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The Baby-Sitters Club #74
Kristy and the Copycat
When Kristy reluctantly takes part in a hazing prank for her softball team, she worries that her little stepsister, Karen, will find out the truth and think badly of her.
135 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
40 people are currently reading
722 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,122 books3,086 followersAnn 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
December 7, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
in this second example of a kristy book for which the title is just a minor subplot (the first being Kristy and the Walking Disaster), written by ghostwriter Nola Thacker, kristy joins the sms softball team only to discover that the preexisting team members expect the new recruits to do something crappy for their initiation. kristy wrestles with it, eventually giving into peer pressure, and spray paints the old school shed. some of the other new recruits have a cigarette afterwards, and kristy wakes up the next morning to the news that the shed has burned down. she thinks it's their fault (spray paint fumes + lit matches = bad news, bears) and tries to figure out whether to come clean. meanwhile stacey and claud have taken over coaching the krushers, and karen (kristy's little sister) wants to be a teenager so bad that she does everything the bsc members do.
highlights:
-karen, trying to be a teenager, is pumping mary anne for information at one point. she says, "tell me more about logan. is he really that...cute?"
-someone was actually injured in the fire (they saw it and tried to put it out, injuring themselves in the process). that fact adds a lot of weight to what kristy's dealing with.
-a mel brooks movie moment: stacey says 'walk this way' to karen and claudia, so claudia starts to walk all goofy!
-at one point karen is trying to pump kristy for information about how to be a cool teenager, and kristy snaps at her. it's obvious that kristy just feels so bad for what she did that she doesn't want karen to emulate her. it's not GREAT or anything, but it's the only moment in the whole book where the plotlines actually make sense together.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the whole karen plot is just boring and nobody really ever addresses it. so unlike the similar plotline in Baby-sitters' Haunted House, an upcoming super mystery, in which there is a young girl who is obsessed with dawn and tries to look and act like her all the time.
-kristy and the other recruits have been getting Lois Duncan-style notes in their lockers (and by that I, of course, mean threatening I KNOW IT WAS YOU WHO BURNED THE SHED DOWN, COME CLEAN OR ELSE-style notes). turns out at the end that it was dilys, one of the recruits, all along. she wanted to come clean so she thought that would be a good way to convince the others.
-right when kristy is just about to come clean to the school administration, they find out that a group of high schoolers actually burned down the shed, for shits and giggles. this is so cheap. I wanted kristy to have inadvertently put someone in the hospital, because that is something that DOES happen to people who think of themselves as good people.
-obviously not gonna complain from my side, but there are an awful lot of outfit descriptions for a kristy book. I think nola thacker wishes she were writing a claudia book.
claudia outfits:
-'Today she was into big: a big yellow shirt with red X-shaped buttons, enormously baggy white pants, and big red Doc Martens double-laced with black and yellow shoelaces. Her long straight black hair was pulled up on top of her head with more black and yellow shoelaces braided together. Her earrings said "stop" and "go" -- "stop" in her left ear and "go" in her right.'
-"Claudia was wearing a red satin baseball cap, purple sweatpants that were cut off just below the knees, purple hightops with neon pink laces, red-and-white striped socks, and a red and pink tie-dyed crop top shirt."
stacey outfits:
-"Today, for example...Stacey had pulled her permed blonde hair back with a leopard-print scarf tied under one ear. She was wearing one of her favorite pairs of earrings, gold leaf-shaped ones. She was also wearing a black wrap long-sleeve top, a short, low-slung brown skirt with a big belt, black tights, and leopard print flats."
-"Stacey was in black bicycle shorts with neon yellow racing stripes down the sides, a pair of Nikes with matching neon yellow swooshes on the side (but ordinary white laces), an enormous white v-neck T-shirt, a black jog bra, and a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, turned around backwards."
the engles (karen and andrew's mom and stepfather), on their way to a garden party:
-"Mr. Engle was wearing a loose linen jacket and pants and a panama hat, and Mrs. Engle had on a flowered dress with a full skirt and a big hat with a flower pinned to the upturned brim."
karen's wannabe-stacey outfit:
-"Karen was wearing black bicycle shorts with yellow racing stripes down the side, an enormous white v-neck T-shirt with what looked like a black bathing suit top underneath, a pair of Nikes with white shoelaces, and a hat turned around backwards."
kristy cafeteria comments:
-"you know, you could also think of macaroni and cheese as worms. worms are probably very high in protein..."
-on something gray and squishy, "you know what? this isn't lunch. it's compost."
jackie disasters:
-when sliding into home plate, he uproots the plate and topples matt braddock and claudia
-loses two balls (heeheehee)
snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi worms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-oreos (n.s.)
