#23 Dawn on the Coast

Timeline: Alright folks, this is where the timeline jumps off the fucking cliff and just starts swimming around, doing whatever the fuck it wants. Somehow, we have skipped winter time and all the holidays and we have landed at spring break of the girls 8th grade and 6th grade years.

Plot: The girls have two weeks off for spring break (TWO WEEKS?) and Dawn heads to California to spend time with her Dad and Jeff. Of course, she falls back in love with California and decides she might want to move back there. I mean, California has everything she wants: sunshine, her dad and Jeff, good food, and a copycat Baby-sitters Club (her friend Sunny has created a subpar version of her own BSC, called the We Love Kids Club). Dawn gets seriously annoying about this, and already tells Sunny that she may want to move back, and talks to her Dad and Jeff about it, so Jeff gets all excited. But then something happens, and all of a sudden she knows she has to go back to Stoneybrook. Oh I don't know, Dawn, like maybe the fact that you promised your mom you would come back? So Dawn goes back to Stoneybrook and tells her mom she was thinking the whole time she may want to stay there, but she didn't. The end.

Takeaways:
Even though they just dealt with Kristy being bossy in the last book, she seems to still have a problem with it in this book. Well, and every book until the end (I assume, I've never read the last books).

Dawn flips her shit because at the We Love Kids Club they serve apple slices instead of candy. Like, that's seriously one of her reasons for wanting to move back there.

Also, she loves how casual the meetings are, like they don't have offices or anything. Even though in the last book she was fighting to the death because she wanted a new office.

While she is in California, her friends send her post cards about their sitting jobs. Why? That's so lame. Plus, that means they wrote about their jobs in the club notebook, then turned around and wrote them again on a postcard.

I'm sorry, but one more time...who gets two weeks off for spring break in middle school?

Best character:
I think this week the winner is Mrs. Bruen, the housekeeper. Her breakfasts sound LEGIT.

Worst character:
You think I'm going to say Dawn because she gets all California obsessed and almost leaves her poor lonely mother alone is Stoneybrook...and you are right.

#22: Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter

Timeline
Still between Halloween and Thanksgiving, Jessi and Mallory's 6th grade year and all the other girls' 8th grade year.

Plot
A call comes in to the BSC headquarters asking for a pet-sitter for a week. Despite Kristy's refusal, the other girls convince her to let Jessi take the job, as she has that exact week off from her other obligations. So Jessi pet-sits for several animals - a bunch of dogs, cats, a snake, hamsters, birds, etc. It sounds rather disgusting. But Jessi does a really good job, and even has to handle an emergency - one of the hamsters is pregnant (slut) and Jessi has to take her to the vet and then take care of her as she drops her shorties.

Also happening in Stoneybrook - the girls are in the fight of their lives. Everyone is sick of Kristy being such a bossy bia, and they decide to have elections to re-elect the offices of the BSC. Then they fight about how the elections should be ran. Then they finally have the elections, and everyone unanimously votes everyone into the office the already hold. They all laugh. The end.

Oh, and Jessi and Mal each get to pick out a hamster to keep for themselves. Jackie Rodowsky also gets one.

Takeaways
I LOVED this book when I was a kid. I would skip the pet sitting bullshit and just read the chapters of the girls fighting. Re-reading it as an adult was not as exhilarating.

The main reason the girls start fighting is because Kristy doesn't trust that they are reading the club notebook (where they record all their babysitting jobs, with details...like a journal). She wants to make a checklist so they can mark it off when they get done. 1. They could easily lie and just put a checkmark, Kristy. and 2. This made me think that if the BSC took place now, they would have like an online blog or some website they could enter their jobs in at.

Side note - I wonder if all the girls make the same amount of money? Like do they all work for the same rate? Because nowadays, parents could also Venmo or Paypal the money to them. But it would get annoying if the girls weren't all charging the same amount.

Best Character
Jessi, duh. She is, like, a world class pet sitter. Even if those chapters are boring. And she lets all her friends come over with their baby-sitting charges, even stupid ol' MaryAnne who lets the fucking snake out of the cage.

Worst Character
MaryAnne for sure. How the fuck do you let a snake out of a cage?