BSC in the USA is the fourteenth book in the Baby-Sitters Club Super Special series.
Back Cover Summary
It's BSC road trip time! Two RVs are parked in front of Claudia Kishi's house. Dawn's dad, Mr. Schafer, will drive one. Watson Brewer, Kristy's stepdad, will pilot the other. The passengers? The Baby-sitters Club! The plan? Mr. Schafer and his bunch will take a northern route to California while Watson's crowd heads south. Every passenger gets to pick a special stop along the way. The destinations? For starters, they include the Grand Canyon, a rodeo, a ghost town, Seattle, and plenty more. In two weeks, the two teams will meet in Palo City—Dawn's hometown!
Baby-sitters, start your engines—it's time to hit the road!
Chapter Narrators
- Dawn Schafer (1, 10, 16, 23)
- Kristy Thomas (2, 22)
- Jessi Ramsey (3, 9, 13, 21)
- Stacey McGill (4, 18)
- Mallory Pike (5, 15)
- Claudia Kishi (6, 12)
- Abby Stevenson (7, 11, 19)
- Mary Anne Spier (8, 20)
- Jeff Schafer (14)
- Karen Brewer (17)
Plot
The Thomas-Brewers are going on a two-week vacation trip around the United States of America on their RV. And since it's the summer, Dawn and Jeff Schafer are back in Stoneybrook, and Jack, their father, brings a friend’s RV too. And of course, Kristy and Dawn invites the remanding members of the BSC (only Logan and Shannon can't join). Shortly after the two weeks end, the gang will meet up in Palo City, California, where Dawn now lives. Dawn's family will take the northern route, and the Thomas-Brewers will take the southern route.
Stacey goes to Seattle and meets her fifteen-year-old boyfriend Ethan Caroll for a date, and they kiss, Kristy goes to a baseball game with Mary Anne and meets her real father after years of no contact, Mary Anne also visits her grandmother, but instead, she chooses to meet all the BSC at the Mall of America, Dawn goes to any old ghost town, Mallory goes searching for horses, Jessi tries to talk to other people, Claudia goes to Chicago to look at paintings, Elizabeth goes to the Grand Canyon where Abby's family was planning a trip; her dad died before the trip happened. Before that, she goes to Graceland, Watson goes to Oklahoma to visit a friend from college; while there, the Thomas-Brewer RV gets caught up in a tornado. Jeff goes rappelling, and Andrew goes to the San Diego Zoo.
Shortly after they arrive in California, they meet Dawn's California friends—Sunny, Maggie, and Jill and Dawn's stepmother Carol and housekeeper Mrs. Bruen; they have a welcome party. After the party ends, everyone goes home while Dawn stays for the remainder of the summer.
Attendees
- The Thomas-Brewers: Watson Brewer, Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer, Nannie, Kristy Thomas, Charlie Thomas, Sam Thomas, David Michael Thomas, Karen Brewer, Andrew Brewer, Emily Michelle Brewer, Boo-Boo, Shannon
- The Schafers: Jack Schafer, Dawn Schafer, Jeff Schafer
- The other members of the BSC: Claudia Kishi, Mary Anne Spier, Stacey McGill, Mallory Pike, Jessi Ramsey, and Abby Stevenson
Other characters
- Saville & Judy Hoyer and their granddaughter Felicitas (Liz)— people who were in the car who hit Watson's RV
- Chet and Linda Romney—Chet is a friend of Watson's from university. He has a baby daughter named Isabella whom Abby, Mallory, and Jessi want to hold.
- Mr. Kingman—man who gives Jack a ride to the nearest gas station in South Dakota.
- Peter Rogers—Jeff's rock climbing instructor
- Joseph Woodward—principal of the Zuni school
- Patrick Thomas and an unnamed girlfriend
- Annie Pardell - Woman Jessi meets at Dalton Plantation, they might be distant cousins.
- Mr. Choi—Jack's friend who let Jack drive his RV back to California
- Sunny Winslow, Maggie Blume, Jill Henderson—Dawn's friends who live in California and attend the BSC party
- Carol Olson and Mrs. Bruen also attend the BSC welcome party
- Verna Baker - Mary Anne's grandmother
Locations
Northern Track
- Stacey McGill—Seattle to visit her boyfriend Ethan Caroll
- Kristy Thomas—as many major league ballparks as possible.
