The Baby-Sitters Club #50: Dawn’s Big Date

Lewis Bruno is finally coming to town! Dawn thinks that hanging out with him will be the perfect way to practice having a boyfriend and get one in town. The more she thinks about him coming, the more she starts worrying about her looks. She borrows magazines from Stacey and flips through all of them, trying to find a way to update her look.

Mary Anne agrees to help by doing her makeup and fixing her hair, mimicking the look of a model in the magazine. Dawn cuts one of her shirts, turning it into an off the shoulder shirt. She pouts because it makes her look older and she takes a picture, before sending it off to Lewis. Dawn starts changing her attitude too. She talks back in class, starts chewing gum and acts like a hard ass. The other members of the BSC call her on her behavior. They don’t like the way she dresses, the way she acts or anything about her. She just kind of gets annoyed and says nothing.

This book also introduces Normal Hill. Dawn sits for him and his sister Sarah treats him like crap. He eats all the time and complains about the diet his parents put him on. Sarah’s friend Elizabeth calls him Enormous Hill and makes fun of him all the time. The other girls try encouraging him to exercise. What finally works is letting him rip up mean pictures Sarah drew and talking back to her.

Lewis finally comes to town and Dawn wears one of her new outfits to pick him up. They barely talk and she feels stupid. Mary Anne sets up another date, but things don’t go well. Dawn reads a bunch of articles on dating and tips on dating. She feels crappy on their date and Mary Anne keeps pinching her when she says the wrong thing. The next day they explode on each other at the BSC meeting and everyone sides with Mary Anne.

Dawn thinks some more and decides she wasn’t being fair to anyone. She goes to see Lewis and asks him for a second chance. She makes a bunch of vegetarian food, she changes clothes, they explore the barn and then she treats him. They have a good time and she then apologizes to Mary Anne. They go out on another double date and have a great time. He kisses her and she realizes that she likes him and doesn’t want to kiss anyone else.

*I always remembered Dawn wearing a skirt made from an old pair of sweatpants and flowered material. It seemed really ugly to me.

*Dawn makes a bunch of little braids all over her head. Later in the book, she undoes the braids halfway and leaves it all wild.

*She points out that no one flipped out when Mary Anne did her makeover. It’s been years since I read that book, but I’m pretty sure they did. In fact, that’s the book where I learned what pariah means!

*They are kind of bitchy to her though. Stacey and Claudia are especially bad and Dawn says they don’t want anyone else to act like an individual. Yeah, I kind of agree with that.