Little Miss Stoneybrook ...and Dawn is the fifteenth book in the original The Baby-Sitters Club series. The club gets involved in a children's beauty contest.
Back Cover Summary[]
Dawn's a little jealous when there's a formal ceremony to welcome Jessi and Mallory into the Baby-sitters Club. Don't people know that Dawn's a special baby-sitter, too?
Then it's Dawn's turn to shine. Mrs. Pike wants Dawn to help prepare Margo and Claire for the Little Miss Stoneybrook Contest. So what if Margo's only talent is peeling a banana with her feet? Dawn's going to help her charges win that contest any way she can.
The only trouble is...Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia are helping Karen, Myriah, and Charlotte enter the contest, too. And nobody's sure where the competition is fiercer: at the pageant — or in the Baby-sitters Club!
Summary[]
Main Plot[]
Five BSC Charges (Karen Brewer, Claire & Margo Pike, Myriah Perkins, & Charlotte Johanssen) decide they want to compete in the Little Miss Stoneybrook Pageant. Kristy helps prepare Karen, Dawn helps Claire & Margo, Mary Anne helps Myriah, and Claudia works with Charlotte. The baby-sitters are intensely competitive as each would like her charge to win the pageant. But with crazy talents, stage fright, and intense pageant competitors, things get a little crazy. Eventually, Charlotte develops stage fright and runs off the stage, Claire, Karen & Margo flub up their interview questions, and Myriah goes on to win first runner up. Her prize is a shopping spree at Toy City. Other known competitors are Sabrina Bouvier (grand prize winner) and Lisa Shermer (second runner up).
Talents[]
- Claire Pike - talent is to sing a schoolyard version of the "Popeye" theme song and do a little dance in a sailor outfit
- Margo Pike - can peel a banana with her feet and recite "The House That Jack Built"
- Karen Brewer - sang "The Wheels on the Bus" including several made up verses.
- Charlotte Johanssen - recited passages from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as her talent; however, she ran off the stage.
Subplot[]
Dawn's brother Jeff is not adjusting to the move to Stoneybrook very well and ultimately moves back to California to live with his dad, which is hard on Dawn since her family has been ripped in half- girls vs boys, Stoneybrook vs Palo City- and separated by 3,000 miles.
Characters[]
Dawn's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Claire, Margo, Adam, Byron, Jordan, Vanessa and Nicky Pike
- Myriah, Gabbie and Laura Perkins
- Karen Brewer, Andrew Brewer and David Michael Thomas
- Charlotte Johanssen
- Sabrina Bouvier
- Lisa Shermer
- Jenny Prezzioso (mentioned)
- Jerry Haney (mentioned)
- Jamie Newton (mentioned)
Teenagers
Adults
- Dr. Johanssen (mentioned)
- Ms. Besser (mentioned)
- Mimi Yamamoto
- Dee Pike
- Mrs. Perkins
- Elaine - stewardess
- Patricia Bunting - Pageant coordinator
- Mrs. Peabody - Judge at the pageant
Locations[]
- Kishi House
- Schafer House
- Pike House
- Perkins House
- Stoneybrook High School
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Sabrina Bouvier sings Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany's
- Myriah sang and tap danced to Shirley Temple's On the Good Ship Lollipop
- Claire did a Popeye song for the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant
- Charlotte was going to recite a passage from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- The pageant is compared to "Miss America."
- Dawn suggests that Claire could also sing "Tomorrow" or "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
- The owl and the Pussycat, The House that Jack Built (poems)
- Mr. Poppers Penguins, The Wizard of Oz (books)
- Monopoly
- McDonalds
- Transformers
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Jenny Prezzioso - At beginning, Mary Anne references back to Mary Anne Saves the Day when she and Dawn got Jenny to the hospital with a 104 degree fever.
- Kristy also references Claudia and the Phanton Phone Calls when Alan Gray turned out to be Claudia's prank caller.
- Kristy brings up the creation of the Kid Kits from The Truth About Stacey.
- The girls read Crimewatch in the paper which is first brought up in Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls.
- When Dawn tells Mary Anne that Jeff is moving back to California for good, she calls him selfish. In Farewell, Dawn when Mary Anne finds out that Dawn is moving back to California for good, she calls Dawn selfish.
Inconsistencies
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
Little Miss Stoneybrook … and Dawn is one of my favorite books in the series because it was so much fun to write. I loved creating the silly acts for the pageant, in particular for Margo, who peels bananas with her feet. (I don’t know if anyone can do that; I just made it up!) I also liked writing about the rehearsals and the funny mistakes the kids make. By the way, if I had ever had to be in a pageant myself, I would have reacted the way Charlotte Johanssen did.
The humor in the book, however, was tempered by a serious subplot. It is in this book that Jeff returns to California. While Dawn is upset by this, she understands why Jeff misses California and their father. In fact, later in the series Dawn faces this dilemma herself....
Trivia[]
- Mallory and Jessi get formally inducted into the club with a ceremony, which made Mary Anne cry.
- Charlotte specifically asks Claudia to sit for her since Stacey moved. Kristy doesn’t like this, but she doesn’t protest. But in later books, it’s said that parents and kids can’t request sitters. Jobs are shared equally.
- Dawn once saved two kids from a fire back in California.
- Dawn thinks her house in Stoneybrook is better then the house in California.
- Last Halloween 42 pumpkin smashings happened in Stoneybrook.
- A man on Dodds Lane reported a burglar in his yard but when the police arrived they couldn't find anyone.
- Kristy thinks that pageants could be sexist but fun.
- Mrs. Pike is part of a volunteer project at the library.
- Kristy's favorite sitting jobs are with her own siblings.
- There's a key to the downstairs bathroom at the Brewer's house.
- Watson called Lisa about Karen being in the pageant.
- Sharon's work hosted a baby shower for one of the employees, Kelly.
- Margo can stand on her head.
- Dawn thought that Margo was uncoordinated.
- Jobs lined up but not seen include: Mallory for Jamie Newton, unknown clients for: Jessi, Claudia, and Dawn.
- Jeff tore apart Jerry's card.
- One time Dawn and Jeff visited their dad and their suitcases ended up in Albuquerque.
- Karen wore the flower girl dress from Watson and Elizabeth’s wedding in the talent part of the pageant.
- There was an earthquake in California.
- Jeff calls in the last chapter.
- Claire always wears a watch on her right wrist. Since most people wear watches on the hand that they don’t use dominantly, Claire might be a lefty.
- This is one of the few books that mentions Jessi’s reading glasses.
- In chapter 11, it’s a Friday. Dawn is working with Claire and Margo, and she goes home at 5:30 p.m. because Jeff is flying back to California that night. But Dawn should’ve headed to Claudia’s for a BSC meeting. However, Kristy might’ve given Dawn permission to skip that meeting.
- Claire is a little older than Myriah.
- Sharon and Dawn sometimes feel like sisters to each other rather than mother and daughter.
Gallery[]
