May 17, 2012
BSC #100, Kristy’s Worst Idea: Sometimes I Doubt Your Commitment to the BSC
The real bad ideas here are everyone’s clothes
Summary: School is back in session (eighth grade again! Woo!), and the girls are so busy with non-club activities that it’s hard for them to keep up with meetings. Kristy is not pleased. She tries to organize a big fall celebration including activities like maple sugaring (huh?) and apple picking, but no one else is interested. Plus, Jessi wants to take a ballet class and Mallory wants to join a writing group at the same time as club meetings. There’s also a stupid Mary Anne/Claudia fight.
Then Jackie Rodowsky falls out of a tree and hurts his ankle while Kristy’s sitting for him. She blames herself for his injury and starts doubting herself as a sitter. Add that to the other girls having trouble getting to all the meetings and everyone wanting time to do things other than sit, and it all equals Kristy deciding that the club should disband. The girls will keep sitting, but they won’t have meetings anymore.
Kristy surprises herself by being a little relieved at first. She has lots of free time now, and she gets to avoid sitting, which she still isn’t comfortable with. The other girls have a harder time: Mallory and Abby have no other friends, Claudia’s overrun by phone calls from parents who don’t know the girls’ home numbers, and Stacey can’t buy clothes because she’s not making any money. Also, their sitting charges think the girls hate them, and the parents can’t live without the BSC. (They start hiring other girls in Stoneybrook, including Cokie, but of course, non-BSC sitters aren’t as good as the BSC girls.)
Jackie tries to fix everything by riding his bike to Kristy’s house, but he falls off and winds up in the hospital. All the girls rush over to check on him, and he begs them to work things out. Kristy gets everyone together and suggests that the club start meeting again. Stacey is the only one who isn’t sure; she’s afraid they’ll backslide again. Kristy suggests a month-long trial period to see how things go. But there are still dozens of books left in the series, so obviously it works out okay.
Thoughts: Why would Kristy buy Mallory clip-on earrings when she has pierced ears?
Mr. Papadakis is so upset about the club splitting up that he offers them a retainer to get back together. Dude, take it! Free money!
“If a cologne were based on Cokie, it would be called Obnoxious.” Snerk. She would probably take it as a compliment, though. You just know one of Cokie’s life goals is to have her own perfume.
Jackie’s mom is all, “Oh, he’s okay, it’s just a concussion.” Um, they have to DRAIN FLUID FROM HIS SKULL. That’s not “okay.”
Claudia: “The last time Mr. Hobard called, I made him help me with my math homework.” For some reason, that cracked me up. That, and her telling Janine that her homework is covered in ink blots because she was stabbing it with her pen.
May 3, 2012
BSC #99, Stacey’s Broken Heart: When One Door Closes, Another (Hotter) One Opens
Like Stacey would date a guy who wore those pants
Summary: The Walkers, Stacey’s favorite clients in New York, ask her to come visit for the week and look after their kids while they put together an art show. Stacey agrees but is sad to leave Robert, who’s been acting kind of funny. For example, he’ll say he’s playing basketball with his friends, then wind up doing something else. Andi, one of the bad girls, is hanging around him a lot, too. Someone sees him out with another girl and lets Stacey know, so Stacey and Claudia stalk him but don’t see anything particularly incriminating.
While Stacey’s in New York, Claudia calls to let her know that Robert’s been hanging out with Andi. Well, not just hanging out. Making out. Stacey’s surprised to find herself less upset than she’d expected. It may have something to do with Ethan, a guy who’s been working with the Walkers and hanging out with her and the kids while she babysits. Ethan and Stacey have more in common than Stacey and Robert did anyway. (Sounds like he’s hotter, too.)
When Stacey gets back to Stoneybrook, Andi’s waiting for her, wanting to tell her about the cheating. Stacey tell her she already knows, adding that Robert isn’t hers to control, so if they want to be together, they can. She then tells Robert that they’re done, obviously. He pulls that “I hope we can still be friends” crap, but fortunately, Stacey isn’t ready for that. She’s totally ready for some Ethan lovin’, though.
In other storylines, Kristy’s off to Hawaii with her family, and Abby’s the acting president. She wants to throw a big Mexican festival to benefit an orphanage, but she’s not as organized as Kristy and doesn’t do well with the budgeting aspects of the event. The other BSC girls try valiantly to help out, but things barely come together. Because, you know, Kristy is the best at everything, so don’t even pretend you’re better than her.
