#45: Kristy and the Baby Parade

 

Thoughts before reading:

This is a terrible picture, I know, but the original cover is hard to come by. The newer cover does look a lot better, but this is how the book was released, and it's also the cover I have.

This is another one I've never read before, and I can't say it sounds very interesting either. I feel like I'm in a pretty blah chunk of books right now, both plot-wise and with how familiar they are to me. Most of the ones I grew up reading must have been later in the series, but I'm still finding it surprising how few of these I actually have read before.

The basics:

One afternoon while babysitting, Kristy sees an ad in the paper for the Stoneybrook Baby Parade. She starts thinking about how cute Emily Michelle is, and how much fun it would be to enter her. The parade is still on her mind a few days later, when Mrs. Prezzioso calls the BSC requesting a regular sitter for the next month. Since she has Andrea, the new baby, also needing watching, she wants whoever takes the job to complete an infant care class first. (Actually a great idea, I'm surprised more clients with infants haven't asked for this before leaving their babies with 13 year old kids...) Kristy takes the job, and is excited about taking the class. The whole BSC ends up signing up, realizing this is a great thing for them to expand their childcare skills.

The class turns out to be challenging, but fun, and Kristy's delighted to meet so many potential clients. At the end of the class, she's one of only 2 people to get a perfect score on the evaluation. Since everyone else besides the BSC are adults, this is even more impressive. Now that she's finished the course, she begins her job with the Prezziosos. Mrs. P asks her to help her enter Andrea in the baby parade too. When Kristy mentions this to the rest of the club, they have the idea to gather a bunch of babies for the float division. After some bickering and teasing, they come up with the idea to use the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe as their float theme. 

Things don't go smoothly from there, though. Instead the girls end up constantly arguing over how the float and costumes should look. They hardly agree on anything, and are critical of each other's ideas instead of working together. Mrs. P, on the other hand, has her idea to deck Andrea up like a queen all worked out. She even has Kristy make her stroller up to look like a coach.

The parade ends up being a complete disaster for the BSC. Their float is embarrassing enough that people laugh at it, and Charlie gets teased for pulling it for them. The costumes came out looking more like clown suits than anything else. A lot of the other floats are really well done and fancy, which of course makes them feel worse. Kristy's mortified, but realizes the reason the float became a disaster was because they didn't work together or communicate. She starts making apology calls to the other girls right away. Everyone realizes they were much more embarrassed than mad, and they quickly make up.

Mrs. P wins first place in the stroller division. The club also gains two new clients from the infant care class, the Salems and the Golds.

Timeline:

It's not winter, but that's about all I got out of this.

My thoughts:

This was mostly babysitting, which makes for a VERY average BSC book for me because those are my least favorite kind. I know the series is about babysitting, obviously, but that can't be all that's going on. It's just too weird and unrealistic for these girls to be that into childcare, especially when it comes at the detriment of something else (family, school, boys, friends, even fun). That being said, I would have rated this book lower than I did if not for the ending. What really saved this whole story for me was the fact that the girls failed. I really liked seeing their project become an utter disaster, simply because that never happens. Every time they plan or do anything, no matter how ambitious, it's been a smashing success. This is so much better, and more realistic. Not to mention, it's just more useful. Not everything in life is going to be a success, and reading about something like this will help young readers realize failure happens to everyone. At the risk of sounding like an after school special myself, that's the only way to learn, grow, and do better next time. In this case, it even taught teamwork. Plus, a disaster is just more interesting. I was all set to read another big, cheesy BSC event success story.

This book did a few other things really well too. I loved the idea of an infant care class, and I was surprised it never came up before now. Mrs. P is usually portrayed as being ridiculous, but her idea about the class was one of the most sensible things I've heard yet from any BSC client. I also liked that Kristy was nervous about taking care of Andrea. That's really how it would be in a situation like this, even if it was displaced this late in the series. By now she's taken care of Lucy Newton and Laura Perkins quite a bit, and Andrea isn't a newborn anymore. Another plus was the girls acting their ages in here. I know as time goes on, that will get more and more rare. In here, they were really childish with their bickering about the parade, but I could really picture that being how something like this would really play out. Plus, they just aren't going to agree all of the time. 

Misc:

*It was hard to imagine teenage girls being so into a baby parade though, even these girls.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles

*Logan and Shannon attended the infant class graduation? It's kind of hard to picture why they would bother...

*Jenny P is dressing more like a normal kid now.

*I'm very confused about why the girls allowed Claudia to make the signs for the float. They all have to read her notebook entries, so they know she's barely literate. Everything on their sign was spelled wrong, and she even managed to spell woman wrong twice, in two different ways. 

*I felt bad for Charlie, pulling the float in the parade and getting teased by other high school kids! He really is the best brother of all time. We don't get nearly enough of him in these books, but he seems like such a nice, easy-going guy.

*I'm very curious if we'll ever hear about these new clients again?

Books mentioned:

*Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown

My rating:

3 stars. Not much going on in here, but worth a read for something a tiny bit different. 

Super Special #6: New York, New York!

 

Thoughts before reading:

Never read this one before. Hopefully this trip to NYC goes better than the one from #18. I'm guessing since Stacey lives in Stoneybrook again now, all those prior problems with the BSC being in the city will just have vanished. Besides that, not a lot of opening thoughts on this one. It's a vacation super special, so I'm not expecting much of anything. Then again, I did enjoy the California one, so we'll see.

The basics:

The BSC is about to begin their spring break, and Stacey will be spending hers in NYC with her dad. Claudia has always wanted to take art classes in the city, taught by a famous artist she really admires. She asks her parents if she can join Stacey on the trip, and after talking to Mr. McGill, they agree. He also tells Stacey she can invite as many friends as she likes, so pretty soon the whole BSC will also be going on the trip. Some of the girls are staying at Mr. McGill's place with Stacey, and the rest are staying with Laine Cummings (awfully generous of her parents!). 

