“Where does she get her talent”………BSC # 115: Jessi’s Big Break

Memory Reaction 

I didn’t read this one before.

Revisited Reaction

Jessi gets accepted into a special dance program at Dance New York, which is some famous (fictional?) ballet company and school.  There’s a youth program where kids spend a few weeks at the school with guidance from famous instructors.  Since the school doesn’t have dorms, Jessi ends up staying with her cousin Michael (Aunt Cecilia’s son) and his wife in Brooklyn.  On the first day, she runs into Quint, who she’d apparently lost touch with after they decided to just be friends.  He’s over his embarrassment about being a male dancer, and is excited to be in the program.  He introduces Jessi to his friend Maritza, and they become fast friends.

Jessi loves the program and being in New York.  At first she thinks she’s doing horribly, because she gets a lot of corrections from the instructor.  But, of course, everyone does and she just didn’t realize it.  After a few days, the instructor tells her she’s totally the most awesome dancer ever, even though she’s one of the youngest in the program (it’s ages 11-13).  This makes sense since Jessi’s in the BSC, which means she has to be the best at whatever her hobby is, and win every contest/audition she enters. Outside of dancing, she hangs out a lot with Maritza and her friends (non-ballet ones) and has a lot of fun.  She ends up staying in NY on all her weekends because she’s got so much going on.

One minor complication is Quint.  At first Jessi thinks he and Maritza are a couple, but Maritza tells her they’re not, and that Quint still likes her.  Then Jessi’s worried that Quint wants them to be a couple again, but she’s still not ready for a boyfriend, even if it’s no longer long-distance.  She obsesses about how to tell him, but finally does and he’s cool with being friends and waiting for her. 

After three weeks, most of the other students have been asked to stay for another 3 weeks, but not Jessi.  She’s obviously disappointed about this.  Then after their final performance for their families, the main teacher tells Jessi’s parents that he wants her to audition for the school’s full-time dance program.  And by audition, he means she’s basically already in, but has to perform for other teachers to make it official.  She does and gets the invitation.  But, she decides she’s still young, and that she’s not really ready to leave home and lose her current friends.  But she’s told the invitation will still be there down the line.  Because that’s realistic.

The subplot’s about Becca and how she’s upset that Jessi left for so long.  So, she acts like a total brat when Mallory sits for her.  The day Jessi’s originally supposed to come home, Becca stays at the Pike’s while the Ramsey’s go to New York for the performance.  They decide to plan a welcome home party for Jessi.  Only Jessi doesn’t come home that night, because she’s staying an extra day for the audition, and the party is a bit of a bust. Aunt Cecelia had called the Pike’s to say they were arriving back in Stoneybrook late and without Jessi, but unfortunately she talked to Claire.  Who didn’t repeat this to anyone because she didn’t think it was news… everyone knew they were arriving in the evening, and that’s late.  This is why Aunt Cecelia should have asked to talk to someone over the age of 5.

High/Lowlights

• Usually, Jessi’s ballet plots make me think of when I took ballet as a kid.  But this one reminded me of Center Stage. 

• When they first get to Michael’s apartment in the city, they have to park 3 blocks away.  Which, is typical.  But this means they have to walk all the way back with 2 suitcases. Why not double park for 30 seconds or something, then have someone get out and wait with suitcases while Mr. Ramsey parks?

• Claudia outfit: “She was wearing a leopard-skin jumpsuit with a black silk shirt tied at the waist with leather stripes; black, steel tipped combat boots; and rhinestone-studded cat’s eye-glasses perched on her head.”  Somehow on Claudia this looks, “right.”  Of course it did.

• Fun fact: Aunt Cecelia’s last name is Parker.

• Jessi invites Mallory to visit one weekend.  Except, she then invites all their new friends along.  Which, seems kind of annoying.  But, she and Mal do get some alone time to catch up later on.

• Jessi’s a little obnoxious when Mal visits as well.  When Michael orders food in, Mallory seems surprised at the selection that they have.  Jessi’s all “In New York, everyone delivers not just pizza places.”  Then when Mallory realizes she forgot her toothbrush (late at night), Jessi says how Michael will go to the store, because some “places are open 24 hours in NYC.”

• Becca’s miserable for 3 weeks while Jessi’s away.  So, why do her parents leave her at home when they go to the final performance?  I don’t think it would have been a big deal to take her out of school a little earlier if that was the issue.

• If you’re wondering how Jessi can skip school for 3 weeks, the program includes time with tutors to keep the kids up to date with school stuff.

• I’m trying to figure out how the BSC had time to plan their welcome home party.  They get the idea late in the afternoon, and talk about it at the club meeting.  After the meeting ends, they have time to go to the store, make a banner, make 2 batches of cookies, and get pizza delivered, and have it all done by 7:00.  That seems like it would take more than an hour, but I guess if they had enough people helping it’s possible.

• Other than the BSC and the Pikes (since it’s at their house) the girls invite Charlotte, Haley, and Natalie Springer to the party.  I get the first two cause they’re friends with Vanessa and Becca.  But Natalie?  Isn’t she from the Little Sister books?  How did she get into the mix?

• At a meeting, someone asks Jessi if she’s come home to visit on weekends, and Claudia’s all, “No, why would she? She’ll be going to clubs, parties, etc.”  And Jessi’s just thinking, WTF?  Although not in those words, cause this is the BSC.

• Jessi mentions how she likes Maritza’s friends, because it’s the first time in a while that she’s been in a room with all African American friends.  And that it’s “refreshing.”