-ice cream cake (celebrating kristy making the team) on a card table in the middle of her room
-fruit salad and yogurt (n.s.)
in this second example of a kristy book for which the title is just a minor subplot (the first being Kristy and the Walking Disaster), written by ghostwriter Nola Thacker, kristy joins the sms softball team only to discover that the preexisting team members expect the new recruits to do something crappy for their initiation. kristy wrestles with it, eventually giving into peer pressure, and spray paints the old school shed. some of the other new recruits have a cigarette afterwards, and kristy wakes up the next morning to the news that the shed has burned down. she thinks it's their fault (spray paint fumes + lit matches = bad news, bears) and tries to figure out whether to come clean. meanwhile stacey and claud have taken over coaching the krushers, and karen (kristy's little sister) wants to be a teenager so bad that she does everything the bsc members do.
highlights:
-karen, trying to be a teenager, is pumping mary anne for information at one point. she says, "tell me more about logan. is he really that...cute?"
-someone was actually injured in the fire (they saw it and tried to put it out, injuring themselves in the process). that fact adds a lot of weight to what kristy's dealing with.
-a mel brooks movie moment: stacey says 'walk this way' to karen and claudia, so claudia starts to walk all goofy!
-at one point karen is trying to pump kristy for information about how to be a cool teenager, and kristy snaps at her. it's obvious that kristy just feels so bad for what she did that she doesn't want karen to emulate her. it's not GREAT or anything, but it's the only moment in the whole book where the plotlines actually make sense together.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the whole karen plot is just boring and nobody really ever addresses it. so unlike the similar plotline in Baby-sitters' Haunted House, an upcoming super mystery, in which there is a young girl who is obsessed with dawn and tries to look and act like her all the time.
-kristy and the other recruits have been getting Lois Duncan-style notes in their lockers (and by that I, of course, mean threatening I KNOW IT WAS YOU WHO BURNED THE SHED DOWN, COME CLEAN OR ELSE-style notes). turns out at the end that it was dilys, one of the recruits, all along. she wanted to come clean so she thought that would be a good way to convince the others.
-right when kristy is just about to come clean to the school administration, they find out that a group of high schoolers actually burned down the shed, for shits and giggles. this is so cheap. I wanted kristy to have inadvertently put someone in the hospital, because that is something that DOES happen to people who think of themselves as good people.
-obviously not gonna complain from my side, but there are an awful lot of outfit descriptions for a kristy book. I think nola thacker wishes she were writing a claudia book.
claudia outfits:
-'Today she was into big: a big yellow shirt with red X-shaped buttons, enormously baggy white pants, and big red Doc Martens double-laced with black and yellow shoelaces. Her long straight black hair was pulled up on top of her head with more black and yellow shoelaces braided together. Her earrings said "stop" and "go" -- "stop" in her left ear and "go" in her right.'
-"Claudia was wearing a red satin baseball cap, purple sweatpants that were cut off just below the knees, purple hightops with neon pink laces, red-and-white striped socks, and a red and pink tie-dyed crop top shirt."
stacey outfits:
-"Today, for example...Stacey had pulled her permed blonde hair back with a leopard-print scarf tied under one ear. She was wearing one of her favorite pairs of earrings, gold leaf-shaped ones. She was also wearing a black wrap long-sleeve top, a short, low-slung brown skirt with a big belt, black tights, and leopard print flats."
-"Stacey was in black bicycle shorts with neon yellow racing stripes down the sides, a pair of Nikes with matching neon yellow swooshes on the side (but ordinary white laces), an enormous white v-neck T-shirt, a black jog bra, and a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, turned around backwards."
the engles (karen and andrew's mom and stepfather), on their way to a garden party:
-"Mr. Engle was wearing a loose linen jacket and pants and a panama hat, and Mrs. Engle had on a flowered dress with a full skirt and a big hat with a flower pinned to the upturned brim."
karen's wannabe-stacey outfit:
-"Karen was wearing black bicycle shorts with yellow racing stripes down the side, an enormous white v-neck T-shirt with what looked like a black bathing suit top underneath, a pair of Nikes with white shoelaces, and a hat turned around backwards."
kristy cafeteria comments:
-"you know, you could also think of macaroni and cheese as worms. worms are probably very high in protein..."
-on something gray and squishy, "you know what? this isn't lunch. it's compost."
jackie disasters:
-when sliding into home plate, he uproots the plate and topples matt braddock and claudia
-loses two balls (heeheehee)
snacks in claudia's room:
-gummi worms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-oreos (n.s.)
-ice cream cake (celebrating kristy making the team) on a card table in the middle of her room
-fruit salad and yogurt (n.s.)
May 11, 2019
I didn’t really like this book at all, it didn’t really come across as the back had described the book to be.
Kristy is feeling like something is missing with her softball team, until it hits her that she missed playing herself and signs up for the softball team at her school. The older girls on the team though are cruel and tell the new girls they have to do something they don’t want to do. Peer pressure gets to them and they do it, only to find that something worse happened and they don’t know what to do now. But all gets solved in due time and the girls all get the chance to be a team.
Secondary story I wish they featured more was that Karen wanted to be more grown up and was trying to copy all the babysitter girls desperate to be and to be treated as a 13 year old.
In my opinion this story should have gone a different way and could have taught younger readers an actual lesson in how to deal with the bullying and peer pressure and to how to deal with something serious that they do wrong. It really failed in that way and a lot of the story didn’t make sense to me and I just didn’t enjoy it unfortunately.
