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The Baby-Sitter #2
The Baby-Sitter II
Recovered from an earlier brush with death, Jenny finds a new baby-sitting job, but when the phone rings one night, her nightmare begins all over again
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1991
40 people are currently reading
2011 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,739 books18.8k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
May 1, 2021
The kids in these books are brats from hell! 🤨
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
September 7, 2021
The Babysitter is amongst the most memorable books in the Point Horror range. Within the first couple of pages, the whole story came flooding back to me.
Trying to deal with the events from the previous book, Jenny seeks counselling. As she try’s to deal with putting them horrific events behind her, Jenny decides to take up another babysitting job.
This time with 10 year old Eli, how hard can it be?
But then Jenny starts to receive the phone calls again...
I liked how the book dealt with Jenny’s trauma and how even the smaller incidence can trigger her anxieties. I thought it was an important message to young readers that it’s completely fine to seek help.
There’s plenty of twists throughout, I remembered being completely shocked by the reveal when I first read this book as a teen.
Trying to deal with the events from the previous book, Jenny seeks counselling. As she try’s to deal with putting them horrific events behind her, Jenny decides to take up another babysitting job.
This time with 10 year old Eli, how hard can it be?
But then Jenny starts to receive the phone calls again...
I liked how the book dealt with Jenny’s trauma and how even the smaller incidence can trigger her anxieties. I thought it was an important message to young readers that it’s completely fine to seek help.
There’s plenty of twists throughout, I remembered being completely shocked by the reveal when I first read this book as a teen.
October 5, 2020
“Hi, Babes. I’m back.”Jenny survived her last adventure in babysitting (barely) and she’s now in therapy (thank goodness!). She’s done with Chuck, who she was dating during the first book, but he’s not done with her. Chuck swings between joking around and angry and when she rejects him he responds by shouting at her, “threatening and cursing”. Jenny’s internal dialogue?
Poor Chuck.So, it turns out that Jenny needs therapy for more than the whole almost dying thing. Some more therapy would probably give her some clarity about her decision to babysit again. Seriously, why, Jenny? Get a job at McDonald’s or something!
But Jenny isn’t listening to me so off to her next babysitting job she goes.
Jenny isn’t the only one in need of therapy. The ten year old kid she babysits is nowhere near the only male in this book that is well versed in temper tantrums. The males her age have some serious toxic masculinity happening and Jenny is quick to forgive or ignore all, even the behaviour that’s criminal.
Back to the kid Jenny babysits for a moment; it wouldn’t surprise me if I found him in a future Stine book as the serial killer. There’s almost certainly a jail cell in his future.
If you haven’t read the first book in the series, make sure you do before you start this one. Huge spoilers come at you right out of the gate, including who the big bad was and how the showdown happened.
There are some fun descriptions in this edition of Adventures in Babysitting, like
The head seemed to rise up, like a pulpy, bloodstained moon.There’s no resolution for a lot of the characters in this book. As far as I can tell, Chuck is still a jerk, the kid Jenny babysits is on his way to some much more serious ‘pranks’, Jenny still needs therapy and Jenny’s mother is not as involved in the drama that is her daughter’s life as she probably needs to be.
“Believe me, child - nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”I’d hate to tell you this, Jenny’s mother, but Jenny still needs to play a starring role in two more sequels.
I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
February 3, 2025
I read this with my book club that I run on Instagram where we revisit Point Horror and other books from our childhood - @talespointhorrorbookclub
Tagline - Knock, knock. Who’s there?...Don’t ask.
Memorable For - A little monster called Eli, the most awful PH boys ever and a good reveal!
Some Thoughts -
Jenny Jeffers is back! In the sequel! Back with her wild imagination and her constant talking out loud to herself! And to be honest, very much the same Jenny as we met before! And you guessed it someone is out to get Jenny…again! Who could it be?! With whispery phonecalls, dead trantulas, being chased around car parks, streets and the bins, someone is out to get her? But is it someone returning from the dead or a new stalker?
Other highlights include a 10 year old called Eli who channels his inner Damian, a Hawaiian shirt loving love interest who’s idea of a first date is an orgy 😂 , the worst therapist you will ever meet, wtf Chuck (if you know you know) and some rhinestone red glasses!
Fun to revisit!
Tagline - Knock, knock. Who’s there?...Don’t ask.
Memorable For - A little monster called Eli, the most awful PH boys ever and a good reveal!
Some Thoughts -
Jenny Jeffers is back! In the sequel! Back with her wild imagination and her constant talking out loud to herself! And to be honest, very much the same Jenny as we met before! And you guessed it someone is out to get Jenny…again! Who could it be?! With whispery phonecalls, dead trantulas, being chased around car parks, streets and the bins, someone is out to get her? But is it someone returning from the dead or a new stalker?
Other highlights include a 10 year old called Eli who channels his inner Damian, a Hawaiian shirt loving love interest who’s idea of a first date is an orgy 😂 , the worst therapist you will ever meet, wtf Chuck (if you know you know) and some rhinestone red glasses!
Fun to revisit!
May 7, 2024
Not much to see here. This was a complete rehash of the first book in the series, to an embarrassing degree, with only very minor details changed. The villain reveal at the end was also godawful and made no sense? I'm not sure why this book exists. On to The Babysitter III, as my quest to free up bookshelf space by reading and getting rid of the bad books in my collection, continues...
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March 29, 2015RL Stine books on fear street were such fun for me growing up. I remember the two babysitters being among my favorites for some reason. Fun story for young minds.
October 17, 2020
Re-read this for the Teenage Scream podcast (lovingly dissecting the best and worst of 90s teen horror). https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream
March 3, 2023
This was rubbish. The twist and climax of the book was one of the most laughably bad I've ever read from Stine. I really hope the other Babysitter books aren't as bad as this one. Honestly I don't see how they could be lol.
December 17, 2016
Jenny, Jenny, when will you learn? Jenny is suffering from PTSD after Mr. Hagen tried to kill her last year...and subsequently threw himself off a rock quarry. So Jenny is in therapy and has to relive the horror in detail as she recounts that night and the nightmares that resulted from it. Now Jenny has a new babysitting job, a new boyfriend, and new phone calls. That's right, the creepy calls are back, whispering the same eerie phrases that Mr. Hagen had. It was a lot slower and lower on the creep-factor than the first book, but the twist ending was still pleasantly surprising.
July 12, 2020
The story follows Jenny from the first book so I won't go into too much detail but I think I enjoyed this one a little bit more than the first one. I like the overall story of The Baby-Sitter but there is something about the details and the execution that err on the silly side and don't really reflect the dark subject matter. I think the sequel leans in a little more to the dark subject matter and, while there are still some silly moments (it is R.L. Stine after all!), this makes for a better read overall.
November 12, 2025
Alright I didn’t see that twist coming, good one
January 22, 2025
All reviews for Point Horror books are compared only with other Point Horror books.
3.5 Stars. It was good to return to Jenny’s world, though why she is still babysitting is a mystery to me! The characters all seemed quite angry! But, it was pretty good fun!
3.5 Stars. It was good to return to Jenny’s world, though why she is still babysitting is a mystery to me! The characters all seemed quite angry! But, it was pretty good fun!
January 17, 2025
Typical Stine tropes like the ever present practical jokes but also contained some darker subject matter I wasn’t expecting like a domestic violence scene right off the jump. Of course it wasn’t handled well as Jenny asks herself what she did to make him so angry and doesn’t discuss how that’s an unhealthy train of thought. Poor Jenny is stalked from everywhere and an unruly (possibly psychopathic?) child is never explained further. Did he really push her friend down the stairs?? All in all a bit of a miss for me even though the beginning atmospheric writing was so great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2025
The Babysitter II by RL Stine
Jenny is still reeling from the events of the previous book and is in counselling to help her process what happened. To try to prove to herself she can move on she takes another babysitting job, this time for 10yr old Eli but as she settles the phone calls start again!
Is babysitting the only job in this town? Are there no cafes or restaurants? Crazy! Also poor Jenny manages to have the most emotionally stunted counsellor in existence, it does not bode well!
On the positive side this does deal with Jenny’s trauma well for the time and pushes the message that if it feels wrong get help which in the 90’s was quite a radical stance to be honest. And the reveal is fantastic!
On the negative every male character is vile, dripping with misogyny even the kid.
Although this is a separate story it will make more sense if you’ve read the first book as the ending of that is spoiled in the first chapter of this one. All in all not bad!
Jenny is still reeling from the events of the previous book and is in counselling to help her process what happened. To try to prove to herself she can move on she takes another babysitting job, this time for 10yr old Eli but as she settles the phone calls start again!
Is babysitting the only job in this town? Are there no cafes or restaurants? Crazy! Also poor Jenny manages to have the most emotionally stunted counsellor in existence, it does not bode well!
On the positive side this does deal with Jenny’s trauma well for the time and pushes the message that if it feels wrong get help which in the 90’s was quite a radical stance to be honest. And the reveal is fantastic!