• So, Cecelia and Michael don’t really get along.  The reason’s a bit surprising.  He used to be into art, but ended up getting a job in some financial-related field.  And Cecelia’s upset that he didn’t follow his dream.  Which is kind of sweet, because I would expect Cecilia to be all about having a backup career in mind to be practical.  But not sweet because she lets that ruin their relationship.

• Jessi somehow inspired Michael to start painting again, so maybe the riff will be cleared up.

• Cecelia’s also really supportive of Jessi’s dancing in this book (even though, she thinks Jessi’s too young to be going to NYC alone).

• Michael says that if Jessi did join the full time program, she could stay with him and his wife (who are in their late 20s).  Which is really, really nice of him.  Especially since he barely knew Jessi before and doesn’t seem to get along well with his mother.

• When Mallory arrives, Jessi realized she hadn’t even mentioned the BSC to any of her new dancer friends.  That’s a sign of her priorities.

• Maritza tells Jessi that she was “chewing the scenery” with her friends (she means this in a nice way though), and that she’s a born leader because she got the other kids to make a video of themselves performing various skits/jokes/whatever.   It reminds me of the Jessi we saw in that practical joke book. 

• This is the last Jessi book, even though there are a good 15 books written after it in the series.

• It kinds of sucks for Jessi, because after she chooses to stay in Stoneybrook because of her family and friends, her best friend leaves for boarding school. 

“I guess we all have our own ways of dealing with emergencies”….BSC # 109: Mary Anne to the Rescue

Memory Reaction

I didn’t read this as a kid, but I did read it a few years ago…after I was inspired to re-read the series, but before I starting blogging about it.  That doesn’t totally count as a memory, but I miss writing this section, so I’m counting it.  I just remember thinking it was really obvious Mary Anne was going to save someone at the end.  Even more obvious than what’s typical with these books.

Revisited Reaction

This book starts with the BSC, Sharon, and Richard at the airport, waiting for Dawn and Jeff to fly in from California for the summer.  The plan’s delayed, so they go to the cafeteria to kill some time.  Some guy there starts choking and Sharon runs over, gives him the Heimlich, and saves his life.  Mary Anne feels bad because when the guy starting choking she was frozen and thinks she’d be useless in a crisis.   This is when you know that there will be a crisis by the end of the book, where Mary Anne saves the day.  If you didn’t already know that based on the title.   The incident leads to the whole club taking a first aid course for teens.  But, Mary Anne still thinks she’d fall apart in an emergency.

After a few sessions, Mary Anne and Dawn are sitting for the Hsus and the Kormans, at the Kormans’ pool.  Linnie and Hannie Papadakis show up at one point too.  Their (adult) next-store neighbor is around as well, because the Kormans only let the kids swim when an adult’s around.  But the neighbor, Mr. Sinclair, goes inside to get a drink, which gives Timmy Hsu time to wander into the deep end of the pool, despite not being able to swim.  Mary Anne gets to be all awesome…she jumps into the pool fully dressed, pulls Timmy out, and gives him CPR.  The other kids do help her pull Timmy out of the pool, after she has dragged him up from the bottom of the pool, but it’s still a cool moment for her. By this point, Dawn has called 911 and the neighbor has come back outside.  But, they say Mary Anne saved her life and everyone congratulates her.  And she gets over her fear.  At least somewhat.

Meanwhile, Logan tells Mary Anne that his father’s sending him to boarding school in New Hampshire.  Mr. Bruno went there as a kid and claims it “changed his life.”  He’s also sending Logan to a month-long survival camp for a month at the end of summer.  He doesn’t want to go, but says there’s nothing he can do about it.  Mary Anne’s upset (obviously) and keeps telling Logan to talk to his parents.  Logan says his dad won’t listen and his mother will just go along with whatever his dad says.  They keep arguing and Mary Anne keeps crying about it.  Eventually, after getting courage from her rescue, she convinces him to talk to his parents.  Logan tells them how he doesn’t want to go and that his life is already great in Stoneybrook.   He manages to convince his mother, who convinces his dad to let him stay.

High/Lowlights

• Claudia outfit: “She was wearing an old-fashioned felt hat, a billowy button-down white shirt, a super-wide tie hand-painted with a sunset, cuffed khaki shorts, and brown-and-white bucks with knee-high white socks.”

• I’m not a big fan of the implication that Mr. Bruno can decide to send Logan to boarding school, and his mother just has to go along with what he wants.  Granted, she ends up changing Mr. Bruno’s mind at the end, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

• When Logan’s dad says he already put a deposit down on the boarding school, his mom says, “we’ll I’ll pay for that with MY earnings.”  It comes off as a bit sexist too me, even if I don’t have an issue with married couples having separate bank accounts.

• The first-aid instructor’s named Shelley Golden.  So after her introduction, we get to hear the male students introduce themselves....Alan Gray, Pete Black…then Irv something who calls himself Little Boy Blue.  The BSC finds this really obnoxious, but I thought it was slightly amusing.  I guess I’m immature.

• Fun fact: Logan’s dad is named Lyman.

• During this book, the BSC goes to Stoneybrook’s Firefighters Fair, yet another annual event we haven’t heard of before.  I’m not 100% sure what the point of it is…normally I’d think something like that would be a fundraiser, but it seems to just be a carnival type event with a demonstration of putting a fire out.

• In addition to the Firefighters Fair, Stoneybrook has its first ever Safety Day in this book.  The kids taking the first aid class gets to be involved as victims in the staged first aid demonstration.  Dawn volunteers Mary Anne to play victim, after she said she didn’t want to do it multiple times.  Than later, when Mary Anne says she didn’t have a good time, Dawn’s all, “If you didn’t want to do it, why’d you volunteer?”  Then later Mary Anne apologizes for snapping at Dawn. 

