Sit Me Baby One More Time Ep 05 - Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club #5)

Summary

---

Overdue Podcast: "Sit Me Baby One More Time" Ep 05 – Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club #5)

Podcast: Overdue (Headgum)
Date: November 22, 2025
Hosts: Andrew and Craig
Book Discussed: Dawn and the Impossible Three by Ann M. Martin (The Baby-Sitters Club #5, 1987)

---

Main Theme & Episode Purpose

This episode continues Andrew and Craig’s “Sit Me Baby One More Time” miniseries within Overdue, as they make their way through The Baby-Sitters Club series. Here, they dive into Book #5: Dawn and the Impossible Three, which focuses on the newly-added babysitter, Dawn, as she navigates a challenging babysitting job with the Barrett family and works through evolving club dynamics, especially with Christy. The episode’s central focus is on how the book addresses heavy family themes like divorce, single parenting, personal responsibility, and the maturing relationships among the babysitters themselves.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Book Overview & Translation Titles (06:00–07:30)

• Dawn is the “newest member” and gets her own perspective in the series.
• The hosts riff on international versions of the book’s title, which all paint Mrs. Barrett (the mom) as more of the issue than her children.
  • Andrew [06:14]: “The book title leads you to believe that the kids are the problem…but mostly it’s their mom who’s the problem.”
• They highlight the book’s focus on Dawn becoming a fully realized character after being introduced in the previous book.

2. Authentic Representation of Divorce & Single Parenting (07:41–13:00)

• Both hosts discuss how three separate divorced families are central to the story.
• The book, original to 1987, carefully explores divorce without overt moralizing, instead making Mrs. Barrett’s personal chaos — not her marital status — the focus.
  • Andrew [12:25]: “It has to be structured that way…to avoid making the divorce seem like the problem and not…the specific people and personalities at play.”
• Personal reflections from the hosts about growing up with divorced parents.

3. 1980s Setting & Club Structure (09:03–10:50 and 18:31–20:49)

• The 1980s setting creates logistical child-rearing challenges (no cell phones).
• The Babysitters Club (BSC) is “drowning in calls,” and Christy continues to make big, sometimes unilateral, decisions, such as naming Dawn the “alternate officer.”
  • Andrew [19:16]: “She’s the designated survivor. She can never be at Claudia’s house just in case somebody nukes it or something.”
• Fund policies and club hierarchy are discussed humorously, highlighting Christy's authoritarian approach.

4. Plot Summary & Structure

• Dawn’s Babysitting Challenge (21:58–27:02):
  • Dawn’s first big job is babysitting the Barrett siblings: Buddy, Suzie, and Marnie.
  • Mrs. Barrett is depicted as harried, disorganized, and often absent, setting Dawn up for “impossible” conditions.
  • The kids themselves aren’t really “impossible” — it’s the lack of parental structure.
    • Andrew [27:02]: “The kids are just not being taken care of properly.”
• “Bizarre Sign” Sideplot (27:07–29:41):
  • The hosts discuss Buddy’s “bizarre sign,” a cryptic, childish insult — leading to personal stories about childhood hand gestures and minor schoolyard social dynamics.
• Club & Family Subplots (17:14, 23:53–24:49):
  • Marianne’s dad is dating Dawn’s mom; Marianne herself gets to redecorate her room and embrace new freedoms.
  • Christy is adjusting to her mom’s marriage and her own impending move, which threatens club logistics.
    • Craig [19:18]: “If the club is gone, then…if I am gone, then the club is gone. The Babysitters Club will not outlast my membership.”

5. Christy & Dawn: Friendship & Jealousy (24:49–34:08)

• Dawn perceives and navigates Christy’s jealousy surrounding best friend Marianne.
  • Craig [25:16]: “It’s a pretty mature understanding on Dawn’s part to be like, her jealousy is not something I need to fight with. It’s something I could like, try to help her with.”
• The hosts praise Dawn’s emotional maturity and the book’s nuanced depiction of changing friendships.

6. The Barrett Family: Parental Responsibility & Boundaries (30:12–43:07)

• Mrs. Barrett’s negligence becomes more apparent — no emergency numbers, poor instructions, over-reliance on Dawn.
• Dawn’s sense of responsibility pushes her to take on too much; Mrs. Barrett both complains and lavishes praise, reinforcing Dawn’s stress.
• The hosts relate this to real-world babysitting ethics: boundaries, expectations, and what’s actually appropriate for teens.

7. Climax: Missing Child Scare (43:07–50:34)

• A rainy day breaks, Buddy disappears in his Mets hat — sparking a town-wide search.
• The reality: Buddy’s dad, Mr. Barrett, picked him up by mistake to “teach a lesson” about custody — but failed to communicate, creating a panic.
  • Andrew [49:49]: “What was your plan, Mr. Barrett?...You really messed this one up.”
  • Craig [50:19]: “You made two of your children think that one of your children had been abducted.”
• Both parents’ failings are dissected; the hosts note how the 1980s context shapes community and police responses (no CPS involvement).

8. Resolution: Boundaries & Emotional Growth (53:11–54:33)

• Dawn learns to establish boundaries, telling Mrs. Barrett she can’t take on a parental role.
  • Craig quoting a Discord commenter [54:33]: “Part of taking on those responsibilities is also setting boundaries.”
• The club recognizes Mallory Pike’s competence — foreshadowing her eventual club membership.

9. Humor, Characterization & Culture (57:16–58:15)

• The hosts enjoy the recurring jokes about food differences (California tofu vs. Connecticut blandness), Dawn’s weather complaints, and Ann M. Martin’s character quirks.
  • Andrew [57:18]: parodying Christy: “If I can’t have hot dogs and mayonnaise for every meal of every day, I will pass away.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andrew [06:14]: “The book title leads you to believe that the kids are a big problem…But mostly it’s their mom who's the problem.”
• Andrew [12:25]: “It has to be structured that way really carefully to avoid, like, making the divorce seem like the problem and not, like, the specific people and personalities at play.”
• Craig [19:16]: “She’s the designated survivor. She can never be at Claudia’s house just in case somebody nukes it or something.”
• Andrew [27:02]: “The kids aren’t that impossible. The kids are just not being taken care of properly.”
• Craig [25:16]: “It’s a pretty mature understanding on Dawn’s part to be like, her jealousy is not something I need to fight with. It’s something that I could like, try to help her with.”
• Craig [40:26]: “Adults certainly are hard to understand sometimes. They seem to have several faces… It’s as if they own masks.”
• Andrew [49:49]: “What was your plan, Mr. Barrett?...You really messed this one up.”
• Craig [50:19]: “You made two of your children think that one of your children had been abducted.”
• Craig [54:33]: “Part of taking on those responsibilities is also setting boundaries.”
• Andrew [57:18]: “If I can’t have hot dogs and mayonnaise for every meal of every day, I will pass away.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Book intro & theme discussion – 06:00
• Divorce & family themes – 07:41–13:00
• BSC Club politics & structure – 18:31–20:49
• Plot summary: Barrett babysitting – 27:02–30:52
• “Bizarre sign” childhood stories – 27:07–29:41
• Friendship, jealousy, and emotional maturity – 24:49–34:08
• Missing child plot & town response – 43:07–50:34
• Boundaries, growth, foreshadowing Mallory – 53:11–54:33
• Final jokes, food/California bits – 57:16–58:15

---

Tone & Style

The Overdue hosts keep their tone light and wry, mixing nostalgia with empathy and a clear-eyed literary critique. Their tangents and personal stories reflect the book’s themes of responsibility, growing up, and the quirks of childhood in the late ‘80s. They poke loving fun at both the book’s earnestness and the Babysitters Club’s proto-corporate authoritarianism, while highlighting the ways in which Ann M. Martin handles heavy topics with grace.

