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The Baby-Sitters Club #122
Kristy in Charge
Back-to-school brings an exciting new challenge for Kristy. She's been selected to be a teacher for a week! Team-teaching a gym class with her arch rival, Cary Retlin, Kristy learns a few lessons she never knew she needed.
122 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1998
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,170 books3,167 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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December 18, 2015
this is my first time reading this book.
in this book by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn, sms is offering a new program where students can sign up to guest teach three sessions of a class for extra credit. kristy jumps at the chance to be in charge and show the teachers how they can improve their teaching (because she’s kristy and genuinely thinks she knows more about teaching than adult teachers do, hoo boy). she gets assigned to a gym class with a real hardass teacher, and she has to work with cary retlin on a soccer unit (since both classes were supposed to be taught soccer together). she doesn’t write a lesson plan (even though that’s part of the assignment) and tries to run the class off the cuff, but finds that it descends into chaos quickly. she assumes cary is to blame, so writes a strict lesson plan without him but it unsurprisingly sucks. kristy and cary get so annoyed at each other that when each coaches a team in soccer, the teams start a huge brawl, egged on by kristy and cary’s competitiveness, that results in some not-so-minor injuries -- one kid might have broken a bone, etc. they get in horrible trouble but get it together in the end when kristy suggests a passathon for the third day: the kids just pass the ball to each other, and having to work together makes them not hate each other anymore, apparently. ooookay. anyway, mal also does the guest teaching program but she is assigned to kristy and mary anne’s 8th grade english class. she is panicky and accidentally breaks some chalk which goes flying across the room, leading to everyone in the 8th grade, and subsequently the whole school, calling her spaz girl. this sets in motion the mallory plotline for the rest of the series where she gets so badly bullied that she ends up switching schools in The All-New Mallory Pike. the babysitting subplot is that vanessa pike, inspired by the guest teaching program, forces her siblings into poetry lessons they didn’t ask for and don’t want. she blackmails them by saying she'll tell on them about various bad things they've done if they don’t stay for her lessons. finally abby talks vanessa through how to teach by making her think of her favorite teachers, who would always tell her to try new things and would be warm, not blackmailing jerks. so then the sibs want to write poetry because vanessa has stopped being a jerk to them.
highlights:
-when she first hears about the guest teaching program, kristy asks "is mr. taylor's job available?" he's the principal. classic kristy.
-in training kristy learns about lesson planning and thinks it's awesome. she wants to make the bsc members create and submit lesson plans for their babysitting. hooooo boy. she's out-kristying herself in this one. nicely done, suzanne weyn
-re: blackmailing her siblings, stacey tells vanessa that's not okay and that teachers don't behave that way. vanessa astutely notes that teachers say "i'll report you to the principal" or "your parents will be getting a note about this," which is totally blackmailing. she has a point!
-vanessa says spelling was made up by people who wrote words in ways to confuse everyone, and claud is on board with this logic
-ms walden (the gym teacher kristy is guest teaching for) says that teachers sometimes have to work together even if they don't like each other, and kristy is blown away, because she thought all teachers were one cohesive unit. suzanne weyn really nailed the preadolescent/adolescent misunderstanding of how adults operate.
-kristy wears umbros to teach (I had to look this up but apparently they're soccer shorts and jessica biel really loves them) and tries to get the kids to do high kicks for their warmup but can't demonstrate because her shorts are too loose and short and would show her underwear. hahahahahahahaha and she makes fun of claudia and stacey for their impractical fashion decisions
-the pike sibs get so fed up that they literally handcuff vanessa behind the couch and gag her. WOW.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-they say something about how mal might get assigned to teach algebra and she writes a poem about it: "the value of x? what could it be? this I'll say. don't ask me." but why does mal know what algebra is already? I didn't take algebra until 8th grade, and I was in the higher/honors math classes. I doubt I knew about variables in 6th grade
-in her application kristy says that she wants to show teachers how classes should be run. it's weird to me that they still accept her into this program, since it’s clearly not intended for the power-mad, but oh well
-kristy narrates something about alan gray sounding like igor speaking to dracula. do they mean igor speaking to dr. frankenstein? apparently igor is dracula’s assistant in the van helsing movies, but otherwise he’s always dr. frankenstein’s assistant.