On the negative every male character is vile, dripping with misogyny even the kid.
Although this is a separate story it will make more sense if you’ve read the first book as the ending of that is spoiled in the first chapter of this one. All in all not bad!
December 2, 2012
Certainly not as good as part 1. Jenny was annoying in this one. I couldn't stand how many times she ran from people only to realize that it was just somebody trying to catch up with her, each time she would ask herself why she ran. Why didn't she just wait and see who it was? She did this so many times it made me shake my fist. The constant nightmare scenes were bad enough to make me wonder if I was having a nightmare. Chuck hurls her to the ground and she nearly breaks her skull and she still insists that Chuck is not really a bad guy?
Stupid Eli and his stupid parents didn't really seem to have a point here; other than the fact that Jenny has to babysit to fufill the title of the books. And what happened to Jenny's best friend Laura? She just vanished after part 1.
Stupid Eli and his stupid parents didn't really seem to have a point here; other than the fact that Jenny has to babysit to fufill the title of the books. And what happened to Jenny's best friend Laura? She just vanished after part 1.
April 3, 2018
Jenny tries to move on from her near-death experience at the hands of Mr Hagen. She starts seeing a therapist and takes on a new baby-sitting job.
This one wasn't as good as the first, in fact it seemed really repetitive. Jenny is always shouting or shrieking at people. Admittedly she had a horrible experience, but even the kids she babysits get yelled at. PTSD? Also I have to add, were Aerosmith and Def Leppard ever considered 'heavy metal'? Rating: 2 stars
This one wasn't as good as the first, in fact it seemed really repetitive. Jenny is always shouting or shrieking at people. Admittedly she had a horrible experience, but even the kids she babysits get yelled at. PTSD? Also I have to add, were Aerosmith and Def Leppard ever considered 'heavy metal'? Rating: 2 stars
November 14, 2022
This was okay. Jenny is once again terrorised by a strange caller while babysitting and worries that her harasser from book 1 has returned to try to kill her again. What I found odd though was that she has new friends in this book! She's basically ditched the girl she was friends with in book 1, which I found a bit odd 🤔
June 6, 2017
Marginal improvement from the first book. It's not very well written and the completely unnecessary overuse of the word 'spaz' has pissed me off and made me hate them though. This should have have been edited and changed in the edition I have.
All the main characters are still mind-numbingly stupid and immature and I'm kind of hoping they eventually die in the third book.
All the main characters are still mind-numbingly stupid and immature and I'm kind of hoping they eventually die in the third book.
August 5, 2023
For anyone who has not read these books, spoilers ahead but you knew that...
It's all explained by Jenny Jeffers herself to Doctor Schindler anyway what happened in the last book at her therapy session anyway.
It was Mr. Hagen who was after Jenny with the threatening calls. You see Donny had a sister, either older or a twin, who died. He blamed the babysitter and then started cutting out newspaper articles of other children dying while under the care of other babysitters. He highlighted their names and went after them...Jenny would have been his next target.
He took Jenny to the old quarry and was going to push her in but Jenny was too quick and Mr. Hagen sailed over the edge, dying on the rocks below. The event traumatized Jenny naturally but also because she left little Donny without a father and he ended up moving away with his mother.
Jenny also has nightmares of Mr. Hagen climbing up out of the quarry and his zombified corpse coming after her. This naturally also caused her to push away Chuck, the boy who had a crush on her even though she thought he might have been behind the creepy calls at first.
Chuck keeps trying to get back into Jenny's life but not with his charming jokes but in a pushy, obsessive almost...angry fashion.
If that wasn't enough, Jenny has landed a new babysitting job that is only two blocks away. She's a little nervous given what happened last time but Dr. Schindler says it may help.
The new family has a ten year old boy, Eli. He has an IQ of 180 and likes to build his own computer and phone which is impressive yet his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wexner, have no boundaries on punishments for his less than lovely little quirks.
He can be obnoxious and rude, thinking everyone else is stupid and normal things that boys his age do are far too babyish. Eli states he doesn't need a babysitter but seems to have an odd fixation on Jenny where he can be sweet one minute and scaring her with one of his pet tarantulas the next minute.
There also seems to be the fact that he likes to watch horror movies, laughing at the gory kills and not finishing the movie if the killer gets taken care of. Eli's own mother seems to be afraid of him while Dad just doesn't seem to be anywhere near as concerned, a total opposite of poor, crazy, deceased Mr. Hagen.
Still needing money and again getting paid $5 an hour, Jenny decides to stick the job out for the summer. Besides the situations with Chuck, therapy and Eli, Jenny has made some good friends in a boy named Rick and a girl named Claire that can make her smile on occasion and then...there's Cal.
