The Babysitters Club Chain Letter

So this book isn't an actual part of the series, just one of those related "special edition" type books that usually accompany a YA series like this. This book is made up of a series of letters and postcards from one member of the club to another, and each page literally has a postcard or letter you can actually pull out of an envelope and read. The cover claims that there is even a "friendship bracelet from the BSC inside!!," however, since this is a library copy, no telling when and where the friendship bracelet ended up. I feel deprived.

So this book takes place the summer after 8th grade (now which 8th grade year is unclear...). Kristy is in the hospital with appendicitis, plus a staph infection post-surgery, and she gets a chain letter from her cousin, Robin (I think she is one of the cousins mentioned at Elizabeth and Watson's wedding). By the way, do y'all remember the old school chain letters? I never passed them on, thought it was lame, and never had a catastrophic accident befall me. Anyway, Kristy's letter is a somewhat typical chain letter, "you must pass this on or bad luck will haunt you" (I know Mary Anne had a bad experience with a chain letter at one point, haven't reread that one yet. Patience, Iago...). This chain letter has a twist, though - the recipient must reveal a secret to the next person in the chain. So this book has each link/letter of the chain, plus some other random postcards thrown in to provide more exposition. Woo-hoo.

And since this is summer, the BSC members are scattered all over the country on vacations - Claudia and Stacey are at her dad's in NYC; Jessi is vacationing with Mallory and her family in Sea City, NJ; Mary Anne and Dawn are visiting her family in California (I get that MA is Dawn's stepsister, but just seems a little weird for her to be visiting Mr. Schafer in California...); Logan is with extended family in Louisville, KY; and Shannon is at Camp Erie, a summer camp in PA. But fret not, the BSC has set up an answering machine in Claudia's room until they are all back in the 'Brook (and Kristy is released from the hospital).

Y'all ready for some BSC skeletons?

Kristy, to Stacey - after updating Stacey about her hospital stay, Kristy confesses that she sometimes hates her father (the phantom Mr. Thomas, not Daddy Watsonbucks), and, at times, even wishes he were dead. Kristy thought Stacey would understand since she just recently went through her own parents' divorce.

Stacey, to Mallory - After telling Mal about the fab time she and Claudia are having in NYC (they've hit up MoMA and Bloomingdale's, where Claudia bought a pair of leopard print socks and Stacey bought a t-shirt with a Monopoly board printed on it), Stacey reveals her deep, dirty secret - she dyed her hair red right after moving to Stoneybrook for the first time. She later panicked, then redyed it blonde right before her parents got home from work. They never knew the difference, of course, because what are the chances she picked the right shade of blonde dye? Guess that's where they got the idea to do the same for Mallory in California, huh?

Mallory, to Jessi - This one seems kind of like cheating, since Jessi and Mal are on vacation together and literally staying in the same bedroom, but oh well. Mallory confesses that she once cheated off her on an English test for which Mal had forgotten to study. Mallory apologizes and hopes that Jessi will forgive her.

Jessi later leaves Mal a note telling her that she knew it all along and had already forgiven her. BFFs forever!!!

Jessi, to Mary Anne - Jessi reveals to MA that she and her sister, Becca, once played with matches, accidentally dropped one, and burned a hole in their living room rug. They moved a chair over a few inches to cover the hole, but their parents found it anyway while cleaning. However, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey figured that it happened at their last party since they have some friends who smoke. Jessi doesn't tell them differently (honestly, I probably would have done the same thing as Jessi here, blame it on the smokers, girl).

Mary Anne, to Claudia - After telling Claudia about how she and Dawn went to Disneyland, Mary Anne admits to Claudia that she has recently been going to a therapist. She says that she has been feeling overwhelmed with life changes (you know, Dad getting remarried, moving houses, breaking up and reuniting with Logan, I haven't read any of these books yet, deal with it), and that her grades started dropping in school. Her therapist helped her process everything, and now she is slowly feeling more in control (was the therapist ever mentioned in any of the books? Just seems like a pretty big thing to just throw into a chain letter book without it being mentioned elsewhere in the series...).

Claudia, to Dawn - After updating Dawn on the dibbly fresh time she is having in NYC, Claudia confesses that she once stole $1 from Mimi's purse so that she could buy a Twinkie. First of all, remember when you could buy a snack like that from a convenience store with just a dollar? Good times. Second of all, this "secret" just seems stupid, I mean, you know Mimi would have given Claudia money if she asked for it, just seems pointless and out of character for Claudia.

