#24 Kristy's Mother's Day Surprise

I'm back from vacation (if you'd call camping with three boys and a husband a vacation) and I think I've recovered, so let's get the snarky juices flowing, aye?

Well, we start right away with all the information about everybody, since Kristy is thinking about family and what makes a family.  Karen bounds in and wants to know what Kristy is in her room and Kristy replies that it’s been a rough week at school.  “But it’s our first night here!” whines Karen.  If I was Kristy, I'd smack her across the head and tell her to leave me alone (I did that with my little sister all the time).  DM distracts her and she takes off, leaving Kristy alone.  Really, that’s pretty much the end of the chapter and the only plot advancement is that Kristy is thinking about what makes a family.

We leap from Friday night to Monday’s meeting and suddenly Kristy realizes Mother’s day is coming up.  All the girls start discussing what to get their mother when MA whispers, “I don’t have that problem.”  Mommy Moment?  Common Sense Moment?  A Moment:  I feel very sad for MA in that her mother died before they were able to spend time together and have a very real relationship.  At the same time, MA’s mother died before she could remember her, so…this sadness seems kind of contrived.  Like maybe she would have moved on if she didn’t keep re-opening the scab.  So of course everybody else sits there and feels bad because they have mothers and MA’s died.

On that happy thought, Kristy goes home to a big family meal.  Karen and Andrew are there because Lisa and Seth are on a “business trip” for several weeks, everyone is home, no one has a date and Elizabeth and Watson are all smiling and happy as they look at their wonderful family.  Elizabeth asks the kids if they’d like another sibling and the younger kids flip out at the thought of a baby while the older kids are ok with it.  Boo-Boo comes in with a live mole in his mouth, so that ends the discussion.  Kristy spends the rest of the evening trying to think of a great Mother’s Day gift and comes up with a great idea.  She’s so excited she can’t wait until the next BSC meeting to tell everyone.  Common Sense Moment:  Don’t these girls eat lunch together every day?  Why would Kristy have to wait almost 2 days to tell her friends her idea?  Somehow I can’t see Kristy being that patient.  She spills her idea as soon as everyone is assembled:  let’s give the moms of the club a break and take the kids on a field trip.  What a great Mother’s Day gift! Mommy Moment:  It actually is pretty awesome.  They decide to use money from the treasury to fund the trip.  The only conundrum is where they should go that isn’t too expensive and is in walking distance.  For most of the girls in the club, it will work as their Mother’s Day present.  Claudia and Dawn are the only ones who need something else and they hang back after the meeting to plan.  MA is sad and quiet and Kristy starts to worry about her.

Claudia sits for the Newtons on Friday and finds a flier for Sudsy’s Carnival.  The answer to the conundrum!

The girls decide to take the kids to Sudsy’s in the morning, have a picnic lunch and then spend a quiet afternoon at Claudia’s house so that the little kids can rest and the older kids can make an art project.  The start listing kids that could come to the carnival.  Mommy Moment: They say Marnie Barrett is too young to come, yet plan to invite Gabby Perkins.  The two are the same age, my dears.  Also, when MA brings up inviting Jenny P, Kristy’s response is “EW!”  What a great sitter.  She really loves her charges.  The grand total is 29 kids and they can’t handle quite that many.  They decide to call Stacey and see if she can come for the weekend to help – and she can!  It’s settled.

They spend Saturday making the invitations and Kristy takes hers home to her mom.  Elizabeth bursts into tears and Kristy questions her mom if she’s pregnant.  Elizabeth says no, but again asks if Kristy would like another brother or sister.  While they’re chatting, Watson leans out the window with the phone, tells Elizabeth it’s and “important one” and she dashes off like an Olympic sprinter.  Kristy turns to hear the younger three arguing about which parent loves which child more and how their family is still split into Brewers and Thomases.  Mommy Moment:  Because I didn’t have any kids, this wasn’t really much of an issue until Adam was born.  Even then, we had been a family for a few years already and the boys were older so we were able to talk about these things with them.  We had time to PREPARE.

So, the BSC finally has the final count of kids that will be coming: 21.  With 7 sitters, that means 3 kids apiece.  They finally get the groups organized and are all prepared for the carnival day…

…which we skip right ahead to.  Time flies fast in this book.  We start in April and end after Mother’s Day.  Actually, we land at Friday’s meeting, where Stacey has already arrived and everyone is squeeing with joy over seeing her.  Then they get down to the business of running through the schedule for the following day and making sure they’re all set with things.  At one point Mimi wanders into the room looking for “the cow” in some vivid foreshadowing.  (I really hope I’m not the one who draws #27).  By the end of the meeting, the girls are all set!

Claudia Outfit: pale blue baggy shirt over black-and-blue leopard-spotted pants that tied in knots at her ankles.  On her feet she wore purple high-tops. 

All the girls at Claudia’s by 8 and start organizing for the day.  The kids arrive and, after calming criers and spending ½ hour in the bathroom, they’re ready to go.

