Claudia and the Disaster Date (FF#12)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Nola Thacker.

Synopsis:

Claudia and Alan Gray are still tiptoeing around the idea of dating. Alan seems to genuinely want to show Claudia a good time, but Claudia's unsure because of all the jokes he's pulled in the past. They go out to see a movie and Claudia doesn't even tell the BSC because she's worried she'll be judged, and also a little worried about hurting Alan if word spreads that he was up to old tricks. Kristy doesn't help matters by refusing to see that Alan might be trying to change, or at least that there's more to him than the prank-pulling boy she met in first grade. At Alan's suggestion, the entire BSC (Dawn included, as she's visiting for the summer) joins him, Cary Retlin, and Pete Black for an outing. Alan's on his best behavior, which almost seems fake to Claudia. Later he and Claudia talk, and she tells him that he can relax and be himself. A little while later, at a party in Claudia's backyard, he is able to be funny without being a jerk. Claudia and Alan agree to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend.

Also, Claudia and Erica Blumberg have a temporary job at the Stoneybrook Library, helping in the children's room until a new librarian is hired. Erica takes advantage of being at the library to continue searching for her birth parents after her shifts are over (she eventually realizes where her parents keep her birth certificate and finds out her parents' names--they didn't name her, she's just "Baby Girl"--and talks with her mom and dad, after which she's not as interested in finding her birth parents). Claudia suggests redoing the mural for the children's room, which her supervisor is thrilled about but which mom is unenthusiastic. Claudia comes up with a really nice idea for the mural, only to discover that her supervisor has told the kids they can "help" with the painting. It doesn't go well, and Claudia's mom is even less thrilled. She and Claudia have a heart-to-heart and Claudia fixes the mural, painting the image she had in mind and having the kids put their handprints around it as a border.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: candy corn, mixed nuts, and cheese-filled pretzels in her closet (tucked inside a boot), a chocolate bar, Oreos, cereal

Claudia doesn't like movie theater popcorn butter. That seems odd.

Dawn seems to have mellowed a bit, especially in this book and the last California Diaries book (coming up next). She's less judgmental than she'd be portrayed in lots of later books. Until she spouts off something about pesticide use in golf courses.


Their Families:

Claudia is pretty sure that Janine talks in larger-than-necessary words to screw with people. Remember Janine, never use a large word when a diminutive one will suffice.


The Club (and clients):

Kristy's back to YOU MUST NOT BE A SINGLE SECOND LATE mode for BSC meetings.


SMS:

SMS has book orders for all its grades. My school only did them through sixth grade. I got a lot of BSC books that way.


PSA Time:

"Fewer" and "less" are not synonyms. Fewer refers to things you can count; less to things you can't. So you add fewer tablespoons of sugar to a recipe and the resulting food is less sweet.


Misc:

This is Claudia's last book, and the last Friends Forever book, not including the Super Special which will have its own post after the last California Diary.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 12

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 5

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-6, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 6

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 13

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 69

Students (other than the BSC): 218: 123 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 31 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 151

Crushes:
Stacey-13
Claudia-13
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-3
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Welcome Home, Mary Anne! (FF#11)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles.

Synopsis:

The barn has been renovated into a house, and Mary Anne is about to move into it with her family. The last Mary Anne book suggested this would happen around January; it's now June. But that's realistic: it seems people often underestimate how long construction projects take. Dawn and Jeff are in town for this as well, and Dawn has brought Sunny with her to try to show Sunny a good time in a place that won't have upsetting memories of her mother.

