Friday, February 1, 2008

The Baby-sitters Club #21 Mallory and the Trouble With Twins

This will probably be the last BSC book I will do for awhile, because I've been doing a lot lately (hey, I read them the most as a child) and I like some variety. Also, someone left a comment on the Baby-sitters Remember post and said I was "blatantly ripping off Tiff." I guess that means I can't talk about the BSC any more, since only one blog discussing them may exist. Although I did check a minute ago and Tiff never recapped that particular book, so I don't get it. Please explain.

Congratulations to Mallory, who totally killed everyone in the poll! I have to say, I'm glad she won. Elizabeth is really judgmental and overbearing, Enid is hella boring, and Penny is just a bitch. But I like to think that Mallory is lovably lame. Come on, we all had our Mallory moments growing up, feeling awkward and insecure about your looks, hanging out with the cool girls but never feeling quite good enough for them, and getting lost in the crowd of your siblings. Mallory may be boring, but she's definitely relatable.

Sorry this update is so late, but Major Payne was on HBO. I'm sure you understand. "Who's the dummy now?" Also, I would like to curse the weather for snowing so much that the college was given a snow day on the one day that I don't have classes.

I liked Mallory and the Trouble With Twins because I liked whenever the BSC went to the mall and I got to read about what they bought. This one has three mall trips!

The book opens with all the Pikes on their way to Washington Mall for new shoes. That's got to suck. Mallory wants some awesome pink shoes with green trim, but has to get loafers instead because her mom says that they'll go with everything. Let her get the pink shoes, Mrs. Pike! If she bitches about them not matching anything, then remind her whose idea it was to get them. The Pikes all split up, and Claire and Margo go off with Mallory. She has the great idea to take them to watch people get their ears pierced. Gross! I didn't even want to watch when I got my own ears pierced, let alone a complete stranger's. Claire screams as she watches, and Margo says she's going to puke. Mallory drags them out of there, mortified.

Mallory gets a new sitting job for the Arnold twins, Marilyn and Carolyn. The twins' mom is making them dress alike and shit, so no one can tell them apart. They do wear name bracelets, though. Mallory makes the mistake of telling them they look cute, and they take off their bracelets and run around and tell her to tell them apart now. Um, what? Cute is an insult now? The twins also start speaking in this made up language of theirs. It's so demented. Mallory is understandably flustered.

Mallory feels fug and babyish, and wants her ears pierced and her hair cut. She also wants her parents to treat her a little bit more like an adult. Mallory? You're 11. Also, if you want this shit, just ask. Don't sit and whine about it.

The twins continue pulling their shit and act like little assholes. Beat them! They pull a switch on Claudia, but instead of just a harmless little prank, they have Carolyn go to Marilyn's music school for an important recital practice. Claudia obviously can't drive, so she can't switch them back. Mrs. Arnold comes home and yells at the twins, and then proceeds to yell at Claudia for not being able to tell the girls apart without their bracelets on. Um, Mrs. Arnold? Don't dress your identical twins alike if you want people to be able to tell them apart!

More Mallory whining about her looks and not doing anything about it.

Twin breakthrough! The twins act like assholes again and start talking in their dumb language, but Mallory replies to them in Pig Latin, and they get mega pissed because they can't understand her. She agress to teach them Pig Latin if they stop using twin talk, and they tell her how you can tell them apart. Mrs. Arnold hires Mallory, Mary Anne, and Dawn to help at the twins' upcoming birthday party.

Party! The twins get all pissed because they're dressed alike and every guest brings them identical gifts because no one has actually gotten to know them. What kind of friends are those? Mallory is the only one who gets them something different, and they love it. The next time she sits for them, she helps them talk to their mom about letting them dress differently. Their mom agrees, and Mallory gets the brilliant idea to talk to her parents about the way she looks. Yes, it really takes her that long!

