Review: "Sea City, Here We Come! The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #10"

Sea City, Here We Come! The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #10 by Ann M Martin

3 out of 5 stars

I was super excited about this super special because the Sea City books are my favorites and I didn't really remember reading this one. Well, it was just okay. I mostly had issues with Stacey's 'tude towards Mallory and in general nastiness. Also, Mrs Barrett was extra frazzled. Why was Mrs Barrett there, you ask? Let's get into it and find out, okay? Okay!

The book starts off with a handful of letters and postcards from various people, giving us the setting and various handwritings we have to suffer thru in this book. It's summertime again in Stoneybrook and the Pike family is getting ready for their annual trip to Sea City, New Jersey. They've decided to let Mallory & Jessi be the baby-sitters this time. Not sure why. They've said before that they want Mallory to enjoy vacations as a family member not a sitter. Oh well. Then Mrs Barrett decides to get a beach house too and asks Stacey to come along. Mary Anne & Dawn are running some kind of camp for the kids staying home. Kristy has some issue with the Krushers. And Claudia...has summer school. Whomp whomp.

At the last BSC meeting before vacation, Logan and Shannon are there for once and they are having an End-of-the-Season Junk Food Blind Taste-Off, between Heath Bars or Skor Bars. (Heath, obviously.) And right away, we get not just a Claudia Outfit but also a Stacey Outfit, woo!

That Friday, for instance, she was wearing ripped cut-off jeans held up by a frayed rope belt, a T-shirt with the collar torn off, huge white socks all bunched around the ankle, and old-fashioned black lace-up shoes. She looked totally cool.

At our Friday meeting she [Stacey]  was wearing this white T-shirt that hung practically to her knees (Stacey calls it a "jersey tunic" or something), white stretch pants ("ribbed leggings") to mid-calf, a tan leather belt over the T-shirt, and leather-strap sandals. Sometimes Stacey likes to wear all black, which seems kind of weird in the summer. (That's a weird thing to say, Kristy, when she is literally wearing the opposite of that.)

created on URSTYLE

We also get the full intro chapter, which we are not supposed to have in the Super Specials. Annoying. Anyway, they all start talking about what they're doing the next 2 weeks, like I mentioned above. Shannon is going to drama camp and is playing Ado Annie in Oklahoma. (I've never seen it, is that a good role?) Logan is going to Sea City with the gang too (seems like a great idea: 1 guy and 7 girls) but is annoyed that Mary Anne's former TRU LUV Alex is going to be there too. (Also, stupid Toby.) Kristy is gearing up for her big flirt-o-rama Krushers vs Bashers game with Bart. Stacey mentions she wishes she was with the Pikes again instead of the Barretts. Foreshadowing of her bad attitude the whole time. 

Let's start with Claudia, at summer school, just to get that bummer out of the way fast. It's torture, prison, awful, all the usual things you would think. And annoying Janine is taking summer classes at the university, just for fun. Ugh. Claudia gets to know her fellow classmates and become friends with a couple of them, good friends with one fellow artist. They actually start calling Claudia "the smart one". Wow. I feel bad for these kids.

On to the Pike gang. First of all, they have to rent a minivan to get everyone there and back. And it's pure chaos on the day they're leaving, naturally. Vanessa recites annoying poems, Nicky barfs in the car, the kids play a game counting people picking their noses in their cars, the suntan tushy billboard is gone and in its place, Weiner's Wieners, and they finally make it to the beach house. 

Meanwhile, Stacey rides down with the Barretts and is already having a miserable time. Mrs Barrett is a terrible driver and gets road-ragey, she sees Toby immediately on the beach and tries to ignore him, but he doesn't take the hint. And then...Mallory comes up to her and says she thinks Toby likes her (Mallory). Like, what?? We get this gem from Mal's POV: But I liked the way he was making me feel. I'd never felt that way before. Wow, okay. Stacey tries to warn Mallory away from him, because he's nothing but trouble, but Mallory thinks Stace is just jealous. Double wow.

Mary Anne & Dawn are hosting some kind of mini-camp baby-sitting thing. I don't know, I didn't pay much attention lol. There was a mess with eggs, Elvira the goat attacks Prissy Jenny Prezzioso, Glynis the goose attacks Charlotte, it rains at their sleepover, and Dawn scares the kids (and Mary Anne) silly with a ghost story in the barn.

