Dawn's Book

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've never read any of the portraits before this re-read project. When I was a kid I loved Dawn, so I probably would have adored this. Currently I'm a bit down on her though, so I can't say I'm excited for this one.

The basics:

*Dawn's first assignment back at Vista is to write her autobiography, conveniently.

*Dawn's middle name is Read (which I definitely approve of!). 

*Born February 5th, at 6:45 AM, a week past her due date. 

*She was born in Anaheim, California, at St. Mary's Hospital.

*In order to finally start labor, her mom and dad walked around the beach for hours. Her mom says that's why she loves the ocean.

*She went to the beach a lot as a baby. She even took her first steps there, to where the waves were meeting the sand.

*Her first words were mama, dada, water, beach. (Ok, we all get that she's from California, but this is some real overkill...)

*When she was little she loved Legos and play-doh. One time she put the latter in her ears and traumatized Sharon. 

*Dawn was jealous when Jeff was born.

*She liked preschool, especially the blocks corner.

*In nursery school she made an Eiffel tower out of blocks and glued it together so the other kids wouldn't ruin it. 

*Her first friend was Ruthie, in Pre-K.

*When she was 6, her family moved to Palo City.

*She met Jill Henderson and Maggie Blume in first grade, and they became friends the same year.

*She used to have a yellow parakeet named Buzz.

*Sunny moved to the neighborhood from Oregon when they were all 7. Dawn was put off by the family's strangeness: they danced barefoot on their lawn, had no tv, ate things like kelp salad, owned no couches, and had a hippy car. All this makes her think Sunny's too weird to be friends with, and she's embarrassed by her. (I guess she wasn't always much of an individual...)

*The two girls only became friends after their moms got stuck in an elevator at a department store, and Sunny helped out by tapping Morse code to her mom. 

*By the time the girls were in 5th grade, their families were really close.

*That same year, the Schafers went to San Francisco with Granny and Pop-Pop for their 50th wedding anniversary. Dawn's disappointed when her grandparents bicker the whole time, until Jeff accidently tells Pop-Pop the wrong dinner time and Granny gets really worried when he's late. Then Dawn understands that they love each other, and the bickering is just teasing. 

*Sharon and Jack (finally we got his real name!) were happy together still when Dawn was ten, after 15 years of marriage. 

*By the time she was 12, however, the marriage was in big trouble.

*Dawn is scared of fire, and at 12 she was obsessed with fire safety and preparedness. (This is VERY ironic, given that her Stoneybrook house burns down after she's moved back to California.)

*During this phase, Dawn was babysitting for Clover and Daffodil Austin one day when they had an electrical fire in the kitchen. She gets the kids out safely to her house, then calls 911. After, she's a local hero, and even gets to meet the mayor.

*A few weeks after the fire, her parents announced the divorce.

*Shortly after joining the BSC, Dawn got a job with a new client, the Lazars. While there, she read a letter in their mail pile about their little girl, Sandra, having to repeat second grade. After, she's plagued by guilt for having snooped.

The next time she sat there, she helped Sandra with reading homework and accidently told her. Mrs. Lazar was furious, and never called the BSC again. Dawn was mortified and never told anyone.

*Dawn gets an A- for content, and a B for presentation.

Timeline:

N/A

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Jeanne Betancourt.

*Sunny's mom is back at home from the hospital.

*Nothing in here stood out very much, but I did like the story about her babysitting mishap with the Lazar family. It was a lot more realistic than most of the babysitting stuff we get to see firsthand. I don't think the BSC has ever lost a client that we knew about due to a mistake one of the girls made.

Books mentioned:

*The Madeline series, by Ludwig Bemelmans

My rating:

3 stars. This was a very average read, just not very memorable. I was disappointed to learn how young Dawn was not at all an individual, and instead learned all her principles from Sunny (who I did like). 

#89: Kristy and the Dirty Diapers

 

Thoughts before reading:

This one sounds like a real snooze, honestly. I hate the books about softball/sports more than any other type of plot. I have actually read this before, but it must have been very forgettable, because I don't remember anything. The only reason I know I read it as a kid is because it's checked off on my old BSC book list.

I do like this cover, and Kristy's outfit on it, but it's not a very Kristy-ish look.

The basics:

The Krushers "World Series" is coming up, and Kristy and David Michael are on their way to a practice when they notice construction underway at the house next to Mrs. Porter's. New neighbors are clearly preparing to move in, and Kristy's excited, hoping for new BSC clients. When practice turns out to be mediocre, she's cheered up when she finds out that twin girls her own age are moving in. 

School is also just starting again, and the BSC has been overbooked. Shannon hasn't been able to help out much either, because this is her busiest time of year. Kristy's reluctant to find a new member though, because of the bad experiences they've had with them in the past. She's even having nightmares about it.

After the Krushers win the first series game, 16-15, Mr. Davis, from Davis Diapers, approaches Kristy. He watched the game and offers to sponsor the team, in exchange for the advertising, of course. She's unsure, but her parents urge her to try it. The BSC agrees with them, so she ends up saying yes. 

The new neighbors finally arrive, and Kristy goes over to watch the unpacking, and she meets the twins, Anna and Abby. It turns out they arrived a day early, and the water and electricity won't be on until then, so Elizabeth offers for the girls and their mom to spend the night. Kristy's excited about it, and she hits it off with Anna right away. Abby is a different story though: she views her as just wanting to be the center of attention all the time. (It takes one to know one!) The twins are also going to be attending SMS, so they ride the bus with Kristy the next morning. She learns that Anna's pretty quiet, and they quickly run out of things to talk about on the ride. 

After school that day, Kristy finds the new Krushers uniforms, provided by Mr. Davis, have arrived. She hates them though, and knows the kids will too. They have the Davis Diapers logo on them in huge letters, but not even the team's name... effectively making them the Diapers instead of the Krushers. When she shows them to the kids, they not only loathe them, but are upset that Kristy didn't ask them about the sponsorship. Most of the kids flat out refuse to wear them. (Adding to her bad afternoon, she finds out that Abby's giving pitching lessons to David Michael.)

