BSC #6: Kristy's Big Day

Front Cover: Kristy's a baby-sitter - and a bridesmaid, too!

Back Cover: Kristy's mom is getting married, and Kristy's a bridesmaid. The only trouble is, fourteen little kids are coming to the wedding, and they all need baby-sitters. Here comes the Baby-sitters Club!

Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, Dawn, and Kristy think they can handle fourteen kids. But that's before they spend five days changing diapers, stopping fights, solving mix-ups, righting wrongs... and getting sick and tired of baby-sitting!

One thing's for sure: This is a crazy way to have a wedding. But it's a great way to have a lot of fun!

So like I thought when I heard about the wedding in the last book, something happens to move up the wedding date. This book starts off with everything going well. Chapter 1 is all about the wedding being in September. There's a big family dinner, and Elizabeth and Watson tell the kids about their plans, offering each kid a role in the wedding. Everything is awesome and everyone is happy and excited.

Come chapter 2, everything goes to shit. Elizabeth is being sent on a business trip the day of the wedding, Watson's ex-wife wants to take the kids on some trip, a family has offered to buy the Thomas' house at full price, but they want it immediately... long story short: the wedding has now been bumped up and is happening in two weeks. Kristy is not amused. She was hoping to spend one last summer next to Mary Anne, and it's all very sudden.

Because everything is happening so fast, there's no time to really book all the usual wedding things. So the wedding is now taking place in Watson's yard, and while they found a caterer who can provide the main course on such short notice, everything else has to be done by the adults themselves. So to help out, all of Kristy's aunts and uncles come to town the week beforehand. Of course, they all have kids. And it being the '80s, they don't just have one kid, they don't just have two kids... each adult pair has 3-4 kids. As the book description tells us, all in all, it's 14 kids.

Originally, the adults figure that the kids can just run around Watson's while the adults worked, but even Elizabeth realizes that that won't really work and that it'll significantly slow down their progress. Kristy then gets one of her brilliant ideas and decides that the BSC can just watch all 14 kids at the Thomas' place. Elizabeth agrees, and says that if the girls would work from 9-5 for 5 days, she and Watson would pay the club 600$: 120$ each.

Kristy brings the idea to the girls, and at first they're not too responsive, but soon they get excited. The group crunches the numbers, and they realize that it works out to only 3 kids per girl, which they have all handled before. Plus, they'd be all together, so they could rely on each other for support. They decide to break the kids into groups, and assign a different sitter for each group, that way if they had to, they could do smaller activities based on age. They make nametags and all in all, get pretty well organized.

The rest of the book is dedicated to the week (probably making this the shortest time frame in the series so far), with each chapter saying what day it is and how many more days until the wedding. Each girl gets a chance to do a notebook entry, but only Dawn and Stacey really have their own separate adventures.

Kristy's chapter covers Monday, Day 1. The only real dilemma in this one was the start of everything. The girls weren't quite anticipating all the different instructions and parents and items coming with the kids, so there was a bit of organization and logistics to go on. And then all the kids were suffering separation anxiety at being dropped off at a new place full of unknown children and things. But the girls soon got everything under control, and halfway through the day, Kristy and Karen left to pick flowers. It was a pretty easy day.

Dawn's chapter covers Tuesday, Day 2. On this day, the girls decided to do separate activities for their groups in the morning, so as to give the kids a change of pace. Stacey took her group (the oldest kids) to the brook to catch minnows, Mary Anne's group (two babies) simply went for a walk, and Claudia and Kristy's groups (the next youngest kids) went to the library with Jamie Newton for story hour. Dawn's group was David Michael, Karen and Berk (a cousin). She took them to the playground. When she got there, she discovered that there were activities going on (I figure similar to the Parkticipate programs we have going on at playgrounds around the city here), so it should have been a fairly easy day. But no, she had Karen. Karen apparently got it into her head that Martians were going to land that night, and no matter what Dawn told her, she would not shut up. Not only does Karen scare David Michael and Berk, but she then goes on to scare the other children in the playground, and all but gets them banded!

Stacey's chapter covers Wednesday, Day 3. She tried taking her group (the 3 oldest kids) to the movies. Things get to a bad start when they're delayed (despite having arrived 40 minutes early), because Emma thinks she's lost her money. When they get seated in the theatre, the kids won't settle and won't shut up and they pretty much get kicked out.

Mary Anne's chapter covers Thursday, Day 4. To take a break from the babies, she and Kristy take all the boys to the barber shop so that they can get ready for the wedding. The boys are completely rude and unruly and unmanageable, and Kristy threatens to call Nannie (everyone's grandma) on them. Finally the boys stop fussing and just sit and get it over with.

Claudia gets Friday, Day 5. It's been raining all day, so the kids are going absolutely stir-crazy. In the end, they decide to put on a mock wedding to keep the kids organized. While this is going on, Emma decides to switch all the kids' clothing around (they're going to the rehearsal dinner right after), so the girls have to scramble and try to reassemble everything. They do in just the nick of time!

Saturday morning is the wedding, and it goes pretty well. Kristy loves her dress and shoes. Karen almost ruins everything when their neighbour, Mrs Porter, shows up, but Watson manages to clamp a hand on her mouth. Kristy's mom and Watson leave for their honeymoon, and Kristy finally manages to figure out what to give them as a wedding gift: a handmade family tree showing their new blended family.

