BSC #25: Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger

Tagline: Tigger, come home!

Mary Anne just loves her little kitten, Tigger. So when he disappears one afternoon, Mary Anne is a little concerned. The next morning Tigger is still missing... and Mary Anne is frantic. It's time for an emergency meeting of the Baby-sitters Club.

The girls pool together a reward for the return of Tigger, and they search everywhere for him. But there's still no sign of him... until Mary Anne receives a frightening letter in the mail. Someone has taken Tigger, and Mary Anne must pay a hundred dollars to get him back.

Is this some mean practical joke... or has Tigger really been cat-napped?

This one starts off with Mary Anne being completely obsessed with Tigger. She's on her way downtown to buy more cat toys for her kitten. She rushes home to give the toys to Tigger, then runs to a Club meeting. Immediately after the Club meeting, she rushes home once more to play with Tigger. Next, we've got her hanging out with Logan on her porch (no boys allowed inside the house!), playing with Tigger. Everyone is all happy and yay Tigger. Apparently it's another Club day, because Mary Anne has to go to a meeting. Tigger doesn't want to go inside, so Mary Anne figures that he'll be fine outside for half an hour, and leaves for her meeting.

When the meeting is over, Mary Anne can't find Tigger. At first, it's no big deal, but as she starts making dinner and realizing there's still no sign of him, she starts to worry. Her dad gets home, and to his credit, he's pretty cool and agrees to help Mary Anne do a cursory search. Of course, they don't find him, and Mr Spier tries to reassure Mary Anne that cats like to wander and that he's sure he'll turn up soon enough.

However, come the next morning, there's still no signs of Tigger. Same thing when Mary Anne gets home from baby-sitting. At this point, Mr Spier concedes that maybe Tigger really is missing and that it might be time to start worrying. Mary Anne then calls up the Club to tell them the news. They immediately declare it an emergency, and together, the girls put together a missing poster and agree to start papering the neighbourhoods as soon as possible, which turns out to be the next day (Sunday). They also pool together their money and come up with a reward of 30$ for Tigger's safe return.

The girls get together and start passing posters around. They put them on signs and in people's mailboxes. Mr Spier even asks for a couple to put on the community bulletin boards while he's out getting groceries, something that surprises Mary Anne and makes her feel incredibly grateful. While she's out, she runs into a little boy, about 10 years old, who sees the posters and claims he's seen Tigger. Mary Anne quickly realizes it's a scam and is upset and tells the boy to go away.

The day after putting up the posters, Mary Anne finds a ransom note in her mailbox, demanding 100$ for Tigger's return. At that night's meeting, the girls (and Logan) discuss what to do. Based on the childish scrawl and the fact that the letter wasn't actual sent through the post, they figure that it's probably some kid who did, not hardened dangerous criminals. Either way, it's their only lead, so they decide to follow up on it. They organize a stakeout, where Mary Anne will leave the ransom (fake money) where the note says to, and then the rest of the girls will wait and watch to see what happens.

Of course, when the girls (and Logan) go through with it, they soon discover that it's the same boy from Sunday who tried to scam Mary Anne. They threaten and scare the boy, then send him on his way. The girls are no closer to finding Tigger than they were before, and Mary Anne is feeling even more discouraged.

The next day (Wednesday), Mary Anne is baby-sitting for Hunter, while Kerry and Logan go to the dentist. (Hunter was supposed to go, but with all his allergies, he's liable to accidentally bit off the dentist's fingers with a sneeze.) Eventually, Mary Anne goes sleuthing, trying to find the source of Hunter's allergies. Unable to find anything (without going through closets and doing a massive invasion of privacy), Mary Anne eventually concludes that the only safe place for Hunter is the kitchen. Hunter, upset at that, finally confesses to Mary Anne the source of his allergies: a kitten that Kerry has been hiding in her closet! Of course, the kitten turns out to be Tigger. Afterwards, Mary Anne confronts the Brunos. Kerry admits that although she didn't know who Tigger belonged to at first, she did know who he was now. Mary Anne thinks that Logan knew the whole time, since he'd been distant and kind of a jerk the whole book, and was covering up to protect Kerry, so she takes Tigger and leaves upset.

Eventually Mary Anne talks things out with Logan and finds out what's wrong with him (baseball stuffs). They kiss and make-up and everyone is happy. Mary Anne brings Tigger to another Club meeting. Yay!

The subplot in this one is that Logan's siblings are acting strangely. Kerry is being more helpful than usual, and Hunter is being more sneezy than usual. This of course is because Kerry has had Tigger and is attempting to prove that 1) she's responsible and 2) Hunter's allergies aren't that bad. She's wrong on both accounts. Also: Logan is on the verge of being kicked off the baseball team, so all in all, it's a pretty shitty month for the Brunos.

Random Thoughts:

• Again, we learn of Mary Anne's love of mail and getting mail. It's always her that seems to get the bad stuff! haha
• Dawn's mom and MA's dad go on a date again. A couple of dates in fact. But just two months ago she was dating the Trip-Man! haha
• There's more foreshadowing of Mimi in this one:
• As she's leaving a meeting, MA says by to Mimi, who replies, "I will take six, please."
• When the girls are making their posters for Tigger, Mimi wanders in and asks what they're for. When the girls tell her it's Tigger, she replies, "Eggplants", and then wanders out in confusion.
• At some point, Claudia is baby-sitting, and she thinks about how devastated MA would be if it turned out that Tigger had died. She reflects on the fact that although her mother had died, MA was too young to have any conscious memories or thoughts of it, and thus Tigger's death would be almost worse. Claudia further concludes that she wouldn't know what to say or do to help Mary Anne in that case: no one Claudia has ever known has died. Claudia specifically then mentions how Mimi had her stroke, and while it was scary, Mimi ultimately recovered.
• Logan really sucks in this one. We eventually find out that he's going through some shit of his own (he was the star baseball player at his old school, but here he's on the verge of getting kicked off the team), but he's still really shitty to MA. He's generally distracted and doesn't seem to care about what she's talking about or anything. Again, that's somewhat understandable. What really takes the cake for me though is that when MA gets the ransom note, and wonders what will happen if they don't get the money and is understandably upset, Logan says, "Mary Anne, would you calm down? You are being so... sensitive. You're acting like such a girl." To MA's credit, instead of breaking down further and crying more, she glares at Logan and replies, "There's nothing wrong with being sensitive, and besides, I am a girl." (you go girl!) 1) Her beloved pet is missing, 2) potentially being held ransom, 3) she's generally pretty sensitive to begin with and 4) she is a girl.
• I suppose this is fairly realistic though. 13 year olds aren't the most mature. It makes sense that Logan would fixate on his own problems and bottle it up, instead of being honest and talking it out with MA like a more mature couple would.
• I also hate how Logan is upset over Mr Spier's rule about no boys in the house when no one's home. I mean, sure, as the weather cools, it's pretty shitty and it sucks, but Logan glares at MA and acts all exasperated, as if it's her rule. Sure, she could break it, but that's not in her character, and not fair to expect that of her.
• In my re-read of the series though, Logan's really pissing me off. They always describe him as the perfect boyfriend, but I'm starting to think he's a bit of a jerk. MA could do way better! I think she just settles for him cuz 1) he's hot and 2) she has zero self-confidence.
• lolz when Dawn is baby-sitting for the Barretts, and the kids are worried about their own pets going missing, Buddy essentially outlines the entire premise of Mystery #7 Dawn and the Disappearing Dogs: sometimes people go around steal pets because it's easy to do with them being out in the yard, and then sell them to new unsuspecting owners. This really makes me want to re-read Mystery #7 now. It was always one of my favourites.
• Claudia baby-sits for the Perkins, and the girls want to play "Hawaii Private Eyes". Are they talking about the show Magnum P.I.??

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

Tagline: Kristy's in for a big surprise!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random Thoughts:

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

BSC #23: Dawn on the Coast

Tagline: Dawn's a California girl!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random Thoughts:

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

BSC #22: Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter

Tagline: This was one sitting job Jessi couldn't resist!

The Mancusis don't have any kids.. but they sure have a lot of pets! So when they're desperate for a sitter, whom do they call? The Baby-sitters Club!

Kristy's insulted. The Baby-sitters don't pet-sit. But Jessi's always like animals, and she talks Kristy into letting her have the job.

With snakes on the loose and sick hamsters, Jessi's got plent of pet-sitting troubles. And the Baby-sitters aren't making life any easier for her when they get into a big fight.

Will Jessi be able to handle her pet-sitting job when things are going wrong with the baby-sitters, too?

The Braddocks are on vacation this week, and coincidentally the ballet school is also closed, which leaves Jessi free for a new baby-sitting adventure! Immediately the Club gets a phone call from the Mancusis, who are looking for a pet-sitter. After Kristy's infamous first job for the Club, she has sworn off all pet-sitting for everyone ever. Of course, this doesn't sit well for the girls, especially Jessi, who believe that as long as they know about it up front, why couldn't they take a pet-sitting job every now and then? Especially since this is an emergency, as the Mancusis had originally lined up a pet-sitter, only to have them cancel at the last minute. Without anyone, the Mancusis vacation will be ruined!

So it's Jessi to the rescue. Over the course of the book (which in contrast to the last one which takes place over two months, this one takes place over the course of a week), we're treated to descriptions of Jessi pet-sitting. Things go pretty well. There's a lot for Jessi to do, but there aren't too many disasters, which is a small miracle considering how many pets the Mancusis have: three dogs (Cheryl, Pooh Bear, Jacques), five cats (Powder, Rosie, Ling Ling, Crosby, Tom), four rabbits (Fluffer-nut, Toto, Robert, Cindy) several birds (Frank, plus several parakeets, cockatoos and macaws), two guinea pigs (Lucy and Ricky), a cage full of hamsters (they're not even introduced to us!), several turtles (again, no names), and a garter snake (Barney).

