#46 Mary Anne Misses Logan

Summary

Mary Anne and Logan have been broken up for awhile, and she's really starting to miss him (obviously, if you've read the title of the book). Luckily (or not?), the entire 8th grade at SMS has a big English project coming up, which will help take Mary Anne's mind off of Lover Boy for awhile. Everyone in the 8th grade will be put into groups of about 4 people, and each group will be assigned an author to study. Mary Anne stresses out about who she might end up working with (the groups are being assigned randomly), but she never considers that it might be Logan himself. She's nervous on the day when the project groups are posted, but relieved when she sees that she'll get to study Megan Rinehart, one of her favorite authors. As for her group members? Pete Black and Miranda Shillaber (Mary Anne is okay with them), as well as Logan. Yep, Logan.

Most of the work on the project is going to take place outside of school, but everyone is given a chance to meet with their groups for the first time during study hall. Mary Anne is dreading her first encounter with Logan, but it's basically just awkward; no crying or bloodshed or anything. :) Before the group really has a chance to discuss what they want to do, though, one of the English teachers approaches them with Cokie Mason in tow. Even though students aren't supposed to switch groups, he wants to make an exception for Cokie. According to her, Megan Rinehart's books are the only ones that truly interest her. Ha....LOGAN is the only thing that truly interests Cokie, and Mary Anne knows it. The teacher then asks for a volunteer to switch into Cokie's old group, and Miranda Shillaber jumps at the chance (she hates Pete Black).

The next group meeting is at Cokie's house. She's all over Logan, and barely acknowledges Pete and Mary Anne. She also can't remember the name of the author they're supposed to be studying from one moment to the next, or the titles of the books they've decided to read for the project. As the meeting ends, Mary Anne overhears Cokie ask Logan out; she doesn't stick around to hear his answer.

By the time the next group meeting rolls around (about two weeks later), Cokie and Logan have gone out multiple times. They've been so busy that they haven't finished the reading, and it becomes abundantly clear that Cokie is planning on riding everyone else's coattails to a good grade without doing any of the work herself. Right before the project is due, Pete and Mary Anne decide to just finish it up themselves, without counting on any help from Cokie or Logan. Then, Mr. Kingbridge makes a big announcement: on the day the project is due, three of the authors that were studied will be coming to SMS for an assembly, and the groups that studied those authors will be presenting their projects orally. One of the authors is Megan Rinehart, which makes Mary Anne excited and terrified all at the same time. Pete, though, sees the presentation as a way to prove who did their share of the project and who didn't.

That afternoon, Mary Anne gets a surprise call from Logan. He wants to touch base with her about the project, to make sure they're ready for Author Day. As it turns out, he HAD gotten his portion of the project done, and even though it took a little work, he and Mary Anne (with a little help from Pete) combine Logan's section with the the ones that were already done. Cokie;s the real wild card, though; no one, not even Logan, knows how prepared she is or isn't. "Isn't" is probably more accurate. At the assembly, after the other three had read their portions of the report and done well, Cokie gets up and reads the book jacket summary from one of Megan Rinehart's books. She's not exactly a hit with the audience.

The next night, Mary Anne and Logan meet for dinner. He wants to thank her for her help getting the project together at the last minute, and also to let her know that he misses her. Cokie was fun for awhile, but doesn't really mean much to him. The SMS supercouple decides to give it another go. :)

Ugh...the subplot. The Kormans have just moved into the Delaney mansion, and they're basically scared of the own shadows after the move and change in schools. In fact, they're firmly convinced that the Toilet Monster lives in their bathroom.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts and Things

• So...in the span of 5 books, Logan went from being a pushy, controlling jerk to a guy who let Cokie control him, even though he knew she wasn't right for him? Also, I'm not a Cokie fan or anything, but I don't like the way Logan led her on. He admitted that she was basically just a Mary Anne subsitute. No one deserves that.

• I hate the Korman subplot. Also, I don't know that giving into Skylar's fears like they did is necessarily the healthiest thing to do (keeping the fish fountain turned off, not ever saying the word "cat"). Wouldn't it be better for them to just act as if those things are no big deal, rather than shielding her like that? I'm not a parent, so I could be totally off base here.

