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The Baby-Sitters Club #7
Claudia and Mean Janine
Claudia's participation in the Baby-sitters Club is curtailed when Grandmother Mimi suffers a stroke and Claudia finds herself "Mimi-sitting" and fighting more frequently with her sister.
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1987
213 people are currently reading
1589 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,098 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 280 reviews
March 22, 2017
I feel the need to point out that at no point was Janine mean. Claudia on the other hand - kind of a bitch.
October 18, 2018
"Claudia and Mean Janine" has to be one of my favorite books of the series. I didn't grow up with a sister but I have known enough sisters in my life to know that sometimes they can be like oil and water. They just don't mix! When the Kishi family faces a family crisis, these two sisters are going to have to come to a compromise and work together. I enjoyed the fact that it took Claudia to see how Jamie Newton interacted with sister Lucy to understand that maybe she was giving her big sister a hard time.
November 22, 2020
Claudia doesn't get on with her older sister. Janine is a genius, taking university classes at the age of 16, with a passion for physics and computers. Claudia just loves art. But when their beloved grandmother Mimi has a stroke, the two learn that they may be more similar than they think. As a side story, the BSC start a playgroup for the summer. It's a side story that doesn't really go anyway, and seems a bit pointless.
I was actually quite impressed with this story. Mimi's stroke is handled sensitively, and includes a lot of information about rehabilitation and occupational therapy that is still highly relevant to this day. At one point a doctor even mentions aphasia, which I was quite impressed about. I always really liked the character of Mimi too. She's incredibly loving, caring and deeply empathetic towards Claudia and her family. To see her get frustrated and annoyed at her inability to speak (I mean she's relearning a whole second language, the woman is amazing) was quite hard to read at at times.
I also liked the interactions between Claudia and Janine - although I do think Claudia is especially harsh on Janine. Clearly she's short sighted if she can't sense how jealous Janine is by her relationship with Mimi. All Claudia can see is that her parents clearly favour Janine because she's going to be a physicist and does well in school.
A good edition to the series, I just wish the other sitters had more of a side story than a nonsense summer playgroup where the most interesting thing that happened was Mrs Brewer sending Louis the dog over with $5 payment to look after him for the day. Also - how cheap? Can I hire them to look after my kids for $5 a morning?!
I was actually quite impressed with this story. Mimi's stroke is handled sensitively, and includes a lot of information about rehabilitation and occupational therapy that is still highly relevant to this day. At one point a doctor even mentions aphasia, which I was quite impressed about. I always really liked the character of Mimi too. She's incredibly loving, caring and deeply empathetic towards Claudia and her family. To see her get frustrated and annoyed at her inability to speak (I mean she's relearning a whole second language, the woman is amazing) was quite hard to read at at times.
I also liked the interactions between Claudia and Janine - although I do think Claudia is especially harsh on Janine. Clearly she's short sighted if she can't sense how jealous Janine is by her relationship with Mimi. All Claudia can see is that her parents clearly favour Janine because she's going to be a physicist and does well in school.
A good edition to the series, I just wish the other sitters had more of a side story than a nonsense summer playgroup where the most interesting thing that happened was Mrs Brewer sending Louis the dog over with $5 payment to look after him for the day. Also - how cheap? Can I hire them to look after my kids for $5 a morning?!
August 29, 2022
“Time is change”When I finished reading Kristy’s Big Day, I knew I needed some time to prepare myself for the beginning of Mimi’s story. That was over a year and a half ago. It turns out that no amount of time can prepare me for the my Mimi heartache.
So, this is me jumping in and protecting my heart as best I can. What? No, you didn’t see me getting misty eyed when I visited Mimi in the hospital.
Moving on. Reading this book for the first time in maybe five or six years generated a bunch of random thoughts.
The Wednesday we begin this book, Claudia has a busy day. She has art class in the morning. After lunch, she babysits for Jamie Newton for a couple of hours, shops with Stacey and then there’s the usual Wednesday BSC meeting. When Stacey rocks up to BSC Central that afternoon at 5:15pm, Claudia is surprised by Stacey’s new haircut and perm. So, what we need to know is this: is Stacey a time traveller? How did she have time to get her hair done between shopping till she dropped and 5:15pm?
We find out how impossibly far away Watson’s mansion is from Kristy’s old house. Three miles. That’s 4.8 km. Huh. My high school was further away from my home than that. It felt like Kristy was being shipped off to another planet when I was growing up.
We learn that Kristy and Mary Anne get Janine’s hand me downs because Claudia’s too cool for them. I kinda think we’re all too cool for them though.
This book got me thinking about how much money Claudia must fork out on junk food and pretzels. She hands out a variety of goodies to her fellow BSC members three times a week, more if there’s an emergency meeting, which there almost always is. Although not in this book which involves an actual emergency! I don’t remember having ever seen a single friend either chip in with some funds to pay for their share or take a turn supplying the snacks. It’s almost enough for me to forgive Claudia for being so mean to Janine. Almost.
Claudia almost hits Janine in this book. Claudia almost hits Janine in this book? How had I forgotten about this?!
Did we know before this book that Buddy’s name is Hamilton Barrett, Junior?
Jenny (“our angel”) Prezzioso declares that Louie Brewer is a “messy-face”. We learn Jenny has a phobia of dogs. The BSC members, professionals that they are, work hard to give Jenny a new fear: of monstrous boys. Okay, they maybe had a little help from Karen but Karen doesn’t charge for her services.
Related to this, Karen Brewer temporarily trades her witch stories for monsters, sort of. Morbidda Destiny cast a spell that’s going to turn someone into a monster, because that witch is all powerful.
Louie gets a makeover (poor Louie) and the Thomases move across town to Watson’s. The Perkins family moves into Kristy’s old house from somewhere that was probably more than three miles away.
Kristy comes up with the idea of running a play group a few mornings a week. Kristy says that Mallory can come and help out as a babysitter-in-training but, nope, we’re not paying her for the privilege. Reader and writer Mallory probably should have noticed the foreshadowing; things aren’t going to get any easier for her when she tries to join the BSC after being invited to do so.
I found Janine annoying when I was a kid but, looking back, I think it was only because the BSC members told me she was. Now, I think she’s somewhat of a kindred spirit. She’s a socially awkward nerd who doesn’t know how to belong in the world outside of her books and computer. And, I’ve got to admit, this broke me a little.
“You’re always pushing me into my world and out of yours.”In this book, we babysit for Jamie (“hi-hi”) and Lucy Newton, Charlotte Johanssen (can you imagine only needing a babysitter for two hours if you were attending a cocktail party?) and Nina and Eleanor Marshall. We even arrange a time to babysit Myriah and Gabbie Perkins, Stoneybrook’s newest newbies.
With all of the drama surrounding Mimi, we don’t get to tag along to many babysitting gigs but we are invited to the Newton’s a couple of times to babysit and attend Lucy’s christening. Her big brother is forced to get all dressed up for the occasion.
He looked like a real boy.As opposed to…
The kids who attend the play group are David Michael Thomas, Charlotte Johanssen, Jamie (“hi-hi”) Newton, Nicky, Claire, Margo and Vanessa Pike, Suzi and Buddy Barrett, Jenny (“our angel”) Prezzioso (how much therapy is this kid going to need when she grows up?!), Andrew and Karen Brewer, and Nina and Eleanor Marshall. Mallory begins her unpaid BSC internship and Louie is chased around the yard by pretty much everyone.
Fun fact: Most of my childhood books didn’t come with me into adulthood so adult me repurchased a bunch of them. The edition of this book that I bought has a section at the end called Notebook Pages where the reader can fill in the blanks. The reader before me filled in most of the answers. I absolutely love two of their responses.
I have 0 sisters and 1 brothers.
If I could have any number of brothers and sisters that I wanted, I would want to have 2 sisters and 0 brothers.Thanks for the smile, Lisa.
