The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and Mean Janine (BSC Graphix) [Paperback]

Ann M. Martin (Author), Raina Telgemeier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008 | Age Range: 8 and up

The baby-sitters are back in their fourth graphic novel!

Claudia and her sister, Janine, may as well be from two different planets. Claudia, who pays more attention to her art than her grades, feels she can't compete with her perfect sister. Janine studies nonstop, makes straight As, and even takes college-level courses. The girls are nothing alike, and they can't agree on anything. While Janine devotes all her time to working on her Web site, The Baby-sitters Club is busy with their new summer play group. But when something terrible happens to their grandmother, Mimi, the two sisters discover they're more alike than they originally thought.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–8—Seventh-grader Claudia Kishi is a talented artist and a dependable baby-sitter, but those things don't seem to matter to her parents, who keep comparing her to her brainiac older sister. When school ends for the summer, Claudia is looking forward to art classes and running a morning day camp for the neighborhood kids with her friends. Everything changes when her beloved grandmother has a stroke. Suddenly, Claudia finds herself taking on more and more responsibilities at home, while Janine gets to focus on her summer classes. Readers will relate to Claudia's struggle to understand her sister and cope with the changes in her family. This installment in the series adapts the seventh title in Martin's original sequence, and the story and characters still feel fresh nearly two decades later. Telgemeier's black-and-white illustrations are crisp and clear, while concise narrative passages keep the focus on the dialogue and action. Here and there, a wordless panel conveys much more than a simple description; if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the portrait of Louie the collie after the day-camp kids "make him look beautiful" must be worth a chapter or two alone. A concluding "Making of" chapter provides a peek into Telgemeier's process when adapting the original novels, which will be especially interesting to readers thinking of developing their own comics. The well-developed characters and familiar struggles with friends, family, and school will keep kids coming back to these books.—Beth Gallego, Los Angeles Public Library, Panorama City
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From Booklist

In this fourth volume of the graphic-novel adaptations of Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club books, Claudia and her older sister, Janine, must deal with the changes in their grandmother, Mimi, after she suffers a severe stroke. Creative Claudia doesn’t get good grades in school the way her sister does, and she feels that her family values studious Janine more. However, Claudia doesn’t notice that Janine isn’t too happy when she keeps volunteering to do everything to help Mimi after their grandmother comes home from the hospital to recuperate and relearn how to speak. Meanwhile, the Baby-Sitters Club’s new summer playgroup takes up lots of Claudia’s spare time, and she tries to help her regular club charge, who feels jealous about all the attention his baby sister gets. Telgemeier’s expressive black-and-white art plays a key role in the story here, as much of the interplay between Claudia and Janine is unspoken but clearly shown in their expressions and body language. A section at the end describes how Telgemeier approaches adapting the novels into a graphic format. Grades 3-5. --Kat Kan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: GRAPHIX (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439885175
• ISBN-13: 978-0439885171
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raina Telgemeier is the author and illustrator of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel memoir, SMILE, a 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor recipient. She also adapted and illustrated four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels (Scholastic/Graphix), which were selected by YALSA for their Great Graphic Novels for Teens list in 2007, as well as ALA's Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth list. She is the co-author of X-Men: Misfits (Del Rey Manga), which debuted at #6 on the New York Times' Graphic Books Bestseller list. Raina's comics have been nominated for the Ignatz, Cybil, and Eisner Awards, and have appeared in publications by Random House, DC Comics, and Nickelodeon Magazine. A graduate of Manhattan's School of Visual Arts, Raina currently resides in Astoria, NY, with her husband and fellow cartoonist, Dave Roman.

Visit her online at www.goRaina.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful August 7, 2009

By topbook

Format:Paperback

Its an A+ book. Great values, great story line and wonderful drawings. Its done in comic book style. We read the whole book in one night.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars grandkids loved it October 25, 2012

By Grandmother of Seven

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I gave three of the Babysitter Club books to my 10 year old granddaughter along with "Smile" by the same author. Not only did the 10 year old girl enjoy all of the books, but her 7 and 8 year old brothers and 6 year old sister all read and enjoyed them. I will be purchasing more of the Babysitter Club books.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sibling Rivalry November 29, 2008

By Little Willow

Format:Paperback

Claudia Kishi has always felt inferior when compared to her older sister, Janine. Janine's a genius. She gets straight A's and excels in anything having to do with school and learning. Claudia has spelling problems and is lucky to get C's in her classes. She'd much rather paint than do homework, and she secretly snacks on junk food. Claudia and her best friends Stacey, Kristy, Mary Anne, and Dawn are proud members of The Baby-Sitters Club. When Claudia's baby-sitting, Janine is studying. While Janine reads textbooks, Claudia reads Nancy Drew mysteries. One thing the girls have in common is their love for their family. Though Claudia worries that her parents might be more proud of Janine than of her, she knows that her grandmother Mimi loves her unconditionally. When one of their relatives gets really sick, the Kishi sisters have to put aside their differences to help.

The original BSC book series was a staple of my childhood. Though I read "big books" and lots of classics, like Janine, I really loved the BSC series. The characters were good eggs and the lessons learned were good ones. Now, the BSC Graphix have breathed new life into the books, attracting reluctant readers and comic book fans. Illustrator/adapter Raina Telgemeier's artwork is really cute, and she's stuck solidly to the original plotlines. I love what she's done with these, and I wish there were more! With over 100 books in the original series, she certainly has plenty to work from, and I really hope that Scholastic hires her to do more BSC Graphix.