“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. 

“The beginning of the absolute best month of the year”……BSC # 103: Happy Holidays, Jessi

Memory Reaction

Sorry about the delay posting. I read this a week or two ago, thinking I’d be posting the week of Christmas, but the holidays ended up being a bit of a time suck for me. I never read this as a kid, but I picked it thinking it would be a light, fluffy holiday book. However, it’s really kind of a downer (and is really boring), but I’ll get to that below.

Revisited Reaction

It’s December in Stoneybrook, which means it’s almost Christmas. It’s also almost Kwanzaa, which is important to Jessi, since apparently, her family’s black. I know, you never would have known if not for this book, right?

Anyway, Jessi and Becca are super-excited about the holidays, and Becca particularly has a super long Christmas list. Aunt Cecelia refers to her as spoiled, and Mr. Ramsey flips out, and he’s all, “I’m letting you live in my house, but you don’t get to decide how my children are raised.” So, Cecelia makes a point of being nice. While driving back from the mall, Squirt’s whining because his car seat strap’s bothering him. Becca wants to take it off for him, and Cecelia finally agrees to this a couple blocks from home – and she tells Jessi to unhook it. Jessi does, and they are immediately in a car accident. Aunt Cecelia slowed down when a traffic light changed to yellow, but the car behind them doesn’t and crashes into them.

Everyone’s fine except Squirt. He does seem to be okay, but since he hit his head and might have a concussion, the doctors want him to stay in the hospital for a while. This kind of sucks all the Christmas spirit out of the Ramsey house. This is exasperated by the fact that Aunt Cecelia, Jessi, and Becca all blame themselves for their part in Squirt’s car seat getting unhooked. In addition, Aunt Cecilia and Mr. Ramsey seem to blame each other for the accident. Every one keeps snapping at each other, and it’s rather depressing even it wasn’t a holiday story. Squirt finally gets out of the hospital on the day after Christmas, but everyone’s still in a bad mood. Finally, a few days into Kwanzaa some of Jessi’s relatives come to visit. After some more squabbling, the Ramsey’s finally starts to cheer up and get past the accident. What finally turns them around is Squirt laughing at himself for burping….somehow this gets everyone else to laugh, even Cecelia. But one chapter of people being happy doesn’t make the other fourteen chapters retroactively good.

Meanwhile, Jessi’s planning a Kwanzaa festival at the Stoneybrook community center. She enlists the help of a bunch of African-American kids in Stoneybrook (that we’ve never met before and will probably never hear from again). The rest of the BSC’s also helping, as well as some of their regular clients. Jessi’s happy that they are all showing an interest in Kwanzaa.

High/Lowlights

• At a BSC meeting, the girls are trying to figure out the difference between sleet and freezing rain (it’s doing one of them outside). So, Claudia’s all, “I’ll ask Janine.” Which makes sense, but I think it’s one of the few times Claudia’s actually happy to use Janine’s brain.

• After Janine answers the question, Abby refers to her as a walking CD-ROM. Which feels half out-of-date and half too modern for a BSC book.

• At the mall, Cecelia parks in a handicap spot. Which seems out of character. Isn’t she all about rules?

• Jessi says how she’s glad that organizing the festival lets her meet other African-American families in Stoneybrook. But, it also seems like she already knows them. She tells Becca to call the Fords, the Ingrams, etc., which suggests they know each other, since Becca wouldn’t call random strangers. Also, the kids are all making a present for Jessi before their first scene together, and they want to go visit Squirt in the hospital.

• I have a hard time believing Aunt Cecelia would tell Jessi to unstrap Squirt from his car seat. And that a “talented” baby-sitter like Jessi would do it.

• I think this is one of the few Christmas-themed BSC books. There are a few that happen in December, or that reference the school’s winter dance, but not a lot that actually cover Christmas itself.

• The accident happens after Cecelia and Jessi took Becca and Squirt to see Santa at the mall. Jessi says it was supposed to be a “quick visit” so that she’d be back for a festival planning meeting. But, who thinks that seeing Santa at a mall’s going to be a quick visit?

• Aunt Cecelia gets all upset at the store because she finds out her favorite kind of blender is now being made with plastic (or something). But do people really have favorite blenders? They may have a favorite brand of kitchen appliances, but it isn’t like you buy a blender every month and always get the same one.

• Becca gets the flu, so she has to stay home on Christmas when the rest of her family goes to visit Squirt (Mallory volunteers to sit for her). However, this seems kind of mean to me. I mean, I can certainly understand why you would want to be with your baby in the hospital on Christmas. But wouldn’t you also want to be with your eight-year-old? I think it would have made more sense for them to go in shifts or something.

• Jessi thinks Mallory was really nice to volunteer to sit for Becca on Christmas. However, I think if I had seven loud younger siblings, I’d want a break from them trying out new toys they just got.

• One thing I like about the Jessi books, is that when you see her with her family, she’ll actually act like a kid. Mallory and Kristy seem to always act like parents of their younger siblings, but Jessi will actually joke around with Becca.

• The Kwanzaa festival prep chapters are really boring…so is the chapter when it actually happens. Not because Kwanzaa itself is boring, just because it has the exact same arc as every book where the BSC puts on some “event” with kids. They round up a bunch of kids, they make some food, they rehearse a show, they get a little overwhelmed, the kids do “cute things,” and it all ends up okay.

• Now, why the BSC’s running the entire festival’s a whole other question. I think it’s fine that they have all their talent shows in Mary Anne’s barn, but this is an event happening at the town’s community center. I would think at least one or two adults would be involved.

• At one of the planning sessions for the festival, a bunch of kids are cooking at Mary Anne’s house. And apparently, Richard and a bunch of other parents are sitting in the other room the whole time….Which seems even weirder.

• I was trying to figure out why I found this book so boring, and I think it’s because there’s almost no interaction with the other BSC members, except a little bit of Mallory. Yeah, they show up, but none of them do anything noteworthy. Any of the five older girls could have been doing/saying each thing.

“It’s lily-livered and chicken-hearted! Check your script”…..BSC Mystery # 8: Jessi and the Jewel Thieves

Memory Reaction

I was really glad when I tracked down a copy of this book, because it’s one I have a lot of memories about. The first is that it has a totally unoriginal plot – two people think they overhear criminals plotting something, only to find out later they were actors (or something similar). Now, when I was younger, I didn’t know it was unoriginal. But then I went through a phase of watching old TV shows, and saw this exact plot on episodes of both I Love Lucy and Three’s Company (and possibly others). Both of these shows were on before the BSC existed, but I hadn’t seen them before I first read this book. So, when I saw those particular episodes, I thought, “hey, that’s just like the Jessi Mystery!”

The other thing that stands out in my mind’s that Stacey explains to Jessi how to take a cab and how much you’re expected to tip. She tells her a trick for figuring out 15% is to take ten percent and add half. For the longest time I thought of that every time I was in a restaurant figuring out tips.

Revisited Reaction

Jessi’s friend Quint is in some big ballet performance in NY, and he invited her to come see it. She’s staying with Stacey, who’s visiting her dad for the weekend. On Friday night, Jessi’s at Quint’s apartment for dinner and they’re hanging out by an open window that looks out on the building next-door. They overhear two men arguing about stealing some jewels. Then, because open windows go both ways, the thieves hear Quint’s mother calling out their names. This makes Jessi and Quint worry that the thieves will stalk them to get them to stay quiet (or something), but they also think the police will laugh at them if they report it. So, they decide to “search for evidence.”

The next morning, Jessi’s back at Quint’s and they overhear the same two men (Frank and Red) talking, and then see them leaving the building. So, of course Jessi and Quint follow them. They trail the “thieves” all over the city, but never find any evidence, or even information, about where/when this jewel heist’s going to take place. They lose Frank and Red in the afternoon, but later that night Jessi sees them in the audience at Quint’s ballet. This freaks her out, because she’s sure she and Quint are being followed.

Jessi and Quint decide to follow Frank and Red again on Sunday. However, they lose them, because the thieves go in some fancy jewelry store that kicks Jessi and Quint out. But back at Quint’s, they see Frank and Red return to their apartment pretty quickly. Jessi and Quint overhear their argument, which is pretty much word for word the argument they had the other night…and is the biggest hint that these guys aren’t real criminals. But, the ghostwriter wanted to spell it out, so then we hear Frank flub his line. Red laughs, they mention scripts, and Jessi and Quint realize the two are actors. Their immediate reaction’s to crack up, and I really like that they don’t mind laughing at themselves.

