#105 - Stacey the Math Whiz

Timeline
Winter of their 7th repeat

Plot
Stacey is very good at math, in case you didn't know. So good, in fact, that she tutors one of the BSC charges who sucks at it. Also, she's so good that she is constantly being asked to be on the Mathletes team at SMS. She finally gives in. She's so good.

In the meantime, her dad randomly appears in Stoneybrook. Turns out that he has lost his job, so he buys a new car and decides to spend all this time with Stacey. He calls himself "New Dad" and vows that he is done being a workaholic. He is around, but he is also very demanding and doesn't bother asking if Stacey wants to do things, he just demands.

The Mathletes are super stars, and end up at the state tournament. Stacey's dad buys her concert tickets on the same night of the first tournament (its a best of three thing) and at first Stacey says she can't go to the tournament bc she doesn't want to hurt her dad's feelings. But then she decides fuck it, and tells her dad she can't go. He agrees, and comes to the tournament. They win, and the team wants to go out to celebrate. Stacey immediately calls the BSC and invites them too. But then her fucking dad demands her and her mom go with him, so she ditches all her friends and goes with him, where he tells them he got a new job and has to miss the rest of the state finals. She is disappointed and frustrated and takes it out on her friends. They call her on it, Stacey cries and then they all hug.

SMS ends up winning the state championships, and Stacey has like the highest score of all time. Her dad disappears again.

Oh, also, Claudia is tutoring the kid that Stacey doesn't have time to tutor anymore, and of course because this is Stoneybrook, the whole town is obsessed with math now, so the kids have a math fair. And Claudia ends up being an amazing tutor because her brain works like a nine year olds.

Takeaways
These books are so ridiculous with how whatever the babysitters are doing, the entire town becomes obsessed with it too. A math fair?

Stacey's dad sucks. And why would he buy a new car when he 1. doesn't drive a car because he lives in New York, and 2. just lost his fucking job

Best Character
Claudia, who is terrified to tutor but does it anyway and is amazing at it

Worst Character
Stacey's fucking dad

#104 - Abby's Twin

Timeline
January of their 7th repeat

Plot
The eighth grade girls all get tested for scoliosis. All the girls are okay except Abby and her sister, Anna. They have to go to a specialist, where it turns out Abby is okay, but Anna has a curved spine and needs to get fitted to wear a brace for the next few years. Abby feels terrible and decides it is her job to make Anna feel better about things, even though Anna makes it very very clear she wants to be left alone to deal with this on her own.

The subplot of this book is that the BSC is planning a winter festival to help the neighborhood get through the winter blues. Abby immediately volunteers Anna to help, and Anna is super annoyed. Then Abby goes clothes shopping for Anna, but only buys clothes that Abby would like. Anna is super annoyed. Then Abby creepily goes and gets the exact same haircut as Abby. Anna is SUPER annoyed. They finally have it out in the hallway at school and stop speaking.

It looks like the winter festival isn't going to work out bc there is no snow, but then, of course, it starts snowing the day of. They hold it and it's amazing. Then Anna comes to the festival and the twins make up. The end.

Takeaways
Abby is so annoying in this book. She takes Stacey with her to buy the clothes for Anna, and Stacey keeps telling her it's not stuff Anna would like, but she won't listen.

Also, Abby keeps awkwardly asking Anna if she can try on her brace.

I already knew so much about scoliosis because of the book Deenie by Judy Blume.

Can't these babysitters ever just relax? They seriously have to hold a winter festival?

Best Character
Anna is probably the best, because she has to deal with this health issue and her sister is super annoying and dumb about it, and she doesn't lose her cool until far into the book.

Worst Character
Freaking Abby and her straight spine.

#103 - Happy Holidays, Jessi!

Timeline
Christmas of their seventh repeat

Plot
It’s Christmas time again, and for the first time in seven years Jessi’s family is going to celebrate Kwanzaa. The BSC knows nothing about it, so Jessi, an 11 year old, decides to hold a community Kwanzaa event to teach people.

In the meantime, Aunt Cecilia is being a huge bitch. So Jessi’s dad finally loses his shit on her and tells her to stop being such a controlling tyrant in his house. She takes the kids to the mall and Squirt is in the backseat throwing a fit, so for some ridiculous fucking reason AC tells Jessi to unhook his car seat. Which she does. And of course that’s the exact moment she gets rear ended and Squirt ends up on the floor of the car, blacked out. He ends up in the hospital for over a week. The whole family brawls about it.

Then Kwanzaa comes. Of course the festival is a huge success, and the family finally talks everything out over Kwanzaa dinner. The end.

Takeaways
Aunt Cecilia is such a bitch. I do not understand why she is allowed to act like that or live in their house.

Mallory and her dad bring a Christmas tree over to Jessi’s house bc they haven’t had time to get one. It was so nice. She also babysits on Christmas Day bc Becca has the flu and can’t go to the hospital to see Squirt.

Again, I can’t get over that as an eleven year old Jessi plans a community event and is taken seriously.

Best Character
Mallory for sure.

Worst Character
Aunt Cecilia obviously.

#102 - Mary Anne and the Little Princess

Timeline
Thanksgiving of their 7th repeat

Plot
For some reason, a princess moves to Stoneybrook. Her parents are very important people who are gone a lot, so the BSC gets called for someone to be a "companion" for the young princess. Not a baby-sitter, necessarily, because her nanny and driver are always around. Mary Anne gets the job. The princess starts to grow on her, but she is pretty snotty and stand-offish, so the kids of Stoneybrook really want nothing to do with her. A bunch of the baby-sitters take her and a bunch of kids (and the nanny, for some reason) to a football game and it doesn't go well.

After that, Stacey, Kristy, MA and the princess (and the nanny and the driver) go on an afternoon trip to New York City. They are supposed to meet the princess's parents for dinner, but they are too busy so they just say hello and then send them on their way. The princess gets super pissed. Plus the nanny is a total blow-hard and doesn't want to walk or do anything fun. The girls ditch her for awhile.

During this entire time, MA's dad has been out of town. Sharon has started referring to herself as Mom with MA and kind of tries to turn her into Dawn. So MA kind of understands misses her parents and also people not just loving her for who she is. So she relates to the princess, and she gets better.

MA has a talk with Sharon, not necessarily about her acting like MA is Dawn, but just about how Sharon has lost a lot people she loves and she's kind of gripping on to MA bc she loves her so much. So that's all better. For Thanksgiving, MaryAnne's dad comes home and they also invite over the princess, the nanny and the driver. And Dawn comes home!

The end.

Takeaways
This book was pretty boring.

The nanny never left the princess's side, yet they needed a babysitter too. It was weird.

By the end of the book, MA was referring to Sharon as Mom. It was kind of nice.

Also, Dawn coming home was a surprise for Sharon, and I legit teared up a little when Sharon saw her.

Best Character
I would say Sharon. I mean, girl has been through a lot. BOTH of her kids ditched her for her ex-husband.

Worst Character
That nanny was pretty insufferable.

#101 - Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout

Timeline
Halloween of their 7th repeat

Plot
Claudia sucks at school. I mean, this is her 7th repeat of 8th grade and it is the worst one yet. Not only does she not understand the material in any of her classes, but she doesn't care. Like...she does not have one fuck to give. Except for her art class, of course, which is where she learns about a famous artist who is coming to the local college to teach a course. Her art teacher encourages her to apply, which she does.

On the same day she learns from her math teacher that she really truly sucks and has to have her parents sign her failed quiz, she learns that she made it into the class. She talks to them about school, and also asks for permission to take the art class. They agree to let her, but she has to hire a tutor. They hire Janine's friend, Rosa. Rosa really helps Claudia, but she is still bombing everything. Finally, the principal decides that Claudia has to go back and take 7th grade again.

At first this oddly isn't the worst thing in the world - Claudia is doing really well in her classes, all the 7th graders look up to her, and her art class is going amazingly. But then the principal delivers the blow that she can't go to the 8th grade dance and Claudia gets super depressed. She doesn't even tell anyone in her family or any of her friends about the art show, which she wins 1st place. Then finally she realizes, who gives a fuck if she is one grade below her friends? They still love her. So she gets over it.

