“It’s not that he wouldn’t be interested in you”…..BSC Super Special # 10: Sea City, Here We Come!

Memory Reaction

I think I’ve said before that I liked the Sea City books, so I was glad to see a super special set there. But, I remember thinking how this book made it more obvious that the girls didn’t age. I mean, I knew they didn’t age and I understood why. I didn’t even mind (too much) that they had multiple summer vacations. But a third trip to Sea City in 8th grade was a bit hard to accept.

The specific thing I remember is how Logan’s self-conscious about meeting Alex, and there’s a scene where he and Mary Anne are walking on the beach (or somewhere), and she says how she doesn’t miss being a mothers’ helper “now.” Then they run into Alex and Toby, and Mary Anne keeps pulling Logan’s arm around her tighter, which Logan interprets as Mary Anne wanting to make it clear he’s her boyfriend.

I also remember getting a Buddy chapter, and how when he’s helping a cop pick up trash on the beach, the cop keeps calling him “Buddy.” But he meant it generically and didn’t know it was his actual name.

Revisited Reaction

So, this year the Pikes’ mother’s helpers are Mallory (because she apparently doesn’t want a vacation) and Jessi. Stacey’s still going to Sea City, but working for the Barretts who are staying next door. But the Pikes invited the rest of the BSC (including Logan) to stay with them for the second week of the vacation. Franklin (currently Mrs. Barrett’s fiancé) is going down for a few days in the middle of the trip, so he’s driving the whole gang down. When he leaves, Logan will go with them so he can work back in Stoneybrook, and everyone else will stay with the Pikes.

Because Sea City = boy drama, Toby and Alex are also down there at the same time. Stacey’s trying to act like it doesn’t bother her that Toby “dumped” her back in the last book. Alex is eager to see Mary Anne, even though they are now supposedly just friends. Anyway, Toby starts flirting with Mallory, talking about how different she looks now that she’s 11-years-old and grown up, as opposed to the time she went to Sea City when she was 11 and still a kid. Meanwhile, Mrs. Barrett’s driving Stacey crazy, and Jessi’s trying to be the best sitter ever, because she wants to prove she’s as good as an older sitter.

Back in Stoneybrook, the rest of the BSC gets to have their own boring stories before leaving for Sea City.

• Claudia’s finishing summer school, and has made a couple friends. Then she’s almost upset to find out she can’t go to a barbeque one of them is having to celebrate the end of school.

• Kristy’s dealing with the fact that more than half of the Krushers are on vacation. So, she doesn’t have enough players for an upcoming game. She doesn’t want to forfeit, so she walks around her neighborhood ringing doorbells to recruit new team members. She gets enough players for the game, but they totally suck and lose.

• Mary Anne and Dawn are having a “mini-camp” in their backyard. They go on a trip to a nearby farm and have a sleepover in the barn. Dawn makes up a lame ghost story about her secret passage.

Anyway, when they finally all arrive in Sea City. They go to the beach, play miniature golf, go to some circus that’s in town, etc. But then a hurricane hits. They try to drive inland for the storm, but the causeway to town floods and they are stuck. They end up spending the storm in the gym of a local elementary storm. Afterwards they don’t have power, but stay back at their house for the last few days of the tip.

Back to the boy drama – Toby ended up asking Mallory out for Friday, the last night of the vacation. She says yes and gets Claudia and Jessi to help her get ready. (Stacey’s barely talking to her at this point). But then Mal starts thinking about Ben Hobart and how it’s her family’s last night in Sea City. She tells Toby she isn’t going on the date, and he’s all, “okay, well let me know if you or any other cute girls will be around next summer.” Then she and Stacey make up.

High/Lowlights

• Stacey outfit: “This white T-shirt that hung practically to her knees…white stretch pants…to mid-calf, a tan leather belt over the T-shirt, and leather-strap sandals.”

• They say, last time Mary Anne was in Sea City, she and Alex became pretty friendly, but it didn’t turn into anything serious. However, Stacey and Toby “actually dated.” They were in Sea City for two weeks. How much “dating” can you do?

• Claudia says how summer school teachers make students miserable because they would have preferred to have the summer off too. Which, I’m sure is true, but at least the teachers get paid for teaching in the summer.

• Claudia became friendly with a summer school classmate who lives near her and also likes art. And of course we never hear about her again.

• I can see the Pikes inviting the BSC to stay with them in the beach house, since it’s big enough and not a huge extra cost. Plus, they know the girls will help with the kids. But they also rent a van so they can bring everyone back, which seems like a pretty big expense to take on. Also, can you really fit that many more people in a van than a station wagon?

• I don’t remember noticing this when I was younger, but the BSC likes to make a point of describing Mrs. Barrett as gorgeous.

• Mary Anne and Dawn’s mini-camp took a trip to visit the fire department. We don’t see it, but it seems a little unbelievable that 13-year-olds could arrange that visit.
• Kristy lists the remaining players on the Krushers, and there are seven of them. But then later she refers to Marilyn Arnold pitching, who wasn’t on the original list, but wasn’t mentioned as a new player either.

• Kristy finds her new players by ringing doorbells in her neighborhood. But wouldn’t the kids around there be the people on Bart’s team? Also, it seems kind of weird for Kristy to talk to kids about joining a team, and getting their phone numbers/addresses without talking to any parents.

• Apparently, Claudia once brought her VCR remote to school, thinking it was a calculator. Now….seriously?

