Dawn and the Impossible Three

Book #5, Graphix #5,  Netflix S1 E5

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Gale Galligan

Netflix Series - Director: Heather Jack,  Writer: Rheeqrheeq Chainey

Basic plot

Newest member of the club, Dawn, takes on the job of babysitting the 3 Barrett children, an impossible task when their mother is so disorganized and the house is a mess. This comes to a head when one of the children goes missing. If that wasn't enough to deal with, she is also trying to make friends with Kristy, who is envious of her and Mary Anne's friendship.

Things that are kept the same

• Dawn's mother, Sharon, is more scattered than her, and Dawn helps with most of their unpacking.
• Dawn offers to help redecorate Mary Anne's room. This causes some tension with Kristy who is feeling left out.
• Dawn takes a job with the Barrett kids, she find the house in a mess and Mrs Barrett rushes out the door without instructions. 
• Dawn helps out cleaning the house, the Barretts become reliant on her and it is starting to affect other aspects of her life.
  
• Dawn and Mary Anne are excited that their parents are dating, even daydreaming about becoming stepsisters.
• Dawn invites Kristy over to her house in an effort to become better friends.
• While babysitting for the Barretts, Buddy Barrett disappears,  Dawn is worried sick, her mother comforts her and the police are called. 
• It turns out Buddy was with his Dad, and Mrs Barrett was not keeping track of custody arrangements to inform Dawn.
  
• Kristy and Dawn settle their grievances and Kristy gives her the role of alternate officer in the club. (In the Graphix, Dawn gets her club title in the previous book).
  

Things from other books 

• [Graphix only] Mallory is to be offered membership in the club, until they hear that Nicky broke his finger while Mal was watching him, they then decide she needs more testing. (Original Book 14)
• [Graphix only] The test includes very specific body questions including the digestive system - which Claudia mispronounces. (Original  Book 14)
• [Graphix only] Mal proves her babysitting skills, stands up for herself regarding the test being unfair and becomes junior officer of the BSC. (Original Book 14)
  
  

Things that are changed 

• Up until this point the Graphix and Original novels were very similar, but now there are some major divergences. The original series  #7 Claudia and Mean Janine comes before this book in the Graphix series, and some content from this book appears there. I'll discuss that more in the next post.
  
• The big difference for the Graphix is that Mallory Pike joins the club as junior officer. In the original series she joined in book #14, and some of the tests the BSC asked of her are here instead. It also means that Mallory comes to help Dawn when Suzy Barrett is sick and her pointing out Marnie's allergy are things that Dawn is able to say in support of her membership to the BSC. (In the original series, Mallory doesn't come help during Suzy's sickness, though Buddy is sent over to the Pike's house)
• In the Graphix previous novel, Dawn and Kristy already came to an understanding and she got the role of alternate officer, so in this graphix the conflict has to rise again. This ties more to Kristy moving across town and feeling left out. Dawn, Mary Anne and Kristy all talk together about this.
• In the Netflix series, all the girls plus Sharon help with Mary Anne's room decoration, Richard gets upset, as the audience we see him looking at a photo of Mary Anne's mom decorating her room.
• Mrs Barrett comes across a bit more selfish in the Netflix series, Mr Barrett instead of taking Buddy without permission picks him up for a swim lesson, he doesn't know a babysitter is there.
• While in the book Dawn tells Mrs Barrett the situation is not working, in the Netflix series Sharon tells Mrs Barrett off over the phone. She acknowledges Dawn could have done that but she wanted to be a mom and look out for her. 
• In the Netflix series Kristy is feeling left out and jealous of Dawn and Mary Anne's friendship like in the book, but she is also jealous of Dawn's good relationship with her Dad, that they still talk most days. 
• We also see Dawn's dad's partner on video call and she seems to be friendly with him, unlike Dawn and Carol's relationship in the early books.
  
• Kristy comes over to help when Buddy disappears, because Dawn rings her to see if he was playing with David Michael. When they find out he was with his Dad, she gets upset that again there's another divorcee dad still in contact with child unlike hers. This leads to Dawn and Kristy talking things out and becoming friendly.
  

 Final Thoughts

For the Graphix this is the start of the new run, like I mentioned before, originally only 4 B&W graphix were released, only when they were re-released in colour did they start more books. Gale Galligan takes over art duties, she has similar style to Raina so it's not too jarring a switch, but she still brings her own flair to it.

For the Netflix series I appreciate them developing the parent characters more, and like the example with Dawn's mom talking with Mrs Barrett, the BSC aren't handling everything themselves.

Timeline

Original Series	Graphix	Netflix Series
1. Kristy’s Great Idea         Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey form the Babysitters Club. Kristy babysits the Brewers for the first time. Stacey meets and has a crush on Sam Thomas.   Stacey tells the club she has diabetes.	1. Kristy’s Great Idea Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey form the Babysitters Club Kristy babysits the Brewers for the first time. Stacey meets and has a crush on Sam Thomas. Stacey tells the club she has diabetes.	1.     Kristy’s Great Idea  Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey form the Babysitters Club 1st appearance of Logan Bruno (not named until episode 2)
2.  Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls Claudia has a crush on Trevor Sandbourne. Claudia struggles academically in school.	2. The Truth about Stacey The BSC find out about rivals - The Babysitters Agency. Kristy has the idea for Kid-Kits.  1st appearance of Mallory Pike Stacey makes up with her New York friend Laine.	2. Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls Kristy babysits the Brewers for the first time. Claudia has a crush on Trevor Sandbourne. Claudia struggles academically in school. The BSC find out about rivals - The Babysitters Agency.
3.    The Truth about Stacey The BSC find out about rivals - The Babysitters Agency. Kristy has the idea for Kid-Kits. 1st appearance of Mallory Pike Stacey makes up with her New York friend Laine.	3. Mary Anne Saves the Day 1st appearance of Dawn Schafer. Mary Anne and Dawn find out their parents dated in high school. Dawn joins the BSC.	3. The Truth about Stacey Kristy has the idea for Kid-Kits Stacey meets and has a crush on Sam Thomas.  Stacey tells the club she has diabetes.
4.    Mary Anne Saves the Day 1st appearance of Dawn Schafer. Mary Anne and Dawn find out their parents dated in high school. Dawn joins the BSC.	4. Claudia and Mean Janine Will be discussed in later post	4. Mary Anne Saves the Day 1st appearance of Dawn Schafer. Mary Anne and Dawn find out their parents dated in high school.
5.    Dawn and the Impossible Three Dawn becomes alternate officer.	5. Dawn and the Impossible Three Mallory Pike joins the BSC as junior officer.	5. Dawn and the Impossible Three Dawn joins the BSC. Dawn becomes alternate officer.