#18: Stacey's Mistake

I know this picture is terrible, but it's the best one I could find of the original cover.

Thoughts before reading:

I've read this one before and definitely liked it. I always liked the books where Stacey was living in New York because they were so few and therefore very different. After reading the back of the book though, I'm not expecting to like it this time around. It seems like Stacey is going to be her worst self in here: really snobby about NYC and how sophisticated she is. That either never bothered me growing up or I never noticed, but now I'm already so sick of hearing about how much more mature she is than everyone else. 

The basics:

The adults in Stacey's apartment building are having a big meeting to discuss the homeless problem in the city. Several of them want Stacey to sit during the meeting, which gives her the idea to invite the BSC up to help. There will be ten kids, so it's similar to the job they did before Kristy's mom got married, plus it's a long weekend from school. Her parents agree to host everyone, and Stacey eagerly starts counting down.

Unfortunately the trip gets off to a bad start when the BSC girls get lost at the station. Stacey's even embarrassed to be seen with them because they are acting like tourists (even though that's exactly what they are...). Claudia brought a huge suitcase with her, Mary Anne keeps quoting guide books, Dawn's terrified of everything, and Kristy is just loud.

Stacey takes the girls to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, where she gets embarrassed by how excited they are, and Kristy ordering wrong. Afterwards they head to Bloomingdale's, and Mary Anne pockets what she thought was a makeup sample. Security comes up to reprimand them, so Stacey is now mortified. 

That night Stacey throws a party for her Stoneybrook friends to meet her New York friends. Of course, it's a complete disaster. Claudia and Laine are jealous of each other for each being her best friend. Mary Anne tries to impress the NYC kids by making fun of Dawn (really out of character). Kristy dances with a boy, and Claudia cuts in, leading them to bickering all night. Everyone else just hides in the corner. By the end of the night, everyone is fighting and ends up going to bed early.

The big babysitting job is the next day, and once the BSC gets down to business, things start to improve. They take the kids to the Museum of Natural History. A child is briefly lost inside, but Mary Anne takes charge and organizes a search, quickly finding him. After the museum, they take the kids to Central Park. Everyone is in awe but Stacey, and Claudia comments about how she acts like she's already seen everything in the city, so nothing impresses her anymore.

Claudia's remark gets Stacey thinking, and she realizes she's become a snob about New York: she's lived in the city almost her whole life, so she takes everything for granted. This helps her realize her friends probably find her as frustrating as she finds them, and she relaxes. Everyone starts exploring, playing, and actually having fun. 

The sitting job ends on a good note, and everyone's spirits are lifted. Shortly after they get back to Stacey's apartment, Laine calls and offers them tickets for a Broadway show that night. Her dad's a producer and gets them for free, and they even have a limo. Everyone is ecstatic, and the night ends up being a lot of fun. Claudia and Laine even make up and agree to start over. There's apologies all around, and the girls stay up late talking and catching up.

Timeline:

The whole book is only a few days over a long weekend, with no indication of the time of year. I'm guessing it's still supposed to be fall, because Central Park is green and free of snow.

My thoughts:

I had really mixed feelings about this one. I guess since everyone learns something in the end, especially Stacey, it's a good lesson in empathy and tolerance for kids. It's annoying to read about though, because I'm getting really tired of the contrived dramas for the girls to fight about.

To start with, Stacey hasn't seen her friends in months, but immediately after their happy reunion she's annoyed with them for getting lost in the station? Then she's deathly embarrassed because they are acting like tourists. Yet they ARE tourists, and most of them have never been to New York before. It would be weird if they weren't excited...they are just kids. Stacey was excited when she went to somewhere new, Sea City. All of her reactions to her friends come across as so harsh. Did she miss them or not? She's the one who invited them, and she didn't seem like such a snob before this book either (at least not nearly this bad). 

Maybe without being aware of it, Stacey wanted the visit to go poorly. That way she wouldn't miss her Stoneybrook friends as much. It's a common defense mechanism, like telling yourself everything bad you can think of about a person you can't have in your life anymore. At least this explanation makes her come across less awful in here. 

All that being said though, Stacey does make a huge turn around in here and learn a lot, which is where my mixed feelings come in. After the failed party, she starts to feel bad for her friends, which leads her to start trying to make things better instead of being so hard on everyone. After Claudia calls her out for being too jaded the next day, she realizes how she's been acting and gets a big lesson in empathy. It's good character growth, for sure.

This book also has one of the most misleading titles so far. Stacey didn't make a mistake at all. This was actually about her learning why she definitely did NOT make a mistake by inviting her friends to New York. She missed them, and she's not different from them just because she grew up elsewhere. There's no reason for them not to try and stay close. 

I was also baffled by Dawn being the one who was terrified of the city. Maybe it was supposed to be funny, since she's the calm one usually, but I didn't buy it. She's actually the most worldly one, besides Stacey. As we well know, she grew up in California, which is also crowded and busy. Even though she says she lived outside Anaheim in a small suburb, surely she went there plenty of times. I know this is still a lot different than NYC, but it was still a weird plot choice that fell pretty flat. Dawn's also really judgmental about the homeless population for such a do-gooder. 

Claudia is also being a huge brat, starting a big drama by making rude comments to Laine. I get that she's jealous, but she just came out swinging. Then when Kristy finally starts dancing and having fun at the party, Claudia cuts in on the guy she's been hanging out with. This was literally the first time Kristy even enjoyed talking with a guy, so it's pretty messed up of Claudia. There's literally no one to root for in this book.

Misc:

*Stacey acknowledges her privileged life in here with regard to the homeless people she encounters everyday, which was nice to see mentioned. 

*At the Hard Rock, Kristy orders fill-it mig-nun, LOL

*The letters from home are another nice break from babysitting chapters

*Laine apparently reads French poetry? She's in middle school, how insanely pretentious...

*The Broadway play is Starlight Express.

*There's no scene in the book that matches the cover art. If it's supposed to be when a child was lost at the museum, the missing kid was a boy. It also wasn't his fault and no one was angry.

*I always wanted to eat lox when I was a kid because of Stacey. I thought everything she did was really cool back then.

