Jessi and the Dance School Phantom

The Baby-Sitters Club #42

by Ann M. Martin

Naturally, Jessi is thrilled when she earns the lead in her dance school's latest ballet. But someone in Jessi's class wants her out of the show.

First Jessi's toe shoes are stolen. Then she gets all kinds of threatening messages!

What kind of ballerina would want to scare Jessi? The Baby-sitters don't know, but they're not going to let anyone get away with it for long!

Genres: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Juvenile

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

Ann 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...

Reviews

[Hester Rathbone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel almost embarrassed admitting this but every now and then, when I'm tired of reading my "adult" books or I'm just not feeling the books on my bedside table, I'll wander over to the stack of paperbacks that I have up for trade on PaperbackSwap.com and pull off one of those to read. Nearly all of them are BSC books. I grew up reading these stories and loving these characters. I've read almost the entire series and amassed quite a collection of books over the years. After going to the ballet with Mom this weekend, I just kept thinking of this particular book in the series and needing me some Jessi. The thing I love most about these books as an adult is that i can read them in under an hour. They're popcorn books, just a few bites and it's gone. Try saying that about Game of Thrones!

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

jessi lands the lead role of princess aurora in her dance school's production of "sleeping beauty". of course she does. because she's just that good. even though she's eleven years old. at the first rehearsal (which seems to be just jessi's regular dance class, with all her regular classmates, but they're studying the steps to the dance instead of general form & practice--i don't understand), jessi's toe shoes go missing. she has to slink into the studio barefoot, but she can't even really practice without the shoes. madam noelle makes the whole class go back into the locker room to look for the shoes. they turn up in jessi's bag, even though she had turned the whole thing inside out & they definitely weren't there before. she is distracted throughout class & doesn't dance as well as she usually does. after class, a note has been shoved into the laces of her sneakers. it says, "beware" in somewhat creepy red lettering.

stuff keeps happening. jessi brings a whole spare outfit to her next rehearsal, & when she goes to the locker room to change back into her street clothes after class, her spare outfit is missing. there's another menacing note. in another class, jessi slips in some spilled water & hurts her ankle. in another class, a piece of scenery almost falls on her. after another class, her missing leotard is returned, but cut to shreds. in another class, someone leaves a rose in her bag, & jessi cuts herself on a thorn. such forth & so on. jessi doesn't want to complain about any of it to madame noelle (even though she really SHOULD) because madame hates whiners & complainers. she wants to figure out who the guilty party is & then take them to madame. she also doesn't tell her parents or discuss it with anyone in her class.

she does tell the other babysitters though, & they sneak into a rehearsal to take notes on how the other girls treat jessi. this helps jessi narrow down the suspects to three: katie beth, with whom jessi has always struggled to get along; hilary, whose mother pushes her to take ballet; & carrie, who is aging out of their class & needs good credits on her dance resume in order to find a place at another ballet school. jessi tries to keep an eye on each suspect in the classes that follow.

one day katie beth is absent when jessi gets a note. that eliminates her as a suspect. then carrie does something to eliminate herself as a suspect (i can't remember what it is, even though i just read this book--not even fir the first time--yesterday). that leaves hilary. after a lot of brainstorming & crummy ideas, jessi decides to ask hilary to write a sign, supposedly for madame noelle. hilary gets out a red calligraphy pen, & her lettering matches the lettering on the threatening notes. because hilary is a fucking idiot. jessi busts her & hilary confesses. she says her mother pushes her to do ballet & it was hard for hilary to see jessi get the awesome princess aurora part. she was trying to scare jessi into relinquishing the part so she could have another shot at auditioning for it. jessi agrees not to turn hilary in as long as hilary stops her tricks. dress rehearsal & the big performance go off without a hitch, & hilary decides to give up ballet.

the B-plot was some awful nightmare-ishness with a pet show. kids were arguing with their siblings over who got to enter their pets, kids without pets were sulking, kids with kind of crappy pets were convinced they couldn't compete with awesome pets...but eventually the babysitters decide to create awards so every pet won a prize, & the kids worked it out amongst themselves to make sure that everyone who wanted to enter a pet had a pet to enter. it was really tedious...though it was nice to see the children of stoneybrook acting like real children for once.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

For (I think) my eighth birthday, I got a pack of Baby-sitters Little Sister books, and I LOVED THEM. The Karen books were my favourite ever, and I obsessively collected and read them. I'm guessing this is how I came to own my first two Baby-sitters Club books, some well-meaning but ultimately misguided soul got me a couple of the BSC series, and the rest is history.

