Original Publication Date: 1990
Ghostwriter? No
Synopsis:
The company Mallory's dad works for is having trouble, so he's laid off. Mallory and her siblings are pretty worried, especially when he has little luck with job prospects. Mrs. Pike works for a temp agency, but since the kids are concerned that won't be enough to make ends meet, they all work hard to use less money (for example, not watching TV to save on the electric bill) and save their own money in case their parents need it. (They don't know that Mr. Pike has severance pay)
Mallory ends up baby-sitting a lot more, including a steady job at the Delaneys', who just had a pool put in. She helps Amanda and Max deal with the problem of who's coming over to play with them versus who's coming to play with their pool. She's in a good position to discern real friends, since some of the sixth-graders she'd been closer to are now teasing her, saying that her dad must be lazy or was stealing from the company.
Mr. Pike does eventually get another job, albeit not quite as good, but it's good enough that things can go back to normal. The book ends with Mallory hosting her first BSC sleepover, complete with prank-calling the two girls who were meanest to her.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Mallomars in her jewelry box, Fritos behind her pillow
When Mallory got her ears pierced, her mom specifically said she wanted her to wear fun earrings, but now she's only allowed to wear studs or tiny hoops (before her father gets laid off).
Stacey's still not feeling well.
Their Families:
Mallory's mom likes computers and is very good with them.
The Club:
Last book witnessed the advent of "distant" for "cool." Now we also have "dibble" for "incredible" and "stale" for "uncool."
Mrs. Prezzioso is pregnant. Dawn and Mary Anne know the baby's gender, but the rest of the club wants to be surprised.
SMS: nothing new
PSA time: nothing new
Misc:
Isn't there a difference between being laid off and being fired? Because you wouldn't know it from this book.
Washing dishes for a family of ten by hand doesn't really save money. Dishwashers use less water when they're run at full capacity.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 16
Students (other than the BSC): 32 8th graders, nine sixth-graders, nine unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 41 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-6 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-3 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-6 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
10/24/10
10/17/10
Kristy's Mystery Admirer (RS#38)
Original Publication Date: 1990
Ghostwriter? No
Synopsis:
Kristy starts getting notes from a mystery admirer. Once she decides it's not Sam playing a prank, she's excited, thinking they might be from Bart. Then the letters get creepy, and almost threatening. It looks like someone's out to get Kristy. She concludes it's either a psycho or still Bart, trying to psyche her out for the upcoming "World Series" game they have planned between the Krushers and Bashers.
Not wanting to believe the former, she and the rest of the BSC give Bart the cold shoulder until he confronts Kristy about it. He admits that he sent the first (nice) ones, but he didn't send the others. So Kristy is still worried the day of the big game, but the mystery quickly unravels there. For some reason, Cokie Mason and her friends are in the stands. Cokie starts talking to Kristy before the game, and accidentally gives herself away. She had seen the original letters when Kristy was showing them to the BSC at lunch, and wanted to get back at Kristy for the stunt the BSC pulled in the graveyard last Halloween (which was also in eighth grade).
So all ends well: the Krushers win and earn enough money through a bake sale to buy team hats, and Bart accompanies Kristy to the Halloween Hop. They win a free pizza as a prize for most unusual costume: lobsters.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: potato chips and Gummi Bears under a comforter
Okay, this stuff with Stacey's not feeling well is becoming just as much a part of "Chapter 2" as Kristy's living in a REAL, LIVE MANSION.
Ooh, but here's a bit about Mary Anne and Logan: they've been having problems. At least that foreshadowing won't last too long.
Dawn is described here as "organized" rather than neat. That actually makes her annoyance at Richard's organization tendencies make sense: it's not that she's a slob, it's that she was used to what order was already there, and he was changing it.
Kristy is the only member of the BSC who doesn't yet need a bra. I assume she's not including associate members, unless Logan has secrets.
How about that? Mallory's still level-headed at this point in the series.
