#39 Poor Mallory (Miss Vanessa gets her Start)

Poor Mallory indeed, the BSC whipping boy.  Not only is she ugly with red hair, freckles, glasses and braces, her family is now going broke…

So Mal is on her way home from school with Jessi and they are singing songs only eleven-year-olds would find amusing.  Once Mal gets home, she discovers her mother lying down.  It turns out that Mr. P might lose his job.  I think we had some foreshadowing in the past few books that this might happen and so it’s not a total shocker when he loses his job.  But still, Mal sat through all of chapters 2 and 3 three hoping that it’s not going to happen.  But it does.  Of course.

Mal gets her siblings together in kind of a little club to think of ways to save money and to be able to lean on each other.  Then Mal calls Jessi to tell her what happened.

The BSC, in its super supportive way, decides that Mal can have all the jobs that come in that she’s available for and Kristy even gives up her month long job with the Delaneys so that Mal can make some money.  She even condescends to sit for the evil Jenny P, who is going to be a big sister.  Now whose idea was that?  I’d like to see who gets credit in the “BSC bible”.

We find out that Mal has been having some trouble with some girls from school including some former friends of hers.  They’re making fun of her because her dad lost his job.  Now this is pre facebook era, so unless the BSC is spreading it around, how do all these people know?  Did Mal get on the PA and announce it?  Did she have to stop and tell every teacher at the beginning of each class in an overly loud voice?  Was one of these girls’ fathers the one handing out pink slips?  Whatever it was, within two days she’s being picked on.  It’s a good thing she has the best friends you’ll ever have.  They don’t care if your dad lost his job, or if you’re black….

Mal starts her sitting job with the Delaneys.  They have a new pool and invite friends over to swim in it, but turn away other kids they don’t like.  Mal thinks it’s unfair that these kids have a pool and her sister wants a skipper doll, but they can’t afford it.  .  Other than books and art supplies, we usually just get our kids things at Christmas and birthdays.  Call me old fashioned, but who needs all that crap lying around the house making messes anyway?  See, budget problem solved!

Stacey sits for the Delaneys on a Saturday that Mal can’t do it and the kids discover that some of their friends aren’t really their friends….they just want to use the pool.  Ok, c’mon.  If you’re in the riches part of town in wealthy Connecticut, I’m willing to bet every house has a pool.  Amanda and Max are hurt even though Karen Brewer (!!) has enough tact to stay and play.

On the Pike homefront, things are not going too well.  Mr Pike hasn’t found a a job yet, and taking a page from Ramona, is in his pj’s watching television (electric bill!!) instead of taking care of Claire.  Of course, Mr. Quimby was out of work longer before he started that habit; thankfully Mr. Pike doesn’t take up smoking.  Dee calls him on the carpet, so by the next week he’s Mr. Mom.  AH!  No!  Say it ain’t so!

Mal calls another meeting with her siblings and they talk about ways to make money so that they can pay their mortgage.  I can see my kids doing this, although I doubt my oldest would have organized his sibs like Mallory did.  They’d probably just sit and worry, like the Pike kids are.

Kristy’s sitting job and hey!  It’s not for her siblings!  But they are over to play with the Papadakis kids and they have a fun time playing office while it’s raining.  But alas!  The sun comes out so Karen and DM want to ditch Linny, Hannie and Sari for the Delaneys and their pool.  Hannie and Linny call them out for being hypocrites when they don’t even really like Amanda and Max, but DM and Karen leave anyway.

Mal sits again for the Delaneys and Max and Amanda soon tire of being in the pool  But their friends aren’t and don’t want to get out.  Mal calls all the kids out of the pool and Amanda and Max suggest games.  Unfortunately, their “friends” walk out of the yard leaving them high and dry.  Max goes off and plays, but Amanda stays with Mal.  Mal can commiserate; she’s finding out who her real friends are now that her dad’s out of a job.  She and Amanda hatch a plan to see who her real friends are – invite people over but tell them they can’t swim while a sitter is there.  Real friends will come anyway.

The Delaney plan has inspired Mal to confront the girls who are picking on her at school and the next day she gets her chance.  They’re talking about how her dad must be stupid and Miss Mal goes and tells them off, including a warning to watch their backs.  Go Mal!  Girl power!  Not only does she get the satisfaction of knowing she stood up for herself and her family, she finds out her plan for the Delaneys works out so that they know who their real friends are (now they can go swimming again!).

In yet another brilliant display of babysitting, Jessi is sitting for her siblings when the news comes out that Vanessa calls herself Miss Vanessa and styles hair on the playground in order to make money.  Just so long as she doesn’t start a business called Miss Vanessa’s House of Hair, we should be ok.  Vanessa and Charlotte come over to play with Becca, and when Vanessa arrives home, we find out Mr. Pike has a lead on a job!

It takes a few more interviews before Mal is able to breathe a sigh of relief because he GOT THE JOB!!!  Yay!!!  Now Claire can have a skipper doll!  You know, because that’s really the most important thing.  They all confess how worried they were only to find out Mr. Pike was getting severance pay.  The kids are a little ticked at Mal, but she didn’t know.  How would they?  John and Dee never told them.  Sometimes you gotta remember kids worry too and it’s good to let them know it’s going to be ok. 

Mallory hosts a BSC sleepover and tells the members about how some of her “former” friends were hinting they’d like to be invited.  Seriously, these girls ARE their own social networking device.  So they do some prank calling, one of which I used on my brother for his 40^th birthday.  It is, by far, Mal’s best night ever.  (hopefully not for the rest of her life.)

#38 Kisty's Mystery Admirer

Finally, not an MA book!  This one also appears to be an Ann M original manuscript, so woo-hoo for that! 

The only thing I'd like to mention about the cover is Shannon's "school uniform."  Purple and red?  Really?  

We start in Kristy’s mind, a scary place to be.  She’s trying to coach her Krusher player Jackie Rodowski through his at bat – it appears that they might actually beat the Bashers.  Jackie connects for a home run and the Krushers win!  Bart asks Kristy to walk home and they start talking about sports, which leads into flirting a bit.  They talk about the BSC, who’s dating whom, Bart mentions he’s in a band….feels like a high school senior conversation rather than an 8^th grader conversation.  I remember myself in 8^th grade.  No one was dating anyone – we had just realized that the opposite sex existed outside of cootieville and were just trying to figure out how to have a conversation without spitting through our braces.

Kristy arrives home and the next two chapters are irrelevant since at this point in the series, they’re pretty cemented into their personality traits and there’s not much new to tell. 