-walden asks kristy for her lesson plan. kristy says she didn't think gym teachers did them. walden says that if she had done one, maybe the class would have gone better. kristy implies cary is the only person to blame for the class going poorly. oooookay.
-I'm not sure why kristy and cary are to blame for kids getting into a huge brawl. the real teachers were there too, why didn't they stop it?
-how in the world does the english teacher mal is guest teaching for not stop her kids from relentlessly bullying mal?
-at the end they ask kristy and cary to coach a soccer game. after ONE successful teaching session, which happens two days after the brawl that sent a kid to the hospital. shyeah right
claud outfit:
-"Today she was wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt on which she'd painted a bald man's head from a side view. All the lines were sharp, not natural at all. His nose was purple, his eyes were orange, and his skin was green. Jagged yellow lines like lightning bolts sizzled around his head."
kristy's attempt to look like a gym teacher:
-"I wore plaid pleated shorts and a white short-sleeve polo shirt. Over the weekend I'd woven a blue-and-white lanyard and attached a whistle to it. I wore it around my neck like the other gym teachers did. I'd even gone over my sneakers with some white shoe polish so that they'd be super-white, like Ms. Walden's sneakers."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-popcorn (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
in this book by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn, sms is offering a new program where students can sign up to guest teach three sessions of a class for extra credit. kristy jumps at the chance to be in charge and show the teachers how they can improve their teaching (because she’s kristy and genuinely thinks she knows more about teaching than adult teachers do, hoo boy). she gets assigned to a gym class with a real hardass teacher, and she has to work with cary retlin on a soccer unit (since both classes were supposed to be taught soccer together). she doesn’t write a lesson plan (even though that’s part of the assignment) and tries to run the class off the cuff, but finds that it descends into chaos quickly. she assumes cary is to blame, so writes a strict lesson plan without him but it unsurprisingly sucks. kristy and cary get so annoyed at each other that when each coaches a team in soccer, the teams start a huge brawl, egged on by kristy and cary’s competitiveness, that results in some not-so-minor injuries -- one kid might have broken a bone, etc. they get in horrible trouble but get it together in the end when kristy suggests a passathon for the third day: the kids just pass the ball to each other, and having to work together makes them not hate each other anymore, apparently. ooookay. anyway, mal also does the guest teaching program but she is assigned to kristy and mary anne’s 8th grade english class. she is panicky and accidentally breaks some chalk which goes flying across the room, leading to everyone in the 8th grade, and subsequently the whole school, calling her spaz girl. this sets in motion the mallory plotline for the rest of the series where she gets so badly bullied that she ends up switching schools in The All-New Mallory Pike. the babysitting subplot is that vanessa pike, inspired by the guest teaching program, forces her siblings into poetry lessons they didn’t ask for and don’t want. she blackmails them by saying she'll tell on them about various bad things they've done if they don’t stay for her lessons. finally abby talks vanessa through how to teach by making her think of her favorite teachers, who would always tell her to try new things and would be warm, not blackmailing jerks. so then the sibs want to write poetry because vanessa has stopped being a jerk to them.
highlights:
-when she first hears about the guest teaching program, kristy asks "is mr. taylor's job available?" he's the principal. classic kristy.
-in training kristy learns about lesson planning and thinks it's awesome. she wants to make the bsc members create and submit lesson plans for their babysitting. hooooo boy. she's out-kristying herself in this one. nicely done, suzanne weyn
-re: blackmailing her siblings, stacey tells vanessa that's not okay and that teachers don't behave that way. vanessa astutely notes that teachers say "i'll report you to the principal" or "your parents will be getting a note about this," which is totally blackmailing. she has a point!
-vanessa says spelling was made up by people who wrote words in ways to confuse everyone, and claud is on board with this logic
-ms walden (the gym teacher kristy is guest teaching for) says that teachers sometimes have to work together even if they don't like each other, and kristy is blown away, because she thought all teachers were one cohesive unit. suzanne weyn really nailed the preadolescent/adolescent misunderstanding of how adults operate.