Their Families:
Why is not letting kids get nose jobs a sign of parental strictness? Kristy mentions that Shannon's parents won't let her get one, but quickly clarifies that they're not strict, they just think she should be an adult to make a decision like that. That's called being a responsible parent, people. We do also learn here that Shannon's parents work A LOT, by the way.
The Club:
I believe this is the first appearance of "distant" as BSC slang for "cool."
In the previous book, Dawn said that Stacey keeps track of how much each sitter earns and Kristy confirms that. She also mentions that Mary Anne keeps track of how much each client pays. Wouldn't those fall under that same category? Either Stacey or Mary Anne should do both.
Since Dawn often has little to do at a given meeting, she gets to answer the phone a lot.
SMS:
Oops. Mallory joins in on the lunch conversation. But sixth and eighth grades have different lunch period. By the end of lunch, she's not there.
PSA time: nothing new
Misc:
Normally I get bored when Kristy's coaching, but I had to laugh when she's murmuring tips under her breath, because having been a coach, that's dead on. You don't want to break the athlete's concentration, but you still feel a need to will the performance to go well. Her murmuring works, too: the Krushers win their first game against the Bashers. Also, the Krushers use a softball...do they also play with ten field positions or nine like baseball?
Bart plays guitar in a band.
Okay, I've given up documenting all the wrong uses of "us baby-sitters" (believe me, there have been plenty) but look! Kristy uses "we" instead of "us"! When she's supposed to! (She did the opposite a few pages back, but what can you do?)
This is book that mistakenly calls Cokie Mason "Cokie Gray."
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 16
Students (other than the BSC): 32 8th graders, six sixth-graders, nine unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 41 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-6 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-3 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-6 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
Ghostwriter? No
Synopsis:
Kristy starts getting notes from a mystery admirer. Once she decides it's not Sam playing a prank, she's excited, thinking they might be from Bart. Then the letters get creepy, and almost threatening. It looks like someone's out to get Kristy. She concludes it's either a psycho or still Bart, trying to psyche her out for the upcoming "World Series" game they have planned between the Krushers and Bashers.
Not wanting to believe the former, she and the rest of the BSC give Bart the cold shoulder until he confronts Kristy about it. He admits that he sent the first (nice) ones, but he didn't send the others. So Kristy is still worried the day of the big game, but the mystery quickly unravels there. For some reason, Cokie Mason and her friends are in the stands. Cokie starts talking to Kristy before the game, and accidentally gives herself away. She had seen the original letters when Kristy was showing them to the BSC at lunch, and wanted to get back at Kristy for the stunt the BSC pulled in the graveyard last Halloween (which was also in eighth grade).
So all ends well: the Krushers win and earn enough money through a bake sale to buy team hats, and Bart accompanies Kristy to the Halloween Hop. They win a free pizza as a prize for most unusual costume: lobsters.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: potato chips and Gummi Bears under a comforter
Okay, this stuff with Stacey's not feeling well is becoming just as much a part of "Chapter 2" as Kristy's living in a REAL, LIVE MANSION.
Ooh, but here's a bit about Mary Anne and Logan: they've been having problems. At least that foreshadowing won't last too long.
Dawn is described here as "organized" rather than neat. That actually makes her annoyance at Richard's organization tendencies make sense: it's not that she's a slob, it's that she was used to what order was already there, and he was changing it.
Kristy is the only member of the BSC who doesn't yet need a bra. I assume she's not including associate members, unless Logan has secrets.
How about that? Mallory's still level-headed at this point in the series.
Their Families:
Why is not letting kids get nose jobs a sign of parental strictness? Kristy mentions that Shannon's parents won't let her get one, but quickly clarifies that they're not strict, they just think she should be an adult to make a decision like that. That's called being a responsible parent, people. We do also learn here that Shannon's parents work A LOT, by the way.
The Club:
I believe this is the first appearance of "distant" as BSC slang for "cool."