The side story is that Jackie Rodowsky is in the hospital still due to his head injury from the last book. Kristy goes to visit him and sees all the sad kids, so she creates a "Hospital Buddy" program with the kids in Stoneybrook. It ends with a Halloween party for all of them.

Takeaways
This is yet another example of a title that makes no sense - Claudia at no point talks or mentions dropping out of middle school.

It seems super stupid that the 6th and 7th graders have an after school Halloween party and the 8th graders get a dance.

Also, since Claudia, Mallory and Jessi can't go to the dance, they get asked to take all the kids in Stoneybrook trick or treating. Where the fuck are the parents? Like NONE of them want to take their kids trick or treating?

When Jackie gets out of the hospital, his mom calls the BSC just to tell them he is out, but she wants him to take it easy for awhile. What is the BSC's answer to that? Throwing him a party.

It is so so frustrating how much of a complete dumbass Claudia is. And she does not even attempt to be better.

Also, this book was so good about bringing up things from the past and being consistent. It even talked about how the BSC breakup just happened, and things are still kind of awkward at meetings.

Best Character
Claudia's parents, for letting her take the art class. I don't know that I would have made that choice as a parent.

Worst Character
Claudia because it is so so so so so so sosososososo frustrating how stupid she is and she doesn't even try.

#100 - Kristy's Worst Idea

Timeline
The seventh repeat just started.

Plot
The new (seventh repeat of the same grade) school year just started and everyone is back from vacations. Kristy wants to do something huge to beat out the festival Abby did while she was president and her idea is horrible. She wants to like hang apples from trees and do a fall festival. No one wants to. Kristy gets extremely butthurt about it, then everyone starts having conflicts with meeting times and she gets even more butthurt. When babysitting Jackie he falls out of a tree and hurts his ankle, so then she feels like a shitty babysitter as well.

That same day there is a meeting where people are late and talking about conflicts with jobs and meeting times. Kristy blows her wad and starts saying super shitty things, which leads to her threatening to just shut the whole club down. What she wasn’t expecting was everyone to tell her that’s a great idea. So they SHUT THE CLUB DOWN.

Three weeks come and go and everyone misses the club but no one is ready to get back together. Other girls in town start taking some jobs. Finally Jackie ends up in the hospital and they all end up there. It ends up Jackie was riding his bike to Kristy’s to apologize for making the club break up when he fell out of the tree.

Kristy calls a meeting and suggests getting back together. They all admit they miss it and get back together.

Takeaways
Kristy is a huge bitch to her friends. Like she says Jessi has to choose between ballet and the BSC when her lessons switch to Friday’s. Um, get over yourself Kristy.

I wonder why this version of 8th grade is so much harder than the previous six.

I have a hard time believing the kids in Stoneybrook really give a shit about the BSC. Like Jamie Newton, a 4 year old, shuns Claudia and Stacey bc he’s mad they broke up.

Best Character
I seriously don’t even know. They are all morons. Maybe Logan bc he calls Kristy out when she’s being a psycho hose beast at the meeting when they all break up.

Worst Character
Kristy because of the way she talks to her friends.

#99 - Stacey's Broken Heart

Timeline
The last few weeks of summer before their seventh repeat

Plot
Stacey and Robert are still seeing each other. She is going to spend a week in New York so she can babysit one of her old clients when the parents get ready for an art show. Robert gets kind of shady right before she leaves - not answering her calls, lying about where he’s going. One of Stacey’s side friends calls to tell her she saw Robert at dinner with another girl. But then the morning she leaves he shows up with flowers and goes with her to the train station so he must love her right?

While in New York, Stacey meets Ethan who is helping with the art show. Then Claudia calls to tell her that Robert is officially cheating with a girl named Andi. Stacey is upset but then like....hmmm maybe this is for the better. She exchanges numbers with Ethan before she leaves.

When she gets home, Andi shows up and Stacey is like it’s fine, he’s all yours. Then Robert calls her and they break up.

Side story is that Kristy is on vacation so Abby is acting president and she’s a complete fucking moron. She changes all the rules and tries to plan a festival in a week. It bombs. Everyone thinks Kristy is a better president even though she’s overbearing and bossy.

Takeaways
I can’t handle how grown up this relationship was when these KIDS are 13.

Stacey’s dad tries telling Stacey she needs to settle down about Robert and she gets all pissy about it. Which just proves she’s not mature enough for this serious of a relationship.

The girl Robert cheats with is one of the girls Stacey was hanging out with when she got kicked out of the BSC. She had since stopped hanging out with them and convinced Robert they were bad girls too. That has to hurt.

Best Character
Claudia. She goes spying on Robert with Stacey, then she’s the one who has to call her in New York to tell her it’s official, he’s cheating. That sucks.

Worst Character
It’s a tie between the cheater Robert and Abby, the worst president ever.

#98 - Dawn and Too Many Sitters

Timeline
Summer after their 6th repeat

Plot
Dawn and Jeff head to Stoneybrook to spend the summer. Right away the BSC learns about a trip to Hawaii, sponsored by the school, that will allow SMS students to go to $500. Non-SMS students can sign up on a waiting list.

They all decide they want to go, and they convince their parents to let them. Even Dawn’s mom, who just paid to fly her daughter home for the summer. The catch is they have to pay for half the trip themselves. They start babysitting like crazy and selling all their shit. Finally, a 4th of July carnival puts them over the top. They all get a spot, even Dawn.

The ten year old triplets and Jeff decide that they want to be Baby-Sitters and ask the girls if they can go in jobs and train. The BSC agrees, but it’s a disaster. The boys act like fucking immature morons and make the jobs harder for the girls. Finally the club decides to fire them, but the boys quit first.

Takeaways
When I saw this was a Dawn book I was so annoyed. Thank God she was in Stoneybrook almost the whole time.

Stacey says “what am I, chopped liver?” And Dawn explains that Stacey picked up that expression in New York...nope.

I can’t believe how immature the boys act on the sitting jobs and I don’t understand why this stupid arrangement didn’t get cancelled right away.

Also, Dawn continues to be the most selfish person alive. As soon as she gets to her moms she is begging to leave again.

On a side note, $500 for a trip to Hawaii, and that includes airfare and hotel? Nope.

Best Character
Kristy and Mallory, because even though they can’t go on the trip, they still help the girls raise money.

Worst Character
The boys for thinking they could be Baby-Sitters when they are still little jerky ten year old boys.

#97 - Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby

Timeline
May of their sixth repeat

Plot
Claudia’s Aunt Peaches has a baby girl. She is named Lynn, after Claudia’s middle name. They also ask Claudia to be the godmother. As soon as they get home, Claudia goes into hyper manic behavior, constantly hanging out, correcting Peaches on her parenting skills, staying for dinner, etc. finally Peaches has a mini meltdown and tells Claudia she needs some space. Claudia does not take it well and she storms out of the house.

It’s perfect timing because Claudia is leaving for a class trip to Philadelphia. She spends the weekend in the city and this girl from her class, Melissa, is always hanging out her. Since this girl is not in the BSC, she obviously can’t be allowed in so Stacey, Abby and Claudia are all annoyed with her. Melissa convinces Claudia to leave the group to go to a museum and they get lost. Then they get in trouble and Claudia lashes out at her. On the bus ride home, melissa apologizes for being a pest, and somehow Claudia makes the connection that she was also a pest to Peaches. She calls and apologizes and everything is fine.

The side story is pretty lame - the Arnold twins see a documentary on how to make a horror film and decide to make their own.

Takeaways
It’s crazy how blind these girls are to how their know it all parenting skills might be off putting to actual adults. Like Claudia didn’t think Peaches and her husband would make it the weekend without her.

I want to go to Philadelphia and run up the Rocky stairs.

I don’t know why it was just okay for Claudia to go to Peaches house every day. At 13 she never has to tell her parents where she is going? Like her mom should have just said no, you aren’t going, you’re being annoying leave them alone.

It’s so annoying to me that they took a school trip to Philadelphia and spent the afternoon in a fucking mall.

Best Character
Peaches, for giving birth at the beginning of this story and not snapping on Claudia for quite awhile. I would have freaked on her on day one.

Worst Character
Probably Claudia for being stupid about how stupid she was acting. And also being mean to a girl who just wants to be friends with her.

