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The Baby-Sitters Club #98
Dawn and Too Many Sitters
Dawn and her brother, Jeff, are back in Stoneybrook for the summer. And if that weren't enough excitement, the Baby-sitters have a school trip to Hawaii on the horizon. The girls need to make a ton of money. . .in only a month!
In fact, the BSC has taken on so many jobs, they need help. So when Jeff and the Pike triplets catch the baby-sitting bug and want to become BSC members, the club signs them up. As Baby-sitters-in-Training, the boys are happy to eat junk food at meetings and play around with the little kids. But they don't want to change diapers, or miss Little League, or listen when Kristy calls meetings to order. With help like this, will the Baby-sitters ever get to Hawaii?
In fact, the BSC has taken on so many jobs, they need help. So when Jeff and the Pike triplets catch the baby-sitting bug and want to become BSC members, the club signs them up. As Baby-sitters-in-Training, the boys are happy to eat junk food at meetings and play around with the little kids. But they don't want to change diapers, or miss Little League, or listen when Kristy calls meetings to order. With help like this, will the Baby-sitters ever get to Hawaii?
136 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
58 people are currently reading
646 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,123 books3,085 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 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 30, 2018
in this book by ghostwriter Peter Lerangis, dawn comes to stoneybrook for the summer only to discover that most of her friends in the bsc want to go on a school-sponsored trip to hawaii. they can bring up to 50 people, and if fewer than 50 sms students sign up, they will accept 11-14 year olds that don’t attend sms. dawn signs up along with her friends after being given the go-ahead by her parents. this is the deal: the parents of each of the bsc members going to hawaii will pay half of the trip’s cost ($500 -- see lowlights for my thoughts on this) as long as the bsc members raise the other $250 and any additional spending money themselves. they mow lawns, have yard sales, wash cars, basically do anything they can for the money. they finally make enough when they host a fourth of july party that requires kids to pay for participation in any of the games (sort of like a carnival). dawn is vaguely worried that over 50 sms kids will go on the hawaii trip so she will be stuck behind, but this doesn't happen, since this book is super low-conflict. meanwhile, the titular plot, which feels more like a subplot, sees jeff schafer and the pike triplets wanting to become babysitters. the bsc agrees to let them be BITs aka babysitters in-training. they will come on babysitting jobs and will receive 25% of the money earned on each job. they are kind of terrible at it, though: they won't change diapers, get freaked out by baby spit up, get in cooties fights with older charges, etc. in the end the bsc are gonna kick them out (partly because they don't show up for meetings, don't necessarily show up for jobs, etc) but they quit instead. then the bsc determine that at the pikes they will only need one sitter in the future, since the triplets are essentially like additional sitters.
highlights:
-dawn thinks that there's gonna be competition between her and abby. she has a nightmare on the plane to stoneybrook that everyone in the bsc votes her out and tries to send her back to california. she's wrong, of course. kristy wants to kidnap her and keep her in stoneybrook forever.
-robert cancels a date with stacey at the last minute, a sign that Stacey's Broken Heart is coming soon
-comedian abby: she says hawaii is an amazing place. when kristy asks if she's been there, she says, "no, but I've seen lots of hawaii five-o reruns."
-jeff is all about acronyms. his joke book is called JOKES (jeff's off-the-wall, krazy, explode-your-sides sense of humor), he calls the pike triplets JAB (jordan, adam, and byron) and the babysitters in training are BITs. dawn comments that she would like to JAB his JOKES to BITs. it's a little too clever for dawn, but funny nonetheless
-dawn makes and tries to sell health food at the mall. she actually says "experience the glow! the power! your body will thank you! your mind will thank you!" I’m thinking of countless new agey vegan restaurants and stores I’ve been to, most recently this one:
-byron likes baby formula and drinks all of the babies’ bottles on a sitting job. I love byron.
-claire carves faces into vegetables and brings them to the living room even though they're messy. her argument for why they shouldn't be in the kitchen is "they were born in the kitchen. now they live here, because it's the living room."
lowlights/nitpicks:
-narration says that dawn cares about animal rights. no she doesn't. in Dawn and the Disappearing Dogs she talks about how she doesn’t care about animals and only doesn’t eat meat because she doesn’t like the taste of it.
-narration says mary anne and kristy grew up across the street from each other. no they didn't. they grew up next door to each other. claudia was the one who lived across the street.
