Creaky stairs, spooky noises, secret passages- it must be a ghost!
Childhood Memory: This book wasn't one of my favorites growing up. I remember it always freaked me out when they talked about the secret passage and Dawn discovering it. I also remember secretly wanting there to be a secret passage in my room. Who didn't? I also had no concept of what the Underground Railroad was but looking back on it, that makes the passageway so much cooler and I really like that Ann M. Martin added that little bit of history in there.
Book Summary: The book starts off with a club meeting at which the girls recapping their vacations they just got home from (except Kristy because her family is lame and doesn't go on vacations. Score one for Dawn making sure to mention that.) They talk about the children they babysat and set up babysitting jobs. After the meeting Dawn goes home and has dinner with her family, she decides while reading ghost stories that her house must have a secret passage because all old houses do (obviously). The next day Dawn invites the whole club over to help search for a secret passage. After searching all afternoon and scaring each other multiple times, they find nothing but a suspicious hollow sound in one of Dawn's walls. Mary Anne babysits for the Perkinses for the first time and discovers that she likes them despite their living in Kristy's old house. While babysitting for the Pikes, Dawn notices that Nicky is having a hard time fitting in with the triplets. When he feels left out, he leaves the house to be by himself (don't worry the Pikes have a rule that he can be by himself as long as he stays within a two block radius.) Dawn starts to get worried when he doesn't return as quickly as she thought he would, she finds him covered in dirt and sweaty and has no idea where he was. The next day, Dawn decides to go out in her barn to read (I kind of love the idea of reading in a barn for some reason). When she finally gets settled in, the floor beneath her collapses. She realizes that she was on a trapdoor and has discovered a secret passage. She follows the passage and discovers that it leads to her room. Inside the passage she finds a button, a buckle, and a key. Kristy babysits for her younger siblings and gets freaked out by a story that Karen tells about Ben Brewer haunting their house. (Who would really be scared by a 7 year old's story? I feel like Kristy just wanted to pretend that her house was scary too.) The same night, Dawn is babysitting her brother Jeff. She shows Jeff the secret passage and convinces him that the passage is haunted because they found a nickle and ice cream cone that weren't there before. Thoroughly scared, Dawn calls her mom home from her date. They try to convince Dawn that there are no ghosts. Dawn refuses to sleep in her bedroom and finds a book in her living about the history of Stoneybrook. In it, she reads a legend about Jared Mullray a young man that refused to move out of his house when his family moved. Dawn becomes convinced that Jared Mullray is the ghost haunting her secret passage. Claudia babysits for Jamie Newton and has a hard time getting him to sleep. Dawn shows the secret passageway to Mary Anne, she tells her the ghost story. They hear thumping noises coming from the passage and find a book that wasn't there before. Stacey babysits for the Pikes and once again Nicky goes missing. Dawn finds him and walks him back to the Pikes' house. A few days later, Dawn babysits at the Pikes's house. When another fight breaks out between Nicky and the triplets, Dawn decides to follow Nicky. She discovers that he is the one that has been in the secret passage making noises and leaving things behind. She tells Mrs. Pike who agrees that Nicky can continue going there. Dawn holds a sleepover for the club and shows them all the passage.
Snarkable Moments: Dawn talks in the beginning of the book about how the club members haven't seen each other in two weeks. Maybe I was just antisocial but I went a lot longer than two weeks without seeing my friends when I was that age. Dawn talks about how on the plane ride to California they watched European Vacation, I've never been on a flight where they show a movie but don't they usually choose something that's family friendly? European Vacation is rated R, why are her and Jeff watching this? So y'all know that Dawn is not one of my favorites but one thing that really bugged me in this book was that she refers to her dad as a Disneyland Daddy meaning he just spoils her the whole time she's staying with him and that he doesn't act like much of a father. I'm sorry, when did going on trips to Disneyland become a bad thing? Another thing that got on my nerves but was also slightly entertaining was watching the power struggle between Dawn and Kristy, while I dislike both of them, I like to see Dawn put Kristy in her place a couple of times and boss her around. It's a nice change of pace. A few other great things in this one; hollow books (is it sad that when I actually found one of these I bought purely because it had always been a dream of mine to be more like Claudia), Calladew's Perfection Shampoo (what kind of shampoo won't rinse out after 12 times?), Dawn eating a tuna fish sandwich (what happened to being a vegetarian you little hypocrite?), and the fact that nobody notices a 7 year old running rampant through everyone's yard and hiding out in barns. Another thing I want to touch on, what exactly does Cam Geary look like? I think this the first time he's mentioned and I kind of want to marry him if he's as dreamy as he seems. For the record, I'm picturing him as Zac Efron because 13 year old me would have loved that and considered him the most attractive person ever.
Claudia's OOTD:
This book was another one that didn't mention any outfit in particular. All it mentioned was a dragon head ring and a Hawaiian shirt so I used my imagination.
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