Kristy is feeling like something is missing with her softball team, until it hits her that she missed playing herself and signs up for the softball team at her school. The older girls on the team though are cruel and tell the new girls they have to do something they don’t want to do. Peer pressure gets to them and they do it, only to find that something worse happened and they don’t know what to do now. But all gets solved in due time and the girls all get the chance to be a team.
Secondary story I wish they featured more was that Karen wanted to be more grown up and was trying to copy all the babysitter girls desperate to be and to be treated as a 13 year old.
In my opinion this story should have gone a different way and could have taught younger readers an actual lesson in how to deal with the bullying and peer pressure and to how to deal with something serious that they do wrong. It really failed in that way and a lot of the story didn’t make sense to me and I just didn’t enjoy it unfortunately.
February 3, 2011
kristy is starting to feel disillusioned coaching the krushers. she feels like something is missing, something that will reinvigorate her spirits. then it comes to her: she misses playing softball herself! the other sitters convince her to try out for the SMS girls' softball team. claudia & stacey volunteer to take over coaching the krushers while kristy is busy playing. they insist that they've spent enough time at krusher practices as babysitters to get by. plus it's just a kids' team--it's not like they need to know anything especially complex or sophisticated. kristy takes them up on their offer.
she's a little nervous about going out for the softball team. a lot of the other girls trying out were on the team the year before, & they are good players. & kristy has heard that coach wu is tough. she expects a lot from her players. it's weird to see uber-confident kristy expressing the wish for tryouts to be a little less challenging. not that she had to worry--she makes the team & is totally pumped.
in fact, only four new players were accepted on to the team. aside from kristy, the new players are tonya, bea, & dilys. seriously? SERIOUSLY? bea & dilys? is it 1927? i mean, okay, beatrice is making a little bit of a comeback about modern-day parents who were into the ramona quimby books. but there is no excuse for a girl named dilys. what is the ghostwriter smoking?
anyway, the new players are immediately cornered by a couple of old hands--marcia & tallie. they are informed that they will have to go through an initiation before they are really part of the team. kristy says initiations & hazing aren't allowed. marcia & tallie say that what coach wu doesn't know won't kill her, & that if the new girls (tallie & marcia call them "the four musketeers," which could not be less witty) don't do the initiation, the rest of the team will make sure they look bad on the field so coach wu benches them. when i read this, i was like, "please. can the rest of the team really do that much to make other players look bad?" then i watched "eight men out," the baseball dramatization starring john cusack & charlie sheen about the 1919 "black sox" scandal & i realized that one or two players really do have a lot of power to make everyone else look bad.
after a lot of waffling, the four musketeers agree to the initiation. they are told to spraypaint the old equipment shed on school grounds in the middle of the night. they are each assigned a different color of spraypaint. guys? this initiation is kind of lame. anyway, they do it. they make up a song & dance about getting together for a little "new players celebration" & then sneak off & paint the shed. after they finish, tonya & bea light up some cigarettes. because what 13-year-old female athlete isn't also a heavy smoker? kristy is shocked--SHOCKED, i tell you. but mostly she's just glad the initiation is behind her.
the next morning she wakes up to the news that the equipment shed burned down the night before, & that a good samaritan that had tried to put out the fire was critically injured & is in the hospital. kristy is horrified. she remembers the cigarettes & wonders if they ignited the fire. then she realizes her spraypaint can is missing. she wonders if the the cigarettes may have ignited the contents of the can. she doesn't know what to do.
the other musketeers are also horrified, but before they can really think the issue through, marcia & tallie menace them some more. they say that if the musketeers tell, the rest of the team will band together & say they are lying. they'll be even more ostracized than if they hadn't done the initiation in the first place. the muskeeters decide not to tell, but they clearly don't feel great about their decision.
after a few days, the boys' baseball team is blamed for the fire. it is disbanded while the principal decides how to punish the culprits. kristy is horrified. she knows that she & the other new softball players are responsible the fire--plus, logan is on the boys' baseball team & is therefore taking the fall for her recklessness. she decides to tell, but then she gets an anonymous note blackmailing her into silence. the note sender demands $50...or else. kristy goes straight to tonya, bea, & dilys, all of whom have also received threatening notes.
after conferring with the babysitters club, kristy decides she has to confess, notes or no notes. she can't let the boys' baseball team be blamed for her mistake. but the morning she plans to tell, some high school kids come forward & admit that they started the fire as a prank. the boys' baseball team is reinstated & kristy realizes that she & the muskeeters don't need to confess after all. no one even knew the shed had been vandalized with spraypaint because it burned down before anyone official could see it. dilys admits to writing the blackmail notes in some sort of weird, half-baked scheme to get the others to confess.
