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barmera's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
emark's review
4.25
First read of 2023 and it was a good one!! Another reread, but I am really enjoying revisiting the Babysitters Club.
The first thing I would like to say is WHY DOES CLAUDIA WANT TO QUIT THE CLUB SO OFTEN?! I just read Claudia and the New Girl, where she was also thinking about quitting. It just makes me laugh; I feel like these stories happened so close to each other.
Obviously this book focuses on Claudia, and after she breaks her leg, she isn’t babysitting for a while. This gives us the opportunity to see her relationship with Mimi (which is one of my favorite things) and hear her inner turmoil about staying or leaving the BSC. I found her indecisiveness to be quite relatable lol. I also loved getting to see her relationship with her parents! She often grieves about their feelings towards her attitude about her schoolwork, but it’s quite clear in this book how much they care for her.
Random, but wanted to mention that the nurse was a guy! I thought that was cool and I remember it surprising me even when I was younger.
I kind of felt bad for Betsy in this book. Her relentless prancing is certainly annoying, but I really feel like her parents are to blame. They don’t seem to discipline her at all. I didn’t love that Kristy embarrassed her but I’m glad she learned her lesson.
Another great reread! Somehow the BSC books never seem to get boring or too repetitive. Here’s to a great start to my reading goal for this year!!
The first thing I would like to say is WHY DOES CLAUDIA WANT TO QUIT THE CLUB SO OFTEN?! I just read Claudia and the New Girl, where she was also thinking about quitting. It just makes me laugh; I feel like these stories happened so close to each other.
Obviously this book focuses on Claudia, and after she breaks her leg, she isn’t babysitting for a while. This gives us the opportunity to see her relationship with Mimi (which is one of my favorite things) and hear her inner turmoil about staying or leaving the BSC. I found her indecisiveness to be quite relatable lol. I also loved getting to see her relationship with her parents! She often grieves about their feelings towards her attitude about her schoolwork, but it’s quite clear in this book how much they care for her.
Random, but wanted to mention that the nurse was a guy! I thought that was cool and I remember it surprising me even when I was younger.
I kind of felt bad for Betsy in this book. Her relentless prancing is certainly annoying, but I really feel like her parents are to blame. They don’t seem to discipline her at all. I didn’t love that Kristy embarrassed her but I’m glad she learned her lesson.
Another great reread! Somehow the BSC books never seem to get boring or too repetitive. Here’s to a great start to my reading goal for this year!!
daybreak1012's review against another edition
3.5
Before I get to my actual review, a quick disclaimer: Ever since I learned that Netflix was reimagining one of my favorite childhood book series, I had decided that I would be embarking on a re-read of this series, reliving a series of books that helped to shape me into a voracious reader. I am so excited to embark on this travel back in time. I don't expect to be mentally stimulated -- I mean, I'm not exactly a pre-teen middle-schooler these days -- but I make no apology for choosing to enjoy this series from the perspective of adulthood. Don't expect me to have any sort of psychoanalyst or feminist sermonizing on the appropriateness of the situations or the effects on a young girl reading these books; there's plenty of that to go around already. I'm here for the nostalgia and the meander down memory lane.
*************
What I liked about Claudia and the Bad Joke:
The message on pranks - My heart is too soft for prank-pulling, and even as a child, this book sat the wrong way with me. Pranks upon pranks, and they lead to hurt feelings or worse. Don't mistake this for a lack of a sense of humor, because that I have, but pranks feel mean-spirited to me and therefore I don't find them funny.
Claudia and Mimi - Every scene we get with them warms my heart, the love, the compassion, the understanding.
What I didn't care for:
The prank war - I understand why they did, but the sitters matching Betsy prank for prank still bothered me. I was over the description of pranks by about page 30. And it seemed never to end.
What left me conflicted:
Oh, Claudia - I understood her concern and her rampant thoughts, but wow is she dramatic about these things. Is it her adolescent immaturity? Or just her nature as an artist? I couldn't say. But it sure seems where there is drama, somehow Claudia is involved with her art and threatening to quit the Club. Drama is not my thing.