#96 - Abby's Lucky Thirteen

Timeline
Spring of their sixth repeat

Plot
Abby and her twin sister, Anna are preparing for their Bat Mitzvah. Abby is super stressed and she bombs a math test because of it. Her mom sides with Abby and goes to the school and yells at her teacher. Abby continues on her merry way, preparing for her BM, playing soccer, babysitting and ignoring math. So of course she’s not ready for her next math test. Some kid offers her a study guide for three bucks, which she happily pays for and then studies it all night. When she gets the test the next day, she is shocked to see she didn’t buy a study guide, she bought a copy of the test!

When she gets her test back, she misses one question - and unfortunately so do five other people in her class. And they all missed it in the same way. Her teacher accuses them all of cheating and suspends them all for three days. Abby goes back to the classroom later and tries to tell her the truth but she doesn’t buy it. Abby doesn’t want to tell her mom she’s suspended so she just hides out, but her mom catches her on the last day. She gets grounded for a month, but her mom wants to talk to the teacher again.

The next day Abby catches Mary Anne buying a “study guide” from the same kid, so they both go to the teacher to explain. The teacher believes them this time. Abby feels better and her BM goes off beautifully.

The side story in this book is that all the neighborhood kids are grounded from their televisions, so they all start acting out their favorite tv shows.

Takeaways
I realize it’s probably disrespectful to call a Bat Mitzvah a “BM” but that’s a lot to type out and I’m on my iPad.

Abby doesn’t even tell the BSC about her suspension because she says they “aren’t that close”. Interesting.

I love that the kids all got grounded from their TVs. So they have to actually play. Now kids get grounded from their electronics and have to just watch tv.

I don't understand how a teacher can decide to suspend a group of students for three days. Doesn't something like that need to come from the principal?

Best Character
Probably Mary Anne because she’s incredibly shy but goes to the math teacher and explains what happened and stands up for her and Abby.

Worst Character
That dick who sold them both a copy of the test and lied about it.

#95 - Kristy + Bart = ?

Timeline
Early spring, their 6th repeat

Plot
Kristy and Bart have been hanging out for awhile, but never really have defined their relationship. But Bart is ready to kick it up a notch. He invites Kristy to a movie, and then makes out with her A LOT. Kristy is pretty annoyed, because she wants to watch the movie. She kisses him for awhile, but then tells him she wants to watch the movie.

Then one night Kristy is babysitting at her own house, and all the kids went to bed so she was on the couch watching a baseball game. Bart shows up and it is ON. They are full on making out when........her parents walk in. She gets grounded for the weekend and she is so pissed at Bart about it she calls and dumps him on Monday.

But then she starts to feel bad. She wants Bart, but not like that, but kind of like that, and she doesn't want him to like anyone else. So she calls Mary Anne, who basically tells her she isn't mature enough for a boyfriend yet. So Kristy asks Bart to go on a bike ride and she explains that to him, and he is like meh, okay. And then the book just kind of ends.

The side story is that the kids of Stoneybrook, at the organization of the BSC, are having a "record breaking" contest. Then they did a show. It was a marvelous hit.

Takeaways
The "record breaking" contest where there was an actual show that all of Stoneybrook attended sounds like the most boring thing in the entire world. An entire room of people watching some kid see how many pieces of cereal he can cram down his yumhole? Gross.

Dude, Kristy and Bart are FULLOUT making out in this book. I think it's the most action anyone in the BSC has seen so far. (At least, what we know of. I am sure Stacey and Robert are doing it.)

Kristy seems SO IMMATURE in this book.

Kristy may be a lesbian.

Also, she calls Bart "Bartman" when she breaks up with him. If that isn't a sign that you're in the friendzone, BARTMAN, I don't know what is.

Best Character
Probably Bart. He just wants to get his dick wet. And when Kristy dumps him, he immediately just finds another girl to take to the dance. Players gotta play.

Worst Character
I will go with Kristy, only because she acts like a fucking knucklehead in this entire book. And the "record breaking" contest idea is so lame.

#94 - Stacey McGill, Super Sitter

Timeline
Valentine's Day of their 6th repeat

Plot
Stacey is a New York girl at heart. Did you know that about her? She LUVS NYC. She is going to spend a weekend with her dad, and is all excited about what they are going to do so she is talking to Robert about it. He is like meh....not really into the city. So rather than just accept that not everyone LUVS NYC, Stacey decides she will take Robert into the city and take him to a play to show him how magical the city is. She decides she will take every sitting job she can so she can earn enough money to take Robert out for a night on the town (as 13 year olds).

At the next BSC meeting, a new client, Mrs. Cheplin, calls. She wants a sitter for every single school day, 315p-530p. The sitter would need to meet her two kids, Adam and Dana, at the bus and walk them home, and then take care of them until she gets home at 530p. Also, she will expect some housework to be done. Kristy is like no way, we aren't tying a sitter up every single day, and we aren't housekeepers. But Stacey convinces her to let her do it. She goes to meet with Mrs. Cheplin, who is kinda bitchy about how young Stacey is, but agrees to let her try. She brings up the housework thing again, and Stacey tries to explain that she will be there for the kids, not to be a maid, but then Mrs. Cheplin tells her she will pay her a ton and Stacey agrees. Mrs. Cheplin agrees to try this arrangement out for a week.

So Stacey works her ass off for a week. The kids are fine, except Dana has diabetes too and she uses it as an excuse to get out of shit she doesn't want to do. Stacey doesn't fall for it and literally pokes her finger to test her blood sugar, which is always fine. After one week, Mrs. C. decides another two week trial period is necessary. Stacey starts blowing off everyone in her life for this job. She is trying to raise money to take Robert out, but she is completely ignoring him. The list of chores start getting longer and longer, so long that Stacey can't get everything done in two hours, in which Mrs. Cheplin is a huge fucking bitch. Stacey wants to quit, but is obsessed with the money. Finally one day, Dana isn't faking it and Stacey has to find a ride to a doctor. She does, but when she gets home Mrs. C is already there, and she is a complete lunatic that her housework isn't done. Stacey snaps back and explains that Dana was sick, and Mrs. C kind of apologizes but not really.

Finally Stacey realizes enough is enough, and she quits. Mrs. C is a bitch about her quitting and calls her immature. Stacey apologizes to Robert and explains what she was doing.

There is also a side story of Logan wanting to buy MA a ring for Valentine's Day, and he takes Kristy with him to pick it out. Some of the kids see this happening, and they tell all the other kids, so they start being mean to Logan and Kristy bc they are having an affair behind MA's back. It all works out.

Takeaways
That is the longest plot synopsis I have ever written. I basically rewrote the book.

What the fuck is wrong with Mrs. Cheplin? She was pissed bc Stacey is only 13 - did you do no research on the BSC before you called? Also, at one point her chore list is TWO PAGES LONG. She could have done half those chores in the time it took her to write them all out.

One of the chores is "put stamps on envelopes". Are you fucking kidding me?

I understand that works for two hours every day is a lot for an 13 year old, but Stacey's life like falls apart bc of this job. She has to sleep for 12 hours on the weekends. I feel like maybe she needs to get a grip.

Best Character
Kristy, because she was right. Stacey never should have taken that stupid job.

Worst Character
That dumb bitch Mrs. Cheplin

#93 - Mary Anne and the Memory Garden

Timeline
Winter of their 6th repeat

Plot
MA wants to get to know more people and be more social (be careful with that, MA, those kinds of things get you kicked out of the BSC). She gets the opportunity pretty quickly in her English class - she gets put into a group with three people- Amelia, Gordon and Barbara. They have a brainstorming sess at MA's house, and it goes amazingly well - the group just clicks and they have the best ideas. When they leave that night, Amelia is going to dinner with her family. She jokingly invites the group to go with her, but they won't all fit in her dad's tiny car.

The next day, SMS is a buzzing with the news of a car accident and the death of a 13 year old girl. They soon find out it was Amelia's family and she has died.

Kristy takes the news especially hard for some reason, and MA makes it her mission to take care of her and make sure she's okay. Kristy becomes obsessed with SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) and starts a Stoneybrook chapter. She throws herself into the project and seems to get back to her old self, and that's when MA starts to lose it. She sinks into a depression and decides to go to a therapist. The therapist points out that Kristy didn't handle the news well bc it's something she can't explain or control - and MA wanted to take care of her bc that's what MA does - and then when Kristy threw herself into a project and MA didn't have to take care of her anymore, reality set it.

