"I will just be so glad not to be squished and squeezed and bumped all the time"......California Diaries # 1: Dawn

Recap

I liked the first California Diaries book more than I expected.  The entire book’s supposed to be Dawn’s journal, so the whole thing is in her handwriting and on lined paper.  I like her handwriting so I was okay with this one, but I don’t know how I’ll feel about the others.  Regular typing is easier to read. 

Dawn’s school’s overcrowded because it’s a K-12 private school spread over three buildings. Apparently, a lot of kids transfer in in 8^th grade so they can go to the high school the following year.  It’s that good or something.  Anyway, they let in too many people and there’s not enough room in the middle school building. The school decides to move all the 8^th graders into the high school building, which Dawn’s all nervous about. 

About a week in she gets an invitation slipped in her locker to come to some great party to get to know the older kids.  A bunch of 8^th graders got them, but not all of them.  Her friends Sunny, Maggie, and Jill all do though.  Sunny and Maggie want to go, but Jill thinks it’s crazy.  Dawn seems undecided.  They end up having a sleepover at Jill’s because they don’t think their parents will let them go.  But Jill’s mom and sister go out for the night, and the girls decide to walk to the party (1.5 miles away).  Well, Dawn, Sunny, and Maggie  go.  Jill stays home. 

At the party there’s drinking and smoking and throwing kids in the pool.  Sunny gets totally trashed, but Dawn and Maggie just end up hanging out with this new girl Amalia (also an 8^th grader).  Then the cops show up and everyone runs off.  Dawn, Sunny, and Maggie get kind of lost, but they end up bumping into Amalia again, and then all of them meet this guy Ducky who offers to drive them home (or to Jill’s).  Jill had told her mom they were sleeping, so they weren’t in trouble.

Anyway, it turns out the party was a prank that the upperclassman were pulling on the 8^th graders.  Which was obvious to everyone except the naive 8^th graders. They invited them to a party at the house of a teacher who was out of town.  As soon as it got wild enough, they called the cops and bailed so that only the 8^th graders got in trouble.  But the school finds out and EVERYONE gets in trouble.  There’s a school assembly and Dawn thinks it’s going to be for the teachers to call out the students who organized the party. But the principal actually yells at everyone and says the whole school’s on probation and that anyone will be suspended immediately if they’re caught drinking, smoking, trespassing, defacing property, lying to their parents, etc.  I would think they’d be suspended for a lot of that anyway, but to the kids it sounds awful.  Each grade also needs to use their class funds to pay back the teacher for damage to her property, which means some grades won’t have enough money for a class trip.

Meanwhile, Dawn accidentally overhears a phone conversation and finds out that Carol’s pregnant.  Dawn’s super excited and tells Carol she heard right away.  Carol isn’t mad at her for eavesdropping but tells Dawn she wanted Mr. Schafer to be the first to know and he’s out of town on business.  She also wants to wait and tell him in person and asks Dawn to keep the pregnancy a secret.  Dawn’s not happy about this and thinks something must be wrong with either Carol or the pregnancy.  She does eventually tell Jill, to explain why she’s been upset and swears her to secrecy.  But then when she’s at Dawn’s house, Jill offers to carry a box for Carol because she doesn’t think she should be doing that in her condition.  So, Carol’s annoyed at Dawn, and then it seems she ends up telling Mr. Schafer over the phone, because she doesn’t want him to be the last to know.  Jill apologizes, but later it’s clear Jill thinks Dawn, Sunny, and Maggie should have gotten in more trouble about the party.  They argue, and by the end Dawn says she knows her and Jill’s friendship is over.  But she has now become friends with Ducky and Amalia.

High/Lowlights

• Dawn tells us how Sunny wanted to rush out of her house because her mother (who has lung cancer) was having a horrible morning.  Dawn’s all judgy about how she’s sure she would want to spend time with her mother if she was sick.  But Dawn just moved across the country from her mother, so I don’t really know if I buy that.  And to be fair, she does write later that she doesn’t know how she’d really act in that scenario.

• I kind of don’t get why it’s such a big deal that Dawn’s going to be in the same building as the 9-12^th graders.  She’s still technically at the same school and will presumably have some of the same teachers.  And if it’s all kids that have been going to Vista since elementary school she would at least somewhat know some of them from when she was in 6^th grade and they were in 8^th.  Maybe it’s because she’s been in 8^th grade so long she doesn’t remember back then.

• There’s also this part (before the school building switch) where Dawn and Sunny refer to themselves as the rulers of the school, and how long they waited for that.  But that reads false because of how long they’ve been 8^th graders.  I don’t mind them not aging, but to act like they are newly in 8^th grade is just silly.

• At Dawn’s school everyone (grades K-12) is required to keep a journal.  No one reads them, so I don’t know how the teacher’s know if the kids are doing it, but it’s the rule.  Dawn says how she would keep one anyway and thinks most kids would by the time they’re in middle school.  I doubt that.  Dawn even said she didn’t write in hers much when she was in Connecticut, so obviously the requirement has an impact at her.  I certainly don’t remember her keeping one before, unless you count the stupid club notebook. So, this rule sounds like a pretty lame excuse for the framework of the books.

• Now here I thought we wouldn’t get any crazy outfits, but we do get to hear what Dawn’s friend Jill wears.  Dawn, Sunny, and Maggie all feel like Jill is acting immature and that she seems like a little kid who doesn’t fit in with them anymore. Which is probably what really led to the friendship ending.  But anyway, her outfit: “A sweatshirt with a huge pink unicorn on the front.  The unicorn’s horn…was sparkly gold, and the unicorn was standing on a powder blue cloud that was made of some puffy material.  On Jill’s feet were pink sneakers, and on the toe of each sneaker was a pony with an actual tail hanging over the side of the shoe.” Now, I certainly wouldn’t have worn in 8^th grade.   But I guarantee you that if Claudia wore it she’d be called a genius.

• Dawn talks about how some of the kids in the high school seem more than just 4-5 years older than her.  This makes sense because people grow a lot between 13 and 18.  But she says one guy could practically be her father.  Which is a bit of a stretch.

• When Dawn finds out her dad has to go on a 10 day business trip, she’s mad that he’s “abandoning” her and won’t be around when she has to start at the high school.   I hope I wasn’t that self-centered when I was 13.

• After a phone conversation with Sunny about Mrs. Winslow’s health, Dawn asks Carol what “sterile” means. And Carol blushes and giggles too much answer.  Over the word sterile? Am I missing something?  That’s not even a sexual term, what’s there to be embarrassed about?

• Dawn’s worried that she and her friends will get hazed because the upperclassman are allowed to haze the 9^th graders on the first day of school (with things like writing F on their foreheads).  But the teachers say that since the 8^th graders are being moved to the school a few weeks into the school year it doesn’t count and there’s to be no hazing…..so the school is actual okay with the hazing on day one?  I’ve never heard of a school allowing that. Is it a “cool California” thing or something?

• Dawn says she doesn’t really miss her Connecticut friends as much as she thought she was.  She and her friends also barely baby-sit anymore and she doesn’t miss that either.  Sad.  Realistic, but hearing her say she doesn’t miss the BSC is kind of a buzzkill. 

• One reason Dawn wonders if something is wrong with Carol’s pregnancy is because she offered to take Jeff miniature golfing and out for Mexican food.  Which a pregnant person can’t do? Shouldn’t someone who claims to know a lot about kids know something about pregnancy?
• Also, Dawn doesn’t get why Carol doesn’t want to tell her dad about the pregnancy over the phone.  How hard is that to understand? Some things work better in person.

• Dawn and Maggie both get thrown in the pool at the party.  Maggie’s embarrassed to get out because she was wearing a T-shirt with no bra, and apparently is too well-endowed to really do that.  But she has to get out and gets an appreciative look from the guy all the girls in school are into.  And she seems pleased with that.  Dawn then mentions she was wearing a big denim jacket, but even if she weren’t there would be nothing for her to see.  So, then, why didn’t Dawn be nice and offer her jacket to her friend?

• Ducky’s real name’s Christopher.  Everyone calls him Ducky because his family thought he was like a young version of Ducky from Pretty in Pink.  That’s like, the least creative nickname ever.

• Ducky is also 16 and in 10^th grade, if you’re wondering how he can drive.  If you’re also wondering why he quickly becomes friends with a bunch of 13-year-olds, I can’t help you.  At least not yet.  Maybe after his book?

• Dawn makes an enemy out of this girl Mandy, who I think is supposed to be in 10^th grade.  She gets sort of lost and thinks she’s opening her new locker (#160 B), but it is actually #160 D.  She accidently breaks the mirror hanging in the locker while hitting it trying to get it open.  Dawn apologizes and offers to pay for the mirror, but Mandy’s kind of a bitch about it.  Anyway, they run into Mandy at the party.  She also likes the guy who was checking out Maggie, and hates Dawn more now because she’s friends with Maggie, who the guy paid more attention to then her.  I’m assuming she will show up again.

• I thought from past books that all of Dawn’s friends in California were fellow vegetarians?  So, why does Jill’s mom and sister make bacon when cooking them breakfast? 

• I must be really old, because when Ducky complains about how hard their class worked to raise money for the trip that they can no longer take, all I can think of is how their teacher worked hard to buy a nice house that they all trashed.

• During their fight, Dawn tells Jill to quit being such a “B –”  and to just grow up.  That’s what is says in the journal a B with a dash after it.  The context makes it seem like she should be writing baby there, but the fact that she only wrote the B makes it seem like she was saying bitch.

And as an FYI, someone suggested in the comments that I recap the BSC Movies/TV-Series.  I discovered that the whole series is actually on Netflix streaming.  So…I will definitely be writing about those at some point.  

“Heaven help the little kids of Stoneybrook”……BSC # 98: Dawn and Too Many Sitters

Memory Reaction

When I found a copy of this book, I realized this was the one where the girls spend a lot of time raising money for their trip to Hawaii….I was trying to remember where it happened when I read the actual Super Special. I have to say, I’m surprised I never read the Super Special itself…the last one I read as a kid was book #99, where Stacey and Robert break up. Aloha, Baby-sitters happened before that, so it’s weird that I missed it. But, whatever.

At the time, I thought it was a big deal that they had Jeff and the triplets be “baby-sitters in training” because it seemed like a forward step. Even though the boys quit in the end, I remember that the Pikes decided to stop requiring two sitters. I feel like every ten books we got some type of movement that impacted all future books, and this was one of them. They were always my favorites.

Revisited Reaction

Dawn’s visiting for the summer, and as soon as she gets there, two things happen. The first is that the BSC finds out about a school-sponsored trip to Hawaii and the second’s that Jeff and the Pike triplets decide they’d like to start baby-sitting.

With regards to Hawaii: After some begging, the parents agree to let all the BSC members go, except for Kristy (who’s going in August with her family), Mallory (who’s running some day camp with Mrs. Stone that week), and Shannon (who will be at summer camp). Dawn even gets to go when she’s no longer a student at SMS…this is because not enough SMS kids signed up. The wrinkle’s that the girls need to pay for half the trip, which means they each need to raise $250 dollars by the middle of July. If you’re counting, that means, yes, a supposed 10-day trip to Hawaii’s costing them $500. They had a bigger budget when they went to California and stayed at Dawn’s house. Anyway, they baby-sit like crazy, wash cars, mow lawns, and finally arrange a bunch of games/food stands at the local Fourth of July fireworks display and make the money they need.

Meanwhile: Jeff and the triplets have been asking about baby-sitting, but admit they aren’t ready to start their own club. The BSC decides to make them BITs (baby-sitters-in-training). One boy tags along on each sitting job to get in practice (for 25% of the pay, despite the girls needing to make money). This is not as successful as they hoped….Jeff gets grossed out at changing a diaper, Byron bails on a job for little league (but does come back), Adam gets into a fight with Haley Braddock, Jordon turns Jamie Newton’s art work into paper airplanes, etc. They also eat all of Claudia’s junk food up, then stop showing up for meetings. The girls finally decide that they need to “fire” them, but the boys quit first….saying they aren’t ready. But, later Mal reports that her brothers were helpful when she was sitting for the rest of her family, and it sounds like the 2-sitter rule will no longer be needed at the Pikes.

High/Lowlights

• Dawn tells us how she’s gotten used to going away parties, which I think is her way of saying she likes the attention. But really, why do people feel the need to give her going away parties every time she goes between CT and CA?

• They also give her welcome back parties….all the BSC members give Dawn gifts when she returns (lotions, a jumpsuit, snacks, etc). The two worst gifts are Logan’s (he gave a pack of gum that he happened to have in his pocket) and Jessi’s (who gave a biography of some famous ballet dancer that she wants Dawn to lend her after reading).

• The trip to Hawaii's supposed to be the start of many trips where SMS students get to travel for reduced prices. It would have been better if they introduced this deal earlier in the series to explain all the other BSC vacations.

• I would think a high school would be the one to arrange a travel program, not middle school.

• I have to say this again….$500? For a ten-day trip to Hawaii that includes airfare, hotels, and three meals a day? Even for 1996 that seems low.

• When the girls are trying to earn money, Kristy has to point out that they’ll actually need to make more than $250, since they’ll probably want to buy souvenirs and stuff. It’s a bit of a duh moment.

• It’s a bit contrived that the one other BSC member who had agreed to help out Mallory with the day camp was Kristy, who was already going to Hawaii herself.

• Stacey “jokingly” asks whether Kristy can bring her on her family vacation, but I actually think it should be taken as a serious question. When was the last time Kristy took a family vacation where she didn’t get to bring friends?

• The girls also complain about how the boys eat/drink a lot of the client’s food. But they are ten-year-old boys, so that shouldn’t really be a surprise.

• Jeff comments that “nine’s little, ten’s not.” I think this is supposed to sound silly, like only a little kid would say it….but the BSC does the same thing, when they talk about Mallory and Jessi vs. Jeff and “JAB” (Jeff’s nickname for the triplets).

• Haley’s mad that Adam might sit for her since he’s only a year older than her, and that’s “like the same age.” Again, I’m sure if this is intentionally ironic, or what.

• The BSC parents all call each other, and then Sharon calls other parents, th school vice principal, the tour group, etc. to find out more about the trip. It makes me laugh because I feel like these kids have been allowed to go on so many other trips…..I’m surprised Sharon would need to put so much thought into another.

• One way Dawn and Mary Anne try to make money is by selling healthy food that Dawn made. I’d think even a thirteen-year-old would know that’s a limited market. Dawn used to recognize that.

• Speaking of selling food, did they buy the ingredients themselves? Because if they were just selling food their parents bought, they are probably costing them as much money as they are making.

• On one of his sitting jobs, Byron drinks up a bunch of baby formula. That seems disturbing….who would think to try some?

• So, the parents all give the girls $250 for the deposit when they first sign up. And supposedly, if the girls don’t each make the additional $250 by the date the final amount’s due, they can’t go on the trip and the deposit’s lost. Would their parents would really just let them lose the deposit? It seems wasteful. I get trying to teach the kids responsibility, but just make them pay back the cash at a later date.

• When sitting for her siblings, Mallory walks into the living room and sees Claire playing with carrots, peppers, and lettuce like they’re dolls, and Mal’s reaction is not to tell her to stop playing with food, but that she should be doing it in the kitchen.

• One of the reason’s the girls are nervous about letting the boys join the club, is that they think they’re too young to be responsible with money. I guess when people turn 11, they somehow have financial responsibility zapped into their heads or something.

• They make the bulk of their money running “games” for kids at the Fourth of July fireworks in town. But wouldn’t they need a permit for something like that? It’s a bit different than having a show in Mary Anne’s backyard.

“I thought they might be lucky and stumble on the key to the fortune”…….BSC Mystery # 26: Dawn Schafer, Undercover Baby-sitter

Memory Reaction

I didn’t get to this one as a kid, so no memory applies.

Revisited Reaction

Dawn’s in Stoneybrook for the summer and is taking some sitting jobs. At one meeting, the BSC gets two calls from different women, with different last names, and a different number of kids, at the same address. The girls are a little confused, but Kristy and Dawn both show up for the sitting jobs. It turns out that the two women are sisters from out-of-town, who are staying in their (somewhat) recently deceased father’s mansion while his estate’s settled. His house is called the “Livingston House,” because rich people name their houses, I guess. And I’m going to refer to the whole family as “the Livingstons,” because it’s not worth learning anyone’s real last name.

The sisters don’t get along and have divided the house in two so they don’t have to interact. Also living in the house is a third sister with no kids and a young man calling himself their butler. Richard picks Dawn up after the job and recognizes a colleague out running (she’s a neighbor of the Livingstons). The neighbor fills Dawn in on the sisters’ backstory----The father was a bit of an ass, and his will calls for his three daughters to each get a “clue” upon his death. Whoever uses the clue to find a specific code first will “win” and inherit the entire fortune. The neighbor’s the executor of the estate, and thinks the sisters should just share the clues, solve the puzzle together, then share the fortune. But the two older sisters resent each other too much. Apparently, their father encouraged them to be competitive as kids, which caused them to fight a lot until they were old enough to leave town. The younger daughter was spared from this because she was much younger, and she has been living in the house on her own. We’re also told that the sisters had a younger brother, but he died tragically when he was young.

Anyway, after the first sitting job the sisters decide that their kids should be able to see each other. They still hire two sitters, but tell the BSC to keep all the kids together. While doing this, Dawn gets the kids to talk some about the clues their mothers are looking for. They search the house themselves, but don’t find anything. When the mothers get home, the kids ask them to share the clues. And just like that, years of resentment goes away and the three sisters share their clues. However, they still can’t figure out what code they’re supposed to be finding. Lucky for the sisters, Dawn has the case on the brain. She figures out how the clues go together and the sisters all find the code, it’s written on the back of one of the many portraits of the father hanging in the house. We also find out that the “butler” is actually the thought to-be-dead-brother. So, the whole Livingston family gets a happy ending.

Meanwhile, Dawn also has a very busy social life because everyone in town’s trying to spend time with her before she goes back to California. She ends up having to cancel plans with Mary Anne multiple times because she accidentally made plans with someone else at the same time. So, she ends up organizing “friend day.” In the morning she hangs out with a bunch of kids/charges and in the afternoon she hangs out with the BSC and some other old classmates. Then she has “family day” to spend a lot of time with her family, especially Mary Anne.

