Review: "Snowbound: The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #7"

Snowbound: The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #7 by Ann M Martin
3.5 out of 5 stars

You guys, I read this book in August! Three months ago! Oh, the shame...the blogging shame. But hey, let's pretend I meant to hold it this long because we're having record low temps in the 30s this week! Yeah, that's it lol.

This one was on the verge of being boring but then it pulled out the fun and outrageous in the end. It starts out with Kristy being super annoying, writing the Stoneybrook newspaper about the blizzard they had and offering to sell them the Baby-Sitters Club's story as an article. She's all "your story was good but mine is better" and "by the way, do you need a baby-sitter?" And she basically spoils the whole story for us, by listing what happened to everyone during the blizzard. THEN we go back to the beginning of the story.

It's a normal weekend at home for Kristy...homework, daydreaming about her "boyfriend" Bart, helping Karen with her sweater-pants, searching for missing rats, etc...The weather people are calling for a huge snowstorm, but since that's the 4th time they've predicted snow with nothing, Kristy doesn't think much about it. Oh and there's another dance: the Winter Wonderland Dance. And it's pretty close to Christmas. For some reason, we get the intro chapter in this Super Special and they lay out what everyone is doing on Wednesday: Mary Anne and Mallory are doing a marathon baby-sitting job for the Pikes, Jessi has a rehearsal for The Nutcracker, Dawn is picking up Jeff at the airport, and Claudia is baby-sitting for the Perkins girls. So they decide to actually cancel the Wednesday meeting (I don't know how Kristy didn't have a heart attack) and then they gab about the dance and all the awesome guys they're going with. Claudia already has her dibbly outfit picked out too:

I was really looking forward to dressing up. I'd bought this black velvet knicker outfit and was going to wear it with a lot of silver jewelry, including snowflake earrings. 

Okay, let's start going down the list of where everyone is and what happens to them when it finally snows! The snowstorm finally starts up late Wednesday afternoon, conveniently when the BSC meeting was cancelled. Mary Anne and Mallory are doing their huge sitting job because Mr & Mrs Pike are having some weird touristy day in New York. I guess that's the only way they can afford vacations. Mary Anne is staying the night and Mrs Pike says there is enough food for them, but she'll have to go to the grocery as soon as she gets back. (Important point for later.) When it starts snowing, the triplets scare Claire with stories of the Abominable Snowman. As it gets later and the snow gets heavier, the Pike parents call and say they aren't coming back that night, then they realize they are almost out of food, then the phones and power go out, and suddenly everyone is starving. Like, 30 minutes after dinner. They make it thru the night but the next morning they're all still hungry and Mary Anne even calls Logan and whines that she's hungry. So what does any self-respecting 13 year old boy from Kentucky do? Gets on his cross-country skis and brings a backpack full of food over to his girlfriend. Yeah, seriously.

Stacey and her mom are at Washington Mall, getting Stace's hair permed for the big dance. Her mom doesn't like to drive in snow and starts freaking out when they leave the mall to see big snowflakes coming down. They get on the highway and start inching their way slowly home. Until they fishtail and her mom decides to take the backroads home. Then she pulls over when it gets too hard to see. And they get stuck on the side of the road. Pretty scary, especially once Stacey gets hungry and the car dies. To keep their minds off things, Stacey asks her mom how & why she fell in love with her dad. Kind of like that part in The Parent Trap. And then they get rescued by a desperate criminal...just kidding, it's a kindly gentleman with a wife and a baby at home. He takes them to his country home, which is decked out for Christmas. It looked like a house from a fairy tale, lit inside and out, a green wreath with a plaid ribbon hanging on the door, the gold lights on a Christmas tree twinkling through a window. Have I mentioned how ready I am for Christmas this year? I am full of holiday spirit lol. Stacey mentions that this will be her first Christmas as a divorced kid. They fall in love with the Schiavone family and even trade Christmas cards afterwards. Once Stacey gets back home, Claudia rushes over, all worried, because everyone had noticed they were gone and says "Don't ever think we wouldn't miss you." Aw...

Claudia is busy baby-sitting the Perkins girls when it starts snowing and of course, the parents can't get back home and the power goes out. Instead of taking the girls across the street to her home, she decides to just stay at their house. And then Chewy, the big destructive dog, goes missing. Turns out he was in the basement the whole night. Not a lot happens for Claud, so we'll put in this gem from Myriah Perkins:

[We can make] "a whole snow family! A snow mommy and a snow daddy and three snow girls and a snow dog and two snow cats." 
"You are going to be very busy tomorrow," [Claudia] said.
"That's what happens when you're five," Myriah replied.

And on to Jessi...she has her big Nutcracker rehearsal, which of course contains plenty of small children. Quint, her New York boyfriend, is on his way to stay with Jessi for the week and go to the dance with her. The snow starts, parents can't get there (doesn't anybody leave early when they see there might be bad weather?), everyone is stuck there overnight. Quint shows up a few hours later after WALKING there from the train station. Seriously, that's just dumb. Jessi & Quint help corral the younger kids, because apparently all the adults there can't do it. The next morning, they have a romantic breakfast across the street.

Dawn's mom is the only adult in the whole book who actually leaves early, to pick up Jeff from the airport. Doesn't matter though, because his flight is diverted to Washington and Dawn & her mom get stuck at the airport for the night. Luckily, Dawn has a baby in a nearby family to keep her occupied. Jeff arrives the next morning, understandably upset over the whole ordeal, but by the time they get home, it was a grand adventure.

And finally...Kristy. The only person who was actually in her own home (besides Mallory I suppose). She invites Bart over to watch some movies and have dinner with her entire family (not too bright for Miz Prez) and he has to stay the night once it starts snowing. Kristy freaks because ZOMG A BOY!!! And sets her alarm for 5:30 the next morning so she can get up and make herself pretty. I'm not sure why, because he's never seen her pretty before. Ooh...zing! She even shaves her legs, for the first time, with an electric razor. Ouch. All her brothers make fun of her, of course, but Bart says she's beautiful. After the storm, everyone catches up on everyone else's story and back to the present...Kristy gets a call from the newspaper that they do want to publish her article. I hope it's not as long as this blog post! (Sorry!) And the girls all go to the Winter Dance together, with their various boy toys. The End.