-kristy wears umbros to teach (I had to look this up but apparently they're soccer shorts and jessica biel really loves them) and tries to get the kids to do high kicks for their warmup but can't demonstrate because her shorts are too loose and short and would show her underwear. hahahahahahahaha and she makes fun of claudia and stacey for their impractical fashion decisions
-the pike sibs get so fed up that they literally handcuff vanessa behind the couch and gag her. WOW.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-they say something about how mal might get assigned to teach algebra and she writes a poem about it: "the value of x? what could it be? this I'll say. don't ask me." but why does mal know what algebra is already? I didn't take algebra until 8th grade, and I was in the higher/honors math classes. I doubt I knew about variables in 6th grade
-in her application kristy says that she wants to show teachers how classes should be run. it's weird to me that they still accept her into this program, since it’s clearly not intended for the power-mad, but oh well
-kristy narrates something about alan gray sounding like igor speaking to dracula. do they mean igor speaking to dr. frankenstein? apparently igor is dracula’s assistant in the van helsing movies, but otherwise he’s always dr. frankenstein’s assistant.
-walden asks kristy for her lesson plan. kristy says she didn't think gym teachers did them. walden says that if she had done one, maybe the class would have gone better. kristy implies cary is the only person to blame for the class going poorly. oooookay.
-I'm not sure why kristy and cary are to blame for kids getting into a huge brawl. the real teachers were there too, why didn't they stop it?
-how in the world does the english teacher mal is guest teaching for not stop her kids from relentlessly bullying mal?
-at the end they ask kristy and cary to coach a soccer game. after ONE successful teaching session, which happens two days after the brawl that sent a kid to the hospital. shyeah right
claud outfit:
-"Today she was wearing a long-sleeved white T-shirt on which she'd painted a bald man's head from a side view. All the lines were sharp, not natural at all. His nose was purple, his eyes were orange, and his skin was green. Jagged yellow lines like lightning bolts sizzled around his head."
kristy's attempt to look like a gym teacher:
-"I wore plaid pleated shorts and a white short-sleeve polo shirt. Over the weekend I'd woven a blue-and-white lanyard and attached a whistle to it. I wore it around my neck like the other gym teachers did. I'd even gone over my sneakers with some white shoe polish so that they'd be super-white, like Ms. Walden's sneakers."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-popcorn (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
July 13, 2011
stoneybrook middle school continues its impressive run as world's worst middle school by introducing the teachers of tomorrow program. in exchange for extra credit, interested students can apply to be student teachers for a week. they will have to go to two days of training, submit lesson plans, & carry on with the curricula already being taught by the teachers for whom they are covering. so it's not COMPLETELY illegal. some lip service is given to the fact that public school curricula is in fact something that is overseen by a department of education. kristy is of course boiling over with enthusiasm for the idea. you know how she loves to boss people around. she wants to be the school principal, in fact, but is informed that she'll have to settle for a teaching gig like everyone else.
some members of the babysitters club are excited about the project. mary anne is interested, as is stacey, assuming that she can teach a math class. abby could use the extra credit, but isn't interested in taking on the extra work. jessi doesn't think she has time with a new ballet class she's taking. claudia, of course, has zero interest. mallory is beyond pumped. she is hoping to get assigned to an english class.
the interested students are asked to suggest classes they might be interested in teaching on their applications. because kristy can't be the principal, she suggests something in the athletic department because she likes sports. she has always gotten along well with the seventh grade girls' gym teacher, ms. walden. but then ms. walden yells at her for running in the hallway. kristy starts thinking about how ms. walden is kind of mean to the less athletic kids, which doesn't do much to build up their interest in sports. kristy thinks that she'll swoop in & show ms. walden that everyone can learn to love gym class if their teacher is encouraging & displays a positive attitude.
kristy also decides that lesson plans are a great idea...but not for gym class. there's so much moving around & unpredictability in gym, lesson plans will just get in the way. she briefly contemplates forcing the other members of the babysitters club to develop babysitting plans for each of their sitting jobs. i bet that would go over like a lead balloon. luckily, she recognizes that little kids are too unpredictable for babysitting lessons plans to be feasible.
kristy is totally bummed to learn that ms. walden's gym class is being combined with mr. deyoung's boys' gym class, which will also be led by a student teacher. that student is cary retlin. yay, cary! as we know, kristy & cary don't really get along that well, mostly because cary is always taking the piss out of kristy. kristy decides to basically ignore cary, do her own thing, & hope he falls in line.
ps--stacey got the math class she wanted. mary anne is teaching social studies (though you'd think mary anne would shy away from teaching because it involves being the center of attention). mallory was assigned to an english class--an EIGHTH GRADE english class. she is panicked over the possibility that she won't be able to get older kids to take her seriously.
