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

Mary Anne and the Little Princess (RS#102)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Mary Anne is hired as a "companion" for a young girl visiting from England, Victoria Elizabeth (get it? Victorian and Elizabethan England? If she had an older brother I bet he'd be named Edward). She's not a true princess, but if a few dozen people died then Victoria could end up on the throne. Her family is visiting on UN duties for six months, and it's Victoria's first time in the States. She has some trouble adjusting to her temporary home and rubs some people the wrong way due to cultural differences. Mary Anne helps her figure things out, and things go smoothly from then on.

While this is going on, Mary Anne's dad has to travel to Milwaukee, WI on business. Feeling lonely with her husband and biological children gone, Sharon focuses her attentions on her step-daughter. However, Mary Anne gets the impression that Sharon is treating her as a replacement Dawn rather than getting to know her better. They have a talk which dances around the subject, but serves to resolve the issue as well.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: pretzels,

How did Kristy make it to 13 without realizing that celebrating Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November is a US-only thing? She's surprised to learn that the English, of all people, don't celebrate it. Guess what, Kristy? They also don't celebrate the Fourth of July.

I couldn't figure out his exact position, but since Logan scored a touchdown in the SMS football game he almost certainly plays offense.

Dawn and Sharon have "health loaf" for Thanksgiving (Dawn flies in to surprise her mom for the holiday). The description of it sounds identical to what my vegetarian aunt had at Thanksgiving last week.


Their Families:

Mary Anne's mother played basketball for her college.

Just how organized is Mary Anne's dad? Very: he still uses the same watch from his childhood.

Because Sharon's kineiologist has recommended she go off dairy, Sharon has apple cider on her Cheerios. Gross. Just don't have cereal, then!

Sharon volunteers with Meals on Wheels.

Mary Anne describes a picture of an infant Dawn perched "precarisously" on Sharon's lap, which Sharon attributes to Dawn's eagerness to start walking. But Dawn's a newborn in the picture. Newborns aren't that mobile yet...nice try, Sharon.

Mary Anne explicitly says that in her mind, "Mom" is reserved for her biological mother, and she's mentioned in at least one other book as well. She also gets mixed feelings seeing two notes Sharon leaves her signed "Mom." Yet on page 140, she refers to Sharon as "Mom."


The Club (and clients):

New client: the Kents.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

While I'm not vegetarian, if I were to think of one food item to get in Wisconsin, it wouldn't be bratwurst. It'd be cheese. Second would be beer.

I don't normally pay attention to outfit descriptions, but Mary Anne wears a plaid skirt with argyle socks. I don't think those two patterns should be together.

This book marks the third time Thanksgiving in celebrated in the same academic year.


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): 186: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 8 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: 122

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

Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout (RS#101)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

Claudia is having more and more trouble with school, except art of course. In fact, she's taking an art class at a community college. But as her SMS grades continue to drop, the school comes to a decision: Claudia needs to repeat seventh grade. In spite of the humilation, Claudia finds herself pleased with how much easier the information is coming to her and starts to get used the idea of being a seventh-grader. Until she takes a closer look at the signs for the upcoming Halloween dance: it's only for eighth grade. Suddenly she's hit with separated she now is from her former life, which really gets her down. She just barely gets up the motivation to attend the end-of-class art show, and is stunned to see she's won first place, despite being the youngest in the class. With everything else that's going on, Claudia gets overwhelmed and breaks down. Turns out that her teacher, a famous artist, was held back in school herself--twice. She encourages Claudia that things will work out. Having had a chance to talk things over, Claudia is able to soldier on and make the best of things.

Subplot: Kristy organizes Hospital Buddies, a program to help out kids in the hospital by arranging visits and that sort of thing.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Yodels, Raisinettes, Smartfood cheese-flavored popcorn, Milky Ways, Snickers, Sour Patch Kids, Milk Duds, pretzels

Claudia is excited to see her art in a "real art show," but didn't that happen in Claudia and the New Girl?


Their Families:

Claudia's parents gave her a thesaurus for Christmas.

Vanessa Pike's idea for a Halloween costume (this book has the same Halloween as Super Mystery #3) is a "hippie girl in a hippie world." This book was released about six months before the song "Barbie Girl" was...perhaps the songwriter was inspired!

Claudia's parents give out raisins or bags of dried fruit for Halloween, and now their house rarely gets trick-or-treaters.


The Club (and clients):

Jackie Rodowsky is released from the hospital, having recovered from his concussion.

The book ends with Kristy declaring that the BSC is officially re-formed, its probationary period over.


SMS:

New-to-us students: Josh Peterson, Tim Ryan (seventh grade)

New-to-us faculty/staff: Ms. Anderson, 8th grade social studies; Mr. Matthews, resource room aide; Ms. Chiavetta, 7th grade English; Ms. Spacey, 7th grade science. Mr. Redmondt is back as a seventh-grade teacher, occasionally spelled "Redmond."

Starting in seventh grade at my school, students were placed in different math classes based on how well they understood math. Some of us were a grade ahead, some a grade below, and some taking "normal" seventh grade math. Claudia seems to have the most trouble with math, so that approach might have helped her. But she'd need something similar with English as well.

64% is a failing grade at SMS. I'm used to 60% and below being failing.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc: nothing stood out.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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): 186: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 8 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 35 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 122

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

Baby-sitters' Fright Night (SM#3)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Nola Thacker

Synopsis:

Bleh, Super Mystery. Only one more of these to go!

This time, Kristy, Abby, Stacey, Mallory, and Mary Anne are on a four day school trip to Salem, MA while a famous diamond called the Witch's Eye is stolen. The girls investigate because they have to be involved in everything, and some creepy stuff starts happening to them, like coming back to the hotel to find their rooms ransacked. Back in Stoneybrook, Claudia, Jessi, Logan, and Shannon (staying behind due to grades, a ballet a recital, a football game, and not going to SMS, respectively) organize a Halloween parade for the kids. Mostly the plot stays on focus, but each sitter gets at least one chapter:

Abby picks up a souvenir pumpkin keychain, and after the creepy stuff starts, wonders if it's cursed and bringing bad luck on the BSC. It turns out that the pumpkin is hollow, and the stolen diamond is inside, which explains why people have been following her, going through her hotel room, and so on: the theif was trying to get the diamond back.