- Claudia Kishi—Chicago to see the art institute
- Mary Anne Spier—Maynard, Iowa to visit her grandmother. Instead of them driving to Maynard, though, her grandmother chooses to meet the BSC at the Mall of America.
- Dawn Schafer—any old ghost town.
Southern Track
- Abby Stevenson—Graceland
- Watson Brewer—Oklahoma to visit a friend from college. While there, the BSC gets caught up in a tornado.
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer—Grand Canyon. Here, Abby makes peace with her father's death.
- Karen Brewer—Four Corners
- Andrew Brewer—San Diego Zoo
- Jessi Ramsey—Dalton, Mississippi (to visit a plantation where some of her ancestors may have been slaves)
- Mallory Pike—Chincoteague Island, Virginia
Pop Culture and Real Life References
- Elvis Presley
- Hershey Park
- Goldfish crackers
- The Vanderbilt Mansion
- Little House on the Prairie
- The Wizard of Oz
- Bill Gates
Continuity and Inconsistencies
Continuity
- Stacey narrates that she used to date Robert on page 51.
- Mary Anne narrates about Jeff's comedian phase from Here Come the Bridesmaids! on page 90.
- Kristy mentions when Patrick showed up in Stoneybrook and asked her not to tell anyone he was there. This was first mentioned in Kristy's Book, and it happened sometime after Welcome Back, Stacey! since Stacey’s parents were divorced.
- Claudia initially packs way too much for the trip. This also happens when she goes to Philadelphia in Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby.
Inconsistencies
- Dawn complains about how bad RVs are for the environment, but she didn't say anything about the cruise in Baby-sitters on Board!.
- On page 232, Maggie tells Dawn that Stephie Robertson's mom wants Dawn to sit for Stephie, but Stephie's mom died and her father had not remarried.
- Mary Anne narrates that she was a bridesmaid in Mr. Schafer's wedding, but she wasn’t.
- It's written that Rachel Redriver was Margo's pen pal during the Pens Across America program in Dawn and the Big Sleepover, but Rachel is Vanessa's pen pal.
- The artwork on page 22 and 23 show Kristy writing with her right hand when she's a lefty.
- On page 103, the illustration of the woman talking to Jessi depicts her with dark hair when she's narrated to have gray hair.
- Claudia says New York City doesn’t scare her, but she said it did in Stacey's Lie.
- In chapter one, Dawn says that Jack and Sharon haven’t been in the same state together since they got divorced (until this book).But Sharon and Dawn flew out to California when Jeff had appendicitis, and that happened sometime before this book because Abby wasn’t a BSC member at the time. It’s very likely that Jack and Sharon were in Jeff’s hospital room at the same time.
Trivia
- This book takes place between Mary Anne to the Rescue and Abby the Bad Sport in the regular series after Abby became a regular club member.
- On the dedication page it says: "Special thanks to Bonnie Bryant, Clifton Lewis, Peter Rogers, and Janet Vultee."
- This is the first time Richard and Jack meet. This is also the first (and only) time we see Jack visiting Stoneybrook.
- Sam and Charlie are at summer camp, so they do not go. Nannie stays home with Emily Michelle as well.
- If Stacey were to watch a sport she'd pick basketball.
- Ethan is touring west coast art galleries with his parents for a week this summer.
- It's implied that Jack is not a lawyer; he says that his lawyer friends never see their families, and that he gets evenings and weekends off.
- Abby likes to think that tabloids are right, even though they're wrong most of the time.
- Despite being in South Dakota, no one wanted to check out Mount Rushmore and or go to Mammoth Site.
- Claudia doesn't get scared of horror movies.
- David Michael's pen pal from the Zuni pens across America program is named Sam Wright, whose parents heard sheep. They talk about computer games when they first meet.
- Dawn says that Jill acts 13 going on 11, foreshadowing how Dawn and her friends stopped being friends with her in the California Diaries series.
- Patrick is going to a job interview in Kristy's letter.
- Early printings include a preview booklet for the California Diaries series, featuring a chapter from Dawn (California Diaries), the first book in the series.
- Watson went to Baylor University in Texas.
Gallery
Covers
Interior Illustrations
