Jessi's Gold Medal (The Baby-Sitters Club, #55)

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Jessi's Gold Medal (The Baby-Sitters Club #55)

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 · rating details · 510 ratings · 9 reviews

Jessi is a little nervous when she's chosen to participate in the synchronized swimming event for the Stoneybrook Middle School Sports Festival. Although she's a great ballet dancer, performing ballet in water isn't easy. But when competition time comes, Jessi proves that practice makes perfect.

Paperback, 160 pages

Published June 1st 1992 by Scholastic

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Apr 07, 2013 Laura Hughes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: babysitters-club

Jessi’s deal is basically that she’s amazing. She’s the world’s best ballet dancer, scoring all the lead roles in her school’s productions even though she’s the youngest in the class. She’s a natural at picking up languages, and learned ASL in basically five minutes. And as it turns out, she’s an amazing swimmer. Her first swimming lesson in gym class, and she’s recruited to the synchronized swimming team. (At least this is sort of related to her established dancing skill.) Jessi and her partner...more Jessi’s deal is basically that she’s amazing. She’s the world’s best ballet dancer, scoring all the lead roles in her school’s productions even though she’s the youngest in the class. She’s a natural at picking up languages, and learned ASL in basically five minutes. And as it turns out, she’s an amazing swimmer. Her first swimming lesson in gym class, and she’s recruited to the synchronized swimming team. (At least this is sort of related to her established dancing skill.) Jessi and her partner are both relative newbies and, to prepare for the upcoming SMS Sports Festival, they practice every spare minute, making Jessi exhausted for ballet. Although they ultimately succeed and (spoiler alert, TITLE) win a medal, Jessi decides to quit because ballet is more fun for her.
There are some more Sports Festival hijinks in the background. Amusingly, Kristy and Alan Gray trash-talk massively before a one-on-one footrace in which the loser has to be the winner’s slave. (Kristy wins, but only by a hair.) Also, there is a baby-sitting subplot where the BSC puts together (what else?) a silly Olympics for the neighborhood kids.

This is one of those books with little to no traditional "conflict", but the details about synchronized swimming feel real (although I have no way of confirming them), the narration is solid and there are decent jokes. Jessi feels likeable.

Timing: June. There’s hot, summer weather, but they’re still in school and Jessi describes it as "only the beginning of summer," trying to convince her parents to buy a pool in time for the brunt of the heat. As a bonus chronological tidbit, we know it’s an Olympic year--the Summer Olympics are mentioned several times. Hmmm, I wonder who sponsored this title.

Revised Timeline: June of eleventh grade (ninth for Jessi). I’m glad this is one of the fake years in which all the girls are in the same school, so I can just say it’s the SHS Sports Festival and don’t have to fudge some kind of cross-school collaboration. A high school is much more likely to have such an event anyway.(less)

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Nov 15, 2010 Ciara rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books, read-in-2010

sweet jeebus. the tyranny of painfully dull jessi books continues. & to top it off, this one gives away the ending right in the title.

so, it's once again summertime in stoneybrook. for like the sixth time, at least. & it's time for the summer olympics. & stoneybrook middle school has organized a sports spectacular at some point. so basically this book takes everything that is boring about jessi & combines it with everything that is boring about kristy (but with less karen, thank...more sweet jeebus. the tyranny of painfully dull jessi books continues. & to top it off, this one gives away the ending right in the title.

so, it's once again summertime in stoneybrook. for like the sixth time, at least. & it's time for the summer olympics. & stoneybrook middle school has organized a sports spectacular at some point. so basically this book takes everything that is boring about jessi & combines it with everything that is boring about kristy (but with less karen, thank goodness). shoot me now.

the sixth grade gym class is switching gears now that the stoneybrook pool complex is open for the season. the students will now be swimming. mallory is horrified & humilated because her bathing suit is a babyish one-piece with a frilly skirt. i am embarrassed to admit how old i was before i realize that one-piece swimsuits with skirts are actually not cool or flattering on me. hint: approximately 28 years old. so good on mallory for catching on at the tender age of 11.

jessi, on the other hand, is excited about swimming. she's not a very good swimmer, but she really wants to learn. she is pulled aside after her individual swim test though, & she worries that she's being condemned to remedial swim classes. instead, she is introduced to the pool complex's synchronized swim coach. the coach has been looking for another girl to round out the team, & she likes jessi's ballet-honed form. jessi agrees to substitute her regular gym classes for synchronized swim classes, & is paired with a strong but graceless swimmer named elise.

meanwhile, the babysitters are all deciding what contests to enter in the sports spectacular. dawn decides to try the javelin throw. kristy is interested in a track event, & challenges alan gray to a one-on-one obstacle course race, with a week of "personal service" (gross) hanging in the balance. mary anne & mallory are both uninterested in entering the contest at all--but mallory in particular is very defensive about it. jessi wonders what's going on with her, but between ballet, school, & synchronized swim practice, she doesn't feel she has time to investigate. jessi will be choreographing a routine for the spectacular with elise, & competing against the other pairs from their class for a medal. read the title again & guess how jessi does.

jessi also notices that becca is riveted by the olympic trials on TV. this gives jessi an idea...what if the babysitters club hosted a mini-olympics for their charges? the kids could compete in potato sack races, three-legged races, such forth & so on. the babysitters think it's a great idea, & as word spreads to the kids around town, there's a lot of enthusiasm. everyone wants to enter...but andrew is sad because he can't seem to do anything, & what little he can do, older kids do better. & charlotte completely melts down after stacey encourages her to enter an event. she thinks stacey is angry with her for not wanting to participate. i seriously hate charlotte. she's exactly the kind of person i'd hate to be friends with as an adult. no one is mad at you because you don't want to join a potato sack race, okay? just get over yourself.

while the pike kids are practicing for the mini-olympics, mallory tries the potato sack race...& promptly sprains her ankle. she's even on crutches. she makes a big fuss about how bad the timing is because now she definitely will not be able to participate in the sports spectacular. jessi finds mallory's dismay very questionable...but she doesn't really have time to look into it because she is preparing for her synchronized swimming routine every spare moment...& dreading it, because she & elise seem to be the worst in the class.

finally, the day of the spectacular rolls around. kristy does well in her track event, winning a silver medal. dawn throws the javelin well but doesn't win. claudia gets all dolled up & runs a backwards race. mary anne surprises everyone by showing up to man the refreshments table. jessi considers running away before her synchronized swim event...but she grits her teeth & does her program. & i am sure that you will be SHOCKED to learn that she & elise take the gold. kristy bests alan gray in the obstacle course, & kristy forces alan to work the next day at the mini-olympics.

the mini-olympics is basically just a bunch of boring stories about how adorable the children of stoneybrook are. charlotte contributes by making signs for the event, & andrew surprises everyone by making an attempt at like every single event. in the end, every child wins a prize. charlotte wins "most creative" & andrew wins "most dedicated".

jessi & elise decide not to continue with synchronized swimming because it takes too much time & energy away from their real passions (ballet for jessi obviously, & swim races for elise). & despite the fact that jessi & elise got along swimmingly (you see what i did there?), we never hear of her again. because we all know that in the babysitters club, outside friendships are frowned upon.

oh yeah, & mallory admits that she was trying to fake-sprain her ankle to get out of the sports spectacular (which was in no way mandatory or anything), but she sprained it for real & then she regretted her negative attitude. isn't it great how we're all better people now?(less)

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May 17, 2009 Natalia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cute, but it COMPLETELY blows synchronized swimming out of whack!!! It was okay for a story, but synchro is NOT like that at all! It's like ballet, gymnastics, swim team, cheerleading, and acting all at once. It is SO much harder than it is portrayed, and the poses on the cover are WRONG. Either that's artistic license or the worst ballet leg I have ever seen, and I've seen first-timers swim. PLUS, they should either be wearing a swim cap or have their hair knoxed, and Ann Martin did noseclips t...more

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May 01, 2013 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, reviewed

Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.

I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.

The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.

Awesome books that girls will love! And the...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Rylee rated it 5 of 5 stars

As an eleven year old I loved this book!! I have a positive reaction to all the BSC books, and like to reflect this in my reviews. Everyone seems to be reviewing these books as adults, and they keep missing the point. They are written for kids my age and they're great. They encourage me to read everyday and they were my mum's books from when she was my age so it's really nice that we have something in common. Ms Martin rocks. So there!!!!

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Mar 01, 2012 Kristie (fabk) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-library-of-kristie-a-fabian, 2012

I don't have enough good things to say about this book. So I will just do point form what I LOVED!
-Claudia's journal entry. **ecpretoin = expression!**
- Charlotte! I loved Char!!
-All the other regular customers of the BSC! I didn't get many of them in the last book I read, so it was great to see them all again.

This book was just a great quick BSC read! I can see how I got so addicted to them as a kid.

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Dec 09, 2009 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love how the title totally ruins any suspense over the outcome of Jessi's experience trying synchronized swimming for the first time. Even something like "Jessi Goes for the Gold" would have at least made you think she might not win and learn a special lesson about how to be a good loser.

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Jun 30, 2010 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, 3-stars, 2002-and-before, baby-sitters-club, owned

I am rather fascinated by synchronized swimming, but really, winning gold medal at the competition? Only in Stoneybrook!

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Apr 29, 2009 Sally rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: series-bsc, childrens

It always bugged me that their arms on the front cover weren't synchronised.

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Jun 18, 2013 Valerie Balbaugh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jun 18, 2013 Ash rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: childhood-reads

Jun 17, 2013 Steffany rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jun 17, 2013 Raquel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jun 17, 2013 Shannon marked it as to-read

Shelves: babysitters-club

Jun 17, 2013 Marie marked it as to-read

Jun 16, 2013 Miss-vee Sanderson marked it as to-read

Jun 16, 2013 Nicky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: italian-books

Jun 13, 2013 Courtney marked it as to-read

Shelves: a-childrens-and-ya, babysitters-club

Jun 10, 2013 Jewel Barnett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 09, 2013 Hanna-Lee Harjono marked it as to-read

Shelves: adventure

Jun 09, 2013 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 09, 2013 Alexis added it

Jun 08, 2013 Samantha added it · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood-books

Jun 08, 2013 Graciie marked it as to-read

Jun 06, 2013 Melanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jun 04, 2013 Ambernco rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jun 03, 2013 Yinzadi marked it as to-read

Shelves: children-general

May 29, 2013 Jennifer added it

May 28, 2013 Kylie rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Shelves: own-a-copy

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About Ann M. Martin

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood me...more

More about Ann M. Martin...

Books by Ann M. Martin

Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club, #1)

A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray

The Truth About Stacey (The Baby-Sitters Club, #3)

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