Kristy tries to hold pranks from Cary Retlin and Alan Gray at bay. She ends up in the now-closed museum that the diamond was stolen from and gets locked inside with Alan Gray. The two of them figure out that Cary is behind both of them being able to enter the museum and team up to scare him.

Mary Anne finds a discarded disguise that was presumably used by the theif.

Mallory helps out a fellow student who's being picked on by Cokie by sort of...halfway between befriending and defending her.

Stacey finds a clue--a piece of paper with a series of numbers written on it, which turn out to be a combination to a hotel room safe. She does some work to narrow down the list of suspects.

Jessi gets the mystery notebook down to Mallory in Salem (a teacher's husband is coming for part of the trip). Again, the trip is FOUR DAYS.

Claudia's chapters mostly mention her homework troubles. She and Logan also come up with the idea of organizing the Halloween parade for the charges.

Logan helps the kids make costumes for Halloween.

Shannon helps Jordan Pike deal with his book of "magic spells" not working out as he had envisioned.

It turns out that a famous author, who had been researching the diamond and its supposed curse, stole the diamond with a partner to add to its mystery and help sell the book she's writing. The BSC serves as the catalyst to solving the mystery, and the owner of the diamond is very grateful.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: M&Ms

Foreshadowing: Claudia and her parents are worried about her grades.

If these books were written now, I wonder if Dawn would crusade against high fructose corn syrup rather than sugar.

At one point, Abby starts concocting a complicated and gruesome (well, for the BSC) theory about the mystery. Later on, in mystery #36, we'll find out that she's a fan of shows similar to America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries, so this makes sense.

Mary Anne narrates that Abby is the most individual a person she knows, rather than Dawn!

Stacey has a great memory for numbers. She says they "imprint" on her brain almost immediately and stick with her for a while.

Mallory makes a reference to going to a candle light church service. In the fourth and final Super Mystery it's implied that her family attends a church at least semi-regularly, although religion is rarely mentioned in the BSC books.


Their Families:

Sometimes Nikcy Pike goes through rolls of pennies that his dad gets from the bank, and has twice found one worth five dollars. Unless the penny has a rare defect, Lincoln pennies are worth face value, wheat pennies are worth about three cents, and "Indian head" pennies are worth at least a dollar. The pennies with rare mistakes are worth much more than five dollars, so Nicky must have found Indian head pennies in fantastic shape.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

New-to-us student: Eileen Murphy (6th).

Mary Anne spends an afternoon watching Ms. Garcia's five-year-old daughter. Ms. Garcia references her family being "just the two of us" and says that her daughter has the same outgoing personality that her father had. I didn't realize she was a widow.


PSA Time:

Okay, look. In the US, there is a constitutional garauntee to freedom of speech, of the press, etc. But it means that the GOVERNMENT can't step in the way of these things. Individuals and private businesses can still tell you to shut up or hold your protest on the (public) sidewalk instead of on private property and do so without infringing on any rights. You can say that they're being jerks, and you may well be right, but they are not violating the Constitution.


Misc:

This Halloween is the sixth one celebrated while the (older) BSC members are in eighth grade.

Abby congratulates Mallory on her clever deduction, then wonders aloud if she meant induction instead. I like to think that was a subtle commentary on Mallory perhaps following in her parents' footsteps and having a bunch of kids.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 184: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 44 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 35 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 120

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

Portrait Collection: Kristy's Book

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Jeanne Betancourt

Synopsis:

Now it's Kristy's turn to write an autobiography. She summarizes her life this way:

The First Five Innings: Kristy recounts her birth story (her mother started labor at a Yankees game) and tells about her first great idea--building snowmen for the neighbors to earn money for a birthday gift for Mimi.

Breaking the Rules: Kristy was sometimes left out of things by her older brothers, and had stricter rules than they did, because she was younger. She's so frustrated by this that she tricks her brothers into taking her to a movie that she was explicitly told to NOT go to. Her mother comes into the theatre partway through the showing and makes her leave. But Kristy later convinces her brothers to play a game with her that basically reveals the rest of the plot that Kristy had missed.

On Our Own: Not long after David Michael is born, Kristy dad simply fails to come home one night. It takes a call to his boss for Kristy's mom to discover that he's gone. She gets a fulltime job, and the older three kids start helping out more around the house.

Play Ball: Kristy goes to a baseball camp one summer (on scholarship, due to financial hardship). She learns a life lesson about teamwork...it's a pretty boring section.

My Real Father: When Kristy is 13, her father shows up (this plot point was put in the BSC movie). Only Mary Anne knows he's visiting; he wants to keep it secret from the rest of Kristy's family--yes, I'm purposely not calling it HIS family. After a week, Watson gets suspicious, but trusts Kristy enough to wait for a little bit before talking to Elizabeth. Kristy's father gives her an overdue birthday of a baseball glove...for a right-handed player, when Kristy is left-handed. She tries to exchange it and discovers it wasn't bought specially for her, it was part of a giveaway at a work event her father had attended. He skips town a couple days later, and Kristy tells her mom about it all. Later, Watson gets her a gift: a left-handed glove.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: it's mentioned that she seems to have an "endless supply" of candy even in elementary school

Kristy is supposed to be left-handed. but in the picture of her at about age 5 playing catch with her father on page 29, she's wearing a baseball glove on her left hand and actively playing that way. Now, if you're my mom and don't know much about baseball and you buy your left-handed a son a glove for his left hand, it's one thing. But if you have a job in the sports field... The picture of the wrong-handed glove Kristy gets later is of a glove for a right-handed person. (You get a glove for your non-dominant hand to allow for throwing with your dominant hand)

When Louie gets sprayed by a skunk and the kids are trying to figure how to bathe him without getting skunk smell on themselves, Claudia suggest Charlie could wear a plastic garbage bag over himself. It probably looked funny on him, but would have looked great on Claudia!


Their Families:

Maybe it's that Kristy is viewing the past through the lens of the present, but her father seems a bit clueless and distant even before he leaves. For example, she says that her father was more interested in the outcome of the Yankees game her parents had to leave early due to her mom being in labor than the fact that his wife was having a baby.

