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The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #2
Babysitters' Summer Holiday
The Baby-sitters are going to Camp Mohawk. That means two weeks full of camp food, homesick campers, poison ivy, and the boys' camp across the lake!.
240 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1989
169 people are currently reading
897 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,114 books3,061 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
March 14, 2014
MARY-ANNE ALMOST GETTING HER EARS PIERCED AT SUMMER CAMP: STILL AS TRAUMATIC AT 29 AS IT WAS AT 9.
July 29, 2010
a classic early babysitters club super special. apparently dawn spends a lot of time taping movies off TV with her VCR. does that date this shit or what? two movies she has taped & shown the other babysitters are "the parent trap" (kristy speculates that dawn wishes she could get her parents back together...even though dawn's mom is dating mary anne's dad & dawn & mary anne seem really psyched about that) & "meatballs" (pretty racy for the BSC). after one viewing, the girls start thinking about how awesome it would be to go to camp. somehow they find out about camp mohawk, & they petition their parents to let them go. & because this is the babysiiters club, they can't just go to camp & have fun riding horses & making macaroni art. no, they have to care for children. so they are all accepted to be counselors-in-training (CITs). they even write to stacey in new york & convince her to attend as well. & the news filters through the rest of stoneybrook's youth, until a couple of dozen of the club's sitting charges have brownbeaten their parents into paying for two weeks of sleep=away camp. mallory & jessi have even gotten the camp to permit them to enjoy the privileges of being CITs-in-training. times like these, the eleven-year-olds have no dignity at all.
the super special is formatted as a special diary that stacey convinces all the other sitters (including logan) to write in so she'll have a document of her camp experience. she figures it's the least they can do for her agreeing to give up two weeks of new york city summer. i have been to new york city in the summer. you'd think stacey would be desperate to escape. it is not fun. the heat, the humidity, the smells, & the tourists crawling everywhere like cockroaches...ugh.
each sitter has their own little story:
stacey immediately contracts pink-eye from one of her campers, sits in a great big patch of poison ivy her first night at camp, somehow gets impetigo on her face, & comes down with a cold. she spends most of her camp time in the infirmary. she also has a camper with a lisp, & they somehow become buddies.
mary anne's fellow CITs (there are four to each age group) are really mature & sophisticated, & mary anne tries to impress them by mentioning that she has a boyfriend. they are skeptical, so she writes logan a love note & conspicuously leaves it on her bunk for them to find. when they find it, they suggest she sneak around the lake to the boys' side & give it to home. mary anne nervously agrees. she makes it halfway around the lake before being discovered (one of her campers tattles) & returned to the girls' side of camp. a boy counselor takes the note to give to logan. later mary anne's co-CITs meet logan at the big camp dance & they believe that mary anne is...cool? mature? sophisticated? for having a boyfriend? whatever. they also try to pierce mary anne's ears with a sewing needle, but chicken out at the last second.
logan's story is just about receiving the note, which was really goopy & not something mary anne ever intended to actually let logan see. his fellow CITs (one of whom is described as "wild" because he wears hawaiian shirts--i think ann m. martin caught twenty minutes of "animal house" one time & that informed her characterization of "wild" male characters) think mary anne is a "feeb" for getting caught walking around the lake. but when they meet her at the dance, they think she's cool & pretty. crisis averted.
kristy is also dealing with excessively mature co-CITs, who insist on giving her a makeover. & she lets them, displaying an insecurity absent from later, more ham-fisted kristy thomas characterizations. she looks pretty, but thinks it's too much work to do everyday. also, charlotte johanssen is in kristy's bunk, & she's really homesick. kristy worries about her a lot & wonders if she'll have to go home early.
dawn is a CIT for an 11-year-old bunk. one of her campers is really quiet & book-ish & the other girls pick on her, while dawn does astonishingly little to stop them. they're allowed to go on an overnight in the woods, but their counselor has to leave due to a family emergency the night before, & their replacement counselor isn't quite the navigational superstar she fancies herself. the campers get lost in the woods for two nights, before the bookish camper finally leads them to safety & redeems herself with everyone. turns out she knew what to do because she's read a survival manual. okay.
claudia falls in love with a boy camper named will. he's japanese & claudia speculates that her parents would like her to settle down with a japanese man. they attend a movie night & the dance together, & they hold hands. her campers help claudia & will get together, & later they get his address for her so they can stay in touch. claudia also eats a lot of junk food. if there's more to her story, i don't remember it. pretty fucking boring.
jessi & mallory are co-campers who immediately incur the judgment of the other girls in their bunk by being nerdily over-excited about claiming their bunks. then mallory puts on a junior CIT armband & gives one to jessi & everyone thinks they suck even more. jessi isn't sure about wearing the armband & further alienating herself from the other campers, but she does it out of loyalty for mallory. don't let her drag you down, jessi! you have coolness potential. to top things off, the other campers are pretty racist to jessi. one of them makes a crack about jessi & mallory being "oreos," which jessi identifies as a mangled attempt at a racist insult. nonetheless, jessi & mallory are pretty sanguine about the whole thing, & they're given a special assignment to teach the eight-year-olds a special dance for parents' night. they end up putting together a performance critiquing racism & embracing diversity & friendship, which inspires most of their bunkmates to shame-facedly apologize.
the super special is formatted as a special diary that stacey convinces all the other sitters (including logan) to write in so she'll have a document of her camp experience. she figures it's the least they can do for her agreeing to give up two weeks of new york city summer. i have been to new york city in the summer. you'd think stacey would be desperate to escape. it is not fun. the heat, the humidity, the smells, & the tourists crawling everywhere like cockroaches...ugh.
each sitter has their own little story:
stacey immediately contracts pink-eye from one of her campers, sits in a great big patch of poison ivy her first night at camp, somehow gets impetigo on her face, & comes down with a cold. she spends most of her camp time in the infirmary. she also has a camper with a lisp, & they somehow become buddies.
mary anne's fellow CITs (there are four to each age group) are really mature & sophisticated, & mary anne tries to impress them by mentioning that she has a boyfriend. they are skeptical, so she writes logan a love note & conspicuously leaves it on her bunk for them to find. when they find it, they suggest she sneak around the lake to the boys' side & give it to home. mary anne nervously agrees. she makes it halfway around the lake before being discovered (one of her campers tattles) & returned to the girls' side of camp. a boy counselor takes the note to give to logan. later mary anne's co-CITs meet logan at the big camp dance & they believe that mary anne is...cool? mature? sophisticated? for having a boyfriend? whatever. they also try to pierce mary anne's ears with a sewing needle, but chicken out at the last second.
logan's story is just about receiving the note, which was really goopy & not something mary anne ever intended to actually let logan see. his fellow CITs (one of whom is described as "wild" because he wears hawaiian shirts--i think ann m. martin caught twenty minutes of "animal house" one time & that informed her characterization of "wild" male characters) think mary anne is a "feeb" for getting caught walking around the lake. but when they meet her at the dance, they think she's cool & pretty. crisis averted.
