"Campfires, ghost stories -- summer vacations are the best!"
They ought to know -- this is their 28th one.
Super Special #8: Baby-Sitters at Shadow Lake is one of those books I know I read around the time it came out, but it wasn't one I went back to more than once or twice. Before rereading it for this review, the only things I remembered about it were:
1) That there were several chapters dealing with Karen's friends and David Michael's friends. They had a playhouse that they fought over, and
2) That there was a dance at some point.
Everything else was a blur, and after finishing the book, I'm hardly surprised. Those are two of the main things that happen. See also: there might be a lake monster, there might be a ghost, and, ugh... BOY DRAMA.
Reading this so soon after Super Special #3: Baby-Sitters' Winter Vacation was interesting because this book has quite a few similarities TO SS#3, starting with the fact that the girls are staying in a cabin with dormitory-like bedrooms.
Another similarity: Babysitting on vacation. At the end of my review for SS#3, I wrote: "Props for being the last Super Special (as far as I know) where everyone babysits."
I spoke too soon. Every last person in the core seven babysits in Baby-Sitters At Shadow Lake.
So this one starts out with Watson (Kristy's stepdad) getting a letter from a relative we've never heard of. They own a cabin on Shadow Lake and are nearing their impending doom. They want to know if Watson would like them to leave him the cabin in their will. After all, Watson spent many summers of his boyhood at the lake. The elders concede that this cabin might be a burden to Watson, what with future repairs and decisions that might need to be made. (Taxes are not mentioned, but so they never are.)
The second Kristy hears about this cabin, she launches an overzealous campaign to convince Watson to take it. Thinks Kristy: I was positive Shadow Lake was a wonderful place. So I decided to keep a diary of our trip. After the trip, I would give the diary to Watson to remind him of our fabulous vacation. And of how much we loved the cabin.
Uh-huh. I gueeeess Should Rich Person Take On Another Rich Person Thing, For The Benefit Of 13-Year-Old? is... a plot.
So Watson's like, okay, let's go there for two weeks and check the place out! Great idea! Now Kristy's family and friends are all going to the lake for two weeks during the summer.
There's the main family: Mom, Watson, Nannie, Charlie (17), Sam (15), Kristy (13), David Michael (7.5), Karen (7), Andrew (4), and Emily (2.5).
Karen has invited her two best friends, Hannie and Nancy.
David Michael has invited his two best friends, Linny and Nicky. But unlike Karen, Hannie, and Nancy, the three of them are not friends. Tensions will therefore ensue.
Kristy, of course, invites everyone in the BSC. How did I get away with [inviting six friends]? Well, my friends and I offered to baby-sit free of charge for the little kids, all eight of them, during the vacation. And Mom and Watson took us up on the offer. They know my friends and I are good sitters. After all, we run a business called the Baby-Sitters Club.
If that last paragraph sounds like it was written for a very young, clueless person who has accidentally picked up this book without having read any of the others BSC books, well... that's basically the tone this book seems to be going for, and there's plenty more where that came from.
Kristy tells us that Charlie and Sam weren't interested in asking friends [to go along]. They just wanted to "scope out the chicks at the lake" -- in Charlie's words. And concentrate on water sports.
Probably for the best, since the only friend I recall either Sam or Charlie ever having was this guy...
The BSCers (who are still in Stoneybrook at this point) are having a club meeting, and Kristy explains to the reader who everybody is. We get a pretty rad Claudia Outfit: A pink tank top over a white tank top and a pair of neon pink-and-black bicycle shorts. Also, she was wearing three pairs of flop socks, arranged so that her ankles looked like multicolored ice cream cones. Her sneakers were Day-Glo yellow. Stacey's ensemble is pretty cool too: Black leggings, a long black T-shirt with brilliant starfish swooping across the front, black flop socks, and high tops. Oh, the early 90s... bless you.
