The Baby-Sitters Club: The Summer Before

So, gentle readers, I have finally done what any decent recapper would have done 5 years ago. I have read the BSC prequel published by Ann M. Martin back in 2010. I knew it was out there but I put it off, because really, did we need a prequel? Wasn’t Kristy’s Great Idea basically the prequel to BSC? Did we need more origin story?

The answer, after all, is yes. This was not a bad book! So as a special welcome back (to me) present, I’m recapping it for you. Along with offering a promise to get back into recapping regularly, 2009-style. I’ve moved, (yes, again) back home for good. I’m settled about 30 minutes from the Midwestern hometown I fled almost a decade and a half ago. I’m rebuilding relationships I thought were done for good. I’ve had a good run, in my beloved NYC, in other areas of the country for the last few years, and when circumstances, both good and bad, conspired to offer me the chance to try going home again, I felt I had to give it a chance. And so I find myself, 6 months later, feeling like Stacey returning to NYC or Dawn back to California, trying to navigate the old and new and reconcile the person I am now with the person I was then, and figure out where my home is and what my life will be in my new-old environment. So, I may as well recap the BSC while I do all this, no?

So let’s escape, back to Stoneybrook with a dash of NYC, to a more idyllic time. This book plays like a super-special, with different POV chapters and intertwining stories. There’s no Dawn (sad!), no Jessi (meh), and Mallory is limited to a fourth-grader no one cares about (yay!) Everybody’s dealing with change, and if I remember the summer after my sixth grade year correctly, a lot of it seems pretty plausible. There’s not a ton of action, but the good part is that this is old-school Ann M, none of that ghostwriter crap. There’s also CONSIDERABLE attention paid to continuity, and mad props for that!

Kristy: Kristy’s summer revolves around her family. Her distaste for Watson is palpable, and we get more of it than we do in the series. When the book picks up, on the last day of sixth-grade, Elizabeth and Watson have been seeing each other for a few months, and Kristy is having none of it. She longs for her father, and as a Daddy’s girl, it breaks my heart. I think she’s practical enough to realize that he’s not actually coming back—she just wants some acknowledgement that he remembers she exists. She sends him a letter at the start of the summer and gets it back stamped Addressee Unknown. Her birthday is at the end of August, and she spends the summer building up some fantasy that he will show up on that day (or hell, just send her a freaking card). She doesn’t know where he is, although she knows he’s in California (which, solid continuity, because that detail is in Kristy’s Great Idea) and has remarried (Did we know that previously? I don’t remember). She doesn’t tell anyone about her wish, except for Mary Anne. She doesn’t want a birthday party, just a family dinner (emphatically excluding Watson, much to her mother’s chagrin), with Mary Anne and Claudia (emphasizing that she considers THEM family, and Watson something else entirely). Unfortunately, Claudia can’t come, because she’s busy with her new fling (see below). And of course, Kristy is heartbroken when her father doesn’t show up, but she guess who does remember her? Watson of course, who sends a lovely gift and calls in the evening, even though he was not invited to dinner, and you guys? I really want to date Watson. He’s just so perfect. Except for the balding part. And the being Karen Brewer’s father part. But otherwise? This guy just does everything right. Our very first “special Stoneybrook kids event” is featured when Mary Anne puts together a special “Kristy Day” parade and party with the kids they baby-sit for (and some friends from school, but not Claudia, who is again unavailable). But it’s sweet, and it cheers Kristy up after her sad birthday. KT later has a great conversation with her mom about her deadbeat father, and basically acknowledging that he’s a terrible person, but he’s still her dad, and Elizabeth is awesome too and I really love this family, and Mr. Thomas is the worst, you guys. THE WORST.

