Mystery #13: Mary Anne and the Library Mystery

 

Thoughts before reading:

I definitely read this one growing up, but I can't remember if I liked it or not. I do like the sound of it now: a readathon and a library setting? Sounds perfect. I'd guess that I enjoyed this as a kid just based on those facts alone. Maybe I just never had the chance to re-read or own it.

The basics:

Mary Anne's been feeling down lately because she misses Dawn, Mallory, and Logan (Dawn's in CA, Mallory's still recovering, and Logan's been really busy with his volleyball team.) She lucks out when the perfect distraction comes her way though: Mrs. Kishi pops into a BSC meeting to see if any of the girls can help her out at the library. They are hosting a readathon for kids to raise money for new books, so for the next few weeks the children's room will be swamped, and she needs volunteers to lend a hand. Mary Anne eagerly takes the job, which will occupy her on Saturdays, Sundays, and a few weekday afternoons. 

Right away, Mary Anne loves the job and her blues vanish. She does experience some minor problems though, with a grouchy children's librarian who seems to hate her job (Miss Ellway), and a pro-book banning group that holds protests outside the library. During one pleasantly busy day in the children's room, a fire alarm goes off. It turns out to have been triggered by a small fire in one of the bathroom sinks, where it appears someone tried to burn a book. The incident leaves Mary Anne shaken, but Mrs. Kishi thinks it was just a prank. Unfortunately it's not long before someone starts a second fire, this time in a trash can using lighter fluid and yet another book. This time everyone is a lot more concerned. 

Claudia tells the BSC girls that Miss Ellway's grandfather gave the land for the library to Stoneybrook, on the condition that if the library was ever torn down or destroyed, the property would go back to the family. (She heard about this from her mom.) The girls are spooked, thinking this gives Miss Ellway a perfect motive to try and burn down the building. They set about trying to keep an eye on her. Mary Anne also calls the fire station to ask which books were burned. The first was Deenie, by Judy Blume, and the second was A Light In the Attic, by Shel Silverstein. 

The fire alarm goes off a third time, a small fire that Miss Ellway is able to put out herself. The book involved this time is Tom Sawyer. Mary Anne realizes that all three burned books are on the list of banned books that the protestors have been handing out. They become the new prime suspects, and the BSC girls start following them and trying to gather more information. Some of them also track down all the Ellways remaining in Stoneybrook and investigate them. Everything they find turns out to be a dead end though. 

SMS has a fire drill, which also turns out to be a real fire. Classes are cancelled for the day, so Kristy calls an emergency BSC meeting so they can work on their case instead. During their discussion, they figure out all the books burned are also from the 5th grade reading list handed out for the readathon, and all the fires took place on Wednesdays. Each fire was also fairly close to where the books in question were shelved. Mrs. Kishi also tells them that the first fire was in the boy's bathroom, which likely means the culprit is male.

The next day happens to be a Wednesday, so the girls decide to stake out a trash can in the children's room that hasn't been hit yet. (It's also near another book from the 5th grade list.) Sure enough, they catch Sean Addison in the act of starting a fire there, and immediately confront him. He tells them he did it because he hates reading and didn't want to participate in the readathon, but his parents made him. They are still forcing their kids into activities to keep them out of the house (we first learned about the Addisons and their absentee parenting in Claudia and the Sad Goodbye). 

Sean's parents are called in, and they agree to start family therapy and put their son in counseling. 

Timeline:

It's still winter. At least time is linear again, within the time loop...

Misc. thoughts:

*Mary Anne actually acknowledges her tendency to feel sorry for herself in here. Jokingly, but it's still a start!

*I loved the library descriptions and setting in here, as I expected to. They gave the story a nice cozy feeling. This was a fun read too, also for the library set up and the readathon itself. Mary Anne's job sounds like a dream come true, I'd love to do something like it, even now.

*Mary Anne gets annoyed at one point because she's not crazy about being referred to as "her"? This had me pretty puzzled. What does she want to be referred to as? She doesn't strike me as having any particular gender or pronoun needs. 

*Byron adores reptiles.

*There were great discussions about censorship and book banning in here, for this reading level. I think it's a great topic for young readers to be aware of, too.

*Rosie Wilder reads 15 books in a week! This was definitely how I was as a kid. I remember in 5th grade we had to read 30 books during the school year, and I read 77. 

*When Mary Anne first hears that it was books being burned in the fires, she didn't immediately think of the book ban people who'd been protesting outside? Kind of a big oversight...

*Mary Anne finds matches in Nicky Pike's pocket at one point, but he swears they aren't his. She believes him, so she doesn't tell his parents. REALLY bad judgment, in my opinion. What if he had a serious problem? They should at least be aware to keep an eye on the situation.

*Mallory is still sick, and still very tired. 

*Claudia thinks brown M&Ms taste best, followed by red. 

*The readathon winners, by grade:

1st grade: Mathew Hobart

2nd grade: Marilyn Arnold

3rd grade: Nicky Pike

4th grade: Sarah Hill

5th grade: Bruce Boyd

*Mary Anne cries when Nicky wins because he says she's the one who got him excited about reading. 

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*Claudia also keeps junk food in her backpack at school, haha. 

*This had no side plot and very minimal babysitting chapters! Such a refreshing change.