*Stacey's parents let her basically run all around the city without any adults. They don't even go with her to pick up or drop off her friends from the station. She's still years away from the independence teenagers usually get when they learn to drive, so this is wildly unrealistic. 

Books mentioned:

*Stuart Little, by E. B. White

*Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My rating:

3 stars, I'm still tired of the pointless conflicts.

#17: Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery

Thoughts before reading:

Not only have I definitely read this before, I think it was one of the first ones I ever read, because I remember actually finding it scary. I was a bit of a wuss when I was little, ironic since I became obsessed with horror by middle school. Thanks to this book though, I was scared of chain letters until around that same age. I distinctly remember being horrified when I got an email chain letter in 6th grade. Until now, I'd totally forgotten about this book and the connection there... I was probably only 7 or 8 when I first read this. I got it from the library when I was starting to get tired of the Little Sister books.

I think there's also a Christopher Pike or R. L. Stine series about a chain letter? They used to be a big thing, but I doubt any kid even knows what they are anymore. 

Not much to say about this cover, it's pretty bland. These two do look a bit like they are in a B horror movie though, with those bitchin 80s outfits.

The basics:

Mary Anne and Logan are eating lunch with the rest of the BSC on a typical school day. Her and Logan have been dating for a bit, and he sometimes eats with them, and sometimes with his guy friends. On this particular day Mary Anne notices Cokie Mason and Grace Blume, two other 8th graders, looking at her and Logan. 

After school that day she gets a chain letter in the mail that she's supposed to send to 20 people, or else get bad luck. She's a little worried, but throws it out anyway. Immediately the next day, she starts having constant bad luck: falling out of bed in the morning, spilling food, a stuck locker, can't find things, etc. She even forgets a sitting job at the Newton's. By the end of the day, she's convinced it's all because of the chain letter. The rest of the BSC also begins to think everything bad that happens to them is from the letter, even things that happen all the time.

Not long after this has started, Mary Anne gets a package in the mail addressed to her and the rest of the BSC in letters cut out from magazines. Inside is a necklace and a note saying it's a bad luck charm and she better wear it all the time, or else. She does as told, but everyone still gets more superstitious and paranoid. The girls go to the library to research witchcraft, so they can ward off the evil forces of the charm. (There's a sentence I never expected to write in a BSC summary!) Unsurprisingly, they don't find anything helpful.

It's also almost Halloween, and Mary Anne and Logan attend the Halloween Hop together, dressed as cats. She has fun, except for when Cokie cuts in on them and makes a snide comment about her bad luck necklace. However, when she gets home from the dance, there's another creepy note at her house. This one directs the club to go to Old Man Hickory's grave at midnight the next night- Halloween.

Once she hears about this, Kristy calls an emergency club meeting. There it's decided they will have a sleepover party the next night so they can all get out of their houses late, and Charlie (Kristy's brother) will drive them to the cemetery. All evening Mary Anne is nervous and jumpy, and her dad notices. She finally mentions the charm to him, and he tells her it's just a mustard seed, which is a symbol of faith. Hearing this, she realizes it's not a universal symbol of bad luck, so Cokie would have had no way to know about it. 

Finally having figured everything out, and just in time, the girls arrive at the cemetery early and prepared. When Cokie, Grace, and their friends arrive, the BSC scares them with masks, flashlights, sheets, etc. Logan also shows up, having received a call from Grace to come to see something crazy. He's amused to see what's going on, calling Cokie's group cowards. From there they admit everything they did, just so Logan would get fed up with the club and notice other girls at school.

Later that night, the girls celebrate their victory at the slumber party, during which Mary Anne breaks a mirror. Cue spooky ending music... then she decides she can make her own luck, good or bad.

Timeline:

First Halloween of 8th grade. Unfortunately this means time already makes absolutely no sense. 8th grade began (for the first time) in book 10. I could almost buy that the events of books 10-16 took place in two months, that wouldn't be terrible. Yet we were told the events of Goodbye Stacey Goodbye alone took 3 weeks, not to mention all those other books. What about the pageant, or Jessi's show rehearsals from the last book? Surely each was at least another few weeks. There's no way to really make it all fit.

My thoughts:

It was hard to enjoy this book when the plot was so painfully obvious. Makes for a pretty slow, dull read. It could have been easily improved if we had ever heard of Cokie Mason or Grace Blume before this book, but we haven't. They are introduced in chapter 1 looking at Logan, and then mentioned a few other times in here. Someone from the BSC even mentions that other classmates must be jealous that they never eat with anyone else anymore. The club is pretty much always together now. I wonder if this would really stump an 8 year old? Plus, didn't these girls learn anything from the phantom caller fiasco? (Which, by the way, is also mentioned in this book!) If you're in middle school and someone is messing with you, it's a classmate or a sibling.

The only thing that saved this book for me was that Mary Anne figured everything out in the eleventh hour. Before that, the girls were being crazy, obsessing over the bad luck curse, trying to learn witchcraft, cast spells, worrying about evil forces... it was all a bit much. How many books now have they put down the kids they sit for having similar fears as silly? They all seem too old for it. This whole thing is much more Karen Brewer fare. 

Now, on the other side of this, the motives of Cokie and Grace is just as baffling. All of this was fairly elaborate, not to mention time consuming. Just to accomplish making Logan tired of the BSC? There's a million easier ways they could have tried to do that, and had much more success. They had no way to know he'd even show up at the cemetery, or even be free that night! Not to even mention if he would care or how he'd react. Or what if Mary Anne wasn't superstitious or just didn't care about the notes? It's such a needlessly complicated plan for a ridiculous reason. 

Misc:

*Cokie's real name is apparently Marguerite.

*Mary Anne says that sometimes getting the mail is the highlight of her day. Really, at 13?

*This book had two babysitting chapters back to back! Now that's bad luck...

*At one point Mary Anne says the girls are all more afraid of Kristy than all the spooky stuff happening, LOL

*Claudia attends the dance with Austin Bentley, for those interested in keeping track of boyfriends.

*Also if anyone's interested, Old Hickory was a wealthy, mean recluse who supposedly haunts his grave because he's angry that he was buried with a big headstone against his wishes.

*Watson and Elizabeth don't even want to take their own little kids trick or treating?? Then please don't have another one...

*Mary Anne notes that she's read enough Stephen King books to be wary of the supernatural. Uh, what now? I can't even begin to picture her reading one! She's supposed to be a wuss, not to mention those get pretty vulgar and graphic... I think later on the girls read more adult fare, but so far she's only been mentioned to be reading kid's books.

Books mentioned:

*Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, is one of Mary Anne's favorite books.

*Claudia mentions the Nancy Drew book The Mystery of the Ivory Charm.

*Jessi uses Georgie's Halloween to make Jamie Newton less afraid of the holiday.

My rating:

3 stars, but would have been less if the girls hadn't figured things out and turned the tables. I loved this kind of plot as a kid though...good pre-Goosebumps spookiness. 

#16: Jessi's Secret Language

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read a Jessi book before, so this and all of her books will be completely new. I don't remember why exactly, other than I just didn't find her interesting as a kid. She just seemed like Mal's sidekick back then. All I remember was that her personality consisted basically of being a dancer and being black. I didn't relate, and knew nothing about ballet. (I also never read any Abby books, because I was mad that she replaced Dawn.)

Now I'm sort of glad about this though, because it will be fun having an entirely new POV, and I don't know much of anything else about her character.

Also: I hate this cover. Jessi is only supposed to be 11! She looks about 30 here, mom jeans and all. 

The basics:

Right off the bat, Jessi gets offered a steady babysitting job for new clients, the Braddocks. They have two kids: Haley, 9, and Matt, 7, who is also deaf. Their mom wants a regular sitter who will be willing to learn sign language. Jessi loves languages and is eager to prove herself, so she readily agrees. She's excited about the new challenge, despite being very busy in her new ballet class. They have a show, Coppelia, coming up. Jessi also lands the lead in the show, dancing the part of Swanilda. This is a big deal because she's the youngest student in her advanced pointe class.

Jessi meets the Braddocks and starts learning sign language (ASL). She picks it up very quickly, and gets along well with the kids. Haley is struggling to fit in and resents Matt for making that harder. Jessi relates well to her because of her struggles fitting into racist Stoneybrook. To help Haley, she introduces her and Matt to the Pike kids. They are all interested in ASL too, learning quickly and making up insulting signs. It begins to spread to other clients through the BSC girls, who turn it into a secret language game. 

There's also a girl in Jessi's ballet class, Katie Beth, who has a deaf sister. Her and Jessi haven't gotten along before, because Katie Beth was jealous of her lead role and young age, calling her the teacher's pet. The girls make up and become friends though, after Jessi is able to talk to her sister. The poor kid's own family has never learned to sign and can't communicate with her.

Lots of rehearsing and sitting for the Braddocks follows. As Jessi grows closer to Haley and Matt, she's sad to find out he's never been able to attend the theater. (He's only 7 though, so is this unusual?) She arranges for his entire class at a special school for the deaf to come to her opening night. Matt's mom and sister will also narrate the show with ASL.

Opening night is a huge success, and Matt declares it the best night of his life. Even Katie Beth's little sister comes, and Jessi's cousin/best friend from her old town shows up as a surprise. Katie Beth is now taking ASL classes because she was inspired by Jessi. The BSC is also all going to learn. 

Timeline:

Still the first time through 8th and 6th grades, respectively, but no idea what time of year.

My thoughts:

This book did a great job of explaining deafness, sign language, being different, and even various options for handling deafness to children. However, this wasn't very interesting to read about now. It got really old being constantly told the signs for every little thing. Really pointless too, since it's not like we could see the signs. If it gets kids interested in learning ASL, that's great, and I definitely wish I'd read this as a child. I would probably have loved it then. Now though, it was just overkill.

The main thing I did enjoy was reading a new POV and learning about Jessi's life and family. She's a crazy busy kid too, between school, club meetings, dance class, being lead in a show, and a regular sitting job. I really don't think I could have handled her schedule in the 6th grade. Instead of trying to make her the "funny one", they should have played her up as the perfectionist/over-achieving one. It would have been such a better character arc, and worked so well with this first intro to her character. Picture the Spencer Hastings of Stoneybrook, and you'll see the vibe I got here. Not to mention I think they've ALREADY dropped her funny gig. 

Even for a BSC book, the stories in here were wrapped up way too neatly for my taste. I was left feeling like the whole book was just a boring moral lesson. Jessi absolutely slays at everything she tries in this book, juggling the lead in a ballet of girls much older than her, learning a whole new language, helping Matt and Haley, and doing tons of good deeds. It was all just overdone. She learns the signs so quickly, then just as fast she makes tons of friends for the kids, changes their lives, gets the BSC learning ASL, which in turn gets all their clients learning.... Every other kid other than Jenny P is super interested in learning, as well as super accepting. Then there is a big, mushy, happy ending concluding in Matt signing how happy he is. Ugh. I know this whole paragraph is a mess of lists, but that gives you an idea of how this was to read. Now who wants to bet we never hear about most of this stuff again?

Misc.

*Jessi has a practice ballet studio in her basement: she's a lucky girl. Maybe she has a perfectionist family too?

*Haley's hair is described as "cut short with a little tail in the back, very in"? I can't picture this at all.

*Kristy says her mom is 37?! I can't get over how young all the adults are now! Not only this, but the BSC girls think she's too old to have a baby, lol. Ouch, girls. You all just wait...

*On that note, this is the book where they start mentioning Mrs. Brewer and Watson wanting a baby.

*Jessi says of her ballet class rival's jealousy: "The only way for me to feel bad about it was to let them make me feel bad". Good life advice, kid.

*It always annoyed me when BSC reviewers made fun of how Jessi was "the black one" and how we're constantly told this. I'm sorry for that now though, because they are 100% correct. It's brought up sooo much! 

Books mentioned:

*The Secret Language, by Ursula Nordstrom

*Jessi's little sister Becca apparently collects cat books, including The Christmas Day Kitten, Pinky Pye, and Millions of Cats.

My rating:

3 stars. Slow and over the top, but valuable to the targeted reader age range.

