Books like Snowbound

this super special has a place in my heart, probably because there's really not much plot to it. a snowstorm is predicted for stonybrook, but the weathercasters have been predicting snow for weeks & not a flake has descended on our fair town, where parents permit 13-year-olds to raise their children. so no one believes the storm predictions. this is preposterous enough. stonybrook is supposedly in connecticut. i live in boston, just a little bit north. when huge snowstorms are predicted here, people go out & stock up on canned food, batteries, & other supplies, just in case. it's also not as if weather casters are waving bird entrails over crystal balls & just guessing at what weather conditions might develop. there is a science to meteorology, & mistakes happen, but i find it dubious that the weather people are predicting all this snow & everyone in stonybrook is like, "pfft. whatever." everyone makes plans that ignore the forecast. the perkins parents are driving out to the country to have dinner with friends, & they hire claudia to watch their perfect children. the pike parents are going to new york for a full day of tourist-y bullshit, which boggles the mind a little. why? why not do it on a weekend? why not bring the kids? why do it at all? but whatever. they follow through on their plan & allow mallory & mary anne to watch the rest of the clan. jessi of course has a super-important ballet rehearsal in which she has a ludicrously large role for her age, & she is at her dance school, awaiting the arrival of her boyfriend from NYC (because eleven-year-olds have boyfriends). kristy invites her "boyfriend," bart, over to watch videos & have dinner. stacey & her mom go to the mall so stacey can get a new perm. dawn accompanies her mother to the airport, where they are picking up jeff, dawn's brother, who is coming to stay for the holidays. & then the snowstorm hits. bart is trapped at kristy's house & kristy is so embarrassed that she curls her hair & wears make-up. claudia is trapped at the perkins' house, watching the girls, who are perfect, even though the dog gets shut in the basement. stacey & her mom get trapped in their car on some back country road, but are rescued by a nice stranger who takes them home to meet his wife & their baby (of course). dawn & her mom are trapped at the airport & jeff's flight is re-routed to DC (dawn also makes the acquaintance of a baby--seriously, all these parents are lucky that their children meet the babysitters club & not, like, child snatchers). mary anne & mallory are snowed in at the pikes' & the pike parents can't get home & they are running low on ood, so they eat everything in the fridge. what? & jessi is trapped at her dance school with all the other kids, including little children, of course, which jessi calms with her magical eleven-year-old babysitting ways. & her boyfriend somehow walks to the school from the train station in the blizzard & arrives safely & without frostibite that could sideline his professional ballet career forever. & everyone is safe & sound the next day. mary anne & the pikes are saved from starving to death when mary anne's boyfriend, logan, cross-country skis over with a backpack full of food. kristy convinces all the babysitters to write up their FASCINATING blizzard experiences & sends them to the newspaper. WHAT? seriously, this is why i like this book. nothing happens except for a lot of snow, & the babysitters are still convinced that the whole town of stonybrook is thirsting for news of their hijinks...& they are probably not wrong, because this whole town seems designed to cater to these girls' every whim. logan needs a steady after-school job? no problem! the rosebud cafe will hire a 13-year-old as a bus boy! the babysitters needs someplace to stage countless festivals & outdoor circuses & such forth? i have the solution! the schafers' barn, which was widely considered a death trap in book #9, is now safe for children of all ages! whatever. it's okay. i still love the BSC.