Meanwhile, Becca has been obsessed with the Follies and gets a bunch of
sittees together and they put together the BSC Follies where they lampoon the
BSC. Awww.
Interesting Tidbits
The cover. I think we've all had a class like this one. Maybe not such a
stereotypically dorky teacher teaching it, but still. No one is paying
attention at all. (Partly because the teacher is teaching on the side board?
heh) They are showing SMS's diversity on the cover, except that the girl behind
Jessi, who looks darker than she is, is Puerto Rican.
On the second page, Jessi explains the Short Takes Program at SMS as a
series of "revolving" classes, then explains that the building
doesn't turn around like a revolving door (thank you, I had no idea!) The Short
Takes classes always sounded pretty cool to me as a kid, and now the middle
school I went to does something similar. All the sixth graders take art, music,
information literature (basically, how to research and make a powerpoint) and
world cultures. In seventh grade, they take four different classes, including
industrial arts. Then, they get to pick from a variety of classes for eighth
grade.
Jessi caught a case of the caps. SMS has two teachers that look like Dolly
Parton and are known as Dolly One and Dolly Two among students. Jessi explains
they're short and large chested, with big smiles, tons of makeup and Major
Hair. The funny part is that the two teachers are completely okay with their
nicknames. I don't think we nicknamed too many teachers in school, but I do
know we were careful never to let them hear the nicknames we did come up
with....
Ooh, there's a Mr. Trout outfit! See below.
Claudia wants to pierce her nose and Kristy's completely against it. She
says it looks like Bessie the Cow. So Claudia clips an earring onto her nose
and moos. Every now and then, these girls actually act their ages.
Huh. In this book, Stoneybrook is "part suburban, part rural, and part
ritzy." Wouldn't it have been neat to have them have a client out in the
rural area every now and then, or if when Abby had moved in, she'd lived out
there?
Jessi's dad calls Aunt Cecelia Aunt Cecelia. I guess it's like when parents
call each other Mommy and Daddy.
I thought this was a mistake: "Stacey is one of the BSC's three
blondes." But because Shannon is filling in for Dawn at this point, I
guess it's correct if you count Stacey, Dawn and Shannon. But isn't Logan
blond?
Book name drop: Wuthering Heights. MA's read it three times and the pages
are "blistered from teardrops." I read it, but I just found the
characters annoying.
One of the sixth graders has Claudia-itis: "Exacly 10 mins. before the
end of class, we will all dorp our books on the floor at the same time. Pass
this note on!!!!!!!!!" (I counted to make sure I had the right number of
exclamation points.) It must be a boy, because it's written in all capitals.
(Insert eye roll here)
Mr. Trout demonstrates the folly (get it? folly?) of hiring professionals
to come in for a couple months and teach a class. Although Mr. Trout appears to
actually be a fully trained teacher. He has trouble understanding what's
interesting to the kids (losing their interest right away) and also has no idea
what their starting level in the topic is. Jessi says that even when she tries
to pay attention, she has no idea what's going on. I wrote DOS command programs
in sixth grade, so it's not impossible for these kids to write programs, but it
sounds like Mr. Trout is lecturing way over their heads. The only way this
class would be truly interesting is if they gave all the kids computers and let
them actually write code.
Also, Mr. Trout really brings on his own problems because he never
disciplines the students. If he'd taken the very first prank and overreacted,
sending the pranksters to the office, the kids would have stopped. Instead, he
just ignores the pranks and they keep getting worse and worse.
This made me smile. Jessi's looking for a bag of pretzels and Becca hauls
them out of her room, and blames them being there on Squirt.
Heh. Jessi refers to the Pike kids as the Seven Terrors: Chaos, Disaster, Ruckus,
Racket, Pandemonium, Turmoil, and Noise. Is it wrong that I wonder which is
which?
Favorite moment of the book: Jessi's walking to school with Claudia, Mal,
Stacey and MA and she is trying to clear a sore throat by making growling
sounds in it (doesn't work, sister, believe me). Claudia says this to her:
"Jessi, we are approaching school. Please behave yourself. If you toss a
clam on the sidewalk while everyone's watching us, I swear I'll never speak to
you again." (Between this and the cow imitation, I totally love Claudia in
this book.)
Second favorite moment of the book: Logan is at the BSC meeting, and when
Kristy says "order," he orders a burger, as he apparently does every
time he comes to the meeting. Kristy tells him it's not funny anymore. Claudia
(of course!) then suggests that Kristy find a different way to open the
meeting, such as yelling, "Yabba dabba doo!"
I repeat. Claudia is definitely my favorite character in this book. After
the SMS Follies is over, ice cream is served in the cafeteria. When Jessi
arrives in the cafeteria, all of her friends "mob" her except one.
Claudia is over "mobbing" the ice cream.
Ooh, I got one right. Mr. Trout leaves without notice, and a sub named Mr.
Bellafatto shows up. In his first five minutes in class, he makes the kids get
up and follow the correct seating chart, giving them all their first and only
warning. He then sends a kid to the principal's office right after. After that,
all the goofing around stops and he has their full attention. Mr. Trout wouldn't
have had as many problems if he'd run the class that way.
The BSC follies are actually pretty funny. Here's an overview:
·
Marilyn Arnold as Kristy
shouted all her lines and then wandered off to do batting practice· Vanessa Pike as Claudia wore a dog bone in her hair, ate junk food throughout the entire skit, and decided a clock would make an interesting hat
· Carolyn Arnold as Mary Anne cried the whole time
· Buddy Barrett played Logan and refused to put his arm around Carolyn
· Margo Pike as Dawn ate carrots through the whole thing
· Becca as Jessi kept doing ballet warm ups
· Suzi as Mallory kept writing in a notebook that said Mal's Greatest Story
· Charlotte as Stacey was dressed fancy and being snooty (heh)
· Haley as Shannon kept doing singing exercises until she sounded like she was howling
But the best moment of the whole thing was when Vanessa as Claudia answered
the phone and said, "Hello, Babysitters Club! Who? The Pike triplets?
Sorry, you'll have to call the Monkeysitters Club."
Only question is, how do the kids know exactly what happens at a BSC
meeting? Do Mal and Jessi go home and talk about Kristy calling meetings to
order right on time and Claudia's candy stash and so on?
In the end, Jessi feels guilty about her role in "driving" Mr.
Trout away. Here's my issue with that. She didn't really do anything awful to
him. She didn't take part in any pranks (despite the title of the book!) and
she never really had a mean thing to say to him or about him. Everyone tells
her that her skit in the Follies wasn't the cause of Mr. Trout leaving, but she
doesn't believe them. She actually tries to get him back, first with a petition
and then with a letter. But she's learning a lot more from the sub than she did
from him. Mr. Trout writes her back and says, a) It wasn't her fault; she was a
good student and her skit wasn't why he left and b) he's realized that he's not
meant to be a teacher and instead he's going to go into research.
Outfits
Mr. Trout: too big pants that make a puddle on top of his Hush Puppy shoes,
tweed jackets, Tattersall shirts with pocket protectors
Claudia: cat's eye glasses, alligator barrette, tie-dyed t-shirt, bell
bottoms (mixing eras much?)
Next week: It's a tossup. Let's go for #16 Jessi's Secret Language, but I
reserve the right to change my mind.
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