Thoughts before reading:
I'm really dreading this one, but I still have over 150 books to read, so I better keep forging ahead, haha.... I just know how sad this is bound to be. Claudia and Mimi have one of the best relationships in the series so far. Mimi is so kind and understanding, the perfect grandma. Plus she's the only one Claudia can relate to in her family, the only one that makes her feel special and important. Every kid really needs that in their life.
I've never read this before either. It would never have appealed to me as a kid. I didn't have any experience with death when I was at my BSC reading age, so it kind of scared me.
This cover is already making me sad too! Of course they had to use a special tea scene, sniff sniff. Poor Claudia.
The basics:
A BSC client, Mrs. Addison (new to the reader but apparently not the club) calls wanting Claudia to give art lessons to her daughter, Corrie. Claudia is excited for the job, even though Kristy warns her that Mrs. Addison is always finding any lessons she can for her kids as an excuse to dump them off somewhere. Still, Claudia thinks it will be a good experience for her as an artist, and she has the idea to start a Saturday art class for BSC clients. Mary Anne agrees to help her.
That evening after the meeting, Claudia notices Mimi having a rough time in the kitchen, and steps in to help her make dinner. Once her parents get home and everyone has sat down to the meal, Mimi slips suddenly to the floor. The paramedics are immediately called and she's rushed to the hospital. She's kept there for several days to run tests, but all they can determine is that there is some problem with her blood. Following a transfusion, she's sent home on bedrest.
Once she's back home, caring for her falls mainly to Claudia. She wants to help Mimi, of course, but begins to get frustrated by missing her own life and activities. This is compounded by Mimi being short tempered with her, which causes Claudia to be the same on a few occasions. The only bright spot in all of this comes with the beginning of the Saturday art class. She gets a big turn out: Corrie Addison, Myriah and Gabbie Perkins, Jamie Newton, Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold, and Matt Braddock. Corrie turns out to be a talented artist. She reminds Claudia of herself, and when her mom is constantly picking her up late, they become close.
During one of these classes, Mimi wanders into the basement and ends up fainting again. She's rushed back to the hospital and given another transfusion. This time things are worse, and she's having terrible pain spasms. The following day she seems better, but is trying to give away her possessions to the family. The doctors still don't know what's wrong, so they decide she can go back home. The night before her release, she calls Claudia from the hospital, and they have a nice talk.
Early the next morning, Claudia's woken up by her parents moving around. She hears her mom crying too, so she gets up to see what's going on. Turns out, Mimi died during the night. Claudia's understandably in shock, and starts questioning the meaning of death. She feels guilty and thinks she's a terrible person because of the times she lost her temper with Mimi or wanted to be somewhere else when she was with her, like at an activity she was missing out on.
The BSC has a pizza dinner the night before the funeral, to keep Claudia company. They tell stories of things they remember about Mimi. During the services the next day, Claudia feels numb and uses memories of herself losing her temper to make herself cry. All of her BSC friends come and sit with her, and afterwards they let themselves talk about some normal things again.
When Claudia returns to school the next week, she's longing for normal, but her classmates are avoiding her. People act awkward around her too. Then her grades start to slip, from a C average to a D average. Her parents and teachers don't say anything about it, which makes her angry.
All the feelings Claudia's been holding inside finally explode out when she catches Janine going through Mimi's jewelry. She finally admits to her parents that she's mad at Mimi for leaving them, feeling like she just gave up. Then she also feels guilty, worrying that Mimi gave up because she felt like a burden. Janine reveals that she found an obituary Mimi was writing for herself, and it listed this year as the year she died, like she already knew it was coming. Everyone comforts Claudia and explains that it had nothing to do with her, Mimi just couldn't hold on anymore. Her dad advises her to think of the good times with Mimi, instead of the bad days that came at the end. Then her family goes through Mimi's things together.
Claudia finds the courage to stand up to Mrs. Addison after going through all of this, about how she's always late to pick up Corrie and never spends any time with her kids. It seems to make an impression on her, at least. Claudia thinks she found the strength to do this from Mimi, who never made her fight for her love. She also makes a collage as a tribute to Mimi, and her art class kids surprise her with a mural they made in her memory.
Timeline:
Mysteriously after the last book about summer camp, school is in session again? So this might be the second time through 8th grade now, but I'm not sure yet. I thought they would go through the grade over and over when I started this project, not just randomly jump all around in the time of year. I guess the strategy is to just confuse the 8 year old readers enough that they don't notice?
My thoughts:
Just as I had expected, this book was a real downer. It got darker and more real than I thought it would though, for this reading level. There were some really heavy scenes in here, like one of the times Mimi was rushed to the hospital. Claudia was helplessly watching her writhe in pain, her nightgown riding down to her waist. The door to the room was open, and none of the medical staff was taking any note of trying to preserve her dignity. Mimi fainting in front of the little kids was another, with details about Mary Anne trying to distract them with a song in the corner while something scary was going on right there. I was not expecting details like these from this series. Everything was really well done though. The subjects of death and grief are handled sensitively and well explained for kids. The often silly elements of lighter books was absent here, which was a nice change. Instead there were a lot of sweet, honest, and even emotional moments. We get to see the girls pull together and support each other, the way real friends should.
