Original Publication Date: 1993
Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn
Synopsis:
Jessi volunteers to help teach a ballet class for underprivileged children (it goes really well: she becomes a role model for a young girl and gets Watson Brewer to sponsor a scholarship to dance school for her and another student). One of her own ballet classmates, Mary Bramdstedt, comes along with her. In getting to know her better, Jessi comes to realize that Mary is starting to become anorexic, and heading downhill fast. Jessi tries to talk to Mary but quickly realizes shes's in over her head. When Mary faints from hunger and weakness during a ballet lesson, Jessi tells her teacher the truth. Whether Mary gets better...we don't know.
AND! Shannon is in this book! She's apparently found herself with some free time, and has been trying to hang out with Kristy, but Kristy is now the busy one. So Shannon starts getting closer with other BSC members. But then Kristy starts feeling left out. Jessi helps her get over her jealousy, though.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Twinkies, potato chips
Jessi reiterates for us that Mallory doesn't think she's pretty, and the describes her in such a way ("so much goodness inside" "someday she'll...") that you can tell she agrees. Ouch.
I find it very odd that Jessi, a ballet student since she was a child, doesn't know what anorexia is.
While Mary Anne is reading about anorexia, she quotes some of the more serious effects of the disease to the rest of the BSC, but stops before she gets to the really bad stuff (weakened heart, death). That seems consistent with her character.
We learn something about Shannon! She likes to people-watch and do impressions of who she sees.
Uh-oh, I think Stacey's starting to slide: she lets the Brewer-Thomas kids watch TV.
Kristy is a stress-eater.
Kristy finally asks Shannon point-blank if she's avoiding home because there are problems there and Shannon isn't very convincing in saying no...
Jessi narrates "I prayed Mme Noelle would take me seriously." I think that's the only time we see a hint of religious belief in Jessi. At least, I can't think of any others.
Claudia's getting in to photography.
Their Families:
I think it's really interesting that when it's brought up that Sharon's parents sent her across the country to get her away from Richard, it's always mentioned that they were wrong that he'd never amount to anything, but rarely if ever that he would have deserved her without being a successful lawyer.
Like Kristy, Charlie is very punctual.
Aunt Cecelia is calling Jessi by her nickname now, instead of Jessica.
Tiffany Kilbourne is eleven; Maria is eight.
You guys, Janine keeps her books alphabetized. ISN'T SHE WEIRD?
The Club: nothing new
SMS: nothing new
Misc:
I like that Jessi's ballet class has pretty much the same cast of characters and that they're consistently portrayed. For example, Mary Bramdstedt had previously been the one who moved stiffly and Katie Beth Parsons doesn't really like kids too much. There is one new (to us) student: Mindy Howard, who's very thin and is one of the things that prompts Mary Bramdstedt into anorexia.
David Michael, Andrew, and Karen blame Emily Michelle for putting away their toys by hiding them in random places. But, you know what? Take care of your things and don't leave them out. Then they'll be fine.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 8
SMS Staff and Faculty: 32
Students (other than the BSC): 96; 63 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 65 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, Goobers, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milk Duds, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
7/22/11
Mary Anne's Makeover (RS#60)
Original Publication Date: 1993
Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis
Synopsis:
This book was always one of my favorites. Mary Anne sees a haircut in a fashion magazine and is inspired. She and Richard have a father-daughter day at the mall, where she gets a new, short haircut, new makeup, and a few new clothes (she has to pay for part). She has a wonderful time with her dad, but when she gets home, Dawn is stunned. Not just surprised then happy, like Sharon, but condescending. Dawn spills the beans to the rest of the BSC, including Logan. When Logan sees Mary Anne's new look, he agrees with her that it's great. Most kids at SMS seem to like the new look and Mary Anne gets loads of compliments. Rumors even start that high school boys are asking her out.
But the rest of the BSC act like they're either upset with Mary Anne for keeping it a secret or like they're trying to commiserate that "it's not so bad" or "it'll grow back." (Since Dawn called them before, I'm guessing she said something about Mary Anne's "awful" haircut so the other girls thought Mary Anne needed sympathy.) Mary Anne's so sick of the cold shoulder that she stops attending meetings (the horror!). Eventually, she decides to take matters into her own hands and explain that she's happy with her new look and she wasn't trying to offend anyone by keeping it secret and things are okay again. Dawn still has the gall to say that it hurt her to see how close Mary Anne was with her dad, but she'll just have to get over the fact that Mary Anne has a good relationship with her ONE LIVING PARENT.
