Book 21: Mallory Pike, the Self-proclaimed Freak

Mallory and the Trouble with Twins Feature

According to the world of Mallory Pike, if you’re eleven and don’t have contacts, pierced ears, cool clothes and a stylish haircut, you’re a freak. Having never had, or wanted, my ears pierced, I don’t see what the big deal is now, and I’m unsure I saw what the big deal was back when I […]

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Book 20: Kristy’s Krush

Kristy and the Walking Disaster

Every so often, Kristy Thomas throws me a curve-ball, making me question who she is – or at least, who I thought she was. It happened in Kristy’s Big Day, when the no-dress wearing tomboy fawned and squee’d at the prospect of wearing heels and being her mum’s bridesmaid, and it happened in this book, […]

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Book 19: Baby-sitters get punk’d

Claudia and the Bad Joke

Claudia and the Bad Joke starts out with Kristy commenting: “You know,” said Kristy Thomas, “I have never been hit in the face with a pie.” “Imagine that,” I teased her. “Sweet thirteen and never been hit. What a tragedy.” This somewhat oddball opener progresses into an in-depth discussion, for a good few pages, where […]

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Book 18: Stacey’s Mistake is Not Her Fault

Stacey's Mistake review

I’ve missed Stacey. There’s a long time between re-reads and reviews these days (thanks, real life!) and it feels like Stacey has been missing from Stoneybrook and the Baby Sitters Club for much longer than four books. In Stacey’s Mistake, not only are we in Stacey McGill’s world again, but we’re also taking a break […]

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Book 17: Mary Anne is Bad Luck

Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery

This book was the best, because Mary Anne is, still, The Worst. Oh, wow, what a difference after the sweetness of Jessi’s Secret Language. There was bitchiness, rival girls, school dances, emergency BSC meetings, and a Mary Anne tantrum. Generally, I try to vastly summarise these things, because the bulk of the books are kinda…drab. […]

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Book 15: Dawn Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo Creates Honey Boo Boo?

Little Miss Stoneybrook and Dawn

Title is relevant, I swear. Sorry this review’s taken so long. Little Miss Stoneybrook…and Dawn begins with a Baby-Sitters Club meeting, and the induction (“Induct? Who’s Kristy kidding?“) of Jessi and Mal into the BSC. There’s no slumber party or pizza toast – which annoys Dawn, who figures the only reason she wasn’t officially inducted into […]

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Book 14: Mallory isn’t Ginger, and Jessi is Black

Hello Mallory

The amount of times we’re reminded that the Ramseys are Black and in Stoneybrook this is an Issue was kind of appalling. Perhaps this is the way suburban Connecticut residents acted in the 80s. Perhaps Stoneybrook was a town of white supremacists. But, more on Jessi later. Hello, Mallory — — offers us a unique […]

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Book 13: Stacey Dreams of Candy and Eats Cake

Good bye stacey good bye

…and moves back to her beloved New York. Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye starts with disaster. Stacey’s just minding her own business, dreaming about Candy land… …when Math class ends, she rushes to her locker, and runs into Claudia, who gives her some devastating news: “Howie Johnson asked Dorianne Wallingford to go to the library with him […]

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Book 12: Claudia and The Attack of the Clique

Claudia and the new girl

In Claudia and the New Girl, book twelve of the Baby-Sitters Club, one of the trademark traits of the BSC begins to fully emerge; The Clique. The Baby-Sitters Club has been in full operation for a year now. The girls are becoming closer, better friends thanks to their adventures and mutual love of pizza parties. […]

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Book 11: They killed the dog and some other stuff happened

RIP Louie

I looked down at Louie’s liquid brown eyes. When he moved them, his “eyebrows” moved, too. He was paying attention to everything in the waiting room. “Do you think he knows what’s going to happen?” I asked softly. “No,” said Mom. “I’m sure he doesn’t.” How can we do this to him? I asked myself. […]

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