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The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #1
Baby-Sitters on Board!
Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia and Dawn are the luckiest baby-sitters in the world. This summer they're going on the greatest trip ever: a plane ride to Florida, a boat trip around the Bahamas, and then three days of fun - in Disney World!
Of course they have a million adventures. Claudia gets notes from a mysterious "Secret Admirer." Kristy, Mary Anne, and Stacey make some unusual new friends. Dawn has her first real romance. And they still have time for what they like best of all - baby-sitting.
Of course they have a million adventures. Claudia gets notes from a mysterious "Secret Admirer." Kristy, Mary Anne, and Stacey make some unusual new friends. Dawn has her first real romance. And they still have time for what they like best of all - baby-sitting.
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1988
207 people are currently reading
1552 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,038 books3,012 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
January 30, 2010
this is the first of the super specials. i remember being so psyched about this book's release when i was a kid. it was extra thick & had chapters from the points of view of every club member, plus byron, mallory, & karen. the premise: mr. pike won a contest at work, & the prize was an all-expenses paid cruise for his entire family, plus three days at disney world. i bet whoever came up with the bright idea for the contest was kicking himself when mr. pike, father of eight, won. with all those kids, the pikes of course brought mary anne & stacey along as mother's helpers. when kristy's stepfather, watson, heard about the trip, he decided to book his family as well: himself, elizabeth, kristy, sam, charlie, david michael, karen, & andrew. & he bought tickets for dawn & claudia too, so no member of the babysitters club would be excluded. i totally just went with this when i was a kid, but now...what the fuck? watson just hears that this other family won a prize that had to be pretty costly & decides to join in? & he gets tickets for kristy's friends too, but none of the other kids have friends along? i find it very dubious that karen wouldn't have petitioned for hannie & nancy to be invited--you can't break up the three musketeers! & i can't even imagine how expensive it was for mr. & mrs. pike to pay for mary anne & stacey to come along on the trip. this defies all of my understanding of finances now that i am a grown-up. but let's suspend disbelief & just accept it for now.
each character has a little storyline:
kristy is bunking with claudia & dawn, & kristy is messy. her messiness annoys dawn, & they fight a lot during the cruise portion of things. kristy is also anxiety-ridden about trying to think of a good gift to give to watson, elizabeth, & mr. & mrs. pike (john & dee dee) to thank them for the trip. & she meets a sad old man on the cruise ship & be friends him. the old dude is bummin' hard because he's a widower & a walter mathhau-style curmudgeon, but kristy helps him have fun on his vacation & says she's going to set him up with her grandmother.
dawn is annoyed by kristy's messiness because she is apparently a compulsive neat freak. you'd think she's learn to just roll with the punches after thirteen years with sharon "dude, where's my car?" schafer, but whatever. while she's not fighting with kristy, she's all in love with some random dude she meets on the cruise, who is apparently taken with her as well. she buys herself a glass unicorn charm & then loses it. she cries. her new boyfriend buys her a replacement. *yawn*
claudia shares a bunk with the odd couple & finds their fighting annoying. she finally puts her foot down & gets them to make up. she also overpacked to such an extent that the extra bunk in their cabin served as her overflow closet. throughout the trip, she keeps getting little notes & gifts from a "secret admirer". at times, this is really creepy (to me), like when she's wandering around nassau alone & everywhere she goes, her secret admirer is one step ahead of her, paying for her ice cream sundae & buying her expensive mother of pearl earrings. she forgets about her secret admirer when she meets a nice guy & they "date" at disney world. at the end of the book, it is revealed that the nice guy she met was her secret admirer all along & was scared to confess. he's the son of a popular singing duo.
stacey is watching the pike kids & meets a little boy who is confined to a wheelchair due to a heart defect. she bonds with him because of her diabetes & understanding how tough it is to be sick. his parents admit to stacey that the little boy is going to be having heart surgery soon & there's a chance he won't make it, so this trip is a way for them to make some memories. this storyline bored the pants off me when i was a kid, & it still bores me. in the epilogue, we learn that the kid pulled through surgey just fine & wants a bicycle for his birthday.
mary anne is also watching the pikes, & becomes obsessed with a sophisticated-looking teenage girl on the trip (lila fowler?). the sophisticated girl, alexandra, says she is traveling alone because she is an orphan, & has tons of money because her aunt is a countess (remember when lila fowler was a countess?). mary anne feels a connection because alexandra really fills out her bikini top...i mean, because mary anne's mother is dead, so she understands. but then mary anne finds out that the girl lied, & that she is actually the daughter of a popular singing duo (& sister to claudia's paramour), & she lied because she wanted attention. mary anne forgives her but doubts they will remain friends.
byron & his triplet brothers, along with nicky & david micahel, become obsessed with pirates. they find a diagram of a dutch photocopier & think it's a pirate map. they spend the entire trip searching for treasure. they see claudia's weird boyfriend hiding in random dignhys & coils of rope a few times & think he's a stowaway & may be a pirate of some sort. they find dawn's missing bracelet at disney world & return it to her. who gives an eff? it would have been so much more awesome if byron's chapters just recounted all the food they ate, with recipes.
karen is a fucking brat who a) has herself a manicure when she's supposed to be going back to her cabin to get her ear plugs & says, "charge it to my cabin," when it's time to pay, b) lies at a disney world breakfast & says it's her birthday in order to get attention, & c) convinces herself that a "hitchhiking ghost" from the haunted mansion is following her around disney world. i hate karen. i know most adult babysitters club fans hate karen. how did she ever get a spin-off series? i wish she had fallen into the ocean & been devoured by sharks. at birth.
toward the end of the book, the babysitters have the bright idea to give their adult benefactors an annotated photo album of the trip, recounting all of their adventures. & apparently this super special is that photo album, as it is sprinkled with amateur drawings that are supposed to represent photographs. i was so into this when i was a kid, even though i didn't really have any interest in cruises or disney world. it seems so gimmicky now. but most of the super specials were pretty questionable.
one weird thing: dawn is incredibly excited to go on a cruise. but later she becomes an eco-warrior. does she not know how awful cruise ships are for the environment? they spew so much trash & pollution into the ocean. dawn is so excited when the cruise ship leaves & everyone is throwing streamers & confetti around--into the ocean. come on, dawn. i guess at this point, she's just a healthy eater & not the mink-liberating eco fighter she becomes later.
each character has a little storyline:
kristy is bunking with claudia & dawn, & kristy is messy. her messiness annoys dawn, & they fight a lot during the cruise portion of things. kristy is also anxiety-ridden about trying to think of a good gift to give to watson, elizabeth, & mr. & mrs. pike (john & dee dee) to thank them for the trip. & she meets a sad old man on the cruise ship & be friends him. the old dude is bummin' hard because he's a widower & a walter mathhau-style curmudgeon, but kristy helps him have fun on his vacation & says she's going to set him up with her grandmother.
dawn is annoyed by kristy's messiness because she is apparently a compulsive neat freak. you'd think she's learn to just roll with the punches after thirteen years with sharon "dude, where's my car?" schafer, but whatever. while she's not fighting with kristy, she's all in love with some random dude she meets on the cruise, who is apparently taken with her as well. she buys herself a glass unicorn charm & then loses it. she cries. her new boyfriend buys her a replacement. *yawn*
claudia shares a bunk with the odd couple & finds their fighting annoying. she finally puts her foot down & gets them to make up. she also overpacked to such an extent that the extra bunk in their cabin served as her overflow closet. throughout the trip, she keeps getting little notes & gifts from a "secret admirer". at times, this is really creepy (to me), like when she's wandering around nassau alone & everywhere she goes, her secret admirer is one step ahead of her, paying for her ice cream sundae & buying her expensive mother of pearl earrings. she forgets about her secret admirer when she meets a nice guy & they "date" at disney world. at the end of the book, it is revealed that the nice guy she met was her secret admirer all along & was scared to confess. he's the son of a popular singing duo.
stacey is watching the pike kids & meets a little boy who is confined to a wheelchair due to a heart defect. she bonds with him because of her diabetes & understanding how tough it is to be sick. his parents admit to stacey that the little boy is going to be having heart surgery soon & there's a chance he won't make it, so this trip is a way for them to make some memories. this storyline bored the pants off me when i was a kid, & it still bores me. in the epilogue, we learn that the kid pulled through surgey just fine & wants a bicycle for his birthday.
mary anne is also watching the pikes, & becomes obsessed with a sophisticated-looking teenage girl on the trip (lila fowler?). the sophisticated girl, alexandra, says she is traveling alone because she is an orphan, & has tons of money because her aunt is a countess (remember when lila fowler was a countess?). mary anne feels a connection because alexandra really fills out her bikini top...i mean, because mary anne's mother is dead, so she understands. but then mary anne finds out that the girl lied, & that she is actually the daughter of a popular singing duo (& sister to claudia's paramour), & she lied because she wanted attention. mary anne forgives her but doubts they will remain friends.
byron & his triplet brothers, along with nicky & david micahel, become obsessed with pirates. they find a diagram of a dutch photocopier & think it's a pirate map. they spend the entire trip searching for treasure. they see claudia's weird boyfriend hiding in random dignhys & coils of rope a few times & think he's a stowaway & may be a pirate of some sort. they find dawn's missing bracelet at disney world & return it to her. who gives an eff? it would have been so much more awesome if byron's chapters just recounted all the food they ate, with recipes.
karen is a fucking brat who a) has herself a manicure when she's supposed to be going back to her cabin to get her ear plugs & says, "charge it to my cabin," when it's time to pay, b) lies at a disney world breakfast & says it's her birthday in order to get attention, & c) convinces herself that a "hitchhiking ghost" from the haunted mansion is following her around disney world. i hate karen. i know most adult babysitters club fans hate karen. how did she ever get a spin-off series? i wish she had fallen into the ocean & been devoured by sharks. at birth.
toward the end of the book, the babysitters have the bright idea to give their adult benefactors an annotated photo album of the trip, recounting all of their adventures. & apparently this super special is that photo album, as it is sprinkled with amateur drawings that are supposed to represent photographs. i was so into this when i was a kid, even though i didn't really have any interest in cruises or disney world. it seems so gimmicky now. but most of the super specials were pretty questionable.
one weird thing: dawn is incredibly excited to go on a cruise. but later she becomes an eco-warrior. does she not know how awful cruise ships are for the environment? they spew so much trash & pollution into the ocean. dawn is so excited when the cruise ship leaves & everyone is throwing streamers & confetti around--into the ocean. come on, dawn. i guess at this point, she's just a healthy eater & not the mink-liberating eco fighter she becomes later.
February 27, 2020
Wibbly-wobbly... Timey-wimey... Stuff
The previous title in the Baby-sitters Club series, Hello, Mallory was published in June 1988, and up until now, although the series has following a fluctuating timescale, the series of events has been linear. Dawn joined, and then Dawn was around. Stacey left, and then Stacey was gone.
So how do we deal with Baby-sitters on Board!? Published in July 1988, this first Super Special has Stacey in Stoneybrook and Mallory, who just previously fought tooth and nail to become a Baby-sitters Club member, as young, detatched, reclusive, and not a baby-sitter. Dawn has inherited an inexplicable neat-freak streak that conflicts with Kristy, who is throwing candy wrappers on the floor and being generally disgusting. Who are these people?
The premise is that the patron of the enormous Pike family won a cruise and Disney World trip through work, and even though he has 9,000 kids while some of his coworkers only have 0 or 1, I guess everyone gets to go. He invites Stacey and Mary Anne as "Mother's helpers", the appallingly gender-normative job title they adopted during the Pike's previous summer vacation in Boy-Crazy Stacey.
Not to be outdone, Watson Brewer, Kristy's stepdad, decides he can demonstrate that he doesn't need a sweepstakes to have a good time. He takes his fabulous wealth and books the same trip for his family, including Kristy and fucking Karen of course. And he invites Claudia and Dawn too because you can't truly make the Pikes feel poor without also inviting two non-family members and telling them they don't have to be staff just to come along. Never mind that Watson has 4 other children and offered none of them the option to bring even one friend.
Nothing like a relaxing vacation of 4 adults and 18 children to truly make you appreciate the concept of summer school. Imagine sitting in front of them on the plane. Oh wait, you don't have to, just read this book to experience first-hand how awful that experience would be.
I digress. The point is, the events of this book can be placed after Logan Likes Mary Anne! (Mary Anne mentions her boyfriend Logan at one point) and before Good-bye, Stacey, Good-bye. Unfortunately, Kristy and the Snobs and Claudia and the New Girl, the only two stories in between, took place over just a couple of weeks. When did this vacation happen?