I wasn't far off with my original rating of 3 stars, based entirely on my distaste for pranks. I did decide to give it another half star mainly because I appreciated the message that pranks can hurt people in lots of ways you don't anticipate. This was a fast read, though, that I wasn't sorry to close.
finesilkflower's review against another edition
2.0
Claudia decides she is done with this baby-sitting shit when a child breaks her leg. Don't quit, Claudia--Kristy will break your other one!
I remembered this from childhood as the "this is what happens when you break your leg" book, entranced, then, with process details about the ambulance, hospital stay, recuperation, and cast removal. In my reread, I was surprised to find that the emphasis was actually on Claudia’s inner turmoil as she considers dropping out of the club because sitting is too dangerous.
Meanwhile, the baby-sitters wage a "practical joke war" on the unrepentant prankster Betsy Sobak in an attempt to teach her not to practical joke. I gotta tell you, if breaking someone's leg didn't do it, escalation is surely not the answer. Except it sort of is, in this book. I don't know. I hate practical jokes.
My main problem with this book is that it seems like there’s no particular reason for it to be a Claudia story. They do manage a character-based justification for her fears (what if she’d hurt her arm or her hand? her art would suffer!), but the obsessive fear itself seems a little out of character for Claudia. I mean, I’d expect it more from Dawn, who has a yellow streak a mile wide; Mary Anne, who overthinks everything; or even Kristy, because it would be delightfully ironic from the usually intrepid tomboy. Claudia is the only one, in fact, who has no particular established relationship with fear.
Lingering Questions: So nothing happens in the two months between Claudia's accident and when she gets her cast off? It would be cool if, to give a sense of the scale of the time frame, the next two books had Claudia in a cast.
Real Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the baby-sitters would be if each story year advanced the timeline. This one actually covers 3 months (Claudia recuperates in the hospital at home for a total of one month, then gets her cast off two months later.) Happily, there is room for a time skip here since the previous book takes place in November and the next takes place in April (still in eighth grade). It's not super easy to reconcile this with an unmentioned holiday season and cold weather (and the accident does happen while playing outside), but whatever. I'm surprised it works at all. Though it would have been cooler if they actually showed the scale of the three months by having Claudia in a cast during other characters' books.
I remembered this from childhood as the "this is what happens when you break your leg" book, entranced, then, with process details about the ambulance, hospital stay, recuperation, and cast removal. In my reread, I was surprised to find that the emphasis was actually on Claudia’s inner turmoil as she considers dropping out of the club because sitting is too dangerous.
Meanwhile, the baby-sitters wage a "practical joke war" on the unrepentant prankster Betsy Sobak in an attempt to teach her not to practical joke. I gotta tell you, if breaking someone's leg didn't do it, escalation is surely not the answer. Except it sort of is, in this book. I don't know. I hate practical jokes.
My main problem with this book is that it seems like there’s no particular reason for it to be a Claudia story. They do manage a character-based justification for her fears (what if she’d hurt her arm or her hand? her art would suffer!), but the obsessive fear itself seems a little out of character for Claudia. I mean, I’d expect it more from Dawn, who has a yellow streak a mile wide; Mary Anne, who overthinks everything; or even Kristy, because it would be delightfully ironic from the usually intrepid tomboy. Claudia is the only one, in fact, who has no particular established relationship with fear.
Lingering Questions: So nothing happens in the two months between Claudia's accident and when she gets her cast off? It would be cool if, to give a sense of the scale of the time frame, the next two books had Claudia in a cast.
Real Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the baby-sitters would be if each story year advanced the timeline. This one actually covers 3 months (Claudia recuperates in the hospital at home for a total of one month, then gets her cast off two months later.) Happily, there is room for a time skip here since the previous book takes place in November and the next takes place in April (still in eighth grade). It's not super easy to reconcile this with an unmentioned holiday season and cold weather (and the accident does happen while playing outside), but whatever. I'm surprised it works at all. Though it would have been cooler if they actually showed the scale of the three months by having Claudia in a cast during other characters' books.
sammah's review
3.0
Even as a kid I couldn't stand Betsy Sobak in this book. I never understood, and still don't, why her mother didn't do something about her shitty child when Betsy caused Claudia to break her leg. It wasn't really a true accident, the kid set it up to happen, so somebody should have done SOMETHING. I mean besides the BSC taking the really mature route of getting int a prank war with a kid.