Kristy does boring stuff with the Krushers: nearly her entire team can't play for one reason or another, Kristy freaks and starts canvassing the neighborhood looking for kids to play, Bart offers to cancel the big game, she refuses, the Krushers lose 34-1.

Finally, the whole BSC team (plus Logan) is together again, on the beach, and they brought with them a hurricane. Sort of, but not quite yet, we'll get to that. Mrs Barrett's boyfriend & kids come down too and Dawn is set to watch them with Stacey. Stacey complains about Mallory a lot. And Mrs Barrett. And people using her towel. She mostly just complains a lot. Mallory sends a postcard to Stacey's mom for some reason. Toby ASKS OUT Mallory. Like for real. I know, I was as shocked and honestly dismayed as Stacey. 

Is this getting too long and boring? Probably. Alright, speedy version! Hurricane Bill shows up, the Pikes decide to wait it out but then get worried, so try to get more inland, but don't get very far because everyone else on the island is thinking the exact same thing. Turns out the causeway is flooded so they have to take shelter at the local elementary school. Everyone is crying and freaking out, they have to eat canned ham for dinner, the power goes out, and they can't get thru to Stoneybrook for several days. And then we get a random chapter from Karen Brewer? I swear, that kid just insists on being in every story no matter what. After the hurricane passes, the families decide to stay til the end of their vacation and have fun no matter what. Mallory's hot date comes up and she picks out an outfit:

I ended up choosing a short, flared, white-on-blue polka-dotted skirt (mine); a white, ribbed tank-top (Jessi's); and a long, royal-blue men's shirt with the tails tied in front (Claudia had run to her room for that). Claudia insisted I not wear anything too light or it would "wash out my face." We carefully placed some of the buttons we'd bought on the tanktop. Claudia yanked back my mane and figured out how to put the flamingo barrettes in it so they wouldn't get lost.

 

Created on URSTYLE; flamingo barrettes on Etsy

And then, she remembers she's kind of dating Ben Hobart still and probably doesn't really want to go out with anyone else. Duh. These girls all just think with one thing when they're on vacation! So she let's him get all the way there to pick her up and THEN tells him she can't go out with him. He's like, oh okay and "...if you come back next summer and know of another cute girl who's unattached, let me know, okay?" Mallory & Stacey finally make up, vacation is over, we end with a few more letters wrapping things up and Toby writes Mallory, asking if Jessi is available and how old she is. Wow, what a sleaze.

Review: "Stacey's Big Crush: The Baby-Sitters Club #65"

Stacey's Big Crush: The Baby-Sitters Club #65 by Ann M Martin

5 out of 5 stars

Yes! I loved this book! It was so good and so bad all at the same time. Perfect from the cover: he's smart, he's handsome, he's 22! to the last page: "I guess sometimes love hurts." "Yeah, I guess so." This book has it all: hot student teachers, lilacs, another school dance, baby goats, really bad poetry, cottage cheese, daydreams, and more! The only thing it is missing is a Claudia outfit but we do get several Stacey outfits. So let's get started!

It's springtime in Stoneybrook and Stacey is sitting in math class, daydreaming about lilacs. Mr Zizmore calls her out but she recovers and answers his question correctly. Because she's the star math student. Then he tells the class that they're going to have a student teacher for the last month of school. The class all groans, because they love Mr Z? That might be the most unrealistic thing in the whole book lol. The dude's name is Wesley Ellenburg (or Baconburger as Claudia calls him) and Stacey is already thinking what a major dweeb he's going to be.

At the BSC meeting, Claudia has a new snack for Stacey & Dawn: All-natural Crispy Rancho-style Veggie-Rice Nuggets with Nacho Substitute Cheese-food Flavor. I'm with Kristy on this one. "They look like moldy Cheez Doodles." Nasty. The next afternoon, Stacey goes home with Mary Anne & Dawn and they're visited by their neighbor Mrs Stone. She needs someone to look after Elvira for a week because she's only 2 months old and she can't be trusted to stay out of the trash if she's left alone. Confused? I wasn't really, but Stacey was. Elvira is a kid, a baby goat. And the most adorable baby goat ever!

Elvira was all eyes and bony joints. She stared up at us, jerking her head from face to face. Beneath her chin was a thin, pointy beard. Her fur was a mottled gray-white-black, and it looked scraggly and dusty. In other words, she was absolutely beautiful.

