Stuck in Stoneybrook: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast

Breaking news: Bart is still hot! (Should we make this shirt?) We really enjoyed discussing this one—we delve into Cokie Mason’s mean girl motivation, whether Bart’s “moves” are realistic, what H.W. Bush press conference did Kristy tune into, and the first computer shows up in Stoneybrook, CT! If only the BSC hung around long enough to discover AIM. Plus, another BSC Big 5! 

We are joined by the author and activist Kate Schatz to try to make heads or tails of this completely bizarre and molto problematic book. Topics include the writing process (or lack thereof?) of ghostwriter Mary Lou Kennedy, what specific kind of predator is Travis, and a dramatic reading of Zach the toxic misogynist defending ‘Merica. Most importantly—what hard rock was Travis listening to?

Hey y'all! Anne & Esme joined Jody & Alison on the Blume Saloon this past week! We both voraciously consumed Judy Blume back in the day (at basically the same rate as we read the BSC!). We were thrilled to join them for their wrap-up episode about "Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself." We discuss animal sex, Jane Russell, and competitive twirling, among other things. It's a Judy Blume book club!

Jessi’s gets her legwarmers in a twist over the new Ramsey Family caregiver, Aunt Cecilia Dictator. Emily just has two “tiny” topics to cover: domestic labor and respectability politics. NBD. Meanwhile, Anne’s obsession with culturally weird, but significant foods continues as she teaches us about Tang. Poor Aunt Cecilia. Maybe she should join Nannie’s bowling league.

Dawn crumbles, Claudia excels, Anne relates, Jeff saves the day. Also we discuss what is and isn’t believable, fun little gender asides, which candy bars would be best/worst on a deserted island, and why this is our favorite Super Special so far. Sit right back and you’ll hear a tale!

Ronald Hennessey, wherefore art thou? We continue our series on indigenous erasure in Stoneybrook, as Emily links our love of property ownership with “ancient burial ground” ghost/horror tropes. We discuss in-groups and superordinate goals as a way to bring people together, and then get lost in a pop culture nugget-fest. Oh yeah—and there is a mystery involved…ish.

“Not enough boys” is more like it! Emily rants about public pools, Esme revels in Sea City, and Anne has a thing or two to say about Mary Anne’s “unrealistically mature” ice cream flavor preferences. We discuss crushes and how bummed we are that MA didn’t dump Logan, and also have some friendly Pike criticism. This also marks the first time your hosts play “Candy Store.” It’s as riveting as it sou...

Janine wins her “ten millionth award” and Claudia concludes she must be adopted! Esme loves this as a metaphor for adolescent identity development, but Anne and Em are just whelmed. We discuss the neoliberalization of colleges (appropos of Janine and her community college courses) and reflect more on racism, racism, and “Asian-ness” in Stoneybrook (we see you, Timmy Hsu!). Also, Claudia is a creat...

We welcome special guest, child clinical psychologist and autism expert, Dr. Whitney Ence, to help us unravel the “Secret of Susan.” Learn some basics about autism and discuss what holds up in this book about representation and inclusion and what… doesn’t. We learned everything we knew about autism in the late 1980s from “Rain Man” and Ann M. Martin, and apparently we also learned everything we ne...

“Am I awesome or do I suck?” Emily has an identity crisis this episode as she discovers what a B Dawn is to her new family. We discuss the research on blended families and detour into talk show culture in 1990. We sort of wish we were in the “Pike Plague” and not here in this pandemic, too.

Sharon and Richard are finally tying the knot! Mary Anne’s feelings are complicated. Is she being her sensitive introvert self, or is she slut-shaming Sharon? Is Sharon a manic pixie dream girl or Oscar Madison? Does Emily know what a gum chain is? Find the answers to these questions and more this week on part one of the “Dawn & MA become sisters” arc. TO BE CONTINUED.

Mary Anne is annoying. Kristy gets too competitive. Dawn gets super bummed. Mallory is a bad spy. Jessi learns a “lesson.” And Stacey and Claudia have crushes on a boy and a MAN named name GUY and PIERRE. Join us as we discuss of all of this, plus rich people and skiing, and how the BSC has to work EVERYWHERE THEY GO. Detours involve Vitameatavegamin, making fun of Esme, and a game of “what the he...

In a perfect world, we’d be drinking Arnold Palmers out of reusable straws while reading BSC books in preparation for our weekly recording. HOWEVERRRRRR, dumb necessary jobs, moving houses, family obligations, and oh yeah, a pandemic, have really put a cramp in our podcasting plans. Farts. Give a listen to what Esme has to say for the full 411.

A hundred year old diary!? Sign us up! Mal is also on the case, with help from Madame Kristin and Buddy Barrett. We also discuss the People’s Court, crushes on teachers, and why we like a mystery. If this all sounds random—you are correct—but like a mystery, it ALL comes together in the end.

We are dibbly stoked to again welcome a special guest, novelist Robin Benway! We discuss writing, diabetes representation, and the McGills’ divorce, of course! Side trails lead us to supportive friendships, the kind of divorce processes that help kids thrive, and what kind of feminist is Mrs. McGill, anyway? Also a brief discussion of the weird fruit-and-creme twinkies of the late 1980s.

This book was BORING, and we don’t even have Anne to bring the fun. Esme and Emily do their best to punch it up and understand the “plots” of this snoozer. We do another BSC Big 5 and we discuss Reagan and his influence over Hollywood, though. Nothing magical here, Jessi or otherwise.

We are very excited to welcome special guest Sue Ding, creator of the fabulous documentary The Claudia Kishi Club! It’s a bummer of a book, of course, but such a classic, we were excited to discuss it with her and hear all about her Claudia expertise. We discuss the grief and dying process as portrayed in Stoneybrook, and Emily lightens it up with a soupcon of latent sexism and annoying Logan beha...

We are stumbling to the end of 2020 like all of you! At least we get a little detour to fancy summer camp! We talk about camp in culture, fake “Indian-ness,” and dangerous ideas about asylums and murderers. And oh! The heteronormativity! Guest appearance by a leaf blower. Happy New Year, Stoneybrookers!

What. The. Logan. We are all pretty disgusted with him, especially Emily (surprise!). Apparently beefing it in middle school baseball is all the rationale you need for being a jerk when your girlfriend’s kitten is MISSING. Luckily, Anne cheers us up with a top ten of famous cats.

Everyone, the dads in Stoneybrook SUUUUUUUUUUUCK and—surprise!—Emily has some thoughts about it! We dive into queer theory and Kristy’s question of “what makes a family?” as we meet Emily Michelle and discuss Anne’s affinity for all things carnival-related.

Three Californians discuss visiting their home state from the East Coast and wanting to go back. Oh, and Dawn is there in this book. This one is a fun romp into stereotypes of CA and what legitimately makes it great. Bring on the avocado and spider plants!

Jessi takes care of approximately one thousand animals and the BSC learns about democracy… or do they? We get another great Kristy apology, Anne teaches us about advertising, and we learn about her trypophobia (but it does NOT apply to candy). Also, we recover from our relief that our US election was finally called (in a non-fascist direction!).

Why doesn’t Linda Arnold notice that her identical twins are pissed? Thank goodness Mallory can come to the rescue! We discuss twin talk, piercings, and the now-dead teenage pastime of cruising the malls. Ah. The mall. We can practically smell the Mrs. Fields cookies—oh, and Wet Seal is right around the corner from the Hot Dog on a Stick. Page us when you get there!

Kristy sees cute boy. Bart is hot. They play softball. This is the level of discourse on this episode, so be forewarned. We discuss kids and sports, Title IX, and the fact that Gabbie Perkins is a TWO YEAR OLD playing softball. Honestly, though? We loved this one.

Poor Claudia gets stuck baby-sitting a practical joker and it turns out her pranks are decidedly NOT funny. (“Oh haha… YOU BROKE MY LEG.”) Anne and Emily grill Esme on what the F is up with Betsy Sobak. Are practical jokes inherently antisocial? Also, Anne relives a little of her golden age at ELLEgirl and we discuss both punk’d and Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. This book is weird, unless you...