Through Laine's parents, Stacey and Mary Anne end up getting a babysitting job, showing two wealthy British children around the city while their parents are working during the weekdays. At first the job is fun, but then they both start to notice a man in sunglasses and a rain hat following them around. When they finally tell the children's parents, they explain he's the family bodyguard. 

Jessi goes to see a ballet by herself and ends up meeting Quint, a boy dancer. He tells Jessi he gets teased about doing ballet, so he wants to quit, even though it ways always his dream to go to Julliard. Jessi convinces him to keep at it, and goes with him to discuss all of this with his parents. As they are leaving his apartment he kisses her, her first kiss.

Claudia and Mallory end up taking the art class together, with Mr. Clarke. Mallory wants to illustrate children's books one day as well as writing them, so she figures it will be a good experience. Claudia quickly becomes angry and hurt instead of enjoying the classes though, because the teacher keeps criticizing everything she does while praising Mallory. As a result the girls also start bickering, because Claudia's jealous and starts making snide comments about Mal. Towards the end of the trip, Mr. Clarke finally tells Claudia he's been hard on her because she's the most talented young artist he's ever met, but she lacks focus. She's thrilled and promises to keep working hard. 

Dawn is still terrified of the city, and everything in it (no idea why she even wanted to come...). She spends most of the trip hiding in Mr. McGill's apartment, alone. Kristy stays with her for a few days, but she doesn't want to give up her whole trip to hide indoors. Later in the trip, Dawn ends up meeting Richie, a neighbor of Mr. McGill's. He convinces Dawn to go sight seeing, and she ends up having fun and relaxing.

Kristy finds a dog in Central Park and wants to keep him, but Watson says no. She hides the dog in Laine's apartment anyway, until Mrs. Cummings finds him and insists that Kristy look for his owners. She doesn't find them, but ends up getting the dog a nice new home with a little boy. 

Timeline:

The second spring break of 8th grade, we just had one in Super Special #5...you'd think they would at least space them out a little bit.

My thoughts:

Unfortunately, this was a real return to form for the Super Specials. Like the early ones, this was nothing but boring, random, pointless, and forgettable plots that had nothing to do with each other. Not much of anything even happened in this book, despite it being one of the longest ones so far. It took me awhile to even get through it, because I never had any motivation to pick it up. Most of the storylines, like Claudia's art teacher being critical of her, or the man following Stacey and Mary Anne, had resolutions that were painfully obvious from the very beginning. The other storylines were just little bits of filler that will never be mentioned again. The only thing that advances the series is the introduction of Quint, since I know we'll be seeing a fair amount of him later on. Also, Dawn being scared again was SO annoying. Why would she even go on this trip if she was still so afraid? Never mind that she already went through all of this before, in #18, and everything worked out fine.

The main plus to this: it's so much less gimmicky than the other vacation Super Specials. At least there were no winning lottery tickets or contest prizes in here. It's still be no means a realistic trip, though. I find it hard to believe everyone's parents were fine with them roaming NYC with no adult supervision. After all, Mr. McGill is a known workaholic, and he wasn't on any vacation time. He may have generously allowed all these girls to overtake his apartment, but he was by no means watching them. It's also absurd that the Cummings would take in so many guests that they didn't know. These girls aren't even Laine's friends, they're Stacey's. They barely even know Laine.

Misc:

*This book got off to a bad start with me, after it opened with 6 pages of Claudia's handwriting! Talk about torture. 

*The chapter 2 backstory was done by having Claudia imagine everyone packing for the trip, a nice change that made it slightly better.

*Richie has a rat tail, and Dawn thinks it's cool. Ugh, the early 90s!

*The girls making up words has gotten old, even though I know lots of preteens do this. In here it's "chilly", which means cool. In fact, almost every word they make up means this same thing, haha.

*Claudia used to think medieval meant "halfway evil", LOL.

*I've never heard of the Cloisters in NYC before, so I actually learned something from a BSC book! I probably shouldn't brag about this, though...

*The kids Stacey and Mary Anne were watching needed a bodyguard, yet their parents were fine leaving them in the care of two 13 year old's? One of the dumbest plots in here.

*Ann M. Martin's father illustrated this book.

*Jessi's parents tell her not to roam around NYC alone: apparently they are the only BSC parents with any good sense.

*This story and pictures are Claudia keeping a record this time. A little hard to believe, since she hates writing, and can barely even do it...

*Claudia maintains her position as one of the least mature BSC members. She's such a brat in here, being petty and mean to Mal just because she thinks the teacher likes her better! 

Books mentioned:

*Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

*Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West, by Marguerite Henry

*A Summer to Die, by Lois Lowry

*The Anastasia Books, by Lois Lowry

My rating:

2 stars. Skip it, and you'll miss nothing. 

#44: Dawn and the Big Sleepover

 

Thoughts before reading:

This is one of the Dawn books I never read growing up. It really doesn't even look familiar to me at all, so it must be one my library didn't have. The plot sounds sort of average, but it could be a sweet book. Either way, I'm still curious to read a new Dawn book. Kid me would have been thrilled to discover this.

Also, really cute cover. I love Dawn's hair on this one. It's not light enough for how they describe it in the books, but it really never is.

The basics:

The kids at Stoneybrook Elementary School are doing a pen pal program called Pens Across America with an elementary school in New Mexico. Their pen pals are Zunis, a Native American tribe. All the kids are really into the program, and becoming friends quickly. They are heartbroken when they learn that the Zuni kids have lost their school in a fire, and some of them have also lost homes. Dawn hears about the tragedy too and wants to help somehow.

Dawn can't stop thinking about the Zuni families, and she finally comes up with the idea to hold a fundraiser for them, plus a food and clothing drive. Since she never went to SES herself (she moved to Stoneybrook in 7th grade, remember), and doesn't know any of the teachers there, she decides to contact Jeff's old teacher, Ms. Besser. She listens to Dawn's idea and loves it, promising to spread the word and get the ball rolling. The whole BSC also wants to help, and they decide to throw a big sleepover as a reward for all the kids who participate, as incentive. 

The kids are tasked with coming up with their own fundraising ideas, to mixed results. Haley Braddock gives out psychic readings, the Pike kids have a backyard carnival, and the Rodowsky boys have a yard sale. Some problems do arise though, as kids start donating items to the drive without permission from their parents. One boy even donates his dad's brand new suit. The BSC ends up requiring permission slips for all items.

In the end though, they do raise enough money for the kids in New Mexico to have their school re-built. The sleepover is also a success, just chaotic, and the Stoneybrook kids receive letters thanking them for all the food and clothing donations.

Timeline:

No clues, and follows the usual pattern of taking a few weeks to a month for the book's events.

My thoughts:

This wasn't a bad book, but ultimately there just wasn't a lot going on in here. It was a sweet story, and a nice one for kids to read and learn about the spirit of giving. Despite the message though, it was just very monotonous to read now. The whole book was basically just fundraising ventures and babysitting chapters. It felt like filler, without anything deeper going on. There was no character development, or really any relationship dynamics at all. I still can't really say anything bad about it, because this really is the kind of story about empathy, giving, and generosity that I'd want my own kids to read. It succeeds in teaching about these valuable things without being too heavy handed or coming across like an after school special.

Plus, I can't lie, I did get a little emotional reading this. There was a scene that made me tear up a bit. At the big sleepover, this little second grader asks Dawn if his pen pal will get to eat dinner again now. Dawn's touched and assures him that the Zuni kids will have plenty to eat now. The boy is relieved and tells Dawn she's the nicest girl he's ever met (pgs 123-124). Sniff sniff.

Misc:

*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis

*This book mentions Alan Gray putting yellow m&ms over his eyes and saying he was Little Orphan Annie again. I finally tried to figure out what the hell this means, since it gets mentioned a fair amount. Apparently in the original comic strips, her eyes were blank. It was the artist's signature of sorts, leaving the reader to interpret the character's moods themselves. Makes much more sense!

*Ms. Besser asks Dawn if she wouldn't mind staying the exact same age for a few years until she has a child needing a sitter! (pg 127) Woah, is this a joke/nod to the eternal 13 year old's? Peter Lerangis has a sense of humor!

Books mentioned:

*Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume

*Freddy the Pig book series, by Walter R. Brooks

*Make Way For Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

*One Morning in Maine, by Robert McCloskey

My rating:

3 stars: average now, but highly recommend for young readers.

#43: Stacey's Emergency

 

Thoughts before reading:

This one is an all-time favorite. I read it countless times growing up, and it's one of the few I still have my childhood copy of. It still has the Kmart sticker on the back, for $2.95. Ah, the good old days.... I also thought I was 8 when I started reading the BSC books, but according to the date on my book sticker I was barely 7. 

I still remember the plot fairly well too, and I know it was one of the early ones in my BSC reading journey. I picked it up because it was a Stacey book, and I loved the drama in here. As a kid it was insane to the point of unbelievable to me that Stacey had to follow such a strict diet all the time. My family was a cheap/bulk/junk food type. I actually liked seeing her slip up and not eat perfectly, because it made her more relatable to me, which made me like her even more. Especially when you're a kid, you want to read about other kids making mistakes and stumbling along, because that's how you feel a lot of the time. It's the same appeal I think a lot of kids find in the Ramona Quimby books. Or at least, I know I did. 

Also loving this cover! I remember this is an actual scene from the book too, one I really enjoyed reading about back in the day. It just sounded fun, and I always loved Charlotte because we were around the same age, and I was a lot like her.

The basics:

Stacey hasn't been feeling well lately, but she doesn't want to tell her mom and make her worry more. She figures with the divorce and move, she's had enough on her plate. Still, she's been feeling really tired, constantly hungry, and endlessly thirsty for awhile now, and it's starting to really wear on her. At a BSC meeting, she finds it impossible to resist the smell of chocolate while being so hungry. When the meeting ends, she sneaks a ring ding and eats it in secret. In the following days, she begins to sneak and eat more forbidden foods: a candy bar, some fudge. She's sick and tired of being forced to follow such a strict diet while still feeling poorly all the time.

After sneaking snacks here and there all week, Stacey's more exhausted and feels terrible when she gets to NYC to spend the weekend with her dad. They skip dinner out to order in on Friday night. She goes to bed early and then spends all night getting up for drinks of water. When she's no better Saturday morning, her dad takes her to the hospital. Her blood sugars have shot way up, so she'll have to remain there for awhile. 

The doctors keep upping her insulin, but it never seems like enough, and Stacey starts to worry she might die. Her mom comes to the city on Sunday morning and starts trying to keep her busy with a regular routine of rising early and doing schoolwork. It works for awhile, but Friday morning she wakes up feeling really sick and scared again. The doctors give her an insulin IV. 

On Saturday, a week into her hospital stay, the BSC girls come into the city to visit. It's not long before Stacey's sugar levels drop too low though, and the doctor has to order them out. Her mom and the doctor both appear scared, which freaks Stacey out more. This time though, the doctor starts her on a new insulin mixture, and she begins to feel better. Emotionally she's still struggling, however. Her parents have been avoiding each other all week, and when she asks them to both stay with her for just a little while, they end up arguing about her right in front of her. She kicks them out of her room and asks them not to come for a day so she can think. Laine and the BSC girls come back and spend Sunday with her instead.

