#37: Dawn and the Older Boy

 

Thoughts before reading:

I did read this growing up, but only because it's a Dawn book. The subject matter didn't really interest me back then, so I probably only read it once. I definitely don't remember any details now. Based on the back cover summary, it sounds like its going to cover an unhealthy relationship, a pretty mature leap from past books. That definitely has me curious. 

Is it just me, or are all the kids on this cover really creepy? Not sure why they are even there, unless Dawn is trying to babysit while being on a date? She looks cute though, definitely like a 13 year old infatuated girl. Her love interest looks like a Ken doll come to life. 

The basics:

The morning after a sleepover at Kristy's, the BSC girls shuffle down to breakfast in their pajamas and are stunned to find a gorgeous guy eating with the family. His name is Travis, he just moved from CA, and he's a new friend of Sam and Charlie. The girls are mortified, fleeing back upstairs to work on their hair and makeup. Afterward, Dawn ends up chatting with him about California and is instantly infatuated. 

A few days later, Travis stops by Dawn's house to see her. She's beyond flattered, and completely fascinated by everything about him. He loves talking about himself, bragging that he's 16, has his own car, plays a ton of sports, and everyone just loves him. Then he gives her a present: a necklace and some hair combs, and begins telling her how she should cut her hair and wear it pulled back. Dawn's so infatuated with him, she sees nothing off about this, and gets right to work on her hair when he leaves.

The next time she sees Travis, he picks her up from school to hang out. They have lunch, where he picks the restaurant and orders for her. Then he takes her shopping, buys her some earrings, and insists that she get a third piercing in each ear. She refuses, knowing how angry her mom would be, but then worries because Travis seems angry.

 When she returns home, she gets in trouble with her mom and Richard for going out with a 16 year old without asking first. She blames Mary Anne for telling them, but quickly backs down and realizes she was right to tell. Sharon and Richard argue also, because he's against her dating Travis at all, and she just wants to know about the dates beforehand. 

Dawn gets a sitting job for the Hobart boys, and is disappointed in James (the 8 year old) for letting his friend Zach walk all over him (see #32). James lets Zach tell him what to do, how to act, and changes his whole personality to please him. Dawn's baffled as to why anyone would let someone treat them this way.

Shortly after, Kristy accidently mentions that Sam told her Travis has been dating a girl from the SHS swim team for the past 3 weeks. Dawn's devastated, but she knows her and Travis weren't exclusive. She decides to follow him and this girl, figuring it's the only way to see how he feels about her. She immediately sets about stalking them, following the couple from the high school to downtown Stoneybrook, where Travis takes the girl on the same date he took Dawn on. Afterwards, they kiss in the park. Dawn returns home crushed. She tells her friends at the next BSC meeting, and Stacey angrily declares him a creep for leading Dawn on. Mary Anne mentions Logan's cousin Lewis is coming to town soon, and he's single. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't cheer Dawn up much. 

Dawn arranges to bump into Travis and his girlfriend downtown, so she can catch him in the act and embarrass him. He's not upset in the slightest though, and she ends up humiliated instead after his girlfriend, Sara, calls her a little girl and says Travis probably turned her into a beauty. Dawn ends up rushing off home while they laugh at her. She does call Travis again though, to say she knows he was trying to change her , but she's happy how she is. He still doesn't see the problem. 

Mary Anne and Logan inform Dawn that they've sent her picture to Lewis and told him about her (both without asking her first). They then beg her to give him a chance, and she reluctantly agrees. Her and Lewis become pen pals.

Timeline:

No clues, once again. The plot definitely takes a few weeks though, which has been pretty standard.

My thoughts:

This book didn't go as dark as I expected from the beginning. I was expecting Dawn to get tangled up in an emotionally abusive relationship and struggle to get out of it. Obviously I knew it would still be very light and BSC style trauma, but none of that was what happened. In the end I was mostly just baffled by what Travis' motives even were. I guess he just liked the attention and flattery? I'm assuming if he hadn't met a girl his own age he liked more, then he would have kept up what he was doing to Dawn? Or did he just quickly give up because she said no to one of his demands and he wanted an easier target? Otherwise, why would he mess with her, mostly by controlling aspects of her appearance, but never try to date her or have a relationship? Clearly he didn't really just want to give her a makeover, so the whole thing was bizarre. It mainly came across as the most G rated way possible to warn little girls about bad relationships, which I guess is exactly what the point was...it's just insanely forgettable now.

That being said, Travis was disturbingly controlling before he just dropped Dawn. There's no question from reading this from an adult perspective that he'll be a future abuser. His entire interest in such a young girl was creepy, but made total sense. He was so self-centered and domineering, and a younger girl would be so much more easily flattered and manipulated by him. I actually knew a few girls in Junior High in abusive relationships just like this. They get so excited that an older boy likes them, they will agree to anything at all. Travis was so weirdly fixated on things, like the length of Dawn's hair and how she wore her earrings, that only make sense if he's the type of emotional abuser who has to control every little thing. I have no doubt that not only will he grow up to be an abusive husband, but he will also end up dating a younger girl again when he finds Sara not as easily controlled. 

The only thing I really liked about this book was getting to see one of the BSC girls acting like a young teenager. Instead of obsessing about babysitting, it was refreshing to see Dawn getting in trouble for something a normal teenage kid would do. She's annoying about Travis, of course, but she is only 13. Travis is her first semi relationship, so it's not hard to believe she would start changing herself for him. This is a relationship lesson a lot of older people learn the hard way too. 

I also couldn't help but notice that when Dawn was briefly mad at Mary Anne, she immediately backs down and realizes Mary Anne is right. Admittedly, this was one of the few times I thought MA was right, but still, she never gives others this same courtesy. Plus when Dawn was angry, MA started crying. When she's the angry one, she never cries in fights. It's pure manipulation. 

Misc:

*This was ghostwritten by Mary Lou Kennedy

*I enjoyed the scene where the BSC girls were bantering and teasing each other at their sleepover. It was a funny and sweet scene, the kind I wish we got more of. This would be a stronger series if it focused more on the friendships and less on babysitting constantly.

*Everyone in CA does not eat granola all the time.

*Susan Felder (#32) was referred to in here as a handicapped girl, which had me wincing. She's autistic, which isn't close to the same thing.

*The parallel storyline with James Hobart and Zach was really heavy handed, but probably effective for young readers. A lot of BSC aged readers would be more likely to have a controlling friend than relationship anyway.

*This book was pretty much the first time Sharon has acted like a parent instead of a kid, but even so, she backs right down.

*Dawn's back to saying she eats no meat at all.

*There were a lot of references to specific past babysitting jobs in here, good continuity. 

*Mallory has her first date with Ben.

*I hated how Mary Anne and Logan talked up Dawn to Lewis without asking her. I would have told them to shove it, this is terrible timing. A new boy isn't the cure for having her heart broken by an abusive jerk.

*Stacey's seeming sicker by this time (she's been feeling unwell for quite awhile now).

Books mentioned:

Absolutely none.

My rating:

3 stars, a very forgettable book. 

#36: Jessi's Baby-sitter

 

Thoughts before reading:

Never read this one before, but it actually sounds pretty good! Looks like we will finally see some things we never have in this series before: possible good parenting decisions, an ADULT babysitter, a realistic, responsible situation, and one of the BSC members treated like the kid they actually are! I can't wait for that last part especially. Plus, in the last book, I liked Aunt Cecelia. We aren't supposed to, but she was completely right about everything that happened in SS#4. She's already a way better and more practical adult than any of the parents in Stoneybrook. 

Jessi looks like such a brat on this cover, with her angry, "how dare you tell me what to do when I'm 11" face, haha. Becca looks both worried and amused, the way siblings get when someone other than them is in trouble. Squirt looks like he's eating and sleeping at the same time. Love the outfits though.

The basics:

Mrs. Ramsey gets a full time job in advertising, for the first time since she had Jessi. Aunt Cecelia, Mr. Ramsey's strict older sister, will be moving in to help out. Becca and Jessi are upset, because they can't stand their stuffy aunt. Before she even arrives, they make a list of mean pranks to play on her so she will decide not to stay. 

Things get off to a rough start right when Aunt Cecelia arrives. She brings too many things with her (because she's been recently widowed and doesn't want to leave her family's things behind), so the girls resent her for invading their space and taking over the house. Right from the beginning, she also sets rules and boundaries for them, instead of letting them have free reign all over town like they are used to. The girls feel like she doesn't trust them, as she orders them around about basic things like their hair and clothing too. Jessi starts pulling her revenge pranks, such as short sheeting the bed, putting shaving cream in her slippers, and rubber spiders in her bed. Aunt Cecelia never mentions the pranks.

Stoneybrook Elementary is having a science fair around this same time, and naturally the BSC becomes involved. Jessi convinces Jackie Rodowsky to enter, because he wants to make a volcano and impress the boys in his class. She basically ends up taking over the entire project though, doing everything her own way, and not listening to Jackie at all. A few other BSC members help siblings or charges, but they all stay out of actually doing the work.