I genuinely felt for Claudia in this one though. She was just trying to be a good sitter and keep the kid from pulling prank after prank, and it landed her in actual traction. I wouldn't have blamed her for quitting the club if this is the kind of crap that's going to happen. Obviously all ended relatively well, but still. Somebody should have taken Betsy down a peg or ten in an actual appropriate way.
I genuinely felt for Claudia in this one though. She was just trying to be a good sitter and keep the kid from pulling prank after prank, and it landed her in actual traction. I wouldn't have blamed her for quitting the club if this is the kind of crap that's going to happen. Obviously all ended relatively well, but still. Somebody should have taken Betsy down a peg or ten in an actual appropriate way.
bangel_ds's review against another edition
2.0
Riprendere in mano una delle serie della mia infanzia è sempre un piacere.
Nonostante il linguaggio e le trame siano per bambini è comunque interessante leggere nuovi episodi e riempire i buchi della vita delle protagoniste.
Non succede granché ed è uno dei libri forse più noiosi del club.
Nonostante il linguaggio e le trame siano per bambini è comunque interessante leggere nuovi episodi e riempire i buchi della vita delle protagoniste.
Non succede granché ed è uno dei libri forse più noiosi del club.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/claudia-and-the-bad-joke
pixieauthoress's review
4.0
This was one of the few early BSC books that I somehow missed reading as a child. I probably would have enjoyed it more at nine than I did at nineteen, but saying that I don't think the storyline was one of the more exciting ones. Still, an enjoyable bedtime read, especially after a stressful day at work. 7/10
megdurazo's review
4.0
okay let's get the biggest gripe out of the way--the bsc attends a free slap stick film festival at their local library VOLUNTARILY and according to claudia, it seems like everyone in stoneybrook who's under 16 is there. as a librarian for this age group i would just like to a) call shenanigans and b) possibly get the contact info for whoever set this up so i can learn a thing or two, i guess.
pranking fever takes over the town and a new client is so into it that she makes claudia get on a swing that she knows is broken and claudia, my sweet baby angel claudia, gets her leg broken so badly that she has to be in the hospital for a week! i want to sue this child! claudia has an existential crisis and doom spirals herself into thoughts of breaking her arm or hands, making her unable to create her art. she even thinks of quitting the club because baby sitting is too dangerous. as usual, when she brings this up to her friends, kristy shuts her feelings right down.
claudia decides not to drop out of the club but a more honest choice would have been to peace out after all this. at this point, stacey is in new york, kristy remains an emotional terrorist, and it seems like mostly everyone just wants claudia to stay because she's got the phone line in her room. now that she no longer faces any mobility issues, claudia should run the hell away from these girls.
pranking fever takes over the town and a new client is so into it that she makes claudia get on a swing that she knows is broken and claudia, my sweet baby angel claudia, gets her leg broken so badly that she has to be in the hospital for a week! i want to sue this child! claudia has an existential crisis and doom spirals herself into thoughts of breaking her arm or hands, making her unable to create her art. she even thinks of quitting the club because baby sitting is too dangerous. as usual, when she brings this up to her friends, kristy shuts her feelings right down.
claudia decides not to drop out of the club but a more honest choice would have been to peace out after all this. at this point, stacey is in new york, kristy remains an emotional terrorist, and it seems like mostly everyone just wants claudia to stay because she's got the phone line in her room. now that she no longer faces any mobility issues, claudia should run the hell away from these girls.
ssshira's review
2.0
this is the first time I've read this book!
when claudia is sitting for new client betsy sobak (who is a huge prankster), she badly breaks her leg as a result of betsy being a little jerk. she considers quitting the club because she thinks it's dangerous to baby-sit. the rest of the club tries to out-prank betsy.
highlights:
-the opener to the book is kristy saying she's never been hit in the face with a pie.
