Super Special #11 - The Baby-Sitters Remember

Plot
The Babysitters are on summer vacation and they are having a slumber party. They are discussing their summer homework assignment - an essay entitled "What I did this summer" - and complaining the assignment is so lame. Jessi says she wishes the assignment had been more thought-provoking, like "what is your most vivid memory"...

Highlights

• Kristy's most vivid memory is when her mom let her babysit David Michael by herself for the first time, and it started her obsession with babysitting. 
• MaryAnne's is when she had what she thought was a really horrible babysitter, but when she is babysitting for MA, Claudia and Kristy one night they spend the night playing jokes on her and she plays right along. That's when MA discovered how important it is to be a good, fun babysitter. (I think this is a super lame "most vivid" memory.)
• Claudia's is my favorite - it is when, in first grade, they are given a homework assignment to make a self portrait. Claudia makes this amazing butterfly, full of color and life. Then, at school, she gets in trouble for not understanding the assignment and not taking it seriously. She goes home and cries to Mimi, and Mimi marches right to the school and tells the art teacher that Claudia is the ONLY one who understood the assignment, and she drew how she sees herself. 
• Stacey's is then she got super sick in New York when she first got diabetes but she wasn't diagnosed yet. She gets sick at a slumber party and wets the bed she is sharing with Laine. All her friends tell everyone at school; the entire school is terrible to her, plus she gets officially diagnosed and they can't get her blood sugar under control, so she is in the hospital a lot. When her dad tells her they are moving to Connecticut, she can't wait. 
• Dawn's is when her parents tell her and Jeff they are getting divorced and the kids are moving with their mom to Stoneybrook. 
• Mallory's is when she stands in line to meet her favorite author, then can't speak to her when she gets to the front of the line and just bursts into tears. She decides she will be an author someday so she can have that same affect on someone.
• Jessi's is when her baby brother is born. 
• Shannon's is my least favorite. It's when a new girl comes to her school and "picks" girls from the class to be best friends with. When it's Shannon's turn, Shannon is busy studying to be in the Astronomy Club. She hangs out with her for awhile, but then decides the club is more important and tells her she can't hang out, so she gets ditched. She can't believe she almost gave up a chance to be in the Astronomy Club to hang out with someone. Dumb. 
• Logan's is moving to Stoneybrook, meeting MaryAnne and falling in LUV.
• I'm so glad Abby isn't in the club yet bc I would cry my eyes out if her vivid memory was losing her dad. 

Super Special #10 - Sea City, Here We Come!

Plot

The whole group is going to Sea City. The Pike's are going like they do every year. Normally Stacey and MA go as mother's helpers, but this year Mallory is acting as one (why would she want a normal vacation when she could BABYSIT the whole time), and since Jessi is her best friend, she is invited as the other. The Barrett's are also coming, and Stacey is their mothers helper. Kristy, Dawn, Claudia and MA are coming down for the second week. Mrs. Barrett's boyfriend, along with his four kids and Logan, drive them all down. They leave after a few days (Logan goes with them), and Kristy, Dawn, Claudia and MA hitch a ride back with the Barrett's or Pike's. 

While they are there, a hurricane hits and they have to take shelter in an elementary school. But it ends up being fine. 

Highlights

• Like, you would think a fucking hurricane would be the main point of this book, but it is literally one chapter, then we find out in the letter at the beginning of the next chapter that everything is fine. 
• Also, can we talk about how many letters and postcards these people write? Stacey literally wrote a postcard saying she was stranded in an elementary school - to her MOM. Maybe that should have been a phone call instead. 
• When they get there, Stacey immediately runs into her "ex-boyfriend", who she literally went on one date with and got "dumped" the next day. His name is Toby, and since Stacey won't give him the time of day, he starts hitting on Mallory and asks her on a date. Stacey gets super pissed and won't talk to Mal. Mallory decides she doesn't want to go on the date, so she breaks it off. Then Stacey finally apologizes. Also, in the letter Toby writes Mallory after they all go home (because Toby would write to Mallory......nope), he asks for Jessi's phone number. 
• Before the four extra babysitters go to Sea City, Claudia is in summer school; Kristy is coaching the Krushers and Dawn/MA have a summer camp in their backyard. It is written about extensively and is pretty boring. 
• Logan gets to go for a weekend, and he meets Alex, the boy MA went on a date with last time she was there. He is very jealous. Then when he goes back home, he can't stop thinking about how MA is probably cheating on him. When he finally hears from her, he realizes he is being cray and orders a HORSE AND BUGGY to pick her up when she arrives home. 
• Jessi decides she has to be a super sitter and is crazy about it. 
• There is an unnecessary chapter from Karen's point of view and she isn't even fucking there. 
• Dawn contributed nothing in this book. 