In the previous book, Dawn said that Stacey keeps track of how much each sitter earns and Kristy confirms that. She also mentions that Mary Anne keeps track of how much each client pays. Wouldn't those fall under that same category? Either Stacey or Mary Anne should do both.
Since Dawn often has little to do at a given meeting, she gets to answer the phone a lot.
SMS:
Oops. Mallory joins in on the lunch conversation. But sixth and eighth grades have different lunch period. By the end of lunch, she's not there.
PSA time: nothing new
Misc:
Normally I get bored when Kristy's coaching, but I had to laugh when she's murmuring tips under her breath, because having been a coach, that's dead on. You don't want to break the athlete's concentration, but you still feel a need to will the performance to go well. Her murmuring works, too: the Krushers win their first game against the Bashers. Also, the Krushers use a softball...do they also play with ten field positions or nine like baseball?
Bart plays guitar in a band.
Okay, I've given up documenting all the wrong uses of "us baby-sitters" (believe me, there have been plenty) but look! Kristy uses "we" instead of "us"! When she's supposed to! (She did the opposite a few pages back, but what can you do?)
This is book that mistakenly calls Cokie Mason "Cokie Gray."
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 16
Students (other than the BSC): 32 8th graders, six sixth-graders, nine unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 41 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-6 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-3 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-6 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
10/10/10
Dawn and the Older Boy (RS#37)
Original Publication Date: 1990
Ghostwriter? Yes, Mary Lou Kennedy
Synopsis:
Dawn develops a huge crush on a high school friend of Kristy's brothers. And Travis seems to like her back: he stops by her house, takes her to the mall, buys her little gifts, and so on. But his gifts are also a way of manipulating her: he buys her hair combs in order to get her to cut her hair and style it differently, he buys her earrings in the hopes she'll get a third hole pierced in each ear, he orders for her at a restaurant. Dawn's a little too smitten to see that he's trying to change her until she realizes that he's actually dating someone at his high school. The shock brings her back to Earth. She tells Travis what she thinks of him (not much) and moves on.
The parallel story is that James Hobart is getting teased by Zach again, and is torn between playing with his real friends and wanting to fit in now that he lives in America. He eventually decides to hang out with people who appreciate him for who he is rather than for who they want him to be.
The book ends with Mary Anne and Logan having written to Logan's cousin, Lewis, about Dawn. He writes back to Dawn, and they become penpals and plan to meet when he visits Stoneybrook later in the year.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy:
There is still MORE foreboding about Stacey's health.
Obviously, when Jessi is sleeping over at someone's house or on a trip, she can't practice ballet at her barre. I wonder if she does other exercises instead.
Dawn says no one her age shakes hands, but Mallory shook Mrs. Ramsey's hand when Jessi introduced them (yes, Mallory's 11, but Dawn thinks this in reference to a high schooler, so I'm assuming a wide age range). Of course, Dawn didn't see that interaction.
Mallory and Ben Hobart are starting to go out. According to Dawn, Ben's in eighth grade? I thought he was in sixth...
Their Families:
I doubt this is intentional, but at one point David Michael looks through a cigar box full of toys. Way off in book 107 or 118, we'll find out that Watson smokes cigars once in while. Either crazy-good continuity or a coincidence.
Sam Thomas is on the track team, but the book doesn't specify which events he does.
The Club:
Okay, Kristy's starting to become a caricature: while she doesn't say anything, she's clearly annoyed with Dawn for arriving two minutes late for a BSC...when she was coming from a sitting job.
Hmm. Dawn says Stacey keeps track of how much the sitters make at their jobs. That use to fall under Mary Anne's job.
SMS:
Assuming Stoneybrook High School and Middle School follow similar sports schedules, football and boys' basketball and both boys' and girls' swimming are all in the fall. So is track and field...and there are tryouts for it? Maybe the ghostwriter just doesn't know sports that well, or Connecticut is weird. I'm leaning toward the former, because how can he be on three of teams at once (football, track, swimming)? I got two letters one high school season, but that's because I was manager of the second team, which is much easier to work out schedule-wise.