A couple of times, the other girls use Jessi as an excuse to distract their own baby-sitting charges: Claudia shows up with Jamie Newton and Nina Marshall, where they go for a walk and end up walking Chewy, the Perkins' dog. Mary Anne then brings the Perkins' girls over, where they almost lose Barney the snake because Mary Anne is dumb and forgot to close his cage. Luckily Myriah just happened to be learning about snakes in school, and used her brains to figure out where Barney might be hiding. Kristy sits for Jackie Rodowsky, who is upset because he thinks he's going to lose the class election to take care of the class pet. He does in fact lose, and Kristy later sets him up with one of the Mancusis' hamsters.

The only real problem Jessi has is that she notices that one of the hamsters is off by himself all the time. As the week progresses, Jessi notices him getting fatter and fatter and more alone and irritable. Finally, on Saturday, the day before the Mancusis are set to come home, Jessi decides she better take the hamster to the vet, just to say in case something really is horribly wrong. There, we learn that the hamster is a lady and that she's quite pregnant. So pregnant that she gives birth to 10 babies the next day! The Mancusis decide that when the time is right, they'll be free to whoever wants one. Jessi, Mallory and Jackie all end up with one.

As hinted in the synopsis, the subplot of this one is that Kristy is too bossy, and it causes the other three older girls to question her and their positions in the club. Eventually the club decides to hold elections, only to realize that each girl is holding the position best suited to them. Kristy realizes that she's gone overboard with being bossy, most likely as a result of feeling stressed from Charlie being stressed about college.

Random Thoughts:

• I like reading these earlier books with Jessi as the narrator. She's not so brainwashed yet into the Club, so her perspective on the girls is interesting.
• Jessi is still rocking her job with the Braddocks. They just happen to be on vacation this week.
• Again, I'm reminded that I want to know more about Charlie Thomas. It's funny, because all these girls come from good families, so it's probably expected that they'll go on to college and make something of their lives. But most of the girls are the eldest in their families, so obviously this isn't an impending issue to any of them. Janine is older than Claudia, and is already taking some college classes on the side, so again, that's not an issue for her. Sam is still a few years away from college, but then that leaves us Charlie. I'm betting that Charlie has spent so much of his time being "the man of the house" and taking care of his siblings that he has completely forgotten about college and hasn't thought about what to do about this next step in his life. He probably didn't even think it'd be possible for him to go until recently. Until his mother married Watson, Charlie probably didn't expect to go to college. They definitely didn't have extra money lying around, so Charlie probably figured he'd have to work for a few years to afford college for himself. Plus, he probably figured he'd also continue to help take care of his younger siblings. Even if Charlie doesn't feel right taking Watson's money (I'm sure Watson would have no problems giving Charlie ALL the money he needs for college), Charlie at least doesn't have to worry about what will happen to his mom and siblings. Suddenly he's faced with a decision and life-choices he didn't think he'd have to make. I really want to know more about him!
• I like how in these earlier books, Jessi and Mallory still don't assume that they'll automatically become a professional dancer and author respectively. These are hobbies for them, allowing them to be multidimensional characters. In later books, they're pretty much defined solely by those traits.
• Further defining Jessi's individuality and the fact that she will not bow blindly to Kristy is the fact that at the first meeting of the book, she takes the Mancusi job just to spite Kristy and prove that Kristy is not the boss of her! haha Mallory also takes a stand, snarking to Jessi about how Kristy thinks she's queen
• I love how mean and petty the girls can get when they're fighting. On page 20: "At that, I heard Dawn mutter something that sounded like... well, it didn't sound nice."
• Fun fact: on page 23, Jessi uses the word "cacophony" several times to describe the Mancusi house. I remember always loving that word as a child, being super happy whenever I came across it in reading. Of course, I had never heard anyone use it aloud, so I had to come up with my own pronunciation guide: "caca-PHONY". To this day, I still have to catch myself to say it right >_< haha
• When Jessi visits the vet, we learn about white cats, and how they're often deaf. In three years' time (publication-wise), we'll get Mystery #3 Mallory and the Ghost Cat, which will have a deaf white cat as a plot point, and we'll learn that fun fact again. (Here's hoping I'll get to that book before the end of this year haha I seem to be slow going)
• I cannot believe that the Mancusis would trust an 11 year old to take care of all those pets. A random 11 year old they haven't met. For an entire week! A week is enough time for Jessi to royally fuck up one of the animals if she misunderstood one of the care instructions.
• Fun fact: when I was 12 or 13, I pet-sat for my friend's family. They had taken the dog to the kennel, so I didn't have to walk her or anything. I just had to fill the food/water dishes as needed for one cat and one bird, as well as water the plants and bring in the mail. I went over every day to make sure everything was as it should be. They said that if I could, it'd be nice to spend some time with the cat and bird so that they wouldn't get too lonely, so every other day or so, I'd bring a book and sit with them on the couch for an hour or two, just reading aloud and petting the cat, letting the bird sit on my shoulders/fly around.

BSC #21: Mallory and the Trouble with Twins

Tagline: The Arnold twins aren't just bad - they're double trouble!

Mallory knows she's a good baby-sitter. She's been looking after her seven younger brothers and sisters for years. So when Kristy offers her a steady job baby-sitting for the Arnold twins, Mal thinks it'll be easy money.

