- This article is about the book, you might be looking for the episode by the same name. Please see Claudia and the Sad Good-bye (episode)
Claudia and the Sad Good-bye is the 26th book in the original The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Back Cover Summary[]
Claudia has a sad good-bye to make. Her grandmother, Mimi, has just died. Claudia understands that Mimi was sick for a long time, but she's still mad at her grandmother for leaving her. Who will help Claudia with her homework...and share "special tea" with her?
To keep from thinking about Mimi, Claudia spends all her free time painting and baby-sitting. She's even teaching an art class for some of the kids in the neighborhood.
Claudia knows she has to let go of Mimi sometime. But how do you say good-bye to a special friend...forever?
Main Plot[]
After Mimi faints during dinner, she is taken to the hospital where doctors believe that her condition is blood-related. After some pints of fresh blood, Mimi starts feeling better and is allowed to go home.
On a Saturday morning, Claudia is teaching an art class for some of the BSC's charges, Mimi faints again and is taken back to the hospital. After Mimi gets new blood again, she improves well enough to come back home again, but the next morning, Mr. & Mrs. Kishi tell Claudia & Janine that Mimi passed away during the night.
Three days after the funeral, Claudia doesn't feel like herself and after she sees Janine in Mimi's room going through her things, Claudia loses it and slowly begins to heal. In the end, Claudia makes a tribute collage to hang in Mimi's bedroom.
Subplot[]
During Claudia's art class, Claudia becomes close to a girl named Corrie Addison. Claudia learns that Corrie's parents tend to shuffle her and her brother, Sean to various classes and activities so they can have time to themselves.
Characters[]
Claudia's Family
Extended Family
- Russ Benedict (mentioned)
- Peaches Benedict (mentioned)
BSC Members
Kids
- Corrie Addison
- Gabbie and Myriah Perkins
- Jamie Newton
- Carolyn and Marilyn Arnold
- Matt Braddock
- Buddy Barrett (mentioned)
Teenagers
- Stacey McGill
- Sam Thomas (mentioned)
- Charlie Thomas (mentioned)
- Logan Bruno
- Dorrie Wallingford (mentioned)
- Ashley Wyeth (mentioned)
Adults
- Mr. and Mrs. Addison
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Kishi House
- Stoneybrook General Hospital
- Spier House
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Stoneybrook Cemetery
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Cabbage Patch dolls
- Nancy Drew
- Wheel of Fortune
- Howard Johnson's
- A Christmas Carol
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Claudia recalls the stroke Mimi had in Claudia and Mean Janine.
- On page 52 Claudia recalls when she rode in an ambulance from Claudia and the Bad Joke.
- Dawn recalls when Buddy was attached to her in Dawn and the Impossible Three.
Inconsistencies
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader:
I began working on Claudia and the Sad Good-bye shortly after my own grandmother died. She didn’t have a stroke like Mimi, but just like Claudia, I was angry at her doctors for not saving her even though there was nothing anyone could have done. She was just too old and ill. Having just been through that experience helped me to describe Claudia’s feelings.
I didn’t make a tribute to my grandmother like Claudia did, but on the night before her funeral, my sister and my cousins and I gathered to reminisce about Granny. Eventually, we found ourselves laughing and telling stories about funny things Granny had done. It helped us feel a little better. For a long time after the funeral I kept a picture of Granny on my desk so I could look at her while I was working. And that helped, too.
Trivia[]
- An episode of the Netflix series adapted the book for season 2 [1]
- The working title of this book was called Claudia and Mimi in advertisements that were published around the time.
- Author Ann M. Martin wrote this book shortly after the passing of her own grandmother.[2]
- A reprint was released on September 5, 2023.[3]
- Mimi moved from Japan to America when she was 32.
- Claudia says that occasionally Kristy will wear mascara.
- Claudia has a row of Nancy Drew books on her shelf which later in the series gets contradicted when she says that she has to hide the books.
- Myriah Perkins knows how to sign to tell Matt what to do.
- Sometimes you have to pry Janine away from her computer with a crowbar.
- Janine and Claudia hardly ever hug and they hug multiple times in this book.
- Janine attends the BSC meeting because she didn't want to be alone.
- Out of the BSC only Dawn likes green peppers on her pizza.
- Corrie and Sean are sat by an older woman when their parents didn't call the BSC, neither of the kids like her.
- People named at the funeral aside from the BSC (And their immediate family) include:
- The Goldman's, Newtons, and Perkins Family.
- Claudia acknowledges they are not the only baby-sitters in town.
- Claudia has never seen her father cry before.
- On page 96 it's implied that Mimi died close to her birthday.
- Jessi's audition for Swan Lake is foreshadowed for the next book.
- Claudia narrates that Kristy knows kids better then the rest of the BSC.
- This is one of the books where Claudia mentions that she has a high IQ.
- Mimi wrote her own obituary and knew when she was going to die.
- Mr. Arnold's birthday is mentioned.
- Claudia did a tribute collage to Mimi along with the kids in her art class.
Gallery[]
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/08/the-baby-sitters-club-season-2-premiere-date-netflix-trailer-1234822444/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/256176805898/posts/pfbid046yTC3HMgfcHyu4XUVkrsJ9rw2R2TK3CQascuw5fuG3C8RfcfX1YUSu4vo9Kg5h5l/?app=fbl
- ↑ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/claudia-and-the-sad-good-bye-ann-m-martin/1015146521?ean=9781338875652