Thoughts before reading:
Well, I made it this far! I honestly never thought I would when I began this project way back in June. This feels like a huge milestone.
My BSC reading days as a kid would wind down and end not long after this book came out, but I never would have believed that, because I LOVED this book back then. I bought it at Waldenbooks, brand new, and read it countless times. I've mentioned before how much friendship drama I had in elementary school, so this appealed to me mainly for that reason. It was comforting, and I'd re-read this even after my BSC days to remind myself that a terrible fight with a friend wasn't the end of the world. It only felt that way, but usually things worked out just fine.
I also loved the shock and scandal of a BSC book with no BSC! This was something different, and I liked seeing the girls deal with new situations. I don't recall anymore WHY all this happens though... so I'm nervous for this one. I hope it holds up some, and isn't just petty annoying bickering (very common in the early books, and I haven't missed it).
The basics:
It's the Sunday before Labor Day, and Kristy and her family have just returned from Hawaii late the night before. The household is in chaos, and Kristy's trying to catch up with Mary Anne (on the phone), despite all the noise. Mary Anne tells her about how Abby really improved as president, but instead of being pleased, Kristy's jealous.
The first BSC meeting with Kristy back is the next day, but everyone's annoyed because it's Labor Day and they had other plans. Kristy's annoyed because there's only about $3 in the treasury. Needless to say, it isn't the best meeting, and it only gets worse after Stacey announces she's missing the Friday meeting to go to a Broadway show. (Kristy's really not happy, but doesn't this sort of thing happen often on her dad's weekends?) Jessi's new dance class is also going to be Fridays at 5:15. Everyone wants to switch the Friday meetings to Thursdays for her, but Kristy's dead set against it. She even wants Jessi to pick between ballet and the BSC, instead of just excusing her from the Friday meetings.
Kristy does relent on the Thursday meetings issue later, when she realizes no one's on her side. She then decides she needs a big idea of her own (still jealous over Abby's Mexican festival), and starts planning a block party (lol...). The rest of that week, everyone's mopey at meetings, and no clients call during the Thursday one at all.
Things worsen for the BSC after Mary Anne and Claudia end up fighting, after a sitting job at the Barrett-Dewitts. All the kids were down about school starting, and arguing. Mary Anne tried to distract them with board games, but Claudia butted in with an art project... which turned into a disaster and led to even more fighting. Both girls refused to work together and end up angry that the other wouldn't listen.
Trying to improve morale, Kristy throws herself into planning her Fall Into Fall Block Party. Her first big idea is to tie apples into trees for apple picking. The other girls (very rightly) find this insane, and try to get her to tone things down. Kristy ignores their calls for reason, and instead goes on about her plans to include maple sugaring, hay rides, and cider making, to name a few. Then Kristy finds out there's already a fall festival the day she wanted hers, and there's no other weekend in October where everyone's free. Since it's clear nobody else really wants to do it anyway, Kristy gets angry again. There's also more meeting conflicts coming up. The other girls try to convince her that she needs to be flexible, but she storms away from their conversation instead. (And even though she's being bossy and unreasonable, everyone else apologizes to her at the next meeting.)
Shortly after all this, Kristy's babysitting at the Rodowsky's, and Jackie falls out of a tree, hurting his ankle. Kristy blames herself, and starts to feel like she's not a good babysitter anymore.
The next meeting after Jackie's accident, a few of the girls are late, everyone's studying, and Mal admits that she wants to join a creative writing group on Wednesdays, during meeting time. A few job calls come in, and everyone's busy, so Kristy takes them both. She starts fuming over how no one's taking the club seriously anymore, and ends up yelling at everyone. After snapping, her anger begins to lift, and she realizes that if this keeps up, everyone will end up not speaking, and she'd rather break up the club instead, to save their friendships. (Definitely the right choice, but I'm very surprised!) Stacey and Claudia are immediately for it; Mal and Jessi are immediately not. Kristy calls for a vote to disband the club. Those in favor are Claudia, Stacey, Abby, Shannon, Kristy, Logan, and Mary Anne. The motion passes, with plenty of tears.
The next morning, Kristy's feeling bummed out, but the feeling fades as she realizes her life will be simpler now, she can see her family more, and she can babysit as a hobby instead of an obsession.
