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The Baby-Sitters Club #57
Dawn Saves the Planet
Worried about the fate of the planet, environmentally conscious Dawn makes plans to construct a recycling center at Stoneybrook Middle School, but soon all her hard work begins to keep her from paying attention to her friends.
146 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
45 people are currently reading
770 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,101 books3,047 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 46 reviews
June 13, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
in this INSUFFERABLE TRIPE by jahnna beecham and malcolm hillgartner (my least favorite ghostwriters -- they wrote Mallory on Strike and Mallory and the Dream Horse) dawn attempts to take the title of shira's least favorite bsc member away from mary anne. she and stacey have to do an environmentalism project for their science class so they decide to teach a class (aka series of scary indoctrination sessions) to the bsc kids about how to be a militant environmentalist and alienate your friends and family by harassing them about how they're not doing enough for the environment. no lie. at the end of the class the kids throw an eco fair. the subplot is that dawn gets a recycling plant started at stoneybrook middle school and nobody wants her as the chairperson for it because she's a jerk. all of the baby-sitting chapters are about how to bsc charges won't stop talking about the environment. I HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE it.
highlights:
-dawn says to mary anne, "I thought you believed in recycling" and it makes me think of donnie darko
-woody jefferson and trevor sandbourne bring for lunch one day brie, pâté, and sparkling cider
-at some point stacey and kristy finally confront dawn about how she's being the worst, but that doesn't make this book tolerable
lowlights/nitpicks:
-uggghhhhh is this school? seriously I hate these books that are basically just trying to educate the reader by hiding the education in a dumb unnuanced story.
-in stacey and dawn's class they have the kids bury things (including plastic stuff and an apple core) to see whether they are biodegradable and say they will check in a couple weeks to see if it's gone. apple cores take more than a couple weeks to decompose!
-with regard to the plotline of starting a recycling plant at SMS: there's an election to decide who is going to be the leader for the project and mrs. gonzalez (dawn's science teacher) gets elected. did she even want it? why is there an elected official for this? why doesn't dawn automatically head the program since she was the one with the idea?
-the pike kids send mallory and jessi to "green school" to educate them/make them feel guilty about not being environmentally friendly. AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
-jessi hypothesizes that milking cows might not be environmentally friendly because it might be bad for the animals. more than you know, jessi. (says a non-vegan)
-dawn is insufferable. erica blumberg wants to help with the recycling project and then in front of dawn throws a can in the trash, and dawn asks her if she's crazy and horribly alienates her.
-dawn and stacey tell all the kids what to do for the eco fair, instead of asking them to come up with ideas themselves. they are bad teachers that do not encourage creativity in their students, unlike mrs. gonzalez
-dawn asks the kids how many of them called their friends to ask if their families recycle and when only bill and melody korman raise their hands dawn says she's really disappointed in the other kids. UGH. seriously, stop encouraging kids to harass people!
-talking about squishing bugs with the kormans makes kristy lose her appetite for pizza. huh? kristy is the grossest of them all!
-dawn assumes that everyone in the bsc is helping out with HER assignment (eco fair) and gives them tasks without asking.
stacey outfit:
-"Today she was wearing floral leggings, a pink shirt with big sleeves, and a long vest covered in antique pins. A black fedora with a red cloth rose was perched on top of her shoulder length hair."
dawn's kid kit:
-marine world book (with map & stickers)
kristy's kid kit:
-water colors
-crayons
snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi bears in the lower drawer of her desk
-chocolate drops in her backpack
-mallomars behind her headboard
in this INSUFFERABLE TRIPE by jahnna beecham and malcolm hillgartner (my least favorite ghostwriters -- they wrote Mallory on Strike and Mallory and the Dream Horse) dawn attempts to take the title of shira's least favorite bsc member away from mary anne. she and stacey have to do an environmentalism project for their science class so they decide to teach a class (aka series of scary indoctrination sessions) to the bsc kids about how to be a militant environmentalist and alienate your friends and family by harassing them about how they're not doing enough for the environment. no lie. at the end of the class the kids throw an eco fair. the subplot is that dawn gets a recycling plant started at stoneybrook middle school and nobody wants her as the chairperson for it because she's a jerk. all of the baby-sitting chapters are about how to bsc charges won't stop talking about the environment. I HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE it.
highlights:
-dawn says to mary anne, "I thought you believed in recycling" and it makes me think of donnie darko
-woody jefferson and trevor sandbourne bring for lunch one day brie, pâté, and sparkling cider
-at some point stacey and kristy finally confront dawn about how she's being the worst, but that doesn't make this book tolerable
lowlights/nitpicks:
-uggghhhhh is this school? seriously I hate these books that are basically just trying to educate the reader by hiding the education in a dumb unnuanced story.
-in stacey and dawn's class they have the kids bury things (including plastic stuff and an apple core) to see whether they are biodegradable and say they will check in a couple weeks to see if it's gone. apple cores take more than a couple weeks to decompose!
-with regard to the plotline of starting a recycling plant at SMS: there's an election to decide who is going to be the leader for the project and mrs. gonzalez (dawn's science teacher) gets elected. did she even want it? why is there an elected official for this? why doesn't dawn automatically head the program since she was the one with the idea?
-the pike kids send mallory and jessi to "green school" to educate them/make them feel guilty about not being environmentally friendly. AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
-jessi hypothesizes that milking cows might not be environmentally friendly because it might be bad for the animals. more than you know, jessi. (says a non-vegan)
-dawn is insufferable. erica blumberg wants to help with the recycling project and then in front of dawn throws a can in the trash, and dawn asks her if she's crazy and horribly alienates her.
-dawn and stacey tell all the kids what to do for the eco fair, instead of asking them to come up with ideas themselves. they are bad teachers that do not encourage creativity in their students, unlike mrs. gonzalez
-dawn asks the kids how many of them called their friends to ask if their families recycle and when only bill and melody korman raise their hands dawn says she's really disappointed in the other kids. UGH. seriously, stop encouraging kids to harass people!
-talking about squishing bugs with the kormans makes kristy lose her appetite for pizza. huh? kristy is the grossest of them all!
-dawn assumes that everyone in the bsc is helping out with HER assignment (eco fair) and gives them tasks without asking.
stacey outfit:
-"Today she was wearing floral leggings, a pink shirt with big sleeves, and a long vest covered in antique pins. A black fedora with a red cloth rose was perched on top of her shoulder length hair."
dawn's kid kit:
-marine world book (with map & stickers)
kristy's kid kit:
-water colors
-crayons
snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi bears in the lower drawer of her desk
-chocolate drops in her backpack
-mallomars behind her headboard
July 20, 2021
Dawns class is learning all about ways to save the planet and she decides that she wants to get the neighborhood kids involved in learning too!
She also decided she wants to get a recycling business going at her school.
Dawns intentions are in the right place , but after a few days she becomes really bossy and starts acting like the “green police” when her friends and classmates forget to recycle or they use paper or plastic items. Needless to say she is being a jerk and even her friends are getting annoyed by her.
I enjoyed the talk of recycling in children’s books that way it can get kids thinking.
She also decided she wants to get a recycling business going at her school.
Dawns intentions are in the right place , but after a few days she becomes really bossy and starts acting like the “green police” when her friends and classmates forget to recycle or they use paper or plastic items. Needless to say she is being a jerk and even her friends are getting annoyed by her.
I enjoyed the talk of recycling in children’s books that way it can get kids thinking.