• I have to give them some credit for SOME continuity. There’s a picture of Karen playing softball in the chapter about the Krushers game, and her shirt has “Crushers” written on it. Even though there’s no actual text reference to how she insisted on spelling it that way on her shirt.

• I remembered this scene, but I didn’t realize it was this book until I was in the middle of it. The Krushers are getting killed in the game, but somehow after Gabby got a hit, a Basher through it in the stands. Then Charlie hides the ball and everyone cheers for Gabby scoring.

• The back of the book says that Mary Anne shows Logan the sites, including the Tunnel of Luv. But in the actual book, the Tunnel of Luv’s closed, and they have to make do with a haunted house ride.

• We get a Margo chapter in this book. She finds a tide pool and tries to make it into a “beach zoo,” and charge people fifty cents to look at it. It’s a waste of a chapter.

• Jessi answers a question about sandpipers, and Margo’s all, “Jessi is so smart.” Then later, Jessi tells Mallory to “follow her heart” about whether to go out with Toby. And Mallory’s all, “Jessi is so smart.” I remember noticing that when I was younger, and wondering if that was on purpose.

• We also get a Buddy chapter in this book. He refers to his sisters as “The Uglies” and is upset he didn’t get to see any dead bodies or houses blown away by the hurricane. It’s another waste of a chapter.

• I find it interesting that Logan was invited to Sea City, and that Mary Anne’s dad had no problem with the two of them staying at the same beach house. (I know Mr. and Mrs. Pikes where there, but still). But I guess they needed him there to add to make the Alex encounters more awkward.

• The next time Mallory’s annoyed that she doesn’t have time to herself and that her parents expect her to baby-sit 24/7, she should remember volunteering to work on her vacation.

• Jessi hardly gets any time in this book. Her storyline’s supposed to be about how she’s trying to be a super-sitter, but all we really see of her is taking care of Claire, Margo, and Suzi. The girls want to enter a sand castle contest, and Jessi’s all worried because there are adults planning to enter the contest who take it very seriously (and will obviously demolish the girls). But the contest in cancelled because of the storm. It’s even less exciting then it sounds.

• Even though the BSC’s traveling with the Pikes, we get a Karen chapter. She gives us the Stoneybrook point of view of the storm, even though nothing interesting happens. It’s the third waste of a chapter. They should have given us Alex or Toby’s perspective, or at least more of Stacey/Mallory fighting.

• I wonder if Franklin and Mrs. Barrett share a room when he’s in Sea City. Don’t ask me why I think of things like that.

• Mallory writes a letter to Stacey’s mom, addressed to “Mrs. McGillicudy,” as a joke I guess. But it seems kind of weird that she would write to her friend’s mom at all. I guess it was just an excuse for an “I Love Lucy” reference…I know Ann Martin was a fan.

• Dawn’s actually helping to take care of Franklin’s kids, so she stays at the house the Barretts are in. And there’s a scene where Stacey freaks out about how Dawn used the wrong towel, but Dawn tells her she didn’t, it must have been one of the kids. And I swear it’s the exact same thing that happened in the last Sea City book. Only in that one the towels were yellow and blue (or maybe white) flowers. And here they are solid pink and blue.

• Franklin and his kids are referred to as the “Harrises.” Even though later on they are the DeWitts.

• Only Claudia would have a dilemma when packing to evacuate during a hurricane. She was wearing, “These overdyed navy jeans [and]….a loose black cotton sweater over a white tank top.” And she was worried that her next warmest clothes – purple Hawaiian shorts and an orange striped shirt – would clash. I didn’t know Claudia knew the meaning of the word clashed.

• A quote worthy conversation – Mrs. Barrett: “They say the road was fortified”; Mr. Pike: “They said the Titanic was unsinkable”; Claudia: “Is the Titanic going through the marsh?”

• Mallory’s date outfit (even though she didn’t go), “a short, flared, white-on-blue polka-dotted skirt…a white, ribbed tank-top…and a long, royal-blue men’s shirt with the tails tied in front.” Then she wore flamingo barrettes (that were “cool”) and pins with the faces of Virginia Woolf, Jimi Hendriz, Stephen Hawking, and Janis Joplin. Now that outfit I remember.

• Logan has a horse and buggy waiting to drive Mary Anne home from the Pikes (when they get back). That doesn’t seem like something Mary Anne would like, since it makes her the center of attention, but she says it’s romantic.

“I must have shot a zillion pictures of that bank”……BSC Mystery # 16: Claudia and the Clue in the Photograph

Memory Reaction

I liked this book as a kid because even though they were unrealistic, I enjoyed the mysteries. And this one at least seemed slightly plausible, because anyone could happen to take pictures of someplace the day it was robbed. Or maybe I just hoped it was plausible because I wanted it to happen to me.

I have one specific memory. It is that Claudia was developing pictures in her dark room, and Janine walked in on her. But Claudia doesn’t know Janine is home and she starts thinking someone was stalking her. That I didn’t want to happen to me.

Revisited Reaction

It’s summer in Stoneybrook and Claudia’s stuck going to summer school. However, her parents agreed she could also take a “fun” class. She signed up for photography and has gotten really into it. She’s been taking pictures all the time and using her bathroom as a darkroom to develop them. This ties into the BSC’s latest project – making a photo album for Dawn, who’s still in California. They’re getting together with a bunch of kids and spending a day taking pictures around town, inspired by “A Day in the Life of America.” Anyway, while taking pictures downtown, Claudia suddenly becomes fascinated by the Stoneybrook bank. She finishes a roll of film taking pictures of it, and

Amazingly, the BSC finds out later that money was taken from the bank on the same day they were there. So, they try to play detective. At first, they don’t see much in the pictures, just that there’s a guy in a suit and a woman with a baby carriage walking in front of the bank. They still bring them to the police station, and Sergeant Johnson remembers them from the dog-napping case. He takes the pictures, but says he doesn’t think they show anything.

However, these girls don’t like to give up, so they start “staking out” the bank. They figure out that the guy in a suit works at the bank and the woman with a carriage really has a baby. Claudia also remembers that she has more pictures of the bank in the unfinished roll on her camera. She goes to develop them, but someone opens the door to her bathroom/darkroom and it ruins the film. However, no one else in her family seems to be home at the time, which kind of freaks her out.

The BSC talks to Sergeant Johnson a few more times and find out the guy in a suit/banker is under suspicion because he lied about where he was on the day in question. But he tells them that unless they have a picture of the guy carrying something out of the bank, the photos are worthless. After analyzing more pictures (that Mary Anne took of Claudia taking pictures), and zooming in on the banker they realize that the guy’s wearing a watch (that works) and carrying a pocket watch (that doesn’t work). Apparently this is proof that he’s hiding something in the watch, and the girls think it MUST be a key to a safe deposit box in the bank, where the stolen money is hidden.

Then in the most ridiculous scene ever, they go to the police station and are allowed into the interrogation room to show the suspect these pictures and tell him their theory. And because this guy’s an idiot, he doesn’t ask for a lawyer or ignore them. He just confesses.

Oh, after a bunch of chapters of boring kid-antics, they finish the book for Dawn, and she writes a letter about how much she likes it and how she’ll be “home” soon. Because her heart totally belongs in Stoneybrook.

High/Lowlights

• We don’t get a lot of outfits in this one. Claud keeps talking about how she changes out of her good clothes into old shorts/T-shirts to go in the dark room. But, she doesn’t tell us what she’s taking off.

• Mary Anne’s sitting for the Barrett kids, and notices that Mrs. Barrett remembered to leave an “emergency number” while she went on her date with Franklin. She thinks it’s because of his influence, but I’m not sure I like the attitude that scatterbrained Mrs. Barrett only got organized because she met a guy.

• We do get one Claudia outfit: “A silky pink tank top with a man’s white shirt tied casually over it, white jeans, and flip-flops decorated with…pink stars.” My only issue with it is that it seems too warm for the summer. Even if it’s all white, it’s still pants and a (likely) long sleeved shirt.

• While Claudia, Kristy, Shannon, and Stacey are watching the bank from across the street, they see Logan entering the building. Stacey tries to call out to him, and Kristy’s all, “don’t! He could be a suspect. That girl’s a bit dramatic.

• Some of the kids taking pictures go to the Braddocks’ house, where they are having a picnic for people from Matt’s school for the deaf. Now, not to be rude, but why is that something to go in a book for Dawn? It’s not like she would know any of them (expect Matt and Haley).

• If Claudia, Mary Anne, Charlotte, Becca, and Buddy and Suzi Barrett were all hanging out across the street from the bank taking pictures, wouldn’t this banker guy have noticed them? And maybe tried to wait until they’ve moved on before committing a felony?

• When the girls first hear about the theft, Claudia says she wants to solve the case, but the rest of them tease her by saying this isn’t “Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Bank.” And they’re right. It’s Claudia and the Clue in the Photograph.” It’s MUCH more realistic.

• The first cop they talk to actually waves the girls away, saying the pictures wouldn’t hold up in court. While, that may be right, I’m surprised he wouldn’t even look at them. Photos of a crime scene certainly wouldn’t hurt an investigation.

• Janine’s the one who opened the door on Claudia in the “dark room.” She left the house quickly because she had done the same thing to Claudia earlier, and was embarrassed about making the same mistake twice. She finally confessed because she felt bad Claudia was worried about being stalked.

• Jessi gets a picture of Aunt Cecelia in her “fuzzy slippers.” I actually have a hard time picturing uptight Cecilia walking around in fuzzy slippers.

• Janine actually gets a lot to do in this one. The girls keep thinking they solved the case by something in the pictures. And Janine overhears them, comes into Claud’s room, and tells them they’re jumping to conclusions. But she’s not mean about it, at least not from my perspective….I tend to sympathize with Janine over Claudia a lot of the time.

• So, the girls wonder if the woman with a baby carriage is a suspect, and try to get a look at her baby (to see if it’s real), but the woman makes it hard to get a look. So, Claudia drops a bunch of coins to distract the woman and lifts up the blanket to see the baby while the mother’s helping pick up coins. The woman’s rightfully annoyed by this. I’m thinking she won’t be calling the BSC for a sitter.

• Sergeant Johnson tells them the banker’s under suspicion, but not to tell anyone. Because teenage girls can be counted on to keep police secrets. Especially, when it’s only his second encounter with them.

• I can believe that Claudia could get into taking pictures of one building for ages. But, she wasn’t alone. They end up with pictures of banker/suit guy in front of the bank, the bank with a light on and no one in front of it, and then the banker/suit guy back outside the bank again. This must have been over a fairly long period of time. What were Mary Anne and the kids doing while Claud did this?

• Why does the guy need a pocket watch to hide a safety deposit box key? Does he not know that you can put keys in the pocket of pants? Or a suit jacket?