Books mentioned:

Get comfortable, because this one is a doozy...

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

*The Little Women series, by Louisa May Alcott

*The Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

*The Diary of Anne Frank

*The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton

*The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner

*The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis

*The Magic School Bus series, by various authors

*Deenie, by Judy Blume

*A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein

*Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

*Misty's Twilight, by Marguerite Henry (not mentioned by name, just by description. I looked up the info to match it to this specific book.) 

*Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

*The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck 

*Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson

*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

*How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell

My rating:

4 stars. I love books about books. This was entertaining, well done, and a mystery that could actually happen to teenagers, since the solution was a troubled kid, not some big criminal scheme that the police should be handling. By far the best mystery book! 

#72: Dawn and the We Love Kids Club

 

Thoughts before reading:

I read this one when I was a kid, just in passing though. I don't remember what I thought about it, so it clearly wasn't a favorite. 

The way this series rotates the narrators is so random. We just had a Dawn book one book ago (a mystery), and recently in the regular series order as well. I'm not complaining, since I still enjoy her POV, I'm just curious how they decide. 

The basics:

A feature writer from the Palo City Post calls the We Love Kids Club, wanting to write about them for her special feature on kids who run businesses. The girls all agree, thrilled by the idea. She comes over the next day, interviews each of them, and takes pictures to run with the article. 

Once the article comes out, the local news wants to do a human interest story on them too. After their tv spot, business starts booming, and the girls get completely overwhelmed, especially since they were never very organized to begin with. Dawn calls the BSC girls to tell them about it too. Predictably, Kristy's really jealous, and tries to pitch the BSC to the local media outlets herself. 

Dawn's also dealing with some big personal changes: her dad and Carol get engaged. She's upset by the news, and hurt because she thinks her dad should have waited until during her six months in Stoneybrook. Since he did this during her California stay, she assumes he must not care about spending time with her, and decides she wants to return to Stoneybrook ASAP. Around her family she tries to hide that she's upset, while in secret she makes plans to leave. She writes her dad a note saying goodbye, and uses his credit card number to buy herself a plane ticket. Then she leaves for school, fakes sick to her friends, then returns home after her dad's left for work and takes a cab to LAX. Dawn actually pulls all of this off, not feeling guilty at all until she's already on the flight to Connecticut. 

When the plane lands, Sharon's waiting for her, beyond furious. She's already booked Dawn a return flight for the next day. In the meantime, she takes her home, where Dawn spends her partial Stoneybrook day talking to Mary Anne non-stop. 

Once Dawn is BACK in California, she talks things out with Carol and her dad, but things remain tense at home after her little stunt. Dawn feels guiltier, realizing how bad she made everyone, but especially Carol, feel. 

Carol and her dad end up breaking off the engagement and ending things, although we aren't told exactly why, just that they had been arguing and Dawn's departure had brought some issues to light. Dawn feels bad and promises herself that she'll deal maturely with these issues in the future. 

After numerous scheduling errors, the We Love Kids Club decides to have regular meeting times and actually keep track of their schedules. 

Timeline:

It's winter still.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis.

*This book actually says all the things the other books have said about California are a stereotyped idea of California life. I guess they've seen the error of their ways, haha? 

*Sharon's farmhouse in Stoneybrook was built in 1795, according to this book. Is that right? I could have sworn another book said a different year, but I don't know which one to check this far into the series...

*Dawn's grossed out by the mere idea of baking a cake with Stephie, a sitting charge, because of all the sugar in it... This is way overkill on the healthy eating thing.

*Jeff now wants to be a stand up comedian. 

*This is one of those BSC books that makes you hungry. The vegetable chimichangas mentioned multiple times sound amazing!

*Apparently Sunny's parents have friends who named their kids Vernal Equinox and Lunar Eclipse. 

*Logan calls Dawn "Runs With Squirrels", LOL. 

*Dawn and Stephie have gotten really close, and in here Stephie gets clingy too. She accidently calls Dawn "Mommy" once, and she writes a story about her.

*Stephie likes to look at an old school picture of her mom (who died when she was little) and make believe that they're talking. Ugh, my heart!

*Dawn's dad proposed to Carol in a coffee shop, which seemed weird to me. Was it just spur of the moment then? Not a very romantic location...

*Dawn's behavior in here was beyond obnoxious and bratty (it's literally a cross-country tantrum!), but... it's about what I'd expect from a thirteen year old too. Minus the credit card, which is just straight up stealing, however she justifies it. I never knew Dawn was so devious. 

*Also, does Dawn know that taking unnecessary plane trips is really bad for the environment?

*I have so many questions about how Dawn got away with this scheme too. Didn't anyone at that airline need to see an adult, or an ID? Or confirm the credit card? Anything at all??

*I get that Sharon was furious, and she had good reason, but she also hasn't seen her daughter in months. WHY does she not spend the mere hours Dawn is home with her, discussing the Carol situation, her feelings, etc? Instead she does nothing and barely even talks to her about it. 

*Based on Dawn's eating in here, I think she's a pescatarian, although I have no idea why they can't just tell us that. 

*If Dawn's actions caused Carol and her dad to break up, it couldn't have been the strongest relationship though. It definitely doesn't sound like they are ready to get married. 