November 24, 2010
this book is widely cited as the book that made hardcore babysitters club fans turn against dawn. dawn is taking some kind of ecology class at school. stacey is taking the same class, during a different period. the students are assigned an individual project in which they brainstorm ways to address one of the causes of environmental degradation & then implement it. dawn is totally pumped for this project, & while she's sitting for the barrett kids later that afternoon, she realizes that it might be fun to organize a basic ecology class for kids. she is telling the barretts about all kinds of different environmental facts she has learned in her class, & they are eating the information up. she talks to stacey that afternoon & they decide to collaborate on the class & model it after the class they are taking.
mrs. gonzalez, their teacher, thinks this is a great idea & gives it her okay, so they rush to stacey's house after school & start calling potential students. their first call is to the thomas-brewer house, to see if david michael, karen, & andrew want to be in the class. kristy starts firing questions at them: when will the class be held? where will it be held? how will the students get there? how will they get home? stacey & dawn realize they didn't figure out any of these details, so they sit down to sort it out. they choose a day & mysteriously decide to have the classes in stacey's backyard, even though these kinds of events are always at dawn's house. they enlist some parents to carpool the students every week.
the first class goes really well, but when they talk about recycling, dawn realizes that stoneybrook doesn't have a lot of facilities for recycling. there's only one recycling center, & it's not that accessible. there's no curbside pick-up. she decides to do something about this: she wants to turn stoneybrook middle school into a recycling center.
she tells mrs. gonzalez her idea the next day, & again, mrs. gonzalex thinks it's brilliant. dawn wants to get started immediately, but mrs. gonzalez says that they first have to get permission from the school administrators, & then have the students vote on the project & choose a coordinator. they secure permission from the vice-principal right away, & dawn makes a bunch of posters & flyers to educate her classmates about the need for a new recycling center & get them to vote for the project.
dawn & mary anne head to school early the next day, so they can talk to students as they arrive & sell them on the recycling center idea. & it starts off well...but then dawn yells at one of her new converts for throwing away a can. this seems to make mary anne angry & she storms off. in fact, dawn has been yelling at people with great frequency. she bitched claudia out for eating individually wrapped candy, she yelled at kristy for throwing away a can. she's taking over the ecology classes that she's supposed to be teaching with stacey, not letting stacey answer questions or really say anything at all. the students at stoneybrook middle school seem interested in starting a recycling center there, but they are less impressed with how dawn is yelling at them all the time.
they voice their displeasure by voting for the recycling center, but appointing mrs. gonzalex, rather than dawn, the coordinator. dawn is surprised, because the project was her idea, but she doesn't seem all that bothered by it until she overhears cokie mason & grace blume talking about the vote in the hallway & giggling about how of course dawn got voted down because she's been acting so obnoxious lately. why dawn would allow her feelings to be hurt by people like cokie & grace is a mystery to me...but whatever.
in fact, her feelings are so hurt that she loses all interest in helping with the project now that it's underway. mrs. gonzalez does recruit dawn to write the newsletter that will be distributed all over town, but dawn privately thinks that this is because it's a way for her to contribute that doesn't involve interacting with anyone else.
this is the big thing that pisses off a lot of adult readers. first of all, it just makes sense for the coordinator of the project to be an adult & a teacher with a semi-permanent relationship to the school. ostensibly dawn will be graduating in a matter of months & moving on to the high school. (never mind that this never happens in the series.) would the incoming middle school student body elect a new coordinator? doesn't it just make sense for the coordinator to be someone who is planning to stick around? & it's really petty of dawn to apparently only want to help out with the project if she is in charge. i mean, is she in it for the good of the project, or for the ego gratification? in light of her petulance, it's probably best that she's not the coordinator, because who knows how she would react the first time things didn't go her way?
anyway, she does attend the opening day ceremony. the vice-principal gives some speech about how everyone should thank the person without whom the recycling center would not exist. both dawn & mary anne think that he's going to call dawn up on stage...but instead he calls up mrs. gonzalez. dawn's feelings are very hurt & she doesn't really have any fun at opening day.
meanwhile, she's still bossing around stacey & the kids in her ecology class. & the kids are in turn bossing around everyone they come into contact with. i marked this book low on stars specifically because the kids repeating ecology facts makes it read like one big early 90s environmental PSA & it's really boring. i mean, i am all for the environment. my partner is an environmental historian. i have had dinner with the regional head of the EPA. but it's not what i'm looking for in a babysitters club book, you know? it's like the ghostwriter just ordered a bunch of pamphlets from greenpeace & padded the book with the facts she read. including one about how supposedly all the bugs spiders eat in a year weigh more than the weight of all the humans on earth. i asked my partner to verify this, but he had never heard it before. he looked it up online & found a website that said that all the bugs spiders eat in a DAY weigh more than the weight of all the humans on earth...but he followed this info up with, "this is not a very reliable-looking website." apparently it was some flashing geocities monstrosity.
point is, the kids are getting really bossy. the pike kids form the green patrol & they "arrest" people who violate their green rules & send them to green school. they are also preparing for the climax of the ecology class, a green fair. the kids are paired off & they all have assignments, like making birdhouses out of milk gallons, or selling decorated re-usable grocery totes.
the fair goes well. even mrs. gonzalez attends. dawn decides that the proceeds of the fair should be donated to the recycling center. the other babysitters call dawn out on being a bossy britches, & she backs off. she writes a personal essay for her assignment in mrs. gonzalez's class, acknowledging that working on the recycling center made her a huge asshole, & that actually everyone has to work together to save the planet. she gets a A (as does stacey). happy endings. needless to say, we never again hear anything about the recycling center or the rate of environmental activism among the youth of stoneybrook. & of course the green tips offered are in no way complicated by reality. there's no mention of the fact that many re-usable grocery bags are decorated with lead paint, for example, or that the jury is out on whether disposable diapers are actually worse for the environment than cloth diapers, given how much water is required to clean cloth diapers. etc etc etc.
mrs. gonzalez, their teacher, thinks this is a great idea & gives it her okay, so they rush to stacey's house after school & start calling potential students. their first call is to the thomas-brewer house, to see if david michael, karen, & andrew want to be in the class. kristy starts firing questions at them: when will the class be held? where will it be held? how will the students get there? how will they get home? stacey & dawn realize they didn't figure out any of these details, so they sit down to sort it out. they choose a day & mysteriously decide to have the classes in stacey's backyard, even though these kinds of events are always at dawn's house. they enlist some parents to carpool the students every week.
the first class goes really well, but when they talk about recycling, dawn realizes that stoneybrook doesn't have a lot of facilities for recycling. there's only one recycling center, & it's not that accessible. there's no curbside pick-up. she decides to do something about this: she wants to turn stoneybrook middle school into a recycling center.
she tells mrs. gonzalez her idea the next day, & again, mrs. gonzalex thinks it's brilliant. dawn wants to get started immediately, but mrs. gonzalez says that they first have to get permission from the school administrators, & then have the students vote on the project & choose a coordinator. they secure permission from the vice-principal right away, & dawn makes a bunch of posters & flyers to educate her classmates about the need for a new recycling center & get them to vote for the project.
dawn & mary anne head to school early the next day, so they can talk to students as they arrive & sell them on the recycling center idea. & it starts off well...but then dawn yells at one of her new converts for throwing away a can. this seems to make mary anne angry & she storms off. in fact, dawn has been yelling at people with great frequency. she bitched claudia out for eating individually wrapped candy, she yelled at kristy for throwing away a can. she's taking over the ecology classes that she's supposed to be teaching with stacey, not letting stacey answer questions or really say anything at all. the students at stoneybrook middle school seem interested in starting a recycling center there, but they are less impressed with how dawn is yelling at them all the time.
they voice their displeasure by voting for the recycling center, but appointing mrs. gonzalex, rather than dawn, the coordinator. dawn is surprised, because the project was her idea, but she doesn't seem all that bothered by it until she overhears cokie mason & grace blume talking about the vote in the hallway & giggling about how of course dawn got voted down because she's been acting so obnoxious lately. why dawn would allow her feelings to be hurt by people like cokie & grace is a mystery to me...but whatever.
in fact, her feelings are so hurt that she loses all interest in helping with the project now that it's underway. mrs. gonzalez does recruit dawn to write the newsletter that will be distributed all over town, but dawn privately thinks that this is because it's a way for her to contribute that doesn't involve interacting with anyone else.
this is the big thing that pisses off a lot of adult readers. first of all, it just makes sense for the coordinator of the project to be an adult & a teacher with a semi-permanent relationship to the school. ostensibly dawn will be graduating in a matter of months & moving on to the high school. (never mind that this never happens in the series.) would the incoming middle school student body elect a new coordinator? doesn't it just make sense for the coordinator to be someone who is planning to stick around? & it's really petty of dawn to apparently only want to help out with the project if she is in charge. i mean, is she in it for the good of the project, or for the ego gratification? in light of her petulance, it's probably best that she's not the coordinator, because who knows how she would react the first time things didn't go her way?
anyway, she does attend the opening day ceremony. the vice-principal gives some speech about how everyone should thank the person without whom the recycling center would not exist. both dawn & mary anne think that he's going to call dawn up on stage...but instead he calls up mrs. gonzalez. dawn's feelings are very hurt & she doesn't really have any fun at opening day.
meanwhile, she's still bossing around stacey & the kids in her ecology class. & the kids are in turn bossing around everyone they come into contact with. i marked this book low on stars specifically because the kids repeating ecology facts makes it read like one big early 90s environmental PSA & it's really boring. i mean, i am all for the environment. my partner is an environmental historian. i have had dinner with the regional head of the EPA. but it's not what i'm looking for in a babysitters club book, you know? it's like the ghostwriter just ordered a bunch of pamphlets from greenpeace & padded the book with the facts she read. including one about how supposedly all the bugs spiders eat in a year weigh more than the weight of all the humans on earth. i asked my partner to verify this, but he had never heard it before. he looked it up online & found a website that said that all the bugs spiders eat in a DAY weigh more than the weight of all the humans on earth...but he followed this info up with, "this is not a very reliable-looking website." apparently it was some flashing geocities monstrosity.
point is, the kids are getting really bossy. the pike kids form the green patrol & they "arrest" people who violate their green rules & send them to green school. they are also preparing for the climax of the ecology class, a green fair. the kids are paired off & they all have assignments, like making birdhouses out of milk gallons, or selling decorated re-usable grocery totes.
the fair goes well. even mrs. gonzalez attends. dawn decides that the proceeds of the fair should be donated to the recycling center. the other babysitters call dawn out on being a bossy britches, & she backs off. she writes a personal essay for her assignment in mrs. gonzalez's class, acknowledging that working on the recycling center made her a huge asshole, & that actually everyone has to work together to save the planet. she gets a A (as does stacey). happy endings. needless to say, we never again hear anything about the recycling center or the rate of environmental activism among the youth of stoneybrook. & of course the green tips offered are in no way complicated by reality. there's no mention of the fact that many re-usable grocery bags are decorated with lead paint, for example, or that the jury is out on whether disposable diapers are actually worse for the environment than cloth diapers, given how much water is required to clean cloth diapers. etc etc etc.