kristy is also dealing with excessively mature co-CITs, who insist on giving her a makeover. & she lets them, displaying an insecurity absent from later, more ham-fisted kristy thomas characterizations. she looks pretty, but thinks it's too much work to do everyday. also, charlotte johanssen is in kristy's bunk, & she's really homesick. kristy worries about her a lot & wonders if she'll have to go home early.
dawn is a CIT for an 11-year-old bunk. one of her campers is really quiet & book-ish & the other girls pick on her, while dawn does astonishingly little to stop them. they're allowed to go on an overnight in the woods, but their counselor has to leave due to a family emergency the night before, & their replacement counselor isn't quite the navigational superstar she fancies herself. the campers get lost in the woods for two nights, before the bookish camper finally leads them to safety & redeems herself with everyone. turns out she knew what to do because she's read a survival manual. okay.
claudia falls in love with a boy camper named will. he's japanese & claudia speculates that her parents would like her to settle down with a japanese man. they attend a movie night & the dance together, & they hold hands. her campers help claudia & will get together, & later they get his address for her so they can stay in touch. claudia also eats a lot of junk food. if there's more to her story, i don't remember it. pretty fucking boring.
jessi & mallory are co-campers who immediately incur the judgment of the other girls in their bunk by being nerdily over-excited about claiming their bunks. then mallory puts on a junior CIT armband & gives one to jessi & everyone thinks they suck even more. jessi isn't sure about wearing the armband & further alienating herself from the other campers, but she does it out of loyalty for mallory. don't let her drag you down, jessi! you have coolness potential. to top things off, the other campers are pretty racist to jessi. one of them makes a crack about jessi & mallory being "oreos," which jessi identifies as a mangled attempt at a racist insult. nonetheless, jessi & mallory are pretty sanguine about the whole thing, & they're given a special assignment to teach the eight-year-olds a special dance for parents' night. they end up putting together a performance critiquing racism & embracing diversity & friendship, which inspires most of their bunkmates to shame-facedly apologize.
June 30, 2025
Hyper-specific childhood memory: I’m in middle school, it’s summer vacation and I’ve just bought this new book from the Waldenbooks at the mall. My sister and I get all the new Babysitters' Club books, one each month, but the Super Specials are obviously the best. Soon I’ll to go back to school and learn from the other girls that I’m actually too old to still be into the Babysitters' Club, so I have to read the books in secret for the next couple years. But for now I don’t know this, and read this over and over that summer, lying on the back porch swing 💕
February 18, 2016
the baby sitters decide to go to the summer camp from meatballs (the rich kids' camp, camp mohawk) because they love that movie a lot. the 13-year-olds are all CITs, and mallory and jessi are regular campers/"junior CITs". see the narrator plotlines for more plot.
-stacey: CIT to 6 year olds (karen brewer is in her cabin). a practical joker who talksh like thish named nonie is also in her cabin. she doeshn't play any practical jokesh on shtashey, which is kind of a buzzkill. stacey gets sick (she thinks it's lyme disease but it's actually: impetigo, poison ivy, insect bites, pinkeye, and a regular ol' cold) and has to be in the infirmary for a while.
-kristy: CIT to 8 year olds (charlotte johannsen and becca ramsey are in her cabin). the other CITs make her over. charlotte doesn't want to be at camp and cries at the drop of a hat, and kristy has to be there for all of that drama.
-claudia: CIT to 9 year olds (haley braddock and vanessa pike are in her cabin). falls in love with will yamakawa, a boy CIT. they hang out for two days and then have to say goodbye and claudia cries a lot. it's not pretty.
-mary anne: CIT to 7 year olds (margo pike and nancy dawes, karen's BFF, are in her cabin). her co-CITs are obnoxious jerks who think she is pathetic, plus one of them has bratty little sister in their cabin. to make herself look cool, she leaves out a letter to logan about how she wants him to wear aftershave to the CIT dance and how she longs for him or other cheesy romance novel stuff. the CITs pressure mary anne into trying to go to the boys' camp to deliver it. then they pressure her into getting her ears pierced, but they chicken out. basically mary anne's plot is just one game of chicken after another, and mary anne wins each of them.
-dawn: CIT to 11 year olds. everything is perfect and everyone gets along except one girl named heather who prefers the company of books. then they go on an overnight in the woods and their replacement counselor (the counselor's mom was sick so she had to leave early) gets them lost, and heather saves them with her wilderness skills, because SHE READ A BOOK ABOUT WILDERNESS SKILLS. no lie.
-mallory and jessi: the other girls in their cabin are racist jerks who call them oreos and make fun of them for acting like the bobbsey twins. mallory and jessi get to prepare the 8-year-olds for a dance routine for parents' day, so they make it themed around their cabinmates' racism and everyone learns a lesson.
-logan: all the other boy CITs are bros. once he gets mary anne's ridiculous letter he actually is into it and wears aftershave and gets her a yellow flower like the letter requested. also jackie rodowsky is in his cabin and some disasters happen.
highlights:
-stacey notes that camp mohawk's symbol shouldn't be a tepee because the mohawk people of the iroquois tribe actually lived in longhouses, not tepees. I love stacey.
-dawn and co sing the monster mash when trying to find their campground right before they get lost. it's really cute.
-mary anne and logan's drama is really entertaining. I love the letter. it's SO OVER-THE-TOP. "I think of you and want to swoon. oh, to feel your arms around me at the dance!"
-everyone complaining about eating "vegetable burgers" made me LOL
-christmas in the cabin! apparently it's a tradition for each age group for one of the cabins to make christmas in the summer for the other cabin. stacey's cabin is surprised with christmas, and it's really cute (especially because they make sure to put sugar free candies in stacey's stocking).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-stacey's postcard to laine: the address for the dakota isn't "72nd and central park west" -- it's 1 west 72nd street. also other people live there, so I'm pretty sure you need to put an apartment number on it. stacey would know this. I blame ann.
-reading nonie's speech impediment was annoying. "shtashey", etc.
-people keep calling lake dekanawida (named after the great peacemaker) different things (for instance: dukakis, deckasaga, dekanunga, dekadonka, duckanawooda, and demidonkey). it's super racist and irritating.
-the meanies (mr and mrs means, the folks who run the camp) live in separate cabins on each side of the camp. they're married and spend a whole summer not sleeping together? I guess that's conceivable but you'd think they would share a cabin.
-kristy writes a postcard to shannon at "camp eerie" in michigan and talks about how it would be scary to go to that camp during halloween. considering it's in michigan, it's probably camp erie, right?
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
jackie's walking disaster moments:
-waves his camp mohawk hat out the bus window and it blows away
-bunks collapse in his cabin (logan thinks he is to blame)
-door to cabin is permanently stuck open three inches (logan thinks he is to blame)
-toothpaste all over the floor (logan thinks he dropped his toothpaste and stepped on it)
-sits on a pb&j sandwich during a food fight
-stacey: CIT to 6 year olds (karen brewer is in her cabin). a practical joker who talksh like thish named nonie is also in her cabin. she doeshn't play any practical jokesh on shtashey, which is kind of a buzzkill. stacey gets sick (she thinks it's lyme disease but it's actually: impetigo, poison ivy, insect bites, pinkeye, and a regular ol' cold) and has to be in the infirmary for a while.
