The Secret Life of Mary Anne Spier

The Baby-Sitters Club #114

by Ann M. Martin

Mary Anne is in big trouble. She's bought loads of Christmas presents--and has no way of paying for them all. Baby-sitting money won't be enough to pay for this mistake.

There's only one thing Mary Anne can do. She can take on a second job. A job that no one can know about. Not Logan. Not Dawn. Not even Mary Anne's father.

Mary Anne's Christmas will be ruined. . .unless he secret life pays off.

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Christmas, Juvenile, Contemporary

118 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

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

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 2 out of 5]

in this book by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn mary anne overspends on christmas presents using her dad’s credit card. he tells her he expects her to pay it back in two weeks, the day his statement comes, because he likes to pay right when it comes, and that he expects her to pay interest if she can’t. she realizes she won’t make enough money from babysitting before then, so she pretends to be 16 and takes a job as a santa’s helper elf at the mall, keeping it from all of her friends and family because she’s embarrassed. she befriends another girl who is working at the mall and discovers she was kicked out by her parents and is living in a shelter, trying to get together enough money for a plane ticket to california where she has friends she can live with. dawn comes to town for christmas and acts a little too cool for school, so mary anne throws herself even more into working at the mall. eventually mary anne confronts dawn and dawn says that she’s been feeling like mary anne was the one drifting away. mary anne tells dawn what’s been going on with her, and she is understanding and even tells mary anne she should invite angela for christmas. mary anne gets her a long distance calling card, which in 1997 was definitely the best gift for someone experiencing homelessness who has loved ones who live far away. mary anne finally tells the bsc members, logan, and her parents about the elf job, and while some of them think it’s a little funny, they’re all understanding too. her parents are a little mad but forgive her. meanwhile the toys for kids program at the local hospital is defunded, so the bsc hosts a santa-hanukkah-kwanzaa-town party as a fundraiser: people donate old toys and canned and boxed food, and they have to bring a new toy as part of their admission cost. the bsc uses the old toys to make carnival games and for prizes, and they make refreshments out of the food donations. they end up with more money than they need, and dr. johannsen implies that she will bring the extra toys to the local shelters.

highlights:
-abby says her oddball sense of humor is from living on long island, and that everyone there is like her. mary anne doesn’t understand. abby is trying to say everyone there is jewish, and you couldn't possibly understand the jewish sense of humor, mary anne.
-richard spier: "mary anne, you know how I feel about those kids who spend all their free time at the mall. what do they call them? mall cats?" thanks, richard, for inspiring my latest intentionally crappy ms paint fanart:

-logan and dawn convince mary anne to go to the mall with them on her off day. she sees santa, and he says "hi mary anne" and she replies "hi marv." logan and dawn are bewildered and she says she's been good this year which is why santa knows her name, and that she thought it would be funny to call santa marv. I don’t know how they let her get away with this, but it’s really funny.
-angela was kicked out by her parents for not being like them: having only white middle-class friends, shopping at snooty stores, and being involved in the country club. is angela that springsteen girl from the gilmore girls episode application anxiety?

-richard considers not letting angela come for christmas, saying "there must be some reason her parents are unhappy with her. I'm not sure I want you associating with someone who can't get along in her own home." then sharon points out that her parents didn't want her associating with richard and sent her to california, implying that some parents are just bad. nicely done, sharon. richard is the worst and you schooled him.

lowlights/nitpicks:
-sorry, did richard not talk about the conditions of mary anne using his card in advance? he just suddenly springs on her that she has to pay everything in full within two weeks even though his credit card bill won’t be due for six weeks. if you want to tough love in a situation like that, you make it clear to your daughter BEFORE you hand over your card.
-richard makes a stew with beef and tofu and mary anne claims that she can pick out the tofu and shannon can pick out the beef. people who don’t eat red meat can’t just pick out the beef from a stew. it’s all cooked into it.
-dawn says she can't stand to sit and watch mary anne and logan eat meat. I hate every time dawn says anything like this, especially because she’s a hypocrite who eats fish and chicken.
-at one point mal sits for the barrett-dewitts after a bsc meeting. I thought she wasn’t allowed to sit at night for kids that aren’t in her family?
-this book is basically Mary Anne Breaks the Rules: the sequel. yet again, all of her problems would be solved if she would just talk to ANYONE, instead of internalizing all this crap and assuming that everyone will hate her for everything she ever does.

dawn's presents for the california diaries folks:
-Amalia: modern art book
-Ducky: black-and-white photo of ducks on a lake at sunset
-Sunny: mexican-style sun plaque
-Maggie: daisy chain belt

jackie disasters:
-glues blocks to his head
-tosses his head back with blocks on it. one of the blocks flies off and hits becca on the cheek.
-jessi trips over another of the blocks from his head that fell off.