---

Overall Takeaways

• Dawn and the Impossible Three stands out for its nuanced depiction of single parenting and childhood responsibility.
• Dawn’s journey is about learning limits and boundaries, not just proving herself.
• The book’s portrayal of divorce and family upheaval feels authentic, especially for its time.
• Club dynamics are evolving, with Dawn emerging as a mature voice.
• The hosts find humor and insight in both the book’s datedness (no cell phones!) and its timeless themes (friendship, growing up, making mistakes).
• Foreshadowing for future club members, especially Mallory Pike, gets a nod.

---

Next episode: The series skips ahead to Book 14: Hello, Mallory! to track how the club changes as new members join and Dawn's story continues.

---

Transcript

[Andrew]

This is a Headgun podcast.

[Craig]

This episode is brought to you in part by Uncommon Goods. The countdown is on. Andrew, Tick tock. Holiday shopping season is officially here. Uncommon Goods takes the stress out of gifting with thousands of unique, high quality finds that you won't see anywhere else. Do not wait. The most meaningful gifts go faster and you're going to be too busy looking up how to spatchcock a turkey to do more shopping if you don't get to it soon. So Uncommon Good, that's what I did last year. I had to read a lot of stuff about turkey and I did. You know, I have ran out of time for gifts, so don't do that. Don't be like me. Uncommon Goods looks for products that are high quality, unique, and often handmade or made in the U.S. many are crafted by independent artists and small businesses, making every gift feel meaningful and truly one of a kind. Andrew, you recently bought some things on Uncommon Goods. I believe I did.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Yeah, bought it. Bought an anniversary gift. One of the other gift giving occasions. It's not the holidays, but yeah. I bought a make your own limoncello kit because we went to Italy several, several years ago and had some very nice times sitting and sipping limoncello and just relaxing and not being parents yet.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And yeah, it seemed like a cool way to lear learn how to do a thing and then also like, you know, remember a nice thing that, that we did together once.

[Craig]

That's a great idea for a gift. Good find, Andrew, and good work. Uncommon Goods, they have something for everyone. Moms, dads, kids and teens. You'll find thousands of new gift ideas that you won't find anywhere else. And when you shop at Uncommon Goods, you're supporting artists and small independent businesses. And with every purchase you make at Uncommon Goods, they give back $1 to a nonprofit partner with of your choice. So don't wait. Cross those names off your list before the rush. To get 15% off your next gift, go to UncommonGoods.com overdue. That's UncommonGoods.com overdue for 15% off Uncommon Goods. We're all out of the ordinary, Andrew. If you're still overpaying for wireless, it's time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages. No hidden fees, no bs.

[Andrew]

Craig, did you know that you can get premium wireless from mint mobile for $15 a month? Did you know this? Did you hear about this?

[Craig]

That sounds.

[Andrew]

Are you reading? You reading the same copy I'm reading.

[Craig]

The same copy and it looks the same good to me.

[Andrew]

You can ditch overpriced wireless and their jaw dropping monthly bills, unexpected overages and hidden fees. Plans start at $15 a month at Mint. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. Craig I've used Mint Mobile for years. I switched from one of the big boys. I have not missed the big boy for even one second. One thing I do like about Mint is they have a big range of plans at all different like price and data tiers. So it works for people like me who use a ton of data and also works for people who do not need a ton of data but do need reliable service and connectivity when they are using their phones. So yes, that's why I like Mint Mobile and that's why I think that you also will like them.

[Craig]

That sounds good. And if it sounds good to you at home, you might be ready to say yes to saying no. So make the [e-mail] overdue that's mintmobile.com overdue upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Ad Read Announcer]

All the games you loved growing up are on the App Store. Looking to spark some friendly competition with friends and family no matter where you're at, Turn your phone into the ultimate game night. You can bankrupt your brother in Monopoly. Go shout out hilarious clues to family and heads up. Challenge your best friend to a game of Uno or get on a lucky streak in Yahtzee with Buddy's Dice. Discover tons of classics you already love. It's all the laughter and connection of game night right in the palm of your hand. So what are you waiting for? Relive the games you grew up with now on iPhone. Search for your favorites on the App Store and let the games begin.

[Craig]

While Andrew and Craig believe the joy of discovery is crucial to enjoying any well told tale, they will not shy away from spoiling specific story beats when necessary. Plus, these are books you should have read by now. Sit Me Baby One More Time Number five welcome to Again our Pod.

[Andrew]

Sitting Me Baby.

[Craig]

Yes, again, welcome to our bespoke podcast within a podcast. That podcast is Overdue. A podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. My name is Craig. My name is Andrew and Each episode on this long reads miniseries. We are discussing another book in the Babysitters Club series by Anne M. Martin. We are still moving sequentially, Andrew. This will be our last one before we jump forward. We've read books one through four, and we've met the original four members of the titular club.

[Andrew]

Yep.

[Craig]

And now we are talking about which book.

[Andrew]

Talking about dawn and the Impossible 3.

[Craig]

Oh, you mean Don Rose. Una Madra Distract.

[Andrew]

That actually is a much better name for the book than the Impossible 3 because the book title leads you to believe that the kids are a big problem in this one. And they, like, kind of are in like a minor way. But mostly it's their mom who's the problem.

[Craig]

Carla et le Trois Monster. I don't know why the French renamed Dawn 3 monsters, Carla.

[Andrew]

They have the same. Like, they're the same person doing the titles as they do for French Goosebumps books. Yeah. And so everything is just really scary over there.

[Craig]

Mr. Scholastique is over here translating lay books.

[Andrew]

Wait, so what language was. The first one was Don and the Distracted Mama.

[Craig]

I think that was Italian. I think that was.

[Andrew]

Okay. Mamma mia.

[Craig]

Oh, excuse me. Una madre distrata. My notes app autocorrected. Autocorrected it to distract, but fine, whatever.

[Andrew]

Does that mean she's distracted?

[Craig]

I believe so.

[Andrew]

In Italian.

[Craig]

Okay, I'm just gonna double check that real quick. It's probably distracted. It is.

[Andrew]

Okay, great. Good, good. So. Okay. Yes. So this is book number five, I think. Because if I'm thinking back to episode number zero and remembering correctly, I feel like the first four were kind of written in. They're ordered and written in one big batch.

[Craig]

Yep, yep, yep, yep.

[Andrew]

Part of the pitch, basically going after this. But I still. I did still like this one.

[Craig]

I like this one a lot.

[Andrew]

Yeah. A lot of heavy themes in this one. Really tackling a lot of stuff about divorced family. There are like three different divorced families at play in this book.

[Craig]

Yeah. And the. The Anne M. Martin's letter at the end of the book is like some real, like, listen, babysitters, you gotta be responsible.

[Andrew]

We gotta. We gotta get down to brass babysitters. Like, this is. This is not about how. What I was thinking when I wrote this book, this is like, you need to. You need to double check your work so that kids don't get hurt when you're imitating my books and starting your own babysitter.

[Craig]

And also. And also, some parents don't have the juice. Like, you need to be careful.

[Andrew]

Like, sometimes parents don't have the juice.

[Craig]

It's true.

[Andrew]

We've both always had the juice at every moment of.

[Craig]

Yeah, you gotta have.

[Andrew]

Just having. Just having just edited a little bit of Simon crying out of the background of a podcast that we're putting up tomorrow. Yes, we both have the juice.

[Craig]

We have the juice.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

This book was Originally published in May 1987, reprints in 95, 2010 and 2020. I don't. I didn't see too many, like, differences between the additions in any of the notes that I could find. Andrew.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And there was. There was nothing in here that was like, obviously anachronistic.

