Jessi and the Dance School Phantom (RS#42)

Original Publication Date: 1991

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

This was always one of my favorite books in the series. I'm not sure why...I'm very good at spraining my ankles (and injuring other things, which is why I stuck more to non-contact sports), maybe that had something to do with it. And I just now figured out that the titular Phantom is a reference to the Phantom of the Opera. I am so smart, S-M-R-T--I mean S-M-A-R-T!

Jessi is dancing the lead in her ballet school's production of Sleeping Beauty. She's thrilled, but soon things go south. Someone takes her toe shoes and her spare dancing clothes, she finds threatening notes in her bag, she's pushed during rehearsals, she slips on a wet spot that shouldn't have been there and strains her ankle, and so on. Someone doesn't want her to be in this performance. With help from the rest of the BSC, she creates a suspect list and eventually narrows it down to one, Hilary. She tricks Hilary into revealing that she has the same calligraphy pen and handwriting the notes were done in, and Hilary confesses. After that, the ballet goes on to be a success. Hilary quits ballet when it's over; she was only dancing for her mom, not because she enjoyed it.

At the same time, the BSC hosts a pet show for its charges. There are some spats between the kids over who has the better pet and who will win first prize. Jessie solves this by suggesting the prizes not be first, second, third, but prizes for things like "Longest Tail" and "Shiniest Fur." Hooray for Jessi!


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

I like that Jessi was surprised that she got the lead, but at the same time wasn't surprised to have gotten a big role. She wasn't thinking, as she had before, that she might get the spot of a peasant. It shows that she's realizing she has talent.


Their Families:

Shannon (the dog) must not be a puppy anymore; she wins "Biggest Pet" over the Perkins's Labrador. Also, we meet Emily Junior, Karen's rat that she named after her sister. (On a related note, my daughter shares a name with my cousin's dog, but she's not named after it. We picked the name first, and they're spelled differently.)


The Club: nothing new


SMS:

8th grade student: Jennifer Cooke


PSA time: nothing new


Misc:

Jessi's ballet classmates include Mary Bramdstedt (who moves a bit roboticly), Carrie Steinfeld (still the oldest in the class), Katie Beth Parsons (the one with a sister who's deaf), Hilary Morgan (with a pushy, rich mother), and Lisa Jones (a worrywart, but a nice one), all of whom have been mentioned in previous Jessi books. Carrie wins the part of the Bluebird of Happiness, Lisa the Lilac Fairy. Then halfway through the book, Carrie is the Lilac Fairy. By the time the performance rolls around, Lisa has her part back again.

I never understood why Hilary had to get her hair done to have a French braid. My mom put my hair in French all the time, and by the time I was in middle school I could do it myself.

The music Jessi's class dances to is played on a record player.

Jessi needs new toe shoes every week? Is that right?

Kristy and her younger siblings laugh at the thought of Emily Michelle entering Boo-Boo the cat in the pet show, since "he's almost as big as she is!" My eight-day-old daughter was at one point about half the weight of my husband's cat...and more than twelve inches shorter.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 3

Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 2

BSC Fights: 5

SMS Staff: 17

Students (other than the BSC): 57; 34 8th graders, nine sixth-graders, nine unspecified

Clients: 24

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 47 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, 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, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)

Crushes: Claudia-7 (Guy, Terry, 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)

Mary Anne vs. Logan (RS#41)

Original Publication Date: 1991

Ghostwriter? No

Synopsis:

Mary Anne is feeling smothered by Logan, so she has them cool things down. However, Logan doesn't take it as seriously as Mary Anne, and tries to heat things up again without talking to Mary Anne about it first. In response, Mary Anne puts a stop to things and they break up.

At the same time, Jenny Prezzioso is acting out in anticipation of her parents' new baby, due to arrive soon. She's worried that her parents won't have time for her anymore, but once she meets her new little sibling, things start looking up.


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: red hots, chocolate-covered cherries, and candy hearts

Stacey's still feeling weak.


Their Families: nothing new


The Club:

Mary Anne and Dawn are still the only BSC members who don't want to wait until the Prezziosos' new baby is born to find out if it's a boy or a girl. (I'd want to know; I could hardly wait for my 20 week ultrasound. My husband and I figured we could be just as surprised at 20 weeks as at 40, and, having already picked names, we wanted to know who was in there.)

Jenny also doesn't know if she's going to have a brother or a sister. I have a brother seven years younger than I, and only my parents knew he was a he before he was born.


SMS: nothing new


PSA time: nothing new


Misc:

This book belonged to an Emily Oshiro who had name labels with a kitten on them.