no outfits or snacks in claudia’s room.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this had spent more time with Mary-Anne educating herself about how to manage money. I like that the BSC series addresses important issues that girls need to learn. In this book, Mary-Anne has been made an authorized user on her father’s credit card and has spent more than she can afford to pay back. There was also a sweet secondary story about Mary-Anne being kind to a girl she meets who is having a difficult family life. I really wanted there to be more to the money management aspect, but it was still a cute, fun read. I love the BSC!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could be my favorite of the BSC Christmas books. It was funny, had a good "serious" subplot with Angela, and an okay storyline with Dawn, who has returned from her California Diaries spinoff series. The ghostwriter goes the extra mile, by not having the first two chapters be pointless recap, like usual. Instead, the first chapter thoroughly sets up the story, and the concept of "Mary Anne bought too many things" is tied into the second chapter, as she lists every present she bought, when listing all her friends.

The premise is that Mary Anne has to get an embarrassing part-time job as an elf for two weeks, because she spent too much money on Christmas presents. The book purposely doesn't say how much money she spent, but we can figure it out, based on the fact that Connecticut's minimum wage in December 1997 was $5.18 per hour. Mary Anne must owe $400 overall, she makes $50 per week from baby-sitting, and she makes $200 from her two-week job to wipe out her debt.

It was a jerk move on the part of Mary Anne's dad to move the repayment deadline by four weeks, without telling her in advance. Technically, he moved it by five weeks, because contrary to what this book says, Christmas is not the last week of the December. If Mary Anne's dad hadn't moved the deadline, she would have been able to pay him back, just from baby-sitting money. So she's more financially responsible than this book gives her credit for!

[Pastel Paperback · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciate the artwork of the elf head on the cover of this book. The whole plot hinges around the fact that Mary Anne, taking a second job and hiding in from everyone, is anonymous because the elves at this Santa picture place wear huge and absurd elf masks. I was chuckling every time I pictured Mary Anne wearing this head and dancing around handing out candy canes to the kids.

This book is kind of ridiculous but is still filled with lots of BSC cheer. Dawn comes home for the holidays and acts really distant. The Club is throwing a major fundraiser for the hospital that encompasses all the holidays. And Richard, at the end of the book, is surprisingly chill about finding out Mary Anne has been secretly working a second job at the mall (where, ahem, she lied about her age so that she could get the job in the first place?)

Cute, I'd read again.

[Marian]

A cute Christmas story that focuses on Mary Anne of the Babysitter's Club. She buys too many Christmas presents on her Dad's credit card and has to find a supplemental income so that she'll be able to pay him back on time.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was pretty decent actually. It made me laugh and it also proved what an asshole Dawn truly is especially in California Diaries. It's Christmas yet again. Mary Anne has her dad's credit card and is on a spending spree. She spends way too much I know the feeling and decides to get a job to help pay it off. She lies about her age and works as an elf. She also keeps it a secret which leads to exhaustion and confusion. She meets a girl named Angela who has basically been kicked out of the house for not being stuck up and racist. They become friends. Dawn and Jeff come home. Dawn is awful but blames Mary Anne for it. She's the worst. The b plot involves fundraisers for the children's hospital. This was kind of cute and quite funny actually so definitely an improvement on the previous books.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Mary Anne is ridiculous in this book for keeping her job secret for absolutely no reason at all, I still really love this one. I do wish we had gotten better clarification on Angela's problems with her parents, though, because the explanation we are given doesn't really make sense.

Oh, and can I just point out that Dawn buys something with a sun on it for Sunny and a picture of ducks for Ducky - I mean, really? Clearly the ghostwriter knew nothing about those characters except for their names.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always thought it would be interesting to be a Santa elf. I’m to old to do that now but kind of wish I had given it a try when I was younger.
Mary Anne’s dad gives her his credit card to go Christmas shopping (Something my parents never would do) and she goes overboard with the shopping so she gets a second job so she can pay her dad back. But she’s ashamed of the job so she doesn’t tell anyone and we all know how keeping secrets turns out.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. Mary Anne takes a secret job as a mall elf to pay for the credit card charges she racks up buying Christmas presents.

Some thoughts:
- A bit side-eye to Richard for his strictness in actually charging Mary Anne interest if she needs an extra month to pay him back. I'm Team Sharon that he should be a bit more lenient considering Mary Anne's only thirteen. Then again, he's the kind of guy who actually pays off his entire credit card bill each month, so okay, that totally tracks.

- A teensy bit side-eye at Mary Anne for feeling so pressured to keep her job a secret in the first place. Like, dressing up as an elf is silly, but not that embarrassing? Though I can imagine a thirteen-year-old would feel differently. Sweet that Hunter Bruno recognized her despite the gigantic elf head. (Also, I'm glad Sharon convinced Richard not to punish her for it afterward.)

- Sad about Mary Anne's co-worker Angela who lives at a women's shelter because her wealthy parents kicked her out of the house for being who she is. And seriously, all we know about her is that she wears heavy makeup and, I guess, has BIPOC, not-super-rich friends? The kid is 17; how scandalized are her parents that they hang up when she calls and are fine with her moving all the way across the country to live with friends in California?

- Is it truly so easy for a 13 year old to lie about their age on a job application? I get it's a casual job, and there's no reason a 13 year old can't dance around in an elf suit, but if there's an age limit (which there may be since Angela advised Mary Anne to say she's 16), isn't what the boss did illegal?

- Also, how much did the elf job pay??? If Mary Anne could only work two afternoons a week + weekends, and only worked for two weeks (minus one day because the boss canceled the last shift given how few people were coming to see Santa so close to Christmas), that's, what 30 - 40 hours of work?

Mary Anne saved two months' worth of baby-sitting money (since October, and it's now maybe a week into December) for Christmas presents, and the total cost of her shopping was three times what she'd saved.

Her gifts included a bread maker (Sharon), a fancy book (Sharon), two expensive catchers gloves (Kristy and Logan), leopard-print hat, scarf, and leather-lined gloves (Stacey), two sets of earrings and a bracelet (Dawn), plus whatever she'd originally bought for Dawn because she said she'd already finished her friends shopping before she saw the jewelry (unless she counted Dawn among the family shopping?), a fancy album (Mallory), an art set (Claudia), two tickets to a ballet matinee (Jessi), plus I guess whatever she bought her dad and Jeff. And of course the $20 phone card she got Angela.

So even if we assume her baby-sitting savings wasn't much, the costs of the gifts she bought still all added up. How on earth did she earn enough in like 40 hours of a casual gig to pay back two-thirds of her shopping costs? And on the flip side, how little does baby-sitting pay that 40 hours of a casual gig gives you twice as much as you would earn in two months of baby-sitting?

...Then again, assuming the elf job paid $15 - $20/hour, that would add up to $600 to $800. Minus taxes, that does still add up to a nice chunk of change. Certainly enough to pay for the above gifts, especially if the items she got were reasonably priced and not like the super fancy designer clothes or professional grade art/baking tools.

So okay, that tracks. And now I'm kinda inspired to try a similar side hustle for holiday shopping this year... Hmm...

[Ciara · Rating 1 out of 5]

this may be one of my all-time least favorite babysitters club books. richard gives mary anne access to his credit card so she can purchase her xmas gifts for her friends & family. she will, of course, be responsible for paying back whatever she charges. because she is paying with plastic, her perception of what she is spending is skewed & she goes overboard with the giving. for example, she buys a breadmaker for sharon, as well as a fancy, expensive vegetarian cookbook. she finds some cute earrings for dawn & buys two pairs, because dawn has two holes pierced in each ear, & then she buys a matching necklace. she isn't really keeping track of what she's spending & how it tallies with her available funds, & doesn't think to add it all up until richard & sharon comment on the quantity of gifts she is wrapping. because mary anne is a grandma, she has stuffed all the receipts into a paper bag in case any recipients weren't wild about their gifts & wanted to exchange them. when she adds everything up, she is staggered by the amount, but she figures that she can pay it off with the money she has saved over the last few months, plus whatever income she generates babysitting over the xmas season. (as an aside, these books really oscillate about which seasons are slow & which are busy for the club. sometimes xmas is described as the busy season because of all the parents going to holiday parties, & sometimes it's described as slow because all the families are engaging in holiday togetherness.) she calculates that she has six weeks to come up with the money, because richard's bill will come in two weeks & he has four weeks to pay it. but sharon bursts her bubble by explaining that richard is super-responsible & always pays his credit card bill as soon as he receives it. (so do i!)

mary anne goes into panic mode upon learning that she only has two weeks to pay for her purchases. not that she lets on to richard & sharon. richard also tells her that she'll be charging her interest on any unpaid amount she owes. sharon thinks this is "harsh," & mary anne is surprised as well, but richard sensibly & awesomely points out that he allowed mary anne to use his credit card in order to teach her about fiscal responsibility, & part of that is understanding that credit cards charge interest on past due amounts. he doesn't see why he should have to cover the interest on mary anne's balance. he says it would amount to him paying for his own xmas gifts. i'm with richard on this one. he is setting mary anne up to make responsible financial decisions during the credit & housing bubble of the early to mid-oughts!

