Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #01: Baby-Sitters On Board!

I mean I shouldn't be surprised. A book series as popular as Baby-Sitters Club was of course going to get special edition books. And in July of 1988, the first BSC Super-Special was released. Running for 15 books from 1988 to 1998. Each book being a vacation-themed story and does away with a singular narrative story in favor of giving each character their own chapters and stories to pad out them pages. Much like, say, Animorphs with the Megamorphs books. And this first one isn't exactly subtle with who Scholastic was partnering with as much like many a sitcom on ABC in the 90s, this sucker is sponsored by the mouse. It's a cruise to Disneyworld for the Baby-sitters Club Does this mean a good book or is this magic kingdom a tragic kingdom? Let's explore with Baby-Sitters on Board!

This cover is fine, but also, I can't put my finger on as to why, but it feels really bland. Just the BSC and a few of the kids waving as they board the Ocean Princess. For a book that hinges some of its plot in Disneyworld, you'd think that would be featured, but I guess, collab or not, even Scholastic fears the mouse. But to sell that the girls are going on a vacation, it does the trick.

As for the reprint cover, it's a bit bland to be honest. Neat that Mallory is featured given her recent addition (Jessi isn't featured in this book, since technically this book takes place before Stacey leaves Stoneybrook but was released shortly after) but it just feels like mid-conversation on a boat rather than anything super exciting. Still does the job in selling the girls on vacation so it's really not an issue either way.

So, similar to how Animorphs Megamorphs works, this book is multi-narrated, with each of the girls getting chapters. Which I didn't really think helped The Andalite's Gift given the share of the narrative pie felt super uneven. Hopefully Ann M. Martin can rectify that for me.

Kristy opens the story as the girls are at the airport, on their way to the Bahamas, then Disney World. Mr. Pike had won a contest to name a product, with the prize being the vacation. Mary Anne and Stacey (who hasn't moved to New York in the context of the story) were brought as mother's helpers for the Pike kids again. Watson Brewer, Kristy's stepdad, learning that Kristy and her siblings have never really went on vacation before, decided that the Thomas/Brewer crew should also come along, and Claudia and Dawn as well, since it would kind of suck to leave them out of a free vacation. The girls aren't ungrateful that Kristy's parents provided this free trip, so they plan to have something for them by the time they finish. The kids get pilots wings and the girls take some extra stuff in a barf bag should they need it. But the plane soon lands and, oh dear. It appears they've landed in a monster, not a state. Hello Floreda!

Dawn's up next as the girls board the Ocean Princess, the cruise line they'll be taking for most of the week before their trip to Disney. Claudia, Kristy and Dawn are going to be sharing the same room, which sounds fine on paper, until Kristy notes that she's rather messy while Dawn is usually more neat. The book already references I Love Lucy and The Love Boat, so why not some Odd Couple while we're at it? After the ship leaves, the girls split up, with Dawn bumping into a boy she instantly falls for. Mary Anne's up next. She goes with the younger Pike kids to look around the ship, when they run into the salon where they talk with a young woman named Alexandra Carmody. She notes that she has the ship all to herself and that her parents got Ki-... Just "Ki-" is all she gets out before leaving for her appointment. So now Mary Anne wonders what she meant. Kissed? Kicked? KILLED? Of course we don't get any answer to that. More pressing is the group sees a boy jump out of the lifeboat and run off in the ship. So this cruise ship either has poor security and there's a stowaway or this is a wild goose chase and the kids are just spying on nothing.

Speaking of spying, Mallory is way into this now. She read Harriet the Spy and has started to keep a notebook to observe suspicious things. She notes a sophisticated young woman who claims to be an actress, sees Kristy still pissed about having to be neat around Dawn, then notices a boy in a wheelchair named Marc entering a room with his mother and another man carrying an oxygen tank and the boy's medication. She also sees another man in his early twenties leaving the room with wild red hair and a missing tooth. Mallory starts to swoon because this man is Spider from her favorite band the Insects. I mean spiders are technically arachnids, but that's pedantic me again. Also he lost that tooth when he hit himself with his electric guitar by mistake. She also sees the boy escaping the lifeboat, so much like the others, she's curious about what's up.

