But, Ed, what are you doing? Why are you inviting SIX of Stacey's friends when you only have room for Stacey and two of her friends at your apartment? What about the four other girls? Where will they stay? I'm glad you asked. They (and "they" include Kristy, Mary Anne, Jessi, and Mal) will be staying with the Cummingses at their swanky three-bedroom Dakota apartment. Wow, Laine's parents must be SAINTS to allow four pre-teens (yes, I know technically Kristy and Mary Anne are teenagers, but in this case, I'm rounding down) to stay with them for TWO FUCKING WEEKS. I could understand the weekend, but even that would be very generous of them. I cannot imagine having four houseguests for two weeks EVEN if I did know them. Ugh, that just seems like my worst nightmare. I like my space and my privacy. Jessi and Mal probably get the best deal of where they stay. Not only do they get to stay at the Dakota, but they get the guest bedroom while Kristy and Mary Anne sleep in Laine's room where she has an extra trundle bed. They say this is because Laine knows Kristy and Mary Anne, but she's only met them ONCE. Jessi and Mal lucked out because I would feel uncomfortable sharing a room with someone I've never met or only met once.
The send off for these girls is absolutely ridiculous. Every family member of the girls is there to see them off. WHY? Why doesn't just Kristy's mom go with her? Why not just Mal's dad? Why do they need all their siblings there? Why does Mary Anne bring her cat? Yes, she brings Tigger with her in his carry case to see her off. Good lord. I would never do that to my cat. Trying to get him in his carry case is a hassle, plus he would hate being in a crowded, noisy train station. You say goodbye to your pet at your house like a normal person, MARY ANNE.
All of the parents (except Mrs. McGill) are shitting bricks because they're so scared to send off their kids to New York (even though most of them had visited Stacey for a weekend when she moved back there). I guess this was during a time when New York was mostly known for its crime more than anything, but they literally live an hour away by train. Any of these parents could just jump on a train and check up on the girls any time they wanted. When they flew all the way across the country to California, there was no fanfare at all and nobody seemed concerned.
Before we dive into each of the girls' stories, let's talk about the cover:
To me, Claud is the MVP of the cover. She looks super trendy and cute in her HRC t-shirt with denim shorts and black leggings and shoes. Her jewelry game is fierce with her hoop earrings, bangles, and cross necklace. (Didn't know she was so religious!) I also love her hair and she has the best pose. Jessi and Dawn look fine too, although Dawn's denim on demin look is a bit much (her hair looks great, though!) The other girls? NO.
-Stacey's outfit is totally boring and I can't see a native New Yorker wearing a HRC t-shirt from their own city. Also she looks like a super dork with her pose.
-Mary Anne looks like a fucking tourist with her I [heart] NY pants (I didn't even know I [heart] NY pants even existed! She probably had them made special), her New York t-shirt, and her I [heart] NY pin. And if her outfit didn't already scream TOURIST!!!, she's also carrying a camera and a map.
-Not to be mean or anything, but looking at Mal on this cover, it's easy to understand why she doesn't like her looks (and as someone who looked like Mal when I was her age, I totally relate!). Also, Mal, if you're going to give bunny ears to someone, DO IT RIGHT. She has her whole fist above Jessi's head; only the two fingers (the bunny ears) should be showing. Duh!
-I know Kristy isn't known for her fashion sense, but she looked like she got dressed in the dark. An ugly red shirt with ugly brown pants that hit right above her ankle, socks and ugly brown shoes? WTF? The Statue of Liberty crown is kind of a cute touch, though.
Okay, onto all the girls' adventures!
Like I mentioned earlier, Claudia and Mallory are taking art classes. These art classes sound super boring to me, but then, I'm not an artist. They do things like sketch a pile of boxes or take a field trip to the Cloisters and sketch stone walls. For some reason, Claudia thinks McKenzie Clarke is going to look like Santa Clause, but he doesn't. I'm not sure why she would think that except that she seems to think he's going to be jolly and kind with a twinkle in his eye and the image of Kris Kringle came to her mind.
While Mal is getting compliments from Mac, Claudia is getting more criticism such as she needs to slow down and be more focused. We will later find out this is because the teacher sees real talent in Claud's artistic abilities and knows she has it in her to become a true artist. During the first week and a half, Claudia is pissed at Mallory. She either ignores her or calls her names (like "teacher's pet" or "dweeb").
At one point, we are given the contents of a lunch Claud has packed and it made me sick to my stomach:
-Fluffernut sandwich (which is marshmallow fluff and peanut butter on bread - yuck, that sounds absolutely disgusting!)