[Craig]

I think you've really zeroed in on the phone issue.

[Andrew]

Well, yeah, just like by the entire premise of the book depends so totally on Claudia having the only phone in her room. Like, their entire lives and their business are organized around this. So you can't. You can't make it newer. You just can't do it. It resists actively in a way that, like, the kid who ran for president didn't.

[Craig]

Yes. And similarly to book four, there is a critical, like, we cannot reach this parent issue. And there are nominal, like, gestures towards them having a phone and just being off. And if nobody exhibits any behavior that people post cell phone have. And it's just very funny to read.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Let me give you the back cover blurb from this novel here. Dawn's the newest member of the Babysitters Club, and everybody's glad. Except Christy. Christy thinks things were better without dawn around. That's why Don's eager to take on a big babysitting job. It's her chance to show Christy what she's made of. What a mistake. Taking care of the three Barrett kids is too much for any babysitter. The house is in chaos, the kids are impossible, and Mrs. Barrett never does any of the things she promises. Dawn's got more trouble than she bargained for, but she's not going to give up until all four Barretts are under control and she's friends with Christie.

[Andrew]

I feel like that's kind of a lightly a misrepresentation of the events of the book. I agree that actually especially the Christie thing doesn't. It doesn't represent the Christie thing accurately kind of at all.

[Craig]

No, I don't think it does.

[Andrew]

And I like the Christie thing and actually the Christie thing. Okay. So the thrust of this one is that dawn, the babysitter's club, I didn't start it and I don't run it, but I am its new. Its member. I'm Dawn Schaefer, babysitter number five. And a lot of the vibe of this book is like, you just met me in the last book, and now I'm a whole. I have to be a whole fully formed person, unlike the other four, where you had gotten a glimpse of them all in the previous books.

[Craig]

That's a great note, actually. Yeah. Because we're going right from, like, ancillary character that complicates prior book to. You got a book now.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Yeah. Okay.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So she has this family she's babysitting for, and the mom is like, I. We got. We're gonna talk a lot about Mrs. Barrett, because I feel like Anna Martin is trying to be really careful not to, like, impugn any correct specific parents or parenting styles in this, but she is mostly the problem. And part of the crux of that is that she is really, really busy and running around all the time, and she has to do that partly because she's divorced.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And one of the things I do I like about how it's handled in here, because this was published in, like, what, 86 or 87?

[Craig]

87. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Is you have this big thing with Don and Christie where they're kind of butting heads for a little bit, but then they start getting along. And one of the things that they relate about is that they are. They both have divorced parents.

[Craig]

Yes. Semi. Recently divorced parents.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And I actually think it's really important to hit that note first and then go to. And then look at this divorced mom and what a mess she is.

[Craig]

You're right.

[Andrew]

It has to be structured that way really carefully to avoid, like, making the divorce seem like the problem and not, like, the specific people and personalities at play. That was, like, my biggest thought coming out of this book is like, man, what a tightrope to walk without, you know, while doing the 80s 90s. Like, this is this first generation of kids who have had, like, widespread divorce among their parents.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And how are we going to represent that? And are we going to present that as, like, a value judgment of the parents involved? How are we going to do it? And I thought. I liked. I thought it was well handled in this.

[Craig]

Yeah. As a. As a child whose parent. As a parent, you know, my parents did not stay together. It was weird. My mom never hired a babysitter and didn't tell them if I had any allergies or. I don't really. I don't think I have any allergies. But, you know, Ms. Barrett made some decisions in this book. Yeah.

[Andrew]

No, she.

[Craig]

But I. It is was interesting thinking through what Mrs. Barrett is doing in this book. And I think you're very spot on to point out that like the book handles the concept with a lot of grace and handles Mrs. Barrett with some grace, but does let you know that she personally is very much part of the problem.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah.

[Craig]

Which I do appreciate. I think this was an interesting book in the series so far in terms of like what are adults capable of both positively and negatively. And a lot of these books have had an angle of like unpacking these kids relationships to various adults. But I thought this was like an interesting escalation of that. I'm not sure.

[Andrew]

Sure.

[Craig]

Andrew, you like a Good Rider of Rohan, right?

[Andrew]

Of course I do. I love them.

[Craig]

Fancy yourself a Balrog aficionado?

[Andrew]

Well, I mean, aficionado. I wouldn't want to like be up close to one.

[Craig]

Have you ever wondered if Sauron could make a ring that ruled so hard even he couldn't, in the darkness find it?

[Andrew]

I mean, I am now.

[Craig]

I'm building up to an ad read. Andrew, I need you to take over because I have. I've been whisked away by the ghosts of all the.

[Andrew]

Are the guys from the ships? Yeah, okay. The Gray Havens or whatever. Not the Gray Havens. That's a different thing. Anyway, have you seen a. Craig, have you seen the Lord of the Rings?

[Craig]

I have. Yes.

[Andrew]

Red J.R.R.

[Craig]

Tolkien'S books.

[Andrew]

If you're even remotely a fan of Middle Earth, you owe it to yourself to check out the finest Tolkien podcast this side of Bri. The Prancing Pony podcast hosts Alan Sisto and Sean Marchese have spent years walking their listeners through Middle Earth, from the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings, even the Silmarillion. Wonder what that must be like. There are just a couple of guys talking about their favorite books at the pub. So jump on in and have a listen.

[Craig]

The Prancing Pony Podcast is a great way for first time readers to learn the basics and more. And a welcome deep dive for all the Middle Earth veterans out there. Bad puns, dad jokes, Monty Python quotes, hilarious digressions, and an active community of other listeners are waiting for you in the common room at the Prancing Pony Podcast. So check out the Prancing Pony podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. So the main plots, right, we have the Barrett family. There's this lady who's a mess. She's, you know, trying to get a new job, but also sometimes she just goes shopping for a long period of Time. It's unclear what their situation is. She's got primary custody of the three kids. Their house is always.

[Andrew]

Sometimes she is working, sometimes she's interviewing.

[Craig]

She's a big.

[Andrew]

And sometimes. Sometimes she do. Sometimes women just do. Be shopping.

[Craig]

Yeah. And for a book that, like, for series that has sometimes been very particular about, like, what people are trying to accomplish and using specificity to give you insight into the character or justify action. The scene at the end of the book, she has literally just gone shopping. Like, there's not really an explanation for why.

[Andrew]

It's like she went shopping and she just wanted to be alone for some reason, which. Listen. Extremely real. Incredibly real. But.

[Craig]

There'S an ongoing plot from the last book which is a subplot of Dawn's mom reconnecting and dating Marianne's dad.

[Andrew]

Yeah, there's a lot of reconnecting going on in this book.

[Craig]

Yes. And Marianne is benefiting. She's getting to wear her hair differently and redecorate her room, which becomes a bit of a plot point.

[Andrew]

Her dad's wearing contacts. Her dad's just like. The love of a good woman has made Marianne's dad remember how to be a human person. And it's a real face turn for him as a presence in these books.

[Craig]

And the other two plots are the. Well, the other plot is the Christie plot, which I think. I totally agree with you. I do not find this book to be about, as that blurb said, this, like, big showdown between Christy and Dawn. It is like they are each. Dawn realizes that Christy is jealous of Marianne, her best friend's new friend, and then they unpack why Christy is jealous and maybe upset to, like, lose something that has been a bedrock part of her life or feel like she's losing it a little bit. And then they. And then they solve it, and then they all feel good after, like, it's a good little story, I think.

