Karen's Two Families

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #48

by Ann M. Martin

Karen and her brother Andrew, whose parents are divorced, want to spend equal time with both Mommy and Daddy and they help their parents make a new custody arrangement to make everyone happier. Original.

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

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

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

[TheSuperKim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mommy looked at me. I think​ she expected me to smile or something, but I could not. I was afraid to. I had let myself feel hopeful once before. Then I had been disappointed. I did not want that to happen again."


For a children's book author, Ann M. Martin sure does tackle a lot of adult issues. I've been reading this series since I was just a little bit older than Karen and now I'm about three times her age, and I still love it.

This particular story tackles custody arrangements for divorced kids ( because divorced kids are special kids) as well as the unseen worries, stress, and hardships it brings to the kids. There is also a light dip in the deep pool of growing up. Karen's maturity and coming-of-age stories are just, wow. She's​ mature beyond her age. It wasn't necessarily mentioned but signs of childhood depression were there and I'm glad that Ann M Martin did not dawdle and/or tried to trivialize Karen's worries.

This may just be my favourite Karen story of all.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unflinching yet kid-appropriate look at how tough it sometimes is to be a divorced kid.

As an adult reader, I'm of course curious about the rationale behind the original custody arrangement -- why did Karen's mom get most of the time and Watson only every other weekend? Here, coz Watson admitted he'd love more time with Karen and Andrew, i got the impression that maybe Karen's mom wanted that extra time and Watson kinda acquiesced. But I wonder how much it may have been coz of Watson's work schedule and maybe travel needs, that he was less equipped to be a single parent than Karen's mom was. And maybe Watson has mellowed somewhat/ become more interested in spending more time with his kids after meeting and settling down with Kristy's mom.

But of course, those are all adult conjectures. A 7 year old kid won't know or think of any of that. So this book does a good job in keeping us within Karen's frame of reference. I also very much appreciate Karen's mom and Watson putting their own needs and desires aside to do what their kids actually need. I see the sacrifice especially for Karen's mom (while the book glosses over this, I presume Watson had to sacrifice as well for the new custody arrangement), and you know what? Kudos to them for stepping up as parents. As Karen's mom rightly points out, not every divorced family could make this kind of adjustment, and they can only do so coz both adults still live close together and they still get along.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

As a kid I didn't understand the problem with Karen's parents being divorced, this was because I did not come from a broken home, on the outside it didn't seem bad to me, two bedrooms, two sets of presents... whats the problem. Obviously as an adult I can appreciate that its not about two bedrooms and two sets of presents.
Ann M. Martin really tackled some hart hitting issues for kids.


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.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot to say about this Little Sister book, because it is a very important book in my personal history of the series. (It's also a great Little Sister book, period. It's realistic and serious and I just want to hug Karen because she goes through so much.) To start, this was the very last Little Sister book that I read/owned as a child. I would have been 11 when this came out, and the fact that I had skipped almost half the books that had come out in the year before this one shows that I was outgrowing Karen's world.

But here's the thing, I always loved the "Karen Books" because I saw so much of myself in Karen: loud, imaginative, skipped a grade, younger brother, divorced parents. And so I don't know if Karen's Two Families triggered feelings in my young heart, or if I just wanted to emulate Karen even more, but this book got me missing my dad (we only saw him every other weekend), and wondering if our custody arrangements could be changed as well. Spoiler alert: they couldn't. But I distinctly remember my dad coming over to my mom's house - which was HUGE, he actually came in and sat in our living room! - and all my parents talked about why this couldn't happen, but it was very loving and gentle.

Anyway I cried tons while rereading this book, both for younger Ashley who just wanted to see her dad more, and for Karen and her family. Especially her mom who really was a champ and just wanted her kids to be happy, even though it meant she'd see them less. Ugh, the feels.

[Jenna Lundgard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the og series but still pretty good

[Em's Adventures · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen's Mum is so selfless! I always wondered why they never spent more time at the big house but I honestly thought that they would spend a week at each house not a whole month.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book awhile ago, it was okay. I think younger kids would like it better. I've never been a fan of the Baby-Sitters club or really Baby Sitters Little Sister. I just read them because they are a really quick read and some of them are acually worth the read while others are kind of boring.

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen's parents are divorced, so Karen has two houses two bedrooms, two families, Karen is sad because she only gets four days a month with her daddy, she wants more time at her father's, but changing custody arrangements is difficult and no one wants to change things. Karen feels ignored and sad, how can she make her family understand how it feels to be split in two.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good one because it actually deals with the issue of kids missing one parent while staying with the other. Finally, Lisa and Watson LISTEN to Karen and Andrew's concerns- though a month is too long in between transitions for such young kids, I'd think. A week would probably be better.

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved these books as a child

[Teresa Granado-Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might be a Spoiler Alert....... This is the book where Andrew gets his "hermit crab" and where the new custody arrangements are worked out. One month at Mommys. One month at Daddys.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14534995