PSA time: nothing stood out.
Misc:
I think it's odd that most teenagers in these books don't get their licenses at 16 (from the description, Travis is the only person Dawn knows who got his license at 16). That was the norm at my school. We didn't necessarily have cars, but we had our licenses.
I briefly had a similar reaction to Dawn's assumption that the Latin club would be all girls, because my dad took Latin in high school the other (four) students were also male...then I remembered he went to all-boys school.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 1 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 15
Students (other than the BSC): 35 8th graders, six sixth-graders, five unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 40 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), popcorn, Planter's Peanut bar, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-5 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-3 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-5 (Toby, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
Ghostwriter? Yes, Mary Lou Kennedy
Synopsis:
Dawn develops a huge crush on a high school friend of Kristy's brothers. And Travis seems to like her back: he stops by her house, takes her to the mall, buys her little gifts, and so on. But his gifts are also a way of manipulating her: he buys her hair combs in order to get her to cut her hair and style it differently, he buys her earrings in the hopes she'll get a third hole pierced in each ear, he orders for her at a restaurant. Dawn's a little too smitten to see that he's trying to change her until she realizes that he's actually dating someone at his high school. The shock brings her back to Earth. She tells Travis what she thinks of him (not much) and moves on.
The parallel story is that James Hobart is getting teased by Zach again, and is torn between playing with his real friends and wanting to fit in now that he lives in America. He eventually decides to hang out with people who appreciate him for who he is rather than for who they want him to be.
The book ends with Mary Anne and Logan having written to Logan's cousin, Lewis, about Dawn. He writes back to Dawn, and they become penpals and plan to meet when he visits Stoneybrook later in the year.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy:
There is still MORE foreboding about Stacey's health.
Obviously, when Jessi is sleeping over at someone's house or on a trip, she can't practice ballet at her barre. I wonder if she does other exercises instead.
Dawn says no one her age shakes hands, but Mallory shook Mrs. Ramsey's hand when Jessi introduced them (yes, Mallory's 11, but Dawn thinks this in reference to a high schooler, so I'm assuming a wide age range). Of course, Dawn didn't see that interaction.
Mallory and Ben Hobart are starting to go out. According to Dawn, Ben's in eighth grade? I thought he was in sixth...
Their Families:
I doubt this is intentional, but at one point David Michael looks through a cigar box full of toys. Way off in book 107 or 118, we'll find out that Watson smokes cigars once in while. Either crazy-good continuity or a coincidence.
Sam Thomas is on the track team, but the book doesn't specify which events he does.
The Club:
Okay, Kristy's starting to become a caricature: while she doesn't say anything, she's clearly annoyed with Dawn for arriving two minutes late for a BSC...when she was coming from a sitting job.
Hmm. Dawn says Stacey keeps track of how much the sitters make at their jobs. That use to fall under Mary Anne's job.
SMS:
Assuming Stoneybrook High School and Middle School follow similar sports schedules, football and boys' basketball and both boys' and girls' swimming are all in the fall. So is track and field...and there are tryouts for it? Maybe the ghostwriter just doesn't know sports that well, or Connecticut is weird. I'm leaning toward the former, because how can he be on three of teams at once (football, track, swimming)? I got two letters one high school season, but that's because I was manager of the second team, which is much easier to work out schedule-wise.
PSA time: nothing stood out.
Misc:
I think it's odd that most teenagers in these books don't get their licenses at 16 (from the description, Travis is the only person Dawn knows who got his license at 16). That was the norm at my school. We didn't necessarily have cars, but we had our licenses.