-kristy's obsessed with the idea of wearing food. "like, to hang grapes from your earlobes, or make a vest out of teabags." haha kristy I love you so much ya freak.
-claud says she thinks adults have a stock of jokes they learn when they turn 21. this is when she is scared of the cast cutter saw at the hospital and her mom says that they haven't lost a limb yet and then the doctor says the exact same thing. grown ups like dad jokes!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in general, I think it is astonishingly irresponsible and awful that the baby-sitters play into betsy's practical joke game. how could they not just say, "hey, did you notice that your practical jokes got our friend claudia hospitalized? could you stop now?" and if she doesn't stop, tell her smug idiot mom that BETSY IS A JERK. she is obviously unwilling to listen and won't believe that her daughter is as awful as she is, but seriously, she tricks claudia into using a swing that seriously injures her, and that is not enough to make betsy stop pranking people. this is some nanny 911 crap.
-it's spelled double stuf oreos, not double stuff oreos. ann, you spelled it right in [b:Jessi's Secret Language|233751|Jessi's Secret Language (The Baby-Sitters Club, #16)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429453227s/233751.jpg|3057116] so I don't really get this. different editors?
-claud gives flowers to cathy the whiny baby 14-year-old she's sharing a room with in the hospital. this is a little dumb and tacked-on, like they're trying to make us think that claudia is this altruistic kid.
no outfits. I hate claudia books without outfits.
dawn's kid kit:
-old maid
-mad libs
-[b:Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle|25051|Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, #1)|Betty MacDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388180885s/25051.jpg|2208078]
non-betsy or pike pranks:
-kristy squirts invisible ink on mary anne's sweatshirt
-claudia gets a call asking for prince albert in a can
-sam goof calls bsc meeting twice
pike pranks:
-margo springs out from behind bushes to shout boo at jessi and mary anne
-nicky shakes mary anne's hand with a buzzer
-is your refrigerator running call to mary anne (vanessa is the caller)
-asking for "rita book" call to jessi (vanessa is the caller)
-claire shoots jessi with a water gun
-rubber spider in claire's room for jessi
-fake barf in the bathroom for mary anne
-chocolate-covered tennis ball "sundae" for nicky made by triplets
-nicky pulls chair out from jessi making her fall
-jessi gets a call from "queen elizabeth" for "prince charles" and jessi says he can't come to the phone because he's waxing his yacht (probably vanessa is the caller)
betsy pranks:
-fly ice cube and dribble glass for claudia's apple juice from betsy
-spicy gum in wrigley's wrapper for claudia from betsy
-betsy tells claudia to use the broken swing and she breaks her leg
-betsy pretends to have left the house and jumps out of her hiding place and yells boo at mallory
-mallory pretends she has beauty powder but it's sneezing powder and it makes betsy sneeze
-betsy pretends she sneezed out a tooth
-mal scares betsy w/ fake slug and fake rat
-betsy scares mal w/ fake snake and fake cockroach
-betsy puts slime in dawn's kid kit
-dawn pretends to faint then yells boo when betsy checks on her
-betsy has dawn sit on a "pooh-pooh" cushion
-dawn pretends she sees a mouse and shrieks
-betsy uses a fountain pen that squirts water at dawn
-dawn uses a rubber spider on betsy
-betsy uses a fat rubber toad on dawn
-betsy uses shaving cream as whipped cream on dawn's sundae
-betsy sneakily squirts kristy with her fountain pen (water)
-betsy takes money from kristy with a hand buzzer
-kristy switches seats at the movie while betsy is getting popcorn
-kristy puts a fake bloody thumb in the popcorn
snacks in claudia's room:
-butterfinger bar in the drawer of her jewelry box
-double-stuf oreos in a shoebox labeled PANT BRUSHES
-doritos behind a pillow under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
-m&ms under her bed
-tootsie rolls behind her pillow
when claudia is sitting for new client betsy sobak (who is a huge prankster), she badly breaks her leg as a result of betsy being a little jerk. she considers quitting the club because she thinks it's dangerous to baby-sit. the rest of the club tries to out-prank betsy.
highlights:
-the opener to the book is kristy saying she's never been hit in the face with a pie.