MA decides she wants to do something in memory of Amelia, and comes up with the idea of a memory garden. She goes to Amelia's best friend and brother, and they work on it together.

Also, there is a boring side story about Dawn finding a dirty, litter covered field in California and she gets her friends and babysitting charges to clean it and they plant a garden.

Takeaways
This book is not named correctly; the memory garden does not even come into the story until the second to last chapter.

Dude, I legit cried reading this book. That shit is rough.

Enough with the Dawn in California shit. No one cares. She gone.

Best Character
Mary Anne. She broke my heart this book.

Worst Character
The drunk driver who killed Amelia.

#92 - Mallory's Christmas Wish

Timeline
Christmas of their 6th repeat school year

Plot
It's Christmas time in Stoneybrook and Mallory has this great idea about having a old-fashioned Christmas. She wants to make presents and have fires and sing carols and chop down their own Christmas tree. She takes the idea to her family and they all agree that it sounds fun.

Then a man comes to the door with a $10,000 check. Apparently there was a contest at the local TV station that Vanessa submitted the family for - basically viewers could submit ideas for an original Christmas celebration, and the winner would get filmed throughout the entire holiday week and get a cash prize. The whole family is so excited and agrees to be filmed.

At first it is okay, with the film crew just kind of there. But then they start constantly getting in the way, breaking things, screaming CUT in the kids's faces and demanding they redo things for the camera. They go to the mall with the family to see Santa and they completely ruin the experience. They go to the tree cutting place and ruin that experience. Mallory and the BSC are helping with a Christmas Carnival at the old age home and they go along to record and actually end up getting kicked out of the building. Mallory is threatened to never bring them along again.

The BSC is having their holiday party at Mallory's because Kristy thinks it will be good publicity for the club to be on camera. However, that is the one time the crew decides to take a break. Kristy is a whiny little brat about it, begging them to stay, and then she pouts through the whole party.

Finally on Christmas Eve everything comes to a head. The crew is totally disrupting the family's celebration, and finally Mr. Pike asks them to leave for awhile. While they are gone, they have a family meeting and decide they are done being celebrities. When they come back, they give them the $10,000 check back and tell them to get lost.

Takeaways
There is so much wrong with this story.

First of all, I highly doubt the family would have gotten paid until after this whole thing was done.

Second of all, they had made it all the way up to Christmas. I wish they would have just kicked them out, had their real Christmas celebration, wrapped everything back up and then faked it for the camera. Then at least they could have kept their money.

Also, that was pretty shitty of the Pike's because now the news crew literally has nothing. They can't find another family on Christmas Eve.

The Pike's house sounds like complete chaos all of the time. I would go crazy there.

Kristy's obsession with getting publicity for the club has been so annoying in so many books.

This whole book was like a sneak peek into life now - where reality shows are a big deal. I wonder how truly annoying it is to constantly having to be redoing things for the camera.

Best Character
Mr. Pike for finally telling the crew to GTFO.

Worst Character
That shitty news crew.

#91 - Claudia and the First Thanksgiving

Timeline
Thanksgiving of their 6th repeat

Plot
Claudia, Abby and Stacey are in the same "Short Takes" class for this semester and it is themed History of Thanksgiving, or something like that. They decide to write a play about the true history of Thanksgiving and have third graders act it out. As they start to do their research, they realize how different the world was back then - the way Indians were treated, the way Pilgrims treated woman, etc. They write their play true to history.

When parents start getting wind of it, they complain to the teachers. When teachers get wind of it, they complain to the principal. The principal then issues an ultimatum - either rewrite the play with the traditional history, or don't do it. The class decides to rewrite the play, but let everyone know it is censored. Then they perform the real, uncensored play at the middle school, complete with protesters for both sides.

The subplot is that every single babysitter has these great family plans for Thanksgiving, and every single one of them get cancelled. So they decide to bring all their families together for a huge Thanksgiving at Kristy's house. Their parents go for it and they all eat dinner together.

Takeaways
It seems weird to me that their parents all went along with this huge Thanksgiving. They must all be friends, too.

It also seems weird that parents would actually protest a middle school play.

This book was kind of boring. There isn't much to say.

Oh, and Dawn comes back. She doesn't tell anyone, and just shows up at Mallory's when all the babysitters are there.

Best Character
I will have to go with Abby, because when the parents start bitching about the play, she stands up to them about their freedom of speech.

Worst Character
All those stupid fucking parents who have nothing better to do then hide the truth from their children and protest a middle school play.

#90 - Welcome to the BSC, Abby

Timeline
Fall of their 6th repeated year

Plot
Abby is new to town and the newest member of the BSC. She is a jock, but she also has a bad case of asthma so she needs to be careful. While babysitting for the Papadakis's, she has a very bad asthma attack. Hannie gets really scared and runs across the street to Kristy's. Kristy is then very worried about Abby's ability to babysit without dying.

Stoneybrook is doing a town carnival to raise money for arts in the schools. All the girls's families are totally into it, but when Abby tries to get her family involved, they are like meh. The BSC also decides to do a booth, too, so Abby will be involved no matter what, but she really wants her family to do something.

Abby (who is a twin - I don't know if you know that) and Anna get yelled at by their mom to get their shit unpacked, so they take an afternoon and start working on it. During that time, Abby finds some cake mold pans and comes up with the brilliant idea to have a food booth where people can buy a baked good and decorate it. Anna still isn't excited and tells her they can talk about it later. Then the girls find a box of their dad's old stuff (he's dead - I don't know if you know that). They think their mom packed it up and forgot about it, so they get mad at her.

Finally the carnival comes, and while Abby's family agrees to  help , she is on her own at the booth. It is a huge hit, so the next day she goes home and everyone helps her make more stuff. The next morning Anna goes with her, and her mom has to go to work for awhile (in New York), but will take the train back early so she can help in the afternoon. During the carnival, which Anna is now into and enjoying, Abby hears a news report that a train from New York has been derailed and people are hurt. She starts to lose her mind, so her and Anna shut the booth down and Kristy's mom drives them to the train station, then home, then back to the carnival. They still know nothing. Then all of a sudden their mom comes running up and they hug it out. Turns out her train was behind the train that derailed. They are so relieved that they won't leave each other's sides the rest of the day, and they have a blast working their food booth together.

Everything is great, the carnival saves the arts programs, and Kristy gets over her worries that Abby will die babysitting.

Oh, and also the girls ask their mom about the box and she says she shoved all his stuff away and hid it because the pain was too much for her.

Takeaways
So much happens in this book.

But there aren't a lot of takeaways, other than what I already said in the plot summary.

There is a really cute side story about how Shannon Kilbourne and Anna are becoming best friends.

Oh, and there is another sidestory how the Arnold twins being that FUCKING GOAT to the carnival and sell polaroid pictures with the goat.

Best Character
I honestly think it's Abby, which is weird bc the title character hardly ever wins this one. She is just funny and not overwhelming and not drama.

Worst Character
THAT STUPID DISGUSTING GOAT.

#89 - Kristy and the Dirty Diapers

Timeline
Fall of their 6th repeat year

Plot
Kristy's Krushers and Bart's Bashers are having another World Series. Kristy's Krushers wins the first game and right after, a man approaches Kristy and wants to buy the team, essentially. He offers her brand her uniforms and all new equipment for the chance to sponsor the team. She hesitates and then just goes for it. Then she gets the box of uniforms and sees that the sponsor has taken over and renamed the team - they are now Davis Diapers. The Krushers hate, and start playing like shit. Mr. Davis is at the next game and calls them all losers. Also, some of the Krushers refuse to wear the uniforms, and Mr. Davis threatens Kristy telling her they better all be in the proper uniform next time.

In the meantime, Kristy has new neighbors, Anna and Abby. Anna is quiet and musical, Abby is a loud, kind of obnoxious jock. Abby kind of naturally starts coaching the kids in the neighborhood, and after getting all pissy about it, Kristy embraces it and asks her to be her co-coach. Together, Kristy and Abby stand up to Diaper man and tell him to get bent. They become the Krushers again and win the World Series.

Kristy and the girls invite the twins to join the club. Abby accepts, but Anna is too busy with her music.