The situation at Jessi's house gets worse after she's 10 minutes late getting home from Jackie's house and doesn't call. Her aunt makes her stay home from that day's BSC meeting as punishment. Jessi resents her all the more. By this point she's already been calling her Aunt Dictator. Stacey points out to Jessi that talking to her parents about all of this would be a lot nicer than playing mean tricks, but of course, she still doesn't say anything to them.

The science fair arrives, and most of the BSC attends. Jackie's volcano erupts impressively, but he can't answer any of the judge's questions since Jessi did all the work for him. He doesn't end up winning as a result, and gets understandably angry with her. (Charlotte Johanssen wins third place, for her project where she played music to plants to see how it affected their growth.) Jessi feels bad, and finally admits how she took over because she didn't trust Jackie to do it right.

After learning this lesson, Jessi finally talks to her parents. They listen to her with concern, and then call for a family meeting with Aunt Cecelia and the kids. Once they explain that they trust Jessi and Becca, therefore allowing them a lot of responsibility, Aunt Cecelia explains that she just wanted to show she cared by helping them grow up kind, responsible, neat, and polite. Everything is cleared up immediately. A few days later, Aunt Cecelia pranks the girls back, and they laugh over it together. Jessi tears up her list of mean prank ideas.

Timeline:

There's absolutely nothing to go on in here. The events seemed to span at least a few weeks though.

My thoughts:

This wasn't as good as I'd hoped, unfortunately. It seemed like they didn't have a fully fleshed out idea of where to go with the Aunt Cecelia storyline, because most of this book was filler. There was so much time spent on the science fair, especially the volcano project. I know it was to eventually make Jessi realize she was doing to Jackie what Cecelia was doing to her, but it took up more of the book than her problems with her family. We also got back-to-back babysitting chapters a few times, one of my least favorite things. Up to page 48, we'd had almost nothing but recap and babysitting chapters, which was brutal. My main takeaway from this book was just how boring it was.

The conflict with Aunt Cecelia and Jessi had real potential to be a learning experience for her about numerous things, such as how she really does still have a long way to go before she's an adult., or that she needs to respect adults more. Of course, none of that happens. Her parents side with her in the end, and she gets all her freedoms back without consequences. What bothered me way more though, was just how pointless all of this was. She could have solved all of her problems right away if she had just told her parents. I found it hard to believe both her and Becca would have kept quiet so long, for no reason.

As far as the actual struggle between Jessi and Aunt Cecelia, I would have sided with Jessi as a kid, but I sympathized with both sides now. It makes sense that Jessi is so upset, when she's used to being treated like an adult. She's not one though, and this is her parents fault for giving her this mindset. I wasn't allowed to go wherever I wanted at her age, or do most of what she does. Most 11 year olds would also still have a babysitter, and this isn't a bad thing for Jessi either. She's a kid, she should be having her own life full of friends and activities. Otherwise she'd be stuck home after school every day, taking care of the younger kids, cooking, and cleaning? Would she really prefer that? Apparently none of that occurs to her though. She also doesn't help her own case by acting really immature about the situation. Instead of communicating, she handles her problems by pulling mean pranks.

On Aunt Cecelia's side, yes, she is way too strict on the girls when it comes to things like their appearance or diet. They are too old to need someone telling them how to do their hair, or dress. However, Aunt Cecelia appears to come from a sincere place, where she really just wants the best for the girls. She's older, her children are grown, and her husband has passed away. I definitely got the feeling that she raised her kids in this same manner, and genuinely feels it was the best way.  I also think she was just extra concerned about the girls after SS#4's events. I definitely would have been! She doesn't mention the pranks to the girls' parents, even. Then when everything comes out and the family sits down to talk, she's more than receptive to adjusting her ways. I really enjoyed her pulling revenge pranks on Jessi and Becca too, instead of them being punished. Aunt Cecelia does have a sense of humor! She's just been through a lot of sad life changes lately, like losing her husband. 

Misc:

*It made sense that the Ramseys will need help if they both work full time, especially with Squirt, but Mr. Ramsey says they won't have time to shop, cook, or take care of the house either? All working parents have to do those things...

*Jessi still hangs a Keep Out sign on her door. But she's too mature to need a babysitter...

*Kristy takes ROLL call at a BSC meeting? I wonder when this started??

*Aunt Cecelia and Mr. Ramsey must have a big age difference, if her kids are grown and her husband has passed away? Either that or he just had kids later in life, and is much older than the other BSC parents. 

*Kristy decides she might want to be a teacher.

*The BSC girls, other than Jessi, stay out of the science fair projects because they learned a lesson from the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant. Character growth!

*Mallory mentions her dad's job might be in trouble, setting up an upcoming storyline.

*It was nice to finally side with one of the adults. I thought that would happen a lot more during this re-read, but most of the adults are terrible.

Books mentioned:

*Hardy Boys series

*Bobbsey Twins series

My rating:

2.5 stars, really dull, another one to skip.

Super Special #4: Baby-sitters' Island Adventure

 

Thoughts before reading:

Well, I've never read this one before, and it sounds like the most ridiculous one yet! I'm so not excited. Apparently, some of the BSC girls will now be getting shipwrecked on an island, with some kids in tow. Aren't we really early in the series still to need this sort of outrageous gimmick? This is definitely a preteen soap opera level of insanity.

This is also one of the worst covers so far. I can't tell who anyone even is, apart from Mary Anne and Mallory. Several of these poor people look deformed, because they are so out of proportion. What is even going on with the girl in the pink shirt? Is that supposed to be Kristy? Yikes.

I got my copy of this book at a thrift store, and it once belonged to a girl named Melissa Dawson. She checked off inside that she read all of the books #1-35, plus all 4 super specials so far. Clearly she was a much better fan than I was, haha. 

The basics:

Bear with me here, this is going to be LONG and a bit convoluted...

We open with Dawn writing about how she got shipwrecked on an island with Claudia, Jeff, Haley Braddock, Becca Ramsey, and Jamie Newton. She's making this book as a record of her experience, using everyone's different memories and perspectives. 

After her opening intro, we go back to what started this whole adventure: Dawn and Claudia deciding to take sailing lessons at the Stoneybrook Community Center. Their class holds a race to Greenpoint Island, which is 3 miles out in Long Island Sound from Stoneybrook. Dawn and Claudia tie, so they decide to have a rematch. They both sail so well during the race though, that it's apparently fine now for them to sail without a counselor along, they just can't be alone.

Both girls eagerly begin planning the rematch for the Saturday of the upcoming 3 day weekend. Dawn's brother Jeff will be visiting, so he's coming too. Jessi suggests Becca to accompany Claudia, to even things up, and so Becca can learn some sailing. Then Becca invites Haley, one of her best friends, so Dawn decides to invite Jamie Newton because he loves boats. All of the various parents give their permission without a second thought. To make things more special for the kids, Dawn and Claudia pack a big picnic lunch to have on the island.

The day before the big race, Dawn and Mary Anne get into a big fight because Dawn forgets to give her a phone message from Logan. He had called to say he couldn't make it to meet Mary Anne at the library, so she ends up thinking he stood her up. Logan gets angry at Mary Anne for accusing him of something so terrible. Then Mary Anne bitches at Dawn the whole way to their BSC meeting, ending up telling her she wishes she never had to see her again, and she wishes she would get out of her life forever. (All this after Dawn has apologized several times for her honest mistake.)

Everyone comes to see the two girls and their little crews off, except for Mary Anne and Logan. The race starts out well, with everyone having fun. Unfortunately, before they even reach Greenpoint Island, a huge storm is brewing. They decide to keep going because Stoneybrook is further away than the island by this point. In no time they get caught in a huge storm. Dawn's rudder breaks and her boat starts sinking. Her group has to bail out and hold on to Claudia's boat, which is too small to seat 6 people. Shortly after, they come ashore on a random island.

Back in Stoneybrook, when 6 pm rolls around with no sign of the kids, the community center calls the Coast Guard to begin a search. Word spreads quickly, and soon most of the residents of Stoneybrook are helping out. Jessi's parents are out of town for the weekend, leaving her alone with Becca and Squirt. She calls in her strict Aunt Cecilia for help. Stacey's in New York for the weekend, and her dad won't let her return early. Mary Anne won't help search, because she can't "keep her mind on it". 

Meanwhile, the shipwrecked group finds a dry cave to sleep in, and gets a small fire going. The next morning, Jeff even catches some small fish. Claudia and Dawn keep the kids calm, hiding the worst of their fears from them. They ration the food, take the kids swimming, and explore to pass the day. The kids try writing HELP in the sand with clamshells. Dawn and Claudia look for their one remaining boat, but it's gone, washed out to sea. There's also another storm brewing.

The story of the kids missing at sea makes national news, but the first day of searching turns up nothing. By Sunday night, the second night on the island, Jamie is very ill with a high fever. Food and water are running low. Dawn and Claudia are both longing for their mothers, and the kids are scared. 

Monday morning Stacey has a fight with her dad and comes home early to join the search. Claudia's empty sailboat is found that morning. Later in the day, Stacey finds the wreckage of Dawn's boat. The remaining BSC is thrown into a panic over what this might mean. 

