this super special has a place in my heart, probably because there's really not much plot to it. a snowstorm is predicted for stonybrook, but the weathercasters have been predicting snow for weeks & not a flake has descended on our fair town, where parents permit 13-year-olds to raise their children. so no one believes the storm predictions. this is preposterous enough. stonybrook is supposedly in connecticut. i live in boston, just a little bit north. when huge snowstorms are predicted here, people go out & stock up on canned food, batteries, & other supplies, just in case. it's also not as if weather casters are waving bird entrails over crystal balls & just guessing at what weather conditions might develop. there is a science to meteorology, & mistakes happen, but i find it dubious that the weather people are predicting all this snow & everyone in stonybrook is like, "pfft. whatever." everyone makes plans that ignore the forecast. the perkins parents are driving out to the country to have dinner with friends, & they hire claudia to watch their perfect children. the pike parents are going to new york for a full day of tourist-y bullshit, which boggles the mind a little. why? why not do it on a weekend? why not bring the kids? why do it at all? but whatever. they follow through on their plan & allow mallory & mary anne to watch the rest of the clan. jessi of course has a super-important ballet rehearsal in which she has a ludicrously large role for her age, & she is at her dance school, awaiting the arrival of her boyfriend from NYC (because eleven-year-olds have boyfriends). kristy invites her "boyfriend," bart, over to watch videos & have dinner. stacey & her mom go to the mall so stacey can get a new perm. dawn accompanies her mother to the airport, where they are picking up jeff, dawn's brother, who is coming to stay for the holidays. & then the snowstorm hits. bart is trapped at kristy's house & kristy is so embarrassed that she curls her hair & wears make-up. claudia is trapped at the perkins' house, watching the girls, who are perfect, even though the dog gets shut in the basement. stacey & her mom get trapped in their car on some back country road, but are rescued by a nice stranger who takes them home to meet his wife & their baby (of course). dawn & her mom are trapped at the airport & jeff's flight is re-routed to DC (dawn also makes the acquaintance of a baby--seriously, all these parents are lucky that their children meet the babysitters club & not, like, child snatchers). mary anne & mallory are snowed in at the pikes' & the pike parents can't get home & they are running low on ood, so they eat everything in the fridge. what? & jessi is trapped at her dance school with all the other kids, including little children, of course, which jessi calms with her magical eleven-year-old babysitting ways. & her boyfriend somehow walks to the school from the train station in the blizzard & arrives safely & without frostibite that could sideline his professional ballet career forever. & everyone is safe & sound the next day. mary anne & the pikes are saved from starving to death when mary anne's boyfriend, logan, cross-country skis over with a backpack full of food. kristy convinces all the babysitters to write up their FASCINATING blizzard experiences & sends them to the newspaper. WHAT? seriously, this is why i like this book. nothing happens except for a lot of snow, & the babysitters are still convinced that the whole town of stonybrook is thirsting for news of their hijinks...& they are probably not wrong, because this whole town seems designed to cater to these girls' every whim. logan needs a steady after-school job? no problem! the rosebud cafe will hire a 13-year-old as a bus boy! the babysitters needs someplace to stage countless festivals & outdoor circuses & such forth? i have the solution! the schafers' barn, which was widely considered a death trap in book #9, is now safe for children of all ages! whatever. it's okay. i still love the BSC.
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!
What do You think about Snowbound (1996)?
This was always my absolute favorite BSC book growing up. I'm not sure why, since there is really no plot besides a snowstorm, but I reread it every single Christmas (and probably several times throughout the year, too). I was fascinated by the idea of a blizzard like this, maybe because I've always lived in Texas and never experienced snow at all until I was an adult and went to Colorado on vacation. Whatever the case may be, this book has always held a special place in my heart. It took me ages to track down a copy, but I'm so glad I finally own it now. Upon rereading this, I couldn't help but laugh when Mary Anne called Logan to complain about being hungry because she'd only had "one measly packet of instant oatmeal" for breakfast. ... How many packets does she USUALLY consume in one sitting? I never noticed anything was amiss about the "Mary Anne and the Pikes have no food" storyline as a kid, but I actually took note at how much food was consumed at dinner, before bed, and at breakfast and it's pretty ridiculous how "hungry" these kids could be after that. The whole thing just made me laugh. The 5 stars are, of course, for nostalgia's sake.
—Alex
This was the first Super Special I read when I was younger, so it has a special place in my heart. I think that as a child I was fascinated by that amount of snow (living in Queensland, Australia probably didn't help, considering this usually means Christmas is stinking hot), plus reading now as an adult unfortunately coincided with the recent spate of wild weather we are having here - wild, howling winds and heaps of rain! So it felt a little creepy reading it.It's kinda funny reading it because when they get snowed in and the babysitters have to stay overnight with their charges my adult brain goes - "Jeez I hope these kids get paid extra for having had to spend the night!" Which is shocking! I shouldn't think such things especially if lives are in danger. (Yes, I am aware this is a work of fiction.)Mary-anne is really out of her shell here which is great to see. There are lots of funny moments in this one mainly cause these little kids are saying the funniest things. The Perkins kids would have to be my favourite. Now I will got back and start at #1 like I should have!!
—Claire
