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.
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