Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #02: Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation

In our last BSC blog, we covered Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger. A fun little book that definitely feels like filler with other events in the background. The next book in the main series is Claudia and the Sad Good-bye, but before we get to the inevitable with Claudia's grandmother Mimi, let's go to summer camp instead. Because it's time for another Super Special. If you're unfamiliar with the previous Super Special, Baby-sitters on Board!, these are longer books featuring narration from every member of the BSC and sometimes other characters. They're also vacation themed or at the very least putting the girls in a unique setting. And summer camp certainly feels unique enough for this series. Does it lead to a good book though? I mean, Stine got the camp books right, I have enough faith that Ann M. Martin can as well. It's time for the Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation.

We get some variety with both covers, which I always appreciate. Both covers involve the girls at Camp Mohawk, or in the reprint's case, Camp Moosehead, which the reason for the rename in the reprint being connected to the Netflix series, as well as being less possibly problematic. I swear I'm not dogging on the reprint covers, I think they're fine, but of the two, I prefer the original. The more awkwardness of whatever the hell they're doing. A dance? A big long hug? It all just feels more energetic and fun, selling me on this being a camp book. The reprint is fine, but it's just the girls sitting around, not exactly making me go "big camp adventure". Hell, if the text didn't mention it, good odds the first thought wouldn't be a camp book. But, both are still fine and decent, I just again prefer the original art.

We open with a letter from Stacey, inviting the audience to come to summer camp with her. It also tells us who's in this story. The main BSC, obviously, including Jessi who missed on the first book, and Logan Bruno. No Shannon Kilbourne, who we've seen really nothing of since her first appearance. This book is also structured sort of like a notebook, mainly led by Stacey. This all started when the club sent Stacey mail asking her to join them at Camp Mohawk to be a Counselor in Training. But Stacey, still in New York, would rather two weeks at Bloomingdale's and Central Park than in the woods. But ultimately she relents. I love how this is set through legit snail mail, in case you wondered if this was a book set in 1989 or not. I'm reading the eBook edition via Amazon so this is going by the original text. Even the reprint sticks with the letter writing thing which feels weirdly dated even for BSC. This definitely feels like something that would have been an email or like a bunch of Discord calls now. 

We then flash forward to Stacey now getting ready to go on the bus to Camp Mohawk for the two week stay, which is named after, and I'm going by the book I'm reading just as a head's up, the Mohawk Indian tribe. I don't have the reprint, but going by what I can find, it removes most mentions of Native American stereotypes, notably Stacey talking about how the CITs all have badges of teepees on their uniform (replaced by a Moosehead given the renaming of the camp to Camp Moosehead in the reprints and Netflix series), which I get why they did this, but it seems antithetical since Stacey notes that using teepees is stereotypical in itself. Ah well. It is what it is I guess. I sure hope that's the extent of the racism in this book, *awkward laugh*. Stacey's mom and dad make jokes, with her dad's jokes coming off more like jabs at her mom in particular which again, we're getting close. Stacey soon makes it to Camp Mohawk where the girls are there, as well as Charlotte Johanssen, Stacey's favorite Stoneybrook baby-sitting charge. In fact, conveniently, a good chunk of the kids from Stoneybrook are there. Becca, most of the Pike kids, Karen and David Michael, Buddy Barrett, Matt and Haley Braddock, and Shea and Jackie Rodowsky. None of them will really matter aside from Charlotte, just as a heads up.

Kristy narrates next, mainly again setting us up for the trip to Camp Mohawk from the perspective of everyone who isn't Stacey. Also the idea was based around the movie The Parent Trap and the girls' sudden interest in going to camp. The bus arrives and everyone heads on, with the kids singing songs and Mallory's sister Margo vomiting, as is tradition for a bus trip. Claudia is up next. She writes a postcard to Mimi, and upon catching up with Stacey notes that Mimi's been improving lately in both mind and body. Well that's good. I sure hope nothing devastating happens to her in the next book or anything. Claudia and the others get their bunk assignments from the camp director Mrs. Means, or Old Meanie as she's so lovingly called. Claudia and another CIT, Sally Troner, are bunked with the 9 year olds, to which she learns about how there's dances with boys that the CITs can go to, which immediately piques Claud's interest. 

Next up is Jessi. And she has a concern. She, Becca and a couple other kids are the only black kids at the camp, And given how Stoneybrook hasn't exactly shown the best side to the Ramsey family, that's actually a very fair concern to have. Jessi and Mallory aren't CITs, but rather Junior CITs that can help with crafts and such. Also she's in a cabin where the other girls all have Ma in their first names, so that's weirdly specific. Mallory made armbands for herself and Jessi since they're the only Junior CITs there, which bothers Jessi since she's already feeling ostracized, this doesn't exactly help matters. They also get assigned with helping the eight year olds with a dance routine for Parent's Day. The other girls in the cabin give them a hard time and refer to them as the Bobbsey Twins for how alike they act. Mary Anne is up next. Her co-CIT Randi and two from another cabin, Faye and Julie, mostly give Mary Anne a hard time. Mary Anne mentions Logan, her boyfriend, but they don't believe her, thinking she must be making it up. So the majority of this book is going to be the girls having to show up a bunch of snotty jerks, huh? I'm intrigued at least, so I guess it works?