-kristy: CIT to 8 year olds (charlotte johannsen and becca ramsey are in her cabin). the other CITs make her over. charlotte doesn't want to be at camp and cries at the drop of a hat, and kristy has to be there for all of that drama.
-claudia: CIT to 9 year olds (haley braddock and vanessa pike are in her cabin). falls in love with will yamakawa, a boy CIT. they hang out for two days and then have to say goodbye and claudia cries a lot. it's not pretty.
-mary anne: CIT to 7 year olds (margo pike and nancy dawes, karen's BFF, are in her cabin). her co-CITs are obnoxious jerks who think she is pathetic, plus one of them has bratty little sister in their cabin. to make herself look cool, she leaves out a letter to logan about how she wants him to wear aftershave to the CIT dance and how she longs for him or other cheesy romance novel stuff. the CITs pressure mary anne into trying to go to the boys' camp to deliver it. then they pressure her into getting her ears pierced, but they chicken out. basically mary anne's plot is just one game of chicken after another, and mary anne wins each of them.
-dawn: CIT to 11 year olds. everything is perfect and everyone gets along except one girl named heather who prefers the company of books. then they go on an overnight in the woods and their replacement counselor (the counselor's mom was sick so she had to leave early) gets them lost, and heather saves them with her wilderness skills, because SHE READ A BOOK ABOUT WILDERNESS SKILLS. no lie.
-mallory and jessi: the other girls in their cabin are racist jerks who call them oreos and make fun of them for acting like the bobbsey twins. mallory and jessi get to prepare the 8-year-olds for a dance routine for parents' day, so they make it themed around their cabinmates' racism and everyone learns a lesson.
-logan: all the other boy CITs are bros. once he gets mary anne's ridiculous letter he actually is into it and wears aftershave and gets her a yellow flower like the letter requested. also jackie rodowsky is in his cabin and some disasters happen.
highlights:
-stacey notes that camp mohawk's symbol shouldn't be a tepee because the mohawk people of the iroquois tribe actually lived in longhouses, not tepees. I love stacey.
-dawn and co sing the monster mash when trying to find their campground right before they get lost. it's really cute.
-mary anne and logan's drama is really entertaining. I love the letter. it's SO OVER-THE-TOP. "I think of you and want to swoon. oh, to feel your arms around me at the dance!"
-everyone complaining about eating "vegetable burgers" made me LOL
-christmas in the cabin! apparently it's a tradition for each age group for one of the cabins to make christmas in the summer for the other cabin. stacey's cabin is surprised with christmas, and it's really cute (especially because they make sure to put sugar free candies in stacey's stocking).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-stacey's postcard to laine: the address for the dakota isn't "72nd and central park west" -- it's 1 west 72nd street. also other people live there, so I'm pretty sure you need to put an apartment number on it. stacey would know this. I blame ann.
-reading nonie's speech impediment was annoying. "shtashey", etc.
-people keep calling lake dekanawida (named after the great peacemaker) different things (for instance: dukakis, deckasaga, dekanunga, dekadonka, duckanawooda, and demidonkey). it's super racist and irritating.
-the meanies (mr and mrs means, the folks who run the camp) live in separate cabins on each side of the camp. they're married and spend a whole summer not sleeping together? I guess that's conceivable but you'd think they would share a cabin.
-kristy writes a postcard to shannon at "camp eerie" in michigan and talks about how it would be scary to go to that camp during halloween. considering it's in michigan, it's probably camp erie, right?
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
jackie's walking disaster moments:
-waves his camp mohawk hat out the bus window and it blows away
-bunks collapse in his cabin (logan thinks he is to blame)
-door to cabin is permanently stuck open three inches (logan thinks he is to blame)
-toothpaste all over the floor (logan thinks he dropped his toothpaste and stepped on it)
-sits on a pb&j sandwich during a food fight
May 30, 2019
Summer vacation is here! And to top it off the members of the babysitters club (including Stacey!) have decided to go to Camp Mohawk and be CITs. They get split up into different cabins and have to make new friends. With new friends, and NOT so nice cabin mates as well can the girls still have fun? Everything happens , from poison ivy to new love connections, to bullies, to getting lost in the woods , and peer pressure from other people the girls go through ups and downs and learn how to handle whatever situations are thrown at them.
June 21, 2021
I loooved revisiting this childhood fav as an adult, although I do have SOME CONCERNS about Camp Mohawk's staffing model.
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller...
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller...
March 22, 2017
The best Super Special! I think it's the first time you really understand Logan and Mary Anne's relationship. Seriously - great books for 8-13 year olds :)
February 20, 2021
4 stars. So cute. I loved that the all of the girls were at this camp but they don’t really interact with each other (except Mal and Jessi, they interact). Instead they interact and make friends with the other girls in their cabins. It was so interesting because all of their experiences were so different and unique to each character. It was just such a fun read and I love that the Super Specials are much longer than the books in the regular series because a lot more happens in these and they’re great.
October 29, 2021
Figuring out the timeline of these specials is like solving a logic problem. There is no timeline where the BSC can go to summer camp before Mimi dies but after Mallory and Jessi are already official members of the club. Mimi dies while Claudia is still in school for their eighth grade year, and Mallory and Jessi join the club during the BSC's eighth grade year, therefore Camp Mohawk is a fever dream.
This was my favorite super special growing up, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. What doesn't work for me about the super specials is that we get too many POVs about too many different storylines. We're up to six full-time club members, Stacey in New York, and now a Logan POV. It's not like we get eight different views on the same event or project—every single one of these people has something different going on at this camp!
KRISTY: I actually liked Kristy's POV. I feel like the series has done a good job at showing that she's both nervous and anxious to grow up, look more conventionally attractive, and start dating without beating you over the head with it.
STACEY: Gets literally every disease. I swear that Stacey is Ann M. Martin's revenge on popular pretty girls, because she always has the most unfortunate plotlines.
DAWN: Dawn objectively had the most interesting storyline, but even then… meh. I feel like they did a hard pivot on Dawn's personality from "girl who likes Whole Foods" to full-blown outdoorsy in this.
CLAUDIA: Extremely boring romance plotline. Also, her anger at Kristy cutting in on her dance is hilarious – she literally did the same exact shit to Kristy in Stacey's Mistake. I really can't fucking stand Claudia. That's been the biggest disappointment of my re-read is that Claudia is really, really unlikable.
MARY ANNE: Annoying POV totally devoted to Logan, of course.
JESSI: Of fucking course Jessi had an EXTREMELY boring dance/performing arts storyline.
MALLORY: Mallory was so cringey in this book. The other girls in the cabin were little racist bitches, but Mallory definitely brought so much unnecessary attention on herself and dragged Jessi into it with her "junior CIT" crap.
LOGAN: Our first Logan POV, and… eh, I could live without it.
