#12 Claudia and the New Girl (or The Traitor and the Threat to the BSC and its Existence)

At last the fates have smiled upon the faithful readers and I drew a Claudia book, probably one of my least favorite in the series.  My 11-year-old has been reading my books before I snark them and after she read this one she said to me, “Mom, I’m glad I don’t have friends like this.  These girls are mean!”  I guess I don’t have to worry about her joining any cultish clubs when she’s 13. 

The cover is unremarkable and there’s no indication who did the artwork.  What is interesting is the dedication.  It’s “for the loyal readers of The Babysitter’s Club series.”  Well, if you’re not a loyal reader, go jump in a creek; this book’s not for you.

The book starts with Claudia watching a fly during English class instead of paying attention.  She admits she doesn’t care about or try hard in school, even though she acknowledges that the teacher is trying to make things interesting.  She gets cold called (teacher speak for calling on a kid out of the blue to draw them back into class discussion) and her lack of enthusiasm or effort results in a surprise spelling test.  During the test, a new student is ushered into the room and introduced as Ashley Wyeth.  Claudia is instantly shocked to see that Ashley is dressed like a hippie and has three pierced earrings in each ear! C’mon Ann, go for the real shock effect and give the girl a nose or eyebrow ring.  Better yet, say she has a nipple piercing and leave us all wondering how Claudia can see that at first glance.  Claudia can’t get over her looks or her name – she may be related to a famous painter with the same last name. Squee!!!  At the end of class, Ashley asks Claudia how to get to her next classroom and as Claudia shows her, she asks Ashley about her name.  Well now, what do you know?  They’re not related, but Ashley’s an artist too.

They have no more classes together that day, but Claudia does a brief intro of the club and its members before it’s time for the meeting.  She chats with Mimi for a few minutes while she waits for the club members (back when they still rang the doorbell before barging in) and mentions that she thinks she and Ashley might become friends.  FORESHADOWING!  Not subtle either.  The girls all arrive and they have a good meeting, with Claudia scheduling a job with the Rodowsky boys.  More foreshadowing when she says she doesn’t know what she’d do without her friends or the club.  Have a life?  Do schoolwork?  More time for art?

Claudia goes to her art class the following day and finds Ashley is there as well.  She is blown away by Ashley’s portfolio of work and Ashley is quite complementary of Claudia’s work as well.  The teacher announces a new art gallery is opening in Stoneybrook and that there is a sculpture competition. They are encouraged to enter as there is a grand prize of $250 and their pieces will be on display the week the gallery opens.  Claudia wants to enter, but isn’t sure she has time.  Ashley insists she does.

Sitting chapter!  Claudia’s at the Rodowsky house.  Jackie drops Rice Krispies on the floor and locks himself in the bathroom with his hand stuck in the tub drain.  An eventful sitting job.  They’re outside playing when who should stop by but Ashley.  Turns out she lives next door and she manages to needle Claudia into committing to the art show.

The next chapter starts with an explanation that in the previous year, the members of the BSC had their own separate groups of friends they ate lunch with, but once Dawn arrived they kind of grew together and this school year they started sitting together.  Well, Ashely wants to sit with Claud and discuss art. Alone. Claudia politely lets her friends know she’s sitting elsewhere for the day, although she’s worried about what everyone would say about her “defecting.”  Seriously?!  She can’t have one lunch period with someone else without your self worth being questioned?  Anyway, they decide to go to an art gallery that afternoon and Claudia ends up being 15 minutes late for a BSC meeting.  Everyone’s there and they grill Claudia about why she didn’t call and why she was having fun with someone other than them.  Wow.

Another sitting chapter.  Dawn sits for the St. Perkins family and ends up having to go to school to get Jeff because he’s in trouble.  This is where she meets Ms. Besser.  Things aren’t looking good for Jeffrey.

Claudia is sitting with Ashley at lunch again and missing the BSC across the room.  Ashley interrupts her thoughts by saying she’s going to sculpt an inanimate object and she thinks Claudia should too.  They spend the afternoon looking for inspiration in items around town.  Claudia gets drawn in, and decides to miss a meeting of the BSC.  She calls Dawn to let her know. 

The next chapter starts with a notebook entry calling Claudia a traitor.  Honestly, these girls …I can’t even put into words.  How is she a traitor?  It’s not like she’s sharing “club secrets” with the enemy or passing off clients to another business.  SHE’S WORKING ON AN ART PROJECT.  What I want to know is why Claudia didn’t just decide to take a little time off from the club like Mallory did when she had her writing contest.  The club members certainly understood about that.  It’s not like they’re overwhelmed with business at the moment; she could take a little time off.  But no, she’s a traitorous bitch, intent upon ruining the club and spending time with someone who wears BELL-BOTTOM JEANS TO SCHOOL.  Stacy starts crying, as she thinks Claudia doesn’t like her anymore, so of course MA starts crying too.  This I can understand; they’re hurt and don’t understand why Claudia’s pulling away.  But to call her a traitor….