Mary Anne: Is also having conflict involving her father, and his rules. This whole plot answers what I think was a hole in the original premise—if Mr. Spier is so overprotective of Mary Anne, why does he even allow her to baby-sit at all? MA gets her first chance to baby-sit when Mrs. Pike asks Kristy to help her find a second baby-sitter (of course, the Pikes would be in this book. God knows we can’t escape them. Also, I think this is one of the first times I’ve ever realized that the Pikes are literally 8 kids in 6 years. All the kids are one year apart, except for Claire, who is 2 years behind Margo. Mrs. Pike was literally pregnant for 54 out of 72 months. The woman didn’t have a drink for at least 6 years. She had a 1 year old, gave birth to triplets, and got knocked up again when they were somewhere around 6 months old. Holy mother of monkeys. I’m freakin’ Catholic, and I want to sit these people down and have a SERIOUS talk about the value of birth control.) ANYWAY, Kristy asks MA to be her second on the Pike sitting job, and after a long conversation with her dad, and establishment of many rules, she is permitted to do so. MA then spends the next week freaking the hell out about what she would do if the smoke alarm went off, or Claire fell down the stairs (um, maybe keep the four year old away from the stair case? I guarantee you the Pikes have those doorway guard things). But all in all the sitting job goes well, and MA is rightfully proud of herself, as is her dad, but he insists that she not baby-sit unaccompanied, even for just one kid, which causes some awkwardness when Mrs. Newton asks her to watch Jamie, and Mary Anne has to bring Claudia with her (and MA has to promise to give Claud most of the money). Seriously, Mr. Spier, that really does put MA in a weird position. Like, people are wanting to trust her with their kid, but her own father doesn’t trust her with kids, how does that look to her potential clients? But he relents at the end of the summer and lets her baby-sit alone. So, yay? I guess. MA also spends a lot of the summer going through a box of stuff she found in the attic that belonged to her mom, but we don’t really get much info on it, other than there are some dolls and things that MA thinks she must have saved for her, and a journal from college, but we have no idea what’s in it. Memo to the editor: I would totally read that journal. Someone should write it. The story of the BSC parents. We could also find out how Elizabeth met Watson, and how the Kishi’s came to the US, and the whole Sharon Schaefer/Richard Spier/MA’s mom/Dawn’s dad love quadrangle or whatever. Seriously. I would read this. (And then of course, recap it for you all).

Claudia: Gets her first “boyfriend.” His name is Frankie, and as best I can tell, he sucks. Also, he is going to be a freshman at SHS, so he’s 2 years older than her. ALSO, he’s Janine’s friend (and crush). Basically, he meets Claudia at her 12^th birthday party (a pool party at the neighbor’s house—Janine invites him) and immediately she falls for him and he starts paying a lot of attention to her. It’s weird. I’m sorry, it just is. Janine is 15, so I have to assume he is too, and Claudia has literally just turned 12. I think it’s a little creepy. They hang out all summer, with Claud neglecting her family and Mary Anne and Kristy, and ignoring Janine’s hurt feelings, and Claudia’s family feeing awkward about it but apparently not awkward enough to just tell their 12-year-old to stop hanging out with a 15-year-old boy (although, one of my favorite little vignettes is when Frankie and Claudia are hanging out at her house and she wants to show him some of her artwork in her bedroom. Mrs. Kishi is having NONE of that. Claudia offering to leave the door open doesn’t cut it. Mrs. Kishi follows them upstairs mumbling about “having a mountain of laundry to fold”. It’s very Danny Tanner, but does reinforce my opinion that the Kishi’s are solid parents.) Anyway, then all Frankie’s friends come back at the end of the summer, and Claud realizes he was just using her as a way to pass the time (side note, where does everyone go all summer in these books?) He stone cold dumps her in a brutal phone call, and it’s a tough lesson for a 12-year-old, honestly.

