Young Adult Revisited

Thanks to some random English assignment, Mary Anne keeps reading Poe stuff while home alone. That naturally makes her think about and miss Dawn. During the net BSC meeting, she takes a call from Mr. Cates, a new client who is conveniently opening Poe & Co., a bookstore in a historic mansion. Kristy kindly gives her the job. See, Stoneybrook was apparently home to Benson Dalton Gable. Not only was he a compatriot of Poe's, but there are rumors that Poe maybe stole ideas from him or even killed him. She meets Tom and Gillian, the two kids of the bookstore owner. They hate living in the old mansion, hate that it keeps raining, and hate that their mom isn't there. They also really dislike Ms. Spark, the bookstore designer (is that even a real job?), but that might be because she and their dad have a clear spark. Mary Anne also meets Professor Kingslover, an English professor from the local college who has an unhealthy obsession with Poe and Alex Gable. His dad...

Hannah's cousin Berta passed away and left her a farm in Oklahoma. Since she doesn't want to move away from River Heights, Carson offers to go with her and settle everything so she can sell it. Nancy is waiting for them to come home so they can head to the airport when Carson shows up with a big surprise, an RV! He thought it would be fun to drive there instead of flying and surprises her with the news that Bess and George are coming with them. It turns out that Hannah is petrified of tornadoes but brought along a book with lots of information on tornadoes. That comes in handy when they one hits the highway. Nancy luckily remembers what to do and gets everyone to lie down in a ditch and hold on. The tornado nearly lifts her up, but she holds onto a patch of grass to survive. Seriously? Even I have a hard time buying that one. As soon as they arrive, Nancy spots a green duffel bag stuck in a tree. The girls dig through the nearly demolished barn and find a ladder...

This is one of those early books where Mallory is still fairly new to the BSC, so that explains why she's never heard of the Arnold twins before. Kristy takes the call and explains that Mrs. Arnold is doing a big project with the school and needs someone to watch the twins every Tuesday and Thursday. Isn't it convenient how no one ever needs a sitter during club hours? Since Mallory is the only one free, she gets the job. On her first sitting job, things go pretty well. Marilyn and Carolyn are super excited to see her kid kit and want to check out all the books. As soon as they grab books and sit down on their beds, Mallory coos about how cute they look. This sets off a firestorm. The twins, who wear identical bracelets with their names on them, ditch their bracelets and make it clear that while she likes sitting, she won't like sitting for them. Things go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. The next time she sits, the twins play hide and seek. She fin...