#12 Claudia and the New Girl

There's really no need for me to write a poem for this one when Dawn already did such a good job of it:

Traitor, traitor.

Claudia - we hate 'er!

Traitor, Traitor.

So long, see you later!

Good-bye, Claudia.

Summary

Claudia is spending an awful lot of time with Ashley Wyeth, the new girl in school. Ashley's a dedicated artist, and Claudia feels that she's finally found someone who understands that side of her. Pretty soon, Claudia starts spending all her time with Ashley. She misses BSC meetings, ignores her other friends, and even lies to Stacey once about why she has to miss a shopping trip. That's where all the traitor stuff comes in; I don't think it was the fact that Claudia made a new friend that upset them. It was the fact that Ashley (who had no interest in anyone but Claudia) was taking over her life. Claudia eventually realizes that she doesn't want to focus only on art and Ashley, and all is once again right in BSC-land. :)

Thoughts and Things

• Ashley dresses like a hippie, which everyone thinks is weird. Just wait until the early 90's, girls....you'll be wearing some of the same stuff.
• This book always used to make me want to do something artistic, even though I'm not exactly a Claudia when it comes to stuff like that.
• Is that Archie on the cover? He looks too young to be Shea or Jackie. Oh, and yay for Claudia looking somewhat Japanese. She doesn't always on the earlier covers.
• I loved when the club raided Claudia's junk food...and now I'm hungry. :)
• Claudia's English class is reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and A Wrinkle in Time. I wish my English classes had read fun stuff like that!

#11 Kristy and the Snobs

Kristy and Shannon

Enemies at first, then friends

Bonded over dogs

Summary

The Thomases are more or less settled in Watsons' neighborhood, and everyone but Kristy has managed to make friends. She thinks the other girls in the neighborhood are snobs, and doesn't actually want to make the effort to get to know them. She and Shannon Kilbourne, in particular, develop an instant dislike to each other. They play some pranks on each other, but when Shannon confesses that she was jealous of Kristy's success with the BSC (and the jobs Kristy was getting that used to go to Shannon), they're on their way to a friendship. Shannon even gives the Thomases a puppy (welcome to the family, canine Shannon) after Louie dies. She also becomes the second alternate officer of the BSC.

In subplot news, Louie the collie isn't doing so well. He's having trouble moving, and it's clear he's in pain. The Thomases try pills and shots, but nothing works. They have a family meeting, and eventually make the decision to put him down. After all these years, I still can't read the descriptions of what Louie goes through (falling down the stairs, losing control of his back legs, etc) or the entire chapter where the Thomases take him to the vet for the last time without getting choked up. Heck, I'm getting choked up now, in the middle of the freaking library! BSC books should not have the power to do this to a relatively non-weepy and emotional adult.

Thoughts and Things

• Shannon's uniform on the cover is hideous. Amanda's is okay, but why does she have blond hair, when she's described as a brunette in the book? I've always seen her as a blond, so I'm okay with that particular inconsistency.
• Did you know that Priscilla the beautiful white Persian cat cost $400? :D
• There's a lot of snark out there about AMM making doctors, police officers, and other professional people female for feminist reasons. It's actually realistic that the Thomases' vet would be a woman, though; there are far more female veterinary students than male ones these days.
• Shannon went way too far when she called Kristy, claiming that the Papadakis house was on fire. What if Kristy had called the fire department, or asked someone who wasn't Shannon to do it? That's a good way to get fined.
• Eh, I just can't pick on this one too much because of all the Louie stuff. The next one has way more material for that kind of thing!

#10 Logan Likes Mary Anne!

There are an awful lot of BSC blogs out there. They're great; I'm a regular reader of quite a few of them. I've decided, though, that I need to do something to make mine a little different. So, from now on, I'll be including a little BSC haiku as a part of each post. Some might be good, most will probably be bad, but I'm hoping that you guys get a little entertainment value out of them. :) Here's the first one:

Look at the cover.

Mary Anne is in love with

Logan. Jackie, too.

Wait...that makes it sound like Mary Anne is in love with Jackie. Oh, well. :D

Summary

The BSC is starting 8th grade...for the first of many times. Mary Anne marks the momentous occasion by getting a bra and falling for Logan, who's just moved to Stoneybrook. She isn't the only one; the other sitters seem to have the hots for him, too. I wonder what would have happened if another BSC member decided she wanted him? Probably the same thing that happened when Claudia and Stacey fought over Jeremy in the Friends Forever series. Anyway, the girls are little overwhelmed by the amount of new clients who are calling for sitters. They'd advertised in Kristy's neighborhood as well as at a PTA meeting, and they're in over their heads. They discuss the problem at lunch one day, and who volunteers his services? Logan, the Dreamboat of SMS. They invite him to a meeting, but it's awkward from the start. Claudia tells a story about a bra strap which embarrasses everyone, and Logan starts to tell a story about toilet training, but can't finish it. I'm still not sure what he was about to say before he realized that he couldn't in front of girls. When the Rodowskys call wanting a sitter (this is their first appearance in the series), Kristy wants Logan to go on the job with one of the sitters. Mary Anne oh-so-coincidentally happens to be the only one free. The job goes pretty well (Mary Anne actually manages to talk to Logan instead of being completely tongue-tied), but at the next meeting, the girls agree that it would be really uncomfortable to have Logan at every meeting. They give Mary Anne the job of calling Logan to tell him that. She calls from home after the meeting, and Logan invites her to the Remember September Dance. Mary Anne's dad actually gives her permission to go, and even gives her his credit card to buy a new outfit. The whole club helps, and the famous cities skirt is purchased. I know I'm not the only one who wanted one of those back in the day! At the dance itself, Mary Anne actually manages to have a good time until her shoe flies off and nearly hits the vice principal in the head. She's mortified, and goes stomping off to the bleachers until the dance is over. I can't believe Logan was willing to put up with her after that; most 13 year old boys would be running the other way. I guess Logan is Super Boyfriend or something, because the relationship continues. Stacey pushes Mary Anne to invite him to a party she's having, which is going to involve a surprise cake in honor of Mary Anne's birthday (hence the necessity of her attendance). When the cake is brought out and Mary Anne finds herself the center of attention, she bolts. She waits at home for someone to come by and apologize to her for putting her on the spot like that, but it doesn't happen. The next day, Mary Anne asks her dad for a cat. He agrees, and she calls Logan to ask him to come to the shelter with her later that day. They talk about the party, everything is hunky dory, Logan meets them at the shelter, and Mary Anne adopts the other love of her life, Tigger. A few days later, the BSC is meeting when a job comes in that none of them can take. It's for a family with four boys, and the girls know that Logan would be perfect for the job. They don't want to give the job to a non-club member, so Mary Anne comes up with the whole associate member idea. It's nice to see someone other than Kristy have a good idea! Logan accepts, and all is right with the world. :)

Thoughts and Things

• I can't believe Mary Anne thought that her friends owed her an apology for the surprise cake at the party. She's the one who ran away, which probably put a damper on the whole shebang. Good grief!
• Are bra straps still embarrassing to 13 year olds? I'm guessing not...I've overheard some far more, um, adult conversations between kids that age. Times change, I guess.
• Pete Black is dating Dorianne Wallingford in this book (that's where the bra strap story came from). He gets around; he dated Stacey, goes to a dance with Dawn, had a thing for Laine Cummings when she visited Stoneybrook, and asks Mary Anne out after she breaks up with Logan in Friends Forever.
• The SMS students aren't supposed to use tape to put things up in their lockers; they use gum instead. Wouldn't gum be a lot harder to remove?
• When I picture Cam Geary these days, I picture Zac Efron.