The twins sure are cute in their little matching outfits. But once Mrs. Arnold leaves, Marilyn and Carolyn turn into twin terrors! They run around the house like spoiled brats, and Mallory can't even tell them apart.

Taking care of Marilyn and Carolyn is a baby-sitting nightmare. But Mallory's a responsible member of the Baby-sitters Club - and she's not giving up!

This book starts off with a trip to the Washington Mall, the infamous mall that's an hour drive from Stoneybrook. The Pikes are on a mission to buy everyone new shoes. Mallory wants crazy fun pink ones with green trim, but when you have to shoe a large family, everyone gets what they need, not what they want, so Mallory ends up with loafers. We're reminded yet again of how babyish Mallory thinks she looks and how much better her life would be with pierced ears.

Mallory finds herself with a steady sitting job, sitting for the Arnold twins. The twins aren't new clients to the Club per se, but the other girls have only sat for them once or twice. Anyways, Mrs Arnold is on some temporary committee, and needs a regular sitter every Tuesday and Thursday for 8 weeks. Mallory is excited, thinking of all the money she'll get to make and all the things she wishes she could buy, but isn't allowed.

At first things go well for Mallory, but as soon as she remarks how cute the girls look with their identical matching outfits, all hell breaks loose. They take off their name bracelets and start talking gibberish to each other and playing tricks on Mallory. Mallory doesn't understand what's going on. She's grown up with triplet brothers, and they have never been this bad!

It takes the entire book for everyone to realize that the problem is that the twins want to be individuals, much like anyone else would. Mallory's never had problems with her brothers because they have never been forced to dress identical every single day. In the meantime, Claudia has a particularly bad time when she has to watch the twins one day over the weekend. Marilyn is supposed to go to an important piano recital rehearsal, but Claudia accidentally sends Carolyn instead!

Eventually the girls figure out that while little girls like to pretend to have twins, and like to occasionally dress alike, it can't be much fun to do it every single day, especially when no one can even attempt to tell you apart. This comes to a head when the twins have a birthday party, with some of the Club members helping, and Mallory notices that each girl gets the exact same identical generic 8 year old girl gift from her classmates.

Mallory helps the twins to talk to their mom, who feels awful because she always assumed that the girls liked dressing identically. It's then decided that the girls would be allowed to dress individually and would have more of a say in their outfits and individual expression. Everyone is happy!

The subplot in this one is Mallory's ongoing quest to stop "looking like a baby". Finally she decides to just straight-up ask her parents if she can get her ears pierced and a haircut and start buying some of her own clothes. The Pikes, being super cool, of course agree.

Random Thoughts:

• Jessi is still rocking the steady job with the Braddocks
• "Pretty much money" comes back, only this time, it's "pretty much birthday money". Is this a New England thing? Or weird slang that AMM is trying to make catch on??
• I find it interesting that the Arnold twins aren't new clients. The other girls mention having baby-sat for them occasionally in the past. Yet the twins never gave the girls many problems before. And now they become regulars.
• For some reason, this one has some of Mallory's sitting chapters start with Notebook entries. They normally don't do that for the narrator. I was pretty confused, thinking "Maybe I don't know the girls' handwriting well enough? Maybe someone had different writing in the beginning of the series??" But nope, it was Mallory.
• The Pikes actually aren't that strict. The only reason why Mallory still "dresses like a baby" is because the Pikes have to be practical. They know that everything they buy Mallory has to last, preferably long enough to get passed down to Vanessa and/or Margo. Because of that, they go for simple, classic wardrobe staple pieces. They obviously cannot afford a whole new wardrobe for Mallory and while I do know some children who wear contacts (if they're super hardcore athletic), most people I know don't get contacts til they're at least 13. The Pikes never said Mallory couldn't get her ears pierced. They probably just couldn't be bothered to waste the money on something so frivolous. So as soon as Mallory said that she wanted to spend her baby-sitting money on clothes and ear piercings, they were like, "Sure, why not?" The trouble is that Mallory had never asked before.
• There really wasn't much to this story. Basically the twins are tired of being considered one person and being completely matching. It takes the entire book for everyone to figure this out.
• If I had been Claudia, when I found out it was Marilyn I had with me, I would have made her spend the whole afternoon practicing. Yes, it's the not the same as being at rehearsal with your instructor, getting one on one feedback, but it's better than the entire afternoon going to waste.
• Mrs Arnold seems like a child. She uses her daughters as dolls essentially, dressing them up in identical matching cute outfits. All of the outfits described are pretty much "picture day" outfits: dresses with tights and matching accessories. A single bracelet. A necklace. Matching hair ribbons. All tastefully done. But highly impractical for children. How are the girls supposed to play?? Then the descriptions of Mrs Arnold herself sounds like an accessory store exploded on her, because she's described as wearing a million bracelets and necklaces and having bows on everything. It's like a little kid's version of "being fancy".
• This is the one where Claudia gets an extra hole pierced into one of her ears, resulting in her having three holes: one in one ear and two in the other. Fun fact: this is partly what inspired me to get a third hole pierced into one of my ears. I remember as a child thinking that Claudia's extra asymmetrical hole was the epitome of cool. It took me awhile to get over my fear of needles to convince myself to get my ears pierced the first time around. That was such an ordeal that I decided to leave it at that for now. But I never forgot Claudia's extra hole. When I got older, I decided to get a second hole punched into both of my ears. Again, I thought of Claudia, but I wasn't bold enough to go asymmetrical. I figured two holes would be hardcore enough. Finally, in my early 20s, I decided to get a cartilage piercing done. It was 2-for-1 piercing day at the tattoo parlor, and I wasn't sure I wanted TWO cartilage piercings. So instead I took a page out of Claudia's book: I got a third hole put into only one ear. Ta-da!