I briefly had a similar reaction to Dawn's assumption that the Latin club would be all girls, because my dad took Latin in high school the other (four) students were also male...then I remembered he went to all-boys school.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 1 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 15
Students (other than the BSC): 35 8th graders, six sixth-graders, five unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 40 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), popcorn, Planter's Peanut bar, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-5 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-3 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-5 (Toby, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
10/6/10
Jessi's Baby-sitter (RS#36)
Original Publication Date: 1990
Ghostwriter? No, Ann wrote this and dedicated it to the memory of a Eugene Dougherty who she explains taught her to make writing exciting. Mallory has a creative writing teacher named Mr. Dougherty.
Synopsis:
Jessi's mom is starting a full-time job, which means Jessi's Aunt Cecelia is moving in to care for Jessi and her siblings. There's still tension about the whole Becca-getting-lost-at-sea incident, and the girls are not looking forward to having to obey their strict aunt. She treats them younger than their parents do (for example, picking out their clothes for school) and doesn't let them have the same privileges (she even keeps Jessi home from a BSC meeting!). The girls respond by playing practical jokes on her (shaving cream in her slippers, fake spiders on her pillow) in an effort to make her leave. Of course, the problems are finally smoothed out when the girls--gasp--talk to their mom and dad about the issue. Aunt Cecelia also plays a few pranks on them to even things out.
Jessi is prompted to talk to her parents after helping Jackie Rodowsky enter the school science fair turns into her doing the project for him. (Stacey helps Charlotte with a project about the effect of music on plant growth; Kristy helps David Michael with one on the solar system; Mallory helps Margo with a display about colonies on the moon) She sees how easily wanting to help someone and have the person do well can lead to taking over. Aunt Cecelia admits that she was worried she wouldn't be as good a sitter as Jessi (of course) and that she worries that the girls will have to work twice as hard to prove themselves because of their race. I knew an officer in the Air Force who said that about being female; wasn't a fan of her (but it was in training environment; I wasn't supposed to like her).
Also of note in this book, the Pikes combine their books into library. My older brother and I briefly (as in, for part of an afternoon) tried that. I still find little squares of paper taped inside many of my books, to hold the check-out slips.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Planter's Peanut Bar under her armchair, Neccos
Jeez, there is even MORE foreboding about Stacey's health. #43 can't come soon enough.
Mallory and Jessi are still working on their gum wrapper chain.
Claudia doesn't like purple Necco wafers.
Dawn has an upcoming trip to California planned.
Shannon still exists (she even gets a sitting job). It's also mentioned that she's going to Hawaii over the next school break.
Their Families:
Cecelia is Jessi's paternal aunt; she's her dad's older sister. She's also a widow, but Jessi only mentions her uncle's death in passing.
Jessi has long eyelashes but her mom doesn't, just like my mom and me.
The Pikes all like to read, and Nicky still has a particular fondness for dog stories (first referenced in RS#9).
Whatever car Jessi's dad drives has a trailer hitch. At least, I hope it does, because he hooks a U-Haul trailer to it.
Stacey's mom likes Vivaldi.
The company Mallory's dad works is having financial problems.
The Club:
Jessi hates writing in the notebook, which makes sense since she describes herself (in RS#16) as a terrible letter-writer.
SMS:
Jessi is still the only black student in sixth grade at SMS.
PSA time:
Squirt takes a bottle to bed with him, but of water, which is a much better choice than milk or juice. The latter two could cause teeth or gum disease or fall behind the crib and go bad. Nothing like a bottle of yogurt that used to be full of milk.
Misc:
Why do most of the girls all have armchairs in their rooms?
I think it's hilarious that Jessi thinks no one else at Jackie's school will enter a volcano in the science fair. Those were one of the most popular things when I was in school.
Geez, and Mallory suggests getting a REPTILE book to look up information on a FROG. I guess she wasn't kidding when she said on the previous page that science isn't her strongest subject.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 1 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 15
Students (other than the BSC): 35 8th graders, five sixth-graders, five unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 40 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), popcorn, Planter's Peanut bar, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-5 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-1 (Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-5 (Toby, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
Ghostwriter? No, Ann wrote this and dedicated it to the memory of a Eugene Dougherty who she explains taught her to make writing exciting. Mallory has a creative writing teacher named Mr. Dougherty.