#9 The Ghost at Dawn's House

This is my all-time favorite BSC book, no contest. I used to read it out loud to my siblings, who weren't even BSC fans. :)

Summary

The BSC members are back from their various family vacations, and eager to make the most of the rest of the summer. Dawn decides to really search for a secret passage in her house, and actually finds one by falling through a trap door in the floor of her barn. How did they not notice the door before? Was there hay on top of it or something? Anyway, as she's exploring it, she finds some old-looking items and convinces herself that not only were they left there by someone who was locked in the passage to die, but that her house and barn were now haunted by that person's ghost. The strange noises that she hears coming from the passage at all hours of the day and night only confirm her theory (or so she thinks). Mr. Ghostie gets an indentity when Dawn finds the legend of Jared Mullray in an old book of her grandmother's. The book doesn't specify the location of the Mullray farm, where Jared supposedly disappeared, but Dawn is sure it's her house. The mystery of the strange noises and the appearing/disappearing items is at least partially solved when Dawn catches Nicky Pike in the passage. His trouble with the triplets has gotten even worse, and he'd been going there to escape. Nicky was only using the passage during the day, though, so the nighttime noises are still a mystery. I think we're just supposed to assume that it's the wind or something, but I'm with Dawn on this one: I think it's a ghost. :)

Thoughts and Things

• At Dawn's BSC slumber party, Mary Anne wants to watch Sixteen Candles. I would've pegged her as more of a Sound of Music type.
• Dawn doesn't tell the other BSC members (besides Mary Anne) about the passage until the aforementioned slumber party. Why in the world would she keep it a secret, and why did Mary Anne not tell anyone? Secret passages are kind of a big deal, and the girls usually tell each other everything.
• I can't even tell you how many secret passage searches I went on as a kid. I never found anything, but I probably made lots of friends and relatives think I was crazy for knocking on walls and looking for trapdoors everywhere.
• Dawn describes her room as the calm eye in the center of a hurricane. In later books, her room's a mess. I definitely see her as more of an organized type. She'd have to be, with her mom being so out of it.
• Nicky buys a fancy ice cream cone from the ice cream truck that costs a WHOLE DOLLAR. I wish fancy ice cream cones only cost a dollar in real life....
• Fried baloney sounds absolutely revolting. I can't even stomach non-fried baloney.
• The Trip-Man doesn't sound all that bad. I wouldn't date him or anything, but I think Dawn and Jeff were a little hard on him.
• I ALWAYS wanted to look like Dawn does on this cover!

#8 Boy-Crazy Stacey

Oh, how I love the Sea City books! This one isn't my favorite, and it hasn't held up quite as well over time as some others in the series, but it still brings back good memories. :)

Summary

Stacey and Mary Anne are going to Sea City with the Pikes as mother's helpers, and it takes Stacey less than a day to spot the "guy of her dreams" (her words, not mine). The guy of her dreams is apparently 35 and a romance novel cover model, if we go by the picture on the front of this book. She officially meets him the next day, and finds out that his name is Scott, he's 18, and he likes to send underage girls out to run errands for him. Stacey starts spending all of her beach time chasing after Scott and fetching things for him, which doesn't make Mary Anne very happy. I'm on team Mary Anne this time: Stacey's getting paid, and Stacey should be working. Scott keeps leading Stacey on, though, and Stacey keeps following. When she and Mary Anne are given a night off, Stacey decides to buy him a present. She spends ten bucks on a heart-shaped box of candy (that's pretty pricey for a 13 year old baby sitter in 1987), and promptly sees Scott kissing another girl. She's crushed, but gets over it pretty quickly after meeting Toby. Toby is the cousin of Alex, a guy mother's helper who'd been helping Mary Anne pick up Stacey's slack all week. The four of them go out on a double date, Stacey gets her first kiss in the Tunnel of Luv, and is head over heels again. Toby is her new Prince Charming....at least, he is until she meets Pierre at the ski lodge!

Thoughts and Things

• I really, really like the Stacey-Mary Anne bonding.
• When Kristy is sitting for Karen and Andrew, the little kids wash one of Watson's cars with steel wool. She gets blamed for it, even though she was dealing with an emergency and couldn't give them 100% of her attention. I never though that was fair.
• I wonder if Mary Anne kissed Alex in the Tunnel of Luv? It's never mentioned, and it never specifically says that Logan was her first kiss. Hmmm....
• This book is where the Nicky vs. the triplets stuff really starts, and where Byron is first made out to be the "sensitive" one. Those things remained pretty constant throughout the series.
• Smithtown is totally something I'd be into; I wish we'd actually gotten to see it in one of the Sea City books. I guess I'm just a nerd about stuff like that. :)

#7 Claudia and Mean Janine

I think this book gets the prize for the most misleading title in the whole series...