They arrive at the carnival, which is relatively small, but the kids are impressed.  They start with the haunted house, Margo Pike gets sick on the Merry-Go-Round, they play games and get their faces made up.  When the kids start asking for treats around noon, they know it’s time to head to the park for lunch.  Kristy tells Margo to eat slowly, which she does, so she’s still eating by the time the kids start running around the park.  After lunch, they head back to Claudia’s for rest time.  They sing songs, read books and make Mother’s Day cards until the dads come to pick up their kids to take them home.

The BSC finishes cleaning up just as Sam and Charlie pull in to pick up Kristy and the kids.  They arrive home to see their parents smiling happily at them as they come in the door.  They have big news…they’ve adopted a little girl named Emily Michelle.  She’s Vietnamese and will be arriving the next day.  They’ve been working on this for while, but didn’t want to tell the other kids in case it didn’t work out Mommy Moment:  So…you’re giving them less than 24 hours to adjust to the idea of a new sibling?  Yes, not only do the kids have less than a day to get ready for EM, they have less than a day to purchase items for her, such as a crib, dresser, changing table, etc…Common Sense Moment  I don’t know what adoption was like in the ‘80s, but nowdays there is a home inspection and several meetings to ensure the home is ready.  Unless all of this was done without the kids’ knowledge…There is no way this would fly today.  Perhaps this isn’t a legit adoption agency??

They wake early the next morning to finish preparations while Elizabeth and Watson head to the airport to pick up EM.  Kristy invites the BSC over to bake cookies and meet her new sister when she comes home.  Mommy Moment: If I had just adopted a child, I would want the first meeting to be private, but then, this is the BSC and their noses are in everybody’s business at all times.

Finally Watson and Elizabeth return home with Emily Michelle, who is sleeping.  Kristy sees her as the baby who belongs to everyone, who will unite the family together in a way the wedding hadn’t.  Mommy Moment: I really hope Watson and Elizabeth didn’t adopt EM just in hopes of uniting their blended family.  Adding a child rarely accomplishes that.

#23 Dawn on the Coast (or Indecisive Dawn: Shall I Stay or Shall I Go Now?)

It is technically Tory's turn to snark, but she left to go camping for a week and anyone camping with four boys (yes, I included her husband) needs a vacation after the vacation.

And it's Dawn on the coast.  Just another reason maybe Sharon should have TRIED to stay in California for her kids’ sake. 

The cover is unremarkable, other than that Dawn looks like she’s wearing granny panties and a sports bra on the beach instead of a swimsuit.  Come to think of it, I think I had something that looked a lot like that when I was a kid…

We start with a note from Dawn’s dad saying he’s happy she’s coming to spend spring break with him.  The next page says, “First off, you’re probably wondering who Sunshine is.”  Well, based on the title, I’m guessing it’s you, Dawn!  I really hate it when authors do that.  Just say, “So my dad calls me sunshine,” or “Dad nicknamed me Sunshine when I was little.”  It just seems so contrived!!  We get our chapter 2 introductions out of the way and Dawn’s mom comes home.  She’s a little misty at Dawn being gone, but says she’ll be fine.  They decide to forgo the barley casserole and go out for dinner at Cabbages and Kings, a vegetarian place in town.  The way Sharon talks, it sounds like she misses California too…which again begs the question why she left.  There must have been something Ann’s not telling us!

Another chapter, another note.  I also find these kinds a books so slow.  If the chapter is going to tell us what’s happening anyway, why bother?  It’s so tedious I generally skip them and actually read the chapter.  Apparently any time anyone goes away for a vacation, there has to be a party, so they have a sleepover going away party at Kristy’s mansion.  Of course Karen is there for the weekend too so we have to put up with her Ben Brewer ghost nonsense.  They all squee and squidge together as girls a wont to do and generally have a good time.  Dawn promises MA a post card and lo and behold, the next chapter starts with a postcard entry to her from the plane.  It’s an unremarkable flight with a rude flight attendant.  Her dad, Jeff and her best friend Sunny meet her at the gate and Sunny promises a surprise the next day at 5pm.  Don’t be late, Dawn!

Dawn’s trip starts with a day at Disney.  She has a really good time with Jeff and her dad.  As the day goes on, it becomes more and more apparent to her that she really has missed Jeff and her dad. 

So, adter a lovely day at Disney, Dawn heads to Sunny’s house for her surprise.  Tada!  It’s the we <heart> kids club!  They have meetings, but things are way more laid back than the BSC.  No officers, no calling back clients after arguing over who gets a job, no uptight idea hound heading the ship AAAAND no junk food!

