The Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1) (1)

You are complaining that the books are too "nice". There's no sex, drugs, drinking, etc. They're 13!!!! And I was 8 when I started reading the BSC. Why on earth would any responsible author write a series for young girls and fill it with stuff like that. This is FICTION (yeah, look it up). An escape from reality. You want sex, drugs, drinking, turn on the TV or something. The BSC was a GREAT series. I read it for years, well into my early teens, and I recommend it to any young girl. The was the series that spawned my love of reading.

I grew up with the baby sitters club since the early 90's and this is the book that started it all. Kristy thinks up the club and it's off to a great success. It was funny reading about kristy's first "job" and I enjoyed the buildup to the mystery of why stacey was being so secretive.

I first read a BSC book when I was seven - in first grade - and the reading was too challenging for me, since I had just started reading chapter books. Well, when I was eight or nine, I picked this up and read the whole thing without a problem. Now I'm fourteen and I still love the books. They contain nothing inappropriate - no language, sexual content, violence, and only minor drug usage. And when the rare BSC situation with drinking or smoking involved comes up, the character narrating the book clearly explains that it's a bad thing to do. There's also a bit of racism, but no bad language or anything - just stuff like people avoiding blacks. But this stuff is explained in the books to be wrong, too. So, there's nothing that will turn kids into bad people or make them know bad things. The books are written in a great, flowing style, and each one is unique. Sometimes big tragedies occur, but the girls support each other and pull through in the end. This book was definitely the best one in the series. Though I only own about ten of the books, I've picked up most of the other ones from the library, so I can tell how good this is compared to the others. Sure, they're great, but this one beats them out. It's narrated by character Kristy, who gets a great idea. She and her friends Mary Anne and Claudia, plus Claudia's new friend Stacey, are going to start a baby-sitting club! They encounter lots of trouble in this book, like pesky kids, people who want them to sit for dogs, and Kristy's worst nightmare... ...Watson Brewer, whom her mother is dating - and might even marry. Kristy hates Watson and thinks his kids, Karen and Andrew, are probably brats, though she's never met them. Plus, Claudia's friend Stacey is acting strange, especially about eating junk food. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens!

Ann M. Martin is really ingenious!! I grew up with the BSC, I read them in 5th thru 7th grade and this was the late 80's. The first 10 books in the series are the best. I have learned soo much about myself and other things by reading her books. One of the many things I learned was to keep a journal. Also, her description of the neighborhoods in Stoneybrook where the Baby sitters live reminds me of my hometown where I lived from birth to 11 years, Lynnwood, Washington (a suburb north of Seattle). Whenever I'd read about the club meetings, I'd think of it being at my old house in Lynnwood!!