The morning of the second series game, the kids all start calling Kristy at home, claiming they can't wear their uniforms because they've been damaged (by dogs, little sisters, etc.). Eight of the kids who do wear them to the game wear them inside out. The Bashers tease them, calling them the Dirty Diapers, and the Krushers end up losing, 24-7. Mr. Davis is there too, and he isn't happy. He tells Kristy that next time he wants all the players in proper uniform. 

Abby stops by the next Krushers practice, which isn't going well. She offers to help out, and Kristy agrees. 

By series game three, Mr. Davis is criticizing the players and stepping in with his own coaching. He ruins morale for the kids, and they play even worse, this time losing 30-9. Surprisingly, Kristy doesn't say anything to him, but Abby steps in and does, telling him he was way too harsh. He starts countering with all the nice stuff he bought for the team, and Kristy cuts in, telling him to take it all back. Then she makes Abby assistant coach. 

The fourth series game, the Krushers win, 19-17. They also end up winning the 5th and final game.

Kristy decides to offer a BSC membership to Abby and Anna. Abby says yes, but Anna tells her she's too busy with music and turns it down, to Kristy's shock. 

Also during this book, Mrs. Porter's daughter is getting a divorce, and she's moving away. Her granddaughter, Drusilla, is staying with her while her daughter looks for a job and apartment. The little girl is pretty unhappy about all these changes (she's Karen's age, and featured in many of the Little Sister books). Kristy notices her sitting outside one day, looking forlorn, and invites her to join the Krushers. Dru doesn't seem interested, but she later decides to try it. She's a terrible player though, and doesn't enjoy it at all. Instead she suggests to Mary Anne that the team should have their own band, which she will take part in. 

Timeline:

It's September. This book starts four days before the school year begins, and then in chapter 2, for the 50th time since the series began, school starts. 

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis.

*Kristy's considering being a sports announcer or reporter when she grows up.

*Kristy's POV on the Stacey situation is so condescending (chapter 2) that it left a bad taste in my mouth and made me even less excited for this book. 

"Stacey, by the way, is earning her way back into the BSC. You see, I had to throw her out. Honest. She'd been missing meetings and switching jobs at the last minute, and treating other members badly, just because she wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend, Robert Brewster. Anyway, she finally came to her senses and asked to rejoin. I said we'd experiment for awhile, play it by ear. So far, fortunately, she's behaving just fine."

This passage made my skin crawl! Far from sounding like a girl talking about one of her close friends, this sounds like an employer discussing an unruly employee, and rudely at that.

*Kristy kept acting like she thinks Mrs. Porter is a witch in here, which came across as really strange to me.

*This is the first mention of Drusilla, who's friends with Karen. I remember her from the Little Sister books though. 

*Kristy's annoyed because Shannon has less time for the BSC, since she's joined more clubs, and is starring in a play. Kristy, you guys are KIDS! Not everyone wants to work and have a full time job right now. Some of these poor girls might have other goals and interests besides childcare. (Kristy really comes across as unlikeable in this book, all around!)

*Abby likes Little House on the Prairie! Despite her annoying sense of humor, I like her already.

*Abby's allergic to a long list of things, including tomatoes. That's a pretty rough break.

*Kristy's annoyed because Abby talks so much she can't get a word in, haha! This is going to be a definite case of people not getting along because they are too similar. 

*The twins' father died when they were 9, and their mom's an editor in NYC.

*We also had a color changing cereal bowl in the 90s... they used to be free if you mailed in cereal proof of purchases. I don't know why I remember these things...

*Kristy hates U4ME.

*All of Abby's dialogue is spelled out to sound like she's congested, which was so annoying. Please tell me they aren't going to always do this. An example, "Dow look where your glubs are."

*Kristy's shocked when Anna doesn't want to join the BSC: she "figured no one would turn down such an offer." LOL. This girl really thinks all her peers want nothing more than to join her club.

*I really thought Abby was going to join in #90, from her own POV, but instead that was the true focus of this book.

Books mentioned:

*Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

*The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

*Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

*Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl

*Tiffky Doofky, by William Steig

*I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier

*The Short Season, by John Powers

*The Mozart Season, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

My rating:

2.5 stars. Too much softball for me, and so far, Abby's really annoying. 

#88: Farewell, Dawn

 

Thoughts before reading:

I hated this book when I was a kid, because I really didn't want Dawn to leave. Back then it just made no sense to me that she'd leave the BSC and all her best friends. Plus she was one of my favorite characters, so I was heartbroken at this twist in the series. This time around, I totally understand her choice, and I think she's really better off going. 

I really like the cover on this one, too. Everyone looks exactly the way I picture them, right down to Claudia's outfit. 

The basics:

Dawn can't stop thinking about her friend Sunny, back in California, who just recently found out her mom has lung cancer. After calling to check in on her friend, she realizes she wants to move to California permanently. (There's only been a million hints about this in every book lately...) She wastes no time talking to Jeff, her dad, and Carol on the phone, mentioning her desire to move back only to Carol. Dawn realizes she has to tell her mom how she's feeling, the sooner the better. Her and Sharon sit down together and Dawn carefully explains how Palo City still feels like home, and all the things she misses there. Sharon's crushed, but agrees it's Dawn's decision. 

After her mom, Dawn's most nervous to tell Mary Anne, so she puts it off. She even tells Kristy before her, so she can work on a club member replacement. Unfortunately (but predictably), Kristy tells Claudia, (who then tells Stacey, who tells Robert, who tells Logan, who tells Mary Anne: BSC telephone game style). Once Mary Anne hears the news from someone else, she's furious that Dawn didn't care enough to tell her the news herself, and upset that she's leaving, calling it selfish. Dawn gets heated too and fires back that she has a right to be happy, and that Mary Anne doesn't understand because she never takes action herself. It turns into a pretty nasty fight, and Dawn worries that things between them will never be the same. Mary Anne isn't even acting angry afterwards, just indifferent and cold. 