High/Lowlights

• Does Dawn really need to have going away parties every time she leaves Stoneybrook? Not to mention getting presents.

• This book takes place right after the Hawaii super special, so most of the girls have just returned from that trip. Apparently, Kristy didn’t go, but leaves with her family for a trip there during this book. Dawn gets a letter from her that Mr. Schafer and Watson arranged for the Thomas-Brewer clan to stop and spend the night at Dawn’s house on their way back. However, in “Kristy’s Worst Idea,” Kristy tells us about her trip home from Hawaii, and a stop at Dawn’s house isn’t included.

• I hate when people complain about having too many people that want to spend time with them.

• Dawn makes plans with Emily Bernstein and Erica Blumberg, two eighth graders at SMS we hear of every once in a while. But how often did Dawn hang out with them when she lived in town? Now, I like seeing these girls hang out with people outside the BSC-clique, but at the same time, Dawn doesn’t live in Stoneybrook any more. So, it actually makes sense that she would only stay in touch with her closest friends.

• Claudia outfit: “A bright yellow pair of overall shorts over a tie-dyed baby-T in all the colors of the rainbow. She wore purple jellies, and her toenails, which showed through the plastic, were painted scarlet. A green scrunchie, holding her hair into a cool-looking Pebbles ‘do, topped off the look.” I actually don’t think this is so bad, considering it was the nineties. However, how do you combine “cool-looking” and “Pebbles ‘do” in one sentence?

• How come everyone in BSC-land has attics filled with all sorts of cool old stuff? I was always so jealous of not being able to go attic-exploring as a kid. At least in this book, they don’t find an old journal/letters in the attic to read. I was even more jealous of that.

• This book isn’t really a mystery. I know I’ve complained that some mysteries are way too unrealistic, but there’s something in between catching counterfeiters and a brainteaser.

• Is it weird that Dawn made plans to go to the local community pool with Haley and Matt Braddock? Not as a sitting job, just for fun?

• Why would you play “Marco Polo” when at a pool with a deaf child?

• While searching the mansion, Dawn and Abby find a signature of an “A Livingston” from two months ago, which is after Mr. (Arthur) Livingston died. And they’re all, “OMG, he’s really alive!” They totally ignore the obvious explanation that the third daughter’s named Amy Livingston, and is the owner of the signature.

• The kids were playing pogs. Remember those?

• They make a point of saying how it is weird that the “butler” is really young, so you know he’ll be someone significant.

• Arthur Livingston died a year ago, and there was no funeral because Amy (the younger daughter) and the executor of the estate were both out of the country. Which seems really weird. Wouldn’t she make a point of coming home when her father died? This is the daughter living in Stoneybrook.

• After the first job, Kristy and Dawn talk about only sending one sitter to try and force the Livingston’s to make up. But they decide not to. Not because it’s meddling, but because it wouldn’t be safe to only send one sitter for five kids.

• The Livingstons ask Dawn to be a “regular sitter.” And the BSC’s totally okay with it, like it hasn’t been against club policy for over a hundred books.

• It’s so weird that the executor of the estate says she can’t do anything about the “contest” part of the will, but then she just helps them share the clues at the end.

• When we first heard that the Livingstons had a younger brother that died, I thought they meant as a baby. But the father just started telling people his seventeen-year-old son died while mountain climbing, because he was mad at him. That’s a pretty crappy thing to lie about, at least in my opinion.

• The idea that the BSC managed to resolve a feud that has been going on with these two women since they were children in a matter of weeks is just….beyond words ridiculous.

• The executor says how the father would have liked seeing the daughters be competitive about the clues. But really, it would have been pretty hard for them to figure out on their own. The three clues were: The first is the most important; The signature tells all; and I didn’t do it, I was blank. (The blank is supposed to be framed, which points to the (signed) portrait and the “first” is because it is the oldest portrait).

“I know what I’m doing when it comes to detective work”……….BSC Mystery # 17: Dawn and the Halloween Mystery

Memory Reaction

The main thing I remember about this one was that at this point, it was really obvious Dawn had been in California more than the initial six-months. She had left in September/October, experienced a winter AND a summer, and was now experiencing Halloween. The not aging thing didn’t bother me too much, except when they made references to the timeline like this. Interestingly enough, I can’t remember if I wanted Dawn to come back to Stoneybrook or not.

The other thing I remember is how all the kids were not going to be allowed to go trick-or-treating because of a robbery in town. I didn’t understand how something like that could be enforced. It’s not like they made a law stopping trick-or-treating. If some parents weren’t letting their kids go out, it would be one thing. But talking about it like it was some town-wide ordinance (which is how I remember it) annoyed me.

Revisited Reaction

As the title would suggest, it’s almost Halloween (again). Dawn’s living in California and a store in town gets robbed at gunpoint by someone wearing a clown mask. Dawn witnesses the culprit running out of the store and getting into a car, so she has to give her statement to the police. This also means she knows enough details about the crime to play detective. When the parents in town hear about the robbery, they decide to establish a curfew preventing kids from being out after 7:00 pm, unless they are with an adult. The parents also decide that if the robber isn’t caught by Halloween, there will be no trick-or-treating. Obviously, the kids in town are upset by this, so Dawn and the We Love Kids Club decide to save the day. First, by trying to catch the thief on their own, and second, by planning a Halloween party for the kids.

Their investigation involves going to stores in town trying to find out who bought clown masks, staking out the restaurant that the thief had a bumper sticker for, etc. They really get nowhere with the investigation, and after awhile, there’s a second robbery. Then, by pure luck, Dawn sees the car that the robber used in the garage of a neighbor’s house. This particular neighbor lives across the street from the DeWitts, one of her babysitting clients. She has actually been watching Timmy, the little boy who lives there, on most of her sitting jobs for the DeWitts.

Anyway, after she sees the car, she runs and tells Mrs. DeWitt. They call the cops, who come and arrest Timmy’s father. Word spreads around town that trick-or-treating’s back on, and Dawn takes the DeWitt boys, as well as Timmy (who’s not told about his dad, at least at this point). Towards the end of the evening, Dawn sees a person dressed in black and wearing a clown mask digging in Timmy’s backyard. She makes the kids go back to the DeWitt’s house, where Mrs. DeWitt tells her Timmy’s dad has an alibi for the robbery and couldn’t have been the thief. So, they call the police again, and the real robber (who’s digging in the yard) is arrested. We find out that it’s Timmy’s mother (the parents are separated), and she had to steal because “she was poor.” Anyway, after this, everyone goes back out to the party Dawn and her friends planned.

We only get a few chapters about events occurring back in Stoneybrook…..Mrs. Barrett and her fiancé are looking for a new house where they can fit their seven children. They find one in a town about a half-hour from Stoneybrook. The kids don’t want to move, so they pout about it and make their parents retract their offer on the house. They go house hunting again, but the place in Stoneybrook that they can afford is a tiny one by the elementary school. The kids swear they don’t care about the size, and so Mrs. Barrett and her fiancé buy it. They will regret this decision later on, but somehow will have all the money they need to build an extensive edition to the house.

High/Lowlights

• I understand the concern about keeping kids safe, but I have an issue with the curfew, mainly that both robberies happened in the middle of the afternoon. Keeping the kids in at night’s not necessarily going to be any safer.

• Jeff says he has trouble remembering what it was like when his parents were still married. But wasn’t that less than two years ago? He’s ten. He should remember something about it.

• Dawn and her friends are staking out a hot dog place because the robber had one of their bumper stickers on her car. The food doesn’t exactly appeal to them, so her friend Jill’s all, “we should have brought sandwiches.” Because restaurants LOVE when customers bring their own food.

• I’m actually shocked that a hot dog place exists in California. Aren’t all Californians healthy eaters like Dawn?

• I’m surprised that it doesn’t even occur to Dawn that the robber could be a woman. Usually, at least one of the BSC members will give the feminist point of view. Plus the robber was around 5’8,” one of the people who purchased the clown mask was a tall blond woman, and a tall blonde woman worked at the hotdog place. And if Dawn checked, she would have seen that this woman was wearing a pair of the sneakers like the robber did.

• At the hot dog restaurant, Dawn wonders why the cashier was staring at them. She decides it’s because they stayed for ages and only bought soda. Sunny thinks the woman’s an undercover cop. But it’s most likely because they told her they were looking for a person driving a car that looks just like hers and wearing shoes like hers.

• Dawn said that she used to dislike Carol (her dad’s fiancé) for driving a red convertible, because “adults” shouldn’t own them. I’m not sure what age she’s using as a cut off for “adult,” but someone should tell her that usually “kids” can’t afford fancy new cars.

• Dawn says that Carol has a “cool hair cut.” I’m not exactly sure what that means. How’s that a description?

• The reason the robber was digging in the yard where her soon-to-be-ex-husband and son live, was that she had hidden her gun there. Or something. I can’t imagine why she would have done this. Or why she would have gone to dig it up on a night when all the neighborhood kids are running around outside.

• Dawn’s friend Maggie talks about a guacamole recipe that she got from Winona Ryder. Now…I’ll believe that her father’s a producer and she gets to meet celebrities. But getting recipes from them?

