Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #14: Hello, Mallory

So last book was pretty much a massive blow to the very core of the Baby-Sitters club series. Stacey McGill has moved back to New York. And normally, when an old character is removed, a new character is added. Or, in this case, a character the series has been building up on the sidelines gets added to the main cast. The Butters to the Kenny. So Ann M. Martin has given that role to Mallory Pike. Does this mean a strong first book out the gate? Well, we can only find out as we say Hello, Mallory.

We only have one cover to really talk about here as the reprint is more or less the same and this book didn't get a graphic novel surprisingly. They actually added much of this plot to the adaptation of Dawn and the Impossible Three. It actually moves right on to another character we'll talk about soon. But this cover gives us the gist of this book's plot. Mallory clearly isn't handling baby-sitting well and Claudia, the one who did suggest her last book, is writing up about her to see if she's really BSC material. It's not out of the ordinary since they set it up with Logan before, so it makes sense here. Overall, for Mallory's first cover, it does the trick.

In our last book, Stacey finds out that her father's job is forcing them to go back to New York. Neither Stacey, or the girls take it well, but begin preparation for the inevitable move. Stacey with her farewell to important relationships she's made and the girls by holding her a going away party. Stacey makes her exit for now, but it leaves the club missing a member. Enter 11 year old Mallory Pike, a character that's been established from the very start of the series. Someone who the girls all know and think she might be good for the job. And that takes us to where we are right now.

We get our first introduction to Mallory. She's eleven, wears glasses, has curly hair and freckles and has seven other siblings who we've met in other books, but since the books have to add context to new readers, I'll do too. Ten year old triplet boys Adam, Jordan and Byron, nine year old Vanessa, eight year old Nicky, seven year old Margo and five year old Claire. Her dad is a corporate lawyer who works in Stamford, which Margo makes clear doesn't really sound like an LA Law type deal. We start the book proper with Mallory watching some of her siblings as Nicky and Buddy Barrett as they play volleyball in the yard. However, when the rest of the family comes home, Nicky doesn't pay attention and the ball breaks his finger. Mr. and Mrs. Pike take him to the emergency room while Mallory watches the others, noting this should be an interesting story to tell the Baby-Sitters Club, which, oh yeah, she's the newest member of.

At school the next day, Mallory is seated next to the new kid in class.  This is Jessica Ramsey, and she just moved to Stoneybrook. She's a black girl, which you'd think wouldn't be much to point out, but the book makes it clear that she's the only black girl in Mallory's class, because this is still a 1988 book after all. It's definitely a shade collar-tugging with how much focus Mallory seems to put on her being black. But hey, if you want some good old fashioned this is the 80s white as the day is long racism, save that for the other kids in Mallory's class. One girl, Rachel Robinson thinks Jessica doesn't belong. Another kid thinks she came from Africa or her real name is Mobobwee or something. Okay now I'm starting to see why they skipped this book for a graphic novel. The day goes by, Mallroy sees no sign of Jessica, so she heads to the meeting. It goes awkwardly, mainly that Mallory overdressed for the situation. They kind of blame her for Nicky's finger accident, which really feels like she's getting more heat for that than, again, Dawn almost causing an almost-kidnapping. But they still want her in, so they'll be giving her a test next time. They also mention a black family has moved into Stacey's old house.

The next day Mallory finally talks with Jessica, or Jessi as she prefers to be called. We meet her siblings, eight year old Becca and one year old John Phillip Ramsey Junior, or Squirt for short. We learn that Jessie loves telling jokes, she loves ballet and they used to live in Oakley, New Jersey. She wears glasses, but only for reading, but other than that and ballet the two have a lot of things in common, so it's hitting it off well. So that's good news for Mallory. Bad news for Mallory is the test. It doesn't go too well with her getting a lot of serious questions wrong in the eyes of the club. In the middle of this we learn that the Perkins had a new baby named Laura Elizabeth, so that's another piece of continuity expanded. Then they have her draw the digestive system and she fails at that too in their eyes. I mean, one point to them is that they take their jobs super seriously, but another is that this feels like they're just crapping on her for not being as experienced. No, I think I'm fully getting why this book didn't get a graphic novel.

Claudia goes to babysit for the Perkins family and Mallory is brought along to be observed for how she handles the situation. They're to babysit Gabbie and Myriah while Mr. and Mrs. Perkins are still at the hospital. Mallory screws up by asking what the kids want to eat, given they're to have Dunkin' Donuts later. She lets their dog Chewbacca in the house which causes a mess. She trips giving a piggyback ride, pops a balloon by mistake. Which of course earns her a bad rating from Claudia, even though in all honesty most of this could be... I'll get to it in the conclusion. So yeah, she flunked the test. Mallory tries to call them out for this, but they continue to pressure her on not getting things to the letter. Claudia noting that she thought that Mallory meant to give a baby soy sauce for colic and not, you know, soy formula, so even they're bad at this. They then decide that she needs to take another test, to which even she notes that this kind of isn't fair and quits before being even added, which yeah, honestly, points for Mallory on shutting them the hell up.

Mallory talks with Jessi later on and brings up her situation with the club. Jessi brings up that things haven't been going well, mainly because people are still avoiding her and her family because they're the only black family in Stoneybrook. She talks about wanting to be a ballerina, but would know if she was, people would be mad at a black ballerina, to which I say damn I hate how it's 2025 and that hasn't changed, it just got somehow more blatant. Both realize that they're being mistreated (granted, in far, FAR different ways), so they decide that they'll form their own baby-sitting club. With blackjack and... oh wait, book for kids. The two head to Mallory's house and it goes pretty well, though Claire thinks Jessi's a maid, which might not be the worst case of racism in this book. The pair begin to come up with their club, even throwing shade at the name "The Baby-Sitters Club". You know what, props to Ann M. Martin for realizing the series has sort of a bland name to it. They go with Kids Incorporated because they may be smart at a lot, they don't quite know about copyright. They then make flyers for their club, which is cool and all, but you know what would work? Balloons. 

We get a baby-sitting job with Dawn who watches the Barretts. She needs to change the youngest, Marnie, but soon discovers Suzi took the diapers and taped them around the dining room table. Later, she sees Dawn at Jessi's watching the Pike kids and is confused if they're baby-sitting or not. She then sees a Kids Incorporated flyer and tells the others, who are in a huff about competition and that they have to stop it. Yes, put a stop to the mess that YOU MADE. NGL this is the worst the girls have looked since Mary Anne Saves the Day. And their big plan to stop them at first is for Kristy to call them copycats and say they're inexperienced because Mallory didn't pass their test. Things are still stagnating when it comes to people giving the Ramseys any sort of acknowledgement, since Stoneybrook has been showing how much it sorta actually sucks right now. This is even further pointed out when Becca plays with a bubble maker, a girl shows up to see and her mother angrily forces her back home. But Charlotte Johannsen shows up and enjoys it, so hey, town ain't completely shite. 

The club isn't doing too well. They're overbooked on jobs and if not for Logan and Shannon, they'd be forced to turn down jobs. They then remember that, on yeah, Mallory was actually really good during the trip to Sea City and when they were handling the kids during the wedding. Also, her screwing up the job with Claudia was likely accidents and stress, you know, the stress they put upon her. And the Nicky thing wasn't her fault either. Gee, it's almost like instead of giving her the benefit of the doubt or... I'll get to it in the conclusion I swear. But at least now the group is coming to the realization that they really weren't fair to Mallory. They call up Mallory and apologize, saying they want her in the club. Now, in fairness, Mallory could have turned them down and have been in the right, but she agrees on the condition that Jessi is also a new member. 

The two go for the next meeting, to which the girls don't give them a test this time, but they're still going to be graded on how they handle a job. There's also the issue of Jessi and the town being so apprehensive. We also get a quick phone call from Stacey to remind us that, yes, they still can talk to her. Though I'm imagining 80s long distance bills were a nightmare. They baby-sit for the Newtons and while Claudia watches at first, there's an issue with Mimi that has to be taken care of, so the pair have to handle watching the kids without supervision. But she comes back to see that Mallory is handling things quite well and looks like it's all good for the two to be in the club. So it's been a few books but we got ourselves a mega happy ending. But what about the situation with Jessi and her fami-MEGA HAPPY ENDING!

This book is frustrating. Hey, I get to say that again. Again, frustrating by intention, but while it at least worked for a better book in Claudia and the New Girl, this was just frustrating to an annoying degree. This might be the worst the club has looked ever in the series. They don't give Mallory a chance. One could argue that they were in the right to want to make sure that she was able to handle herself in any situation, but that came through overly challenging tests and unfair judgment. Which I'll note, Mallory's failed exam feels more harsh to her than, again and I know I keep harping on it, Dawn almost being responsible for a child being kidnapped. Mallory breaking a glass and not fully knowing what the digestive system looks like feels kind of super tame compared to that. Did Logan and Shannon have to do all this? Hell, were they this strict to the two Baby-Sitting Agency double agents when giving them the jobs? They learn their lesson in the end and realize they were wrong about Mallory being a bad baby-sitter, but the resolution is super quick and honestly doesn't feel as earned as it should be. We rush through the Kids Incorporated plot so breakneck and then just have the girls realize they screwed up. It comes off as more of a half-baked piece to the conflict. 

And this could all have been avoided by what I was waiting to mention in the conclusion, helping her get acclimated to the babysitting job. She's eleven. She's a good baby-sitter, but clearly she would still need help to improve on the job to the point that even the girls think would be up to snuff. Throwing her to the wolves and acting like she'd be a sudden miss know-it-all on all of this feels really rotten. So if the twist was that Mallory turned down the offer to return to the club, I think a lot of people would have been cool with that. This is a case where the girls needed far more of a redemption than they got and it does sour this book a bit for me. And I get that a lot of this could be summed up to no longer having Stacey in the group so the girls want to be cautious, but this still feels like just poorly treating Mallory instead of giving her a chance. Speaking of Mallory, I like her as a focus. You understand her issues and can definitely feel for her with how the club treats her. But she is dedicated to baby-sitting and in many ways to proving the club wrong. So if any really silver lining comes from this book it's both Mallory and Jessi as the focuses.

Jessi is a great character stuck in a book that really treats her and her family poorly. A lot of the racism in this book is harsh, and I think it's something that will definitely turn some people off with just how rough it can get. But I think Ann M. Martin did a decent job on understanding the situation. Even if it does fully read of "white woman talking about the black experience" and some of the very, very awkward ways she describes things. But she still makes the point that Jessi and her family are good people, that they're really no different from anyone else despite their skin color. But Stoneybrook is still bigoted, still unwilling to accept people. Which does make me wonder how the town first felt towards the Kishi family. Because America's treatment of the Japanese, especially during and post-WWII was horrendous. But when it comes to racism towards Claudia in Stoneybrook, put a pin on that. It'll be a while, but put it in now. And if the series just had Jessi debut without focusing at all on how a black family has to deal with moving in a predominantly white community, especially in the 1980s, it would be disingenuous. And while I joked that the book doesn't really cover much of helping resolve Jessi's situation by the end, that's believable too because this is going to take a lot of time. It also sucks that almost 40 years since this book's release, so little really feels like its changed, and honestly has regressed given the current political climate being at its all-time worst. So yeah, a book hitting you so hard over the head with talks of racism, while very important to still talk about, doesn't make for the most fun experience.

You do get a good mix of stuff in this book. For continuity and worldbuilding it sets up Mallory and Jessi. It puts pins on situations like Jessi's family to build on for later. You get some baby-sitting with most of it being integral to the plot. And a new baby for the club to baby-sit for with the new Perkins baby. The book doesn't do much to update on things like Jeff wanting to go back to California or give us anything involving Karen creating more conspiracies. So if you were hoping for more of any of that, you're out of luck in this book. But I will say this is the first book in a while, even more so than Claudia and the New Girl that makes the club's operations a major focus to the plot itself. Granted, like i said, not in the most flattering way for the girls, but if you want more content like that, then this book does provide. 

In the end, the word frustrating continues to linger in my head. I think there's some good in this book. Mallory's a solid follow, Jessi's a great addition, they're fun as a pair, and the book does try to be as open about racism as a book can be in the 80s, even if a lot of it does feel very clunky from Martin. Her heart was in the right place, I can believe that much. It's just a book that doesn't feel fun throughout and the entire test stuff is probably the girls at their very worst so far in the series. So much so that it's probably my least favorite BSC book that I've covered. Not a horrible book, not one that I wouldn't recommend, but ultimately it would be the lightest as a feather recommend ever. So welcome to the main cast Mallory and Jessi. Shame it couldn't have been a more fun first steps. Hello, Mallory gets a C. It's Dawn again next time. Can this finally be the first book of hers I really enjoyed? But before we get there, who wants to go to Disneyworld?

Dr. Dolittle

The Incredible Journey

Freaky Friday

Tootsie Pops

Chewbacca

Impossible Charlie

A Morgan for Melinda

Dunkin' Donuts

The Lightning Time

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Narnia

The Horse and his Boy

The Nutcracker Suite

Kids Incorporated

Lego

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Winnie-The-Pooh

The House at Pooh Corner

Swan Lake

Ring Dings

King Kong

Superman