Shipwrecked Castaways

Before I dive (a little water humor there) into my review of the BSC Super Special #4, Baby-sitters' Island Adventure, let's take a looksie at the cover. I think after 30 years of this being published, I finally figured out who is who:

 

For the longest time, I thought there were a couple of rand-os in the mix. Let me point out the characters I can definitely identify: Mallory is the dork in the yellow top and black overalls (I don't know if you would classify those as overalls). Everyone is waving, including her, but it looks like she's raising her hand in class, just dying to show off she knows the answer to a difficult question. "Ooh, pick me! I know, I know! Pick me! ME, ME, ME!" Right in front of Mal, is Stacey wearing a VERY boring outfit. And right in front of Stacey, with the pigtails and sailor hat, is Mary Anne. You'd think Stacey or Claudia would go with the nautical theme. In the middle with the blue jacket and bowl haircut is Jamie Newton. Claudia, for some reason looking a lot younger than the other members of the BSC (including Mal and Jessi) is the one in the red and white striped shirt. It doesn't look like she's waving, but rather like she's making gesture with her hands, almost like she's showing how big a fish was that they caught. Dawn is in the braided pigtails wearing the white sweatshirt with red cuffs and collar. She's also wearing the same thing in the artwork that is in the book, so props for the continuity there. Jessi is in the purple top and Becca is in the yellow top. Becca looks more like she's five than eight to me, but of course, I probably couldn't tell a five-year-old from an eight-year-old in real life, so who am I to judge? 

Also, for the longest time (like since I first read this book when it came out in 1990), I just assumed the blond kid in the blue next to Dawn was Jeff. But after studying the cover, I realized the blond kid was wearing shoes with flowers on them and frilly socks and didn't think Jeff would be wearing that. Then I remembered that Haley is described as having short blonde hair with a rattail, so that has to be her. So does that mean Jeff is the kid in the yellow shirt and green shorts? That kid looks like they have red hair, not blond hair. But it has to be Jeff. And the girl in the pink shirt next to Mallory must be Kristy even though she looks nothing like Kristy. 

Ships ahoy! It's time to steer right into my review! So this Super Special is a bit different than the previous three in that the actual adventure only happens to two of our baby-sitters and they don't go anywhere...I mean, they DO go somewhere, but this was not a planned event! Dawn is our "host" for this SS and she narrates the majority of the chapters. Usually you get three chapters from each girl, but Dawn has a whopping 10 chapters plus the prologue and epilogue. Claudia narrates five chapters and the other girls only get one or two chapters. It makes sense that this book focuses mostly on Dawn and Claudia as they are the ones having the adventure. (This book should have been called Claudia and Dawn's Island Adventure!) They have been taking sailing lessons and on the day of a big race between them, it's a tie (although Dawn thinks she won) and they decide to do a re-match. We are told they have counselors in the boat when they are sailing. If that's the case, then why didn't Claudia's counselor tell her to take off her dangly earrings (that will end up getting caught on a sail - ouch!) or to button up her shirt which is blowing all around and up in her face? Duh. 

They're told that they don't need counselors anymore when they sail (gee, how convenient for the plot of this book!) as long as they don't sail alone. Dawn and Claudia decide to do their rematch next Saturday. Instead of racing to Greenpoint Island and back, they decide just to race to the island where they will have a picnic with the guests they have decided to bring along. 

Dawn's brother, Jeff, has a four-day weekend and will be visiting Stoneybrook, so he will be joining Dawn on her boat. Jessi volunteers that Becca would love to go sailing and Claudia agrees to have her on her boat. Oh, man, can you imagine if Kristy said that Karen wanted to go sailing? Can you imagine being stranded on an island with Karen Brewer for two days? :::shudder::: You know she'd be the first to be sacrificed if they had to resort to cannibalism on the island! 

The girls are sort of forced to invite Haley Braddock to come along when Becca spills the beans and tells her about it and now she wants an invitation. (What if Claud and Dawn could only haver one guest each? Just tell her no; it's like they can't ever let any of their charges down). They do invite Haley, but I think it's pretty crappy that they don't also invite Matt to be the fourth person (since each of them will have two kids with them). Yes, they do talk about how Haley sometimes feels left out since Matt gets all this special treatment since he's deaf and they wanted this to be a special treat for Haley, and, yes, maybe Matt's parents wouldn't feel comfortable about him going since Dawn and Claudia probably only know minimal sign language (even though Haley would be there), but geeze, pretty rude to invite one kid and NOT invite the other. However, it isn't even an issue. 

