Thoughts before reading:
This is one of the BSC books I've read the most times, and one of the few that I still have my original childhood copy of. Prior to this project, this was also the only super special that I'd ever read. I was obsessed with reading anything that had to do with summer camp back then, which I think this book may have started. As a result of reading this one over and over growing up, I can still remember some things about it. My main memory is Stacey getting poison ivy and spending most of camp in the infirmary. There are some racist girls who call Mallory and Jessi "oreos", a term I'd never heard before this book and remember being disturbed by. I also remember something about Dawn sneaking out to see a boy and getting caught.
I like the cover, it's cute and iconic for the series. I don't think there's any such scene in the books though. The girls are mainly separated during camp.
The basics:
It's summertime and the BSC members are all going to Camp Mohawk for 2 weeks as CITs, except for Mal and Jessi, who will be campers. They convince Stacey to join them from NYC, where she's still living at this time. She reluctantly agrees because she wants to see everyone. To keep a record of the experience, she brings a notebook for everyone to write in (that notebook being this book, of course).
Everyone arrives at camp and the BSC has a brief reunion before they're shuffled off into different cabins. Only Mallory and Jessi are together. There are also quite a few of the club's charges at camp, although for once they aren't the focus, so we hardly see them. The attending kids include Charlotte Johansson, Karen Brewer, David Michael Thomas, the Braddocks, Jackie Rodowsky, and Becca Ramsey.
Mallory and Jessi stand out in their cabin and begin getting picked on right away. For starters, Mal has insisted that they be "junior CITs" and wear armbands announcing such. They are always together, and the other girls in the cabin are just as racist as most of Stoneybrook. One of the girls calls them "oreos": someone who's black on the outside but trying to be white on the inside. The girls also tease them for being goody goody and call them the Bobbsey Twins.
Kristy feels younger than the other CITs, who all have boyfriends and want to give her a makeover. She's also busy all of camp taking care of Charlotte, who's terribly homesick the whole time. Charlotte does end up staying at camp though, mostly to prove to herself she could do it.
Claudia sees a cute Japanese boy and immediately falls for him. Her campers do some digging to find out his name, Will Yamakawa. He's at the CIT movie night, where they officially meet and spend the whole movie talking. Turns out they have a lot in common.
Mary Anne feels awkward around the other CITs in her cabin, who delight in acting cooler than her. She ends up writing Logan a mushy love letter so the other girls will find it and be impressed by how mature she is, but she has no intentions of Logan ever reading it. Predictably though, when her bunkmates find it they expect her to take it to Logan, which somehow she didn't see coming. The girls "help" her by drawing a map of camp so she can sneak out at night, to the boys' camp across the lake. They also helpfully terrify her with a story about some escaped mental patients right before she goes out, and she gets caught right away because one of the campers ratted her out. There's also another incident later on where her fellow CITs want to pierce her ears, and she goes along with it until they chicken out.
Logan gets Mary Anne's note during a meal, so everyone will see it, a sort of punishment for both of them. He's actually more touched than embarrassed though, because he's never gotten a lovey note from her before. The story of her trying to sneak around the lake spreads throughout camp, and the boys call her a "feeb".
Dawn's worried about one of the girls in her bunk, Heather, because she's really quiet and doesn't participate. Her campers are 11 year old's, so they also get to go on an overnight. Right before the trip, the counselor in their bunk has to leave suddenly, and is replaced with a younger counselor who doesn't seem to know what she's doing. On the overnight she ends up getting them lost, and Heather guides everyone back to camp.
Stacey sits in poison ivy on the first night of camp, and soon ends up in the infirmary. She also has pink eye in both eyes, a cold, and impetigo. After that she's in the infirmary basically all of her time at camp.
At the CIT dance, Mary Anne and Logan reunite, dance, and end up having a good time. Claudia attends with Will and is swooning over him all night. They live far apart though, so she ends the night heart broken that she won't ever see him again. Kristy finally lets the girls in her bunk give her a makeover, and she dances with a few guys.
On the last day of camp everyone's parents arrive for Parent's Day. Jessi and Mal have the kids do a play about bullying to prove a point to their cabin, casting Charlotte and Becca as twins. Their bunkmates apologize after.