We transition to the meeting and then Kristy arrives home to find that Shannon has called four times. Common Sense Moment: We just hear about how Shannon is an alternate member of the BSC, so we know she knows when the meetings are.  Why would she call four times if she knows Kristy’s not home?  Anyway, the big news is that there’s a love letter in Shannon’s box for Kristy.  She brings it over after dinner and they hide out in Kristy’s room.  The letter’s pretty simple:”Dear Kristy, I think you are beautiful.  And you’re the nicest girl I know.  I would like to steady with you.  I wish I could tell you this in person.  Love, Your Mystery Admirer.”

Shannon thinks it’s from Bart; Kristy thinks it’s from Sam.  She calls Bart and they talk about some stuff, but he doesn’t say anything about the note and she doesn’t either.  

There’s a Stacey sitting chapter and it’s really about the additional letters Kristy’s getting.  They’re pretty schmaltzy, especially from an 8^th grade boy.  By the end of the chapter, the Krushers and Bashers are on for a “World Series” game and Kristy has asked Bart to the Halloween Hop.

The next day at lunch Krsity whips out the letters and shows them off to her friends.  Cokie and Grace are watching from another table.  So, is it any surprise that Kristy gets another note that’s a little weird and twisted that afternoon?  I mean, this is now the second Halloween where Cokie and Grace have pulled a little prank.  I figured this out the first time through the book!  Mommy Moment: As a mother, I would hope that my child would tell me the minute something like this got out of hand, especially in this day and age with all the internet stalkers and pedophiles roaming around.

We have another sitting chapter where Jessi and Mal sit for the Pikes.  The Pikes decide to put on a haunted house; Vanessa calls the other Krusher cheerleaders over and they decide to dress up as the three stooges for the Krusher World Series.

At the next BSC meeting, Krsity reveals that she has gotten a few more notes that are rally weird and creepy.  Now everyone thinks they are from Sam, but Kristy’s not convinced.  The last note said he was “coming to get” her.  She’s worried someone might want to kidnap her because of Watson’s money.  She goes home and pretty much barricades herself in her room.  She debates whether or not to tell her Mom and Watson, but decides they would think she was crazy.  Mommy Moment: Again, tell the parents!  Even if it’s a kid playing a sick prank, parents need to know these things!!

Kristy tells Shannon about her lunatic theory and Shannon thinks she’s nuts.  She throws out the idea that Bart is trying to psyche Kristy out before the big world series they’re having.  Kristy gloms onto that idea and when Bart and the Bashers show up for their game, she’s hopping mad.  Buddy Barrett whacks a ball foul, which hits Shannon in the head.  She’s ok, but she and the other sitters are ignoring Bart.  Later that evening, he calls Kristy, but she hangs up on him.

MA sits for the Barretts, finding out that Buddy has a little crush on Shannon.  They go to Krusher’s practice and find out that Kristy has gotten another note, this time with fingernail clippings inside of it.  Mommy Moment: Enough is enough.  Tell an adult!  (Of course, Cokie and Grace are counting on Kristy NOT telling.)

Bart shows up at practice again, confused because Kristy again blows him off.  He calls that night, and she again blows him off.  So it’s no surprise (or maybe it is) when he shows up at her door the next day wanting to know what’s going on.  Turns out he did write the first few letters, but not the weird ones and he’s a little pissed that Kristy thought he’d do that.  They try to figure out who’s behind it, but no ideas.  Shannon comes over to try to help, but they still have no idea.  Now Kristy is really convinced that someone is after her…and it’s not Bart!  Mommy Moment: Now I’m really flipping out as a mom.  If my kid let it get this far without telling me, I’d really be upset.  My oldest stepson is bordering tween age – please tell me he won’t be this dumb!!

It’s the day of the World Series and everyone is freaking out at the Brewer/Thomas household.  They manage to get it together and head to the field.  Lo and behold, who should be in the stands but Cokie and Grace.  Kristy asks why she’s there, and suddenly, in a war of words, Cokie implicates herself in the note sending.  Kristy demands to know why and Cokie says it’s because they were made to look like fools in front of Logan.  Kristy waving the notes all over at school gave her the idea.  Kristy lets her go and heads back to the game.

In a rather anticlimactic few paragraphs, the Krushers win the World Series game 8-7.  For all the build up to it, the actual description of the game is pretty lackluster, if I may say so.  I guess we’re focusing on Kristy and Bart this book.

Later that day, Shannon and Kristy are hanging out, talking about make-up when Bart calls.  He has lobster costumes they can wear to the Halloween Hop.

The night of the Halloween hop arrives and Kristy’s ready to go.  They pick up Bart and head to the dance.  They have a good time and end up winning a prize for most unusual costume.  At the end of the night, Bart kisses Kristy.  I must have liked this part as a kid, ‘cause it’s circled in blue pen with a lipstick kiss on it.  Wow, was I weird.

After the Hop, the BSC girls plus Shannon are having a sleepover.  They talk about the dance, discover a creepy note that Shannon made while they were all at the dance (why didn’t they just invite her to come along?) and decide to write a note to Cokie.  It’s quite gross.  Then they go to bed.  The end.

Ok, so explain this to me.  First off, if Bart is so into Kristy, and he’s already got a relationship with her, why would he resort to secret letters?  Secondly, it’s not like these girls are discreet about what’s happening in their lives; it really shouldn’t surprise them that other people have picked up on it and are using it against them!!

#35 Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook

Sorry for the long delay, but the end of the school year plus the start of summer fun has really take up a lot of time.  

This book is so….I can’t even.  I can’t really see what the point of it is, other than the BSC girls scaring the snot out of themselves and their charges.

This is an Ellen Miles book, so woo-hoo for ghost-writers!

So, here’s the basic storyline:  Stacey (and her mom) is asked by the Johanssens to take Charlotte for a week while Mr. and Doctor go to Mrs’s hometown to be with his dad during a surgery.  Of course, the McGills take Charlotte.  During this time, she develops tonsillitis and needs to be on penicillin.

At the same time Charlotte is staying with Stacey, there is an old house being torn down in the neighborhood.  Stacey and Char visit and see some weird things.  Then Kristy (while she’s sitting her sibs, of course) discovers a map that shows the house built over an ancient burial ground.  Claudia does a little more digging and discovers the house belonged to a Ronald Hennessey, who is a resident at Stoneybrook Manor (the local nursing home).

Stacey and Charlotte visit the house again and see fire shooting out of the window.  Stacey attempts to put it out with rainwater in a wheelbarrow, but it suddenly disappears.  That night they both have nightmares about the place.

Stacey tells her friends about what happened at the house and the dreams.  Kristy immediately calls an emergency meeting, which never happens that often (only in every book).  At the meeting, they decide to visit Ronald Hennessey.

Kristy, Claud, Stacey and Charlotte are the ones to visit Mr. Hennessey.  They tell him about their experiences and he tells them all kinds of spooky stories about his days living there.  He ends the visit with the words, “Just be careful.”