• Okay, so Dawn says she’s sorry too, so it’s not quite as bad as it could be.  But Mary Anne apologizing unnecessarily is a definite trend with Mary Anne and Dawn fights.

• When Mary Anne voices her concern to Dawn about not being good in a crisis, Dawn reminds her how she “saved the day” with Jenny Prezzioso way back when.  I like that staying cool in a crisis seems to be something they’ve kept consistent for Mary Anne, even if it’s not how most people describe her.

• After the safety demo, Mary Anne’s takes a shower to wash all the fake blood off, then finds Dawn waiting in her room to see why she’s upset.  Mary Anne asks for privacy so she can change, and Dawn’s all, “I’m your sister.”  That seems a bit too comfortable for them.

• Jamie Newton cried at the Safety Festival because he saw Mary Anne lying in a pool of blood (as part of the demo) and thought she died.  And I guess afterwards they didn’t let him see that Mary Anne was okay?  Then Claudia sits for him the next day, and Mrs. Newton says that she’ll trust Claudia’s judgment about whether he should go to the Firefighters Fair as well?  I think it was pretty obvious he shouldn't have gone….Claudia had to take him home early because he couldn't stop crying.

• Do they always have to point out in the narrative text that Claudia can’t spell?  I think we all know that by now, just have her notebook pages have errors and don’t comment on it.

• On a baby-sitting job, Abby ends up having a bike-safety session.  When the kids tell her using hand signals is dorky, she asks them if wearing a helmet’s dorky.  When they say no, she tells them how people used to not want to wear helmets because they were worried about it.  This is when I feel old, because when I was a kid people hated when they suddenly starting making people wear helmets.

• At the Firefighters Fair, some woman criticizes Claud for having the Newton kids there.  Which, was a valid point, even if she was rude about it. And even if it was more Mrs. Newton’s fault that Claud’s.  But anyway, wouldn't a “fair” logically imply that it is a kid-friendly event?  So, why have a demo that isn’t something kids should see?

• Mary Anne says that Wuthering Heights is her favorite book.  I could have sworn it was Little Women in earlier books.

• Dawn criticizes Mr. Sinclair for drinking soda, and when he switches to lemonade, she tells Mary Anne that’s probably still a mix and has too much sugar.  At least he’s trying, Dawn.  Relax a little.

• When Logan tells his parents he and Mary Anne have to talk to him, Mr. Bruno goes “you’re not getting married, are you?”  I would think his first guess would be a pregnancy, but they probably didn’t want to even suggest sex existed in these books. 

“You don’t know how many ways I’ve been thinking about this”……BSC # 113: Claudia Makes Up Her Mind

Memory Reaction

Didn’t get to this one before.

Revisited Reaction

Claudia’s guidance counselor calls her into her office and tells her the school thinks she should be moved back to 8th grade. This is based on the fact that she’s doing well in 7th, and they think her cognitive skills are stronger that the other students in her (current) grade.  Apparently, all her teachers think this makes sense, even though she’ll have to have extra tutoring to catch up with what she missed in the 8th grade courses while being back in 7th.  This is where logic starts to go crazy, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Anyway, they decide to let Claudia make the decision herself, because otherwise the story would end in chapter 3.  Claud talks to all her friends about what they think and keeps debating with herself.  Obviously her friends from 7th grade want her to stay with them, while the BSC wants her to come back to 8th.

At the same time, the school is having a “Color War” where the three grades compete in random events like 3-legged races, a drawing contest, a limerick writing contest, and a math contest.  The winning grade gets to pick a charity that the Stoneybrook Chamber of Commerce will donate money to.  Claudia signs herself and her boyfriend, Mark, up to be 7th grade coordinators, which means they get to help pick out events and decorate.  He doesn’t really want to, but goes along with it for Claudia, which is consistent with how they first met.

Mark, by the way, says he doesn’t care which grade Claudia goes with since either way they’d be in the same school.  There are ways one could say this and seem really nice and supportive, but he doesn’t accomplish that.  This is only one sign Claud sees that Mark can be a bit of a jerk.  He also keeps canceling plans with her and forgetting when he was supposed to meet her.  Meanwhile, her friend Josh is totally in love with her and she’s too much of an idiot to see it.  But, one of their other friends finally clues her in.   Claudia didn’t think she had feelings for him, but after she hears about his, she questions herself.  She and Mark end up breaking up, but are pretty amicable and mature about it.   It’s not totally about Josh, it’s just that it’s not working for them anymore.

At the end, Claudia chooses to go back to 8th grade, but vows she will stay friends with her new 7th grade friends.  I still haven’t learned their names.  It still doesn’t matter.  She also kisses Josh.  And before she switches back she helps lead the 7th grade to victory in the stupid color war.

Subplot:  So, when the kids in town hear about the SMS color war, they decide they want to have one of their own, where different families compete on teams.  The BSC agrees to help organize one.  But, before they make any real plans, the kids just announce that they’ve already decide when to start it.  When the girls arrive at sitting jobs, their charges go, “time to go to the park to start the war.”  It’s kind of funny seeing the sitters thrown off like that.  But the war goes on for a couple weeks, so they get a better of a handle on things.

High/Lowlights

• Here’s the problem with this whole premise.  Claudia started 8th grade and was doing poorly because she didn’t have a good enough grasp on the base knowledge/skills she needed to learn the content.  She went back to 7th grade, and since it was her second time around, was actually able to pick up the concepts she had struggled with before.  But moving her back to 8th grade in November means that she only gained SOME of those base skills.  On top of that, she’s now missed a couple months of 8th grade, so won’t she now struggle even more than when it was the beginning of the school year?  The guidance counselor says there will be tutoring, but if that’s all it takes, why didn’t they just do that before? 

• This book takes place in November.  When she was originally moved back it was Octoberish.  So, in some ways she wasn’t back for long.  But there was a Christmas and also a summer vacation between this one and when she was first sent back.  I would complain about this more, but there’s no point, since the premise wouldn’t make sense even IF the timeline was logical.

• Claudia tells us that teachers call her “right-brained overdeveloped.”  That’s an…interesting term for it.

• Claudia outfit: “I was wearing a dark plaid skirt…purple leggings; high, lace-up boots; a long-sleeved, white linen shirt with a solid black tie; and an oversized man’s vest.”

• The kids actually team up with other families to create even teams: One team combines the Kuhn kids and the Papadakis kids, and this seems to be at their choosing.  Which seems a bit weird, because how do they even know each other?  I guess from the Krushers?  But they go to different schools, live in different neighborhoods, and it’s November, so not softball season.  It just seems off.

• I actually think it’s a little insensitive of the BSC to encourage Claudia to come back to 8th grade.  I can certainly see why they’d want her to, but when Claud worries that she might have a hard time, the other girls are like, “we’ll help you, you’ll do fine.”  But the truth is that Claudia might really need to be back in 7th grade and the BSC won’t provide the help she needs.  They don’t really consider that just because they can do something doesn’t mean Claud can.

• There’s a reference to Kristy not liking Mark, which I like because it’s a reference to a previous book.  I know I’ve mentioned things like this before, but I always like it.

• The reason Claudia’s inspired to sign up as the 7th Grade Color War Coordinator’s because she hears that the class had picked orange as their color, and thinks it will look horrible on everyone.  I hate that color as well, but I don’t wear clothes as crazy as Claudia’s.  I’m sure she’s worn orange before.

• The colors were selected by vote, so it does seem weird that the majority of them would pick orange.  It’s not your typical favorite color.  The other grades picked blue and white, which are a bit more normal.

• Claudia had voted for black as the 7th grade’s color. If you care (cause I kinda did).

• When Stacey hears about Claud’s dilemma, she has to point out that a one-year difference will continue throughout school….that they’d be starting high school, graduating, going to college, etc. at different times.  Maybe not realizing this is a sign that Claud should be staying in 7th grade?

• I love that over 100 books into this series we are still hearing about school traditions/events that have never been mentioned before.  

• Claudia’s aunt and uncle drop by for a visit, and we find out the Kishis set up a crib, rocking chair, and other baby stuff.  Would people really do that?  Keep a crib just for visiting relatives?

• The slogans each grade came up with for their team are: “Fight for White,” “Blue Rules, and “Orange You Glad You’re in 7th Grade.”  I only mention these, because Josh is the one who came up with the seventh grade one, and it makes me like him a bit more.  Not that it’s a great slogan, but because it’s at least SOMETHING cute to do with a word that rhymes with almost nothing.

• As prizes for the little kids color war, Abby’s mother donates children’s books from the publishing company she works for.   The day of the last event, she drives home and goes straight to the park to give them out as prizes.  When she does, she points out (good naturedly) how much of a pain it was to drive back from the city.  But why did she have to do this?  Couldn't she have just brought them home with her on a previous day, so it wouldn't be any extra trouble?  

• And doesn't she usually take the train?  She did in that book where Abby and Anna thought she was in that train accident or something.  Maybe they’re claiming that she drove that day to get the books since there were too many to carry on the train?  But why not split them up? 

• The BSC claims that all the kids’ teams tied in their Color War. I can see wanting everyone to get a prize, but to have it be a tie overall?  Would the kids even buy that?

• Claudia said she used to think “stoic” meant old, because she heard people refer to Mimi that way.  That made me laugh, did Claud really think that people were always talking about how old Mimi was? 

“We shouldn’t let things like this get in the way of our club – or our friendships – ever again”…….BSC # 120: Mary Anne and the Playground Fight

Memory Reaction

This was way after I stopped reading…

Revisited Reaction

We’re told on the cover that the “fight” is between the BSC members, not the kids, which I thought sounded good.  But the fight’s nowhere close to how bitchy other fight books have been. And I find it interesting that the biggest fights I can think of are all Mary Anne books.

Anyway, it’s the end of the school year and two announcements are made.  The first is that there’s going to be a trip to Europe at ridiculously discounted prices, just like the one to Hawaii “last year.”  This is all a set up for the next Super Special. The other announcement is that there’s going to be a “playground camp” at the elementary school over the summer, and they’re looking to hire six middle school students to work there.  All the regular BSC members apply, plus Logan and Dawn (who’s visiting for the summer).  There are also a lot of other applicants from non-BSCers, but they’re clearly irrelevant. This means the girls are competing with each other and things get a little tense as they work on their applications.

When Dawn gets to Stoneybrook, Mary Anne tells her about the Europe trip.  But Dawn surprises her by saying she doesn’t want to go since she’s not in Stoneybrook that much and wants to spend her time there.   Logan also decides not to go on the trip.  Then the extremely independent thinking Mary Anne decides she doesn’t want to go either. 

The girls realize that the trip is happening in the right in the middle of the camp session, and while they’re told they still have a shot, they’re not totally sure if they can do both.  Claudia decides she won’t go on the trip if she gets the camp job. Mallory and Jessi are cut from the application process because their books apparently don’t sell as well as the others, and they stopped getting screen time in the later books.  Or maybe it’s because of their age.  It’s not really important.  Anyway, Stacey, Kristy, and Abby are the only ones applying with a conflict.  The three of them try and downplay this in their interviews, but are apparently not very successful.  After the interview, the girls snap at each other a little bit, Kristy calls Claudia insecure and Claudia calls Kristy a bully. 