The last kid they end up inviting is four-year-old Jamie Newton which is insane. Look, I understand that his parents had no idea what was going to happen, but still, I would never allow my four-year-old to go out on a boat with a couple of thirteen-year-olds. I'm not sure how long it takes to sail to Greenpoint Island, maybe an hour. It takes the rescue boat a couple hours to get to them on the island they're stranded on. (Spoiler alert: they do get rescued!) It's one thing for an eight-year-old and a nine-year-old to go with them (and even then, I'd still be wary about sending them out with a couple of thirteen-year-olds!) To me (and probably to most of society!), thirteen is still a child. But a FOUR-year-old? Nuh-uh. No way. I would think even Claudia and Dawn wouldn't feel comfortable about him being there. Why is Jamie invited? Because he loves boat. Well, most four-year-olds do. He also probably loves dinosaurs, planes, trains, and trucks too. You know who I think they should have invited? Jackie Rodowsky. Can you imagine if he was out there? He'd probably spread the fire they started, cut his hand on the jagged mirror Claudia finds, and dump all the water out of the tarp. And who knows what would have happened when he was on the sailboat. Hmm, maybe it's a good thing he wasn't invited! And I guess it wouldn't be fair to invite him and not his brothers. What about Charlotte Johanssen? Hell, if Myriah Perkins was with them, they'd probably all be rescued within a couple of hours! Actually, after Dawn tells Claudia Jeff is coming, Claudia invites Mallory. Apparently, the Pike family "loves boating and they spend a lot of time on the water." Uh, what? They do? Huh? Since when have we ever seen the Pikes go boating? I know they spend every summer (the SAME summer!) at Sea City, but do they even go boating there? Mal isn't able to go because her parents have plans for the family (yeah, like searching for two boats and six people!) But I think that could have been interesting if she had been one of the people stranded on the island; then we would get another baby-sitter's perspective. 

So Dawn has Jeff and Haley in her boat and Claudia has Becca and Jamie in her boat and they begin their race, but, uh-oh! A storm's a-brewing! Didn't anybody look at the weather forecast for that day? The scariest part for everybody is when their boats are getting sloshed by water and Dawn's boat starts sinking so they have to send their supplies to Claudia's boat and Dawn, Jeff, and Haley have to hang on to their boat as it washes up an island that isn't Greenpoint Island. 

When this book first opens, we get a journal entry from Dawn talking about exciting and traumatic events in her life. (She says gaining a stepfather and a sister was traumatic (end exciting). Hmm, interesting). So when she wrote that, her adventure on the island had already happened so we know everyone was fine. I think reading this as a kid, I never realized the severity of the situation since I knew they would be fine. But they were gone for two days and nobody knew where they were or even if they were alive. That's pretty scary. During this time, we never actually see Jessi's parents or Claudia's parents or the Newtons or the Braddocks and I think we might see Sharon very briefly. We're told that the Kishis have been crying and that the Newtons and the Braddocks are out searching with the Coast Guard, but we don't actually see any of our girls actually having a conversation with a family member of the missing (except for Jessi and Mary Anne, of course). 

This book gets pretty grim with talk about the possibility of them drowning. I can kind of understand why AMM had the family members of the missing off doing their own thing with help searching because that would be pretty heavy if one of the girls had to talk to the Newtons with the possibility that their four-year-old drowned. You KNOW the Newtons got into a huge fight about allowing him to go off with two thirteen-year-olds who just literally got their sailing certificate. I know that it seems like both parents gave permission, but I just can't see it. 

Before I talk about Dawn and Claud's "Island Adventure", let's check in with the rest of the girls:

Jessi gets her one chapter near the beginning. It's the evening of the race and Becca should have been home a couple of hours ago. For some reason, Jessi's parents are away for the weekend and think that an eleven-year-old is responsible for taking care of her eight-year-old sister and one-year-old brother. Who does that? My mom would NEVER let me do that. Now, granted I am the youngest, but she would have never let my eleven-year-old brother take care of seven-year-old me for a weekend. No. Freaking. Way! Absolutely ridiculous. So Jessi ends up calling....Aunt Cecelia! Yes, this is the book we are introduced to Aunt Cecelia, so that's pretty cool. And AMM must have had plans for Aunt Cecelia because this book comes right before #36, Jessi's Baby-Sitter. Now when I was younger, I couldn't stand Aunt Cecelia much like Jessi, but now that I'm a little bit older and wise, all I can say is, Thank God for Aunt Cecelia. I absolutely love this quote we get from her:

"How could a couple of intelligent adults leave an eleven-year-old in charge of two younger children for three whole days?"

THANK YOU, Aunt Cecelia, thank you. I couldn't have said it better myself. She does blame Jessi for letting Becca go on the sailboat even though it was Becca's parents who gave permission, so I can understand Jessi's frustration about that. 

