Thoughts before reading:
According to my childhood book list, I did read this one at some point. I don't remember it though, so no idea what I thought of it. I'm guessing I liked it, probably due to the mall setting alone. When I was a kid/preteen, the mall was one of my favorite places. Makes me feel old to say that now though, since no one even goes to the mall anymore...
The basics:
The kids at SMS are starting a new Short Takes class (like the one they took in Mary Anne + 2 Many Babies), called Project Work. For this one, they will be going out into the community after school 3 days a week and actually working at a business of their choice. Stacey's excited, because she's often thought she'd like to run a store someday. Kristy decides to cut BSC meetings down to once a week and reduce jobs during the project. She also wants the girls to all work at the Washington Mall, so their schedules will be coordinated. (Kristy is definitely NOT this flexible and accommodating later in the series! This is all extremely reasonable of her.)
Stacey decides to take a job at Toy Town, since her favorite clothing store isn't on the list of job options for the class. The rest of the girls also land jobs around the mall, just like they wanted. Shannon agrees to answer the phone by herself the other two meeting times during the week, and to take on extra jobs.
Right away, Stacey likes her new job. Orientation goes well, and she gets along with her boss, April, who brings her two year old son Sandy to work with her for lack of childcare. Part of Stacey's job will be helping with him. April does mention to Stacey that there's been an increased problem with shoplifting lately, so she'll need to be careful. When the BSC girls talk about their jobs later, they all mention being told about the problem. People have also been sneaking into the movies without paying.
Toy Town also turns out to have an issue with people dropping their kids off in the store, and just leaving them there while they shop. (This doesn't surprise me, having worked retail!) This can cause things in the store to get pretty hectic. One such afternoon, some sing-along cassettes vanish while Stacey's on register. Security reviews the tapes, and they see some older teenagers hanging around before the theft happened. Kristy's working with the mall security for her job (of course she is, haha!) and she mentions they do think kids are responsible for most of the shoplifting incidents.
After this incident, Stacey learns the security and theft processes for her store. She's still anxious about losing merchandise on her watch, or about potentially armed and dangerous thieves. Despite all this, a Gamester ends up disappearing while she's in charge. She feels even worse about this one, and since she was busy watching Sandy at the time, she realizes the mall really needs a daycare center. Stacey mentions the idea to the rest of the BSC, and they get busy planning one out. While everyone's discussing it, Jessi mentions that someone has been sleeping overnight at the movie theater. Mal says she's seen some dirty looking kids in her store at story time, and they stole cookies from another kid.
Mall security plans a sting operation that leads to the arrest of several teenagers, one of which turns out to have just stolen another Gamester under Stacey's watch. Despite this, the thefts keeping happening. Kristy says it's mostly small items during the day, and large, expensive items at night.
Stacey tells April about her daycare idea, and April tells her the mall just got a new manager, Mr. Morton. She'll need to run her idea by him. Apparently the old manager had repeatedly turned the idea down. The BSC girls dress up and take their proposal to him together. Mr. Morton ends up loving it. Kristy thinks it's because he has kids, because she's often seen him talking to the same three kids, but he tells her he doesn't have any. Plans for the center get underway immediately, and the BSC helps to organize and advertise it.
One day while Stacey's working in the store room at Toy Town, she's startled by a man in a ski mask. He runs past her, through the store room, and back into the mall. Security is called, but they are unable to find him in the crowds. After this scare, the girls decide to try and catch the thief themselves. Jessi thinks that based on the clues, it seems like someone has been living in the mall. The girls do some research, and begin to suspect Mr. Morton is involved somehow because he's been accused of misusing mall funds. Kristy also thinks it's suspicious how often she's seen him with those same kids, who often look disheveled.
Jessi's helping with a movie theater birthday party at her job when the fire alarms go off. It turns out to be a false alarm, but Kristy says right before it went off the cameras caught those same three kids running by, looking scared to death.
Stacey comes up with a theory that Mr. Morton is just too nice, and he got into financial trouble by trying too hard to help the mall and community, which led to the misused funds and a possible bankruptcy. Then to relieve his debts, he began to steal things from the mall, and those three kids found out. The kids also haven't been seen since the fire alarm video, so the BSC girls decide to go looking for them. Charlie takes them to the mall, and comes in to help them search. (Once again, he's the best brother ever!)
