Summer in the (Sea) City

BSC Super Special #10, Sea City, Here We Come! has a little bit of a different structure than the previous Super Specials. All the previous SSs had a prologue and an epilogue and they were "hosted" (for lack of a better word) by a BSC member who would narrate the prologue and epilogue. The "host" would also narrate the first and last regular chapters. There was also usually a reason for why the story was being told. Let's go through them, shall we:

-Baby-sitters on Board! is hosted by Kristy and she's making a scrapbook to give to her mom and Watson as a thank you for taking them on this trip.

-Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation is hosted by Stacey and she's making all her friends keep a journal of their experience at summer camp so she can keep as a memento.

-Baby-sitter's Winter Vacation is hosted by Mary Anne and she's making her friends keep a journal of their time at the lodge in Vermont so she can present it to Logan.

-Baby-sitters' Island Adventure and California Girls! are hosted by Dawn. In the former, she's gathering notes and journal entries from her friends about what everyone was going through during the incident.

-New York, New York! is hosted by Claudia. She wants her friends to keep a journal of their time in NYC so she can make it into a scrapbook for keepsake.

-Snowbound! and Baby-sitters at Shadow Lake are hosted by Kristy. In the former, she has her friends write about their experiences during the blizzard so she can send them to the newspaper and the latter is presented as a gift to Watson to show him how much the lake cabin means to their family.

-Starring the Baby-sitters Club! is hosted by Jessi and she's the sixth-grade correspondent who asks her friends and the cast and crew of the play to keep notes for her so she can write a piece about it the school newspaper.

You know what? There's no BSC member hosting this book. There is a prologue and an epilogue, but it's all handwritten notes and letters setting up/concluding the story. Kristy gets the first chapter and Mallory gets the last one. All the girls have previously hosted a SS. (More than one in the case of Kristy and Dawn!) All the girls...except for Mallory. Why not give her this book? This book would be perfect because it's her family who goes to Sea City ever summer and it's her family's beach house they'll all be staying at. Poor Mallory! (I'm beginning to understand why there's a book titled that!) She really does get the shaft all the time, doesn't she? I haven't looked ahead to the upcoming SSs, but I'll be interested to see if they're "hosted" by any BSC member or if that's a trend that stopped with this book. 

So obviously Sea City is a place we've been before in Boy-Crazy Stacey and Mary Anne and Too Many Boys. As far as I know, this book is the third and final time they go there (unless they go there in a mystery book or during the FF series). I love Sea City; it seems like my kind of beach town. It seems like a lovely little seaside town to visit. HOWEVER...I don't know if it's the best place to set a Super Special. A few of the girls have interesting storylines and there is a hurricane plot which helps pad the book and gives a couple of the girls who really have nothing to do a chance to narrate about the storm. There is absolutely no reason for all the girls to be in Sea City together. So, this is how they all end up there:

Mallory and Jessi are going to be the helpers for the Pikes. This kind of really doesn't make any sense since in Mary Anne and Too Many Boys, they made a point of saying that Mary Ann and Stacey were the helpers since the Pike parents wanted Mal to enjoy her vacation. I guess they decided to make her work instead! I hope they at least pay her! Also, I'm sure that the triplets just LOVE having baby-sitters who are only one year older than them! (Although if you've ever looked at the cover of Jessi and the Superbrat, Jessi looks like she's easily fifteen years older than the triplets!) 

Stacey is going to be the helper for the Barretts who have rented the beach house next to the Pikes. The two families will be spending two weeks there. Mal, Jessi, and Stacey will spend a week in Sea City before the other BSC members will join them. They (Logan is also included here) will be riding with Franklin Harris and his four kids. Who is Franklin Harris, you ask? Well, his kids are Lindsey, Taylor, Madeline, and Ryan. You probably know them betters as the DeWitts. They're the family who makes a blended family with the Barretts. At this time, Franklin is dating Mrs. Barrett. I have no clue if we've been introduced to the Harrises/DeWitts since I'm only on book 36 in the series and this takes place around book 65. From what it sounds like, we've already met them (there's no way the parents of the BSC would let their kids get a ride from a man they don't know even if he is the boyfriend of a client!), however I don't know if they were the Harrises or the DeWitts when we first meet them and why the surname changes. This is some terrible continuity! Stacey will be staying in the Barrett/Harris/DeWitt house since she's the helper for the Harris/DeWitt kids. The others will be staying in the Pike house. (How big is this house? We know it's three stories, but they have fifteen people staying in that house!) Also, I am SHOCKED that Richard is okay with Mary Anne and Logan staying under the same roof without any parental supervision. (Let's face it; the Pike parents do not give a fuck! They don't need to watch anyone  - they have a house full of qualified baby-sitters! That's probably the only reason they allowed them all to come up. They were probably like, "Hell yeah! We can go anywhere we want; we can probably just spend a couple days in Atlantic City and not have to worry about the kids cuz they're with all the members of the BSC!") They don't talk about sleeping arrangements (except that Mal and Jessi are in the yellow room that Stacey and Mary Anne used to room in), but I assume Logan was bunking with the Pike boys. 