We'll get back to Elvira in a minute, because Tom Cruise has just entered the room. Oh wait my bad, that's just the hottest student teacher that ever student taught. A dweeb, he is not. Dimples, slate blue eyes, wavy light brown hair. Sigh....Stacey, and every other girl in class, is immediately smitten with Mr Ellenburg "call me by my first name" Wes. He is "drop-dead incredibly hunkified gorgeous." And Stacey is convinced that she and Wes belong together. I mean, he's only 22. That's not that bad right? For a 13 year old? And he's just a student teacher, not a real one. So yeah, she immediately starts planning her outfits (she gets it in her head that Wes likes girls in dresses so that's all she wears for the next month), making sure her homework is absolutely perfect and written in her best handwriting (hearts on the i's and all), and becomes the model student. Let's pause for an outfit before we get into the over-the-top stuff.

I found myself staring at a short, rayon challis tank dress my mom had ordered for me. It was navy with white polka dots. The fitted top tapered down to a flared skirt, with white buttons down the front. It was feminine, yet comfortable-looking. Absolutely perfect. Claudia suggested...new white sneakers I'd just bought, made of eyelet canvas with lace shoelaces.

Okay, so I know Wes is new to the teaching stuff and all, but he probably should have asked Mr Z or another adult before he did the next few things. He asks Stacey to stay after school to help him get organized (not too terrible). But then he asks her again the next week to stay and 1. help him fill out his teacher paperwork like W2 and insurance?? then 2. has her average everyone's grades in the grade book. After keeping her extra late for all that, he drives her to a BSC meeting, in his car, alone, without telling anyone. Yeah. Can you imagine a teacher doing that now? So obviously Stacey is convinced they're going to get married, eventually. And she *cringe* writes him a poem. It's so bad y'all. Of course I will put it here for you to cringe at too. (Can you imagine being the ghostwriter for this one? Ann comes to you and says, "I need a poem. Like a teenage girl would write. Make it super embarrassing. No really, like soooo embarrassing." And you turn this in and everyone laughs at you.)

I see two stars in summer's night,

Hovering, lost, in blinding light,

Each so dull in heaven's net,

So each remains, as yet unmet.

But Fortune moves in strangest ways;

It lengthens nights, it shortens days.

May this night end, and day begin

And bring two young people back again.

So Stacey gives Wes the poem and he's like "uhhh...gee, thanks?" Stacey is confused. So a few days later, she *gulp* tells him she's in love with him. Guys, I can't even. The second-hand embarrassment is so strong in this one. And he doesn't say anything! He just goes pale and stares at her and she runs off. Then, he completely ignores it all! Like, hello? NOW is the time to talk to an adult, Wes. For real. At the end of the book, there's a school dance and Wes is chaperoning. Stacey asks him to dance with her and he says yes, because he's an idiot, and they have lots of fun for several songs. Then he finally tells her he doesn't/can't have any feelings for her because she's thirteen years old. And Stacey leaves, heartbroken. But she'll get over it. I'm pretty sure there will be some other inappropriate boy in a few books.

Let's end with happy goat baby Elvira, yeah? She's adorable and playful and romps around kicking and jumping and doing all the adorable goat things that goats do. (I love goats.) The girls start taking her on sitting jobs and she's a huge hit and a tiny bit of trouble (getting in trash, running away), but no one really cares. The Pike kids put on a play for her, Three Billy Goats Gruff, that goes hilariously wrong. Everything is perfect with Elvira around. 

Review: "Dawn's Family Feud: The Baby-Sitters Club #64"

Dawn's Family Feud: The Baby-Sitters Club #64 by Ann M Martin
2 out of 5 stars

This book gets 1 star for Claudia's outfit below and 1 star for Mrs Barrett finally getting her "happily ever after". No stars for Dawn or Mary Anne or their entire plotline. But I guess I'll go over it anyway.

Jeff is coming to town to visit for a whole week and Dawn is understandably super excited. Mr Spier takes off for the whole week to spend it with Jeff and suggests they take a family roadtrip to either Washington DC or Boston at the end of the week. The first few days are great, everyone is getting along and they have lots of fun making fun of a silly alien movie and eating Mexican food. But then the girls have to go to school, Jeff is left alone with Mr Spier (Mrs Schafer has to work), and Jeff gets sulky when he's forced to clean up after himself and the Pike boys don't want to play soccer. Things go downhill from there. Mr Spier is boring (duh), Dawn & Mary Anne start bickering amongst themselves, "a crack was starting to form in [their] family".