-the trip to hawaii costs only $500 per kid. really? this includes a round-trip flight, hotel, and three meals per day for a week. the inflation calculator I looked at says $500 is the equivalent of $785.11 by today’s standards. still not NEARLY realistic, even with the discounts I’m sure the school got (since there are 50 kids and many chaperones going). this trip must cost at least $1000 per kid.
-dawn’s health food (see the list below). I’m vegetarian and eat a chiefly vegan diet. as you saw above, I somewhat regularly go to places with names like treehouse for the earth’s children. and still, dawn’s food did not sound delicious, nor did it sound accurate to what you would actually see in a health food stand. you would be so much likelier to make things that are easier to serve without plates and cutlery, like zucchini bread or spinach pies or date nut energy bars. also, COLD MARINATED BEAN CURD. that just sounds so so gross. also, BAKED YEASTLESS FOUR-GRAIN LOAF. I’ll be your in charge of your marketing, dawn. cold marinated bean curd is now called marinated dairy-free mozzarella and is served with tomato chunks and basil on crostini. baked yeastless four-grain loaf is now called homemade whole-grain bread and is served either with almond butter and local honey or mashed avocado, feta crumbles, and freshly ground black pepper.
-they make enough money to pay all their second half of hawaii trip moneys, plus spending money for each of them in hawaii from their fourth of july carnival. I’m not sure how, considering they charge fifty cents for participation in the games.
welcome back presents for dawn:
-stacey: floppy straw hat
-claud: gift box of lotions and soaps
-abby: mixtape
-shannon and kristy: basket of natural foods
-mary anne: jumpsuit
-mallory: notecards
-jessi: biography of pavlova
-logan: sugarfree gum
dawn's health food spread:
-pita bread wedges and hummus
-sprouts and avocado sandwiches
-arugula salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and sunflower seeds
-cold, marinated bean curd
-cups of celery-carrot-spinach juice
-baked yeastless four-grain loaf
snacks in claudia’s room:
-chocolate covered macadamia nuts (n.s.)
-mauna la'i juice (n.s.)
-dried pineapple rings (n.s.)
-mini snickers bars (n.s.)
-kit-kats behind the hats in her closet
-pretzel nuggets behind the hats in her closet
-famous amos cookies behind the hats in her closet
-pretzels (n.s.)
-snickers (n.s.)
-tortilla chips (n.s.)
-soda (n.s.)
highlights:
-dawn thinks that there's gonna be competition between her and abby. she has a nightmare on the plane to stoneybrook that everyone in the bsc votes her out and tries to send her back to california. she's wrong, of course. kristy wants to kidnap her and keep her in stoneybrook forever.
-robert cancels a date with stacey at the last minute, a sign that Stacey's Broken Heart is coming soon
-comedian abby: she says hawaii is an amazing place. when kristy asks if she's been there, she says, "no, but I've seen lots of hawaii five-o reruns."
-jeff is all about acronyms. his joke book is called JOKES (jeff's off-the-wall, krazy, explode-your-sides sense of humor), he calls the pike triplets JAB (jordan, adam, and byron) and the babysitters in training are BITs. dawn comments that she would like to JAB his JOKES to BITs. it's a little too clever for dawn, but funny nonetheless
-dawn makes and tries to sell health food at the mall. she actually says "experience the glow! the power! your body will thank you! your mind will thank you!" I’m thinking of countless new agey vegan restaurants and stores I’ve been to, most recently this one:
-byron likes baby formula and drinks all of the babies’ bottles on a sitting job. I love byron.
-claire carves faces into vegetables and brings them to the living room even though they're messy. her argument for why they shouldn't be in the kitchen is "they were born in the kitchen. now they live here, because it's the living room."
lowlights/nitpicks:
-narration says that dawn cares about animal rights. no she doesn't. in Dawn and the Disappearing Dogs she talks about how she doesn’t care about animals and only doesn’t eat meat because she doesn’t like the taste of it.
-narration says mary anne and kristy grew up across the street from each other. no they didn't. they grew up next door to each other. claudia was the one who lived across the street.
-the trip to hawaii costs only $500 per kid. really? this includes a round-trip flight, hotel, and three meals per day for a week. the inflation calculator I looked at says $500 is the equivalent of $785.11 by today’s standards. still not NEARLY realistic, even with the discounts I’m sure the school got (since there are 50 kids and many chaperones going). this trip must cost at least $1000 per kid.
-dawn’s health food (see the list below). I’m vegetarian and eat a chiefly vegan diet. as you saw above, I somewhat regularly go to places with names like treehouse for the earth’s children. and still, dawn’s food did not sound delicious, nor did it sound accurate to what you would actually see in a health food stand. you would be so much likelier to make things that are easier to serve without plates and cutlery, like zucchini bread or spinach pies or date nut energy bars. also, COLD MARINATED BEAN CURD. that just sounds so so gross. also, BAKED YEASTLESS FOUR-GRAIN LOAF. I’ll be your in charge of your marketing, dawn. cold marinated bean curd is now called marinated dairy-free mozzarella and is served with tomato chunks and basil on crostini. baked yeastless four-grain loaf is now called homemade whole-grain bread and is served either with almond butter and local honey or mashed avocado, feta crumbles, and freshly ground black pepper.
-they make enough money to pay all their second half of hawaii trip moneys, plus spending money for each of them in hawaii from their fourth of july carnival. I’m not sure how, considering they charge fifty cents for participation in the games.
welcome back presents for dawn:
-stacey: floppy straw hat
-claud: gift box of lotions and soaps
-abby: mixtape
-shannon and kristy: basket of natural foods
-mary anne: jumpsuit
-mallory: notecards
-jessi: biography of pavlova
-logan: sugarfree gum
dawn's health food spread:
-pita bread wedges and hummus
-sprouts and avocado sandwiches
-arugula salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and sunflower seeds
-cold, marinated bean curd
-cups of celery-carrot-spinach juice
-baked yeastless four-grain loaf
snacks in claudia’s room:
-chocolate covered macadamia nuts (n.s.)
-mauna la'i juice (n.s.)
-dried pineapple rings (n.s.)
-mini snickers bars (n.s.)
-kit-kats behind the hats in her closet
-pretzel nuggets behind the hats in her closet
-famous amos cookies behind the hats in her closet
-pretzels (n.s.)
-snickers (n.s.)
-tortilla chips (n.s.)
-soda (n.s.)
April 28, 2011
it's summer...AGAIN. & dawn is spending the summer in stoneybrook with her mom. shortly after she & jeff arrive, jeff & the pike triplets announce that they would like to try their hands at babysitting. they ask dawn how they might go about starting their own babysitting club, but they balk at the idea of calling parents to announce their availability or posting flyers in grocery stores & pediatricians' offices. dawn suggests that they start small by being babysitters-in-training. they can accompany members of the babysitters club on jobs & help out to get some experience. i am SHOCKED that kristy would agree to this competition for jobs, but because we need a plotline, she does. the boys will be expected to attend meetings & will be paid a quarter of the proceeds for the jobs they do as trainees.
bear in mind that these boys are TEN YEARS OLD. i used to babysit for my younger siblings when i was ten...for free, because my parents both worked & couldn't afford to pay me, let alone a real sitter. it was basically a gussied up form of child neglect. we had to stay in the basement (which was not finished, but did contain a couch & a TV) & pretend like no one was home if anyone came to the door. we weren't even allowed to answer the phone. i think asking us to believe that stoneybrook parents are down with 13-year-old sitters is a stretch. eleven is really pushing it. but TEN? give me a break.
anyway, the boys are terrors at meetings. they decimate claudia's entire stock of junk food & spend all their time having burping contests. they are less than useless on jobs. jeff is horrified by the idea of changing a baby's diaper, byron drinks all the babies' formula, adam teases his charges, & i can't remember what jordan does but it's probably something obnoxious. they also blow off meetings with no notice, & byron even tries to weasel out of a sitting job to which he agreed.
to complicate the matter, stoneybrook is offering group discounts on tickets to hawaii at the end of july. if fifty kids ages 11-14 sign up, everyone will get to go for $500 a piece, which includes everything (meals, hotel, airfare, activities). that is a good deal. stoneybrook middle school students will get priority, but if not enough sign up, they will pad the group with others kids on the wait list, which means dawn could go. the babysitters all beg their parents to agree to the trip, & they all agree, except for kristy's parents, who have already planned a hawaii vacation for the whole family in august (must be nice to be a millionaire) & mallory's parents, who have eight goddamn kids & can't be shelling out for them to go to hawaii whenever they damn well please. but the parents insist that the babysitters raise half the cost themselves.
