Super Special #2 Summer Vacation- Part 1
Hi, everyone. It's been a while since I've done a snark but I'm back! I know this book has been done lots of times, but it is so deliciously snarkable that I just had to. Also, as a kid, I went to sleepaway camp and I absolutely LOVED this book. It's one of the ones that is less painful to read, because even though it is as horrible as the others, I enjoy reading about camp. Even though I definitely would NOT want to go to Camp Mohawk.
Anyway, let's get started.
Cover snark:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mMXw58BjW_8/TzbkcEd0kpI/AAAAAAAAAfA/pbu6t0CTjaU/s1600/bsc1.jpg
Every single one of the babysitters has on a pair of white sneakers except K-Ron. I will give continuity credit because Kristy’s blue sneakers are actually mentioned in the book. But it is a little weird that everyone else has the exact same pair of sneakers on. That’s probably just lazy illustrations, to be honest. Other notable features:
· Jessi basically looks like Mary Anne in all the other books. So she’s basically a black Mary Anne.
· Stacey and Dawn are indistinguishable as usual, and the one next to K-Ron (I don’t know why, but I’m assuming it’s Stacey), is making some crazy face. I can’t tell if she’s laughing hysterically or if she’s in some kind of pain.
· There are some children in the background who appear to be laughing at the babysitters. I already love them.
The book opens with a letter signed by the whole Cult but mainly written in K-Ron’s handwriting. The letter is basically bullying Stacey into joining them at camp, even though she had already said she didn’t want to. But because the alternative option to not voluntarily going to camp is possibly being kidnapped, tied up, drugged, and forced into the camp (you can’t put that passed K-Ron), Stacey decides to go. I get they miss her because this is during the period between when she moved back to NY and when her parents got divorced and she went back to Stoneybrook. But don’t force the girl.
Of course, I think it’s also the fact that K-Ron ends the letter by saying they can meet boys there that Stacey agreed to go. That ought to have changed Stacey’s mind right off the bat.
So everybody in the Cult is going to Camp Mohawk and will be CITs (Counselors in training). Well, everyone except Shannon Kilbourne (she’s actually referred to as “Shannon Kilbourne” in the letter, as if she’s not a close friend and Stacey has no idea who she is. It’s kind of weird to refer to your friend that way.)
Stacey opens her chapter by lusting about the city and how wonderful it is, and how this makes the thought of camp completely unbearable. I could kind of understand where she’s coming from, it can be hard to spend time in the country when you’re used to the city, and vice versa.
Stacey is forcing everyone to write in a notebook to document their experiences at camp. I would say K-Ron deserves that, given the club notebook. I never understood why all the Super Specials have to involve some sort of project that the BSC has to work on. Also, Stacey’s reason is pretty pathetic- “if I was going to make this supreme effort- if I was going to give up two weeks of a perfectly good summer plus Bloomingdale’s and my babysitting jobs in New York and all the rest…” STACEY. IT IS TWO. WEEKS. JUST TWO WEEKS. YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK. YOU CAN GO TO BLOOMINGDALES ANY FUCKING TIME. YOU’RE NOT GIVING UP A PERFECTLY GOOD SUMMER; YOU’RE ONLY GIVING UP TWO WEEKS. What is up with that anyway? I can’t see camp being good if it’s only two weeks. It takes at least a week to get used to it, and then you’re pretty much done. Two weeks seems useless. I would say at least four.) Anyway-- How does she go on vacation? How did she survive living in Stoneybook all that time? Anyway, Stacey says K-Ron can force them to write in the notebook because she’s the club president and, therefore, the boss, and that now she’s the boss. This… is a bit of an unhealthy mindset.
Stacey waits to board the bus, with her parents, who are emotional about her leaving, and other parents and children.
For some reason, the camp makes everyone wear a camp uniform. I don’t know why, but that bugs me. I don’t like school uniforms either, but at least school is a professional place and it makes sense in some context. Camp is supposed to be a laid-black place where you are free and have fun. Uniforms do not seem necessary. Stacey points out that it’s a relief that they are allowed to wear their own sneakers and underwear (um, I would hope so).
One boy is worried about his teddy bear suffocating in the suitcase, which is adorable, but also makes the boy seem to be at an age where he is a little young to go to sleepaway camp. Stacey’s mom (I always grin when I write that) is all sad that she has to go to Bloomingdale’s alone. No wonder Ed has money issues. Stacey thinks her parents saying “Have fun and be careful” is embarrassing, and… what’s embarrassing about it? That your parents care about you? I love my mother more than anyone else in the world, but let me tell you, she knows how to be embarrassing. The first thing she said when we entered my fifth grade class on the first day was, “Oh, you’re the shortest one here!” Then she chaperoned our field trip to the movies, fell asleep, and was snoring so loudly none of us could hear the movie. THAT is embarrassing.
