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!

Nobody's going to tell Kristy what to do-- especially not the Snobs!

The Baby-Sitters Club #11: Kristy and the Snobs

This is another old favorite. Not sure if it has anything to do with the story or the fact that it introduces the awesomely snarky Shannon Kilbourne and The Fabulous Amanda Delaney and her $400 cat, Priscilla,, or the fact that I just always really liked the super-preppy pleated skirt/sweater vest combos worn by Shannon and Amanda on the front cover. All the stuff with Louie in this book is actually really sad, even though I have a heart of stone. And also, if you really think about it, the life of the Thomas kids is kind of sad… so much change in such a short time—Elizabeth remarrying, gaining Watson, Karen (ugh), and Andrew as family members, moving across town, adjusting to new wealth (not that I’d mind that), and now their dog, one of the last few connections to their previous life, having to be put down. I am shocked they’re as well-adjusted as they are… one of them is going to come unhinged at some point (my money’s on Kristy.)

Also, a few life updates of my own! I have moved (yes, again) to a location much further south than I’ve ever lived, although I’m told this “Isn’t really the South.” Whatever. People call me ma’am and dress up for college football games. It’s the South. It’s nice to be back in an actual city-- a city 1/25th the size of my beloved NYC, but none the less, a city with more than one grocery store, coffee shop, and restaurant, and one in which the possibility of actually meeting a nice single man around my age with all his teeth and no children yet at least seems mildly feasible. I don’t ask for a lot, people.

Anyway, back in Stoneybrook, KT and the Thomas clan have slowly adjusted to life in the mansion, but as school starts again, Kristy finds herself having run-ins with the local tweens (who apparently were all away at camp all summer. Kristy would “kill” her mom if she ever sent her to camp… Conveniently forgetting the forthcoming “Summer Vacation” set-up!) Anyway, if there’s one thing Kristy hates, it’s a snob. Also, squirrels. She does not explain that little aside, but I feel like there’s a story there. As if, perhaps, one time in college Kristy was studying outside on the quad with some friends and a squirrel actually ran onto her blanket and stole the bag of cookies they were eating, causing significant shrieking and general consternation, and also leaving them snack-less. Little bastard. Not that I know anyone to whom that has happened…

So, Kristy’s first encounter with Shannon comes while waiting at the bus stop, when Shannon and her friends are whispering and looking at Kristy and generally being middle-school-aged girls. They ask Kristy if she’s “Mr. Brewer’s new kid” who’s been sending around baby-sitting fliers and she takes offense and there’s some typical 8th-grade back and forth and the encounter ends with Kristy being called “Jerkface” and Shannon being called “Snob” and me pouring another glass of wine.

Who's the boss?

The Baby-sitters Club # 122: Kristy in Charge

Since I've been recapping the BSC, I've definitely not been impressed by the later BSC books. Partly, I think because I've never read them before and therefore don't have the memories associated with them, and partly because, I think we can all agree, they are objectively horrific. That said, this is the book that starts the whole "Getting Rid of Mallory" arc, and frankly, that covers a multitude of sins. Also, the title of this post is so appropriate because my dear friend Jess has recently gotten me hooked on Who's the Boss reruns. Seriously that show is amazing. Highly recommend! So let's see what we can do with this, mmmkay?

So we open with Kristy in homeroom, listening to Ms. Garcia talk about some new program called "Teachers of Tomorrow" where students can volunteer to teach classes at SMS for a week. Is it just me, or is this a patently stupid idea? I mean, I get the idea behind it, and in a perfect world, it could be interesting and educational. But people? Junior High is FAR FROM a perfect world. And no one knows that better than the teachers. Why would any of them agree to this?

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.

Four friends and baby-sitting-- what could be more fun?

The Baby-sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea

Ready, kids? This is the one that started it all. There's only one word for it: CLASSIC.

The original Fab Four are just beginning their seventh grade year. One evening, Kristy's mom brings home a pizza because she has to ask a favor of her older kids: David Michael's baby-sitter has canceled and she needs someone to watch him after school the next day. Charlie, Sam, and Kristy are all busy. Poor Mrs. Thomas has to let her pizza get cold while she calls everyone in the neighborhood looking for a sitter. It takes, what, five minutes to eat a slice of pizza? Why couldn't she eat and then call? I highly doubt that if she doesn't call RIGHT NOW she's going to miss out on the last available sitter in Stoneybrook. But let's overlook that, because it brings the world KRISTY'S GREAT IDEA.

Make one call, reach a whole bunch of sitters! Genius in its simplicity. So Kristy flashes her idea to Mary Anne through the window that night (MA is not allowed to talk on the phone at this point. I never really understood this. What is so bad about talking on the phone? I mean, especially if she's done her homework and everything? What does Mr. Spier think she should be doing with her time? It must have been awfully boring to be Mary Anne.) Anyway, MA loves the idea, so they bring it up with Claudia the next day as well. Claud also loves it, and suggests one more member, her new friend from New York, your favorite and mine, Stacey McGill. They decide to meet MWF from 5:30 to 6 in Claud's room, since she has her own phone number and they choose officer positions: KT is the prez, obvi, Claud is her Veep, MA gets to be secretary, and Stace, the alleged math whiz is the treasurer. Throw in some advertising and we're off and running!

Babies on board!

The Baby-sitters Club #45: Kristy and the Baby Parade

Oh, I totally remembered this book as soon as I started reading it. Why, you ask? Because when I was eleven, I too took one of those Red Cross-sponsored baby-sitting courses like the "infant care course" the girls took. It was a one-day course in the summer at the local community center. And I too thought that it made me the shiz-nit. I liked to tell people that I was a Red Cross-certified baby-sitter, and I carried the little card with the Red Cross lady's signature on it everywhere I went, in case anyone wanted me to prove it. However, pretty much all I remember from the actual class is the pizza we ordered for lunch.

So the Baby-sitters are baby-crazy these days. Mrs. Prezzioso wants a sitter to watch Jenny and four-month-old Andrea on a regular basis, but she wants that person to take an infant care course first. I have to say, if I were really uncertain about whether or not someone were capable of caring for my baby, her attendance at one of those Red Cross seminars would not particularly sway me. But apparently, Mrs. P does not share my concerns, and so Kristy takes the job and signs up for the course. Then, the rest of the BSC decides that they want to attend, too. After all, according to Claudia, then maybe they can advertise themselves as "infant care specialists." Um, after a few hours in the basement of the community center? In that case, my baby-sitting class plus my day camp counselor training ought to make me Exalted High Queen Baby-sitter over All the Universe. I wonder how that would look on my resume.