Thoughts: Someone majorly screwed up – in Dawn Schafer, Undercover Baby-sitter, Kristy had just left for Hawaii. At the beginning of this book, she’s about to leave. But Dawn isn’t in this book, and in the previous one, there was no mention of Stacey and Kristy being gone at the same time. So it’s like the two books are set in the same time period, but none of the events are the same.
Freaking A, this summer just WILL NOT END.
I guess unicorns, like sheep, are in, because that’s what Claudia has on her shirt.
I love this exchange:
Henry (five years old): “The Rice Krispies fell on the floor and I spilled the milk.”
Stacey: “Bummer. What did your mom do?”
Henry: “She looked up at the ceiling and said, ‘Give me strength!’ How could the ceiling give her strength?”
Grace (three years old): “Cereal is not heavy.”
Ghostwriter, it’s 1996. It’s time for Stacey to stop getting perms.
April 23, 2012
BSC Mystery #26, Dawn Schafer, Undercover Baby-sitter: Like The Westing Game, But Without the Good Parts
Awww, redheaded kids are so cute
Summary: Now that the BSC girls are back from Hawaii, there’s a lot of sitting to be done. The girls get two calls for the same house and are told that two sitters will be needed for two separate sets of kids. It’s Dawn’s book, so of course she’s one of the sitters. The story is that there are two estranged sisters staying at the house, which belonged to their late father. They’re staying with their kids in separate wings and don’t want the kids to spend time together.
More of the story comes out as the sitting job goes on: There’s a younger sister, Amy, who’s also staying at the house, and there was a younger brother named Patrick who died as a teenager. The sisters’ father, Arthur Livingston, made sure each daughter received a clue when he died. Whoever solves some stupid puzzle gets his estate. The guy was clearly a jerk and enjoyed making his children compete with each other, which is why the older sisters hate each other. Amy wants everyone to work things out, and she especially wants to get to know her nieces and nephew.
Since it’s a Dawn book, there’s also some spooky stuff going on in the house. Dawn thinks Mr. Livingston isn’t really dead, since she sees a recent check with the signature A. Livingston on it. She also keeps feeling like she’s being watched and thinks the butler, John, is a bit suspicious. Dawn hears him and Amy fighting about revealing information and can tell there’s something strange going on there.
Anyway, the kids are pretty nice but don’t understand why they’re not allowed to hang out together. The sisters eventually agree to let the BSC girls get them together, and the kids all get along well. One of them reveals that she knows her mother’s clue, which gets the kids thinking about the mystery. Amy also shares her clue with Dawn, so the kids and the BSC girls have two of the three clues. The kids convince the other mother to share hers, and after some thinking (more than should be necessary, since the clues are incredibly easy), Dawn figures out that they need to find a portrait in the house.
The sisters find the right portrait, but before they check the code on the back to see if it matches what they need to get the inheritance, John reveals that he’s actually Patrick. Mr. Livingston was mad at him for something or another and told his sisters (but not Amy) that he was dead. What a lovely man. Suddenly the sisters want to work things out and split the inheritance four ways. They’ve found the right portrait, so they get the inheritance, and everyone is happy. Mr. Livingston is presumably burning in Hell. Oh, and the A. Livingston signature was Amy’s, not that anyone cares.
The B-plot is also Dawn’s: She’s so popular and busy that she doesn’t have much time to spend with Mary Anne. Apparently three months in Stoneybrook aren’t enough. First Dawn holds a Friends Day to hang out with the BSC girls, some other Stoneybrook friends, and a bunch of sitting charges. Then she has a Family Day with Mary Anne and their parents. Then she goes back to California and we get to celebrate because this is the last Dawn book. Yay!
Thoughts: Clearly someone read The Westing Game before writing this book. Both stories are about a will that includes a puzzle, and both puzzles end up requiring the participants to share clues to solve it. But The Westing Game is ten million times better than this book. The clues in this one are really lame. Cary’s were much better. When a 13-year-old comes up with better clues than an old man, you know there’s a problem.
Patrick’s alias is John Irving. I wonder if the ghostwriter meant that as a reference to the writer or if it was just a coincidence.