Synopsis:
Jessi's mom is starting a full-time job, which means Jessi's Aunt Cecelia is moving in to care for Jessi and her siblings. There's still tension about the whole Becca-getting-lost-at-sea incident, and the girls are not looking forward to having to obey their strict aunt. She treats them younger than their parents do (for example, picking out their clothes for school) and doesn't let them have the same privileges (she even keeps Jessi home from a BSC meeting!). The girls respond by playing practical jokes on her (shaving cream in her slippers, fake spiders on her pillow) in an effort to make her leave. Of course, the problems are finally smoothed out when the girls--gasp--talk to their mom and dad about the issue. Aunt Cecelia also plays a few pranks on them to even things out.
Jessi is prompted to talk to her parents after helping Jackie Rodowsky enter the school science fair turns into her doing the project for him. (Stacey helps Charlotte with a project about the effect of music on plant growth; Kristy helps David Michael with one on the solar system; Mallory helps Margo with a display about colonies on the moon) She sees how easily wanting to help someone and have the person do well can lead to taking over. Aunt Cecelia admits that she was worried she wouldn't be as good a sitter as Jessi (of course) and that she worries that the girls will have to work twice as hard to prove themselves because of their race. I knew an officer in the Air Force who said that about being female; wasn't a fan of her (but it was in training environment; I wasn't supposed to like her).
Also of note in this book, the Pikes combine their books into library. My older brother and I briefly (as in, for part of an afternoon) tried that. I still find little squares of paper taped inside many of my books, to hold the check-out slips.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Planter's Peanut Bar under her armchair, Neccos
Jeez, there is even MORE foreboding about Stacey's health. #43 can't come soon enough.
Mallory and Jessi are still working on their gum wrapper chain.
Claudia doesn't like purple Necco wafers.
Dawn has an upcoming trip to California planned.
Shannon still exists (she even gets a sitting job). It's also mentioned that she's going to Hawaii over the next school break.
Their Families:
Cecelia is Jessi's paternal aunt; she's her dad's older sister. She's also a widow, but Jessi only mentions her uncle's death in passing.
Jessi has long eyelashes but her mom doesn't, just like my mom and me.
The Pikes all like to read, and Nicky still has a particular fondness for dog stories (first referenced in RS#9).
Whatever car Jessi's dad drives has a trailer hitch. At least, I hope it does, because he hooks a U-Haul trailer to it.
Stacey's mom likes Vivaldi.
The company Mallory's dad works is having financial problems.
The Club:
Jessi hates writing in the notebook, which makes sense since she describes herself (in RS#16) as a terrible letter-writer.
SMS:
Jessi is still the only black student in sixth grade at SMS.
PSA time:
Squirt takes a bottle to bed with him, but of water, which is a much better choice than milk or juice. The latter two could cause teeth or gum disease or fall behind the crib and go bad. Nothing like a bottle of yogurt that used to be full of milk.
Misc:
Why do most of the girls all have armchairs in their rooms?
I think it's hilarious that Jessi thinks no one else at Jackie's school will enter a volcano in the science fair. Those were one of the most popular things when I was in school.
Geez, and Mallory suggests getting a REPTILE book to look up information on a FROG. I guess she wasn't kidding when she said on the previous page that science isn't her strongest subject.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 3
Halloweens in 8th grade: 1 (plus one in seventh)
Summers after 8th grade: 2
BSC Fights: 5
SMS Staff: 15
Students (other than the BSC): 35 8th graders, five sixth-graders, five unspecified
Clients: 24
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 40 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers, cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fritos, gumdrops, Gummi Bears, Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, marshmallows, Mentos, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf), popcorn, Planter's Peanut bar, pretzels, pretzel sticks, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)
Crushes: Claudia-5 (Guy, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-1 (Parker Harris), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-5 (Toby, Pete Black, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart)
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