On the whole, I quite like the Super Specials. Growing up, summer, for me, was all about the release of the new Super Special. They feature some fabulous things, such as Vacation Boyfriends, cameo appearances by Jack Donaghy’s mother, and Mallory deciding that all of her problems in life can be solved by bleach and eyeliner. Also, nearly every book features a fight. They are just a little more fun than a regular book, a little more–dare I say–special.
Now, contrary to most fans of the series, I generally tend to like later books better. They are more concurrent with my own reading of the series/childhood, since I only started reading in 1993, and I don’t mind the ridiculousness or the fact that they are less well-written, since it’s not like I’m reading BSC for the literary value. I like how Stoneybrook is a more developed world by that point, and everything is just comforting and familiar. BUT. If there is one thing in my life that even comes close to my nerdiness about the BSC, it is my nerdiness about Disney parks. This, like my BSC obsession, always shocks people who know me in real life. I am not someone you would peg for a Disney theme park obsessive, but there it is. Like the Super Specials themselves, the other big thing in my childhood summers was our annual pilgramage to the Land of Mickey.
So yes, Baby-Sitters on Board! is my favorite Super Special. It also introduces many of the key tropes of the Super Special, such as VACATION BOYFRIENDS!, Watson copying other people’s vacations, a stupid fight between two of the Sitters, the first time someone “really fills out the top of their bathing suit”–as any real fan of the BSC knows, this is a true guarantor of a high level of Sophistication–and many other things that make Super Specials so great.
But yeah, basically for me, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center beat out other awesome things like Kristy and Michel’s relationship in European Vacation. There is something just so right about my two basically life-long nerdy obsessions coming together.