• After Dawn witnesses the robber’s getaway, the cops question her when she is by herself. (Carol was down the hall). Now, I realize they weren’t accusing her of anything, but shouldn’t there still have been a parent present?

• Dawn and Sunny go to a Halloween store to find out if any people bought the mask the robber used (they don’t say the real reason they’re asking). And the clerk says they sold three, then goes on to describe the people who bought them. What are the chances that this guy would have been present for the sale of all three masks, and that he’d remember what they all looked like?

• After she talks to the police, Dawn remembers seeing a logo on the clown mask that the robber was wearing. This logo ends up revealing there was only one store in town that was selling it. And she decides she and Sunny should go around questioning sales clerks first, and THEN she’ll tell the police. It is not like it is important information that could have helped their investigation.

• This is the second time Dawn has “solved” a mystery simple by being in the right place at the right time, not because of her actual “detective work.”

• Apparently all of Mal’s siblings are young enough to be captivated by Halloween. So the triplets love it, but Mallory’s too old to get into it? I know it’s been said before but that 11th birthday must be magical in Stoneybrook.

• It’s kind of annoying that the Barrett kids get to stay in Stoneybrook. Not because I dislike them, just because it’s unrealistic. Sometimes kids have to move away. If Mrs. Barrett and her fiancé can’t afford something in Stoneybrook, then they should tell the kids to deal with it.

• Dawn finds out about all the Barrett drama via letters that BSC members send her. But after each letter, Dawn calls one of her friends to get rest of the story. That seems to defeat the purpose of writing letters (assuming one reason for the letters is to keep the cost of phone calls down).

• No one can figure out the problem when the Barrett kids react negatively to moving to the house in another town. Why was it so hard to figure out? I would expect most little kids to be upset about moving.

• Mrs. DeWitt (the California client) has decided that Dawn should start calling her Cynthia. I guess this is because when Mrs. Barrett gets married, she’ll become Mrs. DeWitt as well, which could cause confusion.

• Mrs. Barrett gets frustrated while house hunting and says, “We’ll never find a house, and then we’ll never be able to get married.” It just made me laugh for some reason.

• The parents association that helps the We Love Kids set up the Halloween party want to help decorate the school gym (where the party’s happening), but Dawn and her friends insist on doing it themselves. It seems a little unbelievable that a bunch of teenagers could have that much control over it.

• The haunted house Dawn and Sunny set up at the party consists only of stations where kids are blindfolded and told to feel cold brains (spaghetti), eyeballs (peeled grapes), etc. While I can certainly see kids enjoying that, it doesn’t really seem like a haunted house.

• While trick-or-treating, Stephie Roberts starts to eat some candy, but Dawn stops her by saying that her dad didn’t want her to eat too much along the way. Now, when I was in elementary school, I remember teachers telling us not to eat candy until we got home for “safety” reasons. We were always supposed to have our parents look at it to make sure no one poisoned it or stuck in needles or something. Why isn’t that an issue here?

• The We Love Kids Club decides to dress up in costume for the party. For those interested: Maggie goes as the Pink Panther, Jill goes as Marge Simpson, and Sunny goes as Mrs. Claus. Dawn recycles a costume from her childhood, and goes as Pippi Longstocking.

This is exactly what I needed for my autobiography”…….BSC Portrait Collection: Dawn’s Book

Memory Reaction

I remember thinking how much of a hypocrite Dawn was in this book. Because when she was a kid, she apparently hated Sunny (at least at first), and thought she was weird. And in the “present,” Dawn’s the one always so proud of how she’s an “individual.” It was one of the few times (as a kid) that I really disliked Dawn…most of her more annoying traits didn’t seem SO bad when I was younger. At least not usually.

Also, there’s a section where Dawn’s family’s in San Francisco and they walk over the Golden Gate Bridge. When I was in San Francisco a few years ago, I felt like I should walk over the bridge. I’m afraid it may have been influenced by this book.

Revisited Reaction

This is right after Dawn has moved to California (for good), and it turns out she has to write her autobiography too.

So, Dawn was born in California. Her mother was past her due date, so her parents went for a walk on the beach, and then her mom went into labor. But they still had time to get to the hospital, so it’s not that interesting a story. When Dawn was little, her parents took her to the beach a lot and it was clear even then that she was a beach-loving-California-girl. But she supposedly did normal stuff too.

When Dawn was six, there were no kids her own age in her neighborhood, until Sunny Winslow’s family moved in down the street. At first, Dawn thought her new neighbors were weird, because the Winslows were hippies (hence naming their daughter Sunshine Daydream Winslow). They also planted flowers in the shape of a peace sign, didn’t have a TV, didn’t buy Barbie dolls for Sunny because the plastic they’re made from are bad for the environment, etc. They also tie-dye their own clothes in their lawn, which sounds totally fun to me. Dawn tries to avoid Sunny, but their mothers arrange to go on a shopping trip together. Because they’re awful parents, Dawn’s mom and Mrs. Winslow leave Sunny and Dawn (at age 6) in the toy section while they go look at other stuff. A power failure hits, and the adults get stuck in an elevator. But since Sunny and her mom know Morse code, they can communicate with each other by tapping on the doors, and Sunny translates to the crew working on getting them out. So, Dawn decides that she likes Sunny and doesn’t care if people think she’s weird.

When Dawn was ten, her grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary. The Schafers decide to take them on a weekend away in San Francisco. First, Mrs. Schafer tells the kids that they have to schedule “resting” time because her parents are “elderly” and not able to walk all over the city. But, “Pop-Pop” puts a stop to that and says he wants to do all the active stuff. But he and “Granny” don’t seem all lovey-dovey, which worries Dawn. But when Pop-Pop’s late for dinner (Jeff told him the wrong time), Granny’s all worried. So then Dawn realizes they do love each other, and thinks that her parents will follow their example. Which, of course doesn’t happen.

When Dawn was twelve (and still in California) she was obsessed with fire safety. She makes her family draw up an escape plan and then runs drills, where she blows a whistle in the middle of the night to see if her parents and Jeff actually get up and leave the house. Then, when she’s sitting for her neighbors, she smells smoke, so she takes the kids next-door to her house and calls 911. They fire department comes, puts out the fire, and Dawn gets the hero treatment. I think this story’s actually mentioned in Dawn’s first appearance in the series, but she leaves off the annoying obsession part.

When Dawn was thirteen (and in Stoneybrook), she totally disappoints a little kid. She’s the first BSC member to sit for a new client. While there, the parents get a phone call, but before they leave a message, they put her on hold. So, while she’s waiting, Dawn looks through a pile of mail on the counter and finds a note from the school saying that the girl needs to repeat second grade. At a second job, Dawn mentions this letter to the little girl, who had no idea that she was being held back. The parents yell at Dawn, because they weren’t planning to tell her until the end of summer. They vow to never use the BSC again, and the girls are so busy, no one else notices they lost a client.

High/Lowlights

• If Dawn’s birthday’s in February, how come she’s always 13? Shouldn’t she be 13 for the first half of her 8th grade career and then 14 for the second half? I understand why they couldn’t show that, but they really should have just made all their birthdays in the summer. Then they would be same age for an entire school year and the issue’s less obvious.

• Wasn’t Jeff’s comedian thing a new habit in one of the early books? So, why are we seeing it happen in all of Dawn’s flashbacks?

• Dawn says that in first grade, two of her closest friends were Jill and Maggie, who are in We (Heart) Kids later on. But, I seem to remember Dawn saying that she wasn’t that close with them when they’re introduced.

• Dawn also says that of her friends, Jill’s the one who’s best at surfing. But I seem to remember Dawn saying that she and Sunny were the surfers, and Maggie and Jill weren’t into it.

• Dawn thinks it’s weird that the Winslows have a waterbed. I would think Dawn would be into a waterbed, since she’s all about water. I remember in elementary school, this girl in my class had a waterbed, and everyone liked going to her house because of that.

• When Dawn was in preschool, she and a friend would build an Eiffel Tower out of blocks, and then get mad when other kids wanted to knock it down to build something else. So, she and this other girl glue the blocks together. I think that’s an early sign of Dawn’s ‘all about me attitude.’ Her teacher did make them clean up all the blocks.

• The guy in the store tells six-year-old Sunny he hopes he would have her with him if he ever got stuck on a desert island. Too bad Dawn didn’t have Sunny with her when she was stranded.

• Sure, Dawn. You and Sunny, Jill, and Maggie aren’t an obnoxious clique. Just like the BSC isn’t one.

• Dawn’s mother says, “my parents are having their golden anniversary next month.” And Dawn asks, “Granny and Pop-pop?” Like it is a question. I mean how many sets of parents does Mrs. Schafer have?

• Dawn’s so obnoxious about the fire stuff, it kind of reminds me of her attitude about the environment. When she brings the sitting charges into her house during the fire, her mom thinks they are just playing. There’s a reason to not want to be the girl/boy who cried wolf.

• Dawn gets some kind of medal for “saving” the kids in the fire. It’s some community award of the month…she gets one and a woman who had been a foster parent to twenty children (over a long period of time) gets one. Because those things are totally comparable.

