Stacey the Math Whiz (RS#105)

Original Publication Date: 1997

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis. Furthermore, one Peter G. Hayes is thanked (perhaps he helped with some math things?), and the book is "in memory of Jessica Knott, and in honor of Liesl Flandermeyer and all Jessica's friends." A Google search reveals nothing about who Jessica was.

Synopsis:

I'll get this out of the way right now: I hate the term "mathlete" and others like it. Yes, math and other academic studies are hard, but they're not sports. I've done math up through calculus, and taken higher science classes, and did well in them. I also did well in sports. The two are not the same thing. If you love math or whatever subject, that's fantastic. Continue learning, and pass on your love of the subject to others. But if you have to make it sound like you're doing a sport then you're going to make me think you're justifying something. "Math Team" or "Math Club" sounds like it respects itself more than "Mathletes." Anyway.

Stacey is invited to join her school's Mathlete team, a competitive math club. Just when she accepts, her dad shows up, having been laid off. He seems pretty chipper about the whole thing, confident that he'll soon be employed and for now enjoying some time with his daughter. (Also, due to her new time commitment, Stacey can't tutor Lindsey DeWitt in math, so Claudia takes her place and actually does very well.) Stacey is very busy, but enjoying the competitions. She helps the SMS team do very well. But she's spread a little thin, especially since while he's between jobs, Stacey's dad is a bit overwhelming. As much as she enjoys spending time with him, it's exhausting because he wants to go do a lot of fantastic things.

Because this is Stacey, she ends up having to choose between an amazing concert with her dad and the first in a best-two-out-of-three state championship meet. After feeling guilty about letting down either her dad or her team, she decides to go to the meet (like she should, because that was her first commitment), and is very relieved when her dad is completely understanding: he didn't know about the conflict. Stacey's team wins that match, and her dad is there to cheer her on. But he probably can't make the other one (or two if Stacey's team loses the second) because of his new job. It seems he's back to his workaholic self. It does come down to a third meet, of course. Stacey gets the last question for not only the win, but to break the individual scoring record for the state...despite joining partway through the season...but let's not have too much math in a book about math.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Cheese Doodles, peanut M&Ms, Ruffles

Mallory seems to correct Claudia's mistakes (like "explanation point" vs "exclamation point") more than most. Perhaps from editing her own work, or having younger siblings?

Someone please explain to me how Claudia confuses "how" and "who" yet correctly uses the phrase "bated breath."

Even when Stacey's rushing to answer a math question in the competition, she dots her Is with hearts.


Their Families:

Stacey's dad is still seeing his girlfriend, Samantha.

Stacey's mom seems to hold more resentment post-divorce than Stacey's dad. Maybe she considers him more at fault, maybe he really WAS more at fault, maybe she's jealous that he's dating, maybe Stacey's dad hides it better.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

SMS has its own math department, and we are for the first time introduced to its head, Ms. Hartley. We also meet Ms. Kolinsky, a teacher's aide.


PSA Time:

Matt Braddock was probably glaring at Haley not because he wanted a different name in their playing, but because she wasn't signing, and thereby leaving him out of the conversation. It's just plain rude to communicate in a language that only part of the group understands, if you can avoid it.

Nicky's techinique of estimating how many items are in a container (like candies in jar: count the number in one row, one column, and how many rows deep then multiply the three numbers) is a very good way to do it. I've won more than one competition, usually at baby showers, by doing this.


Misc:

Oh, my. Adam interrupts Nicky in the bathroom when Nicky is seeing how many sheets of toilet paper he can grab with one pull. But from how embarassed Nicky asks and Byron saying, "You're not supposed to pull so hard!" it's easy to misread if you're skimming.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 9

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 62

Students (other than the BSC): 187: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 9 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 123

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Abby and the Mystery Baby (M#28)

Original Publication Date: 1997

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Abby arrives home from school to find a six-month-old (or so) baby boy on the porch. There's no indication of where the baby came from. After a visit from the police, it's decided that the little boy can stay with the Stevensons for now. Abby's mom hires a nanny for when she's at work and the girls are at school. Abby's not convinced the woman her mom hires is best for the job, and she's also very curious about the private conversations her mom is having with the police and social workers. Plus her (maternal) grandparents are acting weird. Maybe they know something...but this is a BSC mystery, so these could easily be red herrings.

