The girls are spending two weeks of their summer vacation in camp, and have even convinced city girl Stacey to join them. They are staying at Camp Mohawk, and most of the girls are there as CITs, or counselors in training. Mallory and Jessi are both too young to be a CIT, but they convinced the camp leaders of their maturity and desire to lead, citing their work as babysitter club members, so they get to be the camp's first junior CIT kids. Since Stacey was not excited about spending two of her precious summer weeks at camp, to understate the case, she decided that she would make her friends keep a record of their experiences, so she could make a book out of them and have a memento of her adventures.

The memory book premise accounts for the novel's format, which is in first person point of view but alternates between the characters, as the girls takes turns describing their adventures at camp. Even Logan Bruno contributes a couple of chapters, providing a small peek into the boys' side of the camp. The girls are all assigned to different cabins, so the novel focuses on a variety of adventures that the girls share, mostly with new characters. Dawn gets to take her young campers on an overnight trip in the woods, but they get lost when one of the road signs are broken. Mary Anne is teamed up with other CITs who think she is immature, and spends a lot of time trying to fit in, which ends up involving an embarrassing situation with Logan and trying to sneak around the lake to the boys' side. Stacey manages to land herself in the infirmary after sitting in poison ivy, and Claudia falls for a boy CIT who is all the way across the lake. Kristy has to deal with fellow CITs who want to dress her up and bring out her feminine side. Mallory and Jessi are the only two who get to stay in the same cabin, and their time is engaged in teaching young campers a special dance to perform for Parent's Day, and fending off the discriminatory teasing of the campers in their cabin.

Although this book is longer than those from the regular series, it is still a fast read. With multiple story lines happening at once, it's easy to move from chapter to chapter. The hardest part was resisting the urge to skip ahead when the book switched to a new character, and I wanted to keep reading about the current character's adventure. I quickly switched gears and was invested in the new character's story, though. Each narrative thread was appealing, the first person perspective was intimate and inviting, and the camp setting felt authentic. I wish the author had let Mary Anne feel confident in who she was and not be so determined to fit in with the others, but other babysitter books have addressed the issue with a more pro-individual message, and I know this is how kids realistically feel in social settings. Everyone needs to read a camp book at some point, and this story fits that need. It's a fun kid's book, and an enjoyable addition to the series. ( )

I read this book for The Baby Sitters Club .... I always liked the super specials because it allowed me to see the same events through the eyes of several of the girls. And although it has been almost 20 years since last I read this book I still enjoyed the different perspectives. I liked that through the eyes of the different girls different problems were addressed. Several of the girls face not quite fitting in and they solve this in different ways. Now I can appreciate that the book gives young girls several strategies. I also liked that the girls rarely seemed to spend time with each other instead they had to rely on themselves. That might sound strange for a story about friends but I think it is important that they made new friends while still being important to each other.

Amazon has this book marketed to 9-12 year olds and I think that might be about right, although I was ten when I read it the first time and I can remember being a bit put off by all the talk of make up. Wasn't really my scene then (although it really still isn't. My idea of a lot of make-up is adding eye shadow to the mascara :D)

Overall I enjoyed the few hours today I spent with this book. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. ( )