Stacey is nervous about not knowing anyone and sits by herself, which I feel bad for her about. I mean, I love sitting alone, but when you’re young and you’re going to camp and you want to meet people, that’s tough. She thinks she’d look like a dork if she reads on the bus, and… why? Why is reading dorky? Why does it say, in a book, that people are reading, that reading is dorky? She’s also in the middle of reading “Catcher in The Rye” which is THE BEST BOOK EVER, so she should just read it.
They arrive at camp and the Cult is reunited. Charlotte comes running to Stacey, crying hysterically. Stacey wonders why, and thinks maybe it’s because she’s excited, and REALLY, Stacey? She’s your favorite sitting charge, and you don’t know that she’s shy and doesn’t like being away from home?
A voice is heard over the loudspeaker telling everyone to line up for cabin assignments….
Chapter 2- K-Ron
So I guess the chapters are going to be opening with letters and postcards. That’s actually a cool idea for a camp book. Kristy writes a postcard to Charlie and Sam and says exciting things happened on the bus ride to camp, and you will come to find later in the chapter that nothing that interesting happened. Just regular events that occur when there’s a bunch of excited kids on a bus.
Essentially, the Cult decided to go to camp because they all watched Meatballs and The Parent Trap at Dawn’s. Of course, once the BSC discovered the camp, many of their clients decided to go to. I find it weird that no one else’s parents had ever thought of this idea before the BSC members did, but I guess it is because they’re negligent. They list all the kids who are going and I find it weird that Karen’s friend Nancy is going, because in the Little Sister series they specify that she doesn’t like being away from home. Continuity error, as usual.
Anyway, K-Ron is waiting at the bus stop with most of her family, including David Michael and Karen who are going to camp, and the rest of the BSC members sans Stacey. Charlie and Sam refused to come say goodbye because it would be embarrassing, and they offered to clean the house instead. K-Ron says if they actually did clean the house, she’d eat her hat. K-Ron, we know you probably already eat your hats. Don’t act like this is new.
Charlotte is freaking out at the bus stop. Poor thing. At least we know she wasn’t forced to go. She went because she wants to be with Becca and Stacey, and she saw the brochure which made camp look like fun.
Dr. Johansen tells Charlotte she can call her anytime. No fair! When I was in sleepaway camp, we weren’t allowed to use the camp phones to call our parents (and this was before everyone had cellphones). Our parents could call us, but only after a certain time period, and not every day.
Everyone gets on the bus and heads to camp and that’s when the “interesting” things start happening. Typical stuff they see every day: Jackie is clumsy and his hat flies out the window and Margo pukes. Then David Michael starts singing “One million bottles of beer on the wall.” It’s a very annoying song, but kids sing all the time on a camp bus. I know I did in camp. It’s not really interesting or unusual. Did you expect a bunch of little kids to be quiet on a long bus ride, K-Ron?
They arrive at camp, we repeat the events of the reunion with Stacey, and Charlotte crying in Stacey’s arms (which is actually really cute), and a voice over a loudspeaker telling everyone to gather around for cabin assignments.
Chapter 3- Claudia
Something beautiful just occurred to me. I don’t think this book has the usual introductions of all the members and of the club! This seems completely impossible, but I’m seeing no descriptions here! See, more books can do this!
Claudia writes a cute letter to Mimi and I’m not snarking it.
The damn loudspeaker announcement is repeated for a fucking third time, and this time, we actually see them getting their cabin assignments.
Mallory and Jessi have been made “junior CITs” which is a long story that I will recap when it is mentioned. I already know the stupid story since I’ve read this book 10000 times.
Claudia has some time to for private chit-chat with Stacey. Stacey, a thirteen-year-old, was told by her mother to get a body wave because perms made her hair look all fucked up and gross after her hair grew out.
Anyway, cabin assignments start being called out by the camp director, Mrs. Means. This was another thing that always kind of annoyed me. Yes, it is considered polite to refer to elders as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” but, I don’t know… it seems too formal for camp. In all of the camps I ever attended as a kid, we always referred to the directors by their first names. It wasn’t school, after all. I don’t know, a lot of people may disagree with me on this, but I just find it weird. Everyone calls her Old Meanie, anyway.
Claudia gets her cabin assignment, the nine-year-olds, including Vanessa and Haley. The counselor, Meghan, and CIT Sally seem cool (Sally is of course described as “sophisticated.”)
They go to their cabin and unpack, and now I’m nostalgic for the days I went to camp.
Sally tells Claudia about all the candy at the canteen and the dance with the boys at the end of the summer. Oh yeah, I forgot that there’s a dance at the end of this book. And it’s really boring to read about so don’t expect a lot of details. Claudia is happy.
