Someone--or something-- is out to get Jessi!

The Baby-sitters Club #42: Jessi and the Dance School Phantom

I like puzzles, a lot. My brain just works that way. I think it’s natural then, that I like mysteries. I really do. I like trying to figure things out from clues dropped along the way. I like that “Aha!” moment. I’d like to have been a detective, except I’m pretty sure that I’d die somewhere in the middle of my first case because intellectually, I’m a pretty good problem solver, but when it comes to common sense on the ground, or even just outrunning a bad guy, I’m toast.

Jessi, apparently, is a lot like me, a sentence I never thought I’d write, considering I am neither a dancer nor black, and Jessi is one-dimensionally defined by these two traits. However, we’re not exactly the same, because this is a BSC book, so of course, despite her lack of skill and cunning, she’s not toast. Unfortunately.

Also, this is another one where the tagline on the front bears no resemblance to the story between the covers. Someone or something? Never, at any point in the story, does Jessi or anyone else think that something other-worldly is going on. Not even Dawn. So really, jacket writer, YOU LOSE.

Ready kids? Here we go: Jessi gets the lead in her dance school production of Sleeping Beauty. She is shocked, as are the other dancers in her class, all of whom are older than her. I really don’t know why, as she gets the lead in every damn ballet, despite the fact that I don’t think she’s really that committed to it. I swear, every Jessi book consists of her either getting the lead in the ballet or finding an interest in something else and almost quitting ballet before deciding it’s her one true love.

Soon, Jessi starts receiving threatening notes and suffering mysterious mishaps at rehearsal. Her toe shoes disappear, then she slips in some water and hurts her ankle (although it’s never really explained whether that was the work of the “Dance School Phantom” or just Jessi being a klutz.) Madame Noelle, with her hilariously stereotypical French dance-teacher accent gets annoyed with her, but then of course shows that she has a heart of gold by worrying about her.

Jessi asks her BSC friends for help and they come up with a plan whereby the BSC will sneak into rehearsal and watch to see if anybody acts suspicious. I can’t believe Mme. Noelle didn’t notice this, but ok. They narrow down the suspects to 3: Carrie (this is her last chance to dance the lead, and she didn’t get it), Katie Beth (who just generally doesn’t like Jessi, which, if that’s suspicious, sign me up as suspect #4!) and Hilary (who has a horrible stage mother who pushes her even though she’s really not that good at dance.) Then they rule the suspects out, as Jessie receives a threatening note on a day when Carrie is absent from rehearsal, and Katie Beth “saves Jessi’s life” by pushing her out of the way of some falling scenery. This leaves just me and Hilary as suspects, so in BSC world, that means it’s got to be Hil.

Jessi devises a plan to trap Hilary by getting her to write something so she can compare her handwriting and the pen she uses to the scary notes she’s been getting. Despite the fact that this plan is riddled with holes and Jessi almost f’s it up like 12 times, she gets Hil to confess that she did it all because she wanted her horrible stage mother to be proud of her. Now I have to conclude that intelligence is not a priority when admitting to students to Mme. Noelle’s class. Um, Hil? Even if you kill Jessi, you’re probably still not going to get the lead. You just admitted that you’re really not that good. Probably all you’re doing is advancing Carrie’s dream here. Moron.

So Jessi doesn’t tell because she feels sorry for Hilary and opening night goes off without a hitch. And everyone lived happily ever after, except for Hilary’s mom, because Hilary decides to quit dance. Poor sad Hilary’s mom!

Meanwhile, over in BSC land, Kristy decides that the BSC should host a pet show because they haven’t done any big events with their clients lately. Okey-doke, then. So all the kids in Stoneybrook are excited, except the ones that don’t have pets, and the siblings who only have one pet and get in fights about who gets to enter the pet in the show, and the kids (like Becca Ramsey) who have boring pets like hamsters and are upset because there’s no way their pet will win. Way to think that one through girls!

But then Jessi comes up with the brilliant idea to give prizes to all of the pets for stupid made up categories like “Shortest legs” and “Best smelling” (the latter went to Amanda Delaney’s Siamese cat Priscilla, whom Amanda practically drowned in a tub of perfume called “Paris Romance.” Bwah! I adore Amanda Delaney, even if the BSC thinks she’s a snob. I think she’s fab!) Seriously, no one else thought of this before? I swear the only reason Jessi ever comes up with these “fantastic ideas” is because the people she hangs around with are so stupid, she looks brilliant by comparison (see book #16, where Jessi is the only person to think of taking some deaf kids to the ballet.) For what it’s worth, Becca’s hamster wins “Best All-Around Pet.”

Final Thoughts: I really have no idea what the tie-in between the pet show and the ballet storyline was. Usually I can find the parallel in the morals of the stories, but today I’m at a loss. Any thoughts?