Books mentioned:

*Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George

My rating:

3 stars. This was a quick read, full of some good angst. It's another weirdly titled one though, as it's not really about the club at all, other than the beginning. The larger family plot was a lot more impactful. This cover picture was a weird choice too. A carefree pool picture REALLY doesn't match the book's tone. 

#71: Claudia and the Perfect Boy

 

Thoughts before reading:

I know I read this at least once, but nothing about it stood out, because all I remember about this is the cover. It looks really familiar for some reason. Again though, this wasn't the type of BSC plot that would have appealed much to me. 

The basics:

Claudia notices Mary Anne and Logan being sweet together and starts thinking about how much she wants a steady boyfriend of her own. She keeps daydreaming about it, and even makes a list of all the qualities her Mr. Perfect would have. Her and Stacey also chat about it, and Stacey tells her she thinks guys are intimidated by her, but she's unsure of the solution. Then the girls see a personal ad section in their magazine. They think it's a great idea, except for one problem: everyone in the ads is "old". This leads Stacey to suggest Claudia start a personals column at SMS. Claudia agrees to try it, and speaks to the editor of the school paper, who gives her the go-ahead. She'll have her own column called Claudia's Personals, replacing a pet care column. 

Right away, tons of letters pour in for Claudia's Personals. She has her hands full sorting and editing them. (To help, Stacey introduces Claudia to spell check. It's about time!) One of the letters is from an angry boy named Sean, who's parents are divorcing. He's writing in to find other kids to talk to about it. She wants to help, and meets up with him to give him the number of the therapist Mary Anne used to see. There's also several letters from boys that sound like her Mr. Perfect that Claudia has her eye on. She responds to two ads herself.

The school paper becomes more popular than ever, thanks to the column. Each printing is running out in record time, and letters keep pouring in, so Claudia's granted more space in the paper. Stacey starts pitching in to help edit, because often times they still have to shorten the ads to make everything fit. This leads to a mix up where Mary Anne's message to Logan is confused with another ad, and Logan gets angry and refuses to speak to her for awhile. Claudia also starts match making people from the letters in a new column, Claudia Advises. It's  insanely popular. 

One of the guys Claudia writes to turns out to be Alan Gray. The other guy is named Brian Hall, who calls to ask her out. She's flattered, and agrees to a date. It turns out to be a flop though, as they have nothing in common, and struggle just to make conversation. She responds to another ad, which turns out to be from a boy named Richard, who goes to another school. They go out on a date, and it's an even bigger dud. Richard's obsessed with Claud being Asian, asking endless questions about it and stereotyping her. Next she dates a boy named Kurt, who's really dull. (He's the one from the cover pic.) She also tries putting her own ad in the paper, and receives a lot of unimpressive responses. 

Eventually, Claudia gets a response she likes, but there's no phone number. After two letters from him, Stacey finally admits she wrote them herself, to try and make Claudia feel better. She thought knowing a perfect guy existed would cheer Claudia up about her lack of a love life. Stacey explains and apologizes in person; Claudia's angry and asks her to leave. 

The girls make up a few days later, at a BSC meeting. Stacey admits what she did was dumb, and she doesn't blame Claudia for being mad. Everyone ends up laughing together, and all is forgiven. Claudia realizes she'll meet Mr. Right when it's time, and for now she has everything she needs to be happy.

For our side plot in here, Marnie's been having trouble with allergies lately, and it turns out she's allergic to pet dander. The Barretts will have to get rid of their beloved dog, Pow. Buddy and Suzi are heartbroken, and angry with Marnie, until the Pikes agree to take Pow. Now they can still see him all the time. 

Timeline:

There's cold weather, so it's probably winter or fall.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn

*Claudia's hugging herself to see what it feels like "to be locked in a dreamy, romantic embrace with the boy of my dreams". LOL, oh to be a preteen again...

*It is about time poor Claudia gets some action! Even the 6th graders and closeted Kristy have had plenty. Too bad nothing works out for her... after Stacey she's the most boy crazy one, but she has no romantic luck at all.

*Claudia's list of qualities for her Mr. Perfect include: handsome, muscles, taller than her, extremely funny, athletic, sensitive, easy to talk to (a good listener), interesting (lots to say), artistic, a good dresser, good speller, not critical, crazy about her. 

*Claudia says Mrs. Barrett is old because "she was at least thirty as far as I could tell" (pg 26). I'm pretty sure she's 34, which actually makes her a pretty young mom.

*Stacey and Claudia have a sleepover, which I thought was cute. 

*Personal ads seem so dated now, with all the online dating options. It was funny to read a whole plot about them.

*Mallory's still sick, but able to be a bit more active. 

*The error that made Logan angry? The ad "Fed up girl with a dud boyfriend looking to make a switch. I'm pretty, petite, and sweet." was supposed to be "Your kitten will love you furever." Claudia and Stacey accidently put her number with the former instead of the latter. This was actually pretty funny...

*I definitely remembered this column plot once I started reading. I think Sweet Valley Twins did something similar too. 

*Claudia hates sushi.

*The scene where Buddy and Suzi leave Pow at the Pikes and Pow tries to leave with them broke my heart...

*Sean does see the therapist Claudia recommended and ends up feeling much better. 

