i was really distracted when i started reading this because about three-quarters of the first chapter is written in present tense, & the rest is mostly in past tense (with occasional forays into present). what the eff, ann m. martin/scholastic editors? it's that kind of crap that gives kids such a tenuous grasp on the writerly craft. anyway...mallory has been invited to join the babysitters club, in order to replace stacey. she is psyched because all the babysitters are thirteen & in eighth grade, while mallory is just eleven & in sixth grade. she is really excited to hang out with older girls & be part of their older girl social circle--so much so that there's a whole passage where she goes wandering around the eighth grade wing of stoneybrook middle school before home room one day & is almost late to class. she thinks that if she sees any of the babysitters, she'll say hi & be all nonchalant & awesome. oh, mallory. i should mention that she is wearing a jumper with her name on it & heart-patterned tights while she is doing this. not cool.she is also hung up on the idea of having a best friend, & her prayers are answered when there is a new girl in her home room. mallory observes that the new girl is black, & that there are no other black kids in the entire sixth grade. at lunch, some of the kids that mallory is sitting with say some pretty racist shit about the new girl. mallory kind of speaks up, but i could have done with a little more indignation on mallory's part. mallory also observes other kids doing mean things like shooting rubber bands at the new girl.she rushes off to her first BSC meeting & is informed that she'll have to take a test & go on a supervised sitting job in order to join the club. she is non-plussed by this. the test they give her is ludicrous & mallory doesn't do well on it. she claims later that a "doctor couldn't have passed it," which always cracked me up. her supervised sitting job, for myriah & gabbie perkins, with claudia, is a disaster. mallory asks the girls what they want to snack on instead of just giving them a healthy snack, she drops a glass & breaks it, she spills milk everywhere, she lets the dog in when she wasn't supposed to, etc. claudia is not impressed, though i think the fact that she misspelled myriah's name in the notebook entry she wrote kind of undermines her credibility.the BSC tells mallory that she failed the test & sucked at the babysitting job & can't be in the club. mallory is all, "screw you, haters!" & runs away. while moping about it at recess (recess? in middle school? what?), she finds jessi, the new girl, moping about being the new girl & not fitting in with all the white junior klan members in stoneybrook. they start talking about horse stories & their families & become buddies. when mallory visits jessi at home, she sees first-hand that some of the neighbors are not psyched about having a black family in the neighborhood. mallory tells jessi about the babysitters club & they decide to start their own babysitting club. it's not the best but they get jobs with their own families. the actual babysitters club is PISSED. & too busy to handle all the jobs they are getting. they realize that the test they gave mallory wasn't really fair, & that mallory didn't make any mistakes on the sitting job claudia observed that really endangered the kids at all. they call & invite mallory to join after all. mallory stands strong & says that she won't join unless jessi can join as well. it's like they're wobblies or something. the BSC says okay. at their first meetings, jessi asks if her race will be an issue, & the babysitters are all dumbfounded because they've never heard of racism before, i guess. they declare that they won't sit for anyone who wouldn't let jessi sit. jessi & mallory join the club.this wasn't as awesome as i remembered, but i do enjoy the earlier books because they sometimes make the girls seem like actual middle school students who do really dumb things. no way would the babysitting test they gave mallory have played out the way it did in the hands of the ghostwriters.
Mallory's eleven, and she'd love to join the Baby-Sitters Club, but everyone thinks she's just too young to assume responsibility for someone else's kids. Well, maybe if she was an ordinary kid, but she's a Pike--the eldest of eight children! She's got practice! Taking this into consideration--and keeping in mind they desperately need someone to replace Stacey, who's moved away--the BSC agrees to evaluate Mallory, but they hold her to ridiculous standards, so she finds herself failing various tests and having no one to support her except her new friend Jessi. Are the babysitters about to miss out on a great addition to their team because of their prejudice against the young, or will they see the light?In general, the conflict is a good one at its heart: yes, Mallory's young, but she's also got tons of experience. What should they do? Well, in this book, the answer was to push the babysitters into imposing ridiculous tests on Mallory. It seems like whenever the club members take sides against each other, whoever's not in the POV perspective appears to have lost their tiny little minds. The way they applied these tests and the rubrics they used were so ridiculous, and it didn't make a lot of SENSE because they WANTED to get a new babysitter for the club (and had a great relationship with Mallory as a babysitting charge before all this). It felt very staged, and all the bad feeling was erased very quickly at the end (as is typical). Also, Mallory brought Jessi into the game and there was a secondary issue: since Jessi is the only black babysitter, some of their clients might be racist and not want her to sit for them if they accept her as a sitter. I found it peculiar that OF COURSE GEE NO ONE'S RACIST IT'S JUST EVERYONE ELSE, and the white-knighting (pun intended) was kind of obnoxious. Hey, are they racist against Asians in Stoneybrook? Because last I checked, Claudia Kishi is Japanese, but nobody ever worried about whether a sitting charge might hate her for that.
Do You like book Hello, Mallory (1996)?
Mostly I remember Mallory drawing a picture of an esophagus.The BSC is considering Mallory for the club, but they want her to jump through a lot of hoops, including written and oral testing and probationary jobs where other baby-sitters tag along silently judging her. Mallory becomes frustrated: the questions and the grading are unfairly difficult, and they know she’s a good sitter. Mallory’s new friend Jessi (who moved into Stacey’s old house) also feels like an outcast due to some anviliciously blatant racism. Mallory and Jessi decide to start their own baby-sitting club, though they don’t get many jobs.Meanwhile, the Staceyless BSC can’t handle all their jobs and see the error of their ways. Mallory, armed with the upper hand at last, deigns to join the club, but only if Jessi can join, too.Mallory’s voice is good; she does seem younger than the other members, but in a precocious way. It’s interesting to see the girls that we normally identify with playing the part of villains.What's so great about the classic "draw a diagram of the digestive system" scene is how it encapsulates that feeling of being on a job interview that's bombing because they're asking questions that have nothing to do with the job, and you know arguing will only make it worse. Timing: No specific temporal markers, but there’s school, and the weather is nice. I’m putting this in early October, shortly after Stacey’s departure.
—Laura Hughes
except for the quasi-semi-gayness, it was pretty boring."'Well,' said Kristy. 'I guess we better get started. The test is going to be in two parts-- oral and drawing.''Oral and drawing?' I repeated.'Yes,' said Claudia haughtily. 'Oral means spoken.'I bet you anything in the world Claudia herself hadn't known the meaning of that word before today.""'The girls in the club are older than we are, so maybe we won't end up close friends, but we can get along. We can work together. Besides, you and I have each other.''Always,' said Jessi firmly.'Always,' I repeated. I looked at Jessi and knew that we were friends.""'You mean boys are still weird in eight grade?''Definitely,' said Kristy.'Sort of,' said Dawn.'It depends,' said Claudia.'Not really,' said Mary Anne."
—cubbie
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
—April