Dawn gets another letter from MA about a sitting job with the Newtons/Feldmans and Perkins kids.  The only remarkable thing about this chapter is that it references the immunities babies get from nursing.  Why isn’t that mentioned more in these books?  Couldn’t give equal time to the boob?  Ooops, said boob.  Ahhhhh…..maybe that’s why

Another postcard, another perfect California day for Dawn.  She is spending the day at the beach with her family and friends.  Her dad strikes up a conversation with her about life and Dawn is a little glum.  It’s becoming obvious she doesn’t like having her family split up, that she really misses her Dad and Jeff and is a little lonely.  After a great day at the beach she calls her mom and they have an awkward conversation.  Dawn is really happy in California but she knows her mom is sad and lonely in Connecticut.  Well… you’re in a divorced family.  Already there are going to be feelings of loneliness.  Add to it the giant split and the 5000 miles separating the two parts of the family and it’s going to be really tough. 

Dawn has a sitting job for Clover and Daffodil and she takes them to a carnival.  As she’s leaving to head home, Jeff comes looking for her to tell her that her mom is on the phone.  Dawn realizes that she hasn’t thought about most of the people back in Connecticut all day long and she wonders what that means.  Well, it could mean you’re having a good time and enjoying yourself on your vacation.

Jessi’s scrawl is on the next postcard.  She sits for Karen, Andrew and DM and of course Karen is all about Ben Brewer again.  At the end of the chapter we get another reference to the impending adoption of EM.

Dawn is at Sunny’s for another We <heart> Kids Club meeting and they’re talking about some of the kids they sit for.  The way they’re talking is almost like…mothers talking, not teens.  The other girls arrive and they hang out, working on healthy recipes for the kids they sit for and talking about Dawn’s old classmates.  Sunny’s mom invites her to stay for dinner and Dawn wonders if she could just stay forever.  Dawn kind of runs out of the room at the end of the meeting to get home to talk to her dad.

Dawn is so very torn.  She doesn’t want to leave Jeff.  She doesn’t want to leave her Dad.  She doesn’t want to leave California, the We <HEART> Kids Club and her friends here.  But she loves her mom.  She approaches her Dad with the idea over dinner and he is excited to have her out there, but cautions her about some of the possible setbacks.  And, apparently, Sharon still technically has custody of Jeff even though he’s living in Cali.  I thought they had taken care of that in book 15?  I dunno.  Anyway, Dawn tells her dad not to call her mom yet until she knows what she wants.  Jeff is super excited and wants Dawn to be there with him all the time and prattles on about all these things they can do together again.  Now Dawn, perhaps you should have brought this up with your father privately, especially since you don’t seem to know what you want to do?  She tries to call MA, but she isn’t home.  Dawn realizes she just wants to talk to her mom and have her help her figure out her emotions.  She wants her family back.

Kristy writes the next postcard about sitting at the Pike’s.  Did you know you can write secret messages with milk and use an iron to make the letters stand out?  I used to have a whole book on how to write different types of secret messages. I wonder how many kids today use secret messages.  They probably all just text. The postcard ends with Kristy telling Dawn that Nicky Pike misses her.

Dawn has a letter from her mom that tells her she’s excited to see her.  She also mentions she’s going to a lecture on humor.  Seriously Ann?  A lecture on humor?  Wow…Anyway, Dawn goes over to Sunny’s house to talk to her about it, but of course Sunny is going to tell her to stay.  Sunny ends up backhandedly insulting some of Dawn’s Connecticut peeps, which peeves Dawn, so she heads home.  Dad wants to know if she’s made up her mind and he needs to know by the next day at the latest.  Dawn lays on her bed to think, missing her mom and MA and wishing she could just bring them to California with her.  At the end of the chapter, she’s made up her mind.  And we don’t get to know what her decision is, only that she sleeps the whole night undisturbed.

She tells her dad the next day that she’s going back to Connecticut and he smiles and says he knew she would.  Then she calls her mom and asks her if MA can come to the airport too and her mom asks why she’s so shaken up.  Dawn explains everything and Sharon is pretty supportive, even telling her to seriously consider moving back if she wants to.  Dawn says she coming home.  She breaks the news to everyone else and while Sunny is sad, Jeff is angry with her.  Well, duh.  On Dawn’s last night in Cali, they go out for dinner and Jeff asks if she’s not staying because they’re boys.  Oh, honey.  Dawn explains her reasoning and they’re back to their happy sibling relationship. 

Dawn leaves the next morning and lo and behold, evil flight attendant is back so Dawn moves seats.  This is in the era of flying when a) you were allowed to do that and b) there were actually empty seats on a plane   She sleeps through much of the flight, although she’s awake for the movie Adventures in Babysitting.  This is an actual movie and I think I’ve seen parts of it, but I’m not sure.  It gets 6.6 at IMBD if anyone wants to watch it.

There is a lot of avocado love in this book.  Dawn even brings avocados back for her mom.  Were avocados not in the store in the late ‘80s?  Just not in the stores in Connecticut?  They way they talk, California is the only place to get an avocado.  Anyway, not only does Sharon bring MA to the airport, but the whole club is there to greet her!  They somehow manage to squeeze back into Sharon’s car and head home.  Dawn is happy to be back.  Yay!

