#68 ~ Jessi and the Bad Baby-sitter (chapters 1-4)
This is my first snark! I've been rereading this one lately and just couldn't resist.
First, the cover. Check it out here at dibbly-fresh.
So here we have Kristy, Jessi and Wendy, the "bad baby-sitter", at a meeting. Kristy is perched in the director's chair, wearing her hideous visor, and giving Wendy a withering look. Wendy is kind of staring back at her, blowing a bubble-gum bubble. Now...is Kristy giving her the look because she's chewing gum at the meeting? Because if so...wtf? Are the meetings still being held in Claudia's room? I assume so, because on the wall in the background is a hideous painting/poster of some Hershey's kisses. It takes a special kind of junk food fanatic to hang THAT on the wall. Anyway, Claudia's handing out junk food all the time! Wendy probably got the gum from Claudia! She probably pulled it from under her ant infested bed. So really, Kristy should be glaring at Claudia.
So based on the first chapter, the book should probably be called Jessi IS a bad baby-sitter. Because right off the bat Squirt's about to fall off the coffee table he's been running on. Makes me want to hire an 11-year-old sitter. Jessi is apparently shocked because a month ago, Squirt would have happily been watching his video in another room unsupervised while she and Becca played monopoly in another room. Um...what? I'm sorry, but even if the kid is entranced by the video, he's still a TODDLER and should be supervised at all times.
But no, Jessi and Becca were playing a game in another room leaving the small child alone. Now Jessi wants Becca to carry the whole complicated Monopoly board into THIS room, like they should have been doing in the first place. They can't bring HIM into the kitchen, because he'll pull out all the pots and pans and make a lot of noise. Doesn't this kid have any toys?
So Becca messes up and makes a huge mess carrying the board into the living room. What a shock. And then Squirt starts to throw the money around. And the phone rings, so Jessi runs to get it. It's her new friend Wendy, who will never been seen again after this book. Jessi invites Wendy over, because apparently her parents/Aunt Dictator won't care if she just invites random friends over while they're not home and she's supposed to be baby-sitting. Then she hangs up on Wendy when Becca starts screaming.
Omg, Squirt has something in his mouth. Way to go, Jessi! So Jessi thinks up a super clever scheme of distracting Squirt with the video to get him to open his mouth so she can remove the Monopoly playing piece from his mouth. This whole chapter REALLY makes me wanna call the BSC.
So Wendy shows up. And she calms the kids down in two seconds. So she's looking like a way better baby-sitter than Jessi. And it's only chapter one.
Chapter Two! Parents are calling before the meeting even starts! The club is totally overwhelmed and the phone is ringing non-stop! But Jessi still has plenty of time to not contribute and day dream about how the club got started and what everyone is wearing. But most of the club members are late, so she has to start with Kristy (millionaire! ideas! pets!) and Claudia (art! junk food! idiot!).
Claudia outfit: For example, 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 legging and black ballet slippers (on which she’s sewn a matching bed design.) From one of her pierced ears hung a dangling earring made from the same beads and one the other ear she wore a small green hoop earring. It was an original look that only Claudia could make work. I don't know what's worse, the neon green legging or the fact that she ruined a pair of perfectly good ballet slippers with some hideous bead design. And why does it seem like every other Claudia outfit involves an oversized white shirt?
Kristy is freaking out over where everyone is. She can't even eat junk food. Then Stacey shows up with a minute to spare (New York! Math! Diabetes!) and then Mary Anne runs in right on time (Sensitive! Dawn! Tigger!). But there is still no sign of Mallory, so she's totally on Kristy's shit list. But then she shows up. Apparently she fell asleep as soon as she got home from school and overslept. (Total foreshadowing for the next book, Get Well Soon, Mallory, where she has mono. It's all over this book in a less than subtle way.)
Anyway, the gang starts talking about replacing Dawn, who is back in California for "6 months". But things get too crazy and they can't really talk about it. We get this gem from Claudia: "Okay, I like Rosie now, even though she was a bit much at first. I guess since I live with a genius, I can understand Rosie.” Really? Because last time I checked you spent most of the time not understanding wtf your sister is talking about.
Oh, and Mallory falls asleep leaning against Claudia's bed. FORESHADOWING!
Chapter 3. Another day, another BSC meeting. Another CRAZY BUSY one! Omg, it's call after call after call. Everybody's busy, Logan isn't home, and Stacey can't keep everybody's info straight. What's a baby-sitting club to do? And Mal didn't even show up because she's too tired! (FORESHADOWING!) Kristy is getting pissed up because omg, someone might have to hire another sitter if the BSC can't be there. And following that is the end of the world. "We HAVE to replace Dawn!" declares dictator Kristy. But no one can think of anyone. Except Jessi! What about Wendy? Kristy says to bring her to the next meeting. Then Dawn calls! And all is right with the world again...for about two seconds until Kristy gets the phone and demands that Dawn come back right NOW. Nice.
Chapter 4 is Jessi and Mal baby-sitting the Pikes. Mal is tired. (FORESHADOWING!) and Jessi does all the work, including helping Claire with her hurt shin and cutting electric curlers out of Vanessa's hair. And at the end of the day Jessi realizes that taking care of all these kids by yourself is TIRING! Really?? No way! Looks like Jessi is learning from Mrs. Pike's mistake.
