Thoughts before reading:
Out of all the BSC books I had to get for this project, this was the one I had the hardest time finding, and the most expensive. I took my time with pretty much all the others, and eventually found cheap thrift store copies. No matter how much I shopped around though, this wasn't cheap anywhere, and I finally caved and spent $20 on a copy. I wonder if this one just had a limited printing or something?
The basics:
SMS is planning another summer trip for the students. It works the same way as the Hawaii one, and this time they're going to London and Paris for $400 per student. Everyone in the BSC is excited, but Mary Anne is unsure about going, because Dawn might not make it off the non-student wait list this time. (Not sure if I discussed this in SS #13 or not, but if all the spots aren't filled, than non-SMS students can sign up. Last time Dawn was conveniently the only kid to make it off the wait list.)
It's shaping up to be a pretty interesting summer, because not only is there the trip to look forward to, but there's a playground camp opening at SES, and it's hiring counselors. The only problem is, there are only 6 spots available to middle schoolers, and the whole BSC wants to apply... so Mary Anne is worried that it might cause problems among them.
By the time Dawn arrives to spend the summer, Mary Anne is bursting to tell her about the Europe trip and the playground jobs. Dawn is interested in a job, but doesn't actually want to go on the trip. She hasn't been to Stoneybrook at all since Christmas, so she wants to spend her whole summer there. Mary Anne understands, but feels torn about what she should do.
Kristy, Stacey, Abby, Jessi, and Claudia are all going on the trip for sure, and they have to raise half the money themselves, so they come up with the idea of a yard sale. To appeal to kids, it will have a stuffed animal theme. Mary Anne and Logan both mention they might not be going on the trip, and Mal comments that people staying might have a better chance at getting the playground jobs. After all, those going on the trip will have to miss a fair amount of work. Kristy gets snappy and irritated with everyone afterwards, being too competitive like always.
Everyone starts doing extra work, taking on lawn mowing jobs, gardening, and extra babysitting. Mary Anne's glad to be so busy, because everyone keeps getting more and more tense over the playground job competition.
Mary Anne finally decides she will be staying behind with Dawn all summer, and she marks that fact on her job application. When Kristy finds out that she's not going, she gets really annoyed and causes more problems at the BSC meeting, even saying those going on the trip should get priority on the jobs, just because they need money more. (Never mind that they won't even be around for the whole duration of camp. NOT how the real world works, Kristy...) Claudia says if she gets one of the jobs, she isn't even going on the trip.
Meanwhile, Victoria Kent and her family are returning to England soon. She's become "Americanized" though, and now doesn't want to go. By now she's also gotten really close to Mary Anne, and is jealous that Dawn's around now, taking up so much of her time. Stacey accidently tells her that Mary Anne isn't going on the London trip, and Victoria's furious, because she had hoped to meet up during it. (This was an honest mistake though, and Stacey does the right thing after by calling Mary Anne to tell her what happened and apologize.) Mary Anne writes Victoria an apology letter.
All the BSC members land job interviews, except for Mal and Jessi. Mary Anne's interview doesn't go very well though, since they're mainly interested in sports and coaching experience. Despite this, she does get a job, and so do Dawn, Claudia, and Logan. (I'm SO glad Kristy didn't get one after the way she treated everyone in here!) The BSC members going to Europe are the ones not hired. Kristy finally apologizes to everyone.
The stuffed animal sale is a success, with the club making about $500. (I've never made anywhere close to that selling old junk, but ok...)
Timeline:
Summer vacation is less than a week away at the beginning, then we get a few weeks in... so, June?
Misc. thoughts:
*Ghostwritten by Diane Molleson. Another new ghostie!
*Dawn's father and Carol have just had a baby, Elizabeth Grace, or Gracie. I had no idea she ever had a new sibling.
*Alan Gray gets in trouble for hitting a teacher with a spitball. (Mary Anne's English teacher.)
*Richard apparently bought a van? I wonder why. He has a really small family, and they don't seem to want more kids...
*Kristy also gets annoyed that Dawn doesn't want to go on the Europe trip, which seems silly to me. Usually she's thrilled to have people stay behind to babysit and run the club.
*Claudia has a computer? I don't think this has been mentioned before.
*The frenzy over the playground jobs doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would anyone give up a trip to Europe to work a job like this? These kids are 13! They don't have to work at all, and they get opportunities to work with kids all of the time. Or, for that matter, to work a variety of jobs. The employment prospects for middle schoolers in Stoneybrook is apparently excellent. They still have all their high school summers to be camp counselors too, for that matter.
*Kristy is the absolute worst in here. I know I've said it before, but damn. I guess she didn't learn much from the events of #100. This is also the first BSC fight since then (and hopefully the last).
*Janine applies for a playground job! I like that they finally have her doing something different.
*There's no babysitting chapters in this book! It was so nice.
*This cover and tagline were a weird choice, because the playground jobs don't actually start in here. They find out who's been hired in the last chapter.
*I can totally understand why Dawn and Mary Anne decide not to go on the Europe trip, but Claudia, really? What an opportunity to miss out on, just to do more babysitting.
Books mentioned:
*Curious George, by Margret and H. A. Rey
*The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
*Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh
*Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff
*The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare
My rating:
3 stars. This was a fairly enjoyable read. It was mainly to set up Super Special #15, clearly, but that was at least well done.
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