With the number of books in this series and the increased dilation of time as they progress forward, we were bound to encounter this problem eventually, but I honestly thought it would be later on and easier to wrestle with. Let's get our feet wet in the Multiverse Theory of the Baby-sitters Club.
I don't want to go too deep here because there is much we don't know. But I would like to posit that the plot of Baby-sitters on Board! takes place in a pocket universe similar to our own but with different universal constants, most notably Dawn's Constant. Alternatively, either the standard Baby-sitters Club timeline or the Super Special universe may be a simulation running in the world of the other.
If we accept that each member of the Baby-sitters Club has a finite set of immutable traits that govern how they will respond in a particular situation -- and we should (this isn't Tolstoy, you guys) -- we can call those traits a universal constant that describes their universe. Generally, when any of them acts out of character (or all of them in the case of Hello, Mallory), we have to chalk it up to poor writing, otherwise we risk accepting the reality that the Baby-sitters Club timelines slips through the branes separating realities in a manner that can lead only to insanity.
However, in Super Special #1, when presented with an obvious case of noncontinuous spacetime, we have the luxury of assuming that the laws of reality are different and that Dawn would not otherwise act like such an insufferable Danny Tanner clean freak at the prospect of sharing a ship cabin for 4 days.
Earlier, I presented Kristy as another example of a character who is acting outside of type, but I'd like to amend that. While I don't believe that Kristy being messy and disgusting is particularly representitive of her, we must remember that she is doing it to deliberately goad Dawn out of spite. And that is VERY in character for Kristy.
Consider also the narration choices in this book. Most of the Baby-sitters club novels are narrated by one character, and they alternate perspectives between the 4-5 girls in the club. This was one book with 8 narrators. Mary Anne, Kristy, Stacey, Dawn, Claudia, Mallory, Karen, and (for some reason) Byron each get two or more chapters, and they tell 8 different overlapping stories instead of one coherent narrative. (It's pretty bad, actually.) But what can this mean if we've already accepted that we're in another universe?
Each character only interacts with the others in the discrete experience of their vacation. About half the characters are paired with one new character who never existed before: Kristy with the grumpy old dude, Mallory with the lying girl, Stacey with the sick boy, etc. The whole thing smacks of a social experiment. Mix in the "time outside of time" problem (remember there's no conceivable way to fit this into the BSC timeline) and the fact that the setting is outside of their world and inherently less complex, yet the characters do not question their cosmology, and the evidence points to Baby-sitters on Board! being a simulation within the larger BSC world.
Or perhaps it's the other way around. Maybe the fact of the 8 perspectives speaks to the other novels being a simulation within the world of Baby-sitters on Board! and we have only now escaped the Matrix. Whether you have a background in computer science, mathematics, or philosophy may inform whether you believe a simulation must necessarily be less complex than the system within which it is run.
What I can say for sure is that things just got very interesting.
*************************************
Homework: Realize that I don't know anything about philosophy, cosmology, string theory, or anything that would have made this intelligible. Act accordingly.
<< #14: Hello, Mallory
#15: Little Miss Stoneybrook... and Dawn >>
The previous title in the Baby-sitters Club series, Hello, Mallory was published in June 1988, and up until now, although the series has following a fluctuating timescale, the series of events has been linear. Dawn joined, and then Dawn was around. Stacey left, and then Stacey was gone.
So how do we deal with Baby-sitters on Board!? Published in July 1988, this first Super Special has Stacey in Stoneybrook and Mallory, who just previously fought tooth and nail to become a Baby-sitters Club member, as young, detatched, reclusive, and not a baby-sitter. Dawn has inherited an inexplicable neat-freak streak that conflicts with Kristy, who is throwing candy wrappers on the floor and being generally disgusting. Who are these people?
The premise is that the patron of the enormous Pike family won a cruise and Disney World trip through work, and even though he has 9,000 kids while some of his coworkers only have 0 or 1, I guess everyone gets to go. He invites Stacey and Mary Anne as "Mother's helpers", the appallingly gender-normative job title they adopted during the Pike's previous summer vacation in Boy-Crazy Stacey.
Not to be outdone, Watson Brewer, Kristy's stepdad, decides he can demonstrate that he doesn't need a sweepstakes to have a good time. He takes his fabulous wealth and books the same trip for his family, including Kristy and fucking Karen of course. And he invites Claudia and Dawn too because you can't truly make the Pikes feel poor without also inviting two non-family members and telling them they don't have to be staff just to come along. Never mind that Watson has 4 other children and offered none of them the option to bring even one friend.
Nothing like a relaxing vacation of 4 adults and 18 children to truly make you appreciate the concept of summer school. Imagine sitting in front of them on the plane. Oh wait, you don't have to, just read this book to experience first-hand how awful that experience would be.
I digress. The point is, the events of this book can be placed after Logan Likes Mary Anne! (Mary Anne mentions her boyfriend Logan at one point) and before Good-bye, Stacey, Good-bye. Unfortunately, Kristy and the Snobs and Claudia and the New Girl, the only two stories in between, took place over just a couple of weeks. When did this vacation happen?
With the number of books in this series and the increased dilation of time as they progress forward, we were bound to encounter this problem eventually, but I honestly thought it would be later on and easier to wrestle with. Let's get our feet wet in the Multiverse Theory of the Baby-sitters Club.
I don't want to go too deep here because there is much we don't know. But I would like to posit that the plot of Baby-sitters on Board! takes place in a pocket universe similar to our own but with different universal constants, most notably Dawn's Constant. Alternatively, either the standard Baby-sitters Club timeline or the Super Special universe may be a simulation running in the world of the other.
If we accept that each member of the Baby-sitters Club has a finite set of immutable traits that govern how they will respond in a particular situation -- and we should (this isn't Tolstoy, you guys) -- we can call those traits a universal constant that describes their universe. Generally, when any of them acts out of character (or all of them in the case of Hello, Mallory), we have to chalk it up to poor writing, otherwise we risk accepting the reality that the Baby-sitters Club timelines slips through the branes separating realities in a manner that can lead only to insanity.
However, in Super Special #1, when presented with an obvious case of noncontinuous spacetime, we have the luxury of assuming that the laws of reality are different and that Dawn would not otherwise act like such an insufferable Danny Tanner clean freak at the prospect of sharing a ship cabin for 4 days.
Earlier, I presented Kristy as another example of a character who is acting outside of type, but I'd like to amend that. While I don't believe that Kristy being messy and disgusting is particularly representitive of her, we must remember that she is doing it to deliberately goad Dawn out of spite. And that is VERY in character for Kristy.
Consider also the narration choices in this book. Most of the Baby-sitters club novels are narrated by one character, and they alternate perspectives between the 4-5 girls in the club. This was one book with 8 narrators. Mary Anne, Kristy, Stacey, Dawn, Claudia, Mallory, Karen, and (for some reason) Byron each get two or more chapters, and they tell 8 different overlapping stories instead of one coherent narrative. (It's pretty bad, actually.) But what can this mean if we've already accepted that we're in another universe?
Each character only interacts with the others in the discrete experience of their vacation. About half the characters are paired with one new character who never existed before: Kristy with the grumpy old dude, Mallory with the lying girl, Stacey with the sick boy, etc. The whole thing smacks of a social experiment. Mix in the "time outside of time" problem (remember there's no conceivable way to fit this into the BSC timeline) and the fact that the setting is outside of their world and inherently less complex, yet the characters do not question their cosmology, and the evidence points to Baby-sitters on Board! being a simulation within the larger BSC world.
Or perhaps it's the other way around. Maybe the fact of the 8 perspectives speaks to the other novels being a simulation within the world of Baby-sitters on Board! and we have only now escaped the Matrix. Whether you have a background in computer science, mathematics, or philosophy may inform whether you believe a simulation must necessarily be less complex than the system within which it is run.
What I can say for sure is that things just got very interesting.
*************************************
Homework: Realize that I don't know anything about philosophy, cosmology, string theory, or anything that would have made this intelligible. Act accordingly.
<< #14: Hello, Mallory
#15: Little Miss Stoneybrook... and Dawn >>
November 22, 2017
It's been a few weeks but it's time for another: 'Book from my mother's house that I read as a child!'
This is the start of an epic Babysitter's Club Goodreads add because I had a LOT of these books. I remember I use to go into WHSmith with my Dad (the man who started my passion for reading) and get the 'Special' books if I was good. I loved these girls. So 80's, but where else was I going to get an inspirational role model like Kristy? Entrepreneur, woman boss.
Actually, Stacey was my favourite. Super cool New Yorker AND good at maths?
Anyway, in this book the girls go on a cruise around Disney's private island and the Caribbean before moving on to Disneyland. Mallory is obsessed with acting like a spy (why? Enjoy your holiday!), Claudia makes a really obnoxious friend, and Kristy meets her soul mate in an old man.
I forgot how much I loved these. Such nostalgia, I must reread them.
This is the start of an epic Babysitter's Club Goodreads add because I had a LOT of these books. I remember I use to go into WHSmith with my Dad (the man who started my passion for reading) and get the 'Special' books if I was good. I loved these girls. So 80's, but where else was I going to get an inspirational role model like Kristy? Entrepreneur, woman boss.
Actually, Stacey was my favourite. Super cool New Yorker AND good at maths?
Anyway, in this book the girls go on a cruise around Disney's private island and the Caribbean before moving on to Disneyland. Mallory is obsessed with acting like a spy (why? Enjoy your holiday!), Claudia makes a really obnoxious friend, and Kristy meets her soul mate in an old man.
I forgot how much I loved these. Such nostalgia, I must reread them.
November 10, 2021
Like most 90's kids I loved The Babysitters Club series and I watched the movie so many times as a kid that my friends and I would reenact scenes from the movie(God! I was a nerd). I just knew that when I grew up(turned 14 years old) I was gonna be a babysitter with my friends. That didn't end up happening because as it turned out I don't like kids and would rather be mauled by wild animals than spend time with children.
WHO KNEW?
Anyway all that is to say that this book hit different reading it as an adult. This book was stressful. The Babysitters Club is made up of 13 and 14 year olds which is in my opinion too young to caring for children. And if I'm being 100% honest these girls are terrible babysitters but that's not surprising because they're children.
This book just had so many things that I never would have picked up as a kid. And I think the time in which it was written also played a role, this book was published in 1988 you can tell. Babysitters on Board follows the the club as they go on vacation to Disney World. The majority of the club have never been on a plane and I had to laugh when the girls and the kids they're sitting for got to tour the cockpit. As you well know(at least in the US) ain't nobody going into the cockpit nowadays. The group also takes a cruise and the club and the kids are just allowed to run wild. Now maybe this still happens today but my momma never let me out of her sight when we were in public. I was raised under constant surveillance and thank God for that!
A few other things that caused stress while I read this were:
1. One of the Babysitters who is 13 or 14 befriended a old man and hangouts with him and tells this man personal information like where she lives....NO NO NO NO NO!
2. A 6 year old repeatedly just goes off on her own and her parents are worried but they never actually supervise her in anyway
3. This one only happens once but the R word is used to refer to someone with mental handicaps.
I know I spent a lot of this review complaining (you know I love to complain) but I did enjoy returning to the world of The Babysitters Club. I'm old so it has been about 25 years since I've read this series. And I did remember how much I loved these books. The Babysitters Club and Goosebumps were the books of my childhood, so maybe I'll pick up a Goosebumps book in the future.
No rec because this series is iconic and doesn't need any recommendations...but also make your kids read this series. OK Bye!
WHO KNEW?
Anyway all that is to say that this book hit different reading it as an adult. This book was stressful. The Babysitters Club is made up of 13 and 14 year olds which is in my opinion too young to caring for children. And if I'm being 100% honest these girls are terrible babysitters but that's not surprising because they're children.
This book just had so many things that I never would have picked up as a kid. And I think the time in which it was written also played a role, this book was published in 1988 you can tell. Babysitters on Board follows the the club as they go on vacation to Disney World. The majority of the club have never been on a plane and I had to laugh when the girls and the kids they're sitting for got to tour the cockpit. As you well know(at least in the US) ain't nobody going into the cockpit nowadays. The group also takes a cruise and the club and the kids are just allowed to run wild. Now maybe this still happens today but my momma never let me out of her sight when we were in public. I was raised under constant surveillance and thank God for that!
A few other things that caused stress while I read this were:
1. One of the Babysitters who is 13 or 14 befriended a old man and hangouts with him and tells this man personal information like where she lives....NO NO NO NO NO!