Stoneybrook Central Time: it’s July and school’s out for summer. Kristy’s mother married Watson last week. Stacey has lived in Stoneybrook for about a year. Lucy Newton is about seven months old. By the end of the book, July is over.
Up next: Sea City, here we come!
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
May 30, 2019
[Title of Review]
I'll tell you what it is. I wrote a piece on Claudia and Mean Janine a couple of weeks ago, and it was long and lovely. It was long and lovely, and I was happy with it. I was happy with it, and I saved it to post later. When I went to post it later, it was gone. It was gone, and I still haven't mustered the energy to redo it. So I'm never going to redo it, but I'll tell you what it was about:
Claudia and Mean Janine is about a lot of things, but at this point I don't remember most of them. What I do remember is that Mimi had a stroke, and Claudia is so up her own ass that she doesn't see how her reclusive sister is suffering from their grandmother's condition. Although Janine is not at all the mean one in this story, the sisters bicker a lot throughout, and Janine (being super smart) punches down at Claudia a couple of times. (Claudia deserved it, trust me.)
So I wrote about that. I compared Claudia and Janine's relationship with the relationship between my sister and I. I talked about how my sister is developmentally disabled, so there's a pretty wide gulf between us intellectually. We fought a lot growing up, as you do, and as it was with Janine, it was really easy to outsmart Stephanie. (That's her name.) Obviously, there was no pride to be found in that, but siblings gonna fight and she probably started it. Half the time she would win anyway by virtue of passion and volume. I kinda dug deep for this part. You'd have learned a lot about me.
Then I compared that dynamic to political discourse on social media. That part was pretty funny, honestly.
Then I brought it back to my sister and how I like that she can hold her own in a verbal fight with the tools she has, which are very different from the tools I have. Then I tied that into the mutual respect Claudia and Janine find at the end of this book.
All in all, it was my best Babysitters Club write-up yet, both thematically and structurally, and you may join the world in mourning its disappearance. The block stopped me from continuing my little project, so now I'm behind and very much missing the girls. I'm pretty sure Stacey acts like a total idiot in the next one, and I am excited to get back into it.
*************************************
Homework: Smack your bitchy sibling in the head every day and keep a journal of their reaction.
<< #6: Kristy's Big Day
#8: Boy-Crazy Stacey >>
I'll tell you what it is. I wrote a piece on Claudia and Mean Janine a couple of weeks ago, and it was long and lovely. It was long and lovely, and I was happy with it. I was happy with it, and I saved it to post later. When I went to post it later, it was gone. It was gone, and I still haven't mustered the energy to redo it. So I'm never going to redo it, but I'll tell you what it was about:
Claudia and Mean Janine is about a lot of things, but at this point I don't remember most of them. What I do remember is that Mimi had a stroke, and Claudia is so up her own ass that she doesn't see how her reclusive sister is suffering from their grandmother's condition. Although Janine is not at all the mean one in this story, the sisters bicker a lot throughout, and Janine (being super smart) punches down at Claudia a couple of times. (Claudia deserved it, trust me.)
So I wrote about that. I compared Claudia and Janine's relationship with the relationship between my sister and I. I talked about how my sister is developmentally disabled, so there's a pretty wide gulf between us intellectually. We fought a lot growing up, as you do, and as it was with Janine, it was really easy to outsmart Stephanie. (That's her name.) Obviously, there was no pride to be found in that, but siblings gonna fight and she probably started it. Half the time she would win anyway by virtue of passion and volume. I kinda dug deep for this part. You'd have learned a lot about me.
Then I compared that dynamic to political discourse on social media. That part was pretty funny, honestly.
Then I brought it back to my sister and how I like that she can hold her own in a verbal fight with the tools she has, which are very different from the tools I have. Then I tied that into the mutual respect Claudia and Janine find at the end of this book.
All in all, it was my best Babysitters Club write-up yet, both thematically and structurally, and you may join the world in mourning its disappearance. The block stopped me from continuing my little project, so now I'm behind and very much missing the girls. I'm pretty sure Stacey acts like a total idiot in the next one, and I am excited to get back into it.
*************************************
Homework: Smack your bitchy sibling in the head every day and keep a journal of their reaction.
<< #6: Kristy's Big Day
#8: Boy-Crazy Stacey >>
January 18, 2016
claudia and her sister janine don't know how to communicate with one another (mainly because janine speaks like this: "may I ask how your agency plans to function once your founder is residing in a different district?") and fight a lot. their grandmother mimi has a stroke after claudia snaps at her, and claudia thinks it's her fault. meanwhile, the bsc holds a play group, inspired by the large-scale baby-sitting project in the previous book, Kristy's Big Day.
highlights:
-the kids in the playgroup make get well cards for mimi when she is in the hospital
-kristy and david michael are paranoid that louie the collie won't fit in in the fancy neighborhood they're moving into, so they bathe him, braid his hair, and put ribbons in his fur. when noting that with the accessories he looks like a female dog, kristy says that they can just call him louella.
-mallory pike helps out at the playgroup, foreshadowing her becoming a member of the bsc.
-the scene where claudia is baby-sitting at the newtons' (before she starts overrelating the jamie/lucy relationship to her own relationship with janine) and jamie comforts a crying lucy and says, "claudy's here. you can stop crying now, lucy. claudy's here." so cute.
-in the grand tradition of hodges soileau art, jamie newton looks like he's ten years old on the cover. he is four.
lowlights:
-this has always been a problem of mine with this series: why does claudia's mother, who is the head librarian of the local public library, not allow claudia to read nancy drew books? I work at a public library, and sure, libraries have been changed since the 80s, but not THAT fundamentally. librarians, particularly public and school librarians, are devoted to the opposition of censorship. also, we're not talking about Mapplethorpe or even Forever or another judy blume book. nancy drews are NOT CONTROVERSIAL. in this book, claudia says that there are no nancy drew books at the local public library where her mom works. RIDICULOUS.
-when mimi writes a note, she mostly writes in english but spells out kodomo, which is the japanese word for children. why does she transliterate it? wouldn't you think she'd write in english then write kodomo in the japanese script character(s)?
two claudia outfits:
-I finished dressing in my favorite art class outfit--black jeans, a giant bright blue T-shirt, and a snake bracelet that I wore above my elbow. (this outfit doesn't sound that hideous, actually!)
-It was a big, loose white shirt with black splotches all over it, and white pants that came to just below my knees. My shoes (and I might point out that I'd had a fight with Mom over permission to buy them) were dainty gold sandals that laced partway up my legs. Then I put on my pink flamingo earrings and a pink bracelet that said CLAUDIA in heart-shaped beads. Finally, I braided my hair into four long braids, tied a ribbon around the top of each, and fastened the ends with butterfly clips.
two other outfits:
-Stacey, wearing a pair of knee-length lime-green shorts, matching green high-topped sneakers, and a large white T-shirt with a gigantic taxicab on the front, was setting up benches at the two picnic tables.
-Dawn, in a surprisingly New York kind of outfit (she usually goes for California casual), was wearing striped pants with suspenders over a red shirt.
note: there are some other outfits that I chose not to describe because they're totally uninteresting, like jean shorts and t-shirts. also there are two jenny prezzioso outfits but I chose not to describe them because they are kind of always the same.
four snacks in claudia's room:
-cupcakes in her desk drawer
-licorice in her pencil case
-m&ms in her jewelry box
-gumdrops (not specified where)
highlights:
-the kids in the playgroup make get well cards for mimi when she is in the hospital
-kristy and david michael are paranoid that louie the collie won't fit in in the fancy neighborhood they're moving into, so they bathe him, braid his hair, and put ribbons in his fur. when noting that with the accessories he looks like a female dog, kristy says that they can just call him louella.
-mallory pike helps out at the playgroup, foreshadowing her becoming a member of the bsc.
-the scene where claudia is baby-sitting at the newtons' (before she starts overrelating the jamie/lucy relationship to her own relationship with janine) and jamie comforts a crying lucy and says, "claudy's here. you can stop crying now, lucy. claudy's here." so cute.
-in the grand tradition of hodges soileau art, jamie newton looks like he's ten years old on the cover. he is four.
lowlights:
-this has always been a problem of mine with this series: why does claudia's mother, who is the head librarian of the local public library, not allow claudia to read nancy drew books? I work at a public library, and sure, libraries have been changed since the 80s, but not THAT fundamentally. librarians, particularly public and school librarians, are devoted to the opposition of censorship. also, we're not talking about Mapplethorpe or even Forever or another judy blume book. nancy drews are NOT CONTROVERSIAL. in this book, claudia says that there are no nancy drew books at the local public library where her mom works. RIDICULOUS.
-when mimi writes a note, she mostly writes in english but spells out kodomo, which is the japanese word for children. why does she transliterate it? wouldn't you think she'd write in english then write kodomo in the japanese script character(s)?
two claudia outfits:
-I finished dressing in my favorite art class outfit--black jeans, a giant bright blue T-shirt, and a snake bracelet that I wore above my elbow. (this outfit doesn't sound that hideous, actually!)
-It was a big, loose white shirt with black splotches all over it, and white pants that came to just below my knees. My shoes (and I might point out that I'd had a fight with Mom over permission to buy them) were dainty gold sandals that laced partway up my legs. Then I put on my pink flamingo earrings and a pink bracelet that said CLAUDIA in heart-shaped beads. Finally, I braided my hair into four long braids, tied a ribbon around the top of each, and fastened the ends with butterfly clips.
two other outfits:
-Stacey, wearing a pair of knee-length lime-green shorts, matching green high-topped sneakers, and a large white T-shirt with a gigantic taxicab on the front, was setting up benches at the two picnic tables.
-Dawn, in a surprisingly New York kind of outfit (she usually goes for California casual), was wearing striped pants with suspenders over a red shirt.
note: there are some other outfits that I chose not to describe because they're totally uninteresting, like jean shorts and t-shirts. also there are two jenny prezzioso outfits but I chose not to describe them because they are kind of always the same.
four snacks in claudia's room:
-cupcakes in her desk drawer
-licorice in her pencil case
-m&ms in her jewelry box
-gumdrops (not specified where)
February 3, 2023
Such a great Claudia getup in this one!
“I chose a new outfit, one I liked a lot. It was a big, loose white shirt with black splotches all over it, and white pants that came to just below my knees. My shoes (and I might point out that I’d had a fight with Mom over permission to buy them) were dainty gold sandals that laced partway up my legs. Then I put on my pink flamingo earrings and a pink bracelet that said CLAUDIA in heart-shaped beads. Finally, I braided my hair into four long braids, tied a ribbon around the top of each, and fastened the ends with butterfly clips.”
December 19, 2020
OMG I hated this one! Yes, probably part of my feelings are due to current world situation and undoubtedly the fact that my own father recently had a stroke didn't help, but I can't imagine liking this book under any circumstances. Claudia is awful. She is a self-centered brat and kind of a b****. I thought that after the earlier books in the series, but this one removed all doubt. She allowed and even encouraged one of her babysitting charges, Karen, to bully another one, Jenny, because it made Jenny easier for Claudia to deal with and also because Claudia simply doesn't like Jenny. Not only was Jenny traumatized, but I would imagine this will cause lasting harm to Karen as well, not to mention poor Andrew, the unwitting pawn in this horrible game.
Read
July 10, 2017The one where Claudia's grandma Mimi has a stroke and I'm forced to drag out my aphasia textbooks to figure out what kind of therapy her SLP is using and then determine that Mary Anne is basically attempting to use constraint-induced language therapy on this poor lady.
July 26, 2025
Kristy isn't the only one who can be a royal pain. Claudia, the artistic free spirit, clashes with her "perfect" sister Janine, leading to enough sibling squabbles to make your own family look like a meditation retreat.
December 14, 2025
3,5/5
Terminado el 14 de diciembre del 2025
Terminado el 14 de diciembre del 2025
January 1, 2025
a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to hit her reading goal for 2024
December 20, 2021
Before I get to my actual review, a quick disclaimer: Ever since I learned that Netflix was reimagining one of my favorite childhood book series, I had decided that I would be embarking on a re-read of this series, reliving a series of books that helped to shape me into a voracious reader. I am so excited to embark on this travel back in time. I don't expect to be mentally stimulated -- I mean, I'm not exactly a pre-teen middle-schooler these days -- but I make no apology for choosing to enjoy this series from the perspective of adulthood. Don't expect me to have any sort of psychoanalyst or feminist sermonizing on the appropriateness of the situations or the effects on a young girl reading these books; there's plenty of that to go around already. I'm here for the nostalgia and the meander down memory lane.
**********
As many times as I re-read this series growing up, this was never one of my favorites. I didn't skip over it, but I always cringed as I finished the book before it, because I knew the next book wasn't one I looked forward to all that much.
What I liked about Claudia and Mean Janine:
Andrew - That little dude's personality made me laugh right out loud. He gets overshadowed by his tornado of a big sister, but when he smirked and growled? The best.
Claudia's relationship with Mimi - Theirs was a relationship I always enjoyed. It was one of the few ways I was able to connect with Claudia's character and it resonated deeply.
What I didn't care for:
Claudia and Janine's bickering - I'm not a parent, but when these two sniped and sparred, it was enough to set my teeth on edge. I remember squabbling with my brother when we were kids and now I totally understand why it drove the adults in our lives nuts.
What left me conflicted:
The subject matter - On the one hand, it addressed a stressful and scary situation a child might find themselves facing with a beloved grandparent. On the other, man, was it ever something heavy, and (I can see now that I know I'm an enneagram 9) as a child, I would rather numb out those kinds of thoughts than face the fear it churned up in my mind.
I know exactly why I didn't much like this one when I was a child: I was close to my Gram like Claudia was close to Mimi, and Mimi suffering a stroke filled me with terror. I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to my beloved Gram. (As irony would have it, my own Gram did have a stroke, although I was an adult when it happened, and my sweet Gram did not recover.) Reading this as an adult, having lived through it now, I was right back there alongside Claudia; it strikes a chord deep in my psyche still, though I am now better equipped to handle it. I had originally rated this book two stars, remembering how much I dreaded it while growing up, but in retrospect, the subject matter was dealt with so gently that I've granted it a third. It still wasn't one of my favorites though.
**********
As many times as I re-read this series growing up, this was never one of my favorites. I didn't skip over it, but I always cringed as I finished the book before it, because I knew the next book wasn't one I looked forward to all that much.
What I liked about Claudia and Mean Janine:
Andrew - That little dude's personality made me laugh right out loud. He gets overshadowed by his tornado of a big sister, but when he smirked and growled? The best.
Claudia's relationship with Mimi - Theirs was a relationship I always enjoyed. It was one of the few ways I was able to connect with Claudia's character and it resonated deeply.
What I didn't care for:
Claudia and Janine's bickering - I'm not a parent, but when these two sniped and sparred, it was enough to set my teeth on edge. I remember squabbling with my brother when we were kids and now I totally understand why it drove the adults in our lives nuts.
What left me conflicted:
The subject matter - On the one hand, it addressed a stressful and scary situation a child might find themselves facing with a beloved grandparent. On the other, man, was it ever something heavy, and (I can see now that I know I'm an enneagram 9) as a child, I would rather numb out those kinds of thoughts than face the fear it churned up in my mind.
I know exactly why I didn't much like this one when I was a child: I was close to my Gram like Claudia was close to Mimi, and Mimi suffering a stroke filled me with terror. I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to my beloved Gram. (As irony would have it, my own Gram did have a stroke, although I was an adult when it happened, and my sweet Gram did not recover.) Reading this as an adult, having lived through it now, I was right back there alongside Claudia; it strikes a chord deep in my psyche still, though I am now better equipped to handle it. I had originally rated this book two stars, remembering how much I dreaded it while growing up, but in retrospect, the subject matter was dealt with so gently that I've granted it a third. It still wasn't one of my favorites though.