kristy comes up with an alternative warm-up routine for the kids, complete with music. she starts walking the kids through it, but cary diverts everyone by starting a conga line. kristy almost has an aneurysm trying to get everyone back in line & following her directions, but she runs out of time & has to start the soccer game. once again, cary clowns around, running away with the ball. the kids run after him & don't listen to kristy. kristy is pissed. she thinks she could have taught a truly revolutionary gym class if cary hadn't undermined her.
ms. walden asks to see kristy the next day. ms. walden points out that class didn't go well & she asks to see kristy's lesson plan. kristy admits she didn't make a lesson plan; she didn't think she had to for a gym class. ms. walden says she most certainly expects kristy to start making lesson plans & coordinating the classes with cary. she tells kristy that she can't get extra credit without the lesson plans.
so kristy puts together a detailed lesson plan. she meets up with cary the next day in school & shows it to him. he points out that her lesson plan is unrealistic & that she'd be working the students like they're robots. his lesson plan is a lot more casual--kristy considers it sloppy. she again decides to do her own thing & ignore cary.
during warm-ups, kristy gets upset because cary is doing the exercises off rhythm & confusing the class. she hands out soccer assignments, breaking the kids into two teams, but the kids rebel & insist on forming their own teams. kristy permits this & then selects the tougher, more athletic-looking team for herseal, leaving the smaller, skinnier kids for cary. what she didn't count on is that the smaller kids all wanted to be on a team together because they take karate classes in stamford together. they start pulling karate moves on kristy's team & eventually a full-blown knock-down drag-out fight ensues. one girl gets a black eye, a boy loses a tooth, & another girl breaks her arm. it's a complete disaster. ms. walden & mr. deyoung tear cary & kristy some new assholes & tell them they have one more chance to prove they can work together or they are out of the program for good. kristy protests that she & cary don't get along & ms walden says, "so what? do you think teachers like each other all the time? they don't, but they have to work together anyway." kristy's mind is blown.
kristy comes up with the idea of a passathon for the next class: the kids have to pass the soccer ball to other kids, & if a kid misses, the person who passed to them is out. she hopes this will encourage cooperation. & she allows cary to lead the warm-ups. everything goes swimmingly. kristy & cary call a truce & that's pretty much that. i guess kristy learns that teaching isn't as easy as it looks.
as does mallory, who is so nervous teaching eighth graders that she just constantly embarrasses herself, dropping papers & breaking chalk & freezing in the face of smart aleck remarks. soon the kids are calling her "spaz girl," & before long, the nickname is all over the school. there's even a scene in which mallory answers to it. i don't know if that was intentional on the part of the ghostwriter or what. this sets the stage for mallory's transfer to boarding school in a couple of books.
in the B-plot, vanessa pike has caught teacher fever & has started her own poetry school. her students are margo, nicky, & claire. unfortunately, she's a real bossy britches & the kids don't want to go to her school. she won't let them quit though. she blackmails them with inside info she has on their various misdeeds, threatening to tattle on them to mr. & mrs. pike if they don't sit through her classes. the kids finally fight back, tricking her into trying on some play handcuffs, & then cuffing her, gagging her, & stuffing her behind an armchair. abby rescues her & asks her who her favorite teacher was & why. vanessa reports that her favorite teacher instilled a love of learning in her because she was always nice & encouraging. abby asks vanessa to teach her about poetry using the methods of her favorite teacher. nicky, margo, & claire overhear the new & improved vanessa pike teaching method & decide to rejoin her poetry school. crisis averted. the best thing about this subplot is when claudia is babysitting & vanessa gives a big speech about how spelling is overrated because poetry is about how words sound, & claudia is like, "yeah! finally someone feels me on this!" claudia gets way into vanessa's poetry school because vanessa doesn't care about spelling.
some members of the babysitters club are excited about the project. mary anne is interested, as is stacey, assuming that she can teach a math class. abby could use the extra credit, but isn't interested in taking on the extra work. jessi doesn't think she has time with a new ballet class she's taking. claudia, of course, has zero interest. mallory is beyond pumped. she is hoping to get assigned to an english class.
