“Puppies are a lot easier to potty train.” BSC #118: Kristy Thomas, Dog Trainer (1998)

Oh look. Another issue book. I haven’t read this one, but I really hope it’s a lot less depressing than the last title.

Kristy’s family takes in a guide dog trainee puppy. Their main job is to teach the dog to obey simple commands like sit and stay, how to ‘go’ on command, and how to behave in public, so the puppy, Scout, can then go to a formal guide dog school, to learn special skills. Watson got the idea from a coworker of his, whose daughter recently lost her vision after an illness. Deb, who is twelve, is angry and mourning the loss of her sight and freedom, and the BSC decide to ‘fix’ that by trying to make her new friends.

During a sitting job, Deb decides to go to the video store, but her brothers aren’t ready to leave. So while Kristy’s not looking, she leaves on her own. Kristy finds her in the intersection and leads her back to the house.

Interesting Tidbits

The cover. Kristy actually looks super cute here, and the puppy is pretty adorable. (Not as cute as my Scout, but a lot less fat….) And this happens in the book, when Kristy meets a guy with a guide dog.

Ew. Kristy’s making dog puns, and they’re even worse than Abby’s puns. Boo, Kristy!

Then, to make matters worse, Abby points out that, even though they’re babysitters, they’re not supposed to sit on babies. And then makes a horse pun that related right into a very stupid exchange right before that.

Stacey makes a comment about how blind people have to learn to tell coins apart by feeling them, and wonders how they differentiate paper money. Well, first, I have the comment that a lot of people have complained about the 2006 update to money being ‘Monopoly money’ because it was different colors. Well, in other countries, not only is the money different colors but different denominations are also different sizes, specifically for this reason. I’ve seen people with visual impairments who fold different denominations in their wallets in different ways so they know what they have. I’ve also heard that Ray Charles used to insist in being paid in singles so that he knew he wasn’t being ripped off.

Karen asks what happens to the guide dog puppy if it fails its training. I actually knew the answer to that before I read it, because I read a magazine article back in my early teens about a family that raised a guide dog puppy. They updated on the puppy a few months later, stating that the puppy had failed guide dog school, but was now in training to be some type of police dog—either a cadaver dog or a drug sniffing dog or something similar.

Kristy loves Scout’s name because it reminds her of To Kill a Mockingbird. My Scouty is named after that same character.

I love this: after hearing that the Brewer-Thomas family will be getting a guide dog, Mallory and Shannon give Kristy books on dog training. This makes sense, as Mallory’s a book/library nerd, while Shannon’s family probably just had one of those lying around. (Although, couldn’t you picture the Kilbournes hiring someone to train Astrid?)

So Kristy. She brings Scout to a BSC meeting, and it’s not till she gets there that someone else points out that Abby’s allergic to dogs. Shouldn’t she have considered that before? My mother’s allergy to dogs is very serious, and she would have had to leave an enclosed space like Claudia’s room if there was a dog there.

It annoys me how one-dimensional they make most of the characters in these stories. When Jessi finds out that guide dogs can go anywhere, her first response is, even the ballet? Claudia is curious about McDonald’s. I expected them to continue the trend: Mallory to ask about the library, or Stacey to ask about the mall.

Real book: Nate the Great, which Mark is reading for school

Mary Anne is the first to sit for the Coopers. She wants to help Deb, who’s angry and resentful over the loss of her independence. Mary Anne feels very helpless to assist Deb in anyway, but I think she actually did a good job. When Deb knocks over a chair, she rights it and then tells Deb where it is so she can find it and sit in it on her own. And then she lets her vent her frustration.

The Abby groan fest continues: after she inadvertently rhymes a sentence, Mal tells her she sounds like Vanessa. So Abby voluntarily keeps up the very grade-school poetry.

After MA’s experience with Deb, the BSC decides to ‘fix’ her situation by making new friends for her. Kristy’s supposed to be a sort of companion for her for the afternoon—kind of the way Dawn was supposed to be Whitney’s companion once upon a time—and the other sitters decide to bring their charges over to see her so that she could have other people who didn’t know her before to hang out with, people who wouldn’t judge her by the person she used to be. That’s a sweet idea, but again, Deb is twelve. The kids they plan to pair her up with are between the ages of four and eight. Good friends for her little brothers, but for her? The BSC members themselves would be smarter choices. (Oh, Mary Anne brings Ben Hobart along with the other Hobart boys, which is more appropriate. But why is she sitting for him? And he already knows her, since James and Mark are friends, but doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose here as well?)

Karen suggests that Scout could go on safari with a blind person. While that’s technically true, where the hell did she come up with that idea?

HA HA! Kristy nearly makes Karen cry!

Watson say the title quote when Kristy equates raising a guide dog puppy to raising a child.

I feel for Mark and Jed. One of them makes a comment about how Deb gets to watch as much television as she wants, then self-consciously amends that to say she listens to television. They have to keep the floor clean and not move anything around, and since Deb is so angry, they tiptoe around her, trying not to set her off. While Deb is getting help from a social worker, the two of them just have to deal with the changes to their lives.

When Kristy finds Deb in the middle of the intersection, she winds up telling her off. Deb suggests she’d be better off dead, and Kristy tells her she’s not dead—she’s got family and friends who care. Deb says she doesn’t want her friends feeling sorry for her, which is a noble sentiment. But Kristy points out that she then should stop feeling sorry for herself. Easier said than done, but I think it did need to be said.

Small mistake: the word ‘warning’ appears in the middle of a sentence and in the middle of a line in a book, yet it’s written as warn-ing.

That really wasn’t as bad as I thought. I think it’s because the BSC members don’t ‘fix’ or ‘save’ Deb. She still has a long ways to go, her attitude is still intermittently crappy, and she still lacks the independence of kids her age. Nothing’s really solved, but Deb has started on the right track. Much more realistic than most BSC books.

New characters

Deb, Mark and Jed Cooper (12, 8 and 4)—30, 26 and 22

Outfits

Stacey: black jeans, black cropped sweater, ankle boots

Claudia: hot pink bike shorts, Hawaiian print shirt, hot pink and lime socks, Doc Martens painted swirls of colors. Other than the Docs, this outfit SCREAMS 1990.

Next: Mystery #34

“Why does the parade need a grandmother?” BSC #117: Claudia and the Terrible Truth (1998)

Hoo, boy. This is a dilly of a book. The BSC doesn’t have a good history of ‘issue’ books, with the stories coming across as either public service announcements or just laughable ridiculousness. I’ve read this one before, but I don’t remember much about the actual issue except for one, very important detail I’ll discuss in the tidbits below.