-Oreos
-Chocolate chips cookies
-Fritos
Why would you pack Oreos AND chocolate chip cookies? I like both kinds, but they're both cookies; you don't need both of them. And Fritos are good. If she had packed a deli chicken and cheese sandwich, Oreos, and Fritos, plus maybe an apple or a banana, that would be something I could eat. But, ugh, that makes me wants to puke. Can you imagine if Dawn had seen that lunch? She would have had a FIT. Mallory calls the lunch "terrific-looking". I guess I can't blame her because I always find the Pike meals absolutely disgusting, so to her, that probably would look delicious.
Stacey and Mary Anne are hired to baby-sit two British kids name Alistaire and Rowena Harrington (who are 7 and 4) during their two weeks. Their parents are very wealthy important political dignitaries. I feel like AMM modeled these kids after the kids from Mary Poppins. They are so extra. They wear the most ridiculous outfits for children to wear when they're out exploring New York. The boy wears a white sailor suit and white knee socks and the girl wears a white sailor dress and white tights with a red hat and red Mary Janes. They also talk very proper and it didn't ring true to me for children to talk this way. There's lots of "brilliants"! peppered in their dialogue, but I guess they are British. These kids were almost too precocious; it was a bit grating. Give me Erick and Ryan DeWitt the so-called "terrors" from the last SS any day.
While the girls take the children around New York (including the Central Park zoo, the Natural History Museum, the NY public library, and the South Street Seaport), Mary Anne keeps noticing she sees a lot of men wearing sunglasses and a raincoat and it isn't until the end of the day when she realizes it's the same man. (Well, duh). She tells Stacey about this and they keep seeing this man when they go out with the kids. It starts to freak out the girls (understandably) and they decide, on almost the last day of their trip, to tell the Harrington parents that a strange man has been following their kids and they are worried that he is planning on abducting them. The parents just laugh at this and introduce them to Bill, the man who's been wearing the hat and and sunglasses, and is their bodyguard. Well, why didn't they just tell Stacey and Mary Anne their bodyguard would be following the around? Because they thought they'd be nervous and that they would overprotect the children and they (the parents) just wanted the kids to have a good time. Yeah, I'm not buying that. And if anything, Mary Anne and Stacey became even MORE protective of the children when they thought someone was trying to abduct them! It just seemed that little detail was conviently left out so we could have this mystery plot line.
One of the things they do while they're in New York that would be something I'd love to do is go on the Circle Line Cruise which is a boat that takes them all around Manhattan. At one point, Mary Anne, our walking (and obnoxious!) tour guide gives us information about the World Trade Center: "Two towers, one hundred and ten stories each..." YIKES. Dot, dot, dot indeed. I know this book was written a decade before 9/11, but it's always a little chilling when you read about or see the WTC.
Jessi meets the perfect boy for her. His name is Quint Walter. Like her, he's also eleven, also black, and also a ballet dancer. It's a match made in heaven! She meets him after watching a performance of Swan Lake at Lincoln Center. Quint tells Jessi that his dance teacher tells him he's so good that he could probably get into Juilliard. However, he doesn't want to audition because the guys in his neighborhood call him a "sissy" because he's a dancer. Dude, screw those kids. If you have a good chance of getting accepted into Juilliard (which is EXTREMELY hard to get into, but I'm sure you already knew that), then you audition for Juilliard! Jessi talks him into going and he does audition and gets in (this is all told to us through the postcards they send each other after Jessi returns to Stoneybrook).
Jessi gets her first kiss when they say goodbye. I remember that Quint pops up in a couple of other books, but it's not like they keep their relationship hot and heavy or anything.
Kristy has an extremely boring plot line: she finds a stray dog in Central Park and sneaks it back to the Cummingses apartment and keeps it in the bedroom Mal and Jessi are staying in (I'm sure they loved that). Since the dog looks like Louie, she names it Son of Louie and calls him Sonny for short. (Why not just call him Louie Jr. or Junior?) Kristy assumes the Dakota doesn't allow pets (which I don't know why; don't MOST apartment buildings allow pets? I feel like it's very rare when NO pets are allowed. My apartment complex used to only allow cats, but finally allowed people to have dogs because people had them anyway) and Laine assumes Kristy is hiding the dog from her parents because she knows her parents wouldn't be thrilled to have a dog. The first time we see Kristy sneak Sonny into the building, Jessi distracts the doorman by pretending to be really ditzy about the directions she's asking. We never see this again, but I assume Jessi has to act like a jackass everytime Kristy needs to sneak the dog out to take him for a walk or for him to use the bathroom. Kristy wants to keep the dog and calls Watson and asks permission to keep him, but he tells her no. She assumed he would say yes because they already have a dog, a cat, goldfish, a rat, and god knows what else.