Let's pause the misery for a What Claudia was Wearing, shall we! Today for instance she was dressed in black overalls that she had splattered with pink and green and yellow globs of paint. Her purple high top tennis shoes matched her purple long sleeve t-shirt. Claud has beautiful black shining hair that she'd fixed in a French braid. On top of her head perched a little white painter's cap that she'd also splattered with paint. She looked awesome. (She always does.) (I would totally wear this outfit today. Also, those were my wedding shoes. :))

Okay, back to the Spier-Schafer breakdown. They head out on their trip to Boston. Jeff pouts because he suddenly changes his mind and wants to go to DC. Mary Anne thinks Jeff is being a pest and hurting her dad's feelings, Dawn thinks Mary Anne is being a baby, none of the 3 kids want to do anything that the "other family" does. Including share a hotel room, go on the same sightseeing tours, and eat at the same restaurants. And for some reason, their parents go along with it, splitting up into their "original families". Like, what? No. This is a family vacation, you do things together, whether you like it or not. Also, Dawn and Mary Anne are 13 years old and old enough to baby-sit. Let them go off on their own and the parents can do what they want. Ugh. Anyway, the trip is a huge failure and they head home early. 

Dawn's mom has scheduled a photographer to come and take a family picture before Jeff leaves and since they're all fighting still, it starts off awful. None of the kids are wearing their fancy clothes, the parents bicker over where to stage the photo, Mary Anne wants Tigger in the picture but he runs off, and everyone has angry faces. When they all see the test shots they realize how stupid they're all being and start laughing, breaking the tension finally. Everyone apologizes, retakes the pictures, and enjoys Jeff's last day there.

Alright, let's move on to the part that rated a star: Mrs Barrett finally getting her a decent man lol. You remember Mrs Barrett, right? The divorced mom of 3 who was kind of a wreck until Dawn helped her get her life turned around? Well she's finally found a good man and his name is Franklin DeWitt. The impossible 3 love Franklin, until they find out he has 4 kids of his own! Yikes. And they're all around the same age. Disaster in the making. The kids don't get along, the adults don't know how to handle it, and the baby-sitters save the day, as usual. Mrs Barrett makes her kids dress up for a fancy dinner, there's a disaster picnic in which a goat steals a sandwich, and lots of crying. Towards the end, the kids realize it's more fun to get along and play games together and it's all good. I do remember Mrs Barrett & Franklin getting married eventually, but not sure when. I'm sure there will be more drama before they do.

Happy Bookish Sisters!

So yesterday, I shared my wonderful bookish wedding photos and today, I wanted to do a quick post to share 2 other pictures we took at Half Price Books that day. My sister was our only in-person witness and she did double (triple? whatever) duty as bridesmaid, groomsman, camera person, makeup artist, and lots more. She also threw me a fantastic bridal shower and I got to see my extended family members for the first time all year. So I wanted to make sure we took some pictures together that day too.

I decided we needed to commemorate one of our favorite bookish memories. When we were kids and our parents would take us to B Dalton's Bookstore, my sister and I would head straight to the children's section. I'd help her pick out a new Berenstain Bears book and I would get the latest Baby-Sitters Club. Then we'd sit on the floor and read until our parents were ready to go. It was such fun to recreate that!

Happy Bookish Wedding Post!

I'm not sure why I haven't posted about this yet, I guess I forgot I could lol. On October 23, 2020 I got to marry my best friend, my favorite fellow bookish nerd. We met in 2017, thru a mutual online friend, had our first date at Half Price Books, and have been loving life and each other ever since. We got engaged Christmas Day 2019, started planning a fun wedding, and then hello, COVID19 hit. We knew we wanted to get married in October so we decided to wait it out. And wait and wait. And then we decided to change our plans, go smaller, simpler, but still us.

I found my dress online very cheap and it fit perfectly, my sister made our masks and did my hair & makeup, and my former work BFF made our flowers, out of Harry Potter pages. (I found the oldest used copy possible, don't worry!) We bought our Doctor Who inspired rings on Etsy from C9TTungsten  and added in purple accents to match them. Yes, I wore purple Converse sneakers! 