*I have no idea why Stacey thought responding to Claudia's ad was a good idea, but it is funny that she catfished her. 90s style, no less! 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

3 stars. This was a pretty average BSC read for me, but the message is a great one for young girls to be reading about. 

Mystery #12: Dawn and the Surfer Ghost

 

I couldn't find a very good picture of this one...most be one of the more obscure books.

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read this one, and I'm not particularly excited to now either. At least it's a California book though! That means we'll have some California stereotypes to discuss, and those are always hilarious. 

The basics:

Dawn's been taking surfing lessons with Sunny, and there's a big competition coming up. Between this and a children's program they've been helping with, the girls have been spending a ton of time at the beach. They've noticed a twenty-something surfer guy named Thrash around a lot, and both girls are intrigued by him. Dawn has chatted with him a little too, about all the places he's surfed. He even has a nickname for her that means Princess in Hawaiian. 

One day when the girls arrive at the beach, they hear that Thrash is missing, and maybe even dead. His board washed up on the shore all mangled, leading people to think a shark got him. Dawn can't stop wondering about what could have happened to him, and all day she hears the police and other surfers around talking about it. Later that night, she reads an article in the paper that mentions the possibility that his board was tampered with. She starts to worry that he could have been murdered. 

Shortly after all this, Dawn and Sunny attend a beach party with the kids from the program. When the party's winding down, and the beach is growing dark and misty, everyone starts telling ghost stories. Then several of them spot someone out surfing, but the sight quickly vanishes. Dawn thinks it must be Thrash's ghost. 

After that night, the story spreads around the beach, and as it grows, so do the supposed sightings. Dawn thinks this must confirm that Thrash was murdered, and now his ghost will haunt the beach until the murderer is caught. She's determined to solve the mystery of what happened herself. She begins by going to the police to discuss leads, but becomes angry that they don't seem to care what happened, just calling Thrash a drifter. (Unlike the Stoneybrook police, I guess they don't let teenagers solve their cases for them...) Next, she combs the beach, discovering Thrash's custom made wax.

Accidents have also been happening like crazy on the beach during this time, almost one a day. Even Sunny gets hurt surfing, and her mom asks her to take a break from it. 

Dawn notices a new guy working at the concession stand, and he gives her the creeps. On closer look, she realizes it's Thrash, with a new buzz cut and all his piercings taken out, like he's in disguise. She tells only Sunny, since the police didn't care he was missing, and because she wants to figure out what he's up to. Dawn wastes no time in starting to spy on him, until she catches him tampering with a surf board belonging to a rival surfer, Gonzo, and confronts him. He tells her that Gonzo tried to off him, so he disguised himself and is hanging around to teach him a lesson, and win the surfing competition himself. She tells him tampering with a board isn't the solution, but that she'll help him. They end up agreeing to tell the police. 

At the surfing competition, Thrash shows up with undercover cops dressed like surfers. They catch the rival surfer, Gonzo, who tampered with Thrash's board, and arrest him. He immediately confesses. Dawn wins third place in the beginners division, and Thrash wins best overall surfer. He thanks Dawn for her help, and gives her his snake ring to keep. He's leaving for Australia. 

Back in Stoneybrook, the Arnold twins are now both into gymnastics, and Carolyn sprains her ankle practicing one day while Mary Anne is babysitting. After this incident, Marilyn refuses to leave her side, and insists on helping her sister with everything. Stacey ends up getting them to separate by having their respective friends invite them to different places at the same time, to do something only two people can enjoy. 

Timeline:

It's winter

Misc. thoughts:

*In this book Dawn says Carol is young, despite all the others where she complained about her being old and acting too young.

*Dawn and the BSC girls are all writing to each other, and the chapters open with Dawn's letters.

*Dawn's in the We 💓 Kids Club now, and we get a run down of them AND the BSC in chapter two now. Some highlights of the new recap:

            *Mrs. Winslow, Sunny's mom, is like a second mom to Dawn. She's also a potter.

            *Sunny's real name is Sunshine Daydream. (Her parents were hippies.) 

            *Maggie's dad is in the movie biz, and she's rich. 

            *Her style is punk/vintage, and she has short styled hair with a long tail hanging down the back.

            Often there's also a colored streak in it.

            *Jill is quiet and serious. She lives with a divorced mom, an older sister, Liz, and 2 boxer dogs.

*I was disappointed that this book still had BSC babysitting chapters. At least have some from the California club instead.

*This book was a weird contrast to the seriousness of the last book. It also really reminded me of the Goosebumps book Ghost Beach for some reason. I think little me would have been spooked by this.

*Sunny thinks Dawn was madly in love with Thrash, and that's why she can't let go of what happened to him. I'm inclined to agree, since her obsession doesn't make much sense otherwise. 

*Only Dawn would read a book of ghost stories on the beach, haha!

*How did no one but Dawn notice Thrash working at the concession stand? Give me a break. He's in plain sight, and working, which means he sees tons of people each day, and has to talk to them...

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

California stereotypes:

*Tons of people are blond.

*Tons of people like to surf, and everyone goes to the beach constantly.

*Health food is really popular.

*Lots of people were hippies, and have hippy names.

*There's a lot of movie stars, or people somehow associated with them or the movie biz.

*People are mostly free spirits, laid back, and relaxed.

*Everyone tends to dress casually.

*The junior high has a tropical garden, complete with hummingbirds.