The house is coming down the next day and they all go to watch.  When it comes down, Stacey notices that it’s burning up with an elderly man in the middle of it!  But….no one else notices.  Stacey runs to the nursing home to see Mr. Hennessey, but finds out he died during the night. 

It turns out that he left her a note saying that he had made up the stories he told them on their visit.  He hopes he didn’t scare her too badly.

Kristy, Charlie and Sam pick Stacey up from the nursing home and explain away all of the weird things that happened, except for the burning when the house came down.  I’d chalk that one up to sleep deprivation, Stacey.

The Johanssens arrive not long after Stacey and Char arrive home and pick up their daughter.  Charlotte calls her later to tell her she misses her and they have a special good-night moment.  Awwwwwwwwww!

Mommy Moments:

• Hooray!  The Johanssens actually call Mrs. McGill before officially leaving their child with her.  Way to communicate!
• Charlotte complains of her throat hurting before the Johanssens leave.  As a mother, I think two things: 1. she’s faking so I don’t leave.  2. she has a history of chronic tonsillitis; she could really have an issue.
• If my child was ill and my father-in-law was recovering nicely, I’d come home ASAP!
• So Stacey and Charlotte are freaking themselves out to the point that they’re not sleeping and can’t really function.  Doesn’t Mrs. McGill notice this at some point?

Common Sense Moments:

• In order to get Charlotte to take her medication, Stacey shows her some of her diabetes equipment and explains how much work it takes to take care of her body.  I don’t know how effective that method would really be.
• In her quest to get to the bottom of the mystery, Stacey effectively freaks Charlotte out, to the point she’s having nightmares about the place.  At one point she even asks herself if she’s getting so caught up in the mystery that she’s forgetting to be a good baby-sitter.  The answer is YES, STACEY!!

Outfits:

• Stacey “I had dressed for my train ride in a white jumpsuit, layered over a blue tank top.  I had on white push down socks with blue hearts on them, a wide patent leather belt and a wild necklace made of all kinds of plastic sea creatures in a rainbow of colors.”
• Stacey “pink polka-dotted short skirt with suspender straps and had worn it with an oversized white t-shirt.  I had on my pink high-top sneakers, folded down to show their striped lining.  I’d also worn these great earrings Claud had given me for my last birthday.  They had all these little pink plastic hearts dangling down from one bigger heart.”

Challenge....

Accepted!

Find a book where Kristy posts a sitting entry in the BSC notebook when she is NOT sitting for her siblings.  Post in the comments below.

#36 Dawn and the Older Boy

Hey, I’m back!  The babies are eating, sleeping (for the most part) and pooping on a schedule now, so I figured I can squeeze a few moments into my chaotic day to do a snark.  Goodness knows, six-month-olds have no concept whatsoever of sarcasm.

 So, let's begin yet another book with stalking the prevailing theme, shall we?

So Dawn and the rest of the BSC are having a sleepover and doing all kinds of girly things.  Everyone’s life story is revealed and I yawn.  We do get a Claudia look: black bib overalls over a white turtleneck with a shiny black patent leather belt looped around her waist.  Black sued ankle boots and white cotton socks.  I like the added hat.

The girls don’t go to bed until 3am and rise closer to 11.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh, those were the days.  They roll downstairs looking ragged and probably not smelling much better.  OMG, there’s a highschool hottie at the table.  AND HE’S EATING GRANOLA!  He must be from California – he is!!  They turn tail and run back upstairs, attempting to look much more attractive.  They return and highschool hottie is still there!  He and Dawn strike up a conversation and she is in luv!  MA warns her not to hopelessly crush on him, making Dawn a little miffed with her.

And it’s Monday…apparently Dawn loves Monday because it is the first BSC meeting of the week.  Rah.  No, no, what she really wants is to stalk Travis via Kristy. 

 Because you know, Kristy cares about things like that.  She (obviously) knows nothing and Dawn just comes off a little desperate.  The only action that’s happening is that Mal has a date with Ben Hobart.  This just leads Dawn back down the path of daydreaming….starring Travis.

Amazingly enough, the next Saturday while Dawn and MA are raking leaves, Travis just happens by their house.  There are two pages spent talking about his car before he finally whips out a box with a necklace and haircombs in it for Dawn.  Then he starts giving her style advice.  Ok, that’s just a little creepy.  Hey, I’ve only met you once, but I’ve figured out where you live and now I’m giving you gifts and telling you how to style your hair.  Creepy stalker boy!!

Jessi sits for the Hobarts.  James has written a play and Jamie Newton and the Perkins girls are there to perform it.  James’ friend Zach stops by and makes fun of him, but James brushes him off.

Tuesday Travis shows up at school and spirits Dawn away to “help him shop for a gift for his father.”  No, no, he just wants to spend time with her.  He takes her to eat (ordering for her, GASP*) and then to buy her some butterfly earrings that she’ll “wear under the stars.”  Barf  He tries to talk her into getting another hole pierced in her ears and I wonder yet again just what his deal is.

Dawn arrives home, finds out that MA has blabbed to the parents about where Dawn was and they give her a darn good bawling out.  MA sneaks into the kitchen to listen in on the scolding  

 

Why bother peeking through the keyhole?  Just pretend to be feeding Tigger.  In the end, Sharon decides that maybe she’ll let Dawn see Travis again and then she gets into a fight with Richard.

Dawn confronts MA about blabbing and MA tears up,   Lest she float along on a sea of MA’s tears, Dawn says to forget about it and move on.

professing her undying love, her horrid inability to lie, her secret desire to watch Dawn squirm….oh, did I say that out loud?

As Rachel pointed out in her last post, whenever Kristy writes a notebook entry, it’s because she sits for her own sibs.  They pretend to go camping and it ends with Karen talking about witches.  Go figure.

Dawn sits for the Hobarts and James is working on his play again.  Zach comes along and pressures him to leave and join him.  James decides to go along and Dawn is very disappointed in him.

At the next meeting, Kristy drops the bomb that Travis is dating a hot high school girl.  Dawn completely zones out for the rest of the night.  She sits and muses about Travis while MA tries to do homework.  MA doesn’t seem that surprised that Travis is dating someone else and does seem surprised that Dawn is upset. Nice, Miss Empathetic.  Dawn stews some more and then decides to stalk Travis. 

She gets her chance a few days later.  She follows them to the burger joint and then to the jewelry store.  Dawn is OUTRAGED!  How dare he take her to the same places he took her!  The kissing gets to her and she storms away.

Dawn flips out at the meeting when all the girls are talking about how awesome Travis is.  MA convinces her to tell them what’s going on so she spills it.  They all agree that he’s a creep and that she’ll meet someone wonderful someday.  MA mentions Logan’s cousin Lewis, whom Dawn immediately dismisses as being too far away to really matter.