• While I like the reference to the BSC actually making a mistake, and not impressing a parent, I find it hard to believe that no one realized it had happened. With the obsession the BSC has about keeping records, they just don’t notice that they lose a client? I guess it’s more realistic than thinking a parent would call and tell Kristy about the problem, but it doesn’t jive with the rest of the series.

• For those who care, Dawn’s grade was an A- for content and a B for presentation. I wonder how exactly those categories were made up…content seems like a weird term to use when they’re writing about themselves.

• Who writes stuff in their autobiography that they wouldn’t tell anyone else? I mean, their teachers are reading them. Again, I get that they need to make the stories interesting to work as a book, but I would think they could come up with a better framing device.

“California is calling you”…..BSC # 88: Farewell, Dawn

Memory Reaction

I’ll admit, that I remember being sad at the end of this one. I’m not really a big fan of change, and the idea of Dawn leaving permanently seemed like the end of an era or something. I probably would have doubted that she was really leaving for good, if it weren’t for the fact that they had advertised a “name the new baby-sitter” contest for a couple months beforehand. And I admit, I submitted multiple entries for that contest. I think it was actually a contest to name the new sitter and her twin….but I’m not sure if I thought they would both be in the club or not.

I was also somewhat cynical, because I was very aware that they were having Dawn leave, in the book immediately following the one where Stacey rejoins the club. It almost seemed like they only brought Stacey back so she would fill the hole when Dawn left.

Revisited Reaction

So, Dawn’s missing California. Which is pretty much the equivalent of Dawn breathing. But it’s worse than usual, partially because her friend Sunny’s mother has cancer, and Dawn wants to be there for Sunny. Whatever the reason, she decides she wants to go back to California permanently. And she’s going to do it soon, so that she can get there before the school year starts.

Dawn wants to tell Mary Anne about the decision herself, but she’s having trouble figuring out how to do it. She does tell Kristy, because she’s BSC President and that’s what a responsible baby-sitter does. Kristy agrees not to tell anyone, but tells Claudia anyway, who tells Stacey, who tells Robert, who tells Logan…who tells Mary Anne. So, Mary Anne’s pissed that Dawn didn’t tell her, and she’s upset that Dawn’s leaving. Mary Anne’s upset, not just because Dawn’s leaving, but because she heard about it from Logan. She ends up acting really cold around Dawn – not angry, just cold. Dawn thinks Mary Anne’s just waiting for her good-bye party to make a big gesture. But, it turns out Mary Anne barely helps plan it. Finally, right before Dawn leaves, Mary Anne cries and tells Dawn how much she’ll miss her. They bond, cry, and make a promise to think of each other when brushing their teeth. The usual stuff.

Meanwhile, James Hobart breaks his leg while playing with his brothers and some of the Pike kids. It sucks for him, because it’s the middle of summer, and for an eight-year-old that means spending time outside running around or swimming. So, the BSC and some of their clients arrange a “Christmas in the Summer” party to cheer him up. They have to do this, because Dawn’s good-bye party’s NOT for little kids. So, they can’t have the sub-plot chapters be about kids planning that, they needed another reason.

The last chapter’s letters between Dawn and the rest of the BSC revealing that she gets there, they all miss her, etc.

High/Lowlights

• The cover of this book's hysterical, because you have Dawn and Mary Anne looking like they are about to start crying, and Kristy looking like she can't wait for Dawn to leave. I thought they got over that jealousy plot ages ago?

• What exactly do you think Janine does on her computer all the time? Shannon says she looked at the screen and couldn’t understand the program Janine was writing. I always pictured Janine typing stuff, reading, searching for porn, or something. But I guess she was programming?

• I like that Dawn’s decision got out to Mary Anne via a gossip train, it’s very realistic for 13-year-olds.

• However, are Logan and Robert supposed to be friends? They seem to run in different circles.

• Dawn’s excuse for not telling Mary Anne’s sort of weak…she claims she wanted to find the right way to tell her, but she really was just afraid to have the confrontation.

• It’s amazing but the going away party they have for Dawn, does NOT include kids. Stacey actually says that she doesn’t want to end up baby-sitting during the party. Which is realistic (for a change), but kind of bold of Stacey, since she’s still on “probation.”

• Dawn says that her mother feels at home in Stoneybrook because she grew up there. But Dawn grew up in California, so that feels like home to her. Way to send a positive message to all the girls reading who’ve moved somewhere and are trying to adjust.

• The whole “Christmas in the Summer” plot’s a bit contrived. The BSC recruits all their charges to help plan it, make food, decorate, and pick out “gifts” (cheap stuff). But, I don’t think all those people are his friends. I mean, the group includes Jenny Prezzioso. Just because they live in the same neighborhood doesn’t mean they’re friends.

• Dawn cooks dinner for Mary Anne to try and mend fences a bit. So, she tells us that she’s making a dish called “eggplant roll-ups.” Then a half page later, she tells Mary Anne that she made “eggplant rollitini.” I guess both names could apply to that dish, but it seems weird.

• Watson drives the entire BSC to the airport to say good-bye to Dawn. He’s really very nice, isn’t he? He invites those girls on vacations, he drives them places….The only other description I could come up with is creepy, but thinking about that just seems wrong.

• It’s so self-centered of Dawn to assume Mary Anne’s planning something special for her going away party. I think she was the same way the other time she moved back to California. But just because Mary Anne says she wants to say good-bye “her own way,” doesn’t mean she’s planning a big gesture.

• When they surprise James, he gets all confused and thinks it really is Christmas. Or something. Because in Australia, Christmas happens when it’s warm out. That’s the cultural awareness message in this book.

• Dawn’s father MAILS her plane ticket to her. I guess that’s how people did things before e-tickets. But, what really surprised me was that he sends it to arrive on Friday, for a Saturday flight. Wouldn’t it be better to have a bit more time? Some things get lost in the mail.

• It struck me that Jessi’s a really good letter writer. I remember her being good about it in other books, and in this one, she mails a letter out to Dawn before she even leaves, so it will be there waiting for her.

• There’s a nice bonding moment, where Dawn and Stacey talk about the various changes in their lives. It’s too short to actually say anything meaningful, but I appreciate the effort.

• In the photo slide show, we hear about a few past events like the Mini-Olympics and the Snow White/Captain Planet video. I always like the shout outs to other books….I still do actually. It’s like a pay off for all the hours I once spent reading these books.

• The photo slide show also has pictures of the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant. Everyone remembers that one, right? The one where Jeff moves back to California and Dawn calls him a brat for hurting their mom? And swears that even though she misses California she would never do something as selfish as moving back?

“Mary Anne is just too uptight to wear pajamas to school”……BSC # 84: Dawn and the School Spirit War

Memory Reaction

I have one very strong memory from this book, and unfortunately, it’s that I didn’t buy the premise, AT ALL. The whole plot centers on SMS having a spirit month, where the kids who are “pro-spirit” ostracize the kids who don’t want to participate in it. In my middle school, you had to force people to dress in school colors (or whatever), and that was when we did it for a week. So, the whole fight that starts in this book seemed so ridiculous to me. Especially, considering how nasty it got.

I hate when I remember thinking a book was unbelievable…it usually means re-reading it will not be enjoyable.

Revisited Reaction

The Stoneybrook Middle School baseball team is having an undefeated season. And they are about a month away from playing the team from a nearby town that’s a big rival (even though we’ve never heard of them before). So, the school has a “School Spirit Month” where every day has some theme or activity designed to generate support for the team. Some of the BSC members are more into this than others. Dawn’s undecided at first…she thinks some events, like “clean up your school” day could be fun, but she thinks things like “pajama day” sound sort of lame. Mary Anne’s okay with it, but is terrified of having to wear her pajamas to school. Mallory isn’t into it, because she really doesn’t care about school spirit. Kristy, Claudia, and Jessi are super-into it. Stacey’s currently not in the club, but she isn’t a fan either. So this causes lots of fights and drama.

On class color day, all the 8th graders are supposed to wear yellow, but Dawn forgets. When Mary Anne reminds her, she realizes she doesn’t own yellow clothing, except for a pair of socks. She puts them on and goes to school, but no one can see them and give her a hard time. A REALLY hard time. Plus, the reporter who’s covering spirit week singles her out in an interview. Because, yes, spirit month is generating press coverage. Mary Anne freaks out, because this means she HAS to wear her pajamas to school.

Dawn and Mary Anne start a petition to end spirit week. It ends up causing a huge stir, with the school dividing between pro-spirit and anti-spirit. There are pep-rallies, anti-rallies, town meetings, reporters, etc. Supposedly the same thing happens at the rival school. Eventually, spirit month is cancelled. But then everyone’s still upset, and friends are not talking to each other, etc. Dawn comes up with a proposal to reinstate it as an optional thing, which ends up happening and the conflict is resolved.

The annoying subplot’s about the Barretts and DeWitts (the guy Mrs. Barrett married). They’re living in a house that’s too small for nine people, because most houses are. But the kids don’t want to move, because it would probably mean leaving Stoneybrook. There’s all this boring drama, and then Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt decide to add an addition to the house.

High/Lowlights

• Claudia even wears “stylish” rain gear, if such a thing exists. “Her long black hair was tucked in a wide-brimmed purple rain hat with colorful Native American designs painted on the brim. She wore a matching purple slicker with identical designs on the hem. Even her umbrella matched!”