Ugh, Mr. Prezzioso is planning a surprise baby shower for his wife. I would not want a surprise shower, especially at around 36 weeks or more (which is about her gestation). Might get a surprise baby. I like the idea of a party, so you know to be ready for one, then having the fact that it's a shower be a surprise. Better (in my opinion) is no surprise at all, though.

Jenny says she won't be as important after the baby's born. I don't remember this, but my mom told me that after my younger brother was born, my older brother and I (then 7 and 10) told her something to the effect of it being okay that she loved the new baby more because that was just how it should be. She didn't, of course, but we expected her to.

On page 79, the narrator changes briefly: "'But then Toby came along,' Mary Anne reminded me."

Jenny doesn't visit her new sister in the hospital. I was there when my brother was a newborn, even after a complicated labor, and that was around when this book was published.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 3

Halloweens in 8th grade: 2 (plus one in seventh)

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 2

BSC Fights: 5

SMS Staff: 17

Students (other than the BSC): 56; 33 8th graders, nine sixth-graders, nine unspecified

Clients: 24

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 47 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, candy hearts, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, chocolate-covered cherries, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, 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, red hots, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, taco chips, Tootsie Roll Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Twinkies)

Crushes: Claudia-7 (Guy, Terry, 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)

Clauda and the Middle School Mystery (RS#40)

Original Publication Date: 1991

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Janine helps Claudia study for a big math test, and when she takes it, Claudia is happy to find she actually knows the material well. Her test even comes back with an A-. But after class, she and another student, Shawna Riverson, are called to the teacher's desk: their tests are identical. Since Shawna is usually a good student, the teacher believes her when she says she didn't cheat and pins it on Claudia. But the BSC and Janine stick up for her, and her parents, after a brief moment of doubt, do too. However, Claudia can't come up with a way to prove Shawna cheated. Claudia and the BSC do find a note in her locker about her having cheated (Shawna and Dawn switched lockers), but they can't use it because they'd have to explain how they got it. And when Claudia overhears Shawna talking about it, the conversations confirms that she cheated, but Claudia wasn't recording it.

Finally, Janine talks to the principal about how hard Claudia studied and the unfairness of the blame being placed on her with no way to prove it. The principal and math teacher have Claudia take a different version of the test over, and she does even better on it than the first one. When Shawna is told she'll have to repeat the test the next day, she confesses that she can't, because she won't pass it. She's doing too many extracurriculars and didn't have time to study, so when she found out Janine had helped Claudia, she copied the test.

The subplot is meant to mirror the main one: the Pike triplets are playing baseball outside and break a window. They're grounded until they tell who did it. The grounding lasts most of the book, until Mallory has them reenact it and they show it was an accident.


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Cheetos in her desk drawer, Fig Newtons, Mallomars, M&Ms, Fritos, whole-wheat crackers, Oreos (these all sound really good, but I'm sure they have too much salt, which I'm supposed to cut down on until I deliver...why a Claudia book now?)

Probably not intentional, but Claudia dismisses the idea of measuring a set amount of chocolate for baking cookies (regarding a story problem in math). She later proves herself not quite adept at cooking in one of the mysteries.

Stacey's still feeling weak.


Their Families:

Claudia and Janine seem to understanding each other better. Their personalities are too disparate for them to ever be best friends, I think, but they seem to realize they they've got each other's back.

Vanessa Pike is still a slowpoke and Claire is still bossy.


The Club: nothing new


SMS:

Mr. Zorzi is introduced as a math teacher (there is also a math teacher named Mr. Zizmore).

SMS students: Susan Taylor (8th)


PSA time:

Yes, Claudia, you would need a search warrant to look through someone's thing even if you weren't looking for a gun. And you would need to be a proper authority to look through the things, such as a police officer.

Also, speaking of (audio) recording people: in some states (such as mine, Washington) it's illegal to record people without their knowledge. Cases have been thrown out on technicalities like that.


Misc:

There's an orphaned parenthesis on page four.

Cokie Mason is Cokie Gray in this book, like she was in RS#38.

FYI, I'll be having a baby before Thanksgiving, so while I'll do what I can to put up a book a week, there could be a bit of a lag at some point. Maybe in a few years she'll be enjoying the BSC books!