Takeaways
Kristy is still pretty terrible in this book. She's been terrible for awhile.

Stacey is still on probation in this book and she is babysitting Dru...

Oh, I forgot about that subplot. Morbidda Destiny's grandchild is staying with her for awhile bc her parents are getting divorced. Her name is Dru, and she asks to join Kristy's Krushers but then like sucks on purpose? Then she quits but tells people that Kristy kicked her off. Then she starts a Krushers band.

Anyway, Stacey is one of the people that Dru tells that Kristy kicked her off the team, and Kristy is all annoyed that Stacey didn't call her out for lying.

Why would parents send their kid to live with her grandma just because they are getting divorced?

It seems weird that Kristy ends up inviting Abby to not only coach her team, but join her club, because she spends a good majority of this book hating on her.

Best Character
Probably Abby, because Kristy is just letting Diaper Man walk all over her, and Abby is like, are you fucking kidding me? Then Kristy suddenly has the nerve to tell him to get bent.

Worst Character
Mr. Diaper Man

#88 - Farewell, Dawn

Timeline
Summer, after their 5th repeat

Plot
Dawn's friend Sunny's mom is sick, and Dawn can't stop thinking about going back to California to be with her. Plus she just wants to be there. So she tells her mom she wants to move their, permanently. Very quickly Dawn's mom makes it happen.
For some reason, Dawn tells Kristy before she tells MaryAnne. Kristy tells Claudia, who tells Stacey, who tells Robert, who tells Logan, who tells MaryAnne. Dawn can't believe how mad Mary Anne is. Then MaryAnne stops being mad and just starts being complacent towards Dawn, which is worse. Dawn makes some big fancy dinner to try to talk to her, and MaryAnne is like "Dude, I'm not going to spend the next two weeks saying goodbye to you. Just chill." So then Dawn gets it in her head that MaryAnne is planning a big grand gesture to say goodbye to her.

They throw a goodbye party for her, and somehow there are 20 people there, even though the BSC is pretty strict about not having outside friends. Dawn is waiting for the grand gesture, but of course it doesn't happen. Finally at home one night MA cries and tells her how much she will miss her.

The sub story is that James Hobart broke his leg and they decide to do a "Christmas in July" type event for him. They all go to his house and celebrate Christmas and give him little presents.

Takeaways
Dude, Dawn is the worst. Literally the worst. She's so selfish.

But I have to admit, I'm glad I don't have to listen to her shit anymore. I hope there aren't any "Dawn in California" books moving forward.

I love how realistic Mary Anne was in this book. It's exactly how I am when I know someone is leaving. I just cut them out right away. Like this girl at work put in her notice last week, and I have just been living my life like she is already gone.

Also, how stupid is Dawn for thinking MA was going to do some big grand gesture. That is not Mary Anne's style at all.

And WHY did Dawn tell Kristy first, who has the biggest mouth in the world?

Best Character
MaryAnne. She wins bc I love how she put Dawn in her place and barely cried in this book at all. Maybe she is sick of Dawn's bullshit too.

Worst Character
FUCKING DAWN. Goodbye, don't come back.

#87 - Stacey and the Bad Girls

Timeline
Summer, after their 5th repeat.

Plot
Stacey still is not in the BSC. She is still hanging out with Robert all the time, and her new group of friends are basically his. There are five girls she is hanging out with, but one, Andi, is her closest friend in the group. However, she is leaving for a few weeks so Stacey is sad, but excited to get to know the other four girls. She has a lunch to say goodbye to Andi, and the other girls come too. They take note that Stacey has an empty house to herself, and start coming over daily. Mrs. McGill gets annoyed bc they are leaving messes and eating all the food, and tells Stacey to get a goddamned job. Stacey agrees and starts searching. She reaches a bunch of dead ends, and then her mom suggests she go to the department store where she works and interview for a job in the daycare area. Stacey interviews and gets the job. Her new friends start coming to the store every day, waiting for her to get off. Then they walk around the store, but they never buy anything.

One day, they ask Stacey to buy them stuff using her discount. She feels weird about it, but does it. The next day they pay her back and then take her to lunch. They say it's her commission. She is confused, and they explain they returned all the items and got the full refund, so they made money. Stacey is SO PISSED but then she gets over it because they tell her that their favorite band is having a concert on Saturday and they are all going to go stand in line to get tickets. Well....Stacey ends up standing in line alone and buying all of their tickets. She is SO PISSED but then she gets over it because she is so excited for the concert.

When they get to the concert, the other girls immediately start drinking from flasks/bottles they snuck in. Of course Stacey can't, because of her diabetes, but also she just wouldn't. She is SO PISSED, but gets over it because the band comes on. But since the girls are drunk, they start fights and get loud, so security comes and takes them away. That is when they find a bottle wrapped up in Stacey's sweater. All of their parents get called, and while Stacey's mom acknowledges that she knows Stacey wasn't drinking, she is still grounded for three days. Her mom also asks her to consider not hanging out with those girls anymore.

All Stacey wants to do is be friends with the BSC again. While they are not perfect, all together they are friends she decides she wants to have. She gets a chance to reconnect when Amy, Dawn and MaryAnne's young cousin who is staying with them, runs away. She thinks the department store is a train station, so she goes in there. Stacey recognizes her from conversations she has had with Claudia, so she calls MA and Dawn. That makes her realize she wants to rejoin the BSC. She calls Claudia and asks her to bring it up at a meeting. Claudia does, and they decide to bring Stacey back on a probationary status. Stacey quits her job at the daycare to focus on her BSC work.

Takeaways
Okay 1. those girls would never all be friends with each other. One was a cheerleader, one was a thug, one was like a hippie....they would never. ever ever,

The whole subplot was Dawn and MA's cousin, whose parents were going on a THREE WEEK vacation, was dumped off with people she had never met. No wonder she ran away.

Dawn gets a call from her California best friend Sunny in this book, whose mom has lung cancer from smoking as a teenager. She then whines and cries that she needs to go to California to be with her.  1 - nice PSA on smoking and 2 - nice foreshadowing because I think the next book is called Farewell Dawn.

When Stacey goes back to discuss getting back in the BSC, they are like "um what about Robert?" which shows they haven't really changed and they still consider the BSC to be a cult.

Stacey's mom demands she get a job for the summer - Stacey is 13. It's not even legal for her to work, except to babysit, which the BSC kind of has a monopoly on.

Best Character
Honestly, probably Stacey. She is trying to make new friends, trying to be a good person but those girls are pretty terrible.

Worst Character
Those stupid fucking bad girls.

#86 - Mary Anne and Camp BSC

Timeline
The first three weeks of summer, after their fifth repeat

Plot
Mallory and MaryAnne are talking and realize that when school ends there is going to be a three week time period before summer camps start where they are going to be really busy babysitting all the kids of Stoneybrook. To be proactive, at the next club meeting they decide to do a summer camp, called Camp BSC, so they can babysit all the kids at once. The theme is a Circus Camp, and there are a set of kids (Karen Brewer and the other rich kids) who have been to a real Circus Camp and are huge snobs to the kids who haven't been.

There is one little girl, Alicia, who doesn't take too well to the camp and doesn't want to go on any of the field trips. MaryAnne feels bad for her so she always stays back with her. At first everyone gets it, but then the other sitters are like dude....you should probably stop enabling her.

But part of the reason MA is feeling so sorry for Alicia is bc she is also feeling like an orphan. During this time, MaryAnne's dad announced that there is a big merger at his work and he has to leave town for a few weeks. Dawn and her mom are super fucking pumped to "bach" it and plan on partying it up. They are actually quite disgusting, throwing food at the television and leaving it, only ordering from places that deliver, not doing the dishes or the laundry or anything, etc. It's pretty disgusting. MA misses her dad and actually asks him to come home early, but he kind of brushes her off and asks to talk to her stepmom.

MaryAnne is on a bike ride and has a pretty bad fall, twisting her ankle. She sinks into a pretty bad self pity hole. Then Alicia stops being a little baby and realizes she is missing out on all the fun, and then MA realizes she's being a pretty big baby too. She talks to Sharon about how she is feeling. They clean the house and pick up Richard at the airport. The end.