Right before Dawn left, she and Mary Anne had a huge fight. I feel like these two are always fighting but maybe that's because I just read Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation where they have a fight in that book and I just read Mary Anne and the Great Romance where they fight and I'm about to read Dawn's Wicked Stepsister which is pretty much all about them not getting along. Have we ever had two other baby-sitters who fight as much as these two? I guess that's what sisters do! They get into a fight because Dawn was supposed to tell Mary Anne (who was baby-sitting) that Logan wouldn't be able to meet her at the library because he had to stay home and watch his sister since his brother had an asthma attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, the phone rings two more times after Dawn gets off the phone with Logan and she forgets to call Mary Anne to tell her. Dawn forgets all about this until later when Mary Anne comes home in a huff, exclaiming that she can't believe Logan stood her up. Dawn is trying to tell her (but not doing a very good job!) and Mary Anne calls Logan and chews him out. Then she realizes what happens and is angry at Dawn and tells her, "I wish I never have to see you again. I wish you would get out of my life - forever." You know, for someone who is supposed to be "supportive" and "sympathetic", Mary Anne can be a downright bitch sometimes. I'm sorry, but it's true! 

Of course, she does feel awful for what she said when she realizes the situation is dire and thinks that she caused what happened by what she said. When she is inevitably reunited with Dawn, she promises that she'll never not talk to her again.

God, Logan is such a fucking ASS in this book. I realize he was mad that Mary Anne thought he stood her up. Fine, that's fine. But she did apologize. There is a point when he calls her to tell her he's sorry about the boat incident. (We will later find out that the news is calling this story "The Connecticut Disaster"). She asks him if this means their fighting is over and he tells her that it doesn't. DUDE. There are six people MISSING, perhaps even possibly presumed DEAD and you still want to fight with your girlfriend over something petty like this? Get your priorities straight, dude. Mary Anne should break up with him (and then not get back together with him five books later when she does!) 

Speaking of stupid, ass-hat-ty thirteen-year-old boys, Kristy also has to deal with one of her own. The Krushers have a game against the Bashers on Monday (there's no school on Monday so this must take place during Labor Day or Memorial Day, perhaps?) but when the missing six still haven't been found by Sunday, Kristy calls Bart and asks him to postpone the game. Bart accuses her of being "irresponsible" (uh, what?) and that she's going to "disappoint a lot of kids". Uh, DUDE. There are six people MISSING, perhaps even possible presumed DEAD and you still want to have your little kiddie ball game? (Why do I feel like a broken record?) UGH. Why are these girls dating such stupid asshole guys? WHY????  He also accuses her of wanting to cancel the game because she's trying to "worm [her] way out of the game" because she doesn't want to see her kids get disappointed since they haven't beaten his team yet. Okay, he does eventually apologize when he realizes the severity of the situation...I guess he didn't know before even though this is all over the news in Stoneybrook. Still a jerk.

There's one particular Kristy-narrated chapter (Chapter 12) where I think AMM was either on a deadline or didn't have enough time to get it proofread or maybe even someone else entirely wrote this chapter because there are three pretty big errors. This is the chapter where Kristy has called an emergency meeting of the BSC and she, Jessi, Mary Anne, and Mal meet at Mal's house. Here are the three errors:

1) Jessi's name is spelled "Jesse" on page 103 (third line down).

2) This line is spoken by Mary Anne on page 108: "My mom spoke to Mrs. Newton, Mr. Braddock, and both of Claud's parents last night..." and then she will go on to say, "And my dad and Sharon are helping coordinating things at the center..." No way Mary Anne is referring to Sharon as her mom (this book takes places only five books after Richard and Sharon's wedding). And even if she did, why would she then refer to her as Sharon? Obviously a huge error.

3) On page 110, we get this line of dialogue: "What about you, Kristy?" asked Dawn. "Do you want to come out in the boat with my family? We'd be glad to have you." Uh...what? How did Dawn suddenly end in Mallory's room? That line was supposed to have been for Mallory. 

Stacey is in New York when Dawn and Claudia and the others go missing and as soon as Kristy calls to tell her about it, she wants to leave, but her dad won't let her because he has tickets to a play. They get into a fight and Stacey feels like she's stuck in the middle between her parents and blah, blah, blah. She does eventually leave early on Sunday and is able to join Kristy and the Pikes on a boat to search.