The next day the BSC confronts Claudia at her locker while Ashley is there and Claudia’s “friends” basically argue about her responsibilities; to her art, to the club and such.  MA states that Claudia has plenty of time for her art and Claudia muses that her friends really don’t get it.  Perhaps that sentence speaks volumes in and of itself.  Why spend time with people who don’t get you?  They establish that Claudia is not quitting the club and that she is working on a sculpture.

But of course, Claudia misses another meeting and the girls get nasty.  Apparently she was supposed to be working on late English assignments, but she just can’t say no to Ashley and ends up looking for inspiration again.  She ditched Stacey to do homework, bur when she calls Dawn, she tells her where she is. So the girls write mean little notes and hide them around her room, short sheet her bed and eating all her junk food.  After that, I’d lock the door to my house and room and tell them to take a flying leap.  Abusing my personal property?  No, thank you.  The girls muse at the end how good of a friend Ashley is to Claudia, because she seems to only like Claudia because she’s an artist.  Aren’t they doing the same thing?  They’re calling her a traitor and vandalizing her room because she’s placing a personal interest in front of the club.  I wonder if Ann really thinks that what she wrote in this chapter is justified.  Hey, if I don’t like what my friend is doing, I can just leave her some nasty notes in her room (or FB wall) and eat her junk food.  That’ll learn her.

Claudia is sitting for the Rodowsky boys again.  She has just finished digging socks out of the vacuum cleaner when Ashley arrives.  They begin to argue about how Claudia doesn’t take her art seriously enough and how she should be grateful to Ashley for mentoring her.  There are several quotes here that are applicable to Ashley, yes, but also the BSC members.  Quote 1: “You think I owe you something?  Friends are friends because they like each other, not because they’re in debt.”  Perhaps the best friends she’ll ever have should also remember that before they start to graffiti her walls.  Quote 2: “You shouldn’t make up conditions for friendship.”  Self explanatory.  After her argument with Ashley, Claudia realizes what a lousy person she is for having a hobby and friend outside of the club.  Granted, she did shirk some responsibilities and was a little mean to Stacy, but I would not expect her to practice self flagellation over that.  She settles the boys in front of the TV (GASP!) while she tries to figure things out.  Jackie comes in, needing help with his shoelace and Claudia decides she wants to sculpt him.

She arrives the next afternoon while MA is sitting to talk to Jackie and make sketches of him.  While she’s doing that, MA starts asking questions about if Ashley is Claud’s best friend now and what’s she up to.  While Claud is sketching, Ashley comes over AGAIN and interrogates her about what she’s entering in the show and how her choice is awful.  Claudia basically tells her that she’ll sculpt what she wants and Ashley lets her know that she thinks Claudia’s ruining her career before she storms out of the house.  MA asks if Claudia is coming to the meeting, but she’s behind in school and needs to get things done at the library.

That night Claudia makes a list of things she needs to do, starting with calling Ashley, Stacy and Kristy.  She explains herself to Ashley; Ashley hangs up on her.  She explains herself to Stacy; Stacy forgives her.  She explains herself to Kristy; Kristy is short with her and gets off the phone soon.

The next list is for the art show.  She talks to her parents and her art teacher; with homework, she’s just not going to have enough time to finish her sculpture of Jackie, so she’s not entering the art show.

The last list is schoolwork and she tackles that the best she can, while finding a note in her pencil jar likening her to Benedict Arnold and the Wicked Witch of the West.  Nice.

Monday Claudia’s at the meeting and makes a big apology to everyone for being so terrible.  Now, as I stated before, Claudia did some things wrong, but she is not the only one who needs to apologize.  Her friends were terrible to her and nowhere in this chapter do they say they were wrong or that they’re sorry.  Sigh.  At the end of the chapter Claudia says, “If we didn’t like baby-sitting, we would still be friends.”  I say no, probably not.  Aside from Stacy, you have little in common with the other girls besides baby-sitting and in this one dimensional world, it’s not enough.

Claudia gets a surprise phone call from her art teacher informing her that she’s entered Claudia’s partially finished sculpture.  The BSC and the Kishis go to the show.  Ashley won grand prize, of course, for her sculpture of a fire hydrant.  Claudia is surprised to see she got an honorable mention for her work and her teacher feels that had she finished, she would have won.  Yay Claud!

The next day at school, Claudia sees Ashley alone at lunch and invites her to sit with the BSC.  They all tolerate each other (although Ashley’s clothes are weird again) and Claud muses that she and Ashley did become friends.  Sometimes these things just happen.  And now I will go hug my daughter and thank her for her common sense.