BSC #20: Kristy and the Walking Disaster

Tagline: Guess which one's the walking disaster!

They're lean, mean, they're the pride of Stoneybrook. Who are they? They're Kristy's Krushers!

When Kristy sees how much her little brothers and sister want to play on a softball team, she starts a rag-tag team of her own. Maybe Kristy's Krushers aren't world champions (how could they be, with Jackie Rodowsky, walking disaster, playing for them?), but nobody beats them when it comes to team spirit.

Now Bart's Bashers have challenged the Krushers to a real live game. It's bad enough that the Bashers truly are lean and mean - but what's worse is that Kristy has a crush on the Bashers' coach. A crush with a capital C!

Kristy is watching her younger siblings and their friends, when they all lament that they can't play softball. Some of them are too young for Little League, and all of them are too bad and/or embarrassed to play. Amanda Delaney mentions that Bart Taylor, who lives in the neighbourhood, has a team of his own, and suggests that people could join. So Kristy heads on over to check this guy out.

And check him out she does! Because Bart Taylor is very cute! Kristy is immediately smitten. Through her conversation with Bart, she discovers that Bart doesn't have anymore room on his team for more than a kid or two, which leads to Kristy deciding that she would just start her own team. Kristy decides that she'll take anyone she can, regardless of how old they are or how skilled (or unskilled) they are. She'll even ask Watson for help organizing it all.

Kristy tells the girls about her team, and immediately they start asking around and keeping an eye open for any charges who seem like they might be interested. Soon Kristy has about twenty kids, including (but not limited to) Claire, Margo and Nicky Pike, Matt Braddock, Nina Marshall, Myriah and Gabbie Perkins, Jamie Newton, her own siblings, and of course, Jackie Rodowsky. Overall, she discovers that the average age of her team is 5.8 years old. Feeling overwhelmed, Kristy turns to Watson, who helps her figure out what she's doing. Together they find a place and time to meet, and what the purpose of the team would be and how to structure the practices. The other girls from the Club agree to help Kristy run the practices.

Kristy's first practice is a relative success. Dawn and Mallory help her to keep all the kids corralled and accounted for, and quite a few parents stick around to chill, so Kristy is not left on her own with 20 kids. She holds just a friendly game so she can evaluate what skills everyone has, since she hadn't seen most of them play at that point. The team also decides on a name and a uniform: plain white t-shirts with iron-on letters that spell out "Krushers".

Kristy holds a couple of more practices with her team, and sees that although they really suck, they have a lot of heart. She also starts to see improvement and can pick out which of her players might actually be on to something. Practice gets cut early because Jackie takes off his catcher's mask and finds himself getting beaned in the face with a ball, which knocks one of his teeth loose.

Bolstered by her success, Kristy decides to stop by Bart's again to talk to him. There we learn that Bart's team is mostly older kids (7-9) who just aren't ready for Little League yet. They get to chatting, and Kristy wanting to prove that her team wasn't full of babies, challenges Bart's Bashers to a game in two and a half weeks.

The news of the big game bolsters everyone's enthusiasm, and Kristy starts assigning permanent positions to certain people to get them practicing on certain skills. Haley, Vanessa and Charlotte decide to be cheerleaders (well, Charlotte doesn't want to cheer, she just wants to spend time with her friends). The team also decides to sell refreshments at the game, and to use the proceeds to get them all matching hats. Again, the Krushers are full of spirit, and never give up. The practice is yet again cut short because of Jackie, on this time it's because he hit a homerun and broke the principal's window (they're practicing at Stoneybrook Elementary's field). Kristy is excited for her team.

At the next practice, Bart and some of the Bashers show up. The Bashers essentially act like hoodlums, hassling and heckling the Krushers, all the while having two of them run interference with Bart so that he's too distracted to notice how mean they're being. They essentially make all the kids cry, but it's Jackie being upset that finally leads to Kristy calling short the practice. Kristy, despite her crush on Bart, is angry that he can't control his team and that he couldn't see what they were doing.

The day before the big game, Kristy has one last practice with the team. Here, they play out a full game, trying to get a feel of what tomorrow would be like. Everyone plays great, and Kristy is super proud. Charlotte even considers cheerleading, and Kristy realizes just how much the team means to everyone and how much everyone's confidence has been boosted by it. Bart shows up for the last little bit, and walks Kristy home. Kristy is excited, but also confused, because he's technically her rival coach. She decides to keep things civil and baseball-related, leaving them to have an awkward good-bye.

