“We thought you went hoody on us”….. BSC Readers Request: Logan Bruno, Boy Baby-sitter

Memory Reaction

This was the second Logan edition. I remember most of the plot, but my most specific memory’s that at the end, Logan and Mary Anne are supposed to be going to some concert. At dinner beforehand, Logan confesses that the concert tickets were given to him by some “bad” guys at school who probably stole them. And when Mary Anne calls the person they were stolen from the girl comes to get them right away and is super-excited about it. I know they also reference it in Stacey and the Bad Girls, which has pretty much the same plot.

However, the important thing is that I also remember that it’s hilariously ridiculous, which is always fun.

Revisited Reaction

Logan’s friends are still giving him a hard time for being in the BSC, and because he tripped at a recent track meet (making the team lose). Frustration with being made fun of makes Logan easily fall under the spell of some other kids at school, a group of guys calling themselves the “Badd Boyz.” They’re the “junior version of some high school gang,” with a reputation for smoking, wearing leather jackets, and potentially being criminals. Their leader, T-Jam, notices that Logan knew what he was talking about in English class, and sweet talks Logan into giving him his paper. He also seems to have noticed that Logan was friendly with the owner of a local CD store.

Anyway, T-Jam and the rest of the Badd Boyz defend Logan to his jock friends, and Logan starts to hang out with them. He meets them at the shopping center where the CD store’s located. Logan’s going there because he wants to buy Mary Anne a Nicky Cash CD – Nicky Cash being the latest teen idol/pop-star in BSC-land. T-Jam uses Logan to strike up a conversation with the owner of the store (a friend of Logan’s father) about when the next shipment of Nicky Cash CDs come in. Apparently, they keep selling out immediately.

Anyway, Logan’s enjoying hanging out with the Badd Boyz, particularly because they defended him against his jock friends and don’t laugh at him for being in the BSC. He also gets a bit of a rush from it. He doesn’t believe that they’re actually criminals and kind of tunes out the fact that there have been a lot of thefts at school. After a while, Logan realizes he’s wrong. T-Jam and his pals have actually been stealing from kids’ lockers.

More importantly, Logan finds out that the Badd Boyz stole a shipment of Nicky Cash CDs from the store and are planning to do it again. He’s upset about it, and T-Jam tries to bribe him by giving him his own Badd Boyz leather jacket, threatening him, and then bribing him again with tickets to the sold-out Nicky Cash concert. He knows they’re probably stolen, but is tempted to use them anyway to make Mary Anne happy. Before he can decide, Mary Anne sees the tickets and gets all excited, and Logan tries to convince himself they weren’t stolen.

They go out to dinner before the concert, and Mary Anne mentions the name of a classmate who’s tickets were stolen. At that point, Logan can’t handle it anymore and tells Mary Anne the whole story. She calls the girl who’s tickets they were and gives them back. Then Logan tells his parents, and then the cops, about the Badd Boyz plans to rob the CD place again. The police watch the store and arrest the guys involved in the theft. Logan goes back to hanging out with his regular friends, and buys some legit tickets to another upcoming Nicky Cash concert for Mary Anne.

Even though Logan doesn’t baby-sit in this one, there’s still a sitting subplot. There’s a new bully named EJ who’s tormenting all the kids in town. They’re all embarrassed to talk about it, but eventually decide they want to unite and stand up to EJ. They do, only to have EJ break down in tears….so then Kerry (Logan’s sister) invites EJ to her house. The “twist” is that EJ’s a girl. Isn’t that the most original plot twist ever? Who would have thought there could be a female bully?

High/Lowlights

• I can absolutely picture 13-year-old boys making fun of a guy who baby-sits. But making fun of a guy for kissing his girlfriend? Logan’s friends are a bit immature.

• So, of course, Mary Anne’s worried about Logan being “bad.” And Kristy’s worried that it will be bad for the kids or hurt the reputation of the BSC. She’s so sensitive isn’t she?