On the island, while this is going on, Claudia finds a mirror on the beach. She teaches the kids how to use it to signal planes. That same afternoon, a search plane sees the signal and sends the Coast Guard. They return on a large ship with supplies, a doctor for Jamie, and various parents. Once they reach Stoneybrook, Jamie is rushed to the hospital. Everyone else has a big reunion, and then all the kids are taken to the hospital to be looked over.

Wednesday evening there's a press conference held. Dawn and Claudia receive medals of courage. There's also a big article in the local paper. Jamie turns out to have strep throat and an ear infection. Dawn and Mary Anne make up, as do MA and Logan. Stacey writes her dad a letter standing up to him, and he apologizes.  

Timeline:

Absolutely no clues, even with all the storms in this book. The events of the book span less than a week.

My thoughts:

I have to start by saying, this book was a lot better than I expected. It was highly entertaining, and actually my favorite super special so far. Now, none of that makes it any less insane, of course. Everything in this one is varying degrees of crazy. First off, and most importantly, I cannot believe ANY parent would have agreed to this trip. Six kids, one of them only 4 years old, out at sea alone? It was only sheer luck that all of them didn't die! This situation would only happen in BSC-land. There is absolutely no reason why at least 1 adult wouldn't go. I highly doubt when the instructors told Dawn and Claudia not to sail alone, they meant to bring some young children along instead. And all these kids' parents let them go without a second thought, even Becca's, who are out of town! Even the Newtons, who knew Jamie had been sick lately. Did none of these adults even think to check the weather report? This would have all been easily avoided if these kids weren't treated like they were adults. If a situation like this really made national news, I could see CPS getting involved once everyone was back home. Of course, all this is from my adult POV. I would have bought into all of this when I was 8. Back then, I thought 13 was ancient, basically an adult.

Prior to reading this, I was thinking the Ramseys were some of the better parents in Stoneybrook. Not so, however. During the events of this book, they have left Becca and Squirt (who's a freaking baby!) in the care of Jessi for a 3 day weekend, while they are on vacation out of town. Jessi is 11 years old! This is a bad idea for countless reasons. On top of that, they give Becca permission to go sailing, knowing they won't even be around that day. They don't even make it back in time to help out, although we aren't specifically told why this is the case. Jessi's actually angry when her Aunt Cecelia wants to call them about Becca being lost at sea, because it will ruin their vacation! Then, near the end, Jessi complains that the adults in her family don't trust her as much as she thought?! Really, because they just left her in charge of everything for 3 whole days at the freaking age of 11. At that age I was allowed to babysit only my own siblings, and only for an hour or two at a time. 

Another huge issue I had, and actually the one that made me the angriest, was...Mary Anne! Big surprise, right? Well, and Logan too, just as much. He is the biggest asshole in here, getting pissed at Mary Anne for DARING to accuse him of standing her up. She apologizes over and over, and explains that Dawn forgot to give her the message, and he refuses to accept any of it! Even while all the kids are missing, he stays mad about something this petty, and continues to refuse her apologies. I'm beginning to wonder if part of the reason Mary Anne is so awful now is because she's dealing with Logan treating her like shit all the time. That would make me pretty bitchy too. Then again, I wouldn't put up with any of what she takes from him. Their relationship sets a terrible example for young female readers. Nor am I making excuses for her. I hate her more and more every book, even ones like this that I don't expect her to have much of a role in. 

So, WHY do these books keep telling us how sensitive Mary Anne is, how much she cares for others, listens to them, etc...? She treats other people like complete trash, caring only about herself, Tigger, and her relationship with Logan. She never considers the feelings of others, or even their sides of situations. If anyone other than Logan does the smallest thing to inconvenience her (even by honest mistake, like Dawn forgetting to tell her about Logan's phone message in this book because she was busy with her own life..), she flips out and gets really nasty with them. This goes double if they have somehow affected her relationship with Logan. However, she has no qualms about cheating on Logan. This girl has absolutely no empathy for others. During fights with people, she tends to always have the upper hand, being the one antagonizing, refusing to apologize, and not accepting honest apologies from them. Unlike in early books, where she would burst into tears if someone said the smallest unkind thing to her, she never cries during conflicts now. Instead she gets cold and mean, even if she's made the other person cry. This is not even close to how a truly shy, sensitive person would act. I think she uses her tears as a way to be able to call herself sensitive, part of a persona she likes to use to play the kind, innocent role. That way she can always be the victim and gain sympathy, which is also truly how she sees herself. 

I really think in these situations, Dawn is way too nice to Mary Anne. She's the one stuck on an island thinking she might die, yet she feels guilty because she wasn't speaking to MA when she left! That was only because MA wouldn't talk to her though. Dawn felt guilty for forgetting the message, owned up to it, and apologizes many times. She wasn't even mad about the way Mary Anne treated her before she left. Then while she's sitting on this island feeling guilty, Mary Anne is refusing to help search, instead whining about how she feels guilty, and worrying more about Logan being mad at her than about any of the missing kids. When Jessi calls Mary Anne to ask if Dawn is back from the sail yet, because Jessi's worried about her little sister, MA replies "I don't know and I don't care". No wonder Dawn finally goes back to California, like she has secretly wanted to do all along. I would hate living with Mary Anne too.

Misc:

*This book confirms that Dawn's father did grow up in California.

*This is the first BSC book to have actual pictures of scenes from the story, the way the Little Sister books do, which I really liked. 

*Claudia struggles in the first race that results in the tie because of wardrobe malfunctions, LOL. I thought that was a great touch.

*Jessi keeps a journal now, like Mal.

*This is the first book that mentions Aunt Cecilia, setting up for the next book. We're supposed to hate her, and kids certainly would, but I liked her! She supposed to be strict and stuffy, but in reality everything she said was 100% correct in here:

"How could a couple of intelligent adults leave an eleven year old in charge of two younger children for three whole days? And how could you and your parents be irresponsible enough to let Rebecca go out on some sailboat?" (pg 65)

Aunt Cecilia says what all the adult readers of the BSC are thinking!

*I actually would have loved all of this dramatic "island survival, missing person" stuff when I was a kid. I wish I'd read this book back then...

*Why does Kristy want Stacey to write up her NYC sitting jobs? How does that help the BSC?

*It seemed really harsh that Stacey's dad wouldn't let her leave NYC early while her friends were missing, just because it was his weekend? She handles him pretty maturely though, and writes a very fair letter about how she's fed up being in the middle and not having control over her own time.

*Claudia and Dawn stayed impressively calm and mature during their ordeal.

*This book had the first BSC meeting that wasn't in Claudia's bedroom: they hold an emergency one at Mallory's house.

*Dawn's mom was more worried about losing custody than the fact that both of her kids could have been dead. She's another stellar character...

*Bart Taylor, Kristy's sort of love interest, is almost as bad as Logan in here. He gets mean and nasty with Kristy when she cancels their softball game, which she does because some of her team members are lost at sea! Thankfully Kristy has enough self respect to hang up on him, and he actually calls back to apologize. 

*The first rescue workers to reach the kids got teary when they first saw them, which was a sweet moment. Then the reunions between the kids and their parents made me teary, haha. 

*Kristy, being her typical self, says the newspaper story will be good advertising for the BSC, LOL...

*The back of this book had advertisements for a BSC game, planners, and all kinds of fun merchandise from 1990-91 that I was too young to have known about. If any of it had come out a few years later, I would have gone crazy over it. There was also a contest to guess the next super special vacation spot and win a trip to NYC.

Books mentioned:

*Baby Island, by Carol Ryrie Brink

*The Cay, by Theodore Taylor

My rating:

4 stars, for sheer entertainment value. If you want to read one super special, read this one. 

#35: Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook

 

Thoughts before reading:

This book is one of my old favorites! I still have my childhood copy, one of only a small handful I held on to from way back when. I've read it countless times, even re-reading it during high school when I was feeling a little BSC nostalgia. When I started this project, this was one of the ones I was most looking forward to re-visiting. Hopefully it still holds up, at least some.

I'd always liked this cover before, but looking at it closer now, it's a bit off. The house looks appropriately eerie, and I love the old early 90s sweaters. Charlotte's hands look really bizarre though, so that's a bit distracting from everything else.

For some reason I've always thought that Ann M. Martin wrote the first 35 books, and then the rest were ghostwritten, so I was very surprised to see this one was ghostwritten by Ellen Miles. I looked into it and the first one she didn't write herself was #23, so I missed a few already. Apparently AMM wrote the outline of every book and looked over the final drafts though. From now on I'll be mentioning the ghostwriters, something I'd meant to do when I started. I just didn't realize they came into the picture so early on.

