BSC Chronologically

Just a Summer Romance

2010-08-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

Remember what I said about not having any more Ann books to recap? I lied. :) I found a copy of this one on paperbackswap.com not too long ago and finally got around to reading it!

Summary

14 year old Melanie Braderman and her family have spent summers on Fire Island for as long as she can remember. She loves it there, especially since her summertime best friend, Lacey Reeder, stays in the house next door with her family. One day, the Bradermans and Reeders are all on the beach together when Mel's little brother hits a boy about Mel's age in the face. He's okay, luckily, and he's also super cute. Mel makes Lacey stay on the beach with her until late in the afternoon, hoping to see him again, but no luck. Over the next few days, though, Mel has a few sightings, but doesn't get to talk to Mr. Dreamboat again. Then, she and Lacey get up early one morning to watch the sun rise and discover that they're not alone on the beach; Mel's dream boy is there, too. She decides that she needs to follow him and find out where he lives. Lacey's not really into the whole spying thing, but she goes with Mel until they see the boy enter a house down the beach. Mel wants to stay and watch the place, but Lacey doesn't. Mel asks her to bring back some binoculars, to make her stalking a bit easier. Lacey shows up with the binoculars a bit later, and Mel watches both the boy and his house for awhile. Then, the boy comes down to the beach and tells Mel that while she was watching him, he was watching her. Rather than being freaked out by his stalker, though, the boy is actually pretty friendly. They walk and talk until Mel's little brother comes to get her for the picnic the family is having. Mel hates to leave her new friend, especially when she remembers that she never even got his name.

Later that evening, Mel runs into the boy again, and they introduce themselves properly. His name is Justin Hart, and he asks Mel out on a real date....a fact which she immediately goes home and announces to her whole family. The date goes well; they hold hands, and it's pretty clear to Mel that Justin is actually into her. There's a bit of bad news, though: Justin has to go back to New York for a week to "finish up his work," as he says. He won't tell Mel exactly what that work is, though....very mysterious. Then, when Mel gets home from the date and wants to tell Lacey all about it, Lacey gets angry. She feels like Mel's just pushing her aside in favor of Justin, and she feels left out. They end up talking out their differences a few days later.

When Justin gets back from NYC, he and Mel continue to see each other regularly. Things are going swimmingly, until they have a conversation about the future of their relationship. The summer is almost over, and Justin doesn't think they should see each other anymore once they've left Fire Island. After all, he lives right in NYC, while Mel only visits a few times a year. They're supposed to be together until Labor Day Weekend, but unfortunately, the weather has other ideas. Everyone ends up having to leave early thanks to a big storm, and Mel and Justin are separated. :(

Part two of the book takes place back in New York. Mel is doing her best to try and get her mind off of Justin (she even makes a date with another guy), but it's not working. In fact, she keeps imagining that she sees him on the cover of magazines. Then, she discovers that it's NOT her imagination; Justin really is on the cover of all those magazines. He's an actor who's just landed a role in a new tv series, and is the new It Boy in the entertainment world. Me' can't believe it, and neither can anyone else once word gets out. Mel hates to admit that she knew nothing about Justin's career; she thinks it makes her look stupid. She wants to talk to him one more time to find out why he kept so many secrets from her during their time together, but doesn't know how to make it happen. Then during a weekend visit with Lacey in NYC, she sees an article in the paper about a benefit at Lincoln Center. It turns out that LOTS of stars will be appearing there...including Justin. Mel gets in the autograph line like she was any other fan, and when it's her turn to see Justin, she doesn't really acknowledge that she knows him. When she gets her autograph back, though, she sees that it's not an autograph at all: it's Justin's phone number. She calls him, and they talk. Justin never told her about his career because he wanted to make sure she liked him for himself, not for all the celebrity stuff. They both admit that they don't want the relationship to end, even though it'll be hard to keep it going with Justin dividing his time between CA and NYC. So...happily ever after, at least for the time being. :)

Rating: 5 (based strictly on enjoyment factor, not quality of writing or anything like that!)

Thoughts and Things

I really, really, really liked this book, and I wasn't expecting to. I wish I'd read it when I was younger; I would have been all over it back then!
The style of writing in this one is very un-AMM. You could have put another author's name on the cover and I wouldn't have thought anything of it.
That being said, there ARE a lot of BSC parallels. Lacey is a blond, permed, sophisticated New Yorker who wears designer clothes, and Mel loves junk food. They meet by the main information booth in the room with the painted ceilings in Grand Central Station when Mel goes into the city, and (of course) there's the whole Fire Island aspect of the story. Also, Justin's eyes are constantly being referred to as "limpid." That's the word that Pete Black used to describe Laine's eyes in Stacey's Ex-best Friend.
Mel is a really likeable main character. She's fun, kind of quirky, and easy to identify with. I also like that regular girl Mel was the one who was ready for boys first, not pretty, Stacey-ish Lacey.
Oh lord, the cover. The picture I used isn't the greatest, but trust me...it's bad. Mel is rocking some serious Mom jeans, and Justin's face and hair are just WRONG. Gotta love the 80s!

So...the bad news is, I think this might be it for this particular blog project. Fall semester starts for me today, and I don't think I'm going to have much time for any serious blogging in the near future. The GOOD news is that I have an idea for another blog project that won't require so many long recaps, and might be easier to keep up with while school is going on. I'll keep everyone posted!

Cages by Peg Kehret

2010-08-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Now that all the AMM books I own have been recapped, I've decided to do some of my other favorite books from that era. First up is Cages!

Summary

This book opens in 14-year-old Kit's speech class. It's the end of the school year, and it's Kit's turn to give her final speech of the year. The topic is teenage shoplifting, and just as she's finishing up by telling the other kids not to shoplift because they WILL get caught, one of the boys in the class challenges her speech. He claims that it's easy to get away with taking stuff, and that Kit is dead wrong. Miss Fenton, the teacher, asks Kit if she wants to defend her speech. Kit hesitates; if she doesn't defend, her grades suffers. If she DOES defend, everyone in the class will know the secret she's been keeping for months....

At this point, the book flashes back in time to the day that the cast list for the school play came out. Kit had tried out for the lead role of Frankie in The Member of the Wedding, and she heads to school that morning, she's relatively sure she'll see her name on the cast list. Nope; Kit didn't get a part at all. Marcia Homer, little miss perfect, got the part instead. Kit's best friend, Tracy, got a small role, so she encourages Kit to help out backstage. Kit doesn't really want to; she's pretty disappointed about not getting the lead. She and Tracy had promised each other beforehand that if one of them got a role and the other didn't, the one who didn't would work on the crew. At the first crew meeting, Kit volunteers to make the publicity posters. She figures that she won't have to be at many rehearsals in order to do that, and won't have to watch someone else in "her" role.

Kit's still in a crummy mood when she gets home from school that afternoon. She has big plans to give herself her "Triple B Treatment:" Bath, Book, and Bag of chocolate stars. That doesn't happen, though. Her stepfather, Wayne, is on another one of his drinking binges, and Kit's mom, Dorothy, is too busy enabling him and covering his tracks to see that Kit is unhappy. Kit takes the bus to the mall, and decides to look at all the fancy clothes she can't afford in one of the department stores. Unfortunately, she runs into Marcia Homer while she's there. Marcia's dad is buying a present (a 24 karat gold present) for getting the lead in the play, and she wants Kit's help picking it out. Kit is instantly drawn to one of the bracelets, but she doesn't tell Marcia that. The last thing she needs is for Marcia to get yet another thing that Kit herself wants. Marcia ends up choosing a gold choker, and while the salesperson is busy ringing up the purchase, Kit's attention is drawn back to the bracelet. All of a sudden, her anger and frustration about losing the lead role, Wayne's drinking, and Dorothy's inability to see that there is, in fact, a problem at home, boils over. Kit decides to keep the bracelet, and she almost makes it out of the store before she's stopped by security. The woman takes Kit into her office, and Kit confesses everything. After all, she was SEEN taking the bracelet. Dorothy is called to pick Kit up, and she's definitely not happy.

The next day at school, Tracy can tell that Kit's not okay, but Kit doesn't feel she can tell her about what happened. She's afraid that Tracy won't like her anymore if she knows what happened. There IS one bright spot in the day, though: Miss Fenton pulls Kit aside and explains to her that not getting the lead doesn't mean that she's not a good actress; it just means that she wasn't chosen this particular time and that she is, in fact, talented. That evening at dinner, Wayne is actually sober, so Kit thinks that it might be a good time to try talking to him about her arrest. When she tries, though, Dorothy cuts her off. Later, she tells Kit that since Wayne was "sick" when this happened, there's no need to worry him about it.

A couple of weeks later, Tracy asks to meet Kit before school. She's excited about her upcoming birthday party, which is going to include a hot air ballon ride and a picnic, and she wants Kit to have her invitation before anyone else. Unfortunately, the party falls on the same day that Kit is supposed to appear before a committee that will decide her punshiment for stealing the bracelet. If she doesn't appear, she'll have to go to court and could possibly be arrested again. Kit tells Tracy that she can't go, but not WHY she can't go. Kit still doesn't want anyone to know about her crime. Tracy is pretty upset....

The day of Kit's hearing arrives. She and Dorothy tell Wayne that they're going to a meeting at school, and he buys it. When Kit is brought into the room where the committee meets, she gets the shock of her life. One of the members of the panel is Miss Fenton, her speech teacher. Miss Fenton asks if Kit would rather she be replaced with someone that Kit DOESN'T know, but Kit decides to go ahead with things rather than drag the process out. Since the group feels that Kit is not likely to reoffend, they offer her the chance to do some community service and pay a fine. If she does that and stays out of trouble until she's sixteen, her record will be cleared.

The next day at school, Miss Fenton approaches Kit and asks if she needs to talk about anything. Kit had left the part about Wayne's drinking out of what she told the committee, and Miss Fenton could tell that Kit was hiding something. The whole story comes pouring out, and Miss Fenton makes Kit promise that she'll tell someone if things get out of control.

Kit's first day of community service happens not long after that. She's been assigned to work at the Humane Society, and she's asked to socialize some dogs. That means talking to them, playing with them, letting them out in the excersise yard for awhile. Right off the bat, she falls in love with a little terrier mix named Lady. After a couple of visits, Kit decides to ask her parents if they can keep Lady. Dorothy seems agreeable to the idea, but Wayne steamrolls her as always. Kit decides to try and find Lady a good home, so she posts a notice at school. A few days later, who should approach Kit with permission from her parents to take Lady home? Yep, Marcia Homer. Kit isn't too thrilled with that turn of events, but she knows that Lady will be taken care of. Marcia and her parents agree to meet Kit at the Humane Society after school that day. When Kit gets there, she heads for Lady's cage...but Lady isn't there. She checks all the cages, but no Lady. Could she have already been adopted, or has something else happened? Kit rushes for the office and finds the manager. Sure enough, Kit's worst fears have come true: Lady was euthanized. She'd been at the shelter too long, and they had to let her go. Kit so upset that the manager offers to credit her with her full 20 hours of community service. Kit refuses the offer; she WANTS to finish her time.

The next day, Kit is in history class when she's called down to the office. Her mother has been admitted to the hospital, and Kit is needed there right away. The principal drivers her there, and they find Wayne in the waiting room. He's really worried about Dorothy, and he's afraid that all the tension that exists between him and Kit caused her to have some sort of heart attack. When a doctor comes out to tell them what's wrong, though, it turns out to be appendicitis. Dorothy will need emergency surgery, though. She ends up pulling through okay.

The next day, Kit gets home from her humane society work to find Wayne drunk. He tries to order her around, but Kit is having none of it. She stands up to him, and takes off to Tracy's house for the night. Kit tells her mom when she sees her next that Wayne is drunk again, and Dorothy finally sees that she needs to insist on his getting help. That becomes even more clear two days later: Wayne tries to drive drunk and ends up in the hospital with a skull fracture and a broken arm, among other things. When he comes home from the hospital, he continues to insist that he can handle his drinking, and doesn't have a problem. Dorothy, FINALLY, won't take any of his lame promises and Wayne starts going to AA.

The end of the school year is approaching, and the story returns to the place where it started. Each kid in the class drew a speech topic out of a fishbowl, and it was just dumb luck that Kit happened to get assigned the topic of shoplifting. She decides to defend her speech when her classmate challenges it, and tells her story to the class. Her honesty earns her one of the few A grades that Miss Fenton ever gives out, and things are finally okay between Kit and Tracy. When the end of the year awards ceremony rolls around, Kit is surprised when she's awarded the Ninth Grade Scholarship. The money will pay for two years of college, and when Kit is asked what she plans to study, she's more sure than she's ever been: she'll be going to vet school so she can work with animals.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

This book is really good; I can't recommend it enough. It DOES get a little cheesy at times, particularly when Wayne is being confronted about his drinking, but overall, it's great. Things aren't wrapped up in a neat little package; bad things happen, and the characters are still going through the process of healing at the end of the book.
I really liked Kit. She was real, not some stereotypical bad kid who you would think would shoplift. Her reactions to things, her thoughts, and her actions made it easy to identify with her.
The author, Peg Kehret, lives in Washington State! :) At least, she did when this book was published. In fact, it's even dedicated in part to the Human Society of Seattle/King County.
Kit wasn't the only one getting weepy when Lady died....
Oh, lord, am I ever softhearted when it comes to pets! I couldn't get through all the grim animal shelter survival rate statistics without getting upset. Most of the shelters in the Seattle area have gone no-kill, but I know that isn't true everywhere. It still just doesn't seem FAIR that so many good animals are unwanted. :(

Eleven Kids, One Summer

2010-07-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Rossos are back, and this time they're heading out to Fire Island for the summer. Here's what happens:

Abigail and the Train Trip Disaster

Abbie spends the whole ride from New Jersey to Fire Island being embarrassed by her family. When they finally get there, she goes exploring on her own and meets Justin, Lacey, and Mel, three kids about her age. The exciting part? Justin is not only a movie star, but all three kids are also main characters in Just a Summer Romance, by the famous author Ann M. Martin. ;)

Calandra and the Mystery Next Door

Candy managed to snag a room of her own in the house that the family is renting. She becomes convinced that the house next door, which has been abandoned for quite awhile, is haunted, and decides that she's going to solve the mystery that summer no matter what.

Faustine and the Great Fish Protest

Faustine is walking along the beach one morning when she happens upon some fishermen. She witnesses them catching and killing a fish, and is horrified by how inhumane the process is. Not only does Faustine stop eating and/or using any animal products at all, but she and Dinnie start picketing the fishermen. One of them gets so mad that he goes to the Rosso parents and complains.

Hannah and the Ghosts

Just like in the last book, Hannah feels like the odd one out in her family. She wants to make the summer a little more interesting for herself, so she decides to play jokes on her family. At first, it's just little stuff, like replacing the sugar in the sugar bowl with salt, and short sheeting people's beds. Then Hannah gets serious. She does her best to make Candy think that there really IS a ghost next door, and she tells Justin that Abbie has a crush on him. This makes Mel (Justin's girlfriend) mad, which makes Lacey mad, which means that Abbie suddenly has no friends. She manages to straighten things out with them, and Hannah never confesses her role in that little situation. Finally, Hannah makes a friend her own age, and she doesn't have as much time to torment her family.

Ira and the Hospital Adventure

Ira gets Lyme Disease. That's all.

Janthina and the Beauty Treatment

The Rossos have relatives staying with them for awhile, and Jan is feeling ignored. Not only is she not the baby in her own family anymore (that would be Keegan), but everyone is fussing over her little cousins. Jan wanders over to the set of the movie that Justin is filiming on Fire Island, and gets a full-on beauty treatment from the makeup person. She hurries back home, sure that her makeover will impress her family. When Jam gives herself one last look in the mirror, though, she decides she doesn't like her hair. So, she cuts it....right up to her ears. The family definitely notices that!

Dagwood and the Million Dollar Idea

Woody needs to make some extra money, so he makes little animals out of rocks and shells, and paints designs on other shells. He actually does pretty well for himself!

Gardenia and the Movie on the Beach

All the Rosso kids are asked to be extras for Justin's movie. Dinnie has a hard time just staying in the background and not showing off for the camera, so she's given a small role as a dog-walker. Suddenly, she's sure she's going to be a famous actress someday.

Bainbridge and the Case of the Curious Kidnapping

Bainbridge is looking after baby Keegan at Fire Island's craft fair when he spots a cute girl working at one of the booths. He's so busy flirting that he doesn't notice when Keegan goes missing. After a frantic search, he's found with Hannah, who gets a nice talking-to.

Eberhard and the House of the Cursed

It's almost the end of the summer, and Candy still hasn't solved the mystery of the house next door. So, she hires Hardy to investigate. The fishermen that Faustine and Dinnie had been harrassing earlier in the summer make up some crazy story about the people who lived there, and Hardy believes it at first. Then, Hannah tells him that she'd heard the same story at the beginning of the summer, which is what gave her the idea to play jokes on Candy and make her think the house was haunted. Mystery solved....

Keegan and the End of Summer

The Rossos go home. Seriously....how much action did you think there'd be in a chapter that focuses on a freaking baby?

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

Let's talk about the timeline of the Rosso books, shall we? At the beginning of Ten Kids, No Pets, the kids are 14, 13, 13 11,10, 9, 9, 8, 7, and 6. Since the book covers a whole year, they should all have been one year older at the end and two years older in this one. Nope; in this book, they're 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 months. I guess the Rossos got stuck in the same time warp that the BSC members did. ;)
Abbie's friend Lacey is blond, sophisticated, and from NYC. Now where have I heard that before?
Speaking of, has anyone ever read Just a Summer Romance?
Those fishermen were awfully patient with the twins. If some kid was picketing me like that, I would have gone to the parents first thing!
I totally used to envy how Candy got her own room! That was all I wanted growing up. Well, that and Claudia Kishi's dibble wardrobe....

Ten Kids, No Pets

2010-07-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

So....this book covers roughly a year in the life of the Rosso family; that would be mom, dad, and the ten kids. Mr. Rosso is an ad executive by day and an absentminded professor type when he's home, and Mrs. Rosso reminds me a bit of Kate Gosselin. She's got all sorts of neurotic rules for how things need to be done, and systems for EVERYTHING. How she named her children is a good example of that: Abbie, the oldest, got the first name on the A page of the girls' half of the baby names book. Bainbridge, the next kid in line, got the second name on the B page of the boys' half, and so on down the line. One of the Rossos' many house rules that no pets are allowed, because ten kids is enough, much to the dismay of the younger Rossos. They're especially upset about this when they leave their crowded apartment in New York City for a farm in New Jersey. Since each chapter in this book focuses on one of the kids and is more or less its own story, I'll recap chapter by chapter.

Abigail, or Abbie, is the oldest Rosso at 14. She's the only Rosso who DOESN'T want to move out to the farm. Abbie's entering high school in the fall, and she doesn't want to leave all her friends...and the boys. ;) She also feels responsible for her younger sibs, even though her family causes her embarrassment on a daily basis (she's totally Mallory). There are no major events in her chapter, other than the actual move to New Jersey.

Calandra (Candy) is twelve, and living in such a big family is tougher on her than it is on the others. She craves privacy, but even out on the farm, there isn't much of that to be found. One day, not long after the Rossos' move, Candy is putting sheets away in the family's big cedar linen closet. Candy happens to love the smell of cedar, so she leans against the back wall to enjoy it for a minute before finishing her chores. Much to her surprise, the wall gives way and Candy finds herself in a secret room! There's a chair in the room, along with a small table. In the table drawer, Candy finds a diary written at the turn of the 20th century by another 12 year old girl. Not only did Celia (the author of the diary) want a pet as badly as the Rosso kids do, she actually hid one in the secret room for a time. Candy decides to keep both the diary and the room to herself for the time being.

It's time for school to start for year, and Ira (7) is pretty nervous about starting second grade. He's worried about being teased for his huge family, some of whom have some pretty weird names thanks to his mother's little system. Sure enough, the kids think the whole idea of the Rossos is hilarious. Ira decides that he needs to do something to take their minds off of things, so when show and tell time comes around, he makes up all sorts of stuff about the exotic animals that his family keeps on their farm. Unfortunately, the kids all want to come over and see the animals, which worries Ira. What are they going to think of him when they find out the truth? Ira eventually confesses his lies to his parents, and then to his whole class. None of them really think any less of him because of it.

Halloween is 11-year-old Dagwood's (Woody's) favorite holiday. He usually goes all out, but this year, he's feeling down about the whole day. He and his sibs won't be able to go trick or treating like they have in the past, because there just aren't enough neighbors to make it worthwhile. Then, his siblings get the idea to have a Halloween party at their house for some of the other farm kids, which their parents quickly agree to. Woody decides to be a magician, but even though he's got a decent costume, he thinks it needs something more. Inspiration strikes when he finds out that one of the kids in his class has a rabbit who keeps having babies. Woody asks if he can borrow one for the party, and his costume is complete. The party itself goes well, but when the time comes to send the baby rabbit back where it came from, the owner can't take it (mama rabbit is pregnant yet again). The Rosso kids meet up to decide what to do, and Candy reluctantly tells everyone about the secret room. The kids hide the rabbit in there, but it becomes clear pretty fast that that arrangement is NOT going to work. The rabbit stops eating and hopping around, and the kids know that he won't be around much longer before they do something. They finally confess to their parents, who order them to find a new home for the bunny. Luckily (?), one of the kids in Woody's class lost his dog earlier in the school year, and is willing to take the rabbit on as his new pet.

Gardenia, or Dinnie, is one of the 9-year-old twins. It's almost Thanksgiving, and when Mrs. Rosso announces that the family will be having an old fashioned holiday this year, Dinnie is just as excited as the rest of her siblings. All the Rossos head out to a nearby turkey farm to pick out their Thanksgiving meal, and when they do, Dinnie promptly names him Goliath. Pretty soon, she and Dinnie (the other twin) are visiting him after school, and they eventually decide that they don't want him killed for their meal. The other kids agree with the twins, so they stop at the turkey farm after school one day and tell Mr. Pritchard that they won't be needing Goliath after all. When Mr. Pritchard tells them he plans to sell Goliath to someone else for THEIR dinner, the kids change their minds again: they'll take him after all, but they'll take him alive. No one tells the Rosso parents this little fact, so when Thanksgiving arrives, the only turkey they have is a living one. Their meal that year consists of side dishes only, and Goliath eventually is given to a petting zoo.

Janthina (Jan) is the baby of the family, at 6 years old. Like most kids, she loves Christmas, and she's excited about the old fashioned Christmas that her family is going to have. They're cutting down their own tree, making their own decorations, cards, and gifts, and doing lots of baking. The house is full of secrets, and the biggest one is something called "Project X" that Mr. Rosso is working on in his workshop. No one knows what it is...until Jan overhears her parents talking about how the kids will never guess that it's a doghouse. She tells her siblings, who are all super excited that they'll finally get the pet they've been wanting. They buy supplies for the puppy, and even start talking about names. When Christmas morning arrives and all the presents have been opened, the Rosso kids are surprised that the puppy still hasn't made its appearance. Then, Mr. and Mrs. Rosso announce that there is, in fact, one more present. To Jan's surprise, "Project X" is brought into the room and set right in front of her. Is the puppy Jan's? Not quite: when she opens the present, she finds a DOLLHOUSE, not a DOGHOUSE. Oooops.

Eberhard (Hardy) is ten, and an amateur detective. Like his siblings, he loves snow, and when the weather report calls for a blizzard, he can't wait. The family ends up pretty much snowed in...AND they end up with a mystery on their hands. One evening while the whole Rosso crew is eating popcorn, they hear a noise outside. They investigate, and find that the trash cans have been knocked over. The next day, Hardy goes into full detective mode, but doesn't find any clues. That night, though, they hear more noise outside; someone or something has been into their bird feeder. The morning after THAT, hardy finds some thin, slender tracks around the feeder. Rather than come to any sort of logical conclusion, Hardy assumes that the tracks were made by an escaped criminal on stilts. Not so much; the tracks turn out to have been made by a fawn.

Hannah is 8, and often feels kind of lonely in her family. All the other kids are either too old for her to play with, or they have a sibling buddy that's their own special friend. She's also having some trouble getting along in school, since she likes to tease and pull pranks. Hannah decides that she's going to make her Valentines that year, for her family AND for her class at school. The ones for her class are pretty rude, and the ones for her family are all hints about getting a pet. On the morning of Valentine's Day, Hannah grabs one of the piles on the way out the door to school. Too bad she grabs the wrong one, and her classmates all get cards with poems about getting dogs and cats and stuff. As if that wasn't bad enough, she now has nothing to give her family later that evening when they exchange their own cards. Then, she gets the idea to give each of them an IOU note, promising things like bed-making or hair-braiding. Her notes are a big hit.

Faustine is as big an animal lover as her twin, so when the two of them find an injured bird, they bring it back home to get well. Unfortunately, the bird dies. They give the bird a funeral, which keeps getting interrupted by a nest full of noisy baby sparrows. The family watches and watches, but no mother bird comes to the nest to take care of them. They take the baby birds in and care for them until they're old enough to be released. Faustine wants to keep one of them, but (of course) the no pets rule still applies.

Bainbridge (13) is looking forward to being out of school for the year (sort of). There just isn't much to do way out on the farm, so he decides to start a football team with some of the other farm kids. Bainbridge is making some progress with getting a team together when his mother drops a bomb on the family: she's pregnant. Everyone is excited, but the whole thing gives Bainbridge an idea. The family rule had always been no pets since ten kids were enough. Since there was going to be an 11th kid, shouldn't a pet be allowed? The Rosso parents agree, and the kids decide to get a dog.

The Rossos are just about to leave for the pound to get their dog when the twins find a kitten in the ditch by the mailbox. They unanimously decide to keep the kitten instead, and they also decide to use Mrs. Rosso's baby naming system to give the kitten a name. Since they really have no way of knowing how many kids they'll end up with, they choose the last names on the Z pages as possbilities. That would make the kitten Zsa Zsa or Zuriel; we never actually find out if it's a boy or girl.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

This book doesn't hold up as well for me as some of the others I read as a kid. That being said, I LOVE the descriptions of the farm, and all the old-fashioned, holiday, crafty stuff the family does. It makes me want to go live on a farm! :)
I think this may be one of Ann's only books that's not written in the first person.
I so identified with Candy's need for privacy when I was growing up. My family wasn't nearly as big, but I shared a room in our tiny house with my sister, and there was NEVER anywhere I could go to be on my own.
Speaking of Candy, why didn't she shorten her name to Callie instead? Candy=stripper name!
Mr. Rosso was kind of a non-entity; it's pretty clear who wore the pants in that family.....
My mom was the SAME way about pets when I was a kid! My siblings and I all loved animals, but because she didn't want one, we didn't get to have one, either.
This cover picture is definitely not the one I grew up with. Did they come out with a new edition at some point?
Are turkeys really friendly enough to be a part of a petting zoo? I would have guessed not....

:D

2010-07-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

I just Googled Me and Katie (the Pest) and my last blog entry was the 6th listing it gave me. I'm Googlable! :)

That's all....Ten Kids, No Pets coming soon. :)

Me and Katie (the Pest)

2010-07-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Summary

Wendy's little sister, Katie, is a total Ms. Perfect. She's good at everything: piano, art, writing, etc, and she knows just how to push Wendy's buttons. Katie spies on her, teases her, and even lords her accomplishments over her on occasion. Wendy vents to her best friend, Sara, about the situation, and Sara suggests that Wendy do something to win an award of her own. The idea comes to Wendy as she, Sara, and Sara's cousin Carol are working on their epic poem about Barbie and Ken (yes, really). Wendy could take horseback riding lessons! She's sure that riding is something that she can shine at; Katie isn't very coordinated, and she's scared of horses. Wendy's parents are into the idea, and they buy her a completely new riding outfit in honor of the lessons. This makes Katie jealous.

Wendy's first lesson goes really well. She's kind of nervous at first, but everyone's really nice and her instructor says that she's got potential as a rider. Wendy even bonds with Peanuts, one of the horses. At dinner that night, she can't stop talking about how great her lesson was. Then, disaster strikes: Katie wants riding lessons, too. Wendy is upset; she really wanted riding to be something that she could be good at, and since Katie succeeds at everything she tries to do, Wendy is afraid that riding will end up being no different. She asks her parents to at least try to get Katie into a different class.

After dinner, Wendy goes to Sara's house and fills her in on everything. She also tells Sara that she fully intends to get revenge on Katie, and that she expects Sara to help. Sara, who sometimes thinks that Wendy is a little too mean to Katie, reluctantly agrees.

The next day, Wendy's mom comes home from work with some bad news: the other beginner's riding class was very full, so Katie is going to be in Wendy's class after all. Wendy is not thrilled to have to drag Katie along to their next lesson. She's even less thrilled when all the other kids on the bus think Katie is just adorable. When they arrive at the stable, Wendy decides to put her plan of revenge into action. She pretends that she wants to show Katie the ropes, and suggests that she ride Sky High for her first lesson. Sky High, unfortunately, is a very difficult horse. Katie insists on riding him, though, and it's a disaster. She doesn't get very far into the lesson before the instructors make her switch with another student who's riding a tamer horse. Even after the switch, though, Katie is TERRIBLE, which makes Wendy happy. She's sure that Katie won't want to continue riding lessons after such a rotten first day. Instead, Katie's back for the next lesson and she manages to snag Peanuts, giving Wendy another reason to want to get even with her sister.

Wendy's 10th birthday happens not long after that. Katie surprises her by giving a really nice picture she drew of Peanuts, but kind of ruins the gift by asking if she can come to the sleepover that Wendy's having with Sara, Carol, and Jennifer (another friend of theirs). Wendy won't let Katie come, so Katie gets back at her by calling her to the phone when no one's actually on the other end of the line. Wendy decides to retaliate, so she and the other girls pour water onto Katie's sheets so she'll climb into a soggy bed later. Wendy and Katie both get punished after all that. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse after that. When Wendy arrives at the stable for her next lesson, she finds that Peanuts has been injured and can no longer be ridden. They can't afford to keep a horse that can't be ridden in lessons, so the stable plans to find a good home for her. Wendy is convinced that she and her family should get Peanuts and keep her in the garage, but her parents aren't into that suggestion. Much to Wendy's surprise, though, Katie IS. She even writes up a list of reasons why they should keep Peanuts. Wendy's impressed,...but not enough to forget all the crummy stuff Katie has done. Eventually, though, the girls show their parents the list. Unfortunately, it doesn't do any good.

Riding lessons are still happening in spite of the whole Peanuts thing, and they have their ups and downs for Wendy. On one hand, the stable is going to hold a show at the end of the summer, and Wendy is sure that this is her chance to win a prize. On the other hand, Katie's riding has improved big time. Wendy does NOT want to compete against her sister and lose, whatever else happens. Then, Wendy discovers that Katie has been reading her diary. To get back at her, Wendy writes some stuff about what a pest Katie is and how she'll need braces for years. When the girls' parents want to know why Katie is walking around with her mouth closed and her teeth hidden, the truth comes out and Katie is punished. She's pretty mad about it, so Wendy has no trouble convincing her to run away. The parents are frantic when they discover that Katie's gone, but they find her pretty quickly. Unfortunately, she's not in more trouble, which was Wendy's whole intention; instead, she gets fussed over and treated like a princess.

Not long after Katie's ill-fated attempt at running away, Peanuts is sent to her new home. Wendy is sad to see her go, but Peanuts will be close enough that Wendy can visit. Wendy doesn't have much time to focus on Peanuts' move, though; the show is rapidly approaching. Wendy's planning to ride Mr. Chips, her second favorite horse, and she's pretty confident that the two of them make a good team. She decides to concentrate on that and not worry anymore about the possibility of being beaten out by Katie. On the day of the show, though, things get a bit complicated. By the time that Wendy's class shows, Mr. Chips has been ridden to much and is overheated. The only horse left available to Wendy? Sky High. Wendy decides to make the best of a bad situation, and she does the best she can with Sky High. He proves to be pretty hard to control, and Wendy is sure that she's not going to win. When the prizes are announced, though....she gets third! To make matters even better, Katie doesn't win anything at all, and announces that she's quitting riding. Wendy couldn't be more thrilled at the idea of lessons without her sister.