December 26, 2019
I am on a quest to revisit my childhood reading favorites. When I was a child, I loved the Babysitters Club books. I devoured them. I read those, along with the Super Specials, Mysteries, Little Sister books, etc. In fact, I still have all of them to this day in paperback. They were such a big part of my love of reading, I could not part with them. So now that they have come out on Audiobook, I had to check them out. As it turns out, I am not too old to enjoy The Baby-sitters Club. It kind of feels like going home again.
Claudia and Mean Janine is book 7 in the Baby-sitters Club series. In this book, Claudia's grandmother, Mimi, has a stroke! Only 13 year old Claudia and her 15 year old sister, Janine, are home when it happens. This book takes us on an emotional journey as Mimi is hospitalized and the family deals with all that entails. When Mimi was ready to return home, Claudia gave up her other babysitting jobs for a bit in favor of Mimi-sitting. There is a lot of drama in this book between the sisters, but even though this book is called Claudia and Mean Janine, it was actually Claudia who was being mean and not attempting to understand her sister or bridge the gap. It took Claudia watching how 4 year old Jamie Newton was behaving with his baby sister, for her to actually start to see how she was the one treating Janine poorly.
This book is a quick listen and is only 3 hours and 2 minutes. The first 5 books all had the same narrator. Book 6 had a different narrator and now this book has a different narrator. Unfortunately, I did not care for this narrator. Her reading and voices took away from the story. Her pronunciations were off. I think that if a narrator is picking up a book in a series, it is important that they pay attention to how the names are said in all of the other books so that it is the same all the way through. In books, 1-6, and 8 since I have already listened to that one, Mary Anne's last name is pronounced Spear and in this book, the narrator pronounces it as Spy-er. Oddly enough, the accents used in this book kind of came off as offensive and distasteful. Also, Janine had a big part in this book so there was a lot of dialogue from her. The narrator's speech pattern and voice for Janine was horrendous. She made Janine sound like a robot and read sentences one word at a time with pauses in between each word. I do not recommend this as an audiobook, maybe just read this one.
My love for these books and the nostalgia is holding strong. I am ready to listen to books 8, 9, and 10!
Claudia and Mean Janine is book 7 in the Baby-sitters Club series. In this book, Claudia's grandmother, Mimi, has a stroke! Only 13 year old Claudia and her 15 year old sister, Janine, are home when it happens. This book takes us on an emotional journey as Mimi is hospitalized and the family deals with all that entails. When Mimi was ready to return home, Claudia gave up her other babysitting jobs for a bit in favor of Mimi-sitting. There is a lot of drama in this book between the sisters, but even though this book is called Claudia and Mean Janine, it was actually Claudia who was being mean and not attempting to understand her sister or bridge the gap. It took Claudia watching how 4 year old Jamie Newton was behaving with his baby sister, for her to actually start to see how she was the one treating Janine poorly.
This book is a quick listen and is only 3 hours and 2 minutes. The first 5 books all had the same narrator. Book 6 had a different narrator and now this book has a different narrator. Unfortunately, I did not care for this narrator. Her reading and voices took away from the story. Her pronunciations were off. I think that if a narrator is picking up a book in a series, it is important that they pay attention to how the names are said in all of the other books so that it is the same all the way through. In books, 1-6, and 8 since I have already listened to that one, Mary Anne's last name is pronounced Spear and in this book, the narrator pronounces it as Spy-er. Oddly enough, the accents used in this book kind of came off as offensive and distasteful. Also, Janine had a big part in this book so there was a lot of dialogue from her. The narrator's speech pattern and voice for Janine was horrendous. She made Janine sound like a robot and read sentences one word at a time with pauses in between each word. I do not recommend this as an audiobook, maybe just read this one.
My love for these books and the nostalgia is holding strong. I am ready to listen to books 8, 9, and 10!
September 23, 2021
I know Mimi's stroke is a heavy topic, but I couldn't stop thinking about Karen telling Jenny that Andrew turns into a monster, and all of Stoneybrook washing, pampering and fixing Louie up in ribbons and bows. Why wasn't THAT in the Netflix adaptation? I would stand to guess that Martin purposely balanced Mimi's stroke with the day camp shenanigans. This book didn't try being too many things like the last book and instead, we get detailed descriptions of Claudia's outfits. I'll take the latter of two options. Keep rockin' those green bottle cap earrings that say "Coca-Cola" Claudia.
January 21, 2010
i wasn't crazy about this book when i was a kid, & i think i like it even less as an adult.
first, our A plot: claudia has nothing in common with her older sister, janine. claudia dresses in wild outfits, janine wears kilts & button-downs. claudia hates school, while janine is studying to be a physicist (apparently). claudia has lots of friends & is always off on a babysitting job or art class, & janine's best friend is a computer. the bottom line is that claudia feels insecure when she compares herself to janine, because she thinks she's not as smart & she worries that her parents prefer janine because she is more academically-inclined. when janine uses big words, it makes claudia feel dumb & she lashes out. meanwhile, janine is insecure because she thinks claudia is pretty & popular & that her parents would like her better if she were more social & fun, like claudia. typical sibling rivalry bullshit. janine isn't actually "mean" in this book at all. in fact, claudia's the one who says some mean shit & should really pony up with the apologies.
anyway, the girls get into an argument one night after dinner & it makes mimi, their grandmother, upset. she goes to bed early. then the girls hear her fall down. it turns out, she had a stroke. she spends a few days in the hospital & is released, but has lost a lot of motor skills & language. she has to do physical therapy to help regain use of her right arm, & occupational therapy to learn how to do things with her left hand. claudia drops out of the BSC morning playgroup to stay with mimi & drill her on language flash cards.
the B plot is the dumbass BSC playgroup. the girls thought babysitting for all those kids in the run-up to kristy's mom's wedding was awesome & they should do a summer group babysitting project. NOOOOOOO! jenny prezzioso is one of the kids who comes to the playgroup & she wears frilly little dresses & throws tantrums & is a brat. even though book four established that the pirssiness & fancy dresses were pretty much all mrs. prezzioso's idea & maybe jenny wasn't into it. karen convinces jenny that andrew is a monster, so when andrew tells jenny to wear a smock, she does. & the kids wash louise (the thomas family collie) & paint his claws & apparently french braid his fur (what? how?) so he'll look appropriately fancy for watson's posh neighborhood. hijinks ensue.
& there's also some crap where jamie newton is jealous of all the attention his baby sister, lucy, gets during her christening & almost dumps a pitcher of punch over her. which would have been HILARIOUS. i wish he would have followed through. claudia sees that jamie is just jealous of lucy & lucy can't help the attention she gets, & she realizes that's the same problem she has with janine. they talk & hug it out & confess their insecurities. turns out janine hides junk food in her room too. how do these girls not have eating disorders? hiding food is a classic symptom. anyway.
wah wah (sad trombone). kind of a yawn. maybe i just wasn't into all the mimi/stroke stuff. it was a real bummer, especially knowing what comes in book #26.
first, our A plot: claudia has nothing in common with her older sister, janine. claudia dresses in wild outfits, janine wears kilts & button-downs. claudia hates school, while janine is studying to be a physicist (apparently). claudia has lots of friends & is always off on a babysitting job or art class, & janine's best friend is a computer. the bottom line is that claudia feels insecure when she compares herself to janine, because she thinks she's not as smart & she worries that her parents prefer janine because she is more academically-inclined. when janine uses big words, it makes claudia feel dumb & she lashes out. meanwhile, janine is insecure because she thinks claudia is pretty & popular & that her parents would like her better if she were more social & fun, like claudia. typical sibling rivalry bullshit. janine isn't actually "mean" in this book at all. in fact, claudia's the one who says some mean shit & should really pony up with the apologies.
anyway, the girls get into an argument one night after dinner & it makes mimi, their grandmother, upset. she goes to bed early. then the girls hear her fall down. it turns out, she had a stroke. she spends a few days in the hospital & is released, but has lost a lot of motor skills & language. she has to do physical therapy to help regain use of her right arm, & occupational therapy to learn how to do things with her left hand. claudia drops out of the BSC morning playgroup to stay with mimi & drill her on language flash cards.
the B plot is the dumbass BSC playgroup. the girls thought babysitting for all those kids in the run-up to kristy's mom's wedding was awesome & they should do a summer group babysitting project. NOOOOOOO! jenny prezzioso is one of the kids who comes to the playgroup & she wears frilly little dresses & throws tantrums & is a brat. even though book four established that the pirssiness & fancy dresses were pretty much all mrs. prezzioso's idea & maybe jenny wasn't into it. karen convinces jenny that andrew is a monster, so when andrew tells jenny to wear a smock, she does. & the kids wash louise (the thomas family collie) & paint his claws & apparently french braid his fur (what? how?) so he'll look appropriately fancy for watson's posh neighborhood. hijinks ensue.