The rest of the BSC starts planning a going away party for Dawn, and a "Christmas in Summer" celebration to cheer up James Hobart. While Dawn was dealing with her decision to move, he broke his leg playing football while Mallory and Ben were sitting for him. (How the BSC stays in business, I will never understand.) 

Dawn works hard trying to get Mary Anne to thaw out towards her, even planning a fancy dinner for the two of them. Mary Anne talks to her at the dinner, but won't actually discuss anything, continuing to pretend like nothing's wrong. She'll only say that she needs to say goodbye in her own way, leading Dawn to get her hopes up that she's planning to do something special at the going away party. 

Kristy invites Shannon to be the alternate officer to fill in for Dawn again. She agrees to try, but admits she'll be really busy when school starts. 

At Dawn's farewell party, Stacey, Claudia, Mallory, and Jessi make Dawn a tape of pictures of past BSC events (a really neat idea, actually). Everyone has prepared healthy food for her, and brought nice gifts. Mary Anne, by contrast, didn't help with any of the preparations, and she misses most of the party because she leaves for a walk with Logan. Dawn tries to shrug off both, realizing she can't stay in Stoneybrook just to make Mary Anne happy, so there's not a lot she can do. 

On the last night before Dawn leaves, Mary Anne finally breaks down crying and tells Dawn how much she'll miss her. The girls hug and cry together. 

The next day, Watson brings the whole BSC to the airport so they can say a final goodbye. Dawn says teary farewells to all her friends and family, and is the last person to board her flight. 

The book ends with letters to Dawn from her friends, and her reply to Mary Anne, who finally apologized to her in a letter. Dawn writes back that she knows they'll be friends forever. (I'm not so sure about that...)

Timeline:

It's August, still summer vacation.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Suzanne Weyn

*Norman Hill's been losing weight lately.

*Claudia's now working on a pastel of Stacey (and I'm noticing she does a lot of artwork based on her best friend, hmm...)

*Stacey's down on herself in this book, which isn't like her. It's probably the BSC members still making her feel guilty that's causing it.

*The scene where Dawn told her mom that she wanted to move, and why, was actually a really emotional, sad one, even now.

*Despite how nasty Dawn and Mary Anne's fight was on both sides, I really couldn't fault either of them for it. This is an ugly situation, one ultimately created by adults, and too complicated for 13 year old's to handle well. I can imagine how hurt and sad both girls must feel. I can't even dis Mary Anne, a character I can't stand, because she must have felt terrible hearing about this from someone else. At her age, this news has to be really hard not to take personally. On Dawn's side, she does have a right to be happy, and sometimes that means being selfish. She shouldn't have to feel guilty for being true to herself.

*The kids prepping for the Christmas party was SO dull, and it really bogged down the story and action in this book.

*This was another BSC book that made me hungry. Dawn's eggplant roll-ups with salad and garlic bread sounded delicious, as did the cheese enchiladas. 

*I understand that Mary Anne was just trying to protect herself from emotional pain, but her distant/cold act got really annoying by the end. She's really going to regret wasting those last two weeks with Dawn. They'll probably never live in the same place again.

*I wonder if Stacey was secretly glad about Dawn leaving... after #83, I wouldn't blame her in the slightest. 

*Dawn hates wasting things, a trait we share.

*Mary Anne is officially one of the most passive aggressive fictional characters of all time after this book, yikes.

*Yet another reason why Stacey's awesome: despite the way Dawn has treated her, she tells Dawn she understands what she's dealing with, because "when you're ready for a change and the people around you aren't, it's hard to make them understand" (pg 108). This was a compassion and empathy that Dawn wasn't able to give her when their roles were reversed. I hope Dawn realized as much and felt badly for how she behaved when Stacey was the one struggling. 

*Additionally, Stacey freely admits that she did some dumb things, but she had to follow her own instincts about what she should've been doing, or else she'd never have known what could have been (pg 109). This is good advice, too. In my opinion, this shows a lot of maturity. The hardest part of relationships, at any age, is growing and changing while letting the other person do the same thing. I was much older than 13 when I learned this, and I know plenty of adults who can't deal with it.

*When Mary Anne buys Dawn a book (Bone Chilling Ghost Stories), to read on the plane, she literally thinks "it wasn't the grand surprise gesture I'd hoped Mary Anne would come up with, but it was something, anyway" (pgs 120-121). Yikes, Dawn! I don't think her moving is selfish, but expecting more fanfare about it is. She has to know that these people are hurting. 

*Note to Dawn: while delicious, cheese enchiladas aren't health food.

*The airport farewell scene was one of the tiny handful of BSC scenes that has made me tear up. Even Kristy got choked up!

Books mentioned:

*Bone Chilling Ghost Stories (I think this is meant to be fictional. I can't find one that would have been published before this book was.)

My rating:

3 stars. I was looking forward to this as a milestone book, but it could have been so much better. The actual scenes about Dawn leaving were emotional and well done, but the story was really bogged down by the side plot and all the bickering. 

Mystery #21: Claudia and the Recipe for Danger

 

Thoughts before reading:

I couldn't find a picture of this one anywhere that wasn't cropped weird, for some reason.

This one looks and sounds vaguely familiar, so even though I don't really remember it I think I read it at some point.

The basics:

While at the mall with Stacey, Jamie, and Charlotte, Claudia sees a flier for a baking contest with a $1,000 prize for the winner. She eagerly starts working on some recipe inventions, but her early tries are all terrible. 

At the next BSC meeting, someone from the baking contest calls to ask if they can run an on-site daycare center for the kids of contestants. Excited, they agree. The job will be from 8-5 for two weekends, watching twenty kids. Kristy will also be a "cake cop", watching the work area and enforcing contest rules. Mary Anne and Claudia also decide to enter, working together. Logan also enters, teamed up with his sister Kerry and Austin Bentley. Shea Rodowsky joins Claudia's team. Cokie, Grace, and Mari Drabek are also in the contest. (Mari's dad is a professional baker at Chez Maurice.) 