& that's that. seriously. kristy never tells any grown-up about what happened. she & the other musketeers agree that if they're on a team in the future that tries to haze other members, they won't agree to it, but they are never punished for spraypainting the shed, & the girls' softball team is never punished for illegal hazing. isn't that incredibly anti-climactic, even if it is probably kind of realistic?
the subplot is the dumbass copycat thing on the cover. karen has become obsessed with the idea of being 13, & she therefore tries to copy everything that kristy & the other older sitters do. she won't play dress-up & scoffs at the other kids her age like they are so embarrassing & lame. she tries to chat mary anne up about boyfriends & fashion magazines. kristy hates this a) because it's annoying, & b) because she feels bad about the shed fire & thinks she is not someone for anyone to emulate. worst subplot ever.
she's a little nervous about going out for the softball team. a lot of the other girls trying out were on the team the year before, & they are good players. & kristy has heard that coach wu is tough. she expects a lot from her players. it's weird to see uber-confident kristy expressing the wish for tryouts to be a little less challenging. not that she had to worry--she makes the team & is totally pumped.
in fact, only four new players were accepted on to the team. aside from kristy, the new players are tonya, bea, & dilys. seriously? SERIOUSLY? bea & dilys? is it 1927? i mean, okay, beatrice is making a little bit of a comeback about modern-day parents who were into the ramona quimby books. but there is no excuse for a girl named dilys. what is the ghostwriter smoking?
anyway, the new players are immediately cornered by a couple of old hands--marcia & tallie. they are informed that they will have to go through an initiation before they are really part of the team. kristy says initiations & hazing aren't allowed. marcia & tallie say that what coach wu doesn't know won't kill her, & that if the new girls (tallie & marcia call them "the four musketeers," which could not be less witty) don't do the initiation, the rest of the team will make sure they look bad on the field so coach wu benches them. when i read this, i was like, "please. can the rest of the team really do that much to make other players look bad?" then i watched "eight men out," the baseball dramatization starring john cusack & charlie sheen about the 1919 "black sox" scandal & i realized that one or two players really do have a lot of power to make everyone else look bad.
after a lot of waffling, the four musketeers agree to the initiation. they are told to spraypaint the old equipment shed on school grounds in the middle of the night. they are each assigned a different color of spraypaint. guys? this initiation is kind of lame. anyway, they do it. they make up a song & dance about getting together for a little "new players celebration" & then sneak off & paint the shed. after they finish, tonya & bea light up some cigarettes. because what 13-year-old female athlete isn't also a heavy smoker? kristy is shocked--SHOCKED, i tell you. but mostly she's just glad the initiation is behind her.
the next morning she wakes up to the news that the equipment shed burned down the night before, & that a good samaritan that had tried to put out the fire was critically injured & is in the hospital. kristy is horrified. she remembers the cigarettes & wonders if they ignited the fire. then she realizes her spraypaint can is missing. she wonders if the the cigarettes may have ignited the contents of the can. she doesn't know what to do.
the other musketeers are also horrified, but before they can really think the issue through, marcia & tallie menace them some more. they say that if the musketeers tell, the rest of the team will band together & say they are lying. they'll be even more ostracized than if they hadn't done the initiation in the first place. the muskeeters decide not to tell, but they clearly don't feel great about their decision.
after a few days, the boys' baseball team is blamed for the fire. it is disbanded while the principal decides how to punish the culprits. kristy is horrified. she knows that she & the other new softball players are responsible the fire--plus, logan is on the boys' baseball team & is therefore taking the fall for her recklessness. she decides to tell, but then she gets an anonymous note blackmailing her into silence. the note sender demands $50...or else. kristy goes straight to tonya, bea, & dilys, all of whom have also received threatening notes.
after conferring with the babysitters club, kristy decides she has to confess, notes or no notes. she can't let the boys' baseball team be blamed for her mistake. but the morning she plans to tell, some high school kids come forward & admit that they started the fire as a prank. the boys' baseball team is reinstated & kristy realizes that she & the muskeeters don't need to confess after all. no one even knew the shed had been vandalized with spraypaint because it burned down before anyone official could see it. dilys admits to writing the blackmail notes in some sort of weird, half-baked scheme to get the others to confess.
& that's that. seriously. kristy never tells any grown-up about what happened. she & the other musketeers agree that if they're on a team in the future that tries to haze other members, they won't agree to it, but they are never punished for spraypainting the shed, & the girls' softball team is never punished for illegal hazing. isn't that incredibly anti-climactic, even if it is probably kind of realistic?
the subplot is the dumbass copycat thing on the cover. karen has become obsessed with the idea of being 13, & she therefore tries to copy everything that kristy & the other older sitters do. she won't play dress-up & scoffs at the other kids her age like they are so embarrassing & lame. she tries to chat mary anne up about boyfriends & fashion magazines. kristy hates this a) because it's annoying, & b) because she feels bad about the shed fire & thinks she is not someone for anyone to emulate. worst subplot ever.
July 25, 2023
This is the first BSC book that really didn't feel like a BSC book, if you know what I mean. Kristy was extremely out of character and we had more serious plot points. The next book is like this too so it may be a new trend with the ghostwriters. In spite, or possibly because, of that I really enjoyed this one.
Kristy is feeling blah with the Krushers softball team and while talking to her friends, she realizes it's because she wants to actually play ball instead of just coach it. Claudia tells her that the SMS girls' softball team is conveniently holding tryouts soon and Kristy gets excited for a second but then realizes there's no way she can juggle everything.