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: 17

Students (other than the BSC): 56; 33 8th graders, nine sixth-graders, nine unspecified

Clients: 24

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 44 (bubble gum, Butterfingers, butterscotch candy, Cheese Doodles, Cheetos, a chocolate bar, cookies, Cracker Jacks, crackers (unspecified and whole wheat), cupcakes, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, Fig Newtons, 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-7 (Guy, Terry, 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)

California Girls! (SS#5)

Original Publication Date: 1990

Ghostwriter? No, Ann wrote this herself and dedicated it to the memory of "Lisa Novak and Gregg Peretz, whose short lives touched hundreds of others' in unique and wonderful ways." From a Google search, it seems they were murdered in their early 30s and may have been married. There is a scholarship fund set up in their names.

Synopsis:

The BSC wins a lottery prize (not the top one) and uses the money to go to California and visit Dawn's dad during one of SMS's many two-week vacations. Since the last super special involved a shipwreck, we'll go ahead and call this realistic.

Dawn gets irritated with her dad's girlfriend, Carol, who can do no right in Dawn's eyes. But she takes care of situation with Stacey (see below) well enough that Dawn ends up okay with her, even being able to accept the idea that her father might marry Carol someday.

Mary Anne babysits a few times for Stephie Roberts, a little girl whose mother died several years ago and who has asthma. Mary Anne is able to sympathize with her about the former and worries a lot about the latter. She eventually relaxes about the asthma and lets Stephie run around and do the things Stephie knows she can do. Of course, Stephie does have a brief asthma attack the last time Mary Anne sits for her, but they both handle it fine.

Claudia goes on a few dates with Terry, a boy she meets at the beach. She's worried that he's too smart for her, and puts on airs to impress him. When she finally lets the charade drop, she discovers that he's much easier to talk to, and they get along fine. They promise to be penpals and try to visit, but of course we'll never hear about him again after this book.

Kristy scoffs at the lackadaisical way the We ♥ Kids Club is run. She volunteers to sit for Erick and Ryan DeWitt, two notoriously ill-behaved boys. They overrun her at first, but Kristy does eventually gain control. In doing so, she (of course) learns that maybe there is more than one right way to do something.

Stacey takes up surfing and starts hanging out with some high school surfers. She starts to act recklessly, following their lead: taking waves that are too big for her, not speaking up when the driver of the car isn't being careful. The driver ends up causing a four-car collision. No one is seriously hurt, but Stacey gets pretty bruised. Carol picks her up from the hospital, and has her tell Dawn's dad what happened, then tell her own parents.

Jessi gets to go the set of PS 162, Derek Masters's TV show. She even gets to be an extra, and starts thinking about searching for an agent in California, because she has no memory of RS#27, in which she already did this and decided to continue with ballet. She only flirts with the idea though, and goes back to concentrating on ballet.

Mallory decides that she needs to look like a California girl and spends a ton of money on make up and (magic) wash-out hair dye that (magically) turns her red hair blonde. She's depressed when the PS 162 director tells her she doesn't have the right look to be an extra, but Kristy snaps her out of it by pointing out that her new look hasn't gained her anything and that she was fine before (Kristy's tactlessness used for good instead of evil). She dyes her hair red again and Stacey and Claudia buy her makeup from her.


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: not in this book

Apparently Claudia has been having her dad buy her lottery tickets for a long time...and he's okay with that? She can't read Nancy Drew, but her parents let her play the lottery?

Why do the girls address their postcards so formally? They're to "Mr. and Mrs. [dad's name]." I didn't even do that on my wedding invitations, just "Granny and Grandad" or whoever. (For what it's worth, I was married in a full nuptial Mass)

Claudia loves spaghetti...and this is the infamous flight in which Dawn orders the chicken. Because she's vegetarian, you know.

It's kinda stupid that Kristy would wonder why Carol (Mr. Schafer's girlfriend) would get on Dawn's nerves, given how she was with Watson at first.


Their Families:

Carol is a painter. My first thought was a house painter, but I think she's an artist? She drives a red sports car.

Mallory's dad is named Daniel in this book. In others, he's John.


The Club: nothing new


SMS: nothing new


PSA time: nothing new


Misc:

I love how Mary Anne is when Stephie is crying (upset that Mary Anne is going home): "I didn't say 'Don't cry' because everyone has a right to cry when they're feeling bad. And I didn't say 'It's okay' because it wasn't." She just hugs Stephie and lets her be upset.

It's really weird to read about the plane flight with all the changes that have happened in air travel in the last twenty years (yes, this book was published twenty years ago). But weirder than that is the brief discussion about the Soviet Union, in present tense.

It cracks me up that the BSC doesn't know what asthma is. My dad and I have it, and my younger brother used to, so it seems like basic knowledge to me.

You know those gorgeous white sand beaches? Some are made by parrot fish: they eat coral and excrete white sand.


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-7 (Guy, Terry, 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)