Dawn, to Shannon - Dawn admits to Shannon that she pranked Mary Anne on the flight to California by telling MA that she saw Cam Geary, Mary Anne's favorite actor, in first class. MA spends the whole flight trying to sneak a peek into first class to catch a glimpse of her Tiger Beat crush. Mary Anne even later writes a fan letter to Cam, telling him that they were on the same plane. Oh, sweetie... And Dawn seems to like pranking MA, I will have another example of this coming to Project BSC soon...

Shannon doesn't continue the chain, I guess because the only club member left at that point is Logan, and what 13 year old girl wants to reveal a deep, dark secret to a boy? Plus, in the midst of these big reveals, the BSC plans a "Glad You're All Better" party for Kristy when she is released from the hospital. Big fun in Stoneybrook.

Oh, and sorry, neither Claudia nor Stacey described any of their outfits in any of the letters or postcards. No friendship bracelet from the BSC, no outfits, my day has been ruined.

Babysitters On Board!, Super Special #1

The Super Special that started it all....(by the way, Stacey looks weird on this cover, it seems the cover artists can never consistently figure out how she is supposed to look).

So, this takes place in the summer between 7th and 8th grade (you know, when time still moved in a linear fashion in Stoneybrook). Mr. Pike wins a contest at work (before he was laid off, anyway), and the prize is an all expenses paid vacation for his family (dang, that's expensive, with 8 kids...). The vacation includes a four day cruise around the Bahamas, and then three days at Disney World (yeah, Disney World with 8 kids, I bet his company is bankrupt after paying for this one.) The Pikes ask Stacey and Mary Anne to come along as mother's helpers (like they do in the Sea City books, which I haven't gotten to yet, sorry, this is what you get when you read out of order). Kristy is jealous of Stacey and Mary Anne getting to go on this trip, and when Watson finds out that Kristy has never even left the state of Connecticut, he decides to take the Thomas-Brewer clan on the same trip. Plus, he invites Dawn and Claudia, so they won't be the only BSCers left behind in the 'Brook (but they aren't babysitting on this trip, just coming as Kristy's guests. Sam and Charlie kind of get the shaft on these vacations, they never get to invite friends along).

Kristy - So this trip is Kristy's first time leaving Connecticut, her first plane ride, basically, a big time for Special K. Kristy is rooming with Claudia and Dawn while on the cruise ship, the Ocean Princess, and continually clashes with Dawn while on the cruise (basically, Kristy is a slob, and Dawn is neat freak. Surprisingly, even though Claudia is super-overpacker, they don't seem to have a problem with her in their room...). Kristy even deliberately leaves food wrappers and stuff laying around to antagonize Dawn (Claudia accuses her of "goating" Dawn. Oh, sweetie...). Plus, she insists on having BSC meetings every day of the trip, which exhausts MA and Stacey, since they are actually sitting on this trip (unlike Kristy, Dawn, and Claudia, who are basically getting a free vacation). However, Kristy starts to lighten up after befriending an older gentleman, named Rudy Staples, while at the pool. Mr. Staples' wife recently passed away, and he's all grumpy and depressed, just the crotchety old guy, and Kristy spends time with him, playing Ping Pong and inviting him to eat dinner with her family. While I think this is super sweet and all, I do wonder at Watson and Elizabeth letting Kristy hang out with the random, solitary old dude on the cruise ship, seems like this is how a lot of the "America's Most Wanted" stories start out... Anyway, good old Rudy cheers up, and he and Kristy become pen pals after the trip. So much feels...

Mary Anne - MA is along as a mother's helper for the Pike family, and she is rooming with Mallory and Vanessa Pike (this is before Mallory is a member of the club). On the first day of the cruise, Mary Anne meets Alexandra Carmody, a glamorous, sophisticated girl of mysterious origins. She alternately tells MA that she is an actress, an orphan, and the niece of a countess. Mary Anne is dazzled (not to mention extremely gullible). However, after Mallory tells Mary Anne that she spotted Alexandra at Disney World with her parents and brother, MA is furious, and confronts Alexandra at the hotel that night, basically calling her a lying whore (ok, maybe didn't use those words, but that would have been epic). Alexandra apologizes and tells MA that she lies because her parents are this famous married couple singing act (fictional Captain and Tennille!!! Score!!!) and she feels like she has to make up stories to distance herself from her parents (umm...has this girl already had therapy?). Alexandra gives MA her address, but Mary Anne decides not to write her, just can't deal with the drama.