So they're all driving up on Saturday, then the following Monday Logan is going back to Stoneybrook with Franklin and his kids (because he has to work on Tuesday....why did he just not ask for the rest of the week off? That's what I would have done...maybe he didn't have enough PTO!) Um...what is the point of going there? They have two full days (if that?). I looked up to see how far it is from Stamford to Atlantic City (I imagine Sea City to not be far from there) and it's three hours. I guess that's not too terrible, but I would add an extra hour because they talked about running into traffic near New York and that slowed them down. So you're traveling for eight hours just for a measly two days at the beach? If this was a four day weekend, I think that would be worth it, but just TWO days? No way...go when you have more time. 

Okay, let's talk about each member:

Has Hell frozen over? Because I think this is the first time Mallory actually gets an interesting storyline (and not, something like, getting bitten by bugs. I will never let that one go!) She also gets one of the better storylines out of all the characters. I am shocked, I tell you! Alex and Toby are there (they must live there because they are always conveniently in Sea City when the BSC girls are) and Mal notices Toby is flirting with her. She even narrates, "I liked the way he was making me feel. I'd never felt that way before." Geeze, what's Ben Hobart, then? Chopped liver? I was wondering why she wasn't even thinking of poor Ben Hobart, but he will come up later in the book. Also, we learn that Toby is fifteen? I could have sworn he was 13... But, eww, if he's 15 and macking on an eleven-year-old? That's straight up creepy, right? We will soon learn that Toby is a total creep. 

A BSC Super Special wouldn't be complete without an older member being a complete bitch to Mallory (in #6, it was Claudia; in #9, it was Mary Anne; in #8 it was all of them) and in this book, it's Stacey. She's jealous that Toby has his eye on Mal. In Mary Anne and Too Many Boys, Toby had broken up with Stacey. I didn't realize they dated; I thought they just had a summer fling. I don't remember them keeping a long-distance relationship when Stacey is in Stoneybrook. That never made any sense to me. Anyway, she is clearly jealous of Mal even though she's trying to act like she's over Toby. I'll discuss this more when I get to Stacey.

Mal takes a couple of her siblings to play putt-putt and she sees Toby there with a couple kids he's watching. They end all playing together and Toby is smiling and winking at Mal which makes her blush. She informs us since she has red hair and freckles, "I look like a ripe, hairy tomato when I blush." Lovely image there, Pike. Uh, I have red hair and freckles and I don't look like a "hairy tomato" when I blush. WTF? Toby asks her out for Friday, which is their last night in Sea City and Mal says yes. Again, why is a fifteen-year-old boy asking out an eleven-year-old girl? Creep-o city. She tells Jessi she's in love which seems very out of character for Mal. I can see Stacey doing that, but practical Mal? No. 

On the day of her big date, Jessi and Claudia go into town with her to help her pick out accessories for her outfit. They get barrettes in the shape of flamingoes "but cool, not corny-looking" as Mal is quick to tell us. She also buys the pins with faces of famous people such as Virginia Woolf, Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Hawking, and Janis Joplin. She says Claud picked them out because they were "funky" and didn't know who any of the people were. Now I want to know, did she not know who they were when she saw their image or did she still not know when Mal named them? Because that would be really sad. 

Her brothers tease her about the date, singing, "Mal and Toby sitting in tree, N-E-C-K-I-N-G. What? "Necking"? That's a version I've never heard of. What is this? The 1950s? (I feel like they called it "necking" in the '50s). Other than her dad telling her brother to stop with the teasing, her parents don't really contribute anything. I guess they're okay with their eleven-year-old daughter going out with a fifteen-year-old boy. But these are the Pike parents; they do not give a fuck. Remember, they let Mal wander around by herself at Disney World when she was ten. (Or was she eleven in that book? Well, whatever, still insane to let your kid do that). 

She's reminded of Ben and starts to feel guilty because she hasn't thought about him at all during her vacation. She calls Ben and we hear his Aussie accent (spelled phonetically for us) and they have a nice conversation and she realizes she doesn't want to date anyone other than Ben. Yeah, Mal, Ben is nice and Toby is a dickwad. She thinks about cancelling her date with Toby, but still decides to go on it just to spite Stacey when she hears Mal might not be going on the date. 

When Toby arrives, he greets her with "You look great, cutie!" and Mal just smiles at him. Ugh. That comment just makes my skin crawl. Ugh, just ugh. It also seems extremely patronizing. Even though Mallory loves the idea of making Stacey jealous, she still feels guilty about Ben and admits to Toby she has a boyfriend at home. Hmm, is this the first time she's referred to Ben as her boyfriend? Before he leaves, Toby tells her, "If you come back next summer and know of another cute girl who's unattached, let me know, okay?" Mallory will later get a letter from Toby (how did he get her address and why would he ask for it? Besides the point, I know) where he will write, "So I guess you wouldn't mind sending me the address of your friend Jessi? She seemed very nice. How old is she? Is she seeing someone?" Good God dude, what the hell is wrong with you? Someone is fickle with the ladies. Toby S-U-C-K-S. 

This is totally random, but Mallory writes a postcard to Mrs. McGill where she address her as Mrs. McGillicuddy. I realize it's a reference from I Love Lucy (because they tell us), but it's a little weird Mallory is writing a postcard to Stacey's mom (who has it going on - sorry, couldn't resist)! I know all her family and friends are in Sea City, but doesn't she have an uncle in a nursing home? Have we met him yet? 

Like I mentioned earlier, Stacey is jealous of the attention Toby is giving Mallory. Stacey, what did you see in that douche bag in the first place? I think it would have been more realistic for Stacey to be concerned that a fifteen-year-old is flirting with an eleven-year-old and try to tell Mallory she doesn't think that's such a great idea. Of course, Mal wouldn't like that, so you would still get the drama between them. She does apologize to Mal after Mal's date with Toby fizzles. 

Hurricane Bill is a big plot of the story and gets several chapters dedicated to it, including one from Stacey. They all plan to drive to the mainland to seek shelter, but the causeway has been flooded and they're directed to seek shelter at the elementary school up the hill along with everyone else who is stranded in Sea City. There are cots all set up in the gym and Dawn mentions it reminds her of the time of the SES sleepover (as in Dawn and the Big Sleepover). 

The back of the book gives us the description of Jessi being "Sea City's Super Sitter"...but that's not really a plot line. We only get two mentions of this. First, when she writes a letter to her cousin  about her upcoming trip and how she's going to be a helper for the Pikes, she writes, "I am going to be the best sitter they ever dreamed of!" We also get this narration from her:

Before long, the rest of the family was up. I, Super Sitter, went to work. I made pancakes, poured cereal, cleaned spills, and washed dishes.

"Jessi, you are amazing," Mrs Pike said at one point.

And that's pretty much the extent we get of Jessi being a "Super Sitter". And honestly, besides making pancakes, everything she listed is what a normal baby-sitter should do, anyway! Super Sitter, my ass, Jessi! Her real storyline really revolves around a sand castle competition. She's watching Margo, Claire, and Suzi when they come across a sign announcing the "First Annual Sea City Sand Castle Contest" (Really? Sea City has just decided to have their FIRST sand castle contest now?) and that "Anyone may enter" and there will be "Prizes in ALL categories!" The young girls are excited to enter and want to start practicing their sand castle building skills right away. Jessi sees adults working in teams and building these really extravagant medieval villages. Jessi is worried the girls are going to be disappointed when they inevitably won't win. But, wouldn't you think there would be age groups within this competition? And even if there is, that still wouldn't mean the girls would win. If Jessi had just warned them they might not win and explain about the adults with the amazing sand castles, I really don't think the girls would have cared. They would probably think, Well, of course they're going to be better at building sand castles than us. They're adults! However, Jessi is saved from having to do any of this when the competition has been cancelled due to the hurricane and Jessi claims that Bill is her hero. Okay, Jessi, you'd rather deal with a HURRICANE than seeing three girls be disappointed they didn't win some stupid sand castle competition. I mean, really!

The rest of the girls don't arrive at Sea City until the second week, so we hear about their adventures in Stoneybrook the first week. Mary Anne and Dawn are hosting a summer camp at their house for the kids they sit for. That sounds familiar! We get a Dawn-narrated chapter where they take the kids to the Stone farm to visit the goat and other animals and we get a Mary Anne-narrated chapter where they have a sleepover for the kids in the barn and Dawn tells a "spooky" story that scares Mary Anne the most (typical Mary Anne!)

When they get to Sea City, Dawn shares a room with Stacey who tells her what's going on with Mallory and Toby. Dawn is almost just as bad as Stacey about Mallory. She gives us this snide comment:

Neither of us could believe he's asked [Mallory] out on a date.

 Nice friends you got there, Mallory. It would be one thing if they were concerned about the age difference, but that never comes up. 

Mrs. Barrett and Mr. Harris-Dewitt are planning on taking the kids to Smithtown (which I believe is mentioned in Boy-Crazy Stacey), but the kids are bitching and moaning how they'd rather go to the circus which Dawn and Stacey take them too. Boy, Mrs. Barrett and her boyfriend dodged a bullet with that one. Now they get to enjoy a nice peaceful afternoon in a quaint town without seven whining kids! 