Claudia gets a regular sitting job for the Nicholls family, who just moved to town. The two boys are very well behaved, but seem to be afraid of their father, whom Claudia doesn’t really like. She soon finds out why the boys are so scared when she learns their father belittles them and sometimes physically abuses them. Claudia tells her mother, who brings it up to Mrs. Nicholls while they’re at work. The Nichollses drop the BSC and hire Erica Blumberg to sit for them. She calls Claudia, concerned, when both boys are bruised and bloody. Mrs. Kishi and Claudia help get Erica, Mrs. Nicholls and the boys out, and Mrs. Nicholls moves in with her sister to get away from him.

Interesting Tidbits

The cover: I really don’t want to make fun of what these imaginary kids are going through, but doesn’t the cover make it look like that house should be on fire?

Okay, so Peaches and Russ are going out of town for a week, and they’re leaving baby Lynn in the care of…Claudia?!? Seriously, that’s how it’s described in the book. Only Janine points out that there are also two adults living in the home. (Also, who exactly will be watching Lynn during the day? These books have a habit of ridiculous things like putting babies in daycare for two weeks only or arranging for Claire Pike to go to two sessions of kindergarten in one day.)

Oh look, a page-long recap of book number 116. Now, I haven’t read that one since, like 2012 or so, but I still remember the plot enough that I didn’t need a reminder. Chances are most of the readers had just read that story weeks earlier.

And since baby Lynn is at the BSC meeting, we’re introduced to the members by what they were probably like as a baby. Seriously? Just give it up already.

Our first view of the Nicholls family: the whole house is pristine, and everything is lined up just so, like someone with severe OCD had swept through it. The dad barks orders and the boys are overly worried about displeasing him for any reason or leaving even a little mess. Nate gets extremely upset when he accidentally rips a page in one of Claudia’s books. They also let Claudia win at checkers, as if they’re afraid of what will happen if she doesn’t win. Finally, Mr. Nicholls screams at them because Claudia hadn’t put away the peanut butter when she was done with it and calls his sons dumb slobs. That’s not blatant or anything.

So what was happening with Lynn during the day? Mrs. Kishi was taking her to work and making an employee in the children’s library watch her. Way to abuse your powers as head librarian, Mrs. K.

I like this bit: at the ridiculous B-plot-St.-Patty’s-Day-parade-planning-meeting, Charlotte and Becca roll their eyes at the triplets, finding them immature. Becca tells Jessi that girls mature faster than boys, but I think she overheard someone else say that somewhere.

Karen and Andrew want to play bagpipes in the parade. As if you need another reason to hate the Brewers….  (Actually, I usually don’t have a problem with Andrew. But this is enough to make me want to have a problem with him.)

Here’s what KILLS me about the BSC. Claudia feels that something is off about the Nicholls family, with the way Mr. Nicholls talks down about both his wife and children and the way his children are super-obedient and seem to constantly fear him. But despite the fact that her mother works with Mrs. Nicholls and knows the family, Claudia says she ‘isn’t ready’ to tell her parents about what’s going on there. Yeah, I realize that, at this point, she’s just got a hunch that something’s wrong. She hasn’t seen bruises on the boys or seen their father hit them, but come ON. When I teach new employees how to deal with situations, I always tell them that if something seems wrong, it probably IS wrong. If the hair on the back of your neck stands up, then something is off and you need to trust your gut. Especially because, right after she decides not to say anything, she’s actually present when Mr. Nicholls hits Joey.

“How hard can it be to make a few cardboard shamrocks?” Mallory of all people should know to never say stuff like this. Especially when Jackie is around; after all, the ghostwriters looooove to make Walking Disaster jokes, right?

Claudia’s mom is actually really awesome in this story. When the BSC decide to go ahead and tell her what’s going on, she points out that it’s a serious accusation, then brings up the ‘mandated reporter’ rule.* She takes everything out of Claudia’s hands by saying she’s going to talk to Mrs. Nicholls and a social worker. She believes Claudia 100 percent without question, going so far as to take detailed notes on what she’d seen. And best of all, she holds Claudia when she cries and doesn’t pretend to have all the answers as to why this is happening.

Actually, with a few exceptions, the BSC parents are awesome overall. Richard may handle parenting very different from the Kishis or the Pikes, but can you call any of those parents a bad parent? We definitely get to see BSC parents make bad choices—Stacey’s parents constantly putting her in between them comes to mind—but all the parents (except maybe Kristy’s dad) truly want what’s best for their kids. Claudia even makes a comment to that effect when talking about the Nicholls.

*Mandated reporting, for those who aren’t up on such things, holds that employees in certain professions, such as health care, education and day care, have a legal responsibility to report suspected abuse. I remember being a child and hearing about the Lisa Steinberg case in New York, in which six-year-old Lisa was systematically abused by her illegally-adoptive father before her death. When her teachers were interviewed, they said that she always seemed withdrawn and was constantly covered in bruises. I forget whether she’d been reported to social services or not, but I know that case spurred a lot of reform in many places.

Ooh, Mrs. Kishi is a liespotter! In my line of work, that’s the term for someone who can see the difference between what’s being said, how it’s being said, and non-verbal behavior. For example, you can tell when Hillary Clinton is lying when being asked a yes/no question, because she’ll answer one way and her head will go the other (she’ll gush on about how positive her relationship is with President Obama while shaking her head no.) Mrs. Kishi notes how Mrs. Nicholls is trying to assure her that nothing is wrong at home while she’s wringing her hands.

There aren’t a whole lot of quotable lines in this book, so I gave Claire her second title quote in less than a month.

Someone actually read the BSC bible! Erica, whom the Nicholls hire to sit for the boys after they ditch the BSC, has a history of sitting. She had babysat for Betsy prior to the events of #19, and she mentions taking care of the Newtons in #100. I’ve always wondered why she was never up for consideration to join the BSC anytime they were looking for new members. Claudia calls her level-headed and responsible.

So Mrs. Nicholls agrees to get away from her hubby and says that she’s been making plans for something like that for a while. She gets a restraining order and moves four hours away to live with her sister. Mr. Nicholls agrees to get counseling for his issues. Mrs. Kishi points out the Nichollses problems are far from over, and that admitting he needs help is just the first step. I remember very distinctly when I read this imagining what happened to the family after. Mr. Nicholls does a couple months of therapy and then starts wooing his wife back. She decides he’s changed and goes back to him, only for him to break one of the boys’ arms this time. Mrs. Nicholls leaves him again, only to repeat the cycle a few more times. She eventually leaves for good, but by then her boys are so emotionally scarred that any chance for them to grow up normal is pretty well destroyed.