The new house takes some getting used to. It doesn't feel like home yet. Jeff is especially unimpressed (the Pike boys end up helping him get excited about the new place, and Mary Anne helps him sort out his feelings of loss). Mary Anne is also out of sorts because she's unsure how to act around Sunny, who she has to admit seems to know Dawn better than Mary Anne does. To Sunny's credit, she does make an honest effort to enjoy Connecticut and not make Mary Anne feel like a third wheel. Sunny's exuberant personality is a bit much for Mary Anne to take at times, especially the boy-crazy side (she tries to find Mary Anne a new boyfriend even though Mary Anne's not ready for that yet). Dawn and Mary Anne surmise that Sunny is keeping busy to avoid thinking about her mother's death, and they try to keep up with her. Things come to a head during an excursion to New York City (without parental permission). They nearly get caught, and would have if Dawn hadn't finally pointed out to Sunny that she's taking advantage of how everyone walks on eggshells around her. They all go home not speaking, but once there Sunny opens up to Mary Anne, who helps her out. Before Sunny heads back to California, the Schafer-Spiers have a party that's part going away, part housewarming, complete with a BSC reunion. Sunny leaves on good terms with everyone, and Mary Anne and her family start to feel at home in their new house.

Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned. Mary Anne does consider buying her a glass Hershey's kiss, but it's too expensive.

Mary Anne makes a joke by imitating a therapist, which is especially fitting as she's actually had therapy sessions.


Their Families:

Mary Anne's dad rides a bicycle, and is implied to do much of the maintenance on his own.

Margo seems to be the only one of the Pikes who enjoys vegetables. She and Claire knows how to sew, at least a little bit. I wonder if Mallory taught them.


The Club (and clients):

According to Mary Anne, the BSC no longer meets regularly.

Abby's an honorary BSC member.


SMS:

School's out for the summer, for the thirteenth time.


PSA Time:

Orangutans are not nice animals. There's a reason that the keepers at the zoo won't retrieve items dropped into their exhibit. Hold on to your camera tight.


Misc:

This is Mary Anne's last book.

Sunny's mom died on March 19, and this book is supposed to take place a few months later in June, but the last California diary took place in late summer with no mention of Sunny leaving with Dawn...is this the next year or the same year with a different story? My head hurts.

So, Sunny. She's supposed to have strawberry-blonde hair. It's mentioned in this book, and has been in others. But have any of the cover pictures ever show her that way?



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 12

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 5

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-6, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 6

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 13

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 69

Students (other than the BSC): 218: 123 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 31 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 151

Crushes:
Stacey-13
Claudia-13
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-3
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Stacey's Problem (FF#10)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Suzanne Weyn.

Synopsis:

When Stacey goes to visit her dad, she finds out some big news: he and Samantha are engaged. Stacey likes Samantha a lot, and sees that she and her dad are a good fit, but she's worried about how her mom will take it. Her mom's seemed distracted by something lately, and Stacey's concerned about how she hasn't dated much since the divorce. Sure enough, it is hard news for Stacey's mom to hear; for reasons she can't really articulate it's overwhelming. Stacey and Claudia decided to get some tapes from a video dating service and get her some dates, and they go over the candidates with Kristy, Mary Anne, and Mallory. They don't find anyone, but Stacey's mom does get asked out by a coworker, and Stacey helps her get ready for the date. It doesn't go well, and Stacey takes it harder than her mom, because she's sure that the reason her mom has been upset is that her dad has moved on and is getting married. But Stacey doesn't need to worry long, because what's been getting to her mom is that she's felt stuck in a rut and not herself. Her solution is to go back to her maiden name (she makes sure Stacey is okay with this) and to quit her job in favor of opening her own clothing store.

Mallory is back from boarding school for the summer, as her school lets out earlier than SMS. She has some trouble adjusting to how different her family's become in her absence, like how Byron is now in the position of The Oldest (even though technically he's not) instead of her, and Vanessa's acting resentful of her. Stacey helps her sort through things.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: potato chips (that she brings to Mallory's welcome back party)

Stacey implies that Jessi and Mallory aren't as close as they used to be.

Stacey has a cell phone. Since she commutes to and from New York City on a train, that seems reasonable.


Their Families:

Maybe my neck is unusually short, but how can one put shoulder length hair into a bun? On the rare occasion my hair is that short, some pieces are too short for a ponytail. Maybe a low bun, but wouldn't the hair at the front still not make it into a bun shape? Maybe she has bangs.

I would mention that Stacey's dad should have talked to Stacey before proposing, since the possibility of a remarriage affects his minor child a lot, but since he'd already brought up the idea of Samantha moving in, he's already put out feelers for how Stacey would react to Samantha becoming a more permanent presence.