#15: Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn

Thoughts before reading:

I remember reading this as a kid and liking it, but not much else. Obviously it's about a pageant, something I've never really been interested in, so it's not really one I'm excited to revisit. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. This seems like a weird topic for a Dawn book too. She seems more likely to be protesting a pageant than helping at one.

I was trying to figure out who the kids on the cover are. My best guess is Charlotte, Myriah, and Karen.

The basics:

Mallory and Jessi are officially inducted into the club, with a ceremony and everything. Dawn's jealous because Kristy never did that for her, because she was always jealous of her relationship with Mary Anne. Then when Dawn gets home that night, her brother Jeff is in another of his moods, being really rude and mean. He also got in trouble at school again. He asks their mom desperately if he can go live with their dad in California. She relents, not seeing another solution anymore. Dawn's upset, even though everyone agrees it's for the best.

The BSC girls see an ad for the Little Miss Stoneybrook contest in the newspaper. They mostly agree pageants are sexist and ridiculous. Not long after though, Mrs. Pike calls to offer Dawn a job helping Claire and Margo prepare, and she reluctantly agrees. Claudia also gets offered a special job sitting for Charlotte, because Charlotte specifically requested Stacey's best friend. This makes everyone feel competitive suddenly, like Claudia was chosen as a better sitter.

Pageant fever spreads to Karen, who asks Kristy to help her prepare. Not to be outdone, Mary Anne coaxes Myriah Perkins into joining, and Claudia does the same to Charlotte. Myriah has quite a few talents, unlike the Pike girls, who Dawn is struggling with, and Charlotte, who's very reluctant to even enter. The BSC also starts to get petty, spying on each other and refusing to give details about their charges acts. 

It's decided that Jeff will go to California to live with their dad for six months, as a trial. Dawn's heartbroken and thinks he's being selfish, mainly because she secretly wants to go back to CA too but won't leave their mom.

The night before the pageant is Jeff's flight back to CA (talk about bad timing...). He's ecstatic, more cheerful than he's been in months. Dawn has a hard time saying goodbye and feels like Jeff won't even miss her or their mom. 

Then the pageant day arrives, and the BSC girls rally together and root for all their charges, like they should have done all along. Charlotte forgets the passage she's reciting for talent and runs off stage crying. Claire goofs up a few things, and then she, Margo, and Karen all blow their Q&A portion. Myriah does well, winning first runner up. A career pageant girl named Sabrina Bouvier wins.

At the very end Dawn gets a call from Jeff. He's happy and thriving in CA.

Timeline:

Winter of 8th grade

My thoughts:

This book wasn't terrible, even though I had no interest in the plot at all. It was pleasantly progressive to have everyone complaining about the sexism of beauty pageants after all the racism in the last book. Plus the point of this whole storyline seemed to be the unfairness/problematic nature of these contests. Seems like a weird lesson for little kids, but I know I've always hated pageants, so maybe this book started it? Also made me wonder if Ann M. Martin had a stage mother.

The kids involved in the pageant were way more into it for the right reasons (fun) than the older BSC girls, which was sad. They totally forgot that winning isn't important at all, and instead of helping teach this to the younger girls, they bizarrely think winning will prove they are the best babysitter? I wasn't following the logic of this at all. They themselves said at the beginning that pageants were sexist and exploitive. Plus this obsession with being the best sitter all stemmed from one little kid requesting a sitter, for reasons that had nothing to do with ability. The poor girl just missed Stacey, who actually was her favorite sitter, and everyone always understood that. Feels like the whole plot of this book was built around something that makes no sense, and all of those feelings immediately vanish the day of the contest anyway.

It's really sad that Dawn secretly wanted to go back to California this early on, but feels unable to ever admit it because she feels she has to stay with her mom. At this point, nothing but a job and her parents is tying Ms. Schafer to Stoneybrook, so she should move back to California when Jeff does. Then she can get joint custody with their father and actually raise her own kids. Really big parenting fail, this is a terrible situation for everyone involved.

I had a random thought while reading this about Kristy, even though she isn't a big part of this book. What if part of the reason she's so bossy and often a bully is due to her secretly questioning her sexuality? That could cause her to have an obsessive need to control things that she feels actually able to control. 

Misc:

*Kristy's parents went to an auction to buy a bird bath..? These people clearly have too much time and money on their hands. Spend some time with your kids, people!

*Claire's talent? Singing a song about Popeye the sailor man. Margo's is even better: she peels a banana with her feet, then eats it while reciting The House That Jack Built. Uhm okay...

*I would really have thought some of these little girls' mothers would have wanted to help them prepare for the pageant, but not in Stoneybrook!

*Mary Anne gets  Myriah all excited about the pageant before asking her mom about it, which really could have backfired.

*There's a nice scene where Claudia and Charlotte call Stacey, and it's super cute how excited Charlotte is.

*Mallory and Jessi are making necklaces out of gum wrappers at one of the BSC meetings...I thought in just the last book they desperately wanted to impress the older girls?

*I actually teared up when Dawn said goodbye to Jeff. There was a really sad passage that got me:

"How could we let him go? Hadn't Jeff and I huddled together in my room in California during Mom and Dad's noisy fights? Hadn't I protected him from bullies and nightmares and imaginary monsters? Hadn't he taught me how to climb ropes when my gym teacher said I was hopeless? How could I grow up the rest of the way without him?" (pg 111) 

Sniff. Poor kids.

Books mentioned:

*Claudia and Charlotte are reading Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater together.

*Charlotte's supposed to recite from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl.

*The Wizard of Oz, by Frank Baum

My rating:

3 stars, quick, mostly fun read.

#14: Hello, Mallory

Thoughts before reading:

Unpopular opinion time! I actually have always really liked Mallory. We'll see if that changes as an adult now, of course, but as a kid? She was a favorite, right after Stacey and Dawn. I just related to her so much, I couldn't not like her. For the same reason, I read almost all of her books. Like her, I was the oldest child of a large family, and I was always stuck taking care of my younger siblings. My parents also treated me like a baby and wouldn't let me dress how I wanted or wear make up. I loved to read and write, and wanted to be an author. I always felt like the awkward ugly duckling, hating my hair, legs, and pretty much everything in between. I, too, hated boys and gym. You get the idea. Mallory's books made me feel less alone, especially during hard times when I needed them most. I've been looking forward to re-reading them and seeing what I think now.