MA sits for the Hobarts, where James is attempting to put on his play.  Zach comes by again and again James lets him pull him away.  MA thinks that Zach is trying to make James into someone he’s not and she feels that Travis is trying to do the same thing to Dawn.

Dawn decides to confront Travis about things and follows him after school yet again.  She confronts Travis with his girlfriend at the jewelry store and realizes they are laughing at her, calling her a little girl.  She leaves, feeling hurt and very foolish. 

MA tells Dawn that she’s a lot like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and how Travis was trying to change who she was.  MA encourages her to confront him about this and Dawn decides she will.

She calls him and confronts him.  Travis doesn’t really seem to get it, but apologizes.  Dawn decides he’ll never get it and ends the call.  MA comes in and tells Dawn that she send a letter to Lewis and she wants Dawn to meet him and write back to him and they can be creepily serious with 13-year-old boys together.  Maybe they’ll even have a double wedding like Jane and Lizzy Bennett. 

Dawn agrees to read the letter from Lewis, and feels something for him.  And we call Stacey boy crazy??  They write to each other and there’s the possibility of romance between them.  MA squees. 

The end.

I really don’t get the premise of this book.  Travis took her out a few times, bought her some earrings and gave her some hair tips.  It’s not as though he was trying to change who Dawn was.  I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.

#36 Jessi's Babysitter (Jessi's War)

I would have called it Patton's War, but...

Original cover, where Jessi looks more 17 than 11...

Updated cover, where they tame down the very early '90's fashion with some later '90's fashion....

We join Jessi as she’s sweating her way through ballet class.  She’s dreaming of someday dancing professionally even though it’s really hard work.  She’s already en pointe people!  Time to prepare for the Youth America Grand Prix!  …And I just spent 30 minutes looking up dancers from First Position.  You know, because it’s way more interesting than this book.  FYI - it's on Netflix.

She finishes class and waits and waits and finally her dad picks her up.  Jessi spies cake in the backseat, they arrive home and have a celebration dinner.  Mama got a new job!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Aunt Cecilia is moving in with them to help since Mama will be working full time..  The Jessi and Becca are not excited and plan to play nasty tricks on her to get her to leave.  This really is what an eight-year-old and eleven-year-old would do to get rid of someone.  Congratulations Ann, you win a prize for writing realistically…

Jessi calls Mal and we get the ten pages of who we are.  The next chapter rolls right into the club description and Jessi bemoaning the fact that she has a sitter.  Maybe I didn’t read this right, but I think Jessi’s parents also added that she’s helping with housework as well and is primarily there to take care of Squirt.

Jessi sits for Jackie Rodowsky and finds out that he wants to make a volcano and could enter it in the school’s science fair.  Jessi takes over his project for him, forcing him to agree to enter a volcano, dragging him to the library to get books and studying the material for him.  Mrs. R is pretty stoked Jackie’s entering a project and asks Jessi to be the sole babysitter from now until the science fair.

Mal and Dawn sit for the younger Pikes.  They’re getting excited about the science fair as well and the older kids even set up a miniature lending library for the neighborhood.

Finally the dreaded day arrives.  Aunt Cecelia has rented a U-Haul and Daddy is driving her stuff back to the Ramsey house.  Of course, when the first thing your aunt says to you is, “Tidy up your hair, Jessica,” it’s hard to be a good sport about things.  They lug things inside and soon Aunty CC is out of room so soon the house has little touches of her.  Jessi’s a little resentful.

Aunty CC gets started right away running the household.  She sends the girls to get ready for bed at 8:30, which they are not used to.  Jessi goes to tell her parents, but Mama just tells them they don’t have to go to bed.  Jessi decides not to worry her about it.  I think this first “incident” sets the tone for the whole debacle.  Now, as a parent, I have a certain set of rules I like followed and I have a set schedule.  My kids are used to it.  As I see it, there are three failures that happen here in this section. 1. Jessi decides against talking to her parents because she doesn’t want to worry them.  2. Mama and Daddy Ramsey don’t tell Aunty CC how the household is used to running.  As far as I can tell, there’s no rundown. 3. Aunty CC doesn’t bother asking if there’s a schedule the family follows, house rules, nothing along those lines.  Seems pretty presumptuous to barge in and start running the house without asking…

The next morning Aunty CC (now Aunt Dictator) sends the parents out to brunch and stays with the kids.  She seems a little overprotective, not letting the kids go outside because it’s cloudy, not letting Jessi bike to Mal’s house because it’s cloudy, but I can see her reasoning.  She has no idea what these kids are used to doing, because nobody told her and she didn’t ask.  So of course she’s going to overprotect; she doesn’t want to risk something happening and having to take the blame for being negligent.  But an eleven-year-old can’t see that, so Jessi and Becca decide to put their prank plan into action.

Jessi sits at the Rodowsky’s again, although Aunty CC almost doesn’t let her go (again, talking people!!) because she doesn’t know the people Jessi’s sitting for or the club members.  Jessi basically builds his volcano for him and studies information that he’s supposed to be learning.

Kristy sits for her family (why are Kristy sitting chapters only about her sitting for her sibs??) and DM decides to enter the science fair.  He works on ideas while Kristy teaches EM “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”

Stacey sits for Charlotte, who’s testing plants to see if music affects their growth patterns.  Not gonna lie; I stole this idea when I was in grade school for a science fair project.  I got an A.  Stacey suggests charting growth and Charlotte agrees.  Becca comes over and tells Charlotte about the jokes they’re playing on Aunty CC.

Jessi lets loose about Aunty CC at the next BSC meeting and all her friends think she should talk to her parents about it.  Jessi still isn’t convinced.  They also talk about the science fair and Jessi starts to wonder if she’s doing too much of Jackie’s project.

Jessi sits for Jackie and they test the chemicals they’re going to use to make the exploding volcano.  Jackie can’t touch them and Jessi’s not supposed to either, but then they wash them off the driveway into the sewer system??  Then they start talking about what Jackie’s supposed to say, but it doesn’t go well.  Jessi’s trying to take 6^th grade information and make a 2^nd grader learn it.  Seriously, I would not expect a 2^nd grader to know igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.

Jessi’s late getting home, fights with Aunty CC about the time and is grounded from attending the BSC meeting.  She calls her parents, but they’re both busy, so she ends up having to stay home.  She calls Kristy to tell her and has the club call her as many times as they can to annoy Aunty CC – and it works.  Jessi casually mentions it at dinner, but Mama and Daddy don’t really notice.  Then Aunty CC comes in to do Jessi’s hair so that it’s something she can be proud of.  Oh, boy.  They’re really in it now!

Finally!  The night of the science fair.  Jackie’s volcano is awesome, his speech goes well, but then the judges ask questions….and he has no idea what he’s talking about then.  It’s not like the questions were hard; they were questions my kids had when they were in second grade.  Jackie is (rightfully) ticked off at Jessi and she apologizes for doing his project for him.