We started with a courthouse ceremony with just my sister as a witness. The rest of our friends and family watched on Facebook Live. (We were so happy the courthouse had good WiFi lol.) Yes, we wore masks throughout and it was both strange and normal at the same time. Afterwards, the 3 of us had a lovely lunch and then headed to our favorite Half Price Books, where we had our first date, to take wedding pictures. I called ahead of time and got it okayed with the manager, we went in a middle of a weekday so it wasn't very crowded, and we made sure to stay away from everyone else. And it was so much fun. We may not have had the wedding we wanted in the beginning, but it was an absolutely perfect day, and we will never forget it!

RInfinity Photography was recommended by my stepmom and she was so wonderful to work with and our pictures came out amazing. We used some of our favorite books as props (and of course bought them afterwards because we couldn't resist) and just had fun and laughed a lot. It was so nice to be back in a bookstore, among all my fictional friends. Oh yeah, and enjoy the time with my husband. :) And now, more picture fun! (Click any of them to make bigger)

 

Review: "Claudia's Friend: The Baby-Sitters Club #63"

Claudia's Freind Friend: The Baby-Sitters Club #63 by Ann M Martin
3 out of 5 stars

This was an after-school special book on how kids with dyslexia are not dumb and it's okay to use the resource room at school if you need it. Honestly, this book wasn't terrible (unlike Kristy & The Secret of Susan, which is mentioned in this one). We start out with Claudia in English class and she's zoning out of course. Her teacher keeps her after class and tells her that if she doesn't pass the next test (not just pass, but ace it), she'll fail the grading period. She suggests Claudia use the resource room (because it worked before) and Claud freaks and says "No!" but that she will study more for sure. I don't remember Claudia ever having to use the resource room in any of the other books.

That afternoon, at the BSC meeting, Mrs Rodowsky calls and wants one of the girls to tutor Shea, who was just diagnosed with dyslexia (okay really, why do they have to make that word so hard to spell?? It's just mean!) and she thinks having someone closer to his age might help. Mary Anne gets the job. Claudia announces her personal dilemma and Stacey offers to tutor her. Claudia thinks this is a great idea (spoiler: it's not) and when she asks her parents that night after dinner, they agree to give it a shot. Stacey comes over the next afternoon and immediately turns into Ms Strict McGill, Tutor Extraordinaire. They study in the kitchen, she covers all the clocks and any other distractions, and makes Claud write out flash cards for her spelling & vocabulary words. Later, she gives Claudia a journal and tells her to write in it each day and Stacey will correct her spelling and grammar. Blegh. I don't blame Claudia for being annoyed and starting a secret journal to kvetch about Stacey. (It was soooo hard to write this below with the spelling mistakes lol.)

"Anastasia Mcgill is a pill. I am glad shes helping me studey. I know I need all the help I can get, espesially sinse I don't want to fail english. But I don't like being bossed around like I am some two year child. But the morre Stacey treats me like child, the moore I want to act like a child. That's not as bad as how Stacey is acting, tho. She should see herself. Hah."

And underneath that I drew a caricature of Stacey as a pointed-nosed schoolteacher holding a ruler.

I'm sure you can guess that Stacey ends up with the wrong journal at some point. But first they have an argument about how Stacey is just trying to help, etc...and the BFF's don't speak for a couple of days. Stacey asks for her journal to mark and Claudia tells her it's in the drawer, forgetting she put both there until several days later when she goes to write in the secret journal. Towards the end of the book, they meet up and both apologize at the same time because they were both wrong blah blah and we finally get a What Claudia & Stacey Are Wearing!

I changed into something more suitable -- a giant blue-and-white striped shirt and socks with blue spots, over blue bike shorts that matched the stripes and spots. I pulled on red high tops, and hung a dangly red earring made of a string of hearts in one ear and another earring that was a dangly row of silver arrows. [I want these earrings!] I pulled my hair back with a red ribbon, and headed for Stacey's.

She'd changed, too, into black jeans and black Doc Marten's, and a big golden yellow shirt with round black buttons. She looked super. But stern.

Done in URStyle

In baby-sitting news, Shea's tutoring isn't going well, he thinks he's dumb when he's really not, and just getting frustrated. Claudia actually has some sessions with him and they end up helping each other out. Claudia didn't know how to spell "peach" or know the "i before e" rule. In the 8th grade. She probably should be using the resource room regularly. Stacey baby-sits Emily Michelle & David Michael, who wants to play haunted house and accidentally scares himself in the basement when the power goes out. Nannie has a hot date and wears this sassy number: a pink silk dress with a wide twisted silver and pink sash, sparkly silvery earrings, and these really cool flat pale silver slippers.