Now, this whole time, Jessi has been a little worried about talking to Quint. See, she’s decided that she isn’t ready for a serious boyfriend, let alone a long-distance one. She wanted to tell Quint that they should just be friends. She manages to do this at the end and he agrees. And then I think we go awhile without hearing from him again.

Not even worthy of being a subplot: Jessi’s parents and Aunt Cecilia are out of town this same weekend (for a wedding), so Becca gets stuck staying at the Pikes. She’s miserable at first, but Mary Anne gets her to feel better. Dramatic stuff, huh?

High/Lowlights

• At the BSC meeting, the girls are talking about their sitting jobs at the Pike house on the upcoming weekend. On Sunday, there’s only one sitter needed, because as Mal said, “My parents are taking us older kids to a concert.” Which sounds like a really weird way to phrase things. Why not, “My parents are taking me, Vanessa, and the triplets to a concert”?

• Jessi tells us that she and Stacey have to miss a BSC meeting on Friday because they’re taking a 4:30 train to NYC. But then at the train station, they board a 5:05 train.

• Jessi thinks the cab driver will appreciate her kindness at giving a dollar tip instead of 90 cents. As he should….I mean, with ten extra cents you can buy, what? A piece of gum? That’s a big deal.

• Jessi and Quint lose Frank and Red at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, because they see a sign saying “Pay what you wish, but you must pay something,” and realize they don’t have any extra money. But couldn’t they theoretically pay a really small amount? I mean between the two of them they should have been able to come up with a few coins at least.

• The cover of the book has the teaser line that, “They don’t have criminals like these in Stoneybrook.” Which is true. In Stoneybrook they have worse criminals.

• Two chapters are devoted to sitting jobs at the Pikes, one on Saturday (by Mallory and Mary Anne) and one on Sunday (just Claudia). Only at the beginning of the Saturday chapter, the notebook entry’s dated Sunday and is in Claud’s handwriting. In front of the Sunday chapter, the notebook entry’s dated Saturday, and is in Mary Anne’s handwriting. That’s probably something I wouldn’t have noticed as a kid, because I often skipped those notebook pages.

• I’m trying to figure out the relationship between Frank and Red, and what type of show they are in. They seem to live together, and spend pretty much the whole weekend together either rehearsing or going to the Central Park, art museums, jewelry stores, and the ballet.

• Byron gets Becca to try pancakes with ketchup on them. What’s with the Pike’s and horrible food combinations?

• The entire BSC comes to the train station to welcome Jessi and Stacey home. When they were gone two days. That seems like overkill.

• At Claudia’s sitting job for the Pikes, she wants to do something special with the kids. So she decides on an art project where they “make dragons.” Which seems really random. But, the kids get into it and make a bunch of cardboard creatures with yarn, paint, and other stuff.

• Jessi thinks that her parents were glad to let her go to NY because then they only needed to find childcare for Becca while they were away. I guess they decided leaving an 11-year-old in charge for a weekend wasn’t a good idea.

• Jessi keeps referring to Quint as the first boy she ever kissed. But isn’t he also the only boy she’s kissed? I would think that’s how she’d phrase it.

• Mr. McGill says he wants to take Stacey, Jessi, and Quint out to lunch – his treat. Stacey tells Jessi to pick the place, and Jessi picks the Palm Court, the restaurant in the Plaza. Now, I’m just speculating here, but that’s likely an expensive place, right? Isn’t it kind of rude to pick something like that when the other person’s paying?

• When Mary Anne’s sitting at the Pikes, Becca tries to “run away” so she can sleep in her backyard. She asks Mary Anne to come with her, so Dawn comes to the Pikes to be the second sitter (with Mal). I wonder if she got paid for this. Is it weird that that’s the first thing I thought of?

• Stacey laughs (but not in a mean way) when Jessi asks she can read the comics in the New York Times. Because no one in NY would ever read a comic strip. Everyone in that city’s sophisticated and only reads serious stuff. Even thirteen-year-olds.

• I must be getting old, because when Jessi and Quint complain about getting kicked out of the jewelry store, I just feel like I agreed with the store. Who wants eleven-year-olds with no intention of making a purchase hang out in their store?

• Jessi and Quint want to follow the thieves, so when they get in a cab, Jessi jumps into another one and says, “Follow that cab.” She says she always wanted to do that, which I guess I can understand. The cab driver goes along with it cause he thinks they are just kids playing a game. I wonder what would happen if someone did that as an adult.

• Jessi’s worried about telling Stacey about the thieves, cause she thinks Stacey will worry about her. But when she finally tells her, Stacey’s excited, because as Jessi says, “everyone in the BSC loves mysteries.” This line sounds really familiar, and I’m starting to think it’s included in almost every mystery book.

“A star from Stoneybrook? Are you kidding?”…… BSC # 27: Jessi and the Superbrat

Memory Reaction

I always just think of this book as the one that introduced Derek Masters, the child star, who I always liked as a character. He makes a few other appearances down the line. The scene that really sticks in my head is the one where Jessi first meets Derek. I remember how shocked she was that he didn’t look anything like the character he played on his show. I think the main difference was that the character wore glasses, but Derek didn’t. And when he explained it to Jessi, he was all, “It’s only the character, I have twenty-twenty vision.” I guess this makes the BSC the only place other than Superman where glasses seem to make that big of a difference in someone’s looks.

Now, the reason this book’s a significant one, is that it was the starting point in the books I owned sequentially. I was missing a lot of the early ones, but starting at #27 I had every single one. However, at some point, I loaned out one and it made another hole (which drove me crazy).

Revisited Reaction

The book starts with Jessi learning about the existence of Derek. The quick background’s that he’s an eight-year-old kid from Stoneybrook, who did some commercials/modeling. He ended up getting a role on a TV show called P.S. 162, which is about an inner-city classroom. The Masters family moved to L.A. when Derek got the role, but they kept their house in Stoneybrook. Coincidentally, right after Jessi learns about Derek, his mother calls the BSC. The family’s back in Stoneybrook while Derek’s show’s on hiatus, and of course they need baby-sitters.

Jessi gets many of the jobs and bonds with Derek. However, he’s having a hard time adjusting back to life in a normal school. The girls chase him around and the boys give him a hard time. Derek tells Jessi stories about what the kids do to him, and singles out one of them, named John, as the worst. He supposedly does things like throw books across the playground and push people down in the playground. Jessi nicknames John the “Superbrat.” After awhile, things get better for Derek. The turning point’s when Claudia’s sitting for him. They run into some other boys on the playground, and Claudia invites them back to Derek’s house. They end up getting along, but none of the boys is the Superbrat.

However, not soon after he makes friends, Derek gets a part in a TV movie, which is starting shooting fairly quickly. So, the family’s moving back to LA. I’m not sure why they bothered moving back to Connecticut and enrolling the boys in school if they were trying to get him other work during the show’s hiatus. But then we wouldn’t have a book, so I’ll go with it. Jessi gets the BSC to plan a surprise party to say goodbye. They do it as a breakfast party, which I always thought seemed like a cool idea. They invite Derek’s whole class, but can’t track down John (aka the Superbrat). Afterwards, Jessi asks Derek about this. Derek admits that there was no Superbrat and that when he talked about John, he was talking about things he did to other kids. Apparently, he thought acting like an asshole would help him make friends.

Now, while all this was happening, Jessi was auditioning to appear in a production of Swan Lake at the Stoneybrook Civics Center....aka the greatest theater ever. Or at least a practically “off-off-Broadway” theater. Derek suggests Jessi look into modeling and acting. His logic’s that then she could become an actress like him and move to LA, so he could still see her. So, Jessi decides out of nowhere that she doesn’t care about ballet anymore. She gets her supposedly strict parents to agree to her calling talent agencies about modeling jobs. However, she DOES end up getting a part in the ballet and realizes she doesn’t want to model after all.

High/Lowlights

I like that Jessi was only auditioning for (and only got) a smaller part in the ballet, she’s just a member of the corps. It makes sense that would be the case for this type of show, and it’s kind of annoying for her to always be the lead.

After Jessi finds out that a kid from Stoneybrook has a part on a TV show, she gets very excited and thinks, “wow, I can’t wait to bring this up at the next BSC meeting!” Because these girls can’t just talk to their friends, they need to bring it up at a meeting?