• Furthermore, why is he still carrying the key around days later? It would make sense to keep it at home or in his office. It’s not like someone would know right away that the box it opened was filled with stolen cash. And he would have to go back to the bank to USE the key regardless, so it’s not like he was keeping it on him in case he had to go on the run.

• We’re never told how much money was stolen, which is kind of annoying.

• Because it can’t be said enough, what the hell kind of police let 13-year-olds in on a police interrogation!? There are so many things wrong with that.

“All those things must have scared you a little”……….BSC Mystery # 18: Stacey and the Mystery at the Empty House

Memory Reaction

I remember the end of this book pretty well. Stacey and Claudia (and maybe others) think they’re tracking a “bad guy” they suspect is squatting in the Johanssens house while Stacey’s house-sitting. Only, it turns out he was a friend of the family, but Stacey didn’t get the note about why he was there. So, she tries and pretends she wasn’t at all worried and Claudia laughs at her.

I also remember her finding red hair in a brush and freaking out because none of the Johanssens are redheads.

Revisited Reaction

The Johanssens are going to Paris for two weeks – Charlotte’s aunt’s some kind of art dealer looking for new artists, and she invited the family to go with her. Stacey’s asked to house and dog-sit while they’re away. At first everything’s fine, but one day Carrot (the dog) is acting a little strange, and has chewed up a bunch of paper in the kitchen. After that, Stacey starts noticing some more weird things. There’s a glass in the sink she can’t remember using, there’s something in a garbage can she thought she emptied, a light she hadn’t used was on, Carrot’s leash wasn’t in the right place, etc. At first she tries to blow them off as little things she’s remembering wrong, but as the occurrences add up, she becomes convinced something’s wrong. All this is especially nerve-wracking because there’s an escaped prisoner in the area, and Stacey’s worried he could be in the house.

A few days later, she opens a closet (looking for towels, not to snoop) and sees a brush with red hairs in it. She leaves the house and walks to Claudia’s place, where they end up having an emergency BSC meeting. They all go back to the house, and check the spot in the yard where the Johanssens keep a key hidden – it’s gone. At this point, she stops going to the house alone. Instead, she goes with another 13-year-old who would be super-helpful if there were an actual criminal around. The BSC also decides to have a sleepover at Jessi’s (since you can see the Johanssens’ house from there) and watch the place. But, everything they see can be explained (a light going on because it’s on a timer, etc).

After the sleepover/stakeout, Stacey and Claudia go to walk Carrot. Stacey sees that someone has written a phone number on a pad of paper in the Johanssens’ kitchen. She calls the number and hears an auto message of train times. So, the BSC heads to the train station and see a red-headed guy hanging around. But, before they can do anything (and I’m not sure what they were planning on doing), Dr. Johnassen gets off a train, sees the red-head, walks over smiling, and gives him a hug. Then we find out that he’s an old friend of the Johanssens and is always welcome to stay at their place, and that he had left Stacey a note, but Carrot chewed it up. And because of his work schedule, he and Stacey never ran into each other. Stacey admits she didn’t get the note, but tries to pretend and be cool about it.

As a subplot, it’s December and the BSC’s planning a holiday party for some of their charges. Watson was given a free hay/sleigh ride (depending on the weather) and he passed it on to Kristy. Of course, they decide to use this for the kids they sit for. However, Kristy accidentally gets the Arnold twins thinking it’s definitely a sleigh ride, and is all upset about disappointing them if it doesn’t snow (as well as a bunch of other kids the twins talked to). But it does snow, so everyone’s happy and has fun at the party. And the kids are all sweet and give the BSC members gifts.

High/Lowlights

• I’d really like clarification on Dawn/Mary Anne’s barn. They’re having the party there (after the sleigh ride) because it’s winter….but is the barn actually heated?

• I don’t quite get the hay-ride/sleigh-ride thing. Watson gets it as a gift from work, and like I said, gives it to Kristy. But they end up taking a good 40 people (on two sleighs). Why would someone give him a gift for that many people?

• Stacey mentions having a new coat a couple of times, but we don’t get to hear what it looks like.

• Kristy actually suggests calling the police (which amazed me), but Stacey says they would just get laughed at, since there’s no proof. I see her point, but maybe she could have told her mother?

• This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about an escaped convict in Stoneybrook, is it?

• Stacey tells us that the Arnolds are people who over-the-top decorate their house for Christmas, which I think is mentioned in other books. That’s a pretty minor detail for them to stay consistent with. I’m impressed.

• So, the Johanssen’s really have an arrangement with their friend that he can just let himself into their house whenever he’s in town? Without calling at all?

• So, the Kuhns are worried about the escaped convict, but Jake tries to pretend he’s all tough and says he wants to catch the guy. Mary Anne tells him to leave things up to the cops (even though Stacey acknowledges the BSC doesn’t always do this). But, she thinks this is okay because they are so much older than Jake.
  

• Because being 13 makes it totally okay to track down criminals. It must be all that police training that they give kids in middle school.

• Did we know that Margo and Claire consider each other best friends? It’s believable, I guess, but I always got the impression they bickered a lot.

• Who keeps a hairbrush in a linen closet? That’s where Stacey found the one full of red hairs.

• Mal and Jessi help the Pikes make potato-print wrapping paper. Has anyone ever done this? They cut potatos in half, cut designs into them, then dip them into paint and stamp the design on paper. It sounds like fun, but a waste of potatos (at least when you give each of the Pikes one).

• Byron Pike eats a peanut butter and salami sandwich. And I think this is on raisin bread. How can that be good? Seriously?

• Robert keeps referring to Carrot as other vegetable names (Eggplant, Celery, etc). I kind of like it, because you almost never see the BSC laugh/make fun of the kids they sit for. They usually use a “oh, isn’t that cute” tone when talking about them.

• I wonder if it’s weird for Stacey to go to Jessi’s house/bedroom, since they both used to be hers.

• This book takes place when people had actual answer machines. The Johanssens have one where they can call into a number and hear what’s happening in their house. Jessi knows this because she has the same answering machine, and the BSC calls into the Johanssen’s number (the code is listed on the bottom of the machine) to listen to noise there. First of all does/did this exist? And secondly, lso, it’s kind of creepy to do, even if you know no one’s home.

• Dr. Johanssen’s first name is Peggy. That surprises me, I’m not sure why.

• There’s a lame plot line where Stacey accidentally mentions to a meter reader (with red hair) that the Johanssens are away. So, the girls think she’s a suspect for a while, but it turns out to be nothing.

• The gifts for the BSC members are supposed to be a “surprise” and it is to the girls themselves. But it was really obvious because at a sitting job for a crowd of kids, one or two kept disappearing into the basement for a secret project.

• So, the gift list: Claudia gets a basket of junk food, Kristy gets a decorated baseball cap, Stacey gets some paper mache earrings, Mary Anne gets a painting of Tigger, Jessi gets some hair ties, and Mallory gets a sketch book with her name on it in glitter. Dawn’s in California for this book, but she still gets a pair of sunglasses. Logan and Shannon are also included. They get a paperweight and a “bead” necklace made from magazine pages.

“Because I’m Mary Anne and you’re Logan”…. BSC # 46: Mary Anne Misses Logan

Memory Reaction

I really liked this book as a kid because I liked Mary Anne and Logan getting back together. I was a bit of a romantic back then. Looking back, I think it would have been nice if they let Mary Anne be single a little while longer, but as a kid I was into the happy ending concept. I also really hated Cokie and thought it was kind of weird for Logan to be going out with her throughout this book. Cokie tried to scare the BSC in a graveyard and she sent Kristy threatening notes…..I thought Logan wouldn’t have gotten involved with her because of that.

Now, my main memory of this book was the end. Mary Anne and Logan basically get back together and go out to dinner. Mary Anne wears a somewhat atypical outfit – red and blue tights and baggy T-shirt. It’s so weird how some of the outfits are still so clear in my head.

Revisited Reaction

It’s been five books since Mary Anne and Logan broke up, and she has started to miss him.

Meanwhile, the real story’s that all the eighth-graders at SMS are doing a big English project. They’re assigned to teams out of the entire grade, and are given a young-adult author to study. Mary Anne’s all stressed out about the horrible people she could be assigned to work with, but she doesn’t expect to be assigned to work with Logan. But she is, and she is clearly unhappy. On top of that, Cokie Mason sweet-talks her way into the group. She makes it clear right away that her only contribution to the project is to get Logan into her clutches.

Unfortunately for Mary Anne, Logan falls into Cokie’s spell and goes out on a few dates with her. So many dates that Mary Anne and Pete Black (the fourth member of their group) doubt that Logan and Cokie are doing their portions of the paper. She and Pete decide to write the whole thing themselves.

Then they find out that the Megan Rinehart, the (fictional) author they’re studying, is coming to the school for some Author Day event, and Mary Anne’s group has to present their paper to the entire school (and Megan herself). Mary Anne freaks out of course. But then Logan calls her to say he HAS been doing his work, and wants to meet with her to make sure it’s good enough for the presentation. The two of them work with Pete to get everything ready, and don’t bother to include Cokie. The presentation goes well for Pete, Logan, and Mary Anne, and Cokie looks like the idiot that she is. Logan invites Mary Anne to dinner to “thank her,” at which point he tells her Cokie’s fun, but means nothing to her. This sets the stage for them getting back together, which remains the case for the rest of the series (I don’t count the Friends Forever books).

The baby-sitting plot revolves around the Kormons, the people who moved into the Delanys’ house (across from Kristy). The kids, Melody and Bill, make up the idea of a “toilet monster” and then start believing in it. They insist on running to their beds after flushing the toilet – if they make it before the toilet stops running, they’re safe. By the end of the book, Kristy has sort of convinced them they don’t need to worry. Mary Anne doesn’t believe it will last, and I’m pretty sure this comes up in later books, so I guess she’s right.

High/Lowlights

• The schools in Stoneybrook have a hell of a lot of big projects.

• When the girls are discussing all the cool authors they might study, they go through this whole list of real-life authors (Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Madeleine L’Engle, etc), then just randomly throw in the name of the one fake author Mary Anne ends up studying. It’s kind of distracting.

• Kristy starts laughing at the possibility of Alan Gray studying Judy Blume, because of all the “bra stuff” in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” Now, I see her point, but I would think the period “stuff” in the book would be a more awkward topic for Alan. But it doesn’t get mentioned at all.

• Apparently one of Claudia’s regular accessories is slap-wrist bracelets…..I remember when those were super-popular, and then there were stories about one killing some kid, and they went away. I have no idea if that was a true story though.

• Dawn tells Mary Anne how she overheard Grace Blume talking about how Cokie only asked to switch groups because she wanted to hook up with Logan. But isn’t it kind of insensitive of her to just drop that news on Mary Anne?

• At all the sitting jobs for the Kormons, the kids make a point of saying how they know they’re having hot dogs for dinner because that’s what they always have when baby-sitters are there. Is it sad that I remember that showing up in other books?

• Mary Anne’s mad that Cokie’s going after Logan now that he’s “available,” because Logan was hers once and she wanted him back. And while I understand she misses him, and that Cokie’s a bitch, it isn’t really fair to be upset at someone for wanting to date a guy she broke up with. Though I guess it’s realistic.

• So, until this book, I had thought that Cokie was a bitch, but a somewhat intelligent one. But everything she says during the author project changes that. When the group decides to read four of Megan Rinehart’s books in two weeks, Cokie says how “once” she read four little books (Peter Rabbit and some similar ones) when she was ten. She makes it seem like such an accomplishment that she comes off as a total airhead.

• The girl in Mary Anne’s group originally (who ends up switching), hates Pete Black because in seventh grade he snapped her bra, which broke the strap, forcing her to take it off and carry it around in her purse. That makes it kind of hard to like Pete later on.

• The group meets at Cokie’s house for one of their meetings. At the end, they arrange their next meeting. So, two chapters later, Mary Anne tells us, “the next meeting was the first one since the one at the Mason house…” But isn’t that a totally redundant sentience? And a really repetitive line? And an unnecessarily long thing to say?

• Supposedly the kids aren’t allowed to switch groups. But Cokie manages to convince her teacher to let her into Logan’s group because (she claims) she’s such a big fan of Megan Rinehart. Since Cokie sucks at English, Mary Anne figures the teacher was so happy to see Cokie excited and decided to accommodate her. Only right after this, Cokie starts calling the author Marie Rinehard. And she doesn’t believe Mary Anne about the correct name, she waits for Logan to say it. So, how did she convince a teacher she cared?

• After Mary Anne’s group takes the time to each read (or re-read) four books by Megan Rinehart, Pete asks if the paper’s supposed to be about the author or her books. And Mary Anne’s all, “hmmm, I don’t know.” Shouldn’t that have been one of the first things the teacher told them about the project?

• Kristy’s notebook entry for her sitting job at the Kormons’ is really obnoxious. She writes how even though it was her first job for them since the monster was invented, she was able to solve the problem right away.

• Mary Anne got her father to agree to her wearing leggings and an oversized shirt, but pointing out it’s less revealing than a bathing suit. Since it sounds like a pretty tame outfit to begin with, I guess that’s believable.

• I don’t really understand why some parents in BSC-land (like the Pikes) don’t want their kid to wear leggings and baggy T-shirts. It isn’t the worst thing a kid could want to wear.

• I like that Logan acknowledges that he hurt Cokie by basically dating her then suddenly stopped talking to her and started cozying up to Mary Anne again. And possibly for letting her look like an idiot in front of the whole school. But I’m not sure Cokie’s smart enough to realize she looked like an idiot.

• Now, I would like Logan more if he actually SAID something to Cokie about the whole thing….but he’s a 13-year-old boy, so I know that’s not realistic.

“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.

“My IQ is just fine, thank you very much.”…….BSC # 101: Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout

Memory Reaction

I didn’t read this as a kid, but I wish I did. I would have loved finding inconsistencies.

Revisited Reaction

So, this book’s all about Claudia being an idiot. It’s October, close to the beginning of the school year, but Claud’s already behind in all her subjects. She’s frustrated because she truly doesn’t understand a lot of things she’s learning. Her parents get her a tutor and she promises to work really hard, but she still struggles. So, the school decides she should go back to seventh grade. The hope is that if she has time to re-learn everything from last year, she may actually be able to remember it and then succeed in eighth grade next year.

Claudia’s understandably upset about this. But she does notice that when she’s back in seventh-grade classes, she does understand what she’s learning. She also notices that a lot of the seventh-graders look up to her, watch her in the hallways, imitate her clothes, etc. I guess because they think she’s cool for being a year older? Regardless, she starts to feel a little better about the situation. She’s also taking an art class at the community college, taught be a semi-famous artist. She had to apply to get in, and is the youngest student, so it’s a bit of an ego boost for her.

Then she finds out that she isn’t allowed to go to the school’s Halloween dace – it’s for eighth grader only. She’s depressed about it for a while, and doesn’t even bother to tell her family that her work’s in an art show. Then, she finds out she won first prize in the show. She’s still upset about the school thing, however, she talks to the art teacher, who tells her she had to repeat two grades when she was in school. So, Claudia starts to feel better, and she tells her family/friends about the art show.

Meanwhile, Jackie Rodowsky gets out of the hospital after his accident in the previous book. We get a lesson in charity, cause all the kids decide to give half their Halloween candy to kids in the hospital, and they throw a party for them. Then probably forget all about them.

High/Lowlights

We start with an outfit, but we only get to hear part of the description (Stacey interrupts it). This is unfortunate, cause it sounds like it would have been a doozy – “Tie-dye leggings, black overall shorts, red high-tops and…” Any guesses? I’m thinking something plaid, stripped, or some other pattern that looks horrible with tie-dyed.

Claudia complains that no one told her she was going to need to know what she learned last year to learn new material. My question is, how did she not know that? Especially in math, where everything is built on basic skills you have learned in the past?

I can’t totally blame Claudia for not remembering though. I mean, she hasn’t been in seventh-grade for about 95 books. That’s gotta be about ten-years, right?