so none of the girls are happy the their babysitting trainees are making their jobs harder & cutting into their hawaii savings at the same time. plus they are all wiped out from doing tons of other fundraising jobs & schemes to come up with spending money in hawaii. dawn agitates for the trainees to be given more time, but after stacey has a horrible job with adam at the braddocks' house, the babysitters agree that the tainees are just too young & immature for babysitting. dawn & mallory agree to break the news to their brothers.
but before they get a chance, the trainees themselves admit that they don't really like babysitting that much & don't want to do it anymore. problem solved! & kristy comes up with a hawaii fundraiser: the babysitters will sell concessions (drinks, snacks, patriotic souvenirs, & kids' activities) at the stoneybrook fireworks display for july 4th. it goes great & the sitters make tons of money. on the day the deposits are due, 49 stoneybrook middle school students turn up with hawaii money. there's room for one kid from the non-student wait list, & dawn is first on the list. the babysitters are going to hawaii! i sure hope someone angers a god, "saved by the bell"-style. perhaps mary anne will become a human sacrifice.
bear in mind that these boys are TEN YEARS OLD. i used to babysit for my younger siblings when i was ten...for free, because my parents both worked & couldn't afford to pay me, let alone a real sitter. it was basically a gussied up form of child neglect. we had to stay in the basement (which was not finished, but did contain a couch & a TV) & pretend like no one was home if anyone came to the door. we weren't even allowed to answer the phone. i think asking us to believe that stoneybrook parents are down with 13-year-old sitters is a stretch. eleven is really pushing it. but TEN? give me a break.
anyway, the boys are terrors at meetings. they decimate claudia's entire stock of junk food & spend all their time having burping contests. they are less than useless on jobs. jeff is horrified by the idea of changing a baby's diaper, byron drinks all the babies' formula, adam teases his charges, & i can't remember what jordan does but it's probably something obnoxious. they also blow off meetings with no notice, & byron even tries to weasel out of a sitting job to which he agreed.
to complicate the matter, stoneybrook is offering group discounts on tickets to hawaii at the end of july. if fifty kids ages 11-14 sign up, everyone will get to go for $500 a piece, which includes everything (meals, hotel, airfare, activities). that is a good deal. stoneybrook middle school students will get priority, but if not enough sign up, they will pad the group with others kids on the wait list, which means dawn could go. the babysitters all beg their parents to agree to the trip, & they all agree, except for kristy's parents, who have already planned a hawaii vacation for the whole family in august (must be nice to be a millionaire) & mallory's parents, who have eight goddamn kids & can't be shelling out for them to go to hawaii whenever they damn well please. but the parents insist that the babysitters raise half the cost themselves.
so none of the girls are happy the their babysitting trainees are making their jobs harder & cutting into their hawaii savings at the same time. plus they are all wiped out from doing tons of other fundraising jobs & schemes to come up with spending money in hawaii. dawn agitates for the trainees to be given more time, but after stacey has a horrible job with adam at the braddocks' house, the babysitters agree that the tainees are just too young & immature for babysitting. dawn & mallory agree to break the news to their brothers.
but before they get a chance, the trainees themselves admit that they don't really like babysitting that much & don't want to do it anymore. problem solved! & kristy comes up with a hawaii fundraiser: the babysitters will sell concessions (drinks, snacks, patriotic souvenirs, & kids' activities) at the stoneybrook fireworks display for july 4th. it goes great & the sitters make tons of money. on the day the deposits are due, 49 stoneybrook middle school students turn up with hawaii money. there's room for one kid from the non-student wait list, & dawn is first on the list. the babysitters are going to hawaii! i sure hope someone angers a god, "saved by the bell"-style. perhaps mary anne will become a human sacrifice.
January 9, 2017
This book could have been so much more!
-Dawn comes home from California. She worries that Abby has replaced her and the BSC won't want her back. This plot line goes no where - though it would have been really interesting.
-Both her Cali friends and Stoneybrook friends make a super big deal of her departure and 'home'coming - the BSC members all give her presents when she arrives home. Please explain.