We are reminded that Mary Anne is quiet and shy, Stacey has diabetes, and Mallory is white and Jessi is black. Then Kristy goes full cringe by telling us skin color doesn't matter to my friends and me. If someone was purple and a friendly and good sitter, we would probably like her, and maybe ask her to take on baby-sitting jobs sometimes. Oh, Kristy. Please, no.
We also have Kristy using the term FYI, and also telling us what FYI means, only to never have it appear in the book again. Ugh. Kristy, please pass this book to the next baby-sitter and go take a nap.
Oh, but first: Dawn wants to find a mystery up at Shadow Lake.
The day of departure arrives. Everyone meets at Kristy's house, and they work at trying to stuff twenty people, everyone's luggage, and a cat and a dog into three vehicles. Meanwhile, Kristy's brother Sam is annoying Stacey. We hear him tell her she looks "ravishing this morning, dahling, simply ravishing." Stacey clearly doesn't appreciate the remark, and tells her friends that Sam has been "bugging me ever since I got here."
And THIS is when I suddenly remembered that Stacey and Sam are "together" by the next Super Special (#9: Starring the Baby-Sitters Club) which means... oh no. They're going to get together in this book, aren't they?
So everyone arrives at Shadow Lake and checks out the cabin, and it's actually quite nice. They all explore the one-story house, have a brief argument over who gets which dormitory-style room (there are two, and they are identical, but of course there has to be some boys vs. girls squabbling.)
Then Jessi goes outside and spots a cute guy swimming in the lake.
Jessi has immediate guilt about looking at this guy, because of Quint, the boy she met in SS#6 and who visited in SS#7 and who kissed her that one time.
The next morning at breakfast, Sam continues to try to get Stacey's attention. I know this book uses the word "pestering," but what Sam is doing is straight-up harassment. Stacey tells us: At breakfast, Sam sat next to me and kept tweaking the ends of my permed hair. Tweak, tweak, tweak.
Oh. My. Lord.
Screw you, Sam. Can we please bring back Pierre?
Stacey is two seconds away from yelling at Sam, but she's sidetracked by Kristy, who has baby-sitting assignments. Apparently Kristy had been working out some system in which all the younger kids would be cared for at the lake, yet us BSC members would still have several days off apiece.
And for what it's worth, the rest of the vacation usually has one baby-sitter watching Karen, Hannie, and Nancy, one watching David Michael, Nicky, and Linny, and another watching Andrew and Emily. And no one is getting paid, remember. It's free labor just so, like, every third day, a BSCer can enjoy the lake in relative peace.
Stacey doesn't have kids to watch that day, though, so she changes into her bathing suit and goes to sit by the lake. Sam follows her, does a wolf whistle, says "hey, good-lookin'," prompts Stacey to LEAVE, and doesn't seem to think anything of it, except probably, "Aw shucks, why won't she marry me?"
Meanwhile, Mary Anne has been watching Karen & friends, and when she's distracted, they go missing.
They're quickly found -- they've been playing in the woods, where we eventually learn they've found some kind of building or shed or something, which they decide to clean up and turn into a playhouse where no boys are allowed.
Dawn is thrilled to learn that there IS some kind of mystery at the lake. She's heard whispers about it here and there, and is dying to learn more. Also... there might be a lake monster?
In a touching moment of self-discovery, Dawn learns she was the real lake monster all along.
Mallory, meanwhile, has a bug problem.
The mosquitoes and flies and everything insect-y are attacking her, and she can get no relief. The bugs don't seem to be affecting anyone but Mallory. Is this supposed to be some foreshadowing for Mallory's mono diagnosis later on? Get Well Soon, Mallory is still a year off, publication-wise, but in BSC time, that's like a week and a half... so maybe they were hinting at it?
Because the other explanation is just that they wanted an excuse to be like, "Mallory is too sensitive and we should make fun of her for it." And they do. Oh, but they do.
Speaking of giving grief, there's a weird exchange at the lake where Stacey gets side-eye for saying "yo," a perfectly common phrase in 1992, though maybe not in Connecticut?