For the first round of the kid's contest, Claudia's cake falls flat and Logan's burns. She discovers someone tampered with his oven, and switched her baking soda for flour. Grace and Mari win that day, with their perfect pan of cinnamon rolls. (Cokie got sick and dropped out of the contest.)

The second day, another case of switched ingredients causes Grace's oven to catch fire. Claudia's group makes a beautiful cake that tastes terrible. Logan's group wins with their fruitcake. (Really? Ick.) The girls notice some other odd things around the contest too: Jackie keeps vanishing, then turning up with flour all over him. Some of the parents are very competitive, and keep getting too involved... at least until Kristy kicks them out!

Grace sees Claudia buying ant poison for her mom, and accuses her of buying it for the cakes, to sabotage others. Both girls heatedly deny any involvement in all the tampering that's been going on, and they decide to investigate together. (They even find common ground in their love of Nancy Drew.)

For the third and final baking round before the finals, Mary Anne gets her mom's special recipe for Cherry Chocolate Cake from her grandma. Richard brings the ingredients and recipe at the last minute, and someone replaces their sugar with salt while they're distracted. Luckily, they notice before actually using it. The cake comes out great, and they make it to the finals, along with Logan's team, Grace's, and two others.

The morning of the finals, the girls see Marty, the guy running the contest, kissing Julie, one of the finalists. They immediately suspect that he's behind everything, trying to ensure a win for his girlfriend. Sure enough, after they set up a trap with a mirror to watch Claudia's team's station on the sly while feigning distraction, they catch Marty tampering with their oven.

Claudia's team wins first place, and gets their winning recipe in the Mrs. Goode's Cookbook: Alma's Memory Cake.

The side plot in here is about the kids from the daycare center doing a little restaurant of their own to serve their parents (mainly sandwiches), with help from the BSC.

Timeline:

It's mid-summer, and very hot out.

Misc. thoughts:

*Janine and Jerry are still together! 

*I've noticed that Claudia's leg aching when it rains is never mentioned anymore. In the early books it was brought up quite a few times.

*This plot was really silly, but at least it's the type of mystery appropriate for kids to be dealing with...

*Just a few books ago, in #85, Claudia wanted a new hobby, but she never mentioned an interest in baking.

*This book made me really hungry, as it was stuffed full of descriptions of baked goods. That was really the best part of it too.

*Claudia gets a cordless phone for the first time, and can now roam around the house while talking on the phone! Just like a true 90s kid, I can also remember the joy of making this switch. Prior to cordless phones becoming common, I had to sit on the kitchen floor or lean against the counters to talk on our old phone.

*Mary Anne is now close to her grandma, and they talk often.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2.5 stars. A much more appropriate mystery than most, but still very boring. 

#87: Stacey and the Bad Girls

 

Thoughts before reading:

I've been looking forward to this one, because it was a big favorite growing up. I loved seeing Stacey out of the BSC, doing her own thing, something entirely new. Beyond that, I don't remember specifics, so we'll see how this actually goes. I'm just hoping she doesn't re-join the BSC in here, because it's only been a few books. After everything she went through in her last book, I'd like to see her enjoy some more freedom before going back. Either way, I know it isn't long, since she's back in the club before her next book, which I believe is #94.

The basics:

Stacey's been enjoying a nice lazy summer, with a lot of new free time, but she does miss her BSC friends. She has gotten close with a new friend though, a girl named Andi, who she met through Robert. Lately she's been getting to know Andi's group of friends better too, particularly since Andi is leaving on a family vacation. Stacey invites her and the other girls (Sheila, Mia, Jacqui, and Heather) over for lunch, to say goodbye. 

It turns out that the other girls like the same music as Stacey does, and they have quite a bit of fun together. With Andi gone on her trip, Stacey keeps hanging out with them. Since Maureen is off at work most of the day, the girls mainly hang around Stacey's empty house, watching videos of their favorite rock group (U4ME), and helping themselves to whatever food they find. Despite being surprised by the way the girls help themselves to anything they want, Stacey figures it's not that big of a deal, and doesn't say anything.

This goes on until one evening when Maureen comes home to find the girls lounging around her living room, and the house is a mess. She tells Stacey it's time she got a summer job. Stacey, to her credit,  actually likes the idea, and starts looking. (Never mind that she's only 13, and this is her time to enjoy summer and NOT have a job. Besides, work permits don't exist in the BSC-verse.) Despite her gung-ho attitude, all her job leads turn out to be dead ends, at least until Maureen gets her an interview. It's at the Bellair's kid center, the perfect job for her, and she's hired on the spot.

Stacey's new job is harder than she expected, as the center is crazy busy. Her new group of friends start coming by the mall to meet her after work every day though. They spend part of the afternoon browsing in Bellair's, slipping off whenever Stacey stops to chat with a coworker. None of the girls ever seem to buy anything either. After a few days of this, Stacey starts to wonder if they are using her to shoplift. (Well, this proves she's a lot brighter than Logan at least!)

During the next week, her new friends ask if they can buy a few things using her 10% employee discount. Stacey feels weird about it, but they convince her it's no big deal. She reluctantly agrees, but feels even more uneasy when the girls pick out really odd purchases (a silk robe, a sequined dress, calf skin gloves, and a straw hat, respectively). 

Even after each girl pays Stacey back for the expensive merchandise right away, she doesn't catch on to what happened until they tell her that they returned the items for a full price refund. This doesn't sit well with her, but she's reluctant to end up friendless all summer, or to cause problems between Robert and his friends, so she doesn't say anything. 

The girls buy Stacey lunch as her "commission", and plan for the U4ME concert coming up that weekend. They all go together to buy tickets for the show, then ditch Stacey alone in the long line. 

