Jessi can't believe it. Her dreaded Aunt Cecelia is moving in to take care of Jessi and her brother and sister. How humiliating - Jessi's going to have a baby-sitter!Jessi's at dance class and is surprised when it's her father, not her mother, who picks her up. Immediately, Jessi worries that something is wrong. Her father reassures her that that's not the case. Just the opposite in fact: he's off from work early to celebrate. When Jessi gets home, she finds out what the celebration is: her mother has finally found a job and is going back to work! Furthermore, to take care of Squirt during the day and help out around the house, Aunt Cecelia is moving in!
Plus, Aunt Cecelia is a drill sergeant. She tells Jessi when to go to bed, how to wear her hair, and she even forbids her to go to a Baby-sitters Club Meeting.
Jessi knows she's old enough to take care of herself - but how can she tell Aunt Cecelia that?
You might remember Aunt Cecelia from the time Becca got stuck on an island while Jessi was left in charge of her siblings for the weekend. If not, Jessi is quick to remind you of that. Apparently Aunt Cecelia remembers it too, because she immediately starts to micromanage their lives: she tells the girls what they can and cannot eat, what to wear and where they can be. They can't go anywhere because Aunt Cecelia's "never met them", never mind the fact that she's only been around for a few days. She insists on knowing exactly where they are at every minute. When Jessi is 10 minutes late coming home from the Rodowkys, Aunt Cecelia punishes her by banning her from that evening's Club meeting, threatening to ban her from more if she keeps up the attitude.
Meanwhile, Jessi and Becca keep pulling all sorts of pranks on Aunt Cecelia, hoping that if they're nasty enough, she'll want to move out again. They short-sheet her bed, leave plastic spiders in it, and put shaving cream in her slippers. Aunt Cecelia never says anything though, and the longer this goes on, the more nervous Jessi feels and the more she feels she can't go to her parents about it all.
Eventually Jessi realizes enough is enough and sits down with her parents. She confesses to them everything that has been going on. Her parents are disappointed that Jessi didn't come to them sooner, but quickly call a family meeting. At first Aunt Cecelia is all haughty and stubborn, insisting that if the girls are so independent, then she's not needed after all. But soon the family talks things out, and Aunt Cecelia admits that she was nervous coming into the family and was only trying to do her best. She also lets Mr and Mrs Ramsey know about the tricks the girls have been playing on her. Everyone apologizes, and decide to do better moving forward.
The girls aren't punished for their tricks, and Jessi spends forever wondering what's going to happen. The book ends with Aunt Cecelia pulling the same pranks on the girls, and everyone laughing it off.
The subplot in this one is the Stoneybrook Elementary Science Fair. Jackie Rodowsky kinda wants to enter it, but is afraid he'll mess up and embarrass himself. Mostly though, he just wants to make a cool volcano and watch it explode. Jessi gets so caught up in making sure that Jackie does it right and succeeds, that she essentially takes over the project and does it all for him. Elsewhere, Kristy is guiding David Michael on building a mobile of the solar system, Mallory is watching Margo build a shadowbox of life on the moon using Barbies, and Stacey watches Charlotte play music to plants. On the day of the science fair, Jackie becomes upset because he can't answer any of the questions, and more importantly, didn't really do any of the project himself. Jessi feels horrible and learns a valuable lesson about caring about people without invalidating them.
David Michael is just happy to get an honourable mention (essentially a participation award), because he gets a ribbon, and Margo just wanted everyone to see Barbie on the moon haha Charlotte actually wins third place!
Random Thoughts
- I love Jessi on this cover. That outfit is awesome. It's so '80s, but it's part of the good '80s haha Plus I just love her physical expression and stance. I think this is my favourite Jessi cover
- It's official: Mallory totes has red hair. This is the second time they've explicitly described her with such.
- I was interested to see that they started foreshadowing Mallory's father losing his job. I was always under the impression that shit happened in these books out of nowhere, but now that I'm consciously reading the books in chronological order, I'm seeing tons of foreshadowing on the major issues, like Mimi dying and Stacey's parents getting divorced
- Likewise, Stacey's still having health problems and keeps saying that she should make an appointment with her specialist, but is reluctant to do so
- In addition to all the foreshadowing, there's also a lot of continuity present, more so than I remember there being when I was a kid:
- Aunt Cecelia can't let go of what happened to Becca that weekend on the island
- The girls compare the science fair to what happened during the beauty pageant: only this time, they keep their heads and are way better about things
- Jessi mentions the time they all went to summer camp together and the school-wide ski trip as some of her favourite memories with her friends
- I don't find it weird that Aunt Cecelia would park Squirt in his playpen while she cleaned or made dinner. What I do find weird is that she won't let Jessi and Becca play with him instead
- Just like with Dawn and Mary Anne's families: I don't know why Mr and Mrs Ramsey didn't sit everyone down for a family meeting sooner. A lot of this book could have been avoided if Mr and Mrs Ramsey had just filled Cecelia in on what the general rules and routines of the house were. I suppose we wouldn't have had this book then haha
- On the otherhand, I totes understand Jessi being reluctant to bother her parents. One, it's hard to confront your parents with problems. Two, she didn't want to worry them or cause them any stress or grief during this already stressful time in their lives
- How late does Mr Ramsey work? Jessi mentions that her dance classes normally end long before he's ready to leave the office. Assuming her dance classes are at 4pm (most of their after school sitting jobs start at 3:30, and her dance classes are in the next town over), and they last an hour, she'd be done dance at 5pm (which also jives with her being able to just make Club meetings on time). I suppose an hour is a long time to wait, and leaving the office at 6pm isn't that late... Okay, nevermind, I rescind my query xD haha
- Is it bad that I want to try to replicate Charlotte's experiment so bad? I want to see for myself what the results are haha
- I feel bad for Aunt Cecelia. Yeah, she's strict (she's totally out of line for most of this book), but she's really not that bad once the family discusses rules and boundaries. She's probably more nervous and lonely than anything, and is trying to overcompensate. She's not nearly as bad for the rest of the series, as far as I can remember. Guess we'll see haha
- After school snacks were always a point of contention for me as a child. We ate lunch around noon, and I got home from school around 4pm. I was pretty darn hungry by the time I got home from school. However, in my family, we ate dinner at 5pm, so I really couldn't eat a large snack at 4pm, or else I really wouldn't have been able to eat my dinner later. Problem is, my tummy isn't satisfied with just a little bit of food. A little bit of food doesn't make my tummy a little less hungry. It actually makes my tummy more hungry until it's satisfied. That hour before dinner was always the longest hour of my life.
- That being said, Jessi's family obviously doesn't eat until 6:30-7pm. And they get home from school at like, 3pm, meaning lunch is probably around 11:30am. 7 hours is a long time to wait to eat something substantial, and 3 hours is more than enough time to work up an appetite again. I can see why Jessi and Becca normally eat a sandwich as an after school snack.
- Aunt Cecelia mentions that "sometimes black people have to work twice as hard to prove themselves". It's pretty deep for a BSC book. It makes me wish we had explored racism with Jessi more. Especially now with all the Black Lives Matters stuff. Crazy how something said in the 1980s can still ring incredibly true today.
- ...not that I wanted to get political. Cuz 1) I'm not a really political person, and 2) it's not that kind of blog haha
- I don't know if Aunt Cecelia was being hyperbolic to make a point, or if she was serious, but there is a huge difference between, "The girls are old enough to pick their own clothes and organize their own schedules" and "We don't need you at all anymore". The girls can't watch their brother during the school hours. It wouldn't be fair for them to have to consistently watch him every single day from 3pm to when their parents got home. Jessi would have to give up dancing, because not only would she now have to watch her siblings, there'd be no one to drive her to class. And there's all the cleaning and the cooking...
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