Meanwhile, Victoria, that princess from awhile back, is apparently still in town, but about to go back to London.  She’s not happy about that and we get a couple chapters of her “saying goodbye” to the town/her friends.  But the BSC makes plans to visit her when they’re in Europe.  At Victoria’s official going away party, the BSCers aren’t really talking to each other and argue once in front of Charlotte Johanssan.  But nothing too exciting, I think it was over who was scooping ice cream better. After that, they find out that Mary Anne, Dawn, Claudia, and Logan got jobs at the camp, and the others did not.  They decide it must have been because of the trip, and they all make up.

High/Lowlights

• Dawn’s stepmother just had a baby named Grace.  Mary Anne tells us they call her “Gracie” for short.  I know it’s an expression, but it made me laugh because Gracie’s actually longer than Grace.

• Mary Anne mentions hanging out near the beautiful lighthouse in Stoneybrook.  I guess that’s a reference to this? 

• Claudia outfit: “On this day she was wearing an oversized black jumpsuit over a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, plus white socks and black high-top sneakers with silver laces. The laces matched her silver nail polish, silver earrings, and the rings she wore on ever finger, even her thumb.”  I don’t have a real problem with the outfit, but who the hell says “on this day?”

• The trip to Europe (London and Paris) costs $400 a person.  It’s apparently less than the trip to Hawaii because the airfare’s lower.  Now, when I’ve gone to Europe my plane tickets were a lot more than when I went to Hawaii.  But, this book was written in 1998 and flying rates jump around a lot, so I’ll let that go.  But $400 for 9-10 days in Europe?  That’s crazy cheap, even back in the 90s. 

• Since Mary Anne was originally a regular sitter for Victoria, they’re close.  So, it’s not surprising that Victoria requests her on a sitting job.  But what is surprising is that this isn’t a big deal to any of the other girls.  That usually led to good fights.

• I actually think it’s mature of Dawn to not run off to Europe when she’s supposed to be visiting her mother.  However, Mary Anne not going because of that?  Is ridiculous.  Especially considering how excited she was when she first heard about the trip.  She can’t miss a week or so of time with Dawn?  It’s not like Dawn ever changes her travel plans to spend time with Mary Anne.

• One of the girls’ teachers (the school’s running the camp) calls the BSC at a meeting and tells them they should apply for the camp jobs.  But I don’t see why they bothered, considering how many people applied regardless.  Do they really think the BSC’s that much better with kids?

• The girls who are going to Europe need to raise the money to pay for half, the same deal as when they went to Hawaii.  They decide to have a “junk sale” to try and make money and sell a whole bunch of old stuffed animals/books/toys/etc.  It includes both their old stuff and things they get from others.  Which is a good idea, but I think it seems weird to make money off someone else’s stuff….they should give them a cut or something.

• They raise a total of $500 at their junk sale including refreshments and “donations” from parents.  But why would they be getting donations?  It’s not a charity or anything.

• It’s kind of confusing, because they talk about the whole trip being $400, but then they only refer to paying for half their airfare.  And they say this is the same as Hawaii, but in Super Special #13, they had to pay half the total price.

• This book has a very misleading title. The girls are competitive about the job, but it’s not like they stop speaking for weeks or anything like that.  

• I actually like that they have the girls planning for the Europe trip in this book.  It used to be that we’d just have these random stand-alone Super Specials and you couldn’t tell where in the lineup they fell.  Especially with the first one, where it basically established an additional summer between the 7^th grade books and the first 8^th grade book.  Having a lead in feels more natural.

• I’m actually glad that Kristy didn’t get the job.  Her whole attitude about it was a bit entitled, as though she thought she was automatically getting it and that no one would care if she needed to take a week off.  When Kristy heard Claudia say that she wouldn’t go on the trip if she got the job, she considered saying the same thing…even though in her case it would be a lie.  She figured she could just say she changed her mind later. Mary Anne talks her out of doing this.

• At the job Interviews, everyone who made the first cut gets called in at once, then they sit there while candidates are called into small rooms one-by-one.  That doesn’t seem like the best way to do things.  I can see how having multiple people come in at once would save time, especially if several people are doing the interviewing.  But it least split them into half hour groups or something.  Why have more teenagers than necessary hanging out making noise?

• Now that I think about it, Kristy considering lying on her application (about not going to Europe) seems a bit out of character.

• Victoria mentions that Toy Story is one of her favorite American movies.  Wow, these books lasted longer than I thought.  Or, I’m just getting old and Toy Story’s just that old of a movie.

• This is going to sound weird, but I noticed that this book had several references to people using the bathroom.  When Mary Anne arrives at a meeting, Claudia is out of the room in the bathroom, once Dawn leaves the meeting to use it, etc.  I just don’t remember them mentioning that in any other books.

• I don’t know if Victoria showed up in any books between her first appearance and here, but the whole thing is a set up for the BSC visiting her in London on their trip.  They do point out that Victoria stayed longer than originally planned, which makes sense, since it was supposed to be a few months, and this is the second summer vacation since her original book.

• They also make a point of saying Abby and Victoria started to bond at the going away party…I guess because Mary Anne isn’t going to London, and the ghostwriters wanted to set up another relationship for the Super Special.  But I always hated when they just changed who had “special relationships” with who.

• It seems like a cop out to have the decisions about who to hire come down to who’s going on vacation. 

“Why couldn’t they have planned it on a different weekend?”…..BSC Super Special # 12: Here Come the Bridesmaids!

