Karen's Softball Mystery (Baby-Sitters Little Sister) [Paperback]

Ann M. Martin (Author), Susan Tang (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996 | Series: Baby-Sitters Little Sister

Caught up in a hectic schedule of baby-sitting, softball coaching, and planning a party for a returning teacher, Kristy finds that she must solve a mystery when softball equipment and her party plans are stolen.

Product Details

• Paperback: 99 pages
• Publisher: Little Apple (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590262149
• ISBN-13: 978-0590262149
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,541,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good series for the young reader, March 10, 2009

By 

Nina Guilbeau - See all my reviews

This review is from: Karen's Softball Mystery (Baby-Sitters Little Sister) (Paperback)

This book is only one in a long series of the adventures of Karen "Two-Two" Brewer. She gave herself and her brother the nickname "Two-Two" because they now seem to have two of everything (including homes and sets of parents) since their parents divorced. As the child of parents who divorced and then remarried, Karen has stepparents and step brothers and sisters, so the interaction of family characters varies in each book.

In this story, Karen and her two best friends Hannie and Nancy play detectives to get to the bottom of mysterious happenings during softball practice. The team, Kristiy's Krushers is run by Karen's older sister. All the neighborhood kids want to play on the team, but at tryouts things keep going wrong! Bats and gloves are disappearing and reappearing and other equipment is being sabotaged. If things don't change Kristy's team may not be able to play. Karen and her friends form the Three Musketeers Detective Agency to get to the bottom of it but can they figure out the mystery in time to save the team?

Young kids (especially girls ages 7-10) will enjoy bonding with Karen and her friends in this series. It's easy to read and there are even a couple of pictures to add to the story.

5.0 out of 5 stars Who is the person cauising all the trouble for Kristy's softball team?, October 29, 2010

By 

Raj "raj_thatsme" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Karen's Softball Mystery (Baby-Sitters Little Sister) (Paperback)

Synopsis: On a warm sunny Wednesday in June, seven-year-old Karen Brewer is hanging out in the tree-house with her younger brother Andrew, eating cookies. Karen later calls her stepsister Kristy to confirm their practice session the following day, since Karen is part of Kristy's softball team called "Kristy's Krushers".

However, when Karen goes for practice, there are a lot of new kids who are wanting to join the team, and some of them have trouble adjusting with the other kids. There's Barbie Spencer, who wants her younger brother Julian to join the team, because they are new in town, and Barbie feels that Julian will make more friends if he is in the team. Then there is Jack Darvin, who criticizes Kristy's methods of being a coach as she doesn't point out his sister Alice's faults and improve on them. Mr. Benson is another man who wants his son Marty to hit a home run every time he hits the bat, and again criticizes Kristy for it. Karen feels sorry that Kristy is having a hard time coaching so many new people in the team.

To make matters worse, strange things start happening in the field. Someone removes pages M-W from Kristy's notebook; two bats go missing, along with a catcher's mitt and batting gloves. The culprit also erases the statistics from Kristy's notebook and puts in fake numbers instead, and also puts Elmer's Glue in two of the catcher's mitts, and knocks a row of bats over a boy named Jake, making him trip and having him injured.

It is up to Karen and her best friends Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis to team up as detectives and find out who is behind all this, and put an end to it. While all this is going on, Karen and her friends are also busy planning a party for their teacher Ms. Colman she is returning from her maternity leave, and another party for having to say goodbye to their substitute teacher, Ms. Hoffman. But, their preparations don't go according to plan, especially when Ms. Hoffman tells them that Ms. Colman return has been delayed. Will Karen and her classmates ever see their favorite teacher return?

Review: I enjoyed reading this mystery. Since there were so many new kids added to the story, I had a hard time guessing who could be behind all the scheming in the field. I also enjoyed the way Karen organizes the clues, and evidence, along with a list of suspects in a very organized manner so that they can track down the culprit in a systematic and logical manner.

I also liked the second story of Ms. Colman's return, as it was cute to see how the children reacted when she brought Jane for the students to see. I also found some parts of the book hilarious, such as when Karen gives her tea set at the toy sale, and later ends up buying more toys, making her mother irritated. Some other parts of the story which I thought were memorable was when Karen figures out who the culprit is, when they play with the Bashers in the end of the book, and when Karen has to figure out what toys she wants to give for the toy sale.

The illustrations by Susan Tang were a nice addition to the story, and I enjoyed viewing the ones with Karen and Nancy having a shocked expression in their face, knowing that Ms. Colman would not be coming for the party they planned, or when Karen doesn't want to give any of her toys when her mother asks her to, and when Karen notes down the clues and suspects to the case at hand.

Overall, I thought this was a funny, light-hearted book with an entertaining mystery that young children or anyone who likes reading the series would enjoy.

5.0 out of 5 stars Karen's Mystery, January 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Karen's Softball Mystery (Baby-Sitters Little Sister) (Paperback)

Karen's plays softball on her stepsister's team. There were a lot of people in the team and things likes bats go missing Karen and her friends Hannie and Nancy are going to find who the person is. Read on to find out who is doing this.