Mallory sits in her room and plots how she'll talk to her parents. Doesn't seem so hard to me. She asks them for contacts, a new wardrobe, a hair cut, and pierced ears, and they nearly shit themselves. They say no to the contacts and new wardrobe, which Mallory just used to bargain with anyway, but yes to the haircut and pierced ears. Mallory is all excited and stuff. I can see whay they might not say yes to pierced ears, but why not to a haircut? The Pikes doesn't really seem like strict parents, so I don't know why she's all surprised that they'd say yes.

Mallory takes the twins shopping for some new clothes, and they buy some sexy things like push down socks, heart kneesocks, and a dibble sweatshirt with moons and stars on it. I totally had that shirt in black!

The BSC plans a super chilly mall trip, and Claudia, Mallory, Jessi, and Dawn all get their ears pierced. Now, maybe the rules were different back then, but if I had walked into Claire's at 11 or 13 and told them to pierce my ears, they would've kicked me out unless I had a parent with me. But no, in Stoneybrook you can just walk right in and they pierce you without even batting an eye. Man, why didn't Mallory get her ears pierced sooner then? It's not like it's so noticeable. My dad didn't even notice my second holes (I have three in each ear and then one in my cartilage) until months afterwards. But that's our Mallory, I guess. She'll never be a badass.

A few weeks later, Mallory has gotten her hair cut. Her stylist is a moron who tells her that cutting her hair will make the curls settle into waves. I have naturally curly hair, and know that the opposite is true. The longer the hair is, the less curly it will be because the weight will pull it down. Mallory listens to the dumb stylist, though, and says that her hair is now short and fluffy. Fro? The BSC all give each other sweet earrings in honor of everyone being able to change them now. Mallory gives Jessi a special pair because they're bff!


The twins are really ugly. Mallory doesn't look so bad, actually. The cover artist does have a heart!

19 comments:

Madeline said...

The best part about the comment claiming that you're ripping off this Tiff person is that they had to do it anonymously.

What the actual fuck?

I think what you're doing is great. There's no copyright on blogging about the BSC.

Keep posting. Your posts allow me to procrastinate on all those pesky life things, which will probably lead to my expulsion from school due to excessive not-studying.

Hah.

Anonymous said...

aw, I didn't read that comment about ripping off Tiff...what kind of asshole reads someone else's blog just so they could bitch about it and leave petty comments?

Whatever, I love Tiff's blog, but I'm really happy there's another person doing this. I would love it if there were another 30 blogs written daily about books I read as a kid. This blog is great, I check it everyday.

BTW Snapple- I am eagerly waiting for your post about the Girl Talk/Full House Stephanie book.

Lauren said...

Whatever, I love Tiff's blog, but I'm really happy there's another person doing this. I would love it if there were another 30 blogs written daily about books I read as a kid.
I agree 100%. I don't even care if they snark on the same books, I still get a kick out of it!

This is my favorite BSC book ever, which is maybe kind of sad.

Anonymous said...

Pay no attention to what that hater said. Like Clementine Bojangles pointed out, they didn't even have the balls to use a username. I have to agree that my favorite books were always the ones where they get to go shopping and describe what they buy. BTW, it took seeing the cover of this book again for me to realize who Mallory has always reminded me of: My cousin's wife Louisa, who is a 40 year old accountant. The resemblance is startling, I am actually wondering if Louisa modeled for Hodges back in the day. Great blog! You brighten my day!

Anonymous said...

i wouldn't worry about people saying you rip off tiff, because dude, bsc sites existed on the internet before hers.

snappleaddict said...

I was a little, okay a lot, upset by the comment, especially since I really try to keep things different from other sites. Plus, I really do read every single comment I get and take them all to heart (blue828, the FH Stephanie book post is for you). Mostly I was pissed off by it, though, because it's ludicrous to think that only one site on each topic can exist, and Tiff had never even covered that book! I really want to know how I ripped her off. Honestly, if I ripped anyone off, it was through hilarious discussions and interpretations with my friend a few years ago in college.

Thanks to everyone, you all rock, and I feel a lot better. It actually took me a few hours to post on this book because I was so pissed off and my heart was just not in it.

