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situationnormal's review against another edition
3.0
I don't think I've read any of the Super Mysteries before, and this one definitely had its lame points (especially Claudia and Georgio...ew...and Mallory and Jessi's storyline was useless) but it was so nice after reading a Mary Anne book that I'm willing to ignore a lot.
marzipan9's review against another edition
3.0
A friend and I are feeling nostalgic and have been wading through all the BSC books we can find on Libby/Overdrive. For the most part, they live up to what I remember of them, except for one thing. All of the guys (except Logan and the one Kristy dates, Bart?) are *far* too old for these middle school girls. The “boy” interested in Claudia in this book is in COLLEGE. She’s THIRTEEN. Barf.
finesilkflower's review
3.0
Super Specials are bad, and Mysteries are bad, so I was not looking forward to this, but I found it ... not terrible? I'm grading on a curve, obviously.
The core sitters - Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Dawn (this takes place during Stacey's defection to the Bad Girls) - go with Karen and Andrew's "little house" family to Maine on one of their many nebulous part vacation/part sitting job trips. They stay with family friends the Menderses, who are trying to decide whether to move to the small town in Maine where they've inherited a mansion that is, according to Karen, even bigger than the Big House. Must be nice... The Menderses have 4 kids, and for some reason, it's the sitters' job to help them adjust to and like small-town living. Of course, while they're trying to do this, a mystery crops up: Spooky Doings in the creepy old mansion.
Of course the mystery itself is quite silly, and the book is plagued by the usual Super Special problems (too many storylines, unclear who's the narrator at any given time, overstays its welcome). Still, the enjoyable setting and side characters went a long way. I enjoyed the antics of the eldest Menders boy, a teenage Actor named Lionel, and the bad boy gardener Georgio, who as described is absolutely played by Gilmore Girls vintage Milo Ventimiglia. Granted, I may have enjoyed this book more than usual because this pandemic summer has been the least summery summer of my life and all I want is to go to small town Maine myself.
The core sitters - Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Dawn (this takes place during Stacey's defection to the Bad Girls) - go with Karen and Andrew's "little house" family to Maine on one of their many nebulous part vacation/part sitting job trips. They stay with family friends the Menderses, who are trying to decide whether to move to the small town in Maine where they've inherited a mansion that is, according to Karen, even bigger than the Big House. Must be nice... The Menderses have 4 kids, and for some reason, it's the sitters' job to help them adjust to and like small-town living. Of course, while they're trying to do this, a mystery crops up: Spooky Doings in the creepy old mansion.
Of course the mystery itself is quite silly, and the book is plagued by the usual Super Special problems (too many storylines, unclear who's the narrator at any given time, overstays its welcome). Still, the enjoyable setting and side characters went a long way. I enjoyed the antics of the eldest Menders boy, a teenage Actor named Lionel, and the bad boy gardener Georgio, who as described is absolutely played by Gilmore Girls vintage Milo Ventimiglia. Granted, I may have enjoyed this book more than usual because this pandemic summer has been the least summery summer of my life and all I want is to go to small town Maine myself.
burialshroud's review against another edition
4.0
Oh my Goooooooood, this was so good! I’ve read a couple of Babysitters Club books in recent years but I’d kinda given up on re-reading them as an adult because they’re proper children’s books and I just really hate Mallory who is always hanging around. This one was kinda crazy though and has rekindled my love for the series. Kristy’s step-dad’s ex-wife’s friend hires 4 members of the club to babysit 5 children for a 2 week trip to Maine. Shrug. Kristy uses this time to practice reverse psychology on the local pre-teens. Mary-Anne is there to bore everyone as far as I can tell. Claudia is everyone’s fave always and she gets a 19 year-old boyfriend who she is afraid of - great! Dawn is also there, hiding at the bottom of an elevator shaft. There is a Scooby-Doo style mystery and it teases some kind of recent Stacey-related drama because no-one is talking to her and she’s been sacked from the club. I’m going to investigate further.
sammah's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't read a whole lot of the mysteries as a kid, just a few here and there, and I had never read this one before. I like a good haunted house story though, so naturally this insanity sucked me right in.
The plot is, of course, convoluted. Karen and Andrew's mom and step-father are going to stay for ten days with friends in Maine who just inherited a giant mansion. They want just two sitters to join them, but naturally every BSC member wants to go. So, of course, they're all invited! Except Jesse and Mal, who mus stay behind to be Kristy's long-distance baby-sitting slaves.