Now, throughout this book I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of vegetarian Dawn is.  She’s not a lacto-ovo vegetarian because she eats fish.  She’s not a pescatarian because she eats eggs and some dairy.  Perhaps she’s macrobiotic or maybe a flexitarian.  It’s so hard to know!!

#20 Krisy and the Walking Disaster

Honestly, I found this book a little ho-hum.  But, here we go!

So, we see Karen and Andrew arriving for the weekend and joining DM in the backyard to play baseball.  To put it nicely, they aren’t very good.  But then, they’re 4, 6 and 7. No one expects you to be Babe Ruth and if they do, they need a good swift kick in the pants.  Kristy helps them out a bit before leaving for her club meeting.  We get the chapter 2 rundown and Kristy is scheduled for a job with Jackie Rodowsky….after Dawn runs screaming down the street.  The way these girls are about this poor kid…you’d think he was a carrier of the bubonic plague rather than a klutzy kid.

All through the weekend, Kristy plays softball with her sibs and some neighbor kids and she sees a need for them to have a team to learn on rather than Little League.  Someone throws that Bart Taylor has a team of kids who aren’t in LL so she decides to go talk to him about it.  Well, hubba hubba!  He’s a hottie and after their conversation, Kristy comes away with a serious case of puppy love and an idea to start her own team.

So Kristy has charged all the sitters with identifying kids who would like to play on Kristy’s team.  MA recommends both Perkins girls, Jamie Newton and Nina Marshall.  Jessi says Matt Braddock is interested and Mal calls with Claire, Margo, and Nicky to sign up.  Dawn recommends the Barrett kids and some of their friends.  Kristy’s got a pretty good list going.  But where would we be without the poor kid this book is named for?  Of course, Kristy recruits Jackie to play after sitting for him and his brothers. 

So now she has this list of kids and a bunch of questions about how to get started.  She talks with Watson, who is an avid baseball fan, and he helps her get started.

So Kristy has 20 kids, so she divides them into two teams for the first practice, just to see what they know.  Well, most of the girls can make clover and dandelion chains in left field, Gabbie Perkins can only hit a wiffle ball and the walking disaster hits foul balls.  Since they can’t find the ball, practice adjourns early.  But they do come away with a team name:  Kristy’s Krushers.

A sitting chapter.  Mallory and Claud are sitting for the Pikes and don’t really have to sit.  They just watch the kids play softball.

Kristy is more prepared for the next practice and divides the kids up to work on the different areas they struggle with.  They play another game and Kristy points out that the kids try really hard, even though they’re not really good.

Kristy volunteers to walk Shannon for DM that night and cruises nonchalantly past Bart Taylor’s place.  Well, what do you know?  Mr. Bart is out walking his Rottweiler.  They have a conversation that ends with them scheduling a match up between the Krushers and Bashers.

The next chapter, Jessi is sitting for the Barretts, who have Krusher’s practice.  So she’s sitting at practice with Marnie, who is also two, feeding her cheerios.  Then there’s a list of things you need to bring with you when you have a two year old.  Might I remind you that there is a two year old currently attending said Krusher’s practice? 

Dawn is sitting for the Perkins girls and Jamie Newton.  She escorts them to practice, the kids are heckled by some of the Basher’s players.  These kids got really mean and nasty and it really upset the Krushers (especially since the average age is 5.8).

They have one last practice before their big game with the Bashers and the kids play their hearts out.  Bart shows up at the end of practice and walks Kristy home.  IS IT LUV???

The morning of the big day, Karen rousts Kristy out of bed “early” (Dude, anything past 7 is sleeping in in my life these days) and they get a move on. There are lots of calls from Kristy’s players and she’s starting to flip out a bit herself.

The game gets going and everyone can see that the it’s a little lopsided, but the Krushers work hard.  It’s 6-3 Bashers in the second and Jackie is up to bat.  Well, one thrown bat knocks out the refreshment stand (that had to be one heck of a thrown bat to knock down a table!), another almost takes out the pitcher.  Embarrased, Jackie fakes and injured ankle.  Kristy figures it out and boosts his ego a bit before sending him back into the game.

Overall, it is a good game, ending 16-11 in favor of the Bashers.  After some good sportsmanship, Kristy sends her kids home and Bart comes over to walk her home.  He asks her if she wants to go out sometime.  She says yes and heads inside.  She makes some phone calls to friends and to the walking disaster, telling him she’s proud of his effort.  Then he breaks a lamp.  The end.

Mommy Moments:

-          if Mrs. Rodowsky ever got wind of the way these girls talked, they would not be sitting for them again, I’m sure.  Well, if I were in her place, that’s how I’d feel.  Eesh!

-          I don’t know if I would let my 2 year old play softball.  I just don’t feel that it’s a good idea.  What do you guys think?