The next narration goes to everyone's favorite agent of chaos, Karen. This predates the debut of the Baby-Sitters Little Sister series by a month interestingly. And, I don't know if I'll cover these, maybe a couple. That's more down to interest from others more than myself. Might at least do the first one and move on. Anyway, she runs off from Kristy and Andrew and gets her nails done at the beauty parlor, by which she charges it to her father Watson. Same with buying a coke. If this were a book in 2025 she'd bankrupt her family on microtransactions. She runs into Kristy who is none too pleased at Karen's latest delinquency episode. Next up is Claudia. The boat docks at New Providence Island and Claudia, Dawn and Kristy get dressed, with Kristy throwing her clothes on the floor, which annoys Dawn to the point that I think if this book goes on the group will be down a club president. They have breakfast with a letter from a secret admirer on Claudia's. But Claudia is more focused on going through Nassau to check the sights. She brings her camera, but every time she takes a picture, it's as if someone is always some figure nearby. She heads to the aquarium, which is paid for her by the secret admirer, as are a pair of earrings. So whoever is admiring Claudia is at least loaded. 

Stacey's next up. We get the club meeting which really doesn't resolve much, just sort of tells us where we are again. Dawn's in lone with someone, Claudia has a secret admirer, Mallory is sneaking around. And no answer yet as to how they're going to show the Pikes and the Watson/Brewer parents their appreciation. Dawn heads to the dock and meets Marc Kubacki, the boy in the wheelchair from earlier. He's got a bad heart condition that makes it hard to walk much, so that explains the wheelchair. But he's excited for Disney World and to meet his favorite character, Goofy. Hey, kid's got good taste in Disney characters. Stacey mentions her diabetes, and while he think it can be cured, Stacey just acts nice about it. She then goes to the Pike kids where Margo gets seasick. And she calms down Claire by taking a bunch of pictures. 

Back to Kristy. We have one more narrator, but we're not there yet. Remember that whole thing in the first book about decorum? Well, Kristy's throwing that on the floor with the rest of her clothing to anger Dawn. Kristy heads by the pool and sits on a beach chair, only for an old man in tacky clothing to show up, and mostly grumble. But Kristy notes he's reading The Mayor of Casterbridge, which her grandmother Nannie likes, so they have that in common. The man, Rudy Staples, mentions his late wife, to which she mentions her grandfather died, so she can sorta relate. Kristy mentions her fight with Dawn and notes it's like The Odd Couple, in case you thought it wasn't going to get referenced. Kristy invites him to the boat's arcade, which he's actually pretty damn good at Centipede. This book's from 1988, amidst the revival of the video game industry in the states and the NES had been out a few years, but I can see why the older arcade games were picked just to be safe. It would have been great to see Mr. Staples rock Double Dragon. She asks Mr. Staples to go to Treasure Cay, a deserted island-like area and invites him for dinner with their family. Dude, you've met this old guy for what, five minutes and you're already wanting to make him your grampa? Where was this enthusiasm when you were shitty to Watson? Then she narcs on her mom about Dawn, because Kristy still sorta sucks, but her mom tells her to stop whining and make peace. Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer ruling this shit.

So we get our last notable narrator of the book, Byron Pike. The youngest of the three Pike triplets. Himself, Adam, Jordan, Nicky and David Michael have treasure in mind, with hopes of finding it in Treasure Cay. Which isn't actually as deserted island as they thought, it's lined with hotels. So the five kids go searching on their own which, oh boy does this feel like a 1988 "Kidnapping's rare, right?" book. They search around the beach and don't find much, except for what appears to be a treasure map, so they plan their expedition to find what it leads to. Back to Dawn, it's the last day of living in a room together with all three. Claudia also keeps stepping on Kristy's hand when she gets out of her bunk, so that doesn't help the three's already toxic moods. She runs into the boy she saw earlier named Parker Harris and they play a ping-pong tournament and win. He notes that he's divorced and lives with his dad, who remarried to a wife with two bratty kids. He says that remarriages are awful and that he considers how his mom feels, which conflicts Dawn given her own family situation. They go out some more and get pictures taken of one another. 

Mary Anne watches the Pike triplets and Nicky whose treasure hunt was more them being annoying to everyone. She runs into Alexandra, or Alex, the actress she saw at the salon. Alex mentions that the "Ki-" we heard earlier was indeed "killed" as her parents died in a car accident six months prior. Mary Anne tries to relate with her since her mother died when she was a baby. The boys still haven't found treasure but plan to try when they reach Disney World. Stacey, along with Claire and Margo, visit Marc again. They head to the arcade and talk about what he can and can't do physically, and it seems to go off quite well. After that they head to the ice cream parlor, brilliantly named the Scooper Duper, to find Claudia, who once again gets a gift from her secret admirer, who Stacey may have briefly seen. Which takes us to Claudia's next chapter. She searches for the secret admirer with someone noting that somebody ran out of the parlor with red hair and nice sneakers. That somebody is a boy named Timothy, who is shy but very interested in Claudia. And he's totally not the secret admirer or anything. The ship returns to port in Florida and Claudia finally tells Kristy and Dawn to cut the crap. They'll be in a bigger hotel room so there'll be less of an excuse to get angry at one another.