On the back cover summary of the book, it says, "Mary Anne shows Logan all the sites - the beach, the boardwalk, the infamous Tunnel of Luv." Which is all true...except for the Tunnel of Luv (why is it spelled that way, anyway?) which is mentioned as being closed for repairs. I guess whoever wrote the summary didn't even bother to READ the book which takes less than an hour to read! We get a couple chapters from Logan and he feels very insecure about Alex even though Alex has a girlfriend and it's been established that he and Mary Anne are perfectly happy being friends. Now if Toby had been going after Mary Anne, that would have been interesting! 

Kristy is trying to recruit kids to her softball team for an upcoming Krushers - Bashers game. She doesn't have enough players because everyone is either on vacation or at camp or, in the case of Jackie Rodowsky, injured. Lucky for Kristy, she still has all her five and four-year-old players and let's not forget the lone two-year-old player on her team! (Yes, that was sarcasm). You know, I have to wonder if AMM ever looks back at her books and wonders why she put certain things in, like, say, a two-year-old on a softball team. Because that has to be the DUMBEST thing I've seen in this series! 

Anyway, Kristy starts recruiting kids from her neighborhood and while she manages to get them to temporarily join her team, it's pretty clear none of these kids know how to play. It reminded me when she tries to recruit her classmates to participate in the cross-counting skiing competition in Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation. I just don't understand why they can't postpone the game. Is Bart really that insecure that the Krushers might win the game if they had all their original players. 

Unsurprisingly, the Krushers lose. I know, what a shock! We do get this amusing passage about one of the kids she recruited, who is super bougey:

Alexandra DeLonge had come dressed in a brand-new designer baseball outfit. She was trying desperately to wipe off a smudge of dust from her right ankle. In the stands, her parents and grandparents were having a champagne picnic and toasting each other.

There's some nice continuity in this chapter because there's a picture of Karen wearing her Crushers shirt while she's up at bat. That's right, it's with a "C" instead of with a "K" like Kristy and everyone else wears. I remember when Karen was having a hissy fit about that when Kristy first started the team and insisted her shirt be spelled the right way. 

When Kristy and the others arrive in Sea City, they have an impromptu BSC meeting in the Pikes' beach house kitchen just to chat and gossip and catch up on everything that's happened in the last week. I bring this up because we get this narration from Stacey:

Somehow Kristy had devised a way to convince the grown-ups to take the kids for a half hour. From five-thirty to six. Do you know why? You guessed it. A Baby-sitters Club meeting! 

 I find this absolulety mind-boggling. Are you telling me the parents of these kids can't watch their own damn kids for a measly thirty minutes; that they need Kristy to CONVINCE them to watch them? WTF? Are these girls expected to work 24/7 and only get two half hour breaks per day? Because that sure seems what it's like! 

Claudia finishes her last week of summer school before she heads out to Sea City. Ooh, riveting! She's made some new friends at summer school...friends who we will never see again. (Why even bother introducing new characters?) She even mentions that one of the girls, Carly, lives near her and she loves art as well and they've become good friends. Still, we will never hear from her again. Claudia, I know things didn't go so great with Ashley Wyeth, but you ARE allowed to have other friends besides the girls in the BSC! 

After the last day of summer school, Claudia reminisces with her new friends and they bring up memories. Apparently, one day, Claudia brought a VCR remote she thought was a calculator. Good Lord. I just can't. One of the girls is having an end-of-summer school barbecue on Sunday and invites everyone. Claudia is sad she can't go because she's leaving for Sea City on Saturday. She even considers taking the bus on Monday to Sea City so she can go to the barbecue, but then realizes she's been looking forward to Sea City for so long. At least Claudia writes a postcard to Carly when she's in Sea City. I was shocked she spelled Sea City right and didn't spell it like "C Sitty" or "See Sittee", then realized the postcard probably said "Sea City" on the front and that's why she was able to spell it right! 

 Let's talk about the cover for this book, shall we?:

I never know why they give Mallory the most fug glasses. They just cover her whole face. I like how Claudia is always the only one to wear earrings and other jewelry on the covers even though Stacey, Dawn, Mallory, and Jessi also all have pierce ears. Speaking of Stacey and Dawn, not entirely sure who is who here, but I assume Stacey is the one with the purple blouse, black skirt, and that HUGE gaping mouth. I have a joke here but it's quite distasteful, so I will not say anything! I do think it's funny that Kristy is looking at Stacey in amazement and probably thinking, "Damn!" I think Dawn has the cutest outfit (if that indeed is Dawn) with the white top and floral skirt. I notice that Kristy and Mary Anne are wearing watches. Wow, I haven't worn a watch in so long. They're not really relevant anymore, are they? I had a Winnie the Pooh one where his arms would move to tell you the time.