Super Special #9 - Starring the Baby-sitters Club!

Plot
All the Stoneybrook schools are putting on a play, Peter Pan. Jessi sees a flyer for it and decides she is the only person qualified, in all of the schools, to be Peter Pan. She is so confident she goes to the school newspaper and offers to write a insider article about it, since she will be playing the lead. She asks everyone to give her notes from their experience, so...we get a Super Special.

Highlights

• Jessi, however, does not get to be Peter Pan. Kristy does. Jessi is a freaking pouty baby about it the entire book. She gets cast as an Indian....or Lost Boy? Something like that. But she rejects the role. She does help choreograph dances for the little kids, but crosses her name off the program because she is literally the most bitter giant baby ever. Then, at the very last minute, Pete Black,  who is playing the dog and the crocodile, breaks his nose so Jessi gets to fill in. 
• Kristy is Peter Pan, and she has problems learning her lines, but then she is amazing. 
• Dawn is Wendy, and she wants to change all Wendy's lines to be more #metoo, but she gets denied. She gets her life together and is amazing. 
• Stacey and Sam are still dating, and they get cast as Mr. and Mrs. Darling. Sam makes a big show of teasing her, and it ends up it's because his friends give him a hard time for dating a younger girl and he wants them to see how much fun they have together. Finally they talk about it, they get their lives together and they are amazing. 
• Mallory is on the costume team, but she is too embarrassed to measure any of the boys so she is basically worthless. Then she becomes even more worthless bc she doesn't think she needs to be doing anything so she starts telling all the little kids what to do. But...
• MaryAnne is hired on (for free) to be the "backstage babysitter" and Mallory starts butting into her job when she gets bored with her real job. MA finally snaps at her, and Mallory finally realizes she actually does need to pay attention and do her job. 
• Claudia is a set designer. She is amazing. 
• Karen, per usual, is a little brat and, even though the director wasn't planning on casting anyone as TinkerBell, Karen gets cast and is amazing. 
• This play was offered to all the Stoneybrook skills, but somehow Kristy and Dawn get the leading roles? No one older auditioned for those? Basically the only high schooler in the play is the guy who plays Captain Hook (who Mallory won't measure even though its her fucking job). 

Super Special #8 - Babysitters at Shadow Lake

Plot
Watson receives a letter from his aunt (a phone call sure would make more sense...) about how they want to leave their lake house to him in their will. However, they know what a huge responsible it is, so they ask him to take a trip up there with his family to see if he would be interested. Kristy asks if they can bring friends, and Watson says yes. Sam and Charlie only need each other, Karen brings two friends, David Michael brings two friends, and of course Kristy brings the entire BSC. She justifies it by saying they will babysit the little kids, all day every day, for free. Of course. Kristy decides to have everyone make notes so she can put together a journal for Watson convincing him they need to have the lake house.

Highlights

• First of all - the BSC babysits the kids all day, every day. Do the parents never want to hang out with their kids?
• Sam decides he is in love with Stacey, so he teases her mercifully the entire book, and then on the last night they go to a dance and Stacey falls in LUV with him, too.
• Claudia discovers a boat costume contest (nope, not a thing) and decides to enter their tiny little boat up against the huge boats and yachts (nope, yachts aren't going to be on a lake). So she dresses it up as a lake monster and she wins "Best Spirit". 
• Most of the BSC act like total morons in this book. Examples
• MaryAnne babysits for the three girls one day and lets them "babysit" her. She acts like a baby. It's creepy and weird. And that's literally all MA does in this book. 
• Mallory gets bit by bugs a few times and becomes terrified of bugs/insects.She starts wearing long sleeves and hats and actual mosquito netting. She's a total spaz. I don't know why her friends hang out with her. 
• Jessi meets a boy, they hang out once and she decides he must be in love with her. She prepares to tell him about Quint and how she wants to remain loyal to him (yes, she is 11), but then he's like um I have a girlfriend back home, I was just playing. Which goes to show you even in the BSC universe, players gotta play. 
• Dawn gets obsessed with and scared of a "lake monster" and lets it take over her life. But you know, she's so cool and calm and collected all the time (eyerolls). She starts asking questions around time about a "lake mystery" and finds out there was a family that lived on an island, and one night they just all disappeared. One year after that, their house burned down. The BSC boats to the island and spends the night, but of course Dawn just wants to go back to the lake house the entire time
• David Michael and Karen have chapters and they are terrible and boring. Basically each group of friends wants to get away from everyone else. 
• Kristy's main goal throughout the book is to get Watson to realize he needs to accept the gift of the lake house. Which he does. 