"Yo!" shouted Stacey. "Look out there! In the middle of the lake."
"Yo?" repeated Mal.
"She's from New York," [Mary Anne] heard Kristy say to Mal, who nodded knowingly.
Stacey sees something out in the lake and Dawn thinks it's the lake monster she's heard people talking about. Is it? Isn't it? Who can say? WHO CARES?
There may or may not be a lake monster, but there IS an island in the middle of the lake. Kristy finds a tiny motorboat and gets all excited about learning to drive it. She also suggests taking the boat out to the island for a picnic. Does this ignite Dawn's or Claudia's possible PTSD from the harrowing events in SS#4? Why, not at all! It's as if that never happened!
In Kristy's next chapter, she spends half a page talking about bikinis, who should wear them (no one over 30), and what goes in them.
Speaking of Kristy, remember the diary she's keeping? The one she's going to show to Watson, to prove to him how awesome Shadow Lake is? She's asked everyone else to contribute, too. And she's just a wee bit annoying about it....
The girls eat dinner at the lodge restaurant one night, by themselves, so they can feel independent. Only Stacey knows how to handle waiters.
Kristy wants to put up a babysitter notice on the lodge's bulletin board, but the other girls talk her out of it. THANK YOU.
Claudia learns there's going to be a boat show that weekend, and wants to dress up the boat that Kristy found. What's a boat show? It's where people decorate their boats like floats in a parade and then they sail around the lake and everyone comes to see and some judges vote on the best float and stuff.
You guys. How can I explain to you that this might not be the best idea?
Oh, I know...
Mallory continues to suffer from The Bugs, but she's created a bug-resistant ensemble which includes a safari hat and netting. The other girls make fun of her for it. Even Stacey, who, considering the medical woes she's been through -- and especially those she went through in SS#2, you would think MIGHT be sympathetic to her. Nope! Mallory is just a big loser, everyone!
David Michael gets a chapter, and we learn that he and his friends have found Karen & co's playhouse. They want it for a fort, but the girls won't budge, so the boys decide to build their own fort. There's a whole bet thing that goes on about who'll have the best home base by the end of next week, and it is super boring.
Claudia is still thinking about the boat show. She brainstorms ideas with Andrew while babysitting him and Emily, but comes to no conclusions.
Then we get a Sam chapter. It's pretty painful. We learn that Sam hopes to start shaving soon, and that sometimes he wears a little cologne.
At breakfast, we see him fling a cheerio at Stacey, and it lands on her toast. Stacey's reaction: "Gross, Sam! Would you cut that out? What a pest!" Do NONE of the adults notice what's going on? Anyone want to advocate for Stacey? Anyone want to pull Sam aside? No?
Sam then tells us that he likes Stacey, and why. What's not to like about Stacey? First of all, she seems older than she is. Hard to believe she and Kristy are the same age. Second, Stacey is gorgeous, but that isn't why I like her. I know plenty of gorgeous girls I don't like like -- because of what's inside. Stacey's beautiful smile and great hair are just icing on the cake. (Her clothes are decorations on the icing, I guess.) No, there's something about Stacey's spirit or whatever. It appeals to me, even when she's calling me a pest or rolling her eyes or actually running away from me, like she did yesterday.
There's something about Stacey's SPIRIT OR WHATEVER. It appeals to him.
I get it now.
Just kidding -- no, I don't.
Charlie finally comes along and gives Sam some sensible advice (basically "stop throwing Cheerios at her and just talk to her") and thank goodness for Charlie being the ONE rational semi-adult in this entire establishment. Though at this point I hope Stacey just files a restraining order against Sam and takes the first bus back to Stoneybrook.
Sam does try talking seriously to Stacey, but she has a hard time believing he's sincere.
