Claudia and Mean Janine

Book #7, Graphix #4,  Netflix S1 E6

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Raina Telgemeier

Netflix Series - Director: Linda Mendoza,  Writer: Jade Chang

Basic plot

Claudia finds it difficult to get along with her sister Janine and this is made worse when her beloved grandmother, Mimi has a stroke, after Claudia and Janine have a big fight. Claudia tries to help Mimi with her recovery and her and Janine talk things out, becoming closer. Mimi recovers enough that she can come home.

Things that are kept the same

• Claudia is frustrated with her sister Janine, always using big words she doesn't understand.
• Claudia agrees to play trivia game with Janine and Mimi, for Mimi's sake but ends up having argument with Janine. Mimi complains of being tired and goes to bed. The girls then hear a thud from upstairs and rush to help.
• Mimi is taken to hospital, she has had a stoke.
• Claudia and the BSC make Get Well Soon cards for Mimi.
• Claudia's first visit with Mimi in hospital doesn't go so well.
• Mimi has trouble speaking, mixes up words and reverts to talking some Japanese words.
• Claudia and Janine both want to help Mimi and have a talk coming to a better understanding of each other.
• Mimi is able to come home.
• Graphix only - the BSC run a playgroup during this time and they help at Lucy Newton's christening.
  

Things from other books 

• [Graphix only] Janine tutoring Claudia on a stormy night, Claudia tries to talk to Janine about storms but gets frustrated (Original Book 2) 
• [Graphix only] Claudia and Janine find some common ground, and Janine also admits to hiding junk food in her room. (Original  Book 2) 
• [Graphix only] Claudia is drawing a portrait of Mimi, in the graphix she also includes the family but Mimi is still at the centre. (Original  Book 2)
• [Graphix only] Kristy and Dawn have a heart to heart in Dawn's barn and Kristy gives er the role of alternate officer (Original  Book 5)
• [Netflix only] Claudia makes a collection of junk food art for an art show (Original Book 49)
  
  

Things that are changed 

• The Graphix as this was meant to be the last book in the series, combines some things from other books, like Claudia's frustration with Janine tutoring her and tries to wrap up some other plots, like Dawn and Kristy becoming friends and talk of Mallory Pike joining the club after she helps with the playgroup. 
• Some other timeline changes because of the book order, at the start of book school is just finishing up for Summer, Kristy's mom has not got married and at the end they say it has been a year since the BSC formed.
• Some scenes taken directly from the book are given a different context, as this is now before Dawn and Kristy become friendly, in the Graphix we see her rolling her eyes at Dawn's suggestions.
• Some improvements in the Graphix, Claudia and Janine have a fight while she is sitting for Jamie and Lucy, in the original book Claudia raises her hand to Janine unprovoked. In the Graphix she doesn't raise her hand and Janine makes more antagonistic comments about babysitting not being worthwhile.
• In the Netflix series as well the timeline is a little different as Kristy's Big Day is moved later, so like the Graphix Elizabeth and Watson are not married yet.
  
• The Netflix series while the main plot is similar it doesn't follow the same subplots, there is no playgroup or christening. In fact this is the first episode with no babysitting shown.
• The series instead builds on subplots from previous episodes. Claudia and Stacey after talking to Richard again help redocorate Mary Anne's room. MA feels there is something missing and discovering that the Humpty Dumpty painting belonged to her mom as a child rehangs it, along with pictures of her mum.
• There is more boy/relationship subplots in this episode. Richard and Sharon have stopped seeing each other. Mary Anne talks to Logan for the first time, Claudia asks Trevor's advice on her paintings and Stacey gets the hang out with Sam in a big group.
• After Mimi's stroke the Thomas' and Spiers' come over with dinner. Afterward the kids make get well card for Mimi (rather than the playgroup). Sam draws a blender and Kirsty sarcastically comments "because noting says get well soon like a blender" (which did make me laugh).
• Claudia is also taking part in an art show, she does painting of junk food, like a later book in the original series.
• Because of this being set in modern time, instead of Mimi moving to America after the war as an adult, she was a child in America during the war and was put in Japanese internment camp, Manzanar.
• Janine's knowledge and Claudia's drawing helps them figure out this is what Mimi has been trying to talk about as those old memories.
  

Final Thoughts

A lot of differences here across the mediums but the heart of the story still the same. I always thought Claudia had the interesting family dynamic, and liked her close relationship with Mimi, so this comes across in both these. Not sure how many books the Netflix series is going to be able to cover so it was cool to see Claudia's junk food art. A nice addition to the Graphix is bonus feature with Raina explaining the process of adapting the book to graphic novel format. It was a nice initial wrap-up for the Graphix but I'm glad they decided to continue with more.

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 Mimi has a stroke	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.
6. Kristy's Big Day Will be discussed later	6. Kristy's Big Day	6.  Claudia and Mean Janine Mimi has a stroke
7. Claudia and Mean Janine Mimi has a stroke

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.