*Luaus are popular.

*Everything is more informal.

*The letters in here were a nice touch, and something a bit different. 

Books mentioned:

*The Silver Chair, by C. S. Lewis

My rating:

3 stars. This was silly, but fun. It read like a Scooby Doo mystery, right down to the cops dressed like surfers, who get an instant confession. The plot was ridiculous, of course, but in a more fun way than most of the mysteries. It doesn't hurt that I know I would have loved this as a kid. 

However, the side plot was terrible. It didn't go even vaguely with the main story. These mystery books would flow a lot better and achieve a better atmosphere if they skipped the babysitting chapters.

            

#70: Stacey and the Cheerleaders

 

Thoughts before reading:

I definitely read this one at some point, but I don't remember much about it. I think this is the start of the story arc that leads to Stacey leaving the BSC for awhile, although as I recall her actual departure is still a few Stacey books away. I always loved that arc though, as it was delightfully drama filled, and I supported Stacey wanting to try new things, grow, and change. Even as a kid it was weird to me how much these girls liked to babysit. 

Not the best cover...Charlotte looks like she's levitating. 

The basics:

Stacey is walking to school with Claudia one morning when she gets pelted by a snowball, causing her to fall on her butt. She's annoyed, until she realizes the thrower was R. J. Blaser, the star of the SMS basketball team. It doesn't hurt that he's cute and one of the most popular guys in school either. Lately she's been attending the games because the team is undefeated, and as a result everyone at SMS has been "swept up by basketball fever". R. J. strolls over to talk to her, and ends up asking her out to see Mall Warriors on Friday night. She says yes, stunned by her good fortune. (…And Stacey goes crazy over a guy again! This girl is killing me.)

During homeroom, one of the popular girls slips Stacey a note telling her that RJ likes her, and the snowball was no accident, because he never misses. Word of her date gets around quickly, and all the cheerleaders start being really friendly towards her all of a sudden. Stacey's on cloud 9, and by Friday she's beyond excited. RJ even sits with the BSC during lunch that day. (I bet that was interesting, but sadly, we don't get any details.)

It doesn't take long once the actual date begins for Stacey to realize her and RJ have nothing in common though. They don't have anything to talk about, or any similar tastes. After an awkward time at the movie, they head to Pizza Express, and the whole popular group is already there, clearly having a blast. Stacey and RJ join them, and her mood swiftly improves as all the kids easily include her. Some of the girls act surprised to hear Stacey's kissed guys before, because "her crowd" seems so young, and they think of babysitting as a "stage you go through". Stacey grabs a pizza slice at the same time as one of the guys, Robert, and the pieces are stuck together. She gets a good look at him for the first time and notices how cute he is, and that he's also looking at her. By the end of the night, even though the date was a bust, she's enjoying being a part of the popular crowd and getting attention. 

Stacey attends the next basketball game with Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Jessi. She's a bit embarrassed by them, but checks herself on the snobby feeling before letting it really start. The SMS team ends up winning by 1 point. Stacey goes down to the floor to congratulate them, and ends up hugging Robert. While she's mingling on the court, Kristy literally blows a whistle from the bleachers to quiet the gym, then yells down to ask Stacey if she's still coming to their BSC sleepover that night. Stacey does want to go, so she swallows her embarrassment and heads out with them. The sleepover ends up being one of their best ever, reminding Stacey how great her friends are. 

Some of the cheerleaders wait for Stacey outside her homeroom on Monday to tell her that Robert likes her. The girls also tell her there's a spot open on the cheer team, in case she wants to try out. She's unsure at first, but ends up deciding to practice in secret, just in case she turns out to be too clumsy to do it. She ends up working really hard, and letting Jessi in on it so she can teach her a dance routine.

Robert ends up calling and inviting Stacey to a movie that Friday night (the call makes her late for a BSC meeting). He mentions that Mall Warriors 2 is the last movie he'd want to see, which thrills her, because she hated the first one. After this good start, the date also ends up going amazingly well. Robert really listens to her, is understanding, and they have a lot in common. He also tells her about how all the basketball players get special treatment from teachers at school, and he doesn't think it's right. The pair end up going out several more times, including a double date with Mary Anne and Logan, where everyone has a blast. 

Stacey rocks her tryout, then gets really nervous waiting to hear the results. She overhears the cheerleaders talking about how great her routine was, but laughing about how she hangs out with the BSC and 6th graders all the time. A girl named Kathleen Lopez ends up making the squad instead of Stacey, and one of the cheerleaders who had been friendly to Stacey tells her it's because she was too good. The other girls felt threatened by her. When Robert hears about this, he's furious, and quits the basketball team as a protest of the unfair tryouts and all the special treatment he no longer wants to be a part of. 

This news causes a big stir at SMS. An article bashing Robert's "negativity" comes out in the school paper. The administration ends up re-evaluating the sports program, setting new guidelines, and adding a minimum GPA requirement to play. Robert and Stacey are both invited (back) onto the teams, and both say no. Stacey realizes she was trying a hobby she didn't really like for all the wrong reasons (attention, popularity). Her and Robert also print a comeback editorial with their reasons in the school paper. 

The side plot in here is about Shannon's sister Tiffany, who's been a huge handful lately. It turns out she just feels left out, because both of her sisters are talented and win awards. Mary Anne encourages her to find a hobby of her own. This leads to her discovering her true passion: gardening. 

