Customer Reviews

The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

You are complaining that the books are too "nice". There's no sex, drugs, drinking, etc. They're 13!!!! And I was 8 when I started reading the BSC. Why on earth would any responsible author write a series for young girls and fill it with stuff like that. This is FICTION (yeah, look it up). An escape from reality. You want sex, drugs, drinking, turn on the TV or something. The BSC was a GREAT series. I read it for years, well into my early teens, and I recommend it to any young girl. The was the series that spawned my love of reading.

Hey, Um, you, who was talking about how you hate these books now, some people may agree with you or agree with me, but Ann Martin can't write about Claudia ,or whoever, having sex!

I mean, yeah, some stuff doens't seem real, but these were the late 80's early 90's, M.A has a boyfriend in the later stuff, I mean, but sex?

That would ruin the meaning of these books, they are supposed to be FUN, HAPPY, and some kids around 9 read these books too, I don't think they're parents would be happy having their 9yr old reading about a 13yr old having sex!!

So, Don't blame Martin, you can write your own books about people having sex, ok?

This is the first book in a 131 book series. It is about Kristy Thomas and how she starts the baby-sitters club along with Mary-Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey Mcgill. It begins when Kristy watches her mom make call after call to find a baby-sitter for Kristy's little brother when Kristy and both her older brothers are busy. So she starts the club and they all get into a big fight(over what I can't tell you about; you'll just have to read it for yourself). In the end they all make-up and continue on with the club. Yeah, it's a simple plot, and is probably only going to gather 8-11 year olds these days, but read on to see what I have to say about this and other books in the series that may interest older crowds. I started reading them when I was eight and I thought they were just terrific. However, as previous reviewers have mentioned, these books are a little outdated. I do think that the other reviewers only read so many of the old ones and none of Ann M. Martin's other books related to this series, because some of the issues the reviewer's wished would have been delt with were; just not in the first 30 or so books. For example, one of the later books deal with the death of a friend due to a drunk driver. And Mary-anne's house is burned to the ground in the last book. But if older readers are looking for something to suit their age better, I would suggest reading the California Diaries books, which are about Dawn Schafer's life and the lives of her friends in diary form after she moves back to California. These books deal with such issues as Anorexia, drugs and alcohol, the death of a mother due to cancer and racial prejudice against hispanics. These books, begun writing in 1996 or '97 are a little more up to date. Also try reading Ann M. Martin's more recent books "A Corner of the Universe"(2001 Newberry Medal Winner), or "Here Today"(2004). Don't completley pass on these books, just wait it out to the later more up-dated books. Because after all, Ann M. Martin has never written a truly horribly done book, so why not see what other GREAT books she's written. Over all, I'd give this book a B- for older girls, or an A+ for younger ones.

I first read a BSC book when I was seven - in first grade - and the reading was too challenging for me, since I had just started reading chapter books. Well, when I was eight or nine, I picked this up and read the whole thing without a problem.

Now I'm fourteen and I still love the books. They contain nothing inappropriate - no language, sexual content, violence, and only minor drug usage. And when the rare BSC situation with drinking or smoking involved comes up, the character narrating the book clearly explains that it's a bad thing to do. There's also a bit of racism, but no bad language or anything - just stuff like people avoiding blacks. But this stuff is explained in the books to be wrong, too.

So, there's nothing that will turn kids into bad people or make them know bad things. The books are written in a great, flowing style, and each one is unique. Sometimes big tragedies occur, but the girls support each other and pull through in the end.

This book was definitely the best one in the series. Though I only own about ten of the books, I've picked up most of the other ones from the library, so I can tell how good this is compared to the others. Sure, they're great, but this one beats them out.

It's narrated by character Kristy, who gets a great idea. She and her friends Mary Anne and Claudia, plus Claudia's new friend Stacey, are going to start a baby-sitting club! They encounter lots of trouble in this book, like pesky kids, people who want them to sit for dogs, and Kristy's worst nightmare...

...Watson Brewer, whom her mother is dating - and might even marry. Kristy hates Watson and thinks his kids, Karen and Andrew, are probably brats, though she's never met them. Plus, Claudia's friend Stacey is acting strange, especially about eating junk food.

You'll have to read the book to find out what happens!

I recommend the book "Krisy's Great idea" because it is a real good book.It is a baby sitter's club book.It is about Stacey's Great idea about the baby sitter's club.Kristy thought of the idea to start the baby sitter's club one day.Then her friends that live in her neighborhood thought it was a real good idea.Then they started making flyers to hang up every where and then they hung them up every where in Stoneybrook's neighborhood. When they started doing the baby sitter's club they had three meetings a week from 5:30-6:30 on Mondays,Tuesdays,and Wednesdays.They had the meetings at Claudia Kishi's house because she was the only one with a phone in her bedroom.They got a whole lot of calls from parents the first day.Since there is a lot of baby sitters every parent is guaranteed a baby sitter every time. Recommandation Statement-I recommend this book because it is a real interesting book.

I grew up with the baby sitters club since the early 90's and this is the book that started it all. Kristy thinks up the club and it's off to a great success. It was funny reading about kristy's first "job" and I enjoyed the buildup to the mystery of why stacey was being so secretive.

I loved Kristy's great idea! Her idea about starting the Baby-sitters Club was clever and FANTASIC! She even inspired me to start my own Baby-sitters Club! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU ANN MARTIN!!!!

For those who cry it's unrealistic...so I suppose you've never read your children fairy tales? Or any book with themes with witches and vampires. No matter how modern day it is, fantasy creatures don't exist and we read them onto adult hood. You want to talk about a bad book for young girls? Rip Stephanie Meyer's books off the shelves. They're the most atrocious books for girls I've ever seen on the market and tells them it's fine to be abused by a guy.

There is NOTHING poisonous about these books. They'd be alot better off with these books than half the garbage on television. Plus if your daughter grows up and is -that- naive as a teenager, then it's YOU who failed as parent. This series is here to teach young girls basically right from wrong and how to be a good person in general. The books and shows of the 90's taught my generation this. Not the author's fault that the age target for this book is new age for being a whore. The book is geared toward ages 9-12 . So for those who think "well girls my age smoke and have sex at this age."-Either the parents are dead beats or you didn't read the target age for this book.

I've been reading ths series for awhile now, and while I don't think these books are exactly classics, I think they are a nice, light read and are just nice for relaxing.

What some people have got to remember are that these books are for KIDS. That is why there is no drugs, sex, or suicide or anything. Well, Ann touched up on those problems in a few, but she made it perfectly clear that that is WRONG.

And while the fact that Mallory and Jessi baby-sit for nine- and ten-year-olds is unrealistic (among other things), the books are just good. They're often funny and the little kids' ("charges") antics remind me of when I was younger (I'm actually 16 but don't have an e-mail address). Some of the books are dumb, like Dawn and the School Spirit War, but some are incredible, like Mary Anne Saves the Day and the third one (sorry, I forgot the title).

The book itself? Well, Kristy's Great Idea was not my favorite BSC book, but it was decent. It had a lot going on and was interesting; a real page-turner. You get to meet the three original members. However, something bugs me about it; I can't quite figure out what it is. I think it's just the writing style; it seems a smidge different from the other books. You'll have to read it yourself to see what I mean.

Overall, nice series for kids, decent book.

This is the first book in the Baby-Sitters Club series. Four seventh-grade girls from Connecticut form a baby-sitting business and have lots of adventures and mishaps. All the books in the BSC series are great, but I think that the earliest ones are the best ones. I read them for years as a kid and have started reading them again after becoming a children's library aide. I love them!