It's the last day of summer vaction, and Wendy is enjoying her last few hours of freedom before school starts again. All of a sudden, she feels like she's being watched. Sure enough, Katie is spying on her again. Wendy asks why, and Katie tells her that it's because Wendy never talks to her like a normal person. They both agree to try harder to get along. Also, the family gets a puppy and the Barbie and Ken poem that Wendy, Sara, and Carol were writing lands them in the Guinness Book of World Records. :)

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

This was my first Ann book...I guess it was kind of my gateway drug to the BSC. :)
Wendy's middle name is Matthews...same as Ann's.
This book was published less than a year before Kristy's Great Idea, and there's an awful lot of BSCishness to it. The guy who drives the kids to lessons is a teenager named Charlie, and Sara is a definite Mary Anne type (she's even wearing pigtails in the illustrations). The book is also dedicated to Myriah Leigh Perkins and Gabrielle Ann Perkins. :)
Wendy and Katie's dad didn't want to call the police when it was discovered that Katie was missing; he just wanted to let her come home on her own. She's 8, for Pete's sake!
It still bugs me that the parents let Katie take riding lessons. They totally should have put their foot down on that. Not only was Katie already taking every kind of lesson under the sun, but Wendy really should have gotten something that she and only she could do. When you have a sibling that's that close in age to you, people tend to lump you together. Having things that are just yours means a lot.
My best friend, siblings, and I used to act this book out. I was Wendy, my best friend was Katie, and my younger sister (who actually was named Katie) played all the other characters. I don't think we ever made it all the way through the book...
I still wish I'd gotten riding lessons as a kid!!!

Bummer Summer

2010-07-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

I'm going to recap all the non-BSC Ann books that I own...this is the book that won the poll I posted awhile back. :)

Summary

12 year old Kammy Whitlock is having a tough time of it. Her dad has just gotten remarried (her mom died when Kammy was four), and she's just not adjusting to the new family situation particularly well. Kate (the stepmother) is not only MUCH younger than Kammy's dad, but she comes complete with a 3 year old daughter, Muffin, and a baby son who (I kid you not) hasn't been named yet. The baby is colicky, Muffin gets into Kammy's stuff, and Kammy is embarrassed to be seen in public with her new family. The idea of summer camp had been brought up a few times, but Kammy's not into that kind of thing. Finally, though, she agrees to give it a try for two weeks; if she doesn't like it, she'll be free to come back home rather than stay for the rest of the summer.

Camp Arrowhead is decent, as camps go. Kammy's counselor, Nancy, is pretty nice, and she makes friends with her bunkie (Emily) right off the bat. Kammy's also excited to start horseback riding, and spending time in the arts and crafts cabin. There are more cons than pros to Kammy's initial camp experience, though. She can't find her way to the bathroom on her first night, and has to go in the woods. The next morning, Kammy realizes that she's going to have to change in front of the other girls, which is not something she's okay with doing. Swimming is also a problem; Kammy is actually a good swimmer, but she's scared of the lake. She claims she can't swim at all in the hopes of avoiding it entirely, but her plan doesn't work; she's placed in a beginners' class with a bunch of six year olds. Mealtimes prove to be another issue. The girls aren't allowed to sit with their cabinmates, and each person is supposed to take turns serving the meal. Kammy is terrified at the thought of doing this, and just heads back to her cabin instead of to the mess hall when her first turn serving comes. Her counselor and the camp director make a frantic search for her, and when they find her, Kammy's in trouble.

While Kammy is busy dealing with all her issues, she's also dealing with Susie, one of her cabinmates. Susie is a total Miss Perfect type, and she's taken a serious dislike to Kammy. Kammy decides that she needs to "get" Susie, so she enlists Emily's help after swimming one day. When Susie is the shower, they take her clothes and run them back to the cabin. Susie is frantic, of course, and Emily volunteers to go back to the cabin to see if maybe Susie forgot that she'd changed up there. Emily finds the clothes, and it looks like she and Kammy are going to get away with their little trick. Not so much; not only did they take Susie's swimsuit up to the cabin along with the clothes, but Susie herself catches the two girls celebrating their success. Both girls are put on dish washing duty that night, and Mrs. Wright, the camp director, calls Kammy's parents. Kammy gets to talk to them too, and she tells them some of what's been going on. They're pretty understanding, and Kammy promises to try harder.

Making an effort when it comes to Susie continues to be tough. No matter how much Kammy ignores her nemesis, Susie continues to tease. Kamy decides that revenge is probably a better option than the silent treatment, so she and Emily scare Susie stiff with "Three Fingered Willie." Kammy gets more dish duty for THAT stunt. Overall, though, Camp Arrowhead is improving upon further acquaintance. Kammy's gotten involved with the camp drama group, and she's in advanced horseback riding. Mrs. Wright even calls her into her office again for a friendly chat, and when Kammy is completely honest about all the fears and issues she has, Mrs. Wright is totally willing to work with her to come up with compromises. It looks like the summer might not be so bad after all...until Kammy heads to the arts and crafts cabin one day. She'd been working on a quilt for her baby stepbrother, and when she opens the box that it's being kept in, she finds it shredded. Kammy can't even think; she runs back to her cabin in tears and spills the whole story to Nancy, who's the only one there at the time. Kammy calms down by the time the other girls in her cabin get back from their activities. They can see that she's upset, but before she can tell them what happened, Susie tells her that she's sorry to hear what happened to the quilt. This is odd, considering that Kammy had told NO ONE except Nancy about it. Kammy knows that it was Susie who ruined her project, but she doesn't let it show. As soon as she can, she pulls Emily aside and tells her what's going on. They decide that they REALLY need to get revenge on Susie, so they arrange for all the girls in the cabin to get invites to a pajama party by the lake at midnight. Susie's invitation is for 11:45pm, though. Kammy is planning to scare her silly with a reenactment of "Three Fingered Willie," so Susie will be freaking out when the other girls get there. When the big night arrives, Kammy can't go through with it. She tells Susie about the trick, and explains that she knows about the quilt. Kammy asks her why she did what she did, and Susie admits that she's been jealous of Kammy all along. Susie tries so hard to do things right and be perfect, and no one likes her. On the other hand, Kammy has gotten in trouble and had all these issues, and EVERYONE likes her. Kammy agrees to keep quiet about the quilt as long as Susie leaves her alone for the rest of camp. Susie agrees. The girls don't exactly become friends, but they're much more cordial than before.

Parents' Day arrives. Kammy is really surprised that she's excited to see her dad, Kate, Muffin, and the baby. The play that the drama group has been rehearsing goes really well, and Kammy's family likes seeing the rest of the camp. In spite of all this, Kammy is ready to go back home when she's asked what her final decision is. Then, she gets to thinking. She has a lot of unfinished business at camp: she doesn't want to desert Emily, and she wants to start on a new quilt for the baby. So, Kammy decides to stay after all. She also comes up with a name for the baby as her dad and Kate as they're leaving: he's going to be Robert, after Kammy's dad.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

Ann's first book! :D
Camp Arrowhead is supposed to be Kammy's uncle's sister in law's camp. I'm assuming that that's Mrs. Wright, but there's NO mention of a connection between the two at any point during camp.
Kammy really does get a raw deal at home. Muffin is coddled and spoiled, and gets away with everything, while Kammy is blamed and punished. Not fair!
Why in the world are all the girls in Kammy's cabin going off in different directions all day long? Don't cabinmates usually do all their activities together?
I'm really surprised that Kammy got along with everyone at camp as well as she did. In my experience, the one who causes trouble and has a lot of weird issues is the one who gets excluded.
At the end of the book, after Kammy decides to stay at camp, she says she has to go tell her cabinmates the news. The weird part? She never told them that she might leave after two weeks.
They totally need summer camps for adults. I miss camp!
I am so writing a camp-related novel one day. Maybe multiple camp novels. :)

The Summer Before

2010-06-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Prequel time! Sixth grade has just ended for the four original members of the BSC, and the summer ends up being a pretty intense one for all of them. Here's what happens:

Kristy's birthday is in August, and she kind of hopes her dad will acknowledge it in some way. She writes him a letter, hoping that will help, but it comes back to her with "Adressee Unknown" written on it. Kristy's really bummed by this, but she doesn't tell anyone right away what she did. She eventually confesses to Mary Anne, though. In spite of the letter, Kristy still thinks that her dad is going to surprise her by just showing up on the big day. That's why she chooses to have a dinner at home with her family and friends instead of going out somewhere. When her brithday arrives, there's nothing for Kristy from her dad. No present, no visit, no phone call, nothing. Luckily, Mary Anne had figured that something like that would happen, so she planned a surprise for Kristy. The day after her birthday is "Kristy Day," complete with parade, to show Kristy how much she means to everyone in her life.

Claudia is growing up a lot faster than Kristy and Mary Anne. They're still into dolls, while she's into art, shopping, and boys. She definitely feels like there's this distance between them, and isn't really sure how to feel or what to do about it. When her brithday rolls around (July), she decides she wants to have a boy-girl pool party at the Goldmans' house next door. Janine was allowed to invite a few friends to the party, too, and Claudia fully expects them to be losers. She was wrong; one of them, Frankie, is awesome. It's luv at first sight for Claudia, but there's one problem: Janine clearly likes him, too, and stops speaking to Claud because of it. Things get even worse between them when Claudia and Frankie start hanging out and talking on the phone all the time. One day, they head to the community pool and run into a bunch of Frankie's friends...primarily girls. They all treat Claudia like a little kid, and it's almost a week after that day before she hears from Frankie again. Even then, he only calls to dump her. Mimi comforts her and points out that she still has her old friends, but...Claudia doesn't, really. She's been so wrapped up in Frankie all summer that she's totally ignored Kristy and Mary Anne. Claudia works things out with them, though....and with Janine.

Mary Anne is working on getting more independence from her dad. He agrees to let her start baby-sitting....but only with another sitter there. It doesn't matter how many kids will be present; Mary Anne is not allowed to sit alone. She's pretty nervous going into her first few sitting jobs, even though someone else is always with her. By the end of the summer, though, her dad feels she's ready to baby-sit by herself (lord, I wish this storyline were more interesting....).

Stacey is still in New York City, getting ready for her move to Stoneybrook. All of her friends (Laine Cummings included) have gone all Mean Girls and turned on her since her diabetes diagnosis. In fact, Stacey's baby-sitting charges are the only ones who seem to care that she's leaving the city. Then, her parents throw her a surprise going-away party and invite all of her former friends....who are just as thrilled to be there as Stacey is to see them. As horrible as they are to Stacey, though, she just wants to know why they won't be friends with her anymore. They don't know about her diabetes, of course, but she just can't understand how they can turn their backs on a friend like they have. By the time moving day arrives, Stacey is ready to leave. Living in the suburbs is a pretty big adjustment for her...until seventh grade starts and she meets the rest of the BSC.

The book ends the same way that Kristy's Great Idea begins (almost word for word), and the BSC comes full circle.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

I really didn't like Frankie, and I can't believe that the Kishi parents let their (barely) twelve year old daughter spend so much time with an almost high school student.
I like that the book ended with the first few chapters of Kristy's Great Idea. It seemed fitting. :)
Poor Stacey. :(
I got this book for my birthday this past April. It had been at least 15 years or more since I'd gotten a BSC book for my birthday, and it was my favorite gift!
Mary Anne's clothes didn't seem as awful as they were described at the beginning of the series. At one point, she was wearing pedal pushers and a lavendar baby-doll shirt. That actually sounds cute for someone of that age. Where are the little-girl outfits that Richard makes her wear?
It seemed a little out of character for Kristy to want her dad to be a part of her birthday. She always seemed to accept that he wasn't really a part of their lives, and she didn't seem to want to change that.

So....that's the end. I've really, truly, finally finished reading through the entire BSC series, and it took me less than a year! I've had a few questions about what's next for me, blog-wise. I have some ideas, but I'm going to take a week's "vacation" to recover before I start anything new. Check back then! :)

Graduation Day

2010-06-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

(*I swear I didn't plan it this way, but in the book, the SMS graduation is on.....JUNE 23RD. Exactly 10 years ago today!!!*)

So...the big day is (finally...after 14 years) fast approaching: the BSC members and former members are getting ready to leave SMS for good and move on to high school. They're all busy with end-of-school stuff, including writing letters to themselves that will be sent back to them in four years, when high school graduation is on the horizon. Each BSC member has different thoughts, etc, about all the big changes that are happening. Here are the details:

Kristy, who's usually so brave about everything, is scared about the whole leaving middle school and going to high school thing. She doesn't like that her family is going to change, with Charlie leaving for school and she REALLY doesn't like that the BSC is going to change. She's determined to keep the BSC as busy as possible with big projects over the summer so they won't be able to slow down once school starts again, and she starts by creating a time capsule for the neighborhood. All the BSC members and former members, plus quite a few of the kids, add stuff to it. It's buried in Mary Anne's yard, and it's supposed to be opened in seven years, when the BSC oldest charges are getting ready to head to college.

Mary Anne, who's usually NOT brave, is really excited about moving on to high school. She does feel like she has some unfinished business, though, and that business is Logan. Mary Anne knew at the time that she made the right decision to break up with him, but she doesn't like that there's so much tension between them, and that they don't even really talk anymore. She's even having second thoughts about the breakup. She decides she needs to talk to them, and they eventually DO meet and clear the air. There's no romantic reunion or anything, but they leave their meeting on better terms.

Stacey is nervous about having both of her parents, plus Samantha, at graduation. She's convinced that they're going to fight (perhaps physically), and she's anticipating major embarrassment. She gets a notice in the mail one day, though, that makes her forget those issues. It's from the SMS library, asking her to return the copy of Ribsy that she borrowed, or she won't be able to graduate. Stacey freaks out; she doesn't remember checking that book out, and thinks it must have been back in 7th grade. She doesn't think the book survived two moves, so she's sure she won't be graduating with her friends. Stacey worries about this for a few days, and then realizes that she doesn't have to return the exact same copy of Ribsy that she checked out all that time ago; she just buys a new copy and hands that in instead. Also, no one in her family dukes it out at graduation.

Claudia, as usual, is worried about her grades. She needs to pass her finals in order to move on to high school, but she's awfully worried that she won't be able to make that happen in math. Stacey tutors her, and she ends up getting a C+. Unfortunately, she fails her science final. Since she'd also gotten a bad grade on an important project earlier in the year, she's definitely failed the class. It looks like she won't be graduating after all, but once again, summer school comes to the rescue (she'll be given her diploma if she passes science over the summer).

After graduation, Claudia has a party for all of the present and former BSC members in her bedroom. They talk a lot about their futures, and they make a pact to meet up for a reunion exactly 12 years from that day....and Kristy starts to feel a little bit better about the inevitable changes that are going to happen to all of them, and their friendships.....

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

Good lord....when I finished this book last night, I felt like someone had died or something! Can't believe I'm really done, except for The Summer Before....
Man, I SO sympathized with Kristy in this book. I've totally been the one that wasn't read to move on or to have things change, and I've definitely had to deal with the aftermath of something that I'd put my whole life into ending. The letter she wrote to herself nearly broke my little heart!
Charlie's letter to himself gets its own chapter, and it's pretty good. It explains a lot about who he is, and WHY he is the way he is....
Stacey really redeemed herself in this one, after being a witch for most of the FF series. In her letter to herself, she recognizes that their friendships are going to change, and that Ethan probably won't still hold the same place in her life that he does at that time. She's also the only BSC member to pick up on how Kristy's feeling about the end of the 8th grade, and the likely end of the BSC. Good going, Stacey....you reminded me why I liked you in the first place!
Would any middle school hold a student back for failing ONE class? In my middle school, you could fail everything and still move on to high school.
Is it really that common for middle schools to have full on graduations, complete with caps, gowns, a ceremony, and a valedictorian?
After the last book, I think we had decided that another school year happened between that one and this one, but I'm not so sure. Mary Anne states that her house had only been finished for a few months, and that the Logan split hadn't happened that long ago, either. I think the only reason that there was some summer in the last few FF books prior to this one was that they probably didn't know the series would end so soon. Otherwise, I think FF would have happened over one school year.

FF# 12 Claudia and the Disaster Date

2010-06-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Summary

So...it's been awhile since Claudia and Alan Gray went to that dance together, and apparently, they're just now getting around to hanging out again. Claudia isn't really sure what to expect from him; he seems to have changed, but Claud keeps expecting him to get up to his old tricks. That, and the fact that she would really rather not be seen with him makes it hard for Claudia to enjoy spending time with him at all.

In other news, Claudia also has a summer job (along with Erica Blumberg) in the children's room at the library. Right away, Claud notices that the mural outside the room could use a little updating. She mentions it to her mom, who makes it clear to her that her job is in the children's room, not in painting hallways. On day two of work, Alan shows up. He tries to be helpful, but he ends up creating more work for Claudia in the end. She manages to get rid of him in time to have a little talk with Ms. Feld, the children's librarian, about redoing the mural. Ms. Feld is thrilled with the idea, and agrees to look at some samples of Claudia's work. Mrs. Kishi, though, isn't as happy. She doesn't like that Claudia went to Ms. Feld about the mural after she herself said no. Things are frosty between them which doesn't make for a good start to the workday. Neither does the fact that Kristy and Alan both show up at the library at the same time. Kristy doesn't let up on the Alan insults, and Claudia finally confesses at that day's club meeting that she's been seeing him. Kristy has major issues with that; she just doesn't like Alan and can't accept that one of her friends is essentially dating him.

Things are going a little better for Claud at the library. Ms. Feld likes Claudia's ideas for the mural, and plans are in place to start working on it. Then, Alan shows up to walk Claud to her BSC meeting so they can talk. She tries to put him off, but he isn't having it. He calls her out on being embarrassed to have her friends see them together, and asks that they give him a chance. They make plans for the BSC to go out for mini golf with Alan, Cary Retlin, and Pete Black. The big day finally arrives, but first, Claudia has to get through her day of work. She gets to the library to find everything in place for work on the mural, and Ms. Feld eager to have the kids help, too. Claudia isn't so sure about that part of it, and she was right to be apprehensive. The kids make a huge mess, and the mural looks terrible. Mrs. Kishi is furious, and she has to step in and make sure everything gets cleaned up. Once again, she tells Claudia that her job is to help in the children's room, not to paint murals.

The group date that night goes okay. Everyone plays in pairs, and Cary orchestrates it so that Alan and Kristy are a team. She does her best to insult and berate him, but Alan doesn't rise to the challenge. He's polite and calm....not like the normal Alan at all. Claudia doesn't like this super well-mannered Alan any more than she liked the goofy, joke-playing Alan. She knows there's a side of him that's both, and she encourages him to let that side show. To celebrate their new understanding, Claudia has a backyard BBQ for all of her friends, and some of Alan's. That's where they officially become boyfriend and girlfriend. Awwww, isn't that cute? :)

(By the way....Claudia ends up redoing the main part of the mural on her own, and the kids get to be involved by putting a handprint border around it).

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

So....explain something to me. It's July in this book, yet in the next one, we're back in June and it's graduation time. Did another 8th grade happen between the two books, or did SMS go back in time?
I still don't get the whole Claudia/Alan thing, but Abby and Alan might not make a bad pair....
I like that Claudia's friendship with Erica didn't go by the wayside when she and Stacey made up.
Speaking of Erica, she finds out the names of her birth parents in this one. It's actually kind of intense....
I really think the FF series could have lasted longer if all of the books had been as good as Kristy's Big News.

FF#11 Welcome Home, Mary Anne

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Summary

At long last, the Schafers and Spiers are done renovating their barn. Mary Anne is excited to move in, even though she still misses her old house. She's also excited that Dawn and Jeff are coming for the summer, and that they're bringing along a guyes: Sunny Winslow. Mary Anne is looking forward to having Sunny stay with them, but she's a little apprehensive at the same time. Not only is Mary Anne a little jealous of how close Dawn and Sunny are now, but Sunny's mom has just died of cancer, and Mary Anne isn't sure how to act around her. Sharon encourages her to just include Sunny in everything that she and Dawn would be doing anyway.

It doesn't seem like Mary Anne has to worry much about Sunny at first. From the second she steps off the plane, Sunny is running at top speed. She's enthusiastic and energetic, and excited to be visiting Stoneybrook. Mary Anne can tell that she's not quite all right, though, so she vows to be supportive and just follow Sunny's lead. That proves to be a little tough to do; on her first full day in Stoneybrook, Sunny decides that Mary Anne needs a new boyfriend. During their day at the pool, Sunny flirts with this older high school guy on Mary Anne's behalf, and makes a date with him and two of his friends. Mary Anne really isn't comfortable with the idea of going on a date with anyone yet, but she goes along with Sunny's plan anyway. The date is kind of a flop, and Mary Anne knows she needs to tell Sunny she doesn't really want to go out with any of the guys again. Sunny beats her to the punch, though.

With all of Sunny's energy and her eagerness to do everything there is to do in Stoneybrook, she quickly gets tired of the same old routine. That's when she gets her big idea: she, Dawn, and Mary Anne should sneak off to New York City for the day. Both Dawn and Mary Anne are apprehensive about the idea, but Sunny eventually talks them into it. Mary Anne feels totally guilty at first, but she ends up relaxing enough to have a really good time. Then, while the girls are shopping, she happens to look at her watch. They had totally lost track of time, and it's late enough that they need to leave NYC in order to get home before Sharon and Richard. Sunny, though, doesn't want to leave. In fact, she wants to stay late enough to go clubbing that night. Dawn is having none of it. She calls Sunny out on her irresponsible behavior, and draws attention to the fact that she's been getting her own way ever since her mom died. This subdues Sunny, who finally agrees to go home.

None of the three girls are particularly happy with each other by the time they get home. Dawn leaves again right away to get Jeff at the Pikes', and Sunny stomps upstairs and shuts herself in the room she's sharing with Dawn. When Mary Anne heads up there later, she hears Sunny inside crying. Mary Anne knows that Sunny really needed to let go like that, so she just lets her cry. They talk a little about what Sunny's been going through, losing her mom and being away from home. In fact, Sunny's decided that she needs to be with her dad, and that she should go home.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

The big question...who's Dawn and who's Sunny on the cover? I think Dawn is the one on the left, in the yellow shirt, and Sunny's the one on the right, with the necklace.
The New York trip was the sole reason that this book got a rating of 3. Not only would I have LOVED to do something that daring when I was a kid, but I also love the way they travel. Walking up and down random streets and NOT sticking to the typical tourist stuff is how I like to see big cities. :)
Is it just me, or does Sunny give off a bit of a....promiscuous vibe? You know she'll be at all the frat parties during college....
The new Schafer-Spier house sounds cool, but I can't imagine them turing the barn into a house. I never pictured it being big enough, and I DID picture it as being kind of run-down.
Even though I don't miss the baby-sitting stuff too much in this book, I'm glad that we've seen a little more of some of the BSC's charges in the last few books.

FF# Stacey's Problem

2010-06-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

Summary

Stacey, her mom, and Claudia are having a girls' night at the McGills'. They have fun making their own pizza and playins board games, but Stacey notices that something's wrong with her mom. She seems distracted, and she ends up going to bed early with a headache. The next day, she still seems so out of it that Stacey almost doesn't want to go to New York for the weekend. It's a good thing she does end up going, though, because her dad and Samantha have some big news: they're getting married. Stacey is pretty happy about it; she likes Samantha, and she can tell her dad is really happy.

When Stacey gets back to Stoneybrook, she's glad to see that her mom is over the funk she was in before. That is, she's over the funk until Stacey breaks the news about her dad's engagement. Mrs. McGill doesn't say much, but after they get home, Stacey finds her in her room, crying. She explains that she isn't sad because she wanted to get back together with Ed; she definitely DOESN'T want that. She's just overwhelmed at this whole chapter of her life (her marriage) really, truly being over. Stacey really wants to help her mom feel better, so she and Claudia decide that Mrs. McGill would be happier if she were dating. They get a tape from a video dating service, and the whole BSC gathers at Stacey's to try and pick her potential new stepfather. None of the guys seem quite right, so it's back to the drawing board.

As it turns out, Mrs. McGill didn't need any help getting a date; she's got one with a guy she met through work. One again, Stacey doesn't want to go to New York, since she thinks she needs to be there to surpvise her mother's comings and goings from her date. Also once again, Stacey heads to New York anyway. She's having fun getting to know Samantha even better, but she can't get her mind off of her mother's date. She forgets about it briefly, though, when Ed and Samantha take her out for Sunday breakfast at a new place. While they're waiting in line, who should they run into but Laine Cummings! She acts like nothing ever went wrong in their friendship, and even asks if Stacey can sit with her and her friends. Stacey makes sure her dad says no, and the whole weird encounter is over.

After the meal, Stacey finally gets ahold of her mother by phone. Unfortunately, the date did not go well. There was nothing really wrong with the guy; there just wasn't any chemistry. Since Mrs. McGill seems really disappointed, Stacey asks her dad and Samantha if she can just go home. Samantha offers to drive her, to save a little time. Stacey gets home and decides that it's her mission to cheer up her mom. Mrs. McGill insists she doesn't need it, and a couple of days later, she seems like she's back to her old self. She cooks a fancy dinner for Stacey, and tells her that she has some big news: she's decided to go back to her maiden name, and she's seriously thinking of quitting her job to open her own clothing store. Looks like the times, they are a-changin' for the whole McGill family.

There's actually a subplot in this one! Mallory is home from Riverbend, and she feels totally out of place. Her family seems to be functioning just fine without her, and her friends are all still too busy with school to spend time with her. There really isn't much of a resolution to this; everyone just kind of tells Mallory to hang on and give it time.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

When Stacey's mom tells the BSC members about the store, they all offer to work there. Maureen actually tells them that that's not possible because of child labor laws. I can't believe that it took them until the end of the series to make any mention of that kind of thing!!!
I don't get why Stacey feels like she has to micromanage her mother's life.
I'm glad that Maureen went back to her maiden name. I'm actually kind of surprised that none of the other divorced women in the series did that.
The pizza that Claudia, Stacey, and Maureen made at the beginning of the book sounded great....until they put the anchovies on it. Seriously, though....I've always wanted to try making my own pizza.

FF#9 Kristy and the Kidnapper

2010-06-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Summary

Kristy and Abby are part of the new SMS debate team, and they're heading to Washington D.C. for a competition. As soon as they make it to their hotel, Kristy spots someone she knows in the lobby. It's Terry Hoyt...or, at least she thinks it is. Kristy is mystified when he's introduced by one of his friends as David Hawthorne, but this David guy claims never to have HEARD of Stoneybrook, let alone lived there. Later that night, Kristy is sure he's avoiding her. He can't avoid her for long, though; they're put on the same three person debate team.

Kristy, David, and Kai (the other person assigned to their group) actually make a pretty good team. They even win their first debate. There's a dance that night for all the students participating in the debate tournament, but Kristy, Kai, and David all leave early and decide to practice some more. Kristy is just leaving her room to head down to their meeting place in the lobby when she runs into David. He'd relaxed around Kristy while they were preparing for the debate, but now, he's back to being less than friendly. Then, he whispers in her ear that he's being followed. At first, Kristy thinks it's just a kid from one of the other debate teams. Then, she looks back and sees an adult man in dark clothes behind them. When they get to the stairwell, David shoves Kristy into it and tells her to run. He's right behind her, but just as they get to the lobby, the man grabs David. Kristy rushes into the lobby and screams that David is being kidnapped. Security comes running, and the catch up to David and his kidnapper in the parking garage. As soon as the man sees the guards chasing him, he drops David and takes off. David is shaken, but okay.

Both David and Kristy are taken into an office to be questioned by police. Before the officers get there, he asks her not to mention that the kidnapper had said "Your father is going to pay" just as he caught David. Kristy is mystified as to why, so David finally has to come clean about his dad's secret agent work, and his own previous identity as Terry Hoyt. Kristy doesn't say anything about the kidnapper's comments to the cops. David's dad eventually arrives to talk to the two of them. They hadn't managed to catch the kidnapper, so both David and Kristy are going to be assigned Secret Service agents until he's caught.

Meanwhile, the debating is still going on. Kristy, Kai, and David win another round, in spite of the craziness that Kristy and David have been through. That same day, Mr. Hawthorne brings the two of them a bunch of pictures of criminals who could have been the kidnapper. They identify him; it's a guy named Lance Dibdin. David's dad had busted the ring of compuer hackers that Dibdin was a part of, but Dibdin stayed out of jail on a technicality.

Kristy, David, and Kai make it to the final round of debates. In fact, they're debating the team that Abby's on (Abby and Kristy had been super competitive the whole time, arguing over everything). The final debates are being held at the Lincoln Memorial. Just as Kristy and her team are finishing up, she spots someone in the crowd: it's Lance Dibdin. She screams and points at time (she's so scared that it's all she can do), but he continues to make his way toward David. Security (and Mr. Hawthorne), quickly take him down and arrest him. In spite of all the drama, Kristy and her team go on to win the debate finals.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

This one approaches BSC Mystery levels of unrealisticness. I kept expecting Sgt. Johnson to pop out of nowhere and help with the investigation.
The camaraderie between Kristy, David, and Kai was really fun to read about. So was David's relationship with his dad!
I'm not surprised that Kristy and Abby are good at debate, but seriously....how many middle schools actually HAVE debate teams? My high school didn't even have one, although they did offer a debate class. Which I took. And hated.
I just have to reiterate how perfect the girl they got to play Kristy on these covers is. Definitely the best match out of all the FF cover girls!

FF#8 Mary Anne's Revenge

2010-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summary

Mary Anne is now involved in the yearbook. The good news? She likes it. The bad news? Cokie Mason is one of the editors, and the other editor (Rick Chow) just agrees with whatever she says. Cokie seesm to have it in for Mary Anne, even more so than usual. She's always making snide comments in front of the whole group, and Mary Anne can't seem to speak up and defend herself. She's not too happy with her own lack of guts, so she starts speaking up in other ways. Mary Anne's friends and family are a little surprised, to say the least, about her new attitude.

One day, Claudia and Mary Anne arrive at school together and get some big news from Stacey. Someone has started a rumor that Mary Anne begged Logan to take her back, and when he wouldn't, she went nuts by sending him lots of crazy emails and leaving tons of phone messages. It's pretty obvious that Cokie's the one responsible, which is the last straw for Mary Anne. She's determined to get revenge on Cokie, once and for all. She spends some class time making a list of awful things to do to her, and when she shares her list with Kristy at lunch, she sees that Kristy also has a list. The BSC members (and Abby) are all eager to be in on the plan.

That same day, Logan pulls Mary Anne aside for a chat. He's heard the rumor, and since he obviously knows that it's not true, he wants to make sure Mary Anne is okay. He also wants to tell her himself that he and Dorianne Wallingford have kind of started seeing each other. It hasn't really moved past the friendshp stage yet, but Logan wants to get it out in the open anyway. Mary Anne ends up being late for her yearbook meeting because of her talk with Logan, and as soon as she walks in the room, Cokie starts to give her a bad time. Mary Anne really lets her have it, and Cokie is pretty much speechless. She leaves the room, and Mary Anne, Austin, and Abby get to work counting the ballots for the "Most" and "Best" voting (Most Likely to Succeed, Best Artist, etc). When they finish, they notice something odd: Cokie and her friends have bascially swept the voting. There are also ballots missing (Mary Anne can't find hers), and the number of ballots doesn't match the humber that the teachers collected. Mary Anne and Aby lock the ballot boxes up overnight, and they go to Mr. Fiske (faculty advisor) the next morning. He agrees to have another vote....with better security this time.

Since Cokie still hasn't given up on her rumor-spreading and nastiness, Mary Anne decides she needs to do more in the way of revenge than just telling Cokie off once. Kristy suggests enlisting the help of Cary Retlin, so Mary Anne arranges a meeting with him in the SMS library after school. When she gets there, she finds him with a stack of magazines. Step one in their revenge plan is to fill out tons of those annoying little subscription cards, but not send them right away. The cards are a backup plan, just to have around in case things don't go well. On their way out of the library, who should they run into but Cokie herself? She invites both of the them to a party she's having, and to Cokie's surprise, Mary Anne accepts.