When relaxing around the house, Kristy's mom likes to wear jeans and sweatshirt, just like Kristy's standard "uniform."


The Club (and clients):

This book comes after Kristy's Worst Idea, which ends with the BSC deciding that it's okay to have priorities other than baby-sitting. Kristy actually seems to stick to that idea when she tries to remember if anyone can sit for her younger siblings: she has to do homework as does Claudia and some members are out of town or doing other extra-curricular activities, and only Mallory has a sitting job (Mary Anne is free and takes the job).


SMS:

Kristy gets a B+ on her report. I wonder what the grading criteria was.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

All the portrait collections have illustrations. Kristy's baby pictures are weird looking, like one artist drew all but the face and another just copied Kristy's teenage face onto the head.

I detest the term "play date." It's so contrived. When I was a kid, we just went to our friends' house or they came to ours and we played. The question was not "Can we have a play date?" but "Can you play?"


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 35 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 120

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

Kristy's Worst Idea (RS#100)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Kristy is back from her family trip to Hawaii, and anxious to get back to being BSC president. Perhaps too anxious. A few things went wonky with Abby being in charge, and Kristy goes overboard correcting them. To further complicate matters, a lot of members are finding that the BSC meetings are getting in the way of life: Jessi's advanced ballet class now meets on Friday afternoons, Mallory's taking a writing course that conflicts, etc. And several members are having conflicts with each other. And Jackie Rodowsky gets hurt on Kristy's watch, which she blames herself for. Long story short: the BSC disbands.

How does it go? Jessi and Mallory take it the hardest, after the parents (really, the BSC is offered mediation sessions and outright cash to reform). It isn't long before the other members realized they miss their earnings and the comaraderie. At the same time, a lot of the kids they used to sit for think they're to blame, including Jackie, who tries to bike over to Kristy's to make amends and ends up with a concussion that lands him in the hospital. It all comes together in the BSC reforming, with the understanding that the members will try to keep it a priority but also can be flexible.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Snickers, Milk Duds, tortilla chips

Kristy brings back little gifts for the rest of the BSC. Mallory gets clip on earrings. Mallory had her ears pierced in her second book, Mallory and the Trouble with Twins. Continuity fail or Kristy fail?


Their Families:

Kristy's the first kid up at her house one day and Watson offers her the first bit of bacon. My toddler just watched Charlotte's Web, in which the daughter is given Wilbur, the runt of the litter, to raise in events that transpose because she woke up early. Funny parallel that I'm sure in unintentional.


The Club (and clients):

I just realized that original four BSC members are in the same spots on this book's cover as on the cover of Kristy's Great Idea: Kristy in the director's chair, Stacey on the floor, and Mary Anne and Claudia on the bed.

Mrs. DeWitt calls for two sitters for Thursday, and a couple pages later Mary Anne and Claudia go to a sitting job for the barrett-DeWitt kids on Wednesday. Could be a an already-booked job, but it doesn't seem like it.

While it was rotten of Kristy and the BSC to blame Mallory when Nicky broke his finger way back when, but I guess you could say that at least Kristy's consistent when she beats herself up for Jackie's sprained ankle. And later Claire gets hurt and Kristy reassures Mallory that it's not her fault, so I guess she's sort of making up for it.


SMS:

School starts for the ninth time.


PSA Time:

Wear a bike helmet when you're biking. Just do it.


Misc:

Kristy tells us how exhausting the trip back from Hawaii to Connecticut was by saying "We started at X time and the flight was this long, then a layover this long, etc" and asks the reader what time they got home. She says she's too tired to figure it out, but whoever owned this copy of the book before I did answered 5:15am the day after leaving HI. (I checked the math; it's accurate)

If I were to take my family on a trip a few weeks before the start of a new school year, I'd get the back-to-school shopping done BEFORE the trip. Maybe that's just me.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 35 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 120

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

Stacey's Broken Heart (RS #99)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn

Synopsis:

Remember how Stacey was concerned with Robert talking so much to other girls? Well...she hears some unsettling news from Emily Bernstein, and ends up finding out that Robert's been cheating on her. Stacey is hurt of course, but also understands a bit. While sitting for some old charges in New York, she found herself developing a crush, although she didn't act on it. So she understands being attracted to someone, but she doesn't understand running with it. The girl he's been seeing behind Stacey's back, Andi Gentile, actually seeks out Stacey to apologize, which is impressive.

Also, Kristy goes on vacation to Hawaii with her family, and Abby takes over as president while she's gone. Wanting to prove herself, Abby organizes a Mexican-themed festival. She goes over budget, and basically cleans out the treasury AND expects the other members to chip in after the fact. While she has good ideas, she's not very good at executing them or leading the BSC. Basically she needs practice and guidance.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned, but she does make watermelon carvings

Stacey's attraction to Ethan brings her crush count up to an even dozen.

Claudia's a good friend for telling Stacey about Robert. It's certainly not welcome news, but Stacey deserved to know.


Their Families:

I totally understand Stacey's frustration with her father when she vents a bit about Robert to him and he tries to fix everything, especially with unwelcome suggestions (seeing other people). Sometimes you just want to vent and not discuss it.


The Club (and clients):

I don't get why Claudia wasn't the president during Kristy's absence, being vice-president. Abby already got to fill in for Stacey as treasurer.


SMS:

Pete Black has grown his hair to almost-shoulder length. I'm not a fan of long hair on guys (I happen to think the military's on to something), but Stacey and Claudia like it.


PSA Time:

None relevant to the book, but something from this evening: while standby flights often work out, don't bet on it after a hurricane disturbs plane flights. That was a fun trip to the airport!


Misc:

Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to use balloons to make the pinatas rather than balsa wood?

Henry and Grace Walker, who haven't shown up for dozens of books, are described consistently with their previous appearances.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 120

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

Dawn Schafer, Undercover Baby-sitter (M#26)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

The BSC gets a string of unusual jobs sitting for two sets of cousins in the same house, often at the same times, but separately. Their mothers are sisters who are in town to settle their late father's estate, and they don't get along, so they don't let their children get along either. There's also something odd about their father's will: he's given his three living children (a son had previously died) individual clues to figure out a riddle, and the "winner" gets the inheritance. He used to pit his children against each other when he was alive, and his will continues this. The BSC lets the cousins play together, and the sisters eventually drop enough of their feud to work together on solving the riddle (naturally, Dawn is the one who actually gets it, because the BSC is made up of the smartest people ever). Oh, and it turns out the affable butler is actually the brother, who was only metaphorically "dead" to his father. So now it's all one big, happy family.