I definitely read this one as a kid, and I remember liking it. Plot wise, all I can really remember is the really hard test the BSC gives Mallory that almost stops her from joining. Really unfair, since they already asked her to join in the last book. This wasn't an all time favorite though, and I never owned it until now.

The basics:

Mallory is babysitting for two of her seven siblings, Nicky and Claire. Right after her dad gets back home with the triplets in tow, Nicky breaks his finger playing volleyball with Buddy Barrett. The Pike parents rush him to the ER, leaving Mallory in charge of her other six siblings. No other babysitter has ever watched so many of them alone (they always hire two sitters), so Mallory is really proud of herself. She's been invited to a BSC meeting already, to see about joining, and can't wait to tell them.

The next day at school, there's a new girl in Mallory's homeroom. She learns her name is Jessi Ramsey, and her family has just moved to Stoneybrook. People are giving her a hard time because she's black, a rarity in their school. Mallory's interested in her though, having never had a best friend and really wanting one.

That afternoon, Mallory attends her first BSC meeting, and gets a trial job sitting with Claudia. She tells the girls her story about sitting for her siblings, but instead of being impressed, they scold her about Nicky's finger. Kristy decides she has to make her a babysitting test, to be taken at the next meeting.

On her way to the test a few days later, Mallory walks by Jessi's house out of curiosity. She introduces herself to Jessi, who's playing outside with her sister Becca and baby brother Squirt. (Real name John Phillip Ramsey Jr.) Things go well, they have a lot in common, and Jessi also loves kids.

The babysitting test turns out to be impossibly hard. None of the questions are useful or relevant, and the BSC girls didn't even know the answers prior to writing it. They ask things like how to use a tourniquet, and make her draw a picture of the digestive system. Needless to say, she doesn't pass. She also fails her trial sitting job with Claudia over a few clumsy mistakes that Claudia is very hard on her for. Kristy tells Mallory she can only join if she passes another test. Understandably, Mal is very fed up, and she quits instead.

While moping about the BSC at school, Mal runs into Jessi. They get into talking about how they both feel like outsiders, which leads to them deciding to start their own babysitting club, Kids Incorporated. After school they make fliers on a toy printing press, advertising two sitters for the price of one as a gimmick to make up for their young ages. Mrs. Pike hires them right away. 

Dawn's sitting for the Barrett kids when she sees Mal and Jessi sitting for the Pikes, which means the BSC lost out on the job. She also notices a flier for KI on the Barrett's fridge. She tells Kristy, who's furious, of course. During the next KI meeting, Kristy calls them and tells them they're copycats. She won't admit that she was wrong still though, just acting like a bully instead. 

The BSC is still really struggling without Stacey though. They finally realize they were unfair to Mallory and that Nicky's finger was an accident, after thinking about all the past times Mal has really helped them. Kristy calls her again and invites her to join. She does another trial sitting job with Claudia, and passes this time (even though she would have failed before, no doubt. Jamie falls off a swing and cries a little, which would have sent the BSC on a rampage earlier in this book). 

Timeline:

All we know is that it's a few months into the school year.

My thoughts:

This book was a little crazy, because after 13 books of reading from the BSC's various POVs, you see them from the outside looking in...and it's not flattering. They are terrible to Mallory in this book. I know the babysitting test is notoriously outrageous and unfair, but still, yikes. They obviously knew that they had to look up the answers, so what were they thinking? This feels like a case of 8th graders bullying a 6th grader just because they can easily be superior. Mary Anne and Dawn don't say much, but Kristy and Claudia are such bullies in this book. Suddenly they have forgotten about all the mishaps they've had sitting? What about any job with Jackie Rodowsky? Claudia especially is just trying to act big. She can't pass much of any test, and can't even call the digestive system by the right name. Also, Shannon Kilborne? Kristy let her bully into the club without knowing a single thing about her ability.

I really just felt bad for Mallory the whole book. There wasn't anything she could have done in the situation, since the test was so random. More than anything I was just surprised she still wanted to join the BSC by the end. Then again, I remember how amazing 8th graders seem when you're in 6th. Even after everything they did, she was still flattered. I was proud that she refused to join unless they also took Jessi though.

We've also spent 13 books so far hearing about how the Pikes don't set rules for their kids, how they just let them do what they want, etc. Only to now find out they have a ton of rules for Mallory about clothes, makeup, pierced ears, and even glasses? In her eyes, her parents are actually pretty strict and won't let her do much. I guess everyone feels that way at 11, but that doesn't change the fact that these rules exist. So which is it? Are they actually strict behind closed doors or just hard on Mallory for some reason? I had strict parents and rules about clothes and makeup, but even my parents with their tons of rules allowed pierced ears and alternatives to glasses. 

One of the other big storylines in here is Jessi's family not being accepted in Stoneybrook. It says she's the only black kid in the whole 6th grade. No neighbors come to welcome them to the neighborhood, kids tease Jessi and Becca, nobody wants to be their friends, and Jessi's even nervous to join ballet with the white kids. There's even a scene where a neighbor girl wants to play with Becca and gets scolded by her mom. I didn't remember any of this racist stuff, and was really caught off guard by it. Was everyone really this racist in the 80s? Was New England really this white washed at the time? If so, I had no idea.

So far I really liked Mallory and her point of view. Her enthusiasm about joining the club and being included was really sweet, and she still comes across as an average sort of relatable kid. I enjoyed her enthusiasm about books and writing. She was very much the self entertaining oldest child that I was. Her POV came across as really young but trying very hard, which made it endearing. 

Misc:

*I never knew Mr. Pike was a lawyer. He must make really good money to support his huge family on one income. 

*Mallory says all of the Pikes have dark brown hair, but I thought most of them, including her, had red hair? Or am I just remembering wrong?

*Too bad Mal thinks being 11 is "a real trial", since she'll be 11 for decades. Try being an adult with a full time job- that's the real trial. 