Point for Samantha: when Stacey's dad hints that maybe Stacey's mom would handle the news of the engagement best if heard from Stacey, Samantha steps in to say that it's really his job. (Stacey slips and says something before he calls, but at least he meant to)

Byron is the youngest triplet.

Stacey's mom's last name is now Spencer, and she tells Stacey's friends to call her Maureen.


The Club (and clients):

When Mallory returns, Jessi and Abby join the remaining BSC members in welcoming her home (Dawn is in California). They also reunite for a sleepover at Stacey's.


SMS: nothing new.


PSA Time: nothing stood out.


Misc:

This is Stacey's last book.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 12

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 5

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-6, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 6

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 12

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 69

Students (other than the BSC): 218: 123 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 31 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 151

Crushes:
Stacey-13
Claudia-13
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-3
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Kristy and the Kidnapper (FF#9)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Ellen Miles.

Synopsis:

Kristy has joined the SMS debate team, and is going on a four-day trip to Washington, DC competition with nine other members of the team, including Abby. They get assigned to debate whether cats are better pets than dogs with students from other schools (Kristy's groups is assigned pro-cats; Abby's is pro-dogs) and debate in a tournament-style competition. One of the people on Kristy's team looks remarkably similar to Terry Hoyt, a boy who used to go to SMS and briefly dated Stacey (the other is a boy named Kai). But he introduces himself as David Hawthorne and denies having ever gone to SMS. And did he react to the mention of Stacey or was Kristy just imagining things? She has little time to wonder, because someone seems to be following David, possibly trying to abduct him.

After a kidnap attempt, David reveals to Kristy that he and Terry Hoyt are the same person, and that his family is no longer undercover, but asks Kristy to keep the fact that the would-be kidnapper said David's dad "had to pay" to herself. Kristy's pretty confused, but agrees. Kristy and David end up with a Secret Service detail. David's a little annoyed and embarrassed at the attention, but Kristy is relieved. They and Kai are able to relax enough to prepare for their debates (Kai wasn't present during the kidnap attempt and doesn't have a Secret Service agent tailing him) and do well enough to qualify for the finals. Of course, Abby's pro-dog team is also in the finals. During the finals, Kristy spots the man who tried to abduct David in the crowd. She screams and points him out, alerting the Secret Service (mainly David's dad) to get him. After things calm down, the judges deliver their verdict: Kristy's team wins, and Kai gets a special award for best debater.

Before heading back home, Kristy and Abby clear the air (they'd been sniping at each other due to their competitive personalities) and admit that they each wanted to argue the other side. David and his dad stop by and offer the two a tour of his dad's office: the White House. They don't get to meet the president, but they do have a fun time on the tour.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

Even though Abby is described as wearing her glasses about half the time, I can't recall any pictures of her with them on.

Charlie Chaplin is one of Abby's heroes.


Their Families:

Watson has advised Kristy to not snack from the minibar in the hotel because of the price gouging. He's absolutely right, and this sounds familiar from Baby-sitters on Board.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

Mrs. Simon is in charge of the debate team.

Other team members in the competition: Melissa Banks, Rick Chow, Trevor Sandbourne

The bus trip from Stoneybrook to DC is supposed to take six hours. It's a four and a half hour drive from Stamford to DC, so accounting for a bus having to drive slower, traffic, and including a stop for food that works out pretty well.


PSA Time:

More of an FYI, but it's pretty much agreed upon that cats and dogs have roughly equivalent intelligence.


Misc:

This is Kristy's last book.

The police want to "question" Kristy and David about the kidnap attempt? Or interview them/talk to them? Because you generally question suspects...

I don't understand the logic in making an entire family live with assumed identities. It seems almost abusive to the kids. Maybe that's why it IS a good idea: people won't expect it. But especially with the Hawthornes, don't you think criminals would start to notice that there's a man with twin children scoping out potential counterfeiters?

Also, Kristy has the same Secret Service agent the whole time, for a couple days. Does he just never sleep?

The President isn't mentioned by name in this book, which makes sense as it was published in an election year, but it is mentioned that he has a black and white cat named Sparky. Bill Clinton, who was president then, had a black and white tuxedo cat named Socks (he was primarily Chelsea's).



