Book Reviews of Books I Barely Remember: Part 1

Kristy's Great Idea

by Ann M. Martin

This is the first (of 132, as of this month) in the Babysitter's Club series, which I started reading when I was 11 years old. I don't recognize any titles after the 50-book mark, so I guess I was too busy being an awkward high school student to follow the trials of Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey and the others past 1992.

I ate this book up, much the same way I devoured four seasons of Sex and the City on DVD when I was bored for those two months in the winter of 2004. They are both giant chocolate-bars-with-caramel-inside for the brain.

The plot: Kristy gathers her three friends who all have different but complementary personalities and, more importantly, varied hair colours and styles, to form a club of babysitters (a "babysitter's club", if you will) which gathers weekly to schedule babysitting appointments for their neighbours, all of whom somehow remember to call during their club meeting hours.

The main characters: To continue with the Sex and the City comparison: boy-crazy Stacey would certainly be slutty Samantha, traditional and romantic Mary Anne would be Charlotte, bossy Kristy would be Miranda and I guess that leaves Claudia as the Carrie character, which works only in that both of their names start with "C".

But this post isn't about Sex and the City.

Did I like this book? At the time, yes. Why? Because it satisfied a deep-seated pre-teen female urge to have girlfriends with whom to gossip, eat homemade chocolate chip cookies, and complain about smelly boys. I was also a popular babysitter in our neighbourhood in Guelph, so I could relate to the girls' entrepreneurial ambitions. I remember having a weekly Friday night gig where I'd babysit two kids for five hours, and go home with a ten dollar bill and I thought that was awesome. I suppose those very low standards prepared me well for my actor's income.

Did I have any issues with this book? Yes. Kristy lives with her mom and stepdad, and her stepdad's two little kids from a previous marriage only come to visit them every other weekend, yet Kristy always seems to be babysitting them. So, let me get this straight: you get to see your kids four days a month, and somehow those are the days when you schedule martini dates with friends? TAKE A PARENTING COURSE.

Final verdict: If you are a girl who is 11 and it is 1989 and you like to read, you will love this book.