While much of the world was focused on high-stakes athletic and political competitions in September 1988, a couple of young outsiders made a connection in their new town of Stoneybrook. Brooke and Kaykay dive into the growing anti-ableism movement that set the backdrop for Jessi's Secret Language, including the Deaf President Now student protest at Gallaudet University and the emergence of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Plus: digressions on Muppet musicians, gay food analogies, and the most hideous of all 80s hair trends.

August 1988 was a month of so-terrible-they're-legendary movies and a similar caliber of performances in the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant. Brooke and Kaykay discuss the competition between the BSC while reading beauty pageants, the patriarchy, and predatory capitalism for ABSOLUTE FILTH. As a special bonus, this episode contains a delightful factoid that will come in very handy at parties (post-vaccination, of course).

The Caribbean took center stage in July 1988, with the debuts of Cocktail, the inaugural Shark Week, and the first Baby-sitters Club Super Special, Baby-sitters on Board! Brooke and Kaykay break down the creeps & cons and slobs & scams in this extended advertisement for the Disney conglomerate, with diversions on prom themes, sports at sea, and Kaykay's exclusive kindergarten social club.

June 1988 was BIG. The movie Big brought in big bucks across America, very big turtles were big news in the Bronx, and big changes were happening in the small town of Stoneybrook. Brooke and Kaykay verbally dismantle the hostile power structures that isolate Mallory Pike and Stoneybrook’s newest residents, the Ramseys, and pontificate on Kids Incorporated, dapper sharks, and Fudge Club.

May 1988 saw two sad departures: Cagney & Lacey from Kaykay's television screen and Stacey McGill from Stoneybrook. Brooke and Kaykay discuss the American tradition of distracting oneself from internal reflection via capitalism, as well as neighborhood (real!) spies, the BSC gang at Burning Man, and the character building experience of guerilla paintball warfare.

In April 1988, prestigious honors were granted to Alf , Celine Dion, and the newest student at Stoneybrook Middle School, sculptress and hiking boot aficionado Ashley Wyeth. Brooke and Kaykay discuss the thick subtext of Claudia and Ashley's relationship, including a Karen Brewer-meets-David Lynch-esque theory about what is really going on in this book.

March 1988 was all about California Raisins and Connecticut Snobs. Brooke and Kaykay dig into the tense social hierarchy in Stoneybrook, as well as authoritarian rhetorical tricks, tacky rich people decor (indoor fish fountains, anyone?), and the life changing impact of French-rolled jeans.

In February 1988, four Jamaican athletes not named Yul Brenner raced a bobsled in Calgary, Salt-N-Pepa commanded the world to push it real good, and Logan Damn Bruno crashed the Baby-sitters Club. Brooke and Kaykay discuss all of this, plus the nature of art and the self, the insidiousness of 80s & 90s teen magazines, and the bravery of gender non-conforming insects.

In January 1988, The Phantom of the Opera came to Broadway, The Wonder Years premiered on TV, and way too many kids in Stoneybrook decided to start hanging out in crawl spaces. Brooke and Kaykay discuss these topics and more, including Cabbage Patch Kids, Taylor Dayne, and the generational traumas inflicted by Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and the ironically-named Snackwell’s cookies.

In November 1987, millions of moviegoers watched Three Men and a Baby, while only one Baby-sitters Club member watched eight Pike children near a large body of water…and it wasn’t Stacey McGill. Brooke and Kaykay discuss all of the hot topics in Surf City, including misogynistic lifeguards, high-stakes mini-golf, and the question everyone is afraid to ask, “Beaches: Do they actually suck?”

September 1987 was a hallmark month for 80s kids, thanks to the television premieres of Duck Tales, Full House, and My Two Dads; the emergence of teen pop icons Tiffany and Debbie Gibson; and the publication of arguably the first Very Special Episode of the Baby-sitters Club series, Claudia and Mean Janine. Brooke and Kaykay discuss all of this, as well as the most haunting images from the Guinness Book of World Records and the mortal danger of messing with your sibling's Scrabble score.

In July 1987, Whitney wanted to dance with somebody, latchkey kids wanted to watch The Price is Right (but were stuck with the Iran-Contra hearings), and Watson Brewer and The Divorced Elizabeth Thomas wanted to have a shotgun wedding without paying market rate for childcare. Brooke and Kaykay discuss all of this, plus summer camp talent shows, preteen shopping sprees, conspiracy theorists, and the hilarity of babies with grandpa names.

In May 1987, Ernest went to camp, Cutting Crew and U2 owned the airwaves, and a 12-year-old California transplant became an unwitting foster parent of a Connecticut family of four. In the fifth episode of The Baby-sitters Fight Club podcast, Brooke and Kaykay discuss the importance of personal boundaries, the emptiness of cultural hegemony, and the joys of approaching life like it's a Pizza Ranch buffet.

In February 1987, the Beastie Boys fought for their right to party, while the members of the Baby-sitters Club fought one another. In the fourth episode of The Baby-sitters Fight Club podcast, Brooke and Kaykay break down the patriarchal B.S. that threatens Mary Anne’s oldest and newest friendships, wax nostalgic about all things Spencer Gifts, and celebrate female dynamic duos in pop culture.

In December 1986, the Bangles walked like Egyptians, Dolly Parton celebrated A Smoky Mountain Christmas, and America learned the truth about Stacey McGill’s diabeetus. In the third episode of The Baby-sitters Fight Club podcast, the OG BSC engage in a turf war with a cigarette-smoking rival babysitting crew, while Brooke and Kaykay explore both the value of remaining true to oneself and the book’s subversive nod to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

In October 1986, Double Dare debuted, Bill Buckner biffed, and phantom phone calls terrorized the baby-sitting population of Stoneybrook, CT. In the second episode of The Baby-sitters Fight Club podcast, Claudia and the gang face the dual looming threats of jewel thieves and puberty, while Brooke and Kaykay take on rape culture, 1980s cable options, and circus peanuts.

August 1986 brought us so many things: Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, Howard the Duck, and most importantly, the first Baby-sitters Club book, Kristy’s Great Idea. Brooke and Kaykay explore the feminist and queer subtext of the inaugural BSC text, discuss the respective merits of at-home perms, and bid a fond farewell to Wilford Brimley. DIABETUS!

An editor and a therapist discuss The Baby-sitters Club, one book at a time, to explore what Ann M. Martin's classic series reveals about growing up female in 1980s America.