-          One of the Bashers called one of Kristy’s players “fatso” at practice.  Later in the book, she also references him as such.  NOT COOL, Ann!!!

#21 Mallory and the Trouble with Twins

So, it’s always me who is holding up the snarking here on our blog.  Last time, it was because I had wicked morning sickness and really didn’t want to puke on my tablet.  This time it’s because I got put on bedrest.  Right, bedrest you say.  This is not fun bedrest.  This is you might lose your babies and die bedrest.  Yeah, I said babies.  And I’m snarking Mallory and the Trouble with Twins.  THIS is my friends’ sick humor.  Everything has settled down and I will now snark the book that has taught me how not to raise my twins (although they’re one of each, so we might not have the same problems).

We dive right in with the Pike kids in the car on the way to Washington Mall to buy shoes.   

The kids are all crazy and picking on each other, but the arrive alive.  They get the shoes they need and then wander around the mall.  Mal discourses on the BSC as she wanders to the ear piercing pagoda.  Mal is watching a girl getting her ears pierced with Claire and Margo, who scream when they punch the first hole.  Seriously, ear piercing is not that dramatic.

   Mal herds them away, hoping for the hole to swallow her up.

The next day is meeting day and we get more explanation of the club.  Mrs. Arnold calls needing a regular sitter for the next two months since she’s on a fundraising committee.  Mal lands the job, dreaming about all the earrings she could buy with all the money she’s going to make. 

When she meets the girls, she sees just how identical they are, right down to the penny loafers.  They have bracelets with their names to tell them apart.  Their room is identical, their beds are identical, toys are identical.  Mallory happens to comment about how much they look alike, which sets them off.  

They take of their bracelets, speak in twin talk and run amok.  Mal has no way to tell them apart and she can’t wait for their mother to get home… 

 Jessi and Mal sit for the Pike clan on a rainy day, but all the kids are playing nicely, giving them a chance to talk.  Mal calls her parents babies for not letting her get her ears pierced and Jessi brings up a litany of reasons why her parents might not want her to get her ears pierced.  Jessi casually mentions how she’s never had trouble telling the triplets apart.  Huh, wonder how that relates to this story…

Mal sits for the Arnold girls again and again they take off their bracelets and raise general havoc.  Mal can’t wait for their mother to get home…

Claudia sits for the girls next and they also switch on her.  This time, she sends the wrong twin to piano lessons and gets bawled out by Mrs. Arnold when she gets home.  Dude lady, can you not see that it is difficult for people aside from you and your husband to tell your kids apart?  Yet you insist upon making them identical in every way.  You win the Darwin award. 

Mal brings up the girls at the next meeting but no one really has any answers.  They all oooo and ahhhh over how adorable they are; that’s about all that happens.

And yet again Mallory sits for the twins and they instantly take off the bracelets and talk in their language.  Mal responds in pig latin and they reach an impasse.  Finally they call a truce and the girls show Mal how to tell them apart: the moles on their cheeks are different.  At the end of the day, Mrs. Arnold asks if members of the BSC would be willing to help at the girls’ birthday party.  Mal takes down the information and the BSC decides to help out! 

Kristy babysits her sibs.  We get an explanation of what an estate sale is (newsflash Ann, they’re not all nice!!!) and Karen and Hannie play twins, but soon tire of the game.

Look, even your charges think you’re boring!!

Mal, Dawn and MA are the BSC members in charge of the Arnold’s birthday party.  Mal can now tell the girls apart and greets them happily upon arrival.  They get to work hanging crepe paper and balloons and stuffing goody bags (Mal thinks they’re pretty nice compared to what she had as a child – she should see them now).  Mal goes to help the girls dress and they are a little depressed.  They are tired of being dressed alike and given the exact same things. 

 

The party is fun, but the girls get two of everything; Mallory is the only person to give them gifts that are not identical.  By the end of the day, the girls are angry and upset because they don’t feel like they are their own individual person. Wait, what?  You mean that these girls are two individuals with individual thoughts and feelings and interests?  NO! 

Mal babysits the twins again the next week and they show her all their birthday loot.  They get a lot of nice toys, but Mal’s simple gifts were their favorites because they felt like she knew them and tried to get them something they were interested in.  Mal tells them they should talk to their mother and tell them they don’t want to be her dollies anymore.  

The girls tell their mom and she apologizes, saying she thought THEY liked they way they looked.  After asking, she tells the girls to go ahead with different outfits and hairstyles.

Mal decides she should try talking to her parents about how she feels about her hair and wanting ear piercing, rather than just griping about it to her friends.  Her parents agree to her getting a hair cut and ear piercing, as long as it’s modest and she takes care of her ears so they don’t get infected.  Yay!  She calls Jessi, who then decides to ask her parents for pierced ears too.

Except Jessi's black and Mal is white, or so we're told a million times in this series.

