Baby-sitters on Board! (SS#1)

Original Publication Date: 1988

Ghostwriter? No

Synopsis:

The BSC goes on its first group vacation. Mr. Pike wins a trip on a cruise ship through his company and Mary Anne and Stacey are invited along as babysitters. Watson arranges for the Thomas-Brewer clan to come along, too, and they bring Dawn and Claudia. Naturally, there are adventures:

Kristy befriends an older widower and goads Dawn by being a slob.

Claudia gets another secret-admirer-who's-really-a-stalker.

Mary Anne becomes enamored with a budding con artist. Surprisingly, she does NOT pine for Logan.

Stacey befriends a young boy who's due for risky heart surgery; his parents are taking him on a trip "just in case" so they'll have some good memories.

Dawn takes things too seriously with Kristy and starts crushing on a cute guy.

We also hear from Mallory, who spends her time spying on people; Karen, who is entitled and bratty; the younger boys, who look for treasure and end up with a Dutch schematic of a copy machine rather than a map.

To thank to parents, the kids make them photo albums to remember the trip, which I agree is a good idea.


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls:

Claudia candy: Oh, sad...nothing new

Foul: Kristy says she's never been on a plane, which I was willing to go with. In RS#4, Mary Anne lets us know that Kristy went to Florida; her family could have driven. Then Kristy says she's never been out of the state.

Here we go. Dawn is "neat and spotless" while Kristy is famous for being messy. Not only will we later learn that Dawn doesn't even understand silverware drawer organizers, Kristy's being a slob doesn't fit at all with her super-organized personality. We also learn that Dawn has an heirloom bracelet that was her great aunt's.

Dawn and Claudia are about the same size.

Claudia brings a ton of luggage, as she will forevermore. She also acts as referee again, between Kristy and Dawn. She claims she can feel the cruise ship moving (not just during the storm), which is odd, because given the size, most people can't feel it. However, I do have a friend who got seasick on a Navy battleship during calm seas.

Mary Anne is disappointed that the casino is for adults only.

Stacey's family has a ping-pong table.

First narration by Mallory! I'll add her stuff here, since in two books she'll be a member. So far we know she wants to be a writer, she likes to create drama (spying on people and making up crazy stories, assuming people want to steal her diary), and her favorite band is the Insects.


Their Families:

Remember Kristy's cousin Robin, who has diabetes? She lives western Connecticut.

Jeff saves things from his flights in the air sick bag.

Vanessa Pike is still a slow-poke.

Neither of Kristy's grandfathers is alive.


The Club: nothing new

SMS: Summertime


PSA time:

Hooray, Stacey! Thank you for asking Marc if it was okay to push him in his wheelchair, not just assuming. Some people forget that it's far more polite to offer to help a handicapped person than just swoop in to "save" the day.

Wow, Dawn. Making fun of someone's name is a great way to start a date. And "Parker" isn't that bizarre of a name; it's the name of my husband's best friend's son.

Brontosaurus didn't exist; it's an Apatosaurus skeleton with a Camarosaurus skull. For those of you who are still sore about this, look up Eobrontosaurs. And the flying and swimming animals? Not dinosaurs. AND...since the names of those prehistoric animals are their proper Latin name, the "first" name should be capitalized but not the last, as in Tyrannosaurs rex or Dipolodocus carnegi.


Misc:

If they rerelease this book, they'll have to do some updating: Kristy's younger siblings and some of the Pikes are able to look into the cockpit and visit it. And they get a full meal. On my flight today I got about a 1/3 of a can of Coke, maybe 20 peanuts, and some weird cinnamon crackers. Fortunately, my dad took my husband and me to Dick's Drive In for hamburgers on the way home.


The numbers:

BSC Fights: 2

SMS Staff: 10 (3 7th grade, 3 8th grade, 2 elective, 1 vice-principal, 1 secretary)

Students: twenty-eight 8th graders

Clients: 16

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 24 (bubble gum, butterscotch candy, a chocolate bar, cookies, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, peanut M&Ms, regular M&Ms, marshmallows, pretzels, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, Twinkies, Lifesavers)

Crushes: Claudia-2 (Timothy Carmody, Trevor Sandbourne), Dawn-1 (Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-4 (Toby, Pete Black, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas)