The Baby-sitters Club #27: Jessi and the Superbrat
Yes, it’s true. I’m alive and I continue to voraciously re-read the Baby-sitters Club. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have returned to voraciously re-reading the Baby-sitters Club. Why did I get sidetracked? Well, there’s my day job, which is lame. There’s grad school, which is also pretty lame. There’s also volunteer work, travel, friends, and valiant attempts to have some sort of romantic life, since I’m hitting the wrong side of my 20s to still be living the Sex and the City single life in New York (those women were just sad. If I’m still single when I’m that old, someone just put me out of my misery.)
But alas, I cannot let all of 2010 go by without a few nods to the BSC. I love this blog, I love my readers, and most importantly I love those crazy broads from the ‘Brook.
So we’re jumping back in with Jessi and the Superbrat, #27. I don’t recall reading this as a young’n, but the more I read the more familiar it became. So either I did actually read it and somehow forgot (it was pretty boring, so that’s not entirely unlikely) or every Jessi book is just so similar that they all run together.
So this kid called Derek Masters hails from Stoneybrook and is now the star of some TGIF style sitcom, after his making his mark in the (apparently large?) Stamford, CT kiddie-model market. Because of course one goes from starring Connecticut-based toilet paper commercials to L.A. based super stardom with nothing in between. Oh, BSC-world. I’ve forgotten how magical you are.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
How could Mallory ever get tired of baby-sitting?
The Baby-sitters Club #47: Mallory on Strike
Oh yes, poor, sad, put-upon Mallory. I'm pretty sure I tried to pull this strike BS when I was a kid and my dad was all "Bee-otch, please. You go on strike, I go on strike. And if I go on strike, you lose food and shelter. Shut up and do your chores." Well, I might be paraphrasing, as my upstanding, conservative, Trip-Man-ish father has never, to my knowledge, used the word "Bee-otch" in his life... but it was implied.
So SMS is hosting a "Young Authors Day" featuring a writing competition and Mal wants to win "Best overall fiction" in the sixth grade. Ok, FINE. That is totally something I would have wanted to do, too. She only has a couple of weeks to write her story (which is going to be about a girl named Tess (why do people always name their characters "Tess"? Has anyone ever even met a "Tess" in real life? I haven't.) who feels taken for granted in her family. Geez, Mal, you're really taking that whole "write what you know" adage to heart. I sincerely hope Tess is not as annoying as you though), so she knows she'll need to really work hard.
Oh yes, poor, sad, put-upon Mallory. I'm pretty sure I tried to pull this strike BS when I was a kid and my dad was all "Bee-otch, please. You go on strike, I go on strike. And if I go on strike, you lose food and shelter. Shut up and do your chores." Well, I might be paraphrasing, as my upstanding, conservative, Trip-Man-ish father has never, to my knowledge, used the word "Bee-otch" in his life... but it was implied.
So SMS is hosting a "Young Authors Day" featuring a writing competition and Mal wants to win "Best overall fiction" in the sixth grade. Ok, FINE. That is totally something I would have wanted to do, too. She only has a couple of weeks to write her story (which is going to be about a girl named Tess (why do people always name their characters "Tess"? Has anyone ever even met a "Tess" in real life? I haven't.) who feels taken for granted in her family. Geez, Mal, you're really taking that whole "write what you know" adage to heart. I sincerely hope Tess is not as annoying as you though), so she knows she'll need to really work hard.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Dawn's a California Girl!
The Baby-sitters Club #23: Dawn on the Coast
Well, no shit, Sherlock. We all know Dawn's a California girl. And we love her for it. (At least, I do. All my ideas about California were given to me by Dawn (and in college, by the O.C.) As far as I'm concerned, California is entirely populated by sun-worshiping, beach-loving, health-food-eating, environmentally-conscious, house-with-skylights-having blondes.)
It's spring break (a full two-weeks! Who ever got a full two weeks for Spring Break??? We were lucky to get a week. AND they'd always try to lump our Spring Break in with Easter Break... so annoying! Silly Catholic schools.) and Dawn is off to California to visit her dad and Jeff. Yay, Jeff! But she can't possibly leave without a BSC sleepover to see her off, so they all gather at Kristy's.
Well, no shit, Sherlock. We all know Dawn's a California girl. And we love her for it. (At least, I do. All my ideas about California were given to me by Dawn (and in college, by the O.C.) As far as I'm concerned, California is entirely populated by sun-worshiping, beach-loving, health-food-eating, environmentally-conscious, house-with-skylights-having blondes.)