At her next sitting job for the Arnolds, Mal gets to take the girls clothes shopping with their birthday money.  They each find different things they like (Mal too!) and they change to surprise their mother when she comes to pick them up.  She is pleasantly surprised. 

Turns out Jessi’s parents agree to let her get her ears pierced and Claudia’s getting another hole in one of her ears.  Kristy decides they should have a club party out at the mall while Mal, Jessi and Claudia get their ears pierced.  Now, at the malls around here, you have to be over 18 in order to have your ears pierced without an adult present, but this is Stoneybrook, so they just waltz up to the counter and ask for their ears to be pierced.  Mal goes first, then Jessi, then Claudia (who proceeds to pass out when it’s all over).  The Dawn decides she wants to pierce her ears too and scuttles off to find a pay phone to ask her mom’s permission.  She gets to have two holes in each ear!  Yay!  Then they go malling and have lunch at Burger King and I have to stop to wonder what Dawn had to eat.   

A few weeks later, we see Mal in a BSC meeting with a new haircut and new earrings…and braces.  Boo to braces, but she feels better about herself.  Kristy is practically jumping out of her skin and it turns out that she and MA bought earrings for all of the girls who had gotten their ears pierced.  Claudia also made earrings for everyone and Mal had bought Jessi a pair of book earrings before she knew about everyone else’s earrings.  Jessi opens hers privately and she and Mal squee together about being best friends, but not twins.  YAY!

#17 Mary Anne and the Bad Luck Mystery (or Mary Anne and the Drastic Overreaction to a Throwing Away a Chain Letter)

A MA book.  Gag, sigh, pthpthpth.  This book is full of superstition and assumptions and a little picking on Jackie Rodowsky.  Honestly, kind of boring.

The book starts with Kristy making MA sick with her descriptions of the SMS lunch.  Eesh, in the last book I snarked, she wanted to WEAR food. We get the chapter 2 stuff right away.  We finally get an admission that there might be some hurt feelings in the people the BSC members used to sit with.  MA says they’ll have to deal and make their own groups.  Nice. The chapter ends with Cokie Mason and Grace Blume staring at the table and MA feeling self conscious.

MA discourses on getting the mail and how much she loves picking up the mail.  I can’t snark this too much because I used to love getting mail too.  Now it’s all junk or bills since no one writes letters anymore.  She comments that she loves to read the Stoneybrook News, because she likes to read about crime.  This must be one heck of a scary town!  MA grabs the mail on her way to the BSC meeting and she has a letter!  Oooo, it’s a chain letter and if she breaks it, bad luck will visit her and her friends and family.  Ug, I despise chain letters and so does she.  She’s not planning on sending out 20 letters, although Mal and Jessi tell her very seriously that she has to.  No one wants her to send THEM a letter, though.  She tosses out the letter on the way out from the meeting.

The next morning starts with MA falling out of bed.  She states that she’s sort of a klutz, but she hasn’t fallen out of bed since she was four.  I didn’t realize that being a klutz was a requirement for falling out of bed.  My youngest son (9) is pretty agile, but he still falls out of bed on occasion.  Anyway, she has a rough time getting ready for the day and her day doesn’t get much better.  She hides away at home at the end of the day and forgets about a sitting job. The bad luck is just beginning….

So the next job has Dawn sitting for Jackie Rodowsky and she says it was a bad idea to try to help him make his Halloween costume.  Ok, now I take really big issue with Dawn here, because most of the issues were NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL.  There are a lot of things that fall, which can happen to anyone.  Jackie cuts himself, which I can see being somewhat of a deal, but it’s not like he’s the only kid to get a boo-boo while someone is sitting.  He spills paint; again, not that big of a deal since they were working in the basement and it was wiped up.  Then he puts on the costume he’s made BEFORE THE GLUE IS DRY.  Dawn, that’s just lack of common sense.  So, really, it wasn’t that bad.  I wish these girls wouldn’t make such a big deal about this poor kid.

MA gets the mail again and this time it is a package.  She takes it with her to the BSC meeting and it’s a letter and a bad luck charm for MA.  She must wear it….or else. The girls start rehashing all of their recent bad luck.  They talk MA into wearing it or there might be evil lurking to get them.  Muahahahaha!

More bad things keep happening and the girls decide they have to ward off evil forces.  They’re having this discussion during lunch and again, Cokie and Grace are watching them.  They go to the library to look up books on witchcraft.  MA shows off how to use the card catalogue and yet again, I cannot snicker because I remember doing that too.  They check out some books on witchcraft and feel they are ready.

Before they get to reading the books, we have not one, but two sitting chapters.  Jessi sits for Jamie Newton, who is scared of Halloween.  Claudia and Mal sit for the Pikes.  Their disasters include Byron burning dinner, a bird in the house, Vanessa losing a tooth and the parents an hour late due to traffic.

They finally get together in an emergency meeting of the BSC to find out how to counteract evil forces.  They read a bunch of impossible to perform spells, reminisce about the phantom phone calls of the previous year and talking about the Halloween hop.  It comes up that Grace Blume hates MA because she wants Logan.  Hmmm…there’s a theme starting to come out.