Out of the two BSC books I owned (this one and the next, Stacey's Emergency ), I don't really know which one I read first. The obsessive in me would have started numerically, so this one. But the big weenie in me would have tried to avoid the spooky phantom, sending the ballerina creepy "Beware" notes. Too scary for me. (I vaguely remember WHY I started reading these books though: I had run out of things to read, and had reread Karen so many times I was a little bored!)

So I feel quite nostalgic about Jessi and the Dance School Phantom. The story is one of the BSC that I've read the most over the years, so Jessi's troubles with her dance classmates is almost as familiar as Kristy's Great Idea has become. I also enjoy the pet show subplot, though hearing the kids fight and mope over their pets gets to be a little trying. (Especially when all I want is more ballet drama!)

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't we already have this storyline? Jessi gets the lead in the ballet and someone is threatened by her talent? Are we already out of fresh plots and starting to repeat? I hope not! At the end of class, Jessi finds out she will be playing Princess Aurora and all the other girls are jealous. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "My god, these are awful things, someone could get (even more) seriously hurt. I hope Jessi calls on her baby-sitting friends to help her solve this mystery and absolutely does NOT involve any grownups." Read my full review here, plus see what Stacey & Claudia wear to the ballet!

[Alison Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dang, this was like G-rated Black Swan.

A fine entry in the BSC series. I usually enjoy Jessi's books because she's pretty level-headed and grown-up for her age, and it's fun to "watch" her doing the ballet moves and such (even if I wish the author didn't feel the need to write the teacher's French accent in phonetically all zee time). I also thought that the way she tried to figure out who was the one sabotaging her stuff and leaving the creepy notes was pretty realistic, including her paranoia about basically every girl in the class. I did think the way she caught the person was a bit silly, because Hilary probably would've been like "Why doesn't the janitor just use one of those plastic signs to warn people of the wet floor" and also would she really have been dumb enough to use the same very distinctive pen right in front of Jessi? But I suppose for a book aimed at middle-schoolers, it's fine to be a little simplistic about it.

The pet show side plot was annoying, but the side plots in BSC books usually are! Otherwise this was fine, and it also made me glad I did tap dance as a girl and not ballet, because ballet girls seem like some catty little jerks.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this at my parents house and loved rereading for nostalgia’s sake.

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is my first time reading this book!

in the primary (terrible) plotline of this book, ghost-written by ellen miles, jessi once again gets the starring role in her school's upcoming ballet performance, and once again the other girls are upset about it. seriously, this is tired already. anyway, someone keeps trying to sabotage her ability to perform. turns out that it's exactly who she suspects and nothing interesting or mysterious really happens. in the secondary (terrible) plotline of this book, the bsc decide to host a pet show which leads to most of the kids fighting with each other about who gets to present which pet, who has the best pets, etc. jessi solves this problem by having the ASTONISHINGLY OBVIOUS idea to award tailor-made prizes to every pet.

highlights:
-mr. ramsey is so happy for jessi that he almost crashes into a car grinning at her and high fiving her. I love it when the adults in this series are more irresponsible than the baby-sitters.
-becca says, "do you really have to kiss a boy? I'd rather kiss misty any day!" misty is their hamster. LOL.
-jessi talks to herself in the mirror as she passes it after she gets cast as aurora in the sleeping beauty ballet: "hey aurora! what's new?" double LOL.
-claudia and dawn holler at a cute guy on the street thinking he can't hear bc the car window is up but he totally hears and it is funny. they get real embarrassed.
-boo-boo the jerky cat is nice to max delaney, so max presents him in the pet show. he sits in max's arms and purrs up a storm. cute!
-matt and haley braddock want to be involved but don't have any pets, so they go around with signs saying that they are willing to play with other kids' pets if they need a break. cute and enterprising -- maybe they are future bsc members!