The next day, Mary Anne goes to Kristy's for dinner after the BSC meeting. They totally lose track of time, and Mary Anne gets home way past curfew. Her dad is not happy; they argue, and Mary Anne ends up grounded for two weeks. That poses a problem, because Cokie's party is that weekend. Mary Anne knows she has to be there. If she doesn't show up, Cokie will think she lost her nerve. So, Mary Anne decides to sneak out. She gets out of the house okay, and the party itself is actually pretty decent. The food is good, and lots of Mary Anne's friends are there. Cokie's still up to her old tricks, though. She orchestrates it so the music will stop just as she happens to be making a statement about how desperate Mary Anne still is to get back with Logan, and everyone there hears it. Everyone there also hears it when Mary Anne tells off Cokie yet again, and the whole place claps and cheers. This doesn't make Cokie happy; it's HER party.

Mary Anne is feeling pretty good about herself as she heads home after the party. She stops feeling good, though, when she finds her dad waiting up for her. They fight again, and is escalates to the point that Sharon wakes up and comes downstairs to see what's the matter. She orders them to sit and listen to her, and she points out that Richard and Mary Anne are having so many problems lately because they're both still struggling with the aftermath of the fire. They have a nice family meeting, and Mary Anne's grounding is reduced. She realizes that she doesn't want to be that weak person who never stands up for herself anymore, but she also realizes that she doesn't want to be mean and sarcastic anymore. Time for a happy medium!

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Cokie's house is made to seem like a mansion, but when Mary Anne was over there working on the Megan Rinehart project in #46, it was just a normal house. Also, Mary Anne makes it seem like she's never been to Cokie's before, when we know she has.
This is the only book where I can truly say that I enjoy Cary Retlin. It's interesting that Kristy seems to be the one who always suggests that the BSC work with him....
I loved that Mary Anne got a little rebellious in this one. It makes her seem like a typical teenager. :)
In order to get some ideas for decorating their new house, Richard and Sharon take Mary Anne on a tour of historical homes in Greenvale. Mary Anne didn't enjoy it (this is when she was in her brief grumpy and sarcastic phase), but I would have been totally into it!
The description of Mary Anne's nightmare at the beginning of the book was actually kind of scary....

FF#7 Claudia Gets Her Guy

2010-06-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Summary

This book begins on the same day that the last one ends: the day of Mr. Zizmore's goodbye party. Claudia isn't there; she's sitting for the Rodowskys instead. Even though Claud and Stacey are on their way to repairing their friendship, Claudia is still a little mad about the whole Jeremy situation, and doesn't really want to be at a party where she'd have to watch the two of them together. When she gets home from a sitting job that night, she finds a message waiting for her from Mary Anne. Apaprently, she has big news. It's pretty late at that point, so Claudia has to wait until the next day to find out what Mary Anne has to say. The news definitely ends up being big: Jeremy and Stacey broke up the night before.

Claudia spends that night awake, mulling over what the breakup might mean. She's nervous to see Jeremy at school the next day, but he barely even acknowledges her. Claudia starts to completely overanalyze what that might mean, but she doesn't come to any real conclusions. Luckily, Claud has a new activity to keep her mind off of Jeremy. She and Erica Blumberg have volunteered to help with this program that helps immigrant families learn the skills they need to live in a new country. Claudia's assigned family, the Yashimotos, are Japanese. Claud is pretty nervous about her first day as a "teacher," but she really likes the Yashimotos and the work she's doing with them. By the following day, though, Claudia is right back to obsessing over Jeremy. This is largely due to the fact that posters for the Cupid's Arrow Dance have started to appear all around school. Claudia would, of course, like to go to the dance with Jeremy, but he seems to be avoiding her at that point. So, she finally decides to ask him herself, in a note. She slips it into his locker one morning before class, and then waits nearby to see his reaction as he reads it. Erica and Kristy join her, and (finally) they see Jeremy coming down the hall. Claudia can't bear to look, so the other two give her a play-by-play of what they see happening. He doesn't seem to have seen the note, and when Claudia turns around, she figures out why. The locker that Jeremy is walking away from is NOT the one she put the note into.

Claudia is freaking out, so Kristy enlists Cary Retlin's help later that day to get the locker open. He agrees to help, but it doesn't do any good. Not only is the note already gone, but the locker belongs to none other than Alan Gray. Alan approaches Claudia that afternoon and asks to talk to her about the note. To her surprise, he doesn't pull any of his usual crazy stuff. He's really nice about it, and flattered that she thinks so highly of him. Claudia is dismayed; Alan thought the note was actualy for him! She's even more dismayed when he accepts her invitation to the Cupid's Arrow Dance, but Claud doesn't have the heart to tell him that the note was meant for someone else. At that day's BSC meeting, her friends all have different reactions. Mary Anne suggests they all keep an open mind, Stacey thinks he's actually kind of cute, and Kristy goes ballistic. She thinks Claud is nuts for going to a dance with him. After the meeting, Stacey asks her what she's going to do about Jeremy. Claudia feels awkward talking to Stacey about him, and she tells her so.

The Kishis take the Yashimotos to the Metropolitain Museum of Art that weekend. It's a lot of fun, but the children don't understand that you're not supposed to touch the art. Claudia pulls them aside and explains things to them, which makes her realize how important communication is. She decides to talk to Stacey, first thing Monday morning. They agree to meet before that day's BSC meeting, and as they're walking to Claudia's locker, they see that someone has left a gigantic bouquet of flowers there. It was Alan, of course, and he later surprises Claudia with lunch from Burger King. She tries to make him understand that they're just hanging out as friends, but he doesn't seem to get it. Neither does Jeremy; he's really hurt that Claudia is going to the dance with someone else, and he won't listen when she tries to explain the situation to him.

Claudia's talk with Stacey that afternoon goes a lot better. She and Stacey agree to never let a boy come between them again, and they both feel a little more free to talk about Jeremy. Meanwhile, Alan keeps doing all sorts of nice things for Claudia; he's definitely not the same guy he used to be. At one point, Cary pulls Claudia aside for a chate. He knows the note wasn't meant for Alan, and he warns Claudia not to keep stringing him along if she's not interested. Claudia tells Cary that Alan knows they're just friends, and Cary tells her in return that Alan wants more than that. Claudia promises to be play nice.

The day of the dance arrives, and Alan comes to pick up Claudia. He actually made her a pin in the shape of a heart to wear. Even so, Claudia still looks for Jeremy once they're at the dance. She's excited when he cuts in on her when she's dancing with Alan, but the excitement is short-lived. Claudia realizes that she'd actually rather be dancing with Alan, and that she and Jeremy are meant to be only friends. When the song is over, Claud goes to find Alan.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Jeremy was ridiculous for being so mad about Claud going to the dance with Jeremy. I mean, he was avoiding her in school. What was she supposed to do, clear her schedule until he decided he was going to be friendly again?
I totally used to overanalyze everything my crushes said or did, just like Claudia. :)
I just can't get into the Claudia-Alan pairing, no matter how many times I read these books!
I like that Stacey and Claudia didn't just jump right back into being best buddies like they used to be. It's actually pretty realistic for there to be some tension between friends after a huge fight, even when it's over.
These books are so 90's compared to the regular BSC series: the pop culture references, technology, outfits, etc.
Claudia's work with the Yashimotos actually makes me want to learn Japanese again....

FF#6 Stacey and the Boyfriend Trap

2010-06-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's New Year's Eve, and Stacey's in New York with her dad. She convinces him and Samantha to head down to Times Square to watch the ball drop live, and while they're there, Stacey gets interviewed for tv. She also makes a New Year's resolution: to be a better friend. She starts on that the next morning by giving Ethan a call. They haven't seen much of each other since their breakup, and Stacey misses him. They have a good time together, but it's cut short when Stacey has to catch her train back to Stoneybrook. When she meets her mom at the station back home, there's mail for her: a letter from Toby, the guy she dated in Sea City. He's going to be traveling the East Coast with his family while his brother looks at colleges, and he wants to stop in Stoneybrook and see her. She decides not to respond right away, and calls Jeremy instead. She's glad to see him again, but decides that it would be best not to say anything about Ethan or Toby. Jeremy was busy when she was gone, too: he went to the mall with Claudia and Erica. This doesn't exactly make Stacey happy; she still doesn't want Jeremy spending time with her ex best friend.

When school starts up again after the break, Stacey gets some bad news. Her math teacher, Mr. Zizmore, is moving to Texas so his wife can take a job there. Pete Black is also in Stacey's class, and he pulls her aside afterwards to talk to her about an idea he has: he wants the students to throw Mr. Z. a goodbye party, and he wants Stacey's help in making it happen. They make plans to go to Mr. Kingbridge the next day and ask him if it would be okay. He loves the idea, and suggests that the students combin with the faculty to make one really great party. Just as they're leaving Mr. Kingbridge's office, Stacey runs into the last person she ever expected to see: Wes, her former substitute and possible future full time teacher (he's applying for Mr. Z's job). She invites him to the party on the spot.

Word about the party get around. Even Robert Brewster, who's still dealing with the effects of his depression, wants to be involved. Stacey has to talk Jeremy into participating, though, and when she tries to be nice and ask Claudia to help with the decorations, but Claud ignores her. In between trying to recruit people for the party, Stacey finally finds time to reply to Toby's letter. He had included his email address. so she writes back that way. She doesn't specifically tell him whether or not she wants to see him, though; she just sort of updates him on what's going on in her life. The next time she's online, Toby IMs her and asks about coming to visit. Stacey finally says yes, figuring that it couldn't hurt anything.

A date for Mr. Z's party has finally been nailed down. At lunch that same day, Kristy asks Stacey if Sam can help out. He had Mr. Z back in the day, and credits his former teacher with showing him that math can be fun. Claudia laughs at this, and says that math only has its uses for someone like Stacey, who needs it to count all her ex boyfriends. That makes Stacey think. She DOES have an awful lot of them....is that normal at 13?

The planning committee for Mr. Z's party decides on "Great Math Minds' as their theme. They want to hang up pictures of famous mathematicians, but they need someone with artistic talent to draw them. Jeremy suggests Claudia...a fact that doesn't make Stacey happy. Remembering her New Year's resolution, though, she heads to Claud's house early for that day's BSC meeting to talk to her. Claudia agrees to help with the pictures for the party, and they both end up apologizing for the rotten things they've said to each other over the last few months. Things aren't totally back to normal, but they're on their way.

Saturday, the day of the party, arrives. It also happens to be the day of Toby's visit. He looks exactly the same to Stacey, although he seems to think he's changed for the better. They spend a few hours hanging out, and it's not exactly fun for Stacey. Then, just as Toby is heading outside to wait for his dad to come back for him, Ethan shows up. He's in Stoneybrook for an exhibit at the museum, and he thought he'd stop by and see Stacey. Stacey is frantically trying to figure out what to do with the guys when Toby's mom calls to say that they're going to be late. Stacey has no choice but to take both guys over to SMS with her while she helps set up for the party. The guys pitch in, which means that Stacey doesn't have to entertain them. After awhile, Jeremy pulls Stacey aside for a chat. He's noticed the copious amount of Stacey's exes in the room, and that she has a lot more in common with them than him. He wants to break up, and Stacey is actually not that upset about it. She seems to be getting closer to Ethan again, and even wonders if maybe all of her ex boyfriends were brought together in one place so she could see who she was really supposed to be with.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

This book could totally have been fan fiction. Think about it; how many times have we made fun of Stacey's dating habits? :)
Toby is so lame, it's not even funny. I don't see him as a military guy at all (that's what he plans to do after high school). I see him putting the minimum effort into his classes at some party school, and living in a frat house. He'd be the one in the frat who thinks he's a lot cooler than he really is. :)
Thank goodness the Claudia/Stacey fight basically ends in this one; I was getting really tired of it!
There's a chapter when Stacey and Kristy help Mary Anne pick out a design for her new bedroom. I love the descriptions of the rooms that they each pick out...so reflective of their personalities!
I wonder who the two guys in the pictures on the cover are supposed to be? Any thoughts?
Stacey is such a hypocrite. She's allowed to spend time alone with Ethan and Toby, and she can keep that from Jeremy, but it's a crime for him to go to the mall with Claudia AND ERICA BLUMBERG, especially when he freely admits it? Ridiculous. I don't like the FF Stacey at all.

FF#5 Kristy Power!

2010-06-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

Summary

Kristy's English teacher, Mrs. Simon, has left to have a baby. Her class has a great subsitute, Ted Morley. One day, Ted (that's what the students call him) announces two special projects. Each student is going to read a book from a list he provides and then write a paper about what it meant to him or her. Each student is also going to write the biography of another student in the class, and he's already paired everyone up. Kristy, unfortunately, is paired up with Cary Retlin. He's not any happier about working with her than she is about working with him, and they both approach Ted after class to try and get out of it. No dice; they're stuck with each other, at least for this project. Later that evening, though, Cary calls Kristy and asks for a truce. Neither of them wants a bad grade on the project, so Kristy agrees.

The following week, Ted has some bad news for Kristy's class. Some of the SMS parents objected to the books on the list he provided, and they want him removed from his job because of it. Ted is standing behind the list he provided, since no student is obligated to read anything that they or their parents find inappropriate or offensive. Since there isn't much else they can do at that point, the class concentrates on their projects. Kristy and Cary meet up in the library to interview each other, and it's an interesting experience. Cary asks Kristy all sorts of weird questions and doesn't take any notes. Then, he won't answer any of Kristy's questions normally. The next afternoon, Kristy heads to Cary's house to interview his family. His youngest brother, Steig, gleefully tells her about every little thing Cary's ever done wrong, but Benson Retlin is a little less talkative. When Kristy asks why the family left their home in Illinois, Benson won't talk. That's where the interviews end. Kristy can't resist going upstairs to take a look at Cary's room (he's outside at this point), and while she's up there, she sees a notebook open on his desk. She can't help reading just a little of it, and she's pretty shocked by what she sees. The paragraph she reads is all about how Cary did something to get himself kicked out of school, and how he still thinks about his old life all the time. Before Kristy can read any more, Cary arrives, wondering what she's doing in his room. Kristy is totally jumpy and nervous, but Cary doesn't seem to put two and two together and realize that Kristy's weirdness is because she read his journal.

The next day, Kristy still feels awfully guilty about snooping. She temporarily forgets about that, though, when she gets to English class and finds Mr. Taylor the principal waiting there instead of Ted. Ted's officially been suspended until the whole book list situation can be further examined. To his credit, Mr. Taylor doesn't seem particularly happy about the suspension, and neither do a lot of the other adults at SMS. He promises that Ted will get a fair trial, so to speak.

The next day, it's Cary's turn to interview Kristy's family. She's a little afraid of what they might tell him, and (of course) her brothers have plenty of embarrasing stories to share. Cary totally makes fun of her, and Kristy responds by saying that at least she didn't get kicked out of school. Cary figures out that Kristy read his notebook, calls her a jerk, and stomps out of the house angrily. Kristy feels horrible, and want to apologize the next day at school. Cary seems to be avoiding her, though, so she doesn't get a chance to. What's also disappointing is the boring sub they get in place of Ted. That is, she seems boring until the kids get around talking about the Ted situation. She lets them know that there's going to be a public meeting about the case, and lots of the kids in Kristy's class plan to attend. Enough people speak up in favor of Ted (and against censorship) that he's reinstated as a teacher. Their next class with him is definitely a celebration, but they quickly get back to work on their projects. Ted tells the students that he wants to meet with each pair after school to see where they are with their biographies. Cary talks to Kristy just long enough to set up their meeting time. Ted seems pleased with their progress (he doesn't know they've been fighting), and as Kristy and Cary are leaving, Ted asks Cary how his novel is going and compliments him on using notebooks instead of a computer. That's when Kristy realizes that she didn't see Cary's journal; she saw his novel in progress. Now it's Kristy's turn to be mad; even though Cary never confirmed or denied that what she read was a journal, he let her go on thinking it was and feeling bad about it. They end smoothing things over at Kristy's Christmas party, and things go back to normal with the two of them. At least, they're as normal as they can be with Cary involved....

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

What exactly does the title have to do with anything? What kind of power is Kristy supposed to have???
At one point, Kristy is trying to decide between The Outsiders and The Red Pony for her book report. It's funny that those books are on a list that parents objected to, because they were both required reading for me in 7th grade.
In the last book, Jeremy transferred in to Claudia's English class, which is taught by Ms. Hall. She's been Claud's English teacher for most of the series. So why, then, are both Claudia and Jeremy in Kristy's class, normally taught by Mrs. Simon?
It's kind of awesome that Cary has Dali and Escher on his walls. I also like that skeleton lamp he has. :) I don't necesarily WANT one, but it does sound cool.

FF#4 Claudia and the Friendship Feud

2010-06-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Summary

Claudia and Stacey are still fighting, so when a job at the Pikes comes up that only the two of them are available for, neither is thrilled with the idea. Stacey gets out of it by claiming she has a conflict, and suggests that they call Erica Blumberg instead. Rather than pitching a fit about a non-BSC member getting half of a BSC job, Kristy is actually into the idea. Claudia has a really good time working with Erica, and she begins to think that she may have found herself a brand new friend. She and Erica go to the mall together, and Claud drags her to all sorts of stores that Stacey used to like to visit. Erica's not really into that sort of thing, but she's a pretty good sport about it anyway. She's also a good sport when Claudia drags her shopping a second time, in downtown Stoneybrook. She finally hits her limit, though, when Claudia mistakenly calls her "Stace." Erica doesn't to be anyone's rebound friend, and she lets Claudia know.

Meanwhile, Claudia seems to be making another friend as well: Jeremy Rudolph, the boy she claims Stacey stole from her. They keep running into each other at school, and when Jeremy calls her one night, they end up talking for an hour. Jeremy really seems to want to be friends, but Claudia still wants more. When Stacey gets wind of what's going on, she pulls Claudia aside at school and orders her to stay away from Jeremy. Claudia nods as if she agrees, but she's really just shocked at Stacey's audacity.

The Pike kids are tired of the whole Stacey vs. Claudia fight (what a coincidence...so am I) so the orchestrate a sitting job with the two of them. They start talking, and though it looks like things are going well, the girls end up fighting again. Stacey really doesn't seem to understand why Claudia is still so upset. Claudia, on the other hand, realizes something important: she owes Erica a major apology. Erica doesn't need to be more like Stacey; Stacey needs to be more like Erica. After the sitting job, Claudia heads to Erica's house to apologize. Erica forgives her. It looks like things are getting interesting on the Jeremy front, too: at the end of the book, he transfers in to Claud's English class.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Lord, could Stacey be more horrible?
Claudia really needs to stop telling people that Stacey stole her boyfriend and that she dated Jeremy first. Neither is true! That being said...I'm still totally on Team Claudia.
Yay for someone having a non-BSC friendship that doesn't end when the book does.
The jewelry that Claudia and Erica were looking at during their mall trip sounds so 90's! I love it! :)

FF#3 Mary Anne's Big Breakup

2010-06-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Summary

So...it was pretty well established in Everything Changes that Mary Anne was having some issues with Logan. Those issues haven't gone away; he's still smothering her, and she's tired of not feeling like a complete person when she's with him. She finally gets up the nerve to end things with him when they're out to dinner one night, and Logan doesn't take it well at all. That upsets Mary Anne, but she holds off on crying until Logan is out of sight.

News of the breakup travels fast, and by the following Monday, everyone at SMS knows. The girls seem pretty sympathetic, but the boys are totally on Logan's side. They ignore Mary Anne, or are really cold to her when she tries to say hi. Kerry and Hunter Bruno are convinced that Mary Anne hates them, hates Logan, and thinks she's too good for everyone. Mary Anne tries to set them straight. Not everyone is totally unhappy about the breakup, though. Both Dave Griffin and Pete Black ask Mary Anne to the upcoming Fall Fling dance, but she turns them both down. She's just not ready to go out with anyone else yet. She's not sure Logan is in the same place, though, especially when she sees him laughing it up with Kristy. Mary Anne is pretty upset at the thought of the two of them ending up together, but she doesn't come right out and ask Kristy at first. Then, Kristy invites her to go pumpkin and apple picking with her family, and the whole story comes out then. Kristy and Logan AREN'T together, and have no intention of dating. That makes Mary Anne feel better.

The night of the dance arrives, and Mary Anne is home alone. She decides to watch a movie, but before she can pick one, Logan calls. He's got the new Robin Williams movie, and he wants to watch it with Mary Anne, just as friends. She agrees, but before the movie ends, Logan starts pushing for them to get back together. They end up having a huge fight, and Logan leaves angry. Mary Anne freaks out, but after talking to both Dawn and Claudia, she realizes that ending things with Logan was best for her. Now, she can start figuring out who she is as an individual.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

So, Mary Anne and Logan breaking up seemed to affect all of SMS in one way or another. Is that even realistic? Who cares about a couple of 13 year olds ending their relationship...even if they HAD been dating for about 12 years. ;)
Stacey, Kristy, Claudia and Mary Anne are about to go to a crafts fair at the end of the book. I really wish we'd gotten a chapter of them actually shopping there. I love stuff like that!
I so wish Mary Anne had gotten together with Pete Black by the end of the series. They totally need to get married. :)
Jessi was basically written out of the series completely, after her mentions in Everything Changes. Even Abby and Dawn make appearances in some of the FF books, but I don't think Jessi reappears until Graduation Day. I bet she'd accuse the ghostwriters of racism...if she were real, that is. :D
If SMS is having a Fall Fling, does that mean they're not having the Halloween Hop?

FF#2 Stacey vs. Claudia

2010-06-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

Summary

There's a new boy at SMS, and he's caught Stacey's eye. His name is Jeremy Rudolph, and he's just moved to Stoneybrook from Olympia, WA. Stacey and Claudia invite him to sit with the BSC at lunch, and he accepts. Jeremy is pretty cool, and it doesn't take long for Stacey to feel like she's known him for ages. When he leaves the lunch table, though, Mary Anne comments that he'd be perfect for Claudia. Claud is definitely not opposed to the idea; later that afternoon, when Stacey arrives for the BSC meeting, she finds Claudia alone in her room, sketching him from memory. Stacey encourages her to ask Jeremy out...but she's starting to wish she could do that herself. She's still technically dating Ethan, but they're having trouble finding time together, and eventually, Ethan suggests they cool things off.

One day, Claudia begs Stacey for her help with Jeremy. Claud is totally smitten at this point, and Stacey (who is also pretty smitten), realizes that she has to choose Claudia over Jeremy. So, she orchestrates a little plan to give the two of them some time alone. She invites Jeremy to the mall with her and Claudia, but claims to be sick at the last minute and cancels. The next day, Claudia calls Stacey and tells her all about the fabulous time she had with Jeremy...much to Stacey's disappointment. Later that same day, though, Jeremy stops by to check on Stacey. He admits that he doesn't like Claudia romantically, and that he'd like to go out with Stacey sometime. Stacey is stuck; she really wants to date Jeremy, but she wants to be a loyal friend to Claudia, too. She asks Jeremy for some time to think about it, and he agrees.

The next morning, Stacey still hasn't made a decision. She goes for a jog to try and clear her head, and runs into Rachel Griffin, a girl who's just moved back to Stoneybrook after being away for a few years. She's not exactly friends with the other members of the BSC, so Stacey talks to her about the Jeremy situation in the hopes that Rachel will have a more objective opinion. Rachel reasons that even though Claudia's feelings would be hurt if Stacey dated Jeremy, Jeremy isn't going to go out with Claudia no matter what. She also advises Stacey to talk to Claudia first. Needless to say, Claudia doesn't exactly take the news well. She's furious, because she feels like Stacey stole Jeremy from her. Stacey decides she doesn't care what Claudia is thinking or feeling about the situation anymore, and agrees to go out with Jeremy. They hang out in downtown Stoneybrook after school, and have a great time. The next day, though, Jeremy is really cold and distant with Stacey....after she's seen him talking to Claudia. As it turns out, Claudia was telling Jeremy about Ethan, and she made it seem like Stacey was still dating him. Stacey tries to explain the situation to Jeremy, but he's still unhappy about Stacey's lack of honesty. Later that day, Claudia and Stacey really have it out after the BSC meeting, and that friendshis is officially off, for the time being.

Eventually, Jeremy gets over Stacey's lack of forthrightness about Ethan, and they make plans to go out again. As Stacy is busy getting ready for the date, who should show up but Ethan! He thinks they're still together. Stacey gently tells him that things aren't working out, and that she's already seeing someone else. Ethan leaves, and Jeremy arrives for their date. Again, it's fun...and Stacey is plus one boyfriend, and minus one best friend.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Stacey was a total cow in this one. Everyone knows you don't go out with someone your friend currently likes, whether that friend has a chance with their crush or not. It just isn't done.
That being said, Claudia was a little off the mark. She kept accusing Stacey of stealing her boyfriend, and ruining her chances with Jeremy. Too bad Jeremy wasn't her boyfriend and she never really had a chance with him in the first place.
This books wasn't nearly as well written as the last one, but I still found myself identifying with what Claudia felt. It's hard to be logical in those situations.
I'm pushing 30, and I'm actually identifying with stuff that happens in these FF books. There's either something really wrong with me, or really right with the books. ;)

FF#1 Kristy's Big News

2010-06-10T10:46:00.001-07:00

Summary

Kristy and her family are at dinner one night when they get a phone call. It's Patrick, and he wants to talk to Kristy, Sam, and Charlie. He's got some big news: he's getting married, and he wants the three of them to come out to California for the wedding. He's bought them plane tickets already, and Sam and Kristy have both agreed to go. Charlie, however, refuses. Patrick also makes no mention of David Michael, and when the tickets arrive the next day, there are only three.

Kristy isn't sure how she feels about everything. She and Sam and Charlie are supposed to stay out there for an entire week, and they haven't spent that much time with Patrick for years. Plus, the whole David Michael situation is weird. He really wants to go to the wedding, but he wasn't invited. Then, there's Charlie. He's still got a lot of anger towards Patrick, and he wants nothing to do with him or his wedding. Finally, Elizabeth lays down the law: if Charlie doesn't go, neither can Kristy and Sam. Kristy talks Charlie into going, and they set off the following week. Patrick and his fiancee, Zoey, leave one of their cars at the airport for the kids to take back to the house. Kristy expects her father to live in some shack, so she's pretty surprised to see that his house is actually very nice. Both Patrick and Zoey are at work, so the kids have a chance to look around first. Then, Patrick and Zoey show up. The meeting is a bit awkward, particularly between Patrick and Charlie, but Zoey is really friendly and eases the tension. They serve the kids lunch from Zoey's restaurant, where Patrick is the chef. He's still doing some sportswriting, but not full time. He also wants Charlie and Sam to be his best men. Sam agrees, but Charlie flips his lid. He has no intention of being all buddy-buddy with Patrick....

The next day, Patrick and Sam go shopping for tuxes, and Zoey takes Kristy shopping for a dress. Kristy starts to like Zoey more and more, and she starts to wonder exactly what she sees in Patrick. He and Sam pick out the world's ugliest tuxes for the wedding, so the whole family has to go back out on another shopping trip. Patrick is sulky and snappish almost the whole time, and Kristy realizes that she actually likes Zoey better than her own father. On another day, Zoey sends Patrick, Kristy, Sam, and Charlie on a picnic together. It's a failure; there's a lot of tension, and Patrick and Charlie end up fighting again. Charlie ends up refusing to go to the rehearsal dinner, and the other two stay home with him...at least at first. They have a pretty deep talk about their dad, and their expectations of him. The three of them realize that they need to accept Patrick for who he is, and stop wanting him to be someone he's not. They call a cab, and show up in time for the rehearsal part of the rehearsal dinner.

That night, Zoey asks to sleep in Kristy's room so Patrick won't see her on the wedding day until it's time for the ceremony. For the whole trip, Kristy has been wondering exactly how much Zoey knows about Patrick and what he did to them in the past, and it finally all comes out. Zoey pretty much everything already, and she lets Kristy know that he's grown up a lot. She seems to be going into the marriage with her eyes wide open, which puts Kristy's mind at ease just a little bit. The next day, the wedding goes well. Kristy has some thoughts about her mom and dad and what their wedding must have been like as she's watching the ceremony, but she realizes that she'll probably never have a lot of the answers she wants about what happened there. The ceremony is short, and the reception goes well. Charlie even gives a toast that's not hostile, and (we think) Patrick and Zoey live happily ever after.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

This book has always resonated with me. Not only is it better written than a lot of the laster BSC books, but I identify with a lot of what Kristy, Sam, and Charlie are going through. I'm a divorced kid, too, and I see some of my dad's personality in Patrick.
It's weird that it was never explained why Patrick ignored David Michael. He didn't even acknowledge his existence when Charlie brought it up. I know there's a lot of talk out there in the fan world that DM might not be Patrick's, but I don't buy it. Elizabeth doesn't seem like the type to cheat on her husband....even when things get bad.
The girl that they got to play Kristy on these covers is adorable!
Kristy actually refers to Watson as a "mild-mannered millionaire" at the beginning of the book. That was kind of funny!
Ooooooh, Patrick and Zoey live together....AND SLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM!!!! So scandalous for the BSC world. ;)
Is it wrong that I kind of want to marry a grown up version of Charlie, minus all the anger?

Everything Changes

2010-06-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

It's summer (for the last time!), and, well, everything is changing for the members of the BSC. I think I'll recap this one Super Special style.

Kristy is freaking out about how the BSC will run in July. Abby, Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia, and Kristy herself are all going to be out of town for the whole month, Dawn won't be in Stoneybrook until August, and no one else has much time for sitting. Things get worse from there: first Logan and then Jessi drop out of the BSC completely. At least heading back to Camp Mohawk as a CIT will take Kristy's mind off of things. She's not happy that Mary Anne decides not to go at the last minute, but she and Abby are in the same cabin, which gives them a chance to get to know each other better. They actually get pretty close....and then Abby drops out of the club, too. Kristy refuses to speak to her for days, until their campers unite to try and get them talking again. Abby explains that she just wants some free time, and being in the BSC was definitely getting in the way of it. Kristy understands how Abby feels....which scares her.

As I said, Mary Anne decides to stay home rather than go to Camp Mohawk. There's so much up in the air with her family and her life that she feels she should stick around to see what happens. Logan is also proving to be a bit of a problem; he's trying so hard to be supportive of Mary Anne with everything she's gone through that he's actually smothering her. She tries to talk things out with him a couple of times, but it just doesn't go very well. Mary Anne realizes that she needs to consider a permanent break-up. In other news, her grandmother visits from Iowa, and brings a bunch of Mary Anne's mother's old things to replace what was lost in the fire. Also, Richard decides not to take the job in Philadelphia. They're going to renovate the barn into a house, and they'll be renting the Goldman's house (next door to Claudia) in the meantime.

Claudia's family takes a vacation to Monhegan, an island off the coast of Maine. The Kishi parents want to "get back to nature," which means no phone, tv, computer, etc. Claud isn't exactly thrilled with the whole idea, but she actually gets pretty into it. There are artists around for her to hang out with, and Monhegan is beautiful. She even gets to eat lobster every day of her trip. As it turns out, Claudia is the only one in the family who really took the "getting back to nature" theme of the trip seriously; Janine snuck her computer into the house, her mom gets caught reading a cheesy romance novel when they're supposed to be reading worthwhile stuff, and Mr. Kishi sneaks over to the neighbor's to watch tv.

Stacey spends the month of July in NYC with her dad and Ethan. It's fun at first....until her dad sees Ethan outside of some adult nightclub and restricts the amount of time they can spend together. Then, Mr. McGill drops another bombshell: he and Samantha are seriously thinking of living together. Stacey doesn't want this to happen, even though she likes Samantha. They decide to wait another month before making any decisions; they're taking things slowly. Also, Mr. McGill lifts the restriction on Stacey's Ethan time after the four of them (Mr. McGill, Samantha, Stacey, and Ethan) have dinner together and he sees how mature Ethan really is.