Finally, it's the big game. Things get off to a rough start. Nicky Pike, their best pitcher, is sick. Then when the Bashers arrive, we find out that they have not only more players than the Krushers and are older, but they're also all boys with matching hats and t-shirts. Plus they have four cheerleaders. They pretty much show-up the Krushers in all aspects. The Krushers started off at bat, and got a bajillion outs (okay, only two, cuz duh), before achieving three homeruns. Kristy is worried that the team will only see the outs and the Bashers jeering, but they instead take strength in their three runs.

The Bashers get 6 runs on their turn, and then it's time for the Krushers again. Jackie, being a disaster, somehow manages to throw a bat into the refreshment stands, killing a cake and half the lemonade. He then strikes out, but not before accidentally launching his bat again. Of course, everyone laughs at him. The next thing Kristy knows, Jackie is pretending to trip and hurt his ankle, telling her that he better now play anymore. Kristy talks him through it though, and convinces him to come back into the game.

Long story short: the Krushers never give up. Even when the Bashers are mean. In the end, they give the Bashers a run for their money and end the game 16-11 for the Bashers. Most importantly, Charlotte starts cheering and everyone's confidence is boosted. When the game is over, Kristy is super proud of them, saying that even though they technically lost, it was a huge win for them, as they surprised the Bashers with how good they could be.

The book ends with Bart walking Kristy home and apologizing for how mean the Bashers have been. He admits that he was worried about the Krushers and that they are a far better team than he gave them credit for. They arrange to have another game in two weeks' time, but in the meantime, he was hoping that Kristy would want to be his friend and maybe go out to ballgame sometime or something. Kristy, of course, says yes.

There was no real subplot in this one. Mostly just about how Jackie is a walking disaster, but almost never gives up, no matter what he does or what happens to him.

Random Thoughts:

• Jessi is mentioned as having a steady job! Yay continuity!
• Bart Taylor is very, very, very cute apparently. He has a "crooked smile", "deep, deep brown eyes", an "even, straight, perfect nose", and "hair that looked like it might have been styled at one of those hair places for guys" haha
• I really really don't like Jackie. He's annoying as fuck. I don't understand how he can break so many things and be allowed to get away with it all with a smile. Even his 4 year old brother Archie is allowed to take lessons and classes! I guess the Rodowskys are putting all of the money from what would be Jackie's classes into repairing and replacing everything he destroys.
• Kristy allows Mary Anne to bring Tigger to a meeting. Kristy of the later books would never allow that. But this is when Kristy was still allowed to be a person, and not a dictator, hence her mild interest in boys and relaxed rules.
• We get a small glimpse of Janine when Tigger gets loose during the Club meeting. This just further reminds me of how much I wish we had the series from Janine's perspective. I should totes do a fanfiction of that. Or find one. I'm sure one exists haha
• What the fuck is the point of Bart's team? Most of them are Little League age, and they don't seem to be horrible at the game. Who have they been playing this whole time? Or have they just been like the Krushers, and played practice games against themselves?
• I actually really like the breakdown of how Kristy runs the Krushers: they meet twice a week, where Kristy will coach and hold a workshop for them for half of the time, then they take a break, then since there's so many of them (and really no one else besides the Bashers to play against), they divide up in half and play practice games against themselves. It actually sounds like a fun and productive way to get kids more interested in baseball. If the kids ever aged, I could see many of them going on to join Little League and being better than their other teammates because of their experience on the Krushers.
• I love Kristy's assessment of guys her age: 50% of them are normal, and 50% of them are jerks. Furthermore, in her neighbourhood, 50% are plain, and then 50% are snobs. So that gives her a 25% chance of getting a plain jerk, a 25% chance of getting a snobby jerk, a 25% chance of getting a normal snob and a 25% chance of getting someone who was normal and plain.
• I think it's really sweet that Kristy immediately thinks of Watson when planning her team. She admits that Watson's not very athletic at all (which goes with all the descriptions/impressions we've seen of him thus far: he's older, balding, a slight paunch, and eventually **SPOILER ALERT** we'll discover that he has a bad heart), but she knows he's a huge baseball fan like she is, and that he's great at organizing things and managing things. 
• I love the Perkins girls, even though they're not realistic at all. They make such a big deal out of Gabbie being two and a half years old. Those extra 6 months must be like a lifetime, because they often include her with the older kids (albeit pointing out that she's the youngest), instead of roping her in with the babies. For instance, in this book they specifically mention Marnie Barrett, who is 2 years old, and Kristy mentions that "When you go places with a two-year-old, you have to bring along an awful lot of equipment - toys, munchies, baby wipes, extra clothes, you name it."
• Again, I can't stand Karen. As if she mispells the name of her team, just because it's not grammatically correct. I mean, I'm all for proper spelling, but in this case, she's the one making the mistake. I bet you she's the kind of person who'd tell a person with an unusual spelling of their own name that their name is spelled wrong.
• I love the continuity of bringing up Charlotte and the pageant again.
• Again, I wish we had had a series about Haley, Charlotte, Vanessa and Becca instead of one about Karen (if we had to have a series aimed at younger girls at all).
• We meet the Kuhns in this one. It's interesting, because I can't think of a time when we've met a family of kids when they weren't being baby-sat by the Club. Here, we meet the Kuhns because they're friends with the Barretts. We learn that Jake is apparently a bit overweight =/
• Ugh, they mentioned brownies in the book, and now I want brownies >_< haha I fail at making brownies. Best case scenario, they're more like cake squares. Worst case scenario, they're dry as fuck. I can never make moist fudgy brownies like I want haha
• Considering the Bashers are 1) older and 2) have been a team far longer, the fact that the Krushers only lost by 5 runs is a pretty big deal.