Dawn learns more about Shadow Lake's mystery from an old guy at the lodge. (Another similarity to #SS3, only it was Mary Anne doing the mystery-investigating in that one.) Apparently there was once a rich family, the Bayards, who lived on the island in the middle of Shadow Lake. One day, they all vanished without a trace. Oh yes, and the Bayard daughter was once engaged to this old guy.
The day of the boat show approaches, and Claudia decides to decorate their little boat like "The Lake Monster." The boat parade goes well and they win a "spirit" ribbon.
The girls decide to have a sleepover on "Shadow Island." Mal brings all her bug-repellent equipment. Dawn is afraid to go (because of monsters and ghosts and what have you) but doesn't want to be left out.
They all ride over into two boats (Sam pilots one, then leaves.) Nobody wears life jackets.
On the island, the girls discover the charred remains of the house that used to belong to the Bayards. Apparently their house burned down at some point after they disappeared.
(I just have to stop and say: there are a lot of parentheses in this book. (For example, on page 172 Dawn mentions that she ate some watermelon, then remarks that her younger brother used to call the fruit "waterlemon.") (Dawn.) (Seriously.) (No.) (One.) (Cares.))
The girls eat s'mores and discuss what could have happened to the Bayards. Mallory earnestly suggests alien abductions.
During the night someone wakes up and thinks she's seen a ghost. The girls then all wake up and freak out.
Dawn: Pandemonium. In three seconds, the seven of us were wide awake and scrambling out of sleeping bags.
"I want to go back!" cried Mary Anne.
"I'm coming with you," added Jessi.
"You guys, it's two o'clock in the morning!" said Kristy. "I can't take us across the lake now. It wouldn't be safe."
Kristy then points out that even if they could safely travel across the lake at night, the boat only holds four people. "So who's going to stay behind?"
In answer, everyone except Kristy made a dash for the boat.
When that plan fizzles out, they sheepishly get back in their sleeping bags.
The next morning, Dawn walks around the island by herself and finds a locket near the burnt house's remains.
She swears it wasn't there last night, so it must be a gift from the ghostly Annie Bayard! She ends up giving it to the old guy at the lodge.
Back on the mainland, Nicky, Linny, and David Michael are working on their fort when they lose Shannon, the family puppy. They organize search parties to find her. Then they immediately find her. But the search brings Linny and Nicky closer together or something idk.
The day of the dance arrives. It's supposed to be a casual occasion, but since Karen & co. don't know that, they get all dressed up and douse themselves in hideous perfume.
Claudia and Stacey devise a plan in case Stacey needs to be rescued from Sam at the dance.
The whole group arrives at the lodge's ballroom. It's adorned with balloons and paper decorations.
Sam asks Stacey to dance. She says yes, and a slow song immediately comes on. So they slow dance. And apparently, Stacey's heart melts and her sensibility declines because she rests her head on Sam's shoulder and tells us: We drifted through the rest of the evening together. Has Sam liked me this way all along? I wondered. Have I liked him? Even without conversation, I knew the answer to both questions. Yes.
Sam's cologne is actually love potion, isn't it? It's infused with pheromones. This is all chemical. I see no other explanation.
Meanwhile, Jessi approaches the dance with trepidation because she needs to let Daniel down gently. The two of them have been hanging out a lot that week. She even gave him dance lessons. But now, she needs to tell him that her heart beats only for Quint.
She rehearses a speech: "Daniel, I want you to know I've really enjoyed our time together here at Shadow Lake. The last week and a half have been a lot fun. But I've decided that Quint, the other man in my life, means more to me than I'd realized. Daniel, I don't want to hurt you, but I just can't be your girlfriend. I hope you aren't too upset."
When they get to the ballroom, Daniel finds Jessi and tells her, "You look lovely tonight."
"I do?"
"Yeah, you look gorgeous," said Daniel lightly.
So they begin to dance, and there's a band there that's playing oldies but goodies. Real oldies, says Jessi. They started off with "Chains Of Love." Ha! Not a callback to Chains Of Love! I don't even know if Ann M. Martin wrote this particular book, but she definitely had some influence on it and had to get some 1950s references in there.
