Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #19: Claudia and the Bad Joke

Time to get back to Stoneybrook after the New York excursion last book. And it's a Claudia book. She's mostly been consistent with her books being pretty good. Last book being the weakest, but it was still a good book. And now we have a book that's  going to deal with practical jokes gone too far. Like clearly to the point of injury too far. Is this a book that's full of great gags or one that'll make you want to gag? Let's see for ourselves with Claudia and the Bad Joke.

Well after a few covers with some variety to them it's a shame to say we're back to similar cover concepts for our three variants. But given Claudia's broken leg is a pivotal part of the book it's not hard to see how you can't get too much in terms of unique ideas. Of the three, I think the graphic novel's probably the best as the other two sell the idea of Claudia being hurt via joke gone wrong far less than the third. At least with the third it tells the interested reader that Betsy Sobak is a prankster, Claudia clearly got hurt from her pranks and that she's none too happy with this babysitting charge. Overall, all three covers are decent, but not the most memorable outside of Claudia's injury.

Claudia and the BSC (including Logan who has been appearing more which is neat) start the story at the Stoneybrook Public Library as it's holding a Slapstick Film Festival. Kristy in particular seems interested in the idea of taking a pie to the face. This gives us the standard preamble where we learn about everyone. They enjoy the show and Claudia says it's a precursor to the real slapstick that's to come. We get the club meeting which is more preamble. I swear the first couple chapters are the easiest to skim through in these books. But there is a new babysitting charge for them. The Sobak family and their daughter Betsy. Claudia is a little confused as to why they're getting the jobs instead of the people who normally babysit Betsy, but Kristy just thinks they all must be busy and that this is still a job they can take. Also Kristy squirts Mary Anne with an invisible ink pen, so yeah, she's probably going to be annoying too in this book.

After the meeting, Claudia has dinner with her family, where she says she got a B- in math, which is an improvement, but the rest of her family don't think so. Save really for Mimi, who tries to help her with her homework, even with her stroke still debilitating much of her speech and cognitive functions. We're still a few books away, but it's coming and it's going to suck. She also gets a call from Ashley Wyeth to remind us of the events of book #12. Then she gets a call from someone asking for Prince Albert in a can, which is probably less inspired than the refrigerator running joke. Claudia talks with some of Betsy's past babysitters who tell her that Betsy can be a handful as she loves to pull pranks, which is why they quit. But they wish her good luck. They could tell her to break a leg, but that would be a bit too literal. 

After meeting with Betsy's mother Cookie, which for some reason is a first name that confuses Claudia, we learn Betsy has a 23 year old sister and is already an aunt. Betsy then gets Claudia some apple juice, however it turns out to be the old "fake fly ice cube in the dribble glass" bit. Then it's followed by the old pepper gum trick. Betsy gets all of her pranks from a catalog called McBuzz's, which I guess is a Spenser's Gifts of this universe. But with apple juice all over her and already leery of anything Betsy gives her, the two head outside to Betsy's swingset. The two get on and Claudia goes to swing, only for the chain to snap off and for her to go flying, which leads to her breaking her leg on the landing. Yeah, Betsy knew about the broken chain but thought Claudia was just going to sit on the swing, not actually swing on it. 911 is called, Betsy is sent to stay with the Rodowsky family while her parents are called and Dawn arrives and rides with Claudia in the ambulance to the hospital. 

Claudia wakes up with her family in her hospital room and her leg elevated. Her leg is badly broken, but not fractured, which means it'll be a few months, and she has to stay in the hospital for a week, which Claudia is far from happy about. She gets visits from everyone and lots of flowers, which she choses to share with her roommate Cathy who Claudia says is a whiner. She also gets a call from Stacey to which Claudia tells her that maybe babysitting is too dangerous. That she still has ambitions of being an artist when she's older and she came very close to injuring her hands and arms, so she thinks maybe she might quit the club. We then get a babysitting section as Mary Anne and Jessi babysit the Pikes who are just in full prank fever. Joy buzzers, squirt guns, fake spiders, a chocolate covered tennis ball in a sundae (???) and pulling the chair on Mary Anne which isn't so much a prank that's just being an ass. The girls trick them by pranking them with the idea that the circus is in town. Also more prank calls which includes the refrigerator gag. I knew Ann M. couldn't resist.

A week passes by and Claudia can finally return home. She's stationed downstairs and can't return to school for another week, so it's mostly her and Mimi at home, which is at least good for her. But Claudia still feels like she should give up babysitting, to which Mimi says that some things, like leg injuries and strokes, are beyond one's control and that she should at least think about it before making the call. The group have their meeting and Claudia says that she might want to quit, which doesn't go over well. They mostly blame Betsy for it, which is sort of fair, sort of not. But they get another job to watch Betsy. Given that her family got into the whole pranking stuff, Mallory offers to babysit so that she can out-prank the prankster. The girls are apprehensive about pranking a child, but they figured why not? I mean there's already been one casualty. After the meeting, Claudia calls Ashley who is still all "Hell yeah, ditch the babysitting and focus on your art career" so really nothing has changed on that front.

