This book was one of my all-time favorites as a kid. I never loved the mystery books, but I loved super specials, and random vacations, and this one really brought home the classic BSC insanity, together with my (still real) dreams of living in a seaside mansion. The premise is that Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn go with Karen and Andrew Brewer and their mom to Maine for two weeks to baby-sit the Brewer kids and their family friends while the friends decide if they want to move into the mansion that they just inherited in Reese, Maine. This first-world problem situation is mitigated by the fact that the house seems to be haunted. In the meantime, Jessi and Mallory are back in Stoneybrook, screwing things up for the BSC on the home front.
Most of this book is spent out of our element, so we get some new descriptions. First, the mansion (aka my dream house): It was four stories high, with a six-columned entranceway. Five brick chimneys pierced the cloudy night sky. And there was an authentic widow’s walk on the roof. I think this book may have provided the subconscious reason for why I’ve spent over twenty years wishing I could afford a house with a widow’s walk. Which probably tells you all you need to know about me.
Next up, we meet our new family, the Menders’. They have four kids – Lionel, who is fourteen, and seems like a prime candidate for a vacation romance that never materializes, Jason, who’s nine, Jill, who’s ten and develops a stalkerish relationship with Dawn, and Martha, who is seven and gets stuck with Karen Brewer as her companion. Poor girl.
Even though most Super Specials give the girls individual story lines, this one is relatively collective, with a few personal highlights for each girl. The first night the girls are in the mansion, they hear a ghost. It involves moaning and flickering candlelight, and everyone freaks out. But I’ll allow them to each shine as individuals, so here’s what goes down with each Maine-based character. I’d also like to formally acknowledge that I’m glossing over Jessi and Mal, because they are too boring for words.
Dawn Schafer: Jill Menders develops an obsession with Dawn, so Dawn gets a lot of baby-sitting time, as the girl will not leave her alone. There’s a briefly teased Dawn/Lionel vacation romance – he whispers in her ear (to scare her) at breakfast, and they gossip about actors in LA together. Nothing comes of this, but I totally ship them.
- Role in solving the mystery: She climbs into the dumb-waiter and finds the tape recorder of the woman screaming that they’ve been hearing at night. She also learns that Mrs. Cooper can talk, and speaks with an Scottish accent, meaning that she’s married to the lost Menders cousin, who moved to Scotland as a child.
Claudia Kishi: Claudia gets the vacation romance this time around, with Georgio Trono, the summer gardener. He’s home from college, and has no idea that his love interest is thirteen. He’s suspected as the ghost for most of the book, but turns out to be good. They indulge in a cheek kiss at one point.
- Role in solving the mystery: She finds a photo of an old Randolph cousin, and draws on it until she turns it into a picture of Elton Cooper, proving that he’s related to the family.
Karen Brewer: Karen annoys the living crap out of Martha Menders by harassing this poor little girl into making friends with random people in Reese.
Kristy Thomas: Kristy also does a lot of baby-sitting, mainly for Jason Menders, and tries to help him make friends with boys, while not being sabotaged by Karen.
- Role in solving the mystery: Kristy and Dawn break into the Cooper’s rooms and find their plan of attack, which includes tampering with the plumbing, stealing Jason’s baseball glove, and setting fire to Martha’s room.
Mary Anne Spier: Mary Anne geeks out over the historic town, and mansion, and clothes, and pretty much everything. I relate to all of this – I’m a huge nerd in general, and historic small towns are my jam.
- Role in solving the mystery: She goes to the historical society and finds architectural plans for the mansion, which help the girls discover the dumb-waiter. She’s also the person who realizes that Mrs. Cooper (the caretaker’s wife) is the other person who has been inquiring about the mansion, which means she can speak.
On the second to last day of the trip, the girls finally tell the adults their theory about the Cooper/Randolph cousins terrorizing them. But because they took so long to get it together, the Coopers have escaped, and flew back to Scotland. So no charges will be pressed, and the ending is a bit anti-climactic. The girls and the kids participate in a parade to celebrate Reese’s birthday. Georgio asks Claudia to come to homecoming at the University of Maine, and she actually considers it. Everyone goes back to Stoneybrook, and they start pen-pal relationships with their Reese buddies. Here’s what we learn from these fascinating pieces of correspondence:
- Georgio to Claudia – He misses her already, and refers to the rose garden that he planted as “theirs.”
- Claudia to Georgio – Sorry bro. I’m thirteen. Can we still be friends? (no known reply)
- Jill to the BSC – I’m baby-sitting now too. Is it ok if Martha is a junior member of my baby-sitting club of one? (no known reply)
- Lionel to BSC – He got a part in Our Town. (no known reply)
- Jason to Kristy – The softball team won their first game. (no known reply)
- Karen to Martha – Do you have friends?
- Martha to Karen – I have three friends (subtext: without you, psycho)
- Georgio’s grandparents to Claudia – We’re becoming the caretakers at the mansion again (no known reply)
- Andrew to Mr. and Mrs. Menders – The boat you gave me says treasure on it.
Awards:
Biggest Jerk in the BSC: Kristy. When the girls are trying to decide who wants to go on the baby-sitting vacation, Kristy decides that she should get first dibs for no reason other than she’s related to Karen and Andrew. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? You’re the child of the woman who married Lisa’s ex-husband. WHY WOULD SHE WANT YOU ON HER VACATION?
Most Ridiculous Travel Outfit: Claudia, obviously. “She had on a pair of bright blue Lycra biker shorts, a black lacy tank top, a man’s white dress shirt, baggy purple and white checked socks, red high-tops, and a pair of big gold hoop earrings with a brightly colored wooden parrot perched on each hoop.” As a point of comparison, if I were going on a drive from Connecticut to Maine, I’d maybe be fancy enough to wear jeans and a shirt instead of sweats. And that’s a serious maybe.
Best BSC Activity: Having a formal dinner at the mansion in Reese. The meal includes: an appetizer of fancy bite-sized pizzas, green salad, a main course of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes, and ice cream with caramel sauce and wafer-thin cookies for dessert.
Scariest Story: Elton Cooper, the caretaker/ghost/secret lost Menders cousin, tells the girls the story of Lydia, someone who lived in the mansion generations ago. She fell in love with the gardener, and her parents forced them apart by locking her in a bedroom on the fourth floor for years. After five years, the gardener has become successful, and comes back to Reese. He breaks in to the mansion and finds a white-haired old woman on the fourth floor, who says that she is Lydia.
Baby-Sitters Club Notebook 