#1 Kristy's Great Idea

Since this is the first post I have made in the new year, I thought I would start with the first book of the Babysitters Club series. This gives an introduction of what the books are going to be about. It introduces the four original club members: Kristy Thomas, who is president of the club; Claudia Kishi, who is the vice president; Mary Anne Spier, who is the secretary, and Stacey McGill, who is the treasurer. Since the title has Kristy's name in it, she is the narrator. Ann M. Martin makes an attempt at diversity and different families. Kristy and Mary Anne come from single parent homes, but for different reasons. Claudia is Japanese American with an older sister. Also, both Mary Anne and Stacey are only children, and Kristy has two older brothers and one younger brother.
It was because of Kristy's younger brother, David Michael, that she got the idea for the club in the first place. Both Mary Anne and Claudia were up for the idea, and Claudia brought Stacey into the club. Stacey is originally from New York, and I thought it was funny that Mary Anne was impressed with everything Stacey said about it.
The first problem arises when Claudia passes out candy at a meeting, and Stacey does not take any because she claims she is on a diet. Kristy then proves she is a big mouth by claiming that Stacey is already skinny, and then says it is not a good idea to go on a diet when you don't need to.
Another problem that arose, which I thought was pretty funny, was Kristy's first babysitting job as part of the babysitters club. It was for a new client, Mrs. McKeever, who had two "kids", Buffy and Pinky. She goes to the house, and finds out that Buffy and Pinky are not exactly kids, but St. Bernards! My question on this is why didn't Mrs. McKeever say that on the phone? I know peope who do not have children of their own refer to their animals as their "kids", but come on! Wouldn't she make that distinction on the phone!
Stacey babysits for Kristy's brother, David Michael, and meets another brother of Kristy's named Sam. Because Stacey is in seventh grade, and Sam is in high school, she develops a crush on him. What I don't understand is what Sam could see in her. I don't think high school boys would think about going out with girls in middle school.
Mary Anne's first job in the babysitters club was for Watson's kids. Watson is the man Kristy's mom is dating, and Kristy does not like him, so she refused to babysit for his kids. She had a good experience except for a run in with Mrs. Porter, Watson's neighbor. Watson's daughter, Karen, is convinced Mrs. Porter is a witch named Morbida Destiny. Mary Anne doesn't seem to know the difference between reality and fantasy and also believes she is a witch. Luckily, Watson does not believe it. So, at least one adult has common sense.
Claudia's first job was the hardest of the four. She sat for Jamie Newton, a regular client, but there was also his rowdy cousins, Rob, Rosie and Brenda. It was said that Mrs. Newton forgot to tell this to Claudia. That shows another adult that does not have any common sense to even call Claudia personally to tell her the change.
The mystery of Stacey continues to when she claims she is taking trips to New York, but Mary Anne catches her in town. Of course, Kristy has to open her mouth and confront Stacey about it. It turns out Stacey is hiding the fact that she has diabetes. When they find out, Mary Anne and Claudia are shocked and feel immediately sorry for her, but Kristy thinks it's no big deal. Truthfully, I agree with Kristy. I know diabetes is a horrible thing that is incurable, but it is not the end of the world as these girls make it out to be.
As the book ends, Kristy finds herself the only one who can babysit for Watson's kids one day, so she has to do it, and realizes, OH MY GOD, they're not little terrors as she first claims they are. They are actually quite cute. and Kristy writes a note to Watson saying she is giving him permission to date and even marry her mother. Wow. I know from experience that yeah, that's touching and nice to do, but also from experience, parents are going to do that anyway, despite what the kids might say or think.
Overall, it was a good book. Not one of my favorites in the series by a long shot, but a good starter book.
Hopefully sometime this week, I will also post #2 Claudia and the phantom phone calls.