It's spring break (a full two-weeks! Who ever got a full two weeks for Spring Break??? We were lucky to get a week. AND they'd always try to lump our Spring Break in with Easter Break... so annoying! Silly Catholic schools.) and Dawn is off to California to visit her dad and Jeff. Yay, Jeff! But she can't possibly leave without a BSC sleepover to see her off, so they all gather at Kristy's.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Do wishes really come true?
The Baby-sitters Club #48: Jessi's Wish
Okay, here it is. Another one of those "Sweet baby James, I was a weird child." confessions. I loved reading books about sick kids/teenagers. I thought Lurlene McDaniel books were amazing. Not that I ever wanted to be sick or anything (I'm not that twisted), but I did go through a brief phase of wanting to be a pediatric oncologist and cure cancer. Then I realized how much I hate a) bodily fluids and b) dead things (not like people- I don't have much experience with that! but like all the dead animals that I was supposed to dissect in 10th grade biology that I never, ever touched. My partner and I just handed our little dead creature to the guys who sat behind us and let them go to town... Not like our teacher ever even noticed-he was very rarely actually in the classroom, despite (or perhaps because of?) all the scalpels being wielded by hormonal 15 year olds.)
So I remember reading this book when I was 8 or 9 and liking it as much as I liked any BSC book. And I thought that like would carry over to my re-reading, but sadly not. As much as I truly don't mean to be a heinous bitch, this book was BORING.
Ok, so Becca is a member of the Kids-Can-Do-Anything Club at SES, composed of kids ages 8, 9, and 10 who volunteer and do service projects for the community. Ok, I can get behind that, that sounds nice. But when one of their teacher moderators decides to accompany her husband on sabbatical for a month (Who the hell goes on sabbatical for a month? Isn't it normally a year? I mean, I work at a university and as far as I know, you can't get sabbatical for less than a semester.) the other one doesn't think he can handle it by himself and they're going to have to shut the club down. But Jessi to the rescue! She volunteers to take Ms. Simon's place, and Mr. Katz thinks that would be great. Um, excuse me, but seriously, Mr. Katz? You can't handle 20 kids (aren't you a freakin' school teacher?) after school by yourself, but you can with the help of an 11 year old? Am I the only one to notice that Jessi is exactly one year older than several of the club members? Does he really think they're going to accept her as an authority figure? PUH-LEEZE.
Okay, here it is. Another one of those "Sweet baby James, I was a weird child." confessions. I loved reading books about sick kids/teenagers. I thought Lurlene McDaniel books were amazing. Not that I ever wanted to be sick or anything (I'm not that twisted), but I did go through a brief phase of wanting to be a pediatric oncologist and cure cancer. Then I realized how much I hate a) bodily fluids and b) dead things (not like people- I don't have much experience with that! but like all the dead animals that I was supposed to dissect in 10th grade biology that I never, ever touched. My partner and I just handed our little dead creature to the guys who sat behind us and let them go to town... Not like our teacher ever even noticed-he was very rarely actually in the classroom, despite (or perhaps because of?) all the scalpels being wielded by hormonal 15 year olds.)
So I remember reading this book when I was 8 or 9 and liking it as much as I liked any BSC book. And I thought that like would carry over to my re-reading, but sadly not. As much as I truly don't mean to be a heinous bitch, this book was BORING.
Ok, so Becca is a member of the Kids-Can-Do-Anything Club at SES, composed of kids ages 8, 9, and 10 who volunteer and do service projects for the community. Ok, I can get behind that, that sounds nice. But when one of their teacher moderators decides to accompany her husband on sabbatical for a month (Who the hell goes on sabbatical for a month? Isn't it normally a year? I mean, I work at a university and as far as I know, you can't get sabbatical for less than a semester.) the other one doesn't think he can handle it by himself and they're going to have to shut the club down. But Jessi to the rescue! She volunteers to take Ms. Simon's place, and Mr. Katz thinks that would be great. Um, excuse me, but seriously, Mr. Katz? You can't handle 20 kids (aren't you a freakin' school teacher?) after school by yourself, but you can with the help of an 11 year old? Am I the only one to notice that Jessi is exactly one year older than several of the club members? Does he really think they're going to accept her as an authority figure? PUH-LEEZE.
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.
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