2. A 6 year old repeatedly just goes off on her own and her parents are worried but they never actually supervise her in anyway
3. This one only happens once but the R word is used to refer to someone with mental handicaps.
I know I spent a lot of this review complaining (you know I love to complain) but I did enjoy returning to the world of The Babysitters Club. I'm old so it has been about 25 years since I've read this series. And I did remember how much I loved these books. The Babysitters Club and Goosebumps were the books of my childhood, so maybe I'll pick up a Goosebumps book in the future.
No rec because this series is iconic and doesn't need any recommendations...but also make your kids read this series. OK Bye!
May 20, 2011
This book was way more boring than I remember it being, except for some intense lesbian subtext.
The BSC goes on a cruise with the Pikes and the Brewer-Thomases. Dawn gets dragged around by an overly pushy dude, and nobody finds anything wrong with it. Claudia has a stalker, and it's So Romantic (ugh). Kristy spends the whole cruise hanging around an old man, which makes me wonder where her parents were throughout this trip.
But the subtext, man. I admit that I was a naive kid. I didn't know where babies came from until a slumber party in fifth grade, where a much-more-sophisticated friend asked me if I knew, gave me a withering look when she heard my response, and handed me a medical textbook of some sort. Therefore, upon my first reading of Baby-sitters on Board! I completely missed Mary Anne's cruise ship crush on one Alexandra Carmody. From her first chapter:
"Yeah," I replied vaguely. I was looking at a girl who was standing at the appointment desk, apparently waiting for someone to help her. She had masses of dark, wavy hair that cascaded over her shoulders and partway down her back, and she was wearing one of the skimpiest bikinis I'd ever seen. Even though she looked just a little older than me, she had a figure that filled out the top of her bikini nicely.
"Wow," I said softly. I was highly impressed.
The girl turned around then, and I blushed. I hoped she hadn't overheard me. That would have been too, too embarrassing.
SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY?!??
Mary Anne has some intense drama with this girl. Mary Anne immediately becomes friends with her, but ignores Alexandra when she finds out she's been lying about some things. Alexandra spends an entire day following Mary Anne around Disney World, trying to make amends instead of riding the rides like a normal twelve year-old. Mary Anne ignores her, and her entire day revolves around making a big point out of this. The subplot culminates with the two reconciling, but Mary Anne feels that she doesn't want to keep in touch with Alexandra. She decides this even though it turns out that Stoneybrook is only a few towns over from Alexandra's. I like to imagine that once they finally get off the Lost island and stop repeating eighth grade in a torturous loop, Alexandra and Mary Anne re-meet at a football game, eventually go to prom together (much to Kristy's chagrin, of course), and cause much lesbi-gossip throughout the Stoneybrook community.
I know there are loud rumblings that Ann M. Martin is a lesbian, and she's said numerous times that she patterned Mary Anne mostly after herself, but MY GOD. This was like, :O . It's easy to find lesbian subtext when one wants to, particularly in an all-girl preteen novel series that's written by a lesbian, but this is ridiculously obvious. Somehow it evaded the Scholastic publishers way back in 1988. Good going there, Ann!
The BSC goes on a cruise with the Pikes and the Brewer-Thomases. Dawn gets dragged around by an overly pushy dude, and nobody finds anything wrong with it. Claudia has a stalker, and it's So Romantic (ugh). Kristy spends the whole cruise hanging around an old man, which makes me wonder where her parents were throughout this trip.
But the subtext, man. I admit that I was a naive kid. I didn't know where babies came from until a slumber party in fifth grade, where a much-more-sophisticated friend asked me if I knew, gave me a withering look when she heard my response, and handed me a medical textbook of some sort. Therefore, upon my first reading of Baby-sitters on Board! I completely missed Mary Anne's cruise ship crush on one Alexandra Carmody. From her first chapter:
"Yeah," I replied vaguely. I was looking at a girl who was standing at the appointment desk, apparently waiting for someone to help her. She had masses of dark, wavy hair that cascaded over her shoulders and partway down her back, and she was wearing one of the skimpiest bikinis I'd ever seen. Even though she looked just a little older than me, she had a figure that filled out the top of her bikini nicely.
"Wow," I said softly. I was highly impressed.
The girl turned around then, and I blushed. I hoped she hadn't overheard me. That would have been too, too embarrassing.
SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY?!??
Mary Anne has some intense drama with this girl. Mary Anne immediately becomes friends with her, but ignores Alexandra when she finds out she's been lying about some things. Alexandra spends an entire day following Mary Anne around Disney World, trying to make amends instead of riding the rides like a normal twelve year-old. Mary Anne ignores her, and her entire day revolves around making a big point out of this. The subplot culminates with the two reconciling, but Mary Anne feels that she doesn't want to keep in touch with Alexandra. She decides this even though it turns out that Stoneybrook is only a few towns over from Alexandra's. I like to imagine that once they finally get off the Lost island and stop repeating eighth grade in a torturous loop, Alexandra and Mary Anne re-meet at a football game, eventually go to prom together (much to Kristy's chagrin, of course), and cause much lesbi-gossip throughout the Stoneybrook community.
I know there are loud rumblings that Ann M. Martin is a lesbian, and she's said numerous times that she patterned Mary Anne mostly after herself, but MY GOD. This was like, :O . It's easy to find lesbian subtext when one wants to, particularly in an all-girl preteen novel series that's written by a lesbian, but this is ridiculously obvious. Somehow it evaded the Scholastic publishers way back in 1988. Good going there, Ann!
December 28, 2018
first note: I was not able to get The Be Sharps'
Baby on Board
out of my head the whole time I was reading this.
super specials are different from regular bsc books in that they are significantly longer (this was 24 chapters as opposed to the usual 15 chapters), and the narrator switches from chapter to chapter. in this, the FIRST EVER super special, the baby-sitters go on a cruise in the bahamas that ends in a three-day trip to disneyworld. the pikes had won the trip for their whole family and decided to pay stacey and mary anne's way to come along as mother's helpers (a la Boy-Crazy Stacey), and when watson heard about it he decided to pay for the thomas/brewers plus dawn and claudia to come as well. there are lots of plotlines in this book, so look at the "narrator plots" section for those.
narrator plots:
-kristy: fights with dawn (they share a room, which sucks because kristy is an oscar and dawn is a felix). she befriends mr. staples, a grumpy old man (seriously, how many lemmon/matthau references can I make?) who just lost his wife and came on this ill-advised romantic cruise complete with a trip to disneyworld, a place that is totally not designed for elderly people's enjoyment.
-dawn: fights with kristy (see the kristy plotline above). falls in LUV with parker, who is kind of a jerk. he is mad that his dad remarried and he has to live with his stepbrothers, and he basically says that he hates children but dawn still gives him a chance after that (and he sort of remedies it by hanging with the stepbrothers a bit). she loses her family heirloom bracelet, which plays into byron and co's treasure plotline (see byron plotline below).
-mary anne: sort of befriends this glamorous and beautiful (and awful) girl named alexandra carmody. finds out that she has lied about pretty much everything, and that she is actually the kid of famous singing duo viv and vernon carmody and she's just bored with her life so she makes stuff up for attention.
-mallory: has recently read Harriet the Spy and decides to spy on everyone because of it. I LOVE THIS PLOTLINE because I totally did this when I read that book too. it's a tweenage girl rite of passage, like a witch phase or something. through spying mallory discovers that alexandra carmody is a liar, sees a "stowaway" on the ship (see claudia's plotline for more info), and thinks she sees spider from the insects, her favorite musical group. spider. from the insects. you know I love it.
-karen: tricks kristy into letting her go back to her cabin alone and goes to get a manicure instead, charging it to her dad (brat), truly believes the hitchhiking ghost thing in the haunted mansion and keeps thinking her ghost is with her (okay, that's kind of cute), tells everyone it is her birthday on their breakfast with disney characters cruise just so she can get the room of people to sing to her (and, brat). karen=brat.
-claudia: has a secret admirer! she meets a boy named timothy who she later finds out was her secret admirer all along. he is also the "stowaway" (i.e. he likes to hide places and spy on people so when people saw him sneaking around they thought he was a stowaway) and is alexandra carmody's brother.
-stacey: befriends a little boy with a heart condition who uses a wheelchair named marc kubacki. is pleased to see how well disney accommodates him. discovers he is going to have a scary surgery soon and gets bummed out, but then his surgery goes fine and he no longer has to use a wheelchair (see nitpicks/lowlights).
-byron: thinks he's a pirate and gets the other triplets, nicky, and david michael all into the idea of a treasure hunt. they find something they think is a treasure map (which we later discover is a copy machine diagram written in dutch) and try to find treasure everywhere. they find dawn's lost bracelet and get excited until they find out it's actually dawn's and they have to give it back.
highlights:
-when the ship is setting sail, dawn hears someone from the dock yell: "Jimmy, don't you dare forget to change your underwear!"
-mallory and the triplets don't have to stick with an "adult" as though stacey and mary anne are adults, LOL
-at one point, the triplets' plan is to find people wearing goofy bathing caps and laugh at them
-karen's manicure chapter which is hilarious but also made me kind of angry.
-david michael finds a shell. in response: "throw it back. it's pink," said nicky, looking disgusted.
-when dawn asks kristy if she's ever seen an r rated movie, kristy says, "nah. but someday I'm going to." this is so cute and little kid-ish.
nitpicks/lowlights:
-biggest nitpick of all: this book came out the month after Hello, Mallory. how come there is no reference to stacey living in new york and no reference to jessi at all, and how come mallory is one of the baby-sitting charges? also hello mallory took place in october or so -- this book is clearly a summer vacation book. this timeline makes NO sense.
-can claire even ride space mountain? you have to be 44 inches--that seems a little tall for a 5-year-old, right?
-when stacey sees claudia's secret admirer offering to pay for her ice cream, she looks across the room and sees a couple other girls/women he could be pointing to, but says that they don't look like they deserve a secret admirer. HUH? so only your super hot friend deserves a secret admirer? shallow jerk.
-the things dawn says about space mountain are wrong. at disneyland it's actually darker than at magic kindgom, and at magic kingdom it's much more similar to the matterhorn (a disneyland ride) in both seating and ride style. it's not as scary or intense as as the disneyland ride. I'm really not sure where ann got this from.
-karen is really obnoxious in this book. she takes after her stepsister, kristy, who is just AWFUL in this book. at one point to anger dawn she intentionally gives herself a milk mustache and refuses to wipe it. what an idiot.
-the marc plotline is wrapped up a little too neatly. he has heart problems that are so bad he can't walk (walking is too much of a workout for his heart), and then he has surgery and is riding a bike? too good to be true.
-when dawn says that only old people and little kids play ping pong, parker says they'll give them a run for their money. then parker complains about his perfectly nice step siblings. parker is a jerk and dawn is stupid for liking him.
-then dawn is a jerk: when playing ping pong against them, she says of mr. staples, "who's your boyfriend?" to kristy.
-why would anyone go to magic kingdom three days in a row and not even try epcot? idiots!
claudia outfit:
-"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."
dawn outfit (claudia's clothes):
-"This is the outfit Claudia helped me to choose: a white tank top under lavender overalls, lavender push-down socks, lavender high-top sneakers, 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."
photos that are displayed in the book (given as annotated photo albums to the pike parents and the brewer/thomas parents as a thank you for the trip):
-the ocean princess (the ship from the outside, taken by dawn)
-karen's manicure (karen's dumb smile and her painted nails, taken by kristy)
-the mysterious figure (the secret admirer in a mysterious guy hardcore style photo, taken by claudia)
-flying banana! (when the storm is knocking all the stuff around, taken by stacey)
-our treasure map (byron and co's copy machine diagram in dutch, taken by mary anne)
-great free stuff! (the toiletries at the hotel, taken by kristy)
-the glass unicorn (the charm dawn buys for her bracelet at disneyworld, taken by dawn)
-our new friend (marc, taken by stacey)
-our last night (fireworks after the parade, taken by claudia)
-thank you (someone holding a sign that says thank you, presumably taken by kristy)
super specials are different from regular bsc books in that they are significantly longer (this was 24 chapters as opposed to the usual 15 chapters), and the narrator switches from chapter to chapter. in this, the FIRST EVER super special, the baby-sitters go on a cruise in the bahamas that ends in a three-day trip to disneyworld. the pikes had won the trip for their whole family and decided to pay stacey and mary anne's way to come along as mother's helpers (a la Boy-Crazy Stacey), and when watson heard about it he decided to pay for the thomas/brewers plus dawn and claudia to come as well. there are lots of plotlines in this book, so look at the "narrator plots" section for those.
narrator plots:
-kristy: fights with dawn (they share a room, which sucks because kristy is an oscar and dawn is a felix). she befriends mr. staples, a grumpy old man (seriously, how many lemmon/matthau references can I make?) who just lost his wife and came on this ill-advised romantic cruise complete with a trip to disneyworld, a place that is totally not designed for elderly people's enjoyment.
-dawn: fights with kristy (see the kristy plotline above). falls in LUV with parker, who is kind of a jerk. he is mad that his dad remarried and he has to live with his stepbrothers, and he basically says that he hates children but dawn still gives him a chance after that (and he sort of remedies it by hanging with the stepbrothers a bit). she loses her family heirloom bracelet, which plays into byron and co's treasure plotline (see byron plotline below).
-mary anne: sort of befriends this glamorous and beautiful (and awful) girl named alexandra carmody. finds out that she has lied about pretty much everything, and that she is actually the kid of famous singing duo viv and vernon carmody and she's just bored with her life so she makes stuff up for attention.
-mallory: has recently read Harriet the Spy and decides to spy on everyone because of it. I LOVE THIS PLOTLINE because I totally did this when I read that book too. it's a tweenage girl rite of passage, like a witch phase or something. through spying mallory discovers that alexandra carmody is a liar, sees a "stowaway" on the ship (see claudia's plotline for more info), and thinks she sees spider from the insects, her favorite musical group. spider. from the insects. you know I love it.
-karen: tricks kristy into letting her go back to her cabin alone and goes to get a manicure instead, charging it to her dad (brat), truly believes the hitchhiking ghost thing in the haunted mansion and keeps thinking her ghost is with her (okay, that's kind of cute), tells everyone it is her birthday on their breakfast with disney characters cruise just so she can get the room of people to sing to her (and, brat). karen=brat.
-claudia: has a secret admirer! she meets a boy named timothy who she later finds out was her secret admirer all along. he is also the "stowaway" (i.e. he likes to hide places and spy on people so when people saw him sneaking around they thought he was a stowaway) and is alexandra carmody's brother.
-stacey: befriends a little boy with a heart condition who uses a wheelchair named marc kubacki. is pleased to see how well disney accommodates him. discovers he is going to have a scary surgery soon and gets bummed out, but then his surgery goes fine and he no longer has to use a wheelchair (see nitpicks/lowlights).
-byron: thinks he's a pirate and gets the other triplets, nicky, and david michael all into the idea of a treasure hunt. they find something they think is a treasure map (which we later discover is a copy machine diagram written in dutch) and try to find treasure everywhere. they find dawn's lost bracelet and get excited until they find out it's actually dawn's and they have to give it back.
highlights:
-when the ship is setting sail, dawn hears someone from the dock yell: "Jimmy, don't you dare forget to change your underwear!"
-mallory and the triplets don't have to stick with an "adult" as though stacey and mary anne are adults, LOL
-at one point, the triplets' plan is to find people wearing goofy bathing caps and laugh at them
-karen's manicure chapter which is hilarious but also made me kind of angry.
-david michael finds a shell. in response: "throw it back. it's pink," said nicky, looking disgusted.
-when dawn asks kristy if she's ever seen an r rated movie, kristy says, "nah. but someday I'm going to." this is so cute and little kid-ish.
nitpicks/lowlights:
-biggest nitpick of all: this book came out the month after Hello, Mallory. how come there is no reference to stacey living in new york and no reference to jessi at all, and how come mallory is one of the baby-sitting charges? also hello mallory took place in october or so -- this book is clearly a summer vacation book. this timeline makes NO sense.
-can claire even ride space mountain? you have to be 44 inches--that seems a little tall for a 5-year-old, right?
-when stacey sees claudia's secret admirer offering to pay for her ice cream, she looks across the room and sees a couple other girls/women he could be pointing to, but says that they don't look like they deserve a secret admirer. HUH? so only your super hot friend deserves a secret admirer? shallow jerk.
-the things dawn says about space mountain are wrong. at disneyland it's actually darker than at magic kindgom, and at magic kingdom it's much more similar to the matterhorn (a disneyland ride) in both seating and ride style. it's not as scary or intense as as the disneyland ride. I'm really not sure where ann got this from.
-karen is really obnoxious in this book. she takes after her stepsister, kristy, who is just AWFUL in this book. at one point to anger dawn she intentionally gives herself a milk mustache and refuses to wipe it. what an idiot.
-the marc plotline is wrapped up a little too neatly. he has heart problems that are so bad he can't walk (walking is too much of a workout for his heart), and then he has surgery and is riding a bike? too good to be true.
-when dawn says that only old people and little kids play ping pong, parker says they'll give them a run for their money. then parker complains about his perfectly nice step siblings. parker is a jerk and dawn is stupid for liking him.
-then dawn is a jerk: when playing ping pong against them, she says of mr. staples, "who's your boyfriend?" to kristy.
-why would anyone go to magic kingdom three days in a row and not even try epcot? idiots!
claudia outfit:
-"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."
dawn outfit (claudia's clothes):
-"This is the outfit Claudia helped me to choose: a white tank top under lavender overalls, lavender push-down socks, lavender high-top sneakers, 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."
photos that are displayed in the book (given as annotated photo albums to the pike parents and the brewer/thomas parents as a thank you for the trip):
-the ocean princess (the ship from the outside, taken by dawn)
-karen's manicure (karen's dumb smile and her painted nails, taken by kristy)
-the mysterious figure (the secret admirer in a mysterious guy hardcore style photo, taken by claudia)
-flying banana! (when the storm is knocking all the stuff around, taken by stacey)
-our treasure map (byron and co's copy machine diagram in dutch, taken by mary anne)
-great free stuff! (the toiletries at the hotel, taken by kristy)
-the glass unicorn (the charm dawn buys for her bracelet at disneyworld, taken by dawn)
-our new friend (marc, taken by stacey)
-our last night (fireworks after the parade, taken by claudia)
-thank you (someone holding a sign that says thank you, presumably taken by kristy)
October 7, 2016
The BSC takes an inexplicable cruise to Disney World in this first super special. It's interesting to read for many reasons: it almost seems like Disney sponsored this book, since it talks so much about Disney things, also Mallory Pike is a character even though she is not yet a regular member with regular books, also how did Ann M Martin and her editors come up with the idea for Super Specials? I absolutely LOVED them as a kid.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
Very little. The only thing I remember clearly is that Claudia gets a crush on a boy named Timothy. There was a boy named Timothy in my third grade class and my friends and I drew all kinds of nutty parallels (as only third grade girls can) between the Timothy in the book, and the Timothy in our class.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
The whole monetary aspect of the trip is incredibly vague and it drives me nuts. First of all, most all expenses paid trips will only pay for so many people, usually four. There is no way a company is paying for eight Pikes, plus two mother's helpers to cruise around the Bahamas and go to Disney World. Second of all, are the Pikes paying for Mary Anne and Stacey to go with them, or did their parents pay, and the Pikes are paying them mother's helper fees? (I just can't for one second believe that the company that is so generously sending the entire Pike clan on this trip would willingly pay for two unrelated thirteen year old mother's helpers to go along too.) Third of all, is Watson paying for Dawn and Claudia to go with the Brewer-Thomas' clan? Are their own parents paying? Is is fair that two members of the BSC have to work during their vacation, and the other three members are just tagging along on a real vacation? This whole scenario makes my head hurt. I'm glad these complications didn't occur to me when I was a kid.
Karen makes me almost as nuts as the who paid for what aspect of this story. She runs off to a beauty parlor without permission, and charges a manicure, and a soda (and god knows what else)? And everyone just says "You're too much"? She's a spoiled brat. I know her father is a millionaire, and that he, and obviously any of his children, have absolutely no concept of money, but really? No one sits down with six year old Karen and explains how her actions are really inappropriate? No one considers that the manicurist and the waiter probably didn't get tipped because Karen may know all about charging expensive things without consequences, but she knows nothing about the people who have to work hard to fulfill her every whim. Later in the book Watson starts buying Karen and Andrew everything in sight when they arrive in Disney World, which makes me think "No wonder Karen is a spoiled brat." Then, when she and her family have breakfast with Disney characters she pretends that that day is her birthday, just so that she can be the center of attention. She lies to an entire roomful of people! There's even time for Watson to put a stop to it ("Sorry, it's not my daughter's birthday, we're working on her truth-telling skills, sorry about that") but he doesn't. He sort of threatens to take her away from the dining room, but he doesn't. Why does Karen never have any consequences for her actions? She's going to grow up to be a Kardashian, or a Brock Turner type, a white, wealthy socialite who can buy her way out of any problem, and never think about the people she hurts along the way.
Dawn makes such a big deal about Kristy being a slob, but isn't Dawn's mother a slob, and incredibly disorganized? I would think Dawn would be used to it, but maybe she can only tolerate it in her mother, not in other people. (Although she's always described as being so laid back Dawn is awfully uptight, especially in this book; on the other hand Kristy makes much too big a deal about Dawn's cleanliness. Who cares if Dawn wants to spend her vacation cleaning?) Also I don't buy that Kristy is a slob, since she is so organized and controlling. In fact, I think that later in the series much is made about how Kristy likes things to be clean and organized.
I must have forgotten that Claudia has a "Secret Admirer" aka A Stalker in this book. I would have been completely freaked out if someone was leaving me anonymous notes telling me I was beautiful. Also, Claudia spends the whole day in Nassau by herself, and apparently her Stalker follows her for the entire day. He watches her while she is shopping, he pays for her admission to the aquarium, and then he buys her the earrings she wanted, but couldn't afford. She thinks it's some great romantic gesture, and I guess everything comes right when we discover that Timothy is her Stalker, I mean her Secret Admirer. It still makes me feel creepy. What if she was being stalked by some gross pedophile?
Alexandra Carmody is one bizarre girl, and I don't blame Mary Anne for not wanting to be friends with her. It's terrible to have a friend who lies so much that you never know if she is telling the truth, especially about big lies. Lying about something like your parents being dead is awful, especially since Alex really shows no remorse about it. She even admits that she lies for attention and to make her life more exciting. Karen Brewer will probably grow up to be Alexandra Carmody.
Kristy's friendship with Mr. Staples is very sweet. I can so picture bossy, pushy Kristy forcing her way into a grumpy, grieving old man's life and making him enjoy himself despite his determination not to. It was very touching at the end when he tells Kristy that although he loves his grandsons if he had a granddaughter he would want one just like her. I wish the series would continue to mention Mr Staples in the background, but it doesn't. Maybe they didn't stay in touch, but I like to think of Mr. Staples returning to Tucson with a new lease on life, hiking among the saguaros, meeting his friends downtown for burros and popovers, complaining about the heat of the chile in a good natured way.
I don't remember that Dawn loses her family heirloom bracelet at Disney World, but reading about it as an adult made me cry. Something very similar happened to me when I lost a special piece of jewelry at a music festival, only I didn't it back like Dawn does. There's something so devastating about losing jewelry. It's like having a close family member die unexpectedly.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
Very little. The only thing I remember clearly is that Claudia gets a crush on a boy named Timothy. There was a boy named Timothy in my third grade class and my friends and I drew all kinds of nutty parallels (as only third grade girls can) between the Timothy in the book, and the Timothy in our class.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
The whole monetary aspect of the trip is incredibly vague and it drives me nuts. First of all, most all expenses paid trips will only pay for so many people, usually four. There is no way a company is paying for eight Pikes, plus two mother's helpers to cruise around the Bahamas and go to Disney World. Second of all, are the Pikes paying for Mary Anne and Stacey to go with them, or did their parents pay, and the Pikes are paying them mother's helper fees? (I just can't for one second believe that the company that is so generously sending the entire Pike clan on this trip would willingly pay for two unrelated thirteen year old mother's helpers to go along too.) Third of all, is Watson paying for Dawn and Claudia to go with the Brewer-Thomas' clan? Are their own parents paying? Is is fair that two members of the BSC have to work during their vacation, and the other three members are just tagging along on a real vacation? This whole scenario makes my head hurt. I'm glad these complications didn't occur to me when I was a kid.
Karen makes me almost as nuts as the who paid for what aspect of this story. She runs off to a beauty parlor without permission, and charges a manicure, and a soda (and god knows what else)? And everyone just says "You're too much"? She's a spoiled brat. I know her father is a millionaire, and that he, and obviously any of his children, have absolutely no concept of money, but really? No one sits down with six year old Karen and explains how her actions are really inappropriate? No one considers that the manicurist and the waiter probably didn't get tipped because Karen may know all about charging expensive things without consequences, but she knows nothing about the people who have to work hard to fulfill her every whim. Later in the book Watson starts buying Karen and Andrew everything in sight when they arrive in Disney World, which makes me think "No wonder Karen is a spoiled brat." Then, when she and her family have breakfast with Disney characters she pretends that that day is her birthday, just so that she can be the center of attention. She lies to an entire roomful of people! There's even time for Watson to put a stop to it ("Sorry, it's not my daughter's birthday, we're working on her truth-telling skills, sorry about that") but he doesn't. He sort of threatens to take her away from the dining room, but he doesn't. Why does Karen never have any consequences for her actions? She's going to grow up to be a Kardashian, or a Brock Turner type, a white, wealthy socialite who can buy her way out of any problem, and never think about the people she hurts along the way.
Dawn makes such a big deal about Kristy being a slob, but isn't Dawn's mother a slob, and incredibly disorganized? I would think Dawn would be used to it, but maybe she can only tolerate it in her mother, not in other people. (Although she's always described as being so laid back Dawn is awfully uptight, especially in this book; on the other hand Kristy makes much too big a deal about Dawn's cleanliness. Who cares if Dawn wants to spend her vacation cleaning?) Also I don't buy that Kristy is a slob, since she is so organized and controlling. In fact, I think that later in the series much is made about how Kristy likes things to be clean and organized.
I must have forgotten that Claudia has a "Secret Admirer" aka A Stalker in this book. I would have been completely freaked out if someone was leaving me anonymous notes telling me I was beautiful. Also, Claudia spends the whole day in Nassau by herself, and apparently her Stalker follows her for the entire day. He watches her while she is shopping, he pays for her admission to the aquarium, and then he buys her the earrings she wanted, but couldn't afford. She thinks it's some great romantic gesture, and I guess everything comes right when we discover that Timothy is her Stalker, I mean her Secret Admirer. It still makes me feel creepy. What if she was being stalked by some gross pedophile?
Alexandra Carmody is one bizarre girl, and I don't blame Mary Anne for not wanting to be friends with her. It's terrible to have a friend who lies so much that you never know if she is telling the truth, especially about big lies. Lying about something like your parents being dead is awful, especially since Alex really shows no remorse about it. She even admits that she lies for attention and to make her life more exciting. Karen Brewer will probably grow up to be Alexandra Carmody.
Kristy's friendship with Mr. Staples is very sweet. I can so picture bossy, pushy Kristy forcing her way into a grumpy, grieving old man's life and making him enjoy himself despite his determination not to. It was very touching at the end when he tells Kristy that although he loves his grandsons if he had a granddaughter he would want one just like her. I wish the series would continue to mention Mr Staples in the background, but it doesn't. Maybe they didn't stay in touch, but I like to think of Mr. Staples returning to Tucson with a new lease on life, hiking among the saguaros, meeting his friends downtown for burros and popovers, complaining about the heat of the chile in a good natured way.
I don't remember that Dawn loses her family heirloom bracelet at Disney World, but reading about it as an adult made me cry. Something very similar happened to me when I lost a special piece of jewelry at a music festival, only I didn't it back like Dawn does. There's something so devastating about losing jewelry. It's like having a close family member die unexpectedly.
June 9, 2012
I wanted to read this SO BADLY when it came out, but my library never got a copy, and I couldn't justify paying extra for it out of my allowance when I could have bought two other BSC novels for the same price.
So, this was the first time I've read this, even though I'd read other Super Specials when I was young.
I was a little creeped out by Claudia's secret admirer, and by the fact that 10 year old boys were allowed to just run around without supervision on an unfamiliar Caribbean island. Seriously? I wouldn't even let my 12 year old do that now and I CERTAINLY wouldn't leave him in charge of his little brothers while he was unsupervised. Ugh.
Also, I can totally see where the whole "Mary Anne is actually gay" fanfic comes from now. It starts in this story when she notices how well some anonymous girl her own age "fills out her bikini." Ummmm...? Look, I'm a grown woman, and I've read all kinds of erotica (fanfic and legit), but this made me seriously uncomfortable. Not because I don't think that kids at 13 notice things like that, but because I know that the targeted age group for these books is the pre-teen set. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it was seriously off-putting.
Finally, WTF - how does Mr Pike's award cover a family OF TEN, PLUS full time nannies (who are ONLY being paid by being taken on the trip, so it's pretty much slave labour) AND THEN Watson is all "Oh, hey Kristy, that sounds awesome, lets take our ginormous family AND THE REST OF YOUR FRIENDS! No big."
Where the hell were friends like that when I was growing up? Hell, where are they RIGHT MEOW?
Anyone want to take me (and my family of 6 - 7 if we bring my dad, can we bring my dad, please?) on a Caribbean cruise [all inclusive] with a 3 day stop at DisneyWorld?
If you were REALLY my friend, you would do this for me.
March 4, 2022
Ah, the first BSC Super Special.
Maybe my introduction to the format? I remember how exciting it was to get a bigger book of your favorite series. It felt extra special.
This one gets a lot of hate because it's basically an advertisement for Disney, but it is sooo nostalgic to me. I think no vacation I ever took lived up to my dreams of a perfect getaway like this: a cruise ship AND Disney World? It seemed unfathomable to me as a child.
This is the first book that breaks up the story by multi-character chapters, and it has its plus and minuses. It's hard to really lose yourself in the story because as a reader, you're jumping around so much. Also, we most definitely didn't need multiple chapters by Byron. Skimmable at best.
The thing that struck me most on this re-read is how much these YOUNG kids got to spend time alone on either the cruise ship, the ports they stopped in, or at Disney World itself. My parents would have NEVER let me spend any time alone on a vacation, particularly in elementary school (the triplets, Nicky and David Michael basically get to explore an island all by themselves at one point, I was like, seriously???)
Overall, it holds so many good memories and reminds me of my own trip to Disneyland. I sure wasn't allowed to explore on my own, but my younger sister did waltz solo into the Disney Hotel bar and order herself a Shirley Temple, ala Karen on the cruise ship with her nails.
Maybe my introduction to the format? I remember how exciting it was to get a bigger book of your favorite series. It felt extra special.
This one gets a lot of hate because it's basically an advertisement for Disney, but it is sooo nostalgic to me. I think no vacation I ever took lived up to my dreams of a perfect getaway like this: a cruise ship AND Disney World? It seemed unfathomable to me as a child.
This is the first book that breaks up the story by multi-character chapters, and it has its plus and minuses. It's hard to really lose yourself in the story because as a reader, you're jumping around so much. Also, we most definitely didn't need multiple chapters by Byron. Skimmable at best.
The thing that struck me most on this re-read is how much these YOUNG kids got to spend time alone on either the cruise ship, the ports they stopped in, or at Disney World itself. My parents would have NEVER let me spend any time alone on a vacation, particularly in elementary school (the triplets, Nicky and David Michael basically get to explore an island all by themselves at one point, I was like, seriously???)
Overall, it holds so many good memories and reminds me of my own trip to Disneyland. I sure wasn't allowed to explore on my own, but my younger sister did waltz solo into the Disney Hotel bar and order herself a Shirley Temple, ala Karen on the cruise ship with her nails.
July 25, 2014
So, my mom found a little paper from when I was in third grade upon which I wrote "My favorite book is Baby-Sitters on Board by Ann M. Martin. I like it because I feel like I'm really there." I decided to re-read it as research for a book I'm writing about third-grade-age kids (that's right, a book I'm writing!). It no longer seems like a masterwork of literature, but I could see where my third-grade self was coming from.
Some thoughts:
Not nearly enough Claudia outfits!
I enjoyed Kristy's friendship with an old man (classic Kristy!), but not her "Odd Couple" feud with Dawn. Dawn is neat and Kristy is a slob, so they get mad at each other! Except, listen lady, slobs don't find neatness aesthetically displeasing. We're just lazy. Having somebody like Dawn pick up after us is basically the dream.
There were really only a few chapters per Baby-sitter! Some of them really got shafted in the plot department. (Mary Anne, of course.) This could have been partially ameliorated by eliminating non-Baby-sitter chapters, such as those by Byron (boys?! I didn't pay my admission to read about boys) and OF COURSE Karen. I HATE KAREN. (She was probably included as a viewpoint character as a jumping-off point for her terrible series, Baby-sitters Little Sister. TERRIBLE. I hate you, Karen.)
Thirteen-year-olds wandering about Caribbean islands by themselves. I don't know how plausible this seems, 1988.
Speaking of 1988, Mallory notices a group of people at Disleyland having fun and wearing matching shirts. "I think they're retarded." Said without apparent judgment on Mallory's part; still awkward.
Oh, and, Stacey's Secret Diabetes comes up. The shame of Type 1 Diabetes! No one must know!!! This always confused me.
That said, there were still a few lines that made me laugh on purpose, and it is pretty perfect as pre-adolescent wish-fulfillment yet sort-of-plausible fiction.
Some thoughts:
Not nearly enough Claudia outfits!
I enjoyed Kristy's friendship with an old man (classic Kristy!), but not her "Odd Couple" feud with Dawn. Dawn is neat and Kristy is a slob, so they get mad at each other! Except, listen lady, slobs don't find neatness aesthetically displeasing. We're just lazy. Having somebody like Dawn pick up after us is basically the dream.
There were really only a few chapters per Baby-sitter! Some of them really got shafted in the plot department. (Mary Anne, of course.) This could have been partially ameliorated by eliminating non-Baby-sitter chapters, such as those by Byron (boys?! I didn't pay my admission to read about boys) and OF COURSE Karen. I HATE KAREN. (She was probably included as a viewpoint character as a jumping-off point for her terrible series, Baby-sitters Little Sister. TERRIBLE. I hate you, Karen.)
Thirteen-year-olds wandering about Caribbean islands by themselves. I don't know how plausible this seems, 1988.
Speaking of 1988, Mallory notices a group of people at Disleyland having fun and wearing matching shirts. "I think they're retarded." Said without apparent judgment on Mallory's part; still awkward.
Oh, and, Stacey's Secret Diabetes comes up. The shame of Type 1 Diabetes! No one must know!!! This always confused me.
That said, there were still a few lines that made me laugh on purpose, and it is pretty perfect as pre-adolescent wish-fulfillment yet sort-of-plausible fiction.
August 1, 2022
Before I get to my actual review, a quick disclaimer: Ever since I learned that Netflix was reimagining one of my favorite childhood book series, I had decided that I would be embarking on a re-read of this series, reliving a series of books that helped to shape me into a voracious reader. I am so excited to embark on this travel back in time. I don't expect to be mentally stimulated -- I mean, I'm not exactly a pre-teen middle-schooler these days -- but I make no apology for choosing to enjoy this series from the perspective of adulthood. Don't expect me to have any sort of psychoanalyst or feminist sermonizing on the appropriateness of the situations or the effects on a young girl reading these books; there's plenty of that to go around already. I'm here for the nostalgia and the meander down memory lane.
**********
I distinctly remember being a child, enamored with this book series, and the actual eye-widening awe when the next book that appeared on the shelf at the bookstore was this unexpected treasure called a "super special." Every month or so, I would race to the children's section of the Walden Bookstore at the mall and crouch down to the lower shelf where these books were lined up, eagerly scanning for the latest addition to the series. My delight at a book with a bright white cover (the others were various hues, either pastel or bright), standing out from its previous shelf mates, may have even perhaps been auditory. And even more delighting: this one boasted a fatter spine as well. I loved this book even before I had opened it for the first time. It did not fail to live up to my anticipation either, and I looked forward to it with remembered relish this time as well.
What I liked about Baby-Sitters on Board!:
The novelty of travel - One of the things that fascinated me endlessly about this book was the idea of different modes of travel. To that point of my young life, I had only ever been on car trips to various locations in the northeast portion of the United States. My grandparents traveled cross-country for a month or so every fall, but also by car. The concept of this group of characters getting on a plane and then a cruise ship seemed fantastical to my young mind. And then topping it with the biggest cherry of them all: a visit to Disney World?! This book rocketed to the top of my reading charts. As an adult who has now flown dozens of times and is not a fan of any sort of water travel, I am less wowed by these aspects, but I still found them charming to relive. And living with Disney World a short car trip away and being in possession of an Annual Pass that I use regularly, there is a fun nostalgia to be gained for me here. Some of the attractions mentioned have long since been retired, but the whole experience continues to bring a smile to my face even now.