After everyone gets back from vacation, the four original members of the BSC get together. It's pretty clear that they won't be able to run the BSC like they did before, since it's only the four of them now (Shannon dropped out when they called her to see how much she'd be able to help in the coming year). They decide to cut back on their number of meetings per week, and on the amount of sitting they do. Kristy is really sad about this, but even she knows that it's for the best.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

In Claudia's first postcard to Stacey after she finds out that she's going to Monhegan, she says she's never been stuck on an island before. I guess she hasn't read SS#4. :)
Another inconsistency: Stacey decides she wants to learn to needlepoint, but she brought some needlepoint with her to Sea City in #8. I can forgive that, though; #8 happened well over 10 years before this book. She probably just forgot how. :)
It really, really annoys me how Kristy refuses to use words like I, he, she, we, the, etc. in her journal entries. It just doesn't work.
Lobster every day for a whole month might get a little....old. ANYTHING every day for a whole month would.
The whole book consists of Kristy writing to Mary Anne (and vice versa) and Claudia writing to Stacey (and vice versa). Am I really supposed to believe that Kristy never wrote to Claudia, Stacey never wrote to Mary Anne, etc?
Mr. McGill keeps emphasizing that the club he saw Ethan outside of was for ADULTS. Was he trying to imply that it was a strip club?
I have to say...I'm really looking forward to NOT having to slog through a chapter 2 from here on out!

#131 The Fire at Mary Anne's House

2010-06-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summary

Early one morning, Tigger wakes Mary Anne up. At first, she can't figure out why. Then, she hears the smoke alarms, and her dad yelling for her. Their house is one fire! The place is totally filled with smoke, but everyone (including Tigger) makes it outside safely. Sharon managed to grab the cordless phone on her way out, and she's already called for help. The firefighters get there quickly, but all the family can do is watch their house and everything in it go up in flames. Pretty soon, the neighbors start arriving. Stacey tries to get Mary Anne to go home with her so she doesn't have to stand their watching the fire, but Mary Anne doesn't want to leave. She's sort of frozen in place...and she can't cry. Eventually, Sharon starts making calls to everyone who needs to know about the fire. Many of them want to talk to Mary Anne, but she refuses until Dawn is the one asking. She'll be heading to Connecticut as soon as possible to be with the family.

Eventually, the Thomases and Brewers show up with an invitation to stay at their house until other arrangements can be made. Richard, Sharon, and Mary Anne accept, and Mary Anne heads there for some rest while Richard and Sharon start searching through the rubble for anything salvageable. After her nap, Mary Anne heads back where her house used to be. They've managed to find a few things, including Sharon's wedding ring, but most of their stuff is gone. Mary Anne still can't cry, though...even when Dawn finally arrives and is crying herself.

Things at the Thomas-Brewer house are a little overwhelming for the Spiers and Schafers. They even have to resort to sneaking out to the kids' playhouse in the backyard in order to have a family meeting about what to do next. Richard wants them to see the fire as an opportunity to start a new life. In fact, he wants them to start a REALLY new life...in Philadelphia. He's been offered a great job there, and Sharon wants to go back to school. She'd have her pick of schools in Philly. Mary Anne is in shock; she's lived in Stoneybrook all her life, and she doesn't particularly want to leave.

One night, Mary Anne wakes up and can't get back to sleep. She sneaks out of the Thomas-Brewer mansion, borrows Kristy's bike, and rides over to where her house was. She goes into the barn, which is where they've been storing everything that might be able to be saved. Mary Anne starts to feel really, really alone, and that's when she finally starts crying about everything. Dawn finds her, and they have a nice cry together. That's more or less where the book (and the series) ends....

Subplot: Lots of fire safety info. Also, the BSC enters a "Best Baby-sitter" contest as a group, with help from their charges. I don't think we ever find out who wins...

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

I couldn't believe how...graphic the fire scenes were. Wow. I've read this one once or twice before, but I don't remember it being so scary. I'm more scared of drowning than I am of fire, but still...
It was a little out of place for Mary Anne to have the final book in the regular BSC series. It should have been Kristy. In fact, Kristy's Worst Idea would have made a great final book in the series. Some elements could have been taken from Everything Changes (members dropping out of the club, for instance), added to Kristy's Worst Idea...which could have led into the FF books.
In a way, I like that the book was left open-ended. Problems aren't always solved and questions aren't always answered neatly within the span of 130 pages. :)

Well....that's it. The end of the regular BSC books. Finishing this one gave me such a WEIRD feeling! I know it's not really the end; there's still FF, The Summer Before, and my other Ann books to keep me occupied. Even so, I've all but finished what I set out to do almost a year ago...that's just crazy to think about! Thanks for reading along, and stay tuned for BSC: The Sequel. ;)

#130 Stacey's Movie

2010-06-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Summary

Time for our final Short Takes classes in the series, and Stacey's assigned to her first choice class: moviemaking. It's going to be taught by an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, and Stacey can't wait to get started. Carrie Murphy, the teacher, puts her into a group with Erica Blumberg, Pete Black, and Emily Bernstein. Erica is assigned the role of director, Pete is the cinematographer, Emily is the producer, and Stacey is the screenwriter. At first, they try to film a sort of horror movie about zombies taking over SMS, but that ends up looking stupid. Then, Stacey gets the idea to film a documentary instead. They'll interview different kids about life as a middle school student, and try to give people a clear picture about what goes on in the mind of the average SMS student. The group starts by interviewing Pete, and Stacey is surprised at what he reveals. Pete wishes he could drive, and have an actual job, so he can get out of Stoneybrook that much sooner. Abby is up next; she kind of freaks out when Erica points out that she's an awful lot like her mom (both of them cram their days full of stuff). Next is Jessi, who has some surprising things to say about being a black kid in a (mostly) white world. Stacey is especially shocked by her comments. Then comes Cokie; she kind of calls the BSC out for thinking they're better than everyone else, and points out that ALL cliques probably feel that way, to some extent. Next up is Claudia, who talks about how hard school is, and how she doesn't feel that artistic talent is rewarded. Stacey tries to interview Emily next, but Emily won't reveal anything really juicy. In fact, she keeps turing things around and asking Stacey questions.

Things take an interesting turn when Stacey's group interviews Mary Anne. It's pretty clear that she's in a bad mood, and when she's questioned, she admits that she sometimes hates her mother for dying. It's a great interview...but Mary Anne wants it cut. She'd had a fight with Sharon right before her interview about Sharon's forgetfulness, and she had gone into it thinking that maybe her birth mother wouldn't be so scatterbrained. Stacey tries to get her group to cut the interview, but they all vote to keep it in. Then, Stacey herself is interviewed and reveals some stuff about her parents' divorce that she wishes that she hadn't, and she understands where Mary Anne was coming from before. The others in the group STILL won't take any of the material from either interview out, so Stacey gets the idea to film explanations from both herself and Mary Anne. Those both make it into the final cut.

Subplot: Kristy is also in the film class, and she's in a group with Alan Grey, Logan, and Anna. As usual, Kristy takes over. She especially pisses off Alan, and she even starts to put the movie (they're filming BSC charges doing funny stuff) over the safety of the subjects. Eventually, she starts acting a little less annoying.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

I thought it was totally lame that they added in those little explanations after Mary Anne's and Stacey's interviews. Neither of them said anything that was that bad, and the movie probably would have been better if they'd just used the original interviews.
So...the students now get to choose their own Short Takes classes? In the past, everyone in the school had to take the same class at the same time.
This book actually wasn't horrible...Stacey lucked out with her last one.
Since when did Stacey become such a movie buff? She goes on and on about how fascinated she is with filmmaking, and how awful it'll be if she's not assigned to her first choice ST class.

#129 Kristy at Bat

2010-06-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's springtime, and for Kristy, that means one thing: baseball. And softball. So, I guess springtime actually means TWO things for Kristy. :) Anyway, Watson has signed up the two of them for a weeklong stay at Bill Bain's Baseball Dream Camp, and they're both excited. Kristy can't wait to get out on the field, playing with and being coached by former major leaguers. Watson is particularly excited to meet Bill Bain himself; Bain was one of Watson's childhood heroes. Before camp, though, Kristy has tryouts for the SMS softball team. She's a bit rusty when she gets out onto the field, but even so, she doesn't really put her best effort into showing what she's got. Kristy knows that Coach Wu likes her and is familar with what she can do, and she doesn't really feel like she has to try as hard as the other girls. Then, when the team lists are posted, Kristy gets two nasty surprises. Not only is she playing in the outfield, but she's been demoted to second string. Coach Wu explains that there were a lot of other girls who tried MUCH harder than Kristy did at tryouts, and even though the coach knows that Kristy is a good play, she really couldn't give her a first string spot over them. Kristy is disappointed, but she knows she deserves what she got. Then, she starts to question herself. Maybe she wasn't rusty at all; maybe second string is the best she can do. Suddenly, she's not so sure about Dream Camp anymore.....

Since Watson is so excited about going to camp, Kristy goes ahead with it. Before long, she's actually having fun. Everyone in camp is placed on one of two teams. The coaches of the team that Kristy and Watson are on are Matt Adamec (former major leaguer), Gloria Kemp (former women's baseball player....think A League of Their Own), and Mr. Bill Bain himself. Bain doesn't actually show up that first day, but Kristy really enjoys getting to work with Matt and Gloria. She even helps them get a little more organized, once the teams are out on the field, working on their skills. Bill Bain even makes an appearance...but it's not a long one. He doesn't really interact with the campers at all. Then, at lunch, Watson tries to approach him for an autorgraph, and gets totally shut down. Kristy can tell that Watson is upset, and from then on, Dream Camp doesn't seem to be living up to its name. Kristy herself still isn't playing up to her usual level, which is making the whole experience less fun than it initially was. She just can't get it together.

Bill Bain continues to be a standoffish jerk, and things kind of come to head one day during practice. He shows up and starts telling Gloria off for her coaching style. That's when Kristy really lets him have it. She's actually pretty polite, but she points out that people are not too thrilled with his behavior, especially since his name is associated with the camp itself. Bain leaves without really responding, and everyone there is proud of Kristy for having her say. Everyone, that is. except Watson. In spite of the way that Bain's treated him, Watson still sees him as a hero, and is not happy with Kristy for talking to his hero that way. He doesn't stay mad long, though. By the next morning, they're talking again.

Kristy's little lecture actually did some good. At the next practice, Bain is there, ready and waiting to coach his team. He apologizes for being a jerk, and from then on, he's actually a pretty nice guy and a good coach. Kristy and Watson's team wins the final camp game, and Kristy even gets a "Best Coach" trophy for all the help she gave organizing peopleduring the week. She also comes to see that being on second string won't be so bad; playing the game is what counts.

Subplot: David Michael has joined a sort of informal baseball card trading club. At first, all he cares about are collecting the cards of players he likes, and he's fine with keeping them all in a shoebox. Then, when he sees how seriously some of the other kids take their trades, he gets much more serious about it. He buys a fancy collecting kit, and starts to get concerned with how much each card is worth. Then, he gets taken for a ride by a kid who knows a LOT more about values than he does, and ends up disappointed. The BSC members (particularly Abby) help him to see that collecting cards for fun is WAY more important than caring how much they're worth.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Patsy Kuhn, who's supposed to be five, is described in this book as Jake and Laurel's baby sister. If the Kuhns hadn't been used much in the series, I could forgive that more easily. They were the focus of at least two books, though.
The food at Dream Camp sounds fantastic...and that's the last time that I'm probably going to be able to comment on that before the end of the series! :(
Even though Bill Bain acted like a jerk, Watson shouldn't have approached him during a mealtime for an autograph. Celebrities have a right to eat in peace, too.
Normally, I don't like Kristy's softball books, but this one was pretty enjoyable.
In case anyone's curious, I don't think any of the "former major leaguers" mentioned in this book are actually real people. :D

#128 Claudia and the Little Liar

2010-06-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Summary

When Claudia arrives for a sitting job at the Braddocks, she finds a new rule in place: Haley has to finish her homework before she can watch tv. As soon as her parents leave, though, she sits down with the remote. Claudia reminds her of the rule, and makes her go do her homework. Haley is uncharacteristically grumpy about it, but she heads to her room anyway. Not long after, Claudia notices that someone in the house in on the phone. Since Claud and Matt had been playing a video game, and the Braddock parents still aren't home, it's got to be Haley. Claudia goes upstairs and listens just long enough to figure out that Haley is talking to Vanessa Pike about some movie they want to see. As soon as Claudia knocks, though, Haley pretends they were talking about homework. She tells Claudia that she's almost done, but isn't happy when Claud asks to see her work when she's finished. Later, Haley brings her a neatly typed book report, which Claudia shows to Mr. Braddock when he gets home. The trouble? It was the same book report that Haley had done the previous month. She'd just printed it out and shown it to Claudia so she could watch tv. Haley ends up grounded, and she blames Claudia. Kristy and Stacey find out the hard way during a practice for the girls' basketball team that Haley's on, and Haley's started turning other kids against Claud as well.

The following week, Mrs. Braddock calls the BSC, wanting another sitter. Claudia asks for the job so she can straighten things out with Haley. That doesn't exactly happen. First, Haley lies and says that Matt has homework when he doesn't, and then she gets involved in another phone conversation with Vanessa Pike. It goes on so long that Claudia has to get on the line and tell them to hang up until Haley's finished her work. She does, and then promptly calls Vanessa again. Claud overhears them talking, and Haley's saying some pretty harsh things about her. Claudia is kind of hurt; she and Haley had always gotten along really well before. Then, things get even worse when the Braddock parents get home. Haley claims that Claudia tried to prevent her from doing homework by trying to interrupt her phone conversation with Vanessa (which Haley claimed was about homework), and then by telling her that homework wasn't important. Luckily, the Braddock parents don't believe Haley's lies; she's pulled that kind of thing before.

Haley's allowed to go to her next basketball practice, and she uses the time to try and turn the girls on the team against the BSC in general. She claims that all the club members are spies, and they tell their parents everything the kids do during sitting jobs. Kids stop trusting the BSC members, and the club starts to worry that the parents will stop trusting them as well. Meanwhile, things are just as bad (if not worse) with Haley. At Claudia's next sitting job, Haley again lies about something Matt needs for school, causing trouble for a lot of people. She then lies about it to her parents, making it look like Claudia intentionally let Matt go without what he needed for school. Again, the Braddocks don't believe Haley, but they decide to hire a different sitter for the time being. That doesn't do any good; Mary Anne has just as much trouble with Haley as Claudia did. Mary Anne then suggests trying a role-playing game that she learned in therapy to reenact some of the instances where Haley lied. The club hopes that doing so will get to the bottom of her problems. The Braddocks agree, and Stacey, Mary Anne, and Claudia are the lucky ones who get to help. Haley doesn't want anything to do with the game at first, but when her parents tell her that her grounding time will be lessened if she participates, she agrees. The experiement has its desired effect; Haley breaks down and admits that she's been causing so much trouble when it comes to homework because she's having a tough time in school. She feels stupid, and NOT doing the work seems easier to her than asking for help and having everyone thing she's dumb. The Braddocks agree to get her some tutoring.

Subplot: Claudia and Josh realize that they're meant to be friends rather than a couple, and they break up.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Is it just me, or shouldn't the Braddocks have considered that Haley may be having trouble with her school work before anything else? Of course, that would have meant that the BSC wouldn't have been able to save the day. :)
It's a shame that Claudia's last book in the series had to be so lame, and that they had to turn the otherwise likeable Haley Braddock in to such a brat.
So glad that Josh and Claudia broke up; the whole relationship just felt wrong to me, like she was dating a little kid. A BORING little kid....
Holy cow, I can't believe how close I am to the end of the series!!!!

#127 Abby's Un-Valentine

2010-06-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's February again, which means that it's almost time for Valentine's Day. Everyone at SMS is totally wrapped up in love, romance, and the upcoming V-Day Dance, except Abby. She's not into romance, and she doesn't want to go to the dance. She's sick of reading love poems in English class, sick of all the hearts and flowers, and sick of hearing her friends talk about nothing else than the dance. Then, she gets an invitation to the dance from Ross Brown. Abby likes Ross okay...as a friend. She doesn't like him romantically, and she doesn't want to go the dance at all, so she turns him down. No one in the BSC understands why Abby would turn him down, even when she tries to explain it to them. Anna doesn't understand, either. In fact, Kristy is the only person who seems to get where Abby's coming from with her whole anti-Valentine's Day stance (she's still a little touchy over the way things ended with Bart).

The weekend after Ross asks Abby to the dance, he shows up at her house with flowers. Clearly, he didn't get the message that Abby's not interested. She notices, though, that Ross and Anna seem to have a lot in common, and that Anna seems interested in him. So, she invites Ross over to her house to talk about things (and to make it clear to him that she doesn't like him). Abby plans to have Kristy call her while Ross is there, leaving him alone with Anna. Unfortunately, Ross mistakes Anna for Abby and vice versa, and they don't bother to correct him. Their mom comes home while Ross is still there, and she blows their cover. Ross is humiliated, and leaves. Anna is also pretty mad at Abby, since she feels her own chances with Ross are now ruined. The girls both try to apologize to Ross at school the next day, but he ignores them. Finally, they go over to his house and corner him until he accepts their apology. He even asks Anna out, after he finds out that she's the one who's into classical music and flowers, not Abby. The two of them even go to the V-Day Dance together, while Abby happily spends the evening at the movies with Kristy.

In other news, it's time for Scout to leave the Thomas-Brewer house for more guide dog training. The whole family is going to miss her, but Andrew is having a particularly hard time dealing with it. He's just returned from staying with Lisa and Seth in Chicago, and he sees Scout as "his" dog. After all, David Michael has Shannon, and Karen has Pumpkin (they got her when Boo Boo died). Andrew REALLY doesn't want to let Scout go, so he does all sorts of things to try and sabotage her guide dog training. In the end, though, he realizes that he has to let Scout do the job she's meant to do, and David Michael gives him part ownership in Shannon.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

I've never been a regular passenger on the "Kristy and Abby are lesbians" train, but I have to admit....this book makes me a bit suspicious. :)
When exactly did Boo Boo die? This is (I think) the second book that mentions Pumpkin, and the first one to mention that Boo Boo is actually dead.
Another question: when, why, and how did Andrew end up in Chicago while Karen stayed in Stoneybrook? The whole Andrew in Chicago situation was mentioned in some of the more recent books, but not in others.
At the beginning of the book, Abby says she hopes that SMS isn't as obsessed with V-Day as her old school in Long Island. She should have already known the answer to that question, though, since she's been in Stoneybrook for at least one other February.

#126 The All-New Mallory Pike

2010-06-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's finally time for Mallory to leave Stoneybrook and head to Riverbend Hall, in Massachusetts. No more Spaz Girl, no more SMS...and no more BSC. She's excited but nervous as her parents drive her there and drop her off, but meeting Pam (her prefect and a senior at Riverbend) makes things a little better. She also meets and likes Smita, the other new 6th grade student, at their orientation later that afternoon. So far, so good...until the next morning. That's when Mallory's roommate, Alexis, gets back from winter break. Alexis is pretty intense, and right away, she starts spouting off all these rules for their room, without asking for Mallory's input. Then, Smita shows up with Sarah, a friend of hers. They invite Mallory to walk over to brunch with them, but ignore Alexis. Mal asks if she'd like to come along, but Alexis says she's not hungry.

The next couple of days are pretty fantastic for Mal; she likes her classes, she likes her teachers, and she's fitting in well with the other students. Most of them, that is. Things haven't really improved on the roommate front. Mallory even comes back from class one day to find Alexis reading her journal. She complains to Sarah and Smita about the situation, and Sarah isn't surprised. Mallory isn't Alexis's first roommate, and both of her previous ones had similar trouble. One of them actually left school, but the other, Jen, is still at Riverbend. Mallory makes plans to meet her at some point, but in the meantime, she just decides to avoid Alexis. That's tough to do in a small school, and Alexis makes it even tougher. She borrows Mal's things without asking, and she badmouths the girls that Mal is becoming friends with. Mallory has to start staying away from the room until she needs to sleep in it, and Alexis manages to make her feel bad about that fact. Mal's friend encourage her to talk to Pam about it, but Mal doesn't want to be seen as a complainer. When Pam stops by Mal's room to ask her how things have been going, though, the whole story comes out. Pam suggests that Mallory have a talk with Alexis, which she does. At least, she tries to. Alexis manages to passive agressively make it look like Mallory's the bad guy, they start arguing, and they don't get anywhere close to solving their problems.

Over the next few days, Mallory goes back to avoiding Alexis. Then, she gets a care package from the BSC, which Alexis demolishes when Mal is out of the room. Mallory gets Pam and shows her what her roommate did, and Pam calls both girls into a meeting with the dean of students. Alexis makes again makes it look like Mallory is totally at fault, and then stomps out of the room before the meeting ends. The dean says she'll talk to the other administrators and come up with a solution to the problem. Mallory goes back to her room....and finds that Alexis has gone completely crazy and is trashing the place. Sarah arrives just then, and when she sees what's going on, she runs to get Pam. Alexis tries to apologize her way out of the situation, but it's a no go.

Mallory's friends help her clean up the mess, and by the time that the dean gets there to talk to Mal, the room is bascially back the way it was. The dean apologizes for giving Mallory such a difficult roommate right off the bat, and explains that she did so because she thought that Mal's experience with her big family would have helped her cope with someone like Alexis. She also offers Mal a possible solution: Jen, Alexis's other former roommate, is living in a single room. If she'd be willing to give that up and live with Mal, then Alexis could be put in a single and no one would have to deal with her. Luckily, Jen agrees to the switch, and it's a much better situation for everyone involved.

Meanwhile, Back in Stoneybrook, things are touchy at the Pike house. Now that Mal's gone, Vanessa has a room to herself. She's determined to keep it that way, but none of the other kids want to see that happen. In the end, Vanessa, Claire, Margo, and all of Mallory's stuff move into the room that the four boys used to share, Jordan and Adam move into Mal and Vanessa's old room, and Nicky and Byron move into Claire and Margo's old room.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

There's no way Alexis's behavior should have been rewarded by giving her a room of her own. She should have been kicked out of school.
Riverbend sounds really cool; I wouldn't have minded going to a school like that myself.
I can't believe that Mal's parents left the final decision to go or not go in her hands. She's 11, for Pete's sake!
The BSC care package sounded awesome; all sorts of good candy and stuff like that. :)

#125 Mary Anne in the Middle

2010-06-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Summary

Mallory is seriously considering going away to school in Massachusetts, and she's started confiding in Mary Anne about her thoughts and feelings. She hasn't even been talking to Jessi about it, since Jessi (of course) doesn't want her to go. Then, during a Mallory/Mary Anne sitting job at the Pikes, Mal gets a letter from Riverbend: she's been accepted, and they want to give her a full scholarship. Mary Anne encourages her to tell Jessi that she was accepted, which Mallory does. Jessi doesn't take it well; she thinks Mal is crazy for wanting to go away, and that she'll just be running away from her problems. The next day at school, Jessi has also decided that Mary Anne is her new personal therapist, which puts Mary Anne in a tough position. It's especially difficult because Jessi is still under the impression that Mal isn't sure whether she'll be going or not, and she's already told Mary Anne that she is.

Jessi and Mal aren't getting along at all, so Jessi has no problem calling Mal out in the middle of a BSC meeting, asking her for her decision about Riverbend. Mallory finally admits that she's going....and Jessi totally picks up on the fact that Mary Anne already knew. Both Mallory and Jessi leave the meeting early. The club tries to force them to talk to each other by scheduling them for a job together at the Barrett-DeWitt house, but it doesn't work. They also drag Mallory along to a slumber party that Jessi's having in honor of some of her visiting Dance NY friends (she was invited before they started fighting), but Mal and Jessi end up fighting again, and Mal leaves early. Of course, both of them have to vent to Mary Anne later. Finally, she gets sick of it and gets both of them to come to her house. Jessi admits that she's been so ridiculous because she doesn't want Mal to leave, and Mal admits that she hasn't been talking to Jessi about Riverbend because it's going to be hard for her to leave her best friend behind. They hug, and all is well.

Subplot: the Stoneybrook Manor Christmas decorations are ugly, so the BSC and their charges make more. They also hold a holiday celebration for the residents.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Mallory was actually kind of annoying in this one. She got all hurt because the club wanted to replace her, and then even more hurt when they decided not to. Her friend and family had to hold that stupid We Love Mallory Day just to soothe her hurt ego.
I understand why Mallory and Jessi chose Mary Anne as their confidant, but I would have liked to see this book from Jessi's perspective.
Didn't the BSC already make Christmas decorations for Stoneybrook Manor?
Mary Anne's hair has never looked more like a wig/helmet than it does on this cover.

#124 Stacey McGill...Matchmaker?

2010-05-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Summary

The BSC has yet another new family to sit for: the Brookes. Stacey is the first one to sit for them, and the job is pretty easy. There are two kids; Joni is nine, and Ewan is five, and they don't give Stacey any trouble at all. It's an especially easy job because Mr. Brooke is home the entire time. He's a mystery writer, and he wanted a sitter around to look after the kids so he could concentrate on his latest novel. Mrs. Brooke isn't in the picture anymore; she's in Atlanta, hosting some tv show. At the end of the evening, Mrs. McGill comes to pick up Stacey. It's pretty clear that she and Mr. Brooke are into each other, which couldn't make Stacey happier. She's been concerned lately that her mom doesn't have enough of a social life, and dating someone as nice as Mr. Brooke would be perfect. The next time Stacey sits for Joni and Ewan, her mom insists on driving her over there. Mrs. McGill spends an awful lot of time talking to Mr. Brooke before leaving, and that doesn't exactly make the kids happy. Joni in particular seems upset by her dad's attraction to Stacey's mom, and she's a lot colder to Stacey than she was before. She's even more unhappy when Mr. Brooke asks Mrs. McGill to go with him to the premiere of a play he wrote. Stacey isn't able to sit for the kids that night, so Kristy gets the job instead. Joni is really difficult; she tries her hardest to make her dad late for the date, and she's doing her best to convince Ewan that he's going to marry Mrs. McGill, and that Mrs. McGill will turn into the typical evil stepmother.

Meanwhile, Stacey waits up at home to hear all about the date. It went pretty well, and Mrs. McGill is in a great mood for the rest of the weekend. The Brooke kids, on the other hand, are miserable. Joni is really cold to Stacey the next time she sits, and Ewan just goes along with her. Stacey pulls Mr. Brooke aside after the job is over and lets him know how upset the kids are that he's going out with her mom, and he agrees to talk to them. He does it before Stacey sits there next, but it doesn't really sink in. Joni is still pretty frosty, but Ewan is a bit friendlier. Mr. Brooke is full of praise for Mrs. McGill, which makes Stacey pretty glad, but her mom isn't quite as enthusiastic about the relationship. Some of the themes in his books disturb her, and she doesn't like the way he snaps at Joni for her rude behavior when the families go out to dinner together. Even so, when Mr. Brooke suggests that they all have Thanksgiving dinner together at the McGills', Mrs. McGill agrees. It's a disaster; Joni won't eat anything that her dad didn't bring, and she's rude about the music that Mrs. McGill chose. Mr. Brooke finally loses his temper, causing Joni to run from the room in tears. Stacey has a talk with her, and things settle down a bit after that. It's still a pretty tense dinner, though.

After the Brookes leave, Mrs. McGill tells Stacey that she going to break it off with Mr. Brooke. Stacey doesn't see all the negative things that her mom does, and she's furious that Mrs. McGill would just end what could be a great relationship. She cools off during a weekend in New York (and a talk with Ethan about the subject) and she realizes that she can't make decisions like that for her mom. Plus, Stacey knows that she owes her own mother more loyalty that she does to Mr. Brooke. Oddly enough, the kids had gotten used to the idea of their dad dating Stacey's mom, and they're upset by the breakup. They think it's their fault for being difficult, until Stacey straightens them out.

No real subplot in this one; just the Mallory looking into other schools to get away from her Spaz Girl reputation.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

I was so indifferent to this book; I didn't love and I didn't hate it. It was just sort of...there. I DID like that Mrs. McGill didn't go and marry the first guy she dated after her divorce like everyone else in the BSC world.
I wonder if Suzanne Weyn (or someone else invovled with the series) was a fan of Little Women? I mean, they could have given Mr. Brooke any first name in the world, but they made him John (another John in Stoneybrook!!!!). At least the kids weren't named Daisy and Demi. ;)
I sort of had a bookcrush on the LW John Brooke when I was younger. :D
So...another famous author calls Stoneybrook home. Lovely.
How do you guys think Joni's name is pronounced? Is it "Johnny" or "Joanie?"

#123 Claudia's Big Party

2010-05-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Summary

Claudia is feeling pulled in all sorts of different directions. She's got tons of homework now that she's back in 8th grade, and she's trying to maintain her friendships with both her 7th and 8th grade friends. Then, there's her relationship with Josh to consider; Claud knows she's not giving him all the time she should, either. Also, Janine has just broken up with her boyfriend, Jerry (didn't this already happen???), and she suddenly wants to be Claudia's best friend. At least the Kishi parents aren't on her case much; in fact, they're going to Chicago for a weekend. At first, they consider having the girls stay with Russ and Peaches, but they're too busy with baby Lynn. So, Mr. and Mrs. Kishi agree to let Claudia and Janine stay by themselves.

Claudia has big plans for a nice, relaxing weekend, but Janine has other ideas. She wants to spend time with Claudia, doing all sorts of stuff together. Claud does her best to be supportive (she knows Janine is probably feeling a little lonely because of her breakup), but hanging around with Janine wasn't how she envisioned her parents-free weekend. She's also still trying to deal with the problem of how to spend time with everyone in her life, and she hasn't really solved that problem yet. It's as if her 7th grade friends are in one part of her life, her 8th grade friends in another, and Josh (even though he's in the 7th grade group, too) in another. That's when she gets her idea: she'll have a party so everyone can get to know each other. Janine agrees to the idea, since the Kishis never said the girls couldn't have friend over. Claudia just intends to have the BSC plus her 7th grade group over, but word about the party gets out, and a lot more people show up. Everyone seems to be having a good time, but they're also making a lot of noise and a huge mess. Then, right in the middle of the party, Peaches and Russ show up. Needless to say, they're not happy. They send everyone home, and order Claudia and Janine to clean up the house in the hopes that their efforts will lessen whatever punishment their parents decide to dish out.

Neither Claudia nor Janine is in a particularly good mood during the initial cleanup. Janine blames everything on the immaturity of Claudia's friends, and Claud retaliates by commenting on Janine's lack of any friends at all. They don't speak for the rest of the night, and the next day, Janine is back to being a crabby drill sergeant. When they DO speak civilly, Janine admits that she let Jerry take over her life, and now that she's not with him anymore, she doesn't know how to reconnect with anyone else. Claudia understands, and promises that they'll do something special together later. Then, the Kishi parents come home. The girls confess everything, and Claudia ends up losing her phone priviledges for awhile, except for official BSC business.

Subplot: Bill and Melody Korman are fighting a lot.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

During the party, Claudia and Janine have to try making their own pizza with American cheese after they run out of other food. I totally did that once, and it was every bit as disgusting as you'd imagine. :)
Bill Korman was an awful little bully in this book. Seriously...he approached Sean Addison levels of awfulness.
I can't figure out who's who on the cover. Mary Anne and Mallory are obvious, and the girl on the couch in the red shirt could be Kristy. I'm guessing that the Asian girl sitting on the floor is Jeannie Kim, and the blond in the white shirt and brown pants could be Stacey (she was looking through Claud's music at one point during the party). I have no clue who anyone else is, although the guy in the white sweater next to Jeannie has the exact same haircut as Travis on the cover of Dawn and the Older Boy.
When I was typing Dawn and the Older Boy just now, I first typed, Dawn ON the Older Boy. Eeeesh. ;)

#122 Kristy in Charge

2010-05-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Summary

SMS has a new program planned for its students, and it's called "Teachers of Tomorrow." Any interested student will be given the opportunity to teach a couple of classes at SMS in exchange for some extra credit. Kristy, Mallory, Mary Anne, and Stacey all sign up for the program; Kristy will be teaching gym, Mallory will be teaching English, Mary Anne will be teaching Social Studies, and Stacey will be teaching math. Everyone has to sit through some training sessions before they're handed over control of their classes,but Kristy doesn't think she needs any instruction. She likes the idea of lesson plans, which are a big part of the training, and even considers requiring the BSC to do them for each of their sitting jobs. She doesn't think she'll need any kind of plan for PE, though. Ms. Walden, the teacher who's class Kristy is going to get, pulls her side after the second training session and gives her a few tips on how to make things run smoothly. Kristy tunes her out; she doesn't like Ms. Walden's teaching style, and she plans to show her how things can be run better. She definitely listens up when Ms. Walden tells her that she'll be combining her class with a boys' PE class, taught by none other than Cary Retlin.