Kristy, Claudia and Dawn get into their hotel room, which is indeed much bigger than their cabin. There's even cable TV, though no R-rated films, which the girls have never watched, though I mean it's the 80s, parents weren't THAT helicopter. They spot a mini-bar filled with snacks, but Watson says they can't partake because hotel bar food is expensive. 2.50 for a bag of chips. Could you imagine? Ha ha... ha ha... aaaaaah I hate this timeline. Kristy runs into Mr. Staples again, who is ready to leave, but she convinces him to stay for dinner. It's back to Karen as we're FINALLY at Disney World. She meets Minnie Mouse and gets an autograph before going into the Haunted Mansion ride. She sees a hologram of a ghost and is convinced it's real like old Ben Brewer on their third floor. And like how Morbidda Destiny's a witch and all. I'm going to have to read the Karen books, aren't I?

Dawn is up next. She goes with Parker to Space Mountain. No, not the Ric Flair one you sickos. And that's my wrestling reference of the blog. This my first one for BSC, I don't recall. Parker gets sidled with babysitting Ricky and Roddy, his stepbrothers. Steamboat and Piper? Okay, TWO references. Dawn buys a glass unicorn for a souvenir, but loses it, only for Parker to have gotten her another one before leaving. Back to Mallory the spy who reminds us about the whole stowaway thing from the Ocean Princess that we never resolved and other things that have gone on in case you haven't been following too far. Mallory splits off from her family to continue searching around for interesting things to spy upon. She spots Alex talking to a boy and two adults, one of which she calls Mom. It turns out this is Viv and Vernon Carmody, a singing duo, and Alex's parents. So Mallory believes that Alex was lying about the car crash and having dead parents. I mean, there's a rational explanation here, but we still have under 50 or so pages to get to it. 

Mary Anne is up next as we get another quick club meeting. Still no idea for what to give the parents, so it's still going nowhere. Mallory tells Mary Anne about Viv and Vernon, Alex's parents. This leads Mary Anne to call Alex a liar, which makes thing awkward. Alex tries to explain, but Mary Anne won't give her a chance to listen. Back to Byron and the kids, still searching for treasure. But all they find is a charm bracelet. Specifically the one Dawn had, so no real luck in finding treasure. Back to Karen who is excited, but is bummed a bit that it's the last day at Disney before they begin to head home. The families head to breakfast with Disney characters, and after she sees another kid get a big birthday celebration, Karen of course has to also claim it's her birthday. Watson scolds her for it, but I mean, she's got the agent of chaos moniker for a reason. She then ends up briefly lost, which feels like a definite trope the ABC sitcoms in Disney also did. She gets reunited and decides the new ghost she found should come home with them. 

Stacey is up next. She and the kids are in Epcot to see Captain EO. They also mention the Geosphere, which Stacey notes looks like a giant golf ball. Thank you Ann M. Martin, I thought I was the only one who truly thought it was a giant golf ball. She also runs into Marc again. They tag with Marc for the rest of the day and it goes well. Though Mr. and Mrs. Kubacki tell Stacey that Marc needs open heart surgery soon and it could be a crapshoot if he survives or not. That's the main reason they brought him to Disney World, to at least give him a good time before that. Claudia's up next and everyone is at the evening parade. She runs into Tim who reveals that, shock, he's Claudia's secret admirer. He's also the one who was in the lifeboat and ran off. Alex shows up and reveals that she's his sister and that when she said her parents died, it was a cry for attention, given she's the daughter of two musicians. So, despite what is honestly a rather screwed up lie, and a rather creepy case of a young stalker, all is forgiven. Forgiving horrible lies, brought to you by the magic of Disney. Claudia later suggests that the thing they should give the parents is a photo album of all the stuff they did during the trip.

On the buses heading back to the airport, Kristy runs into Mr. Staples again, who doesn't think it would work out with Nannie given he lives in Arizona and all, but does offer to be a pen pal for Kristy. Everyone returns home after a long trip. A couple months pass and Stacey gets a letter from the Kubackis saying that Marc's surgery went well and he's recovering, and he'll finally be able to ditch the wheelchair for a bike or skateboard. So after a long trip, we still get our mega happy ending. With a bit of sequel baiting with the kids wanting to do another trip next year.