Random Thoughts:

• I love this cover. Kristy looks so happy and pretty on it.
• Fun fact: the updated cover doesn't match the description in the books. In the book, Karen specifically states that her shoes are shiny and black. The updated cover has her in yellow shoes. Also, because I actually read and collected the Little Sister series for a few years when I was younger, I'm unfortunately an expert on Karen Brewer. She doesn't get her glasses until a few books into the Little Sister series (it's a big deal and the plot of an entire book), and the updated cover has her in glasses. She won't get glasses until at least another 20 BSC books.
• I love how Kristy is actually excited about getting a dress and heeled shoes in this book. You can tell that she still wouldn't want to wear dresses on a regular basis, but that since it's such a fancy and special occasion, she's kinda excited. I'm like that.
• Okay, Karen Brewer is super annoying. I never particularly thought so, because again, I started by reading the Little Sister series when I was 7, and continued reading them until I was 9 or 10, before I moved on to the BSC. So I was kind of used to her being the main character. Plus, you know, I was young and dumb haha But re-reading the BSC now, I'm starting to understand why people find Karen so annoying. Especially in this book. I get that she has an overactive imagination, and while imagination is good and you definitely want to foster creativity in children, someone needs to take Karen aside and put her in her place. She causes panic and mayhem with her stupid Martian stories at the playground, despite the fact that Dawn told her to stop. She also nearly causes a scene during her own father's wedding over her stupid next-door neighbour. It's only been 6 books, and I'm already sick and tired of hearing about Morbidda Destiny.
• I like how this book is called Kristy's Big Day, and it involves her mom re-marrying. Then the first book of the Friends Forever series is called Kristy's Big News, and it's about her dad re-marrying.
• I like the girls' reaction in this book when Kristy tells them the news of giving up an entire week towards baby-sitting: silence. It's not until she mentions how much money they'd make that they get excited. This is still early enough into the series that the girls' have lives and interests and aren't like CHILDREN! EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH MORE CHILDREN! HOW CAN WE TURN EVERYTHING INTO A BABY-SITTING EVENT???
• It's funny, because of all of their group events and group baby-sitting endeavors, this was the one that I could most relate to and the one that seemed the most feasible. Plus, I'd rather group baby-sit than solo baby-sit. Not so I could slack off or anything, but there's that freedom/convenience/security of knowing that if shit hit the fan, there'd be other responsible people around to help. Plus if you needed to, you could take a 5 minute breather and go to the bathroom and what not and not have to be like, "I hope the kids are alright..."
• I realized reading this one that I've stopped reading the notebook entries at the start of the chapters. I can't be bothered to try to decipher their handwriting, plus in these early books, their handwriting is kinda different from what I'm used to.

BSC #5: Dawn and the Impossible Three

Front Cover: Dawn thought she'd be baby-sitting - not monster-sitting!

Back Cover: Dawn's the newest member of the Baby-sitters Club and everybody's glad - except Kristy. Kristy thinks things were better without Dawn around. That's why Dawn's eager to take on a big baby-sitting job: It's her chance to show Kristy what she's made of.

What a mistake! Taking care of the three Barrett kids is too much for any baby-sitter. The house is in chaos, the kids are impossible, and Mrs Barrett never does any of the things she promises. Dawn's got more trouble than she bargained for. But she's not going to give up until all four Barretts are under control and she's friends with Kristy. Or whichever comes first!

So the description and title of this book are very misleading. Let's start with the Kristy subplot: yes, Kristy isn't pleased about Dawn, but she's never outright antagonistic. It's very clear early on (to both the reader and even Dawn), that Kristy is just jealous because she used to be Mary Anne's only friend, but now Mary Anne has gone out and made a friend all on her own. At the beginning, Kristy does compete with Dawn for Mary Anne's attention, but Dawn soon realizes that yeah, Kristy is jealous and going through a hard time (what with the upcoming wedding and move), and decides to bond with her. They bond over divorces and moving, and eventually Dawn just outright asks Kristy if she wants to hang out. Kristy says sure, and they soon put aside their differences and realize that they're still both Mary Anne's friend. Kristy officially welcomes Dawn into the Baby-Sitters Club, and makes her the alternate officer.

The stuff with the Barretts is the main plot, and it really has nothing to do with Kristy at all. Dawn starts sitting for them, and because the kids like her so much, Dawn continues to be their regular sitter. Like I said, the title and description of the book is really misleading, because it's not so much the kids that are impossible, but moreso Mrs Barrett: she's just incredibly disorganized and essential a baby-sitter's nightmare.

Mrs Barrett has just gone through a messy divorce, and as such is trying to find a job, be a single parent and finalize arrangements. Plus who knows: maybe she was disorganized and scatterbrained in the first place. Her kids are Buddy, Suzy and Marnie, and they're not doing so well: they want their mom and are confused by everything. As such, they act out a bit, but no more so than you'd expect kids to react in such a situation.

So it's Dawn to the rescue, and she steps in and baby-sits for them, and while she's baby-sitting, she also does all sorts of cleaning and homework help and life help for the kids. Of course, the kids and Mrs Barrett love her, so of course they ask her back. This goes on for MONTHS, with Dawn griping to everyone, but never actually confronting Mrs Barrett.

This all comes to a head one day while Dawn is baby-siting for the Barretts. Buddy goes outside to play while Dawn gets Suzy and Marnie ready. When Dawn and the girls get outside though, Buddy is nowhere to be found. Dawn contacts his friends and neighbours, and soon a search is started. Jordan Pike then says that he saw Buddy get into a car, so the cops get involved. Eventually, it's discovered that Mr Barrett took Buddy to teach Mrs Barrett a lesson, since it was supposed to be his weekend with the kids. However, when Buddy isn't enjoying himself, Mr Barrett realizes that Mrs Barrett isn't even at home, and immediately returns. Poor Dawn.

