Reviews
Very clichéd and stereotypical. But still so addicting.
I firmly remember reading The Baby-Sitters Club books when I was in my early teens. I’ve read them in Dutch and devoured a lot of the books back then. After hearing that they will be turned into a tv-show, I wanted to re-read them so badly! This time around I’m reading them in English and I love them as much as I did back then!
I'm not the target audience but reading all of the baby-sitter's club books has been on my bucket list for a long time. It's a good read the build up in most of the books are slow though usually at the end where you know there's not enough pages to properly delve into it.
Oh nostalgia... Raina Telgemeier's graphic versions of the Babysitters Club books have recently been rereleased in colour, so how I could resist the trip down memory lane? I grew up during the era of blockbuster serial children's series. From Goosebumps to The Box Car Children to Animorphs, my youth was filled with book series whose volumes numbered in the hundreds. Epic adventures that never ended, double volumes that came out near the holidays, and beyond countless spinoffs. Sure, the quality of many of these series was dubious, but these books were filled with familiar characters that saw me through most of my childhood. One of the biggest series during my time was The Babysitters Club. The BSC books were quite simple. A group of 4 twelve year olds decide to team-up to create a babysitting empire in their neighbourhood! Along the way they deal with lots of uncomfortable or difficult issues that kids will encounter: divorce, death, fights with friends, illness, and other such challenges. Kristy's Big Idea is the start of the series, detailing how this plan began, and who all the central characters are. Telgemeier gives the story a bit of a modern flair, but not by much. The clothing the girls all wear is contemporary, but they still use a landline for their business. Cell phones are mentioned a couple times, but never really seen. Computers pop up (mostly in Janine's room), but aren't part of the daily life of the girls. It's an interesting choice to have taken out so much of the 1990s of the stories, but not to replace these temporal signifiers with too many from today. It makes the stories seem less dated. Well, aside from the fact that 12 year olds are babysitting. I can't even remember when that was a thing! (And the lack of smartphones. I grew up without them, and yet I find it so odd to read a story where they are not ubiquitous!) In any case, the story is cute and fluffy for its intended age group. It teaches young girls that you can love babies and be an entrepreneur, and emphasizes that care-giving is about actual care-giving, not just squeeing over adorable things. The main characters act their age, and there's also no product placement or focus on identity through brands. As always Telgemeier's art is delightfully cartoonish and expressive. The new colours add a lot of life to the story, and help distinguish the characters and their unique traits. Overall, Kristy's Great Idea (the graphic novel) is a fun, short read for younger readers who like slice-of-life stories. The lessons, though often overwrought, could have a lot of meaning to kids going through the same issues (in this one, divorce and all the complicated feelings a kid might have). And, if they get through Telgemeier's four volumes of the BSC, there are over 200 chapter books available for kids to devour!
4/5 ⭐️
4/5 ⭐️
I loved this, this is so cute. Sometimes I like to read books that were important of some people childhood and I really thinks that this could be something that made my day a pretty great one some years ago (and now, that was a actually a awesome thing to read now, even though I'm 20)
** spoiler alert ** Ho letto molti libri di questa serie durante gli anni della mia pre-adolescenza, e mi è rimasta nel cuore. Ho da sempre voluto leggere tutti i libri in ordine, e visto che sono molto corti e si possono finire in un giorno, ho pensato di leggerne uno al mese circa. Il primo capitolo della serie non lo avevo mai letto, ed è un peccato visto che il club nasce qui. Mi è piaciuto come le ragazze siano diventate amiche. L'idea del club è davvero allettante, anche ora a 24 anni mi vien voglia di aprirne uno anche a me, nonostante io non sia così brava con i bambini! Come scrittura è ovviamente molto semplice, visto che è un middle school book, e ovviamente non abbastanza matura perché io possa godermela appieno, ma ciò gli dà una leggerezza che rende il libro una lettura super veloce. I personaggi sono tantissimi, e crescono sempre. Ci sono le ragazze, le loro enormi famiglie, i bambini a cui fanno da baby-sitter, e le famiglie di questi, ma questa è una cosa che ho apprezzato, mi piace leggere di molti personaggi diversi. è un libro carinissimo e presto leggerò il secondo della serie
I was so excited to revise this series thought the formate of graphic novels. I really enjoyed this read. I also think the story telling connected so well back to the original story and felt that it was a solid adaption. I also really enjoyed the art style as well. I flew through this read, and really enjoyed reading it, I hope to tackle the other books in this series soon. I also thought this book tackle harder issues like divorce, diabetes and friendship and jobs in a super fun way, that i think middle schooler would really enjoy!
This review is about the entire series (books 1-5), and will appear the same under all five books. This series was one of my absolute favorites when I was growing up. Now that I am thinking about it though, I think I read more of the Little Sister (Karen’s story) series than the actual babysitters but regardless, Ann M. Martin was a name I knew very well. While I was re-reading these stories, details from the originals came back to me instantaneously. Truthfully, I am really hoping that they continue to adapt the series into graphic novel form. It allows a whole new generation to enjoy these stories, much of which you could learn some valuable lessons from. I loved that each of the five books (that are out so far) were mostly in the voice of a different character, which was a lot like how the books went. It allows you to really get to know the characters as individuals, as well as the children they regularly babysit, and the club as a whole. Reina Telgemeier wrote and illustrated the first four books, and Gail Galligan did the fifth (and final one). Having Reina’s name on this series at the beginning definitely brings many kids from the younger generations in. They are already familiar with Smile, Sisters and her other work (and LOVE it) so they are more willing to pick this up than if someone else had done it. That being said, I think the transition from Reina to Gail was really smooth. Everything from the general feel of the book, to the characters and the storyline, all matched fairly seamlessly to Reina’s earlier work. I do really hope that they continue the series. I enjoyed reading them, and now I want to go back a reread the entire Babysitters Club book series, including all the specials and Little Sister spin off series…
Walking down memory lane, reliving my youth.... My daughter received this set for Christmas and I just couldn't help myself! Raina did a brilliant job of updating my favorite childhood series. I'm so glad my daughter will get to enjoy the Babysitter's Club as much I did. :)
This brought back so many great memories. Got to keep reading them all.
Jeugdsentiment! Was verliefd op die serie!
Now I remember why I never read the rest of the series as a kid.
All of these books are so amazing I love them so much💞