The first class doesn't exactly go smoothly. Cary and Kristy both ask to separate their classes so they don't have to work together, but Ms. Walden and Mr. DeYoung say no. Then, Cary goofs off during Kristy's warm-up. distracting the class. Then, during the soccer game, Cary shows off even more, and Mr. DeYoung has to step in and restore order. Kristy isn't the only BSC member having trouble with her ToT class, either. Mallory was assigned to teach an 8th grade English class, and her first day is even worse. Kristy and Mary Anne are in the class, and they try and help things along, Mallory simply has no confidence in her ability to handle the class. She drops things, and accidentally sends a piece of chalk flying across the room. This earns her the nickname "Spaz Girl," and she's in tears by the end of class.

Kristy decides a lesson plan might be a good idea for the second class, so she makes the most detailed one in the history of SMS. She decides not to go over it with Cary ahead of time, though, so there's still a distinct lack of teamwork. Then, they head outside for a soccer game. Kristy had split the class into two teams (one for her to coach and one for Cary), but the class complains about the way that she divided them up. Cary steps in and asks them to split into two teams however they want, and they end up with two fairly equal groups. Kristy immediately claims the group that has the most big, strong-looking kids for herself, but that wasn't the wisest move. All the kids on Cary's team are in karate together, and some of them are better players than they look like they should be. Cary and Kristy fight over everything; each one thinks that the kids of the other's team are causing problems on purpose, and eventually, a fight breaks out between the kids. Eventually, Mr. DeYoung has to step in again, and Cary and Kristy are sent to the vice principal's office. Mr. Kingbridge isn't happy; several kids had to be treated for injuries, and the ToT program might end up cancelled because of it. He gives Kristy and Cary one more chance to prove themselves, though.

At the BSC meeting that afternoon, everyone commiserates on the rotten day they had. Mallory had another rough English class and ended up in tears, and (of course) Kristy ended up in hot water. Mallory decides that she's going to teach a poem she likes to the class and not worry about what they think of it, and Kristy decides to try a game that might foster teamwork insteadof competition. To her surprise, Cary likes her ideas, and he even uses some of her warm-up ideas when Kristy agrees to try letting him lead that part of class. Mr. DeYoung and Ms. Walden agree that the two of them almost redeemed themselves for the disaster that was their first two days of teaching. Mallory, though, has a tough time of it on her last day. She manages to finish strong, but not without more "Spaz Girls" being thrown at her. It looks like that nickname is here to stay....

Subplot: Vanessa tries to start a poetry school for your younger siblings, but she turns into a total drill sergeant about it. She coerces them in to being her students by threatening to tattle on them, and forces them to write her way. Abby eventually has a talk with her and encourages her to make poetry fun for her sibs.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Suzanne Weyn kind of owns the end of the BSC series; she's responsible for 5 of the last 10 books. Interestingly enough, Peter L. doesn't have any (I'm not taking FF into account with this).
Thank the Lord that Kristy never followed through with making the BSC members do lesson plans for their sitting jobs. If they pitched a fit over that stupid checklist she posted way back near the beginning of the series, imagine what would happen if they had to do those plans. Riot!
It's funny that Kristy is back to hating Cary in this book when he was working well with the BSC in the last one I recapped.
It WAS pretty cruel to give Mal and 8th grade class; that really shouldn't have happened.
BSC trivia: Grace Blume was the first person to call Mallory "Spaz Girl."

M#36 Kristy and the Cat Burglar

2010-05-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Summary

Kristy and her younger siblings are checking out a house that the kids call "the spooky house" when something REALLY spooky happens: they hear a gunshot! They hear sirens almost right away, and Kristy figures that they probably shouldn't be a part of whatever is going on at the house, so they start running for the street. They're just about there when someone orders them to freeze. To Kristy's relief, it's Sgt. Johnson. He introduces the kids to Officer Hopkins, who's also on the scene, and orders them to stay in his squad car while they check the house. Just then, a man shows up and identifies himself as Jack Fenton, the security guard for the house. He had been on duty that day, but had gotten a call about his wife being in the hospital and had gone to see her. The odd thing? Sgt. Johnson had gotten a call around the same time, asking him to be at the house. Fenton asks the police officers if they've checked the vault, and when they do, some diamonds are missing. By that time, another cop, Sgt. Winters, has shown up. He sort of takes over the investigation from then on, and it's pretty obvious to Kristy that he and Sgt. Johnson aren't exactly best friends. Kristy overhears them talking about Reinhart Golem, the owner of the house. He's a bit of a loner, and although he doesn't spend much time at home, his house is filled with nice stuff. Kristy asks the officers why he has a red cat stenciled on his mailbox, and which is something they hadn't noticed before. That cat is the mark of a robber known as the Cat Burglar, who targets very, very rich people.

Later that week, Kristy is called down to the police station by Sgt. Johnson for a little interview. When she gest there, she's surprised to find Sgt. Winters and Officer Hopkins waiting for her instead. They ask her all sorts of questions about how and when they saw Sgt. Johnson on the day of the robbery. They make themselves scarce when Sgt. Johnson himself shows up. He tells Kristy that Sgt. Winters is VERY ambitious, and would like to be the new police chief when the current one retires. He then asks her to repeat everything she saw and heard on the day of the robbery, and shows her a picture of a man he identifies as Ben Birch. Birch is a business associate of Reinhart Golem's, but Kristy doesn't recognize him. Sgt. Johnson gives her a copy of the photo to take with her, just in case. When the questioning is over, Kristy finds Claudia, Kristy, and a very annoyed Cary Retlin waiting for her (Cary had been bird-watching, supposedly, in the woods near the scene of the crime). The four of them decide to head back over to the mansion to do a little investigating on their own. They end up finding a bullet hole, a bullet casing, and a red marker that could have been used to make the cat stencil. Then, they get brave and peek in the windows. Kristy gets the shock of her life when she sees someone staring back at her; Renhart Golem is home. Instead of being mad, he invites the kids in. He tells them that he'd just returned from Paris, and they show him the evidence they've just found on his property. He calls Sgt. Winters, who shows up with Officer Hopkins. Golem then asks Kristy and her friends to help him spolve the robbery, and offers them a reward to do so.

At the next BSC meeting, the girls discuss the case. They're not totally sure that Cary is innocent. After all, he WAS in the area at the time of the robbery, and he's been known to cause mischief. Ben Birch is also a possibility; his business relationship with Golem had gone sour, and he'd definitely have a motive. Before they can get any further, the phone rings. It's Golem, and he wants their help again. He asks them to tell him everything they know about Sgt. Johnson. It seems that his prints were found all over the red marker that was used to draw the cat. The casing from the bullet is also from the same type of gun that the Stoneybrook police officers carry. It looks like Sgt. Johnson may be a suspect! Then, he shows up at a BSC meeting, looking absolutely awful. He says he's there to ask them some more question, but he ends up going on and on about how he didn't do anything wrong, and asking the girls to believe him. Pretty soon, the police chief shows up....and arrests Sgt. Johnson. Apparently, some of the missing diamonds had been found in his desk.

Kristy does a lot of thinking about the case; even though it looks bad, she really never though Sgt. Johnson could be capable of doing something like that. She then turns her thoughts to the day of the robbery. There's really no way that Sgt. Johnson could have drawn the cat, robbed the house, and shown up where Kristy was standing with her siblings without seeming even a little winded. Cary Retlin shows up and interrupts her thinking; as it turns out, he's been having some of the same thoughts. The two of them head to the BSC meeting, and everyone agrees that Sgt. Johnson could very well have been framed. Since Sgt. Winters is so determined to get the chief job instead ogf Sgt. Johnson, he looks like the most likely suspect. The club decides that they need to tell Reinhart Golem what they'd figured out, so they split the club in two. Kristy, Cary, Mary Anne, and Abby will go to his house to try and find him, and the rest will go to Chez Maurice (his favorite restaurant). Kristy and the others find him at home, and they tell him what they suspect. Kristy notices Cary staring at something, looking panicked; it's a blue Tiffany lamp, identical to one the Cat Burglar had taken from an apartment building in New York City. Reinhart Golem had also had a home in that building, and Cary and Kristy realize at the same time that he must be the cat burglar. Unfortunately, Golem realizes that they've put two and two together, and locks the doors so they can't leave. Just as he turns away to find some rope to tie them up with, Cary knocks him down. Kristy hits the button that unlocks the doors, and they escape just as the police show up. The crew that went looking for Golem at Chez Maurice had noticed that he had a reservation there on the day of the robbery, when he was supposedly in Paris. He was indeed the Cat Burglar, and he had used Sgt. Winters and Officer Hopkins to frame Sgt. Johnson because he was mad about a previous investigation. Everyone is okay after their ordeal, but the BSC officially decides to retire from the mystery business.

In other news, Charlotte is obsessed with playing Harriet the Spy, and that goes about as well as you'd expect.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Last mystery! :D (note that the smiley face is different from the one I used after the last Super Special....)
I totally got a molestor vibe from Golem. I can't believe that the BSC members kept going to his house without an adult.
I kind of like the subplot. :)
I swear, Ellen Miles must have a crush on Sgt. Johnson. There's just something about the way she writes his character, and the way she always has the narrator go on and on about his clear, blue eyes....I wonder if he's based on anyone she knows?

#121 Abby in Wonderland

2010-05-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

Summary

Abby, Anna, and their mom are headed out to the Hamptons for a vacation with Gram Elsie and Grandpa Morris, Mrs, Stevenson's parents. They throw themselves a big anniversary party every year, and this year, the theme is "Alice in Wonderland." Abby is really excited about hanging out on the beach, seeing her grandparents, and helping them get ready for their party. She's also got Kristy coming up for a visit for a week. Right away, though, Abby notices that something isn't right with her grandparents. Grandpa Morris insists on going with Gram Elsie to some appointment she has in town , and then Abby overhears Gram on the phone, confirming that she's going to having something checked out. After that, Abby watches her grandmother much more closely, but no more clues about what might be wrong come to the surface. Then, Gran Elsie sends Abby into the house to get a copy of the party menu. When Abby's looking for it, she finds all sorts of information about breast cancer...and the likely answer to what's wrong with Gram Elsie.

People have started RSVPing for the party, and Gram Elsie has been disappointed with how many aren't coming. Abby decides to give her grandmother a treat, and she starts surreptitiously calling people who've said no and trying to convince them to come. She also decides she needs to find out more about breast cancer, so she heads to the library the first chance she gets. Abby finds quite a bit of scary information, but also lots of information that's encouraging. The comfort that she got from being informed kind of goes out the window when she sees Gram Elsie again. Reading articles and books and statistics is one thing; it's a totally different ball game when it's someone you know. When Gram goes upstairs for a nap, Abby tries to get Grandpa Morris to tell her what's wrong with her grandmother. All she can get out of him is that planning the party is taking a lot out of Elsie.

The day of the party arrives, finally. Everything is going well, and many of the guests that had said they weren't coming show up, thanks to Abby. Then, Gram Elsie and Grandpa Morris give a very touching speech about how much everyone means to them, and how important family and friends are. This is too much for Abby; she runs inside the house, crying. Gram Elsie finds her, and Abby finally confesses that she knows about Gram's cancer. Gram confirms that she does have breast cancer....maybe. The appointment that Abby had heard her talking about on the phone was for a biopsy, and the results haven't come back yet. Gram lets Abby know that even if it IS cancer, she intends to fight it. The books ends without us ever knowing whether or not the lump was cancerous.

Subplot: the Pikes can't afford to go to Sea City, so the kids create their own beach vacation in their own backyard.

Rating: 1

Thoughts and Things

Normally, I like Suzanne Weyn, but this book was so poorly written that it's not even funny.
This is one of the only books where I actually like the subplot better than the main story.
Cover: Kristy dressed up as the Mad Hatter for the party, so if that's her talking to the older gentleman in the background...either he's really short or she's suddenly grown about a foot. Also, her feet are freakishly tiny.
When I first read this book, I remember being surprised that they used the word "breast" so many times in a BSC book, even though it WAS in a technical sense.

SS#15 Baby-sitters' European Vacation

2010-05-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

This book more or less picks up from where the last one left off. Some of the sitters are in Stoneybrook working at the SES Playground Camp, and some are on the SMS London/Paris trip. I'll start with everyone who stayed behind, because their plots are the most boring and I want to get them out of the way:

Claudia is upset when Janine is made a head counselor at camp. Janine is really hard on Claud, but that's because the other head counselor, Jerry (Janine's ex) is being really hard on Janine herself. They talk things out, and Janine kind of tells Jerry off.

Mary Anne doesn't do a whole lot, except try to stay close to Logan and not stand up for herself when Cokie tries (again) to get close to him.

Dawn substitutes one day at another camp for children with special needs. Susan Felder is one of the campers.

Now, onto Europe:

When Stacey arrives at the group's hotel in London, she opens her suitcase only to find a bunch of men's clothes...and a canister of human ashes with the name of the deceased on the outside. Stacey and Kristy both kind of panic and assume that the suitacse belongs to a murderer...because murderers ALWAYS carry their victims around with them in LABLED URNS. Anyway, Mrs. McGill (she's chaperoning the trip) calls the airline and lets them know that a mistake was made. The owner of the suitcase, Mr. Anderson, calls the airline around the same time. Stacey just wants to ship the suitcase to him in Paris and be done with it, but there's a problem. Mr. Anderson is a World War II veteran, and he's taking his fellow soldier's ashes to Normandy to spread them. Mrs. McGill doesn't feel right about trusting the ashes to the airline, so she agrees to meet Mr. Anderson and deliver the suitcase personally. Stacey doesn't understand why it would be so important for them to do that, until she visits the Cabinet War Rooms and gets a clearer picture of what it was really like for Mr. Anderson and his buddy. They meet up with him when the group arrives in Paris, and Stacey, on the spur of the moment, decides that she wants to go to Normandy, too.

Kristy develops a kind of love/hate relationship with this French-Canadian guy that's with the other school taking the tour at the same time as SMS. She claims to hate Michel with a passion, but she can't stop talking about him. Then, the two of them get separated from the group while they're in Paris, and end up having to spend half the day togther. Kristy finally admits that she has feelings for Michel, but doesn't know what to do about it. After all, they're not exactly neighbors. Abby makes her promise to at least tell him how she feels at their goodbye party, but Kristy doesn't have to. Michel kind of already knows, and they have an oh-so-romantic, Parisy kiss on Kristy's hotel room balcony.

Jessi is excited to see Dance New York, who are performing in London. She goes backstage to see all the kids she knew from her time with the program, and while she's there, one of the girls sprains her ankle. Since the understudy is sick with food poisoning, David Brailsford asks Jessi to substitute during the number that she learned during her time with the program. Jessi's a little rusty, but the performance goes pretty well. Kristy even makes a comment about how Jessi should join the company permanently.....

Mallory's cousin Gillian and her family live in London, and she goes to visit them. Not only is she excited to learn that Gillian is a writer, but she's also excited to learn that she's distantly related to William Shakespeare. She then becomes so obsessed with writing that she sort of forgets to enjoy the trip, until Jessi brings her back down to Earth.

Abby gets to go to Buckingham Palace with Victoria Kent. Victoria is presenting flowers to the Queen, and Abby is convinced that she'll get to meet the Queen, too, but it doesn't happen. She DOES step on a prince, though.

Robert has one really boring chapter all to himself.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

Last super special! :(
Stacey's story in this book is my absolute favorite SS plot, hands down. It still gives me chills when I red it, and I even got a little emotional recapping that part. I'm so glad she was the one that got the serious plot instead of just giving her another boyfriend or something.
At one point, Jessi is with a group that hits the wax museum, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Smithfield Market, and the Dance New York performance all in the same day. That's....kind of not possible, if you want to take the time to actually enjoy everything. The British Museum alone could take up half the day, and the Tower is too cool to just rush through.
Peter Lerangis totally needed a fact checker for this book. He has Mallory and Jessi discuss their visit to the Bastille, and it's made fairly clear that they actually went inside it. There's just one problem: it doesn't exist anymore. The French even have an entire holiday to celebrate the storming of the place!
This has got to be the worst chaperoned trip ever. Assuming that all 50 slots were filled, that means that there's only one chaperone per 25 kids. That doesn't seem like enough. Plus, Kristy and Michel ended up alone...in a hotel room....with the door shut. Where was their supervision???
London is to me what NYC is to Mary Anne; I'm a total nerd over it, and I would totally love to live there when I grow up. ;)
Does anyone else have the shiny magenta cover instead of the pink one that's pictured? I do, and I'm pretty sure that it came with a set of rings as well.
Take a look at the picture of Dawn on page 126; it looks like she got some serious calf implants!

#120 Mary Anne and the Playground Fight

2010-05-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Summary

The school year is just about over (for the 3978343th time since the series started), and the BSC is buzzing over two big pieces of news. First, the school is going to be offering another trip for students, like they did with the Hawaii trip. This trip, though, is to London and Paris. Next, Mrs. Simon (one of the SMS teachers) calls during a BSC meeting to let the club know that SES is going to be running a playground camp during the summer, and she wants all of them to consider applying to be counselors. There are six slots open for SMS students, and all the BSC members (except Shannon) plan to apply. That's nine people applying for those six slots....in addition to all the non-BSC kids who are going to be throwing their hats in the ring. Mary Anne is really worried about all the competition.

Soon, Dawn arrives for the summer, and she has some big news of her own: she doesn't want to leavce Stoneybrook at all, even for the nine days that the Europe trip would last. Mary Anne decides that she won't go, either. The others are busy trying to earn money for their trips, though...and preparing their applications for the playground jobs. Everyone except Jessi and Mallory end up making it past the first round of cuts and gets an interview, but not everyone in the BSC who's applied is being totally honest. Kristy, Stacey, and Abby are all planning to go to Europe, but they've really downplayed that on their applications. That just makes the sniping and fighting within the BSC even worse, and by the time the interviews are over, hardly anyone eis getting along. Mary Anne starts to wish that the whole playground job thing had never happened.

As it turns out, Claudia, Mary Anne, Logan, and Dawn get offered jobs, and the others don't. The sitters apologize, and everything is good again.

Subplot: Victoria Kent is getting ready to head back to England, and she doesn't want to go. She's still obsessed with all things American (because they don't have jelly doughnuts in England, apparently), but she's excited that some members of the BSC will be able to visit her on her turf later in the summer. When she finds out that Mary Anne won't be one of them, though....trouble. Mary Anne writes her a note explaining everything, and they're friends again.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

In chapter 2, Mary Anne says that her dad sent her to live in Nebraska when she was younger, not Iowa. It's kind of funny that this mistake was in a Mary Anne book! :)
At Victoria's going-away party, it's stated that she and Abby do some bonding. That explains so much about the next book I'm going to recap...
I can understand Dawn's reasons for not wanting to go on the trip, and I can understand Mary Anne's reasons, but Claudia? Why in the world would she want to give up a chance to see some of the greatest museums anywhere to hang out on the playground with a bunch of kids she can see anytime?
Mary Anne keeps talking about how there are 9 BSC members applying for 6 jobs; she barely acknowledges that there are other students who might be interested. That's totally a Kristy thing to do.
The food at the Kents' party sounded awesome!
It still drives me crazy how obsessed with being American that Victoria is, and how she acts like all things American are so different and foreign. I hate to break to the ghostwriters, but they have a lot of the same things over there that we have over here. Plus (I've said it before and I'll say it again), NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE LIKE US!!!!

M#35 Abby and the Notorious Neighbor

2010-05-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

Summary

Abby is home sick with a nasty case of bronchitis. It's pretty hard for her to NOT be active, so she gest bored pretty fast. Then, Abby decides she's going to start watching the neighbors using her dad's old binoculars. At first, she just kind of watches kids come home from school, but then she notices something about Mr. Finch, the Stevenson's backyard neighbor: he looks exactly like one of the wanted criminals that she saw on Mystery Trackers, an American's Most Wanted-style show. There were two on the show that day that he could be; one was a bank robber, and one was an embezzler who ran off and left his family. Abby can't remember which one that Mr. Finch reminds her of, though. She keeps spying on him through her binoculars, though, and soon discovers another clue. Mr. Finch has drawings on his fridge that were clearly done by kids. The odd thing? No one has ever seen any kids visit him. Kristy tries to talk some sense into Abby; after all, there could be lots of reasons why Mr. Finch has kid drawings when none live there. Abby is pretty convinced that he's a crook, and she calls the Mystery Trackers Hotline to tell them what she suspects. She talks to an intern, who doesn't quite think that they have enough to go on. She DOES give Abby the names of the two criminals from the show she watched: the bank robber is Harry Bronson, and he's from Chicago, while the embezzler, Arthur Maguire, is from Iowa.

Not long after that phone call, Abby sends Kristy over the Mr. Finch's place to snoop in his mailbox. They find out that his first name is Otto...and that he recieved a leter from Des Moines, Iowa. Abby gets back on the phone with the Mystery Trackers intern, and tells them what she's found out about Mr. Finch. The intern checks to see if Otto Finch is one of Maguire's aliases, but it doesn't come up in their records. Byt this time, the rest of the BSC is involved in the mystery. Mary Anne stops by the police station to chat with Sgt. Johnson about the case, but all he agrees to do is check up on Mr. Finch. Then, Stacey and Claudia do a little internet stalking, and (after waiting 10 minutes for them to download) have pictures of both Bronson and Maguire. Bronson is DEFINITELY not a match for Mr. Finch, but Maguire definitely could be. Abby then calls Sgt. Johnson herself, but he advises her to just forget about it. It's not like Mr. Finch has done anything wrong. Abby continues to spy on him, though, and she catches him burning stuff in his kitchen sink. Not illegal, obviously, but very suspicious. Once again, Abby enlists Kristy's help to check out the situation. They pretend to be from the phone company, and get Mr. Finch out of the house by telling him he needs to go to the phone company offices downtown to straighten out a problem with his bill. As soon as he drives away, Kristy heads over to his house. First, she looks in the windows to get a better look at those pictures on the fridge. Then, she digs through the garbage can to see if she can find anything. Before she can get safely back to Abby's, though, Mr., Finch comes home. He's just about to go around to his back door, which would give him a full view of Kristy, when Abby gets the brilliant idea to call him again. As soon as the phone starts ringing, Finch heads for the side door instead.

Abby waits for Kristy to get back, and when she does, she has big news. The pictures on the fridge are signed "Patty" and "Joseph," which are the names of Arthur Maguire's kids. The furniture in Finch's house also resembles the furniture in Maguire's house as shown in the Mystery Trackers episode, and the half-burned photo that Kristy pulled out of the trash? Maguire's kids. It's pretty clear to both girls that Maguire and Finch are, indeed, the same person, so Abby risks another call to Sgt. Johnson. He tells them that he's been in touch with the Des Moines police department, and that the girls need to just drop the case. Not long after that, though, Kristy and Abby witness Finch/Maguire packing a bunch of stuff into his car. It looks like he's going to make a run for it, so Abby tries calling Sgt. Johnson again. He's not at his desk, so there's nothing the girls can do except wait and watch. Before Finch/Maguire can get away, though, the police (including Sgt. Johnson) show up and arrest him for his crimes. Mystery Trackers in on hand to film everything, and Abby even ends up getting some reward money from them for her role in Maguire's capture.

Subplot: a bunch of sitting charges are building go-karts for a race.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

You'd think that a book which mostly involved Abby staring out her window would be boring, but I actually enjoyed this one. Maybe it's because I've always secretly wanted to catch one of those most wanted criminals from tv. :)
At the beginning of the book, the BSC members wonder why a criminal would choose to hide out in Stoneybrook. Ummm, maybe it's because they have the worst police department ever???
Abby watches a second episode of Mystery Trackers while she's home, entitled "Nasty Nannies." If you ask me, that sounds more like something that should air on a premium cable channel really late at night....
I kind of liked the go-kart subplot. At least it wasn't another fair/festival/carnival/etc.

#119 Stacey's Ex-boyfriend

2010-05-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Summary

Stacey is pretty concerned about Robert. He's been acting really out of it for a long time now, and he doesn't seem to be anywhere near snapping out of his mood. He's missing answers in class, he's lost interest in everything, and he just isn't himself. After running into Robert's younger sister at the mall, Stacey decides to give him a call. When she gets the Brewster's answering machine, she's relieved. Even though Stacey is concerned about Robert, she doesn't really want to talk to him. They play phone tag all weekend and then talk face to face at school the following Monday. Stacey asks Robert what's been going on with him, and since class is almost ready to start, they decide to walk home together and talk. Robert tells Stacey more or less the same thing he told her back in February, when she first tried to talk to him about his mood. His friends are boring jerks, nothing's fun, everything's pointless, the same old stuff. There is one thing Robert likes to do, though: talk to Stacey. She's worried that he wants to get back together with her, and the whole school thinks they already ARE back together. That turns out not to be the case; Robert just wants to be friends.

Later that week, Stacey decides to surprise Robert by visiting him at baseball practice. When she gets there, she's the one who gets the surprise: Logan tells her that Robert quit the team three days earlier. She really gets on his case about it the next time she sees him, and she stomps off mad. She tries to talk to some of his old friends to see if she can get any insight as to what's caused the change in Robert, but she doesn't really get anywhere. Everyone else is just as frustrated with him as Stacey is. The next day, Robert calls Stacey to apologize for his behavior. He also lets her know that he's been grounded because of his grades. He's failing almost everything, and he doesn't see the point in trying to get good grades. Stacey offers to help him out by tutoring him every day, which doesn't make her BSC friends happy. They don't think it's a good idea for her to be Robert's only support person, and they don't think it's healthy for her to be spending all of her time trying to take care of him. Stacey is determined to help Robert engage in life again, so she invites him to the mall with the rest of the BSC. The trip is a big fat failure; Robert doesn't say a word the entire time. Afterwards, Stacey forces him to think of one activity that he could stand to be involved in, and he picks baseball....if the coach lets him back on the team. He does, but Robert screws things up right away by not showing up for practice. Stacey gets worried when Robert doesn't call her to talk about it. She's so worried, in fact, that she calls a radio show for advice. She uses different names, and tells the host what's been going on with Robert. The host advises her to encourage Robert to get some help from an adult; the problem is too big for Stacey herself to handle. As soon as she hangs up, the phone rings. At first, Stacey is afraid that Robert heard her, and he's calling to chew her out. Instead, it's Claudia; Claud heard her on the radio, and she wanted to tell Stacey that she agrees with the advice that the host gave.

Stacey makes up her mind to talk to Robert, but she's dreading the conversation. He's not in school that day; according to his homeroom teacher, he's at home, sick. Robert shows up at Stacey's house later that day, and he's totally fine. Stacey tells him that he needs helpand that he should talk to someone that's not her to get it. He blows up at her, but Stacey actually feels relief. She did what she needed to do; the rest is up to Robert. That night at dinner, Mrs. McGill can see that something's wrong with Stacey. Stacey tells her what's been happening in the Robert situation, and Mrs. McGill is all set to call Robert's parents. Stacey convinces her not to; she doesn't want to make Robert any angrier than he already is. Late that night, jsut as Stacey is going to sleep, someone starts throwing pebbles at her window. It's Robert, and he's in bad shape. Stacey brings him into the house so he can call his baseball coach...the one adult he feels comfortable talking to. Robert makes an appointment to see the coach the next day, and they have a long talk. He still isn't 100%, but just talking to an adult makes him feel better. He even agrees to go to an upcoming dance with Stacey, just as friends.

In other news, all of Stoneybrook is excited about Strawberry Fields Forever, a pick-your-own berries place that's just opened up outside of Stoneybrook. Everyone goes a bit oveboard, though, and lots of families end up with more strawberries than they know what to do with. Kristy (of course) gets the brilliant idea of holding a strawberry festival, which raises enough money for the club to take their sitting charges to a new water park.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Even though the series gets a thumbs up for dealing with depression, it gets a thumbs down from me for the way it was dealt with. Robert had been depressed for months, and there was no clear trigger that may have set him off. The chances of him getting better just by talking to his baseball coach would have been pretty slim in real life. I would at least liked to have seen him go to a doctor to rule out medical issues. Depression can be a complicated problem, and solutions just aren't always as simple as it may seem from reading this book.
I totally want strawberries now!
This may have been one of the first instances in the series when the Internet was used, when the sitters went online to get ideas for their strawberry festival. They actually found a strawberry chat room....
Normally, it's stupid when the sitters gets irritated with each other for spending so much time with someone who's not in the club; this time, they were spot on.

M#34 Mary Anne and the Haunted Bookstore

2010-05-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Summary

There's a new bookstore in Stoneybrook called Poe and Co. It's going to specialize in mystery books, and Mary Anne is pretty excited to check it out. She's even more excited when the owner, Mr. Cates, calls the BSC and asks for a sitter to help him with his two kids while final preparations are being made in the store. Mary Anne gets the job. Tom (10) and Gillian (7) are nice enough kids, but Mary Anne can tell from the start that they're not happy to be in Stoneybrook. They seem especially unhappy about Cillia Spark, the bookstore designer who's helping their dad get things up and running (I just realized as I was typing how wrong that sentence sounds....). Mr. Cates pulls Mary Anne aside and tells her that the kids' mother left recently, and the kids are having a hard time dealing with it.

At the next BSC meeting, Mr. Cates calls again and asks if multiple BSC members could come and work in the store. There's a lot to be done, and they really need the extra help. Mary Anne, Mallory, Logan, and Kristy all go, and they find that the (still unopened) bookstore is bustling with visitors. First, there's Alex Gable, a high school student who's father owned the building that's being used for the store. It's known as a the Benson Dalton Gable house, and BDG was an ancestor of Alex. He was also a contemporary of Poe's, and a writer as well. Later, Mary Anne catches Alex wandering around the house, as if he's looking for something. Then, Professor Kingsolver, a professor at Stoneybrook University, stops by. She's a Poe nut, and she and Alex get into it over whether Poe or Gable was the better writer. At the end of the workday, Mary Anne and Logan volunteer to stay behind and wait for a delivery that Mr. Cates is expecting. They're alone in the store when they hear something: a beating heart, just like the one in the Poe story. They mention it to Mr. Cates when he comes back, but Mr. Cates brushes it off.

The Poe coincidences continue from there. The following week, Pluto (the Cates' black cat) is sealed up inside some drywall. Luckily, they get him out in time. It's that little event that makes Mary Anne get out the mystery notebook. Someone is causing things to happen, and the BSC is going to figure out who. They think it could be the kids, playing tricks on Ms. Spark in the hope of driving her away. They also think it could be either Alex Gable or Professor Kingsolver, given how passionate each of them is about their respective favorite authors. The final theory? A ghost. No one really knows where Benson Dalton Gable was buried; it's a distinct possibility that he never left his house...

More Poe stuff continues to be uncovered. Mary Anne finds the word "nevermore" carved into a shelf, and then some workmen find a stone slab in the basement with words from Poe carved into it. It looks an awful lot like a gravestone; could Benson Dalton Gable's grave been found after all? Then, everyone in the house gets a big surprise when a raven flies through the window and takes up residence. It seems pretty tame, so Mr. Cates puts it in a cage until its owner can be found. Mary Anne heads to the pet store to see who may have bought a raven lately, and she finds out that it was a woman. Then, Mary Anne, Mal, and Stacey decide to get a look at the "grave" in the basement, and while they're down there, they find a tape player. It contains a tape of a beating heart....which explains what Mary Anne and Logan heard when they were alone in the store. It's pretty clear that someone is playing tricks, so the club decides to figure out who. Mallory borrows her brothers' detective kit, and they lift a fingerprint off of the tape player. Then, Mary Anne makes some coffee and serves it to everyone, and then gets prints off the cups when they're done. The girls look over the prints at their next BSC meeting, and the print that matches the one on the tape player is none other than Mr. Cates. He and Ms. Spark (she was the one who bought the raven) had created the mystery to bring more publicity to the store. The only thing they WEREN'T responsible for, though, was sealing the cat in the wall. That was an accident.