Timeline:

It's early December.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis

*Mal is still recovering from her mono, and isn't in the club.

*At least on her disastrous date with RJ, Stacey says when she doesn't like something he likes, instead of changing herself. 

*In the scene at Pizza Express where the popular girls comment that Stacey's crowd seems young and way too into babysitting, nothing they said struck me as being exactly wrong. Plus at this point, the BSC girls only hang out together, so other kids at school have never had a chance to get to know them as individuals. They do tend to shut others out, so even if someone wanted to become friends, they all probably seem really unapproachable. 

*I can understand a lot of Stacey's motivations in here, as they struck me as very realistic for junior high. I remember how good that feeling of getting attention from popular kids is at that age. These cliques are also just like I remember.

*It is funny though, that in the early BSC books Stacey and Claudia were part of the popular crowd already. Did they lose that status when they joined the BSC? It's never mentioned or addressed either way.

*The SMS basketball team is the Chargers.

*If a friend blew a whistle and then yelled to me like Kristy does to Stacey, I would have been furious!

*The popular group calls people a "911" because "it's like calling 911 because you're about to die from excitement." Wow, haha. I remember when things like that sounded so cool to me.

*Stacey says she's always agreed with the philosophy that it's better for girls to join their own teams than cheer for boys, but she wants to join the cheerleaders now anyway to get closer to Robert and be popular. None of this is necessarily bad; most kids this age long to be popular, and it's good to try new things and make new friends. As long as she didn't keep doing it even though she wound up hating it, I don't see a problem with it. The only issue I had with this was one of the girls telling her that she's pretty enough to be a cheerleader. But we all knew that was a big part of cheerleading and popularity growing up, didn't we? I guess at least they admit it. 

*Sometimes Stacey and her mom get calls for a Rupert Peebles.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

4 stars. This was really an enjoyable read, accurate/realistic, and something different. I liked the discussions about cliques, popularity, and athletic favoritism. The school focused plot was a pleasant difference from other books lately. I also thought Stacey was a star in here, handling trying out new friends and activities while trying to stay true to the BSC. 

#69: Get Well Soon, Mallory!

 

Thoughts before reading:

I read this book numerous times as a kid and loved it. I can't remember exactly what I liked so much about it, other than that it was a Mallory book. There is some kind of carnival in here that I liked reading about, and even tried to mimic at one point for my younger siblings. This book also actually taught me what mono was, and had me worried about catching it. I was always wary of water fountains after reading this, and avoided them for a long time in elementary school, haha. 

The basics:

Mrs. Pike apparently has cousins in NYC, and they want the Pike family to come visit for Thanksgiving. They even have tickets for everyone to see the Macy's parade. All the kids are thrilled to hear the news, and start really looking forward to the trip. 

Mallory still hasn't been feeling well, however. She ends up completely missing out on Halloween: she's so tired that she sleeps right through it. By a few days later, her temperature has soared to 103 degrees, and she's doing even worse. Her mom takes her back to the doctor, who runs a blood test. When the results come in, they finally find out she has mononucleosis. Mal's mortified to learn that mono's called the kissing disease, especially since she's never even kissed anyone! That doesn't stop her brothers from teasing her about it though, and she hears that kids at school are even teasing Ben.

Mal's parents explain to her that mono can take weeks or months to recover from, and it hits some people harder than others. She appears to be one of those, so even after she feels well enough to return to school, there will be no extra activities and no BSC for quite awhile. Mal is heartbroken at the thought of giving up the club, and reluctantly calls Kristy and Jessi to share the news. The BSC decides they don't want to replace Mal, so they make her an honorary member for the time being. Despite being touched by the gesture, Mal decides that by the time she's better, her BSC friends will hate her because of all the extra work they'll have had to do in her absence. Since they won't let her quit, she thinks the solution is to get kicked out. 

During this time, the rest of the BSC members have been working on making Thanksgiving goody baskets for the residents of Stoneybrook manor, complete with a little carnival there. When Jessi sends Mal a note listing things she can do to help them from her bed, Mal puts her plan into motion by refusing to do any of them. Her little sisters are shocked. Mal also stops calling her friends back and acts cold and rude when they come to visit her. Luckily for Mal, the other girls realize what she's trying to do and call her out on it, telling her they need her to stay in the club. 

Feeling much better about her friendships, Mal starts doing what she can to help from home. Everyone else gets busy fundraising, and Vanessa comes up with the idea to have a "promises campaign": offering people a promise to do something, like a chore, in exchange for money up front. It's a success, and the BSC is able to hold their carnival at SB manor, and make nice gift baskets for everyone, as planned. They also bring a mini version of the carnival and a basket to Mal. 

The Pikes cancel their NYC trip due to Mal's mono, and all the kids are crushed. The family does end up enjoying a nice holiday at home together though, and Mal feels well enough to be up and out of bed for the day. The BSC stops by for dessert, and Dawn even calls. 

At the end, Kristy and Claudia make up a new holiday BSC flier and show it to Mal. She tells them to leave her name off, because she has no idea when she'll be able to re-join the BSC. 

Timeline:

Begins on October 30th, and goes through the end of November and the beginning of snowfall. 

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner

*Where were these NYC Pike cousins during the Super Special where the whole BSC was there? Seems like Mal would have visited or stayed with them instead of with Laine, who most of them barely knew.

*Jessi acts surprised that Mal is sick and exhausted in here, even though she has been for two books prior to this.

*Mono is a gland disease, and the only treatment is rest. Too much activity can actually damage your spleen. The rest needed can range from 1-4 weeks generally, but longer for some people. It's called the kissing disease because mostly teenagers get it. 

*Mal misses so much school that she's worried she'll be stuck in 6th grade forever. I think this is a wink wink from the ghostwriters? 

*Even when she's sick with mono, Mal's parents leave her to babysit Margo and Claire! Gee, this seems like a safe decision...

*One of the soaps Mal starts watching is called Young Doctors in Love, haha! Sounds about right.

*I remember being so jealous of the Thanksgiving carnival in this book that I tried to make my own, complete with booths made out of cardboard boxes from Costco. Not a big success.

*Were the Pikes really going to take all their kids on a trip to NYC with NO mother's helpers?! I didn't know they had it in them...

*Instead of Costco, they have Cost-Club.

*Mrs. Pike is randomly referred to as "Mother" once (pg 115). It sounded really awkward and out of place. 

*The scene where the BSC girls visit Mal and bring her a small version of their carnival was really cute. I also liked the Cost-Club shopping trip scene. It was just a fun one to read about, like going to Target without any crowds. 

Books mentioned:

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

*The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

*The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

*Lucy Berky and the Thanksgiving Turkey (Sadly, this appears to be fictional. I can't find it anywhere.)

My rating:

4 stars. I was really surprised by how much of this I remembered, and I was loving all the nostalgia. The story was well done, and the side plot was really sweet, much better than most. I felt really sorry for Mal though...this poor kid really does have the worst life ever. 

Mystery #11: Claudia and the Mystery at the Museum

 

Thoughts before reading:

Honestly not sure if I read this before or not. It's not marked on my childhood BSC book list, but it does look vaguely familiar. If I read it, I guess it wasn't that great...

The basics:

A new museum has recently opened in Stoneybrook, and Claudia's eager to go see the art exhibits. There's even retrospective of Don Newman sculptures being featured, one of her favorites. She decides to go and take a few kids with her to share the experience: Corrie Addison and the Arnold twins. 

While Claudia and the kids are at the museum, some coins are stolen from an ancient coin display. Everyone is stopped and searched before being allowed to leave, but the culprit isn't caught. When Claudia recounts the event to the BSC later, they decide this must mean that the thief hid the coins inside the museum. They go back together to search for clues. Claudia does notice one of the people she saw on the day of the theft, a man with two different colored eyes. The girls start following him around, but he notices and leaves soon after. (Finally someone catches on to being tailed by some kids! They can't be that sneaky.)

Despite hitting a dead end, Claudia and Stacey decide to stick around longer and finally check out the sculpture exhibit. It's interactive, where you are allowed to touch the pieces. Claudia's seen a Don Newman exhibit in NYC before, and she recognizes one of the sculptures. This time it feels different though, and she becomes convinced it's a fake. She tells the curator, who barely listens and warns her not to waste his time again. Claudia steals a resume off his desk, deciding he's suspicious. The BSC uses it to look into the museums he worked at before, researching them at the library. They discover that three out of the four had robberies happen while he was employed at them. 

Claudia calls Don Newman directly and tells him that something's wrong with his sculpture. He invites her to the formal museum trustee dinner, to look at it together, where they end up catching the custodian with the coins hidden inside the statue. It turns out the curator actually specializes in preventing robberies, and was brought in for that reason.

Meanwhile, Claire Pike has decided she wants to be a star, and becomes obsessed with show business for awhile, before deciding it's not for her after all. 

Timeline:

No real clues about the time of year in here.

Misc. thoughts:

*You'd think reading all those Nancy Drew books would help Claudia with her spelling. Reading was how I learned, along with many other bookish kids.

*Mallory's still feeling tired and run down. Claudia thinks her siblings have just finally worn her out, haha...

*Mrs. Pike is working overtime at the temp agency? Is this really a thing?

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles

*Even for a BSC mystery, this didn't make much sense. If all these robberies have still happened, than this curator isn't much of a specialist in the field, is he? Besides, how do they know which museums are more likely to have robberies, in order to send him to them? I guess Stoneybrook does have an unusually high crime rate, but what about the other places?

*Claudia's made an honorary trustee of the museum for helping solve the case. 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. This one was pretty hard to get through for me.

#68: Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter

 

Thoughts before reading:

I never read this one growing up, and not terribly excited to now. This sounds like a rehash of old problems to me. I'd love to see them mix things up instead, by finding another decent club member now. I know we eventually get Abby as a replacement, but they could have added someone now and still had her join later. These books always act like it's impossible to find any decent sitters besides the current BSC members, despite there being a few hundred options at SMS. At least this is a Jessi book about something other than ballet...

I love that one of Claudia's junk food paintings is on the wall on the cover! It's nice when they add little touches from the books.

The basics:

Jessi is at home sitting for Becca and Squirt, and she decides to invite her new friend Wendy over to join them. Everyone has a great time together: it turns out Wendy's great with kids, and they both really like her. 