There's a somewhat boring subplot about Carolyn Arnold building a time machine that she almost thinks will really work. Aside from Back to the Future references it's boring.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: tortilla chips in the closet, pretzels under her bed, Goobers, Milk Duds
Foul: Mary Anne complains that she's not allowed to have pierced ears. Since the incident at summer camp during which she nearly had her ears pierced by amateurs, Mary Anne hasn't wanted them pierced. Why should it matter if she's allowed? (Also, as a parent, how would you enforce that rule when your stepdaughter with whom you live has two piercings in each ear? It would be difficult, wouldn't it?)
Mary Anne goes to a salon at the Washington Mall which she knows Stacey likes. Sure enough, in the seventh Super Special, Stacey and her mom got stranded by the blizzard because Stacey had had her hair done at that mall.
Logan says that if he could go back in time to whenever he wanted, he'd go to the day he first met Mary Anne, which, as we'll see later, is his most vivid memory.
Their Families:
This person (http://bsc-snark.livejournal.com/232174.html#cutid1) has a great theory about why Mary Anne's dad had her keep her hair in braids: when down, she looked more like her mother. Since he mentions that in Mary Anne's first book, it's reasonable that he might have thought it would be too painful.
The book implies that Mary Anne was dressing in little girl clothes and braids until Richard and Sharon married.
Richard Spier likes jazz.
Mary Anne references an abysmal haircut that Karen Brewer got at a local salon, which is recounted in one of the few Little Sisters I read (Karen's Haircut).
The Club:
Foul: Mary Anne takes credit for talking to the Arnolds about the twins' desire to be separate people. I thought that book was Mallory and the Trouble with Twins...
Chapter 9 opens on a Thursday at school, but after school the same day Mary Anne goes to a BSC meeting.
SMS:
Student: Hannah Toce (8th)
Misc:
I have never understood the deal with parents not allowing their daughters to cut their hair. I knew a few girls in elementary, middle, and high school with very long hair who weren't allowed to have it cut. One for religious reasons, which is different, but the others just because their parents said no. I'm going to put it in writing now: as long as her haircut isn't wild (think shaved head) or expensive, my daughter and any daughters who follow can have whatever length haircuts.
It's too bad that there's no mention of donating cut hair to something like Locks of Love. Then again, I can't find out how long that organization or others like it have been around; maybe they didn't exist in 1993.
Page 89: "It sounded as if [Sabrina Bouvier] had been going to the [SHS Winter Dance] since she was a toddler." Well, since Sabrina Bouvier was a contestant in a beauty pageant in Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn, I suppose it's possible.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 8
SMS Staff and Faculty: 32
Students (other than the BSC): 96; 63 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 65 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, Goobers, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milk Duds, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis
Synopsis:
This book was always one of my favorites. Mary Anne sees a haircut in a fashion magazine and is inspired. She and Richard have a father-daughter day at the mall, where she gets a new, short haircut, new makeup, and a few new clothes (she has to pay for part). She has a wonderful time with her dad, but when she gets home, Dawn is stunned. Not just surprised then happy, like Sharon, but condescending. Dawn spills the beans to the rest of the BSC, including Logan. When Logan sees Mary Anne's new look, he agrees with her that it's great. Most kids at SMS seem to like the new look and Mary Anne gets loads of compliments. Rumors even start that high school boys are asking her out.
But the rest of the BSC act like they're either upset with Mary Anne for keeping it a secret or like they're trying to commiserate that "it's not so bad" or "it'll grow back." (Since Dawn called them before, I'm guessing she said something about Mary Anne's "awful" haircut so the other girls thought Mary Anne needed sympathy.) Mary Anne's so sick of the cold shoulder that she stops attending meetings (the horror!). Eventually, she decides to take matters into her own hands and explain that she's happy with her new look and she wasn't trying to offend anyone by keeping it secret and things are okay again. Dawn still has the gall to say that it hurt her to see how close Mary Anne was with her dad, but she'll just have to get over the fact that Mary Anne has a good relationship with her ONE LIVING PARENT.