In short summary the girls think the mansion is haunted, but in reality a sneaky pair of douchebags are trying to scare the family away and take the mansion for their own. It was like a really bad movie...but I liked it. No shame.
The plot is, of course, convoluted. Karen and Andrew's mom and step-father are going to stay for ten days with friends in Maine who just inherited a giant mansion. They want just two sitters to join them, but naturally every BSC member wants to go. So, of course, they're all invited! Except Jesse and Mal, who mus stay behind to be Kristy's long-distance baby-sitting slaves.
In short summary the girls think the mansion is haunted, but in reality a sneaky pair of douchebags are trying to scare the family away and take the mansion for their own. It was like a really bad movie...but I liked it. No shame.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/baby-sitters-haunted-house
maddiewagner's review
I still felt scared as I read it! Some of the fashion has come back around (but not ALL). This held up really well - EXCEPT for the age difference between Claudio and A "BOY" (man).
ssshira's review
5.0
sorry guys, but this is one of my favorites, so this is gonna be a LONG review. in this first ever super mystery by ghostwriter [a:Jeanne Betancourt|79828|Jeanne Betancourt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1258759027p2/79828.jpg], four of the babysitters (claud, kristy, dawn, and mary anne) go on a trip with karen and andrew's mom and husband (lisa and seth engle) to the sleepy seaside town of reese, maine. the engles have friends, the menderses, who have just inherited a mansion in reese and are considering moving there from boston. they have four kids, and the babysitters are along to help out with them and with karen and andrew (the engles had only wanted two sitters but four wanted to go, so lisa agreed as long as she didn't have to pay any of them -- sweet deal). the babysitters and kids start to notice creepy things going on in the mansion and hear tell of ghosts that may reside there. I will go into more detail below, divided by character(s).
claudia and georgio: framing device is that she's failing english and needs to write about her summer to retroactively pass.
she meets the mansion's previous caretakers' grandson, georgio, and falls for him. he is 19 and in college, and he assumes claud is 16 (which isn't anywhere as creepy as 19 and 13, but still -- 19 years olds shouldn't be dating 16 year olds either). he seems a little dangerous and mysteriously keeps telling the babysitters not to go to the attic because it might not be safe (but the baby sitters think he is hiding something up there and is the "ghost" in the mansion). meanwhile, claud convinces the babysitters and kids to participate in the founders day parade, dressing up in old dresses found in the attic and riding on a float made to look like the mansion's widow's walk.
kristy and jason: jason is one of the menderses, and he really wants to play softball with the townie boys but they don't have a coach. kristy helps facilitate their softball team, but they still need a coach after she leaves (see lionel for more).
lionel: the menderses' eldest, a 14 year old thespian wannabe. georgio introduces him to some of the summer stock theatre folks, and he ends up coaching his little brother jason's softball team.
dawn and jill: jill, the menderses' second oldest, wants to be a teenager really badly and does everything she can to look and act just like dawn. dawn eventually convinces her that she can be a mini-babysitter by helping look out for her sister martha, so she joins the swim team with her.
karen and martha: martha is the youngest menders kid, and she is super shy. karen wants to help her make friends but karen is THE WORST and is constantly going up to strangers and trying to convince them to be friends with martha. WORST approach. eventually, martha ends up joining the swim team with jill.
andrew: is really obsessed with frogs, toads, and boats. it's actually kind of adorable.
mary anne: does some of the historical-type investigation of the house. all things considered it's not a very mary anne-heavy book, though (which may be one of the reasons I love it so much).
mal and jessi: left behind in stoneybrook, it is up to them to take care of the bsc. when clients stop calling they think it's because they are doing a bad job, but really the clients are all just going out of town for early summer trips.
anyway, in the end, it turns out that the "ghosts" are the new caretakers, the coopers. elton cooper was really charles randolph, mr. menders's cousin who would receive the mansion if the menderses decided not to take it.
highlights:
-jill the idiot who loves dawn and constantly tries to look like her, when introducing herself, lists that one of her likes is teenagers. HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU? at one point when dawn goes to swim jill actually says, "I want to do whatever the teenagers do."
-lionel at one point is walking away from the bsc, mumbling to himself about "hysterical females"
-one night they have a dinner party, where they polish the silver and light candles and wear fancy clothes. it's very cute. I love these kinds of plotlines (see [b:Claudia and Crazy Peaches|1383154|Claudia and Crazy Peaches (The Baby-Sitters Club, #78)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1183143623s/1383154.jpg|1373157])
-they find a note of all the horrible things the coopers are going to do to the menderses after the bsc members leave. seriously. the coopers wrote their evil plan on a notepad. I guess this should maybe be under lowlights because it's so preposterous, but I just find it hilarious.
-kristy: "these guys needed a leader so badly they couldn't pull it together to turn me down -- even though I'm a girl and they were the kind of boys who'd ordinarily have trouble with that." okay kristy, you won me back.
-mal and jessi plotline is SO GOOD. they are adorable. they take turns acting as president, and it's like they're playing house.
-claud does a face-painting booth at the swim team fundraiser, and jill is "a teenager" (no idea what that means but lol)
-dumbwaiter discovery: dawn decides to investigate the hidden dumbwaiter and gets stuck in it (seriously this part is really wild and kind of creepy). she hears the supposedly mute margaret cooper speak!
-mary anne does research at the historical society into the mansion's history and finds out someone with a thick accent is doing the same research. later when she finds out margaret has an accent it becomes apparent that both know the other is doing research and margaret knows that mary anne knows she can speak. and they are still stuck staying in a house with the coopers!
-when the uncle who left the mansion to the menderses was on his deathbed he was asking for his treasure in the attic. it turns out that he must have been talking about a toy boat which has the word treasure written on the side. I think it's like this, except with the word treasure:
-an andrew-narrated chapter where the babysitters are trying to find the person who speaks with the accent (mentioned by the historical society lady) but andrew is confused about why the babysitters keep talking to women who sound like mary poppins. he asks why people talk funny and the response he gets, that people come to this country with their accents, prompts this thought: "when I go on a trip I take a suitcase."
-once the coopers/the randolphs realize they're found out, they flee, leaving this note: "the house--and its ghosts--are yours. C.R."
-in general, I really dig that there is a 14-year-old boy at the house and NONE of the babysitters have any romantic interest in him. in fact the only romance in this book is known to be off-limits: claudia knows that it's wrong for her to lead georgio on, and she ends up telling the truth about her age at the end.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-kristy is the worst. claud, mary anne, and dawn all get permission to go on the trip but lisa had only asked for 2 sitters, so kristy says, "I'm the president. There wouldn't be a Baby-sitters Club without me."
-the mansion is so huge that there is a floor that isn't getting used and ONE wing of ONE floor has the eight rooms that all the bsc and kids use. how many rooms are in this place? I guess it could be true but it just seems preposterous to me. it's like a freakin' hotel.
-spooky the black cat who lives in the mansion jumps out at the bsc and hisses, but then immediately is fine with jill picking him up. huh? cats aren't like that.
-shannon is SUCH a jerk in this book. she walks in 15 minutes late to a bsc meeting, and then condescendingly says, "next time let's try to end on time." maybe they could've if you'd arrived on time!
-a reference to jessi having a sitting job at the mancusis, but they don't have kids (they are the pet-filled house from [b:Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter|233749|Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter (The Baby-Sitters Club, #22)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387734857s/233749.jpg|3057704])
-a reference to the "late summer afternoon" but it's only been a couple weeks since school ended
-they keep being startled by spooky the cat but keep not closing their bedroom doors. CLOSE YOUR DOORS YOU IDIOTS
-mal and jessi keep acting like they're the reason the bsc is falling apart, but really it's not their fault. it's the fault of the 4 selfish assholes who went to maine and stuck them with all the work
-a reference to jessi having to babysit the braddocks at the celebrate america parade but then a reference to the braddocks being about to go out of town for a two week camping trip. huh?
-the fact that this book and [b:Mary Anne and Camp BSC|1515950|Mary Anne and Camp BSC (The Babysitters Club, #86)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1184559734s/1515950.jpg|465130] take place at the same time but can't possibly. how could the babysitters host camp so soon after school ends, but also go on this two week right after school ends?
claud outfits:
-"She had on a pair of bright blue Lycra biker shorts, a black lacy tank top, a man's white dress shirt, baggy purple and white checked socks, red high-tops, and a pair of big gold hoop earrings with a brightly colored wooden parrot perched on each hoop."