After a two week stay, Stacey's finally released from the hospital and goes home. She calmly and maturely tells her parents that she doesn't want to be their middle man anymore: no bad mouthing each other to her, or asking personal questions. She also admits to cheating on her diet.

There's a minor side plot with Charlotte happening also. She's terrified when Stacey gets hospitalized, and becomes a hypochondriac. Once she learns that Stacey will be okay though, her symptoms vanish for good.

Timeline:

Spans almost exactly 3 weeks, but time of year is unknown. 

My thoughts:

I still really enjoyed this book, and I really liked Stacey's character in here. She handled things really well, never feeling sorry for herself like most people would in her place. Her fears are realistic, she's not dramatic in the slightest, and I was really sympathizing with her. The subject matter was handled well too, especially for young readers. This would be a great read for a child who faced any chronic health challenges. It was also nice to have no real side plot, and very little babysitting. I enjoyed the focus on one important thing that was happening, without being constantly interrupted with irrelevant chapters.

Stacey's parents were the worst in this book, and I found myself once again identifying more with the kid characters. While dealing with all these health challenges, Stacey was also dealing with feeling like her parents are both using her for information on each other. They constantly ask her questions, trying to figure out who the other is dating, and complain about each other. She even felt like she had to protect her mom from more problems, which was why she didn't mention feeling so terrible. If she'd been comfortable talking to her parents, she never would have gotten so sick. All of this is such a shitty thing to do to a kid, especially one facing her own serious health concerns. Stacey has a lot on her plate for someone her age, yet she was often the most mature one in her family during this book. Her parents won't even stay in the same room as each other to be with their sick daughter. Even when she asks them for just a little time as a family, seeking comfort from both her parents at once, they can't handle it without bickering. Stacey was 100% justified in kicking them out and asking for space. Respecting her wishes in that regard was the best choice her parents made during this ordeal.

Reading this now, I still found Stacey breaking her diet very understandable and relatable. There's really no way a kid could deal with all those restrictions and temptations without ever giving in. That's even more true during a time like this, when it seems like following all the rules isn't even helping her feel well. I could never have followed Stacey's diet as a kid. Plus, she's stressed out and stretched WAY too thin. Her parents are putting her in the middle, she's behind in school from having no energy, she has the BSC commitments, and her dad is constantly planning busy weekends in NYC, which gives her no chance to catch up on rest or homework. He needs to learn to consult his daughter about what she'd like to do over those weekends. She's a teenager, so she's going to have homework and other commitments to honor. 

Misc:

*I totally remember reading the newspaper because of this book, so I could be like Stacey and Charlotte. 

*Stacey explains the brittle diabetic term we've been hearing: it means her disease is especially hard to control, and she needs insulin daily, as well as a strict diet.

*Stacey likes Porky Pig

*This book was sadder than I expected, it made me emotional a few times.

*Stacey has a crush on Ross Brown.

Books mentioned:

*The Dancing Cats of Applesap, by Janet Taylor Lisle

*The Dachshunds of Mama Island, by Florence Mayberry

*The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Harriet Lothrop

My rating:

4.5 stars, I really enjoyed this one, and the serious subject was well handled.

#42: Jessi and the Dance School Phantom

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read this before, but the title and cover remind me of a goosebumps book, The Phantom of the Auditorium, haha. Hopefully this will have the same little spooky, mystery vibe. It will probably be the last regular book with this type of storyline, because the mystery books are right around the corner. 

Also wondering who that blond girl is with Jessi? It looks like Dawn, but as far as I know she's never been to Jessi's dance school before. Maybe she gets involved in the mystery, since she loves her ghost stories.

The basics:

Jessi's ballet class is doing auditions for Sleeping Beauty now, and Jessi gets the lead (as always...). She'll be dancing the part of Princess Aurora. Of course she's thrilled, and also surprised, thinking of all the other good dancers in her class. Some of the other girls are older than her, or under more pressure, so she worries about potential problems. There's a girl named Hilary who's mother gives her a hard time about being the best, and a girl named Carrie, who's the oldest and will soon be moving to another class, for example. 

At the very next class, Jessi's toe shoes go missing from her gym bag. It's only after the teacher cancels practice that they suddenly turn up, back in her bag again. After class she finds a note saying 'Beware', also tucked into her bag. During the next class, Carrie keeps knocking Jessi over to make her look bad to the teacher. Her whole spare dance outfit also goes missing, and she finds another note: 'watch your step'. 

The problems in ballet class continue, and even grow worse. By the third rehearsal, Jessi falls in a wet spot on the floor and hurts her ankle. It turns out to be sprained. Katie Beth (remember her from #16?) is given the role of Aurora temporarily, because now Jessi has to sit out some classes. She's upset, but has a good attitude, reminding herself it could be worse. She also wisely purchases a gym bag with a lock on it. 

After finding a third threatening note, this time shoved into the padlock on her bag, Jessi finally wonders if someone deliberately caused her fall. She tells her friends, and the whole BSC (minus Mary Anne, who's babysitting) comes to watch the fifth rehearsal to see if they can help her. Of course nothing happens with them there, but they watch how the other girls in class are acting and decide the culprit must be either Carrie, Mary Beth, or Hilary. 

Jessi keeps receiving notes threatening her, and one time she gets a thorny rose with them. Other girls keep pushing her during class, and once a back drop almost falls over on her. Claudia comes up with the idea to get Hilary to write something, so they can compare it to the notes and see if she's the culprit. (By then they've decided she's the most likely suspect.) Jessi gets her to write a caution sign, and finds out both the pen and handwriting match. She confronts her, and Hilary confesses, saying she couldn't take the pressure from her mom anymore. Jessi actually agrees not to tell on her, as long as she doesn't do anything else. 

Opening night goes well, and the whole BSC comes to watch. Hilary apologizes again and tells Jessi she's quitting dance because she never really loved it.

There's also a side plot going on, where Kristy has decided they haven't done anything special for their charges in awhile, and so she comes up with the idea to have a pet show. The kids get really competitive over it though, so it quickly starts to seem like a bad idea. In the end though, the show turns out to be fun, just chaotic. Every pet gets a unique prize about what makes them special, so every kid ends up happy. 

Timeline:

No clues, but it definitely spans over a month.

My thoughts:

This book was definitely a disappointment. It felt like a re-hashing of previous plots put together, with nothing new: other Jessi dance plots, plus some Cokie Mason style pranking called a "mystery". Just like the books where Cokie was up to something, and it was obvious from the start she was to blame, this one hits us repeatedly over the head with the solution. We're introduced to Hilary's character in chapter one, and then she's mentioned often during the book. We're even told more than once what her possible motives for harassing Jessi would be. 

I did really like Jessi in here though. She was very persistent, tenacious, and hard working the whole time, while also staying positive. Even after all these bad things kept happening, she was eager to keep trying and improving. She was also still determined to think the best of her classmates, refusing to believe they would deliberately sabotage her. It's really naïve, for sure, but there was something sweet and innocent about her trust. Nothing that happens gets her down, even being hurt or having to replace her expensive items that are straight up stolen from her. She uses all of it as fuel to work harder and be better, which I found really admirable. 

 The other girls were so catty, and downright evil at times, which was a real contrast from Jessi's reaction. That set up with the water on the floor was really fucked up in particular. Jessi could have gotten seriously injured! Not only that, but afterwards she gets a note saying 'too bad it wasn't worse'! Damn, this Hilary girl needs some serious therapy ASAP. I was very disappointed that Jessi didn't turn her in, and I didn't find that part realistic at all. That was just too nice of her, to the point of just letting this mean girl walk all over her. It would be different if it was just pranks or hazing, but it wasn't. She caused Jessi to get injured, and stole her property repeatedly. I was very sorry to see Hilary get away with everything, and it gives the reader no pay off at the end. 

Misc:

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles

*I'm very tired of having auditions in almost every Jessi book, and her always getting the lead role (or once, just a very good, big role). It didn't help this already lackluster story at all.

*I'm officially skimming the recaps now. I honestly had intended to read them fully this time around, but I just can't anymore.

*Jessi says a pair of toe shoes only last her a week? Can that really be right, since they are expensive and also need to be broken in? I looked into it and found that a pair lasts only 12-15 hours! Which is crazy, but I doubt this 11 year old dances that many hours in one week? A pair of pointe shoes costs about $80 now, in 2020. I don't know how anyone can afford that if they dance a lot, yikes...

*More mentions of plots from the Little Sister books in here, like Scott and Hannie getting "married". I totally remember that too. 

*This book was long compared to most of the regular books, especially considering that not much happens.

*If I was in the BSC, I would have canceled the pet show, because every single client involved acts like a huge brat about it. They all get so competitive and crazy, even the normally too well behaved kids. 

*I loved how the whole BSC rallied to help Jessi figure out who was harassing her. It was another great friendship moment for the girls.

Books mentioned:

None.

My rating:

2 stars. Boring and predictable, definitely one to skip over. 

 

#41: Mary Anne Vs. Logan

 

Thoughts before reading:

I remember reading this towards the end of my BSC phase, because I was all into the relationship drama in here by then. This time around though, I can't muster up much enthusiasm for reading this one. I can't stand Mary Anne or Logan anymore, so a whole book of them fighting and being even more horrible sounds like torture. I'm sure this is going to be a really irritating one.

Not much going on with this cover, but I guess they look appropriately sappy, based on things we've heard about their relationship. The tagline on this one is good though, perfect preteen drama lead-in. I have no doubt that the BSC did think Mary Anne and Logan would get married. Based on how I remember viewing relationships at thirteen, that's completely accurate thinking. 

The basics:

We start off with Mary Anne complaining that Logan's been pushy lately, and recounting some of their fights from past books. (It's a little disjointed though, since at the times of all those fights she easily forgave him and didn't mention them again until now.) While she's thinking, Logan calls and tries to get her to blow off her baby-sitting job that day to go to a movie instead. She refuses, citing the fact that she's already made a commitment to sit. Logan's annoyed, and he proceeds to call her repeatedly during the job. He then makes plans for a date for them to go on, without asking her for any input. 

A few days later, Mary Anne is enjoying a rare free afternoon with no homework and a quiet house. She's happily reading by the fire when Logan drops by unannounced. He insists that they go to the park, and has a whole afternoon's worth of activities planned there. She doesn't really want to go at first, but rallies and gets into the spirit. Her easy-going attitude fades when she gets tired and cold though, at which point Logan gets huffy and takes her back home. 

Logan's pushiness continues to be a pattern. He takes Mary Anne on another bad date, where he orders for her, and they end up arguing over which movie to see. They end up going home early instead of seeing anything. Her dad notices, and comments that she's probably spending too much time with Logan lately. To his surprise, she agrees, and decides to tell Logan she needs some space to think. Logan doesn't say much, although he's clearly not in agreement. It's decided that they will take a few weeks off to cool down. Mary Anne cries, even though this is what she wanted, mostly due to remembering how their relationship used to be.

