The Baby Sitters' Club Series

[Deleted]

That's funny that it never even occurred to me, even though I had sort of a fangirly type crush on Ann when I was 11, and spent quite a bit of time thinking about her, and wishing she'd get married and have her own family with lots of kids (bec. in the short bio in the back of all her books it said she lived with just her cats in NYC and I figured she must be lonely!).
But I don't know if she actually named the baby-sitters--I read that a Scholastic Books editor or publisher thought of the idea of writing a 4 book series about a baby sitting club, approached Ann M. Martin to see if she was interested in writing them, they plotted out the first books together; then when it just took off the way it did, Martin planned out on the series on her own. So the original babysitters might've already been named when she came on board.

(By the way, I know in my state it's illegal to leave kids under 13 alone, so that would rule out 11 year old babysitters.)

[susyhomewrecker]

I did make myself a little BSC library, where I labelled all my books and made library cards and stuff, and I tried to get my friends to borrow them from me... But none of them were interested. It was sad.

OMG laconicchick, I did the same thing! The only person who ever came by my library was my brother since it was in the shed in the backyard... anyway, I know I could probably make some money selling the books on e-bay, but I'm so embarrassed because they all say "Property of the BSC Library" on the front page.

[laconicchick]

I know I could probably make some money selling the books on e-bay, but I'm so embarrassed because they all say "Property of the BSC Library" on the front page.

Ha! I think I made labels on the computer and stuck them on with tape, but now that you mention it, I may have written something inside, too. My mum made me get rid of most of them a few years ago. I got to keep a few favourites, but that was about it. And I had probably between 60 and 100! Most of them I got from a used bookstore.

[susyhomewrecker]

laconicchick said:

Ha! I think I made labels on the computer and stuck them on with tape, but now that you mention it, I may have written something inside, too. My mum made me get rid of most of them a few years ago. I got to keep a few favourites, but that was about it. And I had probably between 60 and 100! Most of them I got from a used bookstore.

I put masking tape on the back of the books, so I could write the due date (I didn't have one of those cool stamper things.) I also "scanned" them with the gun from my brother's Nintendo Duck Hunt game, which really did nothing but make me feel important.

It makes me feel better to know I'm not alone!

[linared]

I was watching The Parent Trap the other night and I started thinking about what a crappy child custody arrangement that was. That made start me thinking about BSC. There were several lousy arrangements in the book.

Dawn- First her mother decides that they are moving even though her children don't want to. In the beginning books, it seems as though she hardly ever visits her dad. Then she decides to stay with him for six months. Then she decides to go back and stay and seems to rarely visit her mother.

Karen and Andrew- First their father hardly ever had them. Then they switch to every other month. Which seems like a good decision except that the children can deviate from this at all. When Mother's Day falls within Watson's month, thats too bad about wanting to visit their mother. And when Watson has a heart attack, Karen is not allowed to stay over because it happens during her father's month.

Also, did anyone either notice that there was alot of bad fathers in the BSC? Somebody must have had daddy issues. Not only were Stacey's, Kristy's and Shannon's dads lousy, but I remember quite a few story lines about the lousy dads of their charges.

[susyhomewrecker]

linared said:

Also, did anyone either notice that there was alot of bad fathers in the BSC? Somebody must have had daddy issues. Not only were Stacey's, Kristy's and Shannon's dads lousy, but I remember quite a few story lines about the lousy dads of their charges.

Bad dads, yep. No bad moms, as far as I can remember, though. Unless you count Dawn's mom being scatterbrained and leaving jewelry in the fridge. Oh, Mary Anne's dad was soooo strict he only let her wear her hair in braids until she was in middle school!

[marywebgirl]

There was one bad mom. In was one of Dawn's stories she babysat for a beautiful woman with three kids but her house was pigsty. Although, that involved a bad dad, too since he took one of the kids when Dawn was sitting and she thought he'd been kidnapped.

[susyhomewrecker]

I think I remember that. Was it in "Dawn and the Impossible Three," or something like that? The Barretts. Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie. Oh God, I can't believe I remember the book title and their names!

[Deleted]

Well, as that was the very first BSC book I read (when I was 10) I definitely remember that book.
I remember reading a description of the girls' clothes in the book and being so impressed by how cool and sophistocated they were.

[linared]

There was one bad mom. In was one of Dawn's stories she babysat for a beautiful woman with three kids but her house was pigsty. Although, that involved a bad dad, too since he took one of the kids when Dawn was sitting and she thought he'd been kidnapped.

That dad also did not pay his child support. Mrs. Barrett was nuts though. My favorite part of the book is when Dawn is having a picnic with the Pikes and yells at Mallory for taking Marnie's brownie, telling Mallory she will get her own if she waits. Of course, Marnie is deathly allergic to chocolate. Poor Mallory, someone must have had in for her because she is humilated in almost every book.