Friendship - Something I perhaps appreciated more as an adult are all the ways friendship is highlighted throughout this book. New friendships and ongoing. Friends across age ranges. Sibling friendships that usually don't exist. Friendship conflict. I know some readers struggle with Kristy befriending a grandfatherly character, but that didn't bother me, maybe because I grew up in a time and environment where I was encouraged to engage with adults and gain from their stories, and I mean, it's not like Kristy didn't introduce him to her parents or there was anything untoward about their interactions. It was a nice change of pace to see the Pike triplets actually including their younger brother in their adventures for a change, which felt organic with the camaraderie born of vacation adventures. Of course there were BSC squabbles. What would a book in this series be if a couple of the girls weren't disagreeing about something in the way that only middle-school-age girls can? Probably my least favorite was Mary Anne's friendship encounter -- not surprising, given that there was some drama about the whole thing and drama is not my cup of tea.
What I didn't care for:
The romances - Ah, the fickle hearts of pre-teen kids, falling "in love" at the drop of a hat. Mostly, these two storylines just felt forced to me compared to the rest, although Claudia's at least had a more unique angle to it.
What left me conflicted:
All the unsupervised exploring - Now, I grew up in a time of much lower adult supervision than is the norm now. I survived just fine. I didn't mind the older kids being allowed some freedom on the ship, but some of the younger kids being given those freedoms was a little strange to me. I also was more skeptical of even older children being given free rein to explore without supervision on the island excursions and even at Disney World. I don't know if these tourist locations were much more low-key at the time, in regard to atmosphere and crowd size, but I don't think even I would have been turned loose in those settings for more than an hour at a time at most, certainly not on my own or in charge of smaller children. I can suspend a lot of disbelief, but I think this crossed a line for me.
Multiple perspectives - I do think it's fun to have a variety of narrators for the super specials, rather than the typical single perspective, especially when you add in a few other characters that don't have a voice in the regular installments, but the transitions between narrators was a little choppy at times and the overlap of perspectives on a single event wasn't handled as smoothly as it might have been.
All in all, despite my minor grievances, the positives of this book, combined with the extreme nostalgia I have for it, keeps this one as the five stars I had initially given. I tend to reserve five stars for books that move me deeply or have profound effect on me. While I won't go as far as to say that either of those apply here, the fact remains that this series is one that contributed heavily into making me a voracious reader, and this book in particular was one I could have described to you in striking detail even though I had not read it in well over thirty years. My nostalgia was rewarded with an extremely satisfying revisit.
**********
I distinctly remember being a child, enamored with this book series, and the actual eye-widening awe when the next book that appeared on the shelf at the bookstore was this unexpected treasure called a "super special." Every month or so, I would race to the children's section of the Walden Bookstore at the mall and crouch down to the lower shelf where these books were lined up, eagerly scanning for the latest addition to the series. My delight at a book with a bright white cover (the others were various hues, either pastel or bright), standing out from its previous shelf mates, may have even perhaps been auditory. And even more delighting: this one boasted a fatter spine as well. I loved this book even before I had opened it for the first time. It did not fail to live up to my anticipation either, and I looked forward to it with remembered relish this time as well.
What I liked about Baby-Sitters on Board!:
The novelty of travel - One of the things that fascinated me endlessly about this book was the idea of different modes of travel. To that point of my young life, I had only ever been on car trips to various locations in the northeast portion of the United States. My grandparents traveled cross-country for a month or so every fall, but also by car. The concept of this group of characters getting on a plane and then a cruise ship seemed fantastical to my young mind. And then topping it with the biggest cherry of them all: a visit to Disney World?! This book rocketed to the top of my reading charts. As an adult who has now flown dozens of times and is not a fan of any sort of water travel, I am less wowed by these aspects, but I still found them charming to relive. And living with Disney World a short car trip away and being in possession of an Annual Pass that I use regularly, there is a fun nostalgia to be gained for me here. Some of the attractions mentioned have long since been retired, but the whole experience continues to bring a smile to my face even now.
Friendship - Something I perhaps appreciated more as an adult are all the ways friendship is highlighted throughout this book. New friendships and ongoing. Friends across age ranges. Sibling friendships that usually don't exist. Friendship conflict. I know some readers struggle with Kristy befriending a grandfatherly character, but that didn't bother me, maybe because I grew up in a time and environment where I was encouraged to engage with adults and gain from their stories, and I mean, it's not like Kristy didn't introduce him to her parents or there was anything untoward about their interactions. It was a nice change of pace to see the Pike triplets actually including their younger brother in their adventures for a change, which felt organic with the camaraderie born of vacation adventures. Of course there were BSC squabbles. What would a book in this series be if a couple of the girls weren't disagreeing about something in the way that only middle-school-age girls can? Probably my least favorite was Mary Anne's friendship encounter -- not surprising, given that there was some drama about the whole thing and drama is not my cup of tea.
What I didn't care for:
The romances - Ah, the fickle hearts of pre-teen kids, falling "in love" at the drop of a hat. Mostly, these two storylines just felt forced to me compared to the rest, although Claudia's at least had a more unique angle to it.
What left me conflicted:
All the unsupervised exploring - Now, I grew up in a time of much lower adult supervision than is the norm now. I survived just fine. I didn't mind the older kids being allowed some freedom on the ship, but some of the younger kids being given those freedoms was a little strange to me. I also was more skeptical of even older children being given free rein to explore without supervision on the island excursions and even at Disney World. I don't know if these tourist locations were much more low-key at the time, in regard to atmosphere and crowd size, but I don't think even I would have been turned loose in those settings for more than an hour at a time at most, certainly not on my own or in charge of smaller children. I can suspend a lot of disbelief, but I think this crossed a line for me.
Multiple perspectives - I do think it's fun to have a variety of narrators for the super specials, rather than the typical single perspective, especially when you add in a few other characters that don't have a voice in the regular installments, but the transitions between narrators was a little choppy at times and the overlap of perspectives on a single event wasn't handled as smoothly as it might have been.
All in all, despite my minor grievances, the positives of this book, combined with the extreme nostalgia I have for it, keeps this one as the five stars I had initially given. I tend to reserve five stars for books that move me deeply or have profound effect on me. While I won't go as far as to say that either of those apply here, the fact remains that this series is one that contributed heavily into making me a voracious reader, and this book in particular was one I could have described to you in striking detail even though I had not read it in well over thirty years. My nostalgia was rewarded with an extremely satisfying revisit.
January 17, 2019
Can you say VACATION!!!
All the members of the babysitter club , the Pikes family , and Kristys family take a cruise heading for DisneyWorld. Along the way they meet some new friends. Dawn runs into a blond haired cutie who may just be the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. This MUST be what love feels like. Mary Ann meets a girl who is around her age but seems so much more sophisticated and grown up. This girl is very mysterious and secretive though. Claudia finds out she has a secret admirer and he keeps buying her things and leaving love messages! Who could he be though? Stacey meets a little boy in a wheelchair who seems very sad. Maybe she can cheer him up on this trip! And finally Kristy spots an old man who always looks sad and angry. What’s his deal? Perhaps all he needs is a friend like her to turn that frown upside down.
All the members of the babysitter club , the Pikes family , and Kristys family take a cruise heading for DisneyWorld. Along the way they meet some new friends. Dawn runs into a blond haired cutie who may just be the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. This MUST be what love feels like. Mary Ann meets a girl who is around her age but seems so much more sophisticated and grown up. This girl is very mysterious and secretive though. Claudia finds out she has a secret admirer and he keeps buying her things and leaving love messages! Who could he be though? Stacey meets a little boy in a wheelchair who seems very sad. Maybe she can cheer him up on this trip! And finally Kristy spots an old man who always looks sad and angry. What’s his deal? Perhaps all he needs is a friend like her to turn that frown upside down.
February 24, 2023
It was very interesting, there is a lot of things to keep track of.
But I really enjoyed it!
4 of my favourite parts in the story are when...
1. Claudia's secret admirer, Timothy kisses her on the lips!
2. When Claudia finds out WHO her secret admirer is.
3. When Byron finds out that his treasure is actually just Dawn's special bracelet.
4. When the triplets find out that their special treasure map is only a picture of the inside of a machine.
But I really enjoyed it!
4 of my favourite parts in the story are when...
1. Claudia's secret admirer, Timothy kisses her on the lips!
2. When Claudia finds out WHO her secret admirer is.
3. When Byron finds out that his treasure is actually just Dawn's special bracelet.
4. When the triplets find out that their special treasure map is only a picture of the inside of a machine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
August 15, 2020Next up in revisiting childhood faves. I have so many thoughts. I also can’t possibly rate these.
November 29, 2020
a solid entry! they’re on a cruise, they go to disney world, stacey befriends a little boy, dawn gets kissed on the cheek
for the first time, claudia has a secret admirer. docking a star for giving the pike triplets their own chapters.
for the first time, claudia has a secret admirer. docking a star for giving the pike triplets their own chapters.
September 16, 2024
had to reread this to make sure it was real
December 26, 2015
Posted originally on my blog:
The Writer's Inkwell
I wasn't entirely sure how to fit in the Super Specials when it came to my rereading schedule for this series. After some research, I discovered this book was released after book twelve in the series. Of course, this doesn't exactly fit the timeline because it's supposed to happen during the summer before the original five head into eighth grade. It doesn't even fit the summer schedule because it takes place after Stacey and Mary Anne went to Sea City with the Pikes. But whatever. I was a kid and I loved this series. So what if it's not chronologically accurate? After all, how many summer vacations, holidays, birthdays, etc. did they have? They had several Christmases throughout the series and yet, they were stuck in a time loop.
Throwing away all of my adult thoughts on the book (especially about how Mr. Pike's job allowed him to take along his entire family on this free trip? Or why did Watson even want to tag along on such a trip?), let's get down to the basics. This is a book of firsts for the series. One, it's the first book in which every member of the club is allotted their own time for their story lines. Each chapter is a different point of view and several actually overlap, thus allowing a full view of the trip. This is also the first book, in which other characters are allotted their own chapters. And this is the first and only book in which Mallory is featured as a sittee and not a sitter.
There's drama, mystery, romance (or as romantic as a book about teens/preteens can be) and of course, baby-sitting. Stacey and Mary Anne are the only two who are required to work during the trip and for the most part that's okay. They both meet some interesting people and help the Pikes wrangle up their horde of children. Meanwhile, Kristy and Dawn are constantly bickering. It's funny, their fight is over cleanliness and yet, they were bunking with the biggest slob around: Claudia. I won't even pretend to understand why the fight was between these two. Claudia's the slob in the group and apparently someone forgot this key detail. Claudia and Dawn find boys they like on the trip and Kristy befriends an elderly man. Once again, not going to say I understand all the choices made, but hey, at least there was some variety.
Is it the best book ever? No. But as a child, I loved the Super Specials and all of the adventures the girls had while baby-sitting. So in my mind, my six year old self definitely deserves to rate this book as four stars.
The Writer's Inkwell
I wasn't entirely sure how to fit in the Super Specials when it came to my rereading schedule for this series. After some research, I discovered this book was released after book twelve in the series. Of course, this doesn't exactly fit the timeline because it's supposed to happen during the summer before the original five head into eighth grade. It doesn't even fit the summer schedule because it takes place after Stacey and Mary Anne went to Sea City with the Pikes. But whatever. I was a kid and I loved this series. So what if it's not chronologically accurate? After all, how many summer vacations, holidays, birthdays, etc. did they have? They had several Christmases throughout the series and yet, they were stuck in a time loop.
Throwing away all of my adult thoughts on the book (especially about how Mr. Pike's job allowed him to take along his entire family on this free trip? Or why did Watson even want to tag along on such a trip?), let's get down to the basics. This is a book of firsts for the series. One, it's the first book in which every member of the club is allotted their own time for their story lines. Each chapter is a different point of view and several actually overlap, thus allowing a full view of the trip. This is also the first book, in which other characters are allotted their own chapters. And this is the first and only book in which Mallory is featured as a sittee and not a sitter.
There's drama, mystery, romance (or as romantic as a book about teens/preteens can be) and of course, baby-sitting. Stacey and Mary Anne are the only two who are required to work during the trip and for the most part that's okay. They both meet some interesting people and help the Pikes wrangle up their horde of children. Meanwhile, Kristy and Dawn are constantly bickering. It's funny, their fight is over cleanliness and yet, they were bunking with the biggest slob around: Claudia. I won't even pretend to understand why the fight was between these two. Claudia's the slob in the group and apparently someone forgot this key detail. Claudia and Dawn find boys they like on the trip and Kristy befriends an elderly man. Once again, not going to say I understand all the choices made, but hey, at least there was some variety.
