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sammah's review
4.0
This was always one of my favorite Super Specials. I always wanted to go to camp as a kid, but my parents would never let me go. So things camp-related always fascinated me. Even now it's held up pretty well with some fairly standard camp-esque plots. Stacey rolls in poison ivy, literally. Kristy lets other girls give her a makeover. Mary Anne gets brave and tries to sneak to the boys side of camp. Claudia finds a long distance love. Mallory and Jessi run up against racists....wait, what? Well that got heavy fast.
bangel_ds's review against another edition
4.0
Con piccoli acquisti continuo la saga. Mi piacciono molto gli Special perché sono più lunghi dei soliti libri della serie e ogni capitolo è narrato da una baby-sitter diversa. Ho gradito l'ambientazione (non è stata noiosa come temevo) e ho trovato i personaggi coerenti, tranne Mary Anne...ma ci può stare considerata la trama. Ci sono degli acenni astuti a cose che succederanno più avanti nei libri, anche se molti dei personaggi interessanti introdotti in questo libro non li rivedremo mai più.
andiabcs's review
Totally brought me back to my childhood and the fact that I loved loved loved these books. It was such a perfect girl series back then and I think it is a perfect girl series now. These girls have insecurities and questions and friendships and relationships that every teen has. Man do I miss things being that simple.
kittenlebon's review
4.0
Reread this for probably the 20th time. I loved the BSC as a kid in the 80s and they continue to by my favorite comfort reads as an adult.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/baby-sitters-summer-vacation
megdurazo's review
3.0
i remain committed to loving super specials but this is the first book i’ve re-read that has an episode in the new series and BOY OH BOY y’all. the book just can’t compete with the episodes where these girls start a literal class war.
krysreads36's review
5.0
So Nostalgic! For a 90s book holds up pretty well in terms of diversity and worldview. I would still recommend young girls to read this series!!
erine's review against another edition
4.0
Both completely ridiculous and absolutely wonderful, as so many of my childhood favorites were.
Love that this tackles, however briefly, snarky racism. I had completely forgotten that storyline.
Love that this tackles, however briefly, snarky racism. I had completely forgotten that storyline.
amyacowan's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ssshira's review against another edition
2.0
the baby sitters decide to go to the summer camp from meatballs (the rich kids' camp, camp mohawk) because they love that movie a lot. the 13-year-olds are all CITs, and mallory and jessi are regular campers/"junior CITs". see the narrator plotlines for more plot.
-stacey: CIT to 6 year olds (karen brewer is in her cabin). a practical joker who talksh like thish named nonie is also in her cabin. she doeshn't play any practical jokesh on shtashey, which is kind of a buzzkill. stacey gets sick (she thinks it's lyme disease but it's actually: impetigo, poison ivy, insect bites, pinkeye, and a regular ol' cold) and has to be in the infirmary for a while.
-kristy: CIT to 8 year olds (charlotte johannsen and becca ramsey are in her cabin). the other CITs make her over. charlotte doesn't want to be at camp and cries at the drop of a hat, and kristy has to be there for all of that drama.
-claudia: CIT to 9 year olds (haley braddock and vanessa pike are in her cabin). falls in love with will yamakawa, a boy CIT. they hang out for two days and then have to say goodbye and claudia cries a lot. it's not pretty.
-mary anne: CIT to 7 year olds (margo pike and nancy dawes, karen's BFF, are in her cabin). her co-CITs are obnoxious jerks who think she is pathetic, plus one of them has bratty little sister in their cabin. to make herself look cool, she leaves out a letter to logan about how she wants him to wear aftershave to the CIT dance and how she longs for him or other cheesy romance novel stuff. the CITs pressure mary anne into trying to go to the boys' camp to deliver it. then they pressure her into getting her ears pierced, but they chicken out. basically mary anne's plot is just one game of chicken after another, and mary anne wins each of them.
-dawn: CIT to 11 year olds. everything is perfect and everyone gets along except one girl named heather who prefers the company of books. then they go on an overnight in the woods and their replacement counselor (the counselor's mom was sick so she had to leave early) gets them lost, and heather saves them with her wilderness skills, because SHE READ A BOOK ABOUT WILDERNESS SKILLS. no lie.
-mallory and jessi: the other girls in their cabin are racist jerks who call them oreos and make fun of them for acting like the bobbsey twins. mallory and jessi get to prepare the 8-year-olds for a dance routine for parents' day, so they make it themed around their cabinmates' racism and everyone learns a lesson.
-logan: all the other boy CITs are bros. once he gets mary anne's ridiculous letter he actually is into it and wears aftershave and gets her a yellow flower like the letter requested. also jackie rodowsky is in his cabin and some disasters happen.
highlights:
-stacey notes that camp mohawk's symbol shouldn't be a tepee because the mohawk people of the iroquois tribe actually lived in longhouses, not tepees. I love stacey.
-dawn and co sing the monster mash when trying to find their campground right before they get lost. it's really cute.
-mary anne and logan's drama is really entertaining. I love the letter. it's SO OVER-THE-TOP. "I think of you and want to swoon. oh, to feel your arms around me at the dance!"
-everyone complaining about eating "vegetable burgers" made me LOL
-christmas in the cabin! apparently it's a tradition for each age group for one of the cabins to make christmas in the summer for the other cabin. stacey's cabin is surprised with christmas, and it's really cute (especially because they make sure to put sugar free candies in stacey's stocking).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-stacey's postcard to laine: the address for the dakota isn't "72nd and central park west" -- it's 1 west 72nd street. also other people live there, so I'm pretty sure you need to put an apartment number on it. stacey would know this. I blame ann.