Stacey's even more stunned when the girls start drinking before the concert. Once the show starts she forgets about it though, getting caught up in the music, until her friends start arguing with some nearby guys. Security comes over, and they all get pulled aside. One of the guards finds a flask in Stacey's sweater. Everyone's parents are called to pick them up. Maureen comes to get Stacey, and although she believes she wasn't drinking (it would cause her to have a diabetic reaction, so she really can't), she's still furious. The other girls also refuse to back up Stacey's claim that she didn't drink anything. Maureen points out to Stacey how naïve she's been, and how these girls have just been using her. Stacey realizes she's right on both counts. She also gets grounded for three days, and told to consider never wasting another second of her life with those girls. Stacey also tells her mom about the shoplifting and the profiteering. 

Right away on Monday, the girls stop showing up outside Stacey's work, and she realizes she doesn't miss them at all. Robert backs her up, but never says he won't be friends with them anymore.

Meanwhile, Dawn has a 6 year old second cousin named Amy, who we've never heard of before, coming to stay with her family while her parents are in Europe for 3 weeks. (That's a really long time to leave a 6 year old with strangers...) Dawn and Mary Anne are excited, working hard to set up Jeff's room for her. Amy turns out to be really shy, and is absolutely heartbroken when her parents leave. (What did they expect from this arrangement??) 

Amy remains gloomy and withdrawn, refusing to do anything. The only activity she ever suggests is hide and seek, then she immediately goes missing on Dawn and Mary Anne. She shows up at the Bellair's kid center, where Stacey happens to be working. She calls them to come and get Amy, which is the first time she's spoken to anyone in the BSC since she left, besides Claudia. When Dawn and Mary Anne come by, Stacey's surprised by how good it feels to see them. 

Stacey takes some time to think about what she wants in a friend, and realizes that the BSC has everything she needs in spades, with everyone combined... and even though things were very bad when she left, they could be good again. She calls Claudia and asks if she can rejoin. Claudia brings up the issue at the next meeting, and Stacey is invited to the meeting after that one. 

The BSC meeting is really awkward, with no one talking to Stacey. She apologizes to them, and asks if they can work things out. Claudia, Mary Anne, and Jessi immediately want her to come back, but Dawn objects and asks about Robert. (Really some nerve, since she was the one spying on them and scolding Stacey in public in #83...) Kristy decides to take her back, on probation. 

Stacey quits her job at Bellair's, to devote more time to the BSC. (Too bad, since that was valuable experience, and probably way better for her.)

Timeline:

It's still summer vacation, probably July.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis.

*U4ME is Stacey's current favorite rock group.

*If my "friends" came over and just started eating anything they wanted, we wouldn't hang out at my house a second time. Huge pet peeve! I can't stand rudeness like this that's so easily avoided.

*Stacey (wisely) doesn't like nose jewelry.

*By the start of this book, Stacey and Claudia are talking regularly. They sneak babysitting chapters into this by claiming Claudia read them to Stacey over the phone. Right... I think they'd have better things to talk about. Plus, the BSC would be a sore spot.

*Sunny Winslow calls Dawn to tell her she just found out her mom has lung cancer. I've heard this plot carries into the California Diaries books.

*After hearing Sunny's bad news, Dawn can't stop thinking about returning to California to be with her.

*Stacey's a real pushover in here, and she's fairly clueless, which isn't like her. She's clearly been in the BSC too long, and out of practice dealing with regular teenagers.

*Robert calls Stacey "Toots", an inside joke between them. A grocer near her NYC apartment used to call all females that.

*After the events of this book, it's no surprise Stacey wants to rejoin the BSC, but what happened? It's not really made clear. In the last Stacey book, her and Robert were having a blast with his friend group, and she was making good new friends. Now, in this one, Robert's barely around, Sheila's different, and all these shady girls are around. What happened to Alex and those other kids?

*I didn't know there was a term, profiteering, for the scam where the girls returned clothes bought at discount for a full price refund.

*I REALLY don't like Dawn much this time around, but she's usually fine from her own POV. Go figure.

Books mentioned:

*Freckle Juice, by Judy Blume

*Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl

*The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

*The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown

*Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf

My rating:

3.5 stars. Obviously not as amazing as I remember, but entertaining. This felt more realistic than most of the other books, at least. I have really mixed feelings about Stacey rejoining the BSC though. This book's events made it seem like a no-brainer, but there's also a bigger picture. If things had remained as they were in #83 with her new friends, this reconciliation wouldn't have happened. The situation here was a complete 180 that reduced a complicated situation to a very simple one. Her very valid reasons for leaving weren't addressed at all. Instead she was the contrite, apologetic one, like now it's just accepted as fact that she was in the wrong. Weak conclusion to a good story arc.

I do like that Stacey learned something about true maturity and what makes it, though. 

Super Mystery #1: Baby-sitters' Haunted House

 

Thoughts before reading:

I never read any of the super mysteries when I was a kid... no particular reason, I guess I just didn't encounter them. Back then, I probably would have liked them, because I always liked the crazy, super dramatic books. I remember devouring Sweet Valley Twins Super Chillers, which were basically this same type of thing. Now, I'm curious about these since they are all going to be brand new, but since I don't like the regular mysteries, I'm not expecting much. 

The basics:

Bear with me on this one as I attempt to muddle through explaining it... things got pretty convoluted. 

BSC business has been extra busy lately, so much so that the girls are struggling to find time to celebrate school being out. They are imagining with longing what they'd do with some free time, too. In the midst of this craziness, the club gets a phone call from Lisa, Karen and Andrew's mom. She needs a sitter for 2 weeks, because her husband Seth's assistant has broken her wrist, and Lisa's going to be filling in. 