[Andrew]

Yes. The. The entire last book was, like, defined by intra babysitter's club conflict. And this one is like, okay, we'll have a little bit of conflict as a B plot. But the organization itself is, like, really cooking right now. They're the only game in town. They're drowning in calls. They just hired a new babysitter who is not an officer at the beginning of the book, but she and Christy. One note about the club is that Christy does, as president, make decisions like, by, like, unilaterally makes decisions, including naming. Naming dawn alternate officer, which means that she just steps in and performs roles for. For missing club members.

[Craig]

She's the designated survivor.

[Andrew]

Yeah. She can never be at Claudia's house just in case somebody nukes it or something. And then at the end, there's a. There's this whole thing where, you know, Christie's mom and Watson are getting married, as we discovered in the first book.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Christie's worried she's not going to be able to make it out to Claudia's house for meetings anymore. And she of course, declares, if the club is gone, then. If I am gone, then the club is gone. There can be no. The Babysitters Club will not outlast my membership of it. Is that she does explicitly say that. Like, I'm not, I'm not sure she declares that, but some.

[Craig]

But somebody says, no. Chris Girl.

[Andrew]

Christina Club. Yes.

[Craig]

And I think, oh, that comes out of a moment where they're like, well, if Christie can't join us, then we don't want to have the club. And then.

[Andrew]

Sure.

[Craig]

And then I think we're inside Dawn's head and she's like, oh, no.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I'm, I'm presenting it as more of a threat of Christie's. But my, my point about her ruling as a dictator is at the end, she decides that the solution is that everybody needs to pay more club dues so that we can pay somebody to uber Christie to the babysitter.

[Craig]

Not an equitable use of club funds.

[Andrew]

No, everybody's really excited about it because the alternate was like, the club goes away, nobody gets any money anymore.

[Craig]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew]

But, yeah, the pizza, the pizza party fund is now covering transportation just for Christie. And they're not really, not really deciding what the other, the other members of the club get.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

To make it more equitable. But whatever.

[Craig]

Whatever.

[Andrew]

Nope, there's no voting on anything in this book.

[Craig]

No, there's no voting. I don't think that they have bylaws.

[Andrew]

I don't think they have like Christie's rules of order or whatever to dictate how the meetings run.

[Craig]

And it's like before we get into kind of the plot, a bit like Claudia and Stacy are pretty non existent in this book. Like, we go to Claudia's house. Stacy at least has one, like, short babysitting chapter. We get some Marianne just to kind of track her, you know, change in status quo.

[Andrew]

Because at the end, by the end of the last book, she had effectively become a different person. And so we're still, we're still tracking that.

[Craig]

Yes. But it is really a book about Christy and Dawn and dawn and this family that she is now in charge of. As a 12 year old. So the book opens as you say. Dawn loves the bsc. It reminds us of the players in the club, which again, it five books in a row now. It's a different person every time. So we are getting their fresh eyes on all the main characters.

[Andrew]

We know timing note. Is it. Is it is spring.

[Craig]

Okay. Yes.

[Andrew]

So we are cruising up on the end of seventh grade for all of these girls.

[Craig]

Okay.

[Andrew]

School is mentioned in this one. Like not all.

[Craig]

Yeah, no, not at all.

[Andrew]

We don't get any school. But we do kind of return a little bit to the inhabiting other babysitter's heads while they do other babysitting jobs via the like group diary. We get that a couple times after abandoning it mostly in the last book.

[Craig]

Yep, yep.

[Andrew]

But, but yeah, just. Just keeping track of time. This is, this, this book series is like 100 and something books long. It does end with them graduating 8th grade. We have already moved from. We've already moved to two thirds of the way through seventh grade.

[Craig]

That's where they haven't reached the time warp portion of their schooling.

[Andrew]

Maybe they all have to repeat seventh grade because they were so busy babysitting.

[Craig]

That would. So they, you know, things we're tracking, we're tracking Mr. Spear and Don's mom. They're going on spontaneous dates now. Ooh. Dawn's mom is a bit of a west coast absent minded kook. Like she serves her kids tofu, but sometimes she forgets what earrings she's wearing.

[Andrew]

I do love how California is represented in this, this entire book where they're all eating tofu and like walnuts all the time and they habitually show up two hours late for parties because they're all so chill. Just chill bra.

[Craig]

Just traffic, man. But she the. I think what you get from Dawn's mom, first of all, it's just to kind of be different from the other parents. But it is a little bit of an example that when we encounter the Barrett's, dawn is like up for it. She already does a little bit of like managing up on her mom to make sure her mom like gets to.

[Andrew]

Dates on time and like literally leaves the house dressed.

[Craig]

Yes. But they are at a club meeting and like all the girls have their favorite houses and through like some sort of series of recommendations. I think dawn maybe gets a job at the Pikes and that which is that family with eight kids and then winds up getting recommended to the Barretts or something like that. And before we get there, there's the little bit where Marianne wants to redecorate her room. Christy, like, looks at them through a window, almost crying. And then they invite her over.

[Andrew]

Yes. Christie, Rear Windows, the Dawn and Marianne and. And is invited over.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Out of not, not quite out of pity. But they definitely hadn't thought about her before. No, they, they literally saw. Which Don does feel bad about.

[Craig]

Yeah. Because Dom was like, oh, my mom is like letting me give you some stuff that we have, like maybe some cool posters or whatever.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And they're both already writing. They're already shipping their, their own parents together and being like, man, what if we were sisters? And Christie is there. And dawn does eventually pick up on Christy seeming upset and left out. And she does, she does realize before too long. Oh, Christy. It's not that Christy hates me, because she is. Christy is treating Don kind of snot elite. Yeah. It's not that Chrissy hates me. It's that Chrissy's jealous.

[Craig]

And I would noted that it's a pretty mature understanding on Dawn's part to be like, her jealousy is not something I need to fight with. It's something that I could like, try to help her with.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Dawn exists on like an interesting part of the spectrum. Like up to the spectrum of grown upness. Because in the previous books it's always been okay. Stacy and Claudia are a little more grown up. They like boys. Christy and Marianne are a little more babyish. They don't like boys. And then at one point dawn says of her relationship to boys, I'm deciding, I'm deciding. But she does usually come off as a little bit more emotionally mature than especially Christy. Like, Christy is very hot headed and driven by her own. Her own. What's the emotions?

[Craig]

I guess. Yeah, sure. Claudia and Stacy have taken great interest in their hair. They muck it up with an egg rinse.

[Andrew]

I did check with Claudia and Stacy are on TikTok buying pink slime and did check with Laura Wellness tip.

[Craig]

And she was like, I've never put egg in my hair, but that is a thing you could do. And I was like, all right, just checking. I've never, I've just used shampoo out of a bottle my whole life. So I don't.

[Andrew]

No, I've never put egg in my hair. I think I've probably gotten egg in my hair ever.

[Craig]

Probably got egg on my face before.

[Andrew]

I've got an egg on my face, but usually just because I was trying to put it in my mouth.

[Craig]

Shoot for the stars, for the moon. Sometimes you fall among the stars. So then she, she takes the job with The Barrett's and the. The. Okay. The. The. I don't think these kids are that impossible. That's.

[Andrew]

My kids aren't that impossible. No, the kids are just not being taken care of properly. Honestly.

[Craig]

Yes. Like, the worst thing that happens is Buddy has this, like, what, his brand, his, like, catchphrase. Bizarre sign that makes people cry. I don't know what he's doing. What is it?

[Andrew]

I'm just. I just start eventually after, like, the seventh incidents of the bizarre sign. I imagine that he's just flipping people off.

[Craig]

Yeah, I think that's probably what.

[Andrew]

It's just flipping people the bird and making them mad.

[Craig]

But he's just. Just making people cry. It's, you know, it's something that they made up, and that's kind of like the worst thing that they do. They make a mess sometimes.

