The Babysitters Club Options

[*Christy*]

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/04/ba...s-club-returns/

'Babysitters Club' returns

I wasn’t very excited when George Lucas decided to do a prequel to “Star Wars.” I can’t get jazzed about Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit.” But Ann M. Martin writing a prequel to “The Babysitters Club” is something I can really get behind.
Like thousands of other women now approaching our late 20s and early 30s, I grew up with the members of the Babysitters Club. Of course I want to see what Kristy, Claudia and Mary Anne were up to before Kristy had the big idea to start the club when her mom couldn’t find a sitter for her younger brother David Michael.

The BSC (as it is fondly known to fans) inspired a generation of young women in friendship and entrepreneurship. Now publisher Scholastic Inc. is hoping it will inspire a new generation of girls.

According to The New York Times, Martin is writing “The Summer Before,” the prequel to the series. Scholastic will also reissue the first two volumes of the series (which have been out of print), presumably to garner interest in today’s tween set, which seems more interested in gossip girls and vampires than in babysitters.

The relatively scandal-free series (I think the biggest scandal was when Mary Anne invited her boyfriend Logan along on a sitting job and was caught with a boy in the house) may seem tame to today’s readers, but the themes of friendship, family and working to get what you want could be exactly what little girls today are looking for - even if they don’t know it yet.

[*Christy*]

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/01/04/t...for-new-decade/

The Baby-Sitters Club Book Series To Be Revived For New Decade

For girls who grew up in the late 1980s to early 90s (wow, two decades ago!), “The Baby-sitters Club” books by Ann M. Martin were ubiquitous. But since they went out of print in 2000, younger girls have missed out on the baby-sitting adventures of Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey. That's no longer: According to The New York Times, Scholastic, the books' publisher, has decided to revive the series for a new generation.

First up, in April, a brand new prequel, "The Summer Before" (written by Ann), will be released and then there will be three more reissues of the original books later on. To keep everything up-to-date, Scholastic is updating references to technology and fashion (when the "Sweet Valley High" series was reissued in 2008, its publisher also took a similar approach). We doubt many girls would even know what Walkmans or cassette tapes are (kids, there were days before iPods), and getting a perm is, like, so last millennium. But that’s it — they're still going to be kid-friendly, family-friendly stories appropriate for girls even younger than the books' middle school-age protagonists.


I was in elementary school when I started reading “The Baby-sitters Club” books, and reading about the seventh-and-eighth-graders gave me something to aspire to. When I started baby-sitting, I totally contemplated making activity kits with games and art supplies to bring along with me. I learned from Mary Anne’s mistake and never invited any of my friends over while I was working. Claudia, the artistic one who always wore rad red and black clothes, was always my favorite, followed closely by Stacey, the sophisticated, fashionable city girl from New York.

[BestUsernameEva]

Oh my god, I used to LOVE this series and I still read them from time to time, not gonna lie. I'm so glad she's writing a prequel!

[~AngelBabi~]

I still have all of my old ones. Used to love them when I was younger. May have to go back and read a few just to bring back some old memories.

[*Christy*]

I gave all of my BSC books away years ago, part of me wishes I hadn't.

[meandthemoon]

lol I loved the Babysitters Club, I read every single book in the series Who were people's favorite characters? My favorites were Claudia and Abby.

[camilejplfan04]

loved them!!! i never got to buy them , but i wished i did. i have the movie though... i liked Kristy

[*Christy*]

I still have the movie. It wasn't as good as I had expected. It was plain that nobody involved had read the books.

Stacey was my favorite.

[augustgrl82]

I loved those books growing up! I still have some of them. I'm curious about the new books. I might read some but I feel a little old to be reading them. lol

[BestUsernameEva]

I liked Mary Ann because I was just like her (minus the boyfriend). I always wished I had a family like Mallory's though (I think that was her name? The one with the really big family)

[*Christy*]

I liked Mary Ann because I was just like her (minus the boyfriend). I always wished I had a family like Mallory's though (I think that was her name? The one with the really big family)

Yes, Mallory Pike. Her stories were some of my favorites.

[pinkstar023]

I had the most random urge to start re reading them last night lol. And my favourite was always Claudia

[IHeartMyCat]

I love the Babysitters Club!

[tireswing]

Awwww, these books make me so nostalgic. This makes me happy.

[*Christy*]

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/04/02/a-nigh...b-ann-m-martin/

It’s not often that you get to encounter someone famous that you admired growing up, which is why it was such an honor for me to meet Ann M. Martin, author of the Baby-Sitters Club series, last night.

This was a really good read.

[Idol-Lee.Cious]

it was a time when good fun reading was just simple and easy

now the world is filled with too much vampires, robots, fantasies, and people cheating their asses off

I LOVED The Babysitters Club and Girls Talk!

[clays_lil_gymnast]

no way!! that's amazing!