Claudia takes on the job. She's only a few days in when Lisa calls the BSC again, explaining that her and Seth's friends, the Menderses, have inherited a mansion in Reese, Maine. They aren't sure if they want to live in it or not, because they have full lives in Boston, their current home. To decide, they're going to spend the summer there, and they've invited Seth and Lisa to join them for ten days. Lisa wants to see if Claudia and another sitter would also come, to help with the kids. (The Menderses have 4 kids.) That way the adults will have time to explore the area.

Once Claudia explains the situation to the rest of the club, the girls all want to go, aside from Shannon. Some mild bickering ensues. Kristy ends up telling Lisa that her, Mary Anne, and Dawn all got permission. Lisa says (generously) that they can all come: no pay, but they'll get a free trip. Logan, Shannon, Mal, and Jessi agree to cover the BSC work. (I guess the plot has already forgotten they were too busy with a full staff...)

After a long drive to Maine, the vacation goers arrive at the massive Randolph estate after dark. There they meet the Menderses: Jason, 9, Lionel, 14, Jill, 10, and Martha, 7. Lionel is a moody, unhappy kid who wants to be an actor. Martha's really shy, and Jill's infatuated with Dawn. 

The first night, Mary Anne keeps seeing a flickering light inside the house, and is too scared to sleep. Claudia, Kristy, and Dawn see it too, and start to worry that the mansion is haunted. It's a pretty long, restless night for them. In the morning, they decide to take the kids down to the beach. On the way there, they run into the summer gardener, Georgio. Something about him gives Dawn the creeps, and he warns them not to go on the 4th floor. (He also flirts with Claudia.) 

While out for the day, the girls also look at the town bulletin boards for ideas of things to do with kids. They see a notice for a Founder's Day parade and a carnival, as well as a Dracula play. The girls decide to take part in everything they can.

One evening, while outside taking the kids frog hunting, Kristy sees a light going on and off in the attic. She asks the caretakers, Elton and Margaret, about it. Elton tells her it's impossible, because it was closed off years ago. This gets the girls seriously spooked, until Kristy catches the "hallway ghost" that same night. It's Lionel, apparently practicing his acting. 

Georgio asks Claudia for help with his rose bush color scheme in the garden one day, then offers to help her with the float she's making for the parade. She likes him, but is still spooked by everything, so she cuts their talking short to go to the library and research the Randolph mansion. In doing so, she learns that Reginald Randolph, the original owner, was a wealthy fisherman who was lost at sea with a crew of 13. His wife, Mary, mourned him all the remaining 20 years of her life. She would stand out on the widow's walk every night, and one night during a fierce storm she was hurled to her death by the winds.(A little gruesome for the BSC...) Later, they also learn from Elton that Reginald and Mary's granddaughter, Lydia, was in love with the gardeners son, George. Her parents found out and forbid them to see each other. George was fired, along with his father. He was able to return in secret, but her parents caught them together again. They locked her in a bedroom on the 4th floor for FIVE YEARS. During those same years, George made a name and fortune for himself, then returned, hoping to win their approval. Instead they refused to even see him. He heard about Lydia's fate and found his own way to the 4th floor, where he discovered an old white haired woman: Lydia. 

At night, the girls continue to hear footsteps, cries, and creaking. 

One rainy day, they decide to explore the attic. The Menderses give their permission, but they don't have a key to access it. Georgio ends up having one though. He unlocks it for them, with another warning not to go up there. Of course this doesn't deter them, and the girls get busy searching. They find old toys, dresses, and photo albums, mostly... a dead end. The girls make a new plan to split up and look for spooky activity. Kristy and Mary Anne see the attic lights again, then a ghostly figure up on the widow's walk. 

Mary Anne also visits the historical society, where she learns that Mary Randolph didn't die in a storm at all, but in her sleep. She also acquires some maps of the house and learns about a dumbwaiter that goes through Dawn's room. 

Claudia meets Georgio's parents, who were caretakers for the recently deceased Mr. Randolph. They tell her that towards the end, he kept talking about his "treasure from the attic". 

After learning that a woman with an accent asked about the mansion at the historical society right before they did, the girls start searching for who this woman could be. They also check out the dumbwaiter, where they find a tape recorder hidden. Dawn also overhears that Margaret, who they had been told was mute, can actually talk. She even spoke with an accent...

When they aren't ghost hunting or sleuthing, the girls help the Menderses kids make friends and adjust to the new place, get the girls onto the swim team, and get the brothers to spend time together. When their parents hear they're all doing so well, Mr. M admits that if they don't end up living in the mansion full time, the inheritance will turn over to his cousin, Charles, from Europe. He never mentioned this before because he didn't want the kids to feel pressured. 

The girls put the pieces together and realize Elton and Margaret must be the cousin and his wife. Of course, right as they draw this conclusion, all the parents leave for a day trip to Boston. Then a big storm kicks up, delaying them there. The kids are spooked by the storm, and Elton keeps telling them more made-up family stories to freak them out. Some of the girls snoop around and find more evidence against the couple, as well.

After a rough night, the parents finally return the following morning. Kristy explains all the evidence against Elton and Margaret to them: the fake family stories, the list she found of ways to make the Menderses miserable in the mansion, a photo of a Randolph ancestor that looks just like Elton, and the speaking/accent. When they go to confront them, however, they are long gone. All that's left is a note saying the house and all it's ghosts are theirs. 

The last few days in Reese are (finally) nice and relaxing. 

Back in Stoneybrook, Mal and Jessi are running the BSC mostly by themselves, and having fun taking turns being president (lol...). They are struggling to fill jobs with only 4 members though. When things start to get desperate, they turn down some jobs and even get Janine to take one. They also schedule Logan for a job, then forget to tell him about it until an hour before it starts. 

Timeline:

It's summer vacation, but the very beginning. as in starting on the last day of school... so there's no continuity with the last book. I don't know how Camp BSC fits into all this.

Misc. thoughts:

*Claudia has to write a composition for English class over the summer in order to pass. She starts off writing about her ordinary 2 week gig with Karen and Andrew, and ends up writing about the whole fiasco in Reese. Her paper gets an A.