I’m surprised Dawn doesn’t say anything about using candy as a prize when she and Abby organize a treasure hunt for their sitting charges.
Seriously, now all I want to do is reread The Westing Game. And imagine Turtle kicking Dawn in the shins.
Kristy takes her family trip to Hawaii, but the BSC girls barely mention it. They don’t even give her a going-away party or anything. Weird.
April 14, 2012
BSC Super Special #13, Aloha, Baby-sitters!: The BSC, Hawaiian Style
I want to wear a grass skirt and hula on a beach in Hawaii like a dork, too!
Summary: The BSC girls (minus Kristy, Mallory, and Shannon; plus Logan and Robert) have raised all the money they need to go to Hawaii, so off they go. Jessi makes them all keep a journal of the trip for poor, unloved Mallory, which is why everyone gets a chapter:
- Jessi spends the whole trip taking way too many pictures and writing down every little detail of the trip for Mallory. If I’d been with her, I would have hidden her camera and notebook.
- Stacey and Robert aren’t getting along since he had the nerve to talk to another girl on the trip and Stacey’s uncharacteristically jealous. They go with a small group on a side trip that involves helicopter tours over a crater, and Stacey’s helicopter crashes. She and her group have to walk back to civilization, but the lack of food takes a toll on Stacey and she ends up passing out from low blood sugar. However, when she’s back with Robert, she sees how worried he was and they make up.
- Mary Anne and Logan have decided to spend the trip TBI, together but independent, since their friends have been teasing that they spend too much time together. They avoid each other a lot but admit at the end of the trip that they wish they hadn’t, and they won’t try that again. Mary Anne also accepts a job sitting for a real Hawaiian family, who – shocking! – turn out to be like any other American family. Mary Ann is asked to sit again the next day, but instead she sends…
- Claudia, who has been depressed for a lot of the trip. She’s just learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor and is uncomfortable with her Japanese heritage. She also wonders how Mimi, who was living in Japan during World War II, viewed the whole situation. When she sits for the Hawaiian family, she meets their grandfather, who’s Caucasian and served in the war. He tells her that he doesn’t have any animosity toward the Japanese, and in fact has Japanese-American friends. He also points out that the U.S. hurt Japan worse with the atomic bombs. After that, Claudia feels a lot better.
- Dawn finds a little beach and enlists some local kids to clean it up.
- Abby talks her way into a commercial for sunscreen by saying she’s on her school’s volleyball team (not true) and is 18 (SO not true). Karma gives her a sunburn.
- Mallory and Kristy run a farm daycamp back in Stoneybrook, but Kristy’s barely in the book, other than to make everyone wear shirts advertising the club (yes, even in Hawaii). While at the park with a tantrum-throwing Jenny Prezzioso, Mallory encounters a woman who thinks she’s a horrible sitter and neglects her charges. The woman, Mrs. Wellfleet, even calls Kristy during a meeting to bash Mallory. Later on, Mallory takes her sisters to the park and catches Mrs. Wellfleet’s own son throwing a much bigger tantrum. Mal manages to be the bigger person and not rub it in the woman’s face.
Thoughts: Logan’s disappointed that they don’t get leis at the airport. I would be, too.
I think I’ve figured out why Abby’s so weird: She’s high from all of her allergy meds.
Trivia: Mary Anne is part Norwegian.
Before seeing sugarcane, Robert thought sugar was dug out of mines. What?
In the scene where Mrs. Wellfleet’s son is a terror, Margo Pike proves to be a wonderful kid. The boy steals the shovel she’s using, and at first she tries to be polite and tell him to return it. When he doesn’t, she finds something else to do. Then when he moves on to something else, Margo takes the shovel back. The kid gets mad, so she invites him to play with her. So out of eight kids, at least a couple Pikes are turning out all right.
I actually liked Claudia’s plotline. We don’t hear about her heritage a lot.
April 7, 2012
BSC #98, Dawn and Too Many Sitters: Why Did Anyone Think This Was a Good Idea?
I highly doubt Claudia's room is that neat
Summary: Dawn and Jeff are back in Stoneybrook for the summer, but as soon as they get there, Dawn wants to leave again. SMS has a special offer on a trip to Hawaii, and Dawn has a chance to go even though she doesn’t go to SMS anymoroe. All of the other BSC girls (except Kristy, who’s going later in the summer with her family, and Mallory, who is poor and unloved) want to go, too. Their parents agree, but the girls have to pay half their way themselves. That means they need to earn $250 each. (Cheapest trip to Hawaii ever, I believe.)