The basics:

Stacey has just returned from spending a weekend in NYC with her dad, and is now at the Monday BSC meeting. All the other girls are discussing an old house on Elm Street that's being torn down, because it's a historical landmark and has been a part of the town for a long time. Stacey lives on that street, but still isn't very interested and wonders what the big deal is. The discussion is cut short anyway when the Johanssens call with a special request. Mr. Johanssen's father is having surgery and they will be going out of town for a week. Since they don't want Charlotte at the hospital instead of in school, they're hoping she can stay with either Stacey or Jessi. Stacey's mom gives permission, and she's thrilled to accept the job. She rushes home and fixes up their guest room for Charlotte.

The job starts out rocky though, and Stacey's disappointed. Charlotte isn't excited to be staying with her. Instead she's crying a lot and upset over her parents leaving and her grandpa being sick. She does like the room though, and Stacey still works hard at cheering her up. They play games and read books, and Stacey patiently answers all of her questions. 

The following day, Stacey takes Charlotte to see the old house as a distraction. Despite her earlier lack of interest, she thinks it's a neat old place when she sees it up close. Her and Charlotte poke around outside until they start hearing weird moaning noises. Stacey then sees a face in one of the windows and a huge fly swarm near the porch. She's reminded of the Amityville Horror and gets spooked. They both run home.

Charlotte gets to attend the BSC meetings during the week her parents are gone, which she's thrilled about. Everyone is extra kind to her, and Kristy even lets her wear the visor and answer the phone. Stacey and Charlotte fill everyone else in on what they saw at the old house too, causing even more interest. Not long after, Kristy is babysitting at her own house, and she finds an old map inside a book Watson bought from an estate sale. Based on the map, she determines the whole town of Stoneybrook was built on an ancient burial ground, with the Elm St. house right over an especially sacred spot.

This new discovery gets everyone really worked up over their "mystery", but Stacey also has her hands even more full with Charlotte. The poor kid has started feeling ill, and finds out she has tonsillitis again. While Charlotte's recovering, Kristy brings the books over so she and Stacey can look through them too. Stacey's not convinced there is even a mystery to solve, but she's grateful Charlotte's busy and distracted by playing detective. 

Claudia takes the Perkins girls to the library for story hour on a sitting job. While she's there, she does some research of her own, and learns the house's owner, Ronald Hennessey, is still alive and living in a Stoneybrook nursing home. 

Once Charlotte is feeling better, Stacey takes her back by the house. This time, they see flames inside that mysteriously vanish. Both girls have nightmares about the house that night. Kristy calls an emergency BSC meeting so they can deal with the mystery better, and it's decided that they will pay a visit to Mr. Hennessey. Some of them go the next day, and he tells them a bunch of scary stories about the house that seem far fetched to Stacey, then warns them to be careful.

The next day, the house is finally being demolished for good. Everyone goes to watch, so Stacey takes Charlotte. Nobody sees anything unusual except for Stacey, who sees flames and an old man calling to her for help. A strange feeling comes over her when the vision fades away. She then runs back to the nursing home, only to find out Mr. Hennessey passed away last night. He did leave her a note though, saying he made up all the stories because he was happy to have young visitors, and wanted to entertain them.

When Stacey tells the other BSC girls the news, Kristy tells her that Sam and Charlie heard about their mystery and spoke to some of the workmen. By talking to them, they learned the weird noises were pipes, the flies were a beehive, and the inside fire and face in the window were a worker using a torch to remove fixtures. Everything but the fire and old man Stacey saw during the demolition is explained, so she decides she just imagined it. 

That evening, Charlotte's parents return home. Her grandpa is doing well and will recover, and Charlotte excitedly tells her parents about her eventful week.

Timeline:

School is back in session already, somehow. This book spans almost exactly 1 week.

My thoughts:

This was a lot different than the other books so far. It read like a goosebumps book, with some baby-sitting thrown in. The plot was strange too, with so much build up that ultimately lead to nothing. I'm sure the intention was just to make sure young readers wouldn't get too scared, but it just came across oddly now. It's hard to even say for sure what the "mystery" all the BSC girls were so worked up over even was. I guess the mystery of if the house was haunted? If so they mostly find out the answer is no, which means there wasn't a lot of point to this story. Plus the whole aspect of the entire freaking town being built over an ancient burial ground is just forgotten. Once they hear the worker's side of the story, no one is worried about that little problem anymore. I wonder if it's mentioned again in any of the other books?

That being said, I couldn't help but enjoy this book. Once I started reading it, everything was so familiar, and I even started remembering the little moments, and how they influenced me as a kid. That's always the best part of re-reading a childhood favorite. This was undeniably entertaining too. I enjoyed Stacey's point of view a lot, and I could see how this sort of book got me going on the road to being the big horror fan I am now. Don't get me wrong, this is very mild spooky stuff, but to a 7 year old, it's scary. 

The best part of this read was Stacey herself, hands down. She's an absolute star in this book, mostly with regards to how she handles Charlotte. No matter how difficult Char got, Stacey was so patient, kind, and sweet with her. She takes her own disappointment in stride, swallowing it to give Charlotte what she needs. All of her free time this whole week goes to playing endless games with her, caring for her when she's sick, reading to her, and finding new ways to distract her when she gets down. One of Stacey's really stand out moments comes when Charlotte is whining and having a complete fit about taking her medicine. Instead of losing her patience even a little, Stacey shows her all of her diabetes equipment. She explains how she has to prick her finger and give herself shots, as well as watch her diet. All of this makes swallowing medicine seem like no big deal, and Charlotte gladly takes it. By the time Charlotte returns home, Stacey feels closer to her as a "sister" than ever, not at all put out by how things turned out. 

There was also a scene in the beginning that served as more evidence that Stacey definitely isn't spoiled. She's actually surprisingly down to earth, particularly for a rich, privileged kid. (Even though the books never call her rich, her parents had a big apartment in NYC, on a single income. There are also other hints that I've mentioned before. I think Stacey just doesn't think of herself as rich, so we never hear about it the way we constantly hear about Watson.) I'm getting a little off track here, so back to the scene: Stacey goes to a designer store in NYC with her dad. He tells her to pick out anything in the store that she wants. Despite this free reign, she bypasses the awesome suede jacket she really wants for a pair of heart sunglasses, because she doesn't want to take advantage of the situation. For a teenage girl who loves shopping, this is very impressive self control!

Misc:

*There was another chapter in here about Morbidda Destiny and Ben Brewer. I know it was to go with the spooky theme, but yawn. It's so overdone. Save it for the Little Sister books at least...

*Apparently Watson has a huge library in his mansion, with thousands of books and big comfy armchairs?! Why have we never heard about this until now? I'm so freaking jealous. 

*When Kristy goes through the old books Watson got from the estate sale, we also learn a little more about Stoneybrook:

            *The Brewer family has lived there for a long time.

            *In 1988 there was a great blizzard, and people could walk out of their second story windows into the snow.

*There was a funny scene where Stacey took Charlotte to the pediatrician, and was looking at an old Highlights magazine to see if it had changed from what she remembered. A hot guy walks by and sees her reading it, and she's totally embarrassed. Leave it to Stacey to even find a hot guy at a doctor's office, LOL...

*This type of plot had all the BSC girls really acting their age, which was nice to see.

*I loved this book so much as a kid that I read all the books mentioned in it growing up, except the Oz one. 

Books mentioned:

*Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White

*The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene

*Ozma of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

*Highlights for Children magazine

*Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton

*The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton

My rating:

4 stars. This went absolutely nowhere, but I had a blast reading it anyway, because of the intense nostalgia. 

#34: Mary Anne and Too Many Boys

 

This is the first book so far that I have the newer edition of, instead of the original version.

Thoughts before reading:

I have read this before, but I don't remember it well, so probably only once. I know it's one of the Sea City books, and that there's some drama with Alex and Toby (from #8). They're the mother's helpers Stacey and Mary Anne fall for the first time they go to Sea City with the Pikes. I know there's a book where one of them gets a crush on Mallory, but I'm not sure if this is it or not.

I like how these newer editions style the cover like a scrapbook page. It's a nice touch to show the whole club's pictures on the side, with touches in the background that show the narrator's personality. These also have pictures in the back of moments in the narrator's life, a letter from Ann. M. Martin, and some pages for kids to fill in their thoughts on the book. I know I had quite a few of these as a kid, and I loved the extra stuff in the back, especially being the kind of kid that actually filled out the question pages.

The basics:

Stacey and Mary Anne have been hired to be mother's helpers for the Pikes again, on this summer's 2 week trip to Sea City. Everyone else in the BSC is going on vacation too, apart from Kristy and Jessi. (They are all the same vacations everyone went on during the summer of books #6-10: the REAL summer before 8th grade). 

Not long after arriving, Stacey and Mary Anne run into Alex and Toby at the beach. They are working as mother's helpers again also. Both girls are excited, even though Mary Anne is dating Logan, which makes her feel only slightly conflicted. The girls get into a fight because they end up making dates for the same night, and this year the Pikes want them to take different nights off. Stacey wins the argument by refusing to back down, so she goes on her date with Toby, and Mary Anne goes out with Alex the next night. They have a great time, leaving her feeling confused about things with Logan.

