bibliotequeish's review
As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
jamietherebelliousreader's review
3.0
3 stars. This one was pretty good but the kid Rosie felt a lot older than she was. She never came across as a child which I know was the point but it was throwing me off so much. She read like an old actress going through a midlife crisis and it was bizarre. Other than that this was fun. I liked how she and Claudia bonded even though they got off on the wrong foot in the beginning. Very cute read.
finesilkflower's review
3.0
Claudia’s new baby-sitting charge is Rosie Wilder, a multitalented seven-year-old who acts in commercials, plays violin and piano, sings, dances, and appears in televised talent shows. Rosie is unimpressed with Claudia, and Claudia dislikes her right back, until she discovers that Rosie is unhappy with her stage-managed childhood and would rather just do art. Personally, I’d be like, "Sheesh, the kid is ALSO preternaturally good at the one thing I’m good at?", but Claudia bonds with her over art, and invites Rosie to show her drawings at her own first-ever art show.
Putting together the art show is the subplot. Kristy, ever the self-promoter, suggests that Claudia make her own art gallery instead of waiting around for someone to offer her a show, and the club helps clean out the Kishi garage, hang paintings, and make posters for the event. Claudia’s show, named "Disposable Comestibles" by Janine, has the theme of junk food.
Rosie, carrying the A plot, is hard to like--on purpose, but it’s effective--and it feels like not a lot happens in this book. At the same time, the art show plot is amusing, satisfying in that "the girls decide to do something and then they do it" sort of way, and contains more vivid description of art-making than possibly any other Claudia book. Not to mention it’s so burned into my memory that I didn’t need to reread or look up the name of the show.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Peter Lerangis
Read as a kid: Yes. The part I remember most clearly is the jokey beginning where Claudia describes (and questions) the cleaning product commercial that, she later discovers, stars a young Rosie. It describes the Rosie character spilling chocolate milk on white carpet, which has made me crave chocolate milk while reading the book since I was 7 years old.
Timing: Not a lot of time clues, but for a show in an open garage, it can’t be too cold out.
Revised Timeline: Must be fall of eleventh grade
Putting together the art show is the subplot. Kristy, ever the self-promoter, suggests that Claudia make her own art gallery instead of waiting around for someone to offer her a show, and the club helps clean out the Kishi garage, hang paintings, and make posters for the event. Claudia’s show, named "Disposable Comestibles" by Janine, has the theme of junk food.
Rosie, carrying the A plot, is hard to like--on purpose, but it’s effective--and it feels like not a lot happens in this book. At the same time, the art show plot is amusing, satisfying in that "the girls decide to do something and then they do it" sort of way, and contains more vivid description of art-making than possibly any other Claudia book. Not to mention it’s so burned into my memory that I didn’t need to reread or look up the name of the show.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Peter Lerangis
Read as a kid: Yes. The part I remember most clearly is the jokey beginning where Claudia describes (and questions) the cleaning product commercial that, she later discovers, stars a young Rosie. It describes the Rosie character spilling chocolate milk on white carpet, which has made me crave chocolate milk while reading the book since I was 7 years old.
Timing: Not a lot of time clues, but for a show in an open garage, it can’t be too cold out.
Revised Timeline: Must be fall of eleventh grade
sammah's review
3.0
If I'm being perfectly honest, I forgot what this was even about until I re-read it last night. Even though I own it was clearly not one of my favorites, and I really just couldn't remember for the life of me. My memory was, unfortunately, jogged fairly quickly once we are introduced to Rosie Wilder. After that...oh yeah. It all came back to me.
I could definitely also remember why I never liked it.
I could definitely also remember why I never liked it.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/claudia-and-the-genius-of-elm-street
pixieauthoress's review
5.0
It's been a while since I found a BSC book that I didn't read as a child, and I was happy to discover that I enjoyed this book reading it for the first time as an adult. Claudia, who although being a lovely girl and a gifted artist isn't school-smart, gets a babysitting job for a child genius whose parents parade her from one event to the next to win awards and gain fame. She finds this difficult not only because Rosie, her charge, makes her feel stupid in comparion, but also because they fail to bond because Rosie spends all of her time practicing for auditions. Eventually, as Claud and Rosie get to know each other better, they bond and Rosie reveals that she hates all of the performance she has to do and wishes she could do more fun things, like art. I know that people often complain that the BSC seem to save the day a lot and discover things about their charges that parents don't notice, but in this case I think it's realistic - it's natural that Rosie opens up to Claudia as they become close. In the end, Rosie cuts back on her activities and feels much happier. The subplot fitted in nicely, for once, as Claud was having an art show and Rosie gets to join in. I also felt that the portrayal of overbearing stage-parents and the lack of glamour in being a famous kid was interesting to read about and probably a reality-kick for any child reading it and wanting to be as famous and talented as Rosie. All in all, an excellent and fairly early BSC book. 10/10
ssshira's review against another edition
4.0
this is my first time reading this book!
