Secure Mallory And The Trouble With Twins (The Baby-Sitters Club, #21) Developed By Ann M. Martin Displayed In Mobi

wanted pierced ears and enjoyed watching random girls get their ears pierced at the mall boutique, Mallory and Jessi were surprised to see Logan, Mary Anne's boyfriend, at a BSC meeting, Apparently he wasn't actually sitelinkscarred for life after the "bra strap" incident, The conversation during the meeting was stilted because the girls could no longer engage in 'girl talk', Mallory was glad she and Jessi had not been discussing underwear or deodorant while they walked to Claudia's room,

Sometimes we start gossiping about friends and school stuff while we wait for the phone to ring, but with Logan there, I could tell that all of us, even Mary Anne and Logan, were a little uncomfortable.

At the meeting, Mallory took a longterm job babysitting for Carolyn and Marilyn Arnold, seven yearold identical twins, The girls enjoyed taking off their name bracelets and tricking their babysitters, Claudia was babysitting for the Arnold twins one Saturday when the girls decided that Carolyn, who did not possess her sister's musical ability, would attend Marilyn's piano lesson instead.
Mrs. Arnold blamed Claudia for the mixup stating that she was supposed to be in charge of the girls, That was not fair of Mrs, Arnold. Her girls were old enough to know better, Also, how was Claudia supposed to magically know how to differentiate between two girls she had never met before

Dawn, Mary Anne, and Mallory worked at the Arnold girls' eighth birthday party.
Mary Anne accused Mallory of being prejudiced toward the Arnold twins because, as their regular sitter, Mallory did not think they were brats, That was not the correct usage of the word 'prejudiced', However, Mallory and many of the other members of the BSC were prejudiced toward Claudia, They were sitelinkracist when they referred to Claudia as "exotic" and commented on her "almondshaped eyes",

With Mallory's help, the Arnold twins tell their mother that they want to wear different clothes and style their hair differently, That inspired Mallory to similarly have a hearttoheart with her parents without calling them out on how they were babyish for refusing to let Mallory pierce her ears.
Um, what At the end of the book, Mallory's parents finally let her get pierced ears, The BSC decided to go "malling" to celebrate, Mallory, Jessi, and Dawn got their ears pierced for the first time, while Claudia got another hole in her ears, Mary Anne told Jessi she looked "pretty sexy" with pierced ears, I've always wanted a twin, While I actually started reading around agethank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!, this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood.
My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen, I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series, We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M, Martin at a book signing, but of course littletruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time, Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more! Mallory baby sits for twin terrors in this book.
It's almost the kind of plot that would normally be the subplot of a book with a more exciting main story, But it's not, so we are stuck with the story of how Mallory makes friends with Carolyn and Marilyn Arnold and agonizes over the fact that she is not allowed to have pierced ears.
It is just as exciting as it sounds,

Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I vaguely remember that one of the twins sneaks out of the house to get a baby sitter in trouble.


The only thing I remember clearly is that Mallory begs her parents for pierced ears and they finally agree, She and all the baby sitters have a big outing to the mall to get their ears pierced, In the book they call this "malling" which was never, ever a term I used in thes, When I was a kid this seemed really, really lame, I had had pierced ears since I was small, and everyone I knew had pierced ears, so I couldn't understand what all the drama was about, Since reading this as an adult,



Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Now I know that certain people, namely white, WASPy or upper middle class people i.
e. everyone in Stoneybrook think pierced ears on young girls is vulgar and "ethnic", If even Mallory thinks this is a stupid attitude than the parents of Stoneybrook need a serious reality check, As she points out, having your ears professionally pierced is no big deal, and people of a certain generation need to get over it, Mallory was never my favorite character in the series her books always seemed extra boring but I admire her in this book, She knows her parents are being ridiculous to refuse her pierced ears especially since she could pay for it herself and she asks them to reconsider in a very nice, very mature way.
In addition, although she doesn't feel like she's equipped to handle taking care of the Arnold twins, instead of suffering quietly, or trying to make big decisions by herself, she talks to the BSC about it.
Even though she feels like she should be able to work things out on her own, she knuckles under and asks for their advice, and it helps her decide how to handle the twins.
I work with people who are in theirs ands who don't have that maturity,

The whole Arnold family sounds like an absolute joke, The mother with all her crazy rings and bows, the twins dressed exactly alike, . . it feels over the top, and from what I can recall of the other books in the series that talk about the twins, I feel like the exaggeration of this book doesn't carry over, which I think is good.
The way the family is written in this book makes them sound like characters in a bad British sitcom, Also, while I sort of remember the twins switching places so that the wrong twin goes to a piano lesson, I did not remember that the baby sitter which in this case was Claudia got scolded for it.
I think the Arnold parents are asking for trouble if they

insist on dressing their girls exactly the same, How is a baby sitter who has never spent time with the girls before supposed to know which one is which

I just loved reading about the twins shopping spree with Mallory.
They walk around the store, take note of all the things they like, then sit down and decide what they want, and if they can afford to buy it.
Carolyn decides to splurge on jeans because they'll go with all of her shirts, This is exactly how I would love to shop for clothes,

Mary Anne tells Jessi she looks "pretty sexy" with her pierced ears, How did this get past the Scholastic censors Also, Claudia almost faints when she gets one hole in her ear I'm disappointed in her lack of fortitude.
And this may be the first book where I become annoyed with Dawn for proclaiming at the top of her lungs that she is such a unique individual being.
There was nothing unique about having two holes in each ear in, I had two holes in each ear by the time I was Mallory's age, and I didn't think I was rocking the boat in any way, I just wanted to show off more earrings.
I don't understand why the baby sitters think Dawn is such a selfpossessed "individual" girl, She is not. Although, maybe she is by Stoneybrook's enclaved standards, I'm going to start imagining Stoneybrook like a big country club, with a membership committee, They only accept members who reach a certain standard, Upper middle class whites with well paying jobs and no drama in their lives are preferred, Therefore, Dawn thinks she's being so individualistic by piercing her ears twice and wearing clogs, The teens of Country Club Stoneybrook admire Dawn for being so daring two holes in your ears! how crazy and wild! and the members of Stoneybrook clutch their pearls in shock.
Meanwhile the real world just says, "Yes, and",