The next chapter starts with Jessi’s handwriting and I’m not in the mood to comprehend it right now, so I’ll end here.
Hope you enjoyed!
Anyway, let's get started.
Cover snark:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mMXw58BjW_8/TzbkcEd0kpI/AAAAAAAAAfA/pbu6t0CTjaU/s1600/bsc1.jpg
Every single one of the babysitters has on a pair of white sneakers except K-Ron. I will give continuity credit because Kristy’s blue sneakers are actually mentioned in the book. But it is a little weird that everyone else has the exact same pair of sneakers on. That’s probably just lazy illustrations, to be honest. Other notable features:
· Jessi basically looks like Mary Anne in all the other books. So she’s basically a black Mary Anne.
· Stacey and Dawn are indistinguishable as usual, and the one next to K-Ron (I don’t know why, but I’m assuming it’s Stacey), is making some crazy face. I can’t tell if she’s laughing hysterically or if she’s in some kind of pain.
· There are some children in the background who appear to be laughing at the babysitters. I already love them.
The book opens with a letter signed by the whole Cult but mainly written in K-Ron’s handwriting. The letter is basically bullying Stacey into joining them at camp, even though she had already said she didn’t want to. But because the alternative option to not voluntarily going to camp is possibly being kidnapped, tied up, drugged, and forced into the camp (you can’t put that passed K-Ron), Stacey decides to go. I get they miss her because this is during the period between when she moved back to NY and when her parents got divorced and she went back to Stoneybrook. But don’t force the girl.
Of course, I think it’s also the fact that K-Ron ends the letter by saying they can meet boys there that Stacey agreed to go. That ought to have changed Stacey’s mind right off the bat.
So everybody in the Cult is going to Camp Mohawk and will be CITs (Counselors in training). Well, everyone except Shannon Kilbourne (she’s actually referred to as “Shannon Kilbourne” in the letter, as if she’s not a close friend and Stacey has no idea who she is. It’s kind of weird to refer to your friend that way.)
Stacey opens her chapter by lusting about the city and how wonderful it is, and how this makes the thought of camp completely unbearable. I could kind of understand where she’s coming from, it can be hard to spend time in the country when you’re used to the city, and vice versa.
Stacey is forcing everyone to write in a notebook to document their experiences at camp. I would say K-Ron deserves that, given the club notebook. I never understood why all the Super Specials have to involve some sort of project that the BSC has to work on. Also, Stacey’s reason is pretty pathetic- “if I was going to make this supreme effort- if I was going to give up two weeks of a perfectly good summer plus Bloomingdale’s and my babysitting jobs in New York and all the rest…” STACEY. IT IS TWO. WEEKS. JUST TWO WEEKS. YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK. YOU CAN GO TO BLOOMINGDALES ANY FUCKING TIME. YOU’RE NOT GIVING UP A PERFECTLY GOOD SUMMER; YOU’RE ONLY GIVING UP TWO WEEKS. What is up with that anyway? I can’t see camp being good if it’s only two weeks. It takes at least a week to get used to it, and then you’re pretty much done. Two weeks seems useless. I would say at least four.) Anyway-- How does she go on vacation? How did she survive living in Stoneybook all that time? Anyway, Stacey says K-Ron can force them to write in the notebook because she’s the club president and, therefore, the boss, and that now she’s the boss. This… is a bit of an unhealthy mindset.
Stacey waits to board the bus, with her parents, who are emotional about her leaving, and other parents and children.
For some reason, the camp makes everyone wear a camp uniform. I don’t know why, but that bugs me. I don’t like school uniforms either, but at least school is a professional place and it makes sense in some context. Camp is supposed to be a laid-black place where you are free and have fun. Uniforms do not seem necessary. Stacey points out that it’s a relief that they are allowed to wear their own sneakers and underwear (um, I would hope so).
One boy is worried about his teddy bear suffocating in the suitcase, which is adorable, but also makes the boy seem to be at an age where he is a little young to go to sleepaway camp. Stacey’s mom (I always grin when I write that) is all sad that she has to go to Bloomingdale’s alone. No wonder Ed has money issues. Stacey thinks her parents saying “Have fun and be careful” is embarrassing, and… what’s embarrassing about it? That your parents care about you? I love my mother more than anyone else in the world, but let me tell you, she knows how to be embarrassing. The first thing she said when we entered my fifth grade class on the first day was, “Oh, you’re the shortest one here!” Then she chaperoned our field trip to the movies, fell asleep, and was snoring so loudly none of us could hear the movie. THAT is embarrassing.
Stacey is nervous about not knowing anyone and sits by herself, which I feel bad for her about. I mean, I love sitting alone, but when you’re young and you’re going to camp and you want to meet people, that’s tough. She thinks she’d look like a dork if she reads on the bus, and… why? Why is reading dorky? Why does it say, in a book, that people are reading, that reading is dorky? She’s also in the middle of reading “Catcher in The Rye” which is THE BEST BOOK EVER, so she should just read it.
They arrive at camp and the Cult is reunited. Charlotte comes running to Stacey, crying hysterically. Stacey wonders why, and thinks maybe it’s because she’s excited, and REALLY, Stacey? She’s your favorite sitting charge, and you don’t know that she’s shy and doesn’t like being away from home?
A voice is heard over the loudspeaker telling everyone to line up for cabin assignments….
Chapter 2- K-Ron
So I guess the chapters are going to be opening with letters and postcards. That’s actually a cool idea for a camp book. Kristy writes a postcard to Charlie and Sam and says exciting things happened on the bus ride to camp, and you will come to find later in the chapter that nothing that interesting happened. Just regular events that occur when there’s a bunch of excited kids on a bus.
Essentially, the Cult decided to go to camp because they all watched Meatballs and The Parent Trap at Dawn’s. Of course, once the BSC discovered the camp, many of their clients decided to go to. I find it weird that no one else’s parents had ever thought of this idea before the BSC members did, but I guess it is because they’re negligent. They list all the kids who are going and I find it weird that Karen’s friend Nancy is going, because in the Little Sister series they specify that she doesn’t like being away from home. Continuity error, as usual.
Anyway, K-Ron is waiting at the bus stop with most of her family, including David Michael and Karen who are going to camp, and the rest of the BSC members sans Stacey. Charlie and Sam refused to come say goodbye because it would be embarrassing, and they offered to clean the house instead. K-Ron says if they actually did clean the house, she’d eat her hat. K-Ron, we know you probably already eat your hats. Don’t act like this is new.
Charlotte is freaking out at the bus stop. Poor thing. At least we know she wasn’t forced to go. She went because she wants to be with Becca and Stacey, and she saw the brochure which made camp look like fun.
Dr. Johansen tells Charlotte she can call her anytime. No fair! When I was in sleepaway camp, we weren’t allowed to use the camp phones to call our parents (and this was before everyone had cellphones). Our parents could call us, but only after a certain time period, and not every day.
Everyone gets on the bus and heads to camp and that’s when the “interesting” things start happening. Typical stuff they see every day: Jackie is clumsy and his hat flies out the window and Margo pukes. Then David Michael starts singing “One million bottles of beer on the wall.” It’s a very annoying song, but kids sing all the time on a camp bus. I know I did in camp. It’s not really interesting or unusual. Did you expect a bunch of little kids to be quiet on a long bus ride, K-Ron?
They arrive at camp, we repeat the events of the reunion with Stacey, and Charlotte crying in Stacey’s arms (which is actually really cute), and a voice over a loudspeaker telling everyone to gather around for cabin assignments.
Chapter 3- Claudia
Something beautiful just occurred to me. I don’t think this book has the usual introductions of all the members and of the club! This seems completely impossible, but I’m seeing no descriptions here! See, more books can do this!
Claudia writes a cute letter to Mimi and I’m not snarking it.
The damn loudspeaker announcement is repeated for a fucking third time, and this time, we actually see them getting their cabin assignments.
Mallory and Jessi have been made “junior CITs” which is a long story that I will recap when it is mentioned. I already know the stupid story since I’ve read this book 10000 times.
Claudia has some time to for private chit-chat with Stacey. Stacey, a thirteen-year-old, was told by her mother to get a body wave because perms made her hair look all fucked up and gross after her hair grew out.
Anyway, cabin assignments start being called out by the camp director, Mrs. Means. This was another thing that always kind of annoyed me. Yes, it is considered polite to refer to elders as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” but, I don’t know… it seems too formal for camp. In all of the camps I ever attended as a kid, we always referred to the directors by their first names. It wasn’t school, after all. I don’t know, a lot of people may disagree with me on this, but I just find it weird. Everyone calls her Old Meanie, anyway.
Claudia gets her cabin assignment, the nine-year-olds, including Vanessa and Haley. The counselor, Meghan, and CIT Sally seem cool (Sally is of course described as “sophisticated.”)
They go to their cabin and unpack, and now I’m nostalgic for the days I went to camp.
Sally tells Claudia about all the candy at the canteen and the dance with the boys at the end of the summer. Oh yeah, I forgot that there’s a dance at the end of this book. And it’s really boring to read about so don’t expect a lot of details. Claudia is happy.
The next chapter starts with Jessi’s handwriting and I’m not in the mood to comprehend it right now, so I’ll end here.
Hope you enjoyed!