New to town, starting Harrison High in the fall for his junior year, Jenny meets him at the mall in the music store. Cal looks a little tough and rough around the edges but he is very nice and tries to make a good impression on Jenny.
Things then take a nose dive when the phone rings at the Wexner house and Jenny picks it up to here the chilling words:
"Hi, Babes. I'm back."
It couldn't be Mr. Hagen, he's dead! Jenny tries to grasp that concept but this is her worst nightmare coming true. She's already seeing a shrink but that's just because of the PTSD or is Jenny really going crazy?
The only ones who know about the exact words are Chuck and Dr. Schindler, Jenny hasn't told anyone else that detail. That has to be the only explanation but why? Is Chuck that mad that Jenny dumped him? Can Dr. Schindler be that cruel to use Jenny's fear against her to help her or is he just looking to line his wallet with the money Jenny's mother is paying him?
There are a few holes in this plot as it progresses but they aren't massive that an eighteen wheeler can drive through them but they do lead to just big old potholes or I'm just nitpicky...
Where did Jenny's friend Laura go? No mention of her at all. It just bugs me.
Rick and Claire are introduced then they just disappear? Claire gets a good explanation but Rick seems to be developing a crush on Jenny, getting jealous of Cal and then...just gone?
The whole thing with Eli is just to add some tension but there is so much developed there between him and Jenny that it is a shame we don't get more of it as that gets pushed to the side for what is supposed to be our big reveal/twist.
It isn't a bad one...it's so bad it's good. A normal motive but from the one person you wouldn't expect yet completely implausible. We get a pretty good climax and end up with another quippy ending yet it is a real breather and works well this time around.
Jenny is a good protagonist and it actually makes her relatable and likeable. We focus on her dealing with trauma and having her emotions pushed to the brink but yet she still tries to be understanding toward a little boy. Her dealing with Chuck is more stressful than anything else but it seems she needs a guy more like Cal, who seems more sympathetic and less like a child than Chuck.
I mean even Eli makes Chuck look like a baby and that says a lot...
Overall, I like The Babysitter II a whole lot more than I did the first one and still can't fathom that there are still two more books I have to read!
I have yet to find The Babysitter IV but oh boy...what on Earth can you possibly have left to throw at Jenny Jeffers, Stine?
Guess I'll find out soon...
It's all explained by Jenny Jeffers herself to Doctor Schindler anyway what happened in the last book at her therapy session anyway.
It was Mr. Hagen who was after Jenny with the threatening calls. You see Donny had a sister, either older or a twin, who died. He blamed the babysitter and then started cutting out newspaper articles of other children dying while under the care of other babysitters. He highlighted their names and went after them...Jenny would have been his next target.
He took Jenny to the old quarry and was going to push her in but Jenny was too quick and Mr. Hagen sailed over the edge, dying on the rocks below. The event traumatized Jenny naturally but also because she left little Donny without a father and he ended up moving away with his mother.
Jenny also has nightmares of Mr. Hagen climbing up out of the quarry and his zombified corpse coming after her. This naturally also caused her to push away Chuck, the boy who had a crush on her even though she thought he might have been behind the creepy calls at first.
Chuck keeps trying to get back into Jenny's life but not with his charming jokes but in a pushy, obsessive almost...angry fashion.
If that wasn't enough, Jenny has landed a new babysitting job that is only two blocks away. She's a little nervous given what happened last time but Dr. Schindler says it may help.
The new family has a ten year old boy, Eli. He has an IQ of 180 and likes to build his own computer and phone which is impressive yet his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wexner, have no boundaries on punishments for his less than lovely little quirks.
He can be obnoxious and rude, thinking everyone else is stupid and normal things that boys his age do are far too babyish. Eli states he doesn't need a babysitter but seems to have an odd fixation on Jenny where he can be sweet one minute and scaring her with one of his pet tarantulas the next minute.
There also seems to be the fact that he likes to watch horror movies, laughing at the gory kills and not finishing the movie if the killer gets taken care of. Eli's own mother seems to be afraid of him while Dad just doesn't seem to be anywhere near as concerned, a total opposite of poor, crazy, deceased Mr. Hagen.
Still needing money and again getting paid $5 an hour, Jenny decides to stick the job out for the summer. Besides the situations with Chuck, therapy and Eli, Jenny has made some good friends in a boy named Rick and a girl named Claire that can make her smile on occasion and then...there's Cal.