• One of Mary Anne’s complaints to Logan about hanging out with the Badd Boyz is that they smoke, and that could end up hurting Logan’s allergy-ridden brother. It seems so ridiculous that that’s what she would pick as a criticism.

• Logan describes Charlotte as being friendly and outgoing because Stacey came into her life. Now, I never really thought of Charlotte as being outgoing. Stacey helped her make friends and come out of her shell, but I didn’t think every became “outgoing.”

• Just like in Stacey and the Cheerleaders, one of the signs of how these kids are “bad” is that they go outside at lunch. Aren’t they rebels?

• I think my favorite part of this book’s that the BSC doesn’t suggest to the kids to unite and stand up to EJ. The kids just decide to do it on their own, and resolve their issue without any help from a baby-sitter.

• In this book people keep using the term “squank” when they’re making a joke/making fun of someone. I remember seeing “rank” used in other books, but I don’t think I’ve heard “squank” in another book, or in real life. Urban Dictionary does not have any definitions that seem to fit with this use.

• The names of these Badd Boyz are really hysterical. We have T-Jam, Skin, Ice Box, Butcher Boy, Jackhammer, and G-Man.

• When describing Stacey’s diabetes, Logan tells us that we shouldn’t feel bad for her because she can still “wolf down” pretzels and chips. But really, that’s not true. Someone with diabetes needs to be careful how much she eats, even if it has no sugar. They do a really bad job of portraying diabetes in these books.

• If Claudia was trying to write about the “Badd Boyz,” do you think she would spell it “Bad Boys” or “Badd Boyz”? Which is the incorrect spelling?

• Logan overhears the Badd Boyz talking about how they were really only hanging out with him because of his access to the CD store, because it wasn’t obvious enough with the plot itself. They also refer to him as “Ken Doll.”

• Mary Anne’s concert outfit: “She was wearing this incredibly sexy outfit with sequins on it…not a dress but a shirt and pants that are attached, whatever that’s called.” Logan, I believe the term you’re looking for is fashion crime.

• It’s slightly annoying that even though they have no problem painting Logan with flaws in the regular books, in his two books he basically worships Mary Anne, and only tells us how wonderful she is.

• The Badd Boyz have to go to juvenile court after they get caught stealing and they also get suspended from school. But can a school suspend someone for something that happened off school grounds? I was a total goody-goody as a kid, so I really have no idea.

• The threatening note Logan gets is so hilarious, I had to scan it.

Even if they make fun of you and call you a girl….BSC Readers Request: Logan's Story

My hotel gives me 15 minutes of free internet access, and I am using some of it to post this....I officially have no life.

Readers’ Request: Logan’s Story

Memory Reaction

I think I was really excited to see this book. I got such a kick out of Logan describing the BSC from his perspective - almost using the standardized language, but not quite. I am sure it screwed up my expectations for a boyfriend at that age, because all he talks about is how wonderful Mary Anne is. He keeps saying how glad he is to see Mary Anne, and how she makes him feel good, and how he only really baby-sits to make her happy.

The second Logan book, has much more in terms of snark value, but this is the only one I have been able to track down. I am pretty sure it has a lot of sports scenes and Logan getting picked on scenes.

Revisted Reaction

This book is kind of stand alone, in that it doesn’t fit within the numbered scheme the rest of the books have. Not really connected to that, the plot of this book makes NO SENSE. Seriously, it is the most contrived thing I have ever read. Dawn’s brother, Jeff, gets his appendix out, so she and her mom go to California to be with him. But they are gone for 2-3 weeks and the BSC needs Logan to step in as a full time member. So he does, but he has to start missing football practice and training sessions for the track team. Then his friends on the football team see him sitting for the Hobarts and make fun of him for being a “girl,” and he quits the club altogether. But then at the end he rejoins as an associate member. Oh, and he makes the track team, while his chief insulter doesn’t. Go Logan! And of course, that guy is out of the picture, the other guys decide to be normal teenagers and tell Logan having a bunch of teenage girls hang around you is cool. So, happy ending.