Dawn is up next. Dawn actually takes the time to give us bios on everyone in her cabin. Counselor Charlene, her co-CIT Amy, Rachel, Donna, Freddie, Shari, Caryn, and Heather, who Dawn notes is on the chubby side. Yo Dawn, STAYINYOURLANE. The campers talk about boyfriends, to which Heather has none, so they laugh at her expense. The girls make their leave to explore the camp, but Heather stays inside since she didn't even want to go to camp and, well, we've already seen how well making friends is going for like half the cast so far. Stacey up next. Her cabin is mostly filled with sick kids, as well as Karen, who isn't sick, but, you know, agent of Chaos. She mainly talks with a girl named Nonie about pranks and being in large families. At lunch, Stacey becomes concerned about her meal given the diabetes and all, and when Mrs. Means mentions the not-impossible-but-still-possible-enough chance of getting Lyme Disease from ticks. 

Next up is Mallory for what is her only chapter in this book. She barely got much in the last Super Special and somehow she got less this time. Mallory and Jessi wake up the next day to learn the other girls in the cabin have given them a cute new nickname. Oreos. Jessi tells Mallory that it's a derogatory term for black people who come off acting more white, but in this context, it's given to both of them on account of them being so close together. The black cookie and the white cream. Shit, maybe these kids should get eaten by a bear. They then meet with the kids dancing for Parents Day and do their rehearsal without any more shockingly racist incidents. Up next is Kristy. She's feeling ostracized as well, but not in a "holy shit is that some out of nowhere super racism" way, but rather that the CITs from the cabins she's a part of, Tansy, Lauren and Izzie, all wear makeup and stuff while Kristy isn't so much into that. Also bras, which makes Kristy come off as even more of a kid by comparison. Also Charlotte hates being at camp and wants to go home, but Kristy calms her down for now. Charlotte also almost shoots an arrow at a kid walking in her path which if she wasn't already in a panic about camp, accidental injury to another kid would be what breaks her. Though if it was the girl who called Jessi and Mallory Oreos, I'd root for the arrow.

Claudia is up next. After getting some junk food, Claudia returns to the cabin a mess from her time in the woods. But that becomes moot when some male CITs show up and invite her to a dance at the boy's side of the camp, which is on the other side of the lake. Claudia is immediately smitten and decides she has to meet one of the boys in particular before the dance. Mary Anne writes a letter to Logan. Not so much to send it to him, but to try to prove to the other CITs that she really is in a relationship with him. The girls find the note and while they don't deny Logan's existence, they tell her that she should find a yellow flower and give it to Logan. But it would involve sneaking out at night, going to the boy's side, oh and dealing with Ronald Feenie and Harv "The Knife" Johnson, two asylum escapees that may or may not exist. Well, escapees or no, Mary Anne has really no choice but to get the job done. She gets about halfway before being caught, which is bad, but she made it further than most girls, and the letter was sent to Logan, so mission accomplished?

Speaking of, it's Logan's turn at narration. First time ever actually. The other male CITs managed to get a hold of Mary Anne's letter to Logan and read it out loud to embarrass him. He manages to counteract that by starting a food fight, which gets him in trouble and thereby earns their respect. Next up is Dawn. The eleven year old campers get to go on an overnight in the woods. They're all excited, except for Heather who still prefers to be alone, which bothers Dawn. But that's moot compared to Charlene having to return home because her mother's sick, making Dawn the head CIT of the cabin. Stacey's next chapter sees her full of a rash, which she fears is chicken pox or Lyme Disease, but it's just a really bad case of poison ivy. Back to Kristy, who is still concerned about Charlotte not having a good time. But she still has to deal with the girls wanting to make her over for the dance, which isn't exactly what Kristy wants to do given it's not exactly in her character to like this sort of stuff to the point she'd rather jump in poison ivy to get out of it. 

Claudia learns that the boy she's smitten with is named Will Yamakawa and that she can meet him during camp movie night. They talk and get along. Claudia asks about Will's family to which he notes that his grandmother passed away not too long ago. Well, if I can't fault these books on one thing it's that they are making sure that what's going to happen soon isn't super sudden. Also the movie is Meatballs, to which even Claudia notes it seems odd to play a camp movie at camp. Meatballs gets referenced a lot to the point that I think Ann M. Martin REALLY likes this movie. Meatballs is to Ann M. Martin as Battle Chess is to R.L. Stine I guess. Dawn and the others go on their overnight, but get lost. Fortunately Heather is really good at directions and eventually manages to get them back to camp the next day. This earns her an award for bravery and also finally gets her to come out of her shell, so mission accomplished. Even in an ensemble book, Dawn is inconsequential to her own plot. Mary Anne almost gets her ears pierced, but the girls are bad at it and lack the tools, so thankfully no actual damage.