-The Pike triplets and Jeff want to be baby sitters in training, and Kristy lets them (and charges them). There is a convenient decision mutually made that the boys will not continue their training - thank goodness. Also, Byron, the best of the triplets, becomes addicted to baby formula... what the?
-MEANWHILE SMS has organised a trip to Hawaii. All the BSC members, except Kristy and Mallory, convince their parents to let them sign up. The parents ALL agree that they will pay half and the sitters need to raise $250 each in a month.... Ummmm??!
-Poor Mallory can't go because she has to help Mrs Stone out on their farm for a summer holiday camp... Does everyone hate poor Mal? She could have cancelled.... It's Hawaii! Then again, the Pikes aren't well off and probably couldn't make the down payment straight away without sacrificing lots of other things.
-MA and Dawn also suggest that Richard and Sharon co on the Hawaii trip with them, as chaperones. This would have been awesome, except it never happened.
The thing is there was a lot happening in this books - kind of like the first 20 books in the series- but a lot less suspense - of course the girls would raise that crazy amount of money! Of course the boys would all quit baby sitting! Of course Abby and Dawn get along great. (Though it's Abby, she is the most likable character.) Too much of courseness.
-Dawn comes home from California. She worries that Abby has replaced her and the BSC won't want her back. This plot line goes no where - though it would have been really interesting.
-Both her Cali friends and Stoneybrook friends make a super big deal of her departure and 'home'coming - the BSC members all give her presents when she arrives home. Please explain.
-The Pike triplets and Jeff want to be baby sitters in training, and Kristy lets them (and charges them). There is a convenient decision mutually made that the boys will not continue their training - thank goodness. Also, Byron, the best of the triplets, becomes addicted to baby formula... what the?
-MEANWHILE SMS has organised a trip to Hawaii. All the BSC members, except Kristy and Mallory, convince their parents to let them sign up. The parents ALL agree that they will pay half and the sitters need to raise $250 each in a month.... Ummmm??!
-Poor Mallory can't go because she has to help Mrs Stone out on their farm for a summer holiday camp... Does everyone hate poor Mal? She could have cancelled.... It's Hawaii! Then again, the Pikes aren't well off and probably couldn't make the down payment straight away without sacrificing lots of other things.
-MA and Dawn also suggest that Richard and Sharon co on the Hawaii trip with them, as chaperones. This would have been awesome, except it never happened.
The thing is there was a lot happening in this books - kind of like the first 20 books in the series- but a lot less suspense - of course the girls would raise that crazy amount of money! Of course the boys would all quit baby sitting! Of course Abby and Dawn get along great. (Though it's Abby, she is the most likable character.) Too much of courseness.
July 9, 2024
Why do we still have Dawn books? I thought she was gone. Abby took her place, everyone moved on. An occasional cameo sure but not a whole book or two. But here I am reading two Dawn books after she left Stoneybrook for good. Dawn and Jeff arrive for summer vacation with their mom. Jeff and the Pike triplets decide they want to be babysitters. So they shadow the girls on their jobs get 25% of their wages and mostly make a mess of things. They are grossed out that babies poop and throw up, kids closest to their own age hate them and they taunt and tease them. But in the end the Pikes don't need two sitters anymore. The b plot ties into one of the Super Specials Aloha Hawaii. The school is putting on a summer trip to Hawaii only 50 students can go. The girls need to raise half of the $500 it costs to go and so hold a fourth of July party/carnival. I have questions. Why does Dawn get to go? I mean her poor mom especially with Sunny's mom dying you'd think she would want to spend time with her own mother. Who goes to Hawaii in summer? I would think Hawaii is a perfect trip for January or possibly late winter early spring. And lastly $500 to go to Hawaii all inclusive. Damn I'd go in a heartbeat for that deal. I can't even go on a trip an hour's flight away from me without it costing $1000 not including meals, transportation etc. Not realistic. Not my favourite book. I thought we were done with Dawn. She's annoying here and even more so in California Diaries with her pointless storyline. You wanted to go back to California Dawn, stay there.
August 24, 2017
I read this book at age 13, right around the time I started to leave behind the BSC to move onto bigger and better things. I mean clearly I never outgrew them, I still have all mine and I'm reading them again now, but you know what I mean.
Anyway all you need to know about this book is this: You know how in the back of "newer" versions they had all the questions about the book? When it asked "What did you like best about this book?" Thirteen year old me wrote "When it ended."
Enough said.
Anyway all you need to know about this book is this: You know how in the back of "newer" versions they had all the questions about the book? When it asked "What did you like best about this book?" Thirteen year old me wrote "When it ended."
Enough said.
September 8, 2022
2.5 stars. As far as Dawn books go, this one was surprisingly not bad. It focused on the BSC as a whole, for the most part, and on Dawn as a person much less--which made it better. That said, it's still pretty dull. It just seems like set-up for the next Super Special (which, surprise! it is).
December 27, 2020
(LL)
I usually don’t get so technical about reviews for a kid’s book but this one really grinds my gears.
This honestly don’t do the BSC any favors: it makes Jessi and Mallory look like they probably shouldn’t be baby-sitters either. So Jeff being 10 is too young to be a baby-sitter for a 9 year old, but Mallory at 11 is so much better to watch someone only two years younger than her? Please. Don’t get me wrong: I like Mallory and Jessi as characters, but in reality they are definitely too young to be baby-sitters when most of their clients are younger by only two or three years at most.
Also, Kristy is supposed to be super organized and professional yet she never told clients that the BSC was having trainees coming to their babysitting jobs for the next few weeks? I’d like to think at least one parent would be upset they weren’t given a heads up about the BIT (baby-sitters-in-training) participation regardless if they had to pay them extra or not.
This was obviously written to allow for a super special BSC book in Hawaii, since after all of the trouble of this book unless the readers buy the super special they won’t even get to see how the two weeks in Hawaii turn out.
Moreover, adjusting for inflation, the trip for each child in 2020 (disregarding the pandemic) would be $829.00. It would have cost the Spier’s $1,660 for Mary Anne and Dawn to go to Hawaii...before souvenirs and extra snacks/food. No freaking way would Mary Anne and Dawn be able to make that back. Also, Dawn is supposed to pay back her father for two plane tickets...which I doubt she’s earned enough in California over the last year to pay off, as discussed in the book...so why are the Spier’s spending over $800 on a girl that should still owe her father hundreds of dollars?
I usually don’t get so technical about reviews for a kid’s book but this one really grinds my gears.
This honestly don’t do the BSC any favors: it makes Jessi and Mallory look like they probably shouldn’t be baby-sitters either. So Jeff being 10 is too young to be a baby-sitter for a 9 year old, but Mallory at 11 is so much better to watch someone only two years younger than her? Please. Don’t get me wrong: I like Mallory and Jessi as characters, but in reality they are definitely too young to be baby-sitters when most of their clients are younger by only two or three years at most.
Also, Kristy is supposed to be super organized and professional yet she never told clients that the BSC was having trainees coming to their babysitting jobs for the next few weeks? I’d like to think at least one parent would be upset they weren’t given a heads up about the BIT (baby-sitters-in-training) participation regardless if they had to pay them extra or not.
This was obviously written to allow for a super special BSC book in Hawaii, since after all of the trouble of this book unless the readers buy the super special they won’t even get to see how the two weeks in Hawaii turn out.
Moreover, adjusting for inflation, the trip for each child in 2020 (disregarding the pandemic) would be $829.00. It would have cost the Spier’s $1,660 for Mary Anne and Dawn to go to Hawaii...before souvenirs and extra snacks/food. No freaking way would Mary Anne and Dawn be able to make that back. Also, Dawn is supposed to pay back her father for two plane tickets...which I doubt she’s earned enough in California over the last year to pay off, as discussed in the book...so why are the Spier’s spending over $800 on a girl that should still owe her father hundreds of dollars?
September 10, 2022
I was low-key dreading this one (between a Dawn narration and the annoying BITs), but it was better than I had remembered! I forgot that this book was setting up for
Aloha, Baby-sitters
, which I do like when there's a little continuity between books. (Also, it reminded me of one of my favourite Sleepover Friends books,
Kate the Winner!
) The titular story almost seemed like a subplot, which was beneficial that it didn't make it too annoying. All in all, fairly enjoyable!
August 13, 2022
Dawn and Jeff are back in Stoneybrook for the summer; and Dawn quickly rejoins the BSC. When they learn that SMS is planning a trip to Hawaii, they quickly get permission from their parents to go. But this means they are going to need to earn a lot of money. Meanwhile, Jeff and the Pike triplets are interested in babysitting, so the BSC takes them on as Babysitters-In-Training. This turns out to be too much for the BSC; they have $250 to earn, jobs to do, and an extra 10-year-old-boy to manage as well.
