This book contained my favorite BSC opening line ever: "I was so excited I felt like doing cartwheels across Claudia Kishi's bedroom floor." I don't know why that line always stuck with me, but I remembered it vividly. The thing was, I couldn't remember in which book it was. I knew it was a "summer" book, and had it in my head that it was California Girls!, so I was pretty disappointed when I read that one and it didn't contain the line. So, naturally, when I picked this one up and found my cartwheel line, I was super stoked (apparently that line makes me talk like a valley girl...).
So we are again in the summer after 8th grade (based on the chronology of the BSC books, this may actually be the first summer after 8th grade, shocking...). Mary Anne and Stacey are about to go once again to Sea City, NJ, as mother's helpers for the Pike family (they also did this in the previous summer, in Boy-Crazy Stacey, but I haven't reviewed that one yet, sorry. However, the prior Sea City trip took place immediately before the Disney cruise, if that helps give you a time frame. Or maybe it just helps me plug previous posts, because I'm shameless like that). Mary Anne and Stacey aren't the only members leaving the 'Brook for 2 weeks: Dawn is headed to Cali and Claudia is going on a family vacation to Vermont. As Dawn is packing for her trip, MA provides this gem "Dawn dresses like an individual, and to her, a bathing suit is more than something to swim in. It's a fashion statement." Umm...raise your hands if you think that applies to Stacey or Claudia more than Dawn, cause...yeah.
So, on the first day in Sea City, Mary Anne and Stacey run into Alex and Toby, their respective boyfriends from the previous summer. MA feels a little uneasy, since she is now dating Logan (whose voice makes her think of "warm molasses." My husband has never said that about my Southern accent, kind of sad. And I'm just wondering how a 13 year old girl from suburban Connecticut knows what warm molasses is like). However, MA doesn't think about Logan too long, and she and Stacey start picking up the summer flings where they previously left off. Who would have pictured MA as the dating-multiple-guys-at-once type? Stacey? Of course. Mary Anne, not so much. However, it is nice to see the characters break the mold every now and then, you go, Mary Anne (ok, not really, that is a reprehensible thing to do, shame on you, MA).
Meanwhile, in babysitting land, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Mallory take the rest of the Pike clan all over Sea City (Mallory, even though she is a BSC member, was not hired to be a mother's helper, the Pikes wanted Mallory to be able to enjoy her vacation, which is a first). They visit Burger Garden, where the seats are actually shaped like toadstools and the waiters dress up like animals (ok, something tells me that the teenagers that work there must hate it, dressing up in animal costumes in the heat of summer must suck, yikes). Plus, they visit Ice Cream Palace, where one of the minor dramas of the book unfolds. Vanessa Pike immediately develops a crush on Chris, a 12 year old boy who works there (really? How is that legal? Why does AMM insist on giving underage kids normal jobs? Child labor laws, anyone?). However, Chris develops a thing for Mallory, and when Vanessa leaves anonymous love poems for Chris, he assumes they are from Mallory. Vanessa is crushed, but Mary Anne helps console her and Vanessa never reveals the secret to Chris. Plus, the reveal happens at the end of the trip, so Mallory never finds out, either (hey, MA, you do realize that even though you kept Vanessa's secret and spared her feelings, you may have deprived your friend Mallory of her true love? Ok, probably not, but that would have been an ego boost to the one BSC member who struggles with self-confidence issues).
Back in Stoneybrook, Kristy has a disastrous sitting job with the Rodowsky boys (what else is new?). Kristy decides to take Shea, Jackie, and Archie to the community pool, where she manages to lose Archie (of course he is found), plus she somehow decides that it is a good idea to let Jackie go order all of the food, which of course ends in disaster. Furthermore, Jackie buys a giant cookie that he promptly drops in the pool, and later gets stung by a bee. Kristy counts her losses and takes them home. Oh, and Jessi somehow temporarily loses the Pikes' hamster Frodo, freaks out, then finds him in her hamster's cage. Apparently, Squirt placed him there because of a Sesame Street episode, and Jessi thinks he is a genius. No, Jessi, he's not, sorry. Janine Kishi is the only genius sibling of the BSC.
In Sea City, things are going about as smoothly. Mary Anne and Stacey both have dates planned for Friday night, but only one is allowed to be off at a time. Stacey bulldozes MA into cancelling her date with Alex, and Mary Anne, while furious, caves in and reschedules for Saturday. Tensions remain high all day Saturday, when Stacey starts to iron a dress that night. Mary Anne asks why she is getting dressed up, and Stacey nonchalantly remarks that she and Toby have another date that night. And MA blows a gasket. For reals. This time, she's all "Hell to the no!! I am going out tonight!! I hate you!! You're a virgin who can't drive!!" Ok, maybe not that exact dialogue, but Mary Anne makes her point and goes out with Alex. They go out on the boardwalk, and he wins her a purple hippo (flashback to all those middle school/high school trips to Six Flags, where the boyfriend would win his girl a giant stuffed animal, but she would make him carry it around all day for her). Stacey and MA keep the icy chill going the rest of the vacation, until Mary Anne finds out that Toby dumped Stacey, and that's why she has been super b!tch for the past few days. Stacey and Mary Anne eventually make up, of course, because that's just what the BSC does. Mary Anne and Alex go out one last time, where Mary Anne finally confesses that she has a boyfriend. Surprisingly, Alex isn't pissed, because apparently he has a girlfriend back home, too, and he hopes that they can remain friends. Because that makes the last two weeks of summer lovin' ok, AMM, because they are just "friends." You know what When Harry Met Sally said about men and women being friends, right? I would watch your girl, Logan...
Sea City Fashion!!
What Stacey Wore: "Stacey looked very "New York" as usual, in a pair of khaki safari pants, topped with a jungle print blouse and a leather belt that must have cost two months' allowance."
What Stacey Wore (date with Toby): "Stacey chose a white sundress for her date with Toby because she wanted to show off her tan."
What Dawn Wore: "Dawn was dressed for traveling, which meant she was wearing a beautiful Laura Ashley dress and had swept her long blonde hair back in pearl barrettes." Who the crap dresses like that for a cross country flight? Give me yoga pants and a hoodie any day...
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