My problem with this is, WHY would Dawn need to go to California for that long? Okay, she wants to see Jeff when he is in the hospital, but to be out of school for that long because her brother has appendicitis? Sharon and Richard were married then, so it is not like she would not have had anywhere to go if her mom had left. BUT even forgetting that, why would Logan have to upgrade his membership in the club? BSCers have gone on vacation before, right? Normally they go together and don’t even worry about the sitting jobs they are missing. Couldn’t Logan just have taken on some extra jobs without actually going to meetings?

There is also a sub-plot about a health fair where the BSC wants to set up a booth. It is about as boring as you would expect. Even the kids don’t want to go, which is a little amusing. But the BSC forces them too, and they have fun. So it is like every project the BSC ever does.

High/Lowlights

• Logan totally doesn’t want to take Dawn’s place temporarily, but is afraid to tell the girls.

• Logan calls Mary Anne his OTHER interest after sports. But don’t tell her he said that! Seriously, the book actually says not to tell Mary Anne.

• Logan’s dad is uncomfortable with Logan being in the BSC. Logan thinks he justifies it by telling himself Logan does it because he is “hot for Mary Anne.” Which, is kind of true.

• Logan on Claudia: “Her skin is perfect, and she has these gorgeous almond-shaped eyes…She also has a really hip, sexy way of dressing.” But don’t worry. He assures us he is just describing and he and MA are totally in love.

• Logan’s little brother has a toy dinosaur named “Tricera Tops.”

• Thank God for Logan’s description of Jessi. When I read the books narrated by girls, I could never quite figure out what they were trying to say about Jessi’s race. They always use that flowery language and beat around the bush. But being the male he is, Logan was straight to the point and says that she is black. I seriously had no idea. Seriously, thank you Logan.

• The Pike kids actually draw straws to see who has to use an upstairs bathroom. But they only make one person go upstairs and the other six use the downstairs one. That…makes no sense. And certainly doesn’t save any time.

• I think the ghostwriter was going for irony here – Claudia ponders health ideas while eating a Twinkie. That or I am just looking way to closely for hidden meaning.

• Claudia’s parents are supposed to be strict, right? So, why do they let Logan hang out in Claud’s bedroom all the time?

• Stacey gives a little PSA about how important it is to donate blood. I think you are preaching to the wrong audience ghostwriter – kids can’t give blood.

• So Logan loses one of the Hobarts at the health fair and the chief insulter, King, finds him. You would think this would lead to some truce between Logan and King, but it…really doesn’t. King just makes fun of him more.

• This King guy (that is his last name, BTW) is a real jerk. Not for making fun of Logan, but because he makes fun of four-year-old Johnny Hobart. To his face. Who does that?

• Jeff Schafer sounds really obnoxious. He (supposedly) asks his doctor how long until he will play tennis, and when hearing two weeks, says the oldest joke in the world, or “fantastic. Who’s going to teach me.” And the BSC all laughs.

• One of Logan’s friends gets the hots for Claudia, so he gives him her number. But then she hangs up on him since she thinks it is a joke.

• Okay, Logan likes hanging out with girls because “you can talk about what you are feeling without being made to feel dorky.” He also likes hanging out with guys for many reasons including the fact that he can wrestle with them. Mary Anne sure lucked out with that “sensitive” boyfriend she found, huh?

• It is really mean that the BSC makes Logan miss all these football practices to babysit, but none of them consider skipping art class, ballet lessons, etc. for the same reason. Of course, Logan doesn’t really speak up about it either.

• I can’t figure out why Logan’s teammates on the football team go to this health fair the BSC are at. It doesn’t seem like the type of thing a teenage boy would do. Except, it is necessary to move the plot forward.

• Thirteen-year-old boys really are dumb. Just an observation.