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 12

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 5

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-6, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 6

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 12

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 69

Students (other than the BSC): 218: 123 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 31 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 151

Crushes:
Stacey-13
Claudia-13
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-3
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0

Amalia Diary 3 (CD#14)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Peter Lerangis, with interior illustrations by Steig Retlin.

Synopsis:

Amalia is pretty busy planning two parties: one going-away party for Dawn (she'll spend her summer in Connecticut) and one twenty-fifth wedding anniversary for her parents. She's also trying to spend time with Brendan, her good-friend-but-not-really-boyfriend-but-maybe-he'll-become-her-boyfriend, and with Maggie, whose mother is now drinking much more. Plus she has to study for finals. One evening, she gets a break from the busy-ness and goes to see a movie with Brendan. On the way out, while he's in the bathroom, a group of (white) drunk teenage girls confront Amalia, shouting racial slurs like "wetback" and start to try to beat her up and spit on her. The movie theater manager breaks everything up just as Brendan comes back, and the two of them console Amalia while they wait for her sister to arrive with the car (the manager is very sweet, giving Amalia and Brendan movie passes for next, food and drink, and offering to call the police without pressuring Amalia). Isabel wants to take Amalia right to a police station to report the incident, but Amalia balks. She doesn't even want to tell her parents, because she feels like somehow what happened is her fault: she should have fought back better, she shouldn't have been in that area alone, and so on. Her sister doesn't really help when she pressures Amalia to do what would make Isabel feel better rather than what would help Amalia. Ducky, Maggie, Sunny, and Dawn do a bit of the same thing, but on a far lower level: more "talk about it and let it out" rather than driving around asking if that girl is one of the ones who did it.

Shaken by what's happened, Amalia wonders if it's a good idea to have such an ethnic anniversary party for her parents. Will they draw the wrong kind of attention by playing songs with Spanish lyrics? Will the Mexican food upset people? What helps some is finding out why Isabel's been hounding her, almost shaming her, into taking action: Isabel was subjected to racism previously and never confronted anyone one about it, and now feels like the racists "won." Amalia disagrees, saying that the gang she dealt with didn't take away who she really is. They scared her, yes, but Amalia is going to "win" by recovering and being strong.

Amalia passes her finals, ends up confirming that she and Brendan are dating, and successfully pulls off the surprise party for Dawn and the anniversary party for her parents, feeling very happy to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.



Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Ducky):

Sunny seems to be getting back to her old self, as much as one can after losing a mother.

Amalia wonders if Ducky and Sunny are becoming a couple.


Their Families:

I'm confused why Maggie stays over at Amalia's so often, but her younger brother is stuck at home with an alcoholic mother.


PSA Time:

When someone does something rotten to you, it's not your fault. Of course it makes sense to take reasonable precautions, like locking your car door, but whether or not you forget to lock the car door it's not your fault if someone else does something wrong and you didn't deserve for your car to get broken into. This can be extrapolated to more serious scenarios: be reasonable, but don't blame yourself for other people's evil choices and don't let anyone else blame you either.


Misc:

This book goes from the end of May to mid-June.

This is the last book narrated by Amalia.

Amalia notices that the word problems in her math book feature people with names of various ethnicities. One example is Nguyen. All the other examples are first names, but I've only ever know Nguyen to be a last name.



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: 10

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 67

Students (other than the BSC): 209: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 26 7th graders, 47 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: 130

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-10
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0

Mary Anne's Revenge (FF#8)

Original Publication Date: 2000

Ghostwriter? Yes, Nola Thacker.

Synopsis:

Mary Anne is still trying to figure out who she is on her own, rather than as defined by being this person's daughter or that person's friend or this group's member. She's also still have nightmares and intrusive thoughts about the fire (I hope she sees Dr. Reese, the therapist she's seen in the past!), and also feels like people overlook her because she's quiet, and expect that they can just make decisions for her. She takes advantage of being on the yearbook staff to distract herself, but Cokie doesn't make it easy, teasing her at every opportunity. Cokie even ruins the fun that Mary Anne's having with elections for "Most Likely to..." categories by starting a rumor that Mary Anne has been desperately begging Logan to take her back. Plus she fixes the elections to win a bunch of categories (the staff catches on and has a revote). It's time for revenge. And who better to help than Cary Retlin?