lowlights/nitpicks:
-re: karen and andrew's stepdad's dog: "he is cute and smart, but he is definitely a mutt." -- as though purebred/inbred dogs are any better than mutts. barf.
-there is a reference to karen getting married to a boy in her class. I thought they split up? that was what we were told in Mary Anne vs. Logan.
-carrie (ballet studio) obviously told jessi to do the wrong step on purpose, so it's kind of amazing to me that she didn't end up being the one who was doing all the bad stuff all along. really that whole storyline was just so weak, and I could barely even remember which girl was which.
-WHY OH WHY DID THE BSC MEMBERS NOT ALREADY SUGGEST HAVING PRIZES FOR EVERYONE? OBVIOUSLY that's what they should do.
-mallory says to marnie barrett, "sweetie, that was a close one." she does not sound like an 11 year old talking to a toddler that she is baby sitting for. she sounds like a mom, or a middle-aged lady talking to her husband, or something.
-jessi says, "mme noelle told me that I was magnifique that day. that's 'magnificent' in french." REALLY? oh thank you jessi for translating this super complicated french. you're making me think of klaus from himym.
-they make fun of bess from the nancy drew series for being chubby. seriously between this and mary anne's extremely fatphobic comments in Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation I am tired of this crap.

claudia outfit:
-"Her hair was braided with silver ribbons, and she wore a shimmery dark blue minidress. On her feet were silver sandals, with laces up to the calves -- kind of like toe shoes."

stacey outfit:
-"Stacey had on a tuxedo! That's right, a tuxedo, just like one a boy would wear. But it was made to fit her perfectly, and she looked great. She must have gotten it in New York."
(note: this tuxedo almost brought this up to two stars for me. you're a badass, stacey.)

no snacks in claudia's room.

[Swankivy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another mystery with contrived happenings. Jessi gets a great part in the ballet show again and all of a sudden she's on the receiving end of mean pranks and evil notes. She has this strange perception that her ballet teacher would just think she's a whiner if she were to, oh, report that she's getting NOTES THAT SAY "BEWARE" WRITTEN IN BLOOD-RED INK and HER DANCE OUTFIT RETURNED TO HER CUT TO PIECES, so she sets about figuring out the mystery on her own (with her Nancy Drew wannabe friends, the babysitters). Dumb coincidences narrow down the suspects to one person, whom Jessi tests by asking her to write something and for no apparent reason the suspected evil prankster pulls out a pen that is clearly the same red pen she's been writing the notes with. Good idea--pull that out in front of Jessi when you know you've been terrorizing her. This is part of why I hate mysteries when they're written poorly: someone always makes a mistake that gives them away and it's utterly unbelievable. This of course leads to a confession and Jessi is allowed to keep on being awesome while this girl quits ballet.

And it couldn't be Baby-Sitters Club without babysitting, so there's a babysitting-charges-of-the-neighborhood-having-a-pet-show plot. Some kids feel left out or feel like it's unfair for whatever reason, so the babysitters make sure everyone gets a prize--as if the kids wouldn't notice. I dislike pet stories almost as much as I dislike mysteries, so this book was terrible for me. (I guess a believable plot could have saved it, though.)

[V. Arrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like it's CONSPICUOUS that no one mentioned racism as the reason behind Jessi being targeted.

[Tiffany Spencer]

Jessi and the Dance School Phantom
Jessi’s dance school is putting on a big production of Sleeping Beauty and she’s going out for the lead role. When the book opens she’s at the final audition. Jessi compliments Katie Beth. Katie Beth thanks her but it’s done suspiciously. Katie then complains about their uniforms. Then Jessi goes on talk about the uniforms and a girl named Hilary who has a stage mom. Madame Noelle tells them they all did well and to go change. She’ll give her decession in a few. Hilary says she hopes she gets the lead. The other girls say they hope she doesn’t or her mom will be there all the time. The minor parts are given out and then Jesi’s name is called to play the lead role. Madame uses a French term that means Jessi has that special something.