Jessi mentions that keeping track of Derek’s show business career’s an entire job for Mrs. Masters. But she never mentions what Mr. Masters does. In fact, he’s hardly mentioned. But what kind of job does he have that he can just move back and forth between Connecticut and California?

Claudia outfit: “She had two French braids pulled back into one…she was wearing a bright pink T-shirt, a short red flouncy skirt, and underneath the skirt she had on black footless tights that she had rolled up to mid-calf.” I always wished I could French braid my own hair.

Are we really supposed to believe that Stoneybrook Civic Center’s such a wonderful theater? And that all these dancers from New York City come to Stoneybrook for the audition? Really?

Jessi says that Derek lets his little brother win at Candy Land. Now, it has been a long time since I have seen a Candy Land board, but how do you let someone win? Don’t you just draw cards to move ahead spaces, and the person who gets to the end first wins?

Derek has some interesting insults in his vocabulary: “Anvil head, cactus brain, and pizza breath.” He’s talking to the triplets when he uses them.

When Derek talks about how going back to a “normal” school was hard he mentions that the teacher made him stand in front of room and talk a little about working on a TV show. Which, I really don’t think is that bad.

Now, having a reporter and photographer in the classroom when Derek enters is a bit obnoxious. At the very least, they should have given Derek (and his parents) a heads up.

Of course, when Karen hears about a kid from Stoneybrook getting famous, she thinks she can follow in his tracks. Then when she finally gets a chance to meet Derek, she’s too embarrass to introduce herself. Kristy ends up doing it for her.

Becca’s also pretty obnoxious around Derek. She has a crush on another kid on the show, so she keeps running around after Derek and asking questions about the other kid.

Apparently, P.S. 162’s the hot new family show. Jessi and Kristy’s families both watch it together (at least occasionally). But it sounds more like a junior Saved by the Bell to me. Derek even plays the part of a science geek named Waldo, which has me picturing Screech.

I guess the Derek is the Superbrat thing’s supposed to be a surprise, but it really shouldn’t be. There’s one point where Nicky specifically tells Mallory (who tells Jessi) that Derek threw a kid’s lunch all over him. And Jessi’s all, “oh, the Superbrat pushed him too far.” She never even considers that Derek could be doing something wrong.

There are some girls at the Swan Lake audition that stand around criticizing whatever dancer happens to be on stage. Jessi keeps referring to them as “cliquey” and “gossipy,” but what I think she really means is bitchy.

I also don’t think “Superbrat” is the best word to use when talking about someone who’s essentially a bully. But I guess “asshole” was too strong for a kid’s book.

Derek and Mrs. Masters pick Jessi up at her dance audition, and the’re apparently there long enough for Derek to write down a bunch of notes the bitchy girls were making about her performance. I remembered this part, but I thought there was some explanation for them picking her up, like they were on their way home from somewhere. But, no. Mrs. Master’s just offered to do it because with Derek’s show on break, she didn’t have enough to do.

The BSC knows something’s off about the Superbrat, because there’s no John in Derek’s class. I find that a little hard to believe. I think there were 4-5 Johns in my graduating class, so I would think an elementary school class would have at least one.

This book had another one of those scenes were I could envision the entire scene as soon as I read it. In this case, it’s the fact that the girls all wear bathrobes at Derek’s going away party (because it was in the morning). Kristy also wanted them to wear curlers in their hair, but everyone else refused.

The whole thing with Jessi and modeling is even more random than I remembered it. Derek mentions it, she thinks, “hey, yeah! I could model and act.” Then she starts calling all these talent agencies. I thought I remembered there being a little more build up to it, but there’s not.

“It’s not that Danielle did a terrible thing”….BSC # 82: Jessi and the Troublemaker

Memory Reaction

I know that I liked this book, or at least the idea of this book, because they brought back Danielle Roberts. I had been a fan of Danielle when she had her first appearance, and wasn’t happy that it ended with Danielle back in the hospital. So, it was nice to see her show up healthy in this one.

However, I remember thinking that everyone overreacted to the things that happened. First, to Danielle “acting out,” because most of what she did was no big deal. But my main memory’s of the reaction to the car accident that happens at the end (somehow Danielle ends up driving a car). It’s not that I thought that it was totally acceptable for a kid to try driving, it’s that I was annoyed with how people treated Jessi afterwards. I think her mom brings her home and puts her to bed, and to my younger self, it just seemed like a weird response.

Revisited Reaction

Danielle Roberts’s cancer’s in remission, so she’s back at school, hanging out with friends, and doing all the stuff normal nine-year-olds do. This includes having members of the BSC sit for her, of course. Everyone’s happy about this, but then Jessi and the other BSC members notice that Danielle’s acting “wild.” In BSC-land wild consists of wearing roller-blades in the house, using an old mattress to go “sledding” down a flight of stairs, and trying to turn a shower stall into a swimming pool. At first, the girls don’t tell Danielle’s parents, because they don’t think she meant any harm. But then they start to feel guilty about this, and Kristy calls Mrs. Roberts to tell her everything Danielle did. Mrs. Roberts doesn’t really take it seriously, because she thinks Danielle’s a creative spirit who’s making up for lost time. I imagine it’s also because she has a hard time yelling at a kid who almost died.

Then, when Jessi’s sitting for the Robertses, some of Danielle’s friends (Charlotte, Becca, Haley, and Vanessa) come over to play. Danielle decides it would be fun to try driving, so they all pile in the car and she drives down the street (and back). Jessi notices this as Danielle’s pulling into the driveway, and freaks out a little. Danielle sees her, gets distracted, and the car rolls backwards and smashes into a parked car. It’s all very “dramatic,” the girls are screaming, a crowd gathers, Vanessa has to go to the hospital (but is fine), and Jessi gets to show how responsible she is. Afterwards, the Roberts’ actually apologize to Jessi for not taking the BSC’s warning about Danielle seriously. Because the BSC’s always right, I guess. Meanwhile, Danielle’s friends are pissed at her because they got in trouble when their parents found out about the car trip. Fortunately, Stacey helps them make up, because the BSC can also do everything.

The sub plot’s something out of Three’s Company. Seriously. Jessi and Becca hear Aunt Cecelia and Mr. Majors (some guy friend of hers) talking about a wedding. Jessi assumes they are getting married and planning a secret wedding. She and Becca buy a gift and get all dressed up the day they think it’s happening….only to find out Aunt Cecelia and Mr. Majors are just in someone else’s wedding. So, their parents and Aunt Cecelia laugh at them. Jessi’s too embarrassed to tell the BSC that she was wrong about the wedding, so she and Becca try to create a romantic dinner to get Cecelia and Mr. Majors to really fall in love. Then Aunt Cecelia and Mr. Majors laugh at them some more.

High/Lowlights

• Jessi tells us she has an office themed kid-kit. I kind of remember a book where she first added the office stuff. Maybe the one with the family that was racist? I think she tried to enhance the kid-kit to impress them.

• Do kids normally know authors of books? Becca’s telling Jessi about a book and she says how “Amy Schwartz wrote it and drew the pictures.” I guess AMM was trying to give real writers some shout outs?

• Speaking of shout outs to real books, they also talk about Freckle Juice. I remember that book vividly; I think I read it multiple times (although I’m not sure why).

• Stacey outfit: “An over-sized black sweater and a metallic gold T-shirt underneath. With her huge blue eyes and naturally dark lashes, and the shoulder length blonde hair that she keeps perfectly cut, she looked just like a model.” How do they always know what the other girls have on UNDER their outer layer of clothes? If it was a button down or something, they’d probably say so.

• Claudia outfit: “She doesn’t often wear jeans, but she was wearing them today – only she’d cut patterns in the legs…and was wearing leopard tights underneath so that they showed through. She was wearing her black Doc Martens with yellow shoelaces…and she was wearing a black and yellow striped flannel shirt.” I wonder if Claudia ever got in trouble at school for some of her outfits. Don’t they have a dress code? It’s not that I think the clothes are offensive/revealing (just ugly), but I would think a middle school would have limits.

• There’s some nice foreshadowing in this book. Several times, Stacey calls someone to cover her sitting jobs at the last minute, and she doesn’t show up to a meeting. We don’t find out why, but we will in the next book.