Takeaways
MaryAnne is pretty annoying during this book, but wow Dawn and her mom are immature bitches. Throwing popcorn at the tv? Refusing to clean anything up? I wonder how much money they spent on delivery charges, since they would only order from places that deliver. Also, how big is Stoneybrook that, in the early 90's, they had that many places that would deliver?

I wonder how much the BSC charges per kid for this camp. Also, do the Pikes get a discount since they are sending so many?

Karen was a huge bitch in this book - just a little rich snob. I see that getting worse as she gets older.

This book was pretty boring.

Best Character
I really don't even know. No one really stands out in this book. I guess maybe Mallory, since the whole camp thing happened bc she was smart enough to realize there was going to be a babysitting problem.

Worst Character
Disgusting Dawn and her disgusting mom.

#85 - Claudia Kishi, Live from WSTO!

Timeline
Late spring of their 5th repeat

Plot
Claudia is feeling bored so she comes up with a (ridiculous) list of things to try, such as tuba, dance classing, choir, etc. They all lead to dead ends, but then she hears of a radio contest where they are looking for young people to host a radio show. She submits a pretty clever essay and ends up winning. When she goes to the studio for her first day, she finds out Ashley Wyeth, who is an artsy 8th grader who Claudia was good friends with for a short time but now doesn't speak to, got 2nd place in the essay contest so she gets to be her co-host.

The girls decide to do a "For Kids Only" show where each show has a theme and they have guests come on to sing songs, read passages, be interviewed, etc. They do auditions to get acts for each of their shows, and Kristy becomes obsessed with getting on the show. Finally, she submits an idea that fits right into Claudia's theme, so she lets her on.

The show ends up being a huge success and the mom of one of the listeners calls in to thank the girls and sends in a huge check, which is a tremendous help bc the station is almost ready to shut down due to budget issues.

Takeaways
This is like the third book in a row where Kristy is absolutely awful. She has so many terrible ideas and she just thinks she is a fucking genius. Also, when Claudia wins, she somehow gets Charlie to drive her to her first day and then insists on going in with her, and then tries to follow her back to the meeting. It's seriously awful.

Oh, and she tries to get Claudia to say "This is Claudia Kishi and this show is sponsored by the BabySitters Club!" Claudia says no.

The first week's theme is Friendship, and Claudia talks about losing Stacey and how much she misses her. Stacey ends up calling after the show's run ends and tells Claudia congratulations. It's very sweet, and I'm surprised there was nothing about how the rest of the BSC was pissed that Claud mentions Stacey.

Again, I have to reiterate how terrible Kristy has been acting.

Best Character
Claudia, because she took a chance and tried out for the radio show, and then she does a really good job. It was nice seeing her succeed and be good at something.

Worst Character
Fucking Kristy.

#84 - Dawn and the School Spirit War

Timeline
April of their 5th repeat

Plot
The SMS baseball team is doing really well and they have a big rivalry game coming up. SMS, and the school they will be playing, each do a "School Spirit Week" where each day has a theme. Some of them are worthwhile, like "Clean Up Your School Day" and some are pretty stupid, like Pajama Day. The babysitters are split on if they are happy about Spirit Week - Claudia, Kristy and Jessi are loving it, and Dawn, MaryAnne and Mallory hate it. Well, Dawn thinks some of it is cool, but some of it is ridic. MaryAnne wants to support Logan, who plays baseball, but she cannot stand the thought of wearing her pajamas in public.

On "Each Class Wears a Different Color Day" Dawn forgets to wear yellow. The news happens to be at the school that day and they show her and trash her for not being spirited. The other kids harass her and spray paint her locker. That's when Dawn decides she must end Spirit Month. She starts a petition, which leads to an all school meeting, which leads to an all community meeting, which leads to School Spirit Month getting cancelled.

After that, Dawn and MA realize that School Spirit Month was good in theory, but the harassing needs to stop. So they draft another proposal and get it started again.

There is also a boring subplot about the Barretts and the DeWitts all being cramped up in a too small house, so they decide to add an addition to the house and have a groundbreaking party for it.

Takeaways
Okay, seriously Spirit MONTH? What the fuck. Spirit Week would be enough.

The news covers this stupid thing, and after the community meeting the entire newspaper is about the events. SERIOUSLY. Nothing else is going on in Stoneybrook? And this is the MIDDLE school, it's not even the high school.

Kristy is a huge bitch in this book about the spirit stuff. I think that character has jumped the shark. She's pretty awful.

Also, of course Mallory hates spirit month, Mallory fucking hates everything.

Oh, and MA actually fucking cries like four different times about having to wear her pajamas to school.

Best Character
I would say Logan, because he just wants everyone to remember that this whole thing is supposed to be to show support to the baseball team, not to fight each other about wearing their pajamas to school.

Worst Character
Dawn and her constant need to have a crusade to fight against. MA for being a fucking baby and crying about Pajama Day. Mallory for being a fucking bitch about EVERYTHING. Kristy for being a psychopath and just being rude AF.

#83 - Stacey vs. the BSC

Timeline
March of their 5th repeat. Stacey and Robert are planning a "end of winter, welcome spring" party.

Plot
Stacey is starting to outgrow the BSC. This was bound to happen. She is in a pretty serious relationship with Robert, and she is starting to see how immature the BSC members are. She is starting to resent them, getting annoyed with their little comments in meetings and how immature they are out in public.

She also is prioritizing Robert above everything else, including babysitting and the club meetings. All of the members are getting pissed. Dawn seems to take it pretty hard, even going as far as sneaking into a pizza place in disguise to spy on Stacey during a date.

It all comes to a head when Stacey plans a party with Robert, planning on it being at Robert's house. She only invites Claudia from the club, but since it's at Robert's house she thinks she can keep it a secret. However, at the last minute it has to be moved to Stacey's, and of course the club members find out. Dawn and MaryAnne show up at the door, and there is a fight. Claudia gets pissed too and leaves.

The club is also planning a talent show for the kids in Stoneybrook (of course they are) and Charlotte only agrees to do it if Stacey is there to support her. However, it's the morning after the party and Stacey can't stand to face the club, so she skips and Charlotte loses her mind.

Well, as you can imagine, skipping the talent show was the last straw. Stacey goes to the next BSC meeting, and they fight it out. Stacey quits the club, but then Kristy fires her as well.

Takeaways
I'm glad this book was from Stacey's point of view. This book really shows how cultish the BSC had become by this point, and also how immature the rest of the girls were considering they were 13 years old. I mean, in one year they should be getting their permits to drive. Yet Kristy spends an evening in a restaurant sticking straws up her nose and threatening to eat butter.

I don't understand why Dawn had the hardest time and seemed the most angry at Stacey. She was never that close to her? Maybe because Dawn through Stacey was hurting Mary Anne's feelings.

When the party gets moved to Stacey's house, her mom wears a backwards ball cap to look cool.

I have to say, as much as I love the BSC, this book was pretty perfect in that it showed how ridiculous the club is and how immature and stupid they look to the rest of the school. I bet they are known as the losers in school.

Best Character
I would say Stacey's mom. She lets them move a party to her house at the very last minute and then tries very hard to look cool, but not overbearing.

Worst Character
I know you think I'm going to say Stacey, and she is second worst. But the first worst is fucking Dawn, sneaking into a public place where many of her fellow students are, and spying on Stacey like a giant fucking loser.

#82 - Jessi and the Troublemaker

Timeline
February of their 5th repeat

Plot
Danielle is a babysitting charge who had cancer and is now in remission. Since she is better, her parents are going out more often and need babysitters, so the girls have been babysitting her and her little brother often.

Since Danielle is feeling so much better, she is living it up - and causing a lot of problems. She tries to go skiing down their basement steps. She tries to create a swimming pool in the bathroom. The final straw is when Jessi is there and Danielle and three of her friends decide to take the car for a spin. They crash it into another car and one of the girls winds up with stitches. Finally, after that, her parents realize that they can't let her get away with murder just because she survived cancer.

While all of that is going on, Aunt Cecilia is inviting a man over a lot, and Becca and Jessi overhear them talking about a wedding. Without ever asking anyone in their family, the girls decide they have to be talking about their own wedding. Then they hear them talking about Saturday at noon, and decide that must be the day and time. So Saturday morning they get up, get dressed in fancy clothes and wait to be told about the wedding. As you may have guessed, it is not their wedding. They are helping at a friends wedding. Jessi is so so embarrassed because she had already told all her friends about the wedding.