New to town, starting Harrison High in the fall for his junior year, Jenny meets him at the mall in the music store. Cal looks a little tough and rough around the edges but he is very nice and tries to make a good impression on Jenny.
Things then take a nose dive when the phone rings at the Wexner house and Jenny picks it up to here the chilling words:
"Hi, Babes. I'm back."
It couldn't be Mr. Hagen, he's dead! Jenny tries to grasp that concept but this is her worst nightmare coming true. She's already seeing a shrink but that's just because of the PTSD or is Jenny really going crazy?
The only ones who know about the exact words are Chuck and Dr. Schindler, Jenny hasn't told anyone else that detail. That has to be the only explanation but why? Is Chuck that mad that Jenny dumped him? Can Dr. Schindler be that cruel to use Jenny's fear against her to help her or is he just looking to line his wallet with the money Jenny's mother is paying him?
There are a few holes in this plot as it progresses but they aren't massive that an eighteen wheeler can drive through them but they do lead to just big old potholes or I'm just nitpicky...
Where did Jenny's friend Laura go? No mention of her at all. It just bugs me.
Rick and Claire are introduced then they just disappear? Claire gets a good explanation but Rick seems to be developing a crush on Jenny, getting jealous of Cal and then...just gone?
The whole thing with Eli is just to add some tension but there is so much developed there between him and Jenny that it is a shame we don't get more of it as that gets pushed to the side for what is supposed to be our big reveal/twist.
It isn't a bad one...it's so bad it's good. A normal motive but from the one person you wouldn't expect yet completely implausible. We get a pretty good climax and end up with another quippy ending yet it is a real breather and works well this time around.
Jenny is a good protagonist and it actually makes her relatable and likeable. We focus on her dealing with trauma and having her emotions pushed to the brink but yet she still tries to be understanding toward a little boy. Her dealing with Chuck is more stressful than anything else but it seems she needs a guy more like Cal, who seems more sympathetic and less like a child than Chuck.
I mean even Eli makes Chuck look like a baby and that says a lot...
Overall, I like The Babysitter II a whole lot more than I did the first one and still can't fathom that there are still two more books I have to read!
I have yet to find The Babysitter IV but oh boy...what on Earth can you possibly have left to throw at Jenny Jeffers, Stine?
Guess I'll find out soon...
October 9, 2023
This was definitely an interesting read. The fact that the psychiatrist's secretary is secretly a psycho was slightly predictable. I don't usually do horror, and this book was okay. Even though it wasn't my most favorite read, I am curious about the next one in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2020
Basically the same plot as the first one, but with a woman refusing to get out of the river.
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March 12, 2016Boek uit mijn jeugd herlezen. Vroeger vond ik deze boeken spannend, nu niet meer zo.
March 31, 2021
Jenny Jeffers had a rough time last autumn, but even though the creep stalking her and other babysitters in town is dead, Jenny can't get beyond the trauma of the experience. Every night, it's the same dream: she's at the abandoned rock quarry where her nemesis met his brutal end, but he's still there, still alive, dragging himself out of the pit, assuring her that he's on his way as he crawls towards her like a zombie, getting closer and closer until she wakes up screaming.
"Jenny, I'm back."
Jenny's tried to put the past behind her. Donny and his family moved out of town. She broke up with Chuck (who didn't take the news very well), but her sleepless nights leave her unable to hold down a steady job. She spends her days talking with her psychiatrist, and hanging out with her friends Claire and Rick when they're on break at the mall.
"Are you all alone, Babes?"
Money's still tight, and that's why Jenny's taking a new babysitting job. It's nothing like the Hagans'--the Wexners live only a few blocks from her house, and their son Eli is ten years old so he wouldn't require as much attention as Donny did. Two days and two nights a week at $5 an hour (over $9 an hour in today's money) is simply too good to pass up.
"Jenny, it's me.
Until the phone rings. It's the same voice. The same words.
The same threats.
"Company's coming."
Jenny's told any number of people about her experiences last year, but only her mom, the police, and Chuck know the words the stalker rasped to her over the phone. Is one of them playing a cruel joke? Or are her dreams premonitions of a would-be killer returned from the grave?
* * * * *
So I have to give Stine props right off the bat for having imagination enough to even conceive of a sequel to The Babysitter. I know he gets a bad rap for churning out books the way Frito Lay churns out delicious Spicy Nacho Doritos (they're both roughly equal in nutritional values to boot), but if nothing else, seeing the existence of not just The Babysitter II, but also The Babysitter III and The Babysitter IV piqued my curiosity enough that I had to dive right in.
Stine opens the book with Jenny recounting the details of the last book, especially the ending, to her counselor, Dr. Schindler (whom I can't picture as anyone but Liam Neeson now, so thanks a lot, Mr. Stine). It should go without saying, but if you haven't read The Babysitter, you're going to get a spoiler-riffic recap in the first five pages.
Jenny's much more of a sympathetic character this time around. Not that she was unsympathetic last time, but like I said in my review, much of the story relies on Jenny simply going about her routine and waiting for things to happen so she can react. That's not the case with this story, as either by herself or with the help of her mother, she's taking charge of her life, making decisions, and pushing herself to grow and move on. Does she still do some bone-headed things? Absolutely! This is Point Horror, you should expect it. But in between those moments of derp, Jenny evolves and learns from her mistakes. And those bone-headed things? They're mostly forgivable by her being a teenage girl, still inexperienced in life, trying new stuff, and (at the end) standing up to her antagonist.
Ah yes, the antagonist. Either I'm getting too good at getting into the author's head, or else Stine was too clever by half in this story, because I figured out who was behind the new phone calls much faster than I did in the first book. There's a hint dropped far, far too early in this one that made me say, "Yeah, that's who's doing it." Stine does his best to cover this and offer up a lot of suspects, but if you home in on the important clue, he won't shake you off. I'm not saying any more because it's a really good choice on his part, and I'm not altering my rating because less-alert readers will gloss right over the clue and be kept wondering right up until the big reveal. In fact, had I been reading this when I was younger, I'd have homed in on the wrong person and had the rug pulled out from under me later.
The Babysitter II is superior to its predecessor in almost every way. It's rare when a sequel tops the original, but I can honestly say I enjoyed this one more than the first even if I did figure out the twist before I probably should have. Eli's a delightfully demented charge, Jenny's growth as a character is believable (even if she still makes an occasionally dumb move), and Stine really ramps up the gross-out factor. While The Babysitter could have been filmed as a PG-rated teen thriller, transferring The Babysitter II to celluloid unaltered would have resulted in a PG-13 at best, and possibly an R, as Stine doesn't shy away from showing Jenny's fevered imagining of the corpse of her original stalker in graphic detail: missing eyes, gouged and gashed skin revealing the bones beneath, and veins weeping clotted blood. They might only be dreams, but still, Stine's not afraid to spray a little gore in this one.
I'm anxious to get into The Babysitter III now.
Best Scene:
Two come to mind, actually. The first is Jenny's first interaction with Cal, who is described as tough-looking and wearing an Aerosmith t-shirt. Jenny asks if he likes them, and Cal replies he doesn't, he just got it for half off because nobody else wanted it--not sure if Stine's offering up his own personal indictment of Steven Tyler et al. there, but if so, ouch. That's not the funny part though. The funny part comes a couple lines later, when Cal suggests that Jenny must not like heavy metal, to which Jenny admits that she "[U]sed to like Def Leppard a little."
Apparently Def Leppard and Aerosmith qualify as "heavy metal" in the Stine-verse. I hope Iron Maiden's feelings weren't hurt too badly.
The second is almost a throw-away gag. The aforementioned Cal asks Jenny if she wants to attend a party with him on the weekend, and deciding to take the bull by the horns, Jenny agrees. They arrive to find your basic frat party in progress: dim lighting, couples making out everywhere, rap music blaring, and the host nowhere to be found. Jenny's ready to leave as soon as she gets there, and Cal agrees. On the way out the door, though, they walk by the kitchen where they see a group of guys huddled around a keg they've acquired, trying to figure how to get the alcohol out.
I have no earthly idea why this made me laugh so hard, and it's a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of thing, but damn did I get a kick out of the image of four underage teens, trying their hardest to emulate the behavior they've no doubt seen in countless college party flicks that will elevate their cool factor to the max, but utterly mystified at the workings of the little metal drum.
I should probably get out more.
"Jenny, I'm back."
Jenny's tried to put the past behind her. Donny and his family moved out of town. She broke up with Chuck (who didn't take the news very well), but her sleepless nights leave her unable to hold down a steady job. She spends her days talking with her psychiatrist, and hanging out with her friends Claire and Rick when they're on break at the mall.
"Are you all alone, Babes?"
Money's still tight, and that's why Jenny's taking a new babysitting job. It's nothing like the Hagans'--the Wexners live only a few blocks from her house, and their son Eli is ten years old so he wouldn't require as much attention as Donny did. Two days and two nights a week at $5 an hour (over $9 an hour in today's money) is simply too good to pass up.
"Jenny, it's me.