Finally, the girls have been getting secret notes for awhile at Claudia's house, during club hours, that say things like "You are very nice" and "You are the best". There's a dance coming up (yes, another one) and each girl seems to think the note is meant for them, from the boy of their choice. Kristy even dresses up, in a denim skirt and tights, to go see Bart and try to figure out if it's from him. (It's not) They get one last note asking them all to meet at the Rosebud Cafe for a special surprise. The note smells like perfume which leads them to believe it's actually a prank from their nemeses Cokie & Grace. So they decide to dress up in their worst clothes, because?? That will show them?? I don't really know the reasoning behind this. See below for fashion victims. Turns out it wasn't Cokie & Grace, but the Rodowsky kids plus Arnold twins and Braddock kids, wanting to thank the BSCers for being so awesome. 

Done in URStyle

Wrapping up this unnecessarily long review: Claudia passes her English test, gets a 97 on the spelling part; the Spring Dance is at the Community Center so has all ages there; Shea & Claudia dance together; the end.

Review: "Kristy & The Worst Kid Ever: The Baby-Sitters Club #62"

Kristy & The Worst Kid Ever: The Baby-Sitters Club #62 by Ann M Martin
2 out of 5 stars

This book, ugh. Did not like. I'll blame that on why it took me a year and a half to review it, not just my pure laziness. Of course, now I basically have to reread it to write this review so good job, past Jenn!

Okay, let's get on with it! This might be a short one. Kristy is at home on a lovely Saturday, watching the Thomas-Brewer clan when the Papadakis kids come over and announce that they (their parents, that is) are going to be a foster family. A foster family is a family a kid can stay with when his own parents can't take care of him. After he stays with his foster family for awhile, he can go back to his own family, or to relatives, or even to a brand new family. Nice, neat definition. Karen, Nancy, and Hannie (the Three Musketeers) want a girl of course, and start building a playhouse in the backyard to hopefully entice the foster kid with. Spoiler: it doesn't work.

On to a BSC meeting and What Claudia is Wearing! And eating! Claudia Kishi was under her bed. Only her purple-and-white-striped stocking feet showed--sort of like when the house fell on the witch after the tornado in The Wizard of Oz. ... A moment later she backed out from under the bed holding a bag of yogurt raisins. From various hiding places around her room she'd also produced a bag of sourdough pretzels, a half-bag of Mallomars, and a box of Frosted Flakes. ... Today she was wearing purple-and-white-striped tights, Doc Martins (except she'd taken them off to sit on the bed), a short black ruffly skirt that looked like it was part of a women's Olympic figure-skater's costume, a purple cropped sweater with silver button covers on the back buttons, and a scrunchy black velvet hat decorated with purple and red velvet flowers.

Bonus: What Stacey is Wearing! Today she had pulled her blonde permed hair back into a complicated braid threaded with a green ribbon. The ribbon matched her shoes. She was wearing silver capri pants, an oversized shirt with a green belt, a green checked short skirt, and gold leaf-shaped earrings.

(done in URSTYLE)

These outfits are the best things about this book, I'm just letting you know right now! (And I obviously had issues with Stacey's.) The Papadakis' get their foster kid and she makes a big first impression by walking on the car and swinging into the open door to get her bags out. Lou (NOT Louisa) is a tomboy, whose dad died recently and she doesn't have a mom. Her brother was put in another foster family and Lou isn't happy about any of it. She shows it by showing out: pink is dumb, rules are dumb, playhouses are dumb, families are dumb, etc... But honestly, I don't blame her. The BSCers do though. For some reason, they're really hard on Lou and not forgiving at all. They yell at her a LOT, grab her when she very obviously does not like to be touched, and are just generally not nice to her. This is the main point that I don't like in this book. It's not like the BSC to just give up on a kid. All kids are redeemable. Klutzy Jackie Rodowsky, the Barrett kids and their scattered mom, even that girl that broke Claudia's leg! But Lou? The kid with no family? "...she is the absolute worst kid I have ever met."

So yeah, Lou goes to live with her aunt & uncle in the end, with her brother, and the BSC are glad to be rid of her. (They did try a little harder in the last chapter or two but it didn't really make it better for me.) There was also an auction at the middle school and the girls compete against Cokie Mason and her friends to get the best item. Mary Anne gets a genuine Cam Geary jacket donated OMGGGG! And that's it, thank goodness.