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

Ah, the book that started it all…I guess it’s the fact that I’m reading this one after reading some of the others, but I couldn’t help noticing some continuity errors, or at least things that are never mentioned again.

Kristy Thomas comes up with the idea of the BSC after her mom struggles in finding a sitter for her brother David Michael. She tells the idea to Mary Anne and Claudia, who comes up with the idea of a club where parents call and are almost always guaranteed a sitter. They advertise in the newspaper, pass out fliers and meet in Claudia’s room.

The first meeting ends with everyone getting a sitting job. Kristy gets a job sitting for three-year-olds and she assumes that they are twins. When she gets there, she finds that she’s sitting for dogs. Stacey sits at Kristy’s house and meets Sam, who she naturally falls “in luv” with. Claudia sits for Jamie Newton and his cousins. The cousins are kind of wild, but she manages to tame them. Mary Anne sits for Karen and Andrew. She has a few problems with the cats, but it goes pretty well.

Kristy is happy about the club, but pissed off because her mom keeps dating a guy named Watson. He brings over Chinese food and spends time at their house a lot. Kristy wants nothing to do with him and even eats a peanut butter sandwich rather than share his food. Her mom finally announces that they are engaged and she still doesn’t want anything to do with him.

Watson’s ex-wife breaks her ankle and because he can’t find another option, Kristy ends up sitting for his kids. Karen asks her a bunch of questions about her mom and how they might be related someday. Kristy tells her that even though she isn’t ready to be her stepsister, she will be her babysitter for now. She shares a few smiles with Watson and decides that she doesn’t mind him too much. They all get together and celebrate the engagement.

The BSC is slightly concerned over Stacey because she acts weird. She won’t eat junk food and disappears in the middle of a meeting. They decide to have a pizza party and she skips it because she’s going to New York. Mary Anne sees her the next day, but her mom lies and says she stayed in NYC with friends.

Kristy calls her on it at the next meeting and it leads to a huge fight. Claudia sides with Stacey and Mary Anne cries a lot. At the next meeting Stacey confesses that she has diabetes and is surprised that no one really cares. They have their pizza party and decide to have a sleepover once a month. Kristy ends the book by hoping the BSC stays together for a long time…like 13 or 14 years maybe?

*The BSC pays one week’s worth of dues for their newspaper ad. Given that they each pay 50 cents that means the add cost a whopping $2. Were newspaper ads really ever that cheap?

*Fittingly enough, Kristy’s mom is the first client.

*According to this book, the Pike family has a cat named Sarg. Is that ever mentioned in any of the other books? I’m thinking probably not.

*Karen tells Mary Anne that older kids told her about Morbbida Destiny, including her name. I swear that in the other books it’s explained that Karen came up with the name on her own.

*Kristy points out that Watson is kind of a crappy father considering that he is always working or going out on the few weekends that he has his kids. Later she feels bad and recants it, but I have to agree. For someone that only has his kids twice a month, he sure uses a lot of sitters.

*Speaking of Watson as a crappy dad…at one point, he comes over to the house and has dinner. Kristy asks about his kids because it’s his weekend with them and he explains that he got a sitter. Really? You hired a sitter so you could leave your kids and hang out with your girlfriend’s family?

*For some reason I assumed Sam was a freshman, but here he’s a freshman and Stacey is in 7^th grade. That means when they “date”, he’s actually a sophomore, which is even creepier. I went to a really, really small school and NO sophomore would date a junior high school student.

*Claudia wears a lacey white shirt, lavender plaid overalls, unlaced red sneakers, a black fedora and puts her hair in four braids. That image gives me a headache.

*Claudia also wears red jazz shoes (WTF?), black pants, a yellow and black checked shirt and a bracelet made from a telephone cord.

*The first time Kristy meets her, Stacey wears a pink sequined sweatshirt with a purple parrot design, zippered jeans and pink plastic shoes.

*The outfit that wins Sam’s heart? a skirt and shirt made from gray sweatshirt material with bright yellow number tens all over it. Stylish.

*Claudia has bubblegum hidden in her underwear drawer, chocolate in encyclopedias, Twinkies in her desk, and Lifesavers in a piggy bank.

*Sam wears ratty jeans and a tee-shirt that says, “I know you are, but what am I?” I think I *heart* Sam Thomas.

*The girls get all excited because they earn a total of $26 something sitting. Man, I wish that amount of money still excited me!

*According to this book, David Michael has a chocolate allergy. I’m almost certain this is never mentioned again because I’ve read books where he ate candy bars, chocolate chip cookies and brownies. In this book, Kristy even mentions cookies in the cookie jar as a snack!