the interested students are asked to suggest classes they might be interested in teaching on their applications. because kristy can't be the principal, she suggests something in the athletic department because she likes sports. she has always gotten along well with the seventh grade girls' gym teacher, ms. walden. but then ms. walden yells at her for running in the hallway. kristy starts thinking about how ms. walden is kind of mean to the less athletic kids, which doesn't do much to build up their interest in sports. kristy thinks that she'll swoop in & show ms. walden that everyone can learn to love gym class if their teacher is encouraging & displays a positive attitude.
kristy also decides that lesson plans are a great idea...but not for gym class. there's so much moving around & unpredictability in gym, lesson plans will just get in the way. she briefly contemplates forcing the other members of the babysitters club to develop babysitting plans for each of their sitting jobs. i bet that would go over like a lead balloon. luckily, she recognizes that little kids are too unpredictable for babysitting lessons plans to be feasible.
kristy is totally bummed to learn that ms. walden's gym class is being combined with mr. deyoung's boys' gym class, which will also be led by a student teacher. that student is cary retlin. yay, cary! as we know, kristy & cary don't really get along that well, mostly because cary is always taking the piss out of kristy. kristy decides to basically ignore cary, do her own thing, & hope he falls in line.
ps--stacey got the math class she wanted. mary anne is teaching social studies (though you'd think mary anne would shy away from teaching because it involves being the center of attention). mallory was assigned to an english class--an EIGHTH GRADE english class. she is panicked over the possibility that she won't be able to get older kids to take her seriously.
kristy comes up with an alternative warm-up routine for the kids, complete with music. she starts walking the kids through it, but cary diverts everyone by starting a conga line. kristy almost has an aneurysm trying to get everyone back in line & following her directions, but she runs out of time & has to start the soccer game. once again, cary clowns around, running away with the ball. the kids run after him & don't listen to kristy. kristy is pissed. she thinks she could have taught a truly revolutionary gym class if cary hadn't undermined her.
ms. walden asks to see kristy the next day. ms. walden points out that class didn't go well & she asks to see kristy's lesson plan. kristy admits she didn't make a lesson plan; she didn't think she had to for a gym class. ms. walden says she most certainly expects kristy to start making lesson plans & coordinating the classes with cary. she tells kristy that she can't get extra credit without the lesson plans.
so kristy puts together a detailed lesson plan. she meets up with cary the next day in school & shows it to him. he points out that her lesson plan is unrealistic & that she'd be working the students like they're robots. his lesson plan is a lot more casual--kristy considers it sloppy. she again decides to do her own thing & ignore cary.
during warm-ups, kristy gets upset because cary is doing the exercises off rhythm & confusing the class. she hands out soccer assignments, breaking the kids into two teams, but the kids rebel & insist on forming their own teams. kristy permits this & then selects the tougher, more athletic-looking team for herseal, leaving the smaller, skinnier kids for cary. what she didn't count on is that the smaller kids all wanted to be on a team together because they take karate classes in stamford together. they start pulling karate moves on kristy's team & eventually a full-blown knock-down drag-out fight ensues. one girl gets a black eye, a boy loses a tooth, & another girl breaks her arm. it's a complete disaster. ms. walden & mr. deyoung tear cary & kristy some new assholes & tell them they have one more chance to prove they can work together or they are out of the program for good. kristy protests that she & cary don't get along & ms walden says, "so what? do you think teachers like each other all the time? they don't, but they have to work together anyway." kristy's mind is blown.
kristy comes up with the idea of a passathon for the next class: the kids have to pass the soccer ball to other kids, & if a kid misses, the person who passed to them is out. she hopes this will encourage cooperation. & she allows cary to lead the warm-ups. everything goes swimmingly. kristy & cary call a truce & that's pretty much that. i guess kristy learns that teaching isn't as easy as it looks.
as does mallory, who is so nervous teaching eighth graders that she just constantly embarrasses herself, dropping papers & breaking chalk & freezing in the face of smart aleck remarks. soon the kids are calling her "spaz girl," & before long, the nickname is all over the school. there's even a scene in which mallory answers to it. i don't know if that was intentional on the part of the ghostwriter or what. this sets the stage for mallory's transfer to boarding school in a couple of books.
