Welcome to the BSC, Abby, #90

My first official Abby book!! I've actually grown to like Abby in the books that I've read with her so far, she has an oddball/pun-tastic sense of humor that I can appreciate. Hey, someone has to have a sense of humor in the BSC. Abby's cover outfit looks totally like Mrs. Claus, by the way, kind of awesome. 

So this book is mainly Abby's introduction, with background info and personality reveals, with just a little bit of outside plot thrown in the mix. So let's meet Abby Stevenson, shall we? Abby is twelve years old, she is in 8th grade, just hasn't had her birthday yet, that is featured in a later book, I believe. She describes herself as outgoing, outspoken, and athletic, which almost seems like another Kristy, but she manages to speak her mind without coming across as bossy, which is refreshing. Plus, unlike Kristy, when Abby says "athletic," she means it literally, because she is on the SMS soccer team, even though she has asthma and suffers from severe allergies. And as mentioned above, she has a pretty good sense of humor, combination snarky/goofy. 

Ab Fab has a twin sister named Anna, who was also invited to join the BSC after Dawn moved back to Cali (apparently this happened at the end of the previous book, which I haven't read yet, because what's the fun of reading in order?). However, Anna turned down the BSC invite, because she wanted to have enough time for her violin lessons, and apparently her "sorry, not sorry" shocked the BSC, because who would turn down the chance to join the Stoneybrook Mafia? I wonder if Anna would still be allowed to eat lunch at the BSC table... The Stevenson family (Abby, Anna, and Mrs. Stevenson, dad died in a car accident when they were 9) moved to the 'Brook from Long Island, and live in Kristy's neighborhood. Mamma S works in NYC and takes to train every day there and back (which just baffles me, why would they move that far away from her job, that's a two hour commute one way - and I thought my 40 minute bus ride to work was bad, sheesh...). Basically, Mrs. S is rarely home, plus Anna is wrapped up in music and Abby in sports, so the family isn't particularly close at this time. Oh, and they are Jewish, which I guess was AMM's way of adding another element of diversity to the BSC.

So, in BSC land, Abby goes to her first meeting, and feels very much like an outsider. She describes the BSC as three sets of best friends (Kristy-Mary Anne, Claudia-Stacey, and Jessi-Mallory), and she knows that even Dawn was BFFs with MA as well, so that makes her feel a little lonely. I never really gave that any thought, how hard it would be for a new person to try to join that group, but I give Abby credit, she seemed to hold her own. Dawn calls during a meeting at some point, and she talks to Abby for awhile, which made Abby feel like she was finally a part of the club. However, she still refers to Kristy, in her own internal monologue, as "the supposed Queen of Great Ideas." Love the snark, Ab Fab, and love that you aren't intimidated by Kristy.

Anyway, Abs takes a sitting job for the Papadikas kids, but has a severe asthma attack while there. Linny, the oldest, runs inside to call an ambulance, and Hannie runs across the street to Kristy's house. Kristy comes over to finish the sitting job while Abby goes to the ER. She recovers just fine, but the next time Kristy sees her, she grills Abby about her condition, and even though Abby assures her that attacks that severe are rare, Special K still questions if Abby can handle babysitting with her asthma (she seemed much more accepting of Stacey's diabetes...). The next several meetings, Kristy assigns jobs to other sitters, even giving some to the associate members over Abby. Ab Fab gets pissed off, but then all of a sudden Kristy apparently decides that Abby has passed whatever mental game K was throwing at her, and starts giving her jobs again, without giving an explanation.

And in the other subplot, SMS is talking about cutting the music and art programs, so the community bands together to throw a carnival to raise money. Of course, the BSC has a booth, the BSC charges have booths, and each BSC family has a booth, and enough money ends up getting raised. Abby's mom even promises to catch an early train home to help volunteer, but when Abby is at the carnival, word starts to spread that the train from New York has derailed. They try calling Mrs. Stevenson's cellphone (this is the early days of cellphones, wonder if she had a Zack Morris phone), but can't get any response. Finally, Abby and Anna catch a ride to the train station, but still can't find out any news. At last, a train pulls in, and Mrs. Stevenson gets off. It turns out that the train right before hers derailed, and they were stuck behind the wreck, and she had left her cellphone at work. They have a heart to heart, and even talk about their dad, and all is well in the Stevenson household again. So much feels...

BSC Fashion presents...nothing. Not one single outfit description. In the words of Regina George, "Boo, you whore." So since Abby represented the Claus look on the cover, here is the best I can do: