A Great Series for Tweens to Read...Instills Important Values of Work and Acceptance

 “I hoped that Mary Anne, Claudia, Stacey, and I - the Baby-Sitters Club - would stay together for a long time.” Kristy, 

The Baby-Sitters Club

A Review by Ashley Romano & James Romano

Hello 1000 Bookies!!  This week our reading portal takes us to the 1980s for a young adult book series that would eventually lead to the publishing of 213 separate novels--The Baby-Sitters Club.  I am joined today in developing this blog post by my youngest daughter, Ashley Sarah.  We read the first Baby-Sitters Club story, Kristy’s Big Idea.  The story was first published in 1986 by Ann M. Martin.  Martin has published hundreds of young adult novels over her career.  The Baby-Sitters Club novels dealt with interesting issues at the time that affected many of the young girls (and boys) who read them including the issues of divorce & blended families; children with special needs; and regular teenage angst issues such as boys, school and moving homes. 

My wife and I search for books to read with our daughters.  My daughter Ashley and I were doing our morning jog and Ashley, being a go-getter, brought up becoming a babysitter when she was old enough so she could make her own money.  I told her about the book series, and she asked if we could begin reading it together.  I remember my sister reading the series when she was in middle school.  Ashley asked her why she read the series, and she said of the series, “because it seemed similar to my own life but a little different”.  The story is set in an upper middle-class suburban Connecticut town like the life my sister and I had grown up in at that time.  Kristy’s character reminded me of my sister, determined and blunt. 

The story centers around four friends, Kristy, Claudia, Mary Ann and Stacey.  Kristy, Mary Ann and Claudia grew up together, but they have been growing apart.  Kristy is from a divorced family.  Mary Ann lives next door with her widowed and overprotective father.  Claudia comes from an immigrant family and marches to the beat of her own drummer.  I actually think Kristy comes up with the idea to keep them together.  The idea is to have a central location that people could call and find a babysitter.  Claudia brings in a new girl from school Stacey who just moved to the town from New York to join the club. 

The story is told through Kristy’s point of view.  Subsequent The Baby-Sitters Club books are told from the perspective of one of the club members.  Kristy is starting the club as well as dealing with her mother who has a serious boyfriend—Watson.  Kristy does not like Watson, who is trying to win her over.  Watson has two children, Karen and Andrew.  Watson asks Kristy from time to time to babysit and she consistently turns them down.  Eventually though Kristy will sit for Karen and Andrew and becomes quite fond of them.  During the story Watson asks Kristy’s Mom to marry him.  Kristy bonds with Watson’s children and discovers all the apprehension the children feel. 

 Ashley thoroughly enjoyed the story.  Her favorite babysitter was Kristy.  She enjoyed Kristy’s first job within the club where she ended up babysitting two Saint Bernard dogs, Pinky and Buffy.  She had no idea until she arrived at the house that Pinky and Buffy were dogs.  That is when she decided to build the babysitters club notebook as a repository of information on the specific jobs.  Ashley’s favorite character in the story was Karen, Watson’s daughter.  Karen is a 5-yo little girl who thinks she lives next door to a witch.  Ashley also loved Karen’s cat—Boo Boo. Boo Boo the cat seems like the most awful cat and he picks fights with the woman next door who Karen believes cast a spell on him.   

The Club shows cracks and drama from the beginning.  Claudia and Stacey are more “mature” than Kristy and Mary Ann.  They are obsessed with fashion and boys, the other two are not.  Stacey also has a secret and Kristy wants to find out what it is.  This leads to friction and a fight between the girls.  You find out that the secret is Stacey has been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and is on a special diet. 

 The Baby-Sitters Club was adapted into two TV series, one in 1990 and one currently on Netflix in addition to one movie.  A friend, Ms. Maury Wrightson said this of the Babysitter’s Club series, “I read a ton of those books when I was a kid (they were the first chapter books I read), and I'm most of the way through watching the first season on Netflix with the boys. I love the way they updated the characters and the social issues that are involved! It's provided some good "pause and let's talk about that" moments. On the whole, … I like the way the relationships between the girls, their friends, and their families are depicted.``

I wanted my daughters to read The Baby-Sitters Club because of the values it espouses.  Specifically, I want them to follow the ideas of the entrepreneurial spirit to start a business and earn their own money.  I want them to learn to accept changes in life and build bonds with new people who arrive in our lives.  I recommend this series for the young people in your life. 

 Keep Reading My Friends!!!