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)
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3 comments:
I always thought that 'keeping track of what each client pays' thing was odd, but only because I thought the BSC charged a per hour rate and that the clients were prepared to pay that fee. (For the record, in my mind, it was $2.50/hour because $3/hour was "slightly more than what they charge" in book 6.)
Also, if one of MA or Stacey is going to keep track of what each client pays, I think it should be Stacey. Anything to do with money involving the club should fall under Stacey's perview.
Slightly off-topic but I can't wait for the next three books because they were the first ones I read. (I got 39, 40, 41) as a set in a Scholastic order form back in the day. Anyway, my point was that those three have always had a special place in my heart.
The book where Cokie once again sends her stalky creepy letters to the bsc and drive the members crazy.
Although you gotta love the scene where kristy and bart decided to dress up as lobsters and won the costume contest. Hillarious and sweet. Eespecially when kristy recieves her kiss from bart near the end of the book.
it was also funny when cokie's fake eyelash fell into the punch. I'm like ha ha serves you right for being such a bitch lol. Though if i were them i would not drink out of that punch bowl if a eyelash fell into it. I wouldn't want to catch germs.
good post by the way and looking forward to future post of yours.
I just remember always feeling mentally awkward about how to pronounce Cokie's name. It is clearly spelled to be pronounced "Coke-ee" but even at the tender age that I started reading them I was apalled that anyone would do that to their child. Even Cookie was preferrable. It still causes mental embarassment for me on behalf of Cokie's parents. Clearly they were the cokies.
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