The girls start taking on as many jobs as they can, but it’s hard to keep up with them all. Enter Jeff and the Pike triplets, who have decided that, at the seasoned age of ten, that they’re old enough to babysit. Kristy agrees to let them into the club as babysitters-in-training because she believes they’ll get bored soon enough and lose interest. She is exactly right. The guys tag along on the girls’ sitting jobs, and though they’re good with the kids, they don’t want to do anything that would constitute actual work. They also skip meetings and eat all of Claudia’s junk food, which is only okay when the BSC girls do it.
Eventually the girls decide they have to kick the guys out, and Dawn and Mallory are given the task of breaking the news to them. They keep stalling since they don’t want to hurt their brothers’ feelings. But then the guys announce that they’re not enjoying sitting as much as they’d expected, and they don’t like the meetings, so they want to quit. (No comment is made about the fact that I’m sure plenty of parents objected to having their children looked after by ten-year-olds who still play on Little League teams.) The guys part ways with the club with no hard feelings, and the Pikes agree to let the triplets be the “second sitter” whenever the family needs one.
The rest of the book is about the girls trying to earn money for the trip. Eventually they provide entertainment (face-painting, magic tricks, etc.) at a town Fourth of July happening and make all the money.
Thoughts: Claudia screams when she reunites with Dawn, and Abby tells her, “That is an outdoor voice, Claudia.” Hee, awesome.
I can’t believe Watson planned a family trip and didn’t tell Kristy she could invite all her friends. I also can’t believe Kristy’s willing to leave the club without a president for more than one day.
“Byron found he had a taste for baby formula.” Something is not right with that boy.
Mallory: “You’re not supposed to be down here unsupervised.” Nicky: “So, supervise me.” Heh.
With all their sitting, yard sales, car washes, etc., I would think each girl would easily be able to make $250. It’s a large amount of money to a 13-year-old, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much.
The girls realize they’ll also want money for souvenirs, though, and Mallory asks if they’ll really have to buy them. Mal, you’re the only regular member not going – you’re the one getting the souvenirs. Keep your mouth shut and hope for something more than a puka-shell necklace.
Kristy suggests “a special event. Like the haunted house we ran, or the sleepover to raise money for the kids in New Mexico, or Claudia’s art show–.” Abby: “A sleepover in a haunted art gallery!” I love Abby.
March 27, 2012
BSC Mystery #25, Kristy and the Middle School Vandal: “You Guys Need Me. I Keep You from Becoming Complacent”
Cary isn't cute enough. NOT CUTE ENOUGH
Summary: The school year is almost over (allegedly), but the teachers at SMS are talking about striking if they don’t get an acceptable contract in place for next year. On top of that, the BSC girls are also dealing with some vandalism around school, which seems to be the work of the Mischief Knights, specifically Cary. Except the Mischief Knights usually sign their work with a red MK, and the recent vandalism has been signed with a green MK. The girls think the Mischief Knights are either trying to throw the scent off of themselves or someone’s trying to frame them.
Cary and the BSC girls get into it about whether the girls are capable of figuring out who’s behind the vandalism, and Cary challenges them to a mystery war. He’ll plant eight clues and they’ll have six days to solve them all. If they do, he’ll leave them alone. If they don’t, Cary gets Kristy’s watch.
As the girls work on the mystery (clues below), the vandalism continues, so they really have two mysteries to solve. At various times they suspect a school board member who’s really angry about the strike; Brad, the guy who sold Abby her “study guide” and got in trouble for it; and a guy named Troy who was mysteriously suspended for two weeks but keeps turning up on campus. Cary looks less and less like the culprit as time goes on, though at one point Kristy thinks he’s guilty and trying to set them up.
Cary’s last clue instructs the girls to figure out who the vandal is, which is kind of weird, because they were trying to do that anyway. Mary Anne figures out that since the vandal has been using green instead of red and mistook a green car for the vice principal’s red car (which he keyed), the culprit must be colorblind. Claudia’s knowledge of fashion helps her realize that it’s Troy, as his clothes never match.