• How exactly do you sled down stairs with a mattress? Especially a crib mattress, which is what Danielle and her friends were using.

• When the BSC thinks Aunt Cecelia’s getting married, they talk about getting her a gift. How many teenagers are that generous? They barely know Aunt Cecelia. I think they just like the idea of getting someone a wedding gift, because it sounds romantic.

• Jessi and Becca actually look in a store for a tux for Squirt. Because, if Aunt Cecelia were really getting married, they would be responsible for how the child dresses?

• When Jessi’s telling the BSC what happened with Danielle, Claudia’s surprised to hear that Mrs. Roberts owns roller blades. So, Kristy’s all, “I thought you said you read the club notebook!” Then, of course, Claudia said she must have missed that part. It cracked me up. I think that Claudia skimming the notebook, or not even reading it, is a lot more realistic than all the girls reading it just because Kristy says to.

• I feel old, because when I was a kid, I agreed with Claudia that it’s cool that Mrs. Roberts has roller blades. However, now, I’m almost insulted at the suggestion that it’s surprising for a mother to own a pair.

• I really am glad the second Danielle book was still a Jessi-themed one. I hated when they gave a character a special relationship with a kid, then changed it to a different narrator in a follow up book. Derek Masters is the best example of this.

• I’m trying to decide if it’s in character for Charlotte, Becca, Haley, and Vanessa to jump in a car with Danielle. I’m not sure why, but I can see Vanessa and Haley doing something “wild.” Charlotte and Becca seem like goody-goodies though (and I don’t mean that in a bad way).

• After Kristy calls Mrs. Roberts, she tells the other girls that Mrs. Roberts dismissed their fears and said Danielle just has to let her high spirits die down. And Jessi’s all, “no, it’s more than that! Maybe I should call her back!” Because there’s no chance that a child’s parents actually know their kid best.

• After the car accident, people keep telling Jessi how “responsible” she was. But, she didn’t really do anything. The neighbor calls 911 and Danielle’s parents. Then he calls the other girls’ parents (though Jessi does give them the phone numbers). All she really does is ride with Vanessa in the ambulance, but Mrs. Pike gets to the hospital right after they do, so Jessi doesn’t need to do anything. Granted, in real life, I’m not sure what an eleven-year-old would be expected to do, but this isn’t real life, it’s the BSC.

• Haley calls Danielle a kangaroo, because great ideas just pop out of her head (like a kangaroo jumps, I guess). I’m not sure Danielle’s ideas were actually “great” but I’m now picturing her as the next Kristy.

• I’m wondering if there’s hidden meaning in Stacey smoothing out the friendship mess, when her next book centers on a falling out with her friends.
• Do you think these girls have all their clients numbers memorized?

• So, we end on one last “idea” of Danielle’s, and that is to go trick-or-treating with her friends. This is an original idea, because it’s the middle of winter. It’s a cute idea, but do they really expect to get candy from anyone other than Claudia?

“Today’s the day we’re going to find out if Trout-Man is wearing a rug”…….BSC # 75: Jessi’s Horrible Prank

Memory Reaction

I don’t remember if I liked this one or not (I think I probably did, although it wasn’t a favorite). However, my real memory’s about how out of place some parts seemed. I remember thinking it was strange that they had Jessi being, like, the star of this comedy show the school’s putting on. She’s cracking jokes right and left, and is a bit of a ham. I know she was always the dancer, but it seemed like all the other talents came out of nowhere. Looking back, I do remember her talking about wanting to be a comedian, so I guess it really wasn’t out of character. But I must not have remembered that detail back then. I also remember thinking that the title was a fake-out, because Jessi doesn't really do anything wrong.

Also, they talk about Klingons, and I had no idea what they meant (other than that they’re from Star Trek, which they say in the book). So, I think later, when I heard Klingons mentioned in other contexts, I thought of this book.

Revisited Reaction

Jessi has a new teacher, Mr. Trout, for her computer programming class. He’s kind of a “dweeb” as Jessi puts it. He’s also a horrible teacher – not just because he doesn’t explain things well, but because he’s a bit of a wimp. And since 11-year-olds can smell fear, they totally take advantage of this. No one pays attention, and they act up in class – passing notes, dropping their books on the floor, stealing a grade book from the desk, etc. They also laugh at him all the time, because he dresses weird, wears a bad toupe, is a bit of a klutz, and always says his Ls as Ws. Jessi feels bad for him, but she laughs along with everyone else, because she can’t help it. The kids even use a fishing hook to remove his toupee in front of the whole class.

Meanwhile, Jessi’s participating in SMS’s “Sixth Grade Follies” – a show that the sixth graders put on every year, spoofing their teachers. I think it’s supposed to be a bit of a junior SNL show. She’s involved with writing it, and ends up as one of the leads. Someone decides to add a joke about Mr. Trout to the show and convinces Jessi to play him. She’s worried about hurting his feelings, but decides to go along with it, since all the other teachers laugh at the show. And of course, Jessi’s a huge hit. But, the Monday after the show, Mr. Trout’s absent. The rumors around school are that he just didn’t show up and skipped town. His replacement’s a pretty decent teacher, but Jessi’s still eaten up with guilt about it. Everyone keeps telling her not to worry, but she can’t help herself. She finally writes a letter to Mr. Trout, who responds that she didn’t do anything wrong, she was always a good student, and that he decided he wasn’t meant for teaching and was applying to grad school.

Becca loves watching Jessi prepare for the follies, and she decides to put on one of her own. She gets together with the Barretts, the Arnolds, Charlotte Johanson, and some of the Pikes, and puts on the “BSC Follies.” The kids all play one of the BSC members, and put on a skit about a BSC meeting. Jessi and the others love it, of course.

High/Lowlights

• I can’t believe that a guy like Mr. Trout could make it through a day by himself, let alone get a job teaching. He drops everything he touches, gets his tie stuck in a drawer, and loses chalk on a daily basis.

• So, the “prank” that’s supposedly so horrible: The premise of the Follies is that all the teachers are some celebrity type (such as Elvis, Dolly Parton, Pig Pen from Peanuts, etc). When Elvis enters, someone points out that he’s supposed to be dead, and Elvis responds, “No, I was kidnapped by the Klingons.” Then Jessi (as Mr. Trout) walks in with a bald “wig” and says, “Kwingons. Pwease.” I have to admit, I don’t really get the joke, unless it’s just funny to see Jessi in a bald wig? I’ve never been a big Star Trek person, so maybe I’m missing something.

• When talking about the Klingons, Jessi refers to them as “those ugly bald guys” from Star Trek (which, I guess, explains the joke a little). But since I’m still not totally sure what Klingons are, I checked, and it doesn’t seem they are really bald. At least not all of them.
• Jessi claims (to the reader) that she was the “comedy-highlight” of SMS’s production of Peter Pan. If that’s what she needs to believe to get through the day, then I guess she should keep telling herself that.

• Jessi’s nervous about singing in the Follies audition, because she thinks her singing hurt her when auditioning for Peter Pan. I actually like this, because it shows some continuity and character depth. We never really got to hear Jessi’s final reaction to the play in that Super Special.

• Claudia outfit: “She was wearing ‘50s-style cat’s eye glasses frames, a plastic barrette in the shape of an alligator, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and bell bottoms.”

• One of the planning meetings for the Follies is at Jessi’s house. And at 10:00 am, she serves multiple kinds of chips and candy. I know kids that age eat a lot, but at 10:00? My parents wouldn’t have let me eat/serve food like that early in the morning.
• There’s also a Wayne’s World skit….that’s a bit of a flashback.

• Jessi, for all her talk about feeling bad for Mr. Trout, sure laughs hard at all the pranks. Someone being revealed as bald may sound funny, but I would think it would be pretty awkward to actually be in the room. But maybe I’m just getting old.

• Jessi’s kind of a snob about the audition for the Follies, because the dance routine is just too easy for someone of her great talents. She kind of rolls her eyes at all the bad dancers trying out.

• Sixty people show up for auditions, and I’m not sure if that includes the planning teams of twenty people. How many people are in each grade at SMS? It’s never really clear how big the town/school really is.

• The tagline on the cover of the book is, “Some joke AREN’T funny.” But the whole plot of the book suggests that the jokes ARE funny, at least to everyone in the story. Even Jessi, who feels bad for Mr. Trout cracks up at everything that happens to him. And her skit in the Follies pretty much brought down the house.

