My fav things

"Claudia and Mean Janine" has to be one of my favorite books of the series. I didn't grow up with a sister but I have known enough sisters in my life to know that sometimes they can be like oil and water. They just don't mix! When the Kishi family faces a family crisis, these two sisters are going to have to come to a compromise and work together. I enjoyed the fact that it took Claudia to see how Jamie Newton interacted with sister Lucy to understand that maybe she was giving her big sister a hard time.

ACE 0330483633 (ISBN13: 9780330483636)Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge are the first two books about the adventures of the Hatcher family.Peter Hatcher's younger brother Fudge may only be little, but he's one BIG heap of trouble.If he's not dumping vegetables on his head in a restaurant, or causing chaos at the cinema, he's trying to sell his baby sister - and calling his teacher Rat Face on his first day of school!--back cover

I hate the cover of this book. It’s got three girls on it with bad hair, bad clothes (one of them has a sweater tied around her neck), and the caption below the picture says, “Sometimes you learn more in college outside the classroom….” Ugh. It’s screaming for an update. I decided to give it a second chance because Cynthia Voigt is an excellent author and I’ve really liked other things she’s written.In this book, Ann, Niki, and Hildy are three girls rooming together at Stanton College. It’s their freshman year and they’re all really different. Niki is strong and headstrong and a bit wild, but always herself. Hildy is quieter, and stubborn, too, but in a softer way. She doesn’t attack others so much as hold her ground and *know* things without a doubt. Ann is intelligent and scholarly, but she doesn’t have as strong a sense of self as the other two girls. Somehow, they do become friends. The tie between all of the girls is the freshman volleyball team, which Hildy ends up coaching. They really become a team and make the best of their strengths and weaknesses. There are several upheavals – getting Hildy to accept what she perceives as charity and is actually friendship, getting Hildy to get glasses, Niki’s using ideas of Ann’s in her final paper (plagiarism?). Finally, Hildy is killed by a car while riding her bike back from the observatory. Ann and Niki are devastated.This story is mainly about the relationships between the young women. Sometimes they have really insightful things to say. And they’re constantly working to understand one another. The way that their team plays together is really interesting, too. Girls who play team sports will likely find this part resonating with them. I liked it, but feel like it might not have a really wide audience.

Stacey is shocked when a new family accuses her of stealing a valuable ring from them when she was baby-sitting. Stacey would never take anything from anyone!Even worse for the Baby-sitters, the Gardellas are threatening to tell their other clients about the missing ring.Will everyone in Stoneybrook think the Baby-sitters are stealers? Not if Stacey can help it. She's going to find out what happened to that ring!

Dawn's a little jealous when there's a formal ceremony to welcome Jessi and Mallory into the Baby-sitters Club. Don't people know that Dawn's a special baby-sitter, too?Then it's Dawn's turn to shine. Mrs. Pike wants her to help prepare Margo and Claire for the Little Miss Stoneybrook contest. So what if Margo's only talent is peeling a banana with her feet? Dawn's going to help her charges win that contest any way she can. The only trouble is... Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia are helping Karen, Myriah, and Charlotte enter the contest, too. And nobody's sure where the competition is fiercer: at the pageant - or in the Baby-sitters Club!

Poor Stacey. She just moved to a new town, is still coming to terms with her diabetes, and is facing baby-sitting problems left and right. Fortunately, Stacey has three new friends — Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne. Together they're the BSC, and they will deal with whatever's thrown their way...even if it's a rival baby-sitting club!