Mary Anne continues to be miserable during the separation, and is unsure if it was the right decision. Things get worse after Logan calls for a sitter on Valentine's Day. He's going out that night and his brother and sister requested Mary Anne as their sitter. She swallows her feelings and agrees to the job, then spends most of her time obsessing over him getting a new girlfriend. It's not long before she's come up with a whole imaginary girl she pictures him with, a girl named Olivia who's super out-going and the opposite of herself. 

In side plot news, Mrs. Prezzioso is expecting her new baby very soon, and Jenny is upset about not being an only child anymore. Her mom's trying to make her excited about the baby by bribing her with new stuff. Mr. P is also throwing his wife a surprise baby shower, and the BSC girls are helping out with that and with watching Jenny. 

When Mary Anne shows up for the job at Logan's, he surprises her with a corsage and a candlelight dinner. He's eager to heat up their relationship again, showering her with gifts and the fancy evening to impress her. She's not ready to get serious again, but now she feels guilty and doesn't protest. 

Mrs. Prezzioso has her baby, Andrea, and Jenny falls for her instantly when they meet. Mary Anne witnesses this sweet moment and starts thinking about all the different kinds of love, and how important it is to be understanding of those you love. She realizes Logan isn't understanding of her anymore, even though he used to be (very true). He now expects her to always be available to him, like he owns her, and he wants everything his own way. None of this is what she wants from a relationship though. Even though she's quiet, she has her own feelings and opinions, as well as a full life apart from him.

Mary Anne calls Logan to come meet her in person, and she finally breaks up with him, explaining that she's just not happy anymore. 

Timeline:

It's now randomly winter. It's snowy out for the whole book, and the first mentioned Valentine's Day of 8th grade takes place.

My thoughts:

This was actually a lot better than I expected! Mary Anne wasn't bad in here at all, and I actually had some sympathy for her situation. The things she's going through with Logan are realistic, and useful things for young female readers to learn and think about before they get older and may face similar situations. Mary Anne was a good role model in here, for the most part. She stood up for herself, and really thought about her own values and what was important to her. I was proud of her for breaking up with Logan, FINALLY, when she realized she wasn't getting what she needed from the relationship. A lot of girls stay in bad or unhappy situations simply because they remember the good times from the beginning of the relationship, expecting it to suddenly be like that again at any time. Some stay simply because it could be much worse, and there are no huge problems. I liked that this book is teaching girls not to settle for any unhappiness, or to compromise their own importance to be in a relationship. It's also important for them to see that relationships change over time, people can change, and love can fade. 

Logan is terrible in this book, but he also has been for awhile. I've mentioned specific incidents as they've happened, and my past thoughts on him being really selfish and controlling. That all comes to a head in here, as he stamps all over Mary Anne's feelings and opinions like they don't matter at all. He doesn't respect any of her boundaries, and even suddenly expects her to drop her babysitting jobs for him (he's in the freaking club, he knows that isn't how it works). If someone doesn't respect the fact that you have a life outside of them, full of other commitments, as well as feelings, opinions, and needs of your own, then they don't respect you, period. Logan is alarmingly controlling in here. Although I do like how it was handled, I'm very disappointed that him and Mary Anne will be getting back together. Hopefully he'll be making some big changes first. Based on his character so far, I can just picture him being a domineering boyfriend in high school, a douchebag frat boy in college, and a controlling, emotionally abusive husband later on. 

The sibling rivalry side plot was out of place in here, although well done on it's own. Mrs. P was giving me creepy vibes though. She apparently bought Jenny a doll, and makes her practice putting real diapers on it, burping it, and giving it bottles every day? What the hell? It's like some weird sort of big sister boot camp drills. Jenny is only 4. This is NOT the way to make her excited about a little sibling. I'm also still finding it weird that BSC clients always need the girls to help them with things like baby showers and kid's birthday parties though. Don't ANY of these people have adult friends or family members? Grandparents? Anything? 

Misc:

*Mary Anne lies to us right off the bat in here by saying she didn't help search for Dawn and Claudia during SS #4 because she didn't want to get sunburned?? That's the first time she's used that excuse. The real reason at the time was because she felt "too guilty" after fighting with Dawn.

*First mention of Stacey being a brittle diabetic.

*A client family called the Ohdners is mentioned for the first time, although the girls already know who they are. We aren't told who their kids are though, or even their names. 

*I can definitely relate to the pain of blissfully enjoying solitary reading time and then having someone pushy interrupt it and not understand. It's a terrible feeling. 

*Karen Brewer is fighting with her "husband" Ricky about a girl named Pamela in their class. I so remember this exact plot from the Little Sister books! This is really the first time one of those storylines have overlapped in the BSC books. You can tell the LS books must have been popular by this point.

*When Mary Anne and Logan are fighting over which movie to see, Logan is pulling for Halloween 3. How would they have even seen that though? It's rated R, I double checked. Even if Mary Anne liked horror movies, Logan must know she'd never sneak into one.

*MA mentions that Logan used to feed her off his fork in the cafeteria at lunch?? Gross, they sound like the most annoying couple ever to be around. The BSC girls are probably secretly glad they broke up...

*Everyone hates sitting for Jenny, because they all think she's such a big brat. She really isn't that bad though, even in this book. 

Books mentioned:

*Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

*To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

*The Dead Bird, by Margaret Wise Brown (yes, this is real. I was surprised too.)

My rating:

3.5 stars, a pleasant surprise...at least until Mary Anne Misses Logan, ugh. 

#40: Claudia and the Middle School Mystery

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've read this one before, but I think it was just a one time library borrow. I don't remember the plot, besides the obvious, or what I thought about it. The school centered plot should be an interesting change though, since we hardly ever have those. 

