The Baby-sitters Club #22: Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter
Okay, dear readers, fear not. I've not forgotten you. Much as I would love to read and recap the BSC full-time, the world does not see the value in this (YET) and therefore, even BSC recappers must have day jobs. And sometimes, those day jobs go haywire and take over your life.
Speaking of jobs going haywire, Jessi Ramsey has decided, against Kristy's better judgment, to take a pet-sitting job. Oh Jessi, when will you ever learn that going against Kristy's better judgment is never, ever a good idea? See, the Braddocks are out of town and Jessi's dance school is "taking a break" (um, okay? Never heard of any fancy pants dance school deciding they should just shut down for a week, but let's just roll with it, all right?) so Jessi has free afternoons for once. And it just so happens that the BSC gets a frantic call from Mr. and Mrs. Mancusi, whose pet-sitter backed out on them right before the trip of a lifetime. Kristy, remembering her experience with Buffy and Pinky, is all offended, but Jessi thinks it sounds fun and talks her into letting her take the job.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
How could anyone accuse Claudia of cheating?
The Baby-Sitters Club #40: Claudia and the Middle School Mystery
Hmmm. This book was a pleasant surprise. I knew I'd read it before, but only because I remembered the outfit that the blonde girl (Shawna Riverson?) on the cover wore. I totally had a very similar red and white striped sweater and white skirt that was fabulous, while Claudia's cover outfit looks like something my best friend's dad would have worn while feeding the pigs in their barn. Ugh, Claud.
So Janine helps Claudia study for her math test and for once she feels really good about it. After taking the test, she feels like she did really well, so she's thrilled when she gets it back with an A-. Except then, at the end of class, the teacher calls her and Shawna Riverson forward to compare their tests: they're exactly the same! Seriously, who's this dumb? Who doesn't know that you have to change at least a few things when you're cheating off the person sitting next to you? I guess if you're that certain you can frame the other person as the cheater it doesn't matter, but really, Shawna Riverson? That seems like quite a risk. Maybe you are not as smart as Claudia seems to think.
Hmmm. This book was a pleasant surprise. I knew I'd read it before, but only because I remembered the outfit that the blonde girl (Shawna Riverson?) on the cover wore. I totally had a very similar red and white striped sweater and white skirt that was fabulous, while Claudia's cover outfit looks like something my best friend's dad would have worn while feeding the pigs in their barn. Ugh, Claud.
So Janine helps Claudia study for her math test and for once she feels really good about it. After taking the test, she feels like she did really well, so she's thrilled when she gets it back with an A-. Except then, at the end of class, the teacher calls her and Shawna Riverson forward to compare their tests: they're exactly the same! Seriously, who's this dumb? Who doesn't know that you have to change at least a few things when you're cheating off the person sitting next to you? I guess if you're that certain you can frame the other person as the cheater it doesn't matter, but really, Shawna Riverson? That seems like quite a risk. Maybe you are not as smart as Claudia seems to think.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
This is Dawn's replacement?
The Baby-sitters Club #68: Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter
No, this is most definitely not Dawn's replacement. Hmmph. As if anyone could ever replace Dawn. Trust me, Jessi, both you and Mal couldn't replace Stacey, there's no way this new twit is ever going to replace Dawn. If we are even going to attempt to replace Dawn, the only acceptable Dawn substitute is Shannon Kilbourne. I have loved Shannon Kilbourne since the moment she was introduced, walking her Bernese Mountain Dog named Astrid of Greenville through the hoity-toity streets of Kristy's new neighborhood. I'm still bitter that she never really got any books of her own.
Well, the Dawn-inator has shipped out for California, despite the fact that I just don't believe she would do that. Wasn't Jeff leaving enough? Poor Sharon. Poor BSC, too, as Dawn's absense and Mallory's (as yet a) mystery illness have left them crazy-busy with business. The BSC is overwhelmed, so Jessi suggests that her new friend Wendy might want to join the club. Wendy comes to a meeting and is sort-of interviewed by Kristy, but the meeting is so busy that she doesn't really get put through the paces the way Dawn, Jessi, Mal, and even Stacey were. When Kristy Thomas wants to grill you, she can rival even Jack Byrnes from Meet the Parents. Overwhlemed and anxious, Kristy agrees to let Wendy go on a sitting job with Jessi to be evaluated before being offered a spot in the club.