*Mal says she guesses she's lucky that she gets paid to watch her own siblings. Yes, you really are. I did it my entire childhood for free.

*Jessi's family moves into Stacey's old house, something I never realized before. 

*Jessi seems intended to be the "funny one", but I think this is forgotten in later books? I remember her being really quiet and serious. 

*Mrs. Perkins has her baby in this book, Laura Elizabeth (they are the family that moved into Kristy's old house next to Mary Anne).

*When Dawn tells Kristy about Kids Incorporated, Kristy's first response? "She doesn't even know the first thing about tourniquets!" LOL, let it go Kristy!

*Even better, when Kristy calls KI to bully Mallory, Mal asks her if she needs a babysitter! Haha, go Mallory! That was awesome.

*There's another book listed in the back that never happened: #32, Claudia and the Mystery of Stoneybrook.

*Did Kristy really think the Pikes would hire her club anymore after how they treated Mallory and wouldn't let her join? That would be really unfair to Mallory since she is usually the second sitter anyway.

Books mentioned:

*Mallory is reading Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers, Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, and the Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford all at the same time. I enjoyed this detail, since later on she seems to read pretty much only horse books. 

*A Morgan for Melinda by Doris Gates is Mal's favorite horse story. 

*Impossible Charlie by Barbara Morgenroth is Jessi's favorite horse story.

*The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis

*The Lightning Time, by Gregory Maguire

My rating:

4.5 stars, I actually really enjoyed this one.

#13: Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye

Thoughts before reading:

I honestly don't think I ever read this as a kid, making it one of the few Stacey books I missed. Of course I picked up on the events of this book from reading later ones, and I know I read the one where she moves back to Stoneybrook AGAIN. If this poor kid only went through 8th grade once, her parents would have really messed up her school year. Then again, since the series was most likely not intended to last 200-ish books, this was a good storyline to teach kids about moving.

This cover is pretty generic, and Claudia's outfit is too tame again. The banner in the background is terrible though. Isn't Claudia an artist? That's not how that would really look if the BSC made her one, c'mon now...

The basics:

Stacey gets the news that her father's company is transferring him back to the New York office, so her family is moving again. She takes the news surprisingly well, until she hears they are leaving in just about a month. Then she starts to remember all the problems she had with her NYC classmates before moving to Stoneybrook. After a brief phone call to Laine (old best friend) reminds her of these old problems, she calls Claudia with the news. They both end up crying. The next day at lunch, she tells the rest of the club.

Unknown to Stacey, the BSC starts planning her a surprise going away party. They decide to invite their sitting charges too, and when Stacey's mom lets them throw a yard sale and keep the money, everyone agrees to pool their earnings to use. There's also discussion about who to replace Stacey with in the club, and Mallory is considered. 

The yard sale is a big success, and so is the party. Lots of kids end up coming, and they are entertained with games, races, and prizes. Afterward Stacey attends her last BSC meeting, where it's officially decided to make Mallory a junior officer. Stacey calls to give her the good news, and Mallory is thrilled. 

On the morning of the big move, the BSC surprises Stacey outside her window with a goodbye banner. Stacey shows them business cards her parents got for her to be the NYC branch of the BSC. Everyone says final goodbyes, and the McGills leave. Claudia gives Stacey a 13 page letter to read on the way, saying she will always be her best best friend. 

Timeline:

The events in this book span a month, but it doesn't say which time of year this is. I'm guessing it's fall or winter of 8th grade, although no holidays have been mentioned since school started.

My thoughts:

I was surprised by Stacey taking the news about the move so well, when we are told how eager she was to leave NYC before. After the events of 6th grade and finding out about her diabetes, she had no friends left and was miserable. Stoneybrook was a fresh start for her, and she was really happy there. I wondered if the change in attitude was just due to her making up with Laine? Or if it was more to comfort child readers who might be facing similar situations?

There was a nice scene in here where Mary Anne was sitting for Jeff, and she told him about how Stacey was moving. Jeff was really interested, and ended up opening up to her about how he's been feeling. Remember, he's been really struggling and longing to move back to California. I really feel bad for him and Dawn in this situation. I don't remember giving it a second thought as a kid, but this time around, it's pretty horrible that they were taken so far away from their dad AND the only home they'd ever known. Just so their mom could be back in her old home, and near her parents? It seems really immature of her, and definitely putting her needs before her children. I bet she regretted her selfishness later on, when she ended up in Connecticut without either of her children. By then she's put down roots and gotten married, so she can't move back to CA to be with her kids without breaking up another family. What a huge mess. I'm surprised there wasn't any legal action Mr. Schafer could have taken to prevent her from moving so far away with his kids in the first place.

It seemed like only Claudia and Mary Anne really cared that Stacey was leaving, and that they would hardly ever see her again. Everyone else was mainly just concerned about the club. It made me wonder if the club broke up on good terms, would some of them even talk anymore? Despite the books telling us they are all great friends, it doesn't seem like there is a lot of independent, strong friendships being formed here. Are they only friends as a group? Would Stacey and Kristy ever just hang out for fun, just the two of them? Would Claudia and Dawn? I can't picture it. 

Misc:

*Stacey's dad says the end of the school year is months away and they can't wait for her to graduate with Claudia. Good call, that would be a really long wait!

*Dawn says people in CA don't have yard sales. Uhm what? All of the information about California in these books is so bizarre. I'm getting very curious to read one of the ones set in CA now...

*There's ANOTHER Karen/Andrew/Morbidda Destiny babysitting chapter. Yawn. Just once, I would like to read one of these chapters where Andrew is the focus.

*I can't help but think the party the BSC threw for Stacey was really lame. It was basically a big, unpaid babysitting job. You can't tell me she wouldn't have way rather had a boy girl party of kids her own age. 

*Claudia's letter was sweet, but I feel bad for Stacey trying to read 13 pages of Claudia's spelling and handwriting. That sounds like torture, I barely get through her one page entries. 

*Here's the poem Claudia comes up with for the yard sale flier:

Need a toaster? 

Need a coaster?

Never fuss--

Come see us!

Need a pail?

Need a snail?