Towards the end of the trip, Toby breaks up with Stacey because he doesn't want to be tied down when he goes back home. Mary Anne and Alex are still seeing each other, despite some awkward dates, and she thinks she's in love with him and Logan now. On their last date before she has to return home, she finds out he has a girlfriend, and he finds out about Logan. They laugh about it together and decide to stay friends.

During the trip, Vanessa Pike has a big crush on a boy named Chris, who works at the ice cream parlor. She leaves him anonymous poems. He ends up thinking Mallory wrote the poems, and asks her out through Vanessa. The poor girl is heartbroken, but since the date is after they will have gone back home, she doesn't tell Mal. Instead Mary Anne helps her leave one last poem, saying goodbye. 

Timeline:

It's summer vacation AGAIN! They get so many of these, haha. This is the second summer "after" 8th grade, but of course in the backstory they still say they are 8th graders. The time loop is just blatantly ignored.

My thoughts:

I know I talked about this in the review for #8, but the Pike parents are still just too much. Once again, they are taking all of their kids on vacation, but are not going to spend any time with them. Stacey and Mary Anne take care of the kids the whole time. There's even a scene where it's mentioned that one of them will go to the grocery store for Mrs. Pike, with some of the kids! What exactly do her and Mr. Pike do on all of these vacations? They don't take care of their own kids or do their own errands, the way anyone else has to on a trip. In this book they are even worse, now not letting the girls take the same night off, because heaven forbid they have to spend one night with their kids. There's also mention that Mallory can help out as a babysitter when either Mary Anne or Stacey is off. Yes, really. Mr. and Mrs. Pike won't do any work on vacation, but their child has to, just because she's the oldest. Everyone else will be free to relax and enjoy their time off, but Mal will go right on babysitting. 

Despite the title, I was not expecting Mary Anne to cheat on Logan in this book. That totally caught me by surprise...and what she does, going on all those dates with Alex, is absolutely cheating. Logan would flip out if he knew, but I don't think he ever finds out. "Too many boys" is definitely not the problem here. The problem is that Mary Anne can't stay loyal to Logan the first time another guy shows any interest in her. It wasn't so long ago (SS #3) that she was having a meltdown thinking of Logan in Aruba with all the beautiful girls. If he did this to her, she would freak out and break up with him.

Now, not only is Mary Anne cheating on her boyfriend in here, but she's also being judgy about Stacey and Toby, like she has any room to talk. When Stacey gets all excited about going out with Toby again, Mary Anne thinks to herself that Stacey acted the same way over Scott (#8), and Pierre (SS #3), so even though Toby is at the top of the list at the moment, who knows if it will last? She's not wrong exactly, but who is she to judge? Stacey is actually SINGLE, so who cares if she dates a lot? You'd also think Mary Anne could have let Stacey go on her date that first night without fighting about it, since Mary Anne had no business going on a date in the first place. If she has a steady boyfriend at home, who is she to stand in the way of her friend dating and having some fun? This book made me like MA even less. She's been terrible in every book since #25, although before that I actually liked her the most. (As a kid I was always indifferent to her.) 

Misc:

*Why did we even have another Mary Anne book already? We just had one: #30. The way they alternate the book narrators is so weird and uneven.

*Stacey can now look back on the Scott situation and laugh, a definite sign of character growth and maturity. 

*Claire asks Stacey and Mary Anne where the sun goes when it goes down, and neither of them knows, so they just tell her it goes behind a cloud. Shouldn't they know the answer by the 8th grade?

*The kid working at the ice cream parlor that Vanessa likes is 12? Whatever happened to work permits? I think those are something else that doesn't exist in the BSC universe. I'm going to start a list...

*Byron's snorkeling with his brothers this summer...I guess he's not afraid of the deep water anymore?

*There's a babysitting chapter with Jessi and her siblings, centered around an incident where Squirt puts the Pike's hamster in with Becca's, and they think it's missing. How did a 1 year old get the hamster out of one cage, carry it upstairs, and put it into another? He should be barely even using the stairs. This makes no sense. 

*When Stacey gets snippy with Mary Anne after her break up, she apologizes and feels bad about it afterwards, something MA never does anymore. We're constantly told how sensitive she is, but she is actually one of the worst at caring about anyone else's feelings. 

*In AMM's letter in the back, she says that Kristy and Bart are just friends.

Books mentioned:

None, surprising for a vacation book.

My rating:

3 stars. Not much happens, and #8 does Sea City way better.

#33: Claudia and the Great Search

 

Thoughts before reading:

Finally, one I have read before! This wasn't a big favorite, but I know I read it at least once. This book actually made me start to question whether I was adopted or not. I even went through a phase where I was convinced that I had to be, haha.

Not sure what to expect from re-reading this, since we obviously know Claudia isn't adopted. Might be one that feels really pointless, unless it's done well enough. 

This cover is too cute though, one of my favorites so far! Claudia and her outfit are just like how I'd picture her. That baby with her has to be Emily Michelle, and she's beyond adorable. It makes sense that Claudia would be sitting for her in this book, since she was adopted. That's likely what gets her imagination off and running.

The basics:

Claudia starts feeling down after attending an awards ceremony for Janine, her older sister. Everyone's gushing about how smart she is, and how they can't believe her and Claudia are sisters because they look so different. Since Claudia's always been really sensitive about how smart her sister is, all the attention rubs her the wrong way. Her mood worsens further when she learns Janine will be featured in the local paper. They want to do a story called "A Day in the Life of a Genius". 

After dealing with all this, Claudia can't concentrate on her homework, so she starts looking at old photo albums her parents keep in the den. There are tons of pictures of Janine as a baby, and all her birthdays, but hardly any of Claudia. She also notices she didn't look like anyone in her family, even when she was little. Her imagination starts working on possible explanations, and after finding a locked strongbox, she decides she has to be adopted. Despite being completely convinced this has to be true, she doesn't say anything to her parents, assuming they won't tell the truth. She confides her discoveries to Stacey, who suggests she search for her real parents to get some answers. 

Kristy tells the BSC about how her sister, Emily Michelle (adopted by her family in #24), has been having some developmental problems. Her language skills are delayed, since she came from an orphanage in Vietnam and never heard English until recently. She's also having emotional problems like nightmares and separation anxiety. Kristy wishes she could spend more time helping her, but she's been busy with a steady job for the Papadakis family. Claudia and a few other BSC members end up sitting for her instead, and Claudia finds herself really relating to the little girl. They're both different from their families, and both having trouble learning. She ends up teaching Emily to match, and some color games. Mrs. Brewer is impressed, and asks her to take a job working with Emily twice a week. Claudia agrees, thrilled to be a tutor instead of a tutee. 

In between sitting jobs, Claudia works tirelessly on her search for answers. She first looks for her birth certificate, with no luck. Then she tries going to her old pediatrician for information. That's another dead end, so she looks up birth announcements at the library (in old newspapers). There isn't one for her, so she tries tracking down the families that had baby girls the week she was born, thinking she must be one of those babies. Every family is a dead end though, as they all clearly still have those daughters.

Stacey convinces Claudia to finally talk to her parents about all of this. They immediately assure her that she was not adopted. Parents just take less pictures of children after the first, something completely normal. They also tell her lots of families don't look alike, but she actually does look a lot like Mimi did when she was young. Her parents give her a picture of Mimi at age 12, and Claudia's stunned to see they look like twins. She has the pictured matted and framed next to one of herself, to keep in her room.

Claudia's tutoring is really helping Emily, and the Brewers ask her to keep doing it. Thanks to her help, Emily is reevaluated, and will be allowed to start preschool on time, when she turns 3. 

Timeline:

Time of year unknown, big surprise, I know. Sometime during the second run of 8th grade, and it's not winter.

My thoughts:

This book was pretty average, plot wise, but still a sweet story. I really liked the Emily Michelle parts. Her problems were extremely realistic, given the fact that she got a rough start in life. They even discuss how she would have been in an orphanage, and not have gotten much attention there. That combined with the language barrier would definitely lead her to be really behind. Compared with other 2 year old's, she's at more of an infant ability level. It was nice to see a harder reality discussed, since we don't have too many of those in these books. I also liked getting to see Claudia be the one who is able to help her, and how proud it made her of herself. (Kinda cheesy, I know, but trust me on this one.) 

Claudia's search for answers about her past was more interesting than I expected, given we know it leads nowhere. It was frustrating that she didn't just ask her parents to begin with though, but I know plenty of kids that age wouldn't. The story was a relatable one for kids, since most have a phase where they wonder if/wish they were adopted. It was handled sensitively too, especially since the other storyline was about Emily, who is adjusting to a new life after an adoption.

The other thing I liked in here, even though it was a small part, was Stacey and Claudia's friendship. Theirs is definitely my favorite one in these books, because I think it's the most healthy and supportive. Stacey was a really good friend to Claudia during this storyline. She was never nosy or pushy, letting Claudia come to her with new information. Whenever she gave advice, it was very understanding and gentle, and she's the one who settles everything by getting Claudia to talk to her parents. 

Misc:

*The newspaper story about Janine sounds insanely boring, and I highly doubt this would really happen over a High School award. The book doesn't even say what award she won, just that it was for science. 