-kristy's obsessed with the idea of wearing food. "like, to hang grapes from your earlobes, or make a vest out of teabags." haha kristy I love you so much ya freak.
-claud says she thinks adults have a stock of jokes they learn when they turn 21. this is when she is scared of the cast cutter saw at the hospital and her mom says that they haven't lost a limb yet and then the doctor says the exact same thing. grown ups like dad jokes!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in general, I think it is astonishingly irresponsible and awful that the baby-sitters play into betsy's practical joke game. how could they not just say, "hey, did you notice that your practical jokes got our friend claudia hospitalized? could you stop now?" and if she doesn't stop, tell her smug idiot mom that BETSY IS A JERK. she is obviously unwilling to listen and won't believe that her daughter is as awful as she is, but seriously, she tricks claudia into using a swing that seriously injures her, and that is not enough to make betsy stop pranking people. this is some nanny 911 crap.
-it's spelled double stuf oreos, not double stuff oreos. ann, you spelled it right in [b:Jessi's Secret Language|233751|Jessi's Secret Language (The Baby-Sitters Club, #16)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429453227s/233751.jpg|3057116] so I don't really get this. different editors?
-claud gives flowers to cathy the whiny baby 14-year-old she's sharing a room with in the hospital. this is a little dumb and tacked-on, like they're trying to make us think that claudia is this altruistic kid.
no outfits. I hate claudia books without outfits.
dawn's kid kit:
-old maid
-mad libs
-[b:Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle|25051|Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, #1)|Betty MacDonald|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388180885s/25051.jpg|2208078]
non-betsy or pike pranks:
-kristy squirts invisible ink on mary anne's sweatshirt
-claudia gets a call asking for prince albert in a can
-sam goof calls bsc meeting twice
pike pranks:
-margo springs out from behind bushes to shout boo at jessi and mary anne
-nicky shakes mary anne's hand with a buzzer
-is your refrigerator running call to mary anne (vanessa is the caller)
-asking for "rita book" call to jessi (vanessa is the caller)
-claire shoots jessi with a water gun
-rubber spider in claire's room for jessi
-fake barf in the bathroom for mary anne
-chocolate-covered tennis ball "sundae" for nicky made by triplets
-nicky pulls chair out from jessi making her fall
-jessi gets a call from "queen elizabeth" for "prince charles" and jessi says he can't come to the phone because he's waxing his yacht (probably vanessa is the caller)
betsy pranks:
-fly ice cube and dribble glass for claudia's apple juice from betsy
-spicy gum in wrigley's wrapper for claudia from betsy
-betsy tells claudia to use the broken swing and she breaks her leg
-betsy pretends to have left the house and jumps out of her hiding place and yells boo at mallory
-mallory pretends she has beauty powder but it's sneezing powder and it makes betsy sneeze
-betsy pretends she sneezed out a tooth
-mal scares betsy w/ fake slug and fake rat
-betsy scares mal w/ fake snake and fake cockroach
-betsy puts slime in dawn's kid kit
-dawn pretends to faint then yells boo when betsy checks on her
-betsy has dawn sit on a "pooh-pooh" cushion
-dawn pretends she sees a mouse and shrieks
-betsy uses a fountain pen that squirts water at dawn
-dawn uses a rubber spider on betsy
-betsy uses a fat rubber toad on dawn
-betsy uses shaving cream as whipped cream on dawn's sundae
-betsy sneakily squirts kristy with her fountain pen (water)
-betsy takes money from kristy with a hand buzzer
-kristy switches seats at the movie while betsy is getting popcorn
-kristy puts a fake bloody thumb in the popcorn
snacks in claudia's room:
-butterfinger bar in the drawer of her jewelry box
-double-stuf oreos in a shoebox labeled PANT BRUSHES
-doritos behind a pillow under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
-m&ms under her bed
-tootsie rolls behind her pillow