The BSC keeps talking about how school’s so much different “this year” and that the teachers are expecting more from them, but also letting them be more independent. It wouldn’t bother me, except they have been in eighth grade forever. So, it rings a bit false to hear about things being different, when they weren’t different the other twelve times that started eighth grade.

The BSC organizes a “hospital buddies” thing to be nice to kids stuck in the hospital. But I feel like they already did this at one point. Maybe the one where Danielle was first introduced? If so, does that mean that they just stopped their previous charity work?

At Claud’s first art class, she wears “a black sweatshirt with the neck cut out of it, black jeans…and [her] purple high-tops with orange laces.” It’s the orange shoelaces that kill the outfit for me.

We have no reached a point where only one sitter’s required at the Pikes. Apparently the triplets are mature enough to be a “second sitter.”

So, Claudia even tells us the outfit Stacey was wearing in her dream. She wore “a short plaid kilt, a white baby-T, black tights, and black, chunky-heeled shoes.” That actually sounds okay, and definitely in style for when the book first came out.

Claud’s tutor is actually a friend of Janine, but apparently she’s not just a “brainy nerd” because she knows how to dress.

I have a hard time believing that the 7th graders would be so into following Claudia around. Even if they think she’s “cool,” I think there would still be some kind of stigma about her being left back.

Claudia says Rosa, her tutor, taught her the trick of skipping the questions she didn’t know and coming back to them at the end. But, Janine taught her this back when she was accused of cheating. I guess it’s just another thing Claudia forgot.

Claudia’s teacher has the kids switch papers to grade each others’ quizzes. Then he records the grades in his gradebook, based on what the students show him walking out of class. But wouldn’t he also want to keep the quizzes (to make sure the kids were honest when grading)?

Okay, so the whole eighth-grade dance thing annoys me. Has there ever been a dance that Mal and Jessi weren’t also able to attend? And didn’t the girls go to dances in the first few books when they were in seventh grade? There was never any mention of the lower grades having an “afternoon party” complete with bobbing for apples and other “kid” games. It was a dance for the whole school.

I’m not sure why Claudia keeps saying she’s so mature. Her wardrobe? Because dressing cool doesn’t make a person mature. And neither does dressing like a crazy person. But I can’t really think of anything that makes her especially mature, and I don’t think the year between 12 and 13 makes a huge difference in terms of maturity.

I guess this book came out when the movie Pocahontas did, cause that’s what Margo and Claire are fighting about dressing up as for Halloween.

Cokie Mason dresses up as a Barbie on Halloween. This sounds like she’s asking to be mocked. When I was in middle school Barbie was considered very babyish not cool or pretty.

Claudia says that Mal and Jessi collected a few treats while the three of them took a bunch of kids trick-or-treating. Which sounds realistic for eleven-year-olds, but completely inconsistent with what we’ve seen Mal and Jessi do in all the past Halloween books.

Claudia says Halloween’s a holiday for “kids,” then immediately follows by saying, “Who over the age of ten gets excited about it?” Cause once you pass ten you’re an adult?

To go to her art show, Claudia wears, “a long black jumper with red embroidery around the neckline…over a white turtleneck…[and] a pair of red dangly earrings.” I kind of think it sounds like something Mallory would wear, which makes sense, since Claudia said it was the first time she didn’t care how she looked.

Is Claudia really SO talented as an artist, that her teacher can’t stop praising her work, and that an adult in the class tells Claudia she’s been trying to reach her level for 15 years? Can’t they just make her a good artist, without having her be some kind of prodigy?

One thing I like about the Halloween books is hearing the costumes everyone wears. Claudia picks a scarecrow (for the kid’s party, she would have gone to the dance as a “punk”). Meanwhile, Stacey goes as a flapper, Mary Anne and Kristy go as Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, and Abby goes as a soccer player, which is boring since she already is a soccer player. Mallory goes as Emily Dickinson, and Jessi goes as the Sugar Plum Fairy, which is almost as boring as Abby’s, but not quite.

“Was I ever wrong about not having a mystery on board!”…..BSC Mystery # 30: Kristy and the Mystery Train

Memory Reaction

Yet another one I missed as a kid. But if I had read it, I’m sure I would have found the plot unbelievable, no matter how old I was.

Revisited Reaction

Derek Masters has a new movie coming out, so it’s only logical that he needs a baby-sitter. The movie’s about a murder that takes place on a train, and to promote it, the studio has organized a replica of the train to travel from Boston to Charleston, SC for the premiere. There are stops planned in different cities for reporters to ask questions and watch reenactments of key movie scenes. Derek gets to invite friends with him, because who wouldn’t want a bunch of eight-year-olds hanging around at a media event like this? Meanwhile, Mrs. Masters can’t go and Mr. Masters is an Executive Producer (who will therefore be busy), so they want three BSC members to go along. Kristy, Abby, and Stacey are the lucky ones, and they’ll be watching Derek, his CA friend Greg, Nicky Pike, Buddy Barrett, David Michael, James Hobart, Linny Papdakis, and Derek’s little brother Todd plus his friend Daniel.

Anyway, the first day on the train everyone finds a threatening-type note in their programs saying “the truth will come out.” Later, a smoke bomb goes off in Derek and the BSC’s compartment. Everyone’s fine, but the “mysterious” events don’t end there. Kristy and Stacey are at the back of the train and witness two men fighting in the dark. It ends with what looks like a guy being thrown overboard. They tell the conductor, and a search of the train’s done, but no one’s missing and everyone thinks that Stacey and Kristy made it up. Of course, the girls decide to “investigate” and they eventually realize that Mr. Pierce (Daniel’s father and the film’s writer) had lied about where he was during the man overboard scene. They think he’s behind everything, but that’s not quite it.