Subplot: it rains a lot. Really.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

I wanted to like this book. I really did. Instead, I just found it to be really long and dull.
So...Poe supposedly got the inspiration for "The Raven" from some decorations in the Benson Dalton Gable House. Actually, it was the talking raven in Barnaby Rudge, by Charles Dickens. Let's get our facts straight, shall we? :)
Only two more mysteries to go!
I kind of like the redesigned mystery covers, although it's kind of silly that they waited until almost the end of the series to bring those out.

#118 Kristy Thomas, Dog Trainer

2010-05-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Summary

The Brewers and Thomases have decided to raise a guide dog puppy for the Guide Dog Foundation. Kristy's really excited at the idea of having another dog in the house, especially since it means they'll be helping someone out by raising it. The family passes their interview with no trouble, and before they know it, little Scout has taken up residence in their house. She's a four month old chocolate Lab, so she's already had some training with her former puppy raiser family (they moved out of the country and had to give her up). The work is really just beginning for the Brewer-Thomas family, though. They have to introduce Scout to the other family pets, teach her what she can and can't chew, train her not to jump up on people, and how NOT to beg for food. She's a smart, calm puppy, though, and training (including obedience classes) are more or less a breeze.

Another part of Scout's training involves taking her out in public so she learns how to behave in any situation. Watson and Elizabeth take her to work, Nannie takes her bowling, and Kristy takes her to BSC meetings. Most people are really interested in Scout and curious about guide dogs, but Kristy DOES run into some problems at the grocery store one time; a lady freaks out over seeing a dog in there and complains to the manager. He defends Kristy and Scout's right to be there, putting the rude lady in her place. The only other real problem they have with training is when Karen gives Scout one of Jackie R.'s broken shoes to chew on; a no-no for any dog.

Meanwhile, the BSC has started sitting for the Cooper family. Mrs. Cooper works with Watson, and she's got three kids: Mark, 8; Jed (yes, Jed), 4; and Deb, 12. Deb came down with a form of glaucoma not long before this, and she's now blind. In fact, the Coopers were what inspired Watson to get involved with the Guide Dog Foundation. Mary Anne is the first to sit for the family, but only the two boys are home, She does get enough of a glimpse of Deb, though, to see that she's very angry about her situation. Kristy is up next, and that time, Deb is the one that's home. Since she's 12, Kristy isn't there as a baby-sitter; she's just there to keep Deb company and to be on hand in case of emergency. She also gets to experience the full force of Deb's rudeness, anger, and bitterness over her situation. Kristy doesn't quite know what to say to Deb, so she gest the idea to have Claudia and Mary Anne bring over some of their sitting charges, so Deb could get used to being around people again. That idea went over as well as you'd expect it to. The next time Kristy is at the Coopers', though, things really come to a head. She's there with all three kids, and Deb wants to go to the video store to get some new movies to listen to. The boys are busy in the backyard, playing with their new slide, and don't want to leave quite yet. So, Deb takes it upon herself to walk to the store. She doesn't make it very far before she gets disoriented, and Kristy manages to get her back to the house before anything bad happens. The whole BSC want to help Deb feel better about her situation, so Kristy decides to invite her Puppy Walker Fun Day at the Guide Dog Foundation. Deb seems to loosen up a little, and she even seems to enjoy herself. She also likes the idea of getting a guide dog of her own someday.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Thanks goodness this one was so short...I would have rated it lower, but I like dogs, and raising a guide dog puppy is something I really want to do someday.
Speaking of snarking on the "special" books and not liking the "special" characters, Sadako...I CAN'T STAND DEB COOPER! She's obviously been through something really traumatic, but if she'd been as rude to me as she was to EVERYONE else in this book, I'd have punched her in the face. Why in the world did her parents let her get away with that behavior? It's almost like they were scared of her! She isn't Sean Addison, people!
Someone is BSC land likes the name Gillian. The person that interviewed the Brewers and Thomases before they got Scout was Gillian, there's one in the next book I'm going to recap, and Mal's cousin in SS#15 is also Gillian. There are more Gillians than Maras in this series!
*sigh* I want a puppy....

#117 Claudia and the Terrible Truth

2010-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summary

The Nicholls family has just moved into the Addison's old house, and Claudia is excited to sit for them. She's met them before, and liked the boys (Joey, 7, and Nate, 5). Mr. Nicholls is another story; he was friendly enough to Claud, but pretty pushy with his sons. The same pattern holds true when Claudia arrives for her sitting job, and she starts to notice some odd behavior in the boys. They're much more concerned with keeping things tidy than most kids their age usually are, and they're unsure about going next door to play. Claud also thinks that they just plain look worried. She forgets about their behavior until the next time she sits for them. She brings along her Kid Kit that time, and when Nate puts a tiny tear into one of the books, he starts crying like he'd done something really wrong. Claudia assures him that everything is okay, but wonders what's going on behind the scenes. Did they have a bad experience with another sitter, or did she herself do something to make them so ill at ease? Claud herds the boys into the kitchen for a snack of celery and peanut butter, but before they can finish, Mr. Nicholls comes home. Claudia had left the peanut butter on the counter, and when Mr. Nicholls sees it there, he blows his top. Claudia admits it was her, and the yelling stops. He tells her it's no problem, and that he thought one of his "dumb, slobby sons" did it. Claud can't believe what she's hearing, and she refuses a ride home. She also realizes that the boys aren't scared of her; they're scared of their dad.

The next sitting job is more or less uneventful. Claudia spills her grape juice, and the boys go nuts trying obliterate any trace of it, and she finds out later that neither of them is allowed to have a stuffed animal; their dad thinks they're babyish. Next time Claud is at the Nicholls," the boys are being punished because Joey touched his dad's briefcase. He didn't take anything from it, he didn't break it, and he didn't even move it. He just touched it, and because of that, both boys are being punished with lots and lots of chores. They're just finishing up the garage when Mr. Nicholls goes home. Claudia offers to show him all the hard work they did, but all Mr. Nicholls can see is the mop they left out to dry. He pays Claudia and hurries her out of the house. She remembers that she left her jacket in the boys' room, so she runs back to get it. She hears Mr. Nicholls yelling at the boys, and then....he slaps one of them. Claudia doesn't see it happen, so she's not 100% sure that that's what she heard, but when she's in view of the garage again, she notices that Joey's cheek is red and that Mr. Nicholls seems awfully eager to hide both boys from her view.

Claud is obviously freaked out by what she saw and heard, so she calls an emergency BSC meeting that evening. Her friends encourage her to talk to her mom as soon as she gets home from work. Mrs. Kishi decides that the first step should be for her to talk to Mrs. Nicholls, who also works at the library. Unfortunately, it doesn't do any good; Mrs. Nicholls just denies that there's a problem, and then calls Kristy that night and cancels all her upcoming BSC jobs. Not long after, Claudia gets a call from Erica Blumberg, Nate and Joey's new sitter. When she arrived at the house that afternoon, she was told that the boys were being punished and needed to stay in their room alone that afternoon. After Mr. Nicholls left, though, she heard crying from upstairs and went to investigate. She found Joey with a black eye, and Nate with bruises on his arm. That's when she called Claud. Claudia quickly calls her mother at the library, and Mrs. Kishi tells her that she's headed over to the Nicholls' to get the boys out of there. Claud goes over there as well and arrives just as Mrs. Kishi and Mrs. Nicholls arrive. Unfortunately, Mr. Nicholls is also there. They get everyone into the Kishi car, and (after dropping Erica off at home) take Mrs. Nicholls and the boys to Mr. Kishi's office in Stamford. Mrs. Nicholls has a sister in New York, and they go to stay with her while Mr. Nicholls gets the help he needs.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

I remember reading somewhere that Ann didn't want to do a child abuse book, but I think it was a good idea. After all, lots of girls took up baby-sitting because of this series, and knowing what to do in a possible abuse situation probably would have been good for them to know.
Thank the Lord that the BSC involved a parent as soon as they knew something was going on!
The most heart-breaking part of this book for me was the image of poor Joey and Nate having their stuffed animals thrown away by their awful father. I'm so glad Claudia sent them new ones at the end. :)
If this is the old Addison house, why are Joey and Nate sharing a room? Corrie and Sean had separate ones.

M#33 Stacey and the Stolen Hearts

2010-05-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's almost Valentine's Day, and Pete Black has roped Stacey into helping with eighth grade's Valentine-gram fundraiser. Basically, students will have a chance to pay a dollar, write messages to other students, and then they'll be delivered later along with some candy. It's pretty fun for Stacey to watch who sends messages to who, and how they act when they approach the table to send those messages. One day, just as Stacey is closing up for the day, Andi Gentile shows up and slips her a note. It's says, "we have to talk about Robert." Stacey isn't thrilled about talking to Andi, even though neither of them are dating Robert anymore, but she calls her anyway and arranges to meet her the next morning before school. It turns out that Andi is a bit worried about Robert. He's been acting a really down lately, and he doesn't seem particularly engaged in life anymore. Andi asks Stacey to talk to him since she knows him so well, and Stacey agrees to try.

That same day, disaster strikes the Valentine-gram table. Just as Stacey is getting ready to leave, she notices that the bag containing the finished grams is gone. She calls Pete, thinking that he might have taken it, but he didn't. She then calls all the other 8th grade class officers, but none of them have it, either. Pete and Stacey decide not to tell anyone that the bag is missing, in the hopes that it'll turn up before anyone finds out about it. The secret's out by the following morning, though; whoever took the bag posted little fliers around the school, stating that while Cokie had bought her boyfriend 12 Valentine-grams, he hadn't bought her any. Cokie is furious; she thinks Stacey did it on purpose. Stacey has to admit that they were stolen. Soon, it's all over the school, and no one's happy. That afternoon, copies of yet another note are all over the school; this one is for Jacqui Grant, and addresses the fact that Robert doesn't, in fact, like her. Jacqui REALLY thinks Stacey is involved, and that she did it because she wants Robert back for herself. Jacqui won't listen to any sort of explanation, and stomps off before Stacey can defend herself. Robert is nearby, and hears the whole thing. He believes Stacey, and offers to walk home with her. Stacey takes this chance to talk to Robert, and ask him if anything's wrong. He tells her that he's just been feeling bored with everything: friends, school, sports, tv, etc. He says he feels better after talking to Stacey, and she says she's glad. What she's NOT glad about is the fact that Robert is a definite suspect in the theft of the Valentine-grams; he was one of the last people she saw before the bag went missing, and he seems awfully happy to have Jacqui off his back.

Stacey finally enlists the help of the BSC (and the mystery notebook). The girls toss around names of possible suspects, including Cary Retlin. He was supposedly at the dentist when the bag went missing, but they figure they should check him out anyway. Mary Anne also suggests that it might have been Pete himself; after all, he'd be in a perfect position to take the bag, and he has a crush on Emily Bernstein and isn't sure she likes him back. There's also Cokie and her boyfriend, and Rose Marie Montey and Brian Hall, another SMS supercouple that happen to be on the rocks. The club members split up and so dome spying on all of the above suspects, but don't really come up with anything conclusive. By the end of the day, though, the thief strikes again by posting valentines all over the school from Rose Marie to Clarence King, and from Clarence to Rose Marie. Rose Marie claims she never sent him one, though....

Meanwhile, Stacey has managed to narrow down the suspect list a little. She comes right out and asks Robert is he was responsible. He claims to know nothing about it, and since he's a bad liar, Stacey knows he's telling thr truth. Next, she realizes that Pete wouldn't need to steal the whole bag if he wanted to take back his valentine to Emily; he could just rummage through it and find it. Cary's dentist story also checks out. Just as soon as Stacey confirms that, she sees the new Valentine-gram that's been posted up all over the school. It's from Jim Poirier to Sabrina Bouvier (the 8th grade one, not the pageant one), and it's pretty embarrassing. Stacey notices something about the copies, though; part of a sleeve was copied, too, and the sleeve is striped. She enlists the help of the BSC, and they scan the school looking for stripes. No one finds the exact stripes that they're looking for, until Claudia remembers something: Cary Retlin was wearing stripes that day. Stacey tracks him down in the school basement, and once again accuses him of the crime. He denies it taking the bag (he really was at the dentist), but he admits that he helped afterward. The real culprit was Alan Gray; he had sent a Valentine-gram to agirl he liked, but then found out that she and a bunch of her friends were going to send them to him as jokes. All the people who were targeted by the public postings were people who were in on the joke.

Later that evening, Stacey heads to Alan's house. She doesn't come right out and accuse him of taking the bag; she just tells him that she knows who did it, and that if that person doesn't return the bag, she's going to go to the principal with what she knows. The next morning, the bag is waiting for Stacey by her homeroom door. She never does find out, though, who it was that Alan liked so much....

Subplot: the BSC works with the children's room at the library to plan a Valentine's Day party for the kids.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

As mysteries go, particularly later ones, this book wasn't bad!
I'd kind of like to know who it was that Alan liked. I don't think it was Claudia this early on, because the girl that he liked was supposedly one of the ones who was sending him fake Valentines. Claudia wasn't in on that, as far as we know.
This is the book that totally makes me think that Cary Retlin=Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl.
Stacey wonders at one point if the Hobarts celebrate Valentine's Day in Australia, and if they'll even know what it's supposed to be about. Too bad they've already had a few V-Days in Stoneybrook....

#116 Abby and the Best Kid Ever

2010-05-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summary

There's big news in Stoneybrook: the McNallys are moving to Stoneybrook. That means that Lou McNally, aka the Worst Kid Ever, will once again be a BSC charge. The Papadakises call the BSC to get a sitter for Lou and her brother, Jay, while their aunt and uncle unpack some of their stuff, and Abby is the lucky winner. She's not exactly excited; she never met Lou, but she's heard a million stories, and she's expecting a pretty difficult time. Imagine Abby's surprise when she doesn't find a terror waiting for her. Instead, Lou is polite, calm, and seemingly very, very worried about making a good impression. She freaks out when her dog jumps on Abby, and when she drops a glass of water on the floor. This new behavior continues on the day the movers are supposed to come (Abby is there that day, too). Lou is eating a bagel with jelly on it, and she slops some of it onto her shirt. No one but Lou is bothered by it. Later, she goes out of her way to be helpful to the movers, but only ends up getting in the way. So, Abby (along with Stacey and the Rodowskys) take Lou and Jay over to SES, where they find a kickball game in progress. Abby is happy to see Lou join in, but as soon as she gets a little bit of dirt on her, she's out.

In other news, Abby has a big Black History Month project planned, and she's got kids (including Lou) involved. She knows she wants the project to be about the Underground Railroad, but doesn't really know how to structure it. Eventually, she decides to do a documentary-style video about the U.R., and have the kids play the different parts. Lou still seems to be on the fringes of things, so Abby pulls Jay aside to talk to him. He tells her that Lou is afraid that she'll get sent away if she isn't perfect. In spite of this new piece of information, Abby kind of goes off on Lou later about being to uptight. She tells Lou that she needs to lighten up....and Lou takes it to heart, at least temporarily. She wreaks havoc on one of Abby's filming sessions for her project, but by ther next time Abby sits for her at home, she's back to being Ms. Perfect. Then, she drops a dish, it breaks, and Lou flips out. She's convinced that she's going to be sent away. Luckily, her aunt and uncle walk in just then and set her straight.

Subplot: the Addisons are moving away (to Seattle!!!). Sean is convinced that all the BSC members hate him and are glad to see him go, so they feel that it's their job to convince them otherwise.

Rating: 1.5

Thoughts and Things

This book was really boring.
I don't like Lou, and I'm surprised that so many people apparently wrote in wanting another story about her.
I can't believe no one figured out that Lou was acting the way she was out of fear.
Lou's brother, Jay, is 11, and the BSC is hired to sit for him. He should meet Tiffany Kilbourne and Ben Hobart.
If I were in the BSC, I'd be throwing a party if Sean Addison was leaving and I didn't have to deal with him anymore.

#115 Jessi's Big Break

2010-05-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

Summary

Jessi has been chosen to be a part of Dance New York's winter session of classes. That means three and a half weeks in the big city, dancing with some of the best students and learning from some of the best instructors. She'll be staying with her cousin Michael (Aunt Cecelia's son) and his wife, Marian, in Brooklyn. Her first day of dance classes is full of surprises. Not only is Quint in her class, but the instructors seem to have nothing but corrections for her. Jessi starts to think that they made a mistake in asking her to join the class; what she doesn't notice is that the other kids are getting corrected just as often. Quint and his friend, Maritza, set her straight after class, and Jessi starts to think that maybe she's where she's supposed to be after all.

From then on, things just keep getting better. Maritza introduces Jessi to a lot of her friends, and Jessi finds it...refreshing to be in a room full of other black kids (I'm not making that up; she says so herself). Also, David Brailsford, the guy who runs Dance New York, tells her she has great potential. The one not-so-good thing is Quint; he seems to think that he and Jessi are going to be more than friends again, and that's not what Jessi wants at all. She knows she needs to have a talk with him, but she can't work up the nerve. She can't do it during dinner with his family, she can't do it during class, and she can't do it during hang out time with their friends. Finally, after lunch one day, she lays it out on the line. Quint is disappointed, but understands. He's content to be friends for the time being.

Jessi realizes that she's barely been thinking about her Stoneybrook life and friends with everything that's been going on, so she invites Mallory up for the weekend. She feels guilty for not staying in touch with Mal, and even more guilty for confiding in Maritza about all the Quint drama. Things are a little awkward with Mal around. Everyone gets along, and everyone is really nice, but she's the only non-dancer in the group, so conversations are a little hard to come by. Jessi finds herself relieved to see Mal get on the train back to Stoneybrook, and she also realizes something about herself: she doesn't want to go back home at the end of her session. She loves the life she's been living since starting the Dance New York program, and doesn't want it to end. By the time the class's final performance rolls around, everyone is buzzing about the invitations they've recieved to stay for another three week session. Everyone, that is, except Jessi. She didn't recieve an invitation, but she lets all the other kids think she did because she's too embarrassed to let them know the truth. After the performance, she finds out why she wasn't included. David Brailsford pulls Jessi and her family aside, and lets them know that he wants Jessi to audition to join Dance New York full time. She auditions, and gets in, but ultimately decides to put off joining until she's a little older.

Back in Stoneybrook, Becca whines a lot about Jessi being gone.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

So...Quint and Maritza are both 11, and both are supposedly about 5'8". I know some kids grow up faster than others, but that just seems extreme....
I LOVE all the descriptions of New York in this one.
I also love seeing the city through the eyes of a BSC member that's not Stacey.
When I first read this book, my gut reaction was to disagree with Jessi's decision not to join DNY full time until she's older. Now, I'm not so sure she was wrong. 11 IS awfully young, no matter how often the BSC tries to make us see otherwise.
I kind of envision Jessi joining Dance New York when she's in high school. That would have made and AWESOME spin-off series....

SM#4 Baby'sitters' Christmas Chiller

2010-05-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

There are three main plots in this one, so that's how I'll break it down.

New York

Stacey and Claudia are heading up to NYC for a bit (Stacey is staying with her dad until New Year's, and Claudia will be heading home on Christmas Eve). Stacey is looking forward to seeing Ethan again, but Claudia is a little apprehensive after what happened with Robert on Fire Island. Stacey is determined NOT to ditch Claud, though. In fact, she really wants her to meet Ethan since they're both artists. Right from the start, though, Ethan is acting a little bit strange. He won't let them see the inside of his coat closet, or his bedroom. Plus, Stacey and Claudia BOTH notice Ethan staring at her when he thinks she's not looking. It's not cute, either; it's weird. Ethan isn't the only weird thing happening for Stacey and Claudia; both girls feel like they're being watched wherever they go. Then, weird things start happening in Stacey's apartment building. First, they find red liquid on the elevator buttons and the floor by Stacey's apartment that looks an awful lot like blood. There's a note tucked into the door that says, "Your time is up." They call Carl, the doorman, for help, and he discovers that the blood is really just something chemical. He hasn't let anyone in to visit the McGill apartment all day, and has no idea who could have left the note/blood. Later that same day, Claud and Stacey hear something at the front door. Rather than go check themselves, they call Carl back up to do it for them. He finds a box, and inside...a jack in the box with a picture of Stacey's face pasted over the face that SHOULD be there.

Meanwhile, Ethan is still acting strangely. He STILL stares at Stacey, he STILL won't let them into certain areas of his apartment, and when they run into a girl coming out of Stacey's apartment building as they're arriving, he seems really unhappy to see her. Stacey can't figure out what's going on with him, OR what's going on in her apartment building. Someone puts gum under the elevator buttons so they don't work, and when Claudia and Stacey try to take the stairs later, they find an "out of order" sign posted on the doorway. They head back to the elevator, only to have it break down while they're still on it. When they finally get back upstairs, they find another note. This one appears to be in Ethan's handwriting, and it says, "Meet me in the basement. Tomorrow. 5pm." Stacey decides to confront Ethan, who claims to have had nothing to do with the note. He DOES have two confessions to make, though. First, he's been staring at Stacey so much and not letting her into particular areas of his apartment because he's working on a sculpture of her for her Christmas present. Second, he used to date a girl in Stacey's building; she's the one he seemed so uncomfortable to run into before. Her name is Cybil, and she's a wee bit unstable. She's the one that's been causing all the problems in the building, following Stacey around, and even trying to push her onto the subway tracks. Stacey, Claudia, and Ethan decide to go to the basement together to see what happens. Sure enough, Cybil shows up,. First, she turns the lights off. Claudia gets knocked down, and Cybil confronts Stacey and Ethan. She's totally unhinged, and thinks she should still be with him. Stacey and Ethan keep her distracted, while Claudia sneaks up behind her and knocks her down. The three of them overpower her, and Ethan takes her back up to her apartment and her parents.

Stoneybrook - Burglaries

Kristy's younger siblings wake her up one morning with big news: the Hsus were robbed. As soon as she can, Kristy rushes over there to be nosy...umm....I mean, offer her baby-sitting services. The Hsus are glad to see her, and Kristy gets a chance to look around. The place is trashed, but nothing is missing except a few electronic items. The weird thing, though, is that someone wrote "naughty" in big, red letters on the wall. The Hsus don't have any enemies, so no one can figure out what's wrong. Then, the same thing happens to the Papdakises. This time, though, they also find dirty footprints in the house that definitely weren't made by any member of the family. After that, Kristy finds a note in her family's mailbox that says "nice." It's in red letters, just like the "naughty" messages written on the walls of the families that have been burglarized. At first, Kristy thinks it might just be from some girl that has a crush on Sam or Charlie, but then, Abby's family gets one, too. This one isn't just left in the mailbox, though. Someone breaks a kitchen window and drops it in that way. Mrs. Porter also has one of her windows broken in the middle of the night, but no notes are left. Dawn is the one who finally puts two and two together: all the naught houses are the ones who recently fired their gardener, Mr. Nixon, in favor of another gardening service. All the nice houses are the ones who haven't done that. The police set a trap for Mr. Nixon by having Watson fire him. The Brewer-Thomas clan then makes a big show of leaving the house for the night, and sure enough, Mr. Nixon shows up. The police catch him, and yet another Stoneybrook crime wave is over.

Stoneybrook - Mary Doe

Mallory and Jessi are on the way home from their church Christmas pageant rehearsal when they come upon a strange woman. She's confused, and doesn't remember who or where she is. She's also very, very pregnant. The girls take her back to the church, where people there take charge of her. She's taken to the hospital, where she's checked out. She has a mild concussion, but her baby is fine. She still doesn't remember who she is, though. The story is all over the media, who have named the woman "Mary Doe." The only real clue to her identity is the ornate gold ring she's wearing, but there's no personal engraving or anything. Later, Mallory also notices a label inside one of her sweaters from a maternity store in California. She calls them, but they have no way of tracing everyone who may have bought the sweater.

Since Mary is well enough to leave the hospital, the Pikes invite her to stay with them for Christmas. Mallory decides to fax a drawing of Mary's ring to a jewelry store in the same CA town where the sweater was bought to see if anyone recognizes it. Before she can get an answer, though, two things happen: Mary goes into labor, and the phone lines go dead because of weather. Sharon drives over in her all-wheel drive SUV and takes Mary to the hospital. When the phones DO come back on, Mallory gets a call right away from the jewelry store. The owner's nephew had designed it for his wife before he left on a business trip; Mary Doe isn't Mary Doe after all; she's Lisa Papademetriou. As it turns out, Lisa had been on her way to visit family in Washington D.C., and she decided to take a cross-country train trip back, from New York to CA. They think she may have been mugged or purse-snatched in Stoneybrook, which might explain the memory loss. Lisa's husband catches the next flight back from his trip, to see his wife and meet his new son, Nicholas.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

I like that this book acknowledged that there ARE religious aspects to the holiday season, both Jewish and Christian. I was a little surprised that the Pikes and Ramseys were suddenly so involved in church stuff, though. The Pikes even say grace before a meal!
Kristy was so annoying in this one, when she kept invading the homes of the robbed families. She didn't care about being a good neighbor and helping them out; she just wanted to be a hero and solve the mystery. Elizabeth actually suggested that Kristy let the police do their jobs, though. Good for her!
The crazy Cybil plot was very reminiscient of the crazy Liz Conner plot from Stacey and the Haunted Masquerade. They really WERE running out of ideas at this point in the series!
There's a new copy of this book selling for $225 on Amazon. I got mine for $0.25 at Goodwill. :)

#114 The Secret Life of Mary Anne Spier

2010-05-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

Summary

It's almost Christmas in good old Stoneybrook, and Mary Anne is busy finishing up her shopping. This year, her dad has given her his credit card to use to charge her purchases, and she goes a wee bit overboard buying cool stuff for everyone she knows. She thinks she has six weeks to earn the money to pay it off, but because of when the bill comes in and because Richard ALWAYS pays his bill as soon as he gets it, Sharon tells Mary Anne that she only has two weeks. Mary Anne kind of panics; she adds up everything she spent of gifts, and it's WAY more than what she had saved. There's also no way she'll be able to baby-sit enough to earn the rest of the money before she has to pay her dad. Then, Mary Anne remembers that Winter World at Washington Mall was still looking for holiday helpers the last time she was there, so she decides to head down there and apply for a job.

Mary Anne doesn't tell anyone what she's doing, since chances are pretty good that her dad wouldn't approve. She gets to the mall, and is filling out her application when the girl sitting next to her, Angela, points out that she can't let them know she's 13. Angela helps her turn the 13 into a 16, but Mary Anne feels bad about lying. She's ready to take off without turning in her application, but Angela does it for her. Before she knows it, Mary Anne is being interviewed, and is then hired. She shows up at 10am the next day, her first official day of work, and finds that Angela was hired as well. Both girls are handed bags containing their costumes. To Mary Anne's surprise, they're going to be playing Santa's elves (elfs?). That's just as well; no one will recognize Mary Anne if she's wearing a huge costume elf head.

Hiding her new secret life is pretty tough for Mary Anne. She runs into people she knows all the time, and she's afraid that they'll somehow recognize her (Hunter Bruno actually does, but Mary Anne swears him to secrecy). She has to lie about where she's going and why, and she's exhausted all the time. To add to the stress of everything, Dawn's visiting for the holiday, and she's acting awfully distant (not BSC distant, meaning awesome, but regular distant, meaning not connected to what's going on around her). The 8th graders at her school in CA are grouped with the high schoolers, and Mary Anne is really irritated by the way that Dawn in acting so superior. Also, something is going on with Angela; Mary Anne catches her crying in the bathroom after work one day, but Angela won't talk about what's wrong. Later, though, Mary Anne finds out the truth: Angela was kicked out of her house, and she's been staying at the local women's shelter. She's got some friends in California who rent a house together, but she needs to make some money before she can go out to see them.

Not long after that, Mary Anne finally confronts Dawn about her attitude. Dawn claims that she was only acting distant because Mary Anne was being so secretive, and that her superior attitude comes from feeling she has to act that way around the high schoolers. Mary Anne finally confesses what she's been up to all along, and things are a little better between the sisters. Dawn even suggests inviting Angela to their house for Christmas. Richard isn't thrilled with the idea; he's convinced that anyone who can't get along with her own parents must be trouble. Sharon, Dawn, and Mary Anne convince him to give Angela a chance, in honor of the the spirit of Christmas.

Mary Anne and Angela both work their last shifts as elves on the day before Christmas Eve. That's when Mary Anne finally confesses to the rest of her family and friends about her job. Richard isn't thrilled that she went behind his back, but he agrees to let it go since no harm was done, and the job is over. She's also able to pay the entire credit card bill in full, and Angela has enough money for her plane ticket to California.

Subplot: The BSC holds a Santa-Hanukkah-Kwanzaa Town fundraising carnival to earn money for the kids who are in the hospital at Christmas.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

I SO love this book. It's far and away my favorite among the later ones.
Mary Anne actually admitted to her interviewer that she didn't know what job she was applying for. That's a FANTASTIC way to get hired. Only in Stoneybrook....
I love reading about all the presents Mary Anne buys for everyone. :)
It would have been interesting if Angela had made another appearance in the series, or, better yet, in California Diaries. I like her, and I don't usually like the characters that show up for one book and then go away.
I can't believe that a big place like Washington Mall was only getting their Winter World/pictures with Santa stuff set up two weeks before Christmas. I don't know how it is wherever you guys are, but at the malls in my area, Santa is ready to go the day after Thanksgiving, at the latest.

#113 Claudia Makes Up Her Mind

2010-05-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Summary

Claudia is still doing well in seventh grade. She's still with Mark Jaffe, and she's got a great group of friends. Plus, she's volunteered to organize the whole grade for the upcoming school color war. She wants Mark to help, but (as always) she has to prod him into it. Then, in the middle of all this, she gets a note from Mrs. Amer (guidance counselor) requesting a meeting in her office that day after school. Claud is convinced that she's going to be bumped back to 6th grade, so she's pretty terrified. It turns out that the news is good: Claudia is doing so well in 7th grade that they want to move her back to 8th. Her first instinct is to go for it, but then she starts thinking. She's got her new friends, Mark, and her queenship to think about. Plus, for the first time in her life, she's the "smart one" in all of her classes, and she doesn't know if she wants to go back to 8th and risk feeling dumb again. She asks Mrs. Amer for some time to think about it.

Claud's friends and family members all have different opinions as to what she should do. Her 8th grade friends want her back in their grade, obviously, and her 7th grade friends want her to stay with them. Her dad doesn't want her to make a decision based on her relationship with Mark, and her mom says she'll support whatever decision Claudia makes. Speaking of Mark, Claud isn't exactly thrilled with his lack of support during the decision-making process, but she chalks it up to him being a typical, unromantic guy.

Mark isn't the only guy who's causing Claudia some confusion at this point; her friend, Josh Rocker, is as well. At least, Claudia THOUGHT he was just a friend, until another one of the kids they hang out with tells her that he's always wanted more. Claudia doesn't believe that at first, but then, during an oh-so-romantic three-legged race for the color war, she realizes that it's true. Now, Claud thinks she might like him back; things are definitely on the fritz with Mark at this point, and Josh definitely cares about her in a way that Mark never did. In fact, Claudia finally just ends things with Mark once and for all. He's always standing her up or cancelling dates, and it just isn't fun for either of them anymore. That leaves Claudia free to start something with Josh, which she does. He's actually the one who makes her see that 8th grade is the place she should be, even though staying in 7th is appealing in a lot of ways. Claud sticks around 7th long enough, though, to watch them win the color war.

Subplot: the BSC charges have their own color war.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

I don't care much about Claudia's relationship with Josh. I never thought they had good chemistry. Oh, well; at least she broke up with Mark. He was never good enough for her!
So...the 6th grade color for the color war is white, and their "chant" or slogan is "Fight for White." You mean to tell me that Jessi had absolutely no problem with this???
So...everyone is all into this particular school spirit event with absolutely no issues when they were all up in arms about it during Dawn and the School Spirit War?
When Claudia first talks to Mrs. Amer about moving back to 8th grade, Mrs. Amer tells Claud that she's discussed the matter with her parents. Why didn't the Kishis say anything to her? Also, I don't know that the decision should have been left up to Claud....