• Mary Anne aches for Logan. Gross.

• This book always brings back awful memories of working on group projects in school. I hated group work just as much as Mary Anne does, and forcing kids to work in groups doesn't really impact their future lives as much as teachers would like to think it does. For instance, I STILL would rather work alone than in a group, and I think I'm about as good at collaboration as I would be if I'd never done a group project.

• This isn't a bad cover (even though nothing like this happened in the book), but where are Dawn, Mallory, and Jessi? Weren't they invited to the skating party?

• I like to think that Pete Black and Mary Anne reunite as adults and end up together. They'd make a cute couple.

#45 Kristy and the Baby Parade

Summary

Stoneybrook is going to be holding their biannual baby parade, and Kristy thinks that it would be fun for the club to make a float and enter. They've all got babies on the brain anyway; the girls just took an infant care class, and Kristy is helping prepare Andrea Prezzioso for the stroller division of the parade as part of her long-term sitting job. The club's float project is a disaster from the start, though. The girls argue over what the theme of the float will be, and have no problem making fun of each others' ideas (some of them are pretty stupid...). They eventually decide on "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe;" lots of characters are involved in that one, which means lots of babies can be a part of the float.

When the girls meet to start working on the float itself, things get even worse. Everyone has their own ideas about what the float should look like, but no one is sharing those ideas with the others. Stacey mixes up an orangey-red paint that she loves, but it clashes horribly with the bright pink fabric that Mallory bought for the babies' costumes. Claudia is in charge of actually constructing the giant shoe, and since she's trying to use everyone's advice, it looks like a lump of nothing. It's pretty clear that this is not going to be the club's most successful project....

By the day of the parade, things have gone from bad to worse. The pink costumes clash just as much as you might imagine with the orange paint on the float, which looks even worse than it did during construction, if that's possible. Poor Charlie Thomas, who had agreed to pull the float behind the junk bucket, is completely embarrassed to be seen with it. All of the club members are mad about how everything turned out, and none of them are speaking to each other. They survive the parade, thought, and Kristy quickly sends Charlie to the dump with the float.

After the parade, Kristy calls the other club members to make up. None of them were really mad at each other; just mad at how things turned out. At least they learned an important lesson about communication and working together (Ellen Miles really lays it on with a shovel at the end of the book). Also, Andrea Prezzioso won first prize in her divison, so the day wasn't a total loss. :)

Rating: 2

Thoughts and Things

• This book is a really rough read when it comes on the heels of the awesomeness that is New York, New York!
• Those babies on the cover look like dolls....
• I'm actually kind of surprised that the BSC had never taken an infant care class before this. That sounds like something that Kristy would insist they do to drum up business!
• Heh...Squirt's favorite Sesame Street character is Elmo, who "isn't on very often, so he has to watch carefully to catch him." What a difference a few years makes! This book was written in 1991, and (I think) Tickle Me Elmo first came out in 1996.
• One good thing about the BSC never leaving 8th grade is that we never have to deal with the stupid baby parade again.

SS #6 New York, New York!

Summary

The BSC members have yet another convenient two week vacation from school, so they head to New York City with Stacey. Here are everyone's plots:

Claudia and Mallory take art lessons at some fancy art school. Claud is pretty confident that she'll ace it, since the assignments are pretty basic. She's especially sure her work is better than Mallory's amateurish, sloppy drawings. Imagine Claudia's surprise when Mac (their teacher) praises Mal's work, but constantly tells Claudia to work slower or start over. Claud kind of turns into a witch towards Mallory (presumably out of jealousy), and begins to think that she's not as good at art as she thought. On the last day of classes, Mac pulls Claudia aside and apologizes for being so hard on her. He explains that he only did it because she has potential and talent, but is lacking discipline, which he thinks she can develop. Mallory, meanwhile, hasn't been enjoying the classes all that much. She'd rather learn to draw cute, cartoony animals than study serious art techniques, like Claudia. Also, after Claud tells Mal about her conversation with Mac (and apologizes for her behavior), Mal asks him if she's as good as Claudia. He tells her no; Mal has the discipline that Claudia needs, but not her talent.

Stacey and Mary Anne get a job sitting for two of the most stereotypically British children in YA literature. Seriously; their names are Alistaire and Rowena Harrington, they dress in sailor suits, and they're always saying things like "hullo" and "brilliant." At least they didn't spend the whole book asking for tea and crunpets or something. The girls show the kids the city, but quickly realize they're being followed by a mysterious man in sunglasses and a rain hat. They're convinced that he wants to kidnap the children; their parents are very wealthy, and also involved in international politics. On their last day of sitting, Stacey finally tells Mr. and Mrs. Harrington about the man. It turns out that the Harringtons knew about him all along; he's the childrens' bodyguard. They didn't want Alistaire and Rowena to know he was following them, so they could feel like regular kids during their vacation.

Kristy finds a stray dog in Central Park. She sneaks him back to Laine's apartment at the Dakota (where she, Jessi, Mary Anne, and Mallory are staying) and plans to take him home at the end of the trip. Watson says no to keeping Sonny, and when Mrs. Cummings finds him one day when the girls are all out, Kristy realizes that she'll need to find a new home for him. She puts up fliers, and one of the only calls she gets is from a 9 year old boy who loves Sonny at first sight.

Jessi meets Quint, a boy dancer, while attending a performance of Swan Lake at Lincoln Center (they're sitting next to each other). He's good enough to get into Julliard, but isn't sure he wants to audition. The other guys in his neighborhood tease him for taking ballet, and he doesn't want to deal with how much worse it would get if he went to classes every day. Jessi encourages him to audition anyway, and he gets in. He also gives Jessi her first real, chin-tipping kiss before she goes back home. Ahh, young love. :)

Dawn is terrified of the city. For the first few days, she won't even leave the Mc Gills' apartment. Then, she meets Richie, who lives in the same building, and he shows her a different side of the city. Dawn sees that New York is more than just the murders, danger, and crime that she's been hearing about, and actually manages to have a good time.

Rating: 5

Thoughts and Things

• I'd forgotten how much I like this Super Special; it might actually be my favorite!
• I sympathize with Claudia a lot more than I used to. Being mean to Mal wasn't right, of course, but I understand why she was acting out. Art is really the only thing she was good at, and to face the possibility of losing that was probably pretty rough.
• When Stacey and Mary Anne take Alistaire and Rowena to the petting zoo in Central Park, Stacey says that the admission is ten cents and always will be. Can any New Yorkers out there (or someone who's been recently) confirm or deny that? Also, is the Metropolitain Museum of Art really on a "pay what you can" admission plan?
• I used to think that "Rowena" was pronounced as if it rhymed with "Brenna." I was grown up before I realized that it's actually pronounced "Roweena."
• The Cloisters sound awesome. If I ever make it to New York, you better believe I'm going there!
• Dawn and Richie's friendship is really cute. I wish he'd made another appearance in the series...minus the mullet.
• If Jessi and Quint weren't 11, I'd really like them together. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think 11 is too young to date.
• Kristy's mother actually cries before putting her on the train to NYC. Elizabeth doesn't seem like the type to lose it like that.

#44 Dawn and the Big Sleepover

Summary

The 2nd through 5th graders at SES are involved in a program called "Pens Across America." Each student who's participating has been writing to another student at a corresponding school in New Mexico. Those students are a part of the Zuni nation, and they've been sharing information about their culture with their Stoneybrook counterparts (gotta love the educational value). Dawn is a little sad when she sees how much fun the kids are having with the program; she wishes she could have a pen pal, too (I don't blame her). She considers writing to the elementary school to see about getting her own pen pal at their middle school, which makes her feel a little better.

Over the next few days, Dawn kind of forgets about the Zunis and wanting a pen pal. That is, she forgets until Mallory arrives late at a club meeting with some bad news: there was an explosion at a gas station on the Zuni reservation, and the elementary school (plus some houses)burned down. Dawn wants to help, especially knowing how upset the Stoneybrook kids are about what happened to their friends. Later that evening, she comes up with a very Kristy-like idea: Stoneybrook will hold a food and clothing drive, plus some sort of fundraiser. Mary Anne suggests she get some teachers involved, so Dawn musters up the nerve and calls her brother's old teacher (the only SES teacher she has any remote connection with) at home the next day. Ms. Besser is thrilled with the idea, and promises to bring it up to her fellow teachers on Monday. They love the idea, and all systems are go!

Later that same Monday, the BSC meets early to discuss Dawn's idea. They love it, of course, and they all want to be involved. They decide to let the kids raise money on their own, rather than having one big fundraiser, and they also plan to throw a big sleepover party for anyone who contributes something. Later that week, the girls head to SES for an assembly to let the kids in on what they're planning.

The Schafer/Spier barn is the drop off point for the donated food and clothing. There's a pretty enthusiastic response from the kids; in some cases, it's a little too enthusiastic. Dawn and Mary Anne realize pretty quickly that some of the items that the kids are bringing aren't exactly the items that parents wanted to part with. The same think happens at a garage sale the Rodowskys hold to raise money. Watson, for instance, finds a set of rare books of his, and Mrs. Delaney finds her lamp (which she ends up letting them sell). Other fundraising efforts go a little bit better: Jessi and Mal hold a carnival (we'll just ignore the fact that Chewy gets scared of the kids' peformer and rampages through everything), and Haley Braddock dresses up as a gypsy and tells fortunes.

Sleepover day finally arrives. There are a few problems, like homesick children and issues with the pizza being delivered late, but it goes smoothly for the most part. The girls hand out prizes to the kids (donated by a local toy company), play games, and read stories. No one gets a lot of sleep that night (would you if you were stuck in a gym with 100 kids?) but it's a pretty fun end to their efforts to help the Zunis. They pack everything up and ship it off to New Mexico right after the sleepover ends, and a week later, they get a very nice letter back from the Zuni school's principal, thanking them for all their hard work.

Rating: 3.5


Thoughts and Things

• Welcome to the BSC, Peter Lerangis! This is the first book he ghostwrote in the series. I'd never know if it hadn't looked; it's definitely lacking the "flavor" that his later books developed.
• They must have raised a LOT of money to be able to not only mail three minivans full of donated items to New Mexico, but to also send a large enough check to help the Zunis get financing to rebuild. I really wish they'd told us the amount!
• I always sympathized with Dawn wanting a pen pal; I had pen pals growing up, and I loved it. I'm actually still in touch with one that I started writing to more than 10 years ago.
• There is ZERO mention of Stacey having been so sick recently. You think Dawn could at least comment on the fact that one of her good friends had been in the hospital for two weeks!
• I love that the Zunis make a reappearance later in the series; too many one-book issues/projects/etc. were just dropped, so it's nice to have at least one that wasn't.
• Okay, I was totally determined NOT to comment on the food in this one. I've been doing that way too often lately, but I can't help it. The pizza with whole wheat crust? The different kinds of pancakes and juice? The vegetarian Mexican food that the Schafers and Spiers have for dinner? YUM!!! Maybe I need to stop blogging right before lunch. :D

#43 Stacey's Emergency

Summary

As the last 10 or 15 books have told us, Stacey hasn't been feeling well for quite awhile. She's been way too hungry, thirsty, and tired, and she's stressed out by the way her parents keep putting her in the middle of their arguments. Stacey has even been going off her diet; she's bought candy from vending machines at school, had some of the fudge that Becca and Charlotte made during a sitting job, and even stolen some Ring Dings from Claudia. Stacey is definitely not feeling up to the action-packed weekend her dad has planned for her in New York (she'd rather wait until she's caught up with her school work and not feeling so awful), but she heads into the city anyway.

Stacey's dad is concerned about her health from the start, and the day after she arrives in New York, he takes her to the hospital. Her blood sugar level is insanely high, and no one can figure out why (she hasn't confessed to her dietary indiscretions yet). Her mom has come into the city to stay until Stacey's better, but Stacey is upset to learn that her mother isn't staying in her room at her dad's place. She doesn't seem to understand why her parents wouldn't want to sleep under the same roof, even though she seemed relatively okay with the divorce and what it meant before this book. Stacey even (disasterously) tries to get them to visit her at the same time, and ends up throwing them out of her hospital room out of frustration.