This was my favorite super special growing up, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. What doesn't work for me about the super specials is that we get too many POVs about too many different storylines. We're up to six full-time club members, Stacey in New York, and now a Logan POV. It's not like we get eight different views on the same event or project—every single one of these people has something different going on at this camp!
KRISTY: I actually liked Kristy's POV. I feel like the series has done a good job at showing that she's both nervous and anxious to grow up, look more conventionally attractive, and start dating without beating you over the head with it.
STACEY: Gets literally every disease. I swear that Stacey is Ann M. Martin's revenge on popular pretty girls, because she always has the most unfortunate plotlines.
DAWN: Dawn objectively had the most interesting storyline, but even then… meh. I feel like they did a hard pivot on Dawn's personality from "girl who likes Whole Foods" to full-blown outdoorsy in this.
CLAUDIA: Extremely boring romance plotline. Also, her anger at Kristy cutting in on her dance is hilarious – she literally did the same exact shit to Kristy in Stacey's Mistake. I really can't fucking stand Claudia. That's been the biggest disappointment of my re-read is that Claudia is really, really unlikable.
MARY ANNE: Annoying POV totally devoted to Logan, of course.
JESSI: Of fucking course Jessi had an EXTREMELY boring dance/performing arts storyline.
MALLORY: Mallory was so cringey in this book. The other girls in the cabin were little racist bitches, but Mallory definitely brought so much unnecessary attention on herself and dragged Jessi into it with her "junior CIT" crap.
LOGAN: Our first Logan POV, and… eh, I could live without it.
July 14, 2016
A little blast from the past. Wanted to reread some of my fourth grade favorites to see how they match up with current children's lit. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Yes, the Baby-Sitters Club books are repetitive and often trite. But, even as books written 20-30 years ago, they are pretty progressive in their messages about friendship, self-awareness and cultural differences. It's no wonder I adored these books as kid and that kids are still reading them today.
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February 6, 2020I’m resurrecting the series that no one asked for which is ‘reading all my children’s books from my mothers house!’
This is definitely high up there as one of my favourites of the ‘specials’ books (spoiler, I read all of them) and I surprisingly remember quite a lot from it. Including the classic Mary-Ann moment of vomiting when the girls in her cabin try to pierce her ears. And Stacey getting poison ivy and generally hating outdoor camp life (I could relate). Also, I still hate Dawn.
This is definitely high up there as one of my favourites of the ‘specials’ books (spoiler, I read all of them) and I surprisingly remember quite a lot from it. Including the classic Mary-Ann moment of vomiting when the girls in her cabin try to pierce her ears. And Stacey getting poison ivy and generally hating outdoor camp life (I could relate). Also, I still hate Dawn.
October 25, 2020
i remain committed to loving super specials but this is the first book i’ve re-read that has an episode in the new series and BOY OH BOY y’all. the book just can’t compete with the episodes where these girls start a literal class war.
January 20, 2021
Reread this for probably the 20th time. I loved the BSC as a kid in the 80s and they continue to by my favorite comfort reads as an adult.
December 30, 2022
3.25 stars
Everyone’s going to summer camp! Except Shannon. Poor Shannon. Never gets to join in on anything.
I would’ve liked more about the kids, tbh. We barely saw them in this one. All the babysitters are CITs or Junior CITs, so they were around the kids a lot, but I felt like the majority of the plot centered around the babysitters themselves and their friendships with the other CITs. Which I guess is fine. Just would’ve liked to have gotten a better sense of all the kids they were watching.
Anyway… let’s see. Dawn and her cabin got lost in the woods. Kristy wore makeup. Mary Anne was a complete weirdo and pretended to be cool to impress her fellow CITs. Claudia fell in love with a boy CIT who couldn’t be bothered to ask for her name or address. Stacy got poison ivy and spent most of the time in the infirmary. Jessi and Mallory taught one of the cabins (which included Becca and Charlotte) a dance about racism and friendship. Also Charlotte cried a lot.
Apparently Karen, David Michael, Nicki, Vanessa, the triplets, the Braddocks, the Radowskis, and I think a few other kids were there too, but we barely saw any of them.
Overall a cute read. I always enjoyed the Super Specials and I’ve probably read this one before but it honestly didn’t seem familiar. 🏕️
Everyone’s going to summer camp! Except Shannon. Poor Shannon. Never gets to join in on anything.
I would’ve liked more about the kids, tbh. We barely saw them in this one. All the babysitters are CITs or Junior CITs, so they were around the kids a lot, but I felt like the majority of the plot centered around the babysitters themselves and their friendships with the other CITs. Which I guess is fine. Just would’ve liked to have gotten a better sense of all the kids they were watching.
Anyway… let’s see. Dawn and her cabin got lost in the woods. Kristy wore makeup. Mary Anne was a complete weirdo and pretended to be cool to impress her fellow CITs. Claudia fell in love with a boy CIT who couldn’t be bothered to ask for her name or address. Stacy got poison ivy and spent most of the time in the infirmary. Jessi and Mallory taught one of the cabins (which included Becca and Charlotte) a dance about racism and friendship. Also Charlotte cried a lot.
Apparently Karen, David Michael, Nicki, Vanessa, the triplets, the Braddocks, the Radowskis, and I think a few other kids were there too, but we barely saw any of them.
Overall a cute read. I always enjoyed the Super Specials and I’ve probably read this one before but it honestly didn’t seem familiar. 🏕️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2018
YAY FOR SUPER SPECIALS! I don't really have much to say about this book other than professing my love for these books. Despite the fact that the girls were on a separate side of Lake Demidonkey, there was still a romance squeezed in. We met some new friends that we'll never hear from again. And the illustrations in this book were just the doodles on postcards, so nothing great.
This book does make me want to go to summer camp (something I never got to do when I was younger) although the fact that everyone was in different cabins was kind of a bummer, there wasn't a lot of BSC togetherness. (On the plus side, that meant that they couldn't fight lol.)
All in all, really pumped to get to some of the later Super Specials. LOVE THESE!
This book does make me want to go to summer camp (something I never got to do when I was younger) although the fact that everyone was in different cabins was kind of a bummer, there wasn't a lot of BSC togetherness. (On the plus side, that meant that they couldn't fight lol.)
All in all, really pumped to get to some of the later Super Specials. LOVE THESE!
November 8, 2023
I have memories of reading this book, as it has been over twenty years, but reading it as a 42 year old, I see a lot of flaws. My first issue with the book are the sheer number of characters introduced. Each Babysitters, sans Jessi and Mal are in a different cabin which has a LOT of different campers, as well as a co-CIT as well as a counselor. The book name drops I would say well over 50 characters, some of which are important to the plot, many of which are not. I remember really liking the character of Heather, and I still like her, and remember how annoying Nonnie was. I feel as if this book was written in present day, it would not have the same way to make fun of her "lisp." The plot itself is typical BSC style, but the execution of this book left much to be desired.