The night of the Halloween Hop arrives and Logan and MA are going as cats, because they’ve both seen Cats and thought the costumes were awesome.  They get to the dance, say hi to the rest of the club members and start dancing once the band starts picking up.  I say, band?  A band at a middle school dance?  Am I missing something?    The best my kids had in middle school was somebody’s older brother making a playlist on his Mac.  But then, this is Stoneybrook.  Anyway, Logan and MA are dancing along when Cokie Mason comes by and says, “Nice bad luck charm.”  Dun, dun, DUN!  MA gets home after the dance and there’s a note taped to her door:  Be at old man Hickory’s grave at midnight on Halloween.

Of course, MA is on the phone all morning with the members of the BSC and Kristy ends up calling another emergency meeting.  They all sit around trying to figure out how they’re going sneak out of their house at 11:30 at night so that they can get to the graveyard.  Kristy comes up with the brilliant idea of having a late night sleepover and instead of going to her house, Charlie will drive them to the graveyard.

Trick or treat babysitting chapter.  Kristy takes her younger siblings out trick or treating and they end up at Karen’s imaginary witch’s house…she gives out apples.

MA and her dad hang out at home, having a simple dinner while handing out treats.  MA is a nervous wreck, jumping at any little sound.  She shows her dad the “bad luck charm” and finds out it’s a mustard seed, which is a symbol of faith.  All of a sudden, everything clicks.  Cokie and Grace are behind the letters and necklace!!!!  She calls Kristy, who immediately comes up with another brilliant idea.

Charlie picksthem all up around 10:30 and they head right to the graveyard, where the girls put their plan into action.  Around 11:30, Cokie and Grace show up and the BSC proceeds to scare the bejeevers out of them.  Then Logan shows up and the whole truth comes out.  Grace wants Logan, Logan likes MA and everyone thinks everyone else is an idiot. 

The BSC retreats to Krsity’s house where the rehash the bad luck mystery.  Jessi points out that Cokie didn’t send MA the chain letter, so she could still have bad luck, but MA poo-poos that; since they’ve defeated Cokie and her minions their luck has changed.  Then she drops a jar of eye makeup on a compact and breaks the mirror.  Seven years of bad luck!!!!

#9 The Ghost at Dawn's House

Sorry, everybody.  I totally thought I had posted this weeks ago.  Enjoy!

I am not a ghost person.  I do not believe in ghosts and if they do exists, they don’t bother me.  I am not totally freaked out by the thought of ghosts.  My sister Angie is; I am not.  Dawn is in the same camp as Angie and is all about the ghosties and ghoulies.  Let’s dive right in, shall we?

The cover has Dawn and Jeff looking up a staircase that is apparently the secret passageway.  The only real beef I have with this cover is that it’s supposed to be late August and hot; I sincerely doubt that Jeff will be wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.

The book begins with the reuniting of the BSC.  They spend TWO WHOLE WEEKS apart from each other.  They talk about their sitting jobs and MA and Stacey talk about some issues with the Pike boys, a little carry over from book 8.  Kristy also talks about sitting for the St. Perkins family, who are new charges in this book.  Hooray!  Children who make the other children of the world look like blithering idiots!  We get the intro stuff here too.

Dawn goes home and looks around for Jeff so that they can get ready for dinner.  Sharon got a job and dinner somewhat falls to the kids.  He’s goofing around in the barn; Dawn thinks he’s a ghost.  They decide to eat dinner outside and Dawn gets a little spooked out in the house while Jeff is out setting the table.  Their house is an old farmhouse from the late 1700’s, so Dawn is sure it’s haunted.  Which is probably why she jumps a mile when Sharon comes in and touches her arm.  The have dinner outside and just as they finish eating, a storm arrives.

Dawn decides to spend the evening reading her ghostie and ghoulie book, because she won’t be at all freaked out by it.  She ends up hearing tapping and moaning and whining and shrieks for her mom.  Sharon comes in, calmly and logically points out that they’re in the midst of a big storm and recommends Dawn go to bed.  Dawn, of course, cannot sleep after scaring herself like that.  Mommy Moment:  Sharon was calm and logical; I sure hope she also knew that Dawn was in no calmed by her logic.  Kids (in my experience) generally aren’t.

The next day is kind of a rainy day, so Dawn invites the BSC over to search for a hidden passageway.  They split into teams and start searching.  One of Dawn’s walls has a hollow thud, but nothing comes of it.  One team (Stacey and MA) decides to scare the other after some snotty comments are made.  Then the other team gets back at them.  Then Jeff scares them.  That’s the extent of the day.

A sitting chapter.  MA introduces us to the St. Perkins girls.  Mommy Moment:  Now I get that Gabby is the second child and second and third children tend to be a bit more advanced than their elder siblings.  I think we all hate these kids because the girls make such a big deal about how awesome they are compared to other kids.