Anonymous said...

Look, I'm not anonymous anymore.
My problem with this blog is that there is so much more out there to snark on. Why blog about BSC books when it's already been done (and done better)? Your posts about other things are funny (relatively- once I adjust to minor formatting issues like the lack of manageable paragraphs). Stick to them.

snappleaddict said...

I read BSC books the most, therefore I have more of them than any other book. If you don't like it, don't read it. It's as simple as that.

Anonymous said...

Well, I love your blog Snapple--and once again, may I just say I find it appalling to visit someone's personal blog and leave shitty comments about it.

Luckandpistols, unless I'm mistaken, this website is not required reading. If you can't stand the format and find the content of other websites much more to your liking, why don't you just stay there. Visiting a website (that's just out there for fun) you already know you don't like and then complaining about it is rude (and also a major waste of your time, I would think).

Snapple- I know getting negative comments is one of the risks of having a public blog, but I hope you don't get discouraged and stop writing. I haven't found any other blogs about Girl Talk or any random other kids books, so I look forward to that, but I still enjoy your take on BSC. Keep writing!

BTW- thanks for the Full House recap! Funny enough, I only ever read one Steph book, and it was that one. I still remember it. I didn't like how they gave Steph those two stupid friends and left out the classics like Jennifer and Jennifer, and Mikki and Gia.

Anonymous said...

Eh, ignore the haters. =)

I love Tiff's blog too, but each blog I read brings something new and different to the table, plus it's more fun reading for me! Blog what you want, I love the BSC stuff myself and can't get enough of it.

snappleaddict said...

This blog is meant to be presented in an informal conversational manner, not a college thesis. I'd expect that to be pretty obvious.

I still don't see how you not liking my blog means that I'm ripping Tiff off, but I really don't care. I hope that whoever is forcing you to come here relinquishes their hold so you may be happy elsewhere. Oh wait, you do have a choice to not come here! Use it.

Jenny said...

Ah, I loved this book. I'm a twin and yet the whole dressing the same thing totally blew my mind--our mom quit that when we were like 4, except for party dresses. ^_^
After reading this book me and my sister briefly tried talking in pig latin. That shit is hard, man. Everything is on a 5-second delay while you figure out what "ets-lay lay-pay arbies-bay in-hay y-may oom-ray" means and then argue that they said it wrong, anyways. ^_^

And I like having lots of YA fiction sites to check on. Between this, Tiff's blog and The Dairi Burger, I have at least one new post a day, if not more. If that's wrong, I don't wanna be right. ^_^

scarlett3984 said...

Definetly don't let the haters get you down. I love both your blog and Tiff's and you both have different styles and reactions to the books. Keep the blogs coming!!!

Anonymous said...

I love Tiff's blog but I don't for one second think you're ripping her off. And I doubt she would be petty enough to think so either. So what you have a blog that comments on BSC books from time to time?! Surely Tiff found her inspiration somewhere similar in the first place. Jeez!

I hated outfit descriptions but I too loved trips to the mall so I could hear what they bought. I always thought that Carolyn's sweater sounded cute.

These US covers are fucking with my mind - those twins are damn ugly, in my head they've always been really pretty. Plus I don't think those outfits are twee enough. Their mother dressed them up borderline Jenny style.

Unknown said...

hey,

i wouldn't worry about luckandpistols either. they sound like a dick.

and i'm loving your blog! seriously there was more than enough wrong with these books to have multiple blogs. ;-)

nicole

snappleaddict said...

There should be a whole blog dedicated to the Bizzer Sign.

Anonymous said...

My one-year-old kitten just farted as we were reading luckandpistol's comment.

Those twins are HIDEOUS. My eyes!

cap'n said...

ick, i have refrained from commenting thusfar but seeing people have hated on you really pisses me off! you rock, this shit is hilarious, keep it up.

charmecia said...

the twins do look ugly on that cover. In fact, they look fat.

mallory looks alright on that cover. and i love the book. its one of my favorites of mallory
next to mallory and the mystery diary