A Fair Trade Book
Title: Kristy and the
Mother’s Day Surprise (Baby-Sitters Club #24)
Author: Ann M. Martin
Author's web site: http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/
Date: 1989
Publisher: Apple / Scholastic
ISBN: 0-590-67392-0
Length: 141 pages
Quote: “‘Happy Mother’s Day! The members of the Baby-Sitters
Club would like to give our special moms a special gift.’ (I thought that part
was corny but no one agreed with me.) Then the invitations went on to say who
was invited, what we would do…”
As a present to the mothers of the children they baby-sit,
the BSC decide to take all the children on an outing.
What presents itself, conveniently timed, is the sort of
migratory street show that are normally called carnivals in the U.S. (Not everything in the United States is
bigger and richer than its counterparts in other countries. Our street
carnivals, which are typically like the one described in this book or smaller,
hardly even qualify as a caricature of city-wide Carnival festivities, as in
Rio de Janeiro or Port of Spain.) “It would have midway games, some rides,
plenty of food (cotton candy, peanuts, ice cream, popcorn, lemonade), and even
a sideshow…Were there really bearded ladies and people who…could swallow fire
or swords?”
Yes, one of the less endearing aspects of American street
carnivals is that, traditionally, ‘freaks’ have earned a living exhibiting
their unusual body features, in tents. Nice, wholesome children, like the
Baby-Sitters and their charges, have traditionally spent all their money on the
games, rides, and food. Traditionally, just watching children dash from one
raucous attraction to another has been the kind of tiresome chore parents are
glad to delegate to teenaged baby-sitters.
Kristy’s mother, however, has another surprise in mind for
her various children and stepchildren: Emily. If you’ve read subsequent books
in the series, you know how well that turns out, so the surprise may be that
anyone had a second thought about adopting Emily.
It’s the Baby-Sitters Club, so a nice, nice time will be had
by all, even by the child who gets sick on carnival rides. To buy this book as a Fair Trade Book, send $5 per copy + $5 per package to either address at the bottom of the screen, from which we'll send $1 to Martin or the charity of her choice. You could fit five or more BSC books into one package; for six books, you'd send us $35 and we'd send Martin or her charity $6.
No comments:
Post a Comment