Coming up...the club meets Wendy...and Mal is still tired.
First, the cover. Check it out here at dibbly-fresh.
So here we have Kristy, Jessi and Wendy, the "bad baby-sitter", at a meeting. Kristy is perched in the director's chair, wearing her hideous visor, and giving Wendy a withering look. Wendy is kind of staring back at her, blowing a bubble-gum bubble. Now...is Kristy giving her the look because she's chewing gum at the meeting? Because if so...wtf? Are the meetings still being held in Claudia's room? I assume so, because on the wall in the background is a hideous painting/poster of some Hershey's kisses. It takes a special kind of junk food fanatic to hang THAT on the wall. Anyway, Claudia's handing out junk food all the time! Wendy probably got the gum from Claudia! She probably pulled it from under her ant infested bed. So really, Kristy should be glaring at Claudia.
So based on the first chapter, the book should probably be called Jessi IS a bad baby-sitter. Because right off the bat Squirt's about to fall off the coffee table he's been running on. Makes me want to hire an 11-year-old sitter. Jessi is apparently shocked because a month ago, Squirt would have happily been watching his video in another room unsupervised while she and Becca played monopoly in another room. Um...what? I'm sorry, but even if the kid is entranced by the video, he's still a TODDLER and should be supervised at all times.
But no, Jessi and Becca were playing a game in another room leaving the small child alone. Now Jessi wants Becca to carry the whole complicated Monopoly board into THIS room, like they should have been doing in the first place. They can't bring HIM into the kitchen, because he'll pull out all the pots and pans and make a lot of noise. Doesn't this kid have any toys?
So Becca messes up and makes a huge mess carrying the board into the living room. What a shock. And then Squirt starts to throw the money around. And the phone rings, so Jessi runs to get it. It's her new friend Wendy, who will never been seen again after this book. Jessi invites Wendy over, because apparently her parents/Aunt Dictator won't care if she just invites random friends over while they're not home and she's supposed to be baby-sitting. Then she hangs up on Wendy when Becca starts screaming.
Omg, Squirt has something in his mouth. Way to go, Jessi! So Jessi thinks up a super clever scheme of distracting Squirt with the video to get him to open his mouth so she can remove the Monopoly playing piece from his mouth. This whole chapter REALLY makes me wanna call the BSC.
So Wendy shows up. And she calms the kids down in two seconds. So she's looking like a way better baby-sitter than Jessi. And it's only chapter one.
Chapter Two! Parents are calling before the meeting even starts! The club is totally overwhelmed and the phone is ringing non-stop! But Jessi still has plenty of time to not contribute and day dream about how the club got started and what everyone is wearing. But most of the club members are late, so she has to start with Kristy (millionaire! ideas! pets!) and Claudia (art! junk food! idiot!).
Claudia outfit: For example, 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 legging and black ballet slippers (on which she’s sewn a matching bed design.) From one of her pierced ears hung a dangling earring made from the same beads and one the other ear she wore a small green hoop earring. It was an original look that only Claudia could make work. I don't know what's worse, the neon green legging or the fact that she ruined a pair of perfectly good ballet slippers with some hideous bead design. And why does it seem like every other Claudia outfit involves an oversized white shirt?
Kristy is freaking out over where everyone is. She can't even eat junk food. Then Stacey shows up with a minute to spare (New York! Math! Diabetes!) and then Mary Anne runs in right on time (Sensitive! Dawn! Tigger!). But there is still no sign of Mallory, so she's totally on Kristy's shit list. But then she shows up. Apparently she fell asleep as soon as she got home from school and overslept. (Total foreshadowing for the next book, Get Well Soon, Mallory, where she has mono. It's all over this book in a less than subtle way.)
Anyway, the gang starts talking about replacing Dawn, who is back in California for "6 months". But things get too crazy and they can't really talk about it. We get this gem from Claudia: "Okay, I like Rosie now, even though she was a bit much at first. I guess since I live with a genius, I can understand Rosie.” Really? Because last time I checked you spent most of the time not understanding wtf your sister is talking about.
Oh, and Mallory falls asleep leaning against Claudia's bed. FORESHADOWING!
Chapter 3. Another day, another BSC meeting. Another CRAZY BUSY one! Omg, it's call after call after call. Everybody's busy, Logan isn't home, and Stacey can't keep everybody's info straight. What's a baby-sitting club to do? And Mal didn't even show up because she's too tired! (FORESHADOWING!) Kristy is getting pissed up because omg, someone might have to hire another sitter if the BSC can't be there. And following that is the end of the world. "We HAVE to replace Dawn!" declares dictator Kristy. But no one can think of anyone. Except Jessi! What about Wendy? Kristy says to bring her to the next meeting. Then Dawn calls! And all is right with the world again...for about two seconds until Kristy gets the phone and demands that Dawn come back right NOW. Nice.
Chapter 4 is Jessi and Mal baby-sitting the Pikes. Mal is tired. (FORESHADOWING!) and Jessi does all the work, including helping Claire with her hurt shin and cutting electric curlers out of Vanessa's hair. And at the end of the day Jessi realizes that taking care of all these kids by yourself is TIRING! Really?? No way! Looks like Jessi is learning from Mrs. Pike's mistake.
Coming up...the club meets Wendy...and Mal is still tired.