JESSI'S GOLD MEDAL

by Anne M. Martin (but really some ghost writer.) New York: Scholastic, 1992.

This is the Baby-sitters Club book where Jessi takes up synchronised swimming. I wonder if she ever met Buck McSweeny.

I had read a couple BSC books as a kid, due to lack of reading material in formats blind children could access. When I attended the school for the blind in what would normally have been my high school years (though I don't really refer to them as such), a girl I liked was into this particular series so consequently I got into them as well.

First, the obvious thing regarding this book is that in general black people don't swim;. The Ramseys, from the few Jessi-centric BSC books I've read, are about the whitest black family around.

Second, the subplot of this book involves the Baby-sitters planning a kiddy olympics. They have their hands full because Stoneybrook's children take to the idea like ducks to water and all come over to each other's houses to practice. These days, the BSC would probably be sued into oblivion for having an uneven ratio of sitters to children as outlined by the BSC's official legal policy.

People speculate about what would have happened to the members of the Baby-sitters Club when they got older. Really, you can't tell from these stories because people can change drastically after entering high school.

Possibly the one with the most potential would have ended up on welfare in subsidised housing raising a bunch of kids. That seems to happen all too often in this world today.

Also I think there's a possibility Kristy might have grown up to be a dyke.