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!

Who wouldn't want Claudia for a baby-sitter?

The Baby-sitters Club #56: Keep Out, Claudia!

You always know you're in for a treat when the BSC title includes its own exclamation point. Am I right or am I right? I totally remembered this book from my childhood, partly because I couldn't pronounce the word “prejudice”, which is used like 27 hundred times. I was actually pretty pleased with the handling of the main plotline here, but I could totally have done without the entire secondary plot, partly because it showcased one of my (many) BSC nemeses: the intolerable Jackie Rodowsky. Not to mention the insufferable Karen Brewer. Ugh. But we will get to that. All in good time, my friends.

New client alert (but don't get too attached. I'm 95% sure we never hear of these folks again, though with good reason.) Mrs. Denise Lowell requires a sitter for her 3 children: Caitlin, Mackie, and Celeste. Um, can I be prejudiced against Mrs. Lowell for naming her son “Mackie”? Mary Anne is the first unsuspecting soul to baby-sit for this fam. Mrs. Lowell gives her the once-over on the front stoop and deems her worthy. The kids are well-behaved, but inquisitive, asking MA all about her family and the other BSC members. When they hear about Mal's seven siblings, they decide the Pikes must be Catholic. I definitely remember that from my childhood reading of this book, because I was (and am) Catholic, but I had never heard that stereotype before. I knew plenty of people with big families, but it never occurred to me that their religion would have something to do with it. Also, isn't it a little weird for an 8 year old to know that? I mean, isn't that one of those wink-wink things people say because Catholics are technically not supposed to use birth-control? Does 8 year old Caitlin know that? Because that sort of skeeves me out.

Claudia might give up the BSC- and it's all the new girls fault!

The Baby-sitters Club #12: Claudia and the New Girl

See, I bet you all thought that I met some sort of new girl (or even better, new BOY) and was dragged away from my BSC recapping duties in order to become new best friends with this person and follow my other muse... but I didn't. And I don't really have another muse. What I do have, as I've complained about before, is a freaking job. And sometimes it really interferes with my life (oh, and grad school doesn't help much either.)

Claudia, on the other hand, does not have a job. She has her art. You know who else has art? Ashley Wyeth, the titular "New Girl." Ashley is one of those pretentious arty types that no one wants to talk to at cocktail parties, the kind who prattles on about her muse and who can't possibly see the humor in a story about someone else's annoying boss (I myself have myriad "annoying boss" cocktail party stories, and they are all hilarious. Maybe someday you all will be lucky enough to attend a cocktail party with me!) However, in this case, it sort of works, because Ashley doesn't want to talk to anyone else anyway. Except Claud.

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.

Claudia thought she'd never have to say good-bye.

The Baby-sitters Club #26: Claudia and the Sad Good-bye

Now this is why I read these books. Brava, Ann M. Martin, brava. No, people, I'm being totally serious. I knew right from the start that I would like this one. I remember thinking it was so sad when I read it as a kid (I might even have cried. And as you've probably guessed, I am not a crier. I'm a judger, and judgers can't be criers.) And that was even before I went through the harrowing experience of losing my own beloved grandfather in a very similar way. I was Janine's age and my sister was Claudia's age when it happened (My brothers do not fit into my analogy, so we will conveniently forget them for the moment.) Much like Mimi, we knew my DziaDzia was sick with cancer, but no one expected that when he went to the hospital that Monday morning, he would be gone by Tuesday afternoon. At least, if they did expect it, no one ever told us kids. I felt blindsided and betrayed, and reading about Claudia brought it all vividly back, because Claudia (and Janine's) responses are pitch-perfect. This is exactly how kids in this situation react, and I know, because I lived it.

Okay, so backing up and stepping away from my personal drama for the moment, we all remember that Mimi had a stroke during the summer after Claud's seventh grade year. Since then, she's been fine, but definitely not great. She's regained some mobility and speech functions, enough that she is able to talk with Claud and have special tea, and cook dinner, which I'm not sure is the best idea, but... You know what? Forgive me, but I'm finding it really hard to snark on this plotline, so just for this book, I'm going to just go ahead and tell it like it is. We'll return to your regularly scheduled judgemental and slightly mocking tone for the next report.

Claudia thinks she's adopted, and no one understands!

The Baby-sitters Club #33: Claudia and the Great Search

All right, so today we're taking a little journey to a place I like to call "Claudia-land." It's a magic place filled with misspelled words, fluorescent high-tops, and Nancy Drew books. I always have to laugh at Claudia's relationship with Nancy novels- in today's installment, Claudia tells us that her parents "don't approve of Nacy Drew because they think [she] should be reading "literature." Funny, my parents said pretty much the exact same thing about my obsession with the BSC. Grown-up Claudia would so have a blog about her adolescent Nancy Drew infatuation... Grown-up Claudia and I would totally be blog-ring buddies!

And here we are: Janine gets some big award for being a genius. Claudia feels dumb. Also, this is the first Claudia book since the one where Mimi died, so Claud is also feeling even more alienated from her family than usual. She goes snooping around in her parents' den and finds that they have like 12,000 baby photos of Janine and like, 8, of Claudia. And the few they do have are Claudia with Janine. This I can totally sympathize with. We have 57 bajillion photos of my brother and maybe 14 of me, most of which are primarily characterized by him looking like he is either about to drop me or wants to bite me. I feel ya there Claud. Claudia decides because of the baby photo thing and because she doesn't look like her parents that she must be adopted. She also finds a lockbox in her dad's desk (I totally thought he had a gun as a kid. What? That's what all my friends parents' had lockboxes for. I know, I know. My midwestern roots are showing) which she thinks must contain her adoption papers.