• The teachers organizing the show tell the cast they’re going to serve ice cream in the cafeteria after the show. Which makes me think it’s a cast party. But Jessi invites her whole family and the BSC to go along. Maybe it’s no big deal and lots of kids brought guests, but it seemed odd.

• Jessi starts a petition for the students to ask Mr. Trout back. If she really feels bad, why bother? Doesn’t she realize that him coming back would just add to the pain?

• Isn’t it kind of strange that while taking computer programming, Jessi’s class never actually uses computers? I know it was the early nineties so schools may not have had as many machines, but still. We had computer labs in my middle school, which was around the same time.

• The BSC really must be pretty loyal, because they all sign Jessi’s petition, when it’s hanging on the school bulletin board.

• Jessi actually goes and tells the principal about all the pranks after Mr. Trout leaves, because she’s feeling guilty. I think it seems a bit pointless for her to do that, since there’s nothing that can be done about it at that point. She’s just being a “tattletale.” AND, the stories shouldn’t really be a surprise for the principal….if stories about the toupee removal stunt (and others) were all over school, he teachers had to have started picking up on them.

• While creating the show, Jessi gets friendly with all these other kids working on it. Yet, we never hear about them again.

• Jessi does acknowledge that Mr. Trout brought the trouble on himself by never using any discipline on the kids. Which is true. I want to know how he ended up teaching in the first place.

• The “BSC Follies” that the kids put on are pretty silly, but accurate. They have “Kristy” screaming everything she says, “Mary Anne” crying all the time, “Claudia” eating a ton of candy and contemplating wearing a clock as a hat. I’m kind of wondering how the kids know the BSC so well. They are never at meetings to see Kristy call them to order. And if Claudia’s junk food is such common knowledge, why haven’t her parents heard?

• The actual message in this book is a bit mixed. They have Jessi feel all guilty because she participated in the skit knowing it would hurt Mr. Trout’s feelings. But, they also have everyone else rightfully pointing out that no other teacher had a problem with the Follies and that Mr. Trout was just not meant for the job.

“What’s the big deal if we’re five minutes late?”…..BSC # 68: Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter

Memory Reaction

As a kid, I wasn’t sure if we were going to get a new character to replace Dawn when she moved to California (the first time). At first, I thought this book was really introducing a new character, which was an idea I sort of like and sort of hated. But I think I was a little relieved that the potential new member introduced in this book didn’t become permanent. What’s weird is I can’t remember if I liked her or not. I know she was all “rebellious” at least for a BSC member. Part of me thinks that I agreed with her points about Kristy overreacting to a little lateness. But that may have just been an opinion that formed when I reread the book a few years later.


Revisited Reaction

This book picks up soon after Dawn leaves for her “six-month” visit to California. Because the BSC’s now one member short, they’re super busy. On top of that, Mallory has been feeling tired, because the ghostwriters are setting up the next book where she gets Mono. This means she isn’t around to sit as much either. So, Jessi suggests they ask a new friend of hers, Wendy, to join. Wendy attends one meeting, which is so insanely busy the other girls don’t really have time to ask her any questions, or to tell her how the club works. But she does get to go along with Jessi on a sitting job for an audition. She’s great with the kids, so the girls make her a member.

However, it seems Wendy’s a pretty laid back person. Meaning, she doesn’t think it’s a big deal to get to a club meeting 20 minutes late or to take a job sitting for her neighbor without telling the BSC. She even shows up for a sitting job late (because it was at the Pikes and she was only the second sitter). Kristy tries to yell at her for these criminal offenses, but Wendy doesn’t particularly care and thinks that only her parents and teachers can tell her what to do. She ends up quitting the club and walking out of a meeting. Later, she and Jessi agree to stay friends, but I don’t think she’s ever mentioned again. Meanwhile, Shannon suddenly has extra free time so she agrees to be a regular member until Dawn comes back.

Subplot: The Barrett kids miss Dawn, and they come up with an idea to make a video for her with some other neighborhood kids. They end up doing a skit that’s a combination of Snow White and Captain Planet. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I actually think they come up with a kinda cute story. By sheer coincidence, Dawn gets the idea to make a video with some of the kids in California. Then, the book seriously dates itself by having both sets of girls create a VHS that they snail mail across the country.

The second subplot is that Margo Pike is suddenly a shoplifter. She steals a pack of gum and a troll ring. Jessi catches her, and eventually tells Mallory, who makes Margo fess up to her parents. And they totally let her get away with it. Mrs. Pike makes Margo tell the store manager what she did, who just takes the stuff back (and money for the gum). And that’s it. No mention of another punishment.

High/Llowlights

• Jessi claims that Squirt’s two. When did he have a birthday? He’s always been one-and-a-half. It’s especially annoying, since in the next book preview in the back of the book, it says he’s one-and-a-half.

• Jessi’s sitting for her siblings when Wendy calls her. And she just invites Wendy to come over and hang out while she’s sitting. That seems like she’s breaking some kind of sitting rule.

• The cover of this book made me laugh, because it shows Wendy sitting at a BSC meeting, chewing gum. And the tag line is “This is Dawn’s replacement?” As though chewing gum at a meeting makes her a horrible person.

• Claudia: “She was wearing an oversized white shirt under a black vest covered with a design of shiny beads. (She had sewn the beads on it herself). She wore neon green leggings and black ballet slippers (on which she’d sewn a matching bead design). From one of her pierced ears hung a dangling earring made from the same beads and on the other ear she wore a green hoop earring.” I guess the ghostwriter didn’t know Claudia has three holes.

• Mallory outfit: “She was wearing a faded lavender sweat out-fit, her blue terrycloth robe thrown over it.”

• I remember this scene so vividly – Vanessa Pike gets a curler stuck in her hair, and Jessi has to cut it out. Then she makes a little braid out of the cut section. I sometimes tried to imitate that (although, not the actual hair cutting).

• Now speaking of Vanessa, she was doing her hair for a birthday party she was going to at 5:30 on a Thursday. That seems like a strange time for a party, especially for a fourth-grader.

• I don’t really buy how busy the club is with Dawn gone. She was one person, and she likely wasn’t sitting more than once a day. So, each girl would be taking on one more job a week. But supposedly they’re all twice as busy as before?

• They also talk about how meetings are much busier without Dawn, supposedly they are getting a lot of phone calls. But they only have one line, so it’s not like an additional person can answer more calls.

• Mallory falls asleep while reading Claire The Three Bears. And Claire is all, “I don’t blame her. It’s a really boring book.” That made me laugh, which is rare for Claire.

• The Margo shoplifting plot totally comes out of nowhere. There’s no build up for it at all. Unless it’s supposed to be a sign of how screwed up the Pike kids will be one day.

• When the girls are shopping for props/costumes for their video, they see an aisle in the store full of trolls. Now, THAT’s a flashback. I totally had a troll collection back in 4rth-5th grade.

• Good continuity alert: Dawn’s video shows Stephie (from the California Super Special) and mentions her friend Margie, who I’m sure was mentioned in another book.

• The day she quits, Wendy’s all annoyed because she was beating her friends in a Super Mario Brothers tournament, but had to leave to come to the meeting.

• Considering how rigid the BSC is sometimes, they don’t even bother to explain how the club works to Wendy.

• I guess Wendy was supposed to be a bit of a bitch, but she really just acted like a normal middle schooler.

• I wonder if this book was being planned when the previous book (where Dawn leaves) was written. In that one, Shannon says she doesn’t have time to be a full time BSCer. But by the end of this book, she suddenly has plenty of free time.

• There’s a scene at the end where the girls all go rollerblading, and they make a big deal out of describing not just Claudia and Stacey’s outfits, but their helmets and safety pads. I remember thinking how it was such a lame attempt to preach to kids about skating/biking safety.

• Claudia’s skating outfit: “Hot pink stirrup pants and a fuzzy pink sweater that made a nice contrast with her neon green pads and helmet.”

• Stacey’s: “Cool as ever in jeans and a short brown leather jacket. Her helmet was black with silver streaks.”

• The BSC members all go out to pizza and apparently “everyone” agreed on having a pepperoni pizza. And they decided the “one good thing” about Dawn being gone is that they don’t have to order a portion of the pie with no meat. BUT, from my recollection, Dawn was never the only person to get plain. She would usually want vegetables or plain, and everyone else wanted various different combinations. I remember one book where they ordered like 3 pies, with each half different.