in the B-plot, vanessa pike has caught teacher fever & has started her own poetry school. her students are margo, nicky, & claire. unfortunately, she's a real bossy britches & the kids don't want to go to her school. she won't let them quit though. she blackmails them with inside info she has on their various misdeeds, threatening to tattle on them to mr. & mrs. pike if they don't sit through her classes. the kids finally fight back, tricking her into trying on some play handcuffs, & then cuffing her, gagging her, & stuffing her behind an armchair. abby rescues her & asks her who her favorite teacher was & why. vanessa reports that her favorite teacher instilled a love of learning in her because she was always nice & encouraging. abby asks vanessa to teach her about poetry using the methods of her favorite teacher. nicky, margo, & claire overhear the new & improved vanessa pike teaching method & decide to rejoin her poetry school. crisis averted. the best thing about this subplot is when claudia is babysitting & vanessa gives a big speech about how spelling is overrated because poetry is about how words sound, & claudia is like, "yeah! finally someone feels me on this!" claudia gets way into vanessa's poetry school because vanessa doesn't care about spelling.
December 8, 2019
The main plot line of this book is:
Kristy Thomas conquers SMS as a student teacher.
There were two sub plots, both tying into the main plot:
a) Mallory Pike faces embarrassment as a student teacher.
b) Vanessa Pike learns the ropes of teaching as Miss Vanessa of Poetry School.
The moral of this book is unclear; there’s multiple:
a) Work with your teammates.
b) If you do something stupid, it is not the end of the world.
c) Don’t blackmail kids. It’s not worth it.
d) Teaching is hard.
I guess overall the BSC and their clients aren’t ready to teach... yet. Who knows? If Ann M Martin comes back to the BSC, there is a possibility that there would ever be a spinoff with the BSC as adults and Kristy could reprise her role as a gym teacher. I had always envisioned Kristy as a softball coach, but after I read this book, Future Kristy could very well teach.
Meanwhile, Mallory student teaches Eight Grade English and is nicknamed Spaz Girl. She teaches Mary Anne’s and Kristy’s class which reassures her? I would feel silly if my friends saw me in Mallory’s situation...so why wouldn’t Mallory?
And at the Pike house, Vanessa tries to teach poetry. This part is so ridiculous-she is basically copying SMS’s student teaching position. Needless to say, this part was unnecessary for A.M.M to include.
Kristy Thomas conquers SMS as a student teacher.
There were two sub plots, both tying into the main plot:
a) Mallory Pike faces embarrassment as a student teacher.
b) Vanessa Pike learns the ropes of teaching as Miss Vanessa of Poetry School.
The moral of this book is unclear; there’s multiple:
a) Work with your teammates.
b) If you do something stupid, it is not the end of the world.
c) Don’t blackmail kids. It’s not worth it.
d) Teaching is hard.
I guess overall the BSC and their clients aren’t ready to teach... yet. Who knows? If Ann M Martin comes back to the BSC, there is a possibility that there would ever be a spinoff with the BSC as adults and Kristy could reprise her role as a gym teacher. I had always envisioned Kristy as a softball coach, but after I read this book, Future Kristy could very well teach.
Meanwhile, Mallory student teaches Eight Grade English and is nicknamed Spaz Girl. She teaches Mary Anne’s and Kristy’s class which reassures her? I would feel silly if my friends saw me in Mallory’s situation...so why wouldn’t Mallory?
And at the Pike house, Vanessa tries to teach poetry. This part is so ridiculous-she is basically copying SMS’s student teaching position. Needless to say, this part was unnecessary for A.M.M to include.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2025
Rereading this as an adult definitely hits differently than reading it when I was the same age as Jessi and Mallory. As a kid, I remember sympathizing with Mallory since I also had issues with abusive classmates. As an adult, I have to wonder what the heck the adults at SMS were doing having a program like this, especially with so little assistance from the actual teachers. I could see having middle schoolers do TA work, but there's a reason a Master's is needed for teaching. Also, putting a sixth grader in charge of eighth graders?!?! They doomed Mallory to failure with that move! What were they thinking?
I was also very surprised Mary Anne's classes went well considering she is known for being shy and quiet- I'd have expected her to have a similar situation to Mallory, especially since she is so scared of public speaking. Actually, I was surprised she even signed up, given her loathing for being the center of attention.