January 10, 2020
I don't need to tell you how insufferable Dawn is in this book. You know it. Cokie and Grace know it. Heck, even the other members of the BSC know it. It's painful to read, and clearly isn't a book I've reread often (if ever at all) because I forgot about a lot of the things that happened in this book. I'm already dreading reading it again in ten or so years when I do another full-series read through lol.
September 13, 2017
For the love of Ben Brewer's ghost, this book is boring! I'm really starting to dislike Dawn's books. Look how snooty she looks on the cover. That just tells you everything right there. But I guess we should go a bit further than that or there wouldn't be any point to these reviews would there?
Okay, it starts out with Dawn in science class and her teacher asking them if they think kids can save the planet. Of course, Dawn says yes and then we get a huge lecture (one of many) on all the ways we're killing the planet. They get an assignment to come up with a project that will help save the planet and Dawn's little blonde Cali brain gets awhirling.
"Guess what?" "I'm going to save the planet."
Claudia just blinked her dark eyes at me and said, "It's about time."
[Kristy] "I was going to save it but I have a big softball game this afternoon."
We don't even have any Claudia outfits in this book but luckily Stacey steps up her A-game. Today she was wearing floral leggings, a pink shirt with big sleeves, and a long vest covered in antique pins. A black fedora with a red cloth rose was perched on top of her shoulder length hair. (I had to add those shoes, those were quintessential 90s girl shoes lol.)
Dawn is baby-sitting for the Barrett kids (Marnie doesn't even make her "ham face" jeez) when she gets the idea for her project: teach an after-school ecology class to the kids they baby-sit for. Because you know, everything revolves around these kids. That generation is going to be the most spoiled, entitled citizens of Stoneybrook ever. She asks Stacey to help, since she has the same teacher, and they get the okay from their teacher. The girls hug in the hallway at school when they get the news and Brent Jensen and Todd Long nudge each other, smirking. Are they thinking what I think they're thinking? For shame, ghost writers, for shame.
The girls decide to do six weeks of lessons, each focusing on a different aspect like air pollution, recycling, etc...and have a Green Fair at the end. Because it's not a real project/idea unless it ends in a festival held in someone's backyard. The girls are so excited they immediately start calling kids to get them signed up. Luckily, they start with Kristy and David Michael because she quickly kills their mood by pointing out they haven't worked out any of the logistics. She's such a bummer all the time.
So they get 13 kids signed up and start their classes with making everyone put on KIDS CARE badges. So people can identify them in public and stuff. They get a little sidetracked when they say pollution is invisible, like ghosts, and that sets off a rumble with the smaller kids like Andrew. He looked over his shoulder and muttered, "I don't like ghosts." The kids are all gung-ho about their special projects and everything is going great.
Until Dawn starts to get a little bossy and Miss-Know-It-All. She gets to the next BSC meeting early and sees Claudia making dough earrings (not cookies) shaped like dogs and cats that she can paint. But then Claud pulls out some candy and Dawn freaks out on her because it's over-packaged, all individually wrapped. "I'm making art," Claudia replied, "and Dawn's giving me a lecture about garbage."
She just keeps getting worse from there and there's really no point repeating it all. So here's some random stuff to keep it going:
-The Ohdner kids have the measles. But it's okay, because we've never heard of them.
-Jessi is taking a special ballet class with Frederick Duvall (foreshadowing?).
-Dawn wants to turn the middle school into a recycling center for the town. She berates Mary Anne in front of everyone for only writing on the front of her paper.
-The Pike kids go overboard as usual and turn into the Green Meanies and make their parents and siblings take ecology lessons.
-Shawna Riverson's locker is a pigsty, with month old hamburger wrappers. Gross.
-Woody Jefferson (who are all these new boys??) and Trever Sandbourne bring brie cheese, pate, and a bottle of sparkling cider to lunch and enjoy a picnic with tablecloth, silverware, and wine glasses.
Dawn takes her recycling idea to Mr Kingbridge, the vice-principal. Do we know who the principal is? Mr Kingbridge is always mentioned as the head honcho. He likes the idea, of course, but wants to make sure there is enough student interest so he puts it to a vote. Dawn starts campaigning but pushes way too hard and even makes Mary Anne stalk off in a huff. The recycling project gets a huge vote yes from students, but they vote the science teacher as the project leader instead of Dawn and she's super upset about it. Then she overhears that cow Cokie Mason talking to her sidekick Grace Blume and they call her obnoxious and that just pushes her over the edge. She basically decides she wants nothing else to do with it now, because she's a big baby, not laid-back and chill at all.
The recycling center opens with a big hoopla, Dawn gets no credit at all for it, and whines about it a lot. She pushes people away even more with the kids' Green Fair, assuming all the other BSCers will help out when they already have plans. Stacey finally blows up at Dawn, telling her what a recycling cow she's been, and Dawn's like "oh". She realizes that they were all right, she was being a cow (except she doesn't eat meat, so she was being...tofu?) She calms down, the kids' fair goes off great, Stacey & Dawn turn in a 30 PAGE REPORT for their class (printed twice and you know that crap wasn't double-sided), her teacher asks her to co-chair the recycling program if she can tone down the obnoxiousness, and it's all good. And when you work together, you can do almost anything. Even save a planet.
Blogged at SeeJennRead!
Okay, it starts out with Dawn in science class and her teacher asking them if they think kids can save the planet. Of course, Dawn says yes and then we get a huge lecture (one of many) on all the ways we're killing the planet. They get an assignment to come up with a project that will help save the planet and Dawn's little blonde Cali brain gets awhirling.
"Guess what?" "I'm going to save the planet."
Claudia just blinked her dark eyes at me and said, "It's about time."
[Kristy] "I was going to save it but I have a big softball game this afternoon."
We don't even have any Claudia outfits in this book but luckily Stacey steps up her A-game. Today she was wearing floral leggings, a pink shirt with big sleeves, and a long vest covered in antique pins. A black fedora with a red cloth rose was perched on top of her shoulder length hair. (I had to add those shoes, those were quintessential 90s girl shoes lol.)
Dawn is baby-sitting for the Barrett kids (Marnie doesn't even make her "ham face" jeez) when she gets the idea for her project: teach an after-school ecology class to the kids they baby-sit for. Because you know, everything revolves around these kids. That generation is going to be the most spoiled, entitled citizens of Stoneybrook ever. She asks Stacey to help, since she has the same teacher, and they get the okay from their teacher. The girls hug in the hallway at school when they get the news and Brent Jensen and Todd Long nudge each other, smirking. Are they thinking what I think they're thinking? For shame, ghost writers, for shame.
The girls decide to do six weeks of lessons, each focusing on a different aspect like air pollution, recycling, etc...and have a Green Fair at the end. Because it's not a real project/idea unless it ends in a festival held in someone's backyard. The girls are so excited they immediately start calling kids to get them signed up. Luckily, they start with Kristy and David Michael because she quickly kills their mood by pointing out they haven't worked out any of the logistics. She's such a bummer all the time.
So they get 13 kids signed up and start their classes with making everyone put on KIDS CARE badges. So people can identify them in public and stuff. They get a little sidetracked when they say pollution is invisible, like ghosts, and that sets off a rumble with the smaller kids like Andrew. He looked over his shoulder and muttered, "I don't like ghosts." The kids are all gung-ho about their special projects and everything is going great.