“If I’d known what was going to happen at our club meeting the next day, I would have thought that a snake on the loose was nothing at all”…..BSC # 22

Memory Reaction

I think I sort of stole my original copy of this book from my cousins’ house. They had it on a bookshelf in their basement, and I started reading it while I was there. My aunt told me I could bring it home to finish reading, and I never gave it back. I don’t think they minded though. My cousins were both boys so I don’t even know how the book ended up in their house in the first place.

In terms of the actual plot, I remember that a snake gets loose and a hamster has babies, but that is really it.

Revisited Reaction

Jessi has what she calls a week off coming up – even though she still has school - because the Braddocks (who she sits for regularly) are on vacation and her dance school is closed. At first, she is looking forward to the time off, but she ends up taking a pet-sitting job for the animal-crazy Mancusis. This is the couple with multiple dogs, cats, birds, fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, and a snake. Kristy didn’t want the BSC to accept a job like this, but Jessi talked her into it.

So, for a week Jessi goes to the Mancusis and takes care of the animals. At one point Claudia brings over Jamie Newton and Nina Marshall and Mary Anne brings over the Perkins girls to see the animals. It is fairly dull except for the point where Mary Anne lets the snake get loose, and she and Jessi freak out a little. But super-girl Myriah Perkins helps find it.

Throughout the week, Jessi notices that one of the hamsters is acting “strange,” as if hamsters actually do anything anyway. But this one keeps sleeping in the corner instead of with the other hamsters, and it tries to bite Jessi. She finally takes it to the vet, and finds out she’s pregnant. The hamster ends up giving birth on Jessi’s last day on the job, and the Mancusis offer her a hamster. They also extend this offer to the BSC, but Mallory is the only one who takes them up on this. These hamsters end up being referenced regularly in future books.

The subplot is actually the (relatively) more interesting one. Kristy’s being more bossy than usual and it leads to some arguments with the older girls. The girls are also annoyed that she won’t just trust them to read the club notebook, and instead she asks them about it every day. Mallory and Jessi try to stay out of the fight, because they’re wimps who think that being President of the BSC actually gives Kristy power over them. And because they think the eighth-graders won’t stay their friends if they don’t think they can walk over them. Which makes me wonder why Jessi and Mal consider them such good friends.

The fight eventually leads to Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn insisting on new elections (Stacey is in NYC at this point). I’d completely forgotten this whole storyline, until I got to the part where they discuss new elections – when I remembered how it ended. Jessi and Mal are nervous about whom to vote for, because again, they’re wimps. But Jessi eventually decides to “listen to her heart” and votes for everyone to stay in the same roles. It turns out everyone else agrees, because the vote is unanimous to keep Kristy’s President, Claud’s VP, etc. Even Mary Anne votes for herself to stay as Secretary, Dawn votes for herself to stay as Treasurer, Claudia votes for herself to stay as VP, and all of them vote for Kristy to stay as President. They all make up and Kristy swears she’ll stop being so bossy and annoying about the notebook. But, I’m fairly sure she still asks this in later books.

High/Lowlights

• You can tell this book is early, because Jessi only says she might become a dancer someday and that Mallory might become an author someday.

• When giving the club backstory, Jessi says that Kristy or her brothers usually watched David Michael after school, and when they couldn’t, Mrs. Thomas made a bunch of phones calls. But isn’t what happened really that Kristy and her brothers had a day to watch them, with another sitter working on the other days? And the sitter cancelled, which led to all the phone calls and Kristy’s whole idea?

• Jessi says that Shannon and Logan were made associate members to help fill the void left by Stacey moving. But, that’s not true either. Someone better make Jessi study her BSC history before they let her narrate another book.

• Kristy says she hates the idea of pet-sitting because of her very first sitting job through the BSC, where she ended up sitting for a couple dogs. Which is good continuity. So, one point for the ghostwriters.

• During one argument, Mary Anne, Claud, and Dawn point out that Kristy doesn’t really do anything for the club besides come up with ideas….which they all do in addition to actual responsibilities. They actually have a pretty good point there.

• In the early books, they have pretty good continuity about Jessi having a regular job for the Braddocks, but that seems to stop later on. Was there a point where they actually mention her stopping, or did they just forget about it?

• The reason the Mancusis call the BSC is that their pet-sitter canceled at the last minute. When she hears this, Mallory is all, “that’s so irresponsible.” Way to be judgmental, Mal.

• It’s kind of wrong that while Jessi is sitting she lets all the neighborhood kids come and visit. She doesn’t let them feed the animals or anything – because it’s “her responsibility - but still. I’m sure if the Mancusis wanted little kids running around their house, they would have had their own children instead of running a zoo.

• The snake gets loose because Mary Anne took the cover off his cage to get a better look. That seems like something Mary Anne would never do in a million years.

• Of course, six-year-old Myraih Perkins knows that snakes are cold blooded and would most likely be found on the porch (where it is sunny).

• Jessi goes to the Mancusi’s before school, and then again right after school, and doesn’t finish until it’s time for the BSC meeting. That’s gotta be about three hours a day. I’ve never had pets, but it seems like an insane amount of time to spend taking care of your animals.

• Claud outfit: “This one consisted of an oversized, short-sleeved, cotton shirt with gigantic leaves printed all over it, green leggings – the same green as the leaves on her shirt – bright yellow push-down socks, her purple high-tops, and in her hair a headband with a gigantic purple bow attached to one side.” If it weren’t for the purple sneakers and headband, that seems semi-acceptable. At least for the eighties.

• Jessi outfit: “An oversized shirt – a white sweatshirt ballet shoes on the front…with jeans and regular socks and regular sneakers.” Jessi outfits are just not as fun to describe.

• “New elections” is probably a silly term, since they never even had real elections to begin with. They all just chose what they wanted.

• Hey, amazing coincidence. Kristy’s sitting for Jack Rodowsky, who’s running for a class “office” at this school. He wants to be the person who gets to feed the class rabbit. But he’s worried they will vote for the girl who can walk down the hall without falling. I can understand why he would be worried about that.

• Kristy tries to “help” Jackie, by telling him how to appear neater and more responsible, and Jackie actually calls Kristy out on being bossy. Interesting, because he was never able to do that with Jessi.

• Mary Anne asks Jessi and Mallory what they think of new elections – but then says their positions won’t change. If I were them, I would say, why not? Just cause they can’t sit at night doesn’t mean they can’t collect dues or anything.

• At one point, Mallory’s name is written with a lower-case “m.” So, maybe I’ll take back the point I gave the ghostwriters. I mean, don’t you learn in kindergarten to capitalize a person’s name?

• When she is at the vet, a kid in the waiting room has a white cat and she tells Jessi he’s deaf. Apparently, this happens a lot with white cats. That must be true, or else Ann Martin knew at least one white cat that couldn’t hear. Because I am pretty sure that in the Mallory mystery there is a deaf cat.

• Jessi hangs around at the Mancusi’s house the day they are supposed to return, because she wants to be there to tell them about the hamster having babies. But I’d be really annoyed if I got home from a long trip and was totally exhausted, only to have some random kid there.

• I can see people thinking Mary Anne’s the perfect secretary and Kristy the perfect President, but saying Dawn’s the best Treasurer is sort of random, since it was really Stacey who was perfect for that job.

• Jackie ends up losing his election, so Kristy talks to his mom and offers to hook them up with one of the Mancusi hamsters to make him feel better. I guess it’s good that she talked to his mom first, but it’s sort of a rude thing to ask out of the blue like that. Especially since she says it will be good for Jackie. These girls need to learn how to not butt in.

“What if I get too fat to dance?”…..BSC # 61: Jessi and the Awful Secret

Memory Reaction

The secret in this is that a girl in Jessi’s dance class has anorexia, and what really stands out in my mind is how Jessi confronts the girl. She tells the girl that she knows all the symptoms because she and her friends “looked it up in a book.” Which is okay, except for the fact that she then says she looked it up because she was worried about her. I must have been ten or eleven and still thought it was incredibly stupid of Jessi to tell the girl that’s the reason, instead of saying she was looking it up for a school project. Of course, the girl will get irritated at that.

Revisited Reaction

Jessi volunteers to help teach a dance class for kids that her ballet school is giving. When she does, she starts getting to know this girl, Mary, from her class. Mary is obsessed with her weight and thinks if she could just lose ten pounds her dancing would approve. Jessi thinks this is crazy, because Mary is super-skinny. Then, she realizes that Mary never seems to eat, which makes Jessi worried. So, of course, this is all because Mary is anerexic. She keeps denying it, and gets annoyed at Jessi for mentioning it, but she eventually faints in class a couple times. Jessi finally claims she is going to tell their dance teacher, which gets the girl to admit it.

So, meanwhile, the class itself is for underprivileged children. Jessi enjoys teaching the kids (most of them), and thinks it is sad that they won’t be able to keep dancing once the program ends. Her friend Quint gives her the idea to get the dance school to arrange the scholarship for some of the kids. Watson hears about this, and decides to fund the scholarship himself. So, Jessi is all happy about what they have accomplished.

High/Lowlights

• During Jessi’s regular class she says that there is a piano player who plays for them to rehearse to. Does that seem believable? I can see if they were preparing for a show, but just for a regular class?

• Jessi talks about this girl, Carrie, who is the “oldest student in class.” She thinks that Carrie is nervous because she is about to graduate and hasn’t had a leading role. Do people really “graduate” from class like that? And are kids who want to dance professional going to be training at the same place as little kids?

• Claudia outfit: “She was wearing a neon green tank top under a white oversized man’s shirt and fuschia pink stirrup pants.” The top doesn’t sound so bad, but the pink stirrup pants kill it. However, I will admit to owning a pair back in the late eighties.

• Jessi is allowed to wear “non-traditional” clothes to the kid’s dance class, and is thrilled about it. However, I specifically remember her liking not having to think about it previously.

• Jessi’s own pick for workout clothes: “A neon green leotard and a pair of deep blue work-out pants with heavy yellow slouchy socks.” What is with all the neon green?

• Jessi, Mary, and the other students teaching the kids class go out to a Burger King after classes to get to know each other. Obviously, this is an issue for Mary. Jessi suggests she get a salad (this is before Jessi knows she is anorexic), and Mary is all, “there is so much fat in salad dressing.” She doesn’t have to get dressing.

• In this book Shannon has a lot of free time and wants to keep hanging out with Kristy. However, Kristy is apparently “too busy” for this. So, the other girls in the club tell Shannon to call them. Kristy is thrilled with this solution for a while, but then gets jealous when she sees her friends and Shannon doing things with out her. But the weirdest part is that no one can figure out why Kristy is annoyed whenever people talk about Shannon.

• Is it weird that everyone refers to Kristy’s grandmother as Mimi? Mrs. Brewer actually does this when talking to Stacey (as in, “Nannie will be home at…”). I don’t see that happening.

• The mother of a little girl who is one of Jessi’s favorites keeps staring at her in class. Jessi is all freaked out, but it turns out that the woman was watching her because she (the woman) was surprised to see a black person dancing. The woman is black too, and apparently someone had told her that her daughter could never be a dancer. So, it gives her hope or something. And that little girl is one that gets a scholarship.

• Quint writes Jessi a letter describing how he gets annoyed about girls who obsess with dieting in his ballet classes. Then he says, “I’m lucky guys don’t have to worry as much.” Not exactly the most sensitive attitude. I mean, eating disorders are a serious thing, but you can’t really judge people unless you know what they are going through.

• Jessi’s attitude isn’t really much better though. She is right that Mary is too skinny but she mentions how even though she watches her weight, she doesn’t struggle with it too much.

• Madame Noelle tells Mary to have chicken soup to get over her “virus,” and Jessi thinks that the advice is “wiser than she realizes.” But I am pretty sure a dance teacher has seen eating disorders before. And we do find out later Madame Noelle suspected Mary’s problem.

• Jessi has a lot of nerve for just walking up to her dance teacher and suggesting the school give out a scholarship. It worked out, since it is a BSC book, but still. It probably wouldn’t in most real life situations.

• There is something weird about how Watson just “decides” to sponsor the scholarship. I am not sure how, it just is.

• I don’t think this book really presents anorexia in the best way. It really is a psychological disorder, and it is presented as though it is just some girl taking dieting too far, and all she needs is to be told. It is like the Full House episode where D.J. had anorexia for a day.

• It also doesn’t present “underprivileged children” in the best way. Well, the book actually describes them as “less privileged.” First, the teacher is super-relaxed, and Jessi and the other assistants think she doesn’t expect anything from them. Then, she actually teaches them and gets them to perform a recital, and the assistants act like they helped her “accomplish something” and made the kids really happy. But I am not sure why they think that. The kids danced for six weeks and only two of them get to keep attending class.

“Sleeping Beauty’s sleeping on the job”…..BSC # 42: Jessi and the Dance School Phantom

Memory Reaction

The main thing I remember about this book is how Jessi keep talking about leg warmers. Because the “phantom” steals her leg warmers, or destroys them (or whatever), and she keeps buying new ones. But it always seemed strange because she never mentions wearing them to practice in other books. I think they just added it to this one so that there would be more things to get messed with. Also, I am trying really hard, but I can’t remember if I have ever actually see someone wear leg warmers.

I know that the basic plot of this one has some girl harassing Jessi hoping to get her to give up her part as lead in some ballet, and I am testing myself to see if I can remember which one it is. I want to say it is the “old” girl from her class (meaning, like 16), but I think she is only a suspect.

Revisited Reaction

So, we start this one with Jessi in the middle of yet another audition to a dance performance. This time it is Sleeping Beauty, and surprise, surprise, she gets the lead. She is super-happy about it, until the first rehersal. Someone steals her toe shoes from her bag. She knows she didn’t lose them, because she remembered packing them the night before, but she just can’t find them. Of course, Mme Noelle (her teacher) is very upset, but they get through the rehersal. Later, Jessi gets a note saying “Beware.” She figures out that the note is from a classmate that wants her to drop out of the show so they can take over the lead part.

As rehearsals go on, more things happen. Some of her leotards are stolen or ripped up. The same thing happens with her toe shoes and warm up clothes (including leg warmers). She also gets notes saying generic threats like “drop out, or else” and “beware.” At one rehearsal, Jessi even slips on some water and strains her ankle (but not badly enough to have to drop out of the show).

She recruits the BSC’s help and the girls sneak into a rehearsal to spy on her classmates and figure out who is guilty. They narrow it down to three: Katie Beth, the girl who was jealous of Jessi when she first joined the class, Carrie, the “old girl” who needs good parts on her resume when she graduates, and Hilary, this girl with a pushy stage mother. One day, Carrie is out sick and Jessi still gets a note, so Jessi decides it isn’t her. Then Katie Beth pushes Jessi out of the way of a piece of scenery that fell, so Jessi decides it isn’t her. That leaves Hilary.

She ends up confronting Hilary by having her write something and proving the handwriting matches the notes. Hilary confesses, and claims she did it because of all the pressure her mother puts on her. She apologizes and….Jessi lets her go. Seriously, what is up with that? These girls are all way too forgiving. Anyway, Hilary stops her tricks and decides to give up dancing after the performance. And the show goes well, Jessi is fantastic, yada, yada, yada.

Subplot: The BSC is putting on a pet show…or, they are having one for the neighborhood kids. This causes a bunch of arguments between families over who has the best pet and within families about who gets to enter each pet. But Jessi has the brilliant idea to give everyone a prize, so everyone is happy.

High/Lowlights

• Jessi tells us how the room would be full of neon if the girls in her dance class were allowed to pick out their own leotards. I know we can’t see the girls in these books, but I think we should all be grateful that didn’t happen.

• In this book, we are told that Dawn wears casual clothes in lots of bright colors. Is that what “California Casual” means?

• So, clearly, I was wrong about Carrie being the phantom. But I realized it really quickly. The first day of rehearsals, when Jessi is missing her shoes Mme Noelle wants to end the rehearsal. Then Hilary is all, “no I think we should look one more time.” And of course, they find them two minutes later. So, it was pretty obvious at that point.

• It is not really clear if Hilary actually causes Jessi to hurt her ankle, but she does leave a note that says, “I told you so. From now on, watch out.” But if Jessi thinks she did, she should really tell someone. Notes and one thing, but causing physical injury is another.