Timeline:
Summer after the first run through 8th and 6th grades
My thoughts:
I hate trying to write summaries for these super specials. Once again, the SS format had everyone on a separate storyline, and they barely tied together despite everyone being at camp together. They weren't very balanced either. For instance, Mary Anne had a decent amount of plot going on all on her own, and so did Dawn. Kristy has really no storyline at all, and spends all of camp caring for Charlotte, which didn't seem fair. Stacey was in the infirmary almost the entire book, and didn't really get to do much else. I'm not even sure why she stayed at camp.
Overall this was an entertaining read, although obviously much better when I was little. I was surprised that it didn't really focus much on the summer camp aspect or setting. There was little to no descriptions of activities, new friends, or learning experiences. This was mostly all about problems: bullying, sickness, not fitting in, boy trouble... Those like Mary Anne, who had something to learn, didn't. A lot of the storylines could have taken place anywhere. I've read countless better camp stories. It was at least interesting to see how everyone handled the new experience and being out of their element. Even that was a missed opportunity, though. The BSC members were all separated, which could have been really good for them, but no one made any new friends.
Mary Anne bothered me again in this book too. I thought over the course of the series so far she was learning to stand up for herself, but she has no backbone again in here. She wastes her whole camp experience letting the other girls walk all over her, showing zero self confidence. Everything she does in this book she doesn't want to do, including sneaking out at night, writing Logan that love letter, and almost letting a girl she doesn't even like pierce her ears with a needle! That only doesn't happen because the other girl chickens out. Then she refers to her bunkmates as good friends? This poor girl is so misguided. For two weeks these girls do nothing but tease and test her, NOTHING friendly. You would think she would know the signs of a true friend by now, since she does have some of those....
I also had to wonder why Mal and Jessi cared so much about being junior CITs? Why can't any of these kids ever just relax and have fun? The whole position is obviously invented just to placate them. Showing it off with armbands was a very bad idea.
Misc:
*Once I started reading this, everything seemed really familiar, and I was remembering things before they happened. A+ nostalgia factor.
*It was nice having Stacey's POV, I miss her being around in the regular books
*Camp Mohawk is named for the Mohawk Indians, part of the Iroquois nation (a fun fact from Stacey!)
*Claudia doesn't know the difference between "who" and "how" when she's writing a postcard. That's really pushing it. How did she even make it to 8th grade, and why don't her parents get her a professional tutor?
*This book had me very glad I researched the reading order, because Mimi's alive but sick in this one, and Stacey still lives in NYC. It was actually important.
*Everyone calls the lake in camp by a different name each time, a running joke that no one can remember the long name. I thought this was hilarious when I was 8.
*Stacey's reading a Stephen King book? Doesn't say which one, but this is quite a change from the classic children's lit everyone's normally reading.
*Stacey's roommate in the infirmary broke her leg at camp but is still staying the entire summer! More stellar parenting, yikes...
*We learn Dawn's good at math, but can't read maps.
*Logan dances with Kristy and doesn't even recognize her after her makeover, but thinks she's really pretty.
*Dawn eats a hot dog! I always thought she was a vegetarian until this re-read. Now she's eating meat all the time.
*Mary Anne and Logan actually kiss in this book! That's never been mentioned before.
*It's a good thing Mary Anne never knew the boys were calling her a "feeb" or she would never have showed up to the dance at all. Even Logan thinks it when she says she's nervous! Really not liking him anymore.
*I had no idea what impetigo was, so I looked it up. Apparently it's a highly contagious skin infection common around the mouth, hands, and feet of children. Ick, poor Stacey.
Books mentioned:
*Stacey's reading The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, and loves it.
*Bobbsey Twins Series
*Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
*Jessi's reading Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
*Mal's reading Stormy, Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry
*Kristy reads Charlotte A Morgan For Melinda, by Doris Gates
*Logan read The Diary of Anne Frank in his English class last year
*Heather's reading The Grey King, by Susan Cooper
*Impossible Charlie, by Barbara Morgenroth
My rating:
3.5 stars, for the nostalgia.
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