Baby-Sitters Little Sister #1: Karen's Witch

Tagline: Is Karen's next-door neighbor a witch?

Back Cover: Is she Mrs Porter... or a witch?

Karen lives next door to an old lady named Mrs Porter. Mrs Porter wears long black robes and has wild gray hair. Her black cat is named Midnight. No wonder Karen thinks Mrs Porter is a witch!

Mrs Porter is having a meeting at her house. Karen is sure the meeting is for witches.

Are the witches going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave enough to send them away- once and for all?

Our first Little Sister book takes place in a single weekend. Here, we learn all about Karen Brewer, and how she leads a double life with her two divorced families. It's Friday night, and she's just been dropped off for her weekend at her dad's. Her big stepsister Kristy is baby-sitting for her, Andrew and David Michael. At the door, Karen finds Midnight, her elderly neighbour's cat. Karen is convinced that her neighbour is a witch. Determined to find proof, Karen attempts to stay up, spying out the window, only to fall asleep and have a nightmare about her neighbour. Kristy tells her it was just a nightmare, but Karen knows better. She then spends the night in Kristy's bedroom.

The next day, Karen spends all day with her best friend Hannie, spying on poor old Mrs Porter. She overhears Mrs Porter talking about a meeting at 12 o'clock, and determines that it must be a witch meeting at midnight. She finds an old alarm clock and sets it to wake her at 11:45. The next morning, she wakes up to find that she slept through the whole thing! This convinces Karen more than ever that Mrs Porter is a witch, because she must have put a spell on the clock and the whole house to have her meeting.

It's now Sunday, and cars have started arriving and people are going into Mrs Porter's house. Some people have books, others have papers, and some have brought casseroles. It's Mrs Porter's meeting! She meant noon, not midnight! Karen decides that she can't let a whole gathering of witches and warlocks ruin her town and take over the world, so she convinces Hannie to come with her to break up the meeting. Karen believes that when they face the witches and save the day, the mayor will reward them and give them medals and parades.

They knock on the door, and Mrs Porter, surprised, allows them to come in. Karen then announces to the entire room that she knows that they're all witches and warlocks, and that she won't allow them to cast spells and do evil things to her and everyone. To Karen's surprise, her maternal grandmother is there. Grandma Packett is not amused, and is in fact outright mortified. Turns out it was a just a meeting of the Stoneybrook Gardeners Club!

Karen gets taken home, and Watson and Elizabeth give her a stern talking-to. They make her write an apology to Mrs Porter, and to promise never to spy again. Of course, Karen knows better. She knows that maybe this time it was a harmless gardening meeting... but Mrs Porter is really a witch, and Karen will get her next time!

Random Thoughts:

• So I just happened to own the first Little Sister book, because it came in a large lot of BSC books that I purchased last year. I have a couple of others, so I'll do them when their time comes, but don't worry about these being a regular thing.
• I had completely forgotten that these books have illustrations in them!
• I read these books first when I was child, before I read the Baby-Sitters Club books. Since switching over to the BSC books, I haven't actually sat down and read any of the Little Sister books. I've briefly skimmed through a few at used bookstores out of nostalgia, but never for more than a few minutes. So it's interesting reading this one now. I'm glad that the first book takes place at the Big House, because now I get to see Kristy from a different perspective. Of course, it's a perspective that worships her, so we still see her in a favourable light, but it's still interesting.
• I didn't realize that Mary Anne was mentioned in this one either. Kristy at some point goes shopping with her, and Karen mentions her by her full name. Part of me is curious to see how much Mary Anne and Kristy and the rest of the Club are mentioned, and if their drama is ever referenced in the Little Sister books. But I don't wonder enough to actually want to go out and purchase the Little Sister books haha
• Karen is such a brat and gets away with murder. That was horrible what she did to Mrs Porter's meeting and friends. I'm kinda pissed that Watson and Elizabeth don't punish her more. Maybe if they did, she wouldn't get into so much trouble.
• Mrs Porter is such an eccentric little old lady. I mean, I can see how someone like Karen would get the wrong idea, and to be honest, I probably would have made up stories too as a child, but I would've kept them as just that: stories. And I would have never faced her. Mrs Porter is clearly lonely, as she's happy and delighted when Karen comes over. I don't know if it amused her that Karen thought she was a witch, or crushed her little old lady heart. 
• Karen is totally a mean girl. If she was 16 instead of 6, you better believe that she'd be as bad as Regina George. Hannie knows it's wrong to spy on Mrs Porter and she knows that they're going to get in trouble, but Karen is all (and this is verbatim), "Hannie. Don't you always do everything I say?" and when Hannie points out all the other times Karen's gotten her into trouble, Karen just dismisses it and says that she knows best. Earlier in the book, the two overhear a Mrs Porter talking to her cat Midnight, saying something about a meeting at 12 o'clock. Karen takes this to mean a witching meeting happening at midnight (cuz of course, witches), but Hannie is pretty sure she means Midnight the cat and the meeting is at noon (a time for normal old people). Karen quickly shuts Hannie up and dismisses her notions... only when Hannie turns out to be correct, Karen claims it was all her idea and that she knew it all along! Ugh, she is the worst!