this is my first time reading this book!in this superspecial whose dedication says, "For Brian Selznick, a rising star," (FOR REAL!) jessi decides to write an article for the school newspaper giving a glimpse behind-the-scenes of the school play, peter pan. all of the bsc members (and some of their friends and charges -- since some kids from the high school and elementary school are in it) are involved in the play. see individual plotlines for more.individual plotlines:-jessi: wants to be peter pan (and assumes she will get cast because she's such a good dancer). once she gets a pirate role instead, she refuses to be in the play because she's a terrible baby. she becomes the choreographer for little kids and then is resentful when she doesn't feel appreciated enough. eventually, pete black gets hurt on the night of the play, so jessi takes over his roles of nana the dog and the crocodile, and she ends up thankful to be in the play (but she doesn't apologize profusely to everyone involved, so I am still mad at her at the end).-kristy: wants to be nana the dog and the crocodile, but she gets the peter pan role. she is terrible at remembering her lines. right at the end of the book a somewhat interesting plotline is thrown in where kristy and dawn both wish their divorced dads were seeing them act in the play and stacey talks about how thankful she is that her divorced dad is there.-dawn: wants to be tiger lily, but she gets the wendy role. in classic dawn soapbox hilarity, she is offended by some of the dialogue and tries to change it to reflect how she thinks women's roles SHOULD be (telling peter she will teach him how to sew instead of sewing the shadow for him, etc)-stacey: wants to be cast in any small part, but she gets the mrs. darling role. sam thomas is mr. darling and annoys stacey by constantly calling her mrs. darling or mother, even when they're not doing the play. it turns out that he wants to show his friends it's okay that he's dating a middle schooler because they have fun together. stacey tells him to act normally and then he does.-claudia: wants to paint sets, but she becomes the head set designer (which just makes her scared that her sets won't be good enough).-mallory: wants to make costumes and gets to do just that (the ONLY one who gets the exact role she wanted). has to measure BOYS for costumes and is mortified by that. after the costumes are done she is bored so she keeps backseat-babysitting the kids when mary anne is around, and mary anne gets mad. at one point, the costumes are all in the wrong places, and mal is like, "oops, I should have been doing my job." but no, her job was to make the costumes, not to make sure that the cast members put the costumes back in their right places. see lowlights for my thoughts on making everyone involved in the play come to every rehearsal.-mary anne: doesn't want a role at all but becomes jackie rodowsky's personal coach (because he has a big role and is impossible to control) and all the kids' backstage babysitter. she gets mad at mallory. at first I am more annoyed with mary anne but eventually I see what she's saying about mallory.highlights:-stacey's song audition is mack the knife. hahahahahaha-dawn hates peter pan because she thinks he is trying to keep wendy down. when mary anne points out that peter promised wendy an adventure, dawn says "that's just like a man" to bribe a woman with an adventure and then force her to be a maid instead. sometimes I love stupid soapbox dawn so much.-there's a cokie narrator chapter! at one point she talks about a girl who wants to hang out with her and grace, and how they will maybe let her once her complexion clears up. I love this mean girl juxtaposition against the irritatingly good-natured baby-sitters (except jessi who is obviously a dumb brat in this book).-at one point cokie asks for a private dressing room. kristy suggests a mop closet as a joke, but cokie actually ends up getting it to be her dressing room. nice try, kristy!-stacey makes a reference to dating sam being like dating jerry lewis. does she know who that is? this isn't an i love lucy reference, but it may as well be.-claudia narration: "carob is just not necessary. if you want to enjoy the flavor of chocolate, then each chocolate." YES! thank you, claud! carob tastes fine, but it does NOT taste like chocolate. if you want chocolate, eat chocolate. if you want carob, eat carob.-cokie tries to psych kristy out by saying she's going to forget her lines. to get back at her, during cokie's solo kristy continues to sing. BOOM.lowlights/nitpicks:-jessi assumes she will be cast as peter pan. what a jerk. she is such a stupid baby after she doesn't get picked. she also backseat drives their auditions (telling everyone what they did wrong). she is almost as terrible as dawn in Dawn Saves the Planet. her singing and acting are not that good anyway, so why would she be cast? she wasn't even gonna go to the play to support her friends but got asked to help out last minute. UGH.-karen throws a tantrum about not getting to be tinkerbell (since tink is usually not an actual actor in the play, and is instead just twinkling lights and sounds). after the tantrum they let her be tinkerbell. UGH. STOP REWARDING KAREN'S TERRIBLE BEHAVIOR, EVERYONE.-the pike triplets try to do a raindance and think it's not realistic enough so adam "turns on" the sprinklers. TURNS ON the sprinklers? those only go off if you hold a flame up to them -- did he start a fire?-why do the costume designer and choreographer have to keep coming to rehearsals? why does every single person go to every single rehearsal? that's NOT HOW PLAYS WORK. there should be rehearsals that are just wendy and peter, or just the darlings, etc. why do the people who are already done making the costumes and done making the sets still come to every rehearsal?no outfits.kristy lunchroom comment:-"what is this goo?" (it's something gray and stringy). "it looks like what watson's cat might bring in--"snack in claudia's room:-almond joy in her pillowcase

My mother is determined that I will have a wonderful life -- better than her own. I guess she can't imagine what it is like for me, a kid from a trailer park, to transfer to the junior high school where all the rich kids go -- the kind of kids who come from homes where my mother works as a cleaning woman....But somehow, miraculously, I've become part of a little clique of pretty and popular girls who have everything money can buy. And sometimes they also have secrets in their lives more painful than anything I've ever known.

I am going to be sad when the Tillerman cycle is done. Mina is such a fun character and I loved getting to know her and her family more. I don't know what those of African American background would think, but I remember reading this as a girl and wanting to do anything I could to fight racial inequality. One of the things I love about quality literature-good themes really shape your character and beliefs. I also love that not much happens in these books in way of action, but I still find them page turners. I love the depth of character development.I seriously did not remember Tamer Shipp being in this! Interesting to see the few bits that stuck with me. It was a pleasant surprise. My one frustration was that I didn't like seeing that Mina had ulterior motives for befriending Dicey! I also am curious to see if anything happens with Dexter, who was added in the last few pages.