mary anne notices that the washington mall is hiring some seasonal employees. because none of these girls has ever considered the reality of child labor laws, she decides to apply. she admits that she is 13 on the application, but a girl sitting next to her is reading over her shoulder & points out that mary anne will never get hired if she is only 13. the girl takes mary anne's application & deftly transforms the 3 into a 6. mary anne fills out the rest of the application, but then feels guilty about lying about her age, & leaves the application on her chair. the girl runs out & tells mary anne she turned it in for her. & then an assistant comes out to call mary anne for an interview. man, no job i've ever applied for had such swift turn-around between application & interview. anyway, mary anne gets the job, although she still has no clue what her job will be.

when she reports for her first day, she is given a bag containing her "costume". she chooses to believe it's a uniform instead, because the fact that she got a seasonal xmas job at a shopping mall still hasn't sunk in. what the fuck does she think she's going to be doing? waitressing in the food court? it is, of course, an elf costume. mary anne will be one of santa's elves in washington mall's holiday wonderland. the costume comes with an over-sized elf head. the girl who turned in mary anne's application, angie, was also hired. surprisingly, mary anne takes a shine to angie, even though angie is described as wearing lots of eyeliner. usually make-up is a sign of evil in the babysitters club books, unless it is applied to achieve a "natural" look, a la stacey mcgill. mary anne is very embarrassed to be an elf & decides that no one can ever know. she hasn't told her parents or any of her friends that she's going to be working at the mall.

it sounds as if the work isn't that bad. after all, mary anne likes kids. but she still won't tell anyone what she's up to, both because she is embarrassed by the elf thing, & because she doesn't want anyone to know that she overdid it with richard's credit card. she & angie become closer by working together, & angie admits that she is 17 & living in a women's homeless shelter in stoneybrook. her parents booted her out because angie wouldn't conform to their country club cookie cutter WASP-y lifestyle. angie is trying to save money to move to california & live in a big house on the beach with some of her friends. so basically, this is a terrible retread of every xmas-related "very special episode" of every sitcom ever.

dawn & jeff are coming home for xmas (even though in the last thanksgiving book, dawn arranged to go back to stoneybrook to see her mom & her dad agreed with the caveat that she stay in california for xmas). mary anne is excited until dawn actually arrives & is acting kind of weird & superior. mary anne can't figure out what's going on, but she thinks dawn is shutting her out, so she scraps her plan to admit to dawn that she is working at the mall.

mary anne finds her double life very stressful. she has to turn down babysitting jobs without admitting what her previous engagements are. she has to connive ways to go to the mall for work without admitting that she has to work. she's busy all the time & isn't getting to spend a lot of time with her family. she starts having stress dreams about her elf costume. she's worried about the distance growing between her & dawn, & she's worried about angie's life situation. she overhears angie trying to place a collect call to her parents, & her parents refuse to accept the charges. angie cries. she wanted to try to patch things up with them for xmas, but they aren't having it.

one day, mary anne agrees to work, forgetting that she already had plans to join logan is taking his younger siblings to the mall to see santa. she can't get out of work, so she suggests that dawn go with them. she is then working the elf line when they show up. she kind of panics, expecting them to recognize her through her enormous elf mask. but dawn just says, "elf! come take our picture!" then mary anne is sad that her sister & boyfriend didn't recognize her. after hunter meets with santa, he runs over to mary anne & calls her by her name. she asks how he knew & he just shrugs & says he knew. she asks him to keep it a secret & he agrees. because five-year-olds are so trustworthy, right?

mary anne invites angie to her place for xmas so she won't just be sitting around alone at the shelter. she also gives angie a calling card so she can keep in touch with her friends in stoneybrook after she moves to california--& so she can get in touch with her parents. angie is very thankful (& we never hear from her again).

mary anne & dawn finally have a heart-to-heart. mary anne tells dawn about her job, & dawn explains that the eighth graders at her california school attend the high school, & she feels a lot of pressure to act extra cool & mature in order to fit in with them. they hug it out. boooor-ing.

the B-plot is the infamously dreadful santa-hanukkah-kwanzaa fundraising thing for kids in the hospital over xmas. the babysitters have a food drive to make refreshmets for a fundraising party at which they provide games (the prizes are used toys from a toy drive) to raise money to buy new toys for kids in the hospital. the terrible name is to keep the holiday celebration non-denominational. could their plan get any more complicated? it is, of course, a success & they are able to buy lots of toys for the kids. it's worth noting that they had to do this after toys for tots (or the babysitters club-approved nom de plume, toys for kids) ran out of funding or something. um...that's not really the way it works, guys.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not how you teach your kid credit card literacy, Mr. Spier! Seriously, if you're going to hand your credit card to a middle-schooler, explain what the limits are, what the due date for paying paying you back is, and how interest works first instead of just saying "pay me back" and several days later, "oh, by the way, the payment date is in two weeks and if you can't pay the entire amount back to me by then (even though I can cover the cost so we don't deal with interest on the card), I'm charging you interest." Also, the fact that Mary Anne's fear of upsetting her father stresses her out so much that she doesn't feel like she can tell him she overspent and decides to get a second secret job instead is concerning.