The first few weeks without the BSC pass. Some clients call Claudia's, angry, and others try to encourage the girls to work things out. Kristy stops doing any babysitting at all, because she doesn't trust herself anymore. None of the former members seem to miss the club, either, so Kristy starts to think it was never really a Great Idea.
After hearing some girls at school talking about how the BSC had a monopoly on babysitting, so they never even got to learn, Kristy comes up with the idea for an advice service. (Her friends aren't impressed.) Cokie starts sitting for the Hsus. Jamie Newton thinks the BSC members are mad at him. Clients still constantly call Claudia.
Jackie ends up in the hospital again after he falls riding his bike without a helmet. He was on the way to Kristy's house at the time, to give her a note: he thinks the BSC broke up because of him. The whole club rushes to the hospital to see him, the first time they've all been together since the vote to disband.
Kristy finally breaks her sitting ban to watch the Pike kids with Mal. They play hide & seek, and Mal accidently shuts Claire's finger in the door. Mal gets upset, and Kristy comforts her, realizing in the process that these accidents happen to everyone. She then realizes she deserves another chance, and so does the BSC... this time, listening to each other and talking things out.
Kristy calls a BSC meeting, and everyone comes. They discuss all their problems and reservations, and decide to reinstate the club for a 1 month trial period.
Timeline:
September, begins the Sunday before Labor Day.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis. Ann M. Martin couldn't return for this?
*Charlie's still dating Sarah.
*Kristy's family took a LIMO from the NYC airport to Stoneybrook? That's not pretentious at all... I wonder what that cost?
*Kristy's still annoyed that Abby mocked her at the meeting she ran (in #99). This girl does not let things go...
*Kristy bought Mal clip-on earrings in Hawaii, but didn't she get her ears pierced in #21? Not only that, but it was a huge deal for awhile.
*Claudia's family actually left their BBQ with Peaches and Russ early on Labor Day because of the BSC meeting... that's insane. Nobody would really let their 13 year old's plans override the entire family's.
*I didn't realize Abby taking over as president while Kristy was in Hawaii would have so much to do with the conflict in here. I'm impressed, actually, at how they fit it together and planned ahead. I know that's a pretty basic thing for a book series to do, but this one can't even usually get basic continuity right. Plus insane things are always happening, never to be mentioned again. So, this is an achievement. I'm also just glad it wasn't 100% out of nowhere.
*Because of Claudia's gumball machine, I asked for (and received) one for Christmas the year this book came out.
*Kristy tells Stacey she shouldn't have let Abby mess with the dues?! Stacey was in NYC!
*Kristy is at her absolute worst in here. It would really have served her right if she did lose the club for good after all this.
*Marnie Barrett has a big crush on Jessi and calls her "Dess-ee".
*The 8th grade English syllabus includes Dickers, Stevenson, Faulkner, Blume, and Cormier. That's quite a vast difficulty range...
*Kristy's worried about keeping up with her schoolwork and the club? Well, this was never a problem the other dozen times she went through 8th grade...
*As I read this, everything was familiar, the most of any book yet.
*I'm pretty sure other kids have gotten hurt under the BSC's care, but probably not Kristy? This thing with Jackie isn't nearly as bad as when Danielle drove a car under Jessi's care though, to name one...
*Mrs. Rodowsky is chilly to Kristy after the accident, which seems really harsh when you consider all the things Jackie's always doing. If it was another kid I'd understand the parents blaming the sitter, at least partially, for what happened.
*Kristy's always been a morning person, except for two times: after her dad left, and after the BSC ends.
*I'm surprised Abby voted to disband the club... she only just joined! Why did she even bother then?
*I was pleasantly surprised by how this book handled things. I thought it was going to be a big, ugly fight. Talking and voting is a huge step up from that.
*I bet Stacey and Claudia were thrilled when they thought the club was ending, haha.
*This book has almost no babysitting, no club notebook, no babysitting chapters... I loved it!
*Shea thinks an adverb is a verb from an advertisement.
Books mentioned:
*The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson
*The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allen Poe
My rating:
4.5 stars. So much better than I expected!
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