Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #06: Kristy's Big Day

Well, we're finally here. The first sort of arc that Baby-Sitters Club has presented to us since the first book. The wedding of Elizabeth Thomas and Watson Brewer. So we know going in how Kristy's felt about all of this. Her initial issues with Watson, her relationship with Karen and Andrew, her concerns about moving to Watson's mansion three miles from her old place, which means her not being next door to Mary Anne anymore. So it's a lot of pressure. So what goes down on this big day? Let's see for ourselves with Kristy's Big Day.

Covers this time are all kind of in the middle. None I found all that memorable, but I'll go with the reprint which sets things up quite well that a wedding is on the horizon. Although given these covers so far, it's weird to see Kristy in a dress, given her character, but you know, 80s book and gender norms, not gonna go too deep on it. I do like that we get Andrew and Karen in this and it at least shows that they all do get along somewhat. Is it weird that the word floating in my head with this one is "Rockwellian"? Like it's the cover so far that feels the most like something out of a Norman Rockwell work. Maybe that's why I like it over the others, who knows?

We open the book as Karen is still telling Kristy about her great-great-grandfather, Old Ben Brewer, who she says is a ghost in their attic. He was apparently crazy, and in his fifties stayed inside all day, only to leave his house to eat dandelions. I think he and Gary Lutz would get along great. This also gets us up to speed on things. The wedding is on its way and everyone is about to move into Watson's mansion. Yeah, I think I forgot to mention that Watson Brewer is freaking loaded and literally lives in a mansion. But the financial situation is less important to Kristy than, you know, leaving Bradford Court and no longer living next door to Mary Anne. It's also been nine months since the first book, which honestly, given the progression in the past five books, does feel legit. 

Everyone has dinner to which Ms. Thomas and Watson announce the wedding will be the third Saturday of September and everyone's going to be involved, including Kristy who will be Ms. Thomas' bridesmaid. And this makes Kristy really excited. But Kristy is also someone who believes that good news always comes with some bad news, which I mean if there wasn't any bad news there'd be no conflict and this would be a pretty bland book, huh? Because it all goes to hell quite quickly. First off, Ms. Thomas has to go on a business trip to Vienna in September, so that screws with the plan for a September wedding. Also, the house is sold and the buyer doesn't want to wait long, so now the Thomas family have to both have the wedding AND move to Watson's at the end of June instead. 

Ms. Thomas has a panic attack because now she has two and a half weeks to both plan a wedding and move out of their house. And Kristy doesn't help matters by being upset about being forced out of her home before she was ready and moving to Watson's. She eventually calms down enough to help her mother with a lot of the plans before heading to the club and relaying the situation to the girls who mostly try to keep positive and focus less on the more woesome parts of, you know, her whole life being upended quicker than she anticipated. 

Some time passes and school wraps up for the year, meaning the wedding is coming closer. And with the wedding means guests. And with guests means kids. Karen, Andrew and David Michael, along with many of Kristy's cousins from different aunts and uncles, these being Ashley, Berk, Grace, Peter, Emma, Beth and Luke, along with more kids from Watson's friend Tom Fielding, Katherine, Patrick, Maura and Tony. So that's fourteen kids to deal with. Kristy offers to have the Baby-Sitters Club watch over them for the week, to which Ms. Thomas offers a thousand dollars for the job (split into five). Kristy then talks with Sam, one of her older brothers, about the move, to which he mentions that Watson and their mom made sure that Kristy and David Michael will stay in their old schools, instead of moving to new ones. 

When it comes to money, Kristy isn't all too comfortable about having Watson pay for her, given that he's to be her stepfather, and while the money from the house sale will go to their college funds, it still feels weird to be living with someone as financially well off as Watson. Which is a fair concern to have since they are about to move into a better financial structure and a life of modest luxury, but it still feels so bizarre and dreamlike. But Sam and Charlie both think they'll be able to make things work eventually. I mean given that most of this series has had mega happy endings, I think we can take their word for it.

Kristy tells the girls about having to watch over the fourteen kids and the two hundred dollars each, which given that's 1987 money, that's actually a heck of a score. About $587 today. But aside from extra jobs and Kristy needing to check out for additional wedding prep, they should be able to get this all done. You know, so long as Dawn doesn't let any of them outside on their own to be kidnapped by their dads. Nope, still not over that muck up. So with kids ranging from every age bracket from ten years old to eight months, the girls opt to split the amount of kids and even group them to hopefully make this easier. Four in total: Blue birds for David Michael, Berk and Karen, yellow suns for Grace, Andrew and Katherine, green dinosaurs for Peter, Patrick and Maura and pink hearts for the two youngest, Beth and Tony. Sadly no pots of gold, rainbows or red balloons. Mimi shows up to offer any help if they need it. I love Mimi. Yes, I'm well aware. 

