Well we've covered a few BSC books, so it's time to pay the tax once more. It's time for the next Little Sister book. Fitting we're talking about cats here since we started this month with a book about a missing cat. Karen and her friends form a club over their love of cats. Hey, a club I can get behind. What could paws-ibly go wrong? Let's see with Karen's Kittycat Club. Oh thank god she didn't spell club with a K.
Yep. The time has come. Since book one, the readers have become well acquainted with Claudia's grandmother Mimi Yamamoto. And since the seventh book in the series, Claudia and Mean Janine, they've also had to deal with Mimi's stroke and declining health. Mostly through her inability to remember certain words and sentences. But as the series progressed, she's declined far worse, especially in Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise where it felt like we were headed for the inevitable. Well, it's here. Hey kids, hope you like reading about dead relatives, because this one's gonna be rough. It's time to say farewell to Mimi as we talk about Claudia and the Sad Good-bye.
In our last BSC blog, we covered Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger. A fun little book that definitely feels like filler with other events in the background. The next book in the main series is Claudia and the Sad Good-bye, but before we get to the inevitable with Claudia's grandmother Mimi, let's go to summer camp instead. Because it's time for another Super Special. If you're unfamiliar with the previous Super Special, Baby-sitters on Board!, these are longer books featuring narration from every member of the BSC and sometimes other characters. They're also vacation themed or at the very least putting the girls in a unique setting. And summer camp certainly feels unique enough for this series. Does it lead to a good book though? I mean, Stine got the camp books right, I have enough faith that Ann M. Martin can as well. It's time for the Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation.
We get some variety with both covers, which I always appreciate. Both covers involve the girls at Camp Mohawk, or in the reprint's case, Camp Moosehead, which the reason for the rename in the reprint being connected to the Netflix series, as well as being less possibly problematic. I swear I'm not dogging on the reprint covers, I think they're fine, but of the two, I prefer the original. The more awkwardness of whatever the hell they're doing. A dance? A big long hug? It all just feels more energetic and fun, selling me on this being a camp book. The reprint is fine, but it's just the girls sitting around, not exactly making me go "big camp adventure". Hell, if the text didn't mention it, good odds the first thought wouldn't be a camp book. But, both are still fine and decent, I just again prefer the original art.
When you think about it, we don't get a lot of dinosaur horror stories with these kids horror books. Which given the hype and popularity of Jurassic Park, you'd think that would be a shoe-in for any author pumping out a quick buck book. But leave it to Graveyard School to be one of the rare examples. But it's also Graveyard School, and we haven't found that one true book in the series I loved, so I'm also not expecting much. Can this be the one to finally slap my expectations in the face? Let's find out with Revenge of the Dinosaurs.
It's time for Mary Anne to take the lead once more. And so far she's remained the most consistent in terms of quality books, going three for three on good ones. Granted, I didn't expect much from her last book, and it still surprised me. So this book has her looking for her cat Tigger, who is lost. If this were an R.L. Stine book, this would take a very dark turn. Thankfully it's Ann M. Martin, but this series has killed a dog already. Thankfully it won't come to that, but let's set off on a cat hunt as we talk about Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger.
It's been a while since we took a trip to the Shadow Zone. About a year, actually. It's still a series that hasn't given me any extremely awful books to read, but a couple that were still pretty disappointing. We have witches to deal with this time and usually witch stories are pretty good, so I can only hope that's the case with Shadow Zone. Though knowing my recent luck this will be a case of bubble bubble toil and DEFINITELY trouble. Let's hope not as we learn about The Witches Next Door.
Boy oh boy what a decade this year was. Such a wonderful year, huh? For the blog this was actually not too bad a year when it came to the books I covered, but that doesn't mean I didn't run into a few stinkers. That includes a book that got the oh-so rare F, so I guess it was destined to make it to the bottom ten for this year. Let's cast these books off one final time before we move on with 2025 forever. Again, not in any particular order.
