The Baby-Sitters Club #49: Claudia and the Genius of Elm Street

Claudia is sitting around and waiting for the other BSC members to show up when she comes up with a great idea. She'll do a bunch of paintings of junk food to combine her two favorite things. After everyone gets there, they get a call from a new client. Ginger Wilder needs someone to watch her daughter Rosie. Her mom did in the past, but she just came down with a case of shingles. Since Claudia is free, she gets the job.

So it turns out that Rosie is one of those kids who can do everything. She plays the piano and violin, sings and dances, is an actor, and also does super good in school. Claudia gets through the day but feels crappy about herself. Rosie sneers at her a lot for not knowing the questions she asks.

Claudia finally calls Janine and asks her for help. She comes over, Rosie gets snotty with her, but Janine helps her before leaving. Stacey gets a job sitting for her when she has an audition for some new show hosted by a guy named Uncle Dandy. Rosie pretty much makes her feel like crap and she vows never to go back.

Jessi then takes one of the jobs, thinking that she can talk to Rosie about dancing. Rosie changes the subject and brags about her acting, so they watch a video of all the commercials she made. Jessi briefly wonders if Rosie doesn't want to talk about dancing because she thinks Jessi might beat her. Janine comes back again to help Rosie, but Rosie once again acts like a huge brat.

We also find out that Rosie gets picked on a lot in school. Gee, I wonder why? The other kids tease her for being a brain and laugh at her because she never went to Disney World. Rosie just snaps back about how she has a career and doesn't have time for other kids.

Claudia goes with her to the Uncle Dandy thing. Rosie totally shoots down some girl who tries to talk to her, but her mom thinks it was the right thing to do. On the way home, Rosie throws a fit because she wants ice cream. When her parents tell her no because she has a big day and has to go to bed early, she throws a hissy fit and curls up in a ball.

While all this is going on, Kristy convinces Claudia to host a show for her paintings. The BSC help her clean out her garage and get it ready. They also make a bunch of invitations and send them out to their charges' parents. Claudia and Mary Anne go to some crossword puzzle championship at the school to cheer her on. The other kids make fun of her again, but some cheer for her when she wins.

While sitting for Rosie after the competition, Claudia and her fight before Rosie takes a piece of paper and starts drawing. Turns out that she's also an amazing artist and that whenever she left Claud alone, which was all the time, she was drawing. Her parents come home and find them laughing but lecture Rosie on all the crap she has coming up. They gush over her trophy before sending her to her room.

Claudia sits them down and tells them that Rosie is really good. They instantly start thinking about how they can squeeze in more lessons and stuff. She explains that she doesn't want Rosie to hate art like she hates everything else. Then, she offers to put some of Rosie's drawings in her show. They agree, so she runs off to share the news.

They day of the art show arrives. Rosie shows up all excited and tells her that her and her parents worked out a new agreement. She'll only do three activities every week now, including taking art classes. Alan shows up, makes a pest of himself, and leaves chewed up gum everywhere until they run him off. In the end, Claudia winds up selling two of her paintings, including one to Janine.

*I think Rosie's grandmother probably just licked someone to get shingles and quit working. Seriously, if I had to spend anytime around this kid, I would probably lock her in a closet.

*Rosie gets pissy because Claudia doesn't know if foxes hibernate. When she says that she doesn't remember, Rosie sneers that she never forget anything she learns. Aw, that's cute. Come back and talk to me when you're a freshman in college.

*At one point Rosie snaps at Janine something about how she can't believe she's in high school. Does it make me a bad person for wanting Janine to randomly show up with one of her science projects and make fun of Rosie for not knowing what is going on?

*The crossword championship is weird. There is one person from each grade and a puzzle they have to finish on a big chalkboard. Whoever finishes first wins, but the teacher points out that the questions increase in difficulty for each level. How is that fair? When we had spelling bee competitions in my school, all grades were put together and got the same words. Rosie really isn't the best in the school; she's just the best in her grade.

*Uncle Dandy is supposed to be the host of a brand new show. When Claudia goes to the filming though, the lights on the sign are burnt out. Wouldn't they fix that before filming the first episode?

*Everyone acts like the show is some huge deal but it kind of isn't at all. I think it's described as showcasing kids from central Connecticut. Ooh.

*Some guy randomly shows up and tells Claudia all this stuff about her artwork. She doesn't get it, so she repeats it to Janine who tells her it makes no sense. As someone who studied art history, it totally made sense. Either Janine is full of it or Claudia repeated it wrong.

*It's nice that Rosie picks the things she wants to do but nothing changes. In later books, she's back to auditioning for movies and commercials again.

*I know that we're supposed to feel sorry for Rosie but I don't. It's one of those things where she acts stuck up and rude to kids her own age but then when they act the same way, we're supposed to believe that's why she was mean. You get what you give kid.