July 28, 2025
Pure nostalgia here. I needed a summer camp book and this was the first thing to come to mind. I had a lot of fun reading this. I enjoyed everyone’s storylines and might need to watch the parent trap now.
July 26, 2017
This was always my favorite super special. Even twenty some years later it holds up.
February 13, 2019
I'm relieved that this super special met expectations after the first one bored me to tears. Camp+BSC= happy nostalgia.
What is that Meatballs movie that was referenced 100x?
What is that Meatballs movie that was referenced 100x?
July 18, 2019
So Nostalgic! For a 90s book holds up pretty well in terms of diversity and worldview. I would still recommend young girls to read this series!!
June 16, 2021
I only read this because I had some time and Worst Bestsellers is covering it next week. Whew. These books haven't aged great? But still a fun trip down memory lane.
February 19, 2025
On a nostalgia kick after digging these books out of my attic. #sorrynotsorry
June 1, 2020
Gosh these are such a perfect absurd nostalgia balm right now. I bought like 8 Super Specials so I'm going to keep going. New Netflix show in July!!!
Read
February 12, 2020I liked this book a lot! I think the theme is friends before boys. I would definitely recommend it!
September 19, 2019
So Dawn tapes "The Parent Trap" off of TV (my all-time favorite movie btw and no I am not talking about that Lindsay Lohan monstrosity (okay it's not really that bad lol)) and makes the BSCers watch it every time they come over to her house. After the 5 millionth time, they decide "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we got to go to camp?" And *tada*....the BSCers are going to Camp Mohawk along with nearly every kid in Stoneybrook. I can only imagine the hijinks the adults got up to for those 2 weeks hah!
The BSCers are too young to be camp counselors and too old to be regular campers, so they end up being CITs (Counselors in Training). Except Jessi & Mallory, they weasel their way into becoming Junior CITs, which basically means they act all privileged and make their fellow cabin-mates hate them. Seriously, I would have made fun of them too. I mean, not the racist calling them Oreos crap, but Mallory makes them matching armbands. Yeah I would have snickered at that.
I feel like I'm kind of all over the place with this review already, sorry about that! I'm just gonna go with it though okay? Okay! So Stacey gets dragged to camp too from the wonderful, fabulous, too posh for words New York City and she decides to make a journal of her 2 weeks there and forces all her friends to write for it too, including Logan. Poor Logan. He's never going to get initiated into that street gang if he has to deal with crap like writing in a diary and getting mushy love letters from his girlfriend across Lake DemiDonkey. (Not the real name, but my favorite mispronunciation)
Stacey actually ends up loving camp even though she spends half her time in the infirmary. Don't worry, her diabetes is totally manageable and under control! (I know you were worried right?) But she's stupid enough to sit in a pile of poison ivy so she has a huge itchy rash all over her body. On top of that she's got mosquito bites, pinkeye, a scaly patch of impetigo around her mouth and a cold. Yeah. Way to take care of yourself Stace, that's really going to encourage your parents to let you go anywhere alone. Luckily, she does not have the plague, Lyme disease, dyspepsia, chicken pox or allergies. Woo.
More fun bits:
Mary Anne almost gets her ears pierced to prove she's as cool as her fellow CITs but doesn't thank goodness, because her dad would have probably sent her to a convent after that. She also tries to sneak over to the boys' side of camp to see Logan and gets caught. That convent is looking nicer and nicer huh Richard?
Dawn gets lost in the woods on a camp-out. She gets lost a lot, have you ever noticed that? I'm going to have to start keeping track of that.
Kristy loses all her Kristy Power and Confidence and lets her fellow CITers (named Tansy and Izzy) turn her into a babe for the dance. I'm not sure why she was suddenly so insecure, but it's kind of annoying.
Claudia falls in LUV with a Japanese dude, so her parents will totally approve. I didn't think her parents were the type to be all "you have to marry a Japanese dude or we will disown you". Hmm...she also writes badly misspelled postcards home, including this one to Mimi. I would think it's not a good idea to start it "Who are you" when the poor old lady is totally confused half the time anyway lol. (Also, I think I have an idea of what the next book is and I am NOT looking forward to it!!)
And Mallory & Jessi help the younger kids perform a play about "twin" white & black sisters who overcome racism through dance and jokes. This atrocity shows their cabin-mates that they were being total bigots and they apologize. But not for the armbands because that was deserved.
Blogged: SeeJennRead!
The BSCers are too young to be camp counselors and too old to be regular campers, so they end up being CITs (Counselors in Training). Except Jessi & Mallory, they weasel their way into becoming Junior CITs, which basically means they act all privileged and make their fellow cabin-mates hate them. Seriously, I would have made fun of them too. I mean, not the racist calling them Oreos crap, but Mallory makes them matching armbands. Yeah I would have snickered at that.
I feel like I'm kind of all over the place with this review already, sorry about that! I'm just gonna go with it though okay? Okay! So Stacey gets dragged to camp too from the wonderful, fabulous, too posh for words New York City and she decides to make a journal of her 2 weeks there and forces all her friends to write for it too, including Logan. Poor Logan. He's never going to get initiated into that street gang if he has to deal with crap like writing in a diary and getting mushy love letters from his girlfriend across Lake DemiDonkey. (Not the real name, but my favorite mispronunciation)
Stacey actually ends up loving camp even though she spends half her time in the infirmary. Don't worry, her diabetes is totally manageable and under control! (I know you were worried right?) But she's stupid enough to sit in a pile of poison ivy so she has a huge itchy rash all over her body. On top of that she's got mosquito bites, pinkeye, a scaly patch of impetigo around her mouth and a cold. Yeah. Way to take care of yourself Stace, that's really going to encourage your parents to let you go anywhere alone. Luckily, she does not have the plague, Lyme disease, dyspepsia, chicken pox or allergies. Woo.
More fun bits:
Mary Anne almost gets her ears pierced to prove she's as cool as her fellow CITs but doesn't thank goodness, because her dad would have probably sent her to a convent after that. She also tries to sneak over to the boys' side of camp to see Logan and gets caught. That convent is looking nicer and nicer huh Richard?
Dawn gets lost in the woods on a camp-out. She gets lost a lot, have you ever noticed that? I'm going to have to start keeping track of that.
Kristy loses all her Kristy Power and Confidence and lets her fellow CITers (named Tansy and Izzy) turn her into a babe for the dance. I'm not sure why she was suddenly so insecure, but it's kind of annoying.
Claudia falls in LUV with a Japanese dude, so her parents will totally approve. I didn't think her parents were the type to be all "you have to marry a Japanese dude or we will disown you". Hmm...she also writes badly misspelled postcards home, including this one to Mimi. I would think it's not a good idea to start it "Who are you" when the poor old lady is totally confused half the time anyway lol. (Also, I think I have an idea of what the next book is and I am NOT looking forward to it!!)
And Mallory & Jessi help the younger kids perform a play about "twin" white & black sisters who overcome racism through dance and jokes. This atrocity shows their cabin-mates that they were being total bigots and they apologize. But not for the armbands because that was deserved.
Blogged: SeeJennRead!
August 2, 2021
Baby-Sitters: Summer Vacation
Plot: After a lot of back-and-forth Stacey (who knows camp really isn’t her thing) decides to let her friends convince her to be a CIT (counselor in training) at Camp Mohawk. She decides to keep a memory book of all her and her friend’s experiences while at camp.
Stacey: Immediately when they arrive, Stacey is reunited with the BSC and Charlotte (whose crying). But before she can find out what’s wrong the camp assignments are announced. Stacey ends up having Karen in her group and two campers that are sick (one with pink eye and the other with a sore throat). She also has a girl with a lisp named Nona. She then has to straighten out an issue with being given food at dinner she can’t eat (honey biscuit, sweet potatoes). Later at a camp meeting, Mrs. Means gives them a health lecture about Lyme disease. Then they have a sing-along. Stacey sits on a bunch of leaves that later turns out to be poison ivy. Stacey also gets pink eye, a cold, impetigo, and a bitten up by mosquitos and has to stay in the infirmary for several days. The campers surprise Stacey with a Christmas in Summer later after she gets back from the infirmary.
Claudia: Claudia and Stacey catch up and she gives her an update on Mimi since the stroke. Her body has improved but her mental functions are still off. Then she’s placed in a tent Meghan and another CIT named Sally Troner. Vanessa and Haley Braddock are in her group. The other girls are Leeanne, Brandy, Jayme, and Gail. A CIT named John shows up with his two friends and Claudia can’t stop staring at one of them. It turns out the guys came to invite them to a movie night and a dance. Claudia though says she can’t wait and she just has to see that guy again. The other girls say they’ll help her find her man. Claudia’s campmates do some digging and find out the guy’s name is Will. She and he go outside during movie night and bond over both having grandmothers they’re close to (only his died.) At the marshmallow roast, they hold hands. Claudia and Will have one last night at the dance. They dance almost every dance and sneak outside again to talk. Then they have to say goodbye. Later as a surprise, the campers get Will's address for her and they continue to write back and forth.
Jessi: Jessi's cabin mates are Autumn (the counselor) Gwen (CIT), Corrine (CIT), Mandy, Maureen,
Mary and Mary, and Mallory. The other M’s tease Mal and Jessi and nickname them the “Bobbsey Twins”. Autumn tells Jessi as a special project Mrs. Means wants her to teach the 8-year-olds dance for a special program. The Mary’s come up with a nickname for Mal and Jess “Oreos”. At the first rehearsal, Jessi has Becca and Charlotte in her group and they’re both shy. All the kids aren’t particularly talented but they have fun. Jessi and Mal write a play -musical about friendship despite race and cast Charlotte and Becca as the leads. They both do great and the other campers apologize (except for Mauren).
Maryanne: Maryanne gets a cool girl named Randi as a counselor. Then she meets Faye and Julie (her sophisticated) next door CITS. The cool girls are surprised Maryanne has a boyfriend. Faye’s sister (Tara) is in their cabin and she and Margo get into it. Autumn (whose Jessi and Mal’s counselor is also their sister). Because Maryanne solves the issue (and proves Tara wrong) this doesn’t sit well with Tara. Then she and the others taunt Maryanne that she doesn’t really have a boyfriend. So, she decides to prove them wrong. So one day she writes this over-the-top letter to Logan and “accidentally” leaves it on her bed for them to find. They do and give her a map to sneak out after bed check and deliver it to him on the boy’s side of the lake. She makes it halfway across but it stopped by Ms. Means and Connie because Tara tattled on her. But it earns the respect of all the girls in her cabin. Even though the other girls respect Maryanne a little more they still try to test her. They suggest she pierce her ears, but in the end *they’re* the ones who chicken out.
Dawn: Dawn’s counselor’s name is Charlene. Her CIT’s name is Amy. The other girls in her cabin are Racheal, Sherri, Freddie, Donna, Caryn, and Heather. Heather sticks out because she’s introverted. The campers keep trying to force Heather to be social and Dawn feels sorry for her (but not to worry because the others are trying to include her). The other CIT has a family emergency and has to leave right before a nature hike and Dawn is put in charge. Dawn and her cabin mates go on a camping trip and get lost in the woods. It’s Heather who gets them through because the day before she read a camp survival guide and gets them back to camp.
Kristy: Kristy’s CITS are Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren who are her age but into wearing makeup and talking about their boyfriends. Immediately they start to make Kristy over. Kristy decides to watch over Charlotte who’s having a really hard time at camp. She gets a makeover from Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren but while she likes it she can relate to how Charlotte’s issues of not feeling like she belongs at camp. Kristy doesn’t wanna go to the dance, but Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren won’t take no for answer and they make her over and give her jewelry. She survives the dance but does a crap thing and cuts in on Will and Claudia.
My Thoughts: Out of all the camp books I’ve ever read I think this one was one of the most memorable. I think the other was an Especially for Girl’s one called Buddies. I’ll probably review that one also. This is what I thought of each. I liked Claudia’s story the best. I thought about why this was and I realized this is probably because I had a similar experience in college where a guy asked me to dance at a party and just like Claudia I fell head over heels in love, but I knew that after the party I’d never see him again. Didn’t help that we were supposed to meet and say goodbye and something (that I will never know what) happened and I never saw the guy again and all it left me with were sad memories. Why we didn’t exchange numbers or something I will also never know. All I ever got was a first name (Terrance). When I think of what could have been for my own self I just wish things would have gone differently. Claudia has *the* worst luck. She meets all these guys on vacation but we never hear about them again. And I *really* wanted her more than any of them to have something that lasted with Will. Does this series ever mention him again? Dawn’s story was the WORSE because I hated how everyone tried to force Heather “out of her shell”. It just reminds me of my 3-year-old cousin who's not at all social and how it makes me irritated how they think can “cure” him by throwing him parties he doesn’t want. And I gotta say I’m so proud of my cousin for even at the age of 3 standing out for himself and just refusing to take part in these parties by just going to his room and not coming out. This says I can show you better than I can tell you. It took me a while to find my voice in my family and he's already doing it at a young age. But Heather’s introvertedness saved all of them in the end. They all should have thanked Heather. It just amazes me how extroverts never really understand us introverts. Stacey’s story wasn’t much of a story. I might have felt a little bit sorry for Stacey in this one cause she had A LOT going on! Maybe she really shouldn’t have come to camp. Jessi and Mal’s story I thought was gonna be about the campers AGAIN being racist and I didn’t need another Hello Mallory. But Mal got some of the heat in this one. Still, sometimes it feels like Anne M Martin doesn’t know what else to do with Jessi but bring attention to the fact that she’s black, people hate her because of it, and that she can dance. Can we give her some other characteristics and qualities? Maryanne, I choose her story as the second-best because she was brave to stand up to her camp-mates and sneak out to see Logan and give him that letter. She was also brave to call their bluff. Although I don’t think I’d need to prove myself by getting an infection from some girls named Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren who have probably never pierced an ear a day in their lives. We all saw what happened to Theodore Huxtable! And then there was Kristy. It’s one thing to get a makeover and get a boost of confidence. It’s another to c-block on a friend who's dancing with someone they really like. It was probably plenty of boys to choose from at that camp that were CITS. And you know your friend doesn’t have much time with the guy. Even if she hadn’t talked to Claudia, she could definitely see they weren’t into each other as just friends.
