The Baby-Sitter’s Club #128: Claudia and the Little Liar

Claudia gets a job sitting for Haley and Matt Braddock. Their mom warns her that the kids can’t watch television until they get their homework done. It’s a new rule that the kids know, but Haley doesn’t want to follow it. Claudia makes her do her homework anyway, but then catches her on the phone with Vanessa Pike. Haley finally does her work and shows her a book report. It turns out that it’s one she did last month and when Claudia accidentally reveals it, her mom grounds her for lying.

That’s pretty much the whole basis of the book: Haley lying about everything. Claudia keeps sitting for her, but she keeps lying. She says that Matt needs paint to make a poster for school, so she has Stacey bring over some. Matt actually needed a book from Nicky Pike and by the time Claudia calls, it’s too late to get the book. Of course Haley lies and says she told her he needed a book and she just didn’t listen.

As if Kristy doesn’t have enough on her plate, she’s now coaching a girls basketball team too. Haley is on the team and she starts lying to the other girls, telling them the BSC are spies that report back to their parents. The other girls start eying the sitters funny, even Becca and Charlotte. The lies spread to other clients too and Abby has problems with the Rodowsky boys thinking she’s a spy.

Kristy wants to talk to Mrs. Braddock, but Claudia convinces her to give things another chance. This time Haley lies again, not only to her, but to her mom also. Mrs. Braddock decides that it’s not a good idea to have her sit anymore because Haley’s lies seem to get worse when she’s around. The girls talk things over and decide to do a role playing exercise with Haley. Her parents go along with them and arrange it for the next day.

Haley even lies during that exercise, saying that she was only on the phone for a few minutes and Claudia was interrupting her and forcing her to work. Haley gets called on her lies, flips out and runs upstairs. Claudia talks things through with her and it turns out that she’s having problems in school. Her dad talks it over with her and she explains how she lied a few times over not getting her homework done, the teachers believed her and she just kept lying. They decide to get her a tutor and she apologizes to everyone, even Claudia.

The other story is about Claudia and her boyfriend Josh, who’s a year younger than her. She starts feeling like he might not be really into her and she’s not sure she likes him. She spends the whole book wondering about their relationship and when they finally talk things through, they realize that they aren’t clicking as a couple, but make good friends. They have a friendship date and decide that it’s the best choice for them.

*Ann’s end notes are kind of lame. It basically just says you should always tell the truth because the truth causes less problems than a lie.

*Josh helps Claudia decorate and sew the uniforms for the basketball team. I actually think this is pretty freaking sweet/cute.

*After everything, Haley lies about pushing a girl during a game. Kristy looks at her and she admits that she did push her, but it was an accident.

*Why the fuck did it take so long for Mrs. Braddock to stop letting Claudia work there? I get that Haley was lying to everyone, but she even admits that Claudia makes it worse and yet she keeps hiring her for weeks.

*Becca flips out at Jessi because her mom knows she’s using her lunch money to buy cookies and thinks she told on her. Jessi says her mom found all the leftover change in her bookbag. Wouldn’t someone notice though that she never ordered a lunch?? When I was in elementary school, there was no way we could just order cookies and not eat lunch.