• Mallory and Jessi are fighting in this book because they are on different sides of the spirit war. I have to say, I am surprised Jessi would be so passionate about school spirit. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always thought of her as not really loving SMS.

• I could say the same thing about Claudia. I guess they wanted the BSC to be equally split, and they figured Dawn, Mary Anne, and Mallory were the MOST likely to be against something like spirit month.

• So, Kristy wants to wear a pair of pajamas that Nannie gave her that are covered in pink bunnies. She’s never worn them, but thinks it would be funny to wear them to school. But, why would Nannie have given her something like that?

• Dawn says that she doesn’t own pajamas, she usually sleeps in nightshirts or sweats. Aren’t nightshirts basically pajamas? If not technically, I think it would still fit the description for the purposes of spirit month.

• When you think about, the whole conflict really happens because Mary Anne was too embarrassed about pajamas. Which is sort of funny.

• Claudia wants to make a pair of pajamas to wear to school, and Mary Anne’s all, “but aren’t you supposed to wear what you really sleep in?” As if anyone would know? Just put on a pair of sweats and don’t worry about it. When I was in college, half the students did that every day.

• Mrs. Barrett/DeWitt says that she’s frazzled because she isn’t used to having seven kids in one house. Mallory jokes that her family has NEVER gotten used to eight kids, and Mrs. Barrett almost passes out.

• Mary Anne’s outfit for class color day, “A yellow sweat shirt dress, yellow stockings, and black flats.”

• I remember this scene…Dawn leaves for school late and as she walks/runs, she comments on how all the people she usually sees (like a neighbor walking his dog) aren’t there, and she’s seeing different people. I remember thinking about that when I’ve been running late.

• Dawn sees Mary Anne crying and says, “oh, it’s so nice that you feel bad for me, but today wasn’t so bad.” And Mary Anne’s all, “I’m not upset for you, I’m thinking about what will happen to me for not wearing pajamas.” It totally cracked me up.

• Would any middle schooler really be into, “Make a New Friend Day?” I feel like it’s the kind of thing teenagers would ridicule.

• Logan and Robert (both athletes) don’t really seem to care that Mary Anne and Stacey are against spirit month. Which makes Kristy, Claudia, and Jessi look like bitches for not standing by their friends when they simply have a different opinion.

• This SMS student Julie, who I don’t remember seeing before says she resents having class time taken away by spirit month. Who is she Hermione Granger?

• Were the Dewitt kids from Stoneybrook? Cause they keep talking about how they don’t want to leave the town, but I didn’t think they were from there. We never heard of them before Mrs. Barrett hooked up with Franklin and the kids didn’t know each other, so they weren’t at the same school.

• The “anti-spirit” group has a little rally in the school cafeteria (as a protest to whatever the spirit week of the month was). And some teacher/principal looks in to see what they were doing, rolls his eyes, and walks away. The image of that made me laugh.

• I have to give Dawn some credit because she realizes that their anti-spirit rally’s really the same thing as what the pro-spirit kids are doing, just for a different reason. And she doesn’t like that some of the anti-spirit kids mess up a mural painted by the pro kids.

• Logan keeps whining that baseball team not getting enough attention. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to come across, but I think it’s really annoying. First he’s upset that the murals painted on “mural day” were not about baseball, and then he says at some school meeting that everyone’s forgetting the reason for spirit month. Then his father says the same thing at a town meeting. And yeah, I guess technically the baseball team was the original point of the whole thing, but complaining that you aren’t getting enough attention for being an undefeated team’s kind of obnoxious.

• I have a hard time believing the school would devote an entire month to something like spirit month.

• How come Robert’s jock friends are so different from Logan’s jock friends? I know Logan plays football and baseball and Robert plays basketball, but I would think there would be some overlap.

• Awe, Sharon refers to Mary Anne and Dawn as her “daughters.”

• How big a paper is Stoneybrook News? Because it’s a daily paper, which makes it seem like it’s pretty big. But Stoneybrook isn’t that big a town, which makes it seem like it would be more of a community paper. And honestly, who else would give that much coverage to something at a middle school?

• On a related note, what TV station do they watch? Wouldn’t they still be in range to get news from NYC? So, a network with community news would be a pretty small station, and yet, it’s all anyone seems to watch. It’s the same with the radio station they listen to.

• Jessi and Kristy have a sitting job at the Barretts/DeWitts during a groundbreaking party (because of the addition to the house). As neighbors show up, they send they send their kids over to play/have free childcare. Nice parenting. Jessi and Kristy actually complain (to each other) about not getting paid extra for the extra work.

• The newspaper prints all sorts of letters to the editor/editorials, and they are all completely ridiculous. There’s one talking about how kids should do things just because they’re told, and if they let Dawn and friends not participate in spirit month the future is doomed. The opposing side talks about how forcing kids to participate is taking away their civil liberties. Even Dawn thinks it’s over the top.

“Summer in California is California to the max”…….BSC # 77: Dawn and Whitney, Friends Forever”

Memory Reaction

Thinking about this book kind of makes me cringe, because it’s one of those books that portrayed an “issue,” and I don’t remember it doing so very well. The plot involves Dawn sitting for a girl with Down’s Syndrome. Now, I don’t think the book does anything OFFENSIVE in its portrayal of Down’s Syndrome. I just remember it seeming kind of awkward because they try so hard to make it politically correct and lectur-y, that it was almost offensive anyway.

This was also when I started realizing how screwed up time was in BSC land. I mean, I always knew they had multiple summer vacations in one year, but that I could accept. However, this book takes place during Dawn’s “six-month” stay in California. Only she left for that in the fall, and this one takes place in the summer. So, clearly it’s been more than six months. I can take some flexibility, but don’t give timelines if you’re going to blatantly break them. Just say “a few months.”

Revisited Reaction

Dawn gets a "sitting job" for Whitney Carter, who’s twelve, but has Down's Syndrome. Whitney's parents want to lie to her and say that Dawn’s just a "friend." To give her some credit, Dawn questions this, but ends up going along with the Carters. Which makes sense, since they are the ones paying her. Whitney thinks they really are friends and seems to like Dawn a lot. But, one day, Dawn slips and refers to herself as Whitney's baby-sitter. This causes all sorts of issues – Whitney’s not only mad at Dawn, she’s hurt that her parents thought she needed a sitter. She ends up trying to prove herself by taking Dawn’s sitting charges, Clover and Daffodil, to a carnival. So, this is yet another time that Dawn lost children she’s sitting for. Of course, they find Whitney with the girls and it’s all okay. And Dawn makes Whitney an honorary member of We Love Kids.

Now, this book takes place soon after Dawn acted like a selfish brat and broke her father and Carol (his then fiancé) up. So, Dawn's father is dating a bunch of women, and keeps making Dawn and Jeff go on "family" dates, to meet them. And they all pretty much suck. In fact, they suck so much I'm surprised Mr. Schafer even deemed them worthy of meeting his kids. Were they really THAT much different on the earlier dates? One was condescending to Dawn and Jeff, one was super uptight and treated a waitress like crap (which says a lot about a person), one was a bitch to Whitney, and one had a daughter Dawn goes to school with (and the two girls hate each other). So, at this point, her dad starts to limit the dating. Meanwhile, Jeff and Dawn start to think Carol may not have been so bad. So, when Dawn runs into Carol, she actually feels good about it, and tells her dad to call her. And he and Carol end up engaged.

Back in Stoneybrook, Mrs. Barrett announces her engagement to Franklin DeWitt, this guy with four kids of his own. Their kids, who had finally started getting along, start to fight, because the Barretts feel like the DeWitt kids will be taking over their house. However, Mrs. Barrett and Franklin decide to get a new house together, and they take the kids house hunting with them (with a BSC member, of course). The kids bond over picking out which house has the best tree house potential and end up happy about the new family. And this, along with Mr. Schafer and Carol’s engagement, set up a future Super Special.

High/Lowlights

• No, it’s not always sunny in California, Dawn.

• One night Dawn and Sunny are hanging out at Dawn’s, and are outside playing soccer with Jeff. They come inside when it gets dark, and then soon after Jeff goes to bed. At this point, Dawn says it’s still early enough to call Mary Anne in CT. Now…I would say early enough for a thirteen-year-old (in the summer) is before 10? Maybe 11, since it’s her mother’s house. So, are we supposed to think a ten-year-old went to bed at 7 or 8 o’clock? I don’t even think it would be dark by then.

• Dawn’s friend Maggie has purple raccoon streaks in her hair. I think I would have thought that was cool when I was thirteen.

• Here’s a pop-culture reference for you. When We Love Kids finds out about Whitney having Down's Syndrome, they ask, “like, Corky? On that TV Show."

• How is three-cheese macaroni considered health food?

• Whitney likes Keanu Reaves. Going by the copyright year, this book takes place around the same time Speed came out, so I guess it’s appropriate. But it makes me feel a little old.

• If your friend moved to California, would you waste time writing letters to her about your baby-sitting jobs?

• One of the women Mr. Schafer dates calls him "Richard." Which, is a bit awkward considering his name is Jack.

• When Claudia and Stacey are sitting for the Barretts and their soon to be step-siblings, they pack up all this food for dinner and walk to the park to have a picnic. That seems really, really, ambitious. Most of those kids are 6 and under, and they are packing so much stuff that they need a wagon to carry it all. Why not just eat in the backyard? Or go to the park after dinner?