Rating: 7
Plot: After a lot of back-and-forth Stacey (who knows camp really isn’t her thing) decides to let her friends convince her to be a CIT (counselor in training) at Camp Mohawk. She decides to keep a memory book of all her and her friend’s experiences while at camp.
Stacey: Immediately when they arrive, Stacey is reunited with the BSC and Charlotte (whose crying). But before she can find out what’s wrong the camp assignments are announced. Stacey ends up having Karen in her group and two campers that are sick (one with pink eye and the other with a sore throat). She also has a girl with a lisp named Nona. She then has to straighten out an issue with being given food at dinner she can’t eat (honey biscuit, sweet potatoes). Later at a camp meeting, Mrs. Means gives them a health lecture about Lyme disease. Then they have a sing-along. Stacey sits on a bunch of leaves that later turns out to be poison ivy. Stacey also gets pink eye, a cold, impetigo, and a bitten up by mosquitos and has to stay in the infirmary for several days. The campers surprise Stacey with a Christmas in Summer later after she gets back from the infirmary.
Claudia: Claudia and Stacey catch up and she gives her an update on Mimi since the stroke. Her body has improved but her mental functions are still off. Then she’s placed in a tent Meghan and another CIT named Sally Troner. Vanessa and Haley Braddock are in her group. The other girls are Leeanne, Brandy, Jayme, and Gail. A CIT named John shows up with his two friends and Claudia can’t stop staring at one of them. It turns out the guys came to invite them to a movie night and a dance. Claudia though says she can’t wait and she just has to see that guy again. The other girls say they’ll help her find her man. Claudia’s campmates do some digging and find out the guy’s name is Will. She and he go outside during movie night and bond over both having grandmothers they’re close to (only his died.) At the marshmallow roast, they hold hands. Claudia and Will have one last night at the dance. They dance almost every dance and sneak outside again to talk. Then they have to say goodbye. Later as a surprise, the campers get Will's address for her and they continue to write back and forth.
Jessi: Jessi's cabin mates are Autumn (the counselor) Gwen (CIT), Corrine (CIT), Mandy, Maureen,
Mary and Mary, and Mallory. The other M’s tease Mal and Jessi and nickname them the “Bobbsey Twins”. Autumn tells Jessi as a special project Mrs. Means wants her to teach the 8-year-olds dance for a special program. The Mary’s come up with a nickname for Mal and Jess “Oreos”. At the first rehearsal, Jessi has Becca and Charlotte in her group and they’re both shy. All the kids aren’t particularly talented but they have fun. Jessi and Mal write a play -musical about friendship despite race and cast Charlotte and Becca as the leads. They both do great and the other campers apologize (except for Mauren).
Maryanne: Maryanne gets a cool girl named Randi as a counselor. Then she meets Faye and Julie (her sophisticated) next door CITS. The cool girls are surprised Maryanne has a boyfriend. Faye’s sister (Tara) is in their cabin and she and Margo get into it. Autumn (whose Jessi and Mal’s counselor is also their sister). Because Maryanne solves the issue (and proves Tara wrong) this doesn’t sit well with Tara. Then she and the others taunt Maryanne that she doesn’t really have a boyfriend. So, she decides to prove them wrong. So one day she writes this over-the-top letter to Logan and “accidentally” leaves it on her bed for them to find. They do and give her a map to sneak out after bed check and deliver it to him on the boy’s side of the lake. She makes it halfway across but it stopped by Ms. Means and Connie because Tara tattled on her. But it earns the respect of all the girls in her cabin. Even though the other girls respect Maryanne a little more they still try to test her. They suggest she pierce her ears, but in the end *they’re* the ones who chicken out.
Dawn: Dawn’s counselor’s name is Charlene. Her CIT’s name is Amy. The other girls in her cabin are Racheal, Sherri, Freddie, Donna, Caryn, and Heather. Heather sticks out because she’s introverted. The campers keep trying to force Heather to be social and Dawn feels sorry for her (but not to worry because the others are trying to include her). The other CIT has a family emergency and has to leave right before a nature hike and Dawn is put in charge. Dawn and her cabin mates go on a camping trip and get lost in the woods. It’s Heather who gets them through because the day before she read a camp survival guide and gets them back to camp.
Kristy: Kristy’s CITS are Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren who are her age but into wearing makeup and talking about their boyfriends. Immediately they start to make Kristy over. Kristy decides to watch over Charlotte who’s having a really hard time at camp. She gets a makeover from Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren but while she likes it she can relate to how Charlotte’s issues of not feeling like she belongs at camp. Kristy doesn’t wanna go to the dance, but Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren won’t take no for answer and they make her over and give her jewelry. She survives the dance but does a crap thing and cuts in on Will and Claudia.
My Thoughts: Out of all the camp books I’ve ever read I think this one was one of the most memorable. I think the other was an Especially for Girl’s one called Buddies. I’ll probably review that one also. This is what I thought of each. I liked Claudia’s story the best. I thought about why this was and I realized this is probably because I had a similar experience in college where a guy asked me to dance at a party and just like Claudia I fell head over heels in love, but I knew that after the party I’d never see him again. Didn’t help that we were supposed to meet and say goodbye and something (that I will never know what) happened and I never saw the guy again and all it left me with were sad memories. Why we didn’t exchange numbers or something I will also never know. All I ever got was a first name (Terrance). When I think of what could have been for my own self I just wish things would have gone differently. Claudia has *the* worst luck. She meets all these guys on vacation but we never hear about them again. And I *really* wanted her more than any of them to have something that lasted with Will. Does this series ever mention him again? Dawn’s story was the WORSE because I hated how everyone tried to force Heather “out of her shell”. It just reminds me of my 3-year-old cousin who's not at all social and how it makes me irritated how they think can “cure” him by throwing him parties he doesn’t want. And I gotta say I’m so proud of my cousin for even at the age of 3 standing out for himself and just refusing to take part in these parties by just going to his room and not coming out. This says I can show you better than I can tell you. It took me a while to find my voice in my family and he's already doing it at a young age. But Heather’s introvertedness saved all of them in the end. They all should have thanked Heather. It just amazes me how extroverts never really understand us introverts. Stacey’s story wasn’t much of a story. I might have felt a little bit sorry for Stacey in this one cause she had A LOT going on! Maybe she really shouldn’t have come to camp. Jessi and Mal’s story I thought was gonna be about the campers AGAIN being racist and I didn’t need another Hello Mallory. But Mal got some of the heat in this one. Still, sometimes it feels like Anne M Martin doesn’t know what else to do with Jessi but bring attention to the fact that she’s black, people hate her because of it, and that she can dance. Can we give her some other characteristics and qualities? Maryanne, I choose her story as the second-best because she was brave to stand up to her camp-mates and sneak out to see Logan and give him that letter. She was also brave to call their bluff. Although I don’t think I’d need to prove myself by getting an infection from some girls named Izzy, Tansy, and Lauren who have probably never pierced an ear a day in their lives. We all saw what happened to Theodore Huxtable! And then there was Kristy. It’s one thing to get a makeover and get a boost of confidence. It’s another to c-block on a friend who's dancing with someone they really like. It was probably plenty of boys to choose from at that camp that were CITS. And you know your friend doesn’t have much time with the guy. Even if she hadn’t talked to Claudia, she could definitely see they weren’t into each other as just friends.
Rating: 7
July 22, 2016
This super-special volume involved a sleepaway camp where the Baby-Sitters Club applied to become counselors-in-training. Of course, camp is a great place to meet boys and be goofballs, so there's a lot of that. It's all in a pretend diary that's Stacey's idea, so the perspective shifts around.
I remember liking this one for some reason--I liked the descriptions of camp and the way each cabin sort of developed its own little ecosystem. I'm probably giving it more credit than it had on its own, because I read it long before writing it up (try about 20 years before), but it was neat to see the babysitters get split up and try to interact with a new crowd in each bunk.
Stacey got sick a bunch and Kristy deals with a homesick camper and irritating other counselors who want to make her more girly and push her into wearing makeup. (I seem to remember Kristy at the dance at the end all gussied up, and Logan's POV discusses not recognizing her because of "makeup or some other girl thing." Okay?) Mary Anne tries to impress the other counselors in her bunk by talking about her boyfriend, but they don't believe she has one, so some weird plot develops about her sneaking a love note to him on the other side of the lake and getting caught. She's also talked into piercing her ears (unprofessionally, with ice and a sewing needle, which grossed me out horribly as a kid), but she backs out so I guess she just isn't cool. Claudia exchanges addresses with a dude she attended some dance with, and there's this plot about how they're both Japanese. And Dawn gets lost in the woods with her campers, which was probably the scariest storyline to me because I hate being lost.
Oh yes, and Mallory and Jessi get to go . . . which is weird because they're not really old enough to be counselors-in-training but they don't want to be left out so they're counselors-in-training-in-training. Urgh. Because Jessi plots usually can't exist without racism, there's racism. It made me wonder if there are ever any black people anywhere in this story except for Jessi.
I remember liking this one for some reason--I liked the descriptions of camp and the way each cabin sort of developed its own little ecosystem. I'm probably giving it more credit than it had on its own, because I read it long before writing it up (try about 20 years before), but it was neat to see the babysitters get split up and try to interact with a new crowd in each bunk.
Stacey got sick a bunch and Kristy deals with a homesick camper and irritating other counselors who want to make her more girly and push her into wearing makeup. (I seem to remember Kristy at the dance at the end all gussied up, and Logan's POV discusses not recognizing her because of "makeup or some other girl thing." Okay?) Mary Anne tries to impress the other counselors in her bunk by talking about her boyfriend, but they don't believe she has one, so some weird plot develops about her sneaking a love note to him on the other side of the lake and getting caught. She's also talked into piercing her ears (unprofessionally, with ice and a sewing needle, which grossed me out horribly as a kid), but she backs out so I guess she just isn't cool. Claudia exchanges addresses with a dude she attended some dance with, and there's this plot about how they're both Japanese. And Dawn gets lost in the woods with her campers, which was probably the scariest storyline to me because I hate being lost.
Oh yes, and Mallory and Jessi get to go . . . which is weird because they're not really old enough to be counselors-in-training but they don't want to be left out so they're counselors-in-training-in-training. Urgh. Because Jessi plots usually can't exist without racism, there's racism. It made me wonder if there are ever any black people anywhere in this story except for Jessi.
August 28, 2016
The babysitters are off to camp, flexing their sitting skills as counselors in training (importantly referred to as CITs). Since the girls are split up and can no longer rely on their camaraderie to get them through everything, each girl has her own experience blending in with the mini-culture of her cabin, and each has to take care of campers and have her own adventure. Kristy is frustrated by "girl culture," Mary Anne has to prove she has a boyfriend, Claudia meets a guy who's Japanese like her, Stacy gets sick, Dawn gets lost with campers in tow. And the dance with the boys' camp across the lake is coming, whether they're ready or not!
This was a decent departure from the rest of the series, partly because each babysitter gets to have a new experience and tries out her personality with other characters. Happily, the babysitting angle isn't forced at all; as counselors in training, they of course would be watching children, and that actually seems like the kind of thing girls like them WOULD do at camp--not to mention "going to summer camp" is nowhere near as straining of credibility as the first Super-Special, in which a family of ten won an extravagant cruise and the rich stepdaddy popped up to buy tickets for everyone else so we could have a plot. And even though some of their adventures are one-dimensional, the whole thing has a fun atmosphere to it. I liked the cabins' miniature cultures and how each of them dealt with mean girls. I was sort of irritated that yet again Jessi appears to be the only person in the world who is black. If Jessi's there, we have a racism sub-plot, period.
This was a decent departure from the rest of the series, partly because each babysitter gets to have a new experience and tries out her personality with other characters. Happily, the babysitting angle isn't forced at all; as counselors in training, they of course would be watching children, and that actually seems like the kind of thing girls like them WOULD do at camp--not to mention "going to summer camp" is nowhere near as straining of credibility as the first Super-Special, in which a family of ten won an extravagant cruise and the rich stepdaddy popped up to buy tickets for everyone else so we could have a plot. And even though some of their adventures are one-dimensional, the whole thing has a fun atmosphere to it. I liked the cabins' miniature cultures and how each of them dealt with mean girls. I was sort of irritated that yet again Jessi appears to be the only person in the world who is black. If Jessi's there, we have a racism sub-plot, period.
January 23, 2022
Second special edition - which basically mean they all narrate the story rather than one person, and it is generally about 50% longer than a normal book.
This one is that American thing of going to camp and doing all sorts of whatever things over the length of the camp.
There was a bit of romance in the story and the normal typical things you would expect.
It was all engaging, b ut at the same time the tragedy of BSC is evident in that you know they are never getting older, and that is the worst part of the series, the natural growth and development of the characters is stunted because some moronic publisher decided they needed to be perpetually the same age, if they were allowed to age then the story lines could have expanded, the audience could have grown with the characters, and new characters could have been introduced and BSC could have changed, to eventually have children of the original members running it - anyway it was all a wasted opportunity!
This one is that American thing of going to camp and doing all sorts of whatever things over the length of the camp.
There was a bit of romance in the story and the normal typical things you would expect.
It was all engaging, b ut at the same time the tragedy of BSC is evident in that you know they are never getting older, and that is the worst part of the series, the natural growth and development of the characters is stunted because some moronic publisher decided they needed to be perpetually the same age, if they were allowed to age then the story lines could have expanded, the audience could have grown with the characters, and new characters could have been introduced and BSC could have changed, to eventually have children of the original members running it - anyway it was all a wasted opportunity!
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