Claudia slid her sunglasses down her nose and peered at me over them, striking a movie star pose. "Darling," she drawled, "if anybody can do it, you can!" And great timing for not just a Claudia outfit, but a Stacey one as well!
Stacey had pulled her permed blonde hair back with a leopard-print scarf tied under one ear. She was wearing one of her favorite pairs of earrings, gold leaf-shaped ones. She was also wearing a black wrap long-sleeve top, a short, low-slung brown skirt with a big belt, black tights, and leopard print flats. She looked extremely cool. Which of course she was.
[Claudia's] eye for color and style shows in the way she dresses. Today she was into big: a big yellow shirt with red X-shaped buttons, enormously baggy white pants, and big red Doc Martens double-laced with black and yellow shoelaces. Her long straight black hair was pulled up on top of her head with more black and yellow shoelaces braided together. Her earrings said "stop" and "go" --- "stop" in her left ear and "go" in her right. (This ghostwriter really gets the importance of fashion. Earrings found on Etsy.)
Kristy can't stop thinking about the tryouts but knows that she will just get way overwhelmed if she keeps everything on, like when she tried to run for president. But then Claudia and Stacey get the bright (crazy) idea of them coaching the Krushers. Kristy almost laughs in their faces but luckily stops herself. So the two fashionistas are going to play ball and Kristy goes out for the team! (Spoiler: she makes it.) We also meet a lot of new characters in this book: Bea, Dilys, Tonya, Tallie etc. And now we get to the serious stuff.
Kristy makes the team but before she can actually be with the team, she has to pass initiation. AKA a hazing ritual. The girls who were already on the team tell the new girls they have to spray-paint graffiti on the old equipment shed or they don't play. "Have you ever played ball with someone who makes you look bad no matter what you do?" Kristy of course refuses, at first. But after a few days of, honestly, harassment, Kristy & the other new girls agree to do it. I don't really see Kristy caving like this, it's not in her nature. But they go thru with it, sneaking onto school grounds Friday night and graffitti-ing the shed. Afterwards, 2 of the girls light up cigarettes but luckily Kristy draws the line there. And all is good, right?
Wrong. Big wrong. Kristy wakes up the next morning and hears on the news that the shed burned to the ground last night and a neighborhood man was injured trying to put it out and is in the hospital. She freaks out when she can't find her used spray-paint can (did she start the fire?!) and gathers the other girls to her house to discuss it all. They convince her to keep her mouth shut because the whole team could get in trouble. Kristy feels sick about it all.
Let's get over to some baby-sitting for a bit. The "copycat" of the book is Karen, of course. She gets it in her head that being thirteen years old is the coolest thing ever so she starts copying all the BSC girls whenever she's around them. She asks Mary Anne a bajillion questions about her boyfriend and copies her every move. She copies Stacey's coaching outfit to a T and brings along her own boyfriend, Ricky Torres to the next Krushers' practice. Kristy finally explodes at her and tells her not to grow up so fast and just be herself and it's all good. And how about some hideous (Claudia) sportswear before we get back to Kristy's hazing disaster?
The clothes make the coach. Claudia was wearing a red satin baseball cap, purple sweatpants that were cut off just below the knees, purple high-tops with neon pink laces, red-and-white-striped socks, and a red and pink tie-dyed crop top shirt. (Tie-dye shirt from Etsy!) Stacey was in black bicycle shorts with neon yellow racing stripes down the sides, a pair of Nikes with matching neon yellow swooshes on the side, (but ordinary white laces), an enormous white v-neck T-shirt, a black jog bra, and a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, turned around backwards. Stacey was wearing my whistle. Claudia had this funky clay whistle shaped like a bird on a leather thong around her neck that she'd made in art class.
Back at school, the principal calls an assembly and says there is evidence that students were involved in the fire and urges the guilty party to step forward. Kristy wants to confess but the other girls tell her no way and that they'll all say she's lying. She CRIES a little at her locker (not my Kristy!) and then finds a threatening note inside, saying basically "I know what you did last summer" lol. All 4 of the new girls start getting notes, threatening and asking for money to keep quiet. But then they get great news: the boys' baseball team has been officially blamed for the fire and are being disbanded. Everyone on the team is all happy again, except Kristy. Logan is on the team and she knows in her heart that they probably didn't do it. (This is before Logan joins the Badd Boyz lol.)
Kristy decides to confess, by herself, but first she has to tell the BSC girls. Of course they support her and tell her it's really okay, etc. And then, the next morning, Kristy is again awakened by the news but this time it's good. Another group has confessed to the fire because they were "looking for excitement". Also, Kristy finds her lost spray-paint under her bed. She is happy again, mostly. She thinks about still confessing to the graffiti but after talking to the other newbies, agrees there isn't much point. And now that they're on the team, they will be able to vote against initiations in the future. But who was sending the threatening notes? Turns out it was Dilys, one of the new girls. She was hoping it would force the other girls to confess. And I guess she needed the money? And that's the end!
Blogged at SeeJennRead with pictures of Claudia & Stacey's outfits!!
Kristy is feeling blah with the Krushers softball team and while talking to her friends, she realizes it's because she wants to actually play ball instead of just coach it. Claudia tells her that the SMS girls' softball team is conveniently holding tryouts soon and Kristy gets excited for a second but then realizes there's no way she can juggle everything.
Claudia slid her sunglasses down her nose and peered at me over them, striking a movie star pose. "Darling," she drawled, "if anybody can do it, you can!" And great timing for not just a Claudia outfit, but a Stacey one as well!
Stacey had pulled her permed blonde hair back with a leopard-print scarf tied under one ear. She was wearing one of her favorite pairs of earrings, gold leaf-shaped ones. She was also wearing a black wrap long-sleeve top, a short, low-slung brown skirt with a big belt, black tights, and leopard print flats. She looked extremely cool. Which of course she was.
[Claudia's] eye for color and style shows in the way she dresses. Today she was into big: a big yellow shirt with red X-shaped buttons, enormously baggy white pants, and big red Doc Martens double-laced with black and yellow shoelaces. Her long straight black hair was pulled up on top of her head with more black and yellow shoelaces braided together. Her earrings said "stop" and "go" --- "stop" in her left ear and "go" in her right. (This ghostwriter really gets the importance of fashion. Earrings found on Etsy.)
Kristy can't stop thinking about the tryouts but knows that she will just get way overwhelmed if she keeps everything on, like when she tried to run for president. But then Claudia and Stacey get the bright (crazy) idea of them coaching the Krushers. Kristy almost laughs in their faces but luckily stops herself. So the two fashionistas are going to play ball and Kristy goes out for the team! (Spoiler: she makes it.) We also meet a lot of new characters in this book: Bea, Dilys, Tonya, Tallie etc. And now we get to the serious stuff.
Kristy makes the team but before she can actually be with the team, she has to pass initiation. AKA a hazing ritual. The girls who were already on the team tell the new girls they have to spray-paint graffiti on the old equipment shed or they don't play. "Have you ever played ball with someone who makes you look bad no matter what you do?" Kristy of course refuses, at first. But after a few days of, honestly, harassment, Kristy & the other new girls agree to do it. I don't really see Kristy caving like this, it's not in her nature. But they go thru with it, sneaking onto school grounds Friday night and graffitti-ing the shed. Afterwards, 2 of the girls light up cigarettes but luckily Kristy draws the line there. And all is good, right?
Wrong. Big wrong. Kristy wakes up the next morning and hears on the news that the shed burned to the ground last night and a neighborhood man was injured trying to put it out and is in the hospital. She freaks out when she can't find her used spray-paint can (did she start the fire?!) and gathers the other girls to her house to discuss it all. They convince her to keep her mouth shut because the whole team could get in trouble. Kristy feels sick about it all.
Let's get over to some baby-sitting for a bit. The "copycat" of the book is Karen, of course. She gets it in her head that being thirteen years old is the coolest thing ever so she starts copying all the BSC girls whenever she's around them. She asks Mary Anne a bajillion questions about her boyfriend and copies her every move. She copies Stacey's coaching outfit to a T and brings along her own boyfriend, Ricky Torres to the next Krushers' practice. Kristy finally explodes at her and tells her not to grow up so fast and just be herself and it's all good. And how about some hideous (Claudia) sportswear before we get back to Kristy's hazing disaster?
The clothes make the coach. Claudia was wearing a red satin baseball cap, purple sweatpants that were cut off just below the knees, purple high-tops with neon pink laces, red-and-white-striped socks, and a red and pink tie-dyed crop top shirt. (Tie-dye shirt from Etsy!) Stacey was in black bicycle shorts with neon yellow racing stripes down the sides, a pair of Nikes with matching neon yellow swooshes on the side, (but ordinary white laces), an enormous white v-neck T-shirt, a black jog bra, and a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, turned around backwards. Stacey was wearing my whistle. Claudia had this funky clay whistle shaped like a bird on a leather thong around her neck that she'd made in art class.
Back at school, the principal calls an assembly and says there is evidence that students were involved in the fire and urges the guilty party to step forward. Kristy wants to confess but the other girls tell her no way and that they'll all say she's lying. She CRIES a little at her locker (not my Kristy!) and then finds a threatening note inside, saying basically "I know what you did last summer" lol. All 4 of the new girls start getting notes, threatening and asking for money to keep quiet. But then they get great news: the boys' baseball team has been officially blamed for the fire and are being disbanded. Everyone on the team is all happy again, except Kristy. Logan is on the team and she knows in her heart that they probably didn't do it. (This is before Logan joins the Badd Boyz lol.)
Kristy decides to confess, by herself, but first she has to tell the BSC girls. Of course they support her and tell her it's really okay, etc. And then, the next morning, Kristy is again awakened by the news but this time it's good. Another group has confessed to the fire because they were "looking for excitement". Also, Kristy finds her lost spray-paint under her bed. She is happy again, mostly. She thinks about still confessing to the graffiti but after talking to the other newbies, agrees there isn't much point. And now that they're on the team, they will be able to vote against initiations in the future. But who was sending the threatening notes? Turns out it was Dilys, one of the new girls. She was hoping it would force the other girls to confess. And I guess she needed the money? And that's the end!
