Karen's Home Run

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #18

by Ann M. Martin

From the bestselling author of the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club comes a series for a new generation!

The jinxKaren plays on the Krushers softball team. And one day when the Krushers are in a gam, Karen hits a home run! So she starts calling herself Home Run Karen. But that jinxes Karen, and she can’t hit at all. She even strikes out. How can Karen march with the Krushers in the big parade when she’s nothing but a strikeout queen?

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Sports, Juvenile

75 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1991

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

[Jaclyn]

Karen gets a crisis of confidence when, after hitting a home run at Krusher's practice, she immediately hits a slump. To the point that she feels she's too much of a loser to march with the Krushers at a Memorial Day parade.

Honestly, I didn't really get that part...Karen usually has too strong of an ego to have a single bad practice ruin it for her like that. And she usually loves the spotlight too much to let even feeling like she let her team down keep her away from the parade.

There's a subplot about a group of Stoneybrook Academy kids joining the parade with their bikes for a bike design contest. Nancy wants to enter so she can win the $100 grand prize to donate to the retirement home where the kids adopted grandparents. And when Karen considers not marching with the Krushers, she considers joining that bicycle competition instead so she can still march in the parade. TBH, I thought this just confused Karen's motivation for not marching with the Krushers. Is it really coz she feels like a loser, or is it more that she thinks prettying up her bike and winning a cash prize will be more fun?

I do like the b-plot about Andrew's struggles with batting, specifically his struggle to not throw the bat after he swings. I like how hard he kept practicing to keep his grip on the bat, and I like that he eventually succeeds in the end. My one gripe about this subplot is Kristy agreeing to remove the batting cage during the big game, simply because Andrew refused to bat in it and promised he would hold on to the bat this time. The cage was put there not for Andrew's comfort but for other people's safety, because his bat had previously almost hit other players, and once even a random spectator. For the interest of safety, I think Kristy should have made the cage non-negotiable until Andrew can prove he can hold on to his bat so the cage is no longer needed. I mean, it worked out in the end and Andrew did hold on to his bat, but it was still a safety risk that Kristy took only for the sake of Andrew's pride, and she's old enough to know that safety is more important than pride, any day.

[Annalise]

4.25 🌟!

I am definitely part of the "newer" generation of readers of the Babysitters Club Books, but come on! For a free book at my library and knowing this is 100% an iconic series, I had to at least check it out!

I'm used to the graphic novel adaptations of the BSC books, but looking through one of the books that came out legit 35 years ago (mindblowing) was fun. Obviously, I'm not the targeted audience for the books or the graphic novels, but I really have no complaints for this being a fun and quick, 2-day read!

○♡ SUMMARY ♡○
Karen is on a softball team put together by the one and only Kristy Thomas (👏), her sister, with her brother Andrew. Andrew is shy and can get very scared when he sees the ball coming to him, but for a 7-year-old, Karen has got some confidence (and sass!); especially after she hits her first home run. The luck doesn't last for long, though, because after her success, Karen just keeps striking out and upsetting herself, and she thinks, her teammates. She's torn between attending the Memorial Day parade, but after getting her confidence back in a very close game, Karen realizes that the whole point is just to have fun.

○♡ OPINIONS ♡○
I basically already brought up everything I have to say about this book; my older sister used to play softball when I was younger; and to see what one of the original copies published a long time ago, looked like, is really cool for my bookish heart! 😄 Lol though my mind is still set on wanting to watch the Babysitters Club on Netflix, because the cast seems so nice from thr videos I've seen, and the little clips seem pretty well accurate to the actual books/graphic novels!! (Also I promise, I am in the process of reading Twin Crowns, but I hit one of those, "Uhh, what do I do now?" moments in the plotline, which is really well written; I love it! So lol at some point I'll have a review up about that book. That's all for now! 😉

[Don Heiman]

The Baby Sitters Series Little Sister #18 children’s book “Karen’s Home Run” by Ann M. Martin was released by Scholastic in 1991. The book’s illustrations are by Susan Tang. The novel features the Brewer family children: Andrew who is four years old, Karen is seven, and step sister Kristy is eleven years old. Their baseball team is named “The Kristy Krushers” and they play in a softball league that has an amazing team called the “Bashers” who are coached by Bart who is Kristy’s boyfriend. The Krushers and Bashers made plans to participate in the Stoneybrook, Connecticut Memorial Day events and parade. When Karen began to struggle hitting a baseball she decided not to march with her teammates in the parade. However, Kristy asked Karen to suit up and play against the Bashers in a game a few days before the Memorial Day parade. During the game Karen had two hits and played very well. Andrew was able to overcome loosing the grip on his bat during the game. This was a bat grip problem that haunted him every time he went to bat. After playing the game Karen was invited by her father to play for his adult team. During the game she smacked a home run. She was acclaimed a “star” by her dad’s teammates and given the name “Home Run Karen.” Most amazing Andrew played with Karen on the adult team and during his first at bat he smacked a home run. He then gently dropped his bat on the ground and ran around all the bases. Andrew and Karen’s dad and his friends were all amazed when they saw the performance of Andrew and Karen. In celebration of their achievements Karen and Andrew participated in the Memorial Day parade and celebrations. The novel promotes the values of team play, performance recognition, and commitments of players to never give up even if the players are very young. (P)

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

Karen givers herself a nickname

When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.

[Elise]

Karen hit a home run once on her Krushers softball team and is feeling hyped about it through the book, though she never hits another one afterwards at the games and the finals against the bashers. I think she just wanted to be the star winner at the Stoneybrook parade held sometime after the final game

[Amanda]

I actually really enjoyed this book! Normally Karen is a bit bratty for my taste but I felt she reacted like any seven year old would who feels they are letting people down. In the end I loved how the author navigated through this experience for Karen!

[Christine]

I liked the plot line about Andrew throwing his bat. I did not like that, on the 2025 reprint cover, Karen is wearing her blue glasses while playing softball when they are supposed to be just for reading.

[Beth]

I always like the baseball ones, and I had a little of sympathy for Andrew. Karen was super dramatic as always but it ended up ok. I also like the mention of some of the unpleasant bits of living as a divorced kid, like the tension over holidays.

[Annora]

Earns three stars instead of two because I really liked the B plot with Andrew’s struggles. The Karen parts were obnoxious.

[Ashley]

As a fellow drama queen, I completely understand why Karen wanted to remove herself from the parade.

[JH]

Just a fun book about some Krusher’s antics!

[Alex Grant]

This is a good book.
Karen is on her stepsister's team. (I don't remember much of the story. I just saw this line somewhere and remembered a bit of the story.)
Karen hits a home run. Then whenever she plays she strikes out or doesn't get a home run. Will Karen be like this at the next game?
(I'm not sure when I finished this book.)

[Angela]

Okay, not one of my favorites.

[Kate]

In which Karen, as part of Kristy's "Krushers" baseball team, manages to hit a homerun.

[Joy]

This is pretty forgettable, but it is a nice tie-in with the main series.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13118759