*Good advice from Dawn: Worrying doesn't solve problems, only taking action does.

*After reading this I really wonder how Emily Michelle turned out. Too bad we'll never know.

*The service Emily was adopted through is called Love Bundles, haha...

*The Brewers constantly need sitters in here, even though I thought that was why Nannie moved in with them?

*Did they really used to put birth announcements in the newspaper? I've never heard of this before.

*When Claudia called one of the families, the Ferguisons, they tell her their kids' names, ages, and schools over the phone! Insanely trusting, nobody would do that now.

*Stacey's super tired all the time and not feeling well in this book. Definitely setting up for something to happen.

Books mentioned:

*Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, by Lois Lowry (It's about adoption, Stacey recommends it to Claudia)

*Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss

My rating:

3.5 stars, one of the sweeter books so far, and blissfully free of petty bickering!

#32: Kristy and the Secret of Susan

 

Thoughts before reading:

This was the best picture of this book I could find. I know it's not very good, but I like to use pictures of the editions I have. Whenever possible, I only bought the original editions with this style cover. That was mostly what I read growing up, until the books started being issued in the newer format.

Once again, I have not read this one before. This has been the longest streak of new books so far. It's making me feel like a bad fan. Hopefully I just missed a lot of the early books, since I was reading these in the mid to late 90s.

This book goes back to the babysitting centered storyline format, which I usually don't like, but this seems like it will be a sweet one. Like Jessi's Secret Language, it was probably intended to diversify the books, and teach kids about others who are different from them.

The basics:

The BSC gets a call from Mrs. Felder, a new client. She lives in the neighborhood, and has a daughter, Susan, who's autistic. Susan's eight and has been attending a special school for years, but she's home now for a month between switching schools. Mrs. Felder wants a sitter three days a week so she can take a break to do errands. Kristy decides to take on the job, and she goes over to meet Susan before it begins. Her mom wants to make sure she still wants the job after knowing what she's getting into. Susan turns out to be very withdrawn, not speaking at all, mostly just pacing, flapping her hands, and making clicking sounds. She's also a savant though, playing piano flawlessly, memorizing any song she hears once, singing, and she's memorized the calendar covering at least 50 years.

Despite the clear challenge this job will be, Kristy accepts it immediately. She finds herself feeling angry at the Felders for keeping Susan away at school all the time, and taking the easy way out. It seems like her parents don't see how special she is. Kristy decides she will help Susan by showing her parents that she can make friends and live at home.

A family from Australia, the Hobarts, have just moved into Mary Anne's old house around this same time. They have four boys, one of them in 6th grade like Mal and Jessi. The neighborhood kids are teasing the boys because they have strong accents, so they aren't fitting in very well. Mallory takes her siblings over to meet them so they can start making friends. Kristy decides to do the same with Susan, to help her begin forming friendships. The playdate goes decently well- the Pike and Hobart kids like each other, Mal and Ben form crushes on each other even, but Susan doesn't acknowledge any of the other kids. Despite this, the kids are impressed by her calendar trick: since she's memorized the calendar, if anyone tells her a date from a specific year, she knows the day of the week it fell on instantly.

Kristy thinks she's making great progress making Susan friends when neighborhood kids start dropping by the house to see her, including the bullies that tease the Hobart boys. The kids all come one at a time, ask to see Susan, then ask her a date or to play piano, then leave again. Kristy's thrilled about how popular she's getting, not catching on that anything's amiss until she catches the bullies charging other kids money to see Susan "do tricks". 

Finally realizing Susan hasn't made any friends or changes, Kristy begins to see that she can't change her. She needs help only professionals can provide, and the special school is likely the best place for her. When it comes time for her to go, Kristy comes over to help out and say goodbye. The Felders give her the news that they're having another baby, a girl they will call Hope.

The Hobart boys, on the other hand, do start to make friends. They even befriend their bullies, and Ben asks Mallory out to the movies.

Timeline:

Spans a month, but no idea what time of year. It's not winter though, because there's no snow and the kids are constantly playing outside in this book.

My thoughts:

I was really disgusted by the arrangement Mrs. Felder makes with Kristy. This woman doesn't work, and has only this one kid, who is usually always away at a special school. Now she's home for only one month, and she flat out tells Kristy she needs a sitter three times a week so she can have a break? I completely understand that Susan is beyond challenging, but she hardly ever sees her. I could see 1 day, to get errands done, although you'd think her dad could spend time with her those days. At the absolute least, shouldn't they get an adult or special aid to sit for their daughter? She's so challenging she can't live at home, but not so challenging a 13 year old kid can't handle her? It's just so unrealistic that it makes no sense. I get that this set up is really just designed to teach kids about autism, and that's a good thing. It would just be so much more plausible if Mrs. Felder was hiring a mother's helper, and staying at home the whole time. Susan is severely autistic,  seemingly completely unaware of the world around her. She can't eat, sleep, dress, or use the bathroom without difficulty. Yet Kristy is constantly taking her outside and around the neighborhood. There's so many things that could have gone horribly wrong. Of course, it's BSC-world, so nothing does.

Worse than all of this though, was the ending. Something about how it was presented just really rubbed me the wrong way. Kristy finally realizes Susan is better off away at school, and then right as she's getting ready to be sent away again, it's announced that Mrs. Felder is pregnant. Not only that, but she's having another girl, and naming her Hope. Everyone is so thrilled by the news, because they felt bad for the Felders that they only had the one child who didn't communicate with them. This whole baby thing feels really cringe worthy in this situation, like a replacement daughter. She'll be "normal" and actually live at home and probably barely know her sister? They obviously won't be raised together. And that name, Hope? We know what that means: the hope they have for a normal child. Mrs. Felder even tells Kristy they've already done all kinds of tests on the unborn baby to look for problems.

It's clear from reading this book that the understanding of autism in 1990 was very different, so this book felt very dated. Mrs. Felder tells Kristy that Susan could talk but just doesn't want to, and she doesn't want to leave her own little world. She makes it sound like a lot of Susan's problems are her own fault, choices she made. She also says her IQ is thought to be below 50, which would make her extremely retarded. This is also untrue, and would never be said today. Susan is a savant, and a piano prodigy, so she's actually very bright. She just doesn't communicate or understand the world they way others do. It has nothing to do with intelligence, you can just tell they didn't realize this back then. The dictionary Kristy looks up autism in even associates it with childhood schizophrenia. I thought this was also really dated, but I looked it up and it was actually progressive. In 2017 there were studies linking the two conditions.

As for the storyline with the Hobart boys, what the hell is wrong with Stoneybrook? People there are such prejudiced assholes. The Hobarts are getting tormented just for being from Australia? They basically go through just what the Ramsey family did. This is like some bizarre whitewashed town where they can't handle anything different. It gives me the creeps, honestly. I'm very surprised that Claudia's family fairs (mostly) fine.

Misc:

*Kristy tells us her brother Charlie put a sign in his car window that says "baby-sitter on board" because he gives her so many rides. Ok, uhm what 17 year old boy would really do this? Charlie is either a huge dork or the most chill, confident guy ever. I'll assume the latter, since so far I really like him.

*This book was almost entirely backstory until page 29! It was brutal. We do not need this much detail! This took up 2 1/2 chapters, seriously. At least keep it down to chapter 2. Why can't they just tell us the details important to the book we're reading? I don't need to know the history of each girls' pets in every book.

*Claudia asks if autistic means retarded. Just when I was thinking how that wouldn't fly in a book today, this book started using that word constantly. They use it so much in here that it started to make me uncomfortable! Out of all the books so far, this has really been the first that felt so painfully dated.

*The theme of this book: outcasts.

*Kristy, Ben, and Mallory decide at one point to let the kids deal with the teasing themselves, so they can learn how. Seemed really mean to me, they could have at least protected Susan...one of the bullies is flapping his hands in her face and Kristy doesn't do anything!

*Kristy was shocked in here that the "normal" kids at school teased the special ed kids. Horrible as that is, this can't be the first time she's seen something like it. I remember a lot of that from school, starting in Elementary. Kids would call other kids "special ed", and it was the worst insult ever. Of course, worse things went on too, but you get the idea.

*Apparently Kristy's never heard of the Roaring 20s by 8th grade? Please stay in school, kid.

Books mentioned:

None again.

My rating:

3 stars, very average for me, but I appreciate what this book tried to do. It was probably really progressive when it came out.

#31: Dawn's Wicked Stepsister

 

Thoughts before reading:

Also never read this one before, but I'm very eager for Dawn's POV about the wedding and family merge after reading the last book. She handled everything so far with grace and good spirits, while Mary Anne was the worst spoiled, entitled brat of the series so far. Even while MA was treating Dawn like absolute crap, Dawn remained a class act about it. She was the one trying to smooth things over and apologize, when she hadn't even done anything wrong.

On the cover of the last book, Jeff looked so cute. Now on this one, he looks like a monkey. What is even going on with his facial expression? Dawn looks adorable here, exactly how I would picture her. Mary Anne is making an appropriately bitchy face, while wearing hideously unflattering jeans. Good times.