Super Special #7 - Snowbound

Plot
Stoneybrook has had a lot of snow in the forecast lately...but no snow. So when a huge storm is predicted, no one believes it. So everyone just goes about their lives...and then the snow starts. And keeps going. And going. And going. Two and a half feet of snow fall, and every baby-sitter is affected in some dramatic way.

There is a write up in the paper about it, but Kristy doesn't think it has a personal touch to it. She offers to write a new article about her and all of the BSC member's experience with the blizzard.

Highlights

• Claudia is babysitting the Perkins' family and has to stay overnight when the parents can't get home. Her's is probably the most boring story. 
• Mallory and MaryAnne are doing a "babysitting marathon" where MA comes and spends the night at the Pike's so the parents can leave for a day in New York at 5am. She and Mallory get the kids ready for school, go to school, and then MA is supposed to spend the night again bc the parents won't be home until like midnight. However....the storm hits in the evening, and the parents can't come home at all. Somehow, a family of ten people is also almost completely out of food, so Logan skiis over the next morning with supplies. 
• Jessi is at her dance lesson, and her dad is supposed to pick up her 11 year old boyfriend Quint at the train station, then pick her up so they can go home. But her dad can't make it - so Quint WALKS IN A BLIZZARD to the dance school, where they stay the night. 
• Kristy decides to invite Bart over, who gets stuck there and has to spend the night. Even though Bart knows exactly what she looks like, for some reason she decides she can't just look normal in the morning, so she gets up early to shower, shave her legs (for the first time), curl her hair (for the first time) and wear makeup. 
• Dawn and her mom are on their way to the airport to get her brother when the storm hits. Jeff gets rerouted to Washington DC, and Dawn and her mom have to spend the night in the airport. 
• Stacey's story is the most annoying. She convinces her mom to take her to this mall like 30 miles outside of Stoneybrook to get a perm. Then, of course, they get stranded in the car on the way back. They run out of gas. That's responsible, Stacey's mom. Then a stranger comes by to help them, which is scary but dying in the car is scarier, so they go home with them. It ends up being a lovely little couple with a little boy. 
• I understand not really believing the forecast but seriously..........................they all should have just stayed home that night. They were calling for heavy snow, you dumb fucks. 
• I remember really loving this book as a kid.

Super Special #6 - New York, New York!

Plot:
The girls get yet another two week vacation from school, and decide to use it to go to stay in New York with Stacey's dad - actually, they can't all fit in Stacey's dad's apartment, so some of them stay at Laine's. Claudia is actually the driving force for this vacay, because she finds a two week art class she wants to take with a famous artist, Mac Clark. Mallory decides to take it too, since she is going to write and illustrate children's books.

Highlights:

• What kind of a vacation would this be if some of them weren't babysitting the whole time? Stacey and MA take a job as nannies for these two children who are in NY for the same two weeks as they are. Their parents are like, super important English dignitaries, so they are way too busy to hang out with their children. While taking the kids all over the city, they discover a man is following them. They finally tell the parents about him, and it ends up it is the children's bodyguard. Then Stacey awkwardly waves at him all day. 
• Claudia and Mallory take the art classes, and the teacher is super easy on Mallory and super tough on Claudia. Obviously this is because he sees Mallory as an immature artist and he knows Claudia has potential if she would just fucking focus. But it causes a pretty bad rift between Claudia and Mallory. Finally, Mac is honest with both of them about their skills, and Claudia is on cloud nine and Mallory is like meh, I don't really like serious art anyway, I like to draw cloud and mushrooms (wtf). Claudia apologizes for being a b. 
• Speaking of that, it always floors me how mean these girls are to each other. Like Claudia gets jealous that Mallory is getting treated better by the famous artist, so she calls her names and makes fun of her to her face constantly. I just don't think people do that in real life. Talk behind her back like a normal person, Claudia. 
• Kristy finds a dog in Central Park and takes him to Laine's apartment with the plan to take him home to Stoneybrook. Then she gets told no by Watson, and Laine's parents are like WTF are you doing? So she finds a new owner for him, this kid who is lonely and wants a dog. 
• Jessi meets a boy, Quint, and hangs out with him. He is a boy ballerina. She gets her first kiss from him. 
• Dawn, the laid back, cool, calm and collected Dawn, loses her shit and can't leave Stacey's dad's apartment. Kristy sits with her for two days and then can't take it anymore. She gets offended that Kristy and Jessi don't want to just sit with her all day and watch tv. She ends up meeting a boy in the apartment building, who convinces her to let him take her on a tour of the city. She falls in love with him, of course. 

Super Special #5 - California Girls!

Plot:
The girls win the lottery (?!?!) and decide to use the money to take a two week vacation to California to stay with Dawn's dad and brother. Dawn's dad takes the second week off work, but during the first week his girlfriend, Carol, hangs around a lot so she can be the girls chauffeur, which is really really nice of her, but Dawn and her brother Jeff can't stand her.

