"I knew that somebody very...different had walked into my life." #12 Claudia and the New Girl

I'd forgotten how much I liked this one. This one happened before Mallory and Jessi joined the club, before Stacey left for New York (and then came back) and before the Schafer/Spier wedding. Oldie but goodie.

Claudia is sitting in English class, in the middle of a spelling quiz no less, when a new girl is ushered in. The first thing about the new girl Claudia notices is her clothes and hair, natch. The new girl's clothes remind Claudia of a movie she watched called Woodstock, which was "totally bizarre." Oh, Claud, but just think of all the psychedelic art that came out of the sixties. And the girl's hair is braided, but not tied at the end. New girl, whose name is Ashley Wyeth, sits at the only available desk in the room, which just happens to be directly next to Claud's. They smile at each other, but don't say anything. During class, the teacher asks if Ashley's read the books the class is discussing. Ashley answers, "Yes." The teacher asks which ones. Ashley says, all of them. She offers to do a special project instead of reading the books, since she'd already read them at her old school. Claudia is impressed that a student is suggesting work to a teacher.

After class, Ashley asks Claudia directions to her next class, and Claudia takes the time to ask Ashley if she's related to Andrew Wyeth, the artist. Ashley says she isn't, and is impressed that Claudia knows who Andrew Wyeth is. (RIP Mr. Wyeth) They start talking art but get interrupted by having to go to class.

Claudia is surprised when Ashley shows up at Claud's Saturday art class. Ashley likes Claudia's art, and tells Claud that she has talent. Falling under Ashley's spell in 3...2...1. Their art teacher announces that there's a new art gallery opening, and everyone in the class has the opportunity to enter a piece for an exhibit. The pieces will be displayed at the gallery and first prize is $250. Ashley is stoked, and she tries to talk Claudia into entering. Claud declines, saying she doesn't have a show-worthy piece, and the four weeks till the opening isn't enough time to start a new project. Ashley somehow manages to convince Claud to enter and they make a date to go into "the field" to find inspiration for their pieces.

Ashley picks a fire hydrant, because she thinks it's "noble." She wants Claudia to do a streetlight, but Claudia wants to sculpt something alive. She couldn't care less about sculpting inanimate objects, and she eventually (like two weeks later) decides to do a bust of Jackie Rodowsky.

While all this is going on, Claudia has been late to meetings, or calling Dawn to cover for her. She made a date to go shopping with Stacey, then canceled because she decided to go to the library to do some studying. Ashley intercepted and convinced Claudia to go to the "old" gallery and look at some exhibit there. Claud called Dawn to cover and told Dawn exactly why she wouldn't be at the meeting. At the meeting, Dawn explained why Claudia wasn't going to be there and Stacey got pissed. Understandably. So the other girls start writing mean notes and hiding them all over Claudia's room. They eat her candy and then rehide it in the wrong places. Some of the notes are kind of funny:

Traitor, traitor.
Claudia - we hate 'er!
Traitor, traitor.
So long, see you later!
Good-bye, Claudia.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Traitors are jerks,
And so are you.

In my breadbox of friends, you are a CRUMB.

Famous Jerks:
Benedict Arnold
The Wicked Witch of the West
Claudia Kishi

Note that Mary Anne did not write any of those. Dawn wrote the first one, Stacey wrote the next two, and the last one is Kristy's. Kristy also put a blank piece of paper under Lennie the rag doll, trying to make Claudia think it was either written in invisible ink or was so horrible they erased it.

Claudia tells off Ashley and makes up with the BSC members. She also gets her ducks in a row about all the missed schoolwork, her babysitting jobs, and her artwork.

Gallery night! Claud's excited and nervous, since her art teacher fessed up the fact that she entered Claudia's bust of Jackie in the show, even though it's only half-finished. Claudia wins one of the three honorable mentions while Ashley wins first place for her fire hydrant. Claudia is told if she'd been able to finish her sculpture of Jackie, it would have won first place.


Continuity Issues:
*Claudia is in a remedial math class. It's been a while since I've read any of the other early Claudia books, so I'm not sure if this falls to the Continuity Beast.

*Ashley lives next door to the Rodowskys. In Super Mystery #2, the Segers live next door to the Rodowskys. Let's hope that the Rodowskys live in between two houses.

*The name of an art classmate of Claudia's is spelled two different ways. In the beginning of the book it's spelled "Mari" and at the gallery opening it's spelled "Mary."

WTF Moments:
*Why are there so many new kids in Stoneybrook? Ashley, Stacey, Dawn, Logan, Jessi, Cary Retlin, Abby and Anna, the list goes on and on.

*Stacey talks about bell-bottoms like they're a bad thing. Hey, Stacey? In about fifty books or so, you're gonna be wearing them too. Except now they're called "flared."

Other Notables:
*Claudia is proud of adding a "silent W" to the word "farrow." She was trying to spell "pharaoh." Will somebody please start a blog detailing Claudia's horrible spelling habits? They drive me insane. It's like trying to read I Can Has Cheezburger.

*Somewhere else, I can't remember if it was in one of my posts or in another blog altogether, someone asked if the BSC members ever missed a meeting because they were actually babysitting. Well, Claudia does in this book, sitting for the Marshalls on a Friday afternoon till six o'clock, even though we hear absolutely nothing about it.

*There's a very minor subplot of Jeff Schafer being a brat and how Dawn's dealing with it.

Keeping with the theme of NO NON-BSC FRIENDS ALLOWED, I'm going to do #83 Stacey vs. the BSC next.