Is it the best book ever? No. But as a child, I loved the Super Specials and all of the adventures the girls had while baby-sitting. So in my mind, my six year old self definitely deserves to rate this book as four stars.
April 23, 2013
I didn't much care for the Super-Specials when I was a kid because they kinda confused me with the shifting points of view. I also usually had a problem with the sort of contrived individual plots in which it seemed like the author was trying to give each narrator an individual conflict and silly resolution.
In this book the Pike family goes on vacation. Whenever the Pike family does anything, you know it's going to be full of hijinks, because there are eight children and some of them are pretty wild. The Pikes have won a trip and they decide to take along the same two babysitters who were their helpers for their vacation in an earlier book. And since Kristy's new stepfather is rich, he just starts buying tickets for everyone (except Jessi--where's Jessi?? Not invented yet when this book was planned?) so they can all vacation together and we can have a plot. Watson is the money fountain! Yay!
So they're on a cruise ship and they have roommate issues, because Kristy is a giant slob and it pisses off her roommates, and Claudia brought too much crap. Kristy's making friends with an old man who obviously just needs to be set up with her grandmother to fix everything, and she spends a lot of time whining about not knowing what to do to thank her stepfather for the trip, and they end up doing a scrapbook for him. Everybody meets weirdos or People With A Story on the trip, and every storyline gets resolved. Claudia gets stalked by a secret admirer and finds it flattering when it was totally stalkery, creepy behavior. Dawn also has a boy crush that doesn't make a lot of sense and is formed over nothing. (I kinda wanted her unicorn charm, though. Even though I wasn't a unicorn kid.) Stacey has a connection with a kid who has a heart defect because they're both sick, which seemed sort of like it was reaching. And Mary Anne starts believing some sophisticated girl's lies and finding her totally glamorous, which is kind of odd. There were also some extra plots told from the points of view of some of the kids who were being babysat, and I didn't find them very convincing. Kristy's stepsister was pretty bratty, and the Pike triplets kept imagining incredibly unoriginal mysteries about pirates and treasure while on the ship. (Their suspicion of Claudia's stalker boy, and the PLACES HE WAS HIDING TO WATCH HER, was totally absurd.)
In this book the Pike family goes on vacation. Whenever the Pike family does anything, you know it's going to be full of hijinks, because there are eight children and some of them are pretty wild. The Pikes have won a trip and they decide to take along the same two babysitters who were their helpers for their vacation in an earlier book. And since Kristy's new stepfather is rich, he just starts buying tickets for everyone (except Jessi--where's Jessi?? Not invented yet when this book was planned?) so they can all vacation together and we can have a plot. Watson is the money fountain! Yay!
So they're on a cruise ship and they have roommate issues, because Kristy is a giant slob and it pisses off her roommates, and Claudia brought too much crap. Kristy's making friends with an old man who obviously just needs to be set up with her grandmother to fix everything, and she spends a lot of time whining about not knowing what to do to thank her stepfather for the trip, and they end up doing a scrapbook for him. Everybody meets weirdos or People With A Story on the trip, and every storyline gets resolved. Claudia gets stalked by a secret admirer and finds it flattering when it was totally stalkery, creepy behavior. Dawn also has a boy crush that doesn't make a lot of sense and is formed over nothing. (I kinda wanted her unicorn charm, though. Even though I wasn't a unicorn kid.) Stacey has a connection with a kid who has a heart defect because they're both sick, which seemed sort of like it was reaching. And Mary Anne starts believing some sophisticated girl's lies and finding her totally glamorous, which is kind of odd. There were also some extra plots told from the points of view of some of the kids who were being babysat, and I didn't find them very convincing. Kristy's stepsister was pretty bratty, and the Pike triplets kept imagining incredibly unoriginal mysteries about pirates and treasure while on the ship. (Their suspicion of Claudia's stalker boy, and the PLACES HE WAS HIDING TO WATCH HER, was totally absurd.)
April 30, 2022
As a young girl, I remember this being one of my favorite of Martin's books in the Babysitters Club collection, so I used this to fill a slot in a reading challenge. I did have a lot of nostalgia when reading this but I also found a lot of it to be problematic. The writing isn't that great. There's a lot of redundancy and overuse of certain words or phrases. The structure of the book is a diary of a trip, with each chapter being told by a different kid in attendance, and that made it difficult to keep up with whose perspective we were getting. A few of the babysitters did nothing but drool over cute boys from start to finish, but this is a documented personality trait for at least one of the girls, which is annoying in itself. There was also a creepy "secret admirer" storyline that made this boy out to be more of a stalker than love interest, as he was slipping notes into a girl's bag and following her around everywhere, both on the cruise ship and on land. I realize these books were written in the 80s when there was a common theme that girls were only capable of being crazy about cute guys and little else, but I would enjoy a retelling of some of these stories that show more progressive storylines for these young women.
June 15, 2016
Reading these from book one with my almost-third grader, but I got good kindle deals for the supers and stocked up...and couldn't resist a preread on my own. Two fun hours of my childhood back!! I love how these books are wholesome, highlight each girl with diverse interests and personality types but all are equal in value, from tomboys to fashionistas to quiet bookworms. A character for everyone to identify with, I think, if you're in the 8-10 age range of innocent eagerness to be 13. I also appreciate these kids are hard workers and earn their own way. Other popular series books have kids who have everything and seem to get it from thin air. BSC is a good example that things cost money and earning money is an empowering way to get things you like all on your own. Yes the super special books about ridiculously expensive trips are far fetched, but I appreciate a little fantasy escape!
August 21, 2018
As an adult, this did not hold up well for me at all, but as a kid, this would have been 5 stars without question. As a kid, I loved this (and all the super specials), and the cruise trip and Disney vacation had an epic feel to me. As a grown-up, the idea of all these young kids running around a cruise ship and Disney by themselves is... baffling. I laughed out loud when Marc Kubacki's dad says to Stacey "I'm sure you're responsible" and allows this thirteen-year-old stranger to whisk away his wheelchair-bound heart-patient son.
Still enjoyable for the memories it brings back, and I appreciate the love I had for this series as a kid, but now reads mostly as humor.
Still enjoyable for the memories it brings back, and I appreciate the love I had for this series as a kid, but now reads mostly as humor.
July 10, 2017
Who wants to start an "I Hate Karen Brewer Club"? I'm down to be president and organize all of our hateful discussions about this little brat.
This was the very first Super Special, and as a kid these were all very exciting. They were bigger, for one, than a regular book and they featured characters that you didn't always get to read about as individuals. Do I really WANT Byron Pike narrating a chapter? Not necessarily, but it's something different I guess.
I just really hate Karen, guys. This kid is such a brat, and nobody really ever does anything about it. You're weak, Watson. WEAK!
This was the very first Super Special, and as a kid these were all very exciting. They were bigger, for one, than a regular book and they featured characters that you didn't always get to read about as individuals. Do I really WANT Byron Pike narrating a chapter? Not necessarily, but it's something different I guess.
I just really hate Karen, guys. This kid is such a brat, and nobody really ever does anything about it. You're weak, Watson. WEAK!
August 18, 2019
Ah yes, the book that gave me unrealistic expectations about the number of hotel employees who would let tween me charge things to my room (zero) and how many boys tween me would meet while on vacations with my parents (also zero).
November 21, 2008
I felt guilty in Sunday School because I didn't pay attention to the lesson. I was too excited about going home to read this book.
March 22, 2017
I'm embarrassed to admit that I cried. That was stupidly lovely. The Stacey and Mark story is my favourite.
January 18, 2023
Wonderful book!
November 10, 2018
Childhood days! 😊😊😊
June 5, 2023
Baby-sitters on Board
Mr. Pike wins a contest at work and the prize is a cruise and a trip to Disney World. He invites Stacey and Maryanne to be helpers. Then Kristy tells Watson and he invites her family and Dawn and Claudia.
(Dawn) Right away Dawn and Kristy get into it because they have opposite living habits. (Dawn is neat. Kristy is messy). Kristy drives Dawn crazy so after the Bon Voyage send-off, Dawn goes to explore the ship. She meets a gorgeous boy and they hang out on the deck. But when she tries to find out about him, he takes off leaving her hanging. Dawn isn’t fazed and plans get her man. Dawn and Parker get to spend the day together at Treasure Kay. She’s a little disappointed that he doesn’t like his stepmother or brothers, but this doesn’t change her mind. Dawn has already made him her boyfriend. Dawn spends the first day at Disney World with Parker. They ride Space Mountain and she gets a little sick. So they shop around and she finds the perfect gift for herself (a Unicorn charm). Parker runs into his step-mother, father, and brothers and he Dawn get roped into watching then. Dawn later discovers her bracelet and charm have fallen off. But at the end of the day, Parker surprises her by buying her another charm.
(Maryanne) Maryanne takes Nicky and Vanessa exploring all the Ocean Princess’s levels. On one level there’s a beauty shop and she sees a glamorous girl that introduces herself as Alexandra Cassidy. Maryanne is extremely impressed with her beauty, body, and the fact that she eluded that she was an orphan. They also spot a stow-a-way on board. Later again Maryanne when with the triplets (who have found a treasure map and are checking out the boat) sees Alexandria and she says her brother thinks her hair was a hack job, and then it comes to Maryanne that before she said she was traveling alone. She confirms that her parents were killed and Maryanne feels a half-orphan bond with her. Mallory tells Maryanne w hat she saw and heard about Alexandria. The next morning she blows up at her and walks off. All day at Disney World, Alexandria stalks her until Margo throws up and it gets on her.
Mallory: Mallory’s parents say that she and the twins can go off on their own so she decides it’s a good time to practice her spying skills. She also sees Alexandria Cassidy and overhears that she’s an actress. She sees an old man looking sad out at the water and she overheard Kristy and Claudia talking about Dawn. She movest to the Moonlight Deck where the luxury cabins are and noticed a small boy named Marc going into a room with his mother and followed by men carrying oxygen tanks and medicine. She then sees a member of her favorite band (Spider). At Disney World, Mal finds out that Alexandra isn’t traveling alone, she does have parents, and that her parents once were a popular singing group.
Claudia: Claudia receives a note from an admirer that says she’s beautiful on the 2nd day on the ship. She then spends the day in Nassau shopping. She gets the second note in one of the gifts she buys for her mother. The admirer also pays her admission to the aquarium and later gives her a pair of pearl earrings that she saw and loved but couldn’t afford. When Stacey tells Claudia she thought she saw her mystery guy she rushes off to find him. Instead, she finds a blond guy that introduces himself as Timothy. They talk and get to know each other. He asks can he spend time with her at Disney Land. At the firework show, Alexandria reveals to Claudia that Timothy is her secret admirer. Alexandria and Timothy seen to put like to pretend, Maryanne makes up with Alexandria. Timothy tells Claudia he thought she wouldn’t be into the secret admirer stuff and that was too shy. Claudia says she isn’t mad. He kisses her as fireworks go off.
Stacey: Stacey meets a boy in the wheelchair (Marrc) and the bond over shared secrets regarding their illnesses. Later that night there’s a storm and she entertains Claire and Margo. Stacey introduces Claire and Margo to Marc and they become friends and hang out at the video arcade. Stacey takes them for ice cream and comes close to seeing Claudia’s secret admirer. On the last day of the trip Stacey, Claire, and Margo run into Marc and his family in EPCOT. Stacey finds out that Mac is having a very risky heart surgery and that his parents took this trip just in case. Later she wonders why some people are blessed with good health and some have so many tests and trials.
Kristy: Kristy meets a man named Rudy Staples that’s a bit of a grouch. But he tells her he’s that way because his wife died not long ago. He felt like it would be good for him to get out of his slump, but he doesn’t feel like he belongs on the trip. So Kristy takes to play video games and he in turn takes her to play shuffleboard. She invites him to dinner to meet her family later on. At Disney World, the hotel room is bigger so Dawn and Kristy make up. Kristy catches Mr. Staples just in time about to check out and convinces him to stay.