M#32 Claudia and the Mystery in the Painting

2010-05-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Summary

Claudia has a sitting job for Jimmy Cook, a new client. Claud is especially excited about this because Jimmy's great grandmother was a folk artist known as Grandmother Madden, and Claud has recently become interested in her work. Unfortunately, Grandmother Madden was supposed to have destroyed all her work after a bad review at a show in New York, and the only paintings of hers that are supposed to be left are the ones she gave to family. Claudia doesn't believe this; she doesn't think an artist would ever destroy his or her work just because of a bad review. She hopes that being in the house during her job sitting for Jimmy will give her a chance to look around for the missing paintings.

When Claudia arrives at the Madden house, she meets Jimmy and his mother, Rebecca Madden. Rebecca is actually going to be IN the house the whole time Claudia is there; she's getting the house and its contents ready to be sold, and she figured she'd get more done if Jimmy were occupied. Claudia asks Jimmy to give her a tour of the house, but doesn't find any of the missing Madden paintings. She DOES find a bunch that were done by Grandmother Madden's students, including one of a Japanese woman that particularly catches her eye. Later that day, a man shows up at the front door of the house, claiming he works with the company that's managing the sale of the house. Claudia was told not to let anyone in, so she sends Jimmy upstairs to get his mother. Before he can, the man leaves. Claudia asks Rebecca about him, and Rebecca thinks it was probably Mr. Ogura, who really DOES work for the company that's managing the estate sale.

Rebecca needs a lots of help to get the house ready and organized for the sale, so she asks Claud to bring some more of her BSC friends along to help. Kristy, Stacey, and Mary Anne are the lucky ones that gets to help next, and Mr. Ogura shows up again. The weird part? He shows up when Rebecca isn't at home (Claud has a key and permission to be there alone). Later that afternoon, a woman who looks and awful lot like Rebecca knocks on the door, but doesn't wait around to talk the the REAL Rebecca. Next time around, it's Mal (along with Nicky) and Jessi who join Claudia, and they get to meet Jimmy's dad, James. He's not around much, which Jimmy is having issues with, and the none of the girls can see WHY he'd be so upset. Mr. Cook is so grumpy, and Jimmy claims that he doesn't like the fact that he and his mom both like to paint. He also doesn't seem to trust the BSC members...

Claudia decides to take a look at the one Grandmother Madden painting that's hanging in the Stoneybrook Museum. When she gets there, she's surprised to find Mr. Ogura checking it out, along with the woman who resembles Rebecca Madden. Later, she finds out that Mr. Ogura was also at the Madden house, acting like he owned the place. No sign of the Rebecca doppleganger at the house, though. She decides to check Mr. Ogura out, so she heads to Estates Unlimited, the company he supposedly works for. She gets a surprise when she asks the receptionist if she can see Mr. Ogura; there are actually two of them. The young one is the one that the BSC members have been seeing around the Madden house, and the older one is his father.

Claud is still pretty determined to find the missing Madden paintings, and one evening, she comes up with a possible theory. A lot of the student paintings she found are roughly the same size canvas that Grandmother Madden used to use, or the same size as two to four of them put together. The next morning (the day of the sale), she heads to the Madden house as early as possible. She goes to look at the student paintings again, just to check on the size, but before she can go tell Rebecca what she thinks, she's surprised by Mr. Ogura the younger, and the woman resembling Rebecca. She's actually Rebecca's cousin, Suzanne, and both of them had the same idea that Claudia did. Actually, it's more than an idea; Mr. Ogura's father had been good friends with Grandmother Madden, and he knew that she let her students paint over her work. Ogura the son found out, and he and Suzanne had been working together to try and get the paintings. They push Claudia into a storage closet and take off with the paintings. Jimmy and his dad eventually come along and let her out, and she fills everyone in on what's been going on. The culprits are caught at the airport, ready to leave for Japan, and all the paintings are recovered.

Meanwhile, the Stoneybrook Museum is getting ready to open an art room for kids. Mrs. O'Neal, the woman who's in charge, has very different ideas as to what the room should be like than the kids do. She wants them to be quiet and clean, and to ONLY do the projects that she sets out for them. The BSC members eventually help convince her that it would work better to let the kids be a little more creative.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

There are multiple references to Mrs. O'Neal clutching her pearls. This may sound like an ignorant question, but doesn't that mean something dirty?
Another repeating plot device in this one: a painting that had been painted over another painting. Plus, there was a cat supposedly belonging to a dead person.
I don't have much else to say about this one....

#112 Kristy and the Sister War

2010-05-02T13:32:00.000-07:00

Summary

When both Shannon and Mrs. Kilbourne find themselves super busy with activities, school, etc, Kristy lands a regular sitting job for Maria and Tiffany. She discovers on her first afternoon with them that the girls are pretty unhappy. Neither of their parents, not to mention Shannon, have any time for them anymore. They especially miss hanging out with Shannon. Kristy suggests that the girls come up with a list of things they could do for their sister that might help her get things done quicker, which would in turn allow for more free time. They mean well, but their plan doesn't exactly go as they would have liked it to. The cookies they make get burned, they leave a huge mess in the kitchen, and Shannon is the one who gets stuck cleaning it up. Then, they try walking Astrid, but she pulls the leash right out of Tiffany's hand and runs away. Only one person can get her to come back when she does that, and it's (you guessed it) Shannon. Next, they try "helping" her with her algebra homework, and Shannon is stuck explaining why it's all wrong at school the next day, and when Tiffany and Maria try cleaning her room for her, well, it ends up looking worse than before.

When none of the girls' best efforts get Shannon to spend more time with them, they take a completely different tactic. Instead of doing nice things for her (or trying to, anyway), they declare war. That means lots of pranks, like driving her crazy at the dinner table by insterting her name into conversation at random times, and messing with her date book so she misses some of her club meetings. They also put purple dye into her shampoo bottle (it was the kind that washes out). Kristy has a talk with Shannon at this point, and finds out that she's been feeling really overwhelmed with all that she's taken on. She misses having time to relax, she feels wrong about the fact that Kristy knows more about what's up with her sisters than she does. Kristy points out that Tiffany and Maria miss her, too, and that everything they've been doing has been for attention. The pranks basically stop after that, but things aren't much better in the Kilbourne family. Everyone is still too busy to spend time with each other, and after a very awkward and quiet family dinner, Kristy encourages both girls to write letters to their parents and Shannon, telling them how they feel. The older Kilbournes take the letters to heart, and they show up at the kids' dance that Maria and Tiffany helped organize. They also agree to give up or scale back some of their activities so they can spend more time as a family.

Subplot: The aforementioned kids' dance. There's an All-Stoneybrook dance for middle schoolers in the works, and the younger kids feel left out. So, they have their own party. :)

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

Shannon and Kristy seemed awfully excited to go to the All-Stoneybrook dance together. ;)
In the first chapter, it states VERY clearly that Shannon's hair is thick and curly, yet it's totally flat on the cover. Oh well; at least Hodges got Tiffany's and Maria's hair colors right.
This book kind of "borrowed" a lot of elements from other books: the kids' dance and the issues that came along with it of who liked who, etc, Kristy getting made over for a dance, Kilbourne family problems...I think the writers were running on empty at this point.
In the letter from Ann in the back of the book, she tells us that the title for this one was created without a plot in mind. Everyone liked it so much that they just made up a plot to go along with it.
Speaking of the title, I think it matches up better with the plot from another book where Tiffany and Maria are fighting because Maria has suddenly become a super athlete, and Tiffany doesn't really have anything that she can be good at, too.

#111 Stacey's Secret Friend

2010-05-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Summary

Stacey and Barbara Hirsch (Amelia Freeman's best friend from Mary Anne and the Memory Garden) are both on the Pep Squad. It's their job to put together a papier-mache jaguar (the school mascot) for the first big SMS football game of the season. They're working on it outside right at the end of the school day when disaster strikes: a girl Stacey has never seen before walks right into the jaguar....literally. She introduces herself as Tess Swinhart, and it's pretty clear that she feels awful about ruining the jaguar. She offers to help them repair it the next day.

At the BSC meeting that afternoon, the whole club gets to talking about Tess. Everyone thinks she's odd; the way she looks, the way she dresses, her klutziness, etc. By the next morning, the whole school is talking about Tess. They've started calling her Swine-heart the Destroyer, and drawing her as a big (her penchant for wearing pink just feeds into this). Then, Stacey and Tess are paired up on an English project about the Middle Ages, which Tess loves. Stacey thinks it odd for anyone to "love the Middle Ages," but doesn't really mind being teamed up with Tess. In fact, she's decided that Tess would basically be all right, if she changed her appearance a little and got more involved at school. If people got to know her, the pig jokes (which are running rampant) might stop.

Stacey and Tess meet about their English project for the first time at Stacey's house. She "accidentally" leaves some fashion books and magazines laying around where Tess is sure to see them, and drops lots of hints as to what Tess could do to improve her appearance. Tess doesn't take the bait, though, so Stacey finally just offers to give her a makeover. Stacey also talks her into joining the Pep Squad as a way to meet more kids. Tess isn't too enthusiastic about either the makeover OR the Pep Squad, but she agrees to try.

At school the next day, Tess shows up in one of her weird outfits, and no makeup. She also seems totally bored by the Pep Squad meeting, and doesn't even care when the group decides to vote on a new mascot for the next school year. Stacey's getting really frustrated with Tess for not getting into any of the things that she, Stacey, is suggesting. The other members of the BSC start suggesting that Stacey might be going overboard, and that she should just let Tess be herself. Stacey insists that she's "helping" Tess, and that she knows what she's doing. Unfortunately, Stacey seems to be the only one who cares much about Tess; the pig jokes have continued, and Tess is starting to take notice. Things really come to a head at a school football game. During halftime, Stacey and Barbara are supposed to hold up drawings of the possible new mascots for the other kids to vote on. When they come to the picture of a pig, though, they find that someone has replaced it with a picture of Tess. The kids in the stands think that's hilarious, and they start throwing food at her. She tries to duck and avoid it, and ends up falling off the bleachers. She breaks her ankle, and sprains her wrist, and when the ambulance arrives, Stacey volunteers to go to the hospital with her. She claims to be a friend of Tess's, but Tess sets her straight by telling her to go away, and that Stacey ISN'T her friend.

Stacey feels guilty about what happened. Claudia wonders if she maybe feels guilty about the way she treated Tess in general, and not just about what happened at the football game. Stacey STILL won't admit that she'd done anything wrong, though. As soon as Tess is back in school, Stacey continues trying to be all friendly. Tess wants nothing to do with her, though. She doesn't seem to be mad at Barbara, though, which totally mystifies Stacey. She feels like she has to try and sort things out, so she goes to Tess's house after a BSC meeting one evening. Stacey is really impressed by Tess's room, and by the fact that Tess grew up in Paris. There are pictures of her with some of her friends...and everyone is more or less dressed the way Tess usually dresses. There's also a French fashion magazine sitting nearby, and the cover model is wearing bright pink, just like Tess does. Tess isn't any friendlier; she points out that Stacey never really wanted to be her friend; it was more of a pity thing, and Tess knows it. She kicks Stacey out of her room, and Stacey is just about ready to be done with Tess. Then, Emily Bernstein approaches her at school a couple of days later. She heard that Alan Gray, Clarence King, and Jim Poirier are planning a huge prank on Tess. Clarence, who's been flirting with her as a joke, is going to take her to dinner at Hog Heaven. Alan will be nearby, and he'll take pictures of Tess standing next to all the pig decorations in the restaurant, without her knowledge. Jim will them publish the pictures in the school paper, along with his review of Hog Heaven, which is actually his assignment for the paper that month. Stacey pulls Tess aside to warn her, and instead of just cancelling the date, Tess and the BSC decide to get even. Just as Tess and Clarence get to the restaurant, the BSC members "accidentally" show up. Then, Claudia "accidentally" spills her very ketchupy fries all over Clarence, Stacey wipes blue paint all over him as she's helping him clean up, and Tess tops it all off with whipped cream. Abby is nearby, taking pictures, and they threaten to have them posted all over the school if he ever bothers Tess again.

Subplot: Jackie R. is being bullied, so he asks Nicky Pike to act as his bodyguard. Jackie ends up talking things out with the bullies, though, and there's no blood shed.

Rating: 1.5

Thoughts and Things

Stacey was horrible in this book. Even her narration was mean.
I wonder what kind of food Hog Heaven serves? Is it all pig products? If so, that's kind of gross.
How did Stacey and Barbara NOT check their potential mascot posters before they went out on the field? If nothing else, you'd think they would want to make sure all of them are present and accounted for.

M#31 Mary Anne and the Music Box Secret

2010-04-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Summary

Granny and Pop-Pop are away on a cruise. They're having a great time...but their house isn't. There's a problem with the plumbing, and their basement gets flooded. Sharon asks the BSC to help the plumbers and contractors get the place cleaned up, and Mary Anne ends up with most of the work time. She's pretty dismayed when she and Sharon head over there for the first time to check out the damage; there's all sorts of stuff (magazines, board games, etc) that just can't be saved. There's plenty more that CAN be saved, though, so Mary Anne and Sharon get right to work moving things upstairs and away from the dampness. Just as Mary Anne is finishing up with one particular shelf, she notices that the paneling on the wall behind it is a little crooked. When Mary Anne touches it, that section of paneling falls away. She reaches inside, and finds a box wrapped in paper. That's not the most unusual part, though; that would be the writing on the paper. It says, "Do not open or you will be cursed." At first, Mary Anne obeys. She puts the box aside, keeps working, and doesn't say anything to Sharon about what she found. Then, she finally gives in and unwraps the package. Inside, she finds a beautifully carved box, but doesn't open it. She finally shows it to Sharon, who doesn't recognize it. Mary Anne takes it home with her, to keep it safe until Granny and Pop-Pop get back.

It takes Mary Anne the whole weekend to finally open the carved chest, and when she does, she discovers that it's a music box. It plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and Mary Anne asks Granny about it the next time she calls. Granny denies knowing anything about it, and changes the subject pretty quickly. Mary Anne doesn't think anything of it; she's got other things on her mind. She's noticed some of the workers who are cleaning up the house snooping in places that they shouldn't even need to be. Mary Anne catches Jim the plumber looking through a file cabinet, and when the contractors mention digging in the backyard, Hank and Esther (friends of the Porters) seem awfully interested. Other BSC members notice odd stuff, too, when they're helping with the cleanup. Eddie the contractor was found in the toolshed, looking for something that he should have had on him in the first place (a shovel). Hank and Esther STILL seem really interested in the backyard, and there's also this old man who's been hanging around whom no one seems to know. No one can figure out why everyone is acting so strangely, so Mary Anne decides to show the rest of the BSC the music box. That's when she finds the secret compartment. It contains a note that says, "Dearest L.S., They're playing our song. Think of me whenever you look up at the night sky. I'll be on the other side of the world, thinking of you. And, before long, I'll be back and we can loog at the stars together, forever. H.I.W." The note is interesting enough, but the photo is what really captures Mary Anne's attention. It's actually half of a picture, featuring a young sailor from WWII. The creepy thing? Mary Anne had been having dreams about this guy...and she'd never seem him or that picture before. She thinks that there was a girl in the other half of the picture, but all she can see is a hand, wearing an ID bracelet.

Granny and Pop-Pop's anniversary is happening right after they get back from their cruise, and Sharon has a special present in mind; she wants to put their old letters and things into a scrapbook, and she enlists Mary Anne's help in sorting everything out. With Granny's permission, she reads through some of the letters. Granny had actually grown up in the house next door to the one that she and Pop-Pop currently live in, and she wrote quite a few times to her cousin and best friend, June, about everything that went on with the Bailey family who lived there. They had a daughter, Lydia, who had a boyfriend, Johnny, that her parents didn't approve of. Then, Mr. Bailey (a bank president) was caught stealing from his company. Mary Anne thinks that he must have buried the money in the backyard, which would explain why everyone is so interested in it. She also thinks that the music box was a gift from Johnny to Lydia, and that Johnny was the sailor in her dreams and in the photo. No one can figure out what L.S. and H.I.W. stand for, though, so the BSC decides to concentrate on the stolen money/backyard part of the mystery. They set a trap for Hank, Esther, and the workmen, just to see who's most interested in the case. They (loudly) claim to have found something in the backyard, and all the adults take the bait. Before they can confess that they didn't actually find anything, they catch the mysterious old man digging in the backyard. As it turns out, he's the father of Jim the plumber. Their family had lived in the neighborhood years ago, and he's still interested in what happened to the omney. Since the backyard needs to be dug to replace some pipes, everyone sticks around to see what's found in the process. There was a tree planted right around the time that Mr. Bailey had his money troubles, so they start there. Sure enough, up comes a metal box. Unfortunately, there's no money inside; just some papers that aren't worth anything.

Granny and Pop-Pop come home from their vacation, and are happy to see that their house is almost back to how it was. What they don't know is that Sharon, Richard, and Mary Anne have a surprise party planned for them. Mary Anne asks Sharon's permission to wear a piece of her jewelry to the party, and when she's searching the jewelry box for something, she finds something very interesting: the same ID bracelet that whoever was cut out of the photo in the music box was wearing. There's no name on it; just some stars. Mary Anne asks Sharon about it, and Sharon tells her that Granny gave it to her back in high school. Mary Anne is sure that the bracelet belonged to Johnny and Lydia, just like the music box, and she takes the first chance she can that night to talk to Granny about it alone. That's when Granny makes her confession: the music box and bracelet were hers. She's L.S., which stands for "Little Star," and the guy in the picture was her first love, Frank (she called him "How I Wonder." Both nicknames came from the song that the music box played). He was killed in WWII. Granny also gives Mary Anne the music box. Also, Johnny and Lydia ended up eloping, and lived happily ever after. :)

Subplot: the addition to the Barrett/DeWitt house is finished.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

Granny never really explained why she lied about the music box in the first place. Was Pop-Pop in the room when she was talking to Mary Anne on the phone about it?
This wasn't a bad mystery, but I think I liked it a little more the first time I read it. I DO like that Mary Anne was the one to narrate it, rather than having Dawn come back from CA to do it or something.
I'm kind of glad that Granny had a first love that wasn't Pop-Pop. :)
I have a shirt that's the exact same color as the one that Mary Anne is wearing on the cover.

#110 Abby the Bad Sport

2010-04-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

Summary

Abby has just gotten involved with a Special Olympics Unified Soccer team. The unified teams integrate "athlete" players who have a disability and "partner" players who don't. Abby really thinks she's going to havea good time; she'll get more soccer practice in (always a good thing in her mind), and she gets to work with Coach Wu of SMS softball fame. At the first practice, Abby notices that there are a few really good players on their team, including one of the athlete team members named Erin. When it comes time to scrimmage at the end of the practice, Abby is assigned a defensive position. She's pretty surprised, and not exactly happy, especially when she learns that Erin has been assigned to the offensive position that Abby herself used to play. Abby doesn't intend to let things end there; she's sure Coach Wu made a mistake, and she plans to take her rightful place (as she sees it) back from Erin as soon as possible.

At the next few practices, Abby does her best to show Coach Wu that she should be playing offense. She mentions that she was the leading scorer on her team back on Long Island, but Coach Wu isn't falling for it. Abby starts to question whether or not she's even a good coach, and she also gets more and more jealous of Erin. By the time the first game rolls around, Abby decides to take matters into her own hands. Instead of staying in her proper position on the field, she takes every opportunity to show off and try to score. When the team loses, Abby blames everyone else but herself for the way things turned out. Erin points out that Abby didn't stay in her position, making it easier for the other team to score. Soon, other people are notiocing that neither Abby nor Erin are being good sports or team players. Then, they almost end up fighting, and Coach Wu benches them for two games. Of course, Abby blames Erin for it completely; she STILL thinks she deserves to be the star, and she STILL doesn't see what she's doing wrong. At the end of the second game. Coach Wu relents and puts both girls back in the game, as long as they can work together and act like teammates. The team ends up losing, but Abby is still relieved to be playing again. Afterwards, she's still got a lot of energy to burn off., so she goes for a run in Miller's Park instead of having pizza with the team. She's doing a few laps around the track when who should show up but Erin! They have a sort of impromptu race, which ends in a tie. Abby apologizes for being a jerk (finally!) and things are a little friendlier.

In other news, Mrs. Stevenson wants to take the girls to see their grandparents in New York and pay a visit to their father's grave in honor of his birthday. Abby doesn't want to dredge up memories of his death, so she begs off the visit by claiming that she can't let her soccer team down. Also, a bunch of BSC charges and the other sitters form a Booster Club to help out Abby's team.

Rating: 1

Thoughts and Things

Even thought I basically hate this book, I like how they wrote the disabled characters. There really wasn't much of a fuss made over which players were and which weren't, and Erin wasn't made out to be some sort of saint who was being wronged by big, bad Abby. She was just a big a jerk as Abby was at times. :)
I don't get why Kristy took Abby's unsportsmanlike conduct so personally. They actually fought over it!
As much as I've come to like Abby, I didn't like her in this book. She was so conceited it was ridiculous.

SS#14 BSC in the USA

2010-04-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Mr. Schafer's friend, Mr. Choi, is an art dealer in New York. He's moving to L.A., though, and needs to have his huge RV moved there, too. Since he doesn't have time to drive it himself, he asks good old Jack to do it for him. Jack heads to Stoneybrook to pick up Dawn and Jeff, so he can drive them back to CA instead of them taking a plane later. When Watson gets wind of what the Schafers are doing, he decides it's a pretty good idea and rents his own RV. He also invites the BSC to go along. Not to be outdone, Jack also invites any of Dawn's friends to go along. In the Brewer RV are Watson, Elizabeth, David Michael, Karen, Andrew, Abby, Jessi, and Mallory. They'll be heading across the southern part of the country. That leaves Jack, Dawn, Jeff, Mary Anne, Kristy, Claudia, and Stacey in the Schafer RV; they'll be going north. Here's what happens along the way:

Jessi gets to visit Oakley, NJ right off the bat, and spends most of the visit thinking Mallory is racist because she seems uncomfortable when visiting the Ramsey grandparents. Jessi's grandma points out that Mallory seems tense because she wants to make a good impression. Later, Jessi visits Dalton, Mississippi, where her ancestors were supposedly slaves. It's an eye opening experience for her, and she even meets a woman who might be a distant relative.

Mallory wants to visit Chincoteague and Assateague Islands to see the ponies that Marguerite Henry descirbed in her books. She's a little sad at how touristy everything is, but actually seeing the wild ponies kind of makes up for it. She and everyone else in the RV also spend the entire trip dodging and annoying know-it-all named Liz Hoyer.

Claudia gets to visit the Art Institute in Chicago. She also pisses off Stacey by accidentally picking up her private journal, and buys a Georgia O'Keeffe sketch near the Wall Drug Store in South Dakota.

Abby the Elvis fan chooses Memphis/Graceland. That part of the trip is fun, but she not too excited to learn that Elizabeth's place of choice is the Grand Canyon. Abby's dad loved the Grand Canyon, and the family had been planning a trip there just before he died. Abby doesn't particularly want to be reminded of that, so she's not looking forward to being there. It turns out to be a really nice experience for her, and makes her feel a little closer to her dad.

Mary Anne chooses to visit Maynard, Iowa, so she can see her grandmother again. Verna won't let them drive all the way to Iowa, and meets them at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN instead.

Jeff wants to go rock climbing, so he chooses Yellowstone National Park. When he finds out that there IS no rock climbing in Yellowstone, he talks his dad into going to Grand Tetons National Park instead.

Dawn wants to visit a ghost town, but they still haven't come across one by the time they get to Idaho. Then, she sees a brochure for a place called Buzzard Gulch which looks like exactly what she's been wanting. It turns out to be a cheesy theme park, and Dawn is embarrased at first. Everyone has a really good time, though. I would, too. :)

Karen wants to go to Four Corners so she can stand in four states at once and wave to Stoneybrook.

Stacey chooses Seattle because she's awesome. :) Just kidding; Ethan is staying there and she wants to see him again. She's a little nervous, since the only time they were together was her visit to New York when she was in the process of breaking up with Robert. Things go very well, and they kiss at the top of the Space Needle.

Kristy wants to visit as many Major League ballparks as possible. She hits quite a few of them along the way, and drags everyone else to a bunch of games. At a Giants game in San Francisco, Kristy spots her dad on the big screen during the seventh inning stretch. She's not sure she wants to see him, but her friends talk her into it. They have an awkward chat, and just as Patrick is about to introduce the girls to the women he's with, Kristy bails.

The Schafer RV runs out of gas in the Badlands, and the Brewer RV gets rear-ended, gets stuck in a tornado in Oklahoma, and makes a side trip to visit Zuni country, but everyone makes it to Palo city safe and sound.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

How in the world did Watson get his RV home? Was he able to pick it up back East and drop it at another office of the same company in CA? Also, did he pay everyone's airfare home from CA?
I'm a Seattle native, and I can tell that Peter Lerangis has never been here. There's absolutely NO WAY that Jack Schafer would have been able to park an RV big enough for all those people on the streets of downtown near Westlake Mall. I'm not even sure that would be legal! Also, that awkward kiss picture on page 184; if they're still on top of the Space Needle, there should be a much higher fence than the one drawn. It's there to keep people from jumping off. At least, I THINK there's still a higher fence there. It's been awhile since I've seen pictures, and believe it or not, I've never actually been to the top. :)
Andrew Brewer is eager to see a baby panda that's supposed to be born at the San Diego Zoo right when they arrive. I don't know how that zoo operates, but generally, baby animals aren't put on display right away.
The Abby/Grand Canyon stuff is actually very touching. That combined with Stacey's WWII plot from the next Super Special makes me forgive Lerangis for describing what Bart Taylor tastes like when he's being kissed. :)
Look at the picture on pages 22-23. Why in the world is Karen so tall? David Michael is tiny compared to her, and I thought he was supposed to be a little older. Also, why is Dawn drawn with shoulder-length hair through the whole book? There was definitely no mention made of her getting a haircut.
I heard not too long ago that Four Corners isn't technically in the traditional place that everyone thought it was. I wonder what Karen would have thought of that?

#109 Mary Anne to the Rescue

2010-04-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Summary

Mary Anne, her family, and the entire BSC are having a snack in the airport cafeteria while they wait for Dawn's plane to get in. All of a sudden, a man at another table starts choking. Sharon rushes over to him, gives him the Heimlich, and saves his life. Everyone is completely grateful to Sharon for what she did, but Mary Anne is a little traumatized, too. Instead of taking action like Sharon did, Mary Anne was totally freaked out. In fact, she almost fainted. She's really ashamed of herself for being such a scaredy cat, so when Kristy suggests that the whole BSC take a first aid class at the community center, Mary Anne is excited; she's hoping that taking a class like that will help her be less useless during an emergency. Unfortunately, the class itself isn't what Mary Anne expects it to be. The graphic first aid posters on the wall gross her out, and even even the thought of a bloody, serious emergency makes her naseous. To top things off, Logan has some bad news for her after class. Not only is his dad sending him off to this wilderness survival camp for the summer, but he also wants him to go away to boarding school. It's the same school that Mr. Bruno himself went to and enjoyed, and he wants his son to have the same experience. Logan, obviously, doesn't want to go, and his mom seems less than enthusiastic as well. Unfortunately, when Mr. Bruno makes a decision, there's no arguing with him. Dawn tries to push Logan to talk to his parents, but he snaps at her and says that that's not how his family works.

The next first aid class centers on CPR, and they start with a baby. It's only a doll, but it's so lifelike that Mary Anne ends up really disturbed. In fact, she almost faints again. First aid class is definitely NOT helping her with her fear of emergencies. Next, the class makes a visit to an emergency room. Needless to say, Mary Anne is about as far from excited as she could possibly be, especially when a little boy who'd had a febrile seizure is brought in for treatment. Mary Anne sees the whole thing, and she can't wait to get out of there. The last straw comes when the class participates in Stoneybrook's Safety weekend. The students are going to be staging a fake accident scene, and Dawn volunteers Mary Anne to be the "heavy bleeding victim." Mary Anne tried to make it clear that she didn't want to participate, but gets roped into it anyway. She then has to spend her afternoon lying in a disgusting pool of fake blood, getting more and more angry. Afterward, she kind of blows up at Dawn for getting her roped into the fake accident, and Dawn points out that Mary Anne probably should have tried to speak up a little more.

Not long after, Dawn and Mary Anne are sitting for the Hsus and Kormans. Everyone is swimming, and things go well until Timmy Hsu ends up in the deep end. He can't swim, and starts to drown. Mary Anne, remembering the lesson on drowning from the first aid class, dives in and saves him. She's proud of the way she handled the emergency without freaking out, and that inspires her to be a little bolder with Logan. She encourages him to speak up and tell his parents that he doesn't want to go away to school, which he does. Mrs. Bruno even stands up to her husband, and Logan gets to stay in good old Stoneybrook.

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

I totally identified with Mary Anne's squeamishness about blood and guts and hospitals; in 9th grade health, I wouldn't even open the textbook when we were studying first aid because I didn't want to see the pictures. :)
The description of the seizure kid coming in to the emergency room was surprisingly...detailed. Not what I'd expect in a BSC book.
Mary Anne and Logan are wearing the same shade of lip gloss on the cover. :D
I keep forgetting to acknowledge this, but Abby and the Mystery Baby marked the 3/4 point in my blog project. Only 25% of the books left to recap, including Friends Forever and The Summer Before.

M#30 Kristy and the Mystery Train

2010-04-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

Summary

School's out, and the BSC has already landed a pretty exciting job. Derek Masters is in town, and he's got a big Hollywood movie to promote. It's a murder mystery called Night Train to Charleston, and in order to promote it, the cast and crew are going to be taking a train from Boston to Charleston for the premiere. Derek is going to be bringing Nicky Pike, Linny Papadakis, David Michael Thomas, James Hobart, Buddy Barrett, and his best friend Greg from CA along as his guests, and Derek's brother, Todd, will be bringing his best friend, Daniel. None of the cast, crew, or parents are going to have the time to look after all those kids, so they ask for three of the BSC members to go along to help. Kristy, Stacey, and Aby are the lucky three who get the job.

While everyone is waiting to board the train in Boston, Derek fills the sitters in on who some of the people are that will be making the journey with him. First, there's Jane Atlantic, the only reporter who's being allowed on the train for the whole journey. She's also a Stacey doppleganger. Then, there's Rock Harding, the director, who doesn't have much to say to anyone who's not in "the business." Next, there's Ronald Pierce, screenwriter and father of Todd's friend, Daniel. After him, Derek introduces the group to Anne Arbour, publicist extraordinare. Finally, they get a glimpse of the movie's two main stars, Benjamin Athens and Elle San Carlos. They don't actually get to meet them, though; they're kind of keeping to themselves.

Before everyone can even board the train, things start happening. Elle's soon to be ex-husband, Charlie, shows up and tries to convince her to go back to him. He's hauled away by security, but not before he can threaten either Elle or Benjamin; Kristy isn't sure which one he's lookingat. Soon after boarding, Kristy and the other sitters take the kids to the dining car for some lunch. Each one of them is handed a program with a map of the train and a list of which scenes from the movie are going to be acted out on board the train during the journey. There's also something else in there: a note that says, "The truth will come out - there's nothing you can do to stop me." Everyone seesm to have gotten one in their program, and Kristy thinks it's just some sort of publicity thing. Then, she notices that Anne Arbour seems annoyed and puzzled by the whole thing, which kind of throws that theory out the window. Then, when lunch is delivered, Elle San Carlos finds a little something extra in hers: a rubber hand with a copy of the same message tucked between its fingers. After lunch, the sitters take the kids back to their sleeping compartments for a rest. They barely get a chance to settle in before disaster strikes; the car starts filling up with smoke. When everyone tries to escape through the other end of the car, they discover that the door is locked. They finally manage to get the door open, and when the conductors rush to investigate, they discover that there's no fire. Someone, though, set off a smoke bomb. They also tell Kristy that only someone with a key could have locked the door to their compartment. The trouble? All the staff members have keys or access to keys, and there's a master set that's kept in the supply closet in the staff quarters. Almost anyone could have gotten ahold of a set of keys and locked the door.