There's a somewhat boring subplot about Carolyn Arnold building a time machine that she almost thinks will really work. Aside from Back to the Future references it's boring.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: tortilla chips in the closet, pretzels under her bed, Goobers, Milk Duds
Foul: Mary Anne complains that she's not allowed to have pierced ears. Since the incident at summer camp during which she nearly had her ears pierced by amateurs, Mary Anne hasn't wanted them pierced. Why should it matter if she's allowed? (Also, as a parent, how would you enforce that rule when your stepdaughter with whom you live has two piercings in each ear? It would be difficult, wouldn't it?)
Mary Anne goes to a salon at the Washington Mall which she knows Stacey likes. Sure enough, in the seventh Super Special, Stacey and her mom got stranded by the blizzard because Stacey had had her hair done at that mall.
Logan says that if he could go back in time to whenever he wanted, he'd go to the day he first met Mary Anne, which, as we'll see later, is his most vivid memory.
Their Families:
This person (http://bsc-snark.livejournal.com/232174.html#cutid1) has a great theory about why Mary Anne's dad had her keep her hair in braids: when down, she looked more like her mother. Since he mentions that in Mary Anne's first book, it's reasonable that he might have thought it would be too painful.
The book implies that Mary Anne was dressing in little girl clothes and braids until Richard and Sharon married.
Richard Spier likes jazz.
Mary Anne references an abysmal haircut that Karen Brewer got at a local salon, which is recounted in one of the few Little Sisters I read (Karen's Haircut).
The Club:
Foul: Mary Anne takes credit for talking to the Arnolds about the twins' desire to be separate people. I thought that book was Mallory and the Trouble with Twins...
Chapter 9 opens on a Thursday at school, but after school the same day Mary Anne goes to a BSC meeting.
SMS:
Student: Hannah Toce (8th)
Misc:
I have never understood the deal with parents not allowing their daughters to cut their hair. I knew a few girls in elementary, middle, and high school with very long hair who weren't allowed to have it cut. One for religious reasons, which is different, but the others just because their parents said no. I'm going to put it in writing now: as long as her haircut isn't wild (think shaved head) or expensive, my daughter and any daughters who follow can have whatever length haircuts.
It's too bad that there's no mention of donating cut hair to something like Locks of Love. Then again, I can't find out how long that organization or others like it have been around; maybe they didn't exist in 1993.
Page 89: "It sounded as if [Sabrina Bouvier] had been going to the [SHS Winter Dance] since she was a toddler." Well, since Sabrina Bouvier was a contestant in a beauty pageant in Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn, I suppose it's possible.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 8
SMS Staff and Faculty: 32
Students (other than the BSC): 96; 63 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 65 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, Goobers, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milk Duds, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
7/15/11
Starring the Baby-sitters Club! (SS#9)
Original Publication Date: 1992
Ghostwriter? No, this one's all Ann
Synopsis:
Complicated book!
The Stoneybrook schools are putting on a production of Peter Pan. It's mostly being done through the middle school, so it's not too crazy-far-fetched that some of our favorite sitters get big roles. All the members of the BSC are involved somehow:
Jessi tries out for the lead, assuming she's a shoe-in (dance background). She's so convinced she feels bad for anyone else trying out for it, and arranges to be a correspondent to the SMS student newspaper about the play. Of course, pride goeth before fall. She ends up cast as a pirate, but she backs out of it as it's beneath her, and ends up assistant choreographer. And bitter about the whole thing. She even removes her credit as assistant choreographer from the programs because she's not listed as assistant producer. But just before opening night, Pete Black breaks his nose and Jessi gets to take over his part, so she ends up still in the play after all.
Kristy decides to try out for the dual role of Nana the sheepdog and the crocodile, but winds up as Peter Pan! (Pete Black gets the animals part.) She has trouble learning such a big part, but comes through in fine form. Just a little slip near the beginning of the play, and bit of revenge on Cokie.
Dawn auditions for Tiger Lily and gets Wendy, but tries to turn her into Wendy the Rude Feminist by changing her lines A LOT. I get that she wants to make a point, but this wasn't the right time.
Stacey just wants any small part, so of course she gets Mrs. Darling. Sam Thomas gets Mr. Darling! They're still seeing each other, so initially it's fun. Sam starts joking around a lot, in part because his friends tease him about robbing the cradle by dating Stacey. But he goofs around so much that Stacey is constantly embarrassed by him. They work it out, though.
Claudia is the set designer. She's paranoid a piece of the set will fall and maim or kill an actor, but of course that doesn't happen.
Mary Anne expressly does NOT want to be involved in the play, but that cannot be. She winds up wrangling the little kids during rehearsals and being Jackie Rodowsky's assistant. He needs the help, too: he's afraid of the crocodile costume. He does overcome it in time for the play, fortunately.
Mallory is the apprentice costume designer, and gets the awkward job of measuring the actors for their costumes, which she makes more awkward by being Mallory. Once she gets through that, her job isn't awkward anymore, but it is boring: just keeping track of the costumes and repairing as needed. She ends up stepping on Mary Anne's toes a lot due to her boredom before focusing on what her job actually is.
Logan is given a minor role as a pirate, and while goofing around backstage, gets himself kicked out of the play. But only temporarily; he learns his lesson.
Also, Jackie Rodowsky earns the role of Michael Darling, Cokie Mason gets Tiger Lily, Alan Gray is Smee, and several sitting charges and siblings get small roles as Indians, pirates, and lost boys. And Karen brats her way into having the director create a Tinkerbell role for her. Ugh.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: none
Mallory is always cold.
Logan's still on the track team, for which he had just qualified in the book he narrated.
Their Families:
Stacey's mom is so sweet to her in this book. Offering moral support but being willing to not insist on it is a great quality.
And Richard! He tapes the play so Dawn's dad can see it. Aww...
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
One reason Jessi wanted the role of Peter is that none of the kids outside the BSC have seen her dance. What about Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation? She did ballet in the talent show which she organized.
SMS has eight class periods in a day. I only had seven. Was I deprived?
Why do students at SMS make fun of each other for bringing their own lunches to school? We never cared at mine. Maybe the extra class period makes them grumpy?
New SMS teachers: Mr. Cheney (drama), Miss Stanworth (home ec)
New student: Savannah Minton, Ellie Szilagyi (8th), Barry Soeder (unspecified)
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
I love this: remember in Dawn's first book when she had a conversation with Janine? "'Continue on' is redundant!" In one of her chapters, Dawn narrates "But our feud continues." Not "continues on." She learned!
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff and Faculty: 32
Students (other than the BSC): 95; 62 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 63 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
Ghostwriter? No, this one's all Ann
Synopsis:
Complicated book!
The Stoneybrook schools are putting on a production of Peter Pan. It's mostly being done through the middle school, so it's not too crazy-far-fetched that some of our favorite sitters get big roles. All the members of the BSC are involved somehow:
Jessi tries out for the lead, assuming she's a shoe-in (dance background). She's so convinced she feels bad for anyone else trying out for it, and arranges to be a correspondent to the SMS student newspaper about the play. Of course, pride goeth before fall. She ends up cast as a pirate, but she backs out of it as it's beneath her, and ends up assistant choreographer. And bitter about the whole thing. She even removes her credit as assistant choreographer from the programs because she's not listed as assistant producer. But just before opening night, Pete Black breaks his nose and Jessi gets to take over his part, so she ends up still in the play after all.
Kristy decides to try out for the dual role of Nana the sheepdog and the crocodile, but winds up as Peter Pan! (Pete Black gets the animals part.) She has trouble learning such a big part, but comes through in fine form. Just a little slip near the beginning of the play, and bit of revenge on Cokie.
Dawn auditions for Tiger Lily and gets Wendy, but tries to turn her into Wendy the Rude Feminist by changing her lines A LOT. I get that she wants to make a point, but this wasn't the right time.
Stacey just wants any small part, so of course she gets Mrs. Darling. Sam Thomas gets Mr. Darling! They're still seeing each other, so initially it's fun. Sam starts joking around a lot, in part because his friends tease him about robbing the cradle by dating Stacey. But he goofs around so much that Stacey is constantly embarrassed by him. They work it out, though.
Claudia is the set designer. She's paranoid a piece of the set will fall and maim or kill an actor, but of course that doesn't happen.
Mary Anne expressly does NOT want to be involved in the play, but that cannot be. She winds up wrangling the little kids during rehearsals and being Jackie Rodowsky's assistant. He needs the help, too: he's afraid of the crocodile costume. He does overcome it in time for the play, fortunately.
Mallory is the apprentice costume designer, and gets the awkward job of measuring the actors for their costumes, which she makes more awkward by being Mallory. Once she gets through that, her job isn't awkward anymore, but it is boring: just keeping track of the costumes and repairing as needed. She ends up stepping on Mary Anne's toes a lot due to her boredom before focusing on what her job actually is.
Logan is given a minor role as a pirate, and while goofing around backstage, gets himself kicked out of the play. But only temporarily; he learns his lesson.
Also, Jackie Rodowsky earns the role of Michael Darling, Cokie Mason gets Tiger Lily, Alan Gray is Smee, and several sitting charges and siblings get small roles as Indians, pirates, and lost boys. And Karen brats her way into having the director create a Tinkerbell role for her. Ugh.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: none
Mallory is always cold.
Logan's still on the track team, for which he had just qualified in the book he narrated.
Their Families:
Stacey's mom is so sweet to her in this book. Offering moral support but being willing to not insist on it is a great quality.
And Richard! He tapes the play so Dawn's dad can see it. Aww...
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
One reason Jessi wanted the role of Peter is that none of the kids outside the BSC have seen her dance. What about Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation? She did ballet in the talent show which she organized.
SMS has eight class periods in a day. I only had seven. Was I deprived?
Why do students at SMS make fun of each other for bringing their own lunches to school? We never cared at mine. Maybe the extra class period makes them grumpy?
New SMS teachers: Mr. Cheney (drama), Miss Stanworth (home ec)
New student: Savannah Minton, Ellie Szilagyi (8th), Barry Soeder (unspecified)
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
I love this: remember in Dawn's first book when she had a conversation with Janine? "'Continue on' is redundant!" In one of her chapters, Dawn narrates "But our feud continues." Not "continues on." She learned!
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff and Faculty: 32
Students (other than the BSC): 95; 62 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 12 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 63 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
7/7/11
The Mystery at Claudia's House (M#6)
Original Publication Date: 1992
Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles
Synopsis:
Child TV star Derek Masters is heading back to Stoneybrook just in time for a mystery: Claudia notices things in her room have been rearranged, and items missing (Dawn suspects a ghost). Fortunately Derek got to be in an episode of a mystery show, and is ready to help. He's dealing with an issue of his own, though. His TV character is supposed to kiss an actress in an upcoming show, and he's getting teased about it. But the teasing lessens and it turns out in the end that the writers cut the kiss anyway. Back to the mystery...
In addition to the weirdness in Claudia's room, Janine has been acting oddly. She's wearing (badly-applied) makeup, asking to borrow out-of-character clothes from Claudia, and being late to things. She even asks Claudia for a makeover. But she won't say why. She even lies about where she'll be when she's late for dinner, and gets grounded. When Claudia talks to Derek, he has some outlandish ideas (she was abducted by aliens!) but also some okay ones, like following Janine to see what she's up to. Claudia and Derek do, and see Janine meeting a handsome stranger. Of course, the BSC is too dense to realize that Janine has a boyfriend. Claudia ends up confronting Janine about meeting the stranger and getting in his car in front of their parents, and Janine confesses that she's been seeing Jerry Michaels, and dressing to impress him. Naturally, he prefers the Janine he fell for, and Janine goes back to how she used to dress.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Devil Dog in her backpack
In second grade, Stacey thought she was a princess. That might come up in her biography; I'm not sure.
Their Families:
Claudia and Janine apparently wear the same shoe size.
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
Claudia mentions having to catch the school bus, but in previous books she walks to school.
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
Dawn suggests that Janine's up for an academic award and is dressing up to impress a teacher. That seems wrong...