Until Dawn starts to get a little bossy and Miss-Know-It-All. She gets to the next BSC meeting early and sees Claudia making dough earrings (not cookies) shaped like dogs and cats that she can paint. But then Claud pulls out some candy and Dawn freaks out on her because it's over-packaged, all individually wrapped. "I'm making art," Claudia replied, "and Dawn's giving me a lecture about garbage."
She just keeps getting worse from there and there's really no point repeating it all. So here's some random stuff to keep it going:
-The Ohdner kids have the measles. But it's okay, because we've never heard of them.
-Jessi is taking a special ballet class with Frederick Duvall (foreshadowing?).
-Dawn wants to turn the middle school into a recycling center for the town. She berates Mary Anne in front of everyone for only writing on the front of her paper.
-The Pike kids go overboard as usual and turn into the Green Meanies and make their parents and siblings take ecology lessons.
-Shawna Riverson's locker is a pigsty, with month old hamburger wrappers. Gross.
-Woody Jefferson (who are all these new boys??) and Trever Sandbourne bring brie cheese, pate, and a bottle of sparkling cider to lunch and enjoy a picnic with tablecloth, silverware, and wine glasses.
Dawn takes her recycling idea to Mr Kingbridge, the vice-principal. Do we know who the principal is? Mr Kingbridge is always mentioned as the head honcho. He likes the idea, of course, but wants to make sure there is enough student interest so he puts it to a vote. Dawn starts campaigning but pushes way too hard and even makes Mary Anne stalk off in a huff. The recycling project gets a huge vote yes from students, but they vote the science teacher as the project leader instead of Dawn and she's super upset about it. Then she overhears that cow Cokie Mason talking to her sidekick Grace Blume and they call her obnoxious and that just pushes her over the edge. She basically decides she wants nothing else to do with it now, because she's a big baby, not laid-back and chill at all.
The recycling center opens with a big hoopla, Dawn gets no credit at all for it, and whines about it a lot. She pushes people away even more with the kids' Green Fair, assuming all the other BSCers will help out when they already have plans. Stacey finally blows up at Dawn, telling her what a recycling cow she's been, and Dawn's like "oh". She realizes that they were all right, she was being a cow (except she doesn't eat meat, so she was being...tofu?) She calms down, the kids' fair goes off great, Stacey & Dawn turn in a 30 PAGE REPORT for their class (printed twice and you know that crap wasn't double-sided), her teacher asks her to co-chair the recycling program if she can tone down the obnoxiousness, and it's all good. And when you work together, you can do almost anything. Even save a planet.
Blogged at SeeJennRead!
May 1, 2013
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.
I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.
The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.
Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.
The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.
Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
Read
February 10, 2025Dawn Saves the Planet
Dawn’s science teacher asks if they can have the planet. Noone speaks up but Dawn answers yes. Mrs. Gonzalez says a good place to start is in their home, school, or town. She tells Dawn to read the list of things that are currently wrong with the environment. There’s acid rain, and air pollution. Then she talks about invisible gases. Another one Dawn reads is vanishing animal life. Then Too Much Garbage. Dawn suggests recycling and Mrs. Gonzalez confirms that this is a good thing to do. The final thing is Water Pollution.
There’s a blank poster and Mrs. Gonzalez says their assignment is to pick one of these topics and design a project that can help to save the planet. They’ll list them on the poster. They have one week to hand in a brief summary of what they plan to do. At lunch, Stacey says she has the same project. Dawn’s head is buzzing with ideas. Stacey’s is blank. The project stays on Dawn’s mind the rest of the school day and the walk home. When she gets home, she decides to make a list.
At the BSC meeting, Dawn gets a job with the Barretts. (From the book) Mal booked a job with the Arnold twins on Wednesday, Claud with the Hobarts Tuesday night, and Jessi with the Johanssens on Wednesday afternoon. Dawn doesn’t really get a chance to talk any more about her project at the meeting. Dawn surprises Buddy, Suzie, and Marnie with a sticker book called “Marine World”. It has a fold-out map of Marine World that has several ponds, a walkway, waterfalls, and slides. Dawn then gives them a lesson on dolphins and how millions are killed because fisherman use nets. She says the money she spent on the book went to a Save The Dolphins Fund.
The kids say they want to save the dolphins too and Dawn says they can start by writing letters to the tun companies that they won’t buy their tuna if they keep hurting the dolphins. Dawn says she’ll write the letters and they can sign them. Dawn says they can also make sure the garbage they dump in the ocean doesn’t hurt the fish and sea animals. Suzi says she would never do that. That’s littering and Dawn gives her a hug for this. She says other companies do tho. She then tells them about the dangers of the plastic rings on sodas. She shows them how to clip the rings so that the animals won’t get tangled in them.
Dawn tells Suzi she can separate all the cans out of the trash and then they can recycle them. Dawn and the kids sepnd the rest of the afternoon talking about ways they can save the planet and the animals. They come up with turn off dripping faucets, and recycling some plastic bags Mrs. Barrett used for sandwiches Dawn thinks of the perfect project inspired by the Barrett’s. She can teach an after-school ecology class. (Even tho it doesn’t really stick to one of the themes).
Stacey thinks it’s a great idea and has the perfect book “50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth”. Stacey worries that they won’t get a chance to work together and Dawn says she’ll talk to Mrs. Gonzalez first thing in the morning. She says yes. Stacey and Dawn make plans at Stacey’s. They decide to have six weeks’ worth of lessons. Each week they can deal with one or two different ways of saving the plant. Week one they can focus on recycling. Week two conserving water. Then ways to save energy.
They can also cover the topics in class. The last week they can focus on getting the word out. Like they could have a fair. That the kids make. (Umm. Isn’t this DAWN and STACEYS project?). They’ll call it “A Green Fair”. They decide to call clients to see who they can get to come to the classes. They have some details to work out but they decide the class should be an hour. Then they have to decide when the classes will be and who’ll need transportation. They get 11 kids: Charlotte Johanssen, Becca Ramsey, David Michael Thomas, Karen and Andrew Brewer, Buddy and Suzi Barrett, Nicky and Vanessa Pike, and Hannie and Linny Papadakis. Mrs. Papadakis volunteers to drive the ones who need a ride.
Dawn tells Mrs. Korman the fair will also raise money for an organization they’ll choose later. At the first meeting, Stacey and Dawn pass out badges that say KIDS CARE Dawn begins by asking them if they think their world is clean. Becca says yes except where there’s dirt. Bill says it’s clean when it rains. Charlotte says but not always because of smog from factories and cars. Dawn and Stacey tell them about other kinds of dirt. Linny mentions he’s seen oil in the ponds and foam. Then they teach them about pollution. They also talk about the ozone layer and if it keeps getting destroyed it won’t be there to protect use from the sun’s rays. They also talk about recycling. Dawn makes a point to check on why there aren’t more recycling centers. There’s one but it’s kind of far out.
The kids this day bury stuff in the backyard (an apple core, lettuce, Styrofoam, and plastic) to see which is biodegradable. Dawn discovers that Stoneybrooke doesn’t have a recycling center. When she gets to Claud’s for the next meeting, Claud is making dough earrings. Dawn gets on Claudia for having candy that’s individually wrapped in plastic. She also goes on a rant about the plastic cups they used for the fruit cocktails at lunch. Some things discussed at the meeting are the Odnher kids have measles and Fredrick Duvall (a NY dancer) is teaching a special ballet technique class (Jessi will be going). Dawn tells them about her plan to make SMS a recycling center and then she goes into another rant about how they should care more and how much paper Maryanne is wasting by just writing on one side.
Dawn says the next time they buy paper it should be recycled. Kristy says that’s cool. Maryanne apologizes and says she’ll write on both sides next time. At the end of the meeting, Claudia invites everyone to come into the kitchen to see her jewelry. She says it’s biodegrable so even Dawn will approve. Dawn realizes she’s sounding like a nag but if she can’t get her friends to listen who will. When Jessi goes to sit for the Pikes, the triplets are calling themselves “The Green Patrol” and are holding Mal hostage from drinking from a paper cup. Jordan says she also could have used a cloth napkin other than a paper towel. Mal’s been sent to “Green School” where she has to recite a bunch of rules of environmental things she won’t do.
Nicky and Vanessa are writing a letter to the president for an assignment given to him by Dawn and Stacey. Vanessa’s written the Queen. They’re writing world letters. Nicky is having problems getting his letter out so Jessi acts as secretary and then has him copy it in his own hand writing. “The Green Patrol” tries to get Vanessa but Mallory says the paper she had was already bought so it doesn’t count. There’s a water leak. Jessi says they can check it after lunch and they go outside and check the water hose. There mom has used a plastic bag for the sandwiches but Mal says they can use it again. The kids don’t want to eat on paper napkins. Instead, the eat on glass saucers.
