Karen's Wish

Baby-Sitters Little Sister Super Special #1

by Ann M. Martin

Karen can't wait for Christmas but when her grandmother gets sick and has to go to the hospital, she doesn't want it to come at all.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Christmas, Friendship, Fiction, Family Drama, Family

136 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

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 memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so nostalgic for me. I know Karen’s family and classmates almost like they were my own from another life. I read these books over and over when I was younger, then would act out the stories with my Barbies. I found her world so comforting and still do today.

[Pastel Paperback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen learns about Hanukkah and grapples with Nannie injuring herself and possibly not being around for the holidays.

Again, like all Karen Christmas books, a little Jesus-y.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the continuation from Karen's Surprise, and a pre cursor to Karen's New Year, and this was my favourite Little Sister super special. Karen makes one wish for Christmas (for nannie to be home from the hospital for Christmas) without putting down what she actually wanted, but still got the gifts! Some of these included a doll Baby Grow a Tooth, an art kit, books and the Sorry game.

I loved reading about the countdown to Christmas when they made ornaments and decoration, chose a Christmas tree, played in the snow. The Christmas and Hannukah celebrations were nice to read about since Karen participated in celebrating Hanukkah with Nancy and got a couple of gifts like hair ribbons, poodle barrettes and chocolate coins, and Nancy celebrated Christmas with Karen and got her own Christmas stocking. They also gifted each other with the same Bobbsey Twins book. I thought Karen was not as obnoxious as in some of her other books, except for the part where she felt bad Nancy didn’t celebrate Christmas. The activities at the end were pretty cool too. It included wrapping a Christmas present to look like a snowman, how to make a menorah from clay, how to make a dreidel, recipe for making Christmas cookies and so on.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really sweet and adorable. I know it's like a rule among the adult fanbase to hate the hell out of Karen Brewer and I know she can be a brat, but in this book I thought she was really sweet. The main story and the B plot were both really enjoyable.

[Em's Adventures · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I was really confused, and then I realized that this must have been written earlier in the series so I must've read these out of order. I quite enjoyed it though it did make me smile because Karen has had so, so many Christmases while she stays seven years old and she never mentioned not liking turkey. I also remember her saying that she had been to lots of Nancy's Passover Cedar feasts before and knew about Hanukkah so I was surprised that she was confused and didn't know anything about them.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sort of boring book. At first I wasn't sure why it was a super special but then I saw craft ideas and extra stories at the end so that's probably why. Nannie who's Kristy's grandma falls and ends up in hospital and all Karen wants is for her to be home for Christmas. She and her friend Nancy share their holiday traditions Nancy being Jewish celebrates Hannukah. Karen wasn't her sociopathic self, was actually a decent kid so maybe that's why this was a boring book.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute book in the Karen series. It's Christmas time and Nannie (Elizabeth's mother) falls and hurts her hip and is in the hospital. Karen's Christmas wish is that Nannie will get better. We follow the holidays at both houses as well as her exploration of Hanukah through her best friend, Nancy.

[Mande Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen wanted the best christmas ever until she heard Nanny went into the hospital. Never thought she make home for Christmas. But she got her Christmas of Nanny home for christmas besides getting everything she wanted. Plus she learned how Jews spend their holiday.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always liked how Karen and Nancy 1) spent their holidays with each other, and 2) bought each other the same gift.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really cute one, but the title doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Elaine Hebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good for a second time.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13118521