The science fair shows Jessi that she (finally!) needs to talk to her parents.  She explains what’s been going on with Aunty CC and her parents have a family conference.  They (finally!) explain how things run and the responsibility they let the girls have.  Aunty CC says she’s tough because things are harder for black people and Jessi can understand that.  Then Aunty CC tells Mama and Daddy about the girls’ practical jokes and they say there will be punishment for that.

Jessi goes to her next BSC meeting and they commiserate about the science fair.  Mal gives a little foreshadowing about her dad’s job being in danger and Dawn talks about heading to Cali to visit her fam.  When she gets home, she’s greeted by Becca, who has some nasty bugs in her slippers.  Jessi discovers a mouse in her bed, shaving cream in her slippers and a short-sheeted bed.  Looks like Aunty CC got them back!

Becca and Jessi apologize as does Aunty CC and finally it looks like things are settling down.  Which would have happened earlier if there had been some communication.  But if there was communication, we wouldn’t have this insipid book.

#34 Mary Anne and Too Many Boys

“The author gratefully acknowledges Mary Lou Kennedy for her help in preparing this manuscript.”  Here we go!  Let’s see what Mary Lou can do, huh?

So we’ve gotten some comments that pictures would add to the enjoyment of the blog and we’re more than willing to help you, our readers, enjoy what we write even more!

So here’s the original cover….Does anyone else think that Toby looks like Scott Baio?

…and here’s the revamped cover.  I think they were trying to make MA look more modest, shy and retiring, but she just looks like she’s…in pain.  Much like I’ll be by the time this snark is done.

It’s the first day of summer vacation and everyone is talking about what they’re going to do.  MA and Stacey are going back to Sea City with the Pikes.  This year Mal is going to be paid for helping out, but only part of the time since they want her to have a vacation too.  Dawn is flying to California, which she hurridly calls her second home after calling it home, much to MA’s chagrin and tearyness. Claudia’s family is going to Vermont without Mimi for the first time and they’re trying a different place.  Kristy and Jessi, well, they’re stuck at home carrying out the sitting business.  We get the chapter 2 bit and suddenly MA is crying because everyone will be gone soon.  ~sniff.  SOB!

Dawn’s packing up, MA is getting teary, Richard is concerned about the mess and Sharon is trying to think of where she left the stamps she bought for the kids.  I find this line interesting: “Dawn was dressed for travelling, which meant she was wearing a beautiful Laura Ashely dress and had swept her long blonde hair back in pearl barrettes.”  It seems to me that if she was really dressed for travelling, especially on a plane, she’d be wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants with comfortable shoes and a pony tail.

They have their teary good-bye at the airport and MA heads home, where she finally gets to sleep. Her dad rousts her out of bed and they head over to the Pikes for another teary goodbye.  Inconsistency: Last time the Pikes went to Sea City, they went in August, just before the beginning of the school year.  Now they’re going just after school let out.  It seems funny they’d change it that much, especially since everyone else was also vacationing at the same time.

They head out.  MA is in the car with the triplets and Vanessa, who insists on rhyming every thing that comes out of her mouth, much like Fezzig. 

 They stop at Howard Johnson and have some ice cream.  MA thinks to herself about how she used to feel bad about eating sweets in front of Stacey, but now she doesn’t think about it anymore.  Except that she’s thinking about it.  She’s thinking about it instead of watching the kids.  Claire goes missing and they start searching for her.  Mommy Moment: If I was paying for someone to watch my kids, I’d be mad if my kid.went.missing. 

They finally arrive and MA and Stacey begin to unpack.  The reminisce about the previous summer, Scott, and Alex and Toby.  Alex and MA exchanged rings, but that doesn’t mean they’re serious or anything.  Obviously not, since she hit Logan like it was hot just weeks after she returned to Sea City.

She agonizes over a postcard to Logan, has breakfast with the Pikes (it’s amazing how much planning goes into breakfast for twelve people). 

They split up, MA taking the girls and Nicky into town.  They visit all the crazy places in town and stop for ice cream.  Chris, the cute guy behind the counter catches Vanessa’s eye, but he’s staring at Mal and overruns the whipped cream machine.  Vanessa thinks it’s her fault and MA is totally confused.  C’mon Miss Sensitivy, get with the program!  Chris, from this moment forth, you are dubbed IC Hottie.

We get a sitting chapter.  Kristy takes the Rodowsky boys to the pool.  Jackie drops a cookie in the pool, steps on a bee, disappears and tries to buy probably $50 worth of food.  Common Sense Moment: If you send an 8-year-old boy to buy lunch, chances are he’s going to be tempted beyond what he can bear and will try to get as much junk food as he can.  I defy you to find a kid anywhere that wouldn’t.

So MA and Stacey and all the Pike kids rush down to the beach for a day of fun in the sun.  Lo and behold, who should appear, but Toby and Alex (and 8 tiny reindeer).  Turns out they’re mother’s helpers for a whole month here in this fair town and want to have some fun.  That evening, Stacey is gushing about seeing Toby and wonders if they’ll ask them out.  Mal looks at MA as if to say, “Dude, you have a boyfriend,” causing MA to blush and reassure everyone that Logan has nothing to worry about.  But she’s worried, because she didn’t even think about Logan until now.  Mommy Moment: This is why thirteen-year-olds should not have steady boyfriends.  That’s just too young.  They don’t even know themselves yet, much less be mature enough to understand everything that a relationship entails.

Anyway, this whole “asking out” thing ends in disaster when MA and Stacey both are asked out on the same night.  Stacey tells her to cancel with Alex very calmly and MA blurts out that Stacey should have asked her before she made the date.  Common Sense Moment: Um Hon, you did the same thing.  Stacey gets huffy and flounces off to finish getting ready to get dressed while MA fumes about how Stacey is so selfish.  And I comment to myself, “This is the same girl who just chapters before agonized over a postcard to her boyfriend and a few books ago was certain she would marry said boyfriend (unless of course he was cheating with a hot chick in Aruba).  She’s this concerned about breaking her date?”  Vanessa’s love-sick poetry for IC Hottie finally rings a warning bell in her head that something isn’t right, that maybe Vanessa is obsessing over someone she doesn’t even know.  Of course, the obvious reason they’re having so much trouble is that there are just too many boys.  Mommy Moment: If my nine-year-old daughter was writing love poetry to a stranger, I’d want to know about it.  There are some scary people out there.

We get a Dawn sitting chapter from Cali.  Her dad’s girlfriend unexpectedly arrives with two kids, but dear old dad had plans.  He unceremoniously dumps them on Dawn to take care of.  The eight-month-old has colic and the three-year-old is bored.  Jeff helps out with the toddler and Dawn rocks the baby to sleep.  Mommy Moment:  Either A. Ann’s ghostie has no idea what she’s talking about or B. this baby should see a gastric specialist.  Colic rarely lasts longer than 5 months and if your child is older than that, it could indicate gastrointestinal issues.