Highlights:

• Dawn's only real highlight of this entire book is that she hates Carol. Jeff can't stand her either. She thinks Carol is too young for her father and tries to act like a hip, cool kid. 
• Kristy and MaryAnne, of course, have to babysit while they are on vacation. MA babysits this girl, Stephie, who is a lot like she was when she was  younger - except she has asthma, which isn't a big deal but MA is scared to death about it. Kristy babysits these two crazy ass boys, and of course her sitting job is on the day that they go to Universal Studios, so she takes them along. 
• Mallory loses her goddamned mind. She decides she needs to be a "California girl" so she dyes her hair blonde and spends every cent she has on makeup. Then she has to borrow money from Jessi the entire trip. Then, her and Jessi are visiting Jessi's "friend" Derek on the set of his show (I say "friend" bc he's like seven years old and it's kind of weird) and they ask for extras. Mal thinks this is her chance, but nope - the director tells her he doesn't like her looks. She is distraught, and then Kristy is like you are acting like a jerk, stop it. 
• Speaking of Jessi's "friend", he makes Jessi think that she needs to get an agent while she is in California - during the two weeks she is in Cali, she is supposed to find and hire an agent. As an 11 year old. Luckily, she realizes that's stupid before she gets too far into it. 
• Of course one of them meets a boyfriend - this time it's Claudia. His name is Terry, they meet on the beach, of course they go on dates because that's what 13 year olds do in strange cities, but he is really really smart. At first Claudia tries to change for him, but then she acts like herself and they fall in love. 
• Stacey gets bit by the "surfing bug" and meets a bunch of surfing buddies. She goes to the beach with them almost daily, and then on the way home one evening they get into a car accident. The driver of her car causes it, and he asks her to lie for him. She doesn't, so that's the end of that friendship. Stacey calls Carol to come pick her up from the hospital, and Carol and Dawn go. The girls are thinking she will keep this a secret, but she tells Dawn's dad and they make her call their parents. Dawn gains a newfound respect for Carol, and immediately changes her mind about her. She writes her a letter and gives it to her in person. It fixes everything. 

Super Special #4 - Baby-Sitters Island Adventure

Plot:
Dawn and Claudia are really into sailing, suddenly, and they are both really good at it. They decide to have a race, to this little island and back, and it ends in a tie (of course Dawn thinks she won, but no one agreed with her). They schedule a re-do, but decide just to race TO the island, then have a fun afternoon, then leisurely take their time coming back. Becuase they have to be baby-sitting at all times, they invite four children to come with them - Becca, Haley, Jamie Newton (yes...4 year old Jamie Newton), and Dawn's brother, Jeff, who is coming to Stoneybrook for a four day weekend.

A storm hits in the middle of their journey to the island, and Dawn's boat gets a hole in it. They have to ditch it, and they all end up on an island using Claudia's boat. They are stuck there for two nights before they are rescued.

Highlights:

• There is no way this should have happened. One - the island they were going to was only three miles away. THREE little miles. If a normal person can WALK 3 miles in 45 minutes-ish, that's what is the most time it should have taken them to get to their original destination. How did they get SO off course that they weren't found for TWO days. 
• Let me back up. So the entire town, including NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE, come to search for them. They have huge boats and AIRPLANES looking for them. Again, they could not have been that off course that they couldn't be found by AIRPLANES for days. 
• The day before they leave, Dawn forgets to give MaryAnne a message that Logan had to cancel a date. MA and Logan both hugely over-react and MA actually tells Dawn "I hope I never see you again." Then MA is too distraught to help with the search. MA is worthless. 
• Kristy cancels a Krushers game bc the kids on the island are involved with the team, and also literally every person in Stoneybrook is searching. Bart tells her she's being selfish. Bad call, Bart. Bad call. 
• Like...I get that this is a small town and this is a big deal. But Mallory's family is like, oddly super involved. Like they cancel an entire trip to stay in town and help with the search. Can you imagine the planning that goes into planning a family trip for ten people? It's weird that they 1. we still in town when this race started and 2. would just cancel the entire thing to search nonstop for people you aren't related to. 
• Jessi's aunt has to come to town bc her parents left town....and must have been pretty far away, since they NEVER COME BACK AND THEIR DAUGHTER IS MISSING....but also, they left an ELEVEN YEAR OLD in charge of two children for an entire weekend?!
• Again, I cannot stress enough how this never would have happened. 
• They were only going on a three mile trip...............THIS NEVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED. 
• Also, did no one think to CHECK THE WEATHER before they left for this huge, long, drawn out, three mile trip?