Thoughts before reading:
Well, I know the basic plot of this very infamous book already, and I'm really not excited to read about child abuse. I am, however, curious how this very vanilla and idyllic series is going to tackle this subject matter. I thought by the time I got closer to this one, I would be able to picture it better, but that hasn't been the case.
The basics:
Baby Lynn is staying with the Kishis while Peaches and Russ take their first vacation since she was born. Claudia's thrilled, and so are all her friends when they arrive for the BSC meeting and she's there. During that meeting, Mrs. Nicholls (introduced briefly in #116) calls for the first time. She needs a sitter for her two boys, 7 year old Joey and 5 year old Nate. Claudia gets the job.
Claudia really looks forward to it, but right off the bat, things are a little odd. The Nicholls house is completely spotless, and both boys are really jumpy. When she takes them next door to play with Stephen Stanton-Cha, they keep running to the window every time they hear a car, worried it's their dad. Eventually Claudia gives up and takes them home, where Joey immediately destroys the note Claudia left saying where they had gone. Even Mrs. Nicholls seems nervous about it when she gets home and Claud mentions that they went out. By the time she leaves, Claudia's feeling pretty uneasy herself.
Shortly after, Mrs. Nicholls calls again and asks Claudia to be their regular sitter, which she agrees to. (I thought this wasn't allowed?) On the next job, Claudia brings her kid kit, which the boys love. They still exhibit weird behaviors though... letting her win at games, getting nervous if any tiny item in the house is out of place, and panicking if they mess anything up. Claudia assumes they must have had some terrible experience with a past babysitter that's made them nervous. That is, until Mr. Nicholls arrives home early and gets upset about the peanut butter being open on the counter. Claudia explains that she did it and he relaxes, explaining he thought it was one of his "dumb slobby sons".
Whenever she encounters Mr. Nicholls, he's charming and friendly to Claudia, but she notices he's harsh with his wife, even in front of her. She continues to struggle to get Nate and Joey to relax and enjoy anything. They also have a ton of rules, like no talking during meals, and they tell her they aren't allowed to have stuffed animals, which she finds sad.
Claudia starts to become more and more unsettled by the Nicholls family situation as time goes on. She brings it up to the BSC, but they all agree it's not her place to question how someone raises their kids (a good call generally, but since when is this their default?? They interfere in family business ALL the time!).
Meanwhile, Kristy decides she wants to do something with clients for the St. Patrick's Day parade. Claudia decides to include the Nicholls boys, thinking it will be good for them, but when she shows up to babysit for them one day, Mr. N tells her they can't go to the planning session because they've misbehaved. Instead they have to do chores while she supervises, and they can't watch tv or have a snack. Claudia later asks them why they're being punished, and Joey tells her he touched his dad's briefcase. She's in disbelief, and tries to make them feel better by helping them clean and making things fun.
When Mr. N gets home that day, he's already in a foul mood, and practically pushes Claudia out the door. She realizes she forgot her jacket though, so she dashes back in. The boys and Mr. N are in the garage, and she already hears him yelling at them. She also hears a sharp noise that sounds like a slap. Not wanting to leave the boys, she creeps in their direction. Both boys are crying, and Mr. N notices her and just calmly offers her a ride home. Stunned, she runs out of the house and goes looking for her BSC friends.
Immediately, she calls an emergency BSC meeting, and shares the whole story of everything she's witnessed. Everyone agrees that she should tell her mom, and they'll stay for moral support while she does. Once Mrs. Kishi gets home, Claudia invites her up to the meeting and explains again. Mrs. K listens intently and tells the girls how hard it can be to prove child abuse. However, she wants to help in any way she can, first by talking to Mrs. Nicholls and a social worker. (Mrs. N works at the library with her, so they already know each other.)
The next day, Claudia's distracted during school, wondering about her mom's talk with Mrs. N, only to find out when Mrs. K finally gets home from work that it didn't go well. Mrs. N denied everything, and just said her husband was a little strict. Mrs. Kishi says now all she can do is call the Department of Children's Services.
Mrs. Nicholls calls Kristy and cancels all her BSC appointments.
Over a week later, Erica Blumberg calls Claudia from the Nicholls house. She knows Claudia used to babysit for them, and wants her help now because she doesn't know what to do. When she arrived, Mr. Nicholls told her the boys were being punished, so to just leave them in their room alone. She later heard them crying, so she went to check on them, only to find Joey with a black eye and Nate covered in bruises. Claudia promises to help, and immediately calls her mom at work. Mrs. Kishi thanks her and says she's going to get the boys out of the house. Claudia decides to ride over there too, and arrives just in time to see her mom pull up with Mrs. Nicholls. Unfortunately, Mr. Nicholls is already there too. Claudia hears a crash from inside the house, then Erica and the boys run out. Mrs. Kishi and Mrs. Nicholls follow, and Mrs. K orders everyone to get into her car. They do, but Mr. N thankfully doesn't come out or try to follow them.
Mrs. Kishi drops Erica off at her house, then drives the rest of them to Stamford, to Mr. Kishi's office, because Mr. Nicholls won't be able to find them there. Mrs. Nicholls thanks everyone, and explains that she still loves her husband, and didn't want things to come down to this. Now that they have, she's decided to stay with her sister in upstate New York for awhile. The Kishis drive back to Stoneybrook, get her car, and stock it up with gas and snacks.
After they leave, Claudia and her mom sit in their car and cry together.
At midnight that night, Claudia's woken up by her phone ringing. It's Mr. Nicholls, screaming "give me back my wife!" into the phone. He then starts to cry. Claudia hangs up, then lays in bed wide awake for the rest of the night.
Erica comes to the next BSC meeting, and the girls discuss the importance of telling adults right away if they ever face something like this again. Mrs. Kishi also comes by to tell them that Mrs. Nicholls got a restraining order against her husband, and Mr. N has admitted to his "problem" and agreed to get counseling.
Claudia decides to buy each boy a stuffed animal.
Timeline:
It's March. This begins on the first day of the month.
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.
*Lynn is now 6 months old, and apparently the only character who still ages.
*Is there going to be a BSC event for every little holiday now? In a few books, the side plot will probably be about arbor day...
*Claudia and all the kids in Stoneybrook have such idyllic lives, it's hard for her to even comprehend that kids could be afraid of a parent. Lucky her.
*Since when is Pow old? That's never been mentioned before.
*I really like Mrs. Kishi, and the way she handled this situation. She seems like such a good mom. I also loved that the girls involved a parent for once, instead of trying to do something on their own.
*Kristy did a report on child abuse in social studies? That is hard to picture, as it's never been even hinted at in the series before.
*The sections about the St. Patrick's Day parade and planning are painfully out of place in here. I wish they'd just had baby Lynn staying over be the side plot.
*It doesn't make any sense that abusive parents would hire all these random babysitters. If they both had to work and needed childcare, I'd expect them to have the boys at daycare or an after school program instead, where they wouldn't be one-on-one with anyone else.
*This book wasn't an enjoyable read, by any means, but it was nice to see more of the Kishi family, and have someone's parents be around and involved.
Books mentioned:
*Encyclopedia Brown, by Donald J. Sobol
*The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
*Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
My rating:
No rating. Based on enjoyment, it would be a zero, because this was really hard to read, and it hit a little too close to home. However, the actual story doesn't deserve that rating. It was better in many ways than I expected. I appreciate what this book was trying to do, and it was much darker and more realistic than I thought it would be. I can't imagine kids reading and enjoying this, but maybe it's helped someone. It is nice to think that maybe some future babysitters learned something from this story at least.
No comments:
Post a Comment