So MA and Alex reschedule for Saturday, but Stacey has once again decided to head out with Toby.  MA tells her no and gets ready to go out.  They are headed to a fancy seafood restaurant.  Yes, thirteen-year-olds at a fancy restaurant ordering lobster and crabcakes.  Yes, I’ll take their paychecks please!  They end up on the boardwalk and Alex wins her a purple hippo.  MA is floating on air…until she thinks of Logan.

MA takes the girls into Sea City the next day.  First they shop for a souvenir for Margo; then they go to Trampoline Land, where Margo almost gets sick.  Then they go to the putt-putt golf course.  All the while, Vanessa is whining to go to the Ice Cream Palace.  MA can’t figure out why until Vanessa confesses she’s been three times to leave poems for IC Hottie.  MA is a little worried and then becomes a lot worried when IC Hottie asks Vanessa to tell Mallory that he’d love to go out with her Saturday night.  Mommy Moment: Criminy!  Do these writers realize Mal’s eleven????  And IC Hottie is twelve??  Do they realize it’s against the law in the majority of states to employ anyone under 14 and illegal to employ anyone under 16 full time??  This book would make more sense if it was written about high school seniors.  They head home and Vanessa shuts herself in her room for the rest of the day.  MA is very worried about her, but still doesn’t tell Mrs. Pike about this.

We get a Jessi sitting chapter.  Squirt learns what same means and puts the two hamsters together in the same cage.  This is probably the most realistic chapter in the book.

Stacey picks a fight with MA the next day and then they all learn that Toby dumped her.  He wants to go home and see other people and not be tied up with her.  Common Sense Moment:  Well, duh, Stacey, you don’t even live in the vicinity of each other.  Did you think you were going to go steady?  MA and Alex have one last date and neither of them has much to say.  MA blurts something out about Logan; Alex admits he has a girlfriend too and they both laugh.  They decide they’ll be friends forever.

MA arrives home and spies a light on in Vanessa’s room.  She’s awake and writing another poem to IC Hottie.  She’s “breaking up” with him, without telling him that she was his admirer, not Mal.  MA thinks this is a great idea and promises to help Vanessa get into town before they have to leave in the morning.  Then she returns to her room, where Stacey apologizes for being such a jerk.  They tear up and share a moment before going to sleep.

The next morning is crazy with packing up, but MA gets Vanessa into town and to the Ice Cream Palace.  Vanessa times it just right because she knows his schedule (STALKER!!) and leaves the poem without a trace of herself.

They arrive home later that day and MA races into the house to be reunited with her family.  Dawn is sleeping off her jet lag so MA calls Logan, the love of her life.  Dawn staggers down and demands stories, which MA tells her.  As she’s unpacking later that night, she finds a poem from Vanessa about how she’s a true friend for life.  And MA decides Vanessa will be just fine.  The end.

Super Special #4 Babysitter's Island Adventure

This was my first super special as a kid.  I read this thing until the binding tore and the pages started coming out.  As an adult, I can’t help but seeing this as the worst parental fail in history.

Because of the awful nature of parental failing, I’m just going to summarize the story line and then go into the mommy moments and common sense moments and Claudia outfits.  We can’t do a snark without the Claudia outfits. :)

And what’s up with Claudia’s awkward arms and Kristy’s apparently mangled body on the cover??

This is Dawn’s Superspecial.  Claudia and Dawn take sailing lessons and their head sailing instructor has them have a sailing competition.  They tie, and decide to have a rematch.  Since they’ve been okayed to sail, but not alone, naturally they decide to take some of their sitting charges with them.  Brilliant!  They sail, a storm comes up, they’re blown off course, Dawn's boat breaks up, causing them to bail out and they all end up on an island. One of the kids (Jamie Newton) gets sick.  Food and water is low. There are search parties and finally they are rescued after two days.  Jamie goes to the hospital, but is released the next day.  The girls are lauded as heros and there are news interviews and newspaper articles galore.  What an adventure!

Mommy Moments

• No way in hell would I let my four-year-old go sailing with a thirteen-year-old who had *just been okayed to sail alone.
• No way in hell would I let my four-year-old who appeared to be coming down with a cold go sailing.
• Normally I find the Ramsey parents to be pretty good Stoneybrook parents, but we’re talking two major parental fails here: 1. Leaving an eleven-year-old in charge for the weekend and 2. Letting your eight-year-old go sailing with novice thirteen-year-old sailors.
• Sharon is not only concerned about her kids, but she’s stressing about losing custody of her kids.  If I was Jack, I’d definitely have this parental fail on my mind in future custody procedings.

Common Sense Moments

• For all the times MA is described as listening and patient and kind, she flies off the handle and is a real, well, bitch over the littlest things.  Not what I’d call a really kind, sensitive and emotional friend.  *at the end, she asks if her picture is in the paper.  I kind of agree with Dawn when she says, “You weren’t even on the island!”
• Didn’t anyone check the weather before sailing?  I know it’s the days before the internet, but with a storm of that severity, I think the meteorologists could have seen that coming the night before.
• At least the girls have enough sense to stay close together during the storm, especially since Dawn’s boat ends up in trouble and they need to bail out.
• Kristy calls an emergency meeting of the BSC because this is a club problem.  It just seems wrong.  What are they going to do that the coast guard isn’t doing?  I guess it's good to get together and comiserate
• Stacey gets mad at her dad because he won’t let her go home, but I see his point – what is she going to do at 8:30pm in rain?  The “it took me forever to get these theater tickets” doesn’t give him much credibility.  Still, might as well stay with her dad that she never sees and head home in the morning when she can help.
• I hate the stupid questions that reporters ask.  The kicker in this book is, “How do you [friend of the missing] feel right now?”
• Claudia’s street smarts really get them through on the island.  Not only does she think of a way to collect water, she keeps the kids calm and finds a mirror that they can signal with.

Claudia Outfits

• Tank top and baggy drawstring pants.  Over the top, a button-down shirt of her father’s with sleeves rolled up, buttons not buttoned.  Wearing big earrings she had made herself.

Just Weird and Awkward…

• What’s with the awkwardness on page 208/209?  Mallory looks like she’s going to eat Claudia and Jessi looks like a replica of the Crazy Horse monument.

SS #3 Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation (Baby-sitters' take a completely unecessary trip where not much interesting happens)

Well, this is one of the many ridiculous super specials in the series.  It’s also pretty boring; it’s the only SS I own that is NOT taped up.  In fact, the binding is hardly broken.  That is why it has taken over a month for me to get it snarked.