When they come home from the Circle Line cruise, Mrs. Cummings has found Sonny and is waiting for the girls. Kristy assumes that they have been kicked out of their home and is apologizing profusely. That is when she learns that she didn't have to sneak the dog by the doorman after all. Mrs. Cummings tells her she needs to find a home for the dog because it can't stay with them. So Kristy and the others post LOST DOG fliers in Central Park and put an ad in the paper. I really thought that the dog belonged to someone who had lost him and he was reunited with his owner...that's what my brain remembered from the last time I read this book, which was 2004. (I remember it was 2004 because I went to NYC in 2004 and after visiting, I wanted to read this book so I bought it off e-bay. I still have that copy and it's the only hardback cover book of the BSC I own). But, no, a young boy calls Kristy and tells her he wants a dog. So Kristy goes over to his apartment and meets the boy, Brandon, and his dad. It's love at first sight and Brandon's dad gives permission for his son to have the dog. Kristy asks him what he's going to name the dog and Brandon says Sonny.
We know from the last time they visited New York, Dawn was deathly afraid of the city. She thought she had overcome her fear and is fine on the train ride there, but once they reach the city, she becomes jumpy and nervous, sure she is about to be mugged or murdered, or perhaps both. When they are trying to figure out who's going to stay where (and why didn't they already have this figured out before?), I was shocked when Dawn didn't offer to stay at the Dakota. If you want to feel safe and secure in New York, then you stay at one of the most prestigious apartment complexes that has security up the wazoo. Mr. McGill's apartment doesn't even have a doorman and has a fire escape which Dawn hates because she believes it's like sending a burglar an open invitation to come in and steal whatever. She also says that she couldn't sleep a wink because of all the noise outside. I believe it is Jessi who mentions that staying at the Dakota is like staying at a hotel because it's soundproof and there are no fire escapes. This sounds like the place for Dawn. However, she tells us she wants to stick close to Stacey. But why? Because Stacey is the native New Yorker? So is Laine AND she lives in a super secure place AND Mary Anne would be there. But, whatever.
The first couple of days, Kristy takes pity on Dawn and stays with her because Dawn absolutely refuses to leave the apartment. She spends her days either cleaning or watching TV or listening to the radio. After Kristy gets tired of baby-sitting her (imagine that!), Dawn meets a boy who lives in the same apartment complex. His name is Richie and he's come to introduce himself because Mr. McGill had told him his daughter is coming to visit and they should meet. We get this weird mention that Richie visits Mr. McGill sometimes. Now I could believe if Mr. McGill was friends with Richie's parents and mentioned to Richie that his daughter was visiting soon and that he should stop by and introduce himself to her. But why is a thirteen-year-old boy "sometimes visiting" a forty-something man? Does that seem weird to anyone else? Or is it just me? I don't think Richie ever did meet Stacey.
Anyway, Richie convinces Dawn to go out and explore the city with him and she does. They see all the famous NYC sites. Dawn even eats a piece of chocolate from Godiva and actually thinks it's good. (But I'm sure will admit this to no one!) Richie takes her to Madison Avenue which he calls "one of the finest shopping streets in the city." But after telling her some of the stores it has to offer, he says, "It's the soup to nuts of the shopping world." This is on page 158. Um, WHAT? What does that mean? I have never heard that expression (I assume it's an expression!) in my life. The soup to nuts? WTF? I don't get that. Okay, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and it tells me this:
"Soup to nuts" is an American English idiom that conveys the meaning of "from beginning to end", derived from the description of a full course dinner.
Weird. I had never heard that. I was so confused when I read that!
OMG! Before I forget, I wished I had counted the amount of times they use the word "chilly". And I thought they went overboard in California Girls with their stupid slang. Maybe that didn't seem so obvious because they used a few different words like "dibble", "fresh", and "distant." In this book, the only slang word they use is "chilly" and they must use it at least twice (if not more!) per chapter. If anyone is planning on doing a re-read of this book soon, PLEASE do a chilly word count and let me know how many times it is said! It's like, Stop trying to make "chilly" happen! It's not going to happen!
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