Dawn later confronts Mrs Barrett about everything, and says that the Club has decided that they can't sit for her family anymore. Mrs Barrett apologizes and promises to change things and to do better. So Dawn decides that it'd be okay to continue sitting.

Random Thoughts:

• The cover! Omg the cover. Dawn's face. In future books, they always describe Dawn as gorgeous (but naturally, not sophisticated and done up like Stacey), but in the last book, Mary Anne described her "not exactly pretty". This cover is ugly!Dawn haha
• The first few books take up much more time in story than the later ones do. This one takes place over the course of at least two months! Also, it's already heading into spring (probably March/April), but just a few books ago, it was the first day of school!
• I find it interesting that so much time has passed, but the only holidays that got mentioned were Halloween and Thanksgiving (and only in passing). We didn't see Christmas, New Year's or Valentine's Day at all.
• They mention that Kristy's mom is getting married in the fall. Unless something happens in the next book that I don't remember (completely plausible, because I know it's not one I've re-read often or recently) that bumps up the wedding date, that means we're getting a time-skip of about 5 months!
• Fun Fact: Buddy's real name is Hamilton Jr. I don't think it's ever mentioned again in the series. I definitely didn't remember that. If I had thought about it long enough, I probably would have conceded that yeah, Buddy was most likely a nickname (although, not necessarily) and most likely because he was a Junior.
• They foreshadow in this book what a great baby-sitter Mallory would be one day, and how maybe eventually the Club would grow so big and successful that she'd be able to join.
• I don't blame Dawn for wanting to tidy up while she's there. I would not be able to baby-sit in such a messy household. But I would probably only tidy up one room, like the playroom, not the entire house. Just enough so that the kids could actually play and I wouldn't go insane from the messiness. Otherwise, I just wouldn't sit for them at all.
• I really liked the part of this book when Buddy went missing. I always liked it when BSC got dark. That's probably why I like the California Diaries series so much.
• I like how one of the things Mrs Barrett decides to change is to ask Dawn to come over 10-15 minutes before she actually needs to, so Mrs Barrett can actually have time to tell her stuff. Uh, isn't that what most people do anyways?? And shouldn't Dawn have been arriving early anyways herself? If someone told me I was baby-sitting at 5:30, I would definitely make sure to show up at least 5 minutes early in case of instructions.

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:

AMM's note tells readers how they can avoid getting into a situation like Dawn's. Find out ahead of time what's expected of you in the job, and if you're to be doing housecleaning and more than just baby-sitting, making sure you're properly compensated for it. She also tells readers that while a parent should provide you with the contact information and important info, it's also up to the reader to be proactive and ask for those things too.

Notebook Pages:

Buddy, Marni, and Suzi Barrett give Dawn such a hard time that she calls them "the impossible three". When I have to deal with impossible kids, I grab whoever is being good/quiet and give them all my attention and ignore the bad ones; unless the bad ones are doing something dangerous.  

The most impossible kids I know are honestly, I've only ever really baby-sat for good kids; I didn't do a whole lot of baby-sitting as a kid. Oh, but I was a camp counselor, and there were two kids who were impossible! Darla and Kevin (not related, and at different camps). 

They are impossible because Darla would not shut up and kept interrupting me whenever I tried explaining things and would go off on tangents; in hindsight, she reminds me of Karen Brewer. Kevin did not want to be at camp. I felt kind of bad for him, but he got to the point where he wasn't just not participating, he was actively being destructive and didn't even want to do lunch and free time. 

The best kids I know are Winston

I like them because he is smart and sensitive. 

Kristy doesn't like Dawn at first, but then becomes her friend. One person I didn't like at first but am now friends with is Lexi. 

We became friends because we used to swap manga haha  

One person who doesn't like me, but who I still want to be friends with, is no one; I have completely given up on trying to make friends. I don't even care anymore haha  

We aren't friends because I'm not friends with a lot of people because I have absolutely zero patience for people haha 

One person who I would want to move to my school is ah the perils of doing these questions as an adult: I no longer go to school. I suppose if we switched "school" for "workplace", I'd pick my boyfriend. If only so I could have a ride to and from there and have an excuse to see him more haha

BSC #4: Mary Anne Saves the Day

Front Cover: Mary Anne's on her own. Can she take charge?

Back Cover: Mary Anne has never been a leader of the Baby-sitters Club. She's left that up to Kristy... or Claudia.. or Stacey. But now there's a big fight among the four friends, and Mary Anne doesn't have them to depend on anymore.

It's bad enough when she's left alone at the lunch table at school. But when she has to baby-sit a sick child without any help from the club members, Mary Anne knows it's time to take charge.

The Baby-sitters Club is going to fall apart unless somebody does something - fast. Maybe it's time for Mary Anne to step in and save the day!

So, I know I said that The Truth About Stacey was my favourite of the original 4, but after I got this one off my shelf in preparation to read it next, I found myself getting more and more excited to read it. I really like a lot of the Mary Anne books. Even though she comes off as "a baby" most of the times, she's actually the one who sticks up for herself the most and does the most rebelling. She may be shy, but do not cross her!

This book starts off right away with the girls having a fight. Seriously. Mary Anne is storming out of a meeting by the end of the first chapter. Part of me feels like the fight is over nothing [Kristy gets excited and claims a sitting job with the Newtons without consulting the others], but at the same time, I suppose they had it coming. In these first few books, the girls disagree a fair amount, and past stuff actually comes up. It's almost as if there's continuity! haha

So what happens is that the girls fight. It starts with Kristy taking the job without asking, but escalates as all the girls call each other names and it all boils over. They then continue to fight for WEEKS. They're pretty much not talking to each other for the entire book. They take turns holding meetings solo, where whoever is running that meeting takes all the jobs that she can, and only calls the other girls when she absolutely needs to. It's surprisingly not as inefficient as they make it sound.

In the meantime, Mary Anne has met a new girl, Dawn Schafer, who has just moved to Stoneybrooke. While they hang out, they eventually realize that their parents knew each other in high school. More than that, but they apparently went to prom together and dated! In the end, the girls get their parents to reunite. Yet surprisingly, longtime readers will know that Dawn's mother goes on to date a few other guys before finally settling down with Mary Anne's dad.

All throughout the book, the BSC members remain at odds with each other. Mary Anne ends up baby-sitting for Jenny Prezzioso, who winds up coming down with a ridiculously high fever. Unable to reach the girl's parents, the neighbours, her dad, ANYONE, Mary Anne calls Dawn, just looking for help and support. Dawn is unable to reach her own mother, so the girls call 911, and they end up getting an ambulance ride to the hospital. The Prezziosos are incredibly grateful toward Mary Anne. This is one of the ways that Mary Anne saves the day.

Because of this, Mary Anne finally convinces her dad that she's mature enough to stay out a bit later, wear her hair down, choose some of her own clothes, and start redecorating her room. It's a whole new Mary Anne!

The other way Mary Anne saves the day is after Jamie Newton's birthday party. The entire club is invited to help out, and because they're not talking to each other and are being immature and petty (and let's be honest: 12 years old), they almost end up ruining everything. Mary Anne has finally had enough, and she calls a meeting. She essentially says, "Enough is enough. We all said mean things and we all owe each other apologies. Or else let's just call it quits. But this has gone on long enough." Everyone is all shocked, and end up apologizing in the end. All's well that end's well.

Mary Anne has a pizza party, and Dawn gets added to the club.

Random Thoughts:

• Looking at the cover, I always thought that that was a red blanket across Mary Anne's lap. However, looking at the updated cover, I think I see that it's actually supposed to be a skirt. This is one of the few times when the updated cover matches the original cover, but only with the new artist and models. The updated cover makes Mary Anne look way older than 12, and kinda hot in that "girl next door" kind of way. You can tell she's still shy and conservative, but yeah. One of those cool Hollywood movie nerds. Looking at her skirt in the original cover though, yeah, no wonder the other girls describe her as looking babyish. I wish I could split the difference between the two covers 
• I think this is the only time we've ever seen Richard say grace before a meal. Also, my copy is old enough to still have Mary Anne's mother listed as Abigail, not Alma. I like the name Abigail better.
• Re-reading the books, I'm a little shocked at how strict Richard is. I had forgotten just how bad he used to be. It almost borders on abuse!
• I don't know much about kids, and the only baby-sitting I did was within sight of my own home, where my mom always was, but I find it odd that the hospital would start treating Jenny right away with the only "guardian" present being her 12 year old baby-sitter. I mean, I'm not surprised they put cold compresses on her to keep her fever in check, and frequently checked up on her to see that she didn't get worse, but I am surprised that they drew blood. It's not like Jenny was in any immediate danger.
• "You mean some twelve-year-olds are ready to date and other twelve-year-olds still need baby-sitters?" I feel like this line here sums up everything we know about the 10 and 11 year olds in the series haha
• I like that Dawn's mother calls Mary Anne's dad "Richie" in this one, like she did in high school, yet I don't think she calls him that ever again. Lost continuity? Or time marching on??
• Part of me is sympathetic to Richard. It doesn't seem like he's home much, and he seems all awkward. He's probably never fully recovered from his wife's death, and he's just trying to raise his girl as best as he can. I bet you he honestly did not realize how much Mary Anne was growing and maturing. I can only hope that Mary Anne didn't get her period until after Richard married Sharon, because I'm sure Richard would've had a total meltdown and put a lockdown on Mary Anne, completely in denial or in shock that his little girl was now "officially a woman". Thank god Mary Anne is always described as petite and flat, cuz yeah, I'm sure bra shopping would have given Richard a heart attack as well haha

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:

AMM's note in this one is all about handling emergencies when baby-sitting. She talks about how it's important to know what numbers to call, whether it's 911, or whatever the local number is. AMM reminds readers to stay calm and that preparation is key: know your numbers before you need them. She also suggests that readers take a first aid course or a baby-sitting course at their local community centres. And then she plugs The Baby-sitters Club Guide to Baby-Sitting haha

Notebook Pages:

By helping Jenny Prezzioso, Mary Anne saves the day and gains her father's respect. I once saved the day when I managed to organize and corral 5 substitute teachers and about 100 students into getting organized and sorted out. 

If there was ever a medical emergency when I was baby-sitting, I would well, back when I still baby-sat, I would've definitely called my mommy, since I always baby-sat within view of my house; if I were to baby-sit now, aside from calling all the proper authorities (911, the parents, etc), I'd call my boyfriend. Cuz he has a car haha. 

The emergency numbers for my town are: police [] fire department [] hospital [] (and here is where I admit that I have no fucking clue; my plan was always just to dial 911 and hope for the best!) 