• At the carnival, Jeff wants to ride the scrambler, and Dawn says it’s too wild for her. Now, this is coming from a girl who thought Space Mountain at Disney World was no big deal. Granted, in that book she did almost get sick, but that was described as an outlier – she’s been shown as a roller-coaster fan at several other points. So not going on a relatively tame ride seems a bit out of character.

• The date-of-the-evening DOES go on the scrambler, and promptly throws up. I really don’t buy that. The scrambler’s really not THAT wild a ride. And if someone is that sensitive to rides, they would know it by adulthood and try to avoid them.

• Franklin proposes to Mrs. Barrett at a “business” cocktail party. Who proposes at a work event? Or are we supposed to think it wasn’t really business, and the adults just said that to have a romantic evening?

• Mrs. Barrett doesn’t tell the BSC she’s engaged until a few days after the party. But shouldn't Mrs. Barrett have had the ring on when she got home that night? I guess maybe she wanted to tell the kids in her own way, but would Buddy and Suzi have known what a ring meant?

• Mary Anne volunteers the BSC to help with the wedding, because the girls get WAY too involved with their clients.

• Dawn’s really a pretty terrible sitter. The Carters tell her that Whitney is prone to ear infections, and she has to wear earplugs when swimming or going in water. But when Whitney’s getting ready to play in the sprinklers, Whitney’s the one to bring her earplugs, and Dawn has to ask her what they are.

• Shouldn't the Carters have given Dawn some leeway as a sitter if they didn't want Whitney to know she being sat for? I mean, how’s Dawn supposed to control what Whitney eats and still pretend to just be her friend?

• One of the dates is with the mother of a girl Dawn goes to school with. They don’t get along and according to Dawn have nothing in common. Then she calls the other girl and her friends part of the "brain trust" group. So is she saying she isn’t smart?

• Dawn describes her and her friends’ own motto as "study hard, work hard (and be great baby-sitters), play hard, and don't forget to surf.”

• Dawn finds it weird when the woman’s daughter calls her father “Jack,” as if it is too casual for her to not use “Mr. Schafer.” But, Dawn has been calling all these women by their first name, so it’s really a bit hypocritical.

• One of the family dates the Schafers go on is to an outdoor concert, where they bring a picnic dinner. They bring, like, three kinds of sandwiches plus side dishes and desserts…for four people. I know they have a housekeeper to help out, and Mr. Schafer’s probably going all out since it’s an early date, but it still seems over the top.

• One of the women Dawn’s father dates criticizes her bra. In front of her dad and Jeff. The first time they met. That’s a bit awkward. I remember being so embarrassed about that stuff in middle school.

• Of course, when Dawn loses the girls she’s sitting for she can’t reach the mother, because she’s at some crafts fair. All the times where they can't reach someone like that totally dates the story, because now, everyone would just pull out a cell phone. It’s like watching Seinfeld reruns…it’s amazing how many episodes wouldn’t have happened with cell phones).

“You’re ALL our favorite sitters”……BSC Mystery # 2: Beware, Dawn!

Memory Reaction

Well, I remember how this one ends, and that it connects to the book where Kristy sits for Susan, the girl with autism. I was still really into the mysteries at this point, so I definitely liked it. It’s a relatively realistic mystery, the kind that made me jealous of the BSC for having such exciting lives. (As opposed to when they caught bank robbers and counterfeiters, and made me roll my eyes in disbelief).

Now, I WAS old enough to notice the blatant continuity issues with this book. They introduce a “Sitter of the Month” contest, which is never mentioned again. I hated when stuff like that happened. In fact, I still hate it when I see stuff like that happen in books or on television shows. How hard would it have been to say it was a favorite sitter contest, without doing the “of the month part?” They must have known they were not going to continue it.

Revisited Reaction

The kids of Stoneybrook have decided to have a “sitter-of-the-month” contest. This isn’t really explained in detail, so I’m not sure how big a contest it’s supposed to be. But, it seems like a bunch of neighborhood kids have just decided to have it on their own, and it’s just for the members of the BSC. Which is really kind of lame. Not to mention unbelievable – these kids are different ages and don’t all live near each other. So, how do they just get together and run this contest? How do they all even know each other? Mrs. Newton is supposedly helping run the elections, but I still don’t buy it.

But, either way, there IS a contest. The girls all agree not to “campaign” or get competitive about it. But, they all do anyway, although not in a totally obnoxious way. Then, at a sitting job, Dawn gets an anonymous phone call and hears someone creeping around outside. She also gets a “threatening” letter signed “Mr. X,” which just says, “watch out, I’m coming to get you.” At first Dawn thinks it’s Alan Gray, and actually calls his house to see if he is home. However, his mother tells her that Alan’s at a basketball game in Stamford with his father, so Dawn figures he’s innocent. She isn’t totally sure what to think, but decided to keep it a secret from the BSC, so it doesn’t make her look like a bad sitter. Meanwhile, the other girls all have similar experiences, but don’t tell each other. Then Dawn lets the name “Mr. X” slip to Mary Anne. They still aren’t sure if they want to tell the rest of the BSC, but then Dawn slips again (she is the worst secret keeper) at a BSC meeting. It turns out everyone has had a similar experience, except Kristy.

Then when Dawn’s sitting for the Newtons, Jamie lets it slip that Mel Tucker, this neighborhood kid, is planning to come by and do a “secret check” as part of the baby-sitter contest. For those of you who don’t remember, Mel is the jackass who turned an autistic girl into a circus act. We see him again at the start of this book, and he’s making fun of James Horbart for being Australian.

Dawn figures out this probably means that he is probably Mr. X. So, she and the other girls come up with a plan to catch him in the act. She spreads a story that she’s sitting for a cousin at her house. The assumption is that when Mel hears, he’ll try to scare her with the secret passage. She and the rest of the BSC wait until he gets there, and then surround both entrances to the passage and catch him in the act. Then of course, they talk to him and find out why he did it. It turns out he was mad because Dawn told Mrs. Hobart that Mel was teasing James, and she told Mel’s mother. Kristy and Dawn bring Mel home, and they tell his parents what he did. Then the parents tell us how Mel is all sad and that’s why he bullies people. Oh, and the reason Kristy never had any experience with him is that all her jobs had been in her neighborhood – too far away for Mel.

Then, all the girls tie as best sitter in the contest. Which never happens again, so it is really badly named.

High/Lowlights

• Awe, Johnny Hobart reads Highlights magazine.

• Dawn’s sitting for the Hobarts and Jamie Newton’s playing with James and Mathew (the eight- and six-year-old), while Johnny (the four-year-old) is reading the magazine. But isn’t Jamie four too? Why is he old enough to play with the other boys, but not Johnny?

• Dawn says she sympathizes with Mallory, because she also wanted to be 13 when she was 11. She also says how she hated waiting to get her ears pierced. But, I don’t remember it like that. When Mal and Jessi got their ears pierced, Dawn just called her mom and got permission to do it as well. It didn’t seem like she had to wait or beg her mom for permission.

• Apparently Ben Hobart called Mallory a “bonzer Sheila.” Which, we’re told is a compliment in Australia. Are their any Australians reading this that can confirm if people actually say this?

• Kristy agrees to bring back presents for her little siblings when she goes to the mall. She says they’ll be little gifts (like a hair ribbon). She apparently does this all the time, which seems like a bad idea. Things like that are why Karen’s such a spoiled brat.

• I remembered this part as soon as I started reading it: When Dawn hears about the sitter-of-the-month contest, she’s sitting for Kristy’s siblings. She comes up with the idea of playing that stupid “Let’s All Come In” game of Karen’s, with David Michael playing all the “cool parts,” aka guests named Bruce Stringbean and Daryl Blueberry.

• Dawn makes a point of saying how fast Stacey counts the money when they all pay dues. But how impressive is that? Stacey presumable counted the money last week, and she knows if they spent any money. So, all she has to do as add seven. That’s not exactly challenging math.

• Jessi lets Becca watch a scary movie while she is sitting for her, because she wants to get her vote for “sitter of the month.” Then Becca has a nightmare, and Jessi actually gets in trouble for it. I kind of like that, these girls are always shown to be such perfect sitters who never do anything wrong.

• Mal apparently called one of her teachers “Mom.” In class.

• Dawn actually suspects Kristy is Mr. X, because she doesn’t get any letters from him. She figures that Kristy is doing it to win the sitter of the month contest. It’s nice that she has such a high opinion of her friends.

• Dawn even tells Kristy she suspected her….and Kristy doesn’t care. She figures everyone else suspected her too. Um, does she really think her friends have such a low opinion of her?

• Charlotte Johansson is reading Muggie Maggie. I remember reading that. This book is full of nostalgia.

• Claud tries “campaigning” for Charlotte’s vote. Like there is a chance Charlotte won’t vote for Stacey?

• It’s kind of mean to trick a kid like Mel by trapping him in the secret passage. I know he’s a jerk who was messing with them, but the girls are older and (theoretically) more responsible.

• Dawn tells us that all the kids in town know about the secret passage, and they think it’s cool. And judging by Mel’s entering it, they also know how to get into it. Why would Dawn’s family not find some way to lock it? Theoretically, one of these “kids” could break in and do actual damage to the house.