I was also very surprised Mary Anne's classes went well considering she is known for being shy and quiet- I'd have expected her to have a similar situation to Mallory, especially since she is so scared of public speaking. Actually, I was surprised she even signed up, given her loathing for being the center of attention.
January 19, 2021
(LL)
Again, getting boring. The subplots are also boring, which means they have nothing special to write about anymore. Kristy and Cary being the only people on the whole TOT program to have to work together seemed unnecessary. Kristy is bossy and rather mean on her own, so it could have been fine for her to mess up on her own like Mallory did in her English class.
Also, teachers have to go off of the state curriculum for what they teach...at least 75% of the material isn’t up to them. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense that the kids would get to have their lesson plan be for anything related to the class they’re teaching. English, Math, and Social Studies especially have strict guidelines the teachers must follow.
Again, getting boring. The subplots are also boring, which means they have nothing special to write about anymore. Kristy and Cary being the only people on the whole TOT program to have to work together seemed unnecessary. Kristy is bossy and rather mean on her own, so it could have been fine for her to mess up on her own like Mallory did in her English class.
Also, teachers have to go off of the state curriculum for what they teach...at least 75% of the material isn’t up to them. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense that the kids would get to have their lesson plan be for anything related to the class they’re teaching. English, Math, and Social Studies especially have strict guidelines the teachers must follow.
February 21, 2021
Some of the Pike children were tired of their sister Vanessa's poetry lessons, so they handcuffed and gagged her. If that's the kind of toxic home environment Mallory lived in, she made the right decision to go off to boarding school in Massachusetts. The cause of Mallory's sudden clumsiness was apparently nerves of having to teach an eighth grade class even though she was only in sixth grade. It did not seem right to make a student teach a course they have not even taken yet.
Kristy loved lesson plans so much that she considered having the BSC use them for babysitting jobs, planning what games to play with the children and making sure the children eat dinner on time. But then, even though it was mandatory, she did not think that she had to make a lesson plan since she was teaching PE? I enjoyed the lesson Kristy learned about not undermining authority. "I thought of how it had annoyed me that teachers rarely spoke ill of each other. Now I understood why they did it. It wasn’t right to undermine the authority of someone else who was trying to run a class."
Kristy loved lesson plans so much that she considered having the BSC use them for babysitting jobs, planning what games to play with the children and making sure the children eat dinner on time. But then, even though it was mandatory, she did not think that she had to make a lesson plan since she was teaching PE? I enjoyed the lesson Kristy learned about not undermining authority. "I thought of how it had annoyed me that teachers rarely spoke ill of each other. Now I understood why they did it. It wasn’t right to undermine the authority of someone else who was trying to run a class."
October 24, 2017
This book is more or less one big set up for Mallory to go to boarding school. Literally that seems like that was the only purpose to this entire stupid premise. I think at one point in our school careers we had to get up in front of the entire class and present something/teach something. Only Stoneybrook Middle School would take it to the next level by having an entire program put together where kids spend three different days teaching their peers for an entire class period.
Not necessary.
So yes. We see Mallory's "Spaz Girl" reputation growing, and in just three more books she will be leaving SMS, the BSC, and Stoneybrook for greener pastures.
Not necessary.
So yes. We see Mallory's "Spaz Girl" reputation growing, and in just three more books she will be leaving SMS, the BSC, and Stoneybrook for greener pastures.
January 14, 2024
This was rough! The student teacher storyline was poorly done, or at least makes the adults and teachers out to look like complete idiots. Was this really necessary, and did it add much value to any of the characters?
Vanessa needs a time-out, and the moral should have been that everyone has different interests. Instead, it turned into 'teach everyone to do what you like, but teach it differently'.
Poorly done. I guess this was another ghost-writer. No wonder I stopped liking these later in the series.
Vanessa needs a time-out, and the moral should have been that everyone has different interests. Instead, it turned into 'teach everyone to do what you like, but teach it differently'.
Poorly done. I guess this was another ghost-writer. No wonder I stopped liking these later in the series.
January 20, 2024
When SMS introduces a Teachers of Tomorrow program (where students teach three periods of a class), Kristy and a few other BSC members are excited to sign up. Kristy wants to show teachers how they could do better....but she learns that teaching is much harder than it looks. She and another student fail miserably at teaching phys ed and need to work together to make amends. Mallory struggles with her 8th grade English class; while her sister Vanessa creates her own poetry school for her siblings.