The thing I would be most afraid of when baby-sitting is me dying; I'm kinda the Stacey of my group of friends. 

The worst emergency that has ever happened to me was when I have no idea; honestly, my life has been pretty emergency-free. 

When this happened, I ...nothing??? 

When Mary Anne is in trouble, she calls Dawn and her father. When I'm in trouble, I call again, my mommy and/or my boyfriend... after I've called all the proper authorities of course! 

After she saves the day, Mary Anne gets the courage to ask her father to let her stay out later, to let her cut her hair, and to let her redecorate her room. If I could ask my parents anything, it would be for them to let me well, now that I am an adult, I don't need my parents' permission for anything. Even as a teen or child though, there wasn't anything I particularly wanted or wanted to do that my parents would have said no to. I was either a really boring child, or my parents were really lenient; probably something in the middle haha

BSC #3: The Truth About Stacey

Front Cover: Stacey's different... and it's harder on her than anyone knows.

Back Cover: The truth about Stacey is that she has diabetes. Nobody knows... except her friends from the Baby-sitters Club.

But even they don't know the real truth about Stacey. Stacey's problem is her parents. They won't admit she has the disease, and they drag her to practically every doctor in America!

Seeing so many doctors made Stacey lose one friend, and she won't let it happen again. Especially now - when the Baby-sitters Club needs her more than ever!

Out of the first 4 books in the series, I've always liked this one best. I'm not entirely sure why. I think I've just always liked reading about Stacey and her parents and the divorce and the diabetes. It was different and interesting compare to the problems the other girls faced.

The main plot of this one is that Stacey's parents have gone overboard with trying to deal with her diabetes, and they keep dragging her to a million doctors. Each doctor tells them more of the same, but always suggests a slight variation on treatment, and it's stressing Stacey out. The latest doctor her parents have planned for her is a holistic doctor who essential swindles people into doing very expensive and unnecessary (but not harmful) treatments. Stacey's had enough, and with the help of Dr. Johanssen, she manages to convince her parents into easing up and letting her have more say in what goes on.

The subplot in this one is the new Baby-Sitters Agency that pops up. They're a bunch of older students who can baby-sit, and soon the BSC finds themselves out of jobs. After a few desperate ideas from Kristy (and a great one: the Kid-Kits!), the girls eventually realize that the Agency is full of subpar sitters and that all they can do is be the best that they can be, and hope that they bounce back. Things come to a head when one of the Agency sitters neglects Jamie Newton, and the girls find him playing too close to the street on a cold snowy day without his hat and mittens. The girls then decide to face Mrs Newton, who then calls the other parents and soon everything is back to normal.

Other things of note: Mrs Newton has Lucy, and Charlotte Johanssen is 7 years old and skips to the third grade. I can't wait for her to meet Becca and Hailey. I always thought a series about the three of them would have been interesting (for 8 year olds).

Random Thoughts:

• I was always really fascinated by this cover. I remember seeing it in the library at school when I was younger, back when I had just started reading chapter books. At the time, I was reading the Little Sister series. But I would always see this book alongside them, and would always pick it up. That being said, once I started reading BSC and really looked at the cover (especially compared to the covers from the 100+ books, written in the late 1990s), I realized how chubby Stacey and Charlotte looked. Adorable little chubsters. It didn't bother me before reading the series, because yeah, they look like normal '80s kids, but upon reading the series and seeing Stacey constantly (especially in this one) described as "thin" or even "underweight", the cover seems particularly jarring. Stacey definitely looks older than 12 here. I'd put her at maybe 14 or 15. She reminds me of Blair from The Facts of Life haha
• Oddly enough, it wasn't until recently (like the last year or so) that I realized just how terrible Stacey's outfit was. A green sweatshirt with a pink Hawaiian shirt over top?? Gross. It's still one of my favourite covers though.
• I know it's been brought up by lots of people in the fandom, but the whole "diabetes=AIDS" overtones are really apparent in this one. In later books, it's played down a bit, and it's all, "Stacey has diabetes; it sucks, but with diet and injections, she's okay! =D". I always remember being so confused as to why her having diabetes was such a horrible thing. I mean, yes, it does suck, but the way it's portrayed in some of the earlier books, this one in particular, made me terrified of diabetes for a few years when I was younger. I thought it was a death sentence!
• I always found it weird how secretive Stacey's parents were about her diabetes. Insisting that they tell absolutely no one? I mean, I don't expect them to be like, "Hi! We're Mr and Mrs McGill, and this is our daughter Stacey SHE HAS DIABETES!" upon meeting people, but yeah. It really should not have been such a big deal, especially to their closest friends and afterwards once they got it all under control. I know it's not the same as having life-threatening allergies, but I never feel embarrassed or secretive when I have to decline eating foods or giving my foods the third degree over allergens. I can understand the insulin injections being a thing, but that's not something you have to whip out and do in front of people. Just a simple, "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." takes care of it.
•  For the longest time, I used to pronounce the Johanssen's last name as "Johnson"
• This book also makes me want to throw Aero bars in the freezer. And then eat them. Except I'm usually too impatient to wait for them to freeze. God piss, now I want chocolate haha

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:
AMM writes about her decision to create a character with diabetes. In wanting to create a diverse group of girls, she decided that one should have a physical or medical problem. She chose diabetes because she knows it affects many children and people, including two of her friends. She thought it would be good for young readers to see someone dealing with it responsibly and positively, not ignoring it or being ashamed of it. She adds that she got lots of letters from readers thanking her, saying that the books have helped their friends to understand the condition.