Jessi dad picks her up and she drags it out but can’t hold her news in. She tells her family as soon as she gets home and they celebrate that night with ice cream. Then she tells them the story of Sleeping Beauty. At her first rehersal, Jessi notices her toe shoes are missing and she has NEVER not packed something she needs to dance. Mary says she’d let her borrow some but her spares are at home. Jessi tho couldn’t dance in someone elses shoes. Hers are unique. She even has a ritual to break them in. Jessi has spares but they’re at home. So, she has to walk out in bare feet. Of course, Madame notices. She goes with Jessi back to the dressing room to look again. She scolds the girls when she sees how messy the dressing room is that maybe if they were neater they wouldn’t lose things. The only thing in Jessi’s bag is her high tops. Madame just gives her a look of disappointment. Jessi has to do the warm up bare foot. Madame isn’t pleased and cancels the rehearsal. They decide to look one more time. Katie Beth finds them and says they were in her bag the whole time. RIIIGHT!!

Then they start to rehearse. Jessi isn’t focused now and gets scolded by Madame whose become even more impatient with Jessi. But at the end of rehearsal she gives Jessi a tight smile. Jessi finds a note in her bag that simply says “BEWARE” At the BSC meeting, Mrs. Perkins needs a sitter for Laura. The Perkins will be taking the other girls to Disney on Ice. Jessi then tells them about what happened at the rehersal. Kristy comes up with the idea to have a pet show (thinking of Louie) and everyone loves the idea. Kristy says they can have it in Dawn and Maryanne’s backyard. Claudia says she’ll make invitations. Maryanne says they’ll need prize ribbons and decorations.

For the next rehersal, Jessi comes prepared. She brings an unitard, hair ties, and leg warners. She watches her stuff like a hawk. Katie Beth comments on bringing her toe shoes and Jessi gives her a dirty look. While going through the dance steps, Carrie bumps into Jesi and calls her a klutz. She bumps into Jessi again and Madame frowns at Jessi. Jessi starts to protest but doesn’t and becomes super focused on her steps. This gets Madame’s approval. After class, Jessi finds her whole extra outfit and toe shoes gone. There’s a note in her sneaker in red ink. It says WATCH YOUR STEP! When she gets home, Becca shows her the flier Claudia designed for the pet show and she is EXTREMLY excited!

Becca doesn’t think their hamster has a chance but Jessi tells her its not important. What’s important is that she’ll get to be in the show. Becca says she wishes she has a dog. All Misty will be able to do is wiggle her nose. Jessi reminds her of how thrilled she was to get Misty but Becca doesn’t seem convinced. Kristy sits for her siblings They’re all talking about the pet show. David Micheal just knows Shannon will win because she’s the biggest animal. Kristy doesn’t think it’ll be a good idea if someone in her family wins. Andrew says “Midgie” will win (his stepfathers dog whose a Mutt). Karen says he won’t he can’t do anything and Andrew doesn’t have time to teach him. Karen says her pet will win Rockie (her stepfathers cat) or Emily Jr (her rat). NOOOO! Kristy wants to know why they don’t want to enter Boo Boo and they just look at her like ARE U SERIOUS. They say Emily Michelle could enter him and Kristy says UH NO! Then hannie, Linny, Max and Amanda come by (and some boy named Timmy?) After this they all play freeze tag. After the game, they start to talk about the pet show again.

Both Max and Amanda say they’re going to enter Priscilla. Amanda says she’s going to get first prize. Hannie says her cat Pat is going to get first prize. Then they start arguing. Hannie says she *can* do a trick. She can dance on her hind legs. Then Linny says he’s going to enter Myrtle. Scott and timmy say they don’t have pets and Karen says they can borrow Boo Boo and Hannie tells Scott he can borrow Noodle. Hannie changes her mind when Karen says if Boo Boo wins she’d be mad and tells Scott he can’t borrow Noodle. They’ve gotten married recently and she told him ijust minutes ago that if Noodle was hers he was his. Kristy starts to think this might not have been such a good idea.