Blogged at SeeJennRead with pictures of Claudia & Stacey's outfits!!
July 19, 2023
Kristy learns a valuable lesson about standing up to peer pressure when she and the other newbies on the SMS softball team are made to do an initiation prank (spray paint an old shed) that may have caused real harm (the shed burned down and a good Samaritan who tried to put the fire out got injured).
I like that this story took place against the backdrop of Karen trying to emulate Kristy. It shows the additional pressure that Kristy, as an older sister, has of setting a good example for her younger siblings.
In the end,
I like that this story took place against the backdrop of Karen trying to emulate Kristy. It shows the additional pressure that Kristy, as an older sister, has of setting a good example for her younger siblings.
In the end,
June 18, 2024
This book is WEIRD. There is SO MUCH going on, and some of it is pretty decent, while some of it is more pernicious. Drawing a parallel between being a victim of hazing and group initiation rituals, and being a COPYCAT is a really strange choice. It is such a stretch to turn that kind of victimization into a personal responsibility narrative that I don't think there's a reasonable comparison to be made at all. The title, cover, and even Author's Note at the end make it sound like this is mainly a story about Karen copying Kristy. Which could have made a fine story all on its own. Adding ALL the complexities of the softball team hazing, a mystery in which the characters are missing some important information, OTHER adolescent "bad behaviors" like bullying and smoking, and the emotional weight of having caused irreparable harm to a stranger--it makes for a sort of chaotic read. And, while I was skeptical about how the very heavy events of this book could be smoothed over by the end so that they wouldn't cast a pall over the rest of the series, the conclusion winds up being a total deus ex machina.
Also, A VICTIM OF HAZING IS NOT A "COPYCAT."
Also, A VICTIM OF HAZING IS NOT A "COPYCAT."
November 25, 2020
I don't really know how I felt about this book. Like, on one hand, sports plots? Snore city. Never mind Kristy joining a team that we'll never hear of again, and befriending some new teammates who we'll never see again. And I love me some Karen, but the Copycat plot wasn't really anything worth titling the book after. So there are so many things against this book, and yet reading it seemed to fly by! (Even though I kept putting it down and being distracted. I was still surprised to see the story wrapping up!)
So yeah, even though it wasn't my favourite BSC book, it was definitely engaging!
So yeah, even though it wasn't my favourite BSC book, it was definitely engaging!
October 9, 2021
Why in the world is this book called Kristy and the Copycat when Kristy is the only 8th grade member who barely gets copied by Karen in the entire book? Also...are we naming books after the barest of subplots now? Either way, this one was a little painful. A little too reminiscent of Stacey and the Cheerleaders and...one of the Logan books I can't remember the title of, which I read not too long ago.
Mainly, I'm going to give it 3 stars because Claudia and Stacey coaching the Krushers was the most fun I've had reading a BSC book in a long while. They're the best.
Mainly, I'm going to give it 3 stars because Claudia and Stacey coaching the Krushers was the most fun I've had reading a BSC book in a long while. They're the best.
January 7, 2022
This book was so dumb. Like, REALLY dumb.
I feel like this did real damage to Kristy's character. Stacey was applauded as a hero five books for exposing corruption in the SMS athletics department and lost her spot on the cheerleading squad in the name of doing the right thing. Now we're supposed to be okay with Kristy not stepping up to the plate because she didn't get caught and someone did something worse? It seems so out of character for Kristy and the series.
The titular plot of Karen copying all the BSC members also isn't even introduced until halfway through the book. Also, Kristy's problem isn't that she was a "copycat"—it was that she was kind of seriously hazed.
This book would have been so much more interesting if she actually exposed the softball team's hazing tactics, but since it all worked out for her personal gain, I guess it's cool.
I feel like this did real damage to Kristy's character. Stacey was applauded as a hero five books for exposing corruption in the SMS athletics department and lost her spot on the cheerleading squad in the name of doing the right thing. Now we're supposed to be okay with Kristy not stepping up to the plate because she didn't get caught and someone did something worse? It seems so out of character for Kristy and the series.
The titular plot of Karen copying all the BSC members also isn't even introduced until halfway through the book. Also, Kristy's problem isn't that she was a "copycat"—it was that she was kind of seriously hazed.
This book would have been so much more interesting if she actually exposed the softball team's hazing tactics, but since it all worked out for her personal gain, I guess it's cool.
Read
July 29, 2020As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
July 16, 2023
I will never understand why they went with this as the title, because the Karen subplot is barely mentioned and is solved just as quickly as it is introduced. Plus, she never really copies Kristy, she mostly copies Stacey and Claudia. (As I would have also done at her age, let's be honest.)
As a whole, this is a pretty weak book in the series. But I needed a comfort read, and, as always, the BSC delivered on that.
As a whole, this is a pretty weak book in the series. But I needed a comfort read, and, as always, the BSC delivered on that.