The basics:

Mary Anne catches the bouquet (cliffhanger, if you can call it that, from the last book). Richard and Sharon leave after the dinner for a 1 night honeymoon. Dawn and Mary Anne spend a last night in the Spier house together. In the morning their parents return early because it's moving day. Claudia comes over to watch, and Mary Anne cries the whole time about how she doesn't want to move because she's never lived anywhere else. Dawn, on the other hand, is really excited and tries to cheer her up, but just gets snapped at for her trouble. Some neighbors also come by to help out. Mary Anne continues to cry non-stop and bitch at Dawn, who still remains calm. Even Jeff comments that he doesn't like Mary Anne much anymore, and Dawn defends her.

Mallory gets the chicken pox, even though she's had them before. The BSC has to cover all of her jobs now, and Mary Anne and Dawn end up fighting over which one of them will take one. Mary Anne tries to play the whole "I'm the one who had to move" card, then implies that Dawn is fat? Kristy gets fed up and makes them draw straws. Mary Anne wins and immediately starts gloating. Dawn finally starts losing her temper and being snippy back.

Things at the Pike house get worse. In what the girls end up deeming the "Pike Plague", the triplets all come down with viral pneumonia, Nicky breaks three fingers, Vanessa sprains her ankle, Claire and Margo get bad colds, Mrs. Pike hurts her knee, and Mr. Pike burns his hand. 

During this time, things at Dawn's house are just getting worse. The new family has conflicts about neatness, eating meat, sleeping in, and even Tigger. Mary Anne and Dawn get along at times, but keep fighting way too often. Another big argument comes when Dawn decides not to go to a dance because she doesn't have a date. She's not upset about it, and is actually looking forward to the alone time. Mary Anne won't stop bragging about Logan though, eventually wearing out her patience again. Then they fight again over doing homework in silence vs. with music on. 

Dawn finally decides she doesn't want to share a room with Mary Anne anymore. She goes to Kristy for advice, since she's been through merging a step-family already. Kristy's really nice about it, and gives her some  helpful advice about how hard it is to fit two families together, and the importance of emotional space. Dawn does a lot of thinking about everything, mostly what a bad idea it was to share a room. She decides to get MA to move out without either of them admitting they were wrong, and to have a little revenge at the same time. Her and Jeff cook up a plan for Dawn to scare MA using the secret passage. It works flawlessly, scaring MA out of the room permanently, and she doesn't suspect Dawn at all. 

After Mary Anne has moved into her own space in the old guest room, the family sits down to talk. They decide to make some new rules about cleaning, and to cook separate meals. Everyone also agrees to try harder. 

Timeline:

Immediately after the last book, and spanning several weeks. Still no clues about the time of year though.

My thoughts:

This book was really just a continuation of the last book. I enjoyed a different perspective on the situation with a new narrator, but otherwise it didn't bring anything new to the table. This was just way too long to spend on a story that mostly consisted of petty bickering. I'm overloaded on spoiled preteen angst now, and even more tired of Mary Anne. If possible, she was even worse in this book. By the end even Dawn had a long list of grievances against her that she wanted revenge for. I just can't get over how entitled MA was in these. Clearly she's never had any real struggles in her life. She seemed manipulative too, using the fact that she had to move as a weapon for sympathy, especially when combined with crying.

Dawn really had the patience of a saint during both these books. I would have been ready to kill Mary Anne long before the actual move even happened. There's no way I would have had her level of understanding at 13. By the time Dawn was scaring her in the secret passage, I was so ready for someone to retaliate against her somehow that it was the best part of the book. I love that she got away with it too. Even the author knew by this point that MA had it coming and the reader would need to enjoy such a moment...

Of course, on the other hand, it makes total sense that moving in with a best friend would change things. You would go from mainly just having fun together to doing all the mundane daily things together. You'd see each other way more, and differently. You'd learn new things about each other, good and bad. There would be big adjustments, and fighting, and the painful realization that this won't be like a permanent sleepover. I totally get all of that, and have experienced it on a smaller scale going to camp with friends growing up. The problem in these two books is that it's just so one sided. Dawn's only real mistake is trying to get Mary Anne to share a room with her, but she only did that because she was so excited.

The adults, Richard and Sharon, really were not much better either. It struck me as really shitty of Richard to cook her bacon every morning. He knows she doesn't like meat, and prefers not to even see it. While they were dating he took care to make sure she had vegetarian options, so doing this now seemed very passive aggressive. Then Sharon, who's a huge slob that can't even properly dress herself, snapped at Mary Anne because Tigger threw up on the carpet? How was she supposed to stop her poor pet from being sick? She doesn't even care about messes and can't even accomplish putting items in the obvious places (she's put shoes in the fridge before), so this was just pointlessly bitchy.

I absolutely hated the "Pike Plague" storyline, and now loathe the Pike parents even more. It was pretty selfish of them to keep hiring babysitters, like they did constantly in this book, when they had sick kids. They're exposing the sitters to getting sick, even though they wore masks. Besides that though, they should be staying home to take care of their own sick kids, like any other parent. It's not that hard to figure out. Mrs. Pike doesn't even work. On one of these jobs, Stacey is left with 5 sick kids so both adults can attend a tennis match! I can't believe Stacey's mom was even okay with this. I would have been giving the Pikes a piece of my mind. Another time, they hire 2 sitters because by this point Mr. Pike has burned his hand and Mrs. Pike has hurt her knee. Most people have to take care of their own kids, even when very sick. How pathetic is this? Then to top it off, the sitters are serving the adults breakfast in bed on trays! Apparently having a hurt hand made Mr. Pike completely bedridden. These poor sitters also do all the house chores. This really just took bad clients to a whole new level. Talk about taking advantage.

There was also a continuity error, and hilariously, it was with the last book! How hard is it to remember something that close together? Dawn says in here that she's saving to buy MA a "now we're sisters" gift, because MA surprised her with one at the wedding. That isn't true though. At the end of the last book, at the wedding, Dawn gave MA a "now we're sisters" gift, a barrette. Mary Anne was sulking at the time and the gift made her feel worse, because she felt guilty for not getting Dawn a gift. Then towards the end of this one, Dawn does give Mary Anne the gift she saved for: a cat pin. So I guess she got two gifts and Dawn doesn't get any? Typical. What a weird thing to mess up on though. It really bugged me, because it was sort of important to the plot. The whole reason Dawn even fights for the babysitting job is because she supposedly needed money for the gift.

Misc:

*Kristy freaks out over Richard and Sharon kissing at the wedding, chanting PDA over and over. Ugh, I wasted my time defending her maturity level in my last review! I now take it all back, haha. These moments are why everyone calls her immature, and rightly so...

*Mary Anne insults Dawn by saying her skirt looks too tight. This is the second fat shaming incident from her, within just a few books. (The other was SS #3.)

*When Dawn and Mary Anne are fighting at a meeting, Kristy says they're unprofessional and she won't stand for it. Pretty funny, since she's done the same thing tons of times.

*When Mary Anne is gloating over Logan before the dance, she keeps talking about how when you have a boyfriend, you want to look good for him. Gag, lame priorities. I lost even more respect for her. She should try for Stacey's attitude about looking good for yourself.

*Kristy invited Bart to the dance? I wonder how that all went down. Since Dawn didn't go, we don't learn any details.

*Dawn wonders about Mary Anne: "How could we get along so well half the time and be mad at each other the rest of the time? Was this what having a sister was all about?" (pg 77) Dawn- Yes. That literally sums it up perfectly. I have two, and I couldn't have said it better.

*Everyone wearing masks to the Pikes' struck me as funny, given our current world situation. Ironic timing.

*Mary Anne's old house sells, but we don't know to who yet.

*Here's an example of one of many bitchy things Mary Anne said to Dawn: "Just try to enjoy your evening Dawn. Don't think of yourself as someone who can't get a date, okay? It isn't healthy." (pg 72) Now, there is no way she means this to be helpful. Dawn's gone to several dances stag before. I would've smacked her right about this time. I swear she gets away with saying things like this because everyone thinks she's so shy and sensitive.

*Now that she's on the outs with Dawn, Mary Anne is suddenly really buddy buddy with Kristy again. They haven't been mentioned hanging out together in ages, but did in this book all the time.

*So far I'm noticing that my childhood favorite characters are mostly still standing, which surprised me. I figured I just liked the "cool" characters back then, and would probably think the opposite things about them now. 

Books mentioned:

None.

My rating:

3 stars, this dragged but Dawn's POV was still an improvement. 

#30: Mary Anne and the Great Romance

 

Thoughts before reading:

Another one that I've never read before. Apparently my local library growing up never had any of these big milestone books, because it seems like I missed them all. It's fun now though to go back and actually read about all these big events that were just givens in the series. 

This project is also making me realize that for all my BSC obsession, there were tons of books I never read. I definitely tended to read more books later in the series, because those were easier to find in libraries and bookstores in the 90s. Even so, I might have read less than half. 

