Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #26: Claudia and the Sad Good-bye

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.

Both covers are good. Neither really variate from the other. Heck, Claudia is wearing a similar outfit with suspenders in both. But both do the important job in selling the relationship between Claudia and Mimi and pretty much preparing the reader with this being the book where Mimi dies and how devastating this will be to Claudia. Again, neither really land on being too varied to pick, but I'll go with the original as I just like the art a bit more on it. The reprint is, again fine, but doesn't land as much to me. Both are still good regardless. 

The book opens with Claudia and Mimi sharing her "special tea" and talking about how Claudia has improved on her history homework. This allows Claudia to talk about her grandmother to the reader, giving us more backstory, and you know I love me some backstory. Mimi immigrated to America when she was thirty-two. She is the mother to Claudia's mother Rioko. Mimi's husband passed away and she soon moved in with her daughter and son-in-law around the time of Janine's birth. Claudia's father, John Kishi, is a partner in an investment firm while Rioko works as head librarian at the public library. Mimi stayed home and watched the house while also taking care of Janine and later Claudia. After that lore dump, Claudia goes up to work on her art which takes us to the preamble. The club meeting is next, which is more preamble, but more importantly Mallory notes that Mimi was yelling at her out of the blue about taking her shopping and then gave her a small China bird to keep, which bothers Claudia. Not just because it's another example of Mimi's decline, but also jealous Mimi seemed to prioritize Mallory.

At the meeting, they get a call from the Addison family who want Claudia to watch their kids Sean and Corrie. Not so much baby-sit, but teach them art. So Claudia comes up with a better idea. She could hold art classes in her basement, and other kids in the neighborhood could join and learn as well. After the meeting, the Kishi family have dinner when suddenly Mimi notes she isn't feeling well and collapses on the floor. Paramedics arrive and note that she has low blood pressure. She's brought to the hospital and given a shot, then sent home. They don't have an exact answer as to what's wrong, only that it has to do with her blood. Claudia decides that she'll be the one to help Mimi, to at least give the rest of the family some time to relax. Some time passes and Mimi starts to recover a bit, and while Claudia did sign up for this, she does start to get fed up with it and sort of rudely snaps at her grandmother, which she instantly regrets. 

Claudia and Mary Anne hold their first art class, and it goes well enough, though most of the kids end up making a mess, save for Corrie Addison, who Claudia in particular gets along with. The next art class doesn't go so well as Mimi heads down to the basement and faints again. The paramedics arrive and take Mimi to the hospital all while a bunch of kids are there and are likely very well traumatized. At the hospital, Mimi is mostly a mess. Sometimes spasming in pain, sometimes lucid, but misunderstanding most things. Claudia even notes that Mimi isn't calling her "My Claudia" anymore. She gets a call from Corrie wondering how Mimi is and Claudia feels like things are better. She calls Mimi, who mentions something about not bothering the muses. She tells Mimi she'll see her tomorrow, to which Mimi tells her good-bye. Ohhhh shit. Here it is. Early that morning, Claudia is awakened to hear her parents crying and talking about arrangements. Claudia asks what's up, to which they break the news to her and Janine that Mimi passed away.

Claudia calls the girls to tell them about Mimi's death, including Stacey. They hold a club meeting, which is more the girls being there for Claudia. Other people show up to give their condolences to the family, all while Claudia is still confused and frustrated. She takes a portrait of Mimi from her room and leaves it in the attic. She also remembers snapping at Mimi and selfishly wanting to continue with her art classes instead of being around her. So Claudia considers herself a horrible person. The girls have a pizza party at Mary Anne's where they tell stories of Mimi, namely when she had her first piece of pizza while dressed in a kimono because she initially thought they were going out for authentic Japanese food. We also learn about Russ and Peaches Benedict, Claudia's uncle and aunt. And yes, this is something to put a pin on the board, even though it will take a while to get there. Peaches is Mimi's daughter, though her real name is Miyoshi, the nickname of Peaches came from Russ. They're also a bit wild and seem to get constantly injured in accidents. So they're Jackie Rodowsky-coded. 

The funeral arrives and Stacey and her mother show up. Not her father, who chose not to attend. Again, we're getting very close to what the end result of this is going to be. People who knew Mimi attended. Watson didn't, on account of not knowing Mimi too well and wanting to help watch the younger kids while everyone was at the funeral. When she returns to school, everyone seems to be avoiding Claudia for some reason, which the girls note could be that they don't know what to say, or are worried about being in a similar situation. At the next club meeting we get an update on Kristy's family since Emily arrived and all's going well. Even their grandmother Nannie is living there to help out, so I guess it's a good thing Watson's got a big frigging mansion then. They also talk about Mary Anne and Dawn's parents still being in this weird dating phase, and Mrs. Schafer is still seeing Trip as well, which again seems awkward. They still wonder if this will lead to them ever getting married, which, I mean, there's a reason I said to put a pin on this. They start to talk about Mimi, but Claudia snaps, saying she doesn't want to talk about Mimi. Kristy notes that Claudia is starting to really focus in on Corrie as if she's trying to fill a void for Claudia that was lost with Mimi, and she might one day get past that, and if she does, she better not just drop Corrie out of the blue, Kristy even noting that her father walked out on her family, which is going to be a long ways from now, but put that pin on it.