Stacey's blood sugar goes up and down over the next two weeks. It's a rough road, but she has plenty of visitors to cheer her up. Laine comes bearing (weird) gifts several times, and the BSC (minus Jessi and Mal) gets to come up to see her two days in a row. Finally, though, she's healthy enough to go home. Stacey and her mom arrive back home to find a welcoming committe waiting for them, but the party breaks up soon so Stacey can rest. Later that evening, Stacey finally confesses that she'd gone off her diet, and she talks to her mom about how she's not willing to be stuck in the middle of any parental arguments anymore.

Charlotte Johanssen is pretty upset when she finds out that Stacey is sick. She turns into a total hypochondriac, thinking she has every illness under the sun. That pretty much disappears once Char finds out that Stacey is fine and coming home. In fact, the welcome home party was Charlotte's idea.

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

• Why didn't Stacey tell someone when she first started feeling so bad??? I don't get it. I know she probably doesn't like doctors, and she doesn't want to worry anyone, but I'm assuming that she also doesn't want to die. Also...why didn't Dr. Johanssen make sure that Stacey made a doctor's appointment instead of just suggesting it? Heck, if I were Dr. J., I'd probably have called Mrs. McGill.

• That emerald green sweater that Stacey's mom gets her at Benetton sounds like something I would wear. I love green! Stacey can keep the beret, though.

• Every time I'm in a nasty public bathroom, I think of Stacey's experience with trying to get a drink of water in one on the train to NYC.

• Funny story about this book: my best friend growing up stole a copy of it from our school's book fair, and I helped her rough it up so it wouldn't look new anymore. That way, her mom wouldn't get suspicious about where it came from. We were such awful little thieves. :)

• I don't think Stacey ever confessed to Claudia that she stole some of her junk food stash!

#42 Jessi and the Dance School Phantom

Summary

Jessi's just won the role of Princess Aurora in her dance school's production of The Sleeping Beauty. From the first rehearsal, though, things start to go wrong. Jessi's toe shoes go missing from her dance bag (even though she knows she packed them), her spare dance clothes go missing (and eventually turn up torn to shreds), and she slips and falls on a puddle of water, injuring her ankle and putting her out of commission for a few days. She also gets a bunch of threatening notes, warning her of even more impending danger. Does she tell her parents and/or Madame Noelle that someone is out to get her? Of course not. This is the BSC, after all.

After the club finds out what's been going on, they decide to attend one of Jessi's rehearsals and try and "finger the suspect" (which just sounds dirty) based on their observations. Afterwards, they narrow it down to three of the girls: Katie Beth, who Jessi has had problems with in the past and who got to dance the role when Jessi was hurt; Carrie Steinfeld, who is the oldest student in the class and really needed a lead role to help her get into a more advanced school; and Hilary Morgan, who was shooting Jessi some pretty nasty looks during the rehearsal and is under a lot of pressure from her former-dancer stage mother.

Over the next few rehearsals, Jessi watches all three suspects as closely as she can. Carrie is the first to be ruled out; she's absent on a day that Jessi gets another note. Katie Beth is ruled out next; she pushes Jessi out of the way when a heavy piece of scenery is about to fall on her. That leaves Hilary, and Jessi knows she needs to trap her into confessing what she's done. The club notices that the writing used in the notes is very distinctive, so Claudia suggests that Jessi convince Hilary to write something, and then compare the notes with that sample. It actually works, and Hilary confesses; she thought she could scare Jessi out of the role, which would give her a chance to audition for it again, and might get her pushy mother off her back. Jessi agrees not to tell anyone, but only if Hilary stops her tricks. She agrees, and the rest of the rehearsals (and the performance) go off without a hitch. Hilary even decides to quit dance after The Sleeping Beauty; she just doesn't love it like Jessi does, and realizes that she has to start living her own life rather than trying to please her mother.

Meanwhile, the BSC is holding a pet show for their charges. There are all kinds of fights and arguments between siblings over who's going to enter the family pet, and arguments between friends over who has the best pet. At first, Becca Ramsey is excited to enter Misty the hamster, but then develops a sort of inferiority complex when she thinks about all the bigger and better pets that are entering. She's even on the verge of not entering at all, but decides to after all. All the entrants get prizes, and Misty ends up winning "Best All-Around Pet."

Rating: 4

Thoughts and Things

• Jessi says that Mary Anne and Logan have stayed good friends since their break-up. Really? I always got the impression that they kind of stopped talking. Why else would Mary Anne freak out over having to work in the same group as Logan in #46?

• I would far rather read about Jessi's dance adventures than Kristy's softball stuff.

• If this book had happened later in the series, how much do you want to bet that Jessi would have assumed that race played a part in why someone would want her out of the role?

• Boo Boo wins "Best Personality" at the pet show. I love it. :)

• I don't think that pushing Jessi out of the way of that scenery really proved Katie Beth's innocence. There's a big difference between wanting someone to give up a lead role and wanting them to come to serious bodily harm. In fact, saving Jessi like that would have been the perfect way for Katie Beth to deflect suspicion, had she been guilty.

#41 Mary Anne vs. Logan

Summary
Mary Anne is having problems with Logan; he's completely taking over her life. He decides when they go out, what they do, and doesn't even ask her if she's okay with the plans. He even orders for her in restaurants, which I HATE. Mary Anne finally decides to let their relationship cool off for awhile, but Logan doesn't take it well at all. He seems to interpret "cooling off" to mean "breaking up," so he barely acknowledges Mary Anne's presence. Right before Valentine's Day, though, the club gets a call from Logan. He and his parents are all going out for the holiday, and they need a sitter for Kerry and Hunter. Logan tells Mary Anne that the kids miss her, and that they requested that she be their sitter. Mary Anne agrees, even though she hates the idea of seeing Logan leave on a date with someone else.

By the time the big day rolls around, Mary Anne has bascially invented a whole new girlfriend for Logan, complete with name and backstory (Olivia, an aspiring singer). When she gets to the Brunos, she finds the house dark and quiet (no new girlfriends in sight), and Logan waiting for her with a nice dinner and a bunch of presents. He'd planned the evening as a surprise, to help them get their relationship going again. Mary Anne is sort of horrified, and doesn't know what to say; Logan may have decided he was ready to pick things back up, but Mary Anne hasn't. She makes it through dinner alive, but comes to an inmportant decision: she needs to break up with Logan. He isn't nice or understanding anymore, and only thinks about his own needs and wants rather than considering hers, too. They meet in the park, and that's that; no more MAS + LB= LUV 4-EVR.

While Mary Anne is busy sorting out her love life, Jenny Prezzioso is having a tough time dealing with the impending birth of baby sister Andrea. Her parents have been buying her all sorts of new things as bribes so she'll like her new sibling, and Jenny knows full well what's going on. She's also upset about the fact that she won't have her parents to herself ever again. Once Andrea's at home, though, it looks like things will be okay. Jenny loves her new sister from the start.

Rating: 3


Thoughts and Things

• Jessi is the one called to stay with Jenny when her parents go to the hospital to have Andrea. When she gets to their house, Mr. P tells her that her friends were all busy or not at home. Does that mean that Jessi was their last resort? If so, ouch!

• Mrs. P has been teaching Jenny all sorts of baby tasks, like giving bottles and changing diapers. That seems like a lot to expect from a 4 year old.

• Logan was such a jerk in this book; he and Mary Anne had some fights before this, but his personality really did a 180. I don't blame her for breaking up with him!

• I like Mary Anne so much better when she's showing some backbone than when she's either oblivious and wrapped up in herself or super sensitive and crying about everything.

• If I were Mary Anne, I totally would have stayed at home to read in front of the fire rather than going to the park with Logan.

• This is another book with lots of good eating: Mary Anne and Logan's Valentine's evening lasagna, the hot chocolate they have at the park, the cheeseburgers and Cokes they have in a restaurant, and the vanilla milkshake and grilled cheese sandwich that Mary Anne actually wanted that night....yum!