[Andrew]

Kids did. Was there ever any, like, hand gesture or anything that. That had a particular meaning in your. In your school community? I'm thinking of when my dad left the Air Force and we moved in the middle of third grade from South Dakota to Ohio. And, you know, we're your kids. You put Bunny. You know, put bunny.

[Craig]

Oh, sure. Yeah.

[Andrew]

When you know, like, taking a picture or anything is happening. This is a big thing at the elementary school it was coming from. Then I showed up to this new elementary school, and I discovered that putting Bunny ears behind somebody's head meant that you were gay. And.

[Craig]

Whoa.

[Andrew]

Being 1996. Being gay was the worst thing that you could be.

[Craig]

Oh, my gosh.

[Andrew]

So that was like a big, you know, that was a big maybe you're not gonna fit in this new place moment for ol. Andrew.

[Craig]

The one I'm thinking about is. In high school, there was a game.

[Andrew]

That I did ask my mom what being gay meant, and she did not. I don't remember the answer, so I assume it was not super satisfactory.

[Craig]

Tough. The boys in high school had a game where I think you would make, like a. Make kind of like the okay sign. Right. Like a little circle with your finger, with your thumb.

[Andrew]

Right. The white. The white supremacist.

[Craig]

Not that. No, not before it became that.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Craig]

And you'd, like, just, like, hold it on, like, your thigh or like, somewhere below your. Your waist. And then if you got someone to look at you and look at it, that meant you could punch them. And I don't.

[Andrew]

Oh, I remember this.

[Craig]

And I think. I think this was also vaguely homophobic. I think that's. It was of leave. Boys.

[Andrew]

You look at my ding dong.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

What are you doing?

[Craig]

What it was. And people got punched. Like, it was just. And nobody did anything about it. Yeah, that's. That's my bizarre sign that I experienced.

[Andrew]

I'm just thinking about the bizar signs that we've all experienced. I hope that. I hope the discord has more bizarre signs that we can discuss.

[Craig]

Yes. Because this is a thing that kids do. It's like, little, like, hand. What is hand jive, you know, except a business, sure. But no, these kids are fine. It's Marnie, Lucy, and Buddy. The youngest always needs her diaper changed when Mrs. Barrett leaves, she's basically like, hey, you're here. Great, I'm leaving.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And she leaves. Listen, she leaves no emergency numbers.

[Craig]

Nope.

[Andrew]

She doesn't leave any care instructions for the children.

[Craig]

Nope.

[Andrew]

It's just up to Don to figure it out. So the first time. And this is Don's first mistake, is the first time she's at the house with the kids. She does take care of the kids, but she also notices that the house is a wreck and the kids to help her clean up the entire house. And you just. You can't do that good a job your first time out because you're setting expectations too high. And that is part of kind of what happens is that Mrs. Barrett, I think, takes dawn for granted a lot, is leaning on her a lot, and things kind of deteriorate from there.

[Craig]

Yep. She makes herself indispensable. And there's at least one or two scenes where dawn is, like, working herself up to be like, Mrs. Barrett, I don't know about this. And Mrs. Barrett's like, you're the best.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And Dawn, I need you, Dawn. And dawn, like, is like, oh, I guess I am the. Okay, well, yeah, just like, the little.

[Andrew]

Bit of, like, dopamine that she gets from, like, being told she's doing a great job with the like. I am. I am feeling weird about having to have this conversation in the first place. So I'm kind of looking for an out so I don't have to have it. Like, yeah. She takes. She takes that escape shoot a couple.

[Craig]

Of times, and we get a brief interlude with Christie babysitting her soon to be step siblings. They basically play that game from whose line? Party quirks. Except she doesn't have to guess what they are. They tell her it's a fine. Like, I think it's mostly there to give you a sense of what, you know, that Christie's gonna move to this house.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And she's gonna. This is all gonna be different for her. It's not like, there's not a lot of conflict in the scene, but it's there.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because this is how to kind of wrap up the. Christy, Dawn.

[Craig]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew]

From the book.

[Craig]

Because it happens, like, right away. Next. Yeah, wrap it up.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because Marianne. Marianne's, like, not around. I don't remember what she's. What she's doing.

[Craig]

Babysitting, maybe.

[Andrew]

Yeah, maybe she's babysitting. And, like, dawn and Christy end up like, dawn is trying to make amends with Christy or make Christy feel better and so takes the opportunity to, like, invite her over to her house. And Don, as we talked about in the last book, lives in the kooky, like, 1700s house.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

All the doors are super short, and it's like. It's very old and just kind of noteworthy. And I guess there's a barn in the backyard that we had not really talked about before this book.

[Craig]

No.

[Andrew]

Like, a whole barn with, like, hay.

[Craig]

And stuff, even though there are no animals. And I guess they, like, whoever just sold them the house just took the animals recently and left all the hay.

[Andrew]

And left all the hay. But there is, like, a rope attached to the. The top of this barn that you could jump on and swing and, like, jump into the hay.

[Craig]

Y.

[Andrew]

And Don is like, Marianne is. As soon as my mom said that the building was, like, possibly unstable, Marianne was like, I'm never going in there. And sensing Slash. Knowing that Christie's a little more outgoing. Dawn. She and dawn go back to the barn, and they swing and they have a good time, and then they have a very nice little chat. Christy says that she thinks divorce should be illegal, which I thought was very reactionary and trad wife of Christie. But it's all. But it's just because it's made their lives, like, more difficult to have to, like, manage all of these interpersonal situations. I don't. I don't think Christy actually wants to outlaw divorce.

[Craig]

Well, no, she hasn't, like, actually talked to any of her advisors yet.

[Andrew]

She hasn't called her representative about how it would. Long divorce.

[Craig]

Yeah. How it would impact her constituents. I do like the. The bit where she says to dawn, like, I'm actually really happy that Marianne has a new friend. Like, I'm like. Christy admits that that's good for her friend to have somebody else to spend time with.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Especially while Christie's going through stuff, you.

[Andrew]

Know, and then Don says, I'm glad that she kept all her old friends, too. And it's like, yeah, we don't have beef with each Other. We just. We just both. Chrissy doesn't know how to deal with. With Marianne not needing her as much. Yeah. And we're all just working through it.

[Craig]

And that's when Christy makes a unanimous decision about the structure of the babysitter's club. And it anoints dawn the Designated Survivor.

[Andrew]

When you say unanimous, I guess you just mean the unilateral committee of.

[Craig]

Unilateral.

[Andrew]

Thank you. The only. The only person who gets to make decisions for the babysitter's club has made a decision, and it's unanimous.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

100% of all people with power have agreed on this.

[Craig]

The babysitters club holds a multi babysitting picnic with the Pikes and the Barretts. And then there's an extra kid. Whoops. Which is fine. It's that little girl.

[Andrew]

Yeah. It's that, like, Victorian child from this little ghost doll. Yeah. That Marianne babysits and the haunted doll who comes over. These people are in the book mainly to establish that everybody else in the club thinks that. That they're annoying. Mostly Marianne's problem.

[Craig]

Yeah. And this, like, wild adventure and babysitting breaks down because of the bizarre sign.

[Andrew]

Bizar sign.

[Craig]

He gave me the bizar sign.

[Andrew]

They say you make it sound like a Seinfeld conversation.

[Craig]

It's an insult or something. They use it when they want to annoy each other or their friends.

[Andrew]

Jerry gave me the business.

[Craig]

He gave me the. He's a bizzer. He's a vizier, Jerry. And because it's gone full Lord of the Flies, Don breaks out her break glass in case of emergency plan of chocolate brownies. And one of the Barrett kids is like, what? Don't you know? Don't you know?