Mallory arrives at the Sobak residence with plenty of prank products in tow. It mostly goes about even. Betsy tricks Mallory into thinking she disappeared and Mallory gets her with some sneezing powder. Next up, Dawn takes the Sobak job. Betsy tricks her with putting slime in her Kid-Kit box and having her eat a sundae made of shaving cream. I don't know if this is a case of Betsy being a master prankster or the girls just being very easy marks. Meanwhile, everyone wants Claudia's answer to if she's staying in the club or not, but she doesn't know yet. But she is able to go back to school after three weeks, so that's a plus. She tells the girls to give her one week to make her decision. Kristy is up next to watch Betsy and she has her promise not to pull any more pranks, which is immediately negated via hand buzzer, so Kristy decides that's it, we're pranking this kid straight. They go to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the theatre which we learn that Betsy has made more enemies than friends with the other kids due to her pranking. Kristy also manages to scare and embarrass Betsy in the theatre by pulling the old "fake thumb in the popcorn box" trick. After things calm down, Kristy tells Betsy that yeah, pranks are fun, but clearly her pranks aren't well thought out and could hurt people, like they did with Claudia. 

The two head to Claudia's and Betsy apologizes and realizes that not only did she hurt Claudia with her prank, but she embarrassed Claudia. And something that does bother Betsy is being embarrassed, so it seems to have set her straight. As Kristy and Betsy are about to leave, Claudia tells Kristy that she realizes why she wanted to quit the club. Because she got embarrassed. But after the talk with Betsy and everything, she changed her mind on it and wants to stay, provided she doesn't have to babysit Betsy. I mean she forgives her, but better safe then sorry. Somewhere Ashley Wyeth is very pissed off. Claudia gets the cast removed, but still isn't able to walk properly just yet. We learn that Betsy still likes practical jokes but isn't playing them on her babysitters. So all is well once again and Claudia will babysit again soon. Also Kristy still wants a pie in the face because I guess we all have our kinks? Also the prank caller calls again and we learn it's Kristy's brother Sam. Okay then.

This book was fine. Very straightforward plot, even for BSC. It is interesting though that this is two Claudia books in a row where the plot hinges on her leaving the club, both being centered around her future. First her new friend pushing her to pursue a more serious art career and the other being Claudia's fear of injuring her arm or hands bad enough to ruin her dream of said art career. And given her injury could have gone that bad, it's a believable issue to have. The main plot is being about Betsy Sobak and her incessant need to prank people. That it's really all she can think of. And she certainly doesn't seem to be punished for it, even after Claudia's injury. Though I do like that the book doesn't fully blame Betsy for the injury. Claudia's as much at fault for it for launching herself without at least checking the swing set. I mean, she was an easy mark twice before that happened. 

I do wish there was a bit more fun with the prank stuff. We get a bit of it, and the girls definitely take the hits, mainly from Betsy. But it does feel like the finale to settle this feels underwhelming. But I guess that's also the point. That all it really needs to fix it is to have Betsy embarrass herself. To maybe see that this is what she does to others and why it ostracizes her from other kids. So the message of the book is decently handled. I just wish it felt more fun and energetic than it could have been. A more exciting sting than "thumb in popcorn box". But that's also me wanting more than what the books really ever offer. So more my own fault than Ann M. Martin or anyone else. 

Claudia is a solid lead once more. And you definitely feel her plight. Being injured, being embarrassed, feeling worried that she could have hurt herself worse. Feeling that if Betsy's bad, who knows what kid could be worse? So it would make perfect sense as to why she would think of leaving the club again. I even like that they bring up Ashley again to remind the reader that this isn't the first time Claudia has had this conflict. I also like her panicking over missing so much school and fearing being held back. This is definitely her most anxiety-ridden book so far. I also really love her interactions with Mimi and Mimi is such a wonderful side character for Claudia to bounce back off. Which means that it sucks that we're so very, VERY close to the inevitable. I said hold that pin in for a while and we're about seven books away until we're there. I actually feel dread getting there. Who would ever think I'd have dread reading a Baby-Sitters Club book outside of what were my stupid young fear of gender norms? 

So overall, this is the very definition of a middle-of-the-road book. Does a lot of its things well, flows much better than the last book at least. Claudia remains a fun lead, there's enough pranks to satisfy, even if you'd probably have expected a larger prank to finish the story. It isn't a massive worldbuilding book but not every book needs to be. It does feel like we're going in circles with Claudia's character, but thankfully they at least make the conflict feel different enough from last book while still playing on many of the issues surrounding Claudia, so it's all good stuff. Claudia and the Bad Joke gets a B. 

Next up, It's Kristy's turn at bat. Or, to be more specific, walking disaster Jackie Rodowsky's turn at bat. What could possibly go wrong?

Nancy Drew

Doritos

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

A Wrinkle in Time

The Wizard of Oz

Fritos

People
Tiger Beat

Seventeen

Vogue

Wonder Bread

Wheel of Fortune

Gilligan's Island

I Love Lucy

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

The Owl and the Pussycat

Jabberwocky

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Monopoly

Disney World

Mary Poppins

The Parent Trap

The Red Balloon

The Wizard of Oz

The Swiss Family Robinson

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang