Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club, #5)

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Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club #5)

3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 · rating details · 2,367 ratings · 50 reviews

Dawn's the newest member of the Baby-sitters Club and everybody's glad--except Kristy. Kristy thinks things were better without Dawn around. That's why Dawn's eager to take on a big baby-sitting job. It's her chance to show Kristy what she's made of.

Paperback, 155 pages

Published May 15th 1987 by Scholastic (first published January 1st 1987)

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Apr 22, 2013 Swankivy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book features Dawn, the new babysitter, trying to teach club president Kristy that she deserves to be acknowledged as a member. In trying to take on a babysitting assignment to prove her skills, she ends up in over her head because she's sitting for a family that's headed by a scatterbrained single mom. Dawn tries to step in and help where she can, but finds that some of the things her babysitting charges' mother forgets to tell her spell danger. I really liked that the book covered the exi...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Laura Hughes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: babysitters-club

Dawn slips into a motherly (or possibly fatherly) role to a recently divorced family, and finds it difficult to know when or how to keep distance. Meanwhile, she deals with the silent wrath of Kristy, who’s jealous that she "stole" Mary Anne.
The main storyline here is one of my favorite babysitting-oriented ones of the series; despite the title, neither the kids nor the mother is villainized, and it’s really not clear when Dawn starts taking on too much or what she should do. It’s a little too s...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Courtney Miles rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels

This was a very easy and enjoyable read. The book is part of a series. This particular one tells the story of a group of five young girls, Dawn, Kristy, Mary-Anne, Claudia, and Stacey that are in a club called the Baby-sitter's Club. The girls hold meetings and babysit for the families in their communities. They are well-liked and always have jobs. In this book, Dawn begins regularly babysitting for the Barrett family. With Buddy wanting to play guns all the time, Ms. Barrett being extremely uno...more This was a very easy and enjoyable read. The book is part of a series. This particular one tells the story of a group of five young girls, Dawn, Kristy, Mary-Anne, Claudia, and Stacey that are in a club called the Baby-sitter's Club. The girls hold meetings and babysit for the families in their communities. They are well-liked and always have jobs. In this book, Dawn begins regularly babysitting for the Barrett family. With Buddy wanting to play guns all the time, Ms. Barrett being extremely unorganized and Mr. Barrett always trying to get in touch with the kids, things can sometimes get pretty rough at the Barrett household when Dawn is in charge. During the times that Dawn isn't babysitting, she is having to deal with her parents divorce and also trying to become better friends with Kristy. Throughout the book we visit the Barrett's with Dawn while she babysits.
One afternoon while Dawn in babysitting, she wants to let the kids play outside since it had finally stopped raining after 4 straight days. She lets Buddy go out first because he was already dressed. When she returns with the rest of the kids to go outside, she discovers Buddy is nowhere to be found. Dawn notifies all the families around and they begin a neighborhood search. The police eventually come and the searching continues throughout the afternoon.
Right before Ms. Barrett returns home, Dawn receives a phone call from Buddy claiming he is on his way home and Dawn is confused and furious, but most of all relieved. Ms. Barrett returns and comes home and finds police scattered all over her house and is very confused as to what was going on. Dawn explains what happened and in the meantime, Buddy's dad, Mr. Barrett, brings Buddy home. Mr. Barrett is questioned, but everything turns out okay and everyone is safe.
Dawn is second guessing to continue babysitting for the Barrett's but decides to give it another shot. The club is still held together, despite Kristy's move down the street, and everyone is happy.

This would be a great book for third through fifth grade readers, girls especially. This book is one that many girls can relate too and enjoy reading.

The cover on the book is yellow with three pairs of rainboots. It is a simple and pretty painting that doesn't give away too much about the book, but can draw readers in because of the colors.

I gave this book three and a half stars because I found it to be a wonderful, enjoyable book for most readers, grade three and beyond.(less)

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Jan 21, 2010 Ciara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books, read-in-2010

this is the first dawn book of the series, in which she becomes the regular sitter for the barrett family. buddy, suzi, & marnie are being raised by a single mom who recently went through a pretty acrimonious divorce. the kids seem to be coping well enough, but their mom is struggling to find steady employment & isn't managing the demands of childrearing, job seeking, & housework very well. dawn often comes by to babysit, only to find the kids still in their pajamas, without breakfas...more this is the first dawn book of the series, in which she becomes the regular sitter for the barrett family. buddy, suzi, & marnie are being raised by a single mom who recently went through a pretty acrimonious divorce. the kids seem to be coping well enough, but their mom is struggling to find steady employment & isn't managing the demands of childrearing, job seeking, & housework very well. dawn often comes by to babysit, only to find the kids still in their pajamas, without breakfast, in a disaster area of a house. mrs. barrett rushes off to job interviews & temp positions without leaving proper instructions & emergency contact info. dawn invents a game to get the kids excited about cleaning up the house, & mrs. barrett starts to rely on dawn too much. the kids also start to over-rely on dawn--when buddy does well on a class assignment, he stops by dawn's house to tell her about it, instead of sharing the news with his mom.

one day while dawn is sitting, buddy disappears from the front yard while dawn is getting the girls dressed to go outside. jordan pike saw buddy get into a car. dawn panics & calls the police. the neighbors fan out to search the neighborhood. dawn can't read mrs. barrett, who is in the next town over, running errands. finally buddy calls & says he's on his way home. it turned out that the man who picked him up was his dad, & it was his regular day to have the kids, but flaky mrs. barrett forgot (though it seems like if she wanted a personal day to shop & run errands, she'd be counting down the moments until her ex had visitation so she wouldn't have to pay a sitter...anyway). when hamilton came by to pick the kids up & found only buddy, he decided to just take him to freak mrs. barrett out. considering the prevalence of exes kidnapping their own children, & how the courts can be pretty strict about visitation & custody issues, this seems like a pretty bad idea if hamilton wants to hang on to his partial custody rights, but there were no consequences for him here aside from a talking-to from the cops.

after this goes down, dawn has a talk with mrs. barrett & says she can't sit for her anymore unless mrs. barrett makes more of an effort to keep dawn in the loop, leave contact phone numbers, etc. mrs. barrett is understanding & agreeable & everyone lives happily ever after.

i liked the fact that this book showcased a less-than-perfect family. with the stepford perkinses on their way in just a couple of books, it's nice to be reminded that sometimes teenage babysitters end up biting off more than they can chew in dealing with familial dramas in real life. i didn't like the egregious continuity error on the book: at one point while dawn is teaching the kids how to clean the house, marnie sits on the floor & eats M&Ms (she's really too young to understand or help with housework). maybe twenty pages later, the barretts are at a picnic at the pikes' house & dawn gives marnie a brownie. mallory pike snatches the brownie away & tells dawn that marnie is allergic to chocolate. the allergy reveal is supposed to illustrate the dangerousness of mrs. barrett leaving dawn in charge without giving her proper instructions. but why was she just eating M&Ms two seconds ago with no ill effects? plus, as early as book two, the babysitters make a big fuss about asking about things like allergies before taking on new clients (there's a scene where claudia gets allergy info from mrs. marshall before agreeing to sit for eleanor & nina). so...WTF?

but i still love reading these early books. take me right back to being seven years old again.(less)

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Nov 14, 2012 Delicious Strawberry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ann-m-martin

So the BSC is expanding, and it needs more members to keep up with its growing clientele. Enter Dawn, who has just moved from California due to her parent's divorce. Course, it doesn't hurt that some of the members of the BSC are fighting, and Mary Anne needs a new friend. The BSC are initially skeptical of her, so they decide to put her through the wringer by assigning her a trio of difficult kids, and boy howdy, they do give her a hard time, and this teaches us readers that when kids are poorl...more

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May 05, 2013 Yusra Rahman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If I could rename this book I'd title it DAWN AND THE IMPOSSIBLE FOUR, because as much as the barret kids need help, their mother needs to be straightened out, too!
When Dawn Schafer first comes to Stoneybrook, she doesn't really have a good time. Doesn't like the weather, has to deal with the impossible three (four) and is not on good terms with the BSC club president, Kristy Thomas. That's because Kristy is jealous of Mary Anne, her best friend, and Dawn, because they seem to get on well and Kr...more

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Mar 16, 2013 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, reviewed

Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.

I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.

The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.

Awesome books that girls will love! And the...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Cassie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

One of the kids on my class gave this book to me because he knows that Ann M. Martin is one of my favorite authors. I don't particularly like this boy in my class, but he can be nice. For example, the book that I am reviewing right now...he gave it to me. So, that's all I want to and will say about the matter right now. I have a personal library with books waiting to be checked out and read so, I probably won't read it until all the books of my current library have been checked out. Give peace a...more

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May 07, 2012 Anna Ligtenberg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

ISBN 0590251600 - Dawn and the Impossible Three? Make that the Impossible Four. The Barrett kids are a lot to handle, but they're out of control because their mother doesn't TAKE control, making Mrs. Barrett the most impossible of all.

This is Dawn's first book. She finds herself trying to make nice with Kristy, who's unhappy with the idea of moving across town when her mother gets remarried. Dawn understands and works hard to overcome Kristy's jealousy over Mary Anne and Dawn's new friendship. T...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Katie Fitzgerald rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: realistic-fiction, series, old-school-sunday, middle-grade, reviewed-on-blog, published-1980s

I remember liking this book a lot more as a kid than I actually did this time around. I think girls who are hooked on the series will breeze through it and move right onto the next one without analyzing it too much. I would be interested to know, though, whether Dawn is as popular among fans of the series today as she was among the girls I hung out with in fourth and fifth grade, who loved her, while I loved Kristy and Mallory. I haven't heard kids say much about it in the library, but this book...more

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Mar 06, 2008 Roisin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-childrens

Found this in the school library at the school I work at in Japan! I was a bit surprised and decided I'd put my free periods to the best possible use and enjoy a blast from the past. I read these books when I was about 10 years old and I remember clearing out a box of about 25 of them about 7 years ago. At ten it obviously didn't matter that each one of them was pretty much exactly the same. I still do have a love of formulaic comfort reading!
Anyway I've just spent a happy hour reading this one...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was about a babysitter who was being taken advantage of by a single parent. The babysitter allowed it because she was loved the kids but ended up having to stand up for herself and tell the parent that she wasn't being paid to do all the extra things and that she couldn't take the responsibility of raising the children. Lesson: Stand up for yourself. :)

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Oct 17, 2012 Sara K rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: evelgn

wow! after finishing this book , i kinda get a feeling of how it feels to have divorced parents. i kinda feel sorry for dawn. But what surprised me the most was that Dawn told Ms. Barette that she couldn't sit for her anymore after one of her kids were taken away by her husband that it was his week to take the kids. but at least Dawn handles everything. No wonder she's in the club! :)

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Jun 29, 2011 Kelly added it · review of another edition

Shelves: realistic-fiction, series, friendship

I don't know if the title or the description on the back of the book really fit. Dawn did a great job with these kids and their mom was more impossible than the three kids. But I have worked in a household like this one and man, it's tough work. After a few years, I had to quit. Did Dawn?

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Dec 12, 2009 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-books, childrens-series

This was one of my favorite BSC books. I love Dawn and this story deals with some issues that really do arise with children in a broken home. The incident with Buddy and his father still makes me nervous, but in a different way as an adult than it did when I was a kid.

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Apr 09, 2009 Yareinis rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about Dawn and her babysitting day.She has to babysit 3 undisciplined kids who are like little devils,then she gets an idea about how to control these little devils so then she gets CANDY!But not such a good idea!The devils get hyper until finnaly there so tired they fall asleep.This book was kinda boring beacuse it all bout Dawn.2 stars

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Dec 17, 2011 Shivers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: babysitters-club-books, books-we-own, favourites

I am really enjoying the babysitters club books. I have only just started reading them THis book is about Dawn, the first was about Kristy, the second was about Claudia, the third book was about Stacey (I haven't read that one yet), the fourth book was abouat Maryanne and this was the fifth book. They are the members of the babysitters club and they have all sorts of adventures while they are babysitting. In this one Dawn babysits three children from divorced parents and one day while she is bab...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Drucilla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: m

It might be strange to write a review for this book but oh well. I really think this is a good book for divorced families to read or even friends of divorced families to read. I think it's even good for families who have lost a parent in one way or another.

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Mar 08, 2011 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dawn begins siting for the very irresponsible Mrs. Barrett who comes across as a real airhead. I remember this book being a lot of fun to read, and it was still fun even as an adult. I especialy enjoyed the various subplots involving the Pike children!

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Dec 21, 2011 Nicole Sweeney added it · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood-trauma

Childhood Trauma: BSC #5 "Dawn and the Impossible Three" - or really just Dawn and a single mother going through a bad divorce

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Jul 03, 2012 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-and-young-adult

I loved the BSC series when I was younger and even more glad that I held on to them all these years so my children would be able to enjoy them as well. I would recommend for new tween girls.

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Jul 14, 2011 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1994

I thought Dawn was a jerk. What made California so cool? How were California people any different than, say, Michigan people? The concept of regional differences was a bit lost on me.

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Aug 23, 2012 Diane Takaki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is THE book that got me hooked on The Baby-sitter's Club. I ordered a boxed set, books 5-8, though the Scholastic Book Club in 4th grade, and even though I had yet to read books 1-4, I WAS AN OFFICIAL BSC ADDICT. Changed my life.

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Oct 11, 2012 Rylee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think that me, my brother and my sister would have been a lot like Buddy Sussie and Marnie. I reckon it would have been a very hard time for Dawn!

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Sep 22, 2012 Amanda Kay rated it 2 of 5 stars

It's so long since I read this! 1996! But it's on my hand writen records of things I read so I'll add it on here. Good for 12-13 year olds

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Jul 21, 2011 Elise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh my goodness! These books were my favourite books for such a long time! I would read them everywhere and anywhere I went!

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May 15, 2011 Mayra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I usually compare this story to me and my sister and gave it a new title: "Mayra and the Impossible One" :)

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May 03, 2010 Maria M. Elmvang rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2002-and-before, 2010, 3-stars, baby-sitters-club, owned

Dawn's experience has got to be one of the scariest a babysitter could ever face! Well described, I thought.

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Mar 06, 2011 hannaH rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: baby-sitters-club

Sorry, but I don't like Dawn, and I don't like the Barrett kids.

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Apr 29, 2009 Sally rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: series-bsc, childrens, my-childhood-favourites

The second BSC book I ever read. The first was Jessi Ramsey, Pet Sitter and after that I went to hunt down more at the library and this was either the only one available, or just the earliest in the series that I could borrow. Dawn swiftly became my favourite character and afterwards, I always found it a little jarring to read those first four books where there was no Dawn and the BSC only had four members! o.O

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About Ann M. Martin

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood me...more

More about Ann M. Martin...

Books by Ann M. Martin

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Dawn and the Impossible Three (The Baby-Sitters Club #5)

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