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff: 30
Students (other than the BSC): 92; 60 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 11 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 63 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles
Synopsis:
Child TV star Derek Masters is heading back to Stoneybrook just in time for a mystery: Claudia notices things in her room have been rearranged, and items missing (Dawn suspects a ghost). Fortunately Derek got to be in an episode of a mystery show, and is ready to help. He's dealing with an issue of his own, though. His TV character is supposed to kiss an actress in an upcoming show, and he's getting teased about it. But the teasing lessens and it turns out in the end that the writers cut the kiss anyway. Back to the mystery...
In addition to the weirdness in Claudia's room, Janine has been acting oddly. She's wearing (badly-applied) makeup, asking to borrow out-of-character clothes from Claudia, and being late to things. She even asks Claudia for a makeover. But she won't say why. She even lies about where she'll be when she's late for dinner, and gets grounded. When Claudia talks to Derek, he has some outlandish ideas (she was abducted by aliens!) but also some okay ones, like following Janine to see what she's up to. Claudia and Derek do, and see Janine meeting a handsome stranger. Of course, the BSC is too dense to realize that Janine has a boyfriend. Claudia ends up confronting Janine about meeting the stranger and getting in his car in front of their parents, and Janine confesses that she's been seeing Jerry Michaels, and dressing to impress him. Naturally, he prefers the Janine he fell for, and Janine goes back to how she used to dress.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: Devil Dog in her backpack
In second grade, Stacey thought she was a princess. That might come up in her biography; I'm not sure.
Their Families:
Claudia and Janine apparently wear the same shoe size.
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
Claudia mentions having to catch the school bus, but in previous books she walks to school.
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
Dawn suggests that Janine's up for an academic award and is dressing up to impress a teacher. That seems wrong...
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff: 30
Students (other than the BSC): 92; 60 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 11 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 63 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Devil Dogs, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
7/4/11
Mallory Hate Boys (and Gym) (RS#59)
Original Publication Date: 1992
Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn
Synopsis:
It's one of Mallory's worst nightmares come true: her gym class will join the boys' gym class for a volleyball session, and within the first few minutes, she's targeted as a poor athlete. Her team is annoyed with her, and other teams know all they have to do to win to serve to Mallory. By the way, this problem could have easily been avoided by the gym teachers' saying "Competitive players over here and non-competitive players on the other side." I can sympathize with Mallory here, because it sucks to be the one person who's bad at something when everyone else on both teams is at least competent.
But Mallory takes it too far (I know, shocker), refusing to play and earning herself detention. She also decides to learn about self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias. Since some boys the BSC sits for have been acting up, and she's having trouble with boys teasing her in gym class, she decides that something is wrong with Stoneybrook boys. After asking Ben Hobart about Australian gym classes, Mallory concludes it's gym that ruins boys. She is quickly disabused of this idea when Ben's younger brothers spend the night at the Pikes' and the Pike boys go to the Hobarts. Ben's brothers are nightmares, Mallory's are on their best behavior. Maybe sometimes people are just having off days. About this time, Mallory also goes to talk with her gym teacher at her mother's suggestion. They work out a plan for Mallory to survive the volleyball unit, and soon it's time for the next rotation: archery. Much to her surprise, Mallory is great at it, and even tries out for and makes the SMS archery team.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: none mentioned
It's well-established that Mallory's not pleased with her looks, but she actually narrates that she doesn't "consider [her]self pretty." That's sad to read.
When Mallory first voices her theory that boys are pains and girls aren't, Stacey and Logan are first dissenting opinions. Considering Logan's a boy and Stacey's good at math (and therefore understands statistics better) that makes perfect sense.
Their Families:
Byron Pike slouches more than the other two triplets.
Vanessa is seen flipping through a mail-order toy catalog, which is a nice reference to the ordering frenzy of last book.
Mallory's parents still enjoy tennis.
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
Sixth grade students: Chris Brooks, Glen Brown, Noah Fein, Helen Gallway, Tom Harold, Glen Johnson, Robbie Mara
Ms. Walden is still the sixth-grade girls' gym teacher, and this book introduces Mr. De Young, the boys' gym teacher.