There are some other mistakes. Jessi finds a soda can by the fence and thew it in the trash. Mallory leaves the light on in the kitchen. By the time Mr. and Mrs. Pike gets home everything is “Green Patrol” approved. Dawn the next week, designs a poster listing reasons why SMS will be the ideal site for a recycling center. Then she draws up a schedule for taking the cans and bottles to the main terinal downtown. Then she makes a chart of how many students will be needed to work on the project each week and how many hours they would have to spend a month to keep the recycling center going. On Thursday, she presents the plan to Mrs. Gonzalez. She’s impressed but she tells Dawn to slow her roll. It takes time. First Mr. Kingbridge will have to give it the green light.
After Dawn gives her presentation to him, he tells her if can prove that the students are willing to work vey hard to make the project succeed then he sees no reason why she can’t start her progam. He gives her a week and a half to drum up interest. Dawn tries to spread the word and approach’s a girl named Erica. Erica says she’s interested but then Dawn gets on her about throwing away a can. Maryanne is annoyed with her and warns her that she’s going to put people off what she’s trying to do. Then she makes an excuse that she has to get to class early and leaves her. Dawn talks to about 20 more people and then Shawna. I don’t see how Shawna’s locker doesn’t have a ton of roach’s because it has 3 plastic cups, some month old hamburger wrappers and two yellow Styrofoam containers.
She starts up her spill with Shawna but Shawna could care less (and some of the kids laugh). Maryanne tells Dawn to calm down and Dawn can’t help but think she’s doing the right thing. On Thursday, Dawn and Stacey’s class makes their final preparations for the “Green Fair”. Becca and Charlotte have the shopping bag booth. Since they want to encourage shoppers to not use paper or plastic they’ll be designing their own canvas bags. Some will have designs. Some won’t. Melody and Hannie will be selling small plants donated from the nursery Blooomers. Hannie and Melody are given the assignment to make the sign for their booth. Karen, Andrew, and Suzi will make buttons that say “Think Green” and “My Kids Care”.
Buddy and Bill will cut out pictures from magazines and make a collage of endangered species. They want to sell something so they’re assigned bird houses. They made some the previous week from milk cartoons. Then they’ll have demonstration booths. They talk about the results of the things they buried. The apple core and the lettuce were being part of the earth but the plastic and Styrofoam were still there. David and Linny are put over the demonstration booth. Nicky and Vanessa will have the letter writing booth. Before they start on their projects, Dawn asks them if they called any one and only Bill and Melody raise their hands. Dawn says she’s disappointed in them. She says by the next class she wants to see every single hand raised.
Claudia compliments her friends on a great class and says if they want her to help with the fair she will. Dawn says she wants her to help with the fliers. Stacy isn’t sure about this and wants the kids to do it, but Dawn says she wants a real artist to do it so the fliers will look more professional. Claudia compromises by getting Charlotte to help her. The design is kids holding hands around a ringed globe. They cut the letters from ads in magazines so that it looks like “a crazy quilt”
Later. Stacey vents to Claudia about Dawn. Stacey says if she wasn’t so committed to the kids she’d quit and if something doesn’t change it might change her friendship with Dawn. At school, Dawn gets to make a speech over the PA system during homeroom. She ends with the challenge to show they care by casting their vote for a new recycling center. Then Dawn has a quizzionare sent out for who’ll be a good chair person.
At lunch, Dawn worries that the students won’t know what recycling is. All her friends say they’d be a fool not to after all the pushing she’s done. Stacy doesn’t say anything but she does say when lunch ends they’ll vote for the center but there are other things they should worry about. Dawn doesn’t get a chance to ask what that would be. The students vote on the recycling center but they vote on Mrs. Gonzalez as the chair person. Dawn tries to tell herself it’s because she’s an adult and she’s just a student. But then she hears Cookie and Grace say Dawn didn’t get voted for because she’s obnoxious and no one voted for her but her friends. Dawn goes into the bathroom and cries. All she wanted was to do something good and this was the thanks she gets.
On the opening day of the new center, Dawn is nervous about her hair. Mrs. Gonzalez has given her the job to do the newletter. Dawn doesn’t volunteer for anything else having to do with the center. Maryanne notes Dawn’s mood and says it was wrong that they didn’t even put her picture in the paper. It was her idea. Dawn shrugs it off and says they mentioned her in the article three times. Dawn’s family bring some bottles (and newspapers) that they’ll have to drive into the parking lot and someone will take and sort. Dawn sees the BSC but don’t go over to them. Pete hands out a raffle ticket for a free dinner and movie at Chez Maurice.
Emily hands them a pamphlet and a form if they want to subscribe to the magazine P3 (Planet 3-Earth-the third from the sun-). The mayor is introduced (Mrs. Keane). Then Mr. Kingsbridge brings up Mrs. Gonzalez (not Dawn) as the person behind the idea. Then the band plays. Maryanne tells Dawn on the way home, she should feel happy. Dawn says she doesn’t.
Kristy sits for the Korman’s. The kids are building bird houses for Dawn and Stacey’s class. Their parents say it’s been good for them but it’s also been a headache. They got a three-day lecture for throwing a can in the garbage. So, they’re turning into Dawn. So are Karen, Andrew, and David Micheal. If anyone’s interested in making a bird house Bill gives some pretty through directions. Then they make feeders for the birds. (Melody is making this). Kristy agrees to come back and help Melody the next day-as long as she doesn’t bring up bugs-. Melody and Bill in their explanations started to talk about saving bugs.
At the next meeting, Dawn gives each member 5 posters and 2o fliers and tells them to put them up around town. She also has a list of where she wants them put up. Kristy says she can’t. She’s busy. Dawn says she was counting on her. Kristy points out she didn’t know she was supposed to do it. Dawn just says she’ll do Kristy’s and they’ll talk about it later. Maryanne asks why they have to wear name tags. Dawn says it’s because they’ll be helping at the fair on Saturday. Jessi says no one told her this. Dawn gets pissed at Stacey and says she was supposed to tell them. Stacey said no she was going to ASK them because that’s what you do with friends. You don’t give them ORDERS. Dawn says she’s not giving them orders and Stacey says she has been for a while.
Then Dawn and Stacey argue back and forth. Dawn accuses Stacey of thinking ecology is stupid and not doing her share of the work. Stacey argues back that’s because Dawn’s been trying to control everything. Stacey says she’s been bossing her around but enough is enough. She’s not gonna let Dawn boss her friends aren’t. Dawn still can’t see it but Claudia calls her out on it. Then Maryanne and Kristy chime in. Dawn says it’s just because she’s so passionate about recycling and if no one ever spoke up. They tell her but she’s gone overboard. Kristy tells her she’s acting obnoxious. Dawn apologizes but Maryanne tells her she can’t tell people what to think. Maryanne says she thinks Dawn should be in charge of the recycling center but she has to change her attitude. Dawn realizes they’re right and apologizes to Stacey. She promises to make the “Green Fair” fun and not be a bossy jerk.
After agreeing their friends again, Dawn says they should start work on their project. She has to be pointed out she’s doing it again and changes it to when Stacey’s ready. The first thing that goes wrong is a strong wind blows down Karen, Andrew, and Suzi’s booth (which makes sense because it’s just carboard boxes stappled together). The booth rips apart. But they staple it and tape it back together. Then Linny and David Micheal have a heated argument over who was supposed to bring celery to a pollution demonstration. After that everything goes smoothly. Dawn decides to donate the money from the Green Fair to the recycling project. Dawn gets an A on her essay and a glowing comment. Mrs. Gonzalez offers Dawn the chance to be her co-chair.
My Thoughts:
Dawn and Stacey did NOT do this assignment correctly and should NOT have gotten A’s. The assignment wasn’t to do an ecology project. The project was to do a project from ONE OF THE TOPICS on the poster and think of a SOLUTION to ONE of the topics. Not to teach ALL of the topics to a group of kids. They didn’t THINK of anything. They had a kids book of ideas to save the planet. Then this is THEIR project. They used these kids to carry out the experiments. They used these kids to get booths together for the fair. They used these kids to design the posters and Claudia. All the things sold at the booths the kids did. If anything, this was a C or D effort and grade.
Rating: 5
Dawn’s science teacher asks if they can have the planet. Noone speaks up but Dawn answers yes. Mrs. Gonzalez says a good place to start is in their home, school, or town. She tells Dawn to read the list of things that are currently wrong with the environment. There’s acid rain, and air pollution. Then she talks about invisible gases. Another one Dawn reads is vanishing animal life. Then Too Much Garbage. Dawn suggests recycling and Mrs. Gonzalez confirms that this is a good thing to do. The final thing is Water Pollution.