Memory Reaction

I remember reading the back of this book in the store and thinking, “why the hell would Mary Anne be a bridesmaid in Dawn’s father’s wedding?”  Except I may not have actually said “hell” since I didn’t curse that much as a kid.  But, in the actual book, Mary Anne isn’t a bridesmaid, which made me feel a little better about the whole thing.  I also remember thinking it was unrealistic that the BSC was so involved in Mrs. Barrett’s wedding.  That of course, does not get any better when you actually read the book.  Which may be why it was the last Super Special I read when it first came out.

The most important thing from this book though, is that it’s when Dawn came back from her “six month” stay in California.  Only a year-and-a-half had gone by in book time, and I was all proud of myself for being able to figure that out.  Looking back it was pretty obvious (she left at the beginning of the school year, was there in winter, summer, and then was going home on Christmas).

Revisited Reaction

Dawn’s father’s marrying his girlfriend Carol (in California).  After the wedding, Dawn’s coming back to Stoneybrook after her extended vacation with her dad.  Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne are flying out for the wedding, because all 13-year-olds fly across the country for weddings of people they barely know.   Back in Stoneybrook, Mrs. Barrett’s getting married too.  Since not all the girls can be at both weddings, Dawn decides to make a "wedding journal" about the whole thing. 

California:
Dawn’s a bridesmaid in the wedding and she somehow gets it in her head that Mary Anne is too, although she forgets to share this information with Mary Anne.  So, when Mary Anne gets out there, Dawn just gives her the dress she picked out and Mary Anne’s all annoyed/stressed.  But as soon as she gets used to the idea, Carol and Mr. Schafer announce that Dawn and Jeff are the only two in the wedding party, and Mary Anne’s rightfully pissed at Dawn again.  But she gets over it, and she wears the dress that matches Dawn’s, even though she’s just a guest.  Which makes the cover fairly accurate.  

Stoneybrook: 

Stacey was hired to help watch the kids at the Barrett/DeWitt wedding.  But then Mrs. Barrett asks Stacey to be a bridesmaid because the old friend who was supposed to do it no longer can make it.  Stacey’s thrilled of course, and Shannon and Mallory end up watching the kids at the wedding.  It’s pretty drama-free.

Un wedding related events:
Jessi gets roped into being the Santa Claus at Bellairs (since this is all happening in the weeks leading up to Christmas).  It’s not as weird as it sounds, she’s just walking around the store in costume chatting with kids.  And it's a volunteer spot, so it’s not totally bizarre that they'd have to resort to the BSC when the guy who was supposed to do it backs out.  She’s super nervous, but ends up loving it.

Mallory and Ben Hobart make plans to go Christmas caroling with some kids.  At the last minute Mal gets asked to help at the Barrett wedding, so she has to cancel.  Ben’s mad at her for agreeing to do the wedding after agreeing to go caroling, and they have a big fight.  But they make up at the end and go caroling on a different day.  Thrilling, huh?

Jeff gets a couple chapters in this one.  He’s worried that his father will fire their housekeeper now that Carol’s moving in, and he’s annoyed that Carol’s bringing her “ugly” furniture into their house.  But since Carol’s a “slob” they are keeping the housekeeper and the moving van with Carol’s stuff gets stolen, so things all work out for him.  He's also annoyed by how much Dawn and her friends talk, which doesn’t stop, but you can’t have everything.  My summary sounds boring, but he's actually one of the more entertaining narrators.

Suzi Barrett gets to narrate as well.  She’s less entertaining, but she’s a step up from the usual Karen chapters.  She doesn’t want to move because she doesn’t like the new house.  She’s also worried that the new place doesn’t have a chimney and that Santa won’t know they moved.  She writes him a letter but doesn’t think he’ll read it in time.  Logan gives her the idea to put a trail of cookie crumbs from the old house to the new one, which Mrs. Barrett actually helps her do.  And of course, Santa shows up.

In California, Kristy's busy criticizing the We Love kids Club for being too lax.  Because there's no reason to come up with new storylines when you can revisit such an exciting old one.  Everyone sort of ignores her.  Then Sunny says she wants to throw a surprise going away party for Dawn, but hasn't really thought it through.  Kristy jumps in with her super-planning skills and helps make it happen.

High/Lowlights

• Slightly unrelated, but did anyone else catch this article on the BSC? 

• They try and pretend that Stacey’s the BSC member who’s closest to the Barrett’s because she was a mother’s helper “lastsummer” and happened to be sitting when they picked out their house.  But it was really Dawn who had that specialconnection.

• Stacey has a sitting job watching the Barrett/DeWitt kids at the new house they're moving into, while their parents are busy supervising workers.  She's supposed to keep the kids out of the way.  But I don't get why they brought all the kids.  If they were hiring a sitter anyway, why not have her stay at home with the kids? It'd be much easier to keep them out of the way.  Maybe it was because they could only get one sitter?

• Also, Stacey has to keep all the kids outside so they don’t disturb the workers.  But it’s December.  It’s rather cold on the east coast around then.  You can certainly play outside, but it’s not the best time to spend a full day there.

• Mary Anne has a to-do list for getting ready to go to California.  She actually wrote “kiss Tigger goodbye” on the list.  Seriously?

• Did people not always need to get to the airport ahead of time?  Cause Kristy describes getting to the airport an hour before her flight as “early.”  But that seems pretty reasonable to me.

• Quote from Jeff….”if you want to fight you can just do it with your friends.  Then you can go home and chill and not have to kiss and make up”….It sounds like something a ten-year-old boy would say.

• Claudia’s parents originally say she can’t go to California because it’s too much money.  So, Mr. Schafer offers to pay for half if she helps with the wedding.  Cause they need her artistic genius of some crap like that.

• Mary Anne’s surprised that Mr. Schafer and Carol are getting married on the beach.   I can buy that she’s never heard of a beach wedding before, since she’s kind of young and they’re not that common.  But wouldn’t she have heard that from Dawn?  Did they not have any conversations about the wedding?  At all? How did that not get mentioned?