With the help of Cary and the BSC, Mary Anne has some ideas for Cokie just in time for a big party Cokie's throwing. She has to sneak out to go after she ends up grounded after a fight with her father (she thinks he's being overprotective; he thinks she's being moody and irresponsible). However, she ends up not using any of the plans, and calls Cokie out on how awful she's been instead. She reads Cokie the riot act, and it shuts her down, especially when the rest of the partygoers applaud Mary Anne for standing up to Cokie, which gives her continued resolve to be able to stand up for herself in the future. Mary Anne returns home to find her father waiting in the kitchen, and they restart their earlier fight, which Sharon puts a halt to by making them realize that they're both still tense because of the fire. They've both been walking on eggshells around each other because they don't want to upset the other, and that ended up making things worse. With that out in the open, Mary Anne and her dad make up.


Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Logan):

Claudia candy: none mentioned

According to Mary Anne, Kristy "charges through life like a soccer fullback." Okay then. Fullback is a defensive position; I think Mary Anne meant striker, because while defense does have to be tough, the image Mary Anne seems to be trying to present is someone rushing through the ranks to score a goal. But Mary Anne isn't really into sports, so it's reasonable for her sort of confuse terms. Not sure why she'd ever actually make that analogy though.

Logan's sort of going out with Dorianne Wallingford.

Claudia has different lucky colors on different days.

By the end of the book, Mary Anne and Logan aren't tight friends, but they don't avoid each other either.


Their Families:

This book presents the fact that Richard likes to organize his book by category and then in alphabetical order as proof of his extreme neatness. If you have a lot of books, doesn't it just make sense to organize so you can find them? We have four bookshelves, with children's books (in my daughters' room), fiction, humor, reference, and non-fiction; plus the cookbooks in the kitchen, a basket of board books for the girls, and then some books on the shelf under the coffee table: the family Bible and some field guides so we can figure out what bird is at the feeder.


The Club (and clients): nothing new.


SMS:

Cokie Mason is a yearbook editor. Not just on the staff, but an editor. That's a HUGE responsibility, and usually comes with a minimum GPA requirement.

Mr. Fiske, formerly introduced as an English teacher, is also the yearbook advisor. Smaller chance of typos that way, I bet.

Some of the winners for the different categories: Claudia is best artist, Logan and Abby are best male and female athletes, respectively, Cary Retlin and Alan Gray tie for wittiest, Emily Bernstein wins both most likely to succeed and most intelligent, Kristy is most likely to be elected President, and Stacey is most likely to be seen in Beverly Hills. Mary Anne doesn't win anything nor did she expect to. Cokie also doesn't win anything.


PSA Time:

While musing about how to get back at Cokie, Mary Anne considers slipping her a laxative. NO. You NEVER sneak a person unneeded medicine, and only sneak needed medicine under the advice of a medical professional (like crushing up a pill in a kid's applesauce). What about allergies, or other medications the person might be taking, or the adverse side affects of a medication? Just NO. You don't trick people into ingesting things (again, exception for situations like grating a carrot in a kid's spaghetti sauce).


Misc:

Mary Anne wonders whether cats have nightmares. I'll admit I'm curious too. I think it's possible; I've seen both cats here twitching like they're dreaming, and sometimes they growl. Speaking of the cats, yesterday was the older one's birthday. Eddie (short for Edgrrr) is 13 now.



The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 12

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

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 5

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate in the plot of a book, not just reference): Christmas-6, Hanukkah-2, Kwanzaa-3

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 6

St. Patrick's Days in 8th grade: 1

Summers after 8th grade: 12

BSC Fights: 13

SMS Staff and Faculty: 69

Students (other than the BSC): 218: 123 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 31 7th graders, 48 6th graders, 16 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 38 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 151

Crushes:
Stacey-13
Claudia-13
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-3
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-2
Abby-0