After dinner that night, Kristy and Stacey take Todd and Daniel down the observation car to look at the stars. When they get there, though, they find that they're not quite alone. There are two men arguing on the platform outside the car, but Stacey and Kristy can't see who they are since the train is going through a tunnel at the time and it's dark. Suddenly, just as the train leaves the tunnel, one man pushes the other off the train! Stacey runs to get the conductor and Kristy yells for help, but the only one to hear her is Jane Atlantic, the reporter. She shows Kristy a note she received, instructing her to be in the observation car that evening if she wanted some real news. She's VERY interested in the story of a possible man overboard, but when the matter is looked into, everyone turns out to be present and accounted for. There isn't a single person missing from the train. No one is particularly happy with Kristy and Stacey, since the train had to be stopped while they investigated. Also, no one believes them. The girls know what they saw, though, so Kristy returns to the scene of the crime later that night to see if she can find anything suspicious. All she comes up with is a page from the movie script. She decides to hold onto it, just in case.

At this point, just about everyone is a suspect. This includes Elle's ex-husband, Charlie, who's supposedly not even on the train (he's been sending her telegrams). The three sitters do a bunch of sleuthing, including searching the sleeping cars of their suspects. During a brunch stop in Washington D.C., Kristy fills the kids in on what they've been doing so far, mystery-wise. They go on a script hunt, to see who might have a copy with a missing page, but they come up empty-handed. Later, after the train is moving again, Kristy and Derek notice something about the script: none of the characters' names are right. Kristy thinks on it for awhile, then gets an idea. She rushes out of the sleeping car to test her theory, but before she can (and just as the train seems to be picking up speed), the lights go out. The train stops, and an announcement about mechanical difficulty comes over the loudspeaker. Kristy heads back to check on the kids, and orders them all the stay in their sleeping cars. She then heads to the stage car, where Abby and Stacey are watching a reenactment of some of the scenes from the movie. She wants to tell them her theory about the mystery, but Abby runs off to read a bedtime story to Todd and Daniel before she can. So, Kristy fills Stacey in. The character names on the script are different because the page is from a DRAFT, not the final edition. Who would be most likely to have a rough draft of a script? Yep, Ronald Pierce, screenwriter and Daniel's father. Stacey and Kristy head back in to the stage car to tell someone what they've figured out. Before they can, another smoke bomb goes off. When the smoke clears, they see that someone has written another message about the truth coming out; this time, it's on the windows of the car. The girls approach Ronald Pierce and ask him what's going on (since 13 year old girls should ALWAYS be the ones to approach potential murderers). He's not the guilty one, but he knows who is; it turns out that he stole the idea for Night Traing to Charleston from a student of his, Laurence Channing, and Laurence isn't happy about it. Ronald paid him, but that wasn't enough to keep Laurence from blackmailing him for even MORE money. Now, Ronald is scared that Daniel might be in danger, so he and the sitters rush back to the sleeping cars to check on the kids. When they get there, they find Abby alone. The boys had talked her into a game of hide and seek. They find both Todd and Daniel, but just as they do, Laurence Channing comes out of nowhere and tries to grab Daniel. Kristy throws herself at him and manages to knock him off balance enough that other others can subdue him. Then, she locks Todd and Daniel into their bathroom to keep them safe. Laurence Channing is taken into custody, and given psychiatric evaluation. He also gets a writing credit on the movie, and the proper payment that goes along with it. Unfortunately, because of this little snafu, Ronald's writing career is over, and it's back to teaching.

Meanwhile, back in Stoneybrook, the remaining baby-sitters are helping Nikki Stanton-Cha open Greenbrook Club for the summer. All the kids are having fun..except for Nikki's son, Stephen. He can't swim, and he's embarrassed to let the other kids know, so he spends a lot of time on the sidelines. The BSC manages to save the day....of course.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

This mystery isn't bad, as BSC mysteries go. It's not exactly realistic, but I've never claimed to read these books for the realism. :)
This mystery also might be the winnder for dumbest character names ever. I mean, Jane Atlantic? Anne Arbour? Finally (and possibly worst of all)....
ROCK HARDING?!?! Between Harmony Skye in the last mystery (stripper name) and Rock Harding in this one (use your imagination), I can't help but wonder where the ghosties were getting their ideas for names.
In chapter 2, Kristy actually says that it's okay for club members to miss a meeting if they have something really important to do, like baby-sitting. Since when? Kristy ALWAYS freaks out if members have to be absent.
This is one of the books where Ben Hobart is "one of the kids," rather than being a friend of the sitters. He teases the other kids, participates in all of their activities, and even enters the goofy bathing cap contest. It's even mentioned that he and Mal are the same age, but nothing's said about their "relationship."
When the sitters are at Greenbrook, Mallory is the one that's obsessively staying covered up and wearing high SPF sunscreen, while Mary Anne is soaking up the sun like it's nothing. Since when did Mary Anne stop being sensitive to the sun?

#108 Don't Give Up, Mallory

2010-04-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Summary

Mallory is really excited when she finds out that her new Short Takes class is going to be all about children's literature. She still loves kids books, still wants to write them someday, and is really looking forward to studying the topic thoroughly. Her teacher is Mr. Cobb, who's fairly new to Stoneybrook (and SMS). All the girls think he's hot stuff, and Mallory isn't exactly upset when she finds out that she's been assigned to his Short Takes group. From day one, though, the class isn't exactly going the way Mal had hoped it would. Mr. Cobb tells them right off the bat that they won't be doing much writing; the class will mostly be based on participation. Things aren't any better the next day. In fact, they get worse. Mallory waits politely with her hand raised to answer questions and share her opinions, but Mr. Cobb bascially ignores her. There are several boys in the class who just speak up whenever they have something to say, and he seems to focus on those students. Finally, he asks Mal to read Green Eggs and Ham to the class, but she's so rattled that she makes a mess of the whole thing. Mr. Cobb also gets Mallory's name wrong...according to him, she's Valerie. She finally sets him straight during a later class, but only with the help of another student who speaks up for her. Mallory has absolutely no confidence in Mr. Cobb's class, and she can't seem to get it together. She kind of blames him for her lack of ability to participate; she thinks he's favoring the girls over the boys, especially when it comes to letting the boys speak out of turn. When he stops her after class and asks her if anything's wrong, though, Mal doesn't say anything at all.

Things aren't all bad for Mallory at school; she and the other 6th grade officers are busy with their fundraising week. Mal is in charge of all the booths, and her fellow officers are much more respectful and encouraging than her Short Takes classmates. When Mal is glancing over some past 6th grade meeting minutes, she discovers that the 6th grade class of five years ago raised $1000 for a student lounge in the library...and the money was used for building repairs instead. Mal and the other officers go talk to Mr. Taylor, who agrees to refund the money...if the class can raise another $1000. They raise the money and then some, and the library is finally going to get their lounge. This is thanks in large part to Mal's efforts with the fundraisers, and the the success that she has there inspires her to talk to Mr. Cobb. She accuses him of favoring the boys, and blames his teaching style for her lack of participation. Mr. Cobb isn't happy, and Mal leaves feeling like the meeting didn't exactly go well. Things change in class from then on out; Mr. Cobb makes everyone raise their hands and wait to be called on, and he makes more of an effort to encourage the quieter kids to speak up. Things aren't perfect, but they're better than before.

Also, Buddy Barrett is upset about not being able to march in the town Memorial Day Parade because he isn't part of a group. So, he starts his own: the Buddyy Barrett Marching Band.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

I really wasn't on Mal's side. Mr. Cobb didn't favor the boys over the girls; he favored outspoken kids over quiet ones, and Mal's class just happened to have lots of outspoken boys in it. Also, he DID give her chances to participate, and she dropped the ball. While I do agree that Mr. Cobb wasn't particularly patient with the shyer kids, I also don't think Mal shoudl have laid all the blame on him.
Claudia has Cheez Whiz hidden in her room in this one. My deep, dark secret? I actually like the stuff. :)
There are lots of mentions of past stuff in this one: not only is Mal being secretary a main focus, but her Young Author's Day Award gets a mention, too. So does the band that the kids made in #56.
I wish Hodges would stop putting Mal in pink clothes; it's really not her color.
Mr. Cobb looks like he's about 45, yet he's supposed to be fresh out of college. Whatever.

M# 29 Stacey and the Fashion Victim

2010-04-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Summary

Stacey heads to good old Bellairs with her mom for Take Your Daughters to Work Day, and gets recruited for the store's upcoming Fashion Week. She's not sure she wants to do it, since she didn't have the greatest experience with modeling in the past (a reference to the tv show???). Mrs. Maslin, the woman in charge of Fashion Week, talks her into it. When Stacey shows up for her orientation, she's pretty surprised to see Cokie Mason there as well. Apparently, Cokie had been "discovered" by an agent named Dylan Trueheart. What's even more surprising is that Cokie's being pretty friendly, and she fills Stacey in on who a lot of the other models are. First, there's Sydney. No last name; just Sydney. She has lots of professional experience already, and is kind of a snob. She also used to date Roger Bellair, son of the owner of Bellair's. Next, there's Harmony Skye..,and her annoying, pushy stage mother. Then, Cokie points out Cynthia Rowlands, who (at 16) is supposedly past her prime as a model and is thinking of quitting the business to be a regular kid. Finally, there's Blaine Gilbert, a Stoneybrook resident who also has a ton of professional experience, and who's mother works for Bellair's national office.

On day number one of modeling, things are chaotic. The girls are supposed to be doing a sportswear fashion show, and backstage is crazy. Sydney seems like the only one who isn't getting caught up in the insanity. Stacey notices that she's also one of the only girls (other than Stacey herself) that eats healthy food instead of subsisting on diet Coke and cigarettes, and avoids the petty gossip that goes on backstage. Speaking of gossip, no one is exactly thrilled with the fact that Harmony has been given a lot of the best stuff to wear, thanks to her mother's pushiness. Things aren't going so well for Harmony by the end of the day, though; she drinks a cup of tea, and immediately gets very sick. Her mother is convinced that she's been poisoned, but Mrs. Maslin convinces her not to go public about it by pointing out how it could hurt Harmony's career if she got a reputation for being a risk. Mrs. Skye backs down on the poisoning theory...but Stacey doesn't. As soon as she can, she talks over the incident with the BSC. Basically anyone and everyone involved in Fashion Week is a suspect at that point: Cynthia, Blaine, even Roger Bellair. There's no real evidence that points to any particular person, though.

The following Monday, Stacey is participating in her first catalog shoot. Things go well until someone shreds the pajamas and bunny slippers that Sydney, Harmony, and Blaine were supposed to wear in a group shot. Claudia (she's working with the art direction) thinks Dylan Trueheart should be added to the suspect list; he might be doing these things to make his client (Cokie) look good. Both girls decide to keep their eyes open to see if they can learn anything new. Stacey finds something new on her next trip to the bathroom; someone's written "Mirror mirror on the wall, who will be the next to fall?" on the mirror in lipstick. Later that afternoon, the photographer discovers that 8 rolls of film were exposed and are useless, and another girl finds a spider in her shoe. Blaine is also locked in the freight elevator, and has to be rescued by one of the lighting guys. On Wednesday, the pranks continue. Harmony falls off the catwalk when a light flashes in her eyes, distracting her. Another girl breaks out in a rash after using some foundation from her dressing table, and there are more creepy notes written in makeup. One says "Pretty is as pretty does, until pretty dies." Another says, "Beauty kills," and a third says "Model behavior can be hazardous to your health."

As scary as things are getting, Stacey decides not to tell her mother about everything that's going on. Instead, she decides to investigate the possible poisoning of Harmony. That means staking out the beverage table to see who the other tea drinkers in the group might be, just in case someone OTHER than Harmony had been the target. Stacey lucks out when the woman who usually supervises the cart asks her to keep an eye on it while she goes to get some more diet soda. Stacey is there when nearly every model comes by, but none of them take tea. Stsacey even makes a point of offering it, but there aren't any takers. So...that bit of sleuthing leads to nothing.

On Friday of fashion week, there's a photo shoot on the roof of the building. Stacey and Harmony are in a shot together, and Harmony suggests that it might be nice if they posed over by a railing. When the girls lean against it, the railing gives way and they both fall. Luckily, it's a short fall to another part of the roof, and neither girl is hurt. Harmony actually apologizes to Stacey, though...much to her confusion. Then, as the girls are climbing back up, Stacey notices some screws laying on the ground nearby; someone had intentionally tampered with the railing. Stacey gets to thinking, and she thinks she's figured out what's going on. She enlists the help of her friends to set a trap the very next day. They hide in the bathroom...and catch Harmony getting ready to write another lipstick message on the mirror. She's been behind everything all along. Harmony doesn't particularly like modeling, but has felt she has to go for it since her mother wants it for her so bad. She figured that if Mrs. Skye thought that modeling was dangerous, she'd pull Harmony out forever. The girls in the BSC decide NOT to tell anyone that Harmony was behind everything, as long as she cuts the pranks. Harmony also gets up the courage to talk to her mother, and modeling is done for her. Modeling is also done for Stacey; she just can't see herself in that world as a career.

Subplot: Buddy Barrett and Lindsey DeWitt are caught almost smoking, leading to the Great Stoneybrook Smokeout. That's a day where smokers sign a pledge promising not to smoke for a whole day, and kids sign one promising not to start. Some of the Stoneybrook smokers include Frankling DeWitt, Watson, Mrs. Hobart, and Aunt Cecelia.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

I wonder why no one got suspicious of Stacey offering tea to everyone when she was minding the beverage cart? I would have.
Harmony Skye=stripper name
Stacey would have LOVED "America's Next Top Model!"
Dylan Trueheart is a really stupid name....this book was full of those.

#107 Mind Your Own Business, Kristy!

2010-04-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

(picture once again courtesy of Amazon.com)

Summary

It's spring break, and things start off pretty well for Kristy. She wins four tickets to a Blade concert in Stamford, and the Krushers are going to be holding a spring Klinic (Kristy's spelling, not mine) to get ready for the season. Charlie, who just broke up with his girlfriend and doesn't have any plans for spring break, is going to help Kristy coach. At first, Kristy is excited that her big brother is willing to donate his time to help the Krushers. It doesn't exactly work out the way she wanted it to, though. The kids LOVE Charlie, and they listen to him better than they've ever listened to Kristy. She feels left out, and gets kind of jealous. Then, Angelica arrives on the scene. She's sitting for Timmy and Scott Hsu during vacation, and it's love at first sight for her and Charlie. Kristy doesn't like her much, though. In fact, she decides that Charlie should reunite with his old girlfriend, Sarah. Kristy asks each of them to lunch one day at the Argo, and plans to leave the two of them alone to talk. It doesn't work; instead of a happy reunion, both Charlie and Sarah get mad at her.

The Klinic continues, and Charlie's relationship with Angelica heats up. They start showing up late to practices, and when they do arrive, they're so wrapped up in each other that Charlie isn't much help anymore. Then, the day of the Blade concert arrives. Kristy decided to bring Claudia, and (much to her dismay), Charlie's bringing Angelica. He borrows Watson's car, which he isn't used to driving. Angelica gets kind of sick of all the sudden stops and jerks of the car, so she offers to drive. Kristy knows it's a bad idea (after all, it's Watson's car, not Charlie's), but the switch in drivers is made. Angelica handles the car better than Charlie did, but she drives way too fast. A cop pulls them over, and before they've even had a chance to stop the car, Angelica frantically asks Charlie to switch places with her because she DOESN'T HAVE HER LICENSE. Keep in mind, the car is still moving at this point, but luckily, it stops. Unluckily, it stops because it hits a guardrail. Everyone is okay, but the Stamford police take them all down to the station to wait for their parents. Angelica and Charlie both get fines, and Watson's car is wrecked.

Things are pretty much over at this point between Charlie and Angelica. Her parents actually thought he was a bad influence on her, and won't let her see him again. Whatever. At least the Krushers' Klinic is going well. In fact, they're supposed to get a visit from Jack Brewster, former Mets player. Charlie supposedly has some connection to him that he won't elaborate on, so Kristy is pretty skeptical that Jack will even show up. He does; as it turns out, Jack is distantly related to Sarah Green, Charlie's old girlfriend. They both show up for the last day of Klinic, and it looks like Charlie and Sarah might be on their way to a reunion after all.

Rating: 1.5

Thoughts and Things

This book was kind of brutal to get through. I don't remember it being so bad before.
It's a little weird how obsessed Kristy was about Charlie's love life.
Angelica really was kind of a twit.
I'm getting a little tired of the very Lerangisy Lerangis books. I feel like the majority of the books I've read lately have fit into that category. I need a Suzanne Weyn book to balance things out!

Abby's Book

2010-04-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

(photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

From Birth to Backpack

Abby and Anna are born about a month early. From the get-go, it's pretty clear that they have a special connection. When one baby would cry, Mrs. Stevenson would put the calm baby in her crib and the crier would settle down. When one girl gets hurt, the other cries as if she were hurt, too. It isn't until preschool that Abby realizes that not everyone has an identical twin; preschool is also when the twins' separate interests start to emerge. Neither girl particularly likes it when people make a big deal out of the fact that they're twins, but they still want to hold onto that special bond they have. When their dad takes them to pick out backpacks before starting first grade, they choose different ones and are horrified. They end up choosing the same ones after all, with neither girl getting what she chose originally.

Red and Blue Just Won't Do

First grade. Abby and Anna are in the same class, and their teacher seems less than thrilled with having identical twins. The other kids don't even try to tell them apart; they're both called Abby-Anna. The girls hate it. Then, their teacher sends a note home with them, discussing the trouble that having twins in class can cause. She asks the Stevenson parents to start dressing one twin in blue, and the other in red, so it's easier for everyone to tell them apart. The Stevenson parents agree to try it, and Anna becomes blue and Abby becomes red from that day forward. This helps the teacher tell them apart, but not so much the students. Instead of calling both of them Abby-Anna, the kids call them by their colors. The girls hate that even more. They also don't believe their teacher can really tell them apart; they think she's really only looking at the colors they wear. So, they decide to switch colors one day to see if anyone notices. Sure enough, everyone thinks Abby is Anna and vice versa. Even their dad, who shows up at school that day, mixes them up. This freaks out both girls; they think their own dad doesn't even really know them. He was just playing along with their joke, though; he knew who was who the whole time. Since no one is particularly happy with the color experiment, Anna decides to cut her hair short so they can go back to wearing whatever they want.

Without Dad

One day, when they're in fourth grade, Abby and Anna's dad is hit by a car on the way to work and killed. The Stevenson family kind of falls apart. Mrs. Stevenson's parents stay for a few weeks to help out, but when they leave, things are still a mess. Mrs. Stevenson just can't function the way she used to, and Abby and Anna are left on their own a lot. Groceries aren't getting bought, laundry isn't getting done, and the house is a mess. The girls drop out of all their after school activities, and stop seeing their friends as much. One night, Abby points out how awful things are to her mom, and asks what Dad would have thought if he could have seen the state of the house. This mobilizes the family; Mrs. Stevenson hires a housekeeper to take care of things during the week, and encourages the girls to go back to their old lives as much as possible.

The Shooting Star

One year (more or less) after Mr. Stevenson's death, things are still not quite right for the remaining Stevensons. Mrs. Stevenson is throwing herself into work, most likely to try and escape the pain of being without her husband, leaving the girls on their own. They in turn throw themselves into their various friends and activities, to the extent that all three of them end up leading mostly separate lives. Then, Mrs. Stevenson announces that they'll be taking a family trip to Sanibel Island in Florida during the twins' winter break from school. Abby is really excited at the prospect of actually spending time with her mother and sister, but when they get to Sanibel, nothing really changes. For days, each Stevenson pretty much pursues her own activities and interests, much to Abby's dismay. Finally, she hears about a family New Year's Eve party that their resort is throwing, and she tries to get Anna and her mother to with her to sign up for it. They ask Abby to go do it for them, which kind of makes her lose her temper. She points out that they haven't done a single thing together since their arrival; the staff doesn't even know that they're together. They end up having a talk, and deciding to spend New Year's Eve together.

>New Places, New Faces

The Stevensons move to Stoneybrook. Basically, we get to see parts of Kristy and the Dirty Diapers from Abby's perspective.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

I wasn't much of an Abby fan when I first got back into the BSC as an adult, but I've liked her more and more as I've gone through this blog project.
The whole color coding thing was totally appalling. It was appalling for the teacher to suggest something like that, and it was appalling for the Stevenson parents to go along with it. The girls were obviously very different people right from the start; would it have taken THAT much effort for their teacher to learn who was who?
It makes me sad that no one in the Stevenson family ever really moved on from Mr. Stevenson's death. I like them and I want them to be happy!
The pictures in this book are much better than most of the portrait pictures. Mrs. Stevenson is DEFINITELY the hottest BSC mom (page 108), but she faces pretty stiff competition from Maureen McGill, as pictured on the cover of Stacey McGill...Matchmaker?.
Abby gets an A- on her autobiography.

#106 Claudia, Queen of the Seventh Grade

2010-04-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Summary

Claudia is pretty well settled into her new seventh grade life. She's getting good grades, she's a got a good group of friends, and she's even been nominated for Queen of the Seventh Grade! The Queen (and King) are in charge of putting on the Seventh Grade prom, along with attendants of their own choosing. Claudia doesn't think she has much of a shot at winning, and her BSC friends don't even think she should run (they still think of her as an 8th grader). Claudia DOES run, though, and she wins. Her king is Mark Jaffe, and other 13 year old 7th grader (her was left back in 3rd grade). He's definitely cute (and has the female groupies to prove it), but he's a total jerk. Claudia isn't exactly thrilled to be paired up with him.

At the first prom-related meeting with the faculty advisor (Mrs. Hochberger), Claudia is a little upset to learn that the King and Queen roles are mostly symbolic; they don't actually have to do much to make the prom happen. She had envisioned actual committees of actual students doing actual work. She gets Mrs. Hochberger to agree to do things her way, but Mark is another story. He was totally fine with not having to do anything, and his lack of ability to be on time for these prom meetings reflects that. Claudia also isn't getting much support from the BSC. They keep making fun of the immaturity of the 7th graders, and don't really take the whole Queen thing seriously. Jessi and Mal are actually the only ones who are suppportive of Claud at first.

Even though Claud isn't getting much help from her King or her friends, she's happy to see that TONS of kids sign up to work on prom committees. It's still an uphill battle, since Mark isn't doing much to supervise the committees that he's supposed to be in charge of. By the day before the prom, he's shaped up a little. He, Claudia, and a bunch of other kids are getting the gym ready for the big day when she suddenly finds herself alone with Mark. She's just about to rush out for her BSC meeting when she trips and falls. Mark helps her out...and then kisses her. Claud definitely kisses back, and by the time she gets home for her meeting, she's really confused. She's hated and been frustrated by Mark all this time, but she didn't totally hate kissing him. She tries talking to her friends about it, but they just keep making fun of 7th graders. Claudia lets them have it. She points out how rude they've been, and how bad it's been making her feel. They apologize, and things are okay in that respect.

Prom time. The King and Queen are supposed to share a dance, and Claudia is not looking forward to it. She hasn't been able to talk to Mark about what happened between them the day before, and she's afraid it will be awkward. It is, kind of, especially when the entire seventh grade starts chanting at them to kiss. They do, and Claudia is officially in love.

Subplot: More Sean Addison drama. This time, he doesn't think he needs baby-sitters anymore, especially since Mel Tucker has been making fun of him at school.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Mark Jaffe is SO not good enough for Claudia.
Claud thinks that kissing someone twice means you're in a relationship. That's almost as good as Stacey thinking that Robert giving her flowers means that their relationship is solid.
I love that 11 year old Jessi and Mallory are the only two BSC members mature enough to be supportive of Claudia.
Cover: I wonder if that black kid in the background is Curtis Shaller, the boy Jessi dated for awhile?
I got the feeling that the Addison parents were kind of excusing Sean's bad attitude rather than trying to do something about it. The kid id still very troubled, and I think he needs more help that he's gotten up to this point in the series.

M#28 Abby and the Mystery Baby

2010-04-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

Summary

Abby comes home from school one day to find an actual, living baby on her front porch. She brings him inside, but isn't sure what to do next. She's home alone, and there's no one around to help her figure the situation out. So, she calls Kristy (of course). Kristy and Nannie come right over, and Kristy gives Sergeant Johnson a call. He shows up just before Abby's mom does, and interviews each one of them about what happened. Mrs. Stevenson seems awfully interested in the blanket the baby was wrapped in, and she manages to convince Sgt. Johnson to let the little guy stay with them until his parents can be found. Abby thinks this, paired with her mother's behavior around the baby, is weird, but she doesn't think much of it. After all, there's a baby in the house!

By the following afternoon, news about little Eli's arrival (the Stevensons are calling the baby Eli for the time being) has spread. Half the neighborhood comes over to visit him, which freaks the kid out. Kristy, Shannon, and Mary Anne herd most of the kids into the Stevenson's kitchen to work on their projects for the BSC's Writing Month, and bring them in one at a time to visit Eli. Later that evening, Abby's reading over what the kids wrote. Most of it is about Eli, but only Maria Kilbourne's story gives her pause. She writes about Eli arriving in a green car...could that be fact? Abby gives Maria a call, and as it turns out, she DID see a green car pull up at the Stevenson's house the day before and drop something off. Sergeant Johnson and a social worker happen to be over at the house just then, meeting with Abby's mother, and Abby decides to interrupt them to tell the Sgt. what Maria saw. Just then, the doorbell rings. There's a rather nervous looking woman waiting, who turns out to be the nanny that Mrs. Stevenson requested to look after Eli while she's at work and the girls are in school.

The BSC decides that they have a real mystery on their hands. They're a little light on suspects; it's pretty much just Erin (the nanny, who seems to like Eli but always acts jittery and nervous around anyone else) and this woman in a writing class that Jessi and Mal are taking. She'd recently written a story about a woman abandoning her baby, and that was enough evidence for Jessi and Mal to start following her around and finding out all they can about her. There's only one piece of real evidence that Abby's found, and that's a reciept from a pharmacy in NYC. On a hunch, Abby calls the pharmacy, pretending to be her mother, and asks for a refill of her prescription. When the pharmacist tells her they don't have a record under the name of Stevenson, Abby asks them to check her mom's maiden name - Goldberg. They have a record for an M. Goldberg...not Abby's mom.

Speaking of, Mrs. Stevenson is still acting strangely, and Anna's noticed it, too. One afternoon, she just takes off without telling her daughters where she's going. This isn't like her, so Abby does some investigating. She goes into her mother's study and finds a post-it note on her desk with a name written on it: Miriam. That's when Abby starts to put two and two together: the prescription reciept was for M. Goldberg, and Miriam Goldberg is her mother's sister, who hasn't been in touch with the family for years. Abby and Anna look through old photo ablums to find pictures of their long lost aunt, but the only ones they come up with are old...from childhood. In one of them, Miriam is holding a blanket that's identical to the one that Eli was wrapped it. Remembering how oddly her mother had looked at that blanket, Abby starts to wonder if Miriam might be Eli's mother. Abby races back to her mother's study, and redials the last number. A receptionist at a hospital in NYC answers, and on a hunch, Abby asks for Miriam Goldberg. She's definitely a patient there, so Abby makes up her mind to go to NYC and get the answers she's looking for. When she arrives at the hospital, she finds her mother in a hospital room with her aunt Miriam. She'd been cut off from the family for years, because her parents didn't like the man she was seeing and wouldn't have anything to do with her as long as they were together. Mr. Stevenson had gotten sick of bailing her little sister out of her messes, which was why SHE cut Miriam out of her life. Eli (whose name is actually Daniel) is definitely Miriam's baby, but she'd broken up with her awful boyfriend/baby daddy before he was born. Miriam had been in a rough financial situation for a long time, but she hadn't wanted to ask her family for help. Then, she started to get really sick (she's diabetic) and decided to ask her sister to take care of little Daniel for awhile. When she got to the Stevensons and found no one at home, she left the baby on the porch with a note (Abby never saw it, but her mother found it). Mrs. Stevenson has suspected all along that her sister might have left the baby, which is why it was so easy for her to convince the authorities to leave Daniel with them. Miriam is on the road to recovery,and ends up reunited with her whole family.

Rating: 2.5

Thoughts and Things

Would it really be so easy for a woman who abandoned her baby to get him back? I would think there'd have to be some sort of process, regardless of the reason that the kid was given up of where he was left.
It's strongly suggested that Miriam was never married to Daniel's father. Pretty scandalous for a BSC book. Normally, the ghosties go out of their way to mention that single parents have either been divorced or lost a spouse.
At the beginning of chapter 4, Claudia is picking all the Special Dark bars out of a bag of Hershey's Miniatures. Am I the only one who would have pegged her as a Krackle girl?
I wonder how much it cost Abby to take a cab to the Stoneybrook train station, buy a ticket to NYC, and then take a taxi to the hospital. Also, did she just buy a one way train ticket? She had no way of knowing for sure that her mother would be there, willing to drive her home.

#105 Stacey the Math Whiz

2010-04-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Summary

At the end of the school day, Stacey gets a message from Ms. Hartley, the chairperson of the SMS Math department, requesting a meeting. Stacey can't figure out what Ms. Hartley might want with her, so she's pretty mystified. As it turns out, Ms. Hartley wants to invite her (again) to join the Mathletes, SMS's competitive math team. They have a real shot at the state championship that year, and since Stacey's standardized test scores are so high, the team could really use her help. Stacey isn't too excited about the idea; she figures that most of the kids on the team are total nerds, and she doesn't really want to spend her spare time hanging out with them. She gives Ms. Hartley a "maybe," but doesn't think she'll end up joining. At that afternoon's BSC meeting, though, the other club members are surprisingly in favor of Stacey becoming a Mathlete. She starts to rethink the idea, and decides to join.

Stacey's first meeting/practice with the Mathletes is the next evening at Ms. Hartley's house. She starts to think that she might have made a mistake when she finds out that Jason Fox and Alexander Kurtzman are on the team, too (they're dorky), but she feels better when she finds out that Emily Bernstein, Rick Chow, Bea Foster, Mari Drabek, Amanda Martin, and the Prime Minister of the UK are also on the team. They work on some tough math puzzles, and although Stacey gets the right answers with no problems (pun not intended....) she still isn't sure that she's ready for the meet the following day. Ms. Hartley assures her that she is.

The next day's meet goes well, and SMS becomes the Stoneybrook 8th grade math champions. Next up is regionals, which SMS also wins. Last but not least is the state championship, which is a best of three series. SMS takes the first match with no problems (dang it, I have to stop doing that!!!), but they lose the second one. Just before the third match is supposed to happen, Stacey's dad calls with some news. He's got tickets to a U4Me concert, and he wants to take Stacey. It's on the same day as the final match for the Mathletes, and there's no way that Stacey can do both. At first, she chooses the concert. She rationalizes that family is more important than friends/school, and she really wants to see U4Me again (she got kicked out the first time, remember?). In the end, though, she decides that she can't let the Mathletes down. They end up winning the match as a team, and Stacey breaks the individual state scoring record.

There's actually a lot going on in subplot land. First, Stacey's dad loses his job, buys a car, and starts spending (or wanting to spend) all this time with her. It starts to conflict with her other responsibilities, but he eventually gets a new job and goes back to being Mr. Workaholic. Also, there's a math fair at SES, and lots of the BSC charges enter. Finally, Stacey HAD been tutoring Lindsey DeWitt in math, but once she joins the Mathletes, Claudia takes over. As it turns out, Claudia is just the person to help Lindsey; Claud has a slightly more "creative" way of solving math problems which gets the job done just as well as Stacey's more correct way.

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

This book was surprisingly entertaining, considering the fact that it's all about math.
Would it even be legal these days for Ms. Hartley to host a school group meeting in her basement?
I don't know what it is with divorced BSC dads being creepy, but I have to add Ed McGill to the list. First, he buys that huge Lincoln Town Car with tinted windows, and he wants to spend all his time with Stacey. He's always taking her out to late movies, and buying her flowers. He even comments on the fact that she's so beautiful that she makes the flowers look ugly.
There's no way on God's green Earth that I would have been in a MATH FAIR in elementary school. Or, you know, ever.
This is the third time in the series that Claudia has sucessfully tutored someone. She really needs to start giving herself more credit for being able to do stuff like that!