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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.
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.
April 24, 2023
Good story. Kristy learns to appreciate better the hard work teachers do. I do wish she'd learned a bit more about adopting Cary's less rigid approach to teaching, but her idea for the final class was smart.
I do also think the project itself was a bit flawed. Wouldn't it make more sense for the middle schoolers to teach elementary school classes rather than their peers / potentially older students? Like in poor Mallory's case - yikes!
I do also think the project itself was a bit flawed. Wouldn't it make more sense for the middle schoolers to teach elementary school classes rather than their peers / potentially older students? Like in poor Mallory's case - yikes!
September 13, 2023
This is one of the weaker BSC books, in part because Kristy is pretty insufferable in it, but also because the teachers kind of suck. They're supervising the kids teaching the classes, but there's still broken bones in Kristy and Cary's gym class, and relentless bullying in Mal's eighth-grade English class. Everybody sucks.
March 21, 2025
This book integrated the A and B plots surprisingly well, and I didn't mind flipping between the two so much. I do love seeing Kristy struggle a little--she's usually so confident, but it's fun when not everything is easy for her. Poor Mallory, though!
November 30, 2019
Review on www.audible.com please listen to this book.
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May 16, 2021Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/kristy...
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November 28, 2023Letting middle schoolers be in charge of classes is a TERRIBLE idea, shame on you SMS faculty.
January 13, 2024
It showed a good lesson that Kristy needed to learn.
August 26, 2026
Still working through the series!
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January 29, 2026Back-to-school brings an exciting new challenge for Kristy. She's been selected to be a teacher for a week! Team-teaching a gym class with her arch rival, Cary Retlin, Kristy learns a few lessons she never knew she needed.
June 3, 2022
Another one where Kristy is the literal worst. I think she's getting more and more terrible as the series goes on. She has been horrid these past few books. The plot involves the kids at SMS being invited to join a new program, teachers of tomorrow or TOT. I at first thought it was teachers in training but that acronym would be a bad idea for middle schoolers. Anyway Kristy joints thinking she'll show those teachers how to do their jobs. Because no one knows more than a bossy 13 year old kid. She gets gym class, but has to share it with Cary who she hates probably as much as Alan Gray. Mary Anne gets social studies and Stacey gets math which is her biggest personality traits. Mallory for some stupid reason gets 8th grade English. Why the hell would you have a 6th grader teach 8th grade?? What is wrong with people?? Anyway Kristy soon learns there is more to teaching than she thought. She doesn't come up with a lesson plan she and Cary fight and eventually a soccer game ends up in a brawl with three kids needing medical attention brokenn bones, missing teeth and a black eye. After getting hauled into the principals office they agree to work together and end up being offered as coaches proving that SMS has horrible teachers. Also proving this poor Mallory is bullied so bad she will eventually leave SMS for a private school later on. The b plot involves Vanessa Pike trying to teach poetry to her siblings and them eventually handcuffing and gagging her behind the couch. Yikes. This was sort of decent but lord Kristy is awful. Maybe she and Karen will team up to become serial killers? The Pike storyline was hilarious so there's that.
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!
November 27, 2015
Interesting concept, but not the most believable story.
Kirsty's part of the story is better because it makes more sense and addresses important ideas about dealing with people you may not like; however, I feel it was exaggerated in some aspects.
Mallory's part just does not ring true for me. I don't think she would have been that unprepared or so upset by a little name-calling. I think it could have been handled much better and in a way that would have felt more true to her character and to the spirit of what these books should be.
Kirsty's part of the story is better because it makes more sense and addresses important ideas about dealing with people you may not like; however, I feel it was exaggerated in some aspects.
Mallory's part just does not ring true for me. I don't think she would have been that unprepared or so upset by a little name-calling. I think it could have been handled much better and in a way that would have felt more true to her character and to the spirit of what these books should be.
August 7, 2009
Aha! Loved it! The Pike kids never cease to make me collapse into peals of laughter!
November 1, 2013
In which K. Ron thinks she knows more about being a gym teacher than the gym teacher, and Mel-ry earns her Spaz Girl nickname. I love Cary Retlin.
January 12, 2017
While the plot was great, it was very unrealistic. Student teachers don't even get as much freedom as the SMS students. Plus, the teachers would have to be monitoring the student teachers.
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