I've never been a huge fan of Claudia's parents, but the way they caused things to play out here really got to me. Right from the beginning, Claudia is the one taking on the main responsibility for Mimi, and that is absolutely too much. I've known adults who have done care taking for elderly relatives, and it really affected them. It's a huge challenge, especially emotionally. Now the Kishis have a 13 year old girl doing it? It really disturbed me that the responsibility of monitoring Mimi in the kitchen was left to her too. What if she seriously injured herself, or made the whole family sick? Claudia can't watch her every minute. She has friends, her club, sitting, and isn't she supposed to focus on her school work more?
After Mimi is back home on bed rest, everyone goes back to their regular work routine, and Janine is allowed to study 24/7 as usual, helping out with nothing. Just like after Mimi's initial stroke in book #7, they let their 12-13 year old child take on the main burden of caring for her. This is a huge sacrifice for Claudia too. She misses out on her art classes, and other things that are important to her. (Even during her Saturday art class, the rest of the family can't be bothered to watch Mimi, and she ends up wandering into the basement and fainting in front of all the kids.) Everyone should at least be taking turns. If the rest of the family can't take the time to do it, they need to hire a professional. What if something serious happened on Claudia's watch? That would follow her for the rest of her life. As it is she'll always have to remember losing her patience with her sick grandma now, something completely understandable since she was in so far over her head. Don't forget, this is also the person she loves most in the world, so she's already scared and traumatized from her long struggle. It's been over a year since the stroke happened.
Despite all this terrible parenting, this book made me remember what I've always loved about the BSC books: how the girls come together to support and help each other. There was a great moment in here, the first day after Mimi passed away. It was a BSC meeting day, and all the girls came and sat with Claudia during meeting time, mostly in silence. There were no calls, since the whole neighborhood knew about Mimi. Kristy didn't wear her visor, sit in her chair, or conduct any business. Janine even joined them, because she didn't want to be alone. Everyone just spent the time together, quietly being there for Claudia. The pizza party where everyone told their Mimi stories and laughed together was another one.
There's also a small moment where Kristy mentions to Claudia that Mary Anne must be lonely. It was just a small comment in here, but it got me thinking. First off, this is an impressive observation from a person who seems mostly clueless about emotions. I never considered this side of Mary Anne's character either, but I definitely think she's right. Maybe this explains why she clings to people that treat her poorly, tries not to rock the boat, and fails to stand up for herself. She doesn't want to lose any people from her life, whatever the cost might be.
Now, the other main storyline in here: Mrs. Addison neglecting her kids. I was proud of Claudia for standing up to her, but it was laughably unrealistic that it would have had any effect. This sort of thing happens a lot in this series, where the BSC swoops in and fixes a whole family's problems, but it stood out more in this very grounded book. Mrs. Addison is obviously very misguided in paying no attention to her kids and constantly dumping them off on others, but she has her reasons for doing it. If she's unable to see the harm it's doing to her daughter, a teenage babysitter isn't going to make her see it. She'd just get angry and defensive, and go find another sitter. There's no reason she'd feel obligated to listen to or explain herself to a kid.
Misc:
*This was the second depressing Claudia book in a row! When will she get a pleasant storyline?
*Fun fact: Claudia's dad is a partner at an investment firm.
*We get some Mimi backstory in here, which I enjoyed: her husband died after Claudia's parents got married. Janine was a baby at the time, so Mimi moved in to help, since they both worked full time.
*Mimi started giving away her things before she died, which is beyond sad.
*Claudia mentions that she hides things behind the Nancy Drew books on her shelf? But I thought she had to hide those too...
*Do the Addisons remain clients after this book? I don't remember them at all.
*Claudia's doing stop motion art.
*The Addisons putting their kids in lessons to be rid of them sounds an awful lot like how 90% of the BSC clients use their baby-sitting service. I should be keeping track of all the bad parenting examples in these books, but I think that would be it's own project...
*Poor Stacey is keeping her own BSC notebook in NYC, with just her to write in it. This struck me as very sad too.
*Nanny (Kristy's maternal grandma) moves in with her family during this time
*Claudia says Janine is taking Advances and Trends in Computerized Biopsychiatry. Riiight.
*Kristy says she broke inside when her father walked out on the family. Another good insight into her character, and why she's so controlling. I've also never heard her say something so vulnerable before.
*First mention of Peaches and Russ, Claudia's Aunt and Uncle, so there is some continuity there.
Books mentioned:
*A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
My rating:
4 stars, a sensitive handling of a serious subject.
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