Claudia - While not playing referee to Kristy and Dawn on the cruise, Claudia spends her time exploring the ship. While at breakfast on the cruise ship, someone mysteriously pays for Claudia's meal and sends her a note telling her it's courtesy of her "secret admirer." The whole rest of the cruise, like when they dock for a day trip in Nassau, Claudia keeps getting expensive gifts (like mother of pearl earrings, sheesh) and getting her meals and activities (like an aquarium ticket) paid for by this "secret admirer." She finally thinks she has caught him leaving the ice cream parlor one day, but when she stops a random guy outside to see if he saw anything, she meets Tim, and becomes buddy-buddy with him (you can see where this is going, right?). She and Tim make plans to spend a day together at Disney World, all the while she keeps getting gifts and notes from her mystery guy. Finally, while at the parade the last night at Disney, Tim confesses that he was the secret admirer, plus we find out that he is also Alexandra Carmody's brother, too (Claudia, might want to hang on to this one, he's got money). Anyway, they exchange letters after the trip, and then he is never mentioned again (maybe he got turned off by her atrocious spelling, hee hee).

Dawn - When Dawn is not fighting with Kristy about the cleanliness of the cruise ship/hotel room (seriously, girl has a complex, she even takes a few hours one day when Kristy is out having fun to clean the room. Issues...), she is exploring the ship and all it has to offer. Dawn sees a really cute guy when they first board the Ocean Princess, and she ends up meeting him the next day. Her vacay crush, Parker Harris, enters the ship's Ping Pong tournament with Dawn, where they beat Kristy and Mr. Staples to win it all. They have a romantic walk on the beach in Nassau, and they also plan to spend the first day at Disney World together (by the way, Dawn is super excited about Disney World, but since she has been to Disneyland so many times, this seems a bit unrealistic). Claudia helps Dawn choose her Disney date outfit, and Dawn wears her own antique heirloom gold bracelet. While at Disney, Parker buys her a unicorn charm to go on her bracelet, and she is sublimely happy (to quote Cher Horowitz). She almost gets sick on Space Mountain (apparently the one on Disney World is much better than the Disneyland version), but she manages to hold it together (we wouldn't want the carnival scene from "The Sandlot," would we?). However, at the end of the day, tragedy strikes - Dawn realizes that she has lost her bracelet somewhere in the park. However, because this is AMM's Stoneybrook fantasy universe, the Pike triplets manage to find the bracelet the next day at Disney (there is this whole subplot about the triplets hunting for buried treasure, pretty lame), and Dawn is sublimely happy again.

Stacey - One of the few Super Specials where Stacey doesn't fall in "LUV." Stacey is also a mother's helper for the Pike family, and while she is walking around the ship with Claire and Margo, she meets Marc, a 7 year old boy in a wheelchair. He explains that he can walk, but has major heart problems and can't overexert himself. His parents have taken the family on this once-in-a-lifetime vacation because Marc is having experimental heart surgery later that summer, and the doctor has given them no guarantees that Marc will even survive the procedure. Stacey feels heartbroken, and spends time with Marc on the cruise (she takes him, along with Claire and Margo, to the arcade and ice cream parlor), plus spends a day at Epcot with Marc and his family (so much for babysitting the Pikes...). She and Marc's family exchange addresses (because the whole pen pal thing is huge with the BSC), and Stacey later learns that Marc's surgery was successful, and that he is now allowed to frolic and play. Yay for happy endings.

Mallory - Mallory does this really boring thing where she decides to play "Harriet the Spy," and walks around the whole vacation with a notebook. She thinks she sees a famous rock star named Spider (wonder if AMM got her inspiration from Flea?), who is a part of the band The Insects (can't make this up. Well, I guess AMM could make this up). It turns out that it's not Spider (dashing Claudia's hopes, because she wanted Spider to be her secret admirer, cause...yeah...). Plus, she thinks she sees a stowaway, but it turns out to be Tim, Claudia's actual secret admirer. To give Mal credit, she is the one who discovers that Alexandra Carmody is a lying whore, I mean, overly dramatic. The most shocking thing about Mal's story line is that her parents decide that she is mature enough to wander around Disney World by herself. What the...? That's negligent parenting, Mr. and Mrs. Pike. In what world is an 11 year old girl mature enough to walk around Disney World without supervision? Haven't they ever watched "Unsolved Mysteries?" Seriously...


Fashion on Board!!

What Claudia Wore (Nassau edition): "I put on my new blue-and-white bikini and over that, a pink sundress with spaghetti straps at the shoulders and big blue buttons down the front. Then I accessorized. I tied a pink and blue scarf around my waist, knotting it in the middle, added my snake bracelet and feather earrings, wound my hair up on top of my head, and finally put on these white sandals with long laces that you crisscross up your legs and tie in a bow."

What Dawn Wore (Disney World edition): "This is the outfit Claudia helped me choose: a white tank top under lavender overalls, lavender push down socks, lavender high tops, and a beaded Indian belt, which we looped droopily twice around my middle. In my hair we put lavender and white clips that looked like birds."