My Thoughts: Of all the ones I’ve read (and I didn’t realize there were so many I hadn’t read) I probably like this one the best so far. It was easy to put myself *there*, unlike the others. I do love me some Disney World! The only thing I had a problem with (slightly) is that some of the mentions of the rides were repeated and the fact that there is SO MUCH MORE to do in Orlando that could have been mentioned. Then I kinda hate the 3-day thing because this is what my family and I always do when we have gone and it’s NEVER enough time. (Kristy) part was I guess nice. I was very close to my grandfather so it was good to see her with a grandfather figure. Although I don’t agree with her trying to set up Nannie and Rudy staples just because they were both widowers. Nannie seemed cool with it surprisingly. But she could have been like Kris’s mother on KUWTK when Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney tried to hook her up and been like “NOPE! I’m good. Don’t do that again.” Then Watson kind of dropped the ball for me because he told Karen and Andrew, they could only get one thing. I can see why Mr. Pike might say this. He’s got eight children. But Watson is a freaking MILLIONAIRE! And he probably could afford everything in that cabinet and refrigerator. I guess he won’t get cable because he doesn’t want Karen and Andrew possibly to watch the wrong thing, But all movies aren’t R-rated and it’s called a LOCK, (Maryanne) part I was just amazed and I shook my head. You have (what) two conversations with this girl and you expect friendship and trust? REALLY? Then was it all that deep that you had to confront this STRANGER. You will NEVER SEE THIS GIRL AGAIN! I would have just let it go. You can’t base a friendship on knowing someone a hot second, and how nice their boobs fill out a bikini. Why was Maryanne looking at how nice she filled out a swimsuit anyway? (Claudia): I’d keep Timothy. This guy has the makings of a good boyfriend and eventually husband. I know men that I dated for YEARS that didn’t do for me what Timothy did for Claudia. I would have had to jump through the pages and shake her had *SHE* gotten mad. Pearl earrings (real ones) can probably range anywhere from the sixty dollar range on up to the hundreds and he JUST meet her. Hasn’t even had a conversation with her! What Timothy did was ROMANTIC! And the bad thing is it just goes to show Will gets other mentions. Timothy was all but forgotten about and he lives not that far from Claudia. (Dawn) and Parker didn’t have to many thoughts about. Other than Dawn acting like it’s the worse thing that he doesn’t like kids. Does he just not like his stepbrother or does he not like any kids. If he didn’t like his stepbrothers then it’s not a stretch to believe that because they’re at Disney World they’re on their best behavior. All kids have their *good* moments. Doesn’t mean they’re good. Dawns around these kids for A DAY. Then just because Dawn *loves* kids she can’t judge Parker for not loving kids. Some people just don’t. But Parker was decent enough. Again, here’s a guy that hasn’t even met you long and bought you a charm to replace the one you bought. (Stacey’s) was the saddest. I don’t know why I just eventually think that even though he made it through the operation he might have been around some years but it wasn’t all that long. But then I have a family member who has heart problems so perhaps even today Marc may have grown up to have a wife and kids of his own that he took to Disney World and remembered (well nah I don’t think he would remember Stacey) but maybe he married Claire or Margo. Now (Karen) Again Watson is.. He doesn’t react when Karen charges a NAIL APPOINTMENT to his card but he gets MAD when she wants the dining room to sing Happy Birthday to her? REALLY? I just would have to have laughed that off like “Girl you know it ain’t yo birthday.” But if I saw a charge on my card for nails that I didn’t make I would have been like “Don’t EVER do that again without asking my permission. I don’t mind you getting your nails done but..” That just sets a bad stage for when Karen when she gets to be a teenager she’ll think she can just charge whatever on Watson’s card and then he’ll probably go ape ish but it’s like well she’s been doing this since she was six.
Rating: 7
Mr. Pike wins a contest at work and the prize is a cruise and a trip to Disney World. He invites Stacey and Maryanne to be helpers. Then Kristy tells Watson and he invites her family and Dawn and Claudia.
(Dawn) Right away Dawn and Kristy get into it because they have opposite living habits. (Dawn is neat. Kristy is messy). Kristy drives Dawn crazy so after the Bon Voyage send-off, Dawn goes to explore the ship. She meets a gorgeous boy and they hang out on the deck. But when she tries to find out about him, he takes off leaving her hanging. Dawn isn’t fazed and plans get her man. Dawn and Parker get to spend the day together at Treasure Kay. She’s a little disappointed that he doesn’t like his stepmother or brothers, but this doesn’t change her mind. Dawn has already made him her boyfriend. Dawn spends the first day at Disney World with Parker. They ride Space Mountain and she gets a little sick. So they shop around and she finds the perfect gift for herself (a Unicorn charm). Parker runs into his step-mother, father, and brothers and he Dawn get roped into watching then. Dawn later discovers her bracelet and charm have fallen off. But at the end of the day, Parker surprises her by buying her another charm.
(Maryanne) Maryanne takes Nicky and Vanessa exploring all the Ocean Princess’s levels. On one level there’s a beauty shop and she sees a glamorous girl that introduces herself as Alexandra Cassidy. Maryanne is extremely impressed with her beauty, body, and the fact that she eluded that she was an orphan. They also spot a stow-a-way on board. Later again Maryanne when with the triplets (who have found a treasure map and are checking out the boat) sees Alexandria and she says her brother thinks her hair was a hack job, and then it comes to Maryanne that before she said she was traveling alone. She confirms that her parents were killed and Maryanne feels a half-orphan bond with her. Mallory tells Maryanne w hat she saw and heard about Alexandria. The next morning she blows up at her and walks off. All day at Disney World, Alexandria stalks her until Margo throws up and it gets on her.
Mallory: Mallory’s parents say that she and the twins can go off on their own so she decides it’s a good time to practice her spying skills. She also sees Alexandria Cassidy and overhears that she’s an actress. She sees an old man looking sad out at the water and she overheard Kristy and Claudia talking about Dawn. She movest to the Moonlight Deck where the luxury cabins are and noticed a small boy named Marc going into a room with his mother and followed by men carrying oxygen tanks and medicine. She then sees a member of her favorite band (Spider). At Disney World, Mal finds out that Alexandra isn’t traveling alone, she does have parents, and that her parents once were a popular singing group.
Claudia: Claudia receives a note from an admirer that says she’s beautiful on the 2nd day on the ship. She then spends the day in Nassau shopping. She gets the second note in one of the gifts she buys for her mother. The admirer also pays her admission to the aquarium and later gives her a pair of pearl earrings that she saw and loved but couldn’t afford. When Stacey tells Claudia she thought she saw her mystery guy she rushes off to find him. Instead, she finds a blond guy that introduces himself as Timothy. They talk and get to know each other. He asks can he spend time with her at Disney Land. At the firework show, Alexandria reveals to Claudia that Timothy is her secret admirer. Alexandria and Timothy seen to put like to pretend, Maryanne makes up with Alexandria. Timothy tells Claudia he thought she wouldn’t be into the secret admirer stuff and that was too shy. Claudia says she isn’t mad. He kisses her as fireworks go off.
Stacey: Stacey meets a boy in the wheelchair (Marrc) and the bond over shared secrets regarding their illnesses. Later that night there’s a storm and she entertains Claire and Margo. Stacey introduces Claire and Margo to Marc and they become friends and hang out at the video arcade. Stacey takes them for ice cream and comes close to seeing Claudia’s secret admirer. On the last day of the trip Stacey, Claire, and Margo run into Marc and his family in EPCOT. Stacey finds out that Mac is having a very risky heart surgery and that his parents took this trip just in case. Later she wonders why some people are blessed with good health and some have so many tests and trials.
Kristy: Kristy meets a man named Rudy Staples that’s a bit of a grouch. But he tells her he’s that way because his wife died not long ago. He felt like it would be good for him to get out of his slump, but he doesn’t feel like he belongs on the trip. So Kristy takes to play video games and he in turn takes her to play shuffleboard. She invites him to dinner to meet her family later on. At Disney World, the hotel room is bigger so Dawn and Kristy make up. Kristy catches Mr. Staples just in time about to check out and convinces him to stay.
My Thoughts: Of all the ones I’ve read (and I didn’t realize there were so many I hadn’t read) I probably like this one the best so far. It was easy to put myself *there*, unlike the others. I do love me some Disney World! The only thing I had a problem with (slightly) is that some of the mentions of the rides were repeated and the fact that there is SO MUCH MORE to do in Orlando that could have been mentioned. Then I kinda hate the 3-day thing because this is what my family and I always do when we have gone and it’s NEVER enough time. (Kristy) part was I guess nice. I was very close to my grandfather so it was good to see her with a grandfather figure. Although I don’t agree with her trying to set up Nannie and Rudy staples just because they were both widowers. Nannie seemed cool with it surprisingly. But she could have been like Kris’s mother on KUWTK when Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney tried to hook her up and been like “NOPE! I’m good. Don’t do that again.” Then Watson kind of dropped the ball for me because he told Karen and Andrew, they could only get one thing. I can see why Mr. Pike might say this. He’s got eight children. But Watson is a freaking MILLIONAIRE! And he probably could afford everything in that cabinet and refrigerator. I guess he won’t get cable because he doesn’t want Karen and Andrew possibly to watch the wrong thing, But all movies aren’t R-rated and it’s called a LOCK, (Maryanne) part I was just amazed and I shook my head. You have (what) two conversations with this girl and you expect friendship and trust? REALLY? Then was it all that deep that you had to confront this STRANGER. You will NEVER SEE THIS GIRL AGAIN! I would have just let it go. You can’t base a friendship on knowing someone a hot second, and how nice their boobs fill out a bikini. Why was Maryanne looking at how nice she filled out a swimsuit anyway? (Claudia): I’d keep Timothy. This guy has the makings of a good boyfriend and eventually husband. I know men that I dated for YEARS that didn’t do for me what Timothy did for Claudia. I would have had to jump through the pages and shake her had *SHE* gotten mad. Pearl earrings (real ones) can probably range anywhere from the sixty dollar range on up to the hundreds and he JUST meet her. Hasn’t even had a conversation with her! What Timothy did was ROMANTIC! And the bad thing is it just goes to show Will gets other mentions. Timothy was all but forgotten about and he lives not that far from Claudia. (Dawn) and Parker didn’t have to many thoughts about. Other than Dawn acting like it’s the worse thing that he doesn’t like kids. Does he just not like his stepbrother or does he not like any kids. If he didn’t like his stepbrothers then it’s not a stretch to believe that because they’re at Disney World they’re on their best behavior. All kids have their *good* moments. Doesn’t mean they’re good. Dawns around these kids for A DAY. Then just because Dawn *loves* kids she can’t judge Parker for not loving kids. Some people just don’t. But Parker was decent enough. Again, here’s a guy that hasn’t even met you long and bought you a charm to replace the one you bought. (Stacey’s) was the saddest. I don’t know why I just eventually think that even though he made it through the operation he might have been around some years but it wasn’t all that long. But then I have a family member who has heart problems so perhaps even today Marc may have grown up to have a wife and kids of his own that he took to Disney World and remembered (well nah I don’t think he would remember Stacey) but maybe he married Claire or Margo. Now (Karen) Again Watson is.. He doesn’t react when Karen charges a NAIL APPOINTMENT to his card but he gets MAD when she wants the dining room to sing Happy Birthday to her? REALLY? I just would have to have laughed that off like “Girl you know it ain’t yo birthday.” But if I saw a charge on my card for nails that I didn’t make I would have been like “Don’t EVER do that again without asking my permission. I don’t mind you getting your nails done but..” That just sets a bad stage for when Karen when she gets to be a teenager she’ll think she can just charge whatever on Watson’s card and then he’ll probably go ape ish but it’s like well she’s been doing this since she was six.
Rating: 7
June 23, 2021
Reread 2021
Well that was adorable! Add this one to the list of BSC books I have read 30+ years ago but definitely didn’t remember! 😂🤣
In this book, the gang goes on a cruise and then to Disney World! It was a fun story with lots of mystery and even a little romance.
I always liked these vacation stories that the Super Specials told. I remember how excited I’d get in grade school when I’d run across one of these in a library. 😁
Well that was adorable! Add this one to the list of BSC books I have read 30+ years ago but definitely didn’t remember! 😂🤣
In this book, the gang goes on a cruise and then to Disney World! It was a fun story with lots of mystery and even a little romance.
I always liked these vacation stories that the Super Specials told. I remember how excited I’d get in grade school when I’d run across one of these in a library. 😁
January 3, 2021
Found all these on my Kindle from AGES ago and thought I may as well read them again since my child is obsessed with them (and I kind of love that). Since they are like a 1 hour read each I’m hoping to have this done fairly quickly but I somehow own all 12 of the Super Specials. NOSTALGIA HERE I COME.
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