The cover is pretty unremarkable, other than the fact that if Mallory were to stand up, she’d be over 6 feet tall and Jessi looks like she’s hissing…and Claudia’s foot is bent a little unnaturally.  Plus, there's no way MA would be caught dead having a snowball fight.

We start off with MA’s point of view.  This book takes place before Richard and Sharon get married and after Stacey’s parents’ divorce, so we have an idea of where it falls in the series.  The SMS kids get to go away for a week to a lodge in Vermont for almost no cost because of their fundraising.  They do it every year and have their winter carnival there.    Now, why must they go all the way to Vermont for this??  The purpose for this Super Special is that poor Logan is going to Aruba with his family while the rest of the school goes on the trip.  MA doesn’t want him to miss out, so she’s keeping a detailed journal, with help from her friends, of course.  She and her friends meet at school to get on the buses to head to the lodge.  It’s time to start Mary Anne’s Magical Winter Adventure! (barf)

 Stacey

Stacey gets the third degree from her mom about her diabetes and the buses take off.  They stop at a giant cafeteria about halfway to the lodge and terrorize the people who work there.  Stacey says she thinks they’d be happy for the business; I say wait until you work in customer service and see how you like having three busloads of preteens traipse into the restaurant.  They head back out and discover it’s started snowing.  They continue on their way, and the roads become worse.  Stacey’s bus slides off the road a bit and gets stuck, but they are able to get it out and make it to the lodge.

Dawn

The girls get settled in and find out there are going to be other groups coming up to the lodge during the week.  As they’re getting settled in, Kristy finds herself stuck with Ashley Weyth as a bunkie.  Oh yes, I almost forgot!  You hate her because she dared Claudia to have a life outside the BSC.  ~le sigh. The girls unpack, find Mal and Jessi (who are separated due to age) and explore the floors.  AS they’re settling around the fire, the door bursts open with a man and woman stumbling in.  They’re from an elementary school and the bus overturned.  The woman’s arm is broken and the man is suffering hypothermia and possible broken ribs.  The lodge owners rush to call the police and rescue squad.

Kristy

When the lodge owners say that they’re going to head to the scene with a bus, Kristy volunteers the BSC to come along and help with the kids.  Yippee!  They arrive at the scene and split up the sixteen crying children among them. They get together and bring the kids back to the lodge.  Everyone settles in on the bus and Mary Anne asks the group to chip in some thoughts for her book, since this is turning out to be an unusual week.

Claudia

They arrive back at the lodge and the kids perk up.  They have dinner and Claudia harps about how the cook at Camp Mohawk kept serving sugary food when Stacey can’t eat it. Well, honey, she’s one kid of many that the cook needs to serve; she gets what she has for supplies and makes the best of it.  Anyway, they all eat while the lodge owners try to decide what to do; the teachers that came with the kids aren’t doing well but the weather is too bad to send the kids back to Maine.  The kids won the trip because of their read-a-thon and it seems a disappointment to send them back.  Claudia whispers to Kristy that the BSC could watch them and Kristy volunteers them.  The kids would be included in the winter carnival activities the girls are in.  The BSC is moved into a co-ed dorm with the kids and they work to get the kids ready for bed before they collapse into their own beds.  They don’t fall asleep until 11.

Mary Anne

Mary Anne wakes up the next morning, feeling a lack of enthusiasm for breakfast, the weather, everything.    She wakes everyone else up and they get ready for the day.  They arrive at breakfast, where dreaded gym teacher Ms. Halliday squirrels away the kids so the BSC has some time to themselves.  MA is pretty bored; since she’s not watching the kids and not participating in the winter carnival.  She wanders her way into the library, where she finds a book about a ghost of Liecester lodge.  She asks the cook if there’s a ghost at the lodge and he gives her a ho-hum answer.  She asks a few more people, who also give her inconclusive answers, so she goes to write a letter to Logan.  She imagines him on a beach in Aruba with a gorgeous girl who’s good in gym and eventually decides not to mail his letter.

Jessi

Jessi wakes up, excited and happy at the prospect of spending the day doing fun winter carnival things.  Kristy asks who is going skiing and Jessi almost jumps at the chance to ski, but suddenly the thought of never dancing again due to a broken leg.  For that matter, she can’t skate or even have a snowball fight.    She volunteers to stay with one of the kids, Pinky, who has a sprained ankle and can’t go out to play.  She tries to get to know Pinky (Priscilla), but Pinky is pretty closed off and a little rude.  Jessi brings out Memory and they play until Pinky accuses her of cheating.  Jessi gets frustrated, grabs a book and throws it at her and then stays on the other side of the room until the others get back.

Stacey

Stacey heads out to go skiing, but decides to stick to the beginner trails because a)she’s not that good and b) she volunteers to help with the younger kids.  They just get started getting dressed when there is a troupe of kids who need to use the bathroom.  However long later it takes them to get ready they finally make it onto the slopes.  Stacey goes off on her own on the beginner trail and makes it down ok.  The second time down there’s someone right behind her and she turns to yell at them, thinking it’s Alan Gray.  They crash…but the guy’s gorgeous so it’s all good.  He’s Pierre, fully French.  Ooo lala.  She spends as much time as she can with him and decides all past crushes are nothing compared to this one.

Mallory

So Mallory is spazzing out because there is going to be a dance at the lodge.  She hates dances because she’s afraid of dancing with boys.  She muses on how to get out of going.  Kristy stands and announces the ice skating contest at 10:30 and the sculpture contest is at 2:30p.  Jessi remembers that she needs to announce auditions for the talent show.  Once everyone is off on their activities, Mallory decides to play Harriet the Spy.  C’mon Ann, can’t you think of something new and interesting for her to do?  It’s the second super special that you’ve had her doing this dopy game.  The rest of her chapter is random notes from the chef wielding a knife and “poisoning” the soup to spying on Stacey kissing Pierre.

Dawn

After breakfast Dawn heads out to practice ice skating before the competition.  Things kick off with a speed skating challenge.  Halfway through her turn, Dawn hits a bump and falls; her team wins anyway.  During the relay, she drops the baton and falls on her face.  Her teammates are not amused, especially when they go through a tie-breaker and their team loses.  She decides she better go practice for the snowball fight.  This time Alan Gray hits her in the face with a snowball and he smashes one down her back.  Dawn leaves the fight and decides to go skiing, where more people make fun of her.  She falls trying to get on the chairlift and storms back to the lodge, where she expects MA to commiserate with her.  MA is too busy trying to figure out how far away Aruba is. She’s really empathetic, that one.  Dawn explodes at MA; MA explodes at Dawn and they fire each other as bunkies.

Mary Anne

MA starts her day by interviewing staff and asking them about the lodge’s “ghost”.  No one wants to talk; they clam up when she asks that question.  She decides to talk to Mr. George himself about it; he scoffs at the idea of there being a ghost at the lodge.  MA returns to the commons and day dreams about Logan, thinking about him.  She has her tiff with Dawn and storms off to sit in a corner.  She tries to work, but someone sits next to her.  Lo and behold it’s Ms.Halliday, dreaded gym coach.  Turns out Ms. Halliday is missing her fiancé, so MA commiserates about missing Logan.  Yep, that's right, obsessing over your teenaged boyfriend IS the same thing as missing your fiance. MA tells Ms. Halliday that she thinks she doesn’t like her because she’s bad at gym; Ms. Halliday tells MA that she wanted MA to work her hardest and do her best.  MA feels better.

Kristy

Kristy is busy running the winter war.  After the ice skating debacle, she rounds up some of the younger kids for a snowman building contest and drags Claudia over to help her judge.  Claudia takes a picture of each of the winning snowman and posts them in the common room.  After lunch, the snow sculpture competition starts and Claudia is once again the judge.  Of course, she chooses someone from the red team, which means that the blue team has to win every other even to win the winter war.  Kristy needles Claudia about her skiing, but deep down Kristy knows Claudia’s better. 

Claudia

Claudia knows Kristy is mad, so she heads to take a skiing lesson for advanced skiers.  Her instructor’s name is Guy and he is dreamy.  Claudia crushes on him as she works on her skiing.  He calls her a champion and she swoons.  She heads back to the lodge and gushes to all of her friends about her “older man”.

Jessi

Jessi decides to do the snow sculptures and she and Mal make a really nice pair of ballet slippers.  They are pretty bummed when a different team wins, but they move on to prepare for the talent show.  Jessi’s worried that no one will want to participate, but they have more than enough kids.  The auditions begin!  They have some talented kids and some not so talented kids.  They also include the younger kids, which makes Jessi really excited.  Her creative juices are flowing.  Hooooray!!!  Aaaaaaaaaaaand then we find that MA hasn’t written a skit for them.  Jessi gets a little po’d at her, but suggests an idea of them putting on a play about their school in Maine.  Everyone loves the idea…except Pinky.  Jessi calls her prejudiced; Mal doesn’t think so.

Dawn

Everyone wakes up the next morning in a bad mood, except for Mal and Jessi…and Stacey, spacey Stacey.  Claudia pulls MA and Dawn into the bathroom and lectures them about behaving in front of the younger kids.  Kristy and Jessi make more announcements and Dawn feels like a dud.  She doesn’t feel like participating and she’s not planning on the talent show.  She escapes after breakfast, hoping to find a book, but ends up running into Dori Wallingford (a forgotten friend from 7^th grade) who offers a game of Monopoly.  Dawn loses really fast and, to hide her tears, she heads to the bathroom.  She discovers Pinky there, bawling her eyes out.  Turns out Pinky is homesick, which is making her behavior less than optimal.  Dawn gives her a hug and takes her in search of cavity inducing, refined sugar saturated, sure to kill you instantly hot chocolate.

Mary Anne

Dawn approaches MA and they make up at lunchtime and become bunkies again.  After lunch, MA is alone while the snowball fight is taking place.  She tries writing numerous letters to Logan, but she either sounds desperate for marriage or like a stranger at the bus stop.  She ends up writing a skit for the kids’ show, which is a leeetle too mature for the kids.  It involves chauvinistic boyfriends and a feminist lead.  Yeah, maybe a bit much.  She goes back to Logan letter-writing, but is interrupted by a long distance phone call.  Turns out it’s Logan.  They love each other.  They phone smooch.  The bloody end.

Mallory

Mal’s journal writing isn’t going too well.  Stacey catches her spying on her make-out session with Pierre and her random assertions are wrong, except about Pinky.  She can tell she’s homesick.  How????  Another big storm blows in Thursday night.  They have hot chocolate and talent night, including spooky story telling.  Mal warns against it and Jessi pooh-poohs her.  Of course, this does not end well.  I’m amazed the teachers went along with it.  ANYONE who has an iota of experience with children knows you don’t tell scary stories when a)you’re in the middle of a storm b)it’s dark and almost bedtime and c) THEY’RE AWAY FROM HOME WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS!!!  The storm will pass; they will be able to go home.  This news, apparently, is enough to calm everyone down to the point that the scary stories continue.   Brilliant!

Jessi

After scary stories, the talent portion of the evening begins.  Everything goes well and at the end, Pinky apologizes to Jessi for being so mean because she was homesick.  Jessi is stunned.  There ARE people in the world who are mean for other reasons other than racism.

Claudia

Claudia is prepping for the big skiing competition by having a private ski lesson with Guy.  ~swoon.  Kristy gloats that they’re going to win the war and Claudia doesn’t really care.  She’s in LUV!  Still, she has an amazing run, but the blue team won the beginners and intermediates runs, thus winning the event.  Claudia’s too busy crushing on her older LUV, Guy.  Turns out he’s married with a kid.  Talk about crushing disappointment!

Kristy

Kristy gloats about Claudia’s crushing disappointment, but only for a little bit.  ‘Cuz you know, that’s kind of mean.  Kristy then goes to recruit cross-country skiers for her team.  She brow-beats a couple of kids into competing, one of whom BREAKS HIS ANKLE!  Yeah, probably not ever going to listen to Kristy Thomas again.  They end up losing the winter war.  Aaaaaaaaaaaand Kristy is more concerned about that than Jay, the kid with the broken ankle.  It finally hits her and she goes back to the dorm to have a good cry with MA.  She admits she pushes people around and MA says Kristy’s not as bad as she used to be.  Kristy is consoled by this; I don’t find it all that consoling.

Mallory

Mallory is hoping that ANYTHING will cancel the dance.  Jessi tells her to calm down, she’s never been to a dance and she’s looking forward to it.  Mal doesn’t know how to dance, so Jessi shows her some basic steps.  While they’re dancing, the little kids start imitating them and are pretty good.  Mal suggests they bring them along to the dance.  It’s okayed and the kids get all dressed up and ready to go.  Mal volunteers to watch them at the dance, but they hop right out onto the dance floor, leaving her alone by the punch bowl.  A boy named Justin asks her to dance and they spend the rest of the time together.

Stacey

Stacey wonders if this is what it’s like to be in love and her heart is breaking at the thought of saying goodbye.  They spend the night together, watching Mal have her first dance and seeing Kristy dancing with Jay, in spite of his broken ankle.  They decide not to say goodbye, but rather they write down their addresses and promise to write.

Mary Anne

They leave the lidge and make it home safely; Ann makes a fat joke about a girl named Ethel, who eats three Snickers bars while the boys are singing a fat song about her.  Niiiiiiiice, Ann.  MA says that the most important thing that happens is that she and Logan are reunited.  Barf~