They end up finding the kids napping in the unopened daycare center. The oldest, Mara, tells them that their mom is in the hospital. Their aunt was supposed to care for them, but she never showed up. When they ran out of money, after deciding to stay home and care for themselves, they moved into the mall. Mara's 12, and she's been taking care of the younger two, 8 year old Kyle and 6 year old Brenda, by herself. They also confirm that Mr. Morton is the one stealing things. He knew they were living in the mall, and agreed not to tell if they didn't.
Charlie takes the kids to the food court for burgers, while Stacey calls the police. Mara feels betrayed when she finds out, but she still admits everything that's happened to them. The kids end up going with social services, who will help them reunite with their mom, who's almost well. The family will also attend counseling together. Mr. Morton is arrested.
Thankfully, the next Short Takes class is Stress Reduction for Teens.
Timeline:
Nothing's really mentioned, so I'm assuming it's still Spring.
Misc. thoughts:
*Short Takes actually sounds like a really great program, one I wish we'd had in school. The kids take a special short class where they study a subject that isn't normally taught in school, intensely, for just a few weeks. They've done Modern Living, Career class, Health, and Civics, to name a few.
*The Short Takes right before Project Work was Math for Real Life, which was, unsurprisingly, Stacey's favorite. They learned to balance a checkbook, make grocery budgets, figure out mortgage payments, and play the stock market.
*Stacey's considering going to business school to become a trader on the stock exchange, or to run her own company.
*Project Work is also a great idea. What a perfect way to motivate kids to go to college, think realistically about adulthood and jobs, and appreciate being a kid. I definitely wish my school had done this. Most kids don't have a clue about any of these things, and I know I didn't.
*Wouldn't it have been easier to run the BSC during this time if their schedules weren't coordinated? I didn't really get the logic behind that decision.
*The Project Work assignments:
Claudia: The Artist's Exchange
Kristy: mall security (lol!)
Logan: Casa Grande's take-out counter in the food court
Mallory: BookCenter
Mary Anne: Critters, the pet store (supplies only)
Jessi: usher at Cinema World
*This book made me nostalgic for the days when you could spend a day at the mall, and they had pretty much everything you could want. That was definitely my favorite way to spend weekends when I was in junior high.
*Alan Gray's working at Just Desserts.
*I liked how when Stacey was setting up a dollhouse display, she put the father doll in the kitchen, and the mother in the garage, to make it a liberated dollhouse family. She'll definitely grow up to be a good feminist!
*Stacey calls working in the real world a real eye opener... you can say that again, haha... just wait until it's every day for the rest of your life!
*Instead of babysitting chapters, this book has job diary chapters! SUCH a welcome change of pace.
*This was clearly intended to teach kids why shoplifting is wrong. It even mentions profit losses and how theft raises prices.
*This mall really needed to invest in some proper security cameras. All of this crazy stuff keeps happening, all over the mall, and they never catch a thing? Or does Mr. Morton somehow tamper with every single camera's footage? It's not clear.
*It's definitely not surprising that the BSC girls think they can catch the thief in here, since by this point they succeed at everything they try, AND they've even caught criminals before. These newer mysteries are making me miss silly misunderstandings, like in Jessi and the Jewel Thieves. Anything would be better.
*Jessi thinks a mom is exaggerating and rolls her eyes when she says her first grader reads at a 5th grade level, but when I was in second grade I tested as reading at a 7th grade level. It's not that weird.
*Kristy doesn't crush on celebrities, and knowing how a guy does in sports is more important to her than looks. This could also explain her crush on Bart: it's more of a sports fan crush than a romantic one?
*I can't believe the dumb theory Stacey has about Mr. Morton stealing from his own mall turns out to be true, especially since she basically pulled that theory out of thin air with barely any evidence. Terrible solution to this "mystery", that's for sure.
*Logan wants to be a chef.
*I remember Cheetos paws! Loved those growing up.
*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles
Books mentioned:
*Little Red Riding Hood, by various
*Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown
*The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
*Tikki Tikki Tembo, by Arlene Mosel
*The Little Red Hen, by Paul Galdone
*Barney and the Bully (this appears to be fictional)
*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle
My rating:
3 stars. I was enjoying this until the ending reveal, but it was still at least entertaining. I think I've officially reached the point in the series where the majority of the books are going to be ridiculous though. For the first time since I began my project, I'm losing motivation to keep reading!
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