I really appreciate that Mary Anne meets and befriends Angela, and the readers get an example of what a teen whose parents have kicked her out might actually look like--Angela is in an incredibly stressful and frightening situation and doing her best with it. While the book doesn't get into the nitty-gritty details, it's brief introduction to an important topic that should get more attention.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good enough book and all, but really I just can't get over that it's only two weeks 'til Christmas and they're JUST setting up Santa's Village at the mall. I've never really paid attention to Santa's schedule, but wouldn't he normally start popping into malls at the beginning of the month? And - again, two weeks 'til Christmas - and the hospital is just learning their present budget's been cut? And the BSC are able to throw together a huge, successful fundraiser for them within days? I can deal with years of eighth grade, but this is breaking my brain lol.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

As 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.

[Lianna Kendig · Rating 4 out of 5]

(LL)
The lesson here about credit card debt is so important for kids to learn that I had to give the book four stars...even though there was dumb drama with Dawn. It worked out a bit too well for my taste, and there is no way Mary Anne would have realistically fooled everyone for two weeks, but it was a good age appropriate way to address a difficult topic.

[Cassandra Doon · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Mary Anne spends too much money on gifts on her father's credit card, she takes a second job as a mall elf to make extra money. Meanwhile, Dawn and Jeff visit; and the BSC helps organize a fundraiser for hospital children.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Anne books are never my favorites but I sort of liked the plot and side plot of this one. Mary Anne having to dress up as an elf at work was a lot of fun (although her brief beef with Dawn was annoying as per usual, it felt earned from what we've read about Dawn recently.)

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was pretty cute for having Dawn in it haha. At least they worked in some of the California Diaries stuff too, a series in which Dawn was tolerable!

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on www.audible.com please listen to this book.

[Christina]

Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/the-se...

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute one! I love these books.

[Liesl]

How did Mary Anne, a thirteen-year-old child, hoodwink mall staff into thinking she was sixteen? I know her haircut makes her look older, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angela, I know what you are lmao

[Isaiah McClure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a warm Christmas read, just in time for Christmas next week!

[Laura Rayner]

Mary Anne is in big trouble. She's bought loads of Christmas presents--and has no way of paying for them all. Baby-sitting money won't be enough to pay for this mistake.

There's only one thing Mary Anne can do. She can take on a second job. A job that no one can know about. Not Logan. Not Dawn. Not even Mary Anne's father.

Mary Anne's Christmas will be ruined. . .unless he secret life pays off.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this, somehow, so 3 stars from now + 1 from childhood. It feels like too much (I would go with a balanced 3 overall), but thems the rules.

A few thoughts though:
1) Richard could pay the bill immediately and Mary Anne could still reimburse him later. Like, does he have NO savings? As if. It strikes me as highly unlikely that Richard would be willing to incur interest for the sake of teaching a lesson. Paying it off and then charging HER interest, maybe. I get wanting to hold her responsible, but he contributed to the situation by giving her the shortest amount of time possible before he pays the bill (which is great though) but mostly by letting her stay under the misapprehension that she had 3x longer to get the money.
1b) Mary Anne is kind of an idiot about the whole thing, though, but she's a young 13 and she doesn't know how credit cards work, so...okay...
1c) As if Sharon's going to make bread. Pfft. Silly goose.
2) I'm pretty sure Angela ran off-stage crying because she's being sexually harassed by Marv the Santa. At least consider what you're setting up, author. A desperate 17yo runaway and a middle-aged man who chooses to spend all day cuddling with small children. JUST SAYING.
3) Did... the hospital thing... NOT think of a toy drive earlier? But alas, there must be an overblown Club cause for Kristy to get her jollies, so I'm not going to try to understand how they were necessary.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Savanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it

[Rhiannon1220 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole series is great for girls between 11-15 years old. I read every last one of them as I was growing up.

[✨Jinglemarco✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

AMAZING!
I really liked it, from the cover to the last word! <3
My favourite book of The Baby-Sitters Club series. :D