Notebook Pages

When Stacey first met the members of the Baby-sitters Club she was afraid to tell them that she had diabetes. A secret I have is that I am absolutely crazy and have all these rules and guidelines and am wicked independent, to the point where I don't think I'll ever settle down with someone long-term. 

The person I would tell my secret to is my current boyfriend; maybe; he'd have to know eventually at any rate. 

I would never tell my secret to anyone else haha. 

Stacey has to control herself from eating sweets and snacks, and Kristy has to be careful of her big mouth. Something that I have to watch out for is my diet; like Stacey, I have dietary restrictions. 

Stacey got really good advice from Dr Johanssen. If I had a problem the adult I would talk to is honestly, I have no idea; probably no one. 

The Johanssen's are a big part of Stacey's life. Charlotte Johanssen is even like a sister to Stacey. Someone who is like a sister to me is no one; I am literally close to no one haha

BSC #2: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls

Front Cover: Claudia's not sure she wants to find out who's on the other end of the line.

Back Cover: Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey have had some strange adventures since they started the Baby-sitters Club. But nothing's been as spooky as what's going on right now. The baby-sitters have been getting mysterious phone calls when they're out on their jobs. When a phone rings and they pick up, there's no one on the other end of the line.

Claudia's sure it's the Phantom Caller, a jewel thief who's been operating in the area. Claudia has always liked reading mysteries, but she doesn't like it when they happen to her. So she and the baby-sitters decide to take action - with some very mixed results!

So the main plot is yeah: the girls are plagued by weird phone calls while they're sitting and pretty much everyone except Stacey thinks it's the Phantom Caller. The girls start getting freaked out and they invent a code to use on the phone if they think they might be in trouble. Nothing in particular really happens though. Aside from a few hang-ups, most of what happens is in the girls' heads.

Claudia's next-door neighbours, The Goldmans, do end up getting robbed, but it turns out that it's just a copycat, and not the actual Phantom Caller.

In the meantime, Claudia's crushing on a boy, Trevor Sandbourne, and is hoping he'll ask her to the Halloween Hop, happening at the end of the book. The problem is that they don't have any classes together and don't exchange words at all. Claudia is convinced he doesn't even know she exists. This distracts Claudia immensely, and she's put on a homework lockdown by her family, so there's many passages of her doing homework under someone's supervision.

Eventually, the girls find out that their mysterious phone calls have been Alan and Trevor trying to work up the nerve to ask Kristy and Claudia to the Halloween Hop. Claudia is super-happy and all's well that ends well.

 Random Thoughts

• I always hated this cover. That girl does not look Asian at all. MAYBE half-Asian, but yeah. That is definitely not a full-blooded Japanese-American girl.
• I really like Janine. She's a bit insufferable at times, but I think Claudia's too hard on her. I imagine that if Claudia just toughed out a conversation for more than 5 minutes, Janine would loosen up and talk about normal things again.
• No wonder the Kishis are on Claudia's case: she hasn't done ANY of her homework at all so far this year (two months). I get the feeling that while the Kishis would obviously prefer Claudia to have super awesome A++ grades, they'd be fine with her achieving Bs or whatever, so long as she's trying. But obviously she's not trying. At this point, Claudia does come across as just simply a student who isn't applying herself and who maybe needs a bit of help. There's a difference between someone who isn't "academically inclined" (Claudia as she's being portrayed now) and someone who is mentally handicapped (the way later Claudia comes across in her handwritten entries)
• Apparently Claudia has an above average IQ, but just doesn't apply herself. Her mispellings in this book and the last book ("cuzin", "Ocober", "thier", etc) reflects that. She has other things on her mind, probably her art and boys
• She gets a 70% on an English quiz. This is actually a pretty damn decent grade. Again, her parents probably want better for her (as they should), but 70% is not dumb at all. It's definitely not "hold you back, you're failing this grade" bad. She gets marked off for stupid mistakes, which again probably comes from just not paying attention.
• Claudia also ends up getting an 86% on her math test, which is also REALLY GOOD. Here, I learned that an 86% is a "B or B+, depending on how the rest of the class does". Up here in Canada, an 86% is an A.
• I'm sad that the "red ribbon/blue ribbon" code never comes up again
• I love how Kristy spends the whole book hating Alan Gray, but when it turns out he's just been bugging her cuz he likes her, she goes along with it. I mean, it's terrible, but it's very realistic to how a 12 year old would react. Plus I like this well-rounded Kristy. She's not horribly into boys, but does get a little starry-eyed at the idea of one liking her.
• I love how their dance outfits are pretty much the opposite of what they'd wear in the later books. Claudia and Stacey wear baggy jeans and large sweaters (this just sounds like too much material and very shapeless; I would've thought they'd wear either leggings or tight jeans) and Kristy wears a plaid jumper and turtleneck. In later books, Claudia and Stacey would most definitely be wearing dresses/skirts or oversized sweaters with leggings (essentially being very dress-like), while Kristy would be in the one in jeans.
• I miss Mimi
• I like how Kristy and Claudia seem kinda close in this one. Not as close as Mary Anne and Kristy, but yeah. I don't think we ever see Claudia and Kristy hangout or confide deeply in each other like they do in this one again.
• Claudia mentions how Kristy and Mary Anne still bring their lunches to school, and how that makes them babies, but then she immediately follows with how gross the school lunches are. Why would you waste money on something gross, when you can bring foods that you like from home?? 
• Related to that: because of this, I thought high school cafeteria food would be like it is in the series. Everyone always had the same proportioned lunches. It's not like that here at all. There's a daily special, but you can always choose from a bajillion other options and mix and match and buy as much or as little as you want of whatever you want. These books gave me such unrealistic expectations of high school xD haha