The blond girl on this cover looks so nasty and smug, I think I'd have a hard time not smacking her if I was Claudia. This is also the first cover that shows a teacher; hardly any of them show adults. Claudia has a pretty tame outfit on, but she looks cute.

The basics:

Claudia has a big test coming up in her remedial math class. Janine's helping her study, and for once she actually understands the problems. On test day, she feels confident, concentrating hard on her work, and feeling good about how she did. She's thrilled until the next day, when the tests come back. Her paper is marked with a 94%, but she's asked to see the teacher after class, along with Shawna Riverson. The teacher explains that their tests are identical, so he knows one of them copied. Since Shawna gets good grades usually, he assumes it was Claudia. She knows how bad it looks, and gets really down, not even trying to defend herself. Shawna, however, is quick to deny that she would ever cheat. She's dismissed, and Claudia is told she will get an F.

At home, Janine defends Claudia, and her parents believe them both right away. Despite this, Claudia asks them not to get involved with the school over it. The whole BSC also believes her without question, except Mary Anne (big surprise), who tells her she'll feel better if she confesses, and they'd still support her. Claudia starts to worry that maybe her parents don't believe her completely either.

After the shock has worn off, Claudia decides maybe she can prove Shawna cheated. She follows her into the bathroom and hides in a stall, thinking that's what Nancy Drew would do. It pays off: she hears Shawna bragging to her friends about how she got away with cheating by acting innocent, and she doesn't even feel guilty about it because one more F wouldn't matter much to Claudia anyway. Apparently she overheard Claudia telling Mary Anne about how Janine was helping her study. Since everyone knows Janine is a genius, she decided to cheat off Claudia because no one would ever suspect it. 

Dawn and Stacey help Claudia steal a note from Shawna's locker that mentions the cheating, but Claudia knows it's not worth anything because for all the teachers would know, they could have written it. Instead she starts trying her own absurd ideas to make Shawna confess: using "trigger words" like cheating, trying to make Shawna look at her paper again, etc. All she actually accomplishes is getting caught looking at Shawna's paper again after seeing the juicy note she's writing during math class. 

In the end, Janine saves the day by simply going to the principal and explaining how she helped Claudia study, and how well she knew the problems. The teacher FINALLY has Claudia take a new test that's very similar, and she gets another A. Once Shawna's told she'll have to also re-take the test, she confesses. 

The BSC has a celebration for Claudia, and the Kishis get her a big cake. Shawna is given an F on the test, and suspended. 

Timeline:

Nothing given again, and probably spans a few weeks. 

My thoughts:

This was a good story, just really frustrating. The whole book's problem could have been quickly and easily solved if they had just made Claudia and Shawna re-take the test to begin with. In a situation like this, that should be the standard solution. Even if Claudia didn't defend herself, her parents did speak to the teacher once when he initially called to inform them of the incident. If only they had defended their daughter then, or communicated with the school about it later on. There was no need for any of the scheming that took up most of the story.  Despite that obvious gap in the logic here, this was a nice change of pace. I enjoyed reading about a realistic school problem. This was a story I could actually see helping child readers with problems in their own lives, and teaching them to stick up for themselves. (There was also almost no babysitting, a nice break!)

I also loved how Janine came to the rescue! They've been building up and improving her relationship with Claudia in these last two books, which is a nice change from all the fighting early in the series. I'm actually really liking Janine in this re-read. We only get Claudia's POV, which is often about what a pain her sister can be, but even in books like "mean Janine", she never is. You can tell she loves and admires Claudia, but just has a hard time relating to her, and is even intimidated by her cool, popular little sister. 

There was a subplot in this book also, but it made no sense. The Pike triplets break a window at home, and end up grounded because they won't tell who broke it. They have what they call "triplet loyalty", which means they won't tell on each other. Eventually Mal gets them to reenact the incident, which makes it clear all three of them played a role in what happened. Meaning, there was no one to cover for in the first place. Why make a big deal about being loyal instead of just telling their mom they all did it? 10 year old's are old enough to explain how something happened and make people understand.

Misc:

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles

*Typo I found on page 63: 'another think coming', instead of 'another thing coming'

*I remember learning about "op-talk" from this book, but I don't think I tried to use it for more than a day or two.

*Shawna is really quite the manipulative bitch! I was kind of shocked. Then again, Claudia also says she's the most popular girl in school. Based on my memories of junior high, this sounds spot on.

*I loved seeing some of the girls (Claudia, Dawn, Stacey) breaking some rules, especially since the latter two did it to help their friend. These girls are usually TOO good, and it was awesome of them to do this for Claudia.

*Claudia's plans to catch Shawna are the biggest epic fails ever, because her ideas were so bad. Didn't Nancy Drew teach her better than this??

*The Triplets played with matchbox cars in here, but aren't they pretty old for that?

*This is the book where Claudia "does a Ms. Frizzle" with her outfit! I totally remember this. (Her theme was the sea.) For those who don't know, Ms. Frizzle is the teacher from the Magic School Bus books, who always wears an outfit with a wild theme matching the book's plot.

Books mentioned:

*The Magic School Bus series, by Joanna Cole

My rating:

3.5 stars, enjoyable and a quick read. 

Super Special #5: California Girls

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read this one before, but I'm looking forward to reading about my home state. Also can't wait for all the stereotypes! Let's just hope this is better than the other vacation/trip super specials have been so far.

This is a good cover, with everyone looking the way I would picture. I like the covers like these, that get little details right. Mary Anne is all covered up from the sun, as she would be. Stacey's wearing the tiny bikini we've heard mention of before. Kristy's up and active instead of lounging around. 