Think I’m maybe a little cynical?

Next: #118

“Mary Anne had never imagined herself hanging around outside the boys’ bathroom.” BSC Mystery #33: Stacey and the Stolen Hearts (1998)

I actually kind of like this mystery. Why? Because it’s something that could actually happen. As opposed to when Stacey actually helped the Secret Service catch a counterfeiter (M#10) or appeared in the world’s worst horror movie (M#24).

Pete and Stacey create a Valentine-Gram fundraiser, which is a pretty standard school fundraiser. The problem? The bag of valentines goes missing, and then someone starts posting facts gleaned from the bag to embarrass various students. The BSC suspects Cary, naturally, along with a variety of random students. It turns out that Cary didn’t steal the bag, but he did post all the notes around school. The culprit was actually Alan, who’d asked to get a valentine back and had been refused. He returns the bag and the valentines are (almost) all delivered.

The B-plot is so stupid, I almost didn’t write about it. The BSC throws a ‘festival’ for V-Day for the kids, because the kids are all bummed out about the holiday. It has snacks and crafts and everyone’s required to make a valentine for every other person who goes to the festival. In other words, it’s exactly like nearly every elementary classroom’s party. It’s pretty par for the course these days that, in elementary school, valentines are required for every member of the class, there are heart shaped cookies and crafts, and romance is pretty much not allowed.

Interesting Tidbits

Not only is Stacey appropriately V-Day garbed, she’s overly horrified by the hearts all over the lockers. I tried to read them, but all I can discern is a few capital letters. Very disappointing.

YAY! Stacey finally cut off her perm. For someone so (allegedly) stylish, she’s at least five years behind the times, there.

Apparently Ethan scores a gazillion on the hunk-o-meter. Very mature, Stacey. She describes him and I’m totally picturing him as a borderline-Emo artist.

We meet the BSC by what kind of Valentine they send. I swear, some of these intros are so cheesy, they have to stretch quite a bit to make them work.

Heh. When Kristy makes fun of Stacey’s fish sticks, suggesting they look like gopher nuts, Stacey shoots back that it’s actually monkey snot. Not only does this gross Kristy out, but all I could imagine when Kristy said gopher nuts was gopher testicles…Now I’m grossed out.

Should I transcribe all the Valentine-Grams? Sure, why not. This first one is to Claudia from ‘an admirer’ (aka Josh): Sometimes roses are white/And sometimes violets are too/I’ve been as high as a kite/ever since I kissed you. BLECKK!

The first note that’s plastered all over school? Cokie sent her latest boyfriend 12 valentines, and he sent her none in return. It also says that Cokie called him Sugarbear.

Cary has an alibi for the time of the theft—he was at the dentist. He even offers to provide Stacey a sworn affidavit from the hygienist. Everyone say it with me: I love Cary Retlin.

The second note is similar to the first, only it’s addressed to Jacqui, the ‘bad’ girl Stacey used to hang out with, who has a big thing for Robert and sent him several valentines.

Abby takes Logan’s joke, and when Kristy calls the meeting to order, she asks for a BLT. I rolled my eyes, but Kristy’s response was pretty good: “That joke is so old. Last time I heard it, I fell off my dinosaur.”

Suspects: Brian and Rose Marie, this couple who got together through Claudia’s matchmaking service in #71 (I had totally forgotten about them); Alan; Pete; Robert; Cary; Cokie. The only way to narrow the list down? You got it. The BSC divided it up and played spy/detective.

Claudia spelling: franckly, dissapointed, brot, gess. She also uses there for their, ferry for fairy. And she spells Brian as Brain. (This makes me laugh. I have a cousin named Brian, and my one uncle went to Disney for his honeymoon. He brought back mouse hats for all the nieces and nephews with our names on them, but Brian’s said Brain.)

The title quote comes from Mary Anne’s stakeout of Pete. Mal and Jessi also do the same thing of lurking around the potty, but Jessi calls it Lavatory Listening. (The book says the two of them were hiding in a stall. Were they sharing a stall? That’s going to get noticed. Now I’m picturing an episode of Degrassi the Next Generation in which three boys were reading the directions to a penis pump while sharing a bathroom stall…)

Valentine thief strikes for a third time, plastering the halls with valentines exchanged between Rose Marie and King.

Oh boy, a Logan notebook entry! It’s not actually that interesting, except that he tells Kristy she’s right, and Stacey thinks Logan is pretty much now Kristy’s new best friend because of that.

Stacey explains what a focus group is, which is boring. However, the items she makes up to describe focus groups are pretty awesome: Maxi-Clean for Small Dogs, Spring-Fresh Mitten Deodorizer, and, my personal favorite, Chocolate Covered Fish Zingies (which apparently snowboarders think are ‘totally awesome.’)

Becca, about Valentine’s Day: “I like to send cards to my friends, but that doesn’t mean I want to marry them.” No, of course not, Becca. You’re in third grade. When you start pulling their hair and calling them Puke Face, then you want to marry them.

Valentine-gram from Jim Poirier (who?) to our favorite, Sabrina Bouvier: Dear Sabrina, I knew from the moment I saw your beautiful eyes and perfect nose that you were something special. Will you go out with me?

The Scooby-gang gets their first and only clue, which breaks the case open: when Cary copies the Jim-to-Sabrina VG, part of his hand and stripy sleeve appear on the paper. This is not up to his usual standard of sneakiness. (Earlier in that same chapter, Stacey tries to sneak information about his dentist out of him. He figures it out and gives her his dentist’s name and tells her to look him up under ‘alibi.’ Of course, because HIPPAA or however it’s spelled does not exist in the BSC-universe, the dentist’s receptionist gladly verifies that Cary was indeed there during the crime.)

While trying to figure out who’s wearing stripes, the characters check the cafeteria: “It was strange to be looking only at people’s clothes and not their faces.” Of course. You can’t fully judge someone unless you check their hair and makeup in addition to their fashion.

“The BSC version of the SWAT team.” BSCSWAT…if it were a TV show, I’d watch it.

Claudia is actually the one who makes the Cary connection: not only is he wearing stripes, but he offered an alibi for the time of the crime before they ever told him when it happened. It’s like this situation we had at work: an employee was accused of going into a single-stall bathroom with a customer. When I interviewed her and told her what she was accused of, she said, “I never even go into the men’s room unless I’m cleaning it.” I’d never told her it was the men’s room she was accused of going into.

“Should we syncopate our watches?” Ahh, Claudia. (By the way, Stacey is wearing a Swatch. Hee hee!)

My random thoughts about the boring Valentine’s Day party? Jake and Laurel show up without Patsy. There’s no age minimum, though, because Ryan DeWitt and Marnie Barrett are both there. (Besides, the BSC usually sets a minimum at five or younger, to prevent Claire Pike tantrums.) Adam Pike made a really gross, bloody card that Stacey assumes must be for one of his brothers. Mathew Hobart asks MA to be his Valentine, despite the fact that all his friends say she’s too old for him.

Stacey winds up going to Alan’s house, and suggesting that he tell whoever took the bag of VGs to bring them back. She was originally very angry with him, but Cary had told Stacey that Alan stole the bag to retrieve both a note he’d written and prank notes that had been written to him. Alan realized a bunch of girls—including the one he’d written to—were writing prank love notes to him and stole the bag to avoid the embarrassment of the girl discovering he liked her. I think just about everyone’s been teased or bullied at some point or another and can relate to Alan’s pain. Stacey, who was ostracized due to her diabetes at her old school, definitely should be able to.

Outfits

Rose Marie: olive green sweater, denim miniskirt

Next: #117

“Why would they hit cars?” BSC #115: Jessi’s Big Break (1998)

This is the last Jessi book in the entire series, folks. Why did Jessi’s tale end so early? I can’t be sure. I honestly think that #108 would have been Mallory’s last book if the whole boarding-school plotline hadn’t come up.

Jessi gets to go to a three week dance class in New York City called Dance New York. DNY includes both a professional school and dance troupe and special programs like the one Jessi is in. Jessi stays in Brooklyn with her cousin Michael—Aunt Cecelia’s son. She meets up with her old friend/sorta-boyfriend Quint and gets introduced to his friends, including a girl named Maritza. Jessi feels very at home living in NYC and hanging out with Maritza and her friends, who are all African American. She gets the opportunity to audition for the school/dance troupe, but turns it down when she imagines leaving Mal and the BSC.

The subplot features Mal and Becca, who are both really missing Jessi while she’s enjoying herself. Jessi invites Mal to spend the weekend with her

Interesting Tidbits

Look, it’s leotard central!

Ouch. After Aunt Cecelia plays downer to Jessi’s good news, Jessi repeats her dad’s joke: Aunt Cecelia only moved in with them because no one else would take her.

Remember in SS#14, when I mentioned Jessi’s uncles Arthur and John? She’s back to having uncles named Arthur and Charles these days. What’s the point of having a bible for the series (published as the Complete Guide) if the ‘manuscript assistants’ don’t even read/use it?

I’ve never really stopped to think about Jessi and Becca’s relationship before, but here goes. Most of the time, they seem to get along really well. But there are a few occasions when they don’t, and it all boils down to the same thing. Remember back in the first Jessi book, when Jessi was really surprised to find out that Haley was sometimes jealous of Matt? Well, wouldn’t make just tons of sense if Becca were occasionally jealous of Jessi? Jessi gets all this attention for dancing, while Becca doesn’t even have activities that she’s involved in. It makes her bratty behavior in this book completely understandable. (She does things like tell Squirt Jessi will be going bye-bye and suggest that Jessi will be homeless, eating rats.)

Jessi says all she remembers about her cousin Michael is that Aunt Cecelia used to yell at him a lot. Mallory: “She yells at everybody.”

Claudia calls Mary Anne’s preppy fashion “L.L.J. Crew Bauer.” I so would not have gotten that joke when I was ten, or even when this book came out (when I was nearly seventeen.)

I like Jessi’s cousin Michael, who behaves a lot like the other men in the Ramsey family, making jokes about Aunt Cecelia and teasing her. I feel sorry for his wife, though, who seems nervous around the Ramseys. Can you imagine having AC for a mother-in-law? Ugh.

Awww! Shortly after Jessi leaves for NYC, Mallory comes to babysit for Squirt and Becca. Squirt’s all excited to see her…because he thinks Jessi will be following her. He actually sits in the window, calling her name.

There is a wicked-lot of ballet terms in this book, paired with explanations of what the mean. I’m so bored reading them that I’m going to fall asleep. Be back in six months….

My high school journalism teacher would be so disappointed reading this book. She always hated repetition of the same word when it was possible to phrase it another way. In less than one page, the word gab/gabbing is used five times to describe how Jessi, Maritza and Tanisha were talking. Buy a thesaurus!

Jessi’s friends in NYC: Maritza, Tanisha, Quint, Rasheen, Simi, Brandon, Julissa, Denise, Marcus, Celeste, Michiko and Randy.

This is odd to me. Michael went to art school, and then business school. He says that Aunt Cecelia was upset when he gave up art. Aunt Cecelia doesn’t really seem to be the type to suggest that her child live as a starving artist while he tries to ‘make it’ in New York. It makes more sense to me that she’d have urged him to go back to school. Even Jessi is surprised about AC.

Claudia spelling: kayoss (chaos), Charlot, Becka, figgured, triplits, diegnosis, seperation, anziety

The BSC and the Pikes plan a surprise party for Jessi, which is nearly ruined by, in turn, nearly every kid there. My favorite? When Byron fell over because, in his words, Nicky farted. You know how I love when these books let kids be kids.

The title quote is Claire’s response when Mrs. Pike suggests the Ramseys may have hit traffic on the way back from NYC.

Becca’s all grumbly about Jessi acceptance to DNY, and so when Jessi repeats that the head of the program told her she was one of them now, Becca responds, “He sounds like Darth Vader.”

I liked the ending to this one. The first person Jessi tells when she makes up her mind is Aunt Cecelia, who’d been rallying for her to go to the program while everyone else had been more logical and conservative about it. The invitation was open, meaning Jessi could start right away, or next semester or school year, or in a couple of years even. Jessi decides she’s not ready to go away, so she tells AC she’s going to accept…later. AC actually compliments her and tells her she likes the way she thinks. It’s a good point. Jessi’s eleven. If she’s that good of a dancer, she should wring everything she can out of Mme. Noelle and live her life as much as possible before reaching for the stars. I remember reading about how much Olympic athletes practice in any day and how much they give up to be the best. I’m sure ballet’s much the same way.