Dawn is also finding herself struggling to fit in her goodbyes before heading back to California. After talking with Mary Anne, she sets aside a few days to have get-togethers with different groups of people all at once: school friends, BSC clients, and family.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Dots, Tootsie Roll Pops

Dawn gets presents every time she leaves for California, and when she comes back too. Maybe that's why she likes to go back and forth so much.

Dawn's favorite animal is the dolphin.


Their Families:

The re-tellling of how Mary Anne's dad and Dawn's mom rekindled their romance is off. In this version, the discovery that they'd been high school sweethearts takes place after Tigger and Logan entered the picture.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:  nothing new.


PSA Time:

If for some reason you find yourself inheriting all of an estate when you feel it should have been divided between you and others, there's nothing to stop you from simply giving part of your inheritance away after you accept it. It doesn't have to be a complicated legal thing.


Misc:

This is Dawn's last mystery book.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 120

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Aloha, Baby-sitters! (SS#13)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Most of the BSC is on a school-sponsored trip to Hawaii (Mallory has other commitments and it's too expensive anyway; Kristy's family is going later in the summer already; Shannon's at summer camp).

Jessi spends so much time trying to capture memories for Mallory that she almost forgets to have a fun time herself.

Mary Anne and Logan are trying to spend more time with their friends and less time with each other, since their friends have been complaining about not seeing them. Mary Anne also ends up getting a sitting job, of course.

Claudia has a crisis of conscience when she visits Pearl Harbor and is overcome with guilt for being of Japanese descent. At Mary Anne's suggestion, she meets the family Mary Anne is sitting for. The grandfather was in World War II and he reassures Claudia that she needn't feel guilty for what other people have done. (There's also "Well, the a-bombs were evil" which massively oversimplifies things, but that's another story.)

Abby ends up cast in a TV commercial for sunscreen (she lies about her age to avoid needing her mom's permission, and a teacher agrees to hang out nearby to surreptiously supervise). The sunscreen isn't quite as advertised: she comes home with a sunburn.

Stacey is dealing with some concerns about how friendly Robert's being with other girls. She gains some perspective when the helicopter she's in (without Robert) crashes. She ends up in the hospital briefly after having a diabetic reaction following too much exertion and not enough food.

Dawn organizes a beach clean up with the locals.

On the home front, Mallory helps with a day camp at Mrs. Stone's farm and deals with Jenny Prezzioso, who is recently being introduced to discipline and more annoyingling, another mother at a park who thinks she knows better despite having never met Jenny (and of course Mallory's wearing a BSC shirt that day). Mallory takes her little sisters to the same park later and sees the woman struggling with her own son throwing a horrific tantrum. It's fun to see the mom get her comeuppance.

Kristy also helps with the day camp. She also gets a call from the irate mother in Mallory's story (before the second meeting) and does a good job of both sticking up for Mallory and reassuring Mallory that she did the right thing.

Robert also gets a brief chapter, detailing his confusion about Stacey's jealousy. In his mind, he's just being friendly. So does Logan, in which he and Mary Anne decide that taking time for their friends doesn't have to mean they ignore each other.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Mallomars

Kristy thinks Logan spends too much time with Mary Anne. Not "they spend too much time with each other" mind you; she places the blame on Logan.

I guess Abby eats dry cereal, since she pours herself some Chex despite her milk allergy. I'd probably go for eggs myself (Abby's not allergic to eggs), but I don't much like cereal anyway.


Their Families:

Mimi lived in Japan during World War II. But I doubt she was much older than a teenager; twenties at the oldest (my grandfather was in his twenties in World War II, and my oldest cousin--his oldest grandchild--is almost 40).


The Club (and clients):

The Prezziosos have decided to stop giving in Jenny's tantrums (which are played up more in this book than usual to make the point). Thank goodness. I've seen families that don't figure this out until years later and it's not pretty.


SMS:

It's summer vacation, although this is a school-sponsored trip (Dawn can come because they needed a minimum amount of people for the group discount). Several teachers and students have "cameos." There is one newly-mentioned student, Troy Parker.

SMS doesn't have a volleyball team? Really?


PSA Time:

There is no such thing as a seagull. They're just gulls. Or California gulls or herring gulls or glaucous wing gulls or [other name] gulls. No decent bird guide will list seagulls.

If you need to get a hot, spicy taste out of your mouth, milk and white bread are both better options than water. Water just moves the taste around your mouth while the others will work to neutralize it.

President Truman had only a middle initial, not a full middle name. His parents didn't want to pick between his two grandfather's names which both started with S (or one's first name and one's last name, something like that.) So it's Harry S Truman, not Harry S. Truman.


Misc:

I've never been to Hawaii, so I don't know how accurate the descriptions are. But the next Super Special is a road trip across the contiguous US, and I've been to all 48 of those. That will be fun.

Aww. One of the kids Mary Anne sits for is a toddler and "this" was one of his first words. "This" and "cat" are my toddler daughter's favorite words.

Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Well, Japan wanted to inflict damage on the US, and in an effort to demonstrate certain strategic weaknesses, a US general orchestrated a fake attack that basically showed Japan what to do:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell_(general). The weaknesses weren't really addressed.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 119

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Dawn and Too Many Sitters (RS#98)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Dawn is back in Stoneybrook for the summer, and for once Jeff is visiting too. He and the Pike triplets are itching to earn money, and ask to be made BSC members. They come along to some of the jobs with different members, and often cause more problems than they solve. Making things worse, most of the BSC is trying to raise money to earn a reserved spot on the SMS summer trip to Hawaii, and they're having to split their pay with the boys. Dawn's able to make it because the school needs at least 50 people so they're willing to take non-students after students sign up. The boys end up not enjoying sitting enough to join the club, but do learn enough about it that they're helpful around kids. And the sitters are able to earn enough cash to pay for the trip plus some spending money.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Twinkies in her closet, mini Snickers under her bed, Nestle Crunch bars, Heath bars, Milky Way bars, Mallomars, Milk Duds, Ring Dings, and pretzels

Mary Anne has pierced ears? She's also apparently shrunk, since she had previously grown taller than Kristy and Mallory, at five-foot-one, is taller than Kristy, yet Mary Anne is described as just over five feet tall.

Oh, Shannon. No one cares that you can't come to the next Super Special because of summer camp. You barely count.


Their Families:

Dawn describes Richard Spier as "my stepdad" rather than "Mary Anne's dad," which implies that she feels part of the same family.

On the other hand, maybe she's trying to distance herself from her stepmother Carol, who offers cold cereal served over juice (I'm pretty sure she's serious). I once accidentally poured water on my cereal instead of milk and it was gross. It also wasn't my fault: I was around 8 and Dad would set out a bowl of cereal, a cup of milk on the left, and a cup of water on the right. I wasn't really awake one morning when they were switched.


The Club (and clients):

So honorary BSC members(who get sitting jobs) don't have to pay dues, but Claudia owed them for her time in the hospital, physically incapable of baby-sitting, recovering from the broken leg directly caused by baby-sitting. Nice.

At a meeting: "'Sit!' Kristy barked." My daughter, who will be two in late November, orders us to "SIT!" like that. Mostly when she wants us to sit next to her under a blanket, or across the room to play catch, or occasionally at the library so she can run away while we're sitting.


SMS:

School is out for the summer...for the ninth time.


PSA Time:

When changing a diaper, put the clean one under the dirty one. If there are any leaks, the new diaper will catch them.


Misc:

This is Dawn's last book of the regular series.

This is the first book that I didn't read as a kid. I remember seeing the preview blurb for it at the back of Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby and noticing that it had the F word. No, not that one. Fart. I was appalled and losing interest anyway, so I never bothered to read it or any others until I was finishing college, about a decade later.

I always, always, every time, without fail, read the word "matinee" (an afternoon showing of a movie) as "manatee" (an aquatic mammal).

On page 110 the first-person narration briefly  switches from Dawn's perspective to Stacey's. And on page 130, Mathew Hobart's name is spelled wrong, becoming the more common Matthew.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 119

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Kristy and the Middle School Vandal (M#25)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Nola Thacker

Synopsis:

Cary Retlin challenges the BSC to a mystery war: he will leave a trail of eight clues that the BSC has six days to solve. If he wins, he gets Kristy's watch. If the BSC wins, he'll stop bugging them. It's actually pretty fun to try to figure out the clues before the BSC does.

That's the not the real mystery, of course. The Michief Knights have moved beyond simple pranks; SMS is actually being vandalized. But the trademark MK is written in green, not red like it has been in the past. This all comes at an especially bad time: the teachers are trying to negotiate a new contract and the school board is using the vandalism as proof that the teachers don't deserve a new contract. There might even be a strike. Conveniently, the last bit of the BSC's challenge is to find out who the fake Mischief Knight is, and when they do, the members of the school board who were using the vandalism as an excuse to avoid negotiations back down. The strike is averted, and so is the threat of school extending into the summer.

Subplot (or third plot?): the BSC arranges a scavenger hunt for the kids.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: mint chocolate M&Ms, all-natural potato chips

Kristy outright tells us that her bossiness is a way to be sure people don't ignore her, something she thinks would happen since she's so short.


Their Families:

Kristy's the only short one in her immediate biological family.

The Brewer-Thomas household has hamsters? Since when? No mention of Emily Jr; maybe that was supposed to be a rat. Or it's something that happened in a Little Sister book.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

Kristy's still the shortest student in her grade.

Claudia seems to be having more trouble with school than usual.

Despite having finished about zero chapter books back in Mary Anne Misses Logan, Cokie knows the difference between principle and principal.

New-to-us student: Troy Parker (8th)

New-to-us SMS staff: Mr. Milhaus, a janitor


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

Page 86: "It's number is one sixty-nine." It's = it is; its = possesive. Bad editor, bad!

What sort of nonsense...? Kristy, describing things that go poorly together, uses the analogy of having both sugar and salt in a recipe. Hasn't she made cookies from scratch? Most baked goods have a few teaspoons of salt in them, and a few cups of sugar.

The book is only fourteen chapters long.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 56

Students (other than the BSC): 183: 118 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 119

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby (RS#97)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Claudia's cousin is finally born! Her aunt and uncle, Peaches and Russ, name her Lynn for Claudia Lynn Kishi, and ask Claudia to be her godmother. Claudia is ecstatic about Lynn, and wants to spend time with her and help out however she can. Pretty quickly, she goes overboard. Peaches and Russ don't really know how to tell her that they need space. Tensions rise and all parties overreact. Conveniently, Claudia finds herself dealing with an overbearing classmate on a school trip to Philadelphia. Like in a sitcom, it helps her understand the situation and everyone gets along by the end of the book.

Subplot: Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold are getting terrified by illicitly watching horror movies, but are cured after seeing a making-of documentary and realizing it's fake.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: pretzels behind some shoe boxes in her closet

Shannon's on the debate team.

Claudia points out that while Logan teases Mary Anne for getting so emotional at movies, he actually likes it because the more she cries, the more she snuggles.

Stacey has injected herself with insulin in front of Claudia and Claudia says it's not gross. Good friend! The rest of the BSC is all "EW! Your necessary for living routines are disgusting!" Although, where does Stacey inject the insulin? I had a teacher with diabetes and he told us that the injections had to be in his backside (it was relevant).


Their Families:

Hmm...it's not entirely clear whether Lynn is breastfed, bottlefed, or a combination. And Claudia gives Peaches advice on feeding techniques.


The Club (and clients):

Quick way to convince eight-year-old kids a movie is fake (if that is indeed the only reason it scares them): ask if Jurassic Park was filmed with real dinosaurs. The end. And yes, the movie was out before this book was published.


SMS:

Ms. Bernhardt's a jerk. She calls on Claudia, who makes an honest attempt to answer the question, and LAUGHS at her when she gives the wrong answer. No wonder it's hard to motivate Claudia to try in school. Oh, and I mean "jerk" as in mean person, not as in fool like the BSC uses it.

New-to-us students: Melissa Banks and Lily Karp (8th)


PSA Time:

Any time you go to visit someone in the hospital, have a nurse check to see that the patient isn't asleep or having a procedure done or something. It's rude to just barge in.