-reading nonie's speech impediment was annoying. "shtashey", etc.
-people keep calling lake dekanawida (named after the great peacemaker) different things (for instance: dukakis, deckasaga, dekanunga, dekadonka, duckanawooda, and demidonkey). it's super racist and irritating.
-the meanies (mr and mrs means, the folks who run the camp) live in separate cabins on each side of the camp. they're married and spend a whole summer not sleeping together? I guess that's conceivable but you'd think they would share a cabin.
-kristy writes a postcard to shannon at "camp eerie" in michigan and talks about how it would be scary to go to that camp during halloween. considering it's in michigan, it's probably camp erie, right?
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
jackie's walking disaster moments:
-waves his camp mohawk hat out the bus window and it blows away
-bunks collapse in his cabin (logan thinks he is to blame)
-door to cabin is permanently stuck open three inches (logan thinks he is to blame)
-toothpaste all over the floor (logan thinks he dropped his toothpaste and stepped on it)
-sits on a pb&j sandwich during a food fight
-stacey: CIT to 6 year olds (karen brewer is in her cabin). a practical joker who talksh like thish named nonie is also in her cabin. she doeshn't play any practical jokesh on shtashey, which is kind of a buzzkill. stacey gets sick (she thinks it's lyme disease but it's actually: impetigo, poison ivy, insect bites, pinkeye, and a regular ol' cold) and has to be in the infirmary for a while.
-kristy: CIT to 8 year olds (charlotte johannsen and becca ramsey are in her cabin). the other CITs make her over. charlotte doesn't want to be at camp and cries at the drop of a hat, and kristy has to be there for all of that drama.
-claudia: CIT to 9 year olds (haley braddock and vanessa pike are in her cabin). falls in love with will yamakawa, a boy CIT. they hang out for two days and then have to say goodbye and claudia cries a lot. it's not pretty.
-mary anne: CIT to 7 year olds (margo pike and nancy dawes, karen's BFF, are in her cabin). her co-CITs are obnoxious jerks who think she is pathetic, plus one of them has bratty little sister in their cabin. to make herself look cool, she leaves out a letter to logan about how she wants him to wear aftershave to the CIT dance and how she longs for him or other cheesy romance novel stuff. the CITs pressure mary anne into trying to go to the boys' camp to deliver it. then they pressure her into getting her ears pierced, but they chicken out. basically mary anne's plot is just one game of chicken after another, and mary anne wins each of them.
-dawn: CIT to 11 year olds. everything is perfect and everyone gets along except one girl named heather who prefers the company of books. then they go on an overnight in the woods and their replacement counselor (the counselor's mom was sick so she had to leave early) gets them lost, and heather saves them with her wilderness skills, because SHE READ A BOOK ABOUT WILDERNESS SKILLS. no lie.
-mallory and jessi: the other girls in their cabin are racist jerks who call them oreos and make fun of them for acting like the bobbsey twins. mallory and jessi get to prepare the 8-year-olds for a dance routine for parents' day, so they make it themed around their cabinmates' racism and everyone learns a lesson.
-logan: all the other boy CITs are bros. once he gets mary anne's ridiculous letter he actually is into it and wears aftershave and gets her a yellow flower like the letter requested. also jackie rodowsky is in his cabin and some disasters happen.
highlights:
-stacey notes that camp mohawk's symbol shouldn't be a tepee because the mohawk people of the iroquois tribe actually lived in longhouses, not tepees. I love stacey.
-dawn and co sing the monster mash when trying to find their campground right before they get lost. it's really cute.
-mary anne and logan's drama is really entertaining. I love the letter. it's SO OVER-THE-TOP. "I think of you and want to swoon. oh, to feel your arms around me at the dance!"
-everyone complaining about eating "vegetable burgers" made me LOL
-christmas in the cabin! apparently it's a tradition for each age group for one of the cabins to make christmas in the summer for the other cabin. stacey's cabin is surprised with christmas, and it's really cute (especially because they make sure to put sugar free candies in stacey's stocking).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-stacey's postcard to laine: the address for the dakota isn't "72nd and central park west" -- it's 1 west 72nd street. also other people live there, so I'm pretty sure you need to put an apartment number on it. stacey would know this. I blame ann.
-reading nonie's speech impediment was annoying. "shtashey", etc.
-people keep calling lake dekanawida (named after the great peacemaker) different things (for instance: dukakis, deckasaga, dekanunga, dekadonka, duckanawooda, and demidonkey). it's super racist and irritating.
-the meanies (mr and mrs means, the folks who run the camp) live in separate cabins on each side of the camp. they're married and spend a whole summer not sleeping together? I guess that's conceivable but you'd think they would share a cabin.
-kristy writes a postcard to shannon at "camp eerie" in michigan and talks about how it would be scary to go to that camp during halloween. considering it's in michigan, it's probably camp erie, right?
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
jackie's walking disaster moments:
-waves his camp mohawk hat out the bus window and it blows away
-bunks collapse in his cabin (logan thinks he is to blame)
-door to cabin is permanently stuck open three inches (logan thinks he is to blame)
-toothpaste all over the floor (logan thinks he dropped his toothpaste and stepped on it)
-sits on a pb&j sandwich during a food fight