Abby in Wonderland

The Baby-Sitters Club #121

by Ann M. Martin

Spending a week with her grandparents at their summer home, Abby learns many pleasing things about her family, along with one piece of bad news

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Contemporary, Friendship, Juvenile

124 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

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 memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verdaderamente estoy corriendo con estos libros porque YA LOS VOY A ACABAR.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot for this one is a little dark compared to other books in this series, honestly. I was sad for Abby throughout because her anxiety in this book must have been through the roof. Why didn't she just tell Anna?? Poor kid.

I did like that they didn't retcon things at the end, which was fully what I was expecting.

For some reason I particularly remember the cover of this book and the title from my childhood, so I'm glad it wasn't one of the worst of the series! I get to keep some fond memories!

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is my first time reading this book.

in this book by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn abby goes to stay with her grandparents on long island during their annual anniversary party. gram elsie always goes all out, and this year is no different: she’s planning an alice in wonderland-themed party with elaborate decorations and costumes from her friend molly, a set designer. gram elsie seems bummed that some of the family members aren’t coming to the party, and when abby finds a breast cancer info pamphlet among her things, she suspects that elsie is seriously ill with breast cancer and believes this will be her last anniversary party ever. so abby uses the jewish weapon (guilt) and manipulates her family members, including elsie’s sister leah who she hasn’t talked to in ages (because leah blew up her spot that elsie was on weight watchers). eventually, at the party, abby freaks out and tells elsie that she knows she has breast cancer. elsie is like, "yeah, they saw a little something in my mammogram and I got a biopsy, but abby, did you know that the survival rate for breast cancer (especially when caught this early) for white ladies is over 80% and it’s even likelier that I’ll survive since they caught it early and also even if I don’t survive I’m not gonna let the possibility that I might die from cancer one day ruin my life right now. I don’t even know if it’s cancer yet. chill out, my granddaughter." man, my dialogue is way better than anything the ghostwriters could’ve written. anyway, the subplot is that the pikes can’t afford to go on their annual trip to sea city, so the bsc makes their own sea city for the pikes. over the span of a week, they create a "beach" with sand and kiddie pools, have water fights, etc.

highlights:
-driving on long island abby sees her old neighborhood and feels weird about it, since she's lost touch with all her old friends. she’s very wistful. she reflects on the fact that stoneybrook is her home now and long island doesn't seem like home anymore.
-mrs. pike accidentally gets a water balloon to the face during the pikes’ water fight. she comes downstairs, stone-faced, like she's about to yell at the kids, but turns out she was hiding a super soaker behind her back and soaks all her kids.
-abby does breast cancer research and finds that ashkenazi jewish women are likelier to develop it (they don't call the gene BRCA by name, and they don't say you can get the genetic test done for it, but still I appreciate that they go into this at all)
-anna her friend corley dress as tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. I like that they don't do the obvious twin thing and have anna and abby dress as them

lowlights/nitpicks:
-the bsc making sea city for an entire effing week for the pikes. SERIOUSLY? do they not have anything better to do with their time than spend a freakin’ week catering to the bratty whims of kids who can’t deal with not getting to go on a trip?
-apparently abby's great-grandmother came to the us in the 1920s and most of her siblings stayed in europe and all died in the holocaust. what jews came to the us in the 1920s? they came to ellis island around the turn of the 20th century and worked in LES factories. have these people never seen hester street?
-how conveeeenient that gram elsie’s best friend is a set designer who has all the set pieces and costumes you could ever need for your whimsical parties.
-they serve crabs legs at the party. the ghostwriters need to decide how jewish abby and anna’s family is and stick with it, because they are so inconsistent. I would’ve thought they wouldn’t eat shellfish.

claud outfit:
-"Today she had on orange leggings and a long yellow tunic on which she'd sewn wild zigzag patterns of tiny beads. Her dangle earrings were also handmade, from a combination of clay beads and the same small sparkly beads she used on her tunic. Her shoes were a deep aqua."

molly (gram elsie's best friend) outfit:
-"That day she was wearing a red-and-orange tie-dyed outfit with flowing sleeves."

snacks in claudia's room:
-potato chips (n.s.)