The girls want to break into Troy’s locker to see if he has any green paint or chalk in it, but this requires asking Cary for help, which requires them to forfeit the war (and Kristy’s watch). But it’s worth it, as they prove Troy was the vandal and somehow get the strike called off. Cary will still be allowed to bug them, but for me, that’s a plus.
The B-plot involves BSC sitting charges doing scavenger hunts. It’s dull.
Thoughts: This is my favorite BSC book. It reminds me a tiny bit of another awesome book, The Westing Game.
Cary has nice handwriting and is sarcastic. Just two more reasons I adore him.
Claudia has mint chocolate M&Ms. Do those really exist? If so, I need some.
During a scavenger hunt, one of the Hobart boys sees a garden gnome “among the bushes at one side of Kristy’s old house.” The ghostwriter says that Claudia doesn’t know who it belongs to. Okay, I know Claudia isn’t the brightest, but she would know that the Perkinses live there, especially since she lives right across the street.
Here are Cary’s clues, which are mostly pretty clever:
- “Get Your Mother (understands).” GYM, under the bleachers.
- “a drop of golden sun = re (as in the song from The Sound of Music)
just short of failing = D (the grade before F)
a skater’s figure = 8
not him, you see, but = her
(where does it all come from?)” Re + D + 8 + her = radiator. “It all” (heat) comes from the boiler room. - “Toasted gloves or barbecued bats, anyone?” This refers to the supply shack Kristy thought she burned down in Kristy and the Copycat.
- “Cafeteria hamburger + A Theory of Man and Woman – SMS on Street = a fly on the wall of…”
A cafeteria hamburger costs $1.69. A Theory of Man and Womanis a book with the library call number 305. The school’s street address is 358 Elm Street. 169 + 305 – 358 = 116, a biology classroom with a giant picture of a fly on the wall. - “Nothing personal, Claudia, but check your spelling.” Claudia has to take a spelling test on a computer she used when she wrote her personals column.
- “B2 or not B2…that is the question. (Are you sitting down?)” The next clue is under seat B2 in the auditorium.
- “Hey Abby. IPA2tFotUSoAand2tR [picture of four witches] (look up)” The letters and numbers are an abbreviation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Four witches stand = “for which it stands.” Abby is instructed to look up at the flag in her and Cary’s homeroom.
- “Bring me the head of the False Mischief Knights!”
March 15, 2012
BSC #97, Claudia and the World’s Cutest Baby: Lynnsanity
I don't know about the baby, but the nursery's pretty cute
Summary: Claudia’s Aunt Peaches has her baby and Claudia quickly loses her mind. It doesn’t help that the baby is named Lynn, Claudia’s middle name, and Peaches and Russ ask her to be the baby’s godmother. She becomes obsessed with the kid, inviting herself over all the time and teaching her aunt and uncle how to parent. Peaches reacts in a way that some would describe as mean but that I would describe as totally appropriate: She tells Claudia to stop being a know-it-all.
Claudia doesn’t realize how nuts she was until she goes on a class trip to Philadelphia. One of her classmates, Melissa, is basically obsessed with her and keeps following her around. Claudia just wants to hang out with Stacey and Abby, but the girls are too nice to say anything to Melissa.
Melissa and Claudia get lost in Philly, pretty much because Melissa’s a know-it-all (are you sensing a pattern here?), and Claudia gets mad at her. Melissa later apologizes for being a pest and Claudia realizes she was being a pest to Peaches. Peaches forgives her and asks her to be a little more considerate and maybe call before she comes over.
In the B-plot, the Arnold twins keep watching horror movies and having nightmares. One night when Mary Anne’s babysitting, they watch a making-of feature on one of the movies, and the twins are fascinated by how all the special effects are done. They get really interested in becoming directors and make a movie with Kristy. It starts out kind of stupid, but I liked the resolution.
Thoughts: No way is Claudia too dumb to know who Bach was.
She does, however, know that “hermano” is Spanish for “brother,” so she’s smarter than anyone with the last name Bluth.
The baby gets Claudia’s middle name and Claudia for a godmother. If I were Janine, I’d be pretty ticked.
I’d love to know where Claudia got the money to buy so much stuff for Lynn and Peaches. I mean, a fully-stocked diaper bag? No 13-year-old has that kind of cash; I don’t care how much sitting she does.