May 20, 2021
Kristy decides to try out for the SMS softball team...and makes it! While Kristy deals with the rigors of middle school softball, Claudia and Stacey co-coach the Krushers and Karen decides she wants to be like the 13 year-olds around her by copying them. When the older teammates make Kristy and the other new girls go through an initiation, Kristy has to confront some serious moral dilemmas.
March 5, 2023
When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
June 21, 2025
I’m guessing Scholastic didn’t want to go with Kristy Kommits Krimes as a title but that would have been more accurate. Kristy and Karen barely interact in this book. It’s far far more about Kristy and the softball team. Also side note has Kristy never played on a sports team at school before? It seems like she would have?
December 21, 2020
(LL)
This book does a great job tackling: hazing, guilt, and standing up for what you believe in.
As an aside: the ending was too convenient and I didn’t like it, but the messages overall were still well done for the target audience to understand.
This book does a great job tackling: hazing, guilt, and standing up for what you believe in.
As an aside: the ending was too convenient and I didn’t like it, but the messages overall were still well done for the target audience to understand.
February 9, 2026
Now this was the kind of teenage shenanigans storyline that I love and adore! It was surprisingly intense for a BSC book in a way I respected, too. I do wish the ending had been fleshed out a little bit more—there’s a plot twist that would have been really cool if it hadn’t been so rushed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2017
Another Kristy book that centers around softball where the title plot is more the b-plot than anything else. Is this the last of these stupid softball-centric books!?
March 13, 2019
I loved these books as a little kid & reading them as an adult there are way more moral lessons than I realised in each story
May 26, 2019
Not the best of the Babysitter's Club books! I always enjoy a Kristy novel, but this one just felt like it was lacking. Oh well. Nostalgia-reading weekend continues!
October 24, 2019
Review on www.Audible.com please listen to this book
Read
October 10, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
May 23, 2021
There was somewhat of a lesson about peer pressure in there somewhere...but they mostly forgot the copycat part. It's only 120 pages and the copycat appeared around page 50. 🤷♀️
December 18, 2021
Pretty solid but fizzled out at the end.
April 9, 2024
I love Karen and Kristy’s relationship, so I really wish that the book had focused on it more.
February 11, 2025
3 stars. As far as Kristy books go this one wasn't bad! The plot was interesting even though there was a lot going on. It kept me hooked and I liked the more serious tone of it.
January 4, 2024
Three stars cause Karen Brewer is the worst and this book features a lot of why I don't like her. But she's in the b plot not the main story. The main story involves Kristy turning to a life of crime on order to join the school softball team. We'll sort of. After realizing she feels blah coaching a kids team and not playing Kristy tries out for the school team and makes it. She along with three other new girls are told in order to be part of the team they need to spray paint an old shed on the school grounds. I remember old sheds at school. They were an adventure youu really never knew what you'd find in them. We even used them as classrooms since my school was so small. Anyway at first the girls refuse because it's a crime and vandalism but they agree to it and do it and two if the girls light up a smoke afterward. Ah the 90's. Pretty sure my brother started to smoke at 13 but maybe it wasn't until high school. But it was still sort of cool to smoke back then when you were a teen. Anyway the next day they learn the shed burned down and they panic thinking it's their fault. Add to this somewhat minor crime they might have attempted murder as a good Samaritan was critically injured trying to control the fire. The rest of the book follows the girls feeling guilty and getting threatening notes. That and the older girls on the team are quite happy to throw them under the bus. Great teamwork gals! At first the boys team is blamed and disbanded then with a guilty feeling Kristy fesses up to the BSC and plans to do so to the principal in the morning. But before she can the actual culprits come forward. In the side plots Stacey and Claudia take over coaching the Krushers and it's hilarious since they know as much about softball as I do only they play better since Claudia actually manages to hit the ball a few times. The Karen plot involves her wanting to be 13 and being her usual annoying obnoxious self. Kristy tells her off and it was my favourite part of the book. About time someone put that brat in her place. Lord knows her parents never do. But then Kristy feels bad for her. Sigh. I'm more convinced than ever that Karen Brewer and most of the BSC charges are why I never had any kids. It okay, but the less Karen the better I say. At least they aren't as bad as the Little Sister books. She's insufferable in those. And it was interesting to see the normally perfect BSC dip a bit into a life of crime.
May 1, 2013
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 series grows with them! Terrific Author!
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 series grows with them! Terrific Author!
October 22, 2013
- didn't love this one but I think I own it, so I have a pretty clear memory of reading it a few times as a kid
- was a bit perplexed by the portrayal of Karen because I used to read the Baby-sitters Little Sister books and she obviously appears more childish in the Baby-sitters book perspectives
- the whole book was kind of eerie and cold for me, especially when
- was a bit perplexed by the portrayal of Karen because I used to read the Baby-sitters Little Sister books and she obviously appears more childish in the Baby-sitters book perspectives
- the whole book was kind of eerie and cold for me, especially when
June 8, 2023
I just dont like a lot of Kristy books because the focus is either all about softball or make me not like her or both. But this...this is a good example of peer pressure, and since I've been lucky enough to avoid that...
May 6, 2021
Loved these books as a child
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