There’s a blank poster and Mrs. Gonzalez says their assignment is to pick one of these topics and design a project that can help to save the planet. They’ll list them on the poster. They have one week to hand in a brief summary of what they plan to do. At lunch, Stacey says she has the same project. Dawn’s head is buzzing with ideas. Stacey’s is blank. The project stays on Dawn’s mind the rest of the school day and the walk home. When she gets home, she decides to make a list.
At the BSC meeting, Dawn gets a job with the Barretts. (From the book) Mal booked a job with the Arnold twins on Wednesday, Claud with the Hobarts Tuesday night, and Jessi with the Johanssens on Wednesday afternoon. Dawn doesn’t really get a chance to talk any more about her project at the meeting. Dawn surprises Buddy, Suzie, and Marnie with a sticker book called “Marine World”. It has a fold-out map of Marine World that has several ponds, a walkway, waterfalls, and slides. Dawn then gives them a lesson on dolphins and how millions are killed because fisherman use nets. She says the money she spent on the book went to a Save The Dolphins Fund.
The kids say they want to save the dolphins too and Dawn says they can start by writing letters to the tun companies that they won’t buy their tuna if they keep hurting the dolphins. Dawn says she’ll write the letters and they can sign them. Dawn says they can also make sure the garbage they dump in the ocean doesn’t hurt the fish and sea animals. Suzi says she would never do that. That’s littering and Dawn gives her a hug for this. She says other companies do tho. She then tells them about the dangers of the plastic rings on sodas. She shows them how to clip the rings so that the animals won’t get tangled in them.
Dawn tells Suzi she can separate all the cans out of the trash and then they can recycle them. Dawn and the kids sepnd the rest of the afternoon talking about ways they can save the planet and the animals. They come up with turn off dripping faucets, and recycling some plastic bags Mrs. Barrett used for sandwiches Dawn thinks of the perfect project inspired by the Barrett’s. She can teach an after-school ecology class. (Even tho it doesn’t really stick to one of the themes).
Stacey thinks it’s a great idea and has the perfect book “50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth”. Stacey worries that they won’t get a chance to work together and Dawn says she’ll talk to Mrs. Gonzalez first thing in the morning. She says yes. Stacey and Dawn make plans at Stacey’s. They decide to have six weeks’ worth of lessons. Each week they can deal with one or two different ways of saving the plant. Week one they can focus on recycling. Week two conserving water. Then ways to save energy.
They can also cover the topics in class. The last week they can focus on getting the word out. Like they could have a fair. That the kids make. (Umm. Isn’t this DAWN and STACEYS project?). They’ll call it “A Green Fair”. They decide to call clients to see who they can get to come to the classes. They have some details to work out but they decide the class should be an hour. Then they have to decide when the classes will be and who’ll need transportation. They get 11 kids: Charlotte Johanssen, Becca Ramsey, David Michael Thomas, Karen and Andrew Brewer, Buddy and Suzi Barrett, Nicky and Vanessa Pike, and Hannie and Linny Papadakis. Mrs. Papadakis volunteers to drive the ones who need a ride.
Dawn tells Mrs. Korman the fair will also raise money for an organization they’ll choose later. At the first meeting, Stacey and Dawn pass out badges that say KIDS CARE Dawn begins by asking them if they think their world is clean. Becca says yes except where there’s dirt. Bill says it’s clean when it rains. Charlotte says but not always because of smog from factories and cars. Dawn and Stacey tell them about other kinds of dirt. Linny mentions he’s seen oil in the ponds and foam. Then they teach them about pollution. They also talk about the ozone layer and if it keeps getting destroyed it won’t be there to protect use from the sun’s rays. They also talk about recycling. Dawn makes a point to check on why there aren’t more recycling centers. There’s one but it’s kind of far out.
The kids this day bury stuff in the backyard (an apple core, lettuce, Styrofoam, and plastic) to see which is biodegradable. Dawn discovers that Stoneybrooke doesn’t have a recycling center. When she gets to Claud’s for the next meeting, Claud is making dough earrings. Dawn gets on Claudia for having candy that’s individually wrapped in plastic. She also goes on a rant about the plastic cups they used for the fruit cocktails at lunch. Some things discussed at the meeting are the Odnher kids have measles and Fredrick Duvall (a NY dancer) is teaching a special ballet technique class (Jessi will be going). Dawn tells them about her plan to make SMS a recycling center and then she goes into another rant about how they should care more and how much paper Maryanne is wasting by just writing on one side.
Dawn says the next time they buy paper it should be recycled. Kristy says that’s cool. Maryanne apologizes and says she’ll write on both sides next time. At the end of the meeting, Claudia invites everyone to come into the kitchen to see her jewelry. She says it’s biodegrable so even Dawn will approve. Dawn realizes she’s sounding like a nag but if she can’t get her friends to listen who will. When Jessi goes to sit for the Pikes, the triplets are calling themselves “The Green Patrol” and are holding Mal hostage from drinking from a paper cup. Jordan says she also could have used a cloth napkin other than a paper towel. Mal’s been sent to “Green School” where she has to recite a bunch of rules of environmental things she won’t do.
Nicky and Vanessa are writing a letter to the president for an assignment given to him by Dawn and Stacey. Vanessa’s written the Queen. They’re writing world letters. Nicky is having problems getting his letter out so Jessi acts as secretary and then has him copy it in his own hand writing. “The Green Patrol” tries to get Vanessa but Mallory says the paper she had was already bought so it doesn’t count. There’s a water leak. Jessi says they can check it after lunch and they go outside and check the water hose. There mom has used a plastic bag for the sandwiches but Mal says they can use it again. The kids don’t want to eat on paper napkins. Instead, the eat on glass saucers.
There are some other mistakes. Jessi finds a soda can by the fence and thew it in the trash. Mallory leaves the light on in the kitchen. By the time Mr. and Mrs. Pike gets home everything is “Green Patrol” approved. Dawn the next week, designs a poster listing reasons why SMS will be the ideal site for a recycling center. Then she draws up a schedule for taking the cans and bottles to the main terinal downtown. Then she makes a chart of how many students will be needed to work on the project each week and how many hours they would have to spend a month to keep the recycling center going. On Thursday, she presents the plan to Mrs. Gonzalez. She’s impressed but she tells Dawn to slow her roll. It takes time. First Mr. Kingbridge will have to give it the green light.
After Dawn gives her presentation to him, he tells her if can prove that the students are willing to work vey hard to make the project succeed then he sees no reason why she can’t start her progam. He gives her a week and a half to drum up interest. Dawn tries to spread the word and approach’s a girl named Erica. Erica says she’s interested but then Dawn gets on her about throwing away a can. Maryanne is annoyed with her and warns her that she’s going to put people off what she’s trying to do. Then she makes an excuse that she has to get to class early and leaves her. Dawn talks to about 20 more people and then Shawna. I don’t see how Shawna’s locker doesn’t have a ton of roach’s because it has 3 plastic cups, some month old hamburger wrappers and two yellow Styrofoam containers.
She starts up her spill with Shawna but Shawna could care less (and some of the kids laugh). Maryanne tells Dawn to calm down and Dawn can’t help but think she’s doing the right thing. On Thursday, Dawn and Stacey’s class makes their final preparations for the “Green Fair”. Becca and Charlotte have the shopping bag booth. Since they want to encourage shoppers to not use paper or plastic they’ll be designing their own canvas bags. Some will have designs. Some won’t. Melody and Hannie will be selling small plants donated from the nursery Blooomers. Hannie and Melody are given the assignment to make the sign for their booth. Karen, Andrew, and Suzi will make buttons that say “Think Green” and “My Kids Care”.
Buddy and Bill will cut out pictures from magazines and make a collage of endangered species. They want to sell something so they’re assigned bird houses. They made some the previous week from milk cartoons. Then they’ll have demonstration booths. They talk about the results of the things they buried. The apple core and the lettuce were being part of the earth but the plastic and Styrofoam were still there. David and Linny are put over the demonstration booth. Nicky and Vanessa will have the letter writing booth. Before they start on their projects, Dawn asks them if they called any one and only Bill and Melody raise their hands. Dawn says she’s disappointed in them. She says by the next class she wants to see every single hand raised.
Claudia compliments her friends on a great class and says if they want her to help with the fair she will. Dawn says she wants her to help with the fliers. Stacy isn’t sure about this and wants the kids to do it, but Dawn says she wants a real artist to do it so the fliers will look more professional. Claudia compromises by getting Charlotte to help her. The design is kids holding hands around a ringed globe. They cut the letters from ads in magazines so that it looks like “a crazy quilt”
Later. Stacey vents to Claudia about Dawn. Stacey says if she wasn’t so committed to the kids she’d quit and if something doesn’t change it might change her friendship with Dawn. At school, Dawn gets to make a speech over the PA system during homeroom. She ends with the challenge to show they care by casting their vote for a new recycling center. Then Dawn has a quizzionare sent out for who’ll be a good chair person.