We make it to Sunday as the big day is fast approaching and speaking of Grandmothers, we meet Nannie, Kristy's grandmother, who is full of energy and drives an old car she painted pink. She gives that vibe of the cool fun grandma and I'm all for that. The rest of the family show up with their kids, this includes Peter, who is stomach sick and Ashley, who has a broken leg from a roller skating accident. And the rest of the kids are a hyperactive handful with the parents around. It begins to dawn on Kristy that "oh crap, this is going to be harder than I thought." This is compounded as the next day arrives and the girls begin their babysitting duties, which leads to a bunch of added notes including pills for certain kids, strollers, milk allergies and the like. The house isn't even properly child-proofed which is an added bit of worry for Kristy. This also includes the Fielding kids, who are all pretty shy, but the group manage to get things under control for now.

Tuesday rolls on and the girls take the kids in groups to different locations. A walk, fishing for minnows, going to the library for story time, basic activities to burn the clock. It goes well for the most part, though Karen mentions that an older kid told her Martians were going to show up. The Karen grows up to be a Q follower pipeline isn't too out of the realm of possibility. She not only upsets Berk and David Michael about it but other kids at the park, which leads to Dawn and the kids being sent home. So yeah, now I'm convinced Karen IS Q. Wednesday is up next, meaning the halfway point before the wedding is upon us. Stacey and Kristy take some of the kids to see Mary Poppins in the theatre. There's an issue with one kid misplacing her money, and by the end they get kicked out of the theater for dropping junior mints off the balcony. I mean, it's not as bad as fear mongering I guess.

The next day's crisis is getting the boys to get their haircuts, which is mostly met with whining but does get done. In the midst of all this conflict is another for Kristy, which is that she has no idea what kind of gift she should get her mother and Watson for the wedding, especially given Watson's rich enough to have practically anything anyway. Friday roll around and we get a journal entry from Claudia. I can tell that immediately because Claudia can't spell worth a damn. The day is spent indoor with the girls putting on a pretend wedding with Karen and David Michael which burns the clock quite well. Although if they did the vows and a Martian actually showed up this would have been the greatest book ever written, just saying. After some more trouble getting the kids clothes packed, everything finishes up, the girls get paid, and the realization that the big day is upon Kristy and everyone has now set in.

The wedding goes off almost without a hitch. Mrs. Porter shows up which gives Karen a panic attack given she still thinks Mrs. Porter is Morbidda Destiny. But, that aside, it's all finished up and official. As Watson and Mrs. Brewer head off for their honeymoon, Kristy gets her idea for the gift for her parents and has the Baby-Sitters Club help make a new family tree that represents the joining of the Brewers and the Thomases. A mega happy ending, right on time.

Well, we've reached the first big event of Baby-Sitters Club and I think it was handled quite well. You could argue the focus was less on the wedding prep and more on the babysitting, but I mean, have you READ the title of the books? It does mean more about the focus on the club and not so much the babysitting part. And I still feel we got a decent enough balance of both. A focus on the chaos that is watching fourteen kids while never losing sight that the wedding is on its way. So you get the best of both worlds. I also like that we get a bit more with Kristy's mom, namely in the insanity of having to set up a wedding in less than two weeks. We don't get much of Watson, but I guess he's not as important to the general conflict. We already know from past experience that he's a decent guy. Clearly well off financially so he'll be able to provide for everyone, but the focus on taking care of the kids is still important to the now Mrs. Brewer in how the handling of the money from selling the house goes. And I appreciate that the book sets up Kristy's concerns about taking money from someone who, while now her stepfather, is still someone it would feel weird to ask money from.

Kristy is again the lead and she does a great job once again. Someone still conflicted about everything, especially moving away from Mary Anne, but is also someone who knows when to do the right thing and put her issues aside for the more important task of having this wedding go through. Not to mention watching over fourteen kids. Downside to that number is that they do all sort of blend together by the end, and the conflicts feel mostly minimal. Aside from Karen, of course. Karen has been a character very much built on being more chaotic than others, what with her fear of Mrs. Porter and her belief of the ghost of her great-great-grandfather being in the attic. But her Martian fear mongering definitely borders on kind of painting her as somewhat bratty. Also she got kicked out of a park for scaring kids. Congrats, Karen. Six years old and already you have a criminal record.

So I will say, while I liked the book, my only real issue is that it feels the most linear of all the books I've read so far. No other little bits and pieces to it, it's always focused on the main conflict and the looming wedding. As such it wasn't as fun from beat to beat as other books can be, but still managed to be an easy and enjoyable enough read, with this important piece of Kristy's arc finally finished up. So, it'll be interesting to see what's next now that Kristy has to move to Watson's place and any new conflicts that go on. So as a book that builds towards the future, it does the job quite well. So far, Baby-Sitters Club has offered a great change of pace for me from the normal blogs that focus mainly on kids horror. And the more of them I read, the more I do regret not reading them when I was younger. But hey, no time like the present. So, in the end, this is a solid book with a big event that continues to move the story further. And for that, it deserves high enough praise. It's not a perfect book, but for, again, being important to the series, it's still a solid recommend. Kristy's Big Day gets a B+.

RELATEABLE REFERENCES

Frankenstein
Tide Detergent
M&Ms
Bride of Frankenstein
I Married a Witch
Twinkies
Snickers
Ring Dings
Life Savers
Windex
The Cowardly Lion
Green Eggs and Ham
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Bugs Bunny
Mickey Mouse
Mary Poppins
Junior Mints
Old MacDonald
Sesame Street
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood