The Babysitters Club #1: Kristy’s Great Idea

Kristy’s mom hires a high school girl twice a week to watch her brother David-Michael. The rest of the week, she, Sam and Charlie take turns watching him. When her sitter cancels and all the kids have plans, she spends hours on the phone looking for a replacement sitter. Kristy decides to start the BSC and give parents the chance to find a sitter quickly and easily.

She talks to Mary Anne and Claudia about her idea and both are on board. Claudia even has a new friend Stacey, who she thinks would be perfect for the club. The girls get together, Claudia comes up with the logo, they appoint officers, come up with a flyer and decide on a meeting time. Before long, they all have sitting jobs and the club is a hit.

Problems start popping up fairly fast. The first is when Sam starts crank calling the club. Then, Claudia starts taking jobs from people calling outside of meeting times. Even Kristy is a little sad when Mrs. Newton starts calling other girls to sit for Jamie, who’s her favorite. Everyone is also a little upset at Stacey because she keeps lying and making excuses to stay away from them.

Kristy is also unhappy because her mom is dating Watson Brewer. He brings Chinese over to the house and she won’t even eat it. Then he shows up on leftover night. Mrs. Thomas announces that they are pre-engaged, but by the end of the book, they actually get engaged. He keeps asking Kristy to sit for his kids and she keeps turning him down.

Mary Anne does take a sitting job at his house. She thinks Karen is a handful, but Andrew is adorable. Karen tells her all about Morbida/Mrs. Porter next door and she also meets Boo-Boo. The cat gets outside and Mary Anne has her first run in with the “witch”. Kristy finally does sit for the kids and finds that she actually likes them. Karen asks her about being her step-sister and she agrees to be their primary sitter until then. She also makes up with Watson.

Stacey keeps making up excuses and then outright lies to the others. When they try to plan a pizza party, she backs out because of a trip to NYC. The girls then find out she was actually in town and lied to them about it. At the end of the book, she finally confesses that she’s a diabetic and explains that her family moved because of it and the way people treated her. They all make up and agree to be friends.

*Wowza. Kristy’s mom and Watson have only been dating for four months “off and on” when they get engaged. There’s also talk about him needing to straighten out insurance issues with his ex-wife, which makes it seem like she’s still on his insurance. Oh and his ex is engaged too. How fast do these people move???

*Stacey sits for David Michael and sees Sam for the first time. I didn’t remember them meeting so early in the series. It’s kind of cute that they have a crush on each other, but creepy at the same time. Stacey is only 12 in this book! What the hell Sam?

*Mary Anne’s dad won’t let her use $3 of her sitting money on pizza for the party. She actually bursts into tears when he tells her. Later he relents, as long as she puts back half of everything she earns.

*The club makes a total of like $27 in the first week and the girls think it’s a huge amount. Remember when that was a lot of money?

*I liked the early books, where Claudia and Stacey had lives and friends separate from the other girls. Even though Kristy thinks their friends are kind of snobs.