Sorry, I just realized how short this entry is. I guess there really wasn't much to say either way about it. I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

Outfits

Claudia (the Snack Czar): leopard print jumpsuit, black silk shirt tied at the waist, steel-toed combat boots, rhinestone-studded cats eye glasses on top of her head.

Next: Mystery #33

“I felt as if a big day-old Swedish meatball had lodged itself in my throat.” BSC #113: Claudia Makes Up Her Mind (1997)

The Claudia-related ridiculosity continues in this classy little number. Claudia’s doing so well in seventh grade that, against all reason and logic, the school gives her a choice. She can either continue in seventh grade or go back to eighth grade. Meanwhile, Claudia has another choice to make, between her loser-slacker-hottie boyfriend Mark and her cute-sweet-maybe-gay friend Josh.

In the sitting plot, the kids decide to throw a Color War as well, with dubious results.

Interesting Tidbits

Le Covere! “Two boys…two grades…How will Claudia ever decide?” Well, Mark’s doing his best Zach Morris imitation with that shirt, and he’s also looking at anything but Claudia. Meanwhile, Josh is doing his best puppy dog impression….

First thing we establish: seventh grade is tres immature, with spitballs being thrown and girls squealing about it. Yet that wouldn’t be too out of place if you replaced Brandon and Bonnie with Alan and Cokie….

So it’s Color War time, a fun SMS tradition that we’ve never heard of before. Each grade picks a color that everyone must wear for the week, and then the grades compete, with the proceeds going to a charity chosen by winning grade. Sounds like fun, honestly. But Claudia’s upset because the seventh grade picked orange for their grade color, saying no one looks good in orange. Umm, she wears orange in a LOT of books. She’s right that it’s not a color that looks good on most people, but it’s not unknown for her to be dressed largely in orange. (And later she finds an orange outfit right in her own closet.) Josh’s response to Claudia’s horror: “Let me guess. You flunked homeroom.”

Josh + Peter Lerangis = gold! First Shira says to ignore Josh because he ODed on Cocoa Puffs that morning, then Josh suggests that Mark can’t help Claudia with the Color War because he’s too involved in “all that extracurricular hanging out.”

Abby chastises Kristy for being bossy by pointing out that the BSC is not a dictatocracy. If Kristy had her way, it would be!

Stacey, regarding the orange seventh graders: “What’s your charity, Fashion Victims of America?” No Stacey, that was you in book #111….

Alan signs up to be eighth grade color war coordinator. He’s got way-girly handwriting, similar to Kristy’s. Josh asks if he’s Claudia’s ex, based upon her reaction to him. Claudia thinks that’s absolutely disgusting, which I find really funny, given the series ends with her dating him.

Claudia’s list of suggestions for the Color War, spelling intact: limrix, stilt race, battel of the rock bands, best originle outfit, race to pull 100 yards of dentle floss across football feild, janiter’s mop toss, hi score on vidio game to be agrede upon. There’s also another entry that might say cheet match or chest match. I think the second makes more sense, assuming she meant chess. Also, Claud’s friends suggest a bake off, a hog-calling contest, art contest and ‘weird foot races’, which sounds awesome until they explain it means three-legged races and stuff like that. (I was imagining ‘weird foot’ races, rather than weird ‘foot races.’)

When Claudia gets a note from the guidance counselor, wanting to meet, her first thought is to panic and assume that she’s getting booted back to sixth grade. This degrades into her being sent to reform school. ‘Cause, likely. But no more stupid than what actually happens.

Mrs. Amer says Claudia hasn’t been in seventh grade for very long and is doing very well and is cognitively working above the seventh grade level. Here are my thoughts on that. 1) She’s actually been in seventh grade for a year or more at this point. She was moved in October and went through an entire year, on to summer vacation. This is likely November based upon the one book a month progression. (This is confirmed later in the book, when Claudia mentions Thanksgiving decorations.) So that argument is very bunk. 2) If she was cognitively way above eighth grade, why did they ever put her back in seventh? 3) I’ll answer that question. She was put back in seventh grade because the subjects start building on themselves about this time. It’s definitely true for math and English; not so much for some other subjects. So since she didn’t retain seventh grade information, they put her back in that grade to re-learn it all. Which makes the argument for putting her back into eighth grade ridiculously stupid.

The Papadakis kids actually threaten Abby that she’ll never sit for them again if she doesn’t agree to take them to the kids Color War that was arranged behind the BSC’s back. Future mafia members, maybe?

It’s interesting that both Mr. Kishi and Janine are advocating for Claudia to go back to eighth grade. Mrs. Kishi’s response is nicer (“I support you whatever you decide”) but if Claudia were my daughter, I’d be more like, “You’re doing well in school for the first time, and it’s really important that you get a solid foundation before head off to high school.”

Favorite image in this book so far: Josh threatening to beat someone up for Claudia. Since he’s mentioned as being short/hinted at being prepubescent, I’m sure he’s really scary to other guys.

The title quote is Claudia’s reaction to debates about her choice.

Awww. Josh reminds me so much of a guy I had a huge crush on when I was about fifteen. That’s probably why I like him so much. He lives the opposite direction from the school from Claudia, but says he doesn’t mind walking, because he’ll reach his house eventually anyway. “Columbus proved it.” And he gets so flustered when talking to Claudia that he starts babbling.

Alan’s way of showing his admiration of Kristy: he picks his nose over her lunch tray. (And we’re supposed to think that the seventh graders are all immature?!?) Claudia gets back at him by writing a backwards KICK ME on his chair and then feeling glorious when people kicked him later in the day.

I love that Claudia is the only person in the whole of the universe who doesn’t realize that Josh has the hots for her. I’d say she was clueless, but Tessie went through the same thing one time. Her: “You knew he liked me? Why didn’t you tell me?” Me: “I thought you knew! He wasn’t exactly subtle!”

Ha ha! Kristy wrote the word butt! Ha! (I’m now officially as mature as Alan and Brandon-the-seventh-grader.)

“I’d kiss the ground you walk on if it wouldn’t ruin my orthodontia!” Josh admits his crush for the first time. Sooooo sweeeeet! And then he asks Claudia if they can go to a PG-13 rated movie, because he never gets carded. Heh.

Anyone surprised that Claudia won a Snickers eating contest, decided to go back to eighth grade, and got together with Josh at the end of the book?

Outfits

Claudia: plaid skirt, purple leggings, lace-up boots, white linen skirt, black tie, vest; orange rayon bowling ensemble; orange striped harem pants (I have no idea what these are, but they sound absolutely awful) and navy blouse

Next: #115

“This raisin is practically mummified.” BSC #112: Kristy and the Sister War (1997)

Compared to the other books in this time frame, I like this story a lot. Why? Another glimpse into the life of the dysfunctional Kilbourne family, paired with a dose of Pike triplets. What’s not to like?

Shannon is busier than normal, and Tiffany and Maria both feel like neither she nor their parents have time for them. Kristy encourages them to try to make Shannon’s life easier so she’ll have more time, but that backfires and Shannon ends up angry at her sisters. So they declare war and pull pranks on her. Kristy manages to broker a peace deal between the sisters.

Meanwhile, all the middle schools in Stoneybrook are pulling together for an ‘all-school’ dance, which leads the kids to decide to have an ‘all-kids’ dance. Only trouble is that the kids want to plan it all themselves, but they’re all paying more attention to whom they want to take as their dates than the planning. In particular, Maria and Tiffany both zone in on Jordan Pike, leading to even more Kilbourne-sister fighting. Once Abby declares the kids dance a date-free zone, the planning goes much more smoothly and everyone has a good time.

Interesting tidbits

The cover: Oh look. Universally bad fashion sense. On the plus side, they finally got Maria’s hair right.

What is with the Brewer-Thomas crew and naming their pets after people? I never stopped to think about it, but DM named their dog after their neighbor and Karen named her rat after her little sister. I don’t know which is a bigger insult, but if the family every gets another pet, it should be a potbellied pig or a donkey, so the insulting naming can be completed.

Charlie’s newest nickname for Kristy: Your Royal Cluelessness. I do love the relationship between Charlie, Sam, and Kristy, how the three of them are always teasing one another, but the love is there behind it all. (I’m remembering in SS#8 when Sam says he’s a man of mystery, and Kristy laughs at the idea of him being a man. I’m so glad I don’t have older brothers….)

Kristy compares Mary Anne to a ‘facial tissue’ by describing her as ultra-sensitive and ultra-gentle. I’d be more concerned if she starting calling her ultra-absorbent, myself.

Maria says the title line while she and Tiffany are trying to bake snickerdoodles. Since when do snickerdoodles have raisins, anyway? The worst part is that the girls make a huge mess baking the snickerdoodles while Kristy is babysitting, and Shannon has to clean it up because she’ll be the only one home that night. Kristy makes a big point of saying how she’s a responsible babysitter a couple paragraphs earlier, so why doesn’t she clean up before she leaves?

Tiffany and Maria’s list of ways to help Shannon is sweet, though mostly misguided. I can’t believe Kristy let them ‘help’ with Shannon’s algebra homework—by changing the Xs to numbers—or thought it would be a good idea to clean Shannon’s bedroom. I don’t think Kristy would want David Michael and Karen cleaning her bedroom, after all. Forget the fact that they used a greasy rag to ‘wash’ her window and smeared upholstery cleaner around instead of Pledge. Have they never heard of privacy?

Claudia spelling! Exitmint (aren’t those the butter mints you get when you leave some restaurants? Never mind. Even Abby wouldn’t approve of that pun.) Havent, committe, enything, thats. She also uses reel for real, but she spells more words correctly than incorrectly.

The kids that get together to be the representative committee of all the elementary schools are an odd bunch. First, let’s consider the fact that there are two public middle schools in Stoneybrook. Yet we have representatives of only one public elementary school. By my calculations, there should be at least two, more likely four. (Two schools to feed into each middle school, which feed into the same high school. But what do I know? I went to a KES that was the only school that fed into a KMS, which was the only school that fed into a KHS. And yes, all the Ks were the same.)

Then there are the random kids who come over. The meeting is held at the Korman house and includes the Kormans and the Kilbournes, who all go to SDS. Then Karen and the Papadakises come over, and they all go to Stoneybrook Academy. That makes sense, since they’re all local. But the kids from SES? The Pike triplets, Becca and Charlotte. I know the triplets had to be there or the story loses a plot line, but they seem like the last kids in town who’d be interested in planning a dance. And are they friendly with these other kids at all? Tiffany calls Jordan out by name the first time he speaks, so she knows the triplets well enough to tell them apart. Becca and Charlotte are similar in age to Maria, Melody, Hannie and Karen. They’ve all done events together before. I could picture Maria being good friends with the two of them, frankly. Maybe the triplets have hung out with Bill and Linny once or twice? I think the whole thing would make more sense if Vanessa and/or Nicky had come with them.

I’d completely forgotten about the subplot in which Claudia and Mark set up Kristy with one of Mark’s friends, mostly because he’s ‘big into sports’ and so is she. Um, that could describe a lot of guys. It’s not a very rare quality or anything.

Not only do Maria and Tiffany decide to war with their sister, they actually draw up a declaration of war and a list of acts of war. Between this and the fact that Tiffany is a ‘natural leader’ at the dance committee meetings, you almost expect her to go into politics.

Their first act of war made me laugh. They used Shannon’s name the way the Smurfs used to use the word Smurf. The only thing about the Smurfs I really remember (other than that god-awful theme song, which is now playing in my head) is that they used to use Smurf and Smurfy all the time: “It’s a Smurfy day,” and “Go Smurf yourself!” Okay, I don’t think they ever said the second one, but you get the idea. The two of them sit at the dinner table, ignoring their sister, saying things like, “Shannon you,” and “You’re Shannon.” That would definitely work to annoying someone.

Actually, I think the best part of this whole sister war is Shannon’s response. She figures out very quickly that her sisters are trying to get a reaction, so, since they’re going about getting her attention all the wrong ways, she ignores them. It’s very similar to when my nephew used to throw temper tantrums and I’d just step right over him and go talk to his sister. Once he realized I wasn’t going to give him an audience, he quit. The only problem for Shannon is that her sisters are just getting more and more mad when she’s not giving them the attention they’re seeking.

Kristy agrees to let Claudia take her shopping before her blind date with Mark’s friend. Claudia, though, doesn’t make any concessions to the fact that it’s Kristy she’s shopping with, so she drags her into a fancy boutique where a plain white t-shirt costs $79. Like me, Kristy’s never seen the point of overpriced clothes. She goes home after her mall expedition and puts on a $5 t-shirt.

Ooh, book foreshadowing. Claudia and Kristy go on their double date. Kristy’s not too impressed with her date, but she’s even less impressed with Claudia’s boyfriend, Mark. He’s late and doesn’t apologize, and he ignores Claudia during their date and mostly talks to his friend, Kristy’s date. She thinks Claudia can do much better. And we all know they break up in the next book.

“History books of the future will probably show that it was the Spaghetti Incident that ended the Sister War.” I love that Kristy’s treating this like it’s a real political incident, where incidents like the Sweater Situation need to be capitalized.

Kristy thinks Tiffany and Maria are too young to be interested in dating. Tiffany’s age is established as eleven in this book, despite the fact that she’s sometimes ten. That’s the same age as Mal and Jessi, both of whom have had sorta-boyfriends. And Maria is the same age as various characters throughout the series that the BSC has followed the ‘romances’ of. I’m thinking specifically of #51, when Laine thought the BSC was ludicrous for being interested in the romantic interests of the Arnold twins, Nicky and James. And I had a boy I ‘dated’ when I was eight; we even kissed each other. Although, in Tiffany and Maria’s case, I think it really is just something for the two of them to bicker over.

My favorite prank, besides the Smurfy one? The girls put ‘sorta-purple’ hair dye in Shannon’s shampoo. End result? She looked like Barney, until she washed her hair with normal shampoo.

Remember how I said Shannon was ignoring her sisters’ bad behavior so as not to give them an audience? Well, she wasn’t doing it on purpose. She doesn’t even realize that her sisters are craving her attention until Kristy points it out.

Continuity: kids mentioned at the final planning meeting for the all-school dance include Shannon’s friends Greer, Lindsey and Polly. Also, some of the kids mentioned as living in Kristy’s neighborhood, who go to Kelsey, are there.

Here’s the problem with this all-school dance. There were adults, such as Mrs. Kilbourne, on the dance committee. But these adults are nowhere to be found when it’s time to put the plans into action. The committees all decided on things like food, music, and decorations. Then they roped in more people to help actually put the food, music and decorations together…and those people think the plans are still open for debate. About the only people who aren’t trying to change things are Kristy, who doesn’t really care, and Stacey, who suggests it would be more prudent just to go with the already-made plans.

Alan also has a nickname for Kristy: Your Kristiness. He calls her this right before she drags him into the middle of the floor during the planning session and forces him to dance with her. It’s an odd moment, and so not Kristy. I could picture Stacey or even Shannon using that method to calm everyone down, but Kristy? Nahhhh…

Maria said her father was reading briefs at the dinner table, and Kristy pictures him reading the label on a pair of underpants.

I’m amused by which kids have little things for each other in this book. Linny and Charlotte are interested in each other, while Bill keeps punching Hannie in the shoulder. (Abby calls that a sure sign of love in a nine year old.) Melody really wants Nicky to dance with her, although Nicky’s not interested in ‘stinky girls.’ Oh, and Tiffany’s convinced she’ll get her man because she’s an older woman.

Haha, lesbian fanfic fiends! Shannon and Kristy go to the dance together, and Shannon’s convinced they’ll have a great time. Hell, the two of them start off the dance by dancing together.

Awww, even Alan found a love match. He met a girl from SDS who enjoys pranks and gross outs as much as he does.

Allegedly happy ending for the Kilbournes, who agree to spend more time together. But I imagine that will be a temporary fix, and before long, everyone will go back to being too busy and pretending the family doesn’t have problems. (“Growing up in a repressed household is so boring next to this stuff. We always have to pretend problems don’t exist. Gets pretty inconvenient when there are odors involved.”) Maybe I’m jaded? Or perhaps I’m just realistic.

Outfits

Shannon: purple lycra…everything. (Bad Shannon!)

Maria and Tiffany: SDS uniforms (gray and green plaid kilts, white shirts, gray sweater vests)

Maria: jeans and a sweatshirt

Tiffany: overalls, red turtleneck

Claudia: jumper made of overalls, covered in embroidered designs; pink corduroy mini-skirt, lime green sweater and scrunchie (“Careful. Don’t hurt yourself with that scrunchie.”); tux

Kristy: green turtleneck, blue jeans; flowered skirt, fleecy vest, cream blouse

Cokie: Dalmatian go-go boots, leopard mini-skirt, zebra top

Next: #113

“It feels like you’re in the rain forest.” BSC Mystery #31: Mary Anne and the Music Box Secret (1997)

This book is a whole mess of plotlines all mixed in together, mostly unsuccessfully.

While Granny and Pop-pop* are on a cruise, a flood ruins their basement. The BSC agrees to supervise the cleanup, and Mary Anne finds a parcel labeled “Do not open or you will be cursed.” Inside is a music box that plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Hidden in a secret compartment is a letter and a photo of a sailor…a sailor about whom MA had been having dreams since ever since she ripped the paper off the music box, long before she ever found the compartment. At the end of the story, Mary Anne learns that the letter, which was addressed to L.S. and signed H.I.W., was written to Granny by her first love, who died in a war. She kept the box with the letter and his photo in his memory and hid them away now that she was happy with Pop-pop.

Weird things start happening at the house, though, when plumbers start tearing up the yard. Everyone—friends, neighbors, plumbers and contractors—start acting odd. Plus, in pile of old letters Granny wrote her cousin June, she reports all these mysterious goings-on that happened more than fifty years ago in the house where Granny lives now, with a star crossed romance between two teenagers named Lydia and Johnny, and an embezzler. On Sharon’s go-ahead, they dig up the yard and find a box full of documents—but not embezzled money, like everyone expected.

In the B-plot, the Barrett-DeWitt kids build a playhouse in the shed, but it’s too big to fit out the door.

Interesting Tidbits

This is actually the very last BSC book I bought to complete my collection. J

The cover: Late-stage Mary Anne seemed to wear an awful lot of really awful cutoff jean shorts. This is really odd to me, as she’s described as being preppy and these super-short, super-awkward shorts don’t really work with that image for me.

And the book starts with Sharon-itis: Mary Anne finds Sharon’s car keys in the bread box. Richard says they just as easily could have been in the medicine cabinet or Sharon’s underwear drawer.

This book takes place in August, near the end of summer vacation, so it pre-dates #110. My mystery placement is always a little off, but I’m (almost) over it.

Huh. Sharon is planning a surprise anniversary party for Granny and Pop-pop, and Mary Anne says she is really organized when it comes to big projects like that. I guess I can see it. I keep my work schedule organized easily, but often can’t remember where I left my keys either. (Though I never find them in my underwear drawer.)

*It’s always Pop-Pop in the books, not Pop-pop. But I’m lazy and it hurts my fingers to capitalize the second p.

Because Granny and Pop-pop just left on a cruise, MA introduces the BSC members as employees on a cruise ship. (I’m so hearing The Love Boat theme playing. Claudia or Abby would have to be Isaac, giving the double point and wink…) Kristy’s the cruise director and MA, her assistant. The creative director? Claud, natch. Stacey’s the purser, Abby, the athletic director, and Jessi, aerobics instructor. Mal would be in charge of story hour, which I didn’t realize was a cruise ship ‘thing.’

Why is the idea of Granny and Pop-pop playing board games funny? My grandmother likes to play board games sometimes. It’s not as if games are only for children….

When Mary Anne opens the ‘cursed’ package, she jokes that her hair turned white and her fingernails grew long. Actually, to me, the fact that she no longer believes in curses means she’s come a long way since #17, when she wore a necklace simply because she believed she’d be cursed otherwise. That said, she ruins the effect by being a little afraid to open the wooden box she finds inside. I personally would have been far too curious to wait even five minutes before opening it, but I’m well aware that I’m a nosy person.

The plumber, Jim, and contractor, Eddie, working on Granny’s house are also working the Barrett-DeWitt house. Jim makes the following observation after Mary Anne says she knows the seven kids in that household well: “Only seven? I was positive there were at least a dozen.” I imagine that’s true in many large families: the chaos and the noise make it seem like there are more kids than there really are.

The contractor for both the DeWitt house and the Porter (Granny and Pop-Pop) house has a brother named Jake who works with him. I didn’t figure out that Jake was Eddie’s brother at first because Eddie spoke to him when four BSC members were taking thirteen kids on a ‘tour’ of the addition to the DeWitt house. Some of those kids were the Kuhn kids, so when Eddie said, “Right, Jake?” I thought he was talking to Jake Kuhn. It’s actually realistic to have two characters with the same name in one scene, but not normal for the BSC universe.

We don’t have a real mystery yet—just a mystery box—but here are all the people we’ve met so far (AKA suspects): Hank and Esther, Granny and Pop-pop’s friends—Hank used to live in the neighborhood when he was a child, as did Granny; Jim and Dooley, the plumbers; Eddie, Jake, and Lori, the contractors.

Mary Anne and Claudia are with Sharon when the plumbers mention having to dig up the yard. MA notices that Hank gets upset at the idea, and she’s curious if Claudia noticed too. At this point, she hasn’t told her friends about the mystery box yet, so Claudia is way more interested in an impending coffee cake than she is in odd behavior.

Granny and Pop-pop live at 747 Bertrand Drive.

The BSC is really obsessed with the letter, which is to L.S. from H.I.W. They are determined to figure out what those initials stand for, as if that will solve the mysteries.

Claudia spelling: anywon (that’s one of my favorites, right up there with babbysitting), culd, thats, exacly, majore, suspekt, dont.

In Dawn’s Portrait Collection Book, Granny’s name was Rita. In this book, it’s Grace.

Back ‘more than fifty years ago’ when Granny was MA’s age, the home she currently lives in was owned by the Bailey family. (Granny grew up in the house next door.) Lydia Bailey, the teenage daughter, was dating a boy named Johnny Buckman, but her father didn’t approve. The two of them were sneaking around behind her father’s back, and there was a whole thing with him embezzling money from the bank where he worked. Granny caught someone burying something in the yard. MA thinks it’s the music box, but that seems like an odd leap. I agree more with Abby and Kristy, who assume what was being buried was money.

I’m trying to put together a timeline of this neighborhood. Granny grew up in the house next door, and Hank lived on the same block. Granny and Pop-pop ‘moved back’ to Stoneybrook after they got married (from where?) and moved into the house they live in now, which must be where they raised Sharon. Jim the plumber lived across the street until he was nine or so, but Sharon doesn’t recognize him. That means he either moved out of the neighborhood before she was old enough to remember (she’s in her early forties, making him fifty-ish) or he was born after she moved out (making him in his twenties). Either of those could work, until MA says that Jim lived in the neighborhood the same time as the Baileys did.

More Claudia spelling: bleery, cemickals, darkrum**, wuld, wirth, somthing, cant.

**I know more than a few people who would love to drink some darkrum….

The BSC really are terrible actors. They pretend they found a metal box in Granny’s backyard, trying to convince anyone who knows about the alleged buried treasure that they located it. MA says that she’s trying to make her voice sound as loud and enthusiastic as possible, so I’m imagining just how fake that sounded. But it worked! Hank, Jim, and an old man the BSC had seen around the neighborhood, who turned out to be Jim’s dad, all were extremely eager to see what was in the box.

Jessi is really enthusiastic about the Barrett-DeWitt family’s new kids’ bathroom. It’s decorated with ‘jungle-animal’ wall paper. She says the title quote, but to me, that would not be a positive thing…. (Oh, and jungles and rain forests are so not the same thing.)

Here’s my real question regarding the Barrett-DeWitt house. If the parents could afford to build this luxurious addition to the house, why couldn’t they afford a larger house in the first place?

Oh, and since when do people bring potluck food AND presents to housewarming parties? I’d be insulted if I thought I was expected to bring gifts for the whole family and feed myself at a party thrown by family friends. Where I live, it’s vogue for some people to throw themselves housewarming parties and register for gifts, but I find that unbelievably tacky. To me, a gift for a housewarming party is a bottle of wine, not towels and rugs. (It’s even tackier that the Barrett-DeWitts open those gifts in front of the guests, as if it were a birthday party.)

Granny tells MA the truth about the music box after MA finds the ID bracelet the soldier was wearing in the photo among Sharon’s things. Sharon said she got the bracelet from Granny to wear to her prom—and that Granny never explained the stars on it, just told her to always remember her first love (Richard.) Granny then wants Mary Anne to have the music box and the bracelet, now that she has her first love, Logan. It’s about the only part of the story that makes sense to me.

Outfits

Stacey: pink denim overall shorts (after all those mean things she said about Tess’s overalls last week?!), white baby tee, purple Doc Martins, white baseball cap

Claudia: paint-splattered painters pants, tie-dyed t-shirt, red high tops, two braids with purple ribbons

Mary Anne: flowered skirt, blue blouse

Next: #112