Maybe it has something to do with the younger sister Abby's mom suddenly has (a few books ago, Mrs. Stevenson was an only child). The sister has been estranged for a while, although Abby has heard of her enough to know her name and stories from her childhood. Sure enough, a trail of clues leads Abby to a New York City hospital, where she finds her mother visiting her aunt. She had dropped the baby off at Abby's house, not quite thinking clearly to due diabetic complications, and ended up in a coma for a little while, which explains the lack of a phone call or anything. At the end of the book, the whole family is healthy and reconciled. (Well, except that the baby's father left Abby's aunt...)

Subplot: The BSC organizes a month-long writing group for the charges. Yay.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Hershey's miniatures (and the dark chocolate ones are her favorite)

In addition to soccer, Abby likes softball and track.


Their Families:

Claire is very new to writing, and even needs help spelling "the." Is that normal for a kindergartener? To not be able to spell small words?

I think we can safely say that the Stevensons don't keep Kosher. Abby has pepperoni pizza ready for a pizza. Aside from mixing milk and meat, pepperoni tends to be pork. I don't think a family that kept Kosher would have pig meat lying around the house. Although Abby never states whether she eats any.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time:

Abby is a bit snobby with her mom's substitute receptionist when the woman won't give Abby the information she's asking for. Abby sure the woman knows. But, having been the one answering the phones, there is no way for this woman to know who Abby is. She's doing what her boss asked her to do. Don't try to trick receptionists. We don't like it.


Misc:

Typo on page 96. Abby narrates that Stacey was ribbing Claudia's spelling in a notebook entry, but from both the handwriting and the content, Mallory was doing the ribbing.

Abby describes the BSC members by how they'd react to finding a baby on their doorsteps. She keeps referring to the imaginary baby as "it" since she's not imagining a boy or girl specifically. It sounds odd, but what are you gonna do? I'm just glad that I found my next baby is a girl so that we can stop saying "it" and start saying "she" while we wait for May when she'll be born.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 9

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 60

Students (other than the BSC): 187: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 9 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 123

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Abby's Twin (RS#104)

Original Publication Date: 1997

Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn

Synopsis:

A school health screening reveals that Abby and Anna have scoliosis. Abby's isn't severe enough to need treatment, likely because of athleticism. But Anna will need to wear a brace under her clothes for two to three years. Abby feels guilty for not needing treatment and is worried about Anna, and goes overboard trying to cheer up Anna. But she does things that she herself would enjoy, not what Anna would enjoy. It takes Anna calling out Abby for her to realize that treating Anna like an invalid isn't helping, it's making her feel worse. Once everything's out in the open, the sisters reconcile and Anna agrees to accept helpful help from Abby.

Subplot: the BSC shovels snow to raise money for a party to help them and their charges through the winter blahs. There's concern that it won't snow but just in time, it does.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Doritos under her covers

Abby theorizes that if she were to land on Mars she'd find some spore or something to be allergic to. That's pretty funny in light of recent scientific findings.

Anna thinks it makes sense for both her and Abby to have scoliosis, and I agree. What doesn't make sense is that Anna has zero allergies or respiratory issues while Abby has those in spades.

Having to move back a grade really does seem to have taught Claudia that's okay to ask for help. She has Stacey help her with spelling, unprompted.


Their Families:

The Pikes' dog is overweight.


The Club (and clients):

Abby didn't enjoy her time as BSC treasurer. However, she DID like being president.


SMS:

The school just randomly has a health check in the middle of the day, without indication that the parents have been notified. Especially strange since the scoliosis screening is done shirtless.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

This book used to belong to library in Kentucky. The stamp reads "Smiths Grove/North Warren Branch."



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 9

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 60

Students (other than the BSC): 187: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 9 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 123

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Happy Holidays, Jessi (RS#103)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Jessi and her family are excitedly making plans for Christmas and Kwanzaa (the book explains Kwanzaa pretty well, too). They're looking forward to having their family from Oakley, NJ visit for Kwanzaa. Jessi's even organizing a Kwanzaa festival with the help of the BSC. However, Aunt Cecilia's response to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is to become more strict, to the point that Jessi's father comes down on her hard. He insists that she lighten up and let the kids be kids. She tries to oblige in just about the worst way: when Squirt is crying and struggling in his car seat, she unbuckles him. Of course, they get rear-ended. Squirt gets thrown from the car seat and is rushed away in an ambulance. He might have a concussion, and has to spend a few days in the hospital. Since I have a toddler, it's horrifying to read--and think--about. And then I start thinking about the school shooting in CT and the parents who have already wrapped Christmas presents that their children won't be able to unwrap and don't even have the luxury of waiting for their children to come home from the hospital...

But this book is fiction. Squirt is in the hospital through Christmas, but he does recover and gets to come home. The family is still tense, but clear the air during the Kwanzaa celebration. The Kwanzaa festival goes well. Things settle back to normal.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy:

One of Jessi's (summer) chores is mowing the lawn.

Jessi says that next to Keisha, Mallory is her best friend. So Mallory is her second-best friend?

And by the way, Mallory is ten kinds of awesome in this book. She and her dad pick up a Christmas tree for the Ramseys, knowing that they're too busy to do it themselves. When Becca comes down with the flu and can't go to the hospital to see Squirt, Mallory volunteers to baby-sit on Christmas Day so the rest of the Ramseys can visit together. She also baby-sits the next day, when the family is bringing Squirt home, and helps Becca finish decorating the house.


Their Families:

Claudia willing asks Janine to explain something. Maybe moving down a grade and being able to help some of her classmates understand the material (now that Claudia herself gets it better) has shown her that asking for help is okay. Janine also explains using regular English, not inflating her vocabulary like she sometimes does.

Becca seems to have outgrown her stage fright.


The Club (and clients):

New clients: The Harrises, Omar and Ebon.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time:

I DETEST it when people misuse handicapped parking spots. If you have a condition that warrants a permit, then get a permit. And don't park in them if you don't have a permit that applies to someone actually in the car. Even if it's only for a few minutes or you're tired or the parking lot is crowded (and I've been in all of those situations, sometimes with crutches for an injury). It's just rude. Plus my dad says that if you misuse a handicapped spot, my late aunt will haunt you (she was in a wheelchair).

Of course, a child having a tantrum is far preferable to a child being unbuckled and getting hurt in a car accident. There's another thing during that scene of the book that Jessi does a very good job of: when there's an emergency, designate jobs for specific people. For example, don't yell out, "Someone call 911!" Point to person and say, "You! Call 911!" You're far more likely to get a person to do it, because no one will be thinking that someone else will take care of things instead.


Misc:

Freezing rain is super-cooled water (H2O that is below 32F/0C but still liquid) and freezes upon landing on the ground. Confusing sleet and freezing rain doesn't really make sense to me...

The BSC jumps down Kristy's throat when she asks if anyone thinks it's strange that Kwanzaa is only for one race of people. Given that this book is meant for grade-school age kids, I think that's a fair question, but maybe it should have been given to a sitting charge instead. On a similar note, this book is sort of uncomfortable to read...several of the African-American characters have "black-sounding" names and Jessi's family is eating soul food (the actual African foods make sense, though)...there's so much of it that it's like the book is saying "LOOK! ETHNIC!"



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 9

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 60

Students (other than the BSC): 187: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 9 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 123

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Claudia and the Lighthouse Ghost (M#27)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Some old family friends, the Hatts, are staying with the Kishis while they're in the process of moving back to Stoneybrook. Apparently they left because of something sinister to do with a lighthouse they own, and some people aren't thrilled to have them back, even sending them threatening notes. It turns out that a teenager was looking for something in the lighthouse one night and fell into the water while on the property and drowned. His father blames the Hatts for the death. The reason becomes a little more clear later on: the teenager had gone into the lighthouse as part of a gang initiation and was accidentally locked inside by Mr. Hatt. Fueled by claustrophobia, the teenager jumped and landed in the water. It turns out that a member of the gang is behind all the creepiness. It was his way of trying to keep the gang a secret.

There's a made-up comet making an appearance in Stoneybrook, too, complete with bad descriptions of comets and stupid superstitions. The BSC organizes a viewing party. Also, Janine is having trouble with her boyfriend, Jerry, and they end up calling things off.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Yodels in her night table drawer, Milky Ways under her mattress, cherry creams under her bed, caramels

There's really no new information about the girls.


Their Families:

Claudia worries what might happen if Janine finds her hidden candy while they share Claudia's room. I'm surprised that Claudia has forgotten that Janine hides candy, too.

Adam is forty seconds younger than Jordan, which makes it pretty likely the triplets were born via c-section.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

New students: Laura Hatt, Tonya Wright, both seventh grade. Actually, Tonya was mentioned before, but now we know her last name.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

This book used to belong to a Samantha who went by Sam, and possibly had the last initial H.

It's almost Christmas.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-2, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-1

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 9

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 60

Students (other than the BSC): 187: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 9 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 36 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 123

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0