There really wasn't anything specifically said about the timeline in this book, so we will assume it's like September/October of their 8th grade year. Immediately following the previous book.
Plot:
There is a new girl in town - her name is Ashley Wyeth. She dresses weird, acts weird and snobby, and immediately grows a weird, unhealthy attachment to Claudia. She is a very talented artist, who studies at a very important school, and Claudia is in awe of her from the first second she lays eyes on her.
Ashley looks at some of Claud's art, and decides Claudia is the second most talented person she knows (behind herself, of course) and convinces her to give up basically everything else in her life - school, friends, babysitting - to devote herself to art. There is a sculpture show coming up, and Ashley tells Claudia she has to immerse herself into her project. So Claudia starts skipping club meetings to do this, and everyone loses their minds.
The girls continue to still meet in her room, even though Claudia gets to the point where she is skipping every club meeting. They take that opportunity to raid all her junk food and leave her mean notes. Immature, yes, but we need to remember that these jerks are all 13. Stacey cries a lot because she thinks Claudia likes Ashley more than her. Gone are the days when Stacey doesn't think she needs any of the BSC members because "don't forget where I'm from" (I will never forgive Stacey for saying that in book #4).
Anyway, Ashley catches Claudia babysitting at the Rodowsky's and loses her shit. Claudia finally stands up for herself and that's the end of that friendship. So then Claudia finally gets her shit together, makes up with all the girls, and that's that.
Oh, and she ends up wining an honorable mention for her sculpture, honorable mention only because it wasn't finished - it would have won if it was (her teacher told her that).
Takeaways:
Two things I remember from this book when I read it as a child:
1. I remember Claudia talking about how Ashley's braid didn't have a tie at the end of it, it just naturally came to an end. When I was a kid (and, still, as an adult) I want my hair to do that so bad!
2. At the end of the book, when Claudia gets her shit together, she makes all these lists to help herself get organized. She even makes a "list of lists I need to make" - for some reason I got a real kick out of that as a kid, but I've never been disorganized enough to have to make a list of lists.
Look, I totally get that Claudia was being a jerk and missing meetings, but I think the girls were super lame for leaving her notes everywhere. I would have secretly never forgiven my friends if they were in my space, going through my stuff and leaving rude notes. What would Mimi think of this behavior, girls?
But on the other hand, seriously Claudia? The BSC is literally a 90 minute commitment a week - are you seriously telling me you don't have time to squeeze that in?
Best character:
Jackie Rodowsky wins this week - he is a disaster and yet still the most cheerful, positive person in the world. Plus, in this book he admits to breaking two doorbells - how the hell do you even break a doorbell? That takes talent.
Worst character:
Dawn is the worst in this book. After the club makes up, she tells Claudia that she made up a mean song about her while they were fighting. Um. Dawn. That's something you could have just kept to yourself for your entire life.
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