BSC #19: Claudia and the Bad Joke

Tagline: This is one practical joke that really backfired!

Claudia's not worried when she hears her newest baby-sitting charge, Betsy Sobak, is a great practical joker. After all, how much harm can one little girl do?

Plenty. Clauda breaks her leg as a result of one of Betsy's mean jokes... and now she's talking about quitting the club. "Baby-sitting," she says, "is just too dangerous." Kristy thinks Betsy needs to be taught a lesson. She also thinks the Baby-sitters are just the ones to do it.

Watch out, Betsy Sobak! The joke war is on!

The book starts off with the girls going to see a comedy short film festival at the library. They think that the practical jokes and stunts in the film are hilarious, but are soon found regretting those thoughts when practical joke fever has hit their charges. Claudia soon finds herself with a new baby-sitting charge, Betsy Sobak, who is known to be the Queen of Practical Jokes.

Before her baby-sitting job, Claudia talks to some of Betsy's old baby-sitters. They tell her more about Betsy's jokes, and how they refuse to sit for her anymore. Claudia is suitably nervous, but is surprised when she meets Betsy. She's completely sweet looking! (And is wearing a really snazzy outfit: red pants with red suspenders, blue and white striped t-shirt, sneakers with purple laces, pigtails tied with blue ribbons.) Betsy's mom leaves (her name is Cookie btw; not to be confused with Cokie Mason, who for the longest time, I thought was named "Cookie") and Betsy quickly asks for a snack. Claudia, pleased to see things going well, agrees, even offering to help. However Betsy says that Claudia is her guest and insists on serving Claudia herself. Claudia soon realizes not to let Betsy out of her sight, because in her glass of juice, she finds a fake ice-cube with a fly in it. Worse still, she realizes that the glass is a dribble glass, when it leaks juice all over her outfit. After getting tricked by trick gum (Betsy had switched the wrappers, so Claudia thought she was out-thinking her, but she wasn't), finally Claudia suggests that they go play outside, since then Betsy wouldn't have access to her tricks and toys. Betsy eagerly asks to play on the swingset, and directs Claudia to a certain seat. Oh Claudia, why did you let your guard down? When nothing happens, Betsy frowns, but Claudia proposes a swinging contest. As they're swinging, Claudia hears a clunking sound, and suddenly finds herself flying through the air. The seat has snapped on her swing, and Claudia has landed on her leg and it's broken.

Claudia gets whisked away to the hospital where she learns her leg is BROKEN, no hairline fracture. She'll have to spend a week in the hospital, then several weeks at home, before she can even go back to school. Upon hearing that the healing process will take several months, Claudia gets to thinking: what if she had broken her right arm or hand? She is told that she'll be able to walk again, and with some physical therapy, she'll be good as new. But it could easily have gone otherwise. Claudia starts to wonder if she should be baby-sitting at all.

Claudia spends time in the hospital, where she's greeted by a steady stream of visitors, flowers, gifts and calls. Her roommate doesn't have any, and Claudia reflects how lucky she is. However, she still can't shake the feeling that something terrible could have happened while she was baby-sitting, and tearfully confesses to Stacey that she's seriously contemplating on dropping out of the club.

Finally Claudia gets to go home, but she can't go back to school yet. She spends some time with Mimi, where she admits to be having fun. They read and watch Wheel of Fortune, and Claudia does some of her homework. She also colours and draws on her cast, turning it into a work of art. At her first Club meeting back, Claudia tells the girls that she's considering dropping out. The girls aren't happy, but begrudgingly accept what she's saying. They decide that since Claudia can't baby-sit for awhile anyways, she take the time to really think about her decision. Claudia really struggles with the decision. She's too scared to baby-sit again, but she knows she'd miss if she didn't. What Claudia really wants is to not have to make a decision at all, but after a week, Kristy really starts to put the pressure on Claudia. If Claudia doesn't want to be in the Club, they'll have to find a new place to meet.

Meanwhile, the girls are facing troubles of their own, as all their charges seem to want to pull pranks and trick each other. Jessi and Mary Anne deal with the Pikes, while Mallory, Dawn and Kristy each have a turn with Betsy. The girls want to get back at Betsy, and show her that her games and tricks are just plain mean. Mallory tricks Betsy with some sneezing powder, but Betsy is able to counter every trick. Mallory admits that some of the tricks were funny and harmless. Dawn manages to get Betsy distracted for awhile, and enjoys some joke-free time. Betsy apologizes for all the jokes, and poor Dawn believes her, until Betsy makes her an ice cream sundae with shaving cream.