The cover of this book is hilarious. Mary Anne looks like Wednesday Addams. Dawn and Sharon look like they're on a poster for an old, cheesy horror movie. The expression Dawn is making in particular looks just like someone trying to pretend to be terrified. I do love how Jeff is just sitting there watching and smiling though. 

The basics:

Dawn and Mary Anne have been eating dinner alone together most nights, because their parents are now going out all the time. They're both still excited about their parents getting serious, and enjoying spending so much extra time together. 

Mrs. Arnold, mother of Marilyn and Carolyn (see #21), calls the BSC needing another steady sitter. This time Mary Anne takes the job. Since the twins have been allowed to dress differently, they've been doing really well. When Mary Anne arrives for her first job though, she's stunned to discover they are having big problems again. Carolyn is out with friends, and Marilyn is at home feeling left out and angry. She pretends to have a best friend named Gozzie Kunka, which Mary Anne completely believes. From there, things just get worse every time she sits. The girls have constant nasty fights over parents, friends, and their shared bedroom. Mary Anne is shocked and doesn't know what to do.

During this time Richard, Mary Anne's dad, also wants her and Dawn to help plan a birthday surprise for Dawn's mom, Sharon. They end up planning out a surprise birthday dinner for her. It goes off without a hitch, and Richard proposes by looping a ring around one of the candles on her birthday cake. They had apparently already decided to get married, the girls just didn't know. The news thrills them though, as does the prospect of being step-sisters. They wait until the next BSC meeting to announce the news to all their friends at once. 

It turns that Richard and Sharon don't want an actual wedding or a reception, since they've both been through it all before. For some reason though, they let their daughters talk them into a small wedding. The excitement over this is sort lived however, because Dawn lets it slip to Mary Anne that she will be moving into their house. Mary Anne blows up at her, then her dad. She's furious because she has to give up her house but Dawn doesn't. Richard tries to calm her down by explaining it's merely a practical decision, since their house is much bigger. 

The next day at school, Mary Anne won't even talk to Dawn. She does get a little cheered up when she solves the problem between the twins though, by suggesting they get separate rooms. Naturally their mom goes along with it right away, even though she never came up with the simple idea herself. The twins resume getting along really well again immediately. 

Mary Anne finally calms down some and starts talking to Dawn again, but she hasn't forgiven her for "assuming I'd be delighted about moving into her house". Dawn apologizes several times, and still wants to share a room with her, eventually selling her on the idea. 

The wedding itself goes well. Jeff flies in from California to attend the small ceremony, and the whole BSC attends also. Afterwards they have a big dinner instead of a formal reception. During the dinner Mary Anne gets angry again because she overhears Dawn and Jeff complaining that there aren't enough vegetarian options on the menu. Then she hears Sharon mention something about a litter box cleaning, and assumes she's complaining about Tigger. 

Shortly after, Sharon tosses the bouquet. Mary Anne and Dawn both leap for it at the same time...and we get our first To Be Continued....

Timeline:

They mention setting a date for the wedding, but never tell us what that date is. There's also no indication of what time of year this is, or the weather even. The story does span at least several weeks though.

My thoughts:

I understand that Mary Anne is just scared of change, and that her entire life it's been just her and her father, living alone together in the same house, but she is an unbelievable brat in this book! She never once even tries to think things through, or deal with any of the changes, or look for the good. Keep in mind, this was a situation she's wanted to happen since book #4. Of course the reality is going to be different, but that shouldn't be enough for her to completely flip out and change her mind about everything. This isn't a negative situation where there's very little good to be found, like a divorce. She's gaining at least as much as she's losing, but she doesn't even want to see that aspect. A few books ago, when Stacey was facing bigger, worse changes, she handled herself a hundred times better...and she wasn't even gaining anything, since she didn't want to leave NYC. Her whole world fell apart. That isn't the case here. Mary Anne has had a pretty lonely, restricted life with her dad. Now she's gaining a mother figure, and one of her best friends as a sister. Who cares if she has to move? It isn't far, and Kristy doesn't even live next door anymore. Speaking of which, even she handled her move better, and it was much further.

Even worse was the way Mary Anne treated Dawn, Sharon, and her dad in this book. She completely blows up at Dawn, just for telling her the news about the move. She's literally screaming at her about it while Dawn is sobbing. It's not like it was Dawn's decision! She has no more say over her life as a kid than MA does, and Dawn has been through a cross country move herself. That's a way bigger deal than a few blocks. She also couldn't care less that she upset Dawn, flat out saying, "I don't care, let her cry. At least she gets to keep her house" (pg 111). Then she's really rude to her dad and Sharon about the decision. Her dad isn't even angry about any of this, just comforting her instead. Guess he's not so strict anymore, now it seems like MA is running the show. In the following days, Dawn tries to make up with her, and MA keeps picking fights with her like a 5 year old. 

So, what happened to the Mary Anne of the earlier books? She used to handle things pretty well. Whenever the BSC girls were having one of their pointless fights, I always thought she dealt with it better than everyone else. She had her moments obviously, but for the most part she was the one apologizing, trying to fix things, and acting the most maturely. Not to mention we've been told in every single book how shy she is, how she hates conflict, how she doesn't want to upset people, etc. Was all of that sensitive, caring about others' feelings more than her own aspect of her personality really just shyness? Now that she's out of her shell more, it all seems long gone. She only cares about her own petty feelings in here, never once giving a thought to how her own dad or best friend are feeling. The old Mary Anne would never make someone sob and then just stand there thinking they deserved it. She would have been sobbing herself just over the fact that she upset someone. 

Another thing driving me crazy is the whole Dawn-is-a-vegetarian spiel we are told in every book. It wouldn't even matter if they didn't constantly say it, like it's such an important character trait, because it's NOT true. She eats meat in these books all the time. Then later, sometimes in the same book, we'll be told she doesn't eat meat. In her own narration she even said she wasn't a strict vegetarian, and she does eat meat! How hard is it to just pick one side or the other for the continuity? Even in here, where we have Mary Anne getting annoyed about her not eating meat, one of the dishes Richard considers serving Dawn's family is fish. Does the author think vegetarians eat fish? I just don't get it. 

I find it interesting that all the other BSC girls, including Mary Anne, describe Kristy as immature when they give the chapter 2 backstory. I know she must come across that way to her peers because she doesn't care about clothes, boys, or makeup, which are just so important in junior high. However, she actually cares about things that are way more important: friends, being herself and independent, and even running a freaking business. Those are more things that someone older, not younger, would value. When the other girls get older themselves, they will also understand that these things are more valuable than being cool, and view this time very differently. 

Misc:

*We get some more backstory on what happened way back when between Sharon and Richard: Apparently Sharon went to college in CA, which was how she and Richard broke up, and how she met Dawn's father. Her parents encouraged her to go to a school as far away as possible, just to keep her away from Richard. Pretty extreme, since all they had against him was that he was poor. These two are really reminding me of Allie's parents in the Notebook, haha.

*Mary Anne is excited to eat dinner in front of the TV, because her dad never let her. Jeez, that's a part of childhood...

*I really hope that instead of just going out on dates all the time, Richard and Sharon spent time together with all 4 of them as a family, and time at home just being together, by the this stage in their relationship. The books never say. 

*Mary Anne calls herself a wimp at the beginning of this book, ironic after later events, when she's the one terrorizing everyone else.

*Claudia's leg might always hurt a lot when it rains? That's awful, that little psycho kid maimed her for life! I'm still stunned that she got away with it.

*The Arnold twins drama wasn't particularly interesting, but it was good for the continuity. Usually baby-sitting based plots aren't mentioned much or at all after their books.

*Dawn's mom is turning 43

*Mary Anne has invented a board game called "Mary Anne's Game of School". Yawn. I think we can rule out a career in a creative field.

*Kristy's hurt over the engagement, and Mary Anne slips her a note saying she'll always be her first best friend, no matter what changes. It was really sweet, and also the only time in this book MA considered anyone else's feelings.

*There was an obvious theme of sibling rivalry in here, including all the baby-sitting chapters. All the little kids were brats in this book, which was actually nice because usually they're too good.

*Watson and Elizabeth (Kristy's mom and step-dad) are visiting friends on the weekend they have Karen and Andrew? Ugh, no freaking wonder Karen is always desperate for attention!

*Speaking of which, Karen usually doesn't bother me, but she has an evil moment in here where she smashes cookies on the floor and blames Emily Michelle, who can't even talk to defend herself. Plus she does it purely to see EM get punished. That's effed up.

*Sharon won't let Dawn and MA shop in a certain store because it's "pure punk", LOL

*Richard's hurt because Sharon won't try his veal at the wedding dinner?? WTF, it's messed up that he's even eating that. Don't push that on someone else, especially after spending the whole book telling us she doesn't eat meat! He knows how she eats, and then gets all offended over something so silly. This must be where Mary Anne gets it from.

*This is the first book of the 90s!

*Charlie, Kristy's oldest brother, gets his car in this book: the infamous "junk bucket", I think they call it later on?

Books mentioned:

*The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series

*Jessi and Mal like the author Lynn Hall

My rating:

3 stars, it was fairly entertaining, but frustrating...