The end.

Takeaways
The entire subplot with Aunt Cecilia's non-wedding makes no sense. 1. Why didn't they just ask one of the adults? 2. Jessi is an idiot.

Also, after they find out they aren't getting married, Jessi decides to try to convince Aunt Cecelia to marry the guy so she doesn't have to admit to her friends that she was wrong. So she like creates this date night for them and they were like dude...we are just friends, we are not getting married.

There is also some foreshadowing in this book that Stacey is going to be fighting with the club soon...the next book is called Stacey vs the BSC. She is late to meetings and constantly backing out of babysitting jobs and calling the other members to sub for her.

Best Character
Even though she is the "troublemaker" I'm going to give this one to Danielle because she beat cancer.

Worst Character
I have to go with Jessi and Becca because they were complete fucking morons and had to look so stupid when they got all dressed up for nothing.

#81 - Kristy and Mr. Mom

Timeline

January of their 5th eighth grade year. Yep, we skipped all the holidays with no mention.

Plot
Watson, Kristy's stepfather has a heart attack. While it is minor and he ends up fine, he needs to make some lifestyle changes, one of them being he needs to cut back on stress due to work. So he decides to go very very part time at work and be more active at home. This makes Nannie feel like she's not needed, so she moves out. As soon as she moves out though, the entire household goes to shit. So Kristy goes to her new apartment and basically tells her to come back, so she does. So she's literally gone like...maybe ten days?

Subplot is that Mrs. Marshall, who has two little girls, has been calling for babysitting but not telling them that one of her friends, who has three kids, will have her kids there too. She only pays for her two, though, and her friend doesn't pay anything. She does it twice, and then when she calls for a third time both Claudia and Stacey go, and Mrs. Marshall is like nope, I only asked for one babysitter so I will only pay for one. So then they both leave and Mrs. Marshall is effed. Kristy finally calls to explain what happened, and then Mrs. Marshall realizes she's not being cool and they make up.

Takeaways
Okay first of all, when Watson has his heart attack I legit started crying.

So Mrs. Marshall calls and asks for a babysitter and then when Dawn gets there she finds the three extra kids. When Mrs. M pays her, she only pays for two. So what should have happened was Dawn goes to the next BSC meeting, then Kristy calls Mrs. Marshall and explains that anything over 4 kids requires two sitters and you have to pay her kid. Problem fucking solved. I don't understand why they didn't think of that themselves. Morons.

Nannie decides to move out without ever explaining why to anyone.

Why are all of the characters in this book afraid to actually talk to each other about their problems?

Best Character
I'm going to go with Kristy. She has to pick up the slack majorly when Watson goes into the hospital, then when he comes home and Nannie leaves. She even has to give all her siblings money for lunch when Watson not only didn't go grocery shopping, but also had no money.

Worst Character
Fucking Mrs. Marshall's cheap ass wins this one. 

#80 - Mallory Pike, #1 Fan

Timeline
Fall of their 5th sixth grade/eighth grade year

Plot
Mallory has a new assignment where she has to figure out a project on what she wants to do when she grows up. She knows she wants to be a children's author, so she decides to write a play and have the kids in the Kids Can Do Anything Club act it out. She gets permission, but then her teacher tells her that's not enough for the assignment. So she also decides to interview her new favorite author, Henrietta Hayes. She writes her three letters and just gets form letters back, but then she does a little research and finds out Henrietta lives in Stoneybrook! Mallory rides her bike to her house and not only does Henrietta invite her in, but she hires her as her assistant.

Mallory reads a quote from Earnest Hemmingway about how real authors base their writings off personal experience. So she decides the play she writes has to be about her real life, and she writes an absolutely terrible play where she is a perfect person and her entire family are a bunch of aholes. The other babysitters and all the kids in the play tell her it's mean, but she refuses to budge on her "autobiographical" ideas of writing. She then does some research on Henrietta and finds out her life has actually been really sad - both her parents and her brother died in a fire, her husband left her and her only child got killed - but rather than feel bad for her, Mallory gets pissed bc her books are happy, and clearly Henrietta is a liar bc her life isn't happy. So Mallory is super mean to her, writes her a letter and calls her a liar, and then quits her job as her assistant.

Meanwhile, Mallory's family finds out about her play and they are fucking pissed, so they boycott it. Mallory's mom gets involved and goes to see a dress rehearsal of it and agrees it is mean. So Mallory has to rewrite it. And she's pissed at her mentor. Her life is kind of awful.

Then she finally wakes up. She rewrites the play and makes up with Henrietta. Her newly written play goes well, she gets an A on her project and Henrietta is writing a new sequel to the books Mallory loves and dedicates it to her.

The end.

Takeaways
Mallory is such a fucking moron in this book. She seems to forget what "fiction" means, even though writing is supposedly her passion. Stacey is even like "um what about Peter Pan and Charlotte's Web?" and Mallory just blows her off.

When Mallory is writing her play, she calls the character based off herself "Valerie", the one based off Vanessa "Ranessa" and so on. She's so fucking stupid.

I also cannot believe how rude she is to her "favorite" author.

Also, how is a pretty famous author living in Stoneybrook but no one knows? I feel like for as many "authors" days as the school has, she maybe would have been invited since she lives down the fucking street?

Best Character
Vanessa because she takes the lead on not letting Mallory embarrass the entire family.

Worst Character
Fucking Mallory.

#79 - Mary Anne Breaks the Rules

Timeline
Halloween time of their 5th 8th grade year

Plot
Mary Anne is so so happy. Can't stop talking and thinking about how happy she is. She takes a baby-sitting job at the Kuhn's, whose dad just left and moved far away. The two girls are okay, but Jake, the oldest boy, is not handling it well. Mary Anne invites Logan over while she is babysitting to do "boy stuff" and Jake becomes a happy go lucky kid again. So MA keeps inviting Logan over. One day, the three kids and Logan and MA are inside eating a snack when the mom comes home, and the mom LOSES her mind that MA invited her boyfriend over. She yells at Logan and MA. Then calls Kristy and yells at Kristy. Then Kristy yells at MA. Then Kristy yells at Logan. MaryAnne cries through all of this.

Then Mrs. Kuhn actually talks to her son and finds out that there was no hanky panky, it was all just Logan trying to be a good mentor for Jake. So she and Jake go over to MA's house and apologize. Then she calls Logan and apologizes. Then she calls Kristy and apologizes. Everyone makes up. Mary Anne cries through all of this.

The subplot is that all the kids in Stoneybrook split up and make competing haunted houses. Alan Gray helps one of them out.

Takeaways
I have to admit, this book is pretty freaking boring.

The conflict with MA, Logan and the Kuhn's gets wrapped up in chapter 13. That left two entire chapters at the end that is just about the kids' haunted houses. Very boring.

The most annoying thing about this book is that is MA had just asked Mrs. Kuhn is Logan can come over and explained why she wanted him to, everything would have been fine. Or, maybe they should have just asked Logan to take one of the jobs. It's very un-MaryAnne like to not ask permission.

Also in this book MA says her dad got  remarried when she was 12. Nope. Wrong. She was 13. But I understand her confusion, since this is her 5th time through 8th grade.

Best Character
Dawn - everytime MA calls her to cry about stuff, Dawn tells her it will all blow over and to calm down. And she was right.

Worst Character
Probably Logan, because when Mrs. Kuhn comes home and finds him sitting there, he just fucking bolts.  Like literally just runs out the door.

#78 - Claudia and Crazy Peaches

Timeline
Fall, their 5th time through 8th grade

Plot
Claudia's crazy Aunt Peaches is pregnant, and they immediantly buy  a bigger house in Stoneybrook. There is a month between move out and move in day, so they move in with the Kishi's. Claudia is so excited, but then Peaches always wants to be doing something...making a huge dinner, going shopping, going to movies, sneaking out of the house at midnight...and Claudia ends up in trouble, but then screams at Peaches that it is all her fault. They tiptoe around each other, and then Peaches finally yells at Claudia for being an immature teenager. A few days later, Peaches loses the baby. Claudia thinks it is all her fault for yelling at Peaches. She apologizes, Peaches apologizes, and they make up.