Back to Logan. It's the day of the dance, which is Valentine's Day themed for some reason. I've heard of Christmas in July, but Valentine's in July doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Mary Anne and the others show up, she apologizes for the sappy note, and the two dance with everything going well. Back to Claudia who dances with Will, and notes that Kristy looks amazing. Will notes that he thinks his grandparents are watching over him, though notes he isn't one who believes in heaven or hell, but does have a spiritual sense of things. The dance ends, and the two say goodbye with a kiss. Kristy's up next. She doesn't want to go to the dance, but ends up going anyway, but it goes without incident, so I guess that's good enough. Stacey's still in the infirmary now with poison ivy rash, pink eye, a cold and impetigo. So, not going well. Stacey and an injured girl named Miko return to their cabin, where the other campers there hold a party for them, a Christmas in summer, which I guess is a camp tradition. 

Back to Jessi, who have been working on the dance performance, notably having it so that Becca and Charlotte lead the story about being twins who are being ostracized as outsiders by the other girls, save for one who becomes their friend. It's intentionally done with a black and white girl to maybe send a message to the girls in their cabin. And it works, with the girls apologizing for being racist shits. The parents all arrive and pick up the girls to take them home, with it even being noted that Claudia's parents show up, but not Mimi since she's not feeling well-ALRIGHT I GET IT! The book ends with Stacey collecting all of the letters she received from the campers and puts them in her camp diary and notes that everyone's doing good and that Camp Mohawk, overall, was a great experience, even if Stacey spent most of it with every camp illness possible. I guess that's enough of a mega happy ending?

I liked this one, but I still think it has some problems that I fear might be the problems I'll have with every Super Special going forward. And that's a balance issue. Some plots being more important than others, while other stories get lost in the shuffle until the end. As is evident in the fact that Jessi gets two chapters and Mallory gets one, and they disappear after we start to build anything involving the racist cabin-mates. Which I guess is for the best because the Oreo comment is bad enough. But it also sort of confirmed my biggest concern over Jessi, that a lot of her plot points seem to be focused around racism. I get why, and it's important, especially in talking to your audience, to point out how horrible racism is. I just really hope that this isn't a character crutch with her in these stories. Also the resolution, nah, that doesn't work for me. The campers seeing the error of their ways is fine, but it all seems a bit too resolved. A bit too "We need a happy bow on this", when again, they uttered horrible racist slang that feels like it gets waved away in a "well, it wasn't the N word so that's good enough for redemption" feel. Nah. Throw them to the hungry bears.

The other side plots are all decent. Mary Anne and Logan's is fun, but again rushed due to the book focusing on so many characters and side plots. Same with Claudia, who we get another mystery boy she's interested in. I'm already guessing this is a thing for a lot of these Super Specials, huh? Kristy's is good, though not much in terms of conflict when it comes to her being made over and everything. I do like that they connect her with Charlotte and Charlotte wanting to leave Camp, but managing to stick through it. It's a cute little sideplot. Dawn's is funny since she really isn't consequential to the plot itself. Heather manages to handle the situation fine on her own and Dawn really doesn't factor into that outside of being lost during the overnight. I swear I'm not trying to constantly knock Dawn, she's a decent character, but sometimes she feels written very oddly. But the one I really enjoyed is Stacey and the irony of this big book of camp adventure and she spends most of it sick in the infirmary, suffering from everything that isn't diabetes for once. 

Overall, there really isn't much to say with this one. It's long, but it does flow well enough to never feel like a slog to read through. Stuff happens and the camp setting is used quite well, meaning that yes, this is a good camp book, so Ann M. Martin has that going for her. And it doesn't turn into a long-form ad for a theme park in the second half, which already scores it more points than the first Super Special. I just wish a lot of the plots were better paced and their resolutions more interesting. I get that I'm trying to look at this series as needing more thrills and excitement when they're more simple slice of life stories, but I dunno. They could at least be more exciting for the specials. But, issues aside, this is still a solid book and an easy recommend. Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation gets an A-. 

Well that was fun. Anyway next book's about a dead grandmother, so get ready for tonal whiplash. 

Bloomingdale's
Central Park
34th Street
Park Avenue
The Catcher in the Rye
VCRs
The Parent Trap
Meatballs
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Garfield
The Bobbsey Twins
Anne of Green Gables
Misty of Chincoteague
A Morgan for Melinda
M&Ms
Snickers
Almond Joy
Ring-Dings
Doritos
Twinkies
Cheez Doodles
The Diary of Anne Frank
Doris Day
The Grey King
Monopoly
Winnie the Pooh
Eeyore
Monster Mash
Impossible Charlie