in this [a:Peter Lerangis|17216|Peter Lerangis|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1273412599p2/17216.jpg]-ghostwritten book, claudia starts regularly sitting for new client rosie wilder. rosie is perfect at pretty much every school thing, creative thing, or performance thing she tries. her parents are awful helicopters who expect her to do all of these things all the time. claudia finally sees that she isn't trying to be arrogant and is actually just miserable with her parents overscheduling her and not letting her be a kid. this is a better one of the books that have clueless parents who don't see that their kids are unhappy and need the babysitter to intervene (like [b:Dawn and the Impossible Three|233719|Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390193163s/233719.jpg|226353] or [b:Mallory and the Trouble With Twins|233787|Mallory and the Trouble With Twins (The Baby-Sitters Club, #21)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172965739s/233787.jpg|2162292]).
highlights:
-claudia says the first time she heard janine talk about calculus she thought she was talking about a roman emperor. is this based on caligula? claudius? I don't know, but either way, I definitely laughed out loud.
-kristy's kristyish idea in this book is to have a gallery showing of claudia's art, which is super kristy but also really nice. claudia has been working on a series of warhol-inspired paintings of junk food, which she calls "disposable comestibles" (the joke being that it sounds douchey and fancy but is really just paintings of twinkies and such).
-rosie is on uncle dandy's show -- uncle dandy is apparently a central connecticut minor celebrity, who has talented kids on his show, sort of akin to britain's got talent. uncle dandy has a toupee that is helmet-head style, especially considering his overuse of hairspray. I wish they had described his patterned blazer, because you KNOW he had one.
-when claudia says to alan gray that he is so funny she forgot to laugh, she narrates "what a dumb expression, but alan's the kind of guy you say things like that to." this is actually really good writing. when I was 13 I feel like I kept saying stupid expressions like that and would rationalize it like claudia does.
-when claudia and rosie play hangman they find biggest words in the dictionary for it so they can make elaborate hangmen with toes, fingers, warts, glasses, backpacks, etc. so cute!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-since claudia called janine to help rosie with her homework earlier in the book, jessi calls janine to help rosie with her crossword puzzle practice (for a crossword competition). she doesn't even listen to see if rosie wants help in the first place. rosie clearly just wants someone to talk to. jessi, for someone who is usually so annoyingly perfect and in tune with everyone's feelings all the time, you are kind of an idiot here.
-when someone on uncle dandy's set tries to talk to rosie, she barely responds. she tells claudia, "it's important not to make small talk on the set. that kind of thing can destroy your concentration, especially before a performance." this is such a bummer. her parents clearly don't want her to have friends and have forced her to memorize this speech.
claudia outfit:
-"That afternoon, for instance, I was wearing a man's paisley vest I'd found at a yard sale, over a striped button-down shirt with tuxedo-stripe black Spandex stirrup pants, held up with pink-flecked black suspenders. My hair was pulled straight back with a paisley comb, and I was wearing electric-pink ankle boots."
mary anne outfit:
-"That afternoon, for example, she wore a loose-fitting open shirt over a teal turtleneck with off-white chinos and white sneakers."
snacks in claudia's room:
-chunky bar (n.s.)
-milky ways (n.s.)
-m&ms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-kit-kat in her nightstand drawer
in this [a:Peter Lerangis|17216|Peter Lerangis|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1273412599p2/17216.jpg]-ghostwritten book, claudia starts regularly sitting for new client rosie wilder. rosie is perfect at pretty much every school thing, creative thing, or performance thing she tries. her parents are awful helicopters who expect her to do all of these things all the time. claudia finally sees that she isn't trying to be arrogant and is actually just miserable with her parents overscheduling her and not letting her be a kid. this is a better one of the books that have clueless parents who don't see that their kids are unhappy and need the babysitter to intervene (like [b:Dawn and the Impossible Three|233719|Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390193163s/233719.jpg|226353] or [b:Mallory and the Trouble With Twins|233787|Mallory and the Trouble With Twins (The Baby-Sitters Club, #21)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172965739s/233787.jpg|2162292]).
highlights:
-claudia says the first time she heard janine talk about calculus she thought she was talking about a roman emperor. is this based on caligula? claudius? I don't know, but either way, I definitely laughed out loud.
-kristy's kristyish idea in this book is to have a gallery showing of claudia's art, which is super kristy but also really nice. claudia has been working on a series of warhol-inspired paintings of junk food, which she calls "disposable comestibles" (the joke being that it sounds douchey and fancy but is really just paintings of twinkies and such).
-rosie is on uncle dandy's show -- uncle dandy is apparently a central connecticut minor celebrity, who has talented kids on his show, sort of akin to britain's got talent. uncle dandy has a toupee that is helmet-head style, especially considering his overuse of hairspray. I wish they had described his patterned blazer, because you KNOW he had one.
-when claudia says to alan gray that he is so funny she forgot to laugh, she narrates "what a dumb expression, but alan's the kind of guy you say things like that to." this is actually really good writing. when I was 13 I feel like I kept saying stupid expressions like that and would rationalize it like claudia does.
-when claudia and rosie play hangman they find biggest words in the dictionary for it so they can make elaborate hangmen with toes, fingers, warts, glasses, backpacks, etc. so cute!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-since claudia called janine to help rosie with her homework earlier in the book, jessi calls janine to help rosie with her crossword puzzle practice (for a crossword competition). she doesn't even listen to see if rosie wants help in the first place. rosie clearly just wants someone to talk to. jessi, for someone who is usually so annoyingly perfect and in tune with everyone's feelings all the time, you are kind of an idiot here.
-when someone on uncle dandy's set tries to talk to rosie, she barely responds. she tells claudia, "it's important not to make small talk on the set. that kind of thing can destroy your concentration, especially before a performance." this is such a bummer. her parents clearly don't want her to have friends and have forced her to memorize this speech.
claudia outfit:
-"That afternoon, for instance, I was wearing a man's paisley vest I'd found at a yard sale, over a striped button-down shirt with tuxedo-stripe black Spandex stirrup pants, held up with pink-flecked black suspenders. My hair was pulled straight back with a paisley comb, and I was wearing electric-pink ankle boots."
mary anne outfit:
-"That afternoon, for example, she wore a loose-fitting open shirt over a teal turtleneck with off-white chinos and white sneakers."
snacks in claudia's room:
-chunky bar (n.s.)
-milky ways (n.s.)
-m&ms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-kit-kat in her nightstand drawer
liannakiwi's review against another edition
4.0
(LL)
This book does a great job tackling: parents of a kid genius, recognizing limits, and the importance of being a kid.
This book does a great job tackling: parents of a kid genius, recognizing limits, and the importance of being a kid.
seejennread's review against another edition
4.0
This was a pretty good one, especially compared to the last sobfest. Rosie Wilder, genius extraordinaire, is the Child of the Week, who needs a 13 year old to show her parents that they are doing it wrong. Maybe the parents of Stoneybrook should take a child-rearing class, so they don't need the baby-sitter psychiatrists.
The book starts out with Claudia watching a documentary on Andy Warhol and Janine is like, "I don't understand how you can call that stuff art." Psshh...whatever Janine, go study your calculus or something. Side note...why did Janine not skip a grade or three if she's such a super genius? She's taking college level classes but is still technically a junior. Anyway, Claudia gets a Kristy-sized Idea to make a series of pop-art style paintings of junk food. Twinkies, Doritos, Ring Dings, Milk Duds...is anyone else getting hungry? Kristy takes it a step further and suggests she have a show in her garage for the public. Claudia thinks this is a great idea and gets to work on her pieces.
So at the BSC meeting, Mrs Wilder (who is apparently British?) calls and needs a semi-regular sitter for 7 year old Rosie, because her mother has had a rash of illnesses/injuries lately. (Get it? Rash? I crack myself up.) Claudia gets the job and is kind of excited about it, until she actually starts the job. Rosie is apparently super talented in everything she tries and her parents want her to do it all: piano, ballet, violin, singing, tap, acting, science club, math club, modeling (she goes on go-sees, just like on America's Next Top Model lol. (My sister and I have been binge watching ANTM from S1 this summer, it's so great and so much better than the later seasons.)) On top of all that talent, Rosie is really smart too, and ends up making Claudia feel even stupider than usual.
Janine, in her glasses, was explaining things about animal migration and habitats. Rosie, in her glasses, was nodding and asking intelligent-sounding questions.
And Claudia Kishi, with no glasses, was drawing half a Twinkie.
She tries to get to know Rosie better, especially after Claud sees how hard her teachers work her, but it's no good. Then Stacey has to baby-sit Rosie one day and gets totally embarrassed when she has to help Rosie read a script and messes up. OMG Stace, forreals?! That's like, totes mortifying! Jessi also sits for her and tries to bond with her over ballet, but Rosie isn't having it and says she only wants Claudia to sit for her from now on, because she likes her best. Seriously? Okay.