Then be hasty--

Come see Stacey!

Just, wow. Thank god everyone else vetoed this pretty quickly. It did make me laugh though. She clearly should have asked Vanessa Pike for help.

*I still think it's funny that they never tell us any details about the adults' jobs. I guess they all seem the same when you're a kid.

Books mentioned:

*Stacey and Charlotte read The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, on past sitting jobs. 

*Stacey uses Iggy's House, by Judy Blume, to explain her moving away to Charlotte.

*Before the yard sale Stacey gives Charlotte A Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, and writes an inscription in it for her. 

My rating:

3.5 stars, not very eventful but still an entertaining read

#12: Claudia and the New Girl

Thoughts before reading:

I have no memory of reading this as a kid, so I don't think I did. Otherwise I would remember a little something about it, because I have a pretty good memory for my childhood books. Plus I was always a huge re-reader, so I went through favorite books countless times. 

Nothing really stands out about this cover, except that Claudia's outfit looks way too boring for her. Is this because she's trying to be a serious artist in here? Even babysitting for Jackie, I doubt she ever just wore jeans and a white shirt. Also noticed Ashley's shoes: I so remember when every guy wore these every day!

There's a graphic novel adaptation of this coming out in 2021.

The basics:

A new girl, Ashley Wyeth, starts in Claudia's English class and catches her eye. Claudia's also taking a pottery class on weekends and she sees Ashley in it. During the class, the teacher announces that a new art gallery is opening up in town and they are hosting a sculpture contest. Ashley compliments Claudia's artistic talent and is adamant about her entering the show. She promises to help and Claudia is flattered because she's really impressed by Ashley's art. 

After this Claudia starts spending pretty much all of her time with Ashley, working on getting ideas for her sculpture piece. They attend an art show, and Claudia's late for a BSC meeting. She starts eating lunch with Ashley every day, and starts ignoring her other friends. She justifies this to herself because she's Ashley's only friend. Almost immediately, she stops attending any BSC meetings. The club is still meeting up in her room, and Claudia still expects jobs. There's also an incident where Claudia cancels a shopping trip with Stacey to do homework, ends up with Ashley instead, and Stacey finds out. 

Eventually Claudia and Ashley get into a fight because Ashley is giving her a hard time about babysitting. She thinks Claudia should focus only on her art. Claudia finally realizes Ashley cares about her art instead of her as a person, and isn't a real friend. This makes her realize what a terrible friend she's been, and how she's neglected everything else in her life. To make it right, she apologizes to her friends, buckles down on her school work, and decides to sculpt Jackie Rodowsky but not enter in the show.

Claudia's art teacher ends up entering her piece anyway, as a work in progress. She wins an honorable mention, and all of her BSC friends come see the show. Ashley sculpts a fire hydrant and wins first place. Claudia talks to her again and they make up, becoming casual friends in the process. 

Timeline:

Fall of 8th grade? No mention of Halloween yet though, so who knows...

My thoughts:

This book actually did a pretty good job of showing some real middle school aged friendship problems. At first I was feeling bad for Claudia, because when she made a new friend outside the BSC, they were mad at her for wanting to eat lunch with someone else. Everyone got immediately possessive, which annoyed me because in the past they've eaten lunch with other people and it's never been a huge ordeal. So far everyone still has separate friends. I'm guessing in this case the main problem was that Claudia didn't invite Ashley to sit WITH the BSC, she wanted to eat alone with Ashley. This is definitely real middle school politics territory, though, so I can't really fault anyone. I remember who you ate lunch with could cause some real lasting drama at that age. (We didn't have any real problems yet, clearly.)

I did switch sides later though, which is why I think both sides were well shown. Her BSC friends end up genuinely thinking she doesn't like them anymore, because she's not spending any time with them at all. She's ignoring Stacey, her best friend, and blowing off plans. Then she's also blowing off every meeting and being a brat about them not offering her jobs. Why would they? At one point Stacey and Mary Anne are both in tears thinking Claudia doesn't want to be friends with them anymore. Stacey, in particular, thinks she's lost her best friend. That's a really painful feeling at any age, especially when you've been overthrown for a new BFF.

Claudia does at least acknowledge her actions when she realizes what she's done. She shows some pretty mature self awareness when she's able to see that she was spending all of her time with Ashley because Ashley made her feel important. She's pretty starved for praise, and used to failing, and now this new person has entered her life gushing over how talented she is. It causes her to get caught up in it, which I totally understand. Who hasn't had a new relationship, friend or romantic, that leads to a total whirlwind where you forget about the outside world? Everyone's been there, and this was well addressed here, and for an age group that really could benefit from reading about it. I definitely wish I had read this one as a kid. 

On a side note, I enjoyed the petty things the BSC did to Claudia while in her room for meetings. They left her mean notes hidden around her room, ate up her junk food, and moved things around. It brought me right back to doing dumb stuff like this when I was mad at friends as a kid.

Misc.

*Jeff's trouble in school escalates, into an incident where he throws an eraser that breaks a mosaic and causes a classmate to cut her leg. Yikes. You would be expelled for that nowadays. 

*Ashley wearing bell bottoms to school was such a huge faux pas, but when I was in school in the 00s they were actually really popular...

*Kristy snaps at Mary Anne during a meeting, and she immediately shuts Kristy down and defends herself. She doesn't get nearly enough credit.

*I hate how in certain books the BSC sits for the same client over and over to serve the plot. See the Pikes in #9, the Delaneys in #11, and the Rodowskys in here. 

*It annoyed me how Stacey and Kristy made snide comments to Ashley about her weird clothes. I get they have good reason not to like her, but didn't the snobs just do the same thing to Kristy in the last book? She knows better.

Books mentioned:

Claudia's English class is studying the Newbery Award winners, and they can read any they want. I thought this was a clever way to interest child readers in these books. Here's a list of those mentioned:

*The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 

*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

*The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin

*From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg

*Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

*The Twenty One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois

*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

My rating:

3 stars, not a lot going on in here, but I would recommend to kids for the friendship dynamics. 

#11: Kristy and the Snobs

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read this before, but somehow I knew this was the book where Louie, Kristy's old collie, dies. I think when I was a kid one of my friends warned me, so I never read it. Things like that have always bothered me, and to be honest, they still do, even in a kids book. I think that scene in the Little House books where Jack dies is the saddest scene in all of children's literature. (Anyone who's read On The Shores of Silver Lake knows what I'm talking about!) For that reason I was dragging my feet about reading this one, so I'll be glad to have it done. 

The basics:

Kristy's having a hard time adjusting to living in Watson's neighborhood. All of her friends and the BSC are far away, and she doesn't know anyone in her new area. The kids all seem really stuck up, and when she encounters some girls at the bus stop they tease her about her clothes/appearance. To top all of this off, her dog Louie is limping and seems unhappy. He's also starting to walk into furniture, and not always greeting them when they come home.

The Thomas kids (Charlie, Sam, Kristy, and David Michael) take Louie to the vet. She explains he has arthritis, which is causing him a fair amount of pain, and he is going blind. There isn't much she can do-he's just getting old. When they get home Kristy takes him for a short walk around the neighborhood, and she runs into the girl from the bus stop, Shannon. She makes fun of poor Louie and brags about her purebred mountain dog.

Shortly after this, Kristy gets a sitting job in her own neighborhood, something she's been trying to do since all the advertising in the last book. It's for the Papadakis family, who are friends of Karen. During the job, Shannon calls Kristy and tells her the house is on fire. Only after Kristy panics and rushes the kids out does she learn this is a "prank". Apparently Shannon is jealous and angry because Kristy is taking her babysitting jobs. 

Kristy then gets another job sitting for the Delany kids, Amanda and Max, who also live on their street. They have a fountain in their front hall, a $400 Persian cat, and are insanely spoiled. Both kids order Kristy around like a servant and have no manners. Shannon calls and pranks her again, saying she's sitting for the Papadakis kids and needs help when she obviously doesn't. 

Dawn's little brother Jeff is also starting to have problems during this time. He's angry and resentful because he misses California and his dad. He's having trouble in school and acting out a lot, being rude to his mother and sister, and saying he doesn't want to live with them. The whole BSC is feeling down because of all these things, and Louie is still getting sicker.

Stacey sits for the Delany kids and tames them using reverse psychology. When Kristy gets yet another job there, she has success doing the same thing. Of course, while she's sitting Shannon pranks her again by sending a pizza over. Kristy convinces the pizza guy to send the pizza back to Shannon, causing her to come over and confront Kristy in person. Somehow Kristy makes her laugh and they end up sharing the pizza. 

Meanwhile, Louie has been declining rapidly, getting to the point where he has no control over his back legs. The family has to put him down. Afterward, they hold a nice little memorial for him, and Shannon comes over to apologize for how she treated him. Her dog has also just had puppies, and she gives them one for free. David Michael names it Shannon. Kristy makes her the newest associate member of the BSC.

Timeline:

There's no mention of the month or season at all. I'm not sure if the books are starting to purposely be vague or not about the passing of time, but I'm going to assume it's still September of 8th grade.

My thoughts:

Well, this was by far my least favorite so far, and not just because of Louie, which I had already been dreading. It's really just depressing overall. Nothing good happens, and everyone is really down for most of the book. Also since there are so many babysitting jobs for the "snobs" in Kristy's neighborhood, plus the regular babysitting chapters, this whole book was basically just sitting job after sitting job. Made for a really boring and repetitive read.

The parts with Louie were the only interesting parts in here, and wow were they emotional. I had a hard time reading about it, especially since I have a 15 year old dog right now. Between the awful kids making fun of him, the details about him suffering, and David Michael thinking he would get better, this just hit me hard. Towards the end when they have to put him down, everyone says goodbye to him one at a time before they leave for the vet. Even Watson and the boys were all crying. It broke my heart and I ended up crying. Definitely not what I expected from re-reading kids books, that's for sure. 

Another thing I noticed was that Kristy seems weirdly unemotional in this book. When Louie can't stand, she's just watching him spin in circles. She doesn't move to help him, or really do anything at all. Whenever he's struggling during this book, she doesn't even comfort him. She doesn't even spend his last night at home with him in the den, like David Michael does. She barely cries, or narrates anything about how she feels. It came across really strange and cold. 

Lastly, there's Shannon's character. I don't even know where to start expressing what I thought of this whole mess. This girl is really just straight up evil. During just this book, she makes fun of an old, dying dog, tells Kristy the house of the kids she's sitting for is on fire, and teases her about anything she can. Her other pranks, like calling the fake pizza order, were just pathetically stupid. I have absolutely no idea why Kristy kept falling for them. She was really gullible and dumb about the whole thing. Then suddenly Kristy makes a joke about throwing the pizza at Shannon's dog and they are instantly friends? It made zero sense, even by the standards of these books. I don't think a kid would find it believable either. Also no idea why Kristy instantly forgave her after the really effed up things she had done. The whole thing really just cemented the book being a flop for me. You can't enjoy a story when no one's actions or motivations make much sense. I'm starting to notice that being an ongoing problem whenever there's conflict in these.

Then there's Stacey's reverse psychology bit with the bratty Delany kids. A lot of time was spent on this, since we had to slog through her doing it and then Kristy doing it. Once again, it made no sense. I babysat a lot myself growing up and I have four younger siblings, and I can tell you this stuff would NOT work. Her methods included making a bigger mess to get them to clean up, and acting like she didn't know what they meant when they asked for something so they would get it themselves. For example, if they asked for cookies, she would go on and on about what type and how she would just have to get them all, until the kids got them for themselves. Most kids would just join in making a mess, or have a tantrum, or start name calling. This isn't really how you motivate kids. The only thing she had really going for her was implying the kids were too babyish to get themselves things. That would probably work in real life.

Misc.

*First book with a chapter 2 recap, although it doesn't take up the whole chapter yet

*Kristy gets up for school at 6:45, and their school begins at 8:30. Lucky girls, my Junior High was 7:30.

*I remember in later books Kristy flips out when people miss meetings, but in these early books it happens a lot and isn't a big deal. Isn't that why they have an alternate officer anyway?

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2.5 stars, this is one to skip