Things at the BSC have been really busy since Dawn left. They have two crazy busy meetings in a row, taking in more calls than they can handle. Mallory's out sick, too exhausted to take any jobs. Jessi suggests Wendy as a potential new member, telling them about how great she was with her siblings. Kristy agrees to have Wendy come to a meeting, then a practice job. She ends up paired with Jessi to sit for the Barretts, and she really impresses Jessi during it, securing her a place in the BSC. 

Things go quickly downhill from there though. Wendy shows up for her first official BSC meeting at 5:55, and is angry that they didn't schedule her for any jobs. (It's a club rule that they don't schedule members for jobs if they miss a meeting or are late and no one knows about it beforehand.) She's also taken an outside sitting job, for one of her neighbors, without going through the club, which is against BSC rules. This job is also the reason she was late. 

Mrs. Pike hires two sitters so she can take Mallory to the doctor, since she isn't feeling any better. Jessi and Wendy get the job, but Wendy is late yet again, so Jessi has to call Mary Anne over at the last minute. Wendy shows up later, and doesn't understand what the big deal is. She had gotten a job watching her neighbor's baby at the last minute. 

Wendy ends up quitting the BSC because she doesn't want to have to deal with following so many rules. Jessi wants to remain friends though, so the two girls work things out between them at least. Shannon agrees to be the alternate officer until Dawn comes back. 

There's two side plots in here as well. One is just some of the BSC charges making a video to send to Dawn: an original play that ends up being Snow White mixed with Captain Planet. It's a success, just like almost all BSC projects. Dawn also sends them a video she made, a virtual tour of California. The BSC girls all hang out together to watch it and call Dawn.

In the second, Jessi witnesses Margo Pike stealing a troll ring from a store. She confronts her and makes her promise to tell her parents, but she never does. Jessi's unsure of what to do, but eventually tells Mal, who talks to her sister about it again. Margo then admits to her mom that she's stolen several things, just to see if she could. They take her back to the store together to confess and pay for the items. 

Timeline:

It's October, nearing Halloween.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn

*Squirt gets a monopoly token in his mouth while Jessi's sitting, and she thankfully gets it out in time. Pretty close call though. What if she couldn't, and he actually choked on it? This is why you don't leave babies with 11 year old's...

*I remember the Flipper tv show! (Some of the kids watch it in here.)

*Mal's been feeling tired and run down for awhile, and is late to a BSC meeting because she falls asleep. Setting up her mono, although she doesn't get a diagnosis in here yet.

*Kristy says 8 BSC members would be too many, but why? It's only one more, and there's been a lot of times where they had to rely on Logan and Shannon due to being so busy. Not to mention times when a member needs some time off. 

*The Hills are still clients. I had wondered if they would be at one point.

*The Pikes win yet another parenting award in my book for leaving Mal and Jessi to sit for all the other kids while Mal's too sick and tired to even stay awake. Is it just too much to ask that one of the parents stay home and care for their own kids more? They chose to have 8 freaking kids! Mal didn't choose to be stuck dealing with parenting 7 kids while still a kid herself. 

*The Barrett kids start the video idea because they miss Dawn, which I thought was really cute.

*I used to love the troll dolls too. We've now gotten up to all kinds of good 90s nostalgia! 

*I had to look up what the hell Nok hockey was. Turns out it's basically just tabletop hockey, with a big wooden board to play on. 

*On pg 103 there's an error where a quote mark is used before narration.

*Jeff considers himself a "major Deadhead", LOL...

*Dawn's enjoying California so far, and has joined the We 💓 Kids Club.

*This is another book with a misleading title. Wendy's not a bad babysitter at all. She was actually great with kids. She's just more of a normal kid than the others in the BSC: not very punctual, laid back, resents following rules, wants to have fun and do other things besides babysitting and attending meetings. She also doesn't want to turn all her own clients over to the BSC; she'd rather do things her own way. I think that's pretty reasonable, and a problem plenty of new members could have. If people are asking her to sit on short notice and she says no, they'll just ask someone else. The BSC isn't really designed to accommodate requests like that, and I know there are times the other girls have had to do similar things. Plus people who have already been using Wendy as a sitter might not want a stranger instead, or appreciate being told to wait and call a meeting during a certain time instead.

*Of course, the BSC does need some rules to run smoothly, but a lot of them could be relaxed or adjusted. It's no wonder all the new members are people who are new to town. The only non-founding member who wasn't is Mallory, but she was too young to have had clients of her own.

*I also can't blame Wendy for getting angry. No one actually even sat her down and explained the rules, then she has Kristy snapping at her for breaking them. She's not a mind reader, and Kristy could have been way nicer about things, as usual. Plus I just naturally wanted to defend Wendy because everyone was so hard on her! Kristy says she can't believe Jessi would even be friends with her, and Jessi calls her a loner (?) and gets annoyed when Wendy's sharp with Kristy. 

*This was all too bad, because I thought it was nice that someone had a new friend. Do we ever hear about her and Jessi being pals again after this? 

*If Shannon's a regular member for now, why doesn't she get regular series books, at least until Abby takes over? That would've been interesting. 

Books mentioned:

*The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl

*Grimm's Fairy Tales

My rating:

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this one, but the stuff about the video play really dragged. I'm tired of reading about productions...