At the third rehersal, Jessi buys all new clothes and a ndw dance bag. It has zippers and a padlock. Jessi has to wear the key on a necklace. During class the clasp breaks and she has to snatch it before Made sees. She doesn’t approve of them waring jewelry. This makes her miss Madame Noelle’s instructions. Then she falls and hurts her ankle. It’s not sprained. Just a train. Madame Noelle tells her she was doing the wrong move. But this is the one Carrie told her they were doing. Madame tells her she has to stay off it for several days. Then she gives the role to Katie until Jessi can dance again. Madam also tells she should see a doctor. Jessi is nearly in tears when she calls her dad but then decides she’ll take a few days off and be better than ever. She finds another note by her bag that says I TOLD YOU SO FROM NOW ON WATCH OUT! And she thinks of the wet spot on the floor. Who planned her fall and why?

The doctor tells Jessi to stay off her ankle for three days, wraps it, and gives her crutches. Katie is in seventh heaven. Carrie gives Jessi looks that seem guilty to her. Hilary asks how she is. Jesi says she’ll probably be able to dance the next rehersal. Lisa says that’s great and all of a sudden Jessi doesn’t trust any of them. There’s another note. It says IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE! TOO BAD IT WASN’T! At the BEC meeting, they all talk about it. Mal suggests she talk to Madame, but Jessi says she can’t. She says she’ll think she’s making it up. Jessi then tells them maybe she should quit.Mal says she can’t let someone scare her off from the best role she’s had. Dawn asks to see the notes. Kristy says she cant give the person the satisfaction. Kristy says they can come to the rehersal and be spies. Then they talk about the pet show and Chewy’s shenanigans.

Then Kristy talks about Linny painting Myrtles shell. She wanders into the pool and it washes all off after him doing such a good job. Mal has a sitting job for the Barette’s. Buddy seems to be mad at Suzy for something. Dawn finds out Buddy wants to enter Pow in the pet show, but Suzy says *she* wants to put him in the pet show. Mal has heard this at her own house about who will put there hamster in the pet show. Msl yrlld yhrm yo eotk it out. Then she takes them outside. While they’re outside they see Haley and Matt. Then they decide to play baseball. Then they start to argue about the Barette’s dog, and Matt and Haley not having a dog, and Pow winning the pet show. Mal suggests that they can enter Pow togerher. Suzy can be over his looks. They both agree to this. When Mal gets back, the triplets have given up their claim to (Frodo?) and let Nicky enter him. Nicky says he’ll share him with vanessa, Claire, and Margo.


Jessi sneaks her friends in through the side door of the next rehersal. Rehersal goes well. Nothing happens. Nothing gets stolen. Dawn notices Katie Bell made a face when Madam says one of Jessi’s dance moves was perfect. They think Katie Beth might be sabataguing Jessi. Claudia asks why Hillary looks so worried all the time. jessi explains about her mother. Claudia says Hilarly was giving her death looks all through the rehersal. Mal says she suspects Lisa. Jessi says Lisa is nice. She’s the only one that called when she was hurt. Kristy says maybe it was just to check to see if she’d be back. Kristy suspects Carrie because this is her last dance. Kristy still thinks Katie Beth has it in for her. They all argue back and forth. They narrow it down to Katie, Hillary, and Carrie.

Nothing happens for a few rehearsals and Jessi starts to think it’s in her mind. After one rehearsal, Jessi finds her old uniform ripped to shreds. Then she gets shoved by someone unseen and gets her uniform splattered in red paint and has to buy another one. Jessi gets a rose and a note. She pricks her finger on one of it’s thorns. All three suspects are there. Carrie wants to know if Jesi has a boyfriend and teases her. She throws the rose away. The Rose Adagio dance isn’t fun after that. The note says WATCH OUT FOR THE THORNS.

Jessi tries to keep her eye on the girls. Carrie bumps into her three times during one rehearsal. Another she hears Hilary whispers mean things about her. Then Katie starts to give her funny looks. She gets another note that says GIVE UP THE ROLE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. Then YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. They make jessi angrier and angrier. One day Carrie is absent because of the flu. Jessi works hard on the movements. She finds another note TAKE A REST SLEEPING BEAUTY. So it can’t be Carrie or can it? But Jessi marks her off the list. It’s between Katie and Hilary. At another rehersal, Jessi almost gets knocked out with some stage scenery. Someone pushes her out of the way. It’s Katie Beth,

Jessi tells the BSC and Kristy says she has to set up a trap for her. Claudia says the writing is different because the phantom is using a calligraphy pen. Claudia says all she has to do is trap Hilarly into writing something. Jessi decides to tell Hilay that Madame Noelle needs a sign for the performance. Becca later comes in Jessi’s room with the same worry. Same results. Becca goes to bed still worried misty wont win a prize. Jessi comes up with a plan and tells Kristy and Mal. Jessi waits and catches Hilary alone and tells her Madame Noelle needs a sign for the janitor who spills something and she just needs it to say DANGER Her pen is a ball point. She reaches into her bag and then pulls out a red pen. She holds the sign up. It’s the same pen. Jessi cries GOTCHA and says she sent her all those notes. She says she can’t prove anything. Jessi says it obvious the writing on the sign matches the notes. Jessi says Katie pushed her out the way and then Hilary gives herself away and says she didn’t want her to get hurt. It feel by accident. Then she says not to tell. She’ll get thrown out of dance school. But Jessi says that’s why she did. She says she’ll leave her alone. No more notes. No more messing with her outfits. She then gives Jessi the pen and runs out the room. She did it turns out to get the role because of her mother’s too high expectations. Stacey, Claudia, and Dawn are the judges of the pet show. Surprisingly Max is entering Boo Boo. He seems to like him. Carrot (Charlotte’s dog goes missing) but Haley and Matt have made themselves dog handlers. Nicky has dyed Frodo with cake icing and his fur is bright green. Pow is covered in pink ribbons. Myrtle gets lost but Timmy finds her. So, he’s made the part owner. Hannie makes Scott part owner of Pat. The triplets mystery pet is Adam and Jordan in a pony suit. Each kid gets a prize based on something about the pet.

These were the prizes “Most Unsual Coloring” (Frodo) “Best Smelling” (Amanda’s cat) “Smartest” (Carrot) “Funniest” (the triplets) “Largest” (Shannon) “Nicest” (Midgie) “Prettiest Shell” (Mrytle) “Best Costume” Emily Jr. Pat “Cutest” “Shortest L:egs” (Pow). Chewy “Strongest” Misty “Best All Around Pet” Matt and Haley “Best Dog Handlers”. After the performance, Jessi gets a standing ovation and pink roses from Becca, and white roses from the BSC. Hilary tells her she’s quitting dance. Jessi tells her she’ll miss her. They all go out for ice cream. She gives Becca her toe shoes.

My Thoughts
At least the “mystery” in this one was a little better than the one in the last one about Stacey. This one at least gave a few choices for suspects and not just give something logial that really wasn’t a “mystery”. I guess I’m also glad that there was a different motive other than Jessi’s race (crazy, stage, mother). It had a little suspense.
Rating: 6

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery was pretty interesting, and I like how Jessi deduced the innocence of two out of her three suspects. I do think the clues weren't too well developed, and some of the suspects' behaviours that made Jessi no longer suspect them weren't really as strong a clue as Jessi thinks, IMHO. I do like the ballet scenes, and learning about how Sleeping Beauty was adapted as a ballet.

The B plot was meh, about the BSC putting on a pet show and the kids getting all territorial over their pets, and which pet will win. Jessi came up with a great solution (just award all the pets for different things), but wouldn't it have been easier if the BSC just removed the competitive component in the first place, and just made it like a parade of pets or some such? Also, how was it not till the halfway point that anyone thought of letting siblings co-present pets?