• It sounds like the wedding’s literally on the sand, not on some deck overlooking the beach like some weddings I’ve been too.  But I have to say, I was once at the beach when a couple came in and got married right in the middle of the crowd sitting there  People literally turned their chairs around to watch these complete strangers get married.  It seemed very unappealing to me.  Those pictures won’t be so scenic with random people in the background.

• Why the hell would Dawn assume Mary Anne was a bridesmaid?  Seriously, that makes no sense.  First of all, Carol barely knows Mary Anne.  Secondly, she's the groom's ex-wife's step-daughter. I don't even get why Mary Anne WENT to the wedding.   In one of the later super specials, Mary Anne talks about how Mr. Schafer sometimes “jokingly” insults her father.  Which is a much more realistic scenario, no matter how mature people are being.  (And I don't think Dawn's parents were very mature about things).

• Honestly, I’m surprised Carol would even want Dawn to be a bridesmaid, let alone her maid of honor.  They don’t exactly have a friendly past. Mr. Schafer must be great in bed.

• Dawn claims she assumed she was "in charge of bridesmaids," but again, this makes no sense.  Also, why is Dawn picking out her bridesmaid dress with only her friends, two weeks before the wedding?  No matter how low-key the wedding is, I'd think the bride would want to see the dress, or have input on the color scheme or something.

• Jessi talks about how dancers need to watch what they eat, but she doesn’t go too overboard with that.  But she adds…"I don't go crazy about my weight yet….I'll do that when I'm older."  I think I know what she meant, but it sounded like she's planning on eating disorder or something.

• One of the kids Jessi talks to as Santa is a little girl who says she wants her pregnant mother to have a boy, so that he won't take her toys.   Jessi convinces the kid that a sister would be nice because when the baby’s old enough to play with her toys, she'd have outgrown them.  Then the mother whispers "how did you know," implying that the baby is, in fact, a girl.  But shouldn't Jessi have convinced her both would be okay?  

• Buddy Barrett and Lindsay DeWitt are the only two kids in their parents’ wedding.  The others sit in the back of the church with Mallory and Shannon.   Now, that seems a bit mean to me.   I get that those kids are young, but if you’re getting married about have 7 kids age 8 and under, wouldn’t you try and make it a bit more kid friendly? 

• They acknowledge that there are two people named Ryan DeWitt in BSC-land (a kid in California and Mrs. Barrett’s new stepson).  Want to bet that someone who worked on the books used the name of a real-life friend, but forgot and did it again?

• Real children’s' literature shout out....someone's reading Freckle Juice.  I remember reading that book when I was little.  Cute story.

• Dawn ate cake that was served at her going away party and she says she actually loved it.  

• At the wedding reception, Claudia takes a picture of the girls in We Love Kids, shaking their fingers at people slicing the duck.  But if they eat fish and chicken would they really have a problem with duck?

• Also, Dawn was originally a vegetarian because it was healthier not because of animal rights.  I can deal with them changing history on that, but since they did, they shouldn't have them still eat fish/chicken.  Because it makes sense for someone to only eat fish if it's for health reasons, but not if it's for animal rights?  Do fish and chickens not get the some courtesy as cows and pigs?

• Fun fact: Mrs. Barrett guesses that Stacey’s a size 6 (when ordering her dress).   We don’t hear if it’s accurate though.

• Mary Anne explains some of Dawn's idiocy about the bridesmaid thing by saying she’s being scatterbrained like her mother.  But Dawn was always the organized one who helped keep her mom sane.  That’s not just a continuity error, that’s changing a person’s whole character.  

• Now, Mrs. Barrett, I can buy not remembering to ask Stacey about being a bridesmaid until the last minute (which she does).  

• I’ve never actually been a bridesmaid, but I know many people who have.  Is it believable that Mrs. Barrett could order a bridesmaid dress for Stacey just a couple of days before the wedding?  I guess if it’s a standard-ish dress and doesn’t need any alterations it could work.

• On the flight to California, Claudia, Kristy and Mary Anne get served Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Would they really do that on a plane?

• Dawn and Jeff fly back to Connecticut ON Christmas.  That seems like an awful way to spend the holiday.  And with a six-hour flight, plus losing three hours for the time difference, I don’t get how they had time for two big celebrations.  But whatever.   

“Right now they were fitting together pretty well”……BSC # 123: Claudia’s Big Party

Memory Reaction

This is another one that I didn’t read as a kid.  Going through these later books is really messing up my format.

Revisited Reaction

Claudia’s back in 8th grade and enjoying it.  But, it means she has less time to spend with her seventh-grade friends, including her boyfriend, Josh.  She realizes that if her two groups of friends knew each other, it would be easier to balance her life. Just after she thinks this, her parents announce they’re going out-of-town for the weekend and are leaving Janine and Claudia alone.  Great timing, right? Their aunt and uncle (Peaches and Russ) are still busy with their baby, so they can’t stay with them, but will be around in case of emergencies.  And for busting the inevitable party, but we’ll get to that later.

Meanwhile, Janine has been feeling lonely because she broke up with her boyfriend recently, but isn’t as close to her old friends as she used to be (because she spent all her time with him).  She’s kind of desperate to hang out with Claudia more, so, when Claud wants to have a party while their parents are away, Janine agrees.  The plan’s to have the BSC and her seventh-grade friends in one place to get to know each other.