The BSCers help Claudia clean out her garage for her art show and it totally sucks, because it's a big old mess, and Claudia gets kind of upset because everyone is complaining. Then Stacey comes out with this Mary Poppins-esque gem: "Every fun project begins with some dirty work. But you do it because it has to get done. There's no law that says you have to like every single thing you do, right?" And Claudia has an epiphany, that maybe Rosie doesn't really like doing all these things. Duh. At her next sitting job, this is confirmed when Rosie starts drawing with Claud (and she's good, of course) and says that's what she really likes to do. Claudia encourages her to talk to her parents and later, talks to them herself. Of course, this all goes well and the parents don't resent Claud for butting in, and they let Rosie get rid of some of her activities. Another family, put back together by the Baby-Sitters Club!
Claudia's art show, named Disposable Comestibles, a Pop-Art Multi-Media Extravaganza is a huge success, despite that jerk Alan Gray showing up, and she even sells a couple of pieces. Rosie shows some of her work too and her parents agree she can take lessons; Rosie picks Claudia to be her teacher. We'll probably never hear from/of Rosie again though. And that's the end of that!
Reviewed at Give a Hoot Read a Book and includes Claudia's pink & black paisley outfit extravaganza!
The book starts out with Claudia watching a documentary on Andy Warhol and Janine is like, "I don't understand how you can call that stuff art." Psshh...whatever Janine, go study your calculus or something. Side note...why did Janine not skip a grade or three if she's such a super genius? She's taking college level classes but is still technically a junior. Anyway, Claudia gets a Kristy-sized Idea to make a series of pop-art style paintings of junk food. Twinkies, Doritos, Ring Dings, Milk Duds...is anyone else getting hungry? Kristy takes it a step further and suggests she have a show in her garage for the public. Claudia thinks this is a great idea and gets to work on her pieces.
So at the BSC meeting, Mrs Wilder (who is apparently British?) calls and needs a semi-regular sitter for 7 year old Rosie, because her mother has had a rash of illnesses/injuries lately. (Get it? Rash? I crack myself up.) Claudia gets the job and is kind of excited about it, until she actually starts the job. Rosie is apparently super talented in everything she tries and her parents want her to do it all: piano, ballet, violin, singing, tap, acting, science club, math club, modeling (she goes on go-sees, just like on America's Next Top Model lol. (My sister and I have been binge watching ANTM from S1 this summer, it's so great and so much better than the later seasons.)) On top of all that talent, Rosie is really smart too, and ends up making Claudia feel even stupider than usual.
Janine, in her glasses, was explaining things about animal migration and habitats. Rosie, in her glasses, was nodding and asking intelligent-sounding questions.
And Claudia Kishi, with no glasses, was drawing half a Twinkie.
She tries to get to know Rosie better, especially after Claud sees how hard her teachers work her, but it's no good. Then Stacey has to baby-sit Rosie one day and gets totally embarrassed when she has to help Rosie read a script and messes up. OMG Stace, forreals?! That's like, totes mortifying! Jessi also sits for her and tries to bond with her over ballet, but Rosie isn't having it and says she only wants Claudia to sit for her from now on, because she likes her best. Seriously? Okay.
The BSCers help Claudia clean out her garage for her art show and it totally sucks, because it's a big old mess, and Claudia gets kind of upset because everyone is complaining. Then Stacey comes out with this Mary Poppins-esque gem: "Every fun project begins with some dirty work. But you do it because it has to get done. There's no law that says you have to like every single thing you do, right?" And Claudia has an epiphany, that maybe Rosie doesn't really like doing all these things. Duh. At her next sitting job, this is confirmed when Rosie starts drawing with Claud (and she's good, of course) and says that's what she really likes to do. Claudia encourages her to talk to her parents and later, talks to them herself. Of course, this all goes well and the parents don't resent Claud for butting in, and they let Rosie get rid of some of her activities. Another family, put back together by the Baby-Sitters Club!
Claudia's art show, named Disposable Comestibles, a Pop-Art Multi-Media Extravaganza is a huge success, despite that jerk Alan Gray showing up, and she even sells a couple of pieces. Rosie shows some of her work too and her parents agree she can take lessons; Rosie picks Claudia to be her teacher. We'll probably never hear from/of Rosie again though. And that's the end of that!
Reviewed at Give a Hoot Read a Book and includes Claudia's pink & black paisley outfit extravaganza!
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