You know what this book feels like to me? It feels like a stronger version of Boy Crazy Stacey. It's a book about a big family vacation and focuses a lot of the book on that vacation. The boat trip, the time in the Bahamas and especially the Disney World trip. Which for as much as it feels like a big moment in a family vacation, it does also feel like a big long advertisement for the park itself. Mentioning as many attractions as a book can fill. But it does work well in making you kind of jealous of these fictional characters on their big Disney adventure. The book does its gimmick quite well. Every character gets at least two to three chapters. All five of the OG BSC gets three, with Kristy getting two extra at the end. And each story is given enough time to flesh out, though we'll get into which ones I liked and didn't as we get there. But compared to Megamorphs, this is definitely a better use of the multi-narrated story. Ann M. Martin has K.A. Applegate beaten on that at least.

You get a decent variety of stuff here, albeit some more interesting than others. The strongest being Stacey and Marc, which does feel like the most interesting. Two kids suffering from different ailments. I like that the book sets up Stacey's own concerns with diabetes and how while Marc's ailment is different, she can understand how he feels about it. Kristy's stuff with Mr. Staples is fine, but I do think it feels weirdly rushed and off-putting. Not that there's any ill intentions of Mr. Staples, but the way Kristy pretty much is ready to make this guy her surrogate grandfather is a bit goofy to me. Does sound like a cool guy though, so I can at least see Kristy's POV here. And those are really the only two I'd say are strong enough to keep the book supported. The rest feel like fluff. 

Claudia and Dawn's feel too similar. Yes, it's differentiated with Claudia's being a secret admirer, but both are just the girls falling for boys. Dawn's feels the most forgettable, even with the added wrinkle of Parker's frustrations on his father remarrying. It doesn't have a satisfying conclusion for me. Poor Dawn, yet again I'm just lukewarm on a story with her. And she's the next mainline book. Oh dear. Claudia's is a little better, though Timothy just feels a bit too much like a creep to really find this as endearing as the book hoped. Karen's is mostly her doing bratty things and managing to get away with it for the most part. Mallory is more here to bridge plots than anything, mainly with Mary Anne's which, I get Alexandra's logic here, feeling lost in the shuffle of her celebrity parents, but lying that they died in a car accident and being so easily forgiven, I'm sorry but that's just kind of lame in the grand scheme. A case of "well, she did a bad thing but we need a mega happy ending on all these stories". Byron's is Superfluous Clay and really feels like the biggest excuse of padding the book.

It's a long book, and while it flows fine for the most part, it still feels like a long book. A lot of wheel spinning in the middle, stuff like the Dawn and Kristy stuff being such a big issue and just not mattering and, again being so easily resolved. It definitely feels like a book that didn't need to be a Super Special, but merely is because selling it as a Super Special could sell more copies. But I still think the book is pretty good, and while not all of the stories are that strong, they still work as a full ensemble for a story about a big vacation, with each player having their own piece to the story. And it gives you enough of what readers would want. Some baby-sitting, some romance, some life experience stuff and decent character building. So, as a book built as a Super Special, I've seen far worse attempts. So I think this is a solid recommend. Baby-Sitters on Board gets a B+. 

Next up, we're back to the main series. It's time to see what's up for Dawn Schaf-oh who am I kidding? I said we wouldn't cover this series, but I don't see the harm of at least seeing how it started off. Who wants more Agent of Chaos?

A book with part of it set in Disney World? To no real shock, of all the stuff referenced in the book, it's Disney-related stuff that takes the lion share of references in this one.

Disney World

The Love Boat

I Love Lucy

Harriet the Spy

Coke

Goofy

M&Ms

Trivial Pursuit

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Pride & Prejudice

The Odd Couple
Centipede

Pac-Man

Donkey Kong

The Princess and the Goblin

Space Mountain

Diet Coke

Minnie Mouse

Cinderella's Castle

The Haunted Mansion

Peter Pan's Flight

Snow White's Adventure

Disneyland

Tomorrowland

Big Thunder Mountain

Tom Sawyer's Island

Pirates of the Carribbean 

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

The Spinning Teacups

It's a Small World

Skyway

Mickey Mouse

Peter Pan

Captain Hook

Aspirin

Mounds Bars

Fritos

Snow White

Cinderella's Golden Carousel

Dumbo

Tigger

Pluto

Fantasyland
Epcot

Universe of Energy

Michael Jackson

Geosphere

World of Motion

Captain EO

Winnie The Pooh

The Sorcerer's Apprentice