Dawn has a sitting job with the Pikes and Mal is the second sitter.  Mrs. Pike again reiterates that they don’t like rules, except for safety reasons, and proceeds to explain that Nicky can go anywhere in a two block radius of the house.  Mommy Moment: Mrs. Pike says the rules are all about safety, but they won’t let Mal dye her hair or get contacts.  How are those safety issues?  It just don’t jive.  Right away the triplets decide to go swimming at a friend’s house and, rather than take Nicky, they ask Dawn if Jeff can come.  Nicky gets mad and storms off. Dawn gets worried and goes to look for Nicky while Mal stays with the girls.  She finds him later, dirty, but smug and cool.  Mommy Moment:  I might suspend the two-block rule while a sitter was there.  I don’t think that it’s a good idea to put that kind of responsibility on a sitter and Dawn’s panic kind of proves my point.

Dawn goes home and the house is hot, so of course she decides to go sit in the barn to read her book.  It’s not cool, but it is relaxing.  She finds a haybale, sits down and falls through the floor.  It turns out she’s found a secret passage that leads to her room!  She also finds a shoe buckle and a key, which of course means the passage is …HAUNTED!!  Yes, because finding junk in a secret passageway automatically equals ghost.  Seriously, Ann, if you want me to believe these girls are intelligent, have them use better deduction skills than this!

Another sitting chapter.  Kristy sits for her sibs, the power goes out and Karen proceeds to scare the snot out of everyone with her ghost stories.  (Will these girls ever learn with that kid???)

Across town, Dawn and Jeff spend the evening in the secret passage.  Sharon is out with “the Trip Man,” which no one is happy about.  When the power goes out, Dawn and Jeff grab a flashlight and investigate the passageway.  Dawn finds a nickel and an ice cream cone, tells Jeff the passageway is haunted and they run screaming out of the passageway to call their mom.  She heads for home while Jeff and Dawn try to  block the passageway with shelving.  The lights come on as Sharon and Trip enter Dawn’s room.  They look over the passageway, decide there isn’t anyone in there and plan to get a lock for the door. 

Dawn is freaked out and decides to sleep downstairs.  She finds a book on the history of Stoneybrook in her mom’s purse and decides to read it.  She stumbles across a chapter on legends.  She reads one about the Mullray family, with a mentally unstable son named Jared, who refused to leave their farm.  No one could find him; his voice seemed to come from between the house and the barn…as though he were in a passageway!.  Of course, Dawn surmises, it’s HER house and HER barn.  Jared Mullray is haunting the passageway.

Another sitting chapter.  Claudia is at the Newton’s and Jamie is a handful.

Dawn and MA are hanging out in the barn and MA says she’s too scared of things.  So Dawn tests her out by taking her into the secret passageway.  As they go through, Dawn looks for the nickel, but it’s not there, but there are peanut shells.  She starts flipping out and tells MA the passageway is haunted, which causes MA to go running out.  She and Dawn run into her room and slam the door shut.  As they sit talking, there are more thumps and thuds and Dawn is convinced there is a ghost, especially when she goes in again and there’s now a book.

Stacey sits for the Pikes and Nicky disappears right after she gets there.  Vanessa and Margo decide to shampoo Claire’s hair with a sample and Stacey is trying to get it out and is worried about Nicky, so she calls Dawn.  Dawn is sitting at the house listening to thumps in the passageway and freaking out, so she jumps at the chance to go looking for Nicky.  She finds him, smelling vaguely familiar, and returns him to the Pikes, sure she won’t hear anything more noises from the passageway.  She’s right.

A few days later, she’s sitting for the Pike boys and Mallory.  The triplets tease Nicky, he runs off and Dawn decide to test her theory.  She goes to the passageway and finds Nicky in there.  They have a talk about him coming there, he apologizes for scaring her and they head for home.  Nicky talks to his mom about needing space and she says she’ll have a talk with the triplets about their behavior to Nicky.  Mommy Moment:  I guess it’s time to break your rule about rules that aren’t about safety, huh Dee?

The BSC has a sleepover at Dawn’s house and they decide to watch movies.  The picks are Ghostbusters (holla!) and Sixteen Candles (Ann has never seen that movie, has she?  It’s MA’s pick and I sincerely believe Richard would never let that movie in the house).  They watch Ghostbusters first, then Claudia decides they should have s’mores.  It turns out they’ve brought junk food and Dawn and Stacey are a little ticked.  Dawn tells Stacey about the secret passage, so they sneak through and scare the other girls in Dawn’s room.  Then there is a rapping noise that freaks everyone out and they spend the rest of the night in the living room.  They wake up the next morning and start talking about how few days there are left of summer vacation.  Dawn’s excited; she’s not going to let a ghost get in her way!

If Jessi Really was as Good at Dance as She Claimed...

...was she as good as this girl?