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A review by finesilkflower
Claudia's Friend by Ann M. Martin
4.0
Shea Rodowsky has been diagnosed with dyslexia, and Mrs. Rodowsky asks one of the baby-sitters to tutor him. Claudia doesn’t have enough confidence in her own abilities to volunteer for the job, so Mary Anne takes it, but Shea is so easily frustrated and volatile that it’s slow going. Meanwhile, Claudia’s English teacher tells her she’s in danger of failing if she doesn’t bring her grade up, so Stacey volunteers to tutor her, but she gets overzealous and treats Claudia like a child. They fight. While baby-sitting, Claudia is honest with Shea about her problems, and they start helping each other, sharing tips and giving each other flash cards and humble, non-condescending help. It's really sweet.
I love tutoring plots, and while Claudia’s complaints about Stacey are understandable, Stacey’s enjoyment of her schoolteacher role and the office supplies that entails is also sympathetic.
There is a pretty lame but very minor subplot where the BSC receives anonymous notes and assumes (a) that they’re from various boys (including an infamous Kristy-wears-a-skirt sequence when she tries to seduce a confession out of Bart on the basketball court, and he is just confused, which I always think is in [b:Kristy's Mystery Admirer|500952|Kristy's Mystery Admirer (The Baby-Sitters Club, #38)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1175284509s/500952.jpg|489056]), and then (b) that they’re a practical joke, like Cokie Mason is always playing. It turns out to be secret option (c), that some baby-sitting charges are trying to thank them.
Continuity, Schmontinuity: Speaking of Mystery Admirer, what about Kristy's claim that these notes are not Bart's style? THEY ARE EXACTLY HIS STYLE.
Read as a kid: Yes, several times. This was another of the few that I skipped ahead in the series to get. Not sure why. I did prefer Claudia to all the other sitters, so perhaps I couldn’t resist jumping to the current book when it was a Claudia. With weird orthography in the title!
Timing: It’s described as an "unusually hot day" when the kids can take off their sweatshirts during Krusher practice, suggesting fall or spring.
Revised Timeline: Earlyish spring of twelfth grade.
I love tutoring plots, and while Claudia’s complaints about Stacey are understandable, Stacey’s enjoyment of her schoolteacher role and the office supplies that entails is also sympathetic.
There is a pretty lame but very minor subplot where the BSC receives anonymous notes and assumes (a) that they’re from various boys (including an infamous Kristy-wears-a-skirt sequence when she tries to seduce a confession out of Bart on the basketball court, and he is just confused, which I always think is in [b:Kristy's Mystery Admirer|500952|Kristy's Mystery Admirer (The Baby-Sitters Club, #38)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1175284509s/500952.jpg|489056]), and then (b) that they’re a practical joke, like Cokie Mason is always playing. It turns out to be secret option (c), that some baby-sitting charges are trying to thank them.
Continuity, Schmontinuity: Speaking of Mystery Admirer, what about Kristy's claim that these notes are not Bart's style? THEY ARE EXACTLY HIS STYLE.
Read as a kid: Yes, several times. This was another of the few that I skipped ahead in the series to get. Not sure why. I did prefer Claudia to all the other sitters, so perhaps I couldn’t resist jumping to the current book when it was a Claudia. With weird orthography in the title!
Timing: It’s described as an "unusually hot day" when the kids can take off their sweatshirts during Krusher practice, suggesting fall or spring.
Revised Timeline: Earlyish spring of twelfth grade.