#120: Mary Anne and the Playground Fight
I kinda sped through this book because I’m amped to get to the Baby-sitters’ European Vacation (hell yeah, international travel!). The basics:
Victoria Kent (ya know, the little princess) is moving back to England and is NOT PLEASED to say goodbye to the U.S. Her fam lets her have an American-themed going-away “barbecue” and her friends take her to the mall for one last hit of the U.S. of A. It’s VERY nineties. It’s also funny what Victoria picks out as her four “truly American movies”: The Wizard of Oz, Toy Story, King Kong, and Home Alone.
SMS is putting on a summer playground camp and is hiring counselors. Of course, everyone in the BSC wants a job, but — also of course — there aren’t enough jobs to go around. This leads to some minor brawls among the members, mostly because Kristy goes full dictator as per uzsh. Everything is complicated by the fact that half of the BSC is also planning to go on the school trip to London and Paris and would have to miss a week of work. In the end, it all works out neatly, with Dawn, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Logan getting playground jobs and Kristy, Abby, Stacey, Jessi, and Mallory are going to Europe.
The cost of the trip to Europe? FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. YEAH RIGHT. EVEN IN 1998.
The BSC does a fundraiser for trip costs by holding a (used) stuffed animal sale. THEY MAKE FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Once again, YEAH RIGHT.
Basically, I want to live in Stoneybrook where, as a thirteen-year-old, you can be a successful businesswoman-slash-detective-slash-middle-schooler who can take trips to Hawaii and Europe for a few hundo a pop. Sigh.