At lunch, Dawn worries that the students won’t know what recycling is. All her friends say they’d be a fool not to after all the pushing she’s done. Stacy doesn’t say anything but she does say when lunch ends they’ll vote for the center but there are other things they should worry about. Dawn doesn’t get a chance to ask what that would be. The students vote on the recycling center but they vote on Mrs. Gonzalez as the chair person. Dawn tries to tell herself it’s because she’s an adult and she’s just a student. But then she hears Cookie and Grace say Dawn didn’t get voted for because she’s obnoxious and no one voted for her but her friends. Dawn goes into the bathroom and cries. All she wanted was to do something good and this was the thanks she gets.
On the opening day of the new center, Dawn is nervous about her hair. Mrs. Gonzalez has given her the job to do the newletter. Dawn doesn’t volunteer for anything else having to do with the center. Maryanne notes Dawn’s mood and says it was wrong that they didn’t even put her picture in the paper. It was her idea. Dawn shrugs it off and says they mentioned her in the article three times. Dawn’s family bring some bottles (and newspapers) that they’ll have to drive into the parking lot and someone will take and sort. Dawn sees the BSC but don’t go over to them. Pete hands out a raffle ticket for a free dinner and movie at Chez Maurice.
Emily hands them a pamphlet and a form if they want to subscribe to the magazine P3 (Planet 3-Earth-the third from the sun-). The mayor is introduced (Mrs. Keane). Then Mr. Kingsbridge brings up Mrs. Gonzalez (not Dawn) as the person behind the idea. Then the band plays. Maryanne tells Dawn on the way home, she should feel happy. Dawn says she doesn’t.
Kristy sits for the Korman’s. The kids are building bird houses for Dawn and Stacey’s class. Their parents say it’s been good for them but it’s also been a headache. They got a three-day lecture for throwing a can in the garbage. So, they’re turning into Dawn. So are Karen, Andrew, and David Micheal. If anyone’s interested in making a bird house Bill gives some pretty through directions. Then they make feeders for the birds. (Melody is making this). Kristy agrees to come back and help Melody the next day-as long as she doesn’t bring up bugs-. Melody and Bill in their explanations started to talk about saving bugs.
At the next meeting, Dawn gives each member 5 posters and 2o fliers and tells them to put them up around town. She also has a list of where she wants them put up. Kristy says she can’t. She’s busy. Dawn says she was counting on her. Kristy points out she didn’t know she was supposed to do it. Dawn just says she’ll do Kristy’s and they’ll talk about it later. Maryanne asks why they have to wear name tags. Dawn says it’s because they’ll be helping at the fair on Saturday. Jessi says no one told her this. Dawn gets pissed at Stacey and says she was supposed to tell them. Stacey said no she was going to ASK them because that’s what you do with friends. You don’t give them ORDERS. Dawn says she’s not giving them orders and Stacey says she has been for a while.
Then Dawn and Stacey argue back and forth. Dawn accuses Stacey of thinking ecology is stupid and not doing her share of the work. Stacey argues back that’s because Dawn’s been trying to control everything. Stacey says she’s been bossing her around but enough is enough. She’s not gonna let Dawn boss her friends aren’t. Dawn still can’t see it but Claudia calls her out on it. Then Maryanne and Kristy chime in. Dawn says it’s just because she’s so passionate about recycling and if no one ever spoke up. They tell her but she’s gone overboard. Kristy tells her she’s acting obnoxious. Dawn apologizes but Maryanne tells her she can’t tell people what to think. Maryanne says she thinks Dawn should be in charge of the recycling center but she has to change her attitude. Dawn realizes they’re right and apologizes to Stacey. She promises to make the “Green Fair” fun and not be a bossy jerk.
After agreeing their friends again, Dawn says they should start work on their project. She has to be pointed out she’s doing it again and changes it to when Stacey’s ready. The first thing that goes wrong is a strong wind blows down Karen, Andrew, and Suzi’s booth (which makes sense because it’s just carboard boxes stappled together). The booth rips apart. But they staple it and tape it back together. Then Linny and David Micheal have a heated argument over who was supposed to bring celery to a pollution demonstration. After that everything goes smoothly. Dawn decides to donate the money from the Green Fair to the recycling project. Dawn gets an A on her essay and a glowing comment. Mrs. Gonzalez offers Dawn the chance to be her co-chair.
My Thoughts:
Dawn and Stacey did NOT do this assignment correctly and should NOT have gotten A’s. The assignment wasn’t to do an ecology project. The project was to do a project from ONE OF THE TOPICS on the poster and think of a SOLUTION to ONE of the topics. Not to teach ALL of the topics to a group of kids. They didn’t THINK of anything. They had a kids book of ideas to save the planet. Then this is THEIR project. They used these kids to carry out the experiments. They used these kids to get booths together for the fair. They used these kids to design the posters and Claudia. All the things sold at the booths the kids did. If anything, this was a C or D effort and grade.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2017
Dawn takes a class on environmental issues, and decides to teach her own class to her baby sitting charges. She becomes a bossy, pushy, know-it-all. This book bored me to pieces when I was a kid, and it was not fun to see Dawn, who I liked as a kid, act like such a jerk. I read it when I was nine or ten.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
Mostly the stuff about Dawn yelling at everyone for not recycling. Also, my grandmother lived in a commune that was entirely vegan, partly because they felt that raising animals wasted too much water, farmable land, etc. They were always screaming about how not eating meat was environmentally friendly, so I couldn't understand why Dawn did not make one single mention of this in her environmental disaster diatribe.
I remember the kids burying trash and food out in the backyard, and then digging it up again to see what had decomposed and what had just sat there.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
This book has not aged well. I remember the perky, well-meaning tone of the 90s, and it sounds so quaint now. I remember the book 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save The Earth with its bright colors and 90s graphics. I remember the earnest "Recycle, kids!" message I was hit over the head with in elementary school. This book is basically a trite reiteration of everything I heard in elementary school, and much of this information is either much more dire than we believed in the 90s, or slightly inaccurate, or not very well explained.
I do like that Dawn discovers that although her middle school is learning all about recycling and she is eager to teach her baby sitting charges about it, Stoneybrook doesn't have a recycling program. I remember this frustration haunting me until I was in my twenties and I finally moved to a city that had a fairly reliable recycling program. Getting kids passionate about recycling is great, but municipalities should make an effort to reinforce that by making it simple for families to recycle.
In the book one of the BSC charges, the mysterious Ohdners, come down with the measles. What kid had the measles in 1992? Also, why does Mallory say she already had the measles, and why do the other baby sitters fear that they might have contracted the measles? Does no one in Stoneybrook get their MMR immunization?
I sympathize with Dawn who realizes the seriousness of environmental issues, and is frustrated that everyone else seems sort of lackadaisical about the problem. However, her attitude is terrible. She will totally end up working for Greenpeace or PETA when she grows up, and be one of those bossy, angry people who looks down on everyone (exactly like how she acts in this book). She especially annoyed me when she had a meltdown in the girls bathroom after overhearing Cokie and Grace (who she doesn't even like) saying how obnoxious she is. Why do the books keep making such a fuss about how Dawn doesn't care what people think of her? She later sulks through the grand opening of the recycling center, which of course does nothing to endear anyone to her. All in all this was a boring book, very strangely written. It was like the ghost writers were used to writing books for first graders.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
Mostly the stuff about Dawn yelling at everyone for not recycling. Also, my grandmother lived in a commune that was entirely vegan, partly because they felt that raising animals wasted too much water, farmable land, etc. They were always screaming about how not eating meat was environmentally friendly, so I couldn't understand why Dawn did not make one single mention of this in her environmental disaster diatribe.
I remember the kids burying trash and food out in the backyard, and then digging it up again to see what had decomposed and what had just sat there.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
This book has not aged well. I remember the perky, well-meaning tone of the 90s, and it sounds so quaint now. I remember the book 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save The Earth with its bright colors and 90s graphics. I remember the earnest "Recycle, kids!" message I was hit over the head with in elementary school. This book is basically a trite reiteration of everything I heard in elementary school, and much of this information is either much more dire than we believed in the 90s, or slightly inaccurate, or not very well explained.
I do like that Dawn discovers that although her middle school is learning all about recycling and she is eager to teach her baby sitting charges about it, Stoneybrook doesn't have a recycling program. I remember this frustration haunting me until I was in my twenties and I finally moved to a city that had a fairly reliable recycling program. Getting kids passionate about recycling is great, but municipalities should make an effort to reinforce that by making it simple for families to recycle.