The basics:

Apparently Claudia likes to play the lottery,  even though this has never been mentioned before, and she's only 13 years old. There's a big jackpot coming up, so the BSC girls all agree to pool their money and play together, then split the winnings, if any. Their parents have no problem with this and buy them tickets. They end up matching all but 1 number and winning $10,000. Everyone decides to use it on a trip to California, since spring break is coming up. Dawn's father agrees to host everyone for 2 weeks. He'll be working the first week, but on vacation with them the second.

Everyone arrives in California excited, but really jet lagged. They decide to take it easy the first day, so they just hang out together, then go to meet Sunny and the We 💓 Kids Club. Kristy and Mary Anne both end up getting babysitting jobs, but Kristy is appalled by how informal their club is. She thinks hers is better, and that she knows a lot more about babysitting.

The next day, the girls go to the beach with Carol, Mr. Schafer's girlfriend, which Dawn isn't thrilled about. She's annoyed that Carol tries to act like their friend instead of an adult. Despite this, the day goes well. Stacey starts learning how to surf, and Claudia meets a smart boy named Terry that she likes.

Claudia thinks she's not smart enough for Terry though, and spends most of the trip trying to impress him. She tries to act more like him instead of being herself. She even accidently orders escargots when they go on a date to a fancy French restaurant. She chokes them all down, but then cries in embarrassment on the way home. Terry doesn't notice. Janine ends up giving Claudia good advice about being herself, because eventually he'd find out the real her anyway. She does, and ends up learning they have things in common after all.

Mary Anne babysits a few times for Stephie, a little girl who's a carbon copy of her. Stephie also has asthma, which MA is really paranoid about. She's afraid to let the little girl do anything at first, but ends up lightening up after Stephie has an asthma attack. Only then does Mary Anne see that it can be handled, and she is still a normal kid. 

Jessi visits Derek Masters (child star, #27) on the set of his tv show, and gets chosen to be an extra. She starts thinking about trying to model or act again, but ultimately decides to stick with dancing.

Mallory goes to a beauty museum with Carol, then gets a makeover at the mall. She blows all of her lottery money on makeup she'll have to throw away after the trip anyway, since she's not allowed to wear it. Then she dyes her hair blond. Despite her new "California look", she still isn't chosen as an extra when she visits Derek's set. She mopes about this for a few days, then dyes her hair red again.

Kristy ends up sitting for two little boys, but ignores the We 💓 Kids Club's warnings about how wild they are. She takes them to Universal Studios to show she can handle them, but the warnings prove true. The boys are wild, and she spends the whole day chasing after them and stressing. This experience finally teaches her that other people besides her know how to babysit. 

Stacey starts going to the beach to surf almost every day, with a group of older teenagers. The boy who always drives them is a crazy, reckless driver, and she ends up getting into a car accident. He's weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway, and hits another car. Stacey's only banged up, but she realizes how much worse things could have been. She owns up to her bad judgement to Mr. Schafer, and stops hanging out with her surfing friends.

Dawn begins to respect Carol more after Stacey's accident. She notices that Carol handles the situation like an adult, and insists that they call Mr. Schafer to tell him, instead of trying to just be their buddy. After a talk with her dad about it, she writes Carol a nice letter telling her.

The girls also do a lot of fun things together during their trip: Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags, Hollywood, and Medieval Times. 

Timeline:

Spring break, the first mentioned of 8th grade.

My thoughts:

I had so many problems with the premise of this book that I got off to a rough start reading it. It's just so hard to believe that some of the stricter parents were okay with their 13 year old daughters gambling. The Kishis really buy Claudia lottery tickets all the time? I just can't imagine that. The Ramseys, Mary Anne's dad, the Pikes, and Kristy's mom were also all fine with this? Also, even if they were, would those same parents allow their daughters to blow all of their winnings on one trip? Most parents would want at LEAST some of it in a college fund. 

So, why use this stupid gimmick at all? A bunch of kids winning the lottery may be pure wish fulfillment, which is fun when you're a kid, but it's also just too ridiculous. What were the odds that they would have even won anything? Surely there was a better way to set up a trip. After all, it's been done several times before...

Once I got past all of this though, I was surprised by how much I actually liked this book. It's much more grounded and less silly than the other trip super specials. The problems presented here were so much more realistic, instead of silly filler things of the past, like meeting compulsive liars and playing spy games. Various characters deal with things like jealousy, body image issues, a divorced parent dating again, having a reckless friend, learning to be true to yourself while also not being afraid to try new things, and self esteem troubles. What a change from tiresome plotlines about haunted lodges or pointless bickering. That stuff doesn't go anywhere, whereas in here we get character growth, and young readers get stories they can actually relate to. There's also plenty of light fun to balance it out. As a kid I would have loved reading about the theme park visits, to name one. 

Misc:

*Dawn eats chicken! What the hell...

*Why can't these kids ever just relax and take a vacation without babysitting?

*Dawn complains that Carol is too old to be their friend, and to act as young as she does, but then Stacey tells us she's 32! Ouch, Dawn, that hurts.

*Mallory is so much more shallow than I remember, even for an 11 year old. I get that she just has body image issues, but her issues with her appearance are just mentioned so much...

*I remember when Stacey's parents flipped out over her going to Sea City, and now they just let her go anywhere.

*The girls have almost no supervision in CA, which is a big part of why Stacey ends up in a car accident. You'd think at least one parent would have gone with them. None of their parents even know Mr. Schafer, and he's at work the whole first week anyway. 

California stereotypes:

Actually, these weren't nearly as bad as I expected! I only found a few small ones:

*You won't end up as an extra just by being in the right place at the right time. Most Californians never have been one.

*The chances of seeing a celebrity are still very, VERY small.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

4 stars, this was actually good, for a Super Special.