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.
Showing posts with label I hate Jackie Rodowsky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I hate Jackie Rodowsky. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Mary Anne has a crush-- on a boy baby-sitter!
The Baby-sitters Club #10: Logan Likes Mary Anne!
Eh, Logan. You could do better.
Well, it's the first day of the BSC's interminable 8th grade year and guess who Mary Anne spies across the crowded cafeteria? None other than her new celebrity crush, Cam Geary. Except, wait!, Stacey tells her, that's not Cam Geary. That's Logan Bruno, recnet transplant from Louisville, Kentucky (that would be Loovull, as we are treated to some delightful stereotyping of Logan's accent.) MA's heart is all aflutter.
The BSC has a huge influx of business thanks to some recent adertising, and it's getting to be too much for them to handle. Logan eavesdrops on their convo at lunch one day, and announces that he used to do a lot of baby-sitting. Mostly, this seems like a ploy to be able to oome sit by the tongue-tied Mary Anne. The BSC invites him to come to one of their meetings.
Eh, Logan. You could do better.
Well, it's the first day of the BSC's interminable 8th grade year and guess who Mary Anne spies across the crowded cafeteria? None other than her new celebrity crush, Cam Geary. Except, wait!, Stacey tells her, that's not Cam Geary. That's Logan Bruno, recnet transplant from Louisville, Kentucky (that would be Loovull, as we are treated to some delightful stereotyping of Logan's accent.) MA's heart is all aflutter.
The BSC has a huge influx of business thanks to some recent adertising, and it's getting to be too much for them to handle. Logan eavesdrops on their convo at lunch one day, and announces that he used to do a lot of baby-sitting. Mostly, this seems like a ploy to be able to oome sit by the tongue-tied Mary Anne. The BSC invites him to come to one of their meetings.
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