“Some of our adventures were scary, some were exciting….and mine was funny!”…..BSC Super Special #7: Snowbound”

Memory Reaction

I remember the basis of this “telling the super special thing” is that Kristy wants to write an article for the local paper about the BSCs adventures during the blizzard. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was that the editor didn’t tear up her submission. But now that I think about it, I actually buy it. I worked for a local paper, and my editor loved anything that involved stories or pictures of little kids from town, because when kids have their names/pictures in the paper, their parents buy a dozen copies. So, that may be why some Stoneybrook newspaper person would let the BSC write about their little snowstorm adventure.

Revisited Reaction

This is probably one of the more “realistic” Super Specials. There is no exotic vacation or anything, just a blizzard. It is a little unrealistic that they all have “adventures” but what are you going to do? No one would read a book about people sitting home curled up in bed watching the snow fall.

The first few chapters of this are really boring. We know it is going to snow, but are forced to read a bunch of crap about the girls not believing it is going to snow. I don’t really see this happening these days. Now, (at least in New Jersey, which would be the same as Connecticut), when they predict snow it is like the apocalypse coming. All you hear about for days is how to prepare for the storm. It almost always snows when they predict a storm. Once, last winter it didn’t snow after predictions said it would, and the news people were so embarrassed, they actually had a story about how they were wrong. One anchor, even talked about how it was all the weekend news teams fault.

Anyway, the snow finally starts to fall, and the various members of the BSC are all shocked. Everyone except Mary Anne and Mallory are separated, most are stuck somewhere, most are with kids (of course), and all have some sort of “adventure.” Except, only Stacey’s is the least bit interesting. And by “interesting,” I mean, the least boring.

Mal and Mary Anne were on some all day sitting job for Mal’s siblings while Mr. and Mrs. Pike were in NYC. The Pikes get stuck in the city, so Mal and Mary Anne get stuck with the brats overnight. To make things more exciting, they start to run low on food and the power goes out.

Dawn was with her mom on the way to the airport to pick up Jeff. Her mom sucks at driving in the snow and scares Dawn to death. They make it to the airport, but Jeff’s plane can’t land. So, Dawn and her mom have to spend the night in the airport.

Jessi is at a dance rehearsal for some performance and no parents can come pick anyone up, so they are all stuck there. There are little kids there too (who are in the performance), and instead of hanging out with the kids her own age, Jessi volunteers to help take care of them. And she wonders why she is an outcast at her dance school? Also, Quint (her sorta BF from the NYC Super Special) is around, because he was coming to visit and when Mr. Ramsey couldn’t pick him up at the train station, he walked to the dance school.

Claudia was sitting for the Perkins girls and their parents get stuck somewhere so she gets to sit for them overnight. Mr. Perkins suggests taking the girls to her parents’ house and Claudia’s mom offers to come over, but Claudia is all, “oh no, I can do this myself.” I don’t know why one of these adults don’t insist that the 13-year-old listen to them, but they don’t. To make this job more exciting, the stupid dog gets lost. But they find him, of course.

Kristy was just hanging out at home, but had invited Bart over so he gets stuck at her house. Kristy is all embarrassed about her family and about Bart seeing her first thing in the morning. She gets up at the crack of dawn to put on makeup and shave her legs for the first time. Her brothers make fun of her, but Bart says she looks beautiful. I wonder what she is going to say about this in her article. I can’t exactly see her admitting it to the whole town.

Stacey and her mom were at the mall, so Stacey could get a perm. Stacey’s mom rushes to leave and ends up running out of gas. Some stranger sees them on the side of the road and offers to let them spend the night at his house. Stacey thinks this is crazy, but her mom is all, “better than dying on the side of the road.” And the guy ends up being perfectly nice with a wife and baby. Only they don’t call anyone, so the rest of the BSC notices they were gone and wonders what happened. Okay, it wasn’t really exciting. But, it was the least boring when reading the book. I swear.

High/Lowlights

• Kristy makes a big point of saying how the weather person on the radio station is a woman, but everyone else refers to a weatherman. By the way, wouldn’t most people in the 90s get their weather on TV?

• Karen’s stupid pet rat goes missing. Isn’t that way people wouldn’t let their kids get a pet rat?

• How do you get “disapperntented” as spelling for disappointed? Oh. If your name is Claudia.

• Since when is Kristy all excited about dances?

• They actually cancel a club meeting. It is really just a contrived way to have the snowstorm happen on a Wednesday, although, I am not sure why it was necessary.

• A black velvet “knicker outfit” with lots of silver jewelry? For a formal/semi formal dance?

• No, Stacey. Most adults don’t wish for snow. In fact, you know you have become an adult when you stop wishing for snow and start getting annoyed by it.

• I have a slight problem with the timing in Kristy’s story: She gets home from school, does her homework, calls Bart, goes to the video store, then he comes over and they manage to watch Uncle Buck and most of Back to the Future before eating dinner? What the hell time does she get home from school? Or how late do they eat dinner?

• Bart doesn’t know that XYZ means examine your zipper? Isn’t he a 13-year-old boy?

• No, Jessi, you did not go to New York for summer vacation. It specifically says in the New York Super Special you went for a two-week school vacation. Stupid continuity error.

• Jessi says Quint gave her her first meaningful kiss. As opposed to all those meaningless kisses she had when she was ten?

• Dawn’s mom drove in snow all the time before moving to California. But, didn’t she move there when she went to college? How much driving could she have done before that?

• It is kinda sucks that they have the two women both be nervous drivers in snow.

• Dawn’s mom keeps cursing while driving in the blizzard. Dawn is all shocked by it. They don’t actually reveal the curses - Dawn just says that her mom used a word she has only “heard on movies mom doesn’t know I have seen.” But I think that is the closest we’ll get to vulgarity in the BSC.

• When Dawn and her mom are at the airport, Dawn says everything is labeled Connecticut. But wouldn’t Jeff be flying into a NYC airport?

• Stacey is surprised her mom doesn’t wear her wedding ring anymore. What the hell does she think divorce means?

• Claudia lets the Perkins girls eat snow with maple syrup on it…..that can’t be sanitary.

• So, the snow is cleared just in time for everyone to go to the school dance. Cause that is the important stuff.