End of April, early May. As the title suggests, the book ends on Mother's Day. So towards the end of the majority of the girls' 8th grade year.
Plot:
Kristy wants to do something really big for Mother's Day, it isn't really explained why this year is bigger and more important than previous years. She comes up with this plan to not only give her mom a day off, but all the moms in Stoneybrook. She gets the girls to work with her, and the Baby-Sitters Club had a "Mom's Day Off" event where they take all the kids to a carnival, the park, and then back to Claudia's house for stories and crafts.
Side note - MaryAnne is being weird about Mother's Day during the entire book, because her mom is dead. But by the end of the book, she decides to give her dad a mother's day gift.
Also, Kristy's mom is being all weird, asking the kids if they would like another sibling and getting all weepy when the whole family is together. When everyone returns home after the Mother's Day outing, she and Watson announce that they have adopted a little girl, Emily Michelle, from Vietnam, and she will be arriving the next day.
Takeaways:
I remember thinking this book was so boring as a kid. I don't know why. I thought it was fantastic as an adult.
I legit had to fight back tears at the end of this book when they brought Emily Michelle home.
Nothing else really happened in this book. Their outing goes well, the kids are ridic.
There was this weird part at the end where Dawn is singing the wrong lyrics and then one of Kristy's brothers yell at her what the correct lyrics are. It must have been an inside joke between Ann. M. Martin and someone.
Oh, and Stacey comes back to help out and she talks about how much all the kids have grown. She's been gone less than a year. She left at the beginning of 8th grade, and now it's the end of 8th grade.
Best character:
I love Kristy in this book.
Worst character:
That little bitch Jenny Prezziodioasdioo comes to the mother's day thing, and she hates that Matt Braddock is there. Because Matt is deaf. Seriously Jenny. You little bitch.