It turns out that Mr. Pierce is a teacher, and he based the film’s script on a script an one an old student had submitted to him. So, the student went crazy and tried to make him look like a murderer. There’s this whole ridiculous show-down scene where Kristy saves Daniel by locking him into a bathroom. It’s ridiculous. But the real villain gets caught, the crazy guy gets half credit for the script, and the idea-stealer’s supposedly still going to teach, but not write any more.

Subplot: The rest of the BSC is spending the weekend helping at the summer-opening weekend at Greenbook Country Club. There are lots of kids there having fun in the pool, but Stephen (The owner’s son) keeps trying to avoid going in. Eventually, he admits to Jessi that he can’t swim, and she gives him lessons. By the time they have an evening pool party, Stephen’s fine in the water, and everyone has a blast.

High/Lowlights

• I was pleased to see Kristy refer to Emily Michelle as her sister (and not her “adopted sister” like she usually does). But then later in the paragraph she adds “she was adopted” in parentheses. I feel like saying that every time makes Emily seem like she’s second-class or something.

• Kristy says that if people have something important to do (like baby-sitting) they can skip meetings….but that seems inconsistent with everything we know about Kristy and BSC meetings.

• Claudia: “She was in bright mode: red shorts, a purple crop top over a longer red-and-white-striped muscle shirt, purple socks, and red high-tops laced with red-and-white striped shoelaces. Her hair was pulled up to one side with a know of red and purple scrunchies, and her earrings were shiny red apples.”

• Kristy looks hideous on the cover.

• When the girls go to Boston for the start of the train ride, they talk about how Mallory would have liked to see Louisa May Alcott’s house. Which I guess is true, but isn’t Mary Anne the big Little Women fan?

• When talking about past dealings with Derek Masters, Mallory’s all, yup, all the details on “Kristy and the Vampires Mystery” are right here in the mystery notebook. I guess that’s supposed to imply that the book we all read was almost entirely an entry?

• Stacey calls Boston a “nice little town.” Because according to Stacey, nowhere but NYC is a real city.

• There’s all this talk that the two leads in the movie are together in real life, but they are sleeping in separate rooms on the train, and in the morning are up at completely different times. I know that doesn’t mean anything, it just seems weird to have them talk about dating, have the woman acknowledge it’s true, then not show them acting as a couple at all. In fact, they barely talk.

• The idea of a train ride as publicity seems pretty dumb to me. That’s really the best way they could come up with to promote a movie like that?

• Why didn’t the crazy-guy just sue Mr. Pierce for stealing his idea? It would have been easier than faking his murder. Crazy-guy was also going to wait until the press figured out about the idea-stealing and then come back to bask in the glory by pretending he had amnesia after the “murder.” Cause that makes sense.

• “Claudia was wearing a huge tie-dyed T-shirt knotted at the waist, and her sandals sported flowers that matched the flower barrette holding back her hair. Her gear was in a funky, bright yellow, plastic mesh tote that was the same shade as the rims of her big, round sunglasses.”

• There’s this whole subplot about Stacey looking just like the reporter. It ends up being important because when crazy-guy jumped off the train, he saw that she was watching and thought it was the reporter. He somehow thought this would get her to investigate, and find out Mr. Pierce stole the script. But I’m not sure how one thing leads to another.

• “Mary Anne was wearing a faded green Izod shirt and a baseball cap that read “Ted’s Tools.” Which makes me ask two questions – first, should I know what Izod is, and second, is it sad that I recognize the name Ted’s Tools as the name of the hardware store in downtown Stoneybrook?

• Jessi “was wearing blue bicycle shorts with a red cutoff T-shirt over a blue sports top and reef-runners.” Reef runners? Again, I have no idea what they are…water shoes maybe?

• At the country club, Mallory’s wearing all sorts of hats and with extra sun lotion. They all make fun of her and laugh about how it reminds them of Shadow Lake. But that was because of a problem with bug bites…Mary Anne’s the one with the sunburn issues. Mallory was always at the beach in Sea City and never had sunburn issues.

• At the country club, Jessi, Mal, Mary Anne, and Claudia are acting as counselors to the kids whose families are there. This includes Ben Hobart, who’s Mal’s age, but seems to be lumped in with the kids in this book. I wouldn’t have a problem if he was just hanging out with his siblings and the BSC, but they have him taking part in the kid’s cannon ball contest and making fake barfing noises to gross out some of the girls. It seems really weird, especially since Mallory’s around.

• The kids at the country club play “Old Bachelor” instead of Old Maid. Is that a known version of the game, or just a splash of feminism the ghostwriters inserted?

• Jessi can tell that Stephen has had swim lessons before, but he still seemed to struggle. Apparently, he just needed BSC magic to solve the problem.

• Ann Martin and/or the ghostwriters don’t have a great view of movie stars, do they? This is the second one where she has the “heartthrob” being a pompous jerk.

• So, the end of this book’s the most ridiculous thing ever. Kristy’s trying to protect Daniel while Mr. Pierce knocks crazy-guy down in the hallway. Then Kristy says she sees (or thinks she sees) Abby and Stacey “piling on.” So are we supposed to think that Stacey and Abby were actually physically fighting crazy-guy? Or that Kristy was seeing things? Cause the former’s just to silly to even respond to.