History Fridge / TheBabySittersClub

* Many Black readers found it unusual and somewhat unrealistic that black Jessi had to wait until she was eleven to finally get her ears pierced ''and'' her parents wouldn't let her until she negotiated with them like Mallory. Even if she didn't get her ears pieced when much younger (including soon after birth), many black people and other PoC tend to agree more easily with children's ears getting pierced (without much argument) when the child asks to, without considering it exotic or strange (or something to negotiate about). It only makes sense when you realize that the author, who is white and was born in 1955, was from an era where ''white'' American children rarely got their ears pierced before they were adults (and this is a forbidden thing that carries through to today, with many parents forbidding ear piercings for their girls until as late as adulthood.) This is averted in the graphic novels, where Jessi--even if she's not shown with her ears pierced in books--is shown with them in her character portrait.

* Look at the age gaps between the Thomas siblings. There are two years between Charlie and Sam, and two/three years between Sam and Kristy, but about six years between Kristy and David Michael. Odds are, David Michael was either an 'Ooops' baby, or a 'Let's have another baby to save our marriage' baby. Either way, that was probably the last straw for Patrick - he couldn't take the additional responsibility or was resentful/guilty that the new baby couldn't magically fix the marriage.

* Look at the age gaps between the Thomas siblings. There are two years between Charlie and Sam, and two/three years between Sam and Kristy, but about six years between Kristy and David Michael. Odds are, David Michael was either an 'Ooops' baby, or a 'Let's have another baby to save our marriage' baby. Either way, that was probably the last straw for Patrick, who was already known to be an Manchild, to decide to up sticks and leave - he couldn't take the additional responsibility or was resentful/guilty that the new baby couldn't magically fix the marriage.

** That said, there is his childhood in a working-class family and being misjudged by Sharon's upper class parents...especially when you consider that Stoneybrook seems to be a affluent community (middle-class at the least). The class-based prejudice must have done a number on his sense of self and made him feel like people were constantly judging him, which could also add to his fear of being deemed/perceived as an unfit parent.

* In the final scene of ''Mallory and the Ghost Cat'', the family notes that the strange meowing-like noise from their attic seems to have disappeared after they adopted a cat from the shelter. Seems spooky -- except that the family adopted a ''deaf'' cat, and deaf cats tend to be especially vocal (and much louder with those vocalizations) because they can't hear themselves. They're probably just not hearing the noise anymore because their real cat is meowing so much that they don't hear it, or if they do they just assume it's her.

** That said, there is his childhood in a working-class family and being misjudged by Sharon's upper class parents...especially when you consider that Stoneybrook seems to be a affluent community (middle-class at the least). The class-based prejudice must have did a number on his sense of self and how to raise Mary Anne: anything that can go wrong (either being too permissive or misbehavior) that is water under the bridge for a more privileged person, may be catastrophic for him and Mary Anne

** Maybe they didn't think to put a rule in place because they never thought the situation would come up, and then felt obligated to let Claudia run because there was no rule against it? That at least makes a tiny bit more sense than explicitly allowing it.

** Maybe they didn't think to put a rule in place because they never thought the situation would come up, and then felt obligated to let Claudia run because there was no rule against it? That's the least bizarre explanation, anyway.

** As a note, Claudia mentions that most of the seventh-grade kids looked up to her in her last book, all copying her style, and her friends campaigned heavily for her to be Queen, so it's understandable why she was chosen. However, it is still unfair for someone taking seventh grade for the second time to be eligible.

As a note, Claudia mentions that most of the seventh-grade kids looked up to her in her last book, all copying her style, and her friends campaigned heavily for her to be Queen, so it's understandable why she was chosen. However, it is still unfair for someone taking seventh grade for the second time to be eligible.

* In the final scene ''Mallory and the Ghost Cat'', the family notes that the strange meowing-like noise from their attic seems to have disappeared after they adopted a cat from the shelter. Seems spooky -- except that the family adopted a ''deaf'' cat, and deaf cats tend to be especially vocal (and much louder with those vocalizations) because they can't hear themselves. They're probably just not hearing the noise anymore because their real cat is meowing so much that they don't hear it, or if they do they just assume it's her.
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* Why on earth was Claudia promoted back to eighth grade? She was doing poorly in eighth, gets demoted to seventh and starts doing better, so the obvious move is to...take her out of the environment in which she's thriving and put her back in the situation where she was struggling? (In a Meta sense, it's probably that the author didn't want to have the rest of the older girls graduate without Claudia, and/or that Claudia being in seventh grade in some way became a hindrance to the stories, but the decision makes absolutely no sense in-universe.)
* In ''The All-New Mallory Pike'', it's mentioned that Jen was moved to a single room because she couldn't deal with Alexis, who then became Mallory's roommate. But the school knew at that point that Alexis was a difficult roommate (that it wasn't just a personality conflict between her and Jen) and Jen didn't even particularly want a single, she just wanted to not have a roommate like Alexis. So why did the school move ''Jen'' to a single, creating a situation where another roommate (i.e. Mallory) would have to deal with Alexis, rather than just move ''Alexis'' to the single right off the bat so that no one would have to be her roommate?