March 5, 2012
BSC Mystery #24, Mary Anne and the Silent Witness: He Didn’t Start the Fire
Mary Anne, you can't wear a fall outfit in April. Who do you think you are, Claudia?
Summary: The club starts sitting for a new family, the Martinezes, whose previous sitter quit unexpectedly. The kids are mostly great, but the boy, Luke, who’s eight, acts like he doesn’t trust his sitters. That may or may not be connected to the recent fire that took place at the house. The BSC girls suspect that the fire may have something to do with a developer named Reginald Fowler who wants to tear down some houses to build an office complex. The Martinezes won’t budge, so Fowler may have set the fire to scare them.
Luke seems to know something, but he’s not talking. One day when Mary Anne’s at the house, someone writes “don’t tell” on a window, which freaks Luke out. He’s also keeping some secret with his best friend, Steig, who happens to be Cary Retlin’s little brother.
Mary Anne goes looking for Luke in the woods while she’s sitting one day, and instead sees a teenage boy with a brick with green paint on it. He’s talking to Fowler, but Mary Anne doesn’t hear much of the conversation. A cop sees her when she picks up the brick, and Mary Anne is taken to the police station for vandalism. The only reason this plot point is important is that it allows her to learn from the police that Fowler isn’t even in Stoneybrook.
Time for reasearch – to the library! The BSC girls discover that Fowler was born the same day as twins named Samuel and John Wolfer, and decide that he’s actually one of them (since Wolfer is an anagram of Fowler). Him being a twin would explain why Mary Anne saw him in Stoneybrook while the police said he was away. They think Fowler started the fire at the Martinezes’ house, believes Luke knows it was him, and is threatening Luke to keep him quiet about it.
In their attempts to find out the truth, the girls get in touch with Allie, the Martinezes’ former babysitter. She’s with her boyfriend, Beau, when they find her, and Mary Anne recognizes him as the boy she saw talking to Fowler. The two teens come clean: Beau accidentally set the fire at the house with a cigarette, and Allie kept quiet to protect him, then quit because she felt guilty. But the two mysteries are connected: Fowler was blackmailing Beau, making him commit vandalism to threaten people so they’d sell their houses. Beau was also the person threatening Luke to keep quiet.
Beau feels bad, so he agrees to help the BSC girls with a sting operation. They send him to meet Fowler and arrange for his twin to show up. The truth comes out and the ever-helpful Sgt. Johnson hears it all. The final nail in Fowler’s coffin is Luke’s other secret: He found a map of Fowler’s plans for the town, which shows more industrialization than he claimed he wanted. This sinks Fowler’s plans and makes Luke and the BSC girls heroes. More Luke, really, but it’s not his series, is it?
Thoughts: Fowler and Beau are both stupid villains. Luke isn’t actually threatened with anything. I mean, if you’re going to scare a kid, you have to tell him you’ll get him in trouble with his parents or hurt them or something. Just saying “don’t tell” won’t accomplish anything.
And while I appreciate that the twist in the story is that most of the plot is a red herring, all the town-development stuff is boring.
Cary has two brothers, Steig and Benson. Okay, two things: 1) Steig? I didn’t think there were any Americans named Steig. 2) Benson Retlin? Do his parents hate him?
How has Kristy not run Allie out of town?
February 20, 2012
BSC #96, Abby’s Lucky Thirteen: Today I Am a Woman
Abby's much cuter in her picture on the left
Summary: Abby’s busy getting ready for her and Anna’s joint Bat Mitzvah, which makes her forget about a big math test – a huge problem since she’s already struggling in math. Just before the test, she buys what a guy tells her is a study guide. It’s pretty specific, but it helps her, so she feels pretty confident going into the test.
Unfortunately, one of the answers on the study guide was wrong, so Abby gets it wrong on the test – as do four other students. The teacher figures out that something strange is going on and suspends all of the students for cheating. Abby tries to plead her case about the study guide, since she didn’t realize it was fishy until she took the test. The teacher already has it out for her, though, thanks to Mrs. Stevenson coming in to read her the riot act about another test. The teacher, Ms. Frost, doesn’t believe Abby’s claims of innocence.
