's not like Mary Anne is going, "I wish I had more friends! I don't understand why people don't like me and don't talk to me more!" She's kinda happy the way she is. Anyways, long-time readers know that eventually this becomes a bit of a recurring problem, Logan assuming that Mary Anne wants/needs things

• This is when the girls stop eating with their separate groups of friends and start eating together. This eventually becomes obsessive and unhealthy haha