Word gets out about the party and more people show up than expected. We’re not talking the whole school or anything like that, just a few extra people (Pete Black, Erica Blumberg, Emily Bernstein etc).  There’s not enough food, and people start spreading out over the house.  Claud had also made large cookies for them to decorate, which ends up making a mess, and someone breaks a vase.  Claud’s trying to keep everyone under control, but isn’t that successful.  Then Peaches and Russ stop by unexpectedly, see the party and are all disappointed.

Everyone leaves and Claud and Janine fight.  But they make up when Janine admits why she’s been lonely.   They tell their parents about the party, since Peaches and Russ would have anyway, and don’t get in too much trouble.  All their guests feel bad about the whole situation, so, they get together to buy a vase to replace one that was broken during the party.  Which gives them another chance to actually get to know each other.  So, it all works out perfectly.

There’s also a really boring subplot about how Bill and Melody Kormon are fighting a lot.  Eventually Mary Anne gets them to work together by pretending to be locked out of the house.  So, they’re being fairly nice to each other by the end.  It’s kind of annoying, because, sometimes, siblings just don’t get along and don’t become BFFs.  The BSC doesn’t have to save everyone that way.  And they shouldn’t act so scandalized at the fact that a brother and sister are arguing.

High/Lowlights

• Seventh-grade friend outfit: “Black velour vest…red ribbon roses decorating the bottom edge. With her black jeans, black suede shoes, and a long-sleeved white shirt it made a very cool outfit.”  I think I had an outfit like that when I was younger.

• Claudia outfit: “I’d worked hard on my outfit – a long black skirt, a white shirt with full sleeves, and a short vest that I’d covered with bright-colored buttons and bows. My hair was braided with strands of ribbons that matched the decorations.”  I did NOT have an outfit like that.  Although it doesn’t sound so bad.  Compared to Ms.Frizzle costumes anyway.

• There’s a triple date between Claud/Josh, Mary Anne/Logan, and Stacey/Ethan.  Which is kind of cute, I guess.

• Janine’s helping Claud with her homework, and she’s all, hey, “how about some C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁?”  The translation of this is that it’s the chemical compound for sucrose, which is her way of asking for candy. Did she really expect Claud to pick up on that?  I do like that this is good continuity, Janine’s admitted to liking junk food before.  But she really needs to learn how to speak to her audience.

• Mallory’s the one who broke the vase, so I’m not sure why everyone at the party chips in to buy the new one.  But whatever.

• Janine refers to “channel swimming” when she’s looking for something to watch on TV. 

• Claud tells Josh to come over before they go on their triple date, so they have time to hang out alone.  But like five minutes after he gets there it’s time to leave.  And they’re the last two arrive for the date. 

• Janine’s reading a novel about chess, and talks about how mathematical it is.  I kind of wish they had her secretly reading trashy romance novels or VC Andrews or something.  Her hobbies don’t all need to be science related.

• I think there was a whole book devoted to this, so I won’t complain about it too much now, but what’s with Claudia going back to 8th grade?  She was doing well back in 7th because they were right that she needed to relearn those “basics.”  Going back to 8th grade, in the middle of the year, means she only got half the basics, plus missed the first half of 8th grade.

• At one of the BSC meetings, the girls are passing the notebook around.  Which makes me ask, do they only read/write in the notebook at meetings?  I always figured they wrote in it at home and passed it to one another each day.  But then I remembered they don’t bring BSC stuff to school, because of the PhantomCaller thing.  So, how do they fit it all in?  And if they’re only writing in it during meetings, why not just talk about it.

• I thought it was weird when Mal says she got an 86 on a test and isn’t upset by it, since we recently heard about her being a super-good-student.  But Claudia points out it’s weird, and I realized it’s a set up for her going to boarding school in a couple books.

• Peaches calls Claud and wants to talk to Janine, and Claud tells her to call the other line so Janine can answer in the kitchen.  I must be getting old, because that sounds a bit lazy to me.

• Janine has gotten a modem for her computer and keeps talking about websites she’s found.  It feels strange since I was over the BSC by the time the internet became prevalent.

• People in books/TV sure are lucky.  My parents never let me stay alone overnight when I was a teenager.  And I was such a goody-goody, I wouldn’t have had anyone over.

• When Mary Anne, Kristy, and Abby hear about the party they ask if they can invite Logan, Shannon and Anna to the party, Claud says, “sure.” Then she adds “I’m leaving the asking up to you guys.”  The BSC thinks this means they should invite their “other friends,” but it’s a pretty weak explanation to me.  These girls almost never socialize with people outside their club or boyfriends, so it seems out of character for them to invite others.  Especially when Claudia told them the whole point was for her two sets of friends to meet.

• Here’s proof Claudia should have stayed in seventh-grade.  She invites the six other regular BSC members and her four seventh-grade friends. When she hears about three additional people coming she thinks, “hmm, I guess that brings the total number of people to ten or eleven?”

• Why do Bill and Melody have to be so happy together at the end?  Why not apologize but still not want to hang out together?

• Claudia’s party outfit: “I slipped into the black pants, then pulled a black turtleneck over my head. I had a fleece top with turquoise, hot pink, and lime green stripes and one thin line of red. It was a boxy jacket style and looked festive.”

• I like how the party’s described as wild/out of control, when there wasn’t more than 20 people at the thing.  They weren’t blasting music or drinking and having sex.  They were making a mess, but that’s not so outrageous.

• Peaches had invited Claudia and Janine over for dinner the night of the party, and Claud gets out of it by saying she and Janine had “special sister plans.”  Janine overhears and actually thinks Claud was serious.  I find Janine so much more likable now than when I was a kid, and feel a little bad for her here. Back then I think I would have just thought she was an idiot.

• When they tell their parents about the party, Mrs. Kishi asks if there was drinking. So even she was expecting more drama than we got in a book with “big party” in the title.