Thoughts before reading:
I did read this one as a kid, and I remember liking it. I don't recall my specific thoughts on it, although I do remember some basics about the plot. Mainly, that Claudia is being too overbearing with the new baby and driving her aunt crazy.
This is one of my favorite covers too. The details in the nursery, Claudia, and the baby are all adorable. I especially love that little fuzzy ponytail on the baby! So cute. Claudia's even wearing her bowling shirt that we've heard mentioned.
The basics:
Claudia's social studies class is taking a trip to Philadelphia for a weekend, coming up soon, to study American History. Stacey and Abby have the same class, in a different period, so they'll also be going.
Russ calls Claudia at the end of a BSC meeting to tell her he and Peaches are heading to the hospital to have the baby. Claudia tells her parents right as they're pulling into the driveway, then hops in the car as they rush to join them. After a rather long wait (Peaches has to be induced), baby Lynn is finally born. Claudia's touched that they named the baby after her: Lynn is her middle name.
After school the next day, Claudia rushes back to the hospital, where she meets Lynn properly, and falls in love with her. She also finally gets to give Peaches the baby blanket she made (the one she started back in #78, when her aunt had the miscarriage). Then Russ and Peaches ask her to be Lynn's godmother. Thrilled, Claudia accepts. She takes the job seriously, and is determined to be the best godmother ever, beginning by making Lynn a Welcome Home banner. Once Peaches and Lynn are released from the hospital, she jumps in to hold the baby every chance she gets, and helps out constantly. On the baby's second day home, she invites the whole BSC over to meet her.
From there, Claudia continues to rush to her aunt and uncle's house every chance she gets, and is constantly giving them pointers on childcare. Her mom keeps telling her to leave them alone so they can have some family time together, but Claudia brushes her off, knowing that they need her help. Russ and Peaches seem stressed and cranky most of the time, after all, even fighting in front of Claudia. During one argument, Peaches makes a comment that she feels like they're living in a hotel. Claudia's confused, since she hasn't noticed any guests coming over.
By the end of the first week with Lynn, Peaches is (finally) getting snappy with Claudia, who decides it must be due to post-partum. Peaches explains to her that she needs some quiet evening time with her family. Claudia takes it personally, gets offended, and storms out. Peaches calls her later that evening, but she refuses to take the call.
Meanwhile, a girl named Melissa in Claudia's social studies class latches on to her, calling to ask simple questions, trying to switch roommates for the class trip, and joining in with her, Stacey, and Abby uninvited. On the Philly trip, Melissa tags along with Claudia the whole time, and butts into whatever she's doing with Stacey and Abby. She also convinces Claudia to split from their group to see the Rodin museum (there's not enough time for everyone to go, and Claudia really wanted to see it). The pair end up getting lost, and Claudia blames Melissa for having the idea in the first place, and calls her a pest.
Claudia and Melissa reunite with their group after finding another museum where they are able to call their teacher for help. Everyone's furious with them, aside from Claudia's friends. Melissa apologizes to Claudia, which leads her to realize she's been intruding on Peaches in the same ways Melissa has to her.
Once she's back home, Claudia calls Peaches to tell her about the trip, and promises not to be a pest anymore. Peaches apologizes and asks her to just be courteous, like calling before just coming over.
The book ends with Lynn's christening, which Claudia cries throughout.
Side plot: The Arnold twins have become obsessed with sneaking horror movies, and are now terrified. The twins end up getting over their fear by watching a documentary about how scary movies are made. Kristy then helps them make their own movie, The Twins Who Mutilated Their Babysitter.
Timeline:
It's May.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Peter Lerangis.
*Claudia thought physics was the study of how to put bubbles in soda, LOL. Wow.
*This one made me literally laugh out loud when Logan saw the baby's sonogram and said, "What is this, some kind of underwater fungus?"
*Claudia's social studies teacher calls on her to name which city is called the City of Brotherly Love, and she says Hermosa Beach, because hermano is Spanish for brother, haha! This book is actually funny.
*This is the second book to mention the SMS teachers everyone calls Dolly One and Two. One of them is Claudia's social studies teacher, Ms. Bernhardt.
*There were more labor details in here than I was expecting... not graphic ones at all, just details that would go right over the heads of most BSC readers.
*Claudia sees a candy and soda machine and thinks 'dinner!', haha.
*The Arnold twins are back to watching all the tv they want... so much for that whole drama having any point.
*When Logan sits for the Arnold twins, they sneak a horror movie called Horrorville: Head's Up. LOL, well, I'd probably watch it. However, when Logan sees a scene from it, he says he almost barfs? What a marshmallow!
*Claudia has to look up how to spell "home" in the dictionary.
*Claudia says she's a veteran of BSC client's newborns? Completely not true, thankfully the girls don't get hired to sit for newborns. Pretty much the only boundary placed on them.
*How many side plots are the Arnold twins going to be milked for? It's definitely been WAY more than any other kid.
*I'm tired of being told how sensitive Mary Anne is when she's always just done something anyone with basic kindness or less would do. In here we're told this because she didn't tell the Arnold twins they were too old for picture books or could read on their own when they asked her for a bedtime story. They're only in the second grade! Who the hell would tell a kid that age that they were too old for a story or to read it themselves? Tons of kids in this age range are read to at bedtime, including Karen.
*I felt really bad for Melissa. She just really wanted to impress Claudia and be her friend, and Claudia wouldn't even give her a chance. This was a perfect example of how exclusive the BSC members have gotten.
*Alan Gray teases Claudia, calling her "the star of Home Alone Thirteen: Lost in Philadelphia!" His first funny joke of the entire series...
*I actually had a really similar experience to Claudia and Melissa's getting lost on a school trip in here, when I was 15 and on a class trip to Europe. My friend and I got lost in a museum, and would up getting in trouble for being late to the meeting point.
*Abby asks if they're in Hawaii yet... foreshadowing?
*I could understand Claudia being clueless and too pushy due to being so young, and I definitely understood Peaches being frustrated with her. What annoyed me in here were Claudia's parents. Why didn't they just refuse to let her go over to her aunt's house so often? Or sit her down to explain why it was rude? This was a situation where they definitely should have intervened.
Books mentioned:
*Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
*Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson
*There's a Nightmare in my Closet, by Mercer Mayer
*The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
*Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders, by Bill Brittain
My rating:
3.5 stars. Much better than the other recent books. Claudia was a bit immature and annoying in here, but it wasn't unrealistic for thirteen.
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