July 4, 2020
I decided to re-read this one today for the sole reason that it takes place on Fourth of July at the end.
This was a fun read, but since so many of the BSC books I’ve re-read recently were older books, the decline in quality was very apparent to me here. I don’t notice it as much if I just grab one newer book to read every once in awhile, but coming off all of the older books it was extremely obvious.
This was a fun read, but since so many of the BSC books I’ve re-read recently were older books, the decline in quality was very apparent to me here. I don’t notice it as much if I just grab one newer book to read every once in awhile, but coming off all of the older books it was extremely obvious.
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
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
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.
April 24, 2023
What are the parents thinking? The pressure and responsibility of earning enough money for an expensive out of state school trip almost induces severe burnout in most of these girls. The parents should have paid for it (all of them seemed to be able to afford it) and allowed the girls to work for spending money for the trip. These girls are still in elementary (primary) school!
January 20, 2026
Basic 3 star. You all know Dawn is not my favorite. I took the opportunity to use an Audible credit for this book since I had no physical copy and couldn’t get a hold of it on Libby. Now, I don’t think I will do Dawn books any other way…….
November 12, 2019
Review on www.Audible.com please listen to this book.
August 28, 2020
“I want to sit,” Jeff announced.
Mary Anne stood up from her chair. “Go right ahead.”
Mary Anne stood up from her chair. “Go right ahead.”
Read
December 15, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
February 26, 2023
Good, but I wanted them to talk about the BSC trip to Hawaii. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2023
Not my favorite. The main plot with the boy sitters was pretty boring.
November 20, 2016
ITA-ENG
Quanto ho odiato Jeff e i gemelli! E le ragazzine per aver dato loro una possibilità quando era chiaro che stavano solo cazzeggiando. Il viaggio alle Hawaii (di dieci giorni, all inclusive) per 500 dollari a testa è stato l'apice dell'assurdo. Che è parte del fascino di questa serie.
Ugh, Jeff and the triplets were so fricking annoying! And the girls were even more so for giving them a chance when it was clear they didn't give a damn about babysitting. The trip to Hawaii (for ten days, all inclusive) for 500 dollars per person was one of the most absurd things I've read in these books. But that's also part of their charm.
Quanto ho odiato Jeff e i gemelli! E le ragazzine per aver dato loro una possibilità quando era chiaro che stavano solo cazzeggiando. Il viaggio alle Hawaii (di dieci giorni, all inclusive) per 500 dollari a testa è stato l'apice dell'assurdo. Che è parte del fascino di questa serie.
Ugh, Jeff and the triplets were so fricking annoying! And the girls were even more so for giving them a chance when it was clear they didn't give a damn about babysitting. The trip to Hawaii (for ten days, all inclusive) for 500 dollars per person was one of the most absurd things I've read in these books. But that's also part of their charm.
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!
January 17, 2025
Review 2023:
The Adam-Haley scene was hilarious, and the flowers Adam picked for Stacey were really sweet.
The Hawaii storyline was...I get it's a set-up for a Super Special but TBH, Dawn kinda sucks for flying back to Stoneybrook to spend summer with her mom only to then book a two week trip to Hawaii. I get that all her friends are going so sucks for her to have no one to hang out with, but like, this is also her time with her mom, so still kinda sucks.
The Adam-Haley scene was hilarious, and the flowers Adam picked for Stacey were really sweet.
The Hawaii storyline was...I get it's a set-up for a Super Special but TBH, Dawn kinda sucks for flying back to Stoneybrook to spend summer with her mom only to then book a two week trip to Hawaii. I get that all her friends are going so sucks for her to have no one to hang out with, but like, this is also her time with her mom, so still kinda sucks.
August 6, 2008
This whole series is great for girls between 11-15 years old. I read every last one of them as I was growing up.
July 19, 2011
Oh, Dawn, where is that spunk and can-do attitude that you showed us in the Little Miss Sunnybrook competition?
May 6, 2021
Loved these books as a child
November 1, 2013
Just when you thought she was gone, HERE COMES DAWN! STFU, Dawn.
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