& there's also some crap where jamie newton is jealous of all the attention his baby sister, lucy, gets during her christening & almost dumps a pitcher of punch over her. which would have been HILARIOUS. i wish he would have followed through. claudia sees that jamie is just jealous of lucy & lucy can't help the attention she gets, & she realizes that's the same problem she has with janine. they talk & hug it out & confess their insecurities. turns out janine hides junk food in her room too. how do these girls not have eating disorders? hiding food is a classic symptom. anyway.
wah wah (sad trombone). kind of a yawn. maybe i just wasn't into all the mimi/stroke stuff. it was a real bummer, especially knowing what comes in book #26.
May 23, 2021
Reread 2021
Ahh this was a cute one. I’d forgotten this was the one where I liked how Claudia and her sister learn to understand each other better and empathize with each other. They’re very different people, but I think they’re on the road to being better friends!
—-
I did find something that I think they missed in editing this newer edition. There’s a spot where they’re talking about everyone paying club dues (5 girls pay $1 a week each) and that they want to pay Kristy’s brother $2 out of the club dues each way to drive her to meetings (3 times a week) now that they’ve moved across town. He agrees to do it for $1 a trip instead, which they are ecstatic about. “So cheap!”
Except.... if you do that math... both of those payments to Charlie work out to more than they earmark for club dues each week! The original deal would’ve worked out to $12 a week. Then he agreed to $6 a week. They make a big deal about saying that the club dues can cover it since Kristy shouldn’t have to cover transportation costs out of her own pocket. So.... can no one math? Not even math-wiz-treasurer Stacey?? 🤣
I’m assuming maybe the $$ amounts got updated for the modern editions and no one thought to update the club dues as well? I did find in a wiki online that he was paid 50 cents each way, so perhaps the original printing had that price point. That at least would be only $3 a week. Still a huge chunk of their club dues, but at least the math checks out that way! 😂😂😂
Ahh this was a cute one. I’d forgotten this was the one where I liked how Claudia and her sister learn to understand each other better and empathize with each other. They’re very different people, but I think they’re on the road to being better friends!
—-
I did find something that I think they missed in editing this newer edition. There’s a spot where they’re talking about everyone paying club dues (5 girls pay $1 a week each) and that they want to pay Kristy’s brother $2 out of the club dues each way to drive her to meetings (3 times a week) now that they’ve moved across town. He agrees to do it for $1 a trip instead, which they are ecstatic about. “So cheap!”
Except.... if you do that math... both of those payments to Charlie work out to more than they earmark for club dues each week! The original deal would’ve worked out to $12 a week. Then he agreed to $6 a week. They make a big deal about saying that the club dues can cover it since Kristy shouldn’t have to cover transportation costs out of her own pocket. So.... can no one math? Not even math-wiz-treasurer Stacey?? 🤣
I’m assuming maybe the $$ amounts got updated for the modern editions and no one thought to update the club dues as well? I did find in a wiki online that he was paid 50 cents each way, so perhaps the original printing had that price point. That at least would be only $3 a week. Still a huge chunk of their club dues, but at least the math checks out that way! 😂😂😂
July 18, 2014
In BSC # 7 , Claudia And Mean Janine,we get a look at sibling rivalry within a BSC member's family. That family is the Kishi family, Claudia's family.
Janine becomes more of a focus in the book, and is made out to be boring. When I was younger, I loved studying, and I still love learning, and liking these things does not make you boring, although I suppose that the book is aimed at the age group it is, and, at that age, not everyone likes school.
School is out for summer, and the babysitters club are also preparing for a summer playgroup, and this is the only other time in the series so far (after Kristy's mum 's marriage to Watson in the previous book in the series, Kristy's Big Day ) in the series so far that they have had take care of a big group of kids. The playgroup idea seemed good to me, and then the children start plaiting the dog's fur, which is a bit ridiculous.
The summer seems to be going well, and then, suddenly, disaster strikes in the Kishi household when Claudia's grandmother, Mimi has a stroke. Claudia spends her time caring for Mimi, and also on one occasion gets Mary Ann to care for her as well. Maryanne is happy to accept, as she is, and always has been, very close to Mimi since her mum died . The ending was a bit predictable, but did did fit well into the circumstances and storyline.
Janine becomes more of a focus in the book, and is made out to be boring. When I was younger, I loved studying, and I still love learning, and liking these things does not make you boring, although I suppose that the book is aimed at the age group it is, and, at that age, not everyone likes school.
School is out for summer, and the babysitters club are also preparing for a summer playgroup, and this is the only other time in the series so far (after Kristy's mum 's marriage to Watson in the previous book in the series, Kristy's Big Day ) in the series so far that they have had take care of a big group of kids. The playgroup idea seemed good to me, and then the children start plaiting the dog's fur, which is a bit ridiculous.
The summer seems to be going well, and then, suddenly, disaster strikes in the Kishi household when Claudia's grandmother, Mimi has a stroke. Claudia spends her time caring for Mimi, and also on one occasion gets Mary Ann to care for her as well. Maryanne is happy to accept, as she is, and always has been, very close to Mimi since her mum died . The ending was a bit predictable, but did did fit well into the circumstances and storyline.
April 5, 2023
One of the best original BSC titles I've re-read so far. I think this is where Ann really hits her stride within the series.
The tension between Janine and Claudia is complex and totally relatable (particularly to this oldest sister.) Janine is not one bit mean (just confused and a little lost) and Claudia is sort of a bonehead and uses her guilt about Mimi's stroke as motivation to be the "perfect" daughter. The way the Kishi family rallies around Mimi and tries to cope with the crisis felt very real to me. No, it's not perfect, in fact, it's actually pretty messy, but these girls are still teens, despite how grown up they can both feel.
There's also a BSC group sitting job, which is always something I enjoy. It was definitely needed to balance the emotional beats with the Kishis.
The tension between Janine and Claudia is complex and totally relatable (particularly to this oldest sister.) Janine is not one bit mean (just confused and a little lost) and Claudia is sort of a bonehead and uses her guilt about Mimi's stroke as motivation to be the "perfect" daughter. The way the Kishi family rallies around Mimi and tries to cope with the crisis felt very real to me. No, it's not perfect, in fact, it's actually pretty messy, but these girls are still teens, despite how grown up they can both feel.
There's also a BSC group sitting job, which is always something I enjoy. It was definitely needed to balance the emotional beats with the Kishis.
October 12, 2022
Read via audio (narrated by Ali Ahn).
February 17, 2025
Claudia and Mean Janine
It’s summer and Claudia rushes down to breakfast before going to a art class. Mimi asks what they’re all doing. Mr. and Mrs. Kishi are working as usual. Janine has college courses. Janine tries to be invested in what Claudia’s doing but “Claudia” makes it hard and gives Janine a hard time about the way she talks. So when Janine leaves you can tell she feels upset.
At the BSC meeting Kristy says Charlie agreed to drive her to and from meetings for fifty cents (which is awfully nice of Charlie when you think about gas prices today). Kristy also has the idea that since the wedding day camp went so well (forgetting how they got thrown out of places), they should have a play group for the whole month of June. Stacey says they can hold it at her house (no way if I were Mrs. McGill would I agree to this. Sometimes these girls delusionaly think everyone loves kids all the time as much as they do).
So, they go around the neighborhood to all their clients houses to talk to them and give fliers They offer to let Mallory be their volunteer assistant. Then they’re all set to start (giving no thought at all to snacks and AGAIN organizing some events because how many times have the kids seen what’s in their Kid Kits).
The night before the playgroup, Claudia, Janine, and Mimi have breakfast for dinner (waffles) and play Trivial Pursuit. Claudia is bad at the game and it ends with Janine winning, Claudia accusing her of cheating and then accusing Mimi loving Janine more, and Mimi dismissing Claudia goes to bed. Janine comes back to make amends, but Claudia turns it into another argument (Maybe this should have been called Janine and mean Claudia). They both hear a thud and find Mimi in her room on the floor. They call the paramedics and later are told Mimi had a stroke.
On the first day of the playgroup, Claudia tells the rest of the BSC, and they decide to have the kids make Get Well Cards Jenny is of course a brat and the other kids not long start to avoid her. Later, Claudia sits for Jamie and Lucy. Jamie is a little bitter because his parents are planning a christening party for Lucy, but he has a touching moment with her later. Claudia takes them to her house and again she and Janine argue. Claudia is about to hit Janine but stops because of Jamie looking at them in interest.
Mimi finally comes out of being unconscious. Since Mimi can’t move or talk Claudia discovers a way to communicate with her by eye blinks (one blink yes, two blinks no).. At the next play date, Maryanne has talked to Mrs. Prezzioso about Jenny’s clothes and she still sends Jenny in something inappropriate (all white). So they’re all trying to get her to wear a smock but she’s refusing.
Karen and Andrew show up and Karen (again) scares all the kids by telling them Morbidda Destiny cast a spell on Andrew and at 10:00 he turns into a monster. But it works to the BSC advantage because Jenny’s so scared of Andrew that he tells her to wear the smock everyday she agrees (even though they all see by 10:00 he hasn’t changed into anything.)
Mimi makes some progress. She starts to have moment in her left side, she can wave, she tries to feed herself and speak. But when the Kishi’s visit and she tries to write something she has trouble speaking it comes out half in Japenese. So she’ll have to go through all kinds of therapy. Claudia decides to quit the playgroup to be there for Mimi in the morning because she feels guilty that she caused the stroke. (they’ll all take a couple of hours a day to be there with her when she gets out of her therapy).
Louie is sent over with David Michael and because he’s gotten into the trash and has spaghetti sauce all over him, the kids and the BSC give him a bath and beautify him for the move. (because I have a step-mother who beautifies her dogs all the time I under stand this but they’re GIRLS! If I were Louie I would have bite them for the red nail polish and bows. I’ll excuse the French braids. Some males do braid their hair but the other stuff...)
Mimi has something called aphasia, but she does so well the doctors finally let her come home. Again Claudia volunteers to sit with her in the mornings and be her tutour (the tables turn). Her parents offer to pay her and she doesn’t want to take the money but does as long as it’s keep a secret from Mimi. Maryanne has to watch Mimi and she gets frustrated with Maryanne’s pushiness and tells her to shut up. But all is made up over special tea.
The BSC helps with Lucy’s christening and after party. Jamie grows more and more jealous until at the end of the party he almost pours punch all over her, but at the last minute he decides he loves her to much. Claudie draws a parallel to Lucy and Janine. When she finds Mimi alone she lets Janine have it but she’s surprised to find out Janine has wanted to help but she was always getting interrupted and then she thinks Mimi (and her parents) prefer Claudia over her. Claudia tells her it’s not to late to take some initative. So Janine spends the rest of afternoon with Mimi.
After everything is over, Claudia apologizes to Mimi and Mimi reassures her it’s not her it’s old age. Janine then comes home and takes her for a walk. (Mimi is progressing but may never have use of her right side). At BSC meeting, Kristy gets a job to sit for the new family that moved into her old house (The Perkins) who have two little girls (Myrah and Gabbie). The Pikes want two sitters to go with them on there yearly trip to Sea City. Maryanne and Stacey are the only ones who are available.
My Thoughts:
The title of this book was WRONG! It wasn’t JANINE that was mean. It was CLAUDIA. This is coming from someone that has a sister that makes me FED UP and that people tend to cater too and talk non-stop all the time that I just do not feel anything for. But I just could not take Claudia’s side because every argument between her and Janine was definitely provoked by Claudia all for the reason that Janine talked differently. It wasn’t *that* hard to understand her. Nothing about how she acted made her mean. The only thing she did that could be argued with that she did was not speak up about helping Mimi. But I’m not *exactly* the one to fault her on this because it’s not my strong suit either.
I feel like I understood this book because there have been people in my family and friends of family that have suffered strokes and I’ve seen some of the same signs in them that Mimi had (confused speech, loss of movement, frustration with not being able to give the right words,) I’ve even seen rambling speech that doesn’t make sense, and loss of reason and logic. And I’ve witnessed how family members have stepped in to assist with therapy and house-hold chores just like the Kishi’s.
Jamie in this is a little scary... He’s a bit…. Skitzo in this one. Can this be detected at three? I have a little cousin that wasn’t exactly thrilled when he heard he was having a sister but he didn’t scream in her face either and try to throw punch on her. I think this little boy needs a WHOLE lot more than being around people because the next thing you know he’s gonna be standing over Lucy’s crib with a knife.
By this book tho, I’m kinda over Karen. Karen is a trouble-maker! Wherever she goes there some kind of drama. I think she needs a psychiatrist as well to sit her down and explain to her the difference between real life and fantasy. I’m sure Big Daddy Warbucks Brewer has the money for it.
Rating 7 The idea was good to have a play group but I still think they should have thrown in some events around Stoneybrooke for kids. Unless it’s like where I live and it’s boring as all get out there too!
It’s summer and Claudia rushes down to breakfast before going to a art class. Mimi asks what they’re all doing. Mr. and Mrs. Kishi are working as usual. Janine has college courses. Janine tries to be invested in what Claudia’s doing but “Claudia” makes it hard and gives Janine a hard time about the way she talks. So when Janine leaves you can tell she feels upset.
At the BSC meeting Kristy says Charlie agreed to drive her to and from meetings for fifty cents (which is awfully nice of Charlie when you think about gas prices today). Kristy also has the idea that since the wedding day camp went so well (forgetting how they got thrown out of places), they should have a play group for the whole month of June. Stacey says they can hold it at her house (no way if I were Mrs. McGill would I agree to this. Sometimes these girls delusionaly think everyone loves kids all the time as much as they do).
So, they go around the neighborhood to all their clients houses to talk to them and give fliers They offer to let Mallory be their volunteer assistant. Then they’re all set to start (giving no thought at all to snacks and AGAIN organizing some events because how many times have the kids seen what’s in their Kid Kits).
The night before the playgroup, Claudia, Janine, and Mimi have breakfast for dinner (waffles) and play Trivial Pursuit. Claudia is bad at the game and it ends with Janine winning, Claudia accusing her of cheating and then accusing Mimi loving Janine more, and Mimi dismissing Claudia goes to bed. Janine comes back to make amends, but Claudia turns it into another argument (Maybe this should have been called Janine and mean Claudia). They both hear a thud and find Mimi in her room on the floor. They call the paramedics and later are told Mimi had a stroke.
On the first day of the playgroup, Claudia tells the rest of the BSC, and they decide to have the kids make Get Well Cards Jenny is of course a brat and the other kids not long start to avoid her. Later, Claudia sits for Jamie and Lucy. Jamie is a little bitter because his parents are planning a christening party for Lucy, but he has a touching moment with her later. Claudia takes them to her house and again she and Janine argue. Claudia is about to hit Janine but stops because of Jamie looking at them in interest.
Mimi finally comes out of being unconscious. Since Mimi can’t move or talk Claudia discovers a way to communicate with her by eye blinks (one blink yes, two blinks no).. At the next play date, Maryanne has talked to Mrs. Prezzioso about Jenny’s clothes and she still sends Jenny in something inappropriate (all white). So they’re all trying to get her to wear a smock but she’s refusing.
Karen and Andrew show up and Karen (again) scares all the kids by telling them Morbidda Destiny cast a spell on Andrew and at 10:00 he turns into a monster. But it works to the BSC advantage because Jenny’s so scared of Andrew that he tells her to wear the smock everyday she agrees (even though they all see by 10:00 he hasn’t changed into anything.)
Mimi makes some progress. She starts to have moment in her left side, she can wave, she tries to feed herself and speak. But when the Kishi’s visit and she tries to write something she has trouble speaking it comes out half in Japenese. So she’ll have to go through all kinds of therapy. Claudia decides to quit the playgroup to be there for Mimi in the morning because she feels guilty that she caused the stroke. (they’ll all take a couple of hours a day to be there with her when she gets out of her therapy).
Louie is sent over with David Michael and because he’s gotten into the trash and has spaghetti sauce all over him, the kids and the BSC give him a bath and beautify him for the move. (because I have a step-mother who beautifies her dogs all the time I under stand this but they’re GIRLS! If I were Louie I would have bite them for the red nail polish and bows. I’ll excuse the French braids. Some males do braid their hair but the other stuff...)
Mimi has something called aphasia, but she does so well the doctors finally let her come home. Again Claudia volunteers to sit with her in the mornings and be her tutour (the tables turn). Her parents offer to pay her and she doesn’t want to take the money but does as long as it’s keep a secret from Mimi. Maryanne has to watch Mimi and she gets frustrated with Maryanne’s pushiness and tells her to shut up. But all is made up over special tea.
The BSC helps with Lucy’s christening and after party. Jamie grows more and more jealous until at the end of the party he almost pours punch all over her, but at the last minute he decides he loves her to much. Claudie draws a parallel to Lucy and Janine. When she finds Mimi alone she lets Janine have it but she’s surprised to find out Janine has wanted to help but she was always getting interrupted and then she thinks Mimi (and her parents) prefer Claudia over her. Claudia tells her it’s not to late to take some initative. So Janine spends the rest of afternoon with Mimi.
After everything is over, Claudia apologizes to Mimi and Mimi reassures her it’s not her it’s old age. Janine then comes home and takes her for a walk. (Mimi is progressing but may never have use of her right side). At BSC meeting, Kristy gets a job to sit for the new family that moved into her old house (The Perkins) who have two little girls (Myrah and Gabbie). The Pikes want two sitters to go with them on there yearly trip to Sea City. Maryanne and Stacey are the only ones who are available.
My Thoughts:
The title of this book was WRONG! It wasn’t JANINE that was mean. It was CLAUDIA. This is coming from someone that has a sister that makes me FED UP and that people tend to cater too and talk non-stop all the time that I just do not feel anything for. But I just could not take Claudia’s side because every argument between her and Janine was definitely provoked by Claudia all for the reason that Janine talked differently. It wasn’t *that* hard to understand her. Nothing about how she acted made her mean. The only thing she did that could be argued with that she did was not speak up about helping Mimi. But I’m not *exactly* the one to fault her on this because it’s not my strong suit either.
I feel like I understood this book because there have been people in my family and friends of family that have suffered strokes and I’ve seen some of the same signs in them that Mimi had (confused speech, loss of movement, frustration with not being able to give the right words,) I’ve even seen rambling speech that doesn’t make sense, and loss of reason and logic. And I’ve witnessed how family members have stepped in to assist with therapy and house-hold chores just like the Kishi’s.
Jamie in this is a little scary... He’s a bit…. Skitzo in this one. Can this be detected at three? I have a little cousin that wasn’t exactly thrilled when he heard he was having a sister but he didn’t scream in her face either and try to throw punch on her. I think this little boy needs a WHOLE lot more than being around people because the next thing you know he’s gonna be standing over Lucy’s crib with a knife.
By this book tho, I’m kinda over Karen. Karen is a trouble-maker! Wherever she goes there some kind of drama. I think she needs a psychiatrist as well to sit her down and explain to her the difference between real life and fantasy. I’m sure Big Daddy Warbucks Brewer has the money for it.
Rating 7 The idea was good to have a play group but I still think they should have thrown in some events around Stoneybrooke for kids. Unless it’s like where I live and it’s boring as all get out there too!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2021
I was too young when I was first introduced to Janine (and through Claudia's lens no less). But if I had met her when I was 16, I probably would've related more to her than to Claudia.
I can't remember how much Janine we met in book 2, but in this book, right off the bat, all I see is how mean and rude and bratty Claudia is to her older sister. Like, I get having that one person that just triggers you, but I wish Ann M. Martin had done a better job using Mimi or maybe Mary Anne (isn't she supposed to be the nice one?) to tell Claudia to chill out and stop letting her own insecurities manifest in this unkind, obnoxious behavior. But if my memory serves me right, there's maybe a couple books where Janine is portrayed as human--and the rest of the series continues to portray her in an unflattering way.
Incidentally, the next BSC book on my reread list and Kristy and the Secret of Susan, and I don't think the ableist take is a coincident, given that Janine is obviously autistic (but speaking, unlike the mostly non-speaking Susan) and so little respect is given to her. Even Mimi doesn't seem to try to get to know her, and although Mimi has always been depicted positively in the series, my suspicion is she's as neurotypical as Claudia and secretly just as judgmental.
The second part I want to note is the Japanese heritage this family is supposed to have. First, let's talk about whether or not Mimi was in the internment camp or not during WW II. In this book, Claudia explicitly states that Mimi immigrated in her 30s. (Side note: she also compliments her English instead of lamenting her own lack of Japanese skills, which is a reflection of the white creator more than her as a character).
This book was published in the late 80s, and assuming Mimi is in her 60s-70s (I haven't finished the book yet in case it's revealed while she's in the hospital), she was born in 1910s or 1920s. So if she's older, she immigrated to a country in the middle of a war (not sure how things were like in Japan itself) and if she's younger, apparently she decided it was a good idea to settle in a country that just bombed her fellow Japanese citizens and incarcerated its citizens based on their Japanese heritage (also I don't know what the immigration law was like immediately after the war--I wanted to say this sounds like something Janine would know, but back then they were doing the assimilation thing, and with no internet around it was unlikely Janine would come across this stuff on her own in white Stoneybrook by the time she's 16). (Side note: Claudia just called a French restaurant to ask about her parents and the person who picked up knew right away which ones they were even though she only mentioned her name, in case it's not obvious how white this place is. I also just googled "Kishi," which doesn't sound like a common Japanese ladt name, and apparently Kishi was a prime minister of Japan in 1957-1960. Something to think about for fanfic writers out there.)
ETA: Annoyed that Claudia is insisting Mimi use the English word for a color she knows how to describe in Japanese. Claudia, of all people, should know how annoying it is when people "correct" you for not saying or spelling things the way they think you should.
ETA2: Disappointed to see how the conflict between Claudia and Janine was "resolved" by Claudia condescendingly telling Janine to act more like a neurotypical person and Janine agreeing to the suggestions like she NEVER thought of it. Also, in this chapter Claudia blows up and accuses Janine of a whole bunch of things, and when Janine brings up her side of the story (a little too calmly, if you ask me), Claudia doesn't pause to really think about how Janine must've felt, not fitting in her own family. The episode is satisfying for Claudia, but I doubt makes much of an impact on Janine in the long term. I would love to read a book written from Janine's point of view about her mean sister, because as far as I can tell Janine isn't even mean to Claudia--she's just socially awkward and Claudia is too triggered by her mere presence that she keeps starting a fight with her.
