Stuck in Stoneybrook: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast

We’re back in Palo City! Dawn gets hired to hang out with 12-year-old Whitney, who has Down Syndrome. We discuss myths and facts and Down Syndrome, Emily highlights disability justice and disability theory, and of course we have to revisit the groundbreaking family show, “Life Goes On.” Also Dawn is a Summer and so on trend, and the adults are horny. Come along!

The BSC doesn’t just work on summer vacation, they also give themselves extra homework! In this not so special super special, all the girls (and Logan!) share their most vivid memory. Emily leads us through a book club discussion where we discuss the hits (CLAUDIA!!!) and the misses (why do like half of their most vivid memories involve Mary Anne?). Come read a bunch of non-manda

We travel to Davis Park on Fire Island (actual, real places!) to hang with Stacey and Mr. McGill for two weeks! But also with… Robert? Wait, what? Didn’t Stace already learn this lesson? We discuss lying to ourselves and hy 13 year olds might be more prone to doing it, heterosexist divorce tropes, Johnny Depp in 1994, and how VERY deeply we wanted Mr. McGill’s friend Stu Majo

We travel to Davis Park on Fire Island (actual, real places!) to hang with Stacey and Mr. McGill for two weeks! But also with… Robert? Wait, what? Didn’t Stace already learn this lesson? We discuss lying to ourselves and hy 13 year olds might be more prone to doing it, heterosexist divorce tropes, Johnny Depp in 1994, and how VERY deeply we wanted Mr. McGill’s friend Stu Majo

An A-grade-nerd teaches the next Short Takes segment and Jessi has to wrestle with finding the line between being funny and being mean. Does she do it? Anne covers plenty of pop culture nuggets, we revisit the literature on teasing and affiliation, and have some debate about cool nerds v. nerdy cool people. Which one are you?

We are so excited to welcome author, podcaster, journalist and the Kristiest of Kristy to the podcast, Jo Piazza! We discuss her new mystery, "The Sicilian Inheritance" (coming April 2nd!) and how it stacks up to this Mystery at the Mall! We also lament the death of malls and third spaces, as dazzled by Jo’s sheer number of ideas, and have a brief discussion about CPS and weird n

Kristy makes the SMS softball team (why has it taken 74 books for this to happen?!?) and has to make some tough decisions about hazing! We take a deep dive on the practice, looking at the history of it (with some pretty disturbing info from antiquity from Emily) and the data (this does happen in suburban middle schools!) with Esme. Anne takes us to a weird place with a possibly fic

Oh man, we did not like this book! It has taken over as the worst one we have read so far! Huzzah! At least it prompts us to have a good conversation about what makes a good BSC book! We also discuss the fakeout OCD plot, how ridiculous a four year old Jenny is, the origins of the word “Prissy” and whether the Pikes have anything to do with the Weasleys. We try to make the book

Let’s talk banned books! Oh wait, this book was written in 1994 and IT’S WORSE NOW, NOT BETTER. Thanks for trying, AMM and Ellen Miles! Em gives us some good history on banned books, while we discuss what drives kids toward “fire involvement,” we meet another misunderstood old lady, and meet another wealthy old Stoneybrook family, the Ellways. Do brown M&Ms taste best? List

We head back to California to watch Dawn commit lots of crimes! Esme dives into Kristy’s envy and we feel bad for Carol as Emily reminds us of the trope of the evil stepmom, while Anne reminisces about local TV coverage and we all discuss invisible labor. Come get some sun and some much-needed organization!