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abby is fast becoming one of my favourite characters. Maybe because she was in the series so little that she didn't have time to be truly annoying like the others got. Fresh from the trip to Europe Abby and family are headed for the Hamptons to visit her maternal grandparents for their anniversary. They have big theme parties this year it's Alice in Wonderland which is how the book go its title I guess. While looking for a list for the caterers Abby stumbles across a pamphlet about breast cancer. That coupled with her grandparents talking about a mysterious appointment makes Abby afraid her grandmother is sick. My grandmother had breast cancer but at her age it didn't spread as fast. She had it for years until she died of something completely different. Literally everything slows down when get older. Anyway Abby fears this will be the last time the family can all get together so she manages to convince the family members who turned down the invite to come including her great aunt, her grandmother's sister who hadn't spoken to her in years after she let it slip she was on weight watchers. There's a touching moment when Abby is going over the family tree with her grandmother and learns that most of her relatives, the ones who didn't immigrate to America all died in the halocaust and Abby reflects how one of the girls looks like her. It's a sweet touching story. The b plot was sort of annoying. The Pikes annual Sea City trip is canceled after their car breaks down and the money goes to fixing it. So the BSC holds a seaside vacation at home. It did give me one of my favourite moments in the series. One of the kids hits Mrs. Pike with a water balloon. She walks away comes back looking pissed off. The kids are terrified until she whips out a super soaker and blasts all her kids with water which is totally something my parents would do. Besides that the main plot was really good the b plot was meh.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abby goes on vacation in her grandparents' home and discovers something they've been keeping secret. A bit sadder than I expected, but I love how this may help kid readers dealing with similar situations. I also love how Abby respects her grandmother's decision and timeline on sharing / not sharing the news with the family, even though it makes it even tougher for her. Turns out Abby's grandmother has breast cancer. She's still optimistic about beating it, but it's a tough situation all around.

The B-plot was kinda silly and fun. The Pike family's annual vacation to Sea City was cancelled because the money was needed for car repairs, so they created a seaside experience in their backyard instead.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

After this I only have one more regular series Abby book to go! YEAH! This one was...not so entertaining. Abby and her family go to Long Island to stay with her grandparents in the Hamptons for 8 days. They're throwing a big anniversary party, something the grandparents do for themselves every year, but gram is acting shady. Abby finds out that gram has a lump in her breast and is waiting on the results of a biopsy.

That's it. We never find out the results of the biopsy. We never see how the rest of the time in the Hamptons went. I...what? Where are there never enough answers in the BSC-verse?!

[Lianna Kendig · Rating 2 out of 5]

(LL)
This one was so boring. There isn’t really a nicer way to put it. The subplot of the Pike kids having their summer vacation in the backyard was annoying. Kristy randomly showing up for Abby’s grandparents’ party was really weird and unnecessary.

It also suffered from the same issue that Claudia did in the book she thought she was adopted: Abby gets upset and focuses all week on something that isn’t true because she refused to talk to her Grandma about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these books, but I’m starting to see why they stopped writing books so shortly after this one!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate that the main plot with Gram is pretty much just brushed under the rug at the end, but overall I always loved this one as a kid and I really enjoyed re-reading it now.

I loved the “Sea City at home” plot when I was a kid, but as an adult all I could think of was how annoying that must have been for Mr. and Mrs. Pike. Next time, just take the trip!

I completely forgot that Gram’s siblings died during the Holocaust, and that was such a gut-wrenching moment. I know a lot of BSC fans hate Abby, but I think she has so much depth to her character and I’ve always loved her.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.

[Maeve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abby and her mother and sister head to Long Island for a beach vacation with her grandparents. There, she finds out that her grandmother might have cancer. Abby worries and worries until she confronts her grandmother, who reassures Abby that she will fight it if she does get diagnosed with cancer. Back in Stoneybrook, the Pike family has to cancel their Sea City vacation, so the BSC brings "Sea City" to them.

[Cassandra Doon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite things about this book is that Abby keeps her grandmother's secret, so we don't get 10+ chapters of teenagers trying to cure breast cancer. Seriously though, I like this book. I enjoy reading about Abby's extended family; being the newest member, it's nice to get to know her (and Anna) a little better.

[Abigail F · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a late 1990s BSC book, this was excellent! The good clean babysitting fun B-plot of the Pikes’ backyard beach staycation, balanced with the strong A-plot of Abby and her family. The narrative softens some of the hard stuff at the end, but it doesn’t go away, which I appreciated. But it also doesn’t bring down the whole tone of the book!! Plus, Alice in Wonderland!

[Dakota Smith]

( My Connecticut book for my State Challenge)

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on www.audible.com please listen to this book

[Christina]

Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/abby-i...

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be more about summer than it was, but it mostly focused on Abby finding out that her grandma has breast cancer. B+

[Liesl]

Yet another Very Special Episode of "The Baby-Sitters Club." I really do feel like we're in the darkest timeline.

[Laura Rayner]

Abby loves her family's visit to Grandpa Morris and Gram Elsie's summer house. Staying there has always meant extra fun and a special closeness with her grandparents. This summer, though, Gram Elsie doesn't seem to be herself. She tires easily, even when she and Abby are enjoying work on Gram and Grandpa's big Alice in Wonderland party. Abby's afraid something's wrong with Gram Elsie. If she's right, Abby's world may become as topsy-turvy as Alice's...

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

abby, anna, & mrs. stevenson are going up to the hamptons to stay with abby's grandparents in their beach house for a few weeks. it is described as an annual family vacation, even though abby has previously made a big fuss over how her mother has become a workaholic since being widowed & rarely makes time for family stuff anymore, such as vacations. but i guess we're getting toward the end of the series, & everything is becoming a tedious plot contrivance.

apparently, every year, abby's grandparents throw themselves a big party for their wedding anniversary. the party always has a theme & there are ornate costumes & extensive decorations involved. this year, the theme is "alice in wonderland". i'm thinking that this is another book for which scholastic thought up a title before they patched together a plot. abby's grandmother, elsie, is dressing up as the white queen. her grandfather, morris, will be the white rabbit. abby is dressing as alice. kristy is coming up for the weekend, because i guess we are supposed to believe that abby & kristy are best friends now or something. abby has put together a mad hatter costume for kristy.

more important than costumes though is the fact that elsie seems especially passionate about getting the whole family together for a party this year. family has always been important to her, but this year it seems especially important. & she is also napping more frequently & allowing morris to help her with more physical work (like setting up the party decorations), even though he just recently recovered from heart surgery. abby wonders what's going on & she thinks she has found her answer when elsie sends abby into the bedroom to retrieve a list & abby instead finds a bunch of pamphlets about breast cancer, along with medical paperwork. abby becomes convinced that elsie has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

but abby also knows that trust & loyalty are important to elsie. elsie stopped speaking with her own sister, leah, after leah told a secret that elsie had entrusted to her. so abby stays quiet & hopes that elsie will be open about her cancer sooner rather than later. she also realizes that this is probably why elsie really wants everyone to be at the party--because she has realized that she may not have another chance to gather the family together while she is alive. every time elsie receives another refusal from someone, abby sneaks around to get their phone number & calls & asks them to come. eventually everyone in the family who had begged off manages to make other arrangements & attends the party.

elsie has also gotten really into genealogy & is putting together a big family tree. it's ornate, with letters, photographs, & other documents pertaining to various family members. abby sees photos of relatives that died during the holocaust for the first time. it makes her realize how truly important family can be, as does her research on breast cancer. she learns that eastern european jewish women, such as the women in her family, are at especially high risk for breast cancer for whatever reason, & that a family history of breast cancer can boost a person's risk factor as well. there's a really obnoxious passage in which abby thinks, "elsie is a smart person. she probably caught her cancer early, while it's treatable." of course. & people who fail to catch cancer early on are stupid & deserve to die, right? i mean, that is the implication.

in preparing for the party, abby even gets in touch with elsie's estranged sister leah & asks her to come to the party. leah agrees & elsie is overjoyed when she shows up.

the party is a big hit & elsie gives a speech thanking everyone for being there. abby runs off in tears, overcome by the thought that elsie may be sick. elsie tracks her down & abby admits that she found the pamphlets & knows about the cancer. elsie explains that she found a lump & had a biopsy done, but she still doesn't know if it's malignant. she certainly has not been diagnosed with cancer yet, which is why she hasn't mentioned anything. she didn't want to worry anyone until she knew she had something worry them over.

& that's that. we never do learn if elsie has cancer or not, or how the rest of the vacation went, or anything. this book was basically a PSA on breast cancer--& a shitty one, at that.

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good!
#AWESOME

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 series grows with them! Terrific Author!

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Abby....
At least this is one of the BSC books that deals with a 'real' issue.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which Abby's granny has breast cancer and I just can't cuz my Nana died that way. Abby's still an ass, though. STFU, Abby.