Abby doesn’t want to admit her suspension to her mother, so she pretends to go to school for the three days she’s off, then heads to the library. This gives her time to prepare for her Bat Mitzvah, but she still doesn’t know what to say in her speech. Her mom catches her at the mall and Abby spills the truth. She winds up grounded for a month, but fortunately, her mother believes her about the study guide and decides to talk to Ms. Frost again.
Back at school, Abby sees Mary Anne buying a “study guide” from the same guy who sold one to her. She takes Mary Anne and the fake guide to Ms. Frost, and now that she has a reliable witness with her, Ms. Frost believes her. She also apologizes for not giving Abby the benefit of the doubt before and allows her to retake the test. So Abby has a chance to improve her grade, and now she has a topic for her speech. At her Bat Mitzvah, she talks about how even small decisions can make big waves, and how she feels more adult now.
The twins’ family comes to Stoneybrook for the Bat Mitzvah, and all the BSC members attend. There’s a very sweet scene where Abby and Anna light the candles on their cake and dedicate each one to their family members and friends. They’re sad because their father isn’t there, but they hear their family members reminiscing about him and sharing happy memories.
In the B-plot, a bunch of parents in town ban TV in their houses, or at least drastically reduce the amount their kids can watch. The kids are angry but wind up making their own “episodes” of one of their favorite shows.
Thoughts: We get it, ghostwriter: We shouldn’t watch too much TV. I’m already reading your books – what more do you want?
The Arnold twins wear pinkie rings. Are they in the mafia?
Abby’s mom tops my list of awesome BSC parents. You do NOT want to mess with her.
Would eight-year-olds know about the old melodramas with villains tying women to train tracks? I don’t think I knew about those when I was that age.
Abby says her mother doesn’t have any siblings, but doesn’t she have a sister in a later book?
February 8, 2012
BSC #95, Kristy + Bart = ?: The Friend Zone
I love the look on Kristy's face
Summary: We all know Bart has been Kristy’s “sort-of boyfriend” for a while, and now he wants to be her actual boyfriend. He lets her know by trying to make out with her during a movie, inviting her to a school dance, and introducing her to friends as his girlfriend. Kristy’s semi-clueless, since she thinks they’re in agreement about just being a little more than friends. She also isn’t sure she wants to be more than a little more than friends.
Bart drops by the Brewer/Thomas house one evening to watch a baseball game while Kristy’s babysitting. They get caught kissing, and Kristy realizes too late that she’s broken her mom’s rule about having a guy over when no adults are around. (It’s never been an issue; it’s always just been that Sam and Charlie couldn’t have girls over.) Since Kristy doesn’t think of Bart as her boyfriend anyway, she didn’t think about the rule. She gets grounded and blames Bart, even though he had no idea there was any rule.
With some help from Mary Anne and Jessi, Kristy decides to tell Bart how she feels (I know! A novel idea!). He tells her he wants a real relationship, not just one where they hang out and are really just friends. Kristy admits that she’s not ready for that. She thinks things will go back to the way they were, but it sounds like things are a little awkward instead. Poor Bart, stuck in the friend zone.
Kristy’s involved in the B-plot as well, as she comes up with a Guinness Book-like project for kids. It’s actually a good idea.
Thoughts: Kristy sure is a drama queen. Wait, why am I surprised? She’s also really annoying in this book; she comes across very arrogant and full of herself. And as mature as she tends to come across, at least in terms of watching kids, she really isn’t. Though I guess I have to admire her for admitting that she’s not quite ready to date. Of course, then the question is, why am I admiring a fictional character?
Grounding Kristy for breaking a rule is reasonable, but making her stay in her room the whole time is a little much.
Kristy calling Jessica for advice about boys seems kind of random, but I get the feeling that Jessi gives good advice.
Kristy gives Bart a hilarious written speech to tell him how she feels:
“Hi, Bart, how’s it going? I realize I hung up on you and that was rude. So I would like to clarify my position in terms of my feelings and in regard to the breakage of the house rule which you already know about. First of all, I have and will like you in the sense of being a friend, but I felt that the pressure which I was feeling from you was changing the way that I conceived of our friendship but maybe not in the direction that it was meant to happen in my own mind, and not in the sense of measuring up to what you expected in terms of me being a girlfriend or not.”
Girl, back away from the thesaurus.
Lindsey DeWitt has a dead fly collection. Someone please get that child some help.
