Reading Into the Past- Don't Do It

   I was feeling nostalgic for the books of my youth because of this terrible Winter, and I reached for the dark and mysterious California Diaries serious from the Babysitters Club. I chose the first (Dawn's book) about 8th grade life in Southern California. For those of you trying to remember who Dawn is, she is the earthy hippie babysitter who moved to Stoneybrook, Connecticut with her mom and younger brother Jeff. After becoming friends with shy Mary Anne, Dawn and MA discovered their parents used to date in high school and dawn's divorcee mom and Mary Anne's widower father rekindled their romance and re-married each other. Dawn, like her brother before her, got tired of all the snow (who can blame her) and moved back to Cali to live with her dad and his new wife, Carol.

   These California kids were a lot more "real" than those Baby Sitters. Dawn, Sunny, Maggie, Duckie and Amelia (and not Jill, she was a stick in the mud). These kids go to high school parties, they kiss people, they drink beer, and they cover their parents' secrets. In its purest essence, it was everything me and my 4th and 5th grade friends imaged 8th grade would be (in out 90210 world). Each book is written a diary entry, and I found Dawn's diary extremely whiny for a thirteen-year- old girl (THIRTEEN! YOU'RE THIRTEEN?)- The European Guy to Stacey in The Babysitters Club Movie.

(Paraphrased from the entries) ...Wah, we have to go school with the older hgih schoool kids, I'm so nervous. Wah, my stepmom is having a baby, and my dad won't lvoe me as much. Wah, we're thinking of sneaking out to a high school party and I'm so scared, plus my best friend is having a wild streak"....

   That being said, Dawn was never my favorite baby sitter (respect the boss lady), but she was supposed to be one of the more open minded sitter girls, and when she got into hanging out with the West Coast kids, she was even more of a baby than Mallory.