Finally, a good Jessi book that is not an after-school-special!! But. The new girl on the cover, Wendy, she gets a really bad rap in this. She's not a bad baby-sitter, at all. Also, she doesn't chew gum in the meeting. I think that's some previous girl they tried out, I can't really remember, but it bugged me lol. Okay, let's get into the book and all the reasons Wendy deserved better!
Jessi is at home baby-sitting Becca & Squirt when her new friend, fellow sixth-grader Wendy, calls and Jessi invites her to come over. She does and is really good with the kids and says she likes baby-sitting and Jessi gets an inkling of an idea. In case you've forgotten already, Dawn moved back to California last book and Mallory has been suspiciously sick and tired for what seems like months now. Kristy is frazzled because business has picked up now that school is back in session and her sitters are NOT ON TIME to the meeting ZOMG!! Alright, pause for a What Claudia Was Wearing!
...today she was wearing an oversized white shirt under a black vest covered with a design of shiny beads. (She sewed the beads on it herself.) She wore neon green leggings and black ballet slippers (on which she'd sewn a matching bead design). From one of her pierced ears hung a dangling earring made from the same beads and on the other ear she wore a small green hoop earring. It was an original look that only Claudia could make work.
Kristy doesn't know what to do about all the new business. She doesn't want to replace Dawn (who will be back in 6 months supposedly), but she wants an Alternate Officer, but she says 8 members is too many. I don't really get that one. Like they're overwhelmed with jobs, they're calling Shannon & Logan, who are both also busy...so why not get another full-time member? Jessi mentions Wendy and Kristy just says "bring her", because they're so swamped with calls. Dawn calls at the very end of the meeting and Kristy tells her she needs to come home right away. "No, I'm NOT kidding. We're in a mess here and we need you back." "No, you can't talk to [Mary Anne] until you swear you'll come back right away." Yikes.
Wendy comes to the next meeting and Kristy tries to grill her but is too busy taking phone calls. So she finally just sends Wendy off with Jessi on the next sitting job. Jessi says she does awesome and she's officially sort-of in the club! Okay, here's where it gets kind of iffy. Wendy doesn't show up for the next meeting til it's nearly over because she had a regular sitting job. Kristy is super pissed, saying she broke 2 rules. Technically, Wendy didn't know about those rules. But then a few days later, she's supposed to sit for the Pike kids with Jessi and is about 20 minutes late, again because she was baby-sitting (without telling the BSC). She thought it was okay, because Jessi was there. Obviously she should have called at that point. That's her main/only real strike. At the next meeting, she's on time, but tells them the club isn't really for her.
"You knew the rules when you joined," Kristy said.
"No, actually, I didn't," Wendy replied. "The meeting I attended was so frantic that no one ever really explained them to me. All I knew was that Jessi's crazy about the club. So I figured it must be great. And it is great--for you. But not for me."
"That's just one too many people bossing me around."
So yeah, Kristy is livid. But Jessi kind of sees both sides and stays friends with Wendy. Well away from Kristy, of course.
Side stories that aren't interesting enough to go into super detail: Mallory is really tired, falls asleep a lot, can't baby-sit, backs out of plans. *foreshadowing* Also, Jessi catches Margo stealing stuff. A bunch of the kids make a video for Dawn because they miss her and Dawn surprises them with a video too, of her daily life.Let's end with another What Claudia is Wearing, rollerblading edition!! Claudia wore hot pink stirrup pants and a fuzzy pink sweater that made a nice contrast with her neon green pads and helmet.
