#85 Claudia Kishi, Live From WSTO!

Summary

Claudia is at loose ends, and she decides she needs a hobby. She finds out that WSTO is looking for a kid to run a kids' radio show twice a week for a month. Claud enters, and she wins. She's excited but nervous when she heads down to the radio station for her first meeting with the station staff. She's also surprised when they tell her that she's going to have an assistant. The assistant is the one who came in second in the contest, and that person is none other than...Ashley Wyeth. Claudia isn't exactly thrilled; she and Ashley haven't been on the best of terms since the whole Claudia and the New Girl debacle. At least, they haven't according to Peter Lerangis.

At first, it looks like their partnership isn't going to be a pleasant one. They can't agree on anything, and Claudia gets frustrated at Ashley for constantly treating her like she's stupid. They also can't agree on what acts to put on the show during auditions. They make it to the first show without any bloodshed. There are some minor problems (dead air, finishing up too early), but things go pretty well overall. Claudia and Ashley DO learn, though, that the station is in some kind of financial trouble. That's why WSTO ran the contest: they needed someone to fill that airtime that they don't have to pay. People are really enjoying the show, though, and Claudia and Ashley actually manage to help some people. In fact, their last call on their last show is from the mother of a kid that had called in at the beginning. He'd been really upset about his parents' divorce, and Claudia had given him the number of Dr. Reese, the therapist that Mary Anne saw at one point. HIs mother was so grateful to them that she decided to make a donation to WSTO, and it just happens to be enough to keep the station afloat for another six months. Also, just as CLaudia is about to leave the station for the last time, she gets a call from none other than Stacey McGill. Claud had made some comments about friendship to fill up extra time on the first show, which Stacey had heard. So, the BSC-McGil rift begins to heal...

Also, Kristy is desperate to get on the show. She writes a bunch of ridiculous plays about baby-sitting and tries to make everyone else star in them with her. She also kind of steals a character Mallory made up and writes a play about that. She eventually makes it on the show with a Jeopardy-style game about kiddie lit.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

• I wonder when Claudia stopped writing for the paper? As of this book, she's no longer running her column.
• Peter L. probably should have reread some of the earlier BSC books, because Claudia and Ashley weren't exactly enemies like he makes them out to be. They just weren't super close friends, due to their different priorities.
• It would have been nice to have a book centered around Mary Anne and whatever depression issues caused her to seek therapy. Lots of kids and teens deal with problems like that, and reading about one of the BSC members facing something like that might have been helpful.
• Mallory should totally sue Kristy for stealing the character she made up!