Review: "Claudia & Crazy Peaches: The Baby-Sitters Club #78"

Claudia & Crazy Peaches: The Baby-Sitters Club #78 by Ann M Martin

3 out of 5 stars

I was bamboozled by the title and cover of this one. I didn't read the back closely and didn't remember enough of what it was actually about. I was expecting fun times with Aunt Peaches and instead I got a sequel to Claudia & Mean Janine! So the book starts off with Claudia waking up on a Monday morning with a tingly feeling that something big is going to happen and her mom confirms it when she says her Aunt Peaches is going to call her at 4:00 that afternoon. But she's running late so she'll have to wait til after school to find out what the news is and she gets dressed in a hurry.

I had no time to think about my wardrobe. I just made it up as I went along. I slipped on a pair of baggy jeans with an extra long belt and gabbed a pinstriped vest to go over my white shirt. For color, I wore my purple high-tops and a black derby with a pink-and-purple hatband.

Aunt Peaches is Claudia's mom's younger sister and is married to Russ, a white guy who gave her the nickname Peaches. White-washing? Peaches & Russ lived in Stoneybrook til Claudia was 7 years old and Claudia loves them both and always has lots of fun with them. When they talk that afternoon, Peaches gives Claudia the big news that she's pregnant and moving back to Stoneybrook! They've somehow already sold their old house and the new one isn't ready yet, so they move in with the Kishis for about a month. Claudia is over the moon excited of course and immediately starts thinking of all the ways she can help out with the baby and pregnancy. Claudia asks Mary Anne to teach her how to knit a blanket, because Mimi taught Mary Anne and it would be like full circle. It's very sweet. The entire BSC offers different ways to help Peaches and Logan's response was the sweetest. "Your aunt sure is lucky because, if I know you and the rest of the BSC, she won't have to lift a finger. All she'll have to do is sit on her nest and wait for that little egg to hatch."  Awww....

Peaches is about 2 months along at this point and has already quit her job because she is going to "...sit around the house and get fat. And ...stay home and enjoy the whole experience." Which is great and all, but at 2 months?? She's also already thinking about everything she'll need to buy for the baby. The very first day they've moved in with the Kishis, Peaches & Claudia go shopping for the baby, and buy out the store basically. (The sales ticket was two feet long.) I really should have seen the foreshadowing here, but I didn't. 

In the next few weeks, Peaches encourages Claudia to come have lots of fun with her: movies, midnight pizza (they get in big trouble for that), baby shopping, looking at samples, big fancy dinner parties for the family, etc. All at the expense of Claudia's grades, which start slipping even more than normal. Claudia and Peaches finally have a big fight, Peaches calls her a "sulky teenager" which is really out of line in my opinion, and don't talk to each other for a few days. And here comes the sad part. 

Claudia gets home from a baby-sitting job, ready to apologize, and finds Janine sitting in the kitchen crying. Peaches has lost the baby. Claudia immediately thinks it's her fault, just like with Mimi's stroke. Maybe they should get her some counselling or something. Peaches is okay, it's "just one of those things", and they can try again later. (I seem to remember them actually having a baby later on in the series?) Claudia & Peaches make up, with lots of tears and hugs. Peaches & Russ move into their new home a week later and Peaches announces she's going back to work and if/when they have another baby, she'll work part-time in her home office.

Natalie Springer is the new client for this book and doesn't know how to make friends. Although when we first hear about her, Kristy said she's a friend of Karen's? Natalie is a grade A clinger, asking Claudia to be her bff, comes over to her house all the time (without an adult), calling her to chat, offering to help clean the house. They also play Lovely Ladies (another Karen Brewer trademark game) in the park and we get this funny little line: "That's right. You name all of your poodles Pierre. I should have remembered." The BSC girls make it their mission to get the kid some friends, it goes badly at first, and then they succeed. All is normal in BSC-land.

Review: "Dawn & Whitney, Friends Forever: The Baby-Sitters Club #77"

Dawn & Whitney, Friends Forever: The Baby-Sitters Club #77 by Ann Martin
3.5 out of 5 stars

Let's get the cringe part out of the way first: this book uses the word "r*tarded" several times to describe new character, Whitney, who has Down Syndrome. Luckily, it is only used as a medical description and not an insult or derogatory phrase. Aside from that, I think this was one of the better Dawn books I've read in awhile, especially with her being in "Sunny California" (SC). Dawn goes into all the long, selfish details of her move back to SC and how she basically wrecked her dad's relationship so he's now "playing the field", which means he eventually gets to the "date me, date my kids".  Dawn & Jeff are lukewarm, at best, about these dates but at least they get a yummy meal from Mrs Bruen: "Endive salad, three-cheese macaroni, asparagus, and raspberry crisp".  Dawn's SC bff Sunshine Daydream Willow comes over for dinner. That is something I would have 100% named my future child as a teenager. (Freedom Jack & Poppy Corn were legit on the list at one point.) 

Skip ahead to the We <3 Kids Club, with the SC members: Sunny, Dawn, Maggie Blume, and Jill Henderson. We don't get any Claudia outfits in this book, so we'll have to settle for Maggie, who is pretty cool. Maggie keeps her hair short and punkish [with purple raccoon streaks over each ear] with clothes to match, like a favorite leather bomber jacket that she wears rain, shine, hot, cold. She'd brought it with her today, over a black cropped tank top, leopard leggings, and lace-up black boots. 

The girls get a new client calling about a long-term job for 12 year old Whitney, who has Down Syndrome, and Dawn agrees to take the job. Whitney's parents tell her that Dawn is a "new friend" not a baby-sitter and they really messed up on that, but we'll get to it later. Whitney is a sweet girl who loves to swim, look at cute boys in magazines, and go shopping. She's also trying to show her parents that she can be more grown-up, by doing chores and keeping her room clean, just like any 12 year old. Dawn and Whitney become fast friends, enjoying their afternoons together, and Dawn starts to feel more and more conflicted about not telling Whitney she's her baby-sitter. She does tell her she is A baby-sitter and they go visit Sunny on a sitting job for Clover & Daffodil. Whitney loves them and wants to become a baby-sitter too. 

One afternoon, Dawn accidentally blurts out that she's the baby-sitter. Whitney is understandably upset because she thinks she's a grown-up and wants nothing to do with Dawn for awhile. Unfortunately, she takes being a "grown-up" a little too far one afternoon and takes off with Clover & Daffodil to a local fair without telling anyone. Nothing happens but there's a big freak-out of course. Eventually they do make up and become close friends again. The We <3 Kids Club also makes Whitney an Honorary Member and Special Helper.

Mr Schafer goes on one bad date after another: boring, the suit lady, treats the kids like "kids", mom of an annoying girl from school, this..."Schaf, I don't know what you were thinking of, letting Dawn go buy a bra on her own. It clearly isn't the proper fit. You need a woman's touch for that sort of thing."  And then there's the woman who is "repulsed and embarrassed" by Whitney when they see her at a concert. "It's just that the scenery [Whitney dancing] has made me lose my appetite." Like wow, lady. Go sit on a fire ant pile. 

All these horrible dates make Jeff & Dawn realize that they actually miss nice, normal Carol and they decide they have to get dad & Carol back together. Dawn runs into Carol when she's searching for Whitney, Clover, & Daffodil at the fair and mentions to her dad that maybe he should give her a call. He does and they start dating again and eventually have a family dinner, where Jeff accidentally proposes to Carol for Mr Schafer. It's pretty sweet, definitely best Jeff moment of the series lol. 

Over in Stoneybrook, Mrs Barrett and Mr DeWitt finally get engaged and their huge group of kids is not happy about it, until they start looking at houses and take the kids along with them. The kids start bonding over the best sidewalks for skateboarding, treehouses, sharing bedrooms, etc. and think maybe this blended family thing won't be so bad after all. So we've got 2 weddings to look forward to in the future!