I can't remember how much Janine we met in book 2, but in this book, right off the bat, all I see is how mean and rude and bratty Claudia is to her older sister. Like, I get having that one person that just triggers you, but I wish Ann M. Martin had done a better job using Mimi or maybe Mary Anne (isn't she supposed to be the nice one?) to tell Claudia to chill out and stop letting her own insecurities manifest in this unkind, obnoxious behavior. But if my memory serves me right, there's maybe a couple books where Janine is portrayed as human--and the rest of the series continues to portray her in an unflattering way.
Incidentally, the next BSC book on my reread list and Kristy and the Secret of Susan, and I don't think the ableist take is a coincident, given that Janine is obviously autistic (but speaking, unlike the mostly non-speaking Susan) and so little respect is given to her. Even Mimi doesn't seem to try to get to know her, and although Mimi has always been depicted positively in the series, my suspicion is she's as neurotypical as Claudia and secretly just as judgmental.
The second part I want to note is the Japanese heritage this family is supposed to have. First, let's talk about whether or not Mimi was in the internment camp or not during WW II. In this book, Claudia explicitly states that Mimi immigrated in her 30s. (Side note: she also compliments her English instead of lamenting her own lack of Japanese skills, which is a reflection of the white creator more than her as a character).
This book was published in the late 80s, and assuming Mimi is in her 60s-70s (I haven't finished the book yet in case it's revealed while she's in the hospital), she was born in 1910s or 1920s. So if she's older, she immigrated to a country in the middle of a war (not sure how things were like in Japan itself) and if she's younger, apparently she decided it was a good idea to settle in a country that just bombed her fellow Japanese citizens and incarcerated its citizens based on their Japanese heritage (also I don't know what the immigration law was like immediately after the war--I wanted to say this sounds like something Janine would know, but back then they were doing the assimilation thing, and with no internet around it was unlikely Janine would come across this stuff on her own in white Stoneybrook by the time she's 16). (Side note: Claudia just called a French restaurant to ask about her parents and the person who picked up knew right away which ones they were even though she only mentioned her name, in case it's not obvious how white this place is. I also just googled "Kishi," which doesn't sound like a common Japanese ladt name, and apparently Kishi was a prime minister of Japan in 1957-1960. Something to think about for fanfic writers out there.)
ETA: Annoyed that Claudia is insisting Mimi use the English word for a color she knows how to describe in Japanese. Claudia, of all people, should know how annoying it is when people "correct" you for not saying or spelling things the way they think you should.
ETA2: Disappointed to see how the conflict between Claudia and Janine was "resolved" by Claudia condescendingly telling Janine to act more like a neurotypical person and Janine agreeing to the suggestions like she NEVER thought of it. Also, in this chapter Claudia blows up and accuses Janine of a whole bunch of things, and when Janine brings up her side of the story (a little too calmly, if you ask me), Claudia doesn't pause to really think about how Janine must've felt, not fitting in her own family. The episode is satisfying for Claudia, but I doubt makes much of an impact on Janine in the long term. I would love to read a book written from Janine's point of view about her mean sister, because as far as I can tell Janine isn't even mean to Claudia--she's just socially awkward and Claudia is too triggered by her mere presence that she keeps starting a fight with her.
December 6, 2019
I adore Babysitters Club, but I felt like it was more of a case of Mean Claudia rather than Janine. Luckily, the author led Claudia to the conclusion of how unkindly she was treating her sister. As a misunderstood genius like Janine, I empathized with her plight rather than siding with Claudia's indignation. I didn't care for the sibling bickering and the grandmother's stroke upset me, but I suppose whenever books get too real they cut deeper than they should for me. I prefer my fiction to be lofty and separate from my problems and get freaked out when they slightly boomerang back to me, even in small ways.
This was a fine addition to the series and I'm glad Claudia could see that she was part of the problem and apologized to her sister. I'm gonna lose it if I ever get to Claudia's Hard(?) Goodbye with the passing of her grandmother. Don't do this to me thirty years past publication, Ann M. Martin! Claudia Kishi wouldn't stand for this!
This was a fine addition to the series and I'm glad Claudia could see that she was part of the problem and apologized to her sister. I'm gonna lose it if I ever get to Claudia's Hard(?) Goodbye with the passing of her grandmother. Don't do this to me thirty years past publication, Ann M. Martin! Claudia Kishi wouldn't stand for this!
August 26, 2020
Might be my favorite installment in this series yet! And that could be for a few reasons-- although I more closely relate to maybe a mix between Mary Anne and Dawn, Claudia was always my favorite babysitter and the one I aspired to be. Loved her style, her interests, how she spoke her mind, and was fascinated by the Kishi family dynamics. And this book full engages with all of those themes and topics and teach some valuable life lessons along the way. This was a story with a hard plot, regardless of your age, at its center-- the sudden illness of a close and dear-to-you family member. Couple that with sibling rivalry and family stress and how to be a friend and support your friend going through that stage of life and you have Book 7 in this series! An utter delight and an important installment in this beloved series.
December 4, 2018
Okay, I've been feeling nostalgic as of late, and on a whim, I checked out five Baby-Sitters Club books from the library on Thanksgiving eve. I remember reading
Claudia and Mean Janine
when first discovered the series as a kid in the 80s. I related so much to this book, especially the older sister/younger sister relationship drama. It still holds up for the most part, but I wasn't quite as entranced.
June 20, 2022
Wow. I dont remember how ridiculous the girls are. Claudia needs to simmer down. Poor Janine. This one makes me sad though, always did.
July 7, 2021
I LOVE THE KISHI FAMILY
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller...
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller...
August 13, 2020
I really liked this one, but it was so sad poor Mimi.
The title of this one doesn’t seem accurate to me, as honestly the whole time reading it it was Claudia that was being mean not Janine, all Janine ever wanted was to be part of the family, to be included, to be wanted but at every turn someone in the family would decide for her and shut her out or rather for her to stay shut up studying in her room.
The babysitters took on such a huge task in this one wanting to run a daycare group for the little kids, and boy did that turn into trouble. It was so very funny to read about though especially when David Michael brought the dog.
And poor Mimi having her stroke, it’s just so sad and it was actually difficult and a trigger for me personally to read as my Gramma died of a stroke. So reading about Mimi suffering but healing was difficult but was so nice to read that she was getting better.
The title of this one doesn’t seem accurate to me, as honestly the whole time reading it it was Claudia that was being mean not Janine, all Janine ever wanted was to be part of the family, to be included, to be wanted but at every turn someone in the family would decide for her and shut her out or rather for her to stay shut up studying in her room.
The babysitters took on such a huge task in this one wanting to run a daycare group for the little kids, and boy did that turn into trouble. It was so very funny to read about though especially when David Michael brought the dog.
And poor Mimi having her stroke, it’s just so sad and it was actually difficult and a trigger for me personally to read as my Gramma died of a stroke. So reading about Mimi suffering but healing was difficult but was so nice to read that she was getting better.
July 7, 2020
While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!
January 17, 2021
This year I'm going back to my childhood reading some of the babysitters club books. I always enjoyed Claudia she was one of my favorite characters, she always seemed so much older and mature for her age.
The babysitters club # 7 is basically about Claudia taking on more responsibility caring for her grandmother Mimi after she had a stroke. Her big sister Janine always looks down at Claudia and doesnt think what she does as far her job being a babysitter and things she does after school is worth it.
I listened to this on audio book and the narrator did a great job with all the characters. I'm glad I decided to listen to the books this time around for my re read.
Good story. 3 ⭐
The babysitters club # 7 is basically about Claudia taking on more responsibility caring for her grandmother Mimi after she had a stroke. Her big sister Janine always looks down at Claudia and doesnt think what she does as far her job being a babysitter and things she does after school is worth it.
I listened to this on audio book and the narrator did a great job with all the characters. I'm glad I decided to listen to the books this time around for my re read.
Good story. 3 ⭐
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