It's Kristy who makes a breakthrough, by essentially be really really mean to Betsy. She takes Betsy to a movie, and while Betsy leaves to buy popcorn, Kristy switches seats, leaving Betsy feeling lost and bringing attention to herself in the theatre as she tries to search for Kristy. Her classmates see her, and start making fun of her (Betsy doesn't have a whole lot of fans). Then while they're watching the movie, Kristy tricks Betsy with a severed thumb at the bottom of the popcorn bag, again causing Betsy to embarrass herself as she shrieks. Finally, Betsy realizes that her tricks embarrass people, and that they might not all be just fun and games. Kristy takes Betsy to Claudia's to apologize in person. Betsy was unaware that Claudia had been missing school this whole time. Betsy and Claudia have a chat, and Claudia says she forgives Betsy, offering her some candy as a gesture of peace. When Betsy looks at it warily, Claudia points out that if Betsy didn't pull so many tricks, she wouldn't have to be so paranoid of others doing it on her. Betsy agrees, and Kristy takes her home.

Up until this point, Claudia had been struggling with her decision, talking things over with both Mimi and Stacey. She just couldn't come to the right conclusion! But through talking things over with Betsy, Claudia gains some closure, and is able to make her decision: she's going to stay in the Club. She celebrates by accepting a job at the Rodowsky's three weeks from now, when she'll be able to baby-sit again.

The book ends with Claudia getting her cast cut off after having had it for 3 months.

Random Thoughts:

• Mallory is still described as simply having curly hair. I'm wondering when it goes from chestnut to red! Does it ever??
• Dawn's mom is still dating the Trip-Man
• In what world is an 81% on a math quiz: 1) a disappointing grade and 2) a B-minus?? No wonder Claudia hates school so much! I know plenty of Asian families who believe that anything under a 90% is an failure (because here in Canada, 90% and higher is an A+), but an 81% up here is an A-minus, which is quite the respectable grade! Anything above 80% is generally very well regarded!
• This book is very heavy-handed. Every chapter seems to end with "the jokes were just beginning!", or "if only I knew then what I know now", or something of the sort haha
• Now that I'm older, I am flabbergasted at all the times the charges come to visit the sitters whenever the sitters are doing something. I had friends who stayed in the hospital when I was younger, my own FRIENDS, and I never visited them! The only person I remember visiting was when I was in high school, a classmate was in the hospital for a month because of severe pneumonia. I only went because a whole bunch of other people were going, and I thought it'd be fun to tag along. I wasn't particularly close to him or anything.
• Aside from how strict Claudia's parents are with her grades (I'm sorry, but an 81% is hella good!), I think they're my favourite of all the parents.
• I miss Mimi =(
• Most of the jokes in the book are just lame and annoying. Big elaborate pranks are the only thing I would really consider a prank
• As a musician, I understand Claudia's fears of damaging her hands. There have been a few times when I've been freaked out and paranoid about it happening. I even had a phase where I learned instruments that could specifically be played using only one hand, or one hand and a prosthetic, since my main instruments rely heavily on regular use of all 10 of my fingers.
• This book covers quite a lot of time, but I know that the next book will ignore that. The book itself covers a month, but then the last chapter is Claudia getting her cast taken off "two months later", meaning all in all, Claudia spent 3 months with a cast. That is a quarter of the year. But I bet you the next book will take place as if only one month had passed. At the time of publication, the books were being published fairly often, usually once a month. Like a tv series, the seasons/holidays in the books usually paralleled when they were released. Which means, I highly doubt three months' time will have passed by the next book.
• This is one of the few times the girls' acknowledge that other people baby-sit, and that's why they can sometimes have new charges. They even name and reference and refer back to the other baby-sitters.
• I hate how the girls never tell Betsy's mother what's going on. Does Cookie even realize that Claudia broke her leg because of Betsy, or does she truly believe that it was all just an accident??
• I would be super pissed if someone tricked me in a way that got me dirty, the way Claudia got apple juice all over her outfit because of Betsy. I hate being dirty and sticky and messy. The only time it's acceptable is on my own terms! Which usually means when I'm paintballing or running track haha
• How the fuck does Claudia not get held back at this point? I was a great student in HS, but I'd miss an entire week every year because of orchestra trips, and whenever I got back, I could never catch back up in math (for some reason, I always had math in second semester, when the trips were), and thus my math grade would always drop from the mid-80s (which, might I remind you, is a very good A-) to the mid-70s (a solid B). And that was from missing ONE WEEK of school, and with me already being an excellent student, and it was always just the ONE CLASS I couldn't catch back up in. Claudia is already apparently struggling in all her classes (although, I'm starting to wonder if I should take that with a grain of salt, if apparently 81% is "bad"), and she misses an entire month
• Claudia must have to go through a fair amount of physical therapy, I imagine, after not using her leg at all for 3 months. I wonder what the standard time is for a cast? I always thought it was closer to 1 or 2 months (hairline fracture), and that anything more was SERIOUS BUSINESS