#15 - Little Miss Stoneybrook....and Dawn

Timeline:
Again, no real timeline. No holidays mentioned; no themed dances at school. Maybe this is how Ann kept these girls in 8th grade for over 100 books? There has to be a holiday working it's way in here sometime soon.

Plot:
Stoneybrook is hosting a Little Miss pageant, and it causes some ruffles in the BSC universe. Mrs. Pike asks Dawn to work with Margo and Claire, because she doesn't have the time I guess (? she's a stay at home mom for christssake). Dawn agrees, and then the other babysitters start to get all weird and want to prove how great they are too. Kristy basically manipulated Karen (her step-sister) to enter, MaryAnne convinces Mariah Perkins to enter, and Claudia flat our forces Charlotte Johannsen to enter even though she is so shy and timid and it's literally the worst idea in the world.

Mallory and Jessi do not participate because they feel pageants are stupid and pointless. And they think the girls are going to lose their minds, which they were pretty much spot on.

The babysitters work with their girls, and then on pageant day the only one who wins anything is Mariah, who wins a shopping spree at a toy store. The first place winner is a snotty little bitch named Sabrina.

Takeaways:
First runner up (Mariah) wins a toy store shopping spree. First place (Sabrina bitch) wins like a savings bond or some bullshit. What prize is better for a girl, ages 5-8?

It's so weird that this pageant was like, just for girls 5-8. It seems to me they would do a bigger event with actual age brackets to include more girls.

The baby-sitters get all weird and competitive while helping their girls, like Claudia and Charlotte sneak over to the Pike's to watch Dawn with Claire and Margo. It was rude and weird. And Dawn called her out on it, which was weird. The way these girls talk to each other sometimes is so bizarre. It's like they are best friends, but really they hate each other.

Best character:
I'm going to go with Dawn in this book. She is the only one who gets asked to help get girls ready for the pageant, the other three manipulate someone into participating. Also, Margo and Claire's talents are fucking ridiculous. Margo peels a banana with her feet, then recites a poem while eating it. Claire sings "I'm Popeye the sailor man" and dances. But Dawn is just like hey, whatever, it's your show, and just helps them be the best they can be.

Worst character:
Claudia is definitely the worst in this book. Charlotte really misses Stacey, so she has been asking for Claudia to baby-sit for her, I guess to feel closer to Stacey since they were best friends. So Charlotte, like, trust Claudia and wants her to be the new favorite baby-sitter, and Claudia completely takes the new relationship and destroys it by making Charlotte participate in the pageant. Like, during the talent part, Charlotte just walks on stage, looks at the crowd, freezes and fucking bolts. Not cool, Claudia. You should feel bad about yourself.