Until the phone rings. It's the same voice. The same words.
The same threats.
"Company's coming."
Jenny's told any number of people about her experiences last year, but only her mom, the police, and Chuck know the words the stalker rasped to her over the phone. Is one of them playing a cruel joke? Or are her dreams premonitions of a would-be killer returned from the grave?
* * * * *
So I have to give Stine props right off the bat for having imagination enough to even conceive of a sequel to The Babysitter. I know he gets a bad rap for churning out books the way Frito Lay churns out delicious Spicy Nacho Doritos (they're both roughly equal in nutritional values to boot), but if nothing else, seeing the existence of not just The Babysitter II, but also The Babysitter III and The Babysitter IV piqued my curiosity enough that I had to dive right in.
Stine opens the book with Jenny recounting the details of the last book, especially the ending, to her counselor, Dr. Schindler (whom I can't picture as anyone but Liam Neeson now, so thanks a lot, Mr. Stine). It should go without saying, but if you haven't read The Babysitter, you're going to get a spoiler-riffic recap in the first five pages.
Jenny's much more of a sympathetic character this time around. Not that she was unsympathetic last time, but like I said in my review, much of the story relies on Jenny simply going about her routine and waiting for things to happen so she can react. That's not the case with this story, as either by herself or with the help of her mother, she's taking charge of her life, making decisions, and pushing herself to grow and move on. Does she still do some bone-headed things? Absolutely! This is Point Horror, you should expect it. But in between those moments of derp, Jenny evolves and learns from her mistakes. And those bone-headed things? They're mostly forgivable by her being a teenage girl, still inexperienced in life, trying new stuff, and (at the end) standing up to her antagonist.
Ah yes, the antagonist. Either I'm getting too good at getting into the author's head, or else Stine was too clever by half in this story, because I figured out who was behind the new phone calls much faster than I did in the first book. There's a hint dropped far, far too early in this one that made me say, "Yeah, that's who's doing it." Stine does his best to cover this and offer up a lot of suspects, but if you home in on the important clue, he won't shake you off. I'm not saying any more because it's a really good choice on his part, and I'm not altering my rating because less-alert readers will gloss right over the clue and be kept wondering right up until the big reveal. In fact, had I been reading this when I was younger, I'd have homed in on the wrong person and had the rug pulled out from under me later.
The Babysitter II is superior to its predecessor in almost every way. It's rare when a sequel tops the original, but I can honestly say I enjoyed this one more than the first even if I did figure out the twist before I probably should have. Eli's a delightfully demented charge, Jenny's growth as a character is believable (even if she still makes an occasionally dumb move), and Stine really ramps up the gross-out factor. While The Babysitter could have been filmed as a PG-rated teen thriller, transferring The Babysitter II to celluloid unaltered would have resulted in a PG-13 at best, and possibly an R, as Stine doesn't shy away from showing Jenny's fevered imagining of the corpse of her original stalker in graphic detail: missing eyes, gouged and gashed skin revealing the bones beneath, and veins weeping clotted blood. They might only be dreams, but still, Stine's not afraid to spray a little gore in this one.
I'm anxious to get into The Babysitter III now.
Best Scene:
Two come to mind, actually. The first is Jenny's first interaction with Cal, who is described as tough-looking and wearing an Aerosmith t-shirt. Jenny asks if he likes them, and Cal replies he doesn't, he just got it for half off because nobody else wanted it--not sure if Stine's offering up his own personal indictment of Steven Tyler et al. there, but if so, ouch. That's not the funny part though. The funny part comes a couple lines later, when Cal suggests that Jenny must not like heavy metal, to which Jenny admits that she "[U]sed to like Def Leppard a little."
Apparently Def Leppard and Aerosmith qualify as "heavy metal" in the Stine-verse. I hope Iron Maiden's feelings weren't hurt too badly.
The second is almost a throw-away gag. The aforementioned Cal asks Jenny if she wants to attend a party with him on the weekend, and deciding to take the bull by the horns, Jenny agrees. They arrive to find your basic frat party in progress: dim lighting, couples making out everywhere, rap music blaring, and the host nowhere to be found. Jenny's ready to leave as soon as she gets there, and Cal agrees. On the way out the door, though, they walk by the kitchen where they see a group of guys huddled around a keg they've acquired, trying to figure how to get the alcohol out.
I have no earthly idea why this made me laugh so hard, and it's a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of thing, but damn did I get a kick out of the image of four underage teens, trying their hardest to emulate the behavior they've no doubt seen in countless college party flicks that will elevate their cool factor to the max, but utterly mystified at the workings of the little metal drum.