Summary

The BSC has decided to run a summer play group three mornings a week for some of their charges. I guess they didn't get enough of large groups of children in the last book. :) The usual sitting hijinks ensue; Karen makes Jenny Prezzioso believe that Andrew is a monster, and also scares an entire playground full of kids into thinking that aliens are going to invade the earth.

On the domestic front, things are not well in the Kishi household. Claudia is fed up with Janine's lack of help around the house and the way she always manages to make Claudia's activities seem less important than hers. When Mimi has her stroke, Claudia gets even more frustrated. She ends up dropping out of the BSC play group and switching around art classes to sit with and care for Mimi, while Janine is let off the hook. Um, Claudia? You volunteered. Janine tried, but you interrupted her. She focuses on school because that's what everyone tells her to do. She makes your life seem stupid because she's hurt when you won't try and understand her better. Claudia and Janine end up talking things out, and both agree to try a little harder to get along.

Thoughts and Things

• It sounds like Elizabeth and Watson have been back from their honeymoon for at least a few days when this book starts, but Kristy and her family don't move to the mansion until the middle of the book. Those living arrangements must have been interesting, since all the Thomases were apparently still living in their old house. I guess Watson could have just been staying with them, but I doubt it; Karen and Andrew were with him at that point, and weren't at the Thomases' house.
• Claudia thinks it's her fault that Mimi had a stroke, because she threw a tantrum right before it happened and was rude to her. I actually feel sorry for Claudia; it's not that uncommon for kids to feel responsible for things like that.
• Stacey gets her hair cut to her shoulders. I'm not an expert on perms, but wouldn't fluffy, curly hair just look like a fro if it was that short? Mallory's hair was even shorter when she got it cut in #21, and I just can't imagine that working, either.
• Lucy Newton is christened in this one. Do people have big, fancy christenings anymore, with the fancy white baby dresses and the big parties afterward? I don't know anyone who actually had one, or who did that for their child.
• Claudia wears a snake bracelet to art class. I'd wear a snake bracelet almost anywhere. :)

#6 Kristy's Big Day

(How did I not notice until just now that I'd used the wrong title on this post? Bad, bad blogger!)

Summary

It's the end of the school year, and Kristy is looking forward to her last summer on Bradford Court before moving to Watson's. That all changes when her mother is forced to move up her wedding from September to the end of June, which means they'll now be moving in July. In order to get everything ready in two and a half weeks, the Thomases and Brewers have family and friends coming in from out of town to help. They all have children, and the BSC volunteers to sit for them at Kristy's house so the adults can get busy at Watson's (wait...that doesn't sound right ;D ). I'm a fan of the group sitting excursions, and this is one of my favorites. The kids are cute, and the baby sitting adventures are fun to read about. The wedding goes well, with the exception of Mrs. Porter showing up right after the kiss and Karen screaming about witches and then biting Watson when he tries to shut her up. I don't hate Karen as much as some people, but even I thought that was a bit much. :)

Thoughts and Things

• Kristy's house has a den and a rec room, but David Michael sleeps in a room that used to be some kind of closet, and Sam and Charlie share a room. Why couldn't the den or rec room have been converted into another bedroom?
• Kristy's cousin Peter is randomly referred to as Pete for an entire chapter, but ONLY in that chapter.
• It took Kristy and Karen 15 minutes at the florists to decide that their flowers should be yellow and white, in spite of the fact that their dresses are yellow. That kind of seems like a no-brainer to me.
• Stacey has seen Mary Poppins 65 times. Wow.
• Speaking of, when Nannie drops Stacey and her sitting group off at the theater to see Mary Poppins, she says she'll be back in two hours. Is she planning on waiting in the car for awhile? The movie is 139 minutes long, and they arrived well before it started. Also, one of the kids thinks she loses her admission money, and they apparently don't have enough to get her in unless they find it. Then, when they do go inside, all the kids have extra money for snacks. Couldn't they have just used some of the snack money to pay the admission?
• There are only 14 chapters in this book instead of the usual 15.
• I wish we'd seen more of Kristy's cousins during the series. I don't think they ever appear again, although they're mentioned.