#55: Jessi's Gold Medal

Tagline: Go for it, Jessi!

Cover: Does anyone else hear "Go for it, Heather!" from "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion"? I do. I've tried to do at least one book of everyone in the club before I repeat, but then I did two Claudias. Partly because I was so excited about my new books, partly because I didn't have any Jessi books that really inspired me. Jessi and the Dance School Phantom, maybe. I haven't read the later ones about her. Then I remembered that I also would need to do one of Abby's books, so that will probably be next (I don't have either the Shannon story or the Logan books...yet).

Anyway, back to this book. I wonder which one Jessi is? Also, couldn't they have at least tried to make the girls' arms look synchronized? That's kind of the whole point of the book.

Plot!: Speaking of the point of the book, Jessi is discovered to be a natural for synchronized swimming because of her ballet talent. She's partnered with Elise Coates, someone we've never heard of before and will never hear from again. They're worried that they'll embarrass themselves, because they've never read a children's book before, but in the end, because this is a children's book, they win. Oh yeah, synchronized swimming is a sport in the SMS Olympics, and in subplots, different members of the BSC are entering different events (including a boy vs. girl Kristy vs. Alan race). And because baby-sitting has to come in somewhere, they hold a mini-olympics for the kids they baby-sit.

Points of Interest:

• This is the book that has the 'horses sweat, gentlemen perspire, ladies glow' nonsense that is totally not true. Ladies sweat; let's get over it.
  
• Jessi is a born dancer. It's not conceited, it's just true. Just so you know.
  
• Jessi's dad sounds like James Earl Jones. Cool?
  
• Ugh. It's a hot day, and then the Ramseys have seafood casserole for dinner. It seems...heavy to me.
  
• Stoneybrook has a sports complex with three pools, including an Olympic-sized pool. I have absolutely no idea in my head about what Stoneybook is like. Sometimes it's this tiny little town and then it has three middle schools and a university.
  
• Claudia was wearing: shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals. Wild.
  
• Oh, Alan Gray. I prefer Cary Retlin in terms of Kristy antagonists; he's kind of a bad boy, and Alan's just kind of a doofus.
  
• Ugh again. Even though she hates sports (and gym! There's a whole book about it), Mallory decides to be part of the sports festival....because everyone else is doing it. BSC books are really all about group-think. My favourite one, Mary Anne's Makeover, is the classic example of that.
• Dawn enters the Javelin throw, because she's so, like, offbeat and different. Yawn.
  
• Jessi and Elise decide to get to know each other better after the competition is over. And then we never hear of her again. She just drifts off into the black hole of people who aren't fanatical about baby-sitting; it's a place very similar to the high school classroom where all of Zack Morris' ex-love interests are.
  
• I thought Alex Kurtzman was the super-serious guy who carried a briefcase and wouldn't let people cut in line. So why's he participating in the backwards race?
  
• Kristy wins the boy vs. girl race against Alan, of course. They try to make it dramatic, but...it's not. It's about as dramatic as the Lisa vs. Slater obstacle course at the Malibu Sands. Has there ever been a girl vs. boy race that the girl didn't win?
  
• Speaking of no suspense, Jessi and Elise win the award for best synchro routine. I wonder how the rest of the team feels, being beaten by the two newest girls in the group. Take that, losers. Then Jessi and Elise decide to quit. So...everything is back the way it was before the book started. The end.
  

Final Thought: I really do love the (real) Olympics.