-"I decided to wear my floral-print mini-sundress (the pink and red flower pattern is big and sort of abstract). To that I added a pink baseball cap, dangling yellow glass earrings, and my red high-top sneakers."
-"...Claud looking amazing in a full-length black gauze skirt over a black leotard. She was wearing dangling glass earrings that she'd made from an old chandelier. Her long black hair was held back on one side with a single red rose."
-"I put on my black gauze skirt and a red tank top, and tied my white silk bomber jacket around my waist. Then I put on my airplane earrings."
lionel outfits:
-"I noticed that Lionel was wearing white linen pants and a beige short-sleeved shirt."
-'A few minutes later Lionel appeared before us in cutoff jeans, a T-shirt that read "Boston Red Sox," and a baseball cap turned sideways.'
snacks in claudia's room:
-twinkies (n.s.)
-rice cakes under her bed
-nacho-flavored cheese twists (n.s.)
-tootsie rolls under her mattress
-chuckle rings under her bed
-blue corn chips
claudia and georgio: framing device is that she's failing english and needs to write about her summer to retroactively pass.
she meets the mansion's previous caretakers' grandson, georgio, and falls for him. he is 19 and in college, and he assumes claud is 16 (which isn't anywhere as creepy as 19 and 13, but still -- 19 years olds shouldn't be dating 16 year olds either). he seems a little dangerous and mysteriously keeps telling the babysitters not to go to the attic because it might not be safe (but the baby sitters think he is hiding something up there and is the "ghost" in the mansion). meanwhile, claud convinces the babysitters and kids to participate in the founders day parade, dressing up in old dresses found in the attic and riding on a float made to look like the mansion's widow's walk.
kristy and jason: jason is one of the menderses, and he really wants to play softball with the townie boys but they don't have a coach. kristy helps facilitate their softball team, but they still need a coach after she leaves (see lionel for more).
lionel: the menderses' eldest, a 14 year old thespian wannabe. georgio introduces him to some of the summer stock theatre folks, and he ends up coaching his little brother jason's softball team.
dawn and jill: jill, the menderses' second oldest, wants to be a teenager really badly and does everything she can to look and act just like dawn. dawn eventually convinces her that she can be a mini-babysitter by helping look out for her sister martha, so she joins the swim team with her.
karen and martha: martha is the youngest menders kid, and she is super shy. karen wants to help her make friends but karen is THE WORST and is constantly going up to strangers and trying to convince them to be friends with martha. WORST approach. eventually, martha ends up joining the swim team with jill.
andrew: is really obsessed with frogs, toads, and boats. it's actually kind of adorable.
mary anne: does some of the historical-type investigation of the house. all things considered it's not a very mary anne-heavy book, though (which may be one of the reasons I love it so much).
mal and jessi: left behind in stoneybrook, it is up to them to take care of the bsc. when clients stop calling they think it's because they are doing a bad job, but really the clients are all just going out of town for early summer trips.
anyway, in the end, it turns out that the "ghosts" are the new caretakers, the coopers. elton cooper was really charles randolph, mr. menders's cousin who would receive the mansion if the menderses decided not to take it.
highlights:
-jill the idiot who loves dawn and constantly tries to look like her, when introducing herself, lists that one of her likes is teenagers. HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU? at one point when dawn goes to swim jill actually says, "I want to do whatever the teenagers do."
-lionel at one point is walking away from the bsc, mumbling to himself about "hysterical females"
-one night they have a dinner party, where they polish the silver and light candles and wear fancy clothes. it's very cute. I love these kinds of plotlines (see [b:Claudia and Crazy Peaches|1383154|Claudia and Crazy Peaches (The Baby-Sitters Club, #78)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1183143623s/1383154.jpg|1373157])
-they find a note of all the horrible things the coopers are going to do to the menderses after the bsc members leave. seriously. the coopers wrote their evil plan on a notepad. I guess this should maybe be under lowlights because it's so preposterous, but I just find it hilarious.
-kristy: "these guys needed a leader so badly they couldn't pull it together to turn me down -- even though I'm a girl and they were the kind of boys who'd ordinarily have trouble with that." okay kristy, you won me back.
-mal and jessi plotline is SO GOOD. they are adorable. they take turns acting as president, and it's like they're playing house.
-claud does a face-painting booth at the swim team fundraiser, and jill is "a teenager" (no idea what that means but lol)
-dumbwaiter discovery: dawn decides to investigate the hidden dumbwaiter and gets stuck in it (seriously this part is really wild and kind of creepy). she hears the supposedly mute margaret cooper speak!