Newbery Honor medalist Ann M. Martin's funny, insightful take on pets and family -- now with a spectacular new cover.There are ten siblings in the Rosso family. Ten individuals with ten different ways of looking at things. But they all have one thing in common: Each of them wants a pet. The only problem is that their mom does not: "No pets," she has always said. "Ten kids is enough."But now that the Rosso family is moving from the big city to the country, there are big changes ahead, including a new farmhouse and lots of nature. But the Rosso kids will still need to figure out a plan to change mom's mind. . . .

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.

It's still true...That's the first thing James Tillerman says to his sister Dicey every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillerman children somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. It's still true they have to find their way, somehow, to Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport, which may be their only hope of staying together as a family.But when they get to Bridgeport, they learn that Great-aunt Cilla has died, and the home they find with her daughter, Eunice, isn't the permanent haven they've been searching for. So their journey continues to its unexpected conclusion -- and some surprising discoveries about their history, and their future.

Yikes.I was obsessed with this book as a kid- when I read it I had never seen a real beach, much less visited the East Coast, so I romanticized the shit out of Sea City, the fictional Jersey Shore town that Stacey, Mary Anne, and the Pikes visit. I loved the mini golf and the corny themed burger restaurant and all the shit covered with shells in the gift shops and the candy store and the Tunnel Of Luuuuv. Plus there was the whole "Stacey's in L-U-V with a lifeguard!" thing, which I got totally wrapped up in.As an adult? I hated it. Were I buying BSC books for a young lady in my life, I might "accidentally" neglect to give her this one. We have Stacey and Mary Anne irresponsibly allowing eight children, one of whom is five, to play in the ocean alone. They figure it's okay since there's a lifeguard on duty, which is a preposterous theory considering that they both know that the lifeguard just sits around being adored by twelve-year-olds all day. Then Stacey basically peaces out on the whole job to obsess over the eighteen-year-old lifeguard, leaving Mary Anne to babysit for eight kids all by herself. On the beach. Surrounded by strangers. By the waves. There's one point where the lifeguards are pretty sure they've seen sharks and whistle for everyone to get back in the lifeguard. A few minutes later they let everyone back in the water, even though they still think it looks like there could have been sharks out there, and "you can never be too careful." Geez. No shit, Sherlock.Then there's Stacey's sad, depressing obsession with an adult lifeguard. (I mean, look at the cover of this book. The dude looks like he's thirty-five.) She spends most of her vacation hanging out at his lifeguard stand, fetching him sodas and sandwiches, and pointlessly mooning over him. He gives her his freaking whistle (leaving him, I note, dangerously whistle-less on this apparently shark-infested beach) and she acts like he's given her a kidney. God, I hated this. Every time Stacey ran back to the Pikes' house to grab a cold soda for Scott the lifeguard, a little piece of me died inside. Eventually Stacey realizes her mistake in ditching eight kids with Mary Anne throughout the whole vacation, but she never really apologizes for it. Mostly she just feels super proud of herself for having transferred her obsession with the college-aged lifeguard to a guy her own age whom she met a day or two before she left Sea City. Man. Stacey was totally my favorite when I was a kid. No wonder I ended up being such a codependent mess.

It’s too late for me. I’m totally invested in this series of 100+ books :(.

An acclaimed sequel from two of the best-selling children's book authors of all time -- now with an exciting new cover!Elizabeth and Tara*Starr are best friends living in totally different parts of the country. They used to write letters to each other, but now they're both addicted to e-mail. Now they can share their problems instantly . . . and lately they've needed to do that a lot. Responsible, shy Elizabeth is getting used to her parents' separation and the way her family is spinning out of control. Loud, melodramatic Tara*Starr is dealing with some serious sister issues, as well as the growing differences between her and Elizabeth.Will the distance tear their friendship apart forever?

Every summer the Pikes rent a house right on the ocean in Sea City, New Jersey. And they bring two sitters along to take care of the Pike kids. Only this time, the whole entire Baby-sitters Club is going!Mary Anne shows Logan all the sites - the beach, the boardwalk, the infamous Tunnel of Luv. Mallory gets asked out on a date (except it's with Stacey's ex-boyfriend!). And Jessi's busy being Sea City's Super Sitter. In fact, the Baby-sitters are having so much fun, no one's noticed that a gigantic hurricane named Bill is headed straight for Sea City!

Oh no! Stacey McGill is moving back to New York! That means no more Stoneybrook Middle School, no more Charlotte Johanssen, and worst of all... no more Baby-sitters Club!Stacey's friends are crushed when they hear that Stacey's moving, Claudia most of all. Stacey was her first best friend.How will the BSC cope without Stacey? What kind of going-away present is good enough for someone as special as she is? But most important... who is going to be the next member of the Baby-sitters Club?