#36 Jessi's Baby-sitter

Only in the 'Brook

Do eleven year olds not

Need baby-sitters...

Summary

Mama Ramsey is going back to work, so good old Aunt Cecelia (aka the Voice of Reason from SS #4) is moving in with the family. Jessi and Becca are pretty unhappy about this news, and right away, they start plotting all sorts of awful things they can do to drive her away. At first, it looks like they'll have good reason to want to "get" their aunt; from the second she steps out of her car, she's picking on the girls, and it just gets worse from there. Aunt Cecelia completely takes over the household; she decides what the girls eat for snacks, orders them to bed far earlier than they normally go, doesn't trust them with Squirt, and even restyles their hair for them. Once, Aunt Cecelia even grounds Jessi from a BSC meeting for being 10 minutes late getting home from a sitting job. The obvious solution here would be for Jessi and Becca to talk to their parents about what's going on, but they don't. This is the BSC, after all. Parental contact must be kept to a minimum. :)

Jessi and Becca have checked off plenty of the things on their "List of Mean Things to Do to Aunt Cecelia," including shortsheeting her bed and putting shaving cream in her slippers. They're puzzled (and nervous) by the fact that their aunt hasn't said a word about the tricks. Hmmmm...

Meanwhile, it's science fair time for the SES students. Jackie Rodowsky is entering (with some help from Jessi), Margo Pike is entering (with some help from Mal), Charlotte Johanssen is entering (with a little help from Stacey), and David Michael is entering (with some help from Kristy). Jessi is afraid that the club will get all competitive with each other, and the science fair will turn into another Little Miss Stoneybrook situation. As it turns out, Jessi herself is the only one who gets all crazy. She practically does his project for him (he makes an erupting volcano because he say the Brady kids do it), and when the judges at the fair ask him questions about volcanic activity, he can't answer any of them. Jessi feels pretty bad; she just wanted Jackie to feel like a winner for once in his life, so she took over to show that she cares. Jessi also decides to talk to her parents about what's been going on at home (finally). The Ramseys talk things over, and Aunt Cecelia agrees to trust Jessi and Becca a little more. Just like Jessi, she was only taking over and being bossy to show that she cared. Also, Aunt Cecelia was afraid she wouldn't be as good a sitter as Jessi. Heh. She also lets the cat out of the bag about the tricks that the girls have been playing, but before the Ramsey parents can throw down any punishments, Aunt Cecelia asks to speak to them privately. Jessi and Becca don't hear another word about the matter....until they find shaving cream in their slippers and rubber vermin in their beds. :) Score one for Aunt Cecelia!

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

• I totally copied Charlotte's playing music to plants project for one of my high school science classes. I guess elementary science fair projects don't carry over well to 9th grade physical science, because I only got a C. ;)


• My main frustration with this book is the same as my main frustration with Dawn's Wicked Stepsister. NO ONE COMMUNICATES!!! Seriously; if a family is going through a major change, like having another person (or people) move in, they should sit down together and talk about house rules, expectations, etc.

• The Ramsey parents seemed totally out of character in this book. They really aren't the type to be so clueless as to what's going on with their kids.

• Speaking of acting OOC, Jessi did, too, when she took over Jackie's project. I know it had to be that way for plot/subplot connection purposes, but that's so much more a Kristy thing to do.

• I don't like how Jessi and Becca plot Aunt Cecelia's destruction from the second they find out she's moving in. They don't even give her a chance before they decide that living with her will be awful!

• I would have loved owning Jessi's cover outfit when I was 11!