Young Adult Revisited

Claudia is all excited about the new museum opening in Stoneybrooke because one of the displays is by her favorite semi-local artist Donald Newman. She saw one of his sculptures at New York and can’t wait to see it again. On one of the first days, she takes Marilyn, Carolyn, and Corrie to view the exhibits. Before getting to the sculptures, they hear a loud siren and security rushes out. Someone broke into the case holding a bunch of rare gold coins and took off. Claudia makes note of the people around, including a Brownies troop and a man with one blue eye and one green eye. At the next BSC meeting, Claudia tells the club about the break-in and they all decide that they should solve the mystery themselves. They arrange to go back to the museum and examine everything. They see the same guy with two different colored eyes and follow him around until he leaves in a huff. Jessi thinks the thief may have hidden the coins in the fountain, but Claudia thinks he hid them in

In case you haven’t read the book before this (which I’m suspiciously missing LOL), Jessica has found her “one true love” in the form of Jeremy Randall. Unfortunately, he’s also engaged to Sue, the daughter of Alice’s college roommate who died. Alice threw her an engagement party and Jessica snuck off to make out with Jeremy. Liz catches them and naturally flips out. Not because her sister is a huge whore, but because someone might catch them. They reluctantly stop kissing just before Sue finds them. They make up a lame excuse about trying to find flowers for the party and they head back inside. The twins have to give a speech at the party, but Jessica runs off in tears. Liz makes a joke about champagne going through her twin too fast and everyone laughs. Liz tells Steven about Jessica and Jeremy, but surprisingly he doesn’t really care. He thinks it’s just another of Jessica’s flings and that Liz is overreacting. Um, would he feel the same way if Billie was sneaking aro

The BSC has a new client named Mrs. Lowell, who has three small children. Mary Anne sits for them first and describes them as perfect angels. All three kids are polite, well behaved, and impeccably dressed. She does notice that Mrs. Lowell gives her the onceover, but it doesn’t really phase her. She also notices the older kids giggling about an Asian boy riding his bike on TV. A few days later Claudia has to sit for the kids and she has a much different experience. Mrs. Lowell is kind of rude, snaps at her, and is annoyed that she doesn’t pay attention. The kids are completely out of control and won’t listen to a word she says. They want more snacks and for her to do whatever they say, or they’ll tell their mom that she was a bad babysitter. She stops them from getting more snacks, so they sneak into the kitchen and steal grapes. At the next meeting, Mrs. Lowell calls and talks to Kristy, making a specific request that Claudia not sit for her anymore. Claudia c

Billie Layton is a big tomboy and she doesn’t have many friends. Her best friend is Jim Sturgis (a possible recruit for the Jim Regis character in Sweet Valley Confidential?), but he is secretly dating Sally Larson. Billie’s mom is pregnant and her little brother is coming any day. Jessica suddenly finds her fascinating, especially when the softball team starts winning. Billie can’t figure out why Jim suddenly finds excuses not to spend time with her or why he won’t walk her home from school. She starts hanging around the twins, except that Jessica keeps finding excuses not to be around her. Jessica is too busy with the Unicorn Club. Janet Howell, the president of the club, wants the club to win a civic award. The award goes to a club that helps others and she wants them to change their image. The prize is an all-expense paid trip to anywhere within a 30-mile radius or something like that. The girls come up with a few ideas, but Janet shoots them all down. Jes

Ned and Alice are constantly fighting and things at home are always tense. Ned makes a few comments, indicating that he’s bored with his career and wants a change. Alice works on a presentation for the new addition to the Valley Mall. Her firm gets the job and they put her in charge, which means that she is always working late and never home. Mr. Santelli throws a huge fundraising dinner for his mayoral campaign. The next day, the newspaper runs a story that he was taking bribes. They discovered a $10,000 deposit made into his account, but he claims he doesn’t know how it got there. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that I would notice a deposit of that size in my bank account! He literally claims that he didn’t know it was there. The police press charges on him and he has a trial set. Ned agrees to work as his lawyer and Steven comes back, covering the trial for one of his law classes. Alice and Ned fight about that too because she thinks he is taking o

This book actually made me groan a few times, but I’ll do my best to recap it. So Claudia comes up with a brilliant idea: Kristy should run for class president. Apparently, SMS runs elections in the middle of the school year and those elected retain their office for half a year. We always did ours at the end of the school year for the next year, but whatevs. Kristy laughs it off, but the more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense. She already runs the BSC and pretends like she runs the world so this is perfect. Unfortunately, Kristy also has 317 other things on her schedule like studying, Krushers practice, sitting, meetings, etc. She cancels softball practice to work on her campaign, puts off schoolwork to work on her campaign…do you see where this is going? Claudia decides that the perfect logo is a K+ symbol, which they all think is just fantastic. They even paper fences and stores nearby with the signs. Kristy’s competitors are Grace Blume, Pete Black an

Janice, better known as Jan, heads to a party at class president Randy’s house. The only reason she goes is because she wants to get her hands on the delectable Bobby Walker, a relatively new kid in school. Hen looks like James Dean or at least I think so, given that he wears a white tee-shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket. Randy convinces her to go over and talk to him. Bobby barely gives her the time of day, especially when a cheerleader by the name of Suzy interrupts the party because she wants to make a big deal over her squad mate Caroline’s birthday. Bobby calls her over and gives her a tape by a singer named Black Walker. She pretends that she’s heard of him and they do some minor flirting. Right before she leaves from the party drunk and ticked off, Randy asks Janice to give Caroline a ride home. She doesn’t want to, but he forces the issue until she agrees. At first Caroline is quiet, but then she warns her to stay away from Bobby. They argue over him