-mary anne does research at the historical society into the mansion's history and finds out someone with a thick accent is doing the same research. later when she finds out margaret has an accent it becomes apparent that both know the other is doing research and margaret knows that mary anne knows she can speak. and they are still stuck staying in a house with the coopers!
-when the uncle who left the mansion to the menderses was on his deathbed he was asking for his treasure in the attic. it turns out that he must have been talking about a toy boat which has the word treasure written on the side. I think it's like this, except with the word treasure:
-an andrew-narrated chapter where the babysitters are trying to find the person who speaks with the accent (mentioned by the historical society lady) but andrew is confused about why the babysitters keep talking to women who sound like mary poppins. he asks why people talk funny and the response he gets, that people come to this country with their accents, prompts this thought: "when I go on a trip I take a suitcase."
-once the coopers/the randolphs realize they're found out, they flee, leaving this note: "the house--and its ghosts--are yours. C.R."
-in general, I really dig that there is a 14-year-old boy at the house and NONE of the babysitters have any romantic interest in him. in fact the only romance in this book is known to be off-limits: claudia knows that it's wrong for her to lead georgio on, and she ends up telling the truth about her age at the end.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-kristy is the worst. claud, mary anne, and dawn all get permission to go on the trip but lisa had only asked for 2 sitters, so kristy says, "I'm the president. There wouldn't be a Baby-sitters Club without me."
-the mansion is so huge that there is a floor that isn't getting used and ONE wing of ONE floor has the eight rooms that all the bsc and kids use. how many rooms are in this place? I guess it could be true but it just seems preposterous to me. it's like a freakin' hotel.
-spooky the black cat who lives in the mansion jumps out at the bsc and hisses, but then immediately is fine with jill picking him up. huh? cats aren't like that.
-shannon is SUCH a jerk in this book. she walks in 15 minutes late to a bsc meeting, and then condescendingly says, "next time let's try to end on time." maybe they could've if you'd arrived on time!
-a reference to jessi having a sitting job at the mancusis, but they don't have kids (they are the pet-filled house from [b:Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter|233749|Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter (The Baby-Sitters Club, #22)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387734857s/233749.jpg|3057704])
-a reference to the "late summer afternoon" but it's only been a couple weeks since school ended
-they keep being startled by spooky the cat but keep not closing their bedroom doors. CLOSE YOUR DOORS YOU IDIOTS
-mal and jessi keep acting like they're the reason the bsc is falling apart, but really it's not their fault. it's the fault of the 4 selfish assholes who went to maine and stuck them with all the work
-a reference to jessi having to babysit the braddocks at the celebrate america parade but then a reference to the braddocks being about to go out of town for a two week camping trip. huh?
-the fact that this book and [b:Mary Anne and Camp BSC|1515950|Mary Anne and Camp BSC (The Babysitters Club, #86)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1184559734s/1515950.jpg|465130] take place at the same time but can't possibly. how could the babysitters host camp so soon after school ends, but also go on this two week right after school ends?
claud outfits:
-"She had on a pair of bright blue Lycra biker shorts, a black lacy tank top, a man's white dress shirt, baggy purple and white checked socks, red high-tops, and a pair of big gold hoop earrings with a brightly colored wooden parrot perched on each hoop."
-"I decided to wear my floral-print mini-sundress (the pink and red flower pattern is big and sort of abstract). To that I added a pink baseball cap, dangling yellow glass earrings, and my red high-top sneakers."
-"...Claud looking amazing in a full-length black gauze skirt over a black leotard. She was wearing dangling glass earrings that she'd made from an old chandelier. Her long black hair was held back on one side with a single red rose."
-"I put on my black gauze skirt and a red tank top, and tied my white silk bomber jacket around my waist. Then I put on my airplane earrings."
lionel outfits:
-"I noticed that Lionel was wearing white linen pants and a beige short-sleeved shirt."
-'A few minutes later Lionel appeared before us in cutoff jeans, a T-shirt that read "Boston Red Sox," and a baseball cap turned sideways.'
snacks in claudia's room:
-twinkies (n.s.)
-rice cakes under her bed
-nacho-flavored cheese twists (n.s.)
-tootsie rolls under her mattress
-chuckle rings under her bed
-blue corn chips