Some more time passes and the kids at school talk with Claudia more, though still trying to avoid talking about Mimi. At the next art class, the kids finish the big project of the book which were papier mache puppets. Notably Corrie made one called Nancy Drew (because she likes Nancy Drew) and wants to give it to her mother. However, when her mother runs late, it gives Corrie anxiety. Enough anxiety to give the puppet to Claudia instead, to which Claudia realizes something might not be quite right at the Addison household. That night, Claudia sees Janine sorting through Mimi's old jewelry to see who should take what. And, of course, Claudia snaps at her, going so far to say that she hates Mimi. And that's enough for their parents to call an emergency meeting. Claudia says that she didn't hate Mimi, but felt that Mimi had died because she felt she was becoming a nuisance and wanted to go. Janine and her mother note that Mimi knew her time was coming, even going so far as to write her own obituary, which thankfully she did it and not Larry David. Her parents note that Claudia seems to be focusing too hard on the end of Mimi's life and not the good moments she had. They also decide to not get rid of most of Mimi's stuff and keep certain items, while soon turning Mimi's room into a guest bedroom.

Another art class goes by with Mrs. Addison showing up early. Claudia reveals to her that Corrie seems to be angry at her mother for not spending as much time with her, which sets her straight and fixes that issue. Claudia also decides to make an art project in tribute to Mimi. She shows the club and her family and they ultimately decide to put it in what was Mimi's room. The art class also make a tribute collage for Mimi, and Corrie's mother arrives on time, not late or too early, which means that issue is finally resolved. Claudia ends the book by getting the portrait of Mimi out of the attic and putting it in her room, her now finally being at peace.

This is a great book. It's a rough book, but yeah, a book about a family member passing away was always going to be hard. And Mimi's death does feel like it has a lot of weight on the reader, even if you aren't one who followed from the beginning of the series. The book does a good job in making sure that even if you aren't as acquainted with Mimi outside of maybe this book, that she was important to the series and losing her would be a major issue. It deals with a lot of the levels of grief. Trauma, frustration, anger, denial and guilt. And the book puts that guilt squarely on Claudia's shoulders. Much like how in Claudia and Mean Janine Claudia blamed herself for Mimi's stroke, Claudia blames her actions for possibly leading to Mimi's death. But for as much as that bothers her, she also blames the doctors and Mimi herself for the death, feeling that Mimi felt she was becoming a burden. Which is super harsh, but given Claudia's mental state, it's not fully unfounded either. 

I like that the book puts Claudia in this fog. Her being unable to fully grasp everything. How she at one point can reminisce about the good old days with Mimi and in other times flip out if anyone so much as mentions Mimi in passing. It feels human and real to have these emotions and the book does a great job in displaying them. Granted, given the book feels a bit rushed, it doesn't fully get a chance to break down all of Claudia's issues, but gets to the root cause of most of it. It also features a B plot that I didn't go that deep into, but probably should have. That being Corrie Addison. It serves as really the only notable baby-sitting stuff in the book which feels weird when you think about it. None of the chapters focusing on watching other kids in normal baby-sitting scenarios. And I feel that's by design given the book's focus on Claudia. So having it in the form of an art class is genuinely clever. I think the book does a good job in building the issue with Corrie's frustrations over her mother not being that attentive and either being too late or too early. And how she's taken that frustration and channeled it into her appreciation of Claudia. The only issue I have is that it's a bit too squeaky clean in its resolution, but this is the Baby-sitters Club and we need us some mega happy endings, especially in this book, so I can overlook it.

So overall, this is a strong book. One I think the series needed after a lot of books that were ultimately filler books that maybe added a nugget of new continuity or setup for future events. And I think it being a gut punch book really helped. I know Ann M. Martin based a lot of this on her own emotions after the passing of her grandmother, so she used this book as an outlet for her own grief, which explains much of Claudia's actions throughout. As a book to sort of help with understanding grief, I think it does a great job in doing so. It's an emotional book, a strong character book for Claudia, and is a must-read for the series. Which yeah, when I say that out loud, the book where Grandma dies is a must-read does sound a bit dark when you put it like that. But yeah, easy recommend. So a toast to Mimi Yamamoto. You were a fun character and a great part of the side-cast. It sucks to not have her in the series, but it was a fun ride while it lasted. Claudia and the Sad Good-bye is the first BSC book to receive an A+. 

Well that book was depressing. Jessi's up next and she has to deal with a child star and a bad case of the acting bug. After this book, being soaked in lighter filler fluff is badly needed.

Nancy Drew
Oreo
Double Stuf Oreos
Cabbage Patch Kids
Wheel of Fortune
Howard Johnson
Kleenex
Cheetos
Swan Lake
A Christmas Carol
Scrooge