No, this is most definitely not Dawn's replacement. Hmmph. As if anyone could ever replace Dawn. Trust me, Jessi, both you and Mal couldn't replace Stacey, there's no way this new twit is ever going to replace Dawn. If we are even going to attempt to replace Dawn, the only acceptable Dawn substitute is Shannon Kilbourne. I have loved Shannon Kilbourne since the moment she was introduced, walking her Bernese Mountain Dog named Astrid of Greenville through the hoity-toity streets of Kristy's new neighborhood. I'm still bitter that she never really got any books of her own.
Well, the Dawn-inator has shipped out for California, despite the fact that I just don't believe she would do that. Wasn't Jeff leaving enough? Poor Sharon. Poor BSC, too, as Dawn's absense and Mallory's (as yet a) mystery illness have left them crazy-busy with business. The BSC is overwhelmed, so Jessi suggests that her new friend Wendy might want to join the club. Wendy comes to a meeting and is sort-of interviewed by Kristy, but the meeting is so busy that she doesn't really get put through the paces the way Dawn, Jessi, Mal, and even Stacey were. When Kristy Thomas wants to grill you, she can rival even Jack Byrnes from Meet the Parents. Overwhlemed and anxious, Kristy agrees to let Wendy go on a sitting job with Jessi to be evaluated before being offered a spot in the club.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Guess which one's the walking disaster!
The Baby-sitters Club #20: Kristy and the Walking Disaster
Oh, what better time to blog about Kristy's Krushers than while watching my beloved Detroit Tigers stomp all over the dastardly Minnesota Twins? That's right, I'm a baseball addict. But here's the thing: I wasn't always, which is probably why I honestly can't remember if I read this book as a kid or not. Parts of it seemed vaguely familiar, but I really don't remember it the way I remember most of these BSC books, and I wouldn't put it past Baby-Sarah to totally not read something dealing with sports, of which I was not a fan. On the other hand, Baby-Sarah once got bored enough on a family camping trip to explore the wide world of my brother's Matt Christopher books, and ended up enjoying them, although I could not for the life of me grasp the title "The Year Mom Won the Pennant." I spent the whole trip trying to figure out what a "Year Mom" was, even after I read the stupid book. Also, one of the sports books was about some brothers, one who was good at football and one who wasn't, and then they switched places and the not good kid tried to play football and he got penalized for "clipping" and it was explained in great detail that I tried desperately to follow, but to this day I have absolutely no idea what "clipping" entails, unless it's referring to toenails. And now I just grossed myself out and went off on a wild tangent, so let's just get back to Kristy now, shall we?
We've got Kristy's sibs and their friends wanting to play softball, but basically sucking too badly to even join Little League. I don't know, my brothers played Little League back in the late 80s/early 90s, before it became the tutti-frutti, "everybody wins", boring-ass lameness that it is today (My parents were the statisticians for my older brother's 5 year old t-ball team. I kid you not. There was a special record book and everything. Is it any wonder that we all grew up to be cutthroat competitors?) but even in that era, any kid who wanted play could play. I mean, who's stopping these kids from joining a team? Is it really just that they're embarrassed? Because, honestly, that's stupid.
Oh, what better time to blog about Kristy's Krushers than while watching my beloved Detroit Tigers stomp all over the dastardly Minnesota Twins? That's right, I'm a baseball addict. But here's the thing: I wasn't always, which is probably why I honestly can't remember if I read this book as a kid or not. Parts of it seemed vaguely familiar, but I really don't remember it the way I remember most of these BSC books, and I wouldn't put it past Baby-Sarah to totally not read something dealing with sports, of which I was not a fan. On the other hand, Baby-Sarah once got bored enough on a family camping trip to explore the wide world of my brother's Matt Christopher books, and ended up enjoying them, although I could not for the life of me grasp the title "The Year Mom Won the Pennant." I spent the whole trip trying to figure out what a "Year Mom" was, even after I read the stupid book. Also, one of the sports books was about some brothers, one who was good at football and one who wasn't, and then they switched places and the not good kid tried to play football and he got penalized for "clipping" and it was explained in great detail that I tried desperately to follow, but to this day I have absolutely no idea what "clipping" entails, unless it's referring to toenails. And now I just grossed myself out and went off on a wild tangent, so let's just get back to Kristy now, shall we?
We've got Kristy's sibs and their friends wanting to play softball, but basically sucking too badly to even join Little League. I don't know, my brothers played Little League back in the late 80s/early 90s, before it became the tutti-frutti, "everybody wins", boring-ass lameness that it is today (My parents were the statisticians for my older brother's 5 year old t-ball team. I kid you not. There was a special record book and everything. Is it any wonder that we all grew up to be cutthroat competitors?) but even in that era, any kid who wanted play could play. I mean, who's stopping these kids from joining a team? Is it really just that they're embarrassed? Because, honestly, that's stupid.
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