And tying all of those threads together is that Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia all feel like they’re growing apart. It’s more that K & MA feel like C is growing apart from them—the two of them remain tight all summer, which of course, pre-sages a lot of the BSC conflict of Claudia (and Stacey) as the more grown-up club members. There’s lots of awkwardness all summer made worse by the fact the three of them won’t just talk, but again, accurate, if I recall sixth-grade correctly. Eventually they have the gorgeous little heart to heart on the playground while baby-sitting, and hash out all the things that are changing, but also all the things they have in common, that glue them together, like their past, good and bad, and their families, and their hometown, and the one thing that doesn’t get mentioned, baby-sitting. You guys, this is a really hard book to jump back into recapping, because there’s very little to make fun of. It’s actually kind of moving. Damn it, Ann M. I’m getting soft in my old age.

My beloved Stacey also features in this book, but it’s totally separate from all the other girl’s stories, and while it ties in, it’s definitely a little out of place unless you’re familiar with the BSC lore already (I mean, honestly, why would you be reading this book if you weren’t? But at least the story of MA/K/C holds up fairly well even if you don’t know the future—Stace is a little out of place although she does tie in at the end, on the first day of school.) Anyway, we get a brief glimpse of Stacey’s life in NYC and how miserable it is before she leaves. That bitch Laine Cummings is a royal mean girl, even before all the diabetes stuff. Which is an interesting development, because I thought BSC canon pretty much established that Laine, although possessing some mean girl tendencies, was appalled/upset/unsure about Stace’s illness and weird behavior. But here we get some ret-conning into Laine developing into a total mean girl after spending the summer after fifth-grade at camp, and then returning to NYC and pretty much dropping Stacey anyway, BEFORE any of the diabetes stuff (BTW, this is also pretty plausible, based on my own experience with my “best friend” who spent part of the summer after fifth grade in France on an exchange program, and pretty much came back a nightmare). Anyway, so Laine is icing Stacey out already, and then Stace’s health goes haywire, and that’s pretty much it for the friendship. Of course, Stacey’s parents and the Cummings’ are BFFs and for some reason totally don’t realize/care that the girls aren’t getting along. Mostly Stacey spends the summer helping her mom get ready to move and being so damn ready to get out of Dodge, and it’s kind of sad (I mean, it’s supposed to be sad, but I’m sad because Stace seems to have no nostalgia whatsoever about leaving NYC, and I think that’s kind of ret-conned too. She loved NYC. The series makes clear that she misses it. I guess I just can’t believe, even if she was really lonely at this point there, that she wouldn’t at least feel some sense of loss about leaving the city itself. But none of that comes through. Honestly, Stacey’s plot is the most superficially written, I think, and it’s a missed opportunity.) Stace’s parents and the Cummings’ do throw her a goodbye party, attended by the kids she baby-sits in her building, and most of the girls in her class at school, but of course, even there, Laine and the others are total bitches to Stacey, and when Stacey finally complains to her mom, Maureen is all “Oh, Stacey, you’re making a big deal out of nothing” which is classic Mom, but also just awful when you’re 12 and you feel like your world is ending. Finally, Stacey gets to Stoneybrook and is ready to start over, which I can’t really blame her for. She stumbles upon the “Kristy Day” parade while out riding her bike, but doesn’t interact with the girls at the time. Stacey’s story ends on the first day of school, where she complains about her mother coming inside with her to meet with the principal (really though, does he not have anything else to do on the first day of school, right before the first bell? Seems like this meeting should have been handled last week), and meets Claudia at lunch, and (without learning her name) is assisted by Mary Anne in finding one of her classes, and finally walks home with Claudia (MA & K have to pick up David Michael), and that is the start of a beautiful friendship.

The last chapter is basically an alternate version of the first chapter of Kristy’s Great Idea, one of my favorite chapters ever, complete with the 100-word essay (THE END), Elizabeth bringing home pizza, and the flashlight conversation with Mary Anne after lights out.

I love it.

Seriously, guys, I really did. Didn’t expect to, didn’t really want to, but it’s the perfect amount of context, the perfect amount of pathos, and the perfect lead-in to our beloved BSC. Damn it, I AM getting soft in my old age.

Don’t worry though. Mocking and copious amounts of wine drinking to resume next recap. I know my audience.

Stay tuned. I’m glad to be back!