* In ''The All-New Mallory Pike'', it's mentioned that Jan was moved to a single room because she couldn't deal with Alexis, who then became Mallory's roommate. But the school knew that Alexis was a difficult roommate and Jan didn't even particularly want a single, she just wanted to not have a roommate like Alexis. So why did the school move ''Jan'' to a single, creating a situation where another roommate (i.e. Mallory) would have to deal with Alexis, rather than just move ''Alexis'' to the single right off the bat so that no one would have to be her roommate?

* In the final scene ''Mallory and the Ghost Cat'', the family notes that the strange meowing-like noise from their attic seems to have disappeared after they adopted a cat from the shelter. Seems spooky -- except that the family adopted a ''deaf'' cat, and deaf cats tend to be especially vocal (and much louder with those vocalizations) because they can't hear themselves. They're probably just not hearing the noise anymore because their real cat's meowing is covering it up, and anything they ''do'' hear they probably attribute to the new cat.

* In ''The All-New Mallory Pike", it's mentioned that Jan was moved to a single room because she couldn't deal with Alexis, who then became Mallory's roommate. But the school knew that Alexis was a difficult roommate and Jan didn't even particularly want a single, she just wanted to not have a roommate like Alexis. So why did the school move ''Jan'' to a single, creating a situation where another roommate (i.e. Mallory) would have to deal with Alexis, rather than just move ''Alexis'' to the single right off the bat so that no one would have to be her roommate?

* Why on earth was Claudia promoted back to eighth grade? She was doing poorly in eighth, gets demoted to seventh and starts doing better, so the obvious move is to...take her out of the environment in which she's thriving and put her back in the situation where she was struggling? (In a Meta sense, it's probably that the author didn't want to have the rest of the older girls graduate without Claudia, and/or that it became a hindrance once they'd exhausted the story potential of it, but the decision makes absolutely no sense in-universe.)

* Why on earth was Claudia promoted back to eighth grade? She was doing poorly in eighth, gets demoted to seventh and starts doing better, so the obvious move is to...take her out of the environment in which she's thriving and put her back in the situation where she was struggling? (In a Meta sense, it's probably that the author didn't want to have the rest of the older girls graduate without Claudia, and/or that having Claudia in a different year than all the other BSC members was becoming difficult to work with, but the decision makes absolutely no sense in-universe.)

* Why on earth was Claudia promoted back to eighth grade? She was doing poorly in eighth, gets demoted to seventh and starts doing better, so the obvious move is to...take her out of the environment in which she's thriving and put her back in the situation where she was struggling? (In a Meta sense, it's probably that the author didn't want to have the rest of the older girls graduate without Claudia, but the decision makes absolutely no sense in-universe.)

* Richard Spier's (Mary Anne's Father) overprotective-ness and high/age inappropriate standards for her behavior become a lot more understandable after the revelations of ''Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic.'' Not only did he lose his beloved young wife to cancer, but her parents threatened to sue him for custody of their granddaughter if he were deemed "unfit" as a parent. No wonder he went overboard in raising a sweet, demure young woman who's too meek for her own good.

* Richard Spier's (Mary Anne's Father) overprotective-ness and high/age inappropriate standards for behavior looks more understandable after the events of "Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic": not only has his wife died, but his late wife's parents threaten to yank Mary Anne if he's "unfit" as a parent, so he indeed did go overboard in raising a sweet, demure young woman who's too meek for her own good.
* Claudia's grandmother Mimi could be considered to have a MeaningfulName in her native language, Japanese. "Mimi" in Japanese means "ear", and especially in the beginning of the series, Mimi was the family member who Claudia could count on to listen to her and be understanding of her problems.

* Richard Spier's (Mary Anne's Father) overprotective-ness and high/age inappropriate standards for behavior looks more understandable after the events of "Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic": not only has his wife died, but his late wife's parents threaten to yank Mary Anne if he's "unfit" as a parent, so he indeed did go overboard in raising a sweet, demure young woman who's too meek for her own good.