I should probably get out more.
January 18, 2025
3/3.5 *
We continue Jennys saga in book 2 where she continues to be overly dramatic (this review has spoilers from book 1)
She is traumatised from the events in book 1 and is now seeing a therapist and takes on a new babysitting job with a weird child who’s a genius but with a temper
Things seem to be going mostly ok until the phone calls start again but it can’t be the same person from before
They are dead so who is it
Maybe chuck who’s now becoming aggressive or Eli with his new home built phone or even the new guy in town, bad boy Cal
Or is it Mr Hagen back from the grave
I think again this was well written but Jenny is quite immature still and dramatic but it works for the audience
There is also a liberal use of a slur in one chapter that was used a lot in the 90s but not anymore
So be mindful it is a product of its time
Also there are tarantulas in this one so arachnophobes read with care
We continue Jennys saga in book 2 where she continues to be overly dramatic (this review has spoilers from book 1)
She is traumatised from the events in book 1 and is now seeing a therapist and takes on a new babysitting job with a weird child who’s a genius but with a temper
Things seem to be going mostly ok until the phone calls start again but it can’t be the same person from before
They are dead so who is it
Maybe chuck who’s now becoming aggressive or Eli with his new home built phone or even the new guy in town, bad boy Cal
Or is it Mr Hagen back from the grave
I think again this was well written but Jenny is quite immature still and dramatic but it works for the audience
There is also a liberal use of a slur in one chapter that was used a lot in the 90s but not anymore
So be mindful it is a product of its time
Also there are tarantulas in this one so arachnophobes read with care
July 31, 2023
Well THE BABYSITTER II is giving Slumber Party Massacre II in terms of the aftermath and trauma suffered from our protagonist. Is she seeing/imagining things or is someone really after her? And if so, is it the same villain from the first book!?
While this one is not as creepy or scary as its predecessor, I found the suspense and the questioning of whodunnit to be a lot more advanced. I was not blinded by spooky fear and was allowed to really just start questioning all the characters and their potential motives. But the twist came like a bat out of hell and took me out.
I hated the kid.
Where is her best friend from the first one?
HONEY, WHY ARE YOU BABYSITTING AGAIN!?!?
3.5 rounded up for Goodreads
While this one is not as creepy or scary as its predecessor, I found the suspense and the questioning of whodunnit to be a lot more advanced. I was not blinded by spooky fear and was allowed to really just start questioning all the characters and their potential motives. But the twist came like a bat out of hell and took me out.
I hated the kid.
Where is her best friend from the first one?
HONEY, WHY ARE YOU BABYSITTING AGAIN!?!?
3.5 rounded up for Goodreads
September 4, 2023
eponymous-ey sentence:
p4: Hagen blamed the babysitter.
ocr:
p8: "...Fm a junior this year...."
p9: "...As I'm telling it to you, Fm seeing it all again."
p9: "This is what you deserve/ he kept saying. 'This is what you deserve. 9
p11: "I don't know," she said, biting her lower Up.
p11: "How often do they want you to babysit for EH?"
more later
Mr Stine ups the ante for this one (this is a direct sequel, by the way--a rare occurrence). Too bad my copy stinks (again, beggars can't be choosers). And it was a little short, too.
p4: Hagen blamed the babysitter.
ocr:
p8: "...Fm a junior this year...."
p9: "...As I'm telling it to you, Fm seeing it all again."
p9: "This is what you deserve/ he kept saying. 'This is what you deserve. 9
p11: "I don't know," she said, biting her lower Up.
p11: "How often do they want you to babysit for EH?"
more later
Mr Stine ups the ante for this one (this is a direct sequel, by the way--a rare occurrence). Too bad my copy stinks (again, beggars can't be choosers). And it was a little short, too.
March 2, 2023
This one is pretty wild
After the ordeal from the first book, Jenny started having nightmares so she went to see a shrink and who knows. Her trouble didn't end there because she is still receiving those creepy phone calls
After the ordeal from the first book, Jenny started having nightmares so she went to see a shrink and who knows. Her trouble didn't end there because she is still receiving those creepy phone calls
July 25, 2019
This was just okay. I figured out the twist pretty early on. I really enjoyed the first book. Hopefully the third and fourth will be better than this one.
January 19, 2025
More 90s point horror fun...more babysitting...more strange phone calls....more unlikeable characters...more guys that get angry when the girl doesn't reciprocate feelings....more non existent parents. The "bad guy" reveal at the end had me rolling my eyes. I was also left with some unanswered questions....on to book III.
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