If you or your significant other goes into labor and you don't want visitors, don't tell anyone. It's easier to keep people away when they don't know. It sounds obvious, but I made that mistake, and some people just won't understand "I don't want you there" because they think you're trying to accomodating of their schedules. On a related note, if someone you know is in labor and she says not to come, don't! You can meet the baby later when it's cleaned up and its mother isn't all tired and sweaty and stuff.

Lactose intolerance is more common in people (or peoples? Janine?) of Asian descent, so it wasn't totally unreasonable for Claudia to think of it. Just unreasonable of her to butt in so much.


Misc:

Claudia describes an ultrasound image of her cousin. It sounds like she might be describing a 3D ultrasound. The technology was developed in 1987, so maybe possible...

With my daughter, I had labor induced due to preeclampsia. It took a while for things to get started. I remember telling my parents at one point that it was fine if they headed home (no more than 10 minutes away) and my dad said, "But what if she's born right after we leave?" At this point, I had been at the hospital with a Pitocin drip for more than twelve hours. I told him, "Then go! If that's all that's holding her up."

A common question I've heard about this one is how Claudia can be a godmother so young. In the Catholic church, a godparent must be at least 16, not the child's parents, and a practicing Catholic. Also, godparents aren't also guardians in the case of the parents' deaths unless specified in the parents' wills. But the Kishis aren't Catholic, so whatever kind of church they attend (although this is the first time we've seen Claudia's family do so) obviously has different rules. Now, the real question: Lynn is baptized at a Congregational church. Anyone know their rules on godparents? Or if they even practice infant baptism?

Ms. Bernhardt, you jerk, the police probably WERE thrilled when you called back to say Claudia and Melissa had been found and were safe. Police tend to like it when missing people are safe and sound. (Page 127, she yells "I had just called the police! Then I had to call them back to say 'Never mind.' Do you think they appreciated that?")

Near the end of the book, Abby asks "Are we in Hawaii yet?" Foreshadowing!


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 182 117 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Abby's Lucky Thirteen (RS#96)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Nola Thacker

Synopsis:

Abby and Anna are preparing for the Bat Mitzvah, a ceremony which marks a Jewish woman's entry as an adult member of the faith. It's one of the few times that religion is mentioned in the BSC books, so it's an interesting read. I'm not Jewish so I don't know how accurate the book is, but there is an acknowledgement page that indicates some research was done. At any rate, it takes a lot of hard work and studying, which should precede any major decision.

Abby's worried that she hasn't devoted enough time to her Bat Mitzvah. She's spread pretty thin between school, the BSC, soccer, and her religious obligations. Math in particular has been giving her a hard time, so she's thrilled when a fellow student offers to sell her a study guide for the upcoming test, which counts for a quarter of her math grade. When the test is passed out, Abby realizes she actually bought a copy of the test. Panicking, she completes the test anyway, without telling the teacher what happened (she and the teacher aren't on good terms). Four other students are in the same situation, and all are suspended for three days. Feeling guily, embarassed, and indignant, Abby decides to hide her suspension from everyone but Anna. It almost works too, until her mom spots her out of school. She punishes Abby, but does believe her about the study guide. At school the next day, Abby sees Mary Anne buying one from the same student, and they go to the math teacher (Mary Anne takes math in a different class period) and things get sorted out. The Stevenson family has a huge party to celebrate the Bat Mitzvahs.

Subplot: the parents of several of the BSC charges ban television. The kids whine for a while, then use their imaginations to have fun and don't even miss TV.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

It's implied that Abby's birthday was recenly, which makes Abby the youngest of the eighth grade club members. Previously, Mary Anne had the latest birthday, mentioned in Logan Likes Mary Anne!

Abby's allergies would actually make keeping Kosher easier, if her family does that. She's allergic to shellfish, which aren't allowed. She's also allergic to milk and cheese, and under Kosher rules dairy can't be eaten with meat.


Their Families:

Claire has almost grown out of her "nofe-air" tantrums.

A criticism of this book is that Abby gets off lightly when her mom punishes her. She's grounded for a month, but can still baby-sit, play soccer, and I think attend BSC meetings. She can't have friends over or go visit, and no phone calls. I can see that her mom didn't want to punish the soccer team or the BSC for Abby's mistakes, but I would have been a little stricter, like she can only do the sitting jobs that are already lined up, she can't go to meetings, and if there any optional soccer practices she can't go to them.

According to Abby, her mother is an only child.


The Club (and clients):

Jessi still keeps her kid-kit stocked with office supplies, which she started back in Keep Out, Claudia!.


SMS:

SMS has soccer in the spring (this book takes place in April). I'm used to fall soccer, but not all schools or districts do it that way. In fact, fall football (American football, that is) makes it more likely that at least boys' soccer will be in the spring, and we know from Logan's books that SMS has a football team.

Ms. Frost is still one of the SMS math teachers.

New-to-us 8th grader: Brad Simon


PSA Time: nothing stood out apart from the obvious moral.


Misc:

Abby says her rabbi calls the speech she will have to give a "sermon." Ann M. Martin and the ghostwriter, Nola Thacker, had help with the Bat Mitzvah descriptions from friends and colleagues who had had Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, so I guess that's accurate? I've just never heard "sermon" outside of the context of a Protestant church service.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 180; 115 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Mary Anne and the Silent Witness (M#24)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

The BSC gets a new client, the Martinez family, who live near a park that a local businessman wants to develop. The Martinez house has some fire damage, which might be the work of arsonist. Their house also happens to be in the way of the planned development. Hmm...

The Martinez children were home with their former sitter when the fire started, and Luke, the older one, still seems shaken up about it. He also starts getting what seem to be threats warning him not to talk about the fire. After some sleuthing, they discover that the girl who used to sit for the Martinez family had her boyfriend over briefly, and he tossed out his cigarette butt in the garage, which started the fire. Worried that Luke would tell, the boyfriend had been threatening him.

While Fowler wasn't behind the fire, the BSC still isn't happy with him. They start a grass-roots campaign to halt the development. They also investigate his past, suspicious of his intentions. They uncover hints that he's using an assumed name, and has an estranged twin brother. Plus, the twin saw the fire, and blackmailed the boyfriend into vandalizing property to try to stop the development project (which made the boyfriend more concerned about Luke telling about the fire). As this is revealed, Luke shows the town council blueprints he found which prove Fowler wants to industrialize all of Stoneybrook. The council halt the development of the park.

Then the BSC gets a letter from the Stoneybrook Parks Department: in honor of their efforts, an area of the park will be renamed Baby-sitters Walk. Except, as Janine, points out, there is no Stoneybrook Parks Department. Cary Retlin is at it again...


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: jelly beans

The door to Dawn's room is closed. I hope it's not like that all the time, or it's going to smell pretty musty when she visits.

Mary Anne and her dad now keep a mostly vegetarian diet.


Their Families: nothing stood out


The Club (and clients):

New clients: the Martinez family, eight-year-old Luke and three-year-ol Amalia. Luke is friends with Cary Retlin's younger brothers, Steig and Benson.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

The Martinez family has a Lion King sing-a-long video. My younger brother had that!

Wow, the BSC mystery writers have never heard of Occam's Razor, huh?



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 34 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Portrait Collection: Mary Anne's Book

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Jeanne Betancourt

Synopsis:

This is Mary Anne's autobiography. It's organized into chunks:

Birth to six years: Mary Anne briefly discusses her mom being ill, seemingly right from the start, and living with her grandparents for a while. She goes in to more details as she has more memories, like how her dad would take her out to restaurants to eat once a week, so Mary Anne would learn how to behave in public (love that idea, by the way). Mary Anne starts preschool with Kristy and Claudia, and they continue to kindergarten and first grade together. Mary Anne is close to them and Mimi from a young age.

The Tea Party: This may be Mary Anne's first crisis that could have been resolved by just talking to someone. Her first grade class is going to have a Mother's Day Tea. The teacher says if any student's mother can't come, another special person is welcome. But the other kids (except Kristy and Claudia) laugh at Mary Anne for planning to bring her father, so she invites Mimi. Both her dad and Mimi show up, but it works out. The teacher even says some really nice to Mary Anne about the important roles her dad fills. I remember my senior year of high school, when we had a Mother's Tea. One of my friend's mothers died when he was ten, and he brought along an aunt he's especially close to. We all read letters to our mothers, and he read one to his as well as to his aunt.

Stage Fright: During summer break, Mary Anne, Kristy, and Claudia take ballet at the YMCA. Mary Anne is nervous about performing in a recital that she throws up backstage. It's then that her dad realizes how much she hates it (she'd been hiding her fear), and lets her skip the recital since it's causing her too much stress.

E is for Eyeglasses: In fourth grade, Mary Anne makes friends with an April Livingston, who wears glasses. Mary Anne wants glasses too, and tries to fail an eye exam.

Exploring My Secret Past: This starts with a recap of Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic, the mystery book in which Mary Anne learns about her grandparents' raising her for a time. Then we get details about her visit with her grandmother in Iowa. She's clearly still very much in mourning for her husband, and spends a lot of time talking about Mary Anne's recently-deceased grandfather. She also shows Mary Anne things from her time there, thinking and hoping Mary Anne will remember, but no such luck. Finally, they have a talk and start getting to know each other as they are, rather than as they expect each other to be. They finish a quilt that was going to be a birthday present for Mary Anne's mother, and it wins a blue ribbon at the fair.

Mary Anne gets an A+.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy:

Stacey still feels torn between her parents. I wonder if they still put her in the middle.

Mary Anne seems to have been formula primarily or exclusively as an infant. I wonder if that's just Ann M. Martin's weirdness with not mentioning breastfeeding or due to the illness that killed Mary Anne's mother.

Mary Anne gets sick to her stomach when she's nervous.

You'd think Mary Anne, Kristy, and Claudia would have mentioned taking ballet to Jessi at some point, but you'd be wrong.

There are pictures in the Portrait Collection books, like in the Super Specials. Even at young ages, Kristy is shorter than Claudia and Mary Anne.

At first I was surprised by the last-minute travel arrangements for Mary Anne to visit her grandmother, but if Dawn can fly across the country on a whim, can't her step-sister go halfway?

Mary Anne loves sewing? I guess she's gotten over her home ec issues from Kristy and the Missing Child.


Their Families:

Spoiled kitten Tigger gets wet food for breakfast. Our two cats only get it for dinner.

Richard Spier loves organizing "even alphabetizes cereal boxes and the bottles on the herb and spice rack." Cereal boxes do seem a bit out there, but the spice rack is normal to me. It's easier to find things if you know the basil's near the top.

Richard also knows how to braid. The first time I really grasped that men and women were different was when I asked my dad to braid my hair for a preschool recital and he didn't know how. I ended up wearing a head band (Mom had been at work and met us there).

Janine can read and walk at the same time, which Mary Anne finds very impressive.

Claudia's mother's favorite color is purple, and Mimi's was blue.

Mary Anne's mom wasn't even 25 when she died. And Richard Spier was in middle school 28 years ago...let's say he was 12; that would make him 40, minus 13 is 27. So he was couple years older than Alma, but not a huge gap.


The Club (and clients):

Kristy starts fantasizing about being a baby-sitter just before fourth grade.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time:

Often, biological relation makes families. But not always. For example, there is sometimes a difference between a person's mother and a person's Mom.


Misc:

The eye test chart in the book is missing the numbers on the edge that tells you what line is 20/20 or 20/40 or 20/whatever vision.

Why do kids in books and TV shows so often act like glasses are a bad thing? Mary Anne is the only one excited about the idea, but only until she actually needs them. I got glasses in third grade and no one cared except for me and my parents. And I was thrilled. I had no idea you could see leaves on trees from the car! My parents only concern was that I take care of them properly.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Kristy + Bart = ? (RS#95)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis

Synopsis:

Kristy and Bart have been friends for a long time. Kristy even confides to us that they've kissed a few times. But lately Bart's been getting more serious. He introduces Kristy as his girlfriend, and he's more into making out than kissing. Kristy does like Bart a lot, but she's not entirely sure if they're on the same page. She's even less sure of it after her mom and stepdad catch them making out and she ends up grounded. After a lot of thinking and talking, Kristy and Bart end up friends and nothing more. While they like each other a lot, they're simply not at the same stage emotionally, and things can't progress beyond friendship.

Subplot: Kristy organizes the kids into a competition to make up and set crazy records. The kids love it.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

Abby is studying for her Bat Mitzvah (Anna is too).

Kristy thinks New York City is "the coolest place." That's news to me.

Kristy has a TV in her room.

Mallory has the decency to quietly tell Claudia that a couple words on some signs she made are spelled wrong. Embarassing at the moment, yes; but Claudia now has time to fix it before the public sees the signs.


Their Families:

Is there a genetic component to allergies? I know that they run in families, like asthma can. Would one identical twin have a higher chance of having allergies or asthma if the other twin had them? Anna doesn't have either.

Margo Pike still peels bananas with her feet.

The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS: nothing new.

PSA Time: nothing stood out.

Misc:

Kristy calls early March "weeks away" from baseball weather. In Washington, high school teams start practice the first week of March. From what I can tell, Connectict high schools have games the first week of April, so practices probably start no later than mid-March.

"Gaol" is not a synonym for jail. It's a different spelling. Even at the age of eleven, when this book came out, I knew that, and it bugged me.

The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Abby and the Secret Society (M#23)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles

Synopsis:

In order to relieve her February doldrums, Abby gets the BSC into helping start up Stoneybrook's Greenbrook Country Club. It's housed in what used to be the Dark Woods Country Club, which was very exclusive, to the point of being racist. There were also rumors of extortion. The new owners are excited to reopen it to the whole community.

Naturally, it isn't long before odd things start happening. Sgt. Johnson, the police officer who often helps the BSC, tells Abby about his longtime friend who was working on a newspaper report about the seedy underbelly of the Club when he died mysteriously. A strange car is seen circling the premises. Then the BSC starts finding cryptic notes around the place. They eventually figure out that Sgt. Johnson's friend left a trail, and follow it to where he kept his notes uncovering the illegal dealings of several prominent Club members (complete with the former president being a creep). They are side tracked for a bit thanks to Cary Retlin.

While this is all going on, the BSC is also trying to help the new owners' son settle in to Stoneybrook. He's having a tough time because not only is he new, he's shy and feels uncomfortable about his biracial heritage (Korean and Western European). His own grandfather has never met him, because the last time his grandfather and mother spoke was when his mother announced she was marrying a Korean man. The grandfather had been in the upper echelon at Dark Woods. In the end, we find that the strange car belongs to the grandfather, who had been wanting to meet his grandson but felt too awkward given his deplorable behavior earlier.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: Pringles

Abby and Anna make spaghetti sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, despite Kristy and the Dirty Diapers informing us that Abby's allergic to both raw and cooked tomatoes (some people are allergic to only one or the other). I'll bet that if these books were written today, Abby would have celiac, and it would be handled as well as Stacey's diabetes is.

Abby's able to sprint a good distance without using her inhaler first. I understand that her asthma is largely allergy-induced, but that still seems odd.

Claudia gets to be the one who's level-headed and logical TWICE in this book. I love when that happens!


Their Families:

Abby's mom used to be into fancy cooking and baking, but not so much since Abby's dad died.

Like many in the BSC, Abby's a fan of things before her time, oldies rock'n'roll in particular. But in her case, she specifies that it's her mom's music.

Everyone calls Sharon Schafer-Spiers's parents Granny and Pop-pop. Almost everyone calls my granny Granny as well (exceptions are Granddad, my mom, her siblings, and their spouses).

The Club (and clients):

A four-year-old named Brian Williams makes an appearance long enough to ask Mallory when she'll sit for him again, but I've never read of the BSC sitting for that family.


SMS: nothing new.

PSA Time:

Misc:

When the BSC decides to show Sgt. Johnson the clues, Abby narrates that they take all of them except a trophy, from which Kristy had copied a note. But they also found a note on a floorboard, so I guess they ripped that up and hauled it to the police station.

The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Stacey McGill, Super Sitter (RS#94)

Original Publication Date: 1996

Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn

Synopsis:

A new client, Mrs. Cheplin, calls the BSC looking for someone to come every day after school to watch her two children and do some housework until she returns home (really, she wants more of a nanny than a sitter). Eager to earn money to take her boyfriend to a Broadway play and to prove she's serious at the BSC, Stacey jumps at the opportunity. However, it turns out that the housework is very time-consuming and increasingly difficult to complete in Stacey's allotted time. Furthermore, Stacey is only hired on a probationary basis, and Mrs. Cheplin seems determined to catch Stacey failing. AND Stacey's finding it difficult to keep up with her other commitments. After three week of running herself ragged, Stacey wises up and calls it quits. Fortunately, she's earned enough for the Broadway play.

Meanwhile, Valentine's Day is coming up. Logan wants to buy Mary Anne a ring (not diamond!) and has Kristy help him pick it out, to make sure Mary Anne will like it. Some of the kids see Kristy with Logan and think that Logan's cheating on Mary Anne and write mean little notes for them, but it gets sorted out and the kids atone.

Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

Stacey wants to live in New York City when she grows up.

During softball season, Kristy sometimes gets "hate mail" from the Bashers if the Krushers win a lot of games.

Their Families:

Nothing new.

The Club (and clients):

I have to say, I really like how Kristy dealt with the Cheplin issue. When Stacey decided to quit, Kristy came up with the plan that until Mrs. Cheplin found a permanant replacement, the BSC would send someone over every day but only to watch the kids, not clean the house. I guess she is a good person to be the BSC president!

SMS: nothing new.

PSA Time:
Your sitting charges (or whoever) won't tell you who they just called? There's a handy little function on the phone called "redial."

Misc:

If you want a nanny, trying advertising at a local college rather than seeking out middle school kids. I got a nanny job through my college and I still keep in touch with the kids, now 10 and almost 9, even though I haven't sat for the family since 2007. Which reminds me, I need to pick up a gift card for the girl's birthday in September.

Another Valentine's Day.

The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 8

Halloweens in 8th grade: 5 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 2

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: 8

BSC Fights: 10

SMS Staff and Faculty: 55

Students (other than the BSC): 179; 114 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 6 7th graders, 43 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 33 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 117

Crushes:
Stacey-11
Claudia-9
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0