Subplot is that there is a new babysitting charge in town, Natalie, who has no friends. The BSC takes it upon themselves to get her some friends and launch what they call the "Friendship Campaign". Natalie doesn't make it easy, but eventually becomes friends with Becca and Charlotte.

Also, MaryAnne is teaching Claudia how to knit.

Takeaways
When Peaches calls Claudia to tell her she is pregnant, she says she will have a cousin in seven months. So she is two months along. And she has already quit her job to be a stay at home mom. What the fuck.

Also, they move in with the Kishi's for a month, and the very first day Peaches and Claudia go on a massive shopping spree for everything needed for the baby. With seven months to go. So she must not be planning on having any showers?

The miscarriage was pretty tough to read about.

Claudia is the first one to babysit Natalie, and Natalie kind of latches on to her. Claudia comes home one day and Natalie is just sitting on her front step waiting for her. My question is - why did her parents allow her to just go sit on a teenagers doorstep? Natalie is 8 years old.

Best Character
MaryAnne, because Claudia is fucking hopeless when she starts knitting and she has the patience to help her learn.

Worst Character
I would say Claudia's mom. When Peaches wakes Claudia up to sneak out to get pizza at midnight, Claudia's mom freaks out on Claudia. Um. It was fucking Peaches's fault, Claudia's mom.

#77 - Dawn and Whitney, Friends Forever

Timeline
Summer time, after their fourth 8th grade year

Plot
Dawn is still in California and still babysitting with the We Love Kids Club, which has become more organized. They get a call from a dad who wants a babysitter for his 12 year old mentally handicapped daughter, Whitney. Whitney is pretty high functional, but still can't be left alone. They ask Dawn to pretend like she is just a friend coming over to hang out, to protect Whitney's feelings. She feels she is too old for a babysitter. Even though she is scared to cross the street by herself.

Everything works out well for awhile. Dawn takes Whitney over to meet her other babysitting charges, Clover and Daffodil, and Whitney is really good with them. But other people stare and judge Whitney pretty hard. Dawn is uncomfortable with how terrible people treat her, especially when one of her dad's girlfriends is absolutely terrible to her.

Oh, also, Dawn's dad is dating everyone in sight. He is trying to get over Carol, who he just broke off an engagement with. He makes Dawn and Jeff go on his second dates with him every time he meets a new girl.

Anyway, back to Whitney. She buys Dawn a best friend necklace and really truly believes they are just friends hanging out. But then one day they are together and Whitney wants to eat more ice cream, which her mom specifically told Dawn not to allow her to do. Whitney is a huge brat about it and finally Dawn is like "dude, I'm your babysitter, do what I say!" And Whitney is PISSED.

A few days later, Dawn is babysitting Clover and Daffodil and she runs inside to get them a drink and when she comes back, they are gone. She freaks the fuck out, calls the cops, organizes a search party...and she ends up finding them at a carnival with Whitney. She went to the yard and took them, thinking if she showed everyone what a good babysitter she was people would think she is a grown up. Also Carol is at the carnival and she comes up and hugs Dawn and says they Whitney did a really good job with the girls.

Dawn and Whitney make up and Dawn makes her an honorary member of the We Love Kids Club, meaning she can go on jobs with the girls.

Also, back in Stoneybrook Mrs. Barrett and Mr. DeWitt are getting married. The kids are pissed at first, and then they get over it.

Oh, and Dawn's dad and Carol get back together and get re-engaged.

Takeaways
At one point in this book, the ghost writer for Ann forgets it's a Dawn book and randomly Dawn starts speaking in the third person...."blah blah blah", Dawn said. It's highly annoying and lazy. Also there are editing errors everywhere that drove me crazy.

Dude, so much happened in this book.

First of all, were mentally challenged people really that discriminated against? Her dad's date who is awful to her is like a HUGE BITCH. She flat out says Whitney is disgusting and gross to look at. Do people really do that? Was that an 80's thing? I grew up in a town that had an entire campus for mentally handicapped people, so I guess I was just used to seeing them and it didn't bother me, ever. Why would it bother people? Maybe seeing me bothered them.

Anyway, that being said....Whitney freaking kidnaps two kids (who should have known better than to go with her, but that's another story). Why is 1. that just okay 2. it's just like accepted and no one ever tells Whitney that she kidnapped two kids and 3. it gets her A SPOT IN THE CLUB AS A CHILD CARETAKER.

Dawn's dad dates at least three different women in this book, and he always does the same thing - he makes Dawn and Jeff go with them on his second date. Why? A second date is really soon to be like "hey, I know we just met, but look at all this awesome baggage I'm bringing into our relationship," I mean, maybe it was his way of weeding people out quickly.


Best Character
Dawn. She tried really hard to keep it a secret from Whitney that she was being paid to hang out with her. And also, she could see that her dad really missed Carol and suggested he call her, even though she wasn't a huge fan of her.

Worst Character
I'm going with Whitney. 1. If she hadn't insisted on eating not one but TWO ice cream sandwiches, she never would have found out that Dawn was really her babysitter. 2. She is a kidnapper.

#76 - Stacey's Lie

Timeline
So it's the end of their 4th repeat of 6th grade/8th grade. Also, the last day of school is in this book, and two weeks later it's the 4th of July. So they must go to school until mid-June? That sucks.

Plot
Stacey still has her boyfriend Robert. She is all bummed because he is spending the summer at this place, Fire Island, and won't be in Stoneybrook. Stacey is excited to have a weekend left with him, thought, before she spends the next weekend with her dad and then Robert leaves after that. But then her dad calls and asks her to move her weekend with him up. Thinking she would still have the next weekend with Robert, she agrees. Then Robert tells her he is actually leaving a weekend early. So Stacey is all depressed and briefly considers blowing her dad off, but ultimately does not.

When she gets to New York, her dad tells her that he is taking two weeks off and wants to take Stacey wherever she wants on vacation. Of all the places in the goddamned world, she picks Fire Island so she can be with Robert. Her dad agrees, and tells her to invite Claudia. So Stacey tells Robert she will be there for two weeks, but doesn't tell Claudia or her dad that Robert will be there. Claudia finds out right away, and if okay with it for awhile but then Stacey basically blows her off several times a day. One night, Claudia and Stacey are supposed to have a best friend night, but Stacey rushes her through it so that she can go meet Robert after. Claudia FINALLY blows up. Stacey goes to meet Robert anyway, and they are walking on the beach when suddenly they see Stacey's father, with his new girlfriend. So now Stacey and her dad are mad at each other for lying.

This happens right as MaryAnne, Shannon and Kristy are coming for the long weekend. Everyone fights and hates on Stacey, and the three girls end up leaving a full day early bc it sucks. Here's the kicker - Claudia is supposed to stay for an entire week longer, but she leaves too. Fuck off, Stacey.

After that, Robert finally realizes the evil that is Stacey and breaks up with her. Girlfriend is having a rough go at it. Her and her father finally apologize to each other, and then Stacey goes to sit on the beach and pout. Robert finds her and they get back together, but he admits to her he can't really trust her after watching her lie to everyone around her.

She goes back to Stoneybrook and everyone makes up.

Also, a weird ass side story is that Mallory and Jessi have a summer job at a daycamp, where Vanessa and Haley get into a huge fight because they are wearing the same swim suit. They are terribly mean to each other, and then Jessi/Mal trick them into making up.

Takeaways
This was the first book I had to buy on iBooks because I don't have a hardcopy of it. I HATE!!

Stacey mentions that Robert is almost as hot as Jason Priestly (fucking heartthrob) and her and Claudia watch a Johnny Depp movie. It's not often that real life pop culture references end up in these books.

Stacey is just a lying, conniving bitch throughout this whole book. I wish Robert would have really broken up with her. I'm also surprised Claudia is so quick to forgive her. I would be PISSED if someone did that to me.

I love how the three girls and Claudia are like "fuck this, I'm out". You know you done fucked up when your friends would rather go home than spend an extra day on the beach with you.


Best Character
Probably Kristy, because when she gets to Fire Island and Claudia fills her in, she wastes not one minute telling Stacey it's all her fault that everyone is mad at her. Stacey paints herself as the victim basically until Robert tells her all she does is lie. Then she is like "oh yeah, I guess I did lie a lot." Fuck you, Stacey.

Worst Character
Fuck you, Stacey.