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
Anachronism: Mallory claims there are five boys' sports events for every one girls'. Maybe there is one more basketball team for the boys than the girls if there's more interest on the boys' side, but since Title IX had been in effect for twenty years when this book was published, I doubt the ratio is as high as Mallory thinks.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff: 30
Students (other than the BSC): 92; 60 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 11 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 62 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn
Synopsis:
It's one of Mallory's worst nightmares come true: her gym class will join the boys' gym class for a volleyball session, and within the first few minutes, she's targeted as a poor athlete. Her team is annoyed with her, and other teams know all they have to do to win to serve to Mallory. By the way, this problem could have easily been avoided by the gym teachers' saying "Competitive players over here and non-competitive players on the other side." I can sympathize with Mallory here, because it sucks to be the one person who's bad at something when everyone else on both teams is at least competent.
But Mallory takes it too far (I know, shocker), refusing to play and earning herself detention. She also decides to learn about self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias. Since some boys the BSC sits for have been acting up, and she's having trouble with boys teasing her in gym class, she decides that something is wrong with Stoneybrook boys. After asking Ben Hobart about Australian gym classes, Mallory concludes it's gym that ruins boys. She is quickly disabused of this idea when Ben's younger brothers spend the night at the Pikes' and the Pike boys go to the Hobarts. Ben's brothers are nightmares, Mallory's are on their best behavior. Maybe sometimes people are just having off days. About this time, Mallory also goes to talk with her gym teacher at her mother's suggestion. They work out a plan for Mallory to survive the volleyball unit, and soon it's time for the next rotation: archery. Much to her surprise, Mallory is great at it, and even tries out for and makes the SMS archery team.
Established or continued in this book:
The Girls (and Logan):
Claudia candy: none mentioned
It's well-established that Mallory's not pleased with her looks, but she actually narrates that she doesn't "consider [her]self pretty." That's sad to read.
When Mallory first voices her theory that boys are pains and girls aren't, Stacey and Logan are first dissenting opinions. Considering Logan's a boy and Stacey's good at math (and therefore understands statistics better) that makes perfect sense.
Their Families:
Byron Pike slouches more than the other two triplets.
Vanessa is seen flipping through a mail-order toy catalog, which is a nice reference to the ordering frenzy of last book.
Mallory's parents still enjoy tennis.
The Club: nothing new
SMS:
Sixth grade students: Chris Brooks, Glen Brown, Noah Fein, Helen Gallway, Tom Harold, Glen Johnson, Robbie Mara
Ms. Walden is still the sixth-grade girls' gym teacher, and this book introduces Mr. De Young, the boys' gym teacher.
PSA time: nothing stood out
Misc:
Anachronism: Mallory claims there are five boys' sports events for every one girls'. Maybe there is one more basketball team for the boys than the girls if there's more interest on the boys' side, but since Title IX had been in effect for twenty years when this book was published, I doubt the ratio is as high as Mallory thinks.
The numbers:
Starting 8th grade: 4
Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)
Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 2
Summers after 8th grade: 3
BSC Fights: 7
SMS Staff: 30
Students (other than the BSC): 92; 60 8th graders, 2 7th grader, 18 6th graders, 11 unspecified
Clients: 29
Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 62 (bonbons, bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, chocolate marshmallow cookies, Chunky bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, dark-chocolate caramels, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, Fritos, fruit pie, gumdrops, Gummi Bears (regular and sweet-n-sour), Heath bars, Hershey's kisses, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, jellybeans, Kit-Kats, licorice, licorice whips, Lifesavers, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Mallomars, malt balls, marshmallows, Mentos, Milky Ways, mini candy bars, Necco wafers, Oreos (Double Stuf and chocolate-dipped), Payday bars, Planter's Peanut bar, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, pretzel sticks, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, tortilla chips, Triscuits, Twinkies, Yodels)
Crushes: Claudia-8 (Guy, Terry, Austin Bentley, Timothy Carmody, Arthur Feingold, Woody Jefferson, Trevor Sandbourne, Will Yamakawa), Dawn-5 (Travis, Lewis Bruno, Parker Harris, Price Irving, Richie Magnesi), Mary Anne-2 (Alex, Logan Bruno), Stacey-7 (Toby, Kelsey Bauman, Pete Black, Ross Brown, Pierre D'Amboise, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas), Kristy-1 (Bart Taylor), Mallory-1 (Ben Hobart), Jessi-3 (Daniel, Curtis Shaller, Quint Walter)
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