• Dawn starts a letter to Jeff like this: “Dearest Little Bro, What’s up? What’s fresh? Everything’s cool back here in Stoneybrook. What’s happening out there in sunny Cal?” Seriously? Who talks like that?

• The end with Mel is sort of lame. Mel’s all in tears and says he was mad at the BSC for telling Mrs. Horbart he was still making fun of James. Apparently his parents told him he’d have to see a shrink if he kept bullying other kids. But Kristy and Dawn explain to him how that’s not bad thing, and I guess it is supposed to be a little PSA or something.

• I don’t remember…did Mel get in trouble when he was taking money for Susan? Cause I don’t remember if Kristy ever told his parents in that one, and it seems like a worse crime than calling James a “Croc.”

• The kids all just show up in Claud’s hallway to announce the contest winners. There are like, over a dozen of them just hanging out the doorway to her room during a meeting. Are we supposed to think the Kishi’s just let all these little kids in and wander upstairs?

I wish we hadn’t fought so much while you were here….” BSC # 64: Dawn’s Family Feud

Memory Reaction

I have this really strong memory of making fun of this book. I like when that happens….it makes me seem like less of a dork than when I realize I loved something that was so ridiculous. The main point that bothered me is all the postcards Dawn supposedly writes while away for three days. I can only remember writing a few postcards as a kid, and all of them were when I was away for two weeks or more. I never bought that these girls would send so many.

I also remember thinking it was so weird that we had a Dawn book here, and then had another one three books later. They were usually pretty good about alternating.

Revisited Reaction

Jeff Schafer is coming to visit and Dawn is really excited to see him, as is her mom. Richard is a little nervous because he doesn’t really know Jeff and he doesn’t know how to bond with him. Mary Anne falls somewhere in the middle.

The first couple days, everyone is getting along and having a good time. The Schafer/Spiers are planning to go to Boston for a long weekend, and then end Jeff’s visit by having a family portrait taken. However, before they leave for their trip, things get a little tense. This is mainly because while Mary Anne and Dawn are in school, and Sharon is at work, Richard arranges to take off and spend time with Jeff. Unfortunately for Jeff, Richard’s idea of a good time is going to a museum. Jeff ends up pretending to be sick to avoid spending another day with him. This annoys Mary Anne, who defends her dad. However, Dawn thinks Mary Anne is criticizing Jeff, so she defends her brother. They end up barely speaking. By the time, they all leave for Boston the whole family is bickering over everything.

Once in Boston, Jeff turns into a spoiled brat. He complains about everything just for the sake of complaining. Dawn sides with him, because she wants him to be happy, and the family ends up splitting up for the first two days of the vacation. On the last day, Sharon and Richard remember that they are parents and can tell their kids that they have to spend the day together. But, Jeff remains a spoiled brat and Dawn and Mary Anne keep fighting.

Everyone is still tense when they get back in Stoneybrook and are posing for the photographer. What finally snaps them out of it is when they look at some Polaroids that the photographer took at the start of the shook. Everyone agrees they look horrible and laugh about it. They’re then able to shake off the fight and enjoy one last day together.

Meanwhile, the Barretts suddenly need lots of sitters. AND they’re having a crisis about mixed families too. It’s amazing how that happens, huh? The issue is that Mrs. Barrett has a new boyfriend, Franklin, who has four kids. The Barrett kids like Franklin, until they find out he’s got kids. When Mrs. Barrett and Franklin arrange an outing for all the kids to meet, everyone is tense and the trip ends up being a disaster. The BSC keeps getting hired to help watch the kids while Mrs. Barrett and Franklin try to make the kids like each other. Guess what finally makes the kids get along? A plan from the BSC, that’s what. Shannon and Claudia convince the kids they’ll have more fun playing together, which makes everyone like each other.

High/Lowlights

• Dawn says she “hates to say it, but her mother is a slob.” I really don’t think she hates to say it at all. I mean, she says it all the time. She clearly gets a kick out of it.

• Looking back, there’s a lot of foreshadowing about Dawn leaving for California. She says how there’s a hole in her since Jeff left, and she hates being apart from him and her dad, etc. She always does that a little, but it’s definitely more pronounced in this one.

• There is a scene where Richard talks about using “hospital corners” to make a bed that’s really familiar to me. But, I know I didn’t understand Dawn’s explanation of it as a kid, and I don’t now either. It doesn’t seem much different than the regular way to make a bed.

• It’s really annoying to keep writing, “Schafer/Spiers”, but that’s how Dawn keeps referring to them in the book, so I’m following suit.

• Since when is Dawn relaxed about cleaning like her mom? Wasn’t she supposed to be the super-organized one who kept things in order for her mom? Cause in this book, Dawn says she is more casual and Richard and Mary Anne are the neat ones.

• Did we know Mrs. Barrett’s first name is Natalie? I feel like that is a continuity error, but I can’t remember why.

• One of the reasons Jeff is in a bad mood is that his “Connecticut friends,” the Pike Triplets” like baseball better than soccer. And when they mention having plans with another friend, Jeff thinks they don’t like him any more. So, then the boys spend a week with no contact, then the triplets come over to say goodbye. I think it’s just a plot contrivance to have Jeff in a bad mood, but keep a happy ending.

• Claudia outfit: “Black overalls that she had splattered with pink and green and yellow globs of paint. Her purple tennis shoes matched her purple long-sleeve T-shirt…on top of her head perched a little white painter’s cap that she’d also splattered with paint. She looked awesome.”

• Speaking of Claudia’s outfits, has anyone seen this awesome quiz?

• Jeff says that he’ll probably have to watch a really dorky movie on the plane, like The Care Bears Meet the Smurfs. He’s just making up a title, but I think that would be a hysterical movie. In a, “it’s so bad it’s good” way. But I’m a dork, so I may not be the best person to judge.

• This was another familiar scene – Dawn thinks some other kid getting off the plane is Jeff, because he is wearing a green-and-white striped shirt. I think it’s just supposed to show that it has been awhile since she’s seen Jeff, but it comes off as really weird. Would she really not recognize her own brother

• The Schafers/Spiers do have a good time going to see a really bad movie called “The Mutant From Outer Space” because they spend the whole time laughing at it. When they sarcastically say there should be a sequel, an usher at the theater says there is one. But how often is there a sequel already made when the first one is still in the theaters?

• Jeff’s really a total brat in this one, and I don’t know why Dawn keeps siding with him.

• Ha, when they are away, Richard spends the whole time reading from a guidebook. I guess that’s where Mary Anne gets it.

• Mary Anne asks if the Boston Tea Party was an actual party. Now, seriously? I can see Jeff asking that. But not Mary Anne. If someone did not do any American history in elementary school, or in 6th and 7th grades, they WOULD do it in 8th. And the Boston Tea Party is one of the first things they would learn. So someone who’s been through 8th grade twelve times would know about it.

• Because Jeff is a brat and refuses to do anything Richard suggests, Richard and Mary Anne end up doing one thing, while the Schafers do something else. I am not sure why Richard and Sharon put up with it, especially considering they want to be doing these things together.

• At the hotel, the family has two adjoining rooms book…supposedly one for the kids and one for the adults. But Mary Anne insists on staying with Sharon and Richard. Bet they loved that. They’re still newlyweds, right?

• So, say you are Mrs. Barrett, and you and your new boyfriend want your kids to meet. Considering that your kids are a bit…active, shall we say? Would you arrange for the kids to come over and hang out for a casual day/dinner? Or would you plan an elaborate outing that involves taking seven children to the zoo, the park, a picnic lunch, and a play?

• Since Dawn is mad at Mary Anne, she tries to dress down for the portrait. She wears, “A jean skirt, red cotton T-shirt, and blue chamois shirt knotted at the waist.” What is with these girls always mentioning fabrics? Do we really need to know the T-shirt was cotton to picture the outfit? And, how many thirteen-year-olds know fabrics?

• For the photo, Mary Anne tries to wear an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, and Jeff wears a stained T-shirt and jeans. However, Sharon makes them all change into nice outfits.

• The Barrett kids and Franklin’s kids are all surprisingly cool with their parents dating. They only get upset when they find out there are other kids involved. And they later say that was only because their parents were tense. They even start talking about how they think their parents should relax and have fun. Now, I’m not saying everyone reacts badly to their parents divorcing/dating again. However, the Barretts were upset about their parents in earlier books, so it seems weird to not have them even slightly upset.

• On the way to the airport, the Schafer/Spiers sing a bunch of California related songs, including the theme song to The O.C.

• Do people really do sing-a-longs on car rides with their families?

• When the Schafers/Spiers are sent proofs of their photo to go through (to decide what is getting blown up), they get to see all the pictures of themselves pissed off. But, the photographer took those with a Polaroid. And everyone made up before he started taking the real pictures. So…why are thre proofs of them?

• Dawn thinks they should blow up the picture of them looking annoyed so that they remember to never fight again. And that is what they do. Except they decide to get two blown up and hang them next to each other. And they put them over the mantle in the living room. I can see keeping the angry picture to be funny, but to hang a full sized version of yourselves looking bad in the living room where anyone can see it? I don’t see it happening.