[Andrew]

Don't you know that the little one can't eat brownies?

[Craig]

Is it Marnie that's allergic to them?

[Andrew]

I think it's a little baby one. Yeah. Marnie.

[Craig]

Marnie can't eat chocolate. She's allergic.

[Andrew]

Which is why Marnie. Marnie can't communicate this information herself.

[Craig]

Which is silly because earlier in the novel, Marnie is eating M&Ms.

[Andrew]

Maybe they're the special non chocolate kind of Eminem. Maybe they make them and they make them in all kinds of flavors these days. And I bet some of them don't even have chocolate in them.

[Craig]

Yeah. Didn't think about that one.

[Andrew]

But what if you made one that was. Oops. All peanut and there was no chocolate and it was only peanut butter, so.

[Craig]

Just a peanut in a candy shell. Yeah, it could. It could work.

[Andrew]

It could Work.

[Craig]

It could work. Yeah. And this is a bit where, you know, she's like, trying to talk to Ms. Barrett about all of her grievances, and Ms. Barrett's like, you're the best. Shut up. You're wonderful. I love you. Yes. Then we get like a kind of a montage of a couple different ones, right? Where it's like, hey, if my husband calls, don't tell him anything. Hey, you're the glue holding us together. 12 year old. Hey. I didn't.

[Andrew]

She just has to be. She just has to be over there all the time.

[Craig]

Yeah. Yep.

[Andrew]

Constantly. And so Buddy is, like, checking homework with her.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

The middle one, Sally, whatever her name is.

[Craig]

Susie.

[Andrew]

Susie. Susie. Yeah. Is calling dawn, even if she doesn't have anything in particular to talk about. And Don, like, the. The. The. Eventually, when she and Mrs. Barrett have this conversation, dawn is being like, I cannot be the. The mother to these three children because I'm 12 and you are their mother.

[Craig]

She's like, yeah, you're right. But no, it's. It's not going great. And again, I don't think these kids are impossible. I think they're just not being parented.

[Andrew]

They're not impossible. They're just not being parented. And Don does have to be over there all the time. And I can tell you from experience that your kid does treat you as a parent slightly differently than they treat other caretakers, especially if they start seeing Don as a parent. Could explain why they become more comfortable acting out instead of being on, like, company behavior with.

[Craig]

Sure. There's a little interlude where Stacy babysits Christy's little brother, David Michael. And there's. This is what builds to the no Christie, no club. You know, dun, dun, dun. That happens later.

[Andrew]

But it's talking about how much David Michael is afraid of moving to Watson's house for various reasons.

[Craig]

Yeah. He thinks they're gonna put his dog in the moving van, which is funny. It is a funny question.

[Andrew]

He also thinks that they're gonna break a lamp. He's really concerned that the movers are gonna break a lamp.

[Craig]

He's really worried about it. The. The. Dawn and her mom host a barbecue where she convinces her mom to get meat from the store and a grill on the same day.

[Andrew]

Just get hot dogs in a grill, Mom. Stop being so California about this.

[Craig]

Just buy a grill on this on the morning of your barbecue. Mom.

[Andrew]

Everybody wants to eat big handfuls of raw kale. Mom.

[Craig]

And so it started as a barbecue where Dawn's grandparents were going to meet Marianne's dad again, after not approving of him 20 years ago.

[Andrew]

Yes. But now that he's successful and have money, they're both fine with it.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Which I think. I think we're going to take as a win. But. Yeah, like, Marianne's dad and Don's grandfather are both, like, arguing, but, like, in a friendly way over, like, find, like, banking.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And that. And that really solidifies it. Just. Everything's gonna be okay with them.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

They were a potential source of tension with.

[Craig]

Yeah, it does just kind of take that off the table.

[Andrew]

Don's. Yeah, we're remove. Removing all the obstacles. These people getting married.

[Craig]

That is true. The Barretts are there. There's, like, a couple other kids there. What I liked about that scene overall is just that it was the. The babysitters club watching adults and, like, talking about adults. It was kind of an interesting thing. And it builds to this paragraph where I think it's dawn.

[Andrew]

The thing about masks.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because my. Okay. Yes.

[Craig]

Adults certainly are hard to understand sometimes. They seem to have several faces. It's as if they own masks. And, you know, they own masks, but you can't always tell their masks from their real expressions. Why do they make everything so complicated? It's true. You know, that's what I really think about.

[Andrew]

The next sentence is, the picnic became more interesting when we started eating, which I relate to. I don't think there's. I've ever been to a picnic that did not become more interesting when we started eating.

[Craig]

Yeah, that's true. That's true.

[Andrew]

What we're there to do.

[Craig]

Marianne is with the babysits, the Barretts, and says that they were terrible, but honestly, that's the one where I was like, these kids are not impossible. They were fine. You took them out on a puddle walk, and Buddy, like, antagonized his sister with a worm. It's fine.

[Andrew]

Yeah. They're just, like, doing kid stuff.

[Craig]

The worst part is that you got a weird call from their dad, who did, like, you were forced to lie to. And they. And he didn't explain himself either.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Mrs. Barrett is like, I don't want my husband talking to these kids because I have custody and he doesn't.

[Craig]

Not how that works. It's not. I mean, unless. Unless it is.

[Andrew]

They do have it.

[Craig]

They.

[Andrew]

They do have a. Like a. A very. A strange situation where he gets, like, a couple of random days every couple of weeks, it seems like, to see the kids, but.

[Craig]

And the book is not interested in explaining much about their divorce at all.

[Andrew]

She is also not a reliable source of information about. About anything. Like about. About this, about scheduling, about anything.

[Craig]

So like you can. You can imagine that it would be a. Like a. Is there a pretty rough situation? So we do really need to kind of limit communication or things like that. But the book is not really painting that picture explicitly.

[Andrew]

So you don't know it never. Yeah. And by the time you actually see him at the end, it's like, oh, well, he just.

[Craig]

He's also kind of a doofus.

[Andrew]

Like, well meaning. Ish. Like it's. It's not. It is not like he intended to kidnap his own child.

[Craig]

Okay. We need to.

[Andrew]

Is. Is that. That's what I can say for him. I did want to mention one thing I like about the babysitting book in this is. You do get. You do see, I forget which of the babysitters it is who is writing to dawn in the baby sitters book to be like, listen, I'm worried you might be sitting for the Barretts too much.

[Craig]

No.

[Andrew]

Are you okay?

[Craig]

Yeah. I like that they're like communicating to each other in the book. That is cool.

[Andrew]

Through the book. Which they all read because they're all very responsible. These are irresponsible 12 to 13 year old children ever on the face of the planet Earth.

[Craig]

One last job. Dawn with the Barrett's in this book. The rain that she.

[Andrew]

She thought she was gonna get out, but then she had one last job.

[Craig]

Stony Brook has been deluged with rain for a week now. The kids are losing their minds.

[Andrew]

They have hope. They have some pumps in their basement.

[Craig]

Finally the rain lets up and she says, kids were going outside. Buddy, you go outside first. And he puts on his Mets hat. Ugh. And he goes outside and he's playing while she is helping the girls get ready upstairs. She comes back down. He's missing. Where did he go?

[Andrew]

As a baseball fan is like in Connecticut. Would you. What team would you be rooting for?

[Craig]

It's. It's probably Mets or Yankees. I. I mean you could be a Red Sox fan, but you.

[Andrew]

You would be attached to the New York teams, especially geographically because you don't have a good enough one close.

[Craig]

You don't have. Do not have a major league team in Connecticut. You're.

[Andrew]

I'm just. I'm just thinking like, if it's a. If it's a South Jersey situation where you just kind of default to the Philly.

[Craig]

No. Yeah. Well, my cousin lives in Connecticut. He's. But he like grew up in New York. I think there's Going to be a lot of New York transplants in Connecticut who are Yankees fans, probably primarily.

[Andrew]

We won't.

[Craig]

We won't hold that against the Mets. World Series win, I think is in 87. 6, the most recent one. So that would actually explain why this little boy likes the Mets, because they did.

[Andrew]

He would have met stuff. He had 1986 world champions.

[Craig]

Yeah, they did just win the World Series, so I guess. Okay, that's fine, buddy. You can be a fair weather fan. It's fine. That's how. That's how people get into the sport. Fair weather fans are good. I like them.

[Andrew]

Listen, when you. When you are, like, nine years old, that's a statistic. That's a very significant amount of life that the Mets have been.

[Craig]

Good. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Like, way high. Way higher than our power loss.

[Craig]

That is around the age that the Phillies made it to the. For me, I was like seven. The Phillies made it to the World Series. Lost, but they made it.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And, like, you're just like, oh, they must be this good all the time, because this is. This is my. This is what I've experienced did.

[Craig]

I know. But here I am anyway.

[Andrew]

I mean, now. Now they got that Simon curse going.

[Craig]

I know. He really.

[Andrew]

Ever since he was born. They make it. They make it in, but they can't. They can't make it out.

[Craig]

I'm so worried for the Eagles again.

[Andrew]

Oh, no. Is the Simon curse gonna work?

[Craig]

I don't know, Street.

[Andrew]

The last time they won the. The Super Bowl, Simon was not born.

[Craig]

It's true. And then they. He. They immediately went to the super bowl after he was. They did not win. Yeah, boy.

[Andrew]

Come on, Simon, get it together.

[Craig]

He does like to say go birds, though. We were driving to the supermarket today. He was just saying go, birds the whole time.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it's great. It's very funny when they say go birds.

[Craig]

It is. So this kid's missing. The whole town's getting involved. No one can reach Mrs. Barrett. Have you called Mrs. Barrett? Mrs. Pike asked me. I can't reach her. I replied, she drove to Greenvale to shop. Maybe her phone is off.

[Andrew]

Yeah, maybe it is.

[Craig]

And then there's a bunch of questions where Mrs. Pike is. Like, did she say where she might be having lunch? Did she say what she was shopping for? Which are all the other reasonable questions that would exist in the book before cell phones.

[Andrew]

Yeah, right. And I, like, I can. I can give. Mrs. Barrett. You're on a shopping trip that you went on exclusively, even though you have no visible means of support, apparently. And you're paying this babysitter tons and tons of money to babysit your kids all the time.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

If you went shopping to get. To get clear of your children, your.

[Craig]

Impossible children, maybe you would turn your phone. No, I mean, maybe this is a.

[Andrew]

Character for her to have turned her phone.

[Craig]

Yeah. Some of it is just like, I can't. I can't put myself in that headspace. I would.

[Andrew]

Like, I can't either.

[Craig]

And that's. That's more about me probably, than it is about the book. But it is just funny because you're just like some editor was like, well, I gotta reference the phone, but the rest of the book is not interested in it.

[Andrew]

Yeah, no. Like, we have. I won't say trouble. We get, like, very extremely mildly agitated about caretakers who don't contact us enough on our phone. Yes.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Like, Susanna's parents are very big. Like, no news is good news, people.

[Craig]

My mom does the same thing. Yeah.

[Andrew]

And so if Henry is with them overnight or something, we'll get like, maybe once in 36 hours, we'll get, like, proof of life. And that's. Yeah.

[Craig]

I usually have to ask for the, like, bedtime report.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Even though you feel like you're bothering them and.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I would like to know.

[Craig]

I know I would like to enjoy whatever dinner I'm at a little bit more by. No, just.

[Andrew]

Just like 10% more.

[Craig]

So the whole town is, like, effectively searching for Laura Palmer like it's Twin Peaks.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

They.

[Andrew]

They call together a lot of people really fast.

[Craig]

Every child has been enlisted and conscripted if they can talk. One of the pike kids says that he saw him going to his lesson, which is him projecting his own piano lessons onto another child. And so this. He got in a car.

[Andrew]

Got into. He got into a car in front of his house. He must be going to a lesson. That's the only reason I would get into a car in front of my house.

[Craig]

God bless that child. Jordan Pike. The police get called. There's a full scale APB out on this kid. And Don gets a call from Buddy from a gas station. He's with his dad, of course, and they're on their way home, but he's.

[Andrew]

And Buddy's dad had been trying to.

[Craig]

Call the house, but two or three times that we.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it was busy each time because they're trying to call Mrs. Barrett constantly. Yeah.

[Craig]

She comes home and what did she do? She got the weekends mixed up. It's Mr. Barrett's weekend. Not that that explains anything that just happened.

[Andrew]

Not that it explains why he kidnaps one of his own children, drives away with the. With the child.

[Craig]

He had decided to teach her a let. So finally he comes back, and then he's, like, explaining himself to the police. He decided his name is.

[Andrew]

His name is Hamilton, which rules.

[Craig]

He decided to teach her a lesson, come by, take the children, and wait for her to figure out her mistake. Then he found Buddy by himself in the front yard. At that moment, he decided that the easiest course of action would be to just take Buddy without bothering to look for the girls. So he did. He drove Buddy to an amusement park, took him out to lunch. But Buddy didn't seem to be enjoying himself. When he asked him what was wrong, Buddy said he was worried about me. That's Dawn. He didn't think I knew where he was. That was when Mr. Barrett realized that Mrs. Barrett wasn't even home. What was your plan, Mr. Barrett?

[Andrew]

Yeah, you really messed this one up.

[Craig]

Terrible decision.

[Andrew]

That's no. It's no good.

[Craig]

You were going to take the children from their mother and every.

[Andrew]

Listen, in the end, all the kids are fine, and nobody presses any charges against anybody. So all's well that ends well, I guess. Except that you made poor Don, this child, think that she had screwed up.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Really, really bad.

[Craig]

You made two of your children think that one of your children had been abducted.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Even though one of them is a baby. Doesn't really get it.

[Craig]

Yeah, it's fine. But the trauma.

[Andrew]

Feed her some of those chocolate free MMs from before. You'll be okay.

[Craig]

But it's just like, I can't. Oh, I was, like, so, like, ready to rag on Mrs. Barrett. And then the. The plan that Mr. Barrett cooked up is revealed. And I just got so angry.

[Andrew]

He's much worse. And, like, her having to. I don't know what having to deal with somebody like that does. Does to you. And so I can't, like, I can't fully pass judgment on Mrs. Barrett, I don't think.

[Craig]

No, no.

[Andrew]

And she's in, like, her early 30s, and I don't remember how old the kids are, but, like, they're clearly.

[Craig]

They're young.

[Andrew]

Like, the oldest one is at least, like, eight or nine. Right. So. Yeah. You know, they got. They got married young, they had kids young. Sometimes you. Sometimes you realize that that person is not who you want to do the whole thing with.

[Craig]

Yeah. And there's a reference to, like, like, the book.

[Andrew]

The book treats her with a fair Amount of grace. Yeah. As does Dawn. It's not that she doesn't. It's. It's not that dawn does not have a good reason to. To have grievances, because she does have good reason.

[Craig]

Yeah. The most, the book says is, like, there's.

[Andrew]

There's a lot of empathy there.

[Craig]

Yeah. The cops ask her, like, before. Before Mr. Barrett comes back, like, is your divorce. Like, is it not a good one? Like, is it tough?

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And she's like, yeah, but he wouldn't do that. Like, not like kidnapping. And I need Mr. Barrett to know that this looks like kidnapping. I know it wasn't, but it. But even in his brain, it sort of was like a little. Just a little bit of kidnapping.

[Andrew]

I think this is another late 80s thing that has not been updated for our modern age. But, like, nobody says word one about getting CPS involved in this situation. I think. Absolutely. If cops are coming in and finding out, oh, the mom's, like, not reliably employed, and she, like, disappears for hours without leaving a forwarding number. And the dad is in the picture and we don't know what his deal is. Like, no. But nobody is calling the situation into question. I'm not. I don't know. I'm not here to say that it needs. Always needs to be, but, like, they're just questions that go unasked that I was curious about.

[Craig]

Yep. One of the things that popped out of that whole sequence is that Mallory pike, the. One of the oldest Pikes, if not the oldest pike, did a great job taking care of at least one of the Barrett kids during the whole debacle. They mentioned Mallory briefly in the, like, the club debrief of the incident.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

That maybe she will make a good babysitter one day.

[Andrew]

And this kids who are reading the babysitter's club books for the first time. This is a literary device that we call foreshadowing.

[Craig]

And then there jumps right to a scene with dawn given Mrs. Barrett the business. And I was kind of impressed that the book didn't give us a. Dawn talks to her mom about it. First scene we've gotten.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because we did definitely get that. Yeah. In past books with the. With the babysitter's agency.

[Craig]

But to your point, dawn is like semi adult coded, like, emotional maturity wise.

[Andrew]

Well, and listen, Don's own mom is not, like, around super a lot. Like, is it like dawn is not relying on her own mom a lot because she is already kind of used to parenting her mom in some ways. Yeah.

[Craig]

And she's like, I can't do this anymore. You got to be their mom. And Ms. Barrett's like, I will be, but I still need you. Please. And dawn is like, okay, three more times.

[Andrew]

They agree to a trial where they're gonna. Yeah, they're gonna try stuff three times and see if. See if things get meaningfully better. And then there's like, a moment where I think Buddy calls her for help with homework. She's like, listen, Buddy, I. I think you should. I think you should talk to your mom about this. Like, Don is. Don is. Is both talking to Mrs. Barrett about things that Mrs. Barrett needs to improve, but also trying to set some boundaries for herself.

[Craig]

Yeah, this. I got a comment from our Discord community. Mary Garth said, I like that the first four books celebrate the girls taking on more responsibility. And then comes this book to acknowledge that part of taking on those responsibilities is also setting boundaries. Just. Yeah. A good assessment of what this book is about, which is like, in their fervor to be a successful babysitting business, what are they willing to do? What shouldn't they do? You know, because there was that whole thing in the. In the, like, when they had the rival agency of, like, should we be doing their chores, too?

[Andrew]

Yeah. Right.

[Craig]

And this is a. This is a more organic way that you would find yourself doing that, which is a problem. There's one last scene with the Babysitters Club where they solve Christie's problem by all paying in extra dues to pay her brother to do driving.

[Andrew]

Something that is not voluntary, but that. Which they are all fine with.

[Craig]

And then they take a picture together as a group to put on Marianne's wall. And I really thought that the last sentence of the book was kind of funny because out of context, it sounds hilarious.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Craig]

And the five members of the Babysitters club were captured forever.

[Andrew]

Maybe that's how each of the Babysitters Club mysteries books ends is like, with whatever Dr. Claw es villain they're always facing off with. Like, I'll get. I'll capture you next time. Babysitter's club.

[Craig]

It's really funny. Yeah. Dawn's a cool character. I will like.

[Andrew]

I like Don. Don's cool.

[Craig]

I don't.

[Andrew]

Even though she's from California.

[Craig]

All that tofu and dried apple rings. But, yeah, I hope that things work out for her mom and Mr. Spear. I hope that Christie's mom and her marriage to Watson goes. Goes well. Yeah. I don't know what's gonna happen over the next eight books, because we're gonna skip to book 14 next. Andrew.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it kind of makes me. It kind of makes me wish we were reading more of them. But there is. We can't become that other baby Slayers Club podcast.

[Craig]

No, we cannot. No. We had, we had a very specific, like, thesis for how we were gonna cover this. We're gonna stick to it.

[Andrew]

And what I. The, the fun. The fun flip side of how much the book is obsessed with Don in California and like the dried apple rings and tofu and whatever is how it treats people who live in Connecticut where Christy's like, if you don't give me potatoes smeared with cream cheese or whatever, like bland white people food that people in Connecticut eat, I will die. I will literally die.

[Craig]

It rules.

[Andrew]

If I can't. If I can't have hot dogs and mayonnaise for every meal of every day, I will. Will pass away.

[Craig]

It's so funny. They're at lunch, like, arguing like, Chris, this is when Christy and Dawn are not getting along. And Christy's like, you're so. All your food is just so California. And Dawn's like, yours is so Connecticut. What does that mean?

[Andrew]

Got him.

[Craig]

Got him.

[Andrew]

Don's also very. We haven't talked at all about how dawn gets very upset with the weather.

[Craig]

Man, that's like a whole less than.

[Andrew]

When it's less than 80 degrees outside.

[Craig]

There's a lot of ink spent on her calling the weatherman a. When she does not like, she misses.

[Andrew]

She misses California, but she does, you know, she, she likes her friends.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

And these are, these are the things that are going to sustain her. I do think, and I do think in one of the spin off series, dawn does go back to California or maybe even like later in the main babysitter's club, she goes back so that it becomes relevant.

[Craig]

But.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Well, that's dawn in the Impossible 3. Next episode of Sit Me Baby One More Time will be on book 14. Hello, Mallory.

[Andrew]

Hello, Mallory.

[Craig]

I'm interested to know how she joins the club.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Maybe she will have joined the club by the time the book starts, which will be interesting.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I mean, I assume it's going to be from her perspective because we have. Listen. What we. We did add a member to the club, Right. We added dawn, but we were not in Dawn's head when she was at it.

[Craig]

That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

[Andrew]

So what happens when someone is actually vying to be included? Oh, I don't know.

[Craig]

Okay.

[Andrew]

I'll have to figure it out.

[Craig]

We'll find out. That'll be next month on Sit Me Baby, One more time. Thanks everybody for listening. You can send us emails over to podmail.com hit us up on social media at Overdue Pod. Thanks to Nick Laurengis who composed our theme music. Andrew, if folks want to know more about the show, where do they go?

[Andrew]

Overdue Podcast.com is our Internet website where we keep our schedule for the month ahead and the archive of months behind. We also, you listening to this now, know about it already, but if you're listening to this in the far flung future, patreon.com overdue pod is the place where you can get access to these episodes early and whatever long read project it is that we are currently working on. Yeah, and yeah, that's pretty much the deal.

[Craig]

That's it. Andrew, what do we say at the end of every episode of Sit Me Baby One more time.

[Andrew]

Pop Pop is a bank. That was a Headgum podcast.

[Lamorne Morris]

What's going on? It's Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone and we host the Mess Around a New Girl. Rewatch PODC now on Headgum. Now here's the thing. Every single week we chat about an episode of New Girl and we really get into it. Like we get up in there. We get up in there. You know, we reminisce about our times on set, we share behind the scenes tea. We react to rewatching episodes that we haven't seen in years. We talk about how Jake Johnson is dog.

[Andrew]

That's not true. We talk about so many memories we have of working with the biggest stars on on the planet. I'm talking Prince Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo.

[Lamorne Morris]

We're just two BFFs having a good old time.

[Craig]

Okay.

[Lamorne Morris]

Sometimes we even talk to other co stars like Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Damon Wayans Jr. And your dad, we talked to your dad on this show as well.

[Andrew]

Make sure you subscribe to the Mess around wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every single Tuesday.