Very young Carrie Bradshaw (of course, you need to reverse the color combo to get the full effect)

Shannon's Story: Special Edition (Reader's Request)

Ok, who else had that sweater Shannon is wearing on the cover? I know I totally wore that in middle school, good times.

So, this is the one where we are supposed to learn that all that glitters is not gold, or basically, that Shannon's life isn't so perfect. Sorry, AMM, I'm not convinced, can the readers request a mulligan on this one? I guess the least I can do is break it down for you and let you decide if we should feel sorry for Miss Shannon Kilbourne.

Shannon attends Stoneybrook Day School, aka the rich kid private school. Her best friends are Meg Jardin and Greer Carson (sounds like a Real Housewife's name or something. I would totally watch a "Real Housewives of Stoneybrook," that would be epic), and they all just adore school. Seriously. They are all taking advanced French, and the school is sponsoring a big class trip to Paris for a week at the end of the school year. In order to be allowed on the trip, one must have a B average overall and at least an 85 in French, which Shannon is, of course, nailing. Plus, this takes place on one of Dawn's extended stays in Cali, so we actually see Shannon attending some BSC meetings in this one.

However, Shannon's home life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Her dad is a lawyer, works crazy hours, and is rarely home. What's with all the dads being lawyers? Stacey's dad is a lawyer, in fact his work schedule is one of the reasons her parents got divorced, Mallory's dad is a lawyer (at least before he got laid off), and Mary Anne's dad is a lawyer. How many law firms does Stoneybrook have? Anyway, Shannon's mom is a housewife (not a Real one, more like a Desperate one) who is pretty spacey and bored with life, and her two younger sisters, Tiffany and Maria, are also Stepford kids who are good students and super involved in school activities and hobbies. Mrs. Kilbourne starts getting clingy with Shannon, or "Shanny" as she likes to call her, constantly babying her and hovering around her at home. Her mom even buys matching Laura Ashley dresses for herself and Shannon, which annoys the crap out of Shanny Shan (seriously, she acts like an entitled brat in this one). Aww...remember the floral awesomeness of 1980s Laura Ashley dresses?

Just add some Sam & Libby's and you're all set. Like this one? Buy it here.

Shannon starts getting more and more annoyed with her mom, especially when Mrs. Kilbourne interrupts a BSC hangout at Kristy's house and calls her "Shanny" in front of the girls. Seriously, Shannon? Of all the childhood nicknames out there, you are embarrassed by "Shanny"? One of my mom's favorite nicknames for me was "Tootie," so count your blessings, girl. Shannon begrudgingly gets her mom a gift for Mother's Day, but then feels sorry for her when her dad forgets all about it. He comes in that night (because yes, he worked on Sunday), and brings Mrs. Kilbourne a bouquet of flowers and a card that reads "Happy Birthday." Methinks you will be sleeping on the couch tonight, Mr. K. However, any goodwill Shannon had toward her mother disappear when she finds out the Mrs. Kilbourne has been asked to be a replacement chaperone on the Paris trip. Shannon is so pissed off by the thought of going to Paris with *gasp* her mother that she deliberately fails her French final so that her grade will be too low to go on the trip. Ooh, I really wanted to slap the girl here.  Instead of actually talking to her mom, she just tanks her grades. For a smart girl, she's freakin' stupid. Anyway, Mrs. Kilbourne goes on the trip without Shannon, and Shannon has to keep control of the house while she's gone. Shannon has the major epiphany about why her mom has been so clingy, because she realizes how easy being a housewife is (of course it's easy when you have a maid and grocery delivery, sweetie. Now shut up before I slap the entitled right out of you). When her mom gets back from Paris, Shannon and her mom have a heart to heart, and Mrs. Kilbourne says that she is going to get a job so that she can get out of the house more. And somehow Mr. Kilbourne realizes that he has been a bad husband and mends his ways. Cause this is "Leave it to Beaver" in the 'Brook.

Oh, and there was this subplot about the BSC organizing a mother-child softball game for Mother's Day, but it was pretty lame (in fact, I'm bored even typing this sentence). So yeah, this book was hard to get through, I think Shannon might be my least favorite now.

Fashion: Special Edition!!!

What Stacey wore: "For example, today Stacey looked ultra-city in black: black leggings, a black sweater, a big black belt with an oversized buckle, black Doc Martens, and her hair pulled back with a black and gold scarf that picked up the gold of the gold chain earrings she was wearing."

What Claudia wore: "Claudia was beyond the city, maybe into outer space and looking outrageous, artistically terrific: an enormous pair of pants help up with neon purple suspenders, an enormous purple t-shirt over a tie-dyed long-underwear top, her long black hair pulled back into a braid clipped at intervals with little kid barrettes, and these dangly peace sign earrings."