*If you can't get any time off work when you're only 13, when will you?? This is the time these girls should be having fun and being kids!

*Is Lisa usually a stay at home mom? I can't remember from the Little Sister books, I guess because I wouldn't have cared when I was a kid.

*Kristy says she's not in the mood for a BSC meeting! I think this is a series first!

*Lisa and Seth must both be insanely easy-going and generous... especially since Kristy is the daughter of her ex-husband's new wife. Needing a sitter or two on vacation is one thing, but giving all four girls a free vacation is another. I also wonder how Elizabeth felt about this trip? What about the other three's parents?

*Andrew is getting more outgoing.

*Lycra bike shorts! I remember this terrible trend, and I wore these proudly as a kid. 

*Seth's a carpenter.

*Seth also seemed like an insanely nice guy in here. When Mary Anne was going crazy with the guidebook, as always, he indulged her kindly by asking her where they should stop for a picnic.

*So, super mysteries are literally just mysteries written in the super special format, switching narrators.

*There weren't even 6 kids for the 4 sitters to watch, since Lionel was older than they were! 

*Dawn describes someone as "one of those brooding teenage rebel loners", LOL. 

*Lionel might be one of the most annoying BSC-verse characters of all time. He keeps doing dumb actor voices, scaring the girls, being nosy, and wants to leave the beach right after arriving because there are no "hip actor types" there. He also ignores his little brother, who's desperate for his attention. AND he's sexist, muttering to himself at one point about "hysterical females".

*Dawn's been missing California more and more. We all know how this always ends...

*At the beginning of this book, the BSC is swamped with 8 members. Then half of them leave, and it's not even for a sitting job. This whole set-up just makes no sense, because Kristy is so obsessed with her club and it's reputation, she would never have done this. 

*The reason given for why Margaret is mute is damage from laryngitis? Is that a real thing that can happen?

*Georgio's in college, and just assumed Claudia is 16. She doesn't correct him, and only admits the truth after she's gone back home.

*A widow's walk is a balcony on the roof where women could look to the sea and watch for their husband's ships.

*Karen keeps trying to force poor Martha to make new friends, which was both sad and annoying.

*These family stories about the Randolphs, made up or not, were really dark stuff, and pretty creepy to boot. Especially the one about Lydia. It was like reading a V. C. Andrews story hidden inside a BSC book.

*Mary Anne can embroider, smock, and make quilts.

*Mrs. Pike gets mad at Mallory because there's no sitters available! When Mal (rightly) explains that it's not her fault they all left town, her mom says they should have planned better! While this is true, it isn't Mal's fault, and the BSC members are KIDS. This woman is unbelievable! She chose to have 8 effing kids, not Mal. Watch them yourself, you lazy bitch!

*Jessi and Mal get so stressed, thinking they've ruined the BSC, but this plot just doesn't make sense either. What did the club do during all those past super special trips? Or family summer vacations? Do these clients just suddenly not understand that their sitters are kids? They can't work 24/7, and they will have family trips and other obligations.

*Andrew's currently obsessed with boats and frogs.

*No one has any personality in this book. Everyone's narration and activities are so identical, I kept forgetting whose POV I was on.

*Apparently Stoneybrook has a big summer celebration every year called Celebrate America! Mal and Jessi are also left to deal with coordinating something for it alone. They come up with a "BSC on Wheels" theme, and it's a success.

*Once everyone got to the mansion in Reese, Lisa and Seth were never mentioned again until the end.

*Andrew has a POV chapter! It's so cute too, definitely my favorite part of this damn book.

*It's really an example of great parenting to leave your kids with some people you barely know and go out of town (all the adults going to Boston together). Plus, the BSC girls just let the adults leave without telling them their suspicions, because they thought they didn't have enough evidence! Uhm, this is a risk worth taking to protect yourselves and some little kids from some psychopaths. Even if no one believed them, I would hope one of the parents would have stayed behind. 

*I was disappointed that all this disturbing family lore was made up. It was one of the best parts of this bizarre book.

*Ghostwritten by Jeanne Betancourt.

Books mentioned:

*Dracula, by Bram Stoker

*The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

*Frog and Toad Together, by Arnold Lobel

My rating:

2 stars. For such a wacky story, this was surprisingly boring. It felt like it took me forever to read it and that wasn't helped by the fact that I have so many good books coming up in the regular series that I want to get to. 

This was really just a mess, too: convoluted plot, most of it went nowhere, repetitive, dull, full of characters we'll never hear about again, and built on a bizarre premise. Felt like the BSC meets V. C. Andrews meets Fear Street... with the results just as terrible as that sounds. 

#86: Mary Anne and Camp BSC

 

Thoughts before reading:

I have read this one before, but I never owned it and probably only read it once. I don't remember my thoughts on it, but the plot sounds a lot like the BSC movie... I wonder if it was partially based on this book? 

The basics:

Richard's law firm is merging with another firm, which he's excited about. The change does mean he will have to travel more though, starting with a two week trip to Cincinnati in July. 

Summer's coming up, and some of the BSC girls are worried that with Stacey out they might have more work than they can handle, at least until summer camps and community center programs kick in. Kristy decides they can solve this problem by offering their own camp during the three week gap between school ending and other camps starting. Camp BSC is born. The girls decide it will be held at Mary Anne and Dawn's house, from 9am to 5:30pm. Kids can sign up for a full or half day. (Mrs. Prezzioso and Mrs. Braddock will be on call if they need an adult for any reason.) The camp will have a circus theme.

The idea gets off to a good start, with 22 kids being signed up. On the first day, a little girl named Alicia has separation anxiety from her mother, crying and begging her not to leave. She won't even go to the park with the other kids because she thinks her mom won't be able to find her there. As the days pass, the problem doesn't get any better. (It doesn't help that Mary Anne is babying her, staying back from the park every day with her, and being really defensive whenever anyone else suggests she isn't helping, or even that Alicia will be fine.) Even when the campers take a special field trip to the Stone farm, Mary Anne and Alicia stay behind.

There are some other issues too. The campers from SES and those from SA (Stoneybrook Academy) are mostly sticking with their own classmates. Most of the SA kids have been to circus camps before, and think the theme is dumb. (Karen's the ringleader of the naysayers.) The SES kids are excited about the idea though. 

A week into camp, Richard leaves for his business trip. Mary Anne can't help but feel left behind and abandoned. (Never mind the endless trips she's been on without her dad since the series started, and all the babysitters we know he left her with when he was single.) It doesn't help that Sharon and Dawn are all excited by the prospect of living as "bachelor girls" for 2 weeks. They try to get things off to a fun start with a so-bad-they're-funny movie night, but Mary Anne just isn't having it. She sulks the whole night, then goes to bed early. As the days wear on, she gets grumpier, and the house grows messier. She also gets sick of having take out every night. (Of course, there's nothing stopping her from speaking up, offering to cook, or doing some cleaning.)

Friday night of the second week, the girls have a cookout for the campers, as a special treat. On Saturday, Mary Anne is finally relaxed and ready to enjoy a day with Dawn and Logan, when her bike hits a pot hole and she crashes. Mr. Braddock sees the accident and takes them to the hospital, where it turns out she sprained her ankle. Mary Anne's furious when she finds out her dad isn't coming home early now that she's hurt, thinking he doesn't care enough to do so. She sulks the rest of the weekend, and refuses to do anything fun with Sharon or Dawn. 

The third and final week of camp starts that Monday, and Alicia finally starts going on outings with the other kids. She's finally learned that she's been missing out on the fun. It takes this for Mary Anne to suddenly realize that she's been missing out on all the fun too... Dawn and Sharon also miss Richard, but missing someone won't kill you, and acting like a baby doesn't help. (Only took her 86+ books to learn this!) She now understands that she could have made the best of things from the start, which would have made everything easier. Mary Anne apologizes to Sharon, and suddenly becomes cheerful.

Camp is set to end with the campers putting on a circus for their families to come see. The dress rehearsal is a disaster though. Karen tries to use a real saw for her act, and none of the kids who have been to a "real" circus camp have bothered to practice their acts. Naturally, the BSC steps in to help revise the acts, and together they pull off a successful show. 

On the very last day, Mary Anne, Dawn, and Sharon clean up the house together, then pick up Richard. Mary Anne tells him how she felt, and he promises to travel less if she promises to loosen up and enjoy herself. 

Timeline:

Early summer, the end of the school year and into July.

Misc. thoughts:

*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker.

*This book says Dawn is practically a vegetarian. Much better! Although I'm sure they'll still change it.

*Fun fact: Claudia, Dawn, and Logan like to sleep late. Kristy, Jessi, and Shannon don't. Mary Anne likes to sometimes, but Tigger doesn't like to let her. Mal can't sleep in at her house.

*Here's a list of the campers, for those like me who like lists and facts:

Andrew Brewer, 4

Alicia Gianelli, 4

Jamie Newton, 4

Nicky Pike, 8

Margo Pike, 7

Claire Pike, 5

Karen Brewer, 7

Hannie Papadakis, 7

Nancy Dawes, 7

Vanessa Pike, 9

Haley Braddock, 9

Linny Papadakis, 9

Marilyn Arnold, 8

Carolyn Arnold, 8

Charlotte Johanssen, 8

Bobby Gianelli, 7

Natalie Springer, 7

Matt Braddock, 7

Becca Ramsey, 8

David Michael Thomas, 7

Ricky Torres, 7

Chris Lamar, 7

*Mary Anne says Logan "looks very handsome on a bicycle", LOL...

*Mary Anne projects her own issues onto the situation with Alicia, to the degree that she thinks Mallory is callous for daring to say that Alicia does fine at drop offs once she's distracted (pg 50). 

*I liked that Camp BSC didn't go TOO smoothly, like almost all BSC ventures.

*Later on in the book, it says Richard is going to Cleveland, Ohio. So which is it? How hard is it to have continuity within the same book??

*It's way too late in the series for a plotline like this one, about Mary Anne being so upset that her dad's gone, because she's never had a problem being away from him before. Quite the opposite, as we've seen her struggle for independence. Her moping around about her dad's trip just falls flat as a result. She's old enough to understand it's just a business trip. Even if she understood that but still struggled with it emotionally, she could have risen above those feelings sooner instead of having a constant pity party. Either way, it's too much of a stretch that she'd struggle at all after all those trips to California, summer camp, the cruise, visiting her grandma in Iowa, the class ski trip, the New York trips, the Shadow Lake trip, 3 Sea City trips... give me a break.

*The movies chosen for the themed movie night were Plan 9 From Outer Space (Dawn), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Mary Anne), and an old Elvis movie called Girls, Girls, Girls (Sharon). 

*Also, I've totally done this same movie night idea before, and it's always a blast, with gems such as The Room, Spring Breakers, Plan 9, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Jawbreaker...

*Dawn gets turkey dogs in here... why those instead of tofu dogs?

*Page 88 error, says "whether the kids were SMSers or SESers..." should be SESers or SAers. SMS is the middle school.

*Page 87 error: Logan's notebook entry is in Mary Anne's handwriting. This book is a real mess! Was it even edited or had they just stopped caring by this point?

*Apparently Mallory is really good at telling ghost stories.

*Page 94, yet another error: the ghost cat plot line happened to Mallory, but it says it was Dawn in here.

*I usually don't mind Karen, but she's SUCH a brat about the circus camp in here, and sounds really spoiled and entitled.

*Some wisdom from Kristy: A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

*Page 132 error, it's stated again that the kids were no longer divided into SES and SMS factions. 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2.5 stars. Not a bad plot idea, but between Mary Anne acting like such a baby and the terrible editing, it wasn't very enjoyable.