Karen's Book

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #100

by Ann M. Martin, Susan Tang (Illustrator)

The series' hundredth book, in which Karen decides to write an autobiography that describes all the highlights of her seven years, beginning on the day she was born, features a special cover and a keepsake locket. Original.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Collections

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

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

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book because it provides context to Karen's spiel in chapter two about being a two-two and describes how she met the important people in her life.

I am glad Nancy decided to tell Karen her name because, per Karen's threat, the girls would not have been friends otherwise. "'You did not guess my name. If you want to be my friend, you have to tell me yours,' I said. The girl was quiet for a minute. Then she said, 'My name is Nancy.'"

I liked the story of the day Karen was born. It was a warm Saturday afternoon in the spring. She does not give the actual date she was born, which seems way more important than the exact time of her birth. Watson chose Karen's name. "'There is only one name that seems right to me,' said Daddy. 'That name is Karen. It means ‘pure.’ And seeing our baby, I feel pure joy.'"

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must've been published around the same time as the BSC 8th graders were writing their autobiographies. It was cute. Highlight for me is actually getting to see Lisa and Seth's love story. And also Kristy's first time meeting Karen and Andrew.

[Em's Adventures · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite because the author writes Karen's life story in one chapter in Every Single Book, so I felt like I had read this a million times already, but it was a cute read.

[Fiona Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun little read to celebrate my own first short story being published.
I enjoyed Lisa meeting Seth and all the excuses for him to come over.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m assuming this was published at the same time as the BSC Autobiographies, but this one was really interesting. I loved learning how Lisa met Seth!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen, the main character, is BORED with a capital B because everyone is very busy. Her Nannie is busy,her Daddy is busy, everyone in her house is busy. So she decides to make a book about herself. It leads her readers in a book about her life from the day she was born to the the second grade,the year she started the book.
This book has all the information about Karen and how she got her cats(stuffed), Hottie(her class guinea pig), and her friends. This book is a book that I recommend to people who want to try a new book series or want to find about Karen a bit more, this is the book for you. Read Karen's Book to get the whole story.
I like this book because it shows the story about Karen(I like Ann M. Martin's books a lot). There is nothing I don't like about this book. This is why I like Karen's Book a lot.

-C

[Melenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved these books as a child