In the book one of the BSC charges, the mysterious Ohdners, come down with the measles. What kid had the measles in 1992? Also, why does Mallory say she already had the measles, and why do the other baby sitters fear that they might have contracted the measles? Does no one in Stoneybrook get their MMR immunization?
I sympathize with Dawn who realizes the seriousness of environmental issues, and is frustrated that everyone else seems sort of lackadaisical about the problem. However, her attitude is terrible. She will totally end up working for Greenpeace or PETA when she grows up, and be one of those bossy, angry people who looks down on everyone (exactly like how she acts in this book). She especially annoyed me when she had a meltdown in the girls bathroom after overhearing Cokie and Grace (who she doesn't even like) saying how obnoxious she is. Why do the books keep making such a fuss about how Dawn doesn't care what people think of her? She later sulks through the grand opening of the recycling center, which of course does nothing to endear anyone to her. All in all this was a boring book, very strangely written. It was like the ghost writers were used to writing books for first graders.
August 14, 2023
I really appreciate that, even though Dawn gets super obnoxious, the book doesn't give her a real "comeuppance," or a big public humiliation, to punish her and force her to acknowledge how she was wrong and put her back in her place. She does see some repercussions from her behavior, but I think it's treated it a much more sympathetic way. What I didn't love in this book was the messaging that climate change activists or activism in general are obnoxious, or that combating climate change is just a personal preference. For example, when Mary Anne says "you can't force people to think like you do," like climate activism is just another hobby or special interest. Another way this book shows its age is the way it discusses environmental issues, what it prioritizes, and its focus on individuals to recycle, reduce, etc. (It also conflates recycling and reusing.)
August 28, 2017
Ah, the book that made us all hate Dawn Schafer. No hardcore old school BSC fan is likely to ever forget this book, or the rage that it induced. If you thought Dawn was horrible before, just wait. This book changed absolutely everything. She went from just kind of annoying to out-and-out horrible. It really was a turning point, and just a few books later at #88 Dawn was gone. Oh, she'd come back to haunt us, but we were not regularly subjected to her any longer.
Thank the Lord.
Thank the Lord.
September 19, 2009
Instead of adding ALL of the BSC series or just the first book, I'll add this one, because I'm pretty sure it's the first I owned (and possibly first read). I don't think I ever read ALL of the books from 1 to infinity, but I did read whatever my library had available in the moment. Childhood classics!
October 30, 2016
I guess I'm Dawn. I don't get how people can feel hatred for a 13 year old girl feeling zealous about a topic that interests her. It's okay when it's about fashion or gossip, but something of material consequence is obnoxious.
July 10, 2016
Dawn and Stacey Teach a class on how to save the planet to some kids the babysitters club sits for.
June 7, 2020
This book was really good. It told a funny story plus taught about Recycling. One of my favorite parts was when Dawn and Stacey first taught the ecology class, Because the events of the class were really funny. The Idea of the ecology club Was really great. I felt like in this book Dawn was not just being rude but also bossy. She wasn’t really thinking that She couldn’t change peoples opinions of recycling. But I did feel sorry for her when she lost the election. It was great of her to organize that in the first place. Dawn was part nice and part rude in this book because she forced people to recycle and yelled at them but she helps kids learn about the importance of recycling by starting the ecology club and started the recycling center. Because Dawn was bossy She reminded me kind of Kristy in Kristy’s worst idea, bsc #100. Dawn pointed out that individually packaged candies are bad for the environment and that Maryanne should write on both sides of the paperBut I thought that Claudia didn’t buy individually packaged candies and said she bought them in one big bag and that Maryanne used both sides of paper. Although I could be incorrect about that. I liked the ecology club projects such as burying items in the grounds to see if they would decompose or not and writing letters to famous people. One thing I noticed was that there were lots of typos In the story. There were places where commas needed to be use as well as Things that were not consistent throughout the books. This BSC book with one of my favorites.
September 25, 2018
This marks the first time I've read the Baby-Sitters Club as an adult. I think the last time I read something from this series was in the 5th grade. I asked a classmate what she thought of BSC and she replied, "those books are boring." Not wanting to be seen as a dull girl, I moved onto other books. (Anyone who knows me slightly has seen me with a book.) This book gave me a sweet nostalgia. There's such an innocence to these books. Well-meaning girls who have a genuine friendship. I treasure that.
This book reaffirmed that I need to go softer on people about my causes.
Hahaha!!
This book reaffirmed that I need to go softer on people about my causes.
Hahaha!!
January 3, 2021
What blows my mind about this book is that it was originally published in 1992. Here we are almost 30 years later and we are still addressing these issues about the environment. We just banned plastic straws, we still use plastic water bottles, individually wrapped candies, etc. I am very happy that the author addressed this so long ago, but why didn't more people advocate for the environment back then? I remember watching Family Ties in the 80s and they too addressed these issues.
This was a quick and cute read to flash back onto my childhood to start the new year!
This was a quick and cute read to flash back onto my childhood to start the new year!
August 23, 2023
Ok so yes Dawn does go too far in her crusade here, but in so many ways, she -- and this book -- were ahead of their time. A lot of the stuff she's advocating for here (recycling, using canvas bags to shop) are standard practice now, and I feel like if this story happened today, the other people would be a lot more mindful of their environmental choices.
Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I think reading this as a kid is how I learned we need to cut the plastic rings from pop 6-packs, so that sea turtles don't get caught in them.
Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I think reading this as a kid is how I learned we need to cut the plastic rings from pop 6-packs, so that sea turtles don't get caught in them.
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July 29, 2020As 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.
July 26, 2021
Dawn is pretty awful in this one (although tbh if she'd bullied everyone into recycling then maybe we'd have saved the Earth by now) but the worst part is how out of control the BSC's projects are. Kristy didn't have time to run for class president and schedule Krushers practices but Dawn can teach an ecology class, design a recycling program and make posters and get to school early and stay late...I mean...
August 28, 2017
I'm very, very sick right now, and curling up with BSC books is making me feel a little better. What can I say, I still love these.
Even though Dawn is AWFUL in this, I've always loved this book. I'm a bit of a recycling freak myself, and come to think of it it's very possible that is because of this book.
Even though Dawn is AWFUL in this, I've always loved this book. I'm a bit of a recycling freak myself, and come to think of it it's very possible that is because of this book.
August 31, 2020
Wow.
Dawn is incredibly annoying. Never thought she could be more annoying and then I gave this book a read. She was so self-righteous and irritating lecturing people about the environment. Not everyone wants to make a damn birdhouse, Dawn! I was waiting for someone to shove a rice cake down her throat, but alas, that wish didn’t come true.
Dawn is incredibly annoying. Never thought she could be more annoying and then I gave this book a read. She was so self-righteous and irritating lecturing people about the environment. Not everyone wants to make a damn birdhouse, Dawn! I was waiting for someone to shove a rice cake down her throat, but alas, that wish didn’t come true.
December 9, 2021
Dawn is so unstable it's kind of disturbing. I feel like she goes to such wild extremes only to (never) learn the same lesson over and over: just be yourself and chill out ever so slightly. This book decided to rebrand her orthorexia as a general "environmentalism" and of course becomes unhinged in the process.
March 5, 2023
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.
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.
November 8, 2025
I'm definitely not as annoyed by Dawn in this book as a lot of people seem to be... which isn't to say Dawn wasn't annoying in this, but I think the author really got that vibe of a teenager just learning about social justice issues and dealing with it in the most obnoxious way. I loved how real it felt. Parts of it were a little preachy, but in a way that was maybe the point.
December 15, 2020
(LL)
This book does an awesome job tackling: recycling, being environmentally conscious, and dealing with someone who can get a little too passionate.
As an aside: there is no way they’d be able to create a recycling center for a whole town by utilizing volunteers and no money at all.
This book does an awesome job tackling: recycling, being environmentally conscious, and dealing with someone who can get a little too passionate.
As an aside: there is no way they’d be able to create a recycling center for a whole town by utilizing volunteers and no money at all.
September 8, 2023
3 stars. Dawn is one of my favorites but she was annoying here but that was the whole point. She became obsessed about saving the planet. Great message and I’m glad the other girls confronted her about her behavior but yeah Dawn was a lot in this one.
July 11, 2017
Got about 60% through and had to stop. Nice of them to try and use the book to help the environment but did Dawn have to be such a bitch to get the point across?
October 3, 2019
Review on www.Audible.com listen to this book.
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August 26, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
August 28, 2020
love listening to this, great to hear more about dawn's activism!!!
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