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been going through a little bit of a BSC slump the past couple of weeks, but I liked this one a lot. First off, I don't think the BSC itself is mentioned until the second chapter, which is pretty neat--it sets up the story so much better than the "let me describe myself" first chapters usually do. I enjoyed the plot--even though the side plot was a little silly and obvious--and while I really enjoyed getting to know Jessi and her ballet class a little better, I did miss the other babysitters. (Also, side note, as an adult...why the hell didn't she tell an adult about this??? Especially if you thought someone was trying to seriously maim you.)

[Jennifer Maloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh I really liked this one. I think I’ve read it before, but I forgot who the phantom was, so that was a fun mystery. 🩰 I really enjoyed all the ballet stuff in general though, and the ending of the story made me cry!

In this book we also have a pet show. So that was silly and fun. I did think it was dumb at the end that they decided that everyone should get a prize. Like, come on man. That’s a horrible idea. Mild adversity is good for kids. Helps build their ability to handle frustration. Do we want them to grow up to be a generation of snowflakes? Oh wait… too late for that… 😝

[✨Jordan✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jessi LOVES ballet. During one of her classes she auditions for the lead role in “The Sleeping Beauty” and gets chosen! Not everyone in her class is so excited for her though. Over the course of a few weeks someone is leaving Jessi threatening notes and stealing her clothes and shoes trying to sabotage her spot as a lead performer. Can she figure out who it is and stop them before it’s too late? Also the babysitters club puts on a pet show for all the neighborhood kids! Dogs, cats, hamster, you name it. Did they bite off more than they can chew though?

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mystery, but I wish worried Jessi would’ve told someone or at least made the culprit tell. There were also great outfits:

pg. 28: jeans, red sweater, and red high-tops (Jessi)

pg. 156: tuxedo (Stacey)
pink jumpsuit (Mary Anne)

pg. 157: ruffly pink party dress (Becca)

I think I might read more Jessi books that aren’t about ballet because I don’t think this mystery is for me.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this and several other books preceding it in the series, things are being done to one of the babysitters that they feel they can't tell others about, or that others don't believe them about or downplay. Interspersed are a couple books in which the babysitters are steamrolled by domineering boys in romantic or quasi romantic contexts. It's hard to say how much of that pattern is intentional, but it does provide an interesting meta narrative...

[Cassandra Doon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.

[lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, eleven year old Jessi beats out older, more experienced dancers to take the lead in Sleeping Beauty. Only this time she receives threatening notes, and experiences vandalism of her things. Why should she bother telling her ballet school and parents when the BSC is on the case? I read this when I was nine and I loved it.

Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
This was one of the BSC books I read a lot as a kid, so I remember it pretty well. Part of the reason why I liked this book is because I LOVED the Sleeping Beauty ballet. I saw it three times when I was little, and I listened to the music (with Clare Bloom narrating the story) on a tape until my mom hid it from me. I totally remember being nine years old, standing in my parent's living room, and struggling so hard to hold an arabesque (which I really couldn't do) as long as the ballerina performing the Rose Adagio does. At the time I read this I was taking ballet classes twice a week, so reading the "behind the scenes" aspect of practicing for the ballet was interesting to me. As a kid I didn't think the mystery was stupid or dangerous.

I could not understand why the BSC didn't come up with the "everyone wins" prize idea for their stupid pet show in the first five minutes of the book. Duh.


Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Once again, I do not understand how an eleven year old ended up with the part of Princess Aurora when she's only been en pointe for a year AT BEST. I also don't understand why one ballet teacher from one class is picking all the parts herself. The few ballets I danced in had four different teachers watching the audition, and they made the decision together. I can't believe that in a performance like this there wasn't an understudy chosen for the main parts. Also, in the other books that talk about Jessi's ballet classes there is piano player mentioned, but in this book there is no piano player, and Jessi's teacher operates a record player.

I hadn't realized the subplot of having a pet show for the BSC charges was in this book, and it was so incredibly boring that I skimmed over it as fast as I could. I guess this was the beginning of the BSC randomly planning things for the kids they sit for because they felt like there just wasn't enough excitement in Stoneybrook. It's also probably why the decided to never tell adults anything sinister that happened to them.

Since this is the book immediately following Mary Anne and Logan's break-up I thought it was interesting to note that 1) Logan is still an associate member of the BSC, at least according to Jessi, and 2) that, also according to Jessi who may, or may not know what she is talking about, "He and Mary Anne are still good friends by the way." By the time Mary Anne Misses Logan comes along four books from now, they aren't speaking and things between them are incredibly awkward.

As an adult the "mystery" part of this book drove me crazy. The notes Jessi gets sound increasingly threatening and scary, as do the things that happen to her. I can see dismissing a note that says "Beware" and I can see dismissing misplacing your things in a locker room. But when you are getting notes that say things like "From now on watch out" and "It could have been worse, too bad it wasn't" after you've been hurt pretty badly, and after some heavy scenery almost kills you, and your clothes are shredded up, I would be telling every adult I know. Jessi doesn't want to do this because she thinks her teacher wouldn't believe such things were going on in her school. But her teacher is a former ballerina who knows first hand how cutthroat ballet dancers are. Also, Jessi has the notes, and the cut up clothing as proof. Also, Jessi's focus is clearly not focused on her dancing, and she is so distracted that the teacher notices and asks if anything is wrong. She actually tells Jessi "If something is bothering you, please speak to me of it." Why, WHY doesn't Jessi speak up? I know she doesn't want to cause trouble, or be a drama queen, but come on! Things are clearly getting out of control.

After Jessi figures out that it's Hilary who is torturing her she doesn't turn her in, even though Hilary is clearly a disturbed person. Hilary ends up leaving the ballet school of her own will, so I guess it ends up ok for Jessi, but what if she had stayed in the class? Would Jessi have been comfortable knowing what Hilary had done to her? Would Hilary be comfortable knowing that Jessi knows what she did to her? Also, why would you believe that the girl who has been harassing you for weeks wouldn't pull some trick during any one of the ballet performances? If she takes joy in someone hurting her ankle so badly that she can't dance for awhile, then whose to say she wouldn't hurt her during a performance, or steal her costume or something? I do not understand why Hilary does not face any consequences for her actions, especially because the things she does are psychologically disturbing. Her actions upset Jessi so much that she no longer enjoys dancing in the Rose Adagio. She acts like she's sorry, but does she really understand the harm she's done?

[Hallie]

Yet another book where one of these children should have told an adult about the literal threats they were getting. At one point, Jessi legit thinks she might be murdered. But it's fine...don't tell anyone, this is totally normal.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. I love Jessi centric stories but this one wasn’t my favorite. Still really fun though and I always enjoy reading about her doing ballet. The other girls are not really in it and the plot wasn’t that interesting but Jessi is such a lovable character and I had fun reading this.

[Isabel Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Baby sitters club. I love dancing and Jessi ramsey. I love watching Jessi solve the crime and found out who is sending her misterous notes and trying to make her fail in her role as Princess Auroa in sleeping beauty. Absolute must read

[Jane Fujiwara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate how this was resolved. I think Jessi should have told the teacher earlier. But oh well. And also maybe too much to cram the pet show into this book as well.

Also anyone else get the Center Stage vibes?
“You didn’t have the feet, I don’t have the heart.”

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yet another Jessi book that is super boring and that centers around her only real character trait: ballet.

Yawn. Let's move on now.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took ballet for 9 years as a kid, so I always loved reading the ballet-themed Jessi books and living vicariously through her. So of course, I loved re-reading this one now.

[Sarah Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Babysitters club 42

I love this book. It is awesome. I have always loved dancing. I totally recommend this amazing, great, cool book.

[Christina]

Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...

[Lianna Kendig · Rating 4 out of 5]

(LL)
This was a fun mystery, apart from a few cliche or unrealistic moments, as it was actually a mystery this time.
Good story that does a good job tackling: competition and over the top parents.

[Zelda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. It was a really good book. I liked reading about her rehearsals.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book jampacked with ballet, it wasn't as boring as other Jessi books jampacked with ballet.