Scan barcode
A review by finesilkflower
Aloha, Baby-sitters! by Ann M. Martin
2.0
The Baby-sitters go to Hawaii.
On a school-sponsored trip to Hawaii, Jessi makes a scrapbook documenting the trip for Mallory, who was too poor to come. During this trip: Dawn (who doesn't even go here anymore, but whatever) cleans up a local beach; Abby is cast in a sunscreen commercial, but ironically gets a sunburn during the shoot; Mary Anne and Logan experiment with being "TBI" (Together But Independent, basically ignoring each other on the trip so their friends don't make fun of them for being joined at the hip); Claudia is traumatized by a visit to Pearl Harbor; Stacey survives a helicopter accident, only to pass out from diabetic shock while waiting to be rescued. Back home, Kristy and Mallory hold down the fort (Mallory because she couldn't afford to go and Kristy because she already has separate plans to go to Hawaii with her family). They help the Stones with a farm camp and deal with Jenny's tantrums. Mallory is shamed by a rando mom at a playground for letting Jenny cry it out.
Like all Super Specials, this one is overstuffed. The most emotionally complex story is Claudia's, as she wrestles with feelings of shame for being Japanese in a war memorial for a Japanese attack. She is aware of the more deathly attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fact that Japanese Americans were interned during the war, but these facts only make her feel worse. She feels better after having a conversation with a friendly old Pearl Harbor vet who tells her she cannot take on the burden of an entire country, and that tolerance and respect in the present is all any of us can do. I'm conflicted about Claudia having this storyline given that the white children honestly have a lot more cause to feel ashamed of their ethnic heritage (this chapter GESTURES at that by having Claudia ask Mary Anne if she's ashamed to be part German because of WW2), but I think that the idea of ancestral shame is an interesting one, unusual for a Baby-sitters Club book (much less a Super Special), and that it is handled decently here given the short amount of airspace it's given.
That said, there is another racially weird part where Mary Anne is super excited to meet some Hawaiians and baby-sit for a "typical Hawaiian family." She almost says this to their face but stops herself just in time, wondering how she'd feel if someone wanted to meet her family as a "typical suburban white family." Yet, she doesn't go QUITE far enough to actually question her whole attitude and understand how tokenizing and patronizing she's being.
The Mallory storyline hits home in this day and age of constant mom-shaming. Mallory is yelled at by a stranger who thinks she is neglecting Jenny by ignoring her tantrum (a strategy encouraged by Jenny's parents). Mallory defends herself that she was following the parents' orders, but she also happened to agree with them. It would have been interesting to develop these lines of thought more - is the role of the baby-sitter to carry out the parents' orders, or does the BSC itself have a parenting philosophy? Anyway, I guess the Super Special is not the place to do that.
Stacey's storyline is flat-out melodrama. Most of the others are sketchy at best.
Read as a kid? Not that I recall, but this is a pretty forgettable book.
Lingering Questions: Could any school trip possibly work like this?? It's announced in June, right at the end of the school year, occurring a month later; costs a hefty sum that makes it impossible for all but the most wealthy students (unusual for a public school), YET also seems like a steep discount when you take into account all the costs of going to freaking HAWAII (so WHO is funding the rest?? my public school system couldn't even afford books); it is open to any student who can raise the money, PLUS some non-students like Dawn; requires tons and tons of teacher chaperones; and seems mostly focused on pleasure, not education. The trip to Pearl Harbor is educational, I suppose, but mostly they go to beaches and stuff. There is no specific pedagogical aim for the trip as a whole. It's just a very perplexing plot device! It would have made more sense to do it Disney style, and have the sitters go on a family trip with the ever generous Watson.
Revised Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the baby-sitters would be if they aged. The older club members are between their junior and senior years of college at this point - say 21 or 22 years old. In many ways, a big expensive trip like this is more believable for adults; they have more access to money and they can take care of themselves. But it becomes totally unbelievable that it would be such a giant schoolwide trip, since college students don't really do things en masse as an entire school or class, since they have such different schedules and focuses. I think for many reasons it makes more sense to retcon this as a big vacation undertaken by those club members who could afford the time and money, and pretend that the chaperones and other classmates are not there. They barely are, anyway.
On a school-sponsored trip to Hawaii, Jessi makes a scrapbook documenting the trip for Mallory, who was too poor to come. During this trip: Dawn (who doesn't even go here anymore, but whatever) cleans up a local beach; Abby is cast in a sunscreen commercial, but ironically gets a sunburn during the shoot; Mary Anne and Logan experiment with being "TBI" (Together But Independent, basically ignoring each other on the trip so their friends don't make fun of them for being joined at the hip); Claudia is traumatized by a visit to Pearl Harbor; Stacey survives a helicopter accident, only to pass out from diabetic shock while waiting to be rescued. Back home, Kristy and Mallory hold down the fort (Mallory because she couldn't afford to go and Kristy because she already has separate plans to go to Hawaii with her family). They help the Stones with a farm camp and deal with Jenny's tantrums. Mallory is shamed by a rando mom at a playground for letting Jenny cry it out.
Like all Super Specials, this one is overstuffed. The most emotionally complex story is Claudia's, as she wrestles with feelings of shame for being Japanese in a war memorial for a Japanese attack. She is aware of the more deathly attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fact that Japanese Americans were interned during the war, but these facts only make her feel worse. She feels better after having a conversation with a friendly old Pearl Harbor vet who tells her she cannot take on the burden of an entire country, and that tolerance and respect in the present is all any of us can do. I'm conflicted about Claudia having this storyline given that the white children honestly have a lot more cause to feel ashamed of their ethnic heritage (this chapter GESTURES at that by having Claudia ask Mary Anne if she's ashamed to be part German because of WW2), but I think that the idea of ancestral shame is an interesting one, unusual for a Baby-sitters Club book (much less a Super Special), and that it is handled decently here given the short amount of airspace it's given.
That said, there is another racially weird part where Mary Anne is super excited to meet some Hawaiians and baby-sit for a "typical Hawaiian family." She almost says this to their face but stops herself just in time, wondering how she'd feel if someone wanted to meet her family as a "typical suburban white family." Yet, she doesn't go QUITE far enough to actually question her whole attitude and understand how tokenizing and patronizing she's being.
The Mallory storyline hits home in this day and age of constant mom-shaming. Mallory is yelled at by a stranger who thinks she is neglecting Jenny by ignoring her tantrum (a strategy encouraged by Jenny's parents). Mallory defends herself that she was following the parents' orders, but she also happened to agree with them. It would have been interesting to develop these lines of thought more - is the role of the baby-sitter to carry out the parents' orders, or does the BSC itself have a parenting philosophy? Anyway, I guess the Super Special is not the place to do that.
Stacey's storyline is flat-out melodrama. Most of the others are sketchy at best.
Read as a kid? Not that I recall, but this is a pretty forgettable book.
Lingering Questions: Could any school trip possibly work like this?? It's announced in June, right at the end of the school year, occurring a month later; costs a hefty sum that makes it impossible for all but the most wealthy students (unusual for a public school), YET also seems like a steep discount when you take into account all the costs of going to freaking HAWAII (so WHO is funding the rest?? my public school system couldn't even afford books); it is open to any student who can raise the money, PLUS some non-students like Dawn; requires tons and tons of teacher chaperones; and seems mostly focused on pleasure, not education. The trip to Pearl Harbor is educational, I suppose, but mostly they go to beaches and stuff. There is no specific pedagogical aim for the trip as a whole. It's just a very perplexing plot device! It would have made more sense to do it Disney style, and have the sitters go on a family trip with the ever generous Watson.
Revised Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the baby-sitters would be if they aged. The older club members are between their junior and senior years of college at this point - say 21 or 22 years old. In many ways, a big expensive trip like this is more believable for adults; they have more access to money and they can take care of themselves. But it becomes totally unbelievable that it would be such a giant schoolwide trip, since college students don't really do things en masse as an entire school or class, since they have such different schedules and focuses. I think for many reasons it makes more sense to retcon this as a big vacation undertaken by those club members who could afford the time and money, and pretend that the chaperones and other classmates are not there. They barely are, anyway.