Mallory's only chapter is about that search. Claudia's abandoned boat had been found earlier and they all thought that was a good thing that there were no supplies on it since some of them are under seats so SOMEONE must have taken them off. However, while on the boat they see Dawn's boat which has been torn apart by the storm. They are able to see three numbers which match Dawn's boat's serial number. Again, everyone starts expecting the worst. I think this might be the only BSC book where the possibility of death for a BSC member (and their charges) is even uttered. It's been difficult to search for everyone because the weather is so foggy and they can't see anything,

Dawn and Claudia and Jeff, Becca, Haley, and Jamie find shelter in a cave where they make a fire (luckily they had seven waterproof matches in the survival kit). They had packed peanut butter and bologna sandwiches (two different types of sandwiches; they weren't peanut butter AND bologna together because that would be disgusting!), yogurt, salad (salad?? obviously Dawn packed that!), granola bars, bananas, apples, candy bars, juice boxes, bottles of water, and a big bottle of Coke. The granola bars are soaked and have to be thrown away. They decide to eat the sandwiches, yogurt, and salad (I would love to know what kind of salad it is. A leafy green salad? Potato salad? Bean sprout tofu salad?) since they don't know how long they'll last. They save the candy bars and fruit for later since they don't know how long they'll be there. They decide to save their liquids for when they really need them. At one point Haley wants to go out searching for coconuts. She thinks they might have drifted to a location where they would find coconuts. Hmm, I think I would double check her geography skills. And maybe her math skills while we're at it. Jeff also may need extra help in geography (and math) because he thinks they could have drifted all the way to Nova Scotia. Seriously, did these kid never watch Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? 

The next morning, Jeff comes back with a couple of small fish he caught with a stick, a piece of string, and a safety pin. Not sure how he caught fish without any bait...unless he used a bananas or something. We never actually see Jeff fishing, we just hear about it when he comes back with fish. Dawn and Jeff are the only ones who eat the fish (at first) because the others are like, "Eww, fish, gross!" Hey, it's not like you're eating rats or grubs...I'd much rather eat fish than that. 

Because they're not on Greenpoint Island, Claudia and Dawn agree that it wouldn't be a good idea to take the boat out and try to sail back to the mainland since they have no idea where they are and could end up sailing towards the Atlantic. They will find out later even if they wanted to they couldn't because the boat has been washed away. 

Becca gets the idea of collecting a bunch of shells and spelling HELP in the sand so any search planes might see it. It's an activity that helps pass the time, but unfortunately due to the haze and the fact that that shells are the same color as the sand, their hard work goes unnoticed. Jamie says he now knows how to spell six words: Jamie, Lucy, Mommy, Daddy, love, and help. Doesn't he know how to spell his own last name? 

Claudia notes how good Jeff is with the younger kids and tells Dawn that if something were to happen to one of them, Jeff would be a good person to have in charge. Dawn agrees that Jeff is good with kids and we learn that the last time she was in California, she and Jeff "got stuck sitting for two kids one night". While Dawn took care of the crying baby, Jeff entertained the older kid. This makes me think that Dawn's dad had company over and they brought their kids to the house as well. Seems kind of weird you would just expect your kids to be watched by your friend's kids. 

I felt so bad for Jamie Newton. He tells the girls he has a sore throat, his head hurts, and his ears ache. We will later find out he had strep throat. Ugh. I hate having a sore throat when I'm in the comforts of my own home with ginger ale and chicken noodle soup and my nice warm bed with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu available with thousands of movies and shows to watch, but I cannot even imagine having to deal with a sore throat and hurting all over while lying on the hard rock floor of a cave with barely anything to eat and not having my parents around AND being only four-years-old? Poor Jamie. Claudia and Dawn feel his forehead after Jeff mentions how warm Jamie feels and Claudia guesses him to have a temperature of 103! WHAT?! Didn't Jenny Prezzioso have a temperature of 104 and had to be rushed to the hospital? (Oh, man, can you imagine if Jenny were with them in place of Jamie?) While Jamie does have a fever, no way it is that high! How would Claudia even know how high it is? Since when did she become a nurse? The girls give him water and that seems to make him feel a little better, but he's not all the way cured. 

Since Jamie has been drinking most of the water and since it's been raining non-stop, Claudia uses a tarp that was in the survival kit that she ties to four sturdy sticks so she can catch water that will catch in the middle. When it becomes full, she gets the empty containers and fills them. Pretty clever. 

Claudia goes searching in the woods looking for anything to help them get rescued. She finds a jagged piece of mirror (how did that end up on the island?) and uses it to reflect sunlight so a search plane can see them. They do and a couple hours later a boat with all their parents and a doctor on it comes to rescue them. Yay! Everyone is safe and alive! The BSC are reunited once again!

The story gets a five-minute segment on the news (does that seem kind of long to anyone?) and they're on the front page of the newspaper. Mary Anne is so obnoxious. She wants to know where her picture is. Um, YOU weren't even stranded, you little twit! She does get her wish because there is a photo of her hugging Dawn. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of Mary Anne in this book.

Even though this book is extremely far-fetched, I did enjoy it. I liked that it was something different for a Super Special. I don't think they ever mention this incident ever again in the regular series, do they? My favorite thing were the illustrations by Angelo Tillery whose work we won't see again until SS #7.