• How come the parents of the kids these girls sit for are always so open-minded? Mallory is telling some story about how the Perkins girls and their dog were making a mess in the bathroom (washing the dog), but adds that Mrs. Perkins was okay with whatever the girls wanted to do. It is like they want to give the BSC funny stories without having them get in trouble.

• Jessi makes a bunch of comments about the girls in her dance class being catty, but we don’t get to hear much of it. The worst is saying that one of the girls is “over-the-hill.” The only person we hear saying something even close to mean is Hilary, which should make it obvious she was guilty.

• Linny Papadakis has a pet turtle that he paints for the show, and leaves him in the backyard to dry. Which of course leads to the turtle getting wet and ruining the paint job. But why is Linny letting his turtle loose in the backyard? Couldn’t he get lost that way?

• Charlie drives the entire BSC to one of Jessi’s rehersals, helps sneak them in to watch, then drives them all home. Again, I have to ask. Does this guy not have a life?

• Mallory thinks that one of the girls in Jessi’s class is so nice that she must be faking it, but Jessi refuses to consider her a suspect. Wasn’t the point of having the BSC watch her rehearsal to get a second opinion on her classmates?

• If the BSC went to the trouble of going to a rehearsal, wouldn’t it make sense for one of them to hide in the dressing room to see if they could catch someone messing with Jessi’s stuff?

• I am not sure why Jessi thinks that Katie Beth saving her from getting hit with scenery means she isn’t the one sending her notes. Just because she didn’t want you dead, doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you out of the show.

• Jessi doesn’t tell any one but the BSC about what is happening because she doesn’t want her parents to worry and she doesn’t want to her dance teacher to think she is making trouble. But Madame Noelle actually comes out and asks her what is bothering her and she says nothing.

• After Jessi has figured out Hilary is the one sending her notes, she comes up with a plan to corner her alone in the dressing room, and tell her that Madame Noelle needs her to write a sign. Then she spends two days obsessing over it while waiting. But when she puts it into action, she realizes she never thought of what she was asking her to write. Smooth.

• At the pet show, Jessi, Mallory, and Kristy aren’t judges since they have siblings entering pets in the show. Which makes sense (although it doesn’t really matter, since again, everyone is getting a prize).

• Now, Mary Anne isn’t allowed to be a judge because she “loves her kitten, Tiger, so much that she might be biased toward any cats that were entered.” That isn’t really giving Mary Anne enough credit, is it?

• They give everyone at the pet show a prize. But I would think some kids would still be upset, since some of the prizes are “smartest” or “cutest” and others are things like “most unusually colored shell” and “shortest legs.”

• Early in the book, they announce the parts and we are told Carrie is the Bluebird of Happiness. In the middle, Jessi tells the BSC that Carrie is the Lilac Fairy. Then at the end, Jessi tells us that she dances with Carrie as the Bluebird of Happiness. I almost didn’t notice that error, but it was definitely there.

• When they go to the performance, Stacey wears a tuxedo. Isn’t there another book where she does that? Or was that Claudia?

“This was nothing like my first ballet class”….BSC # 55: Jessi’s Gold Medal

Memory Reaction

I totally wanted to be a synchronized swimmer after I read this book. At least, I think this book is what led to it, since it was around the same time. I tried to sign up for classes at the YMCA, but I didn’t rank high enough after their swimming test and had to take lessons first. Then, by the time I reached the appropriate level, I had sort of lost interest in getting up early on Saturday to go swimming.

Revisited Reaction

This book takes place during the summer Olympics – the 1992 ones going by the date it was published. Anyway, SMS is also having its annual Sports Festival. Interesting that it is called annual, but it never showed up in other books.

Jessi’s gym class is doing a swimming unit and when she takes her test for placement in the classes, this synchronized swimming coach sees her and is so awed by how graceful she is, she invited Jessi to join her team. Jessi is paired with another girl Elsie, who is a great swimmer but not so graceful. They figure they are a good match because Jessi is graceful, but sucks at swimming. The pair is competing in the sports festival, and they are really nervous because they are the worst in the class.

Everyone keeps telling Jessi how they know she will win the competition, because she has done so well with dancing before. But Jessi and Elsie are actually horrified at how much they suck because they are used to doing so well at dance and swimming respectively. So, they spend hours of extra time practicing, and at the festival, they win first place. They both decide to quit the team anyway, because they don’t want to work that hard at being good. Because you shouldn’t do things if you aren’t naturally good at them, I guess.

Meanwhile, there are a couple subplots going on.

1) Jessi decides that since everyone is Olympic crazy, the BSC should throw a mini-Olympics for the kids they watch. It is pretty dull, Charlotte Johanssen and Becca refuse to participate but have fun watching. Andrew Brewer can’t win anything, because he is four, but he gets a prize for trying hard. Etc.

2) Kristy challenges Alan Grey to some obstacle-course/race at the festival. They bet a week as a personal slave. Kristy wins, so Alan has to do all the grunt work at the mini-olympics. I would really like to see what would have happened if Alan won. Remember…he has the hots for Kristy.

3) Mallory acts super-lame. She doesn’t want to compete in the festival, because as we all know she hates sports. For some reason her friends are all: “You don’t want to be in the festival? Why not? It is all in fun.” They do this to Mary Anne too, who ignores them. But Mal tries to pretend she sprains her ankle to get out of doing anything. Only, she really sprained her ankle while doing so.

High/Lowlights

• I totally remember this part: Mme Noelle’s saying that hoses sweat, gentlemen perspire, and ladies “glow.”

• Would an eleven-year-old really be guest in the lead of actual ballets? Like Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty? When I was eleven, my ballet class had a recital every year, but it wasn’t an actual show. I’m sure Jessi’s class is supposed to be more intense, but I can’t see the youngest kid in class getting that many lead roles.

• See, Jessi’s dad does pick her up from class.
  

• Becca’s bathing suit was plain white, so she colored it with markers. What kind of kid gets a plain white bathing suit?

• Jessi wants her parents to get a pool and when they say it is too expensive, she offers them her baby-sitting money. Right, Jessi.

• Claud outfit: “Pastel-green, cuffed shorts; a wild Hawaiian shirt tied at the waist, with vibrant colors that picked up the green; and sandals with crisscrossing ankle straps to her knees.”

• I can’t believe a middle school class would have a swimming unit. Especially if there is no pool at the school. Mal and Jessi had to walk a good five minutes to get to the community pool. Then they still have to change. How long is their class that they have time to do this?

• Also, I doubt the school would be allowed to leave campus to go use a pool – my high school was right next to our town pool, but we were never allowed to go there because of various liability issues that exist if a teacher takes kids off school property.

• Mallory is so embarrassed by her bathing suit, that she hides behind Jessi the whole time. Why would she bring a bathing suit she thought looked babyish? She claims she wouldn’t have done it if she knew the boys were going to be able to see her, but wouldn’t she have worried about the girls too? They are the ones more likely to insult her taste in fashion.

• Would a swim test really make people do the dog paddle? I always thought that was a “bad” way to swim, and while it would keep you afloat, you should be taught “real” strokes. I mean, you didn’t see Michael Phelps winning a medal for his awesome dog-paddle, did you?

• In the sports festival, Dawn enters the javelin throw. Her reasoning is that no one knows how to do it, so she won’t be the worst in the class. Again, would middle school have something like that?

• What is wrong with these girls? Charlotte Johanssen does want to be in the mini-Olympics. So, Stacey tricks her and Becca into having their own races, then says, “so isn’t this fun? Are you sure you don’t want to do the Olympics? Then Charlotte feels bad because she thinks Stacey is mad at her.

• When Kristy hears Charlotte doesn’t want to enter, she can’t believe it. Has she met Charlotte?

• Mary Anne calls Charlotte to tell her she isn’t being in the sports festival, so Charlotte shouldn’t feel bad about not being in the mini-olympics. Charlotte actually convinces Mary Anne to sell refreshments at the festival. Meanwhile, poor Mal still can’t admit she doesn’t want to do it.

• Of course Jessi gets to choreograph the swimming routines.

• Claudia enters a “backwards race,” and I am pretty sure she only did it to show off her outfit: “Electric pink track shorts with a turquoise racing stripe, a matching top with cut off sleeves, brand new high-top track shoes with no socks, and floral print suspenders.”

• I can sort of see Jessi not wanting to keep swimming, because she wanted to save her energy for ballet. But I really think she just didn’t like being naturally good at something.