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:
AMM talks about the sitting adventures she used to have with her best friend Beth, and how the two of them came up with a code in case either of them ever got into trouble. She admits that they never needed to use the code, but that it was fun to have and being scared sometimes. She goes on to reassure the reader that it's okay to get scared while baby-sitting at night, like she sometimes did. Apparently AMM read a lot of mysteries as a child, and this was her first attempt at writing one. She mentions that she does several more over the course of the series, and that they became so popular that they eventually became a regular installment. (On a personal note: I love the Mysteries, and upon seeing the publishing order of the books, I was surprised to see how late in the series the Mystery series came in.)

Notebook Pages

The person who previously owned this book actually filled out the notebook pages. Her name was Sarah, and she was 10 years old. Her favourite part was when they found out who was doing the calling, her favourite character is Claudia and she is most like Kristy. I'm going to fill in the pages specific to this book with my own answers now.

Claudia and the Baby-sitters were really afraid of the phantom caller. The time when I was the most afraid was when the first thing that popped into my head was this one time, when I was 8 years old: I was staying at a neighbour's house because my parents were in the hospital for the delivery of my brother. I really had to go to the bathroom, but the only bathroom available was in the master bedroom, and they had a giant dog in there and it was 5am and the husband scared me. I had no real reason to be afraid of neither the husband nor the dog, but I guess it was because I was young and unfamiliar with either of them.

Other things that I am afraid of are doctors.

Things that don't frighten me are uh, lots of things?? 

If I were baby-sitting like Claudia and I kept getting scary phone calls, I would call my boyfriend, or my mom haha

The scariest book I have read is hmmm... I dunno; the first thing that popped into my head was Super Mystery #2, Baby-Sitters Beware!, but I know I have read far scarier books than that haha

The person I like to talk to on the phone the most is my boyfriend.

Other people I talk to on the phone are my mom haha

My phone number is 314-2875.

My favourite phone number is my boyfriend's because it's my boyfriend haha 

The most surprising phone call I ever got was nowadays, pretty much any phone call is surprising to me haha

The kind of phone that I have or would like to have is a:

[] Princess phone (like Claudia's), [] Old-fashioned phone, [] Cordless phone, [] See-through phone, [x] Cellular phone

BSC #1: Kristy's Great Idea

Front Cover: Four friends and baby-sitting - what could be more fun?

Back Cover: Kristy thinks the Baby-sitter's Club is a great idea. She and her friends Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne all love taking care of kids. A club will give them the chance to have lots of fun - and make tons of money.

But nobody counted on crank calls, uncontrollable two-year-olds, wild pets, and parents who don't always tell the truth. And then there's Stacey, who's acting more and more mysterious. Having a baby-sitters club isn't easy, but Kristy and her friends aren't giving up until they get it right!

So this is the book that started it all! Kristy and her friends are in grade seven, and on the first Tuesday of the school year, Kristy gets her great idea: The Baby-Sitters Club. She immediately tells her best friend Mary Anne and her close friend Claudia. Claudia then brings in a new girl named Stacey, and together they get the club started and running.

I haven't re-read the first few books of the series in a long, long, long time. I don't know why, but for some reason, I liked it better once they were in grade 8 and all seven girls were established, and status quo and what not. So this time around, I was pleasantly surprised by the writing style and the description of the characters. It was really refreshing! They seem a lot more nuanced and less one-dimensional.

There was really no subplot in this book. Kristy's mom is dating Watson and Kristy hasn't met his kids yet and refuses to give him a chance, which is bratty but completely realistic. Mary Anne ends up baby-sitting for Karen and Andrew as her first job.

Kristy's first job is the infamous dog incident that gets referenced a fair amount of times over the series. Nothing particularly bad happens, it just catches Kristy off-guard, which is surprising considering I'm used to the Kristy of the later books.

Claudia's first job is for 4 kids instead of 1, and they're completely crazy. However, Claudia shows some real maturity and insight. I miss this Claudia. Her handwriting is completely different in this book than in the rest of the series. She has a few spelling mistakes, but understandable ones. It's clear that she's not strong in school, but she's in no way remedial and bordering on mentally handicapped as her later writing and spelling suggests.

Stacey's first job was for David Michael. It was super-easy and she mostly got to flirt with Sam in the process. I find it interesting that afterwards, Stacey went upstairs to Kristy's room and the two of them hung out together for a bit. I don't think just the two of them ever hung out together in the future, not unless they had arrived first and were waiting for the others. It's especially interesting, because Stacey is completely new at this point, whereas in the later books, they'll have known each other for quite a bit longer.

After lying about it for the whole book, Stacey finally admits that she has diabetes and everyone acts like normal people do. I always found it so weird the way Stacey and her parents acted. I mean, I get that her old friends made fun of her and stuffs, but yeah.

In the end, all is well. Kristy's mom is engaged to Watson and Kristy has come to terms with it and is okay.


Random Thoughts:

• I love how Kristy isn't such a one-dimensional tomboy. Look at that cover! She's wearing a dress and her hair down! I get generally looking/wearing the same thing [I'm always in jeans and a t-shirt with my hair down], but I hate how she eventually devolved into jeans, turtleneck, sweatshirt, ponytail. NO EXCEPTIONS. Unless she was being forced, in which case she'd complain the whole time haha
• related to this: she even mentions to Mary Anne the concept of looking forward to nail polish [although Mary Anne is definitely more into it than she is] and she keeps her house key in her purse. Can you imagine Flanderized!Kristy having a purse??
• Speaking of the cover: I love how the girls actually look age-appropriate here. I also have the re-release cover, the one done in the style of the 100+ books, and they look much older there. I ALSO have the updated 2010s version, which doesn't have the girls on the cover at all.
•  Kristy is also way more relaxed about things. She's not quite the dictator/Nazi she becomes. Case in point: she mentions that by having regular meetings, clients will know of a time that they can call to reach a whole group of baby-sitters, but that they can also still call the girls up individually outside of meeting times.
• They mention here that Kristy's dad ran off to California and got married again. From reading the whole series, including the Friends Forever books, we know that he ran off to California, but hadn't remarried. I wonder at which point in the series this changes.
• Kristy is born in August
• Kristy doesn't like Watson: he's divorced from his wife and has two little kids. Plus he's going bald haha I like how NORMAL Kristy is. Flanderized!Kristy would be like, "Little kids?? OMG YAY!" haha
• This book was apparently one of Claudia's first attempts at make-up. I love how they describe it. It's exactly how every little kid wearing make-up for the first time should look like: Mimi, from The Drew Carey Show: "There was blue stuff on her eyelids, gold stuff above her eyes, and magenta stuff on her cheeks." I'm Asian, and although I never ever wear make-up and would thus have similar results, even I know we shouldn't wear blue eyeshadow [unless it's a particular style or look we're going for, like dramatic LOOK AT ME make-up, not subtle everyday make-up].
• Stacey is always described as having permed hair. I'm going to go on record now and say that when I first read the series, I didn't realize that the books were written "so long ago" [at least 10 years prior to my having read them the first time] and that they theoretically took place in the late '80s. I found some of the fashion descriptions odd, but nothing particularly stood out to me [with the exception of some of Claudia and Stacey's outfits, which stand out even to the characters in the series]. But I was always so confused about Stacey and her permed hair. The book covers always just show her with thick, voluminous hair. I always figured it was natural. My best friend has giant thick wavy hair. It wasn't until later when I learned more about the '80s and saw movies that were made in the '80s that I realized what the books meant. By that time, I had stopped reading the series or I was now only reading the later books, which were published in real-time and had stopped referencing the perms haha
• In this book, the girls eat at separate tables: Kristy and Mary Anne together, Claudia and Stacey with a bunch of girls AND guys. Ah, the good ol' days when they were allowed to have separate friends haha
• Watson leaves his kids with a baby-sitter, which Kristy hates because he only sees them every other weekend, and he left them with a baby-sitter all day. I agree. They wanted Kristy to baby-sit, but she refuses, so Watson says he found someone else. In my mind, I'd like to think it was Shannon.
• Sam has baby-sat for Watson's kids. I like the idea that Sam used to occasionally baby-sit. Here, he'd have been 14, so definitely too young for any real job [I think in their world, kids start getting real jobs at age 15-16]. I also love that Sam, while being cool, loves math. I ship him and Stacey so hardcore.
• I'm surprised Kristy had such a hard time with Buffy and Pinky, the dogs. Kristy from the later books would be all, "I was surprised to find that I was dog-sitting, not baby-sitting, but it was no problem for me. I love dogs and I'm a professional!"
• David Michael is apparently allergic to chocolate. I don't think this is ever mentioned again.
• Karen is 5 and Andrew is 3 in this book, but in future books [when the girls are in grade 8], Karen is 7 and Andrew is 4, maybe 5. At least, I'm pretty sure she's 7. I used to read the Little Sister series, and she was in grade 2, but had skipped a grade.

[Although I read and reviewed one of the original copies of this book, I currently also own one of the updated copies, with the Author's Note and Notebook Pages in the back.]

Author's Note:
AMM talks about how the series came to be. In 1985, she had just quit her job to write children's books full-time. It was proposed that she write a 4-book miniseries called "The Baby-Sitters Club", so AMM had to figure out exactly what would that be. After deciding it would be a business run by friends, she then had to create the characters. She based Kristy on her best friend, Mary Anne on herself, and then rounded out the group with two other diverse and individual girls. Apparently writing about baby-sitting was second nature to AMM, because she continued to do it well into college.



Notebook Pages

Kristy had a great idea to start the Baby-sitters Club. If I were going to start a club it would be called Movie Maniacs

The purpose of my club would be to watch movies and then vlog about it. 

My club would do things like watch movies from "Best 100" lists or other lists or themes and vlog about it before and after.

These are the people I would invite to be in my club: me (President), Jamison (Vice President), Lexi (Treasurer), Kelly Green (Secretary).

Other club members: Pattycakes, Kesha, Yue, Moira.

My club logo might look like this: (haha omg so not attempting this)

The Baby-sitters Club holds its meetings in Claudia's bedroom. My club would meet in my basement.

Baby-Sitters Club Re-Read

So I have decided that among my 2016 goals this year, I'm going to start a re-read of The Baby-Sitters Club. Obviously I won't get through them all this year. In fact, it'll probably take me a few years, since I'm doing them in publication order, and I'm going to do all the books: the regulars, the mysteries, the super specials, the portraits, the Friends Forever series, California Diaries... I even have a couple of Little Sister books that have found their way to me through mass-buying. But don't expect many of those haha Anyways, we'll see how far I get haha