When the time comes to actually make the speech to Daniel, Jessi doesn't even get through the whole thing before Daniel says, "Um, Jessi, I like you too, but I never meant for you to think I wanted to be your boyfriend. I just wanted to be your friend. I have a girlfriend back in Boston. Her name is Carol."
Then Jessi feels totally embarrassed, even though -- come on. Jessi has told us that she's mentioned Quint to Daniel before. But Daniel never mentioned Carol? Not once? And he told Jessi she looked lovely and gorgeous. And during a slow number, Daniel put his arms around Jessi, and it's just like... what was your endgame here, dude? To mislead her or just to embarrass her? Or were you that clueless?
Poor Jessi.
The dance comes to an end, and the next day, everyone must leave for home. They're all super sad about it. But when they get back, Kristy takes everyone's notes and diary entries from the past week (only the positive stuff is allowed!), puts a book together for Watson, presents it to him, and after reading it, Watson is convinced to accept the offer -- yes, he WILL take possession the cabin when his relatives finally go to that big Shadow Lake in the Sky.
Ugh. I hate that Kristy wins this one. There is nothing satisfying about watching her manipulate everyone's diary entries throughout the book and then ultimately get her way. Then again, Watson must have liked the cabin/lake, too, or he wouldn't have agreed to do it.
I can't remember if the Thomas/Brewers ever go to the cabin in the series again.
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So that's it for this book! Let's take a look at our trusty Super Special tropes checklist...
☑Will someone make an unusual friend who is then never heard from again? Yes! Jessi and Daniel; Dawn and the old guy at the lodge (they even exchange addresses!)
☑Will one of the baby-sitters fall in LUV? Ugh, yes, Stacey and Sam -- if you can call it that.
☑Will at least one baby-sitter who is supposed to be on vacation/sans children be put in a position where they must care for children anyway? YEP, ALL OF THEM! Okay, at least in this one they go into it knowingly. I still hate it, though.
🗹Will someone have a near-death experience? No, though there are a few "scares" where people or animals get lost for five minutes and/or mayyybe there are monsters and/or mayyybe there are ghosts?
☑Will someone act like a major jerk, even though they're normally pretty pleasant? Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. Besides that, though, this book seems to lean less on "jerkiness" more heavily on "people acting kooky": Dawn with her lake monster/mystery fixation, Mallory with her seemingly over-the-top bug-repelling tactics, Kristy with her obsession with Watson agreeing to take the cabin.
🗹Will the airplane seats have two seats, then five seats, then two more? Sadly, no airplanes.
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Thoughts on this cover...
* * *
RATING!
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being a rousing Baby-Sitters Club adventure, and 1 being a book I'd send straight to Goodwill, I give Baby-Sitters At Shadow Lake a 2.1.
Positives:
*Well-done interior illustrations.
*An intriguing mystery is presented... even though it never gets solved.
*A few good Emily Michelle scenes.
*Mary Anne didn't appear to miss Logan at all. That's some progress!
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Negatives:
*Clunky writing; it feels like a first draft. The author (I assume it's a ghostwriter) can't seem to decide whether or not to use contractions in dialogue, and they go overboard on the parentheses.
*Effing Karen chapters.
*Weird call-backs to previous books ("Chains Of Love," baby!) -- and yet apparent amnesia about other previous plots. You would think if two of your friends had a boat-related disaster less than a year prior, they might be nervous about traveling to islands via boats? Or you'd think someone might remember the baby parade fiasco and, ya know, think twice about entering a parade? But no.
*Not enough Nannie or BooBoo. Why did they even come to the lake?
*Sam is the worst, and he gets together with Stacey anyway.
*For a bunch of girls who run a successful business, and are usually known for being cool-headed, they run around screaming here. A lot.
* * * * *
So it's official: I've now reviewed all of the first ten BSC Super Specials! It only took me a little over ten years to do it.
This one's the worst of the bunch.
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