No, seriously, why does anybody give Mary Anne Spier the time of day, let alone the sweet, patient puppy-dog, Logan Bruno? Mary Anne can be such a bitch. Everybody always talks about how shy and caring and considerate she is, but underneath the braid and plaid is a jealous, calculating princess, who uses the excuse […]
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That’s right – my childhood hero, who taught me that it was ok to be a vegetarian if you wanted to be, eats tuna in book nine of the Baby-Sitters Club: The Ghost at Dawn’s House. It’s all Mallory Pike’s fault, and Dawn just goes with it (she’s into “health food”; it’s never explicitly said […]
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If you saw an eighteen-year-old lifeguard continually pay skimpy-bikini-wearing thirteen-year-old girls compliments like “Hi, love.” and “Sweetheart, did anyone ever tell you you’re beautiful?”, what would you do? I know what I’d do. I’d call the police on the lecherous cretin. Not our Stacey, who, as the title of the eighth book in the Baby-Sitters […]
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Janine Kishi, Claudia’s sister, isn’t mean, in either the cruel sense, or the average sense of the word. So, why is the 7th book in the Baby-Sitters Club called Claudia and Mean Janine? Because Claudia yells at her a few times? Because Janine spends a lot of time on her computer? Because Janine’s quiet? Claudia […]
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Kristy’s Big Day, book 6 in the Baby-Sitters Club, chronicles the week (or thereabouts) leading up to the wedding of Elizabeth Thomas, Kristy’s mum, to the millionaire, Watson Brewer. My memories of this book are thus; Kristy is told she’s in the bridal party, as is the rest of her family; she begrudgingly lets herself […]
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D for “Divorce”, that is. Divorce and life-changes slap you in the face each time you turn a page in the fifth Baby-Sitters Club book, Dawn and the Impossible Three. Our California-girl, Dawn Schaefer, has been moved from the sunny shores of the West Coast of the US, to the damp, dreary Stoneybrook, Connecticut, after […]
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Finally, a look at Stoneybrook through the eyes of the shy, scarf-knitting, braid-wearing baby-sitter with the over-protective father, Mary Anne Spier! Mary Anne Saves the Day starts out dramatically, and within the first few pages the girls are practically clawing each other’s eyes out at a cold, January afternoon BSC meeting. Kristy sort of causes […]
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In book three of The BSC, The Truth About Stacey, we visit Stoneybrook, Connecticut during the Holiday Season via Stacey McGill, the boy-crazy blonde one who dots her i’s with hearts. Stacey’s recently moved from New York to Stoneybrook with her parents in order to change the pace of her life and try to deal […]
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Book two of The Baby-sitters Club, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, takes place a couple of weeks after Kristy’s Great Idea and the formation of the BSC. This time we see the world of Stoneybrook through Claudia Kishi’s eyes, but nothing but really happens until Mary Anne reads The Stoneybrook News one fateful Saturday […]
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The events of Kristy’s Great Idea, book one in The Baby-Sitters Club, can be summarised in five words: Kristy Thomas won’t shut up. We are introduced to the universe of Stoneybrook, Connecticut, from the POV of 12-year-old tomboy Kristy. Kristy has, as the title suggests, the Great Idea that brings together a bunch of pre-teens […]
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Chapter 2 of every Baby-Sitters Club book was an introduction to each and every currently active member of The Club. As a regular reader, I remember skimming Chapter 2’s – until the description of Claudia’s clothing appeared – and then skimming again until Chapter 3. So in this post, before I start reading, I’m going […]
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Before Skyrim, Obernet, and Lois & Clark, there was only one obsession. The Baby-Sitters Club. A billion-book series by Ann M. Martin (plus ghost writers), popular in the 80’s, about a bunch of 11/12/13-year-olds who start an agency to earn some cash and help parents of Stoneybrook, Connecticut find experienced, reliable baby sitters. From memory, […]
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