Karen's School Surprise

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #77

by Ann M. Martin

School turns into a big adventure for Karen when she and her classmates learn that they will be on a local cable television show competition. Original.

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

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Em's Adventures · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unbelievable, Karen has to be one of the most awful, selfish people I've ever read about. And she is the main character. David Michael has been having troubles at school, he is failing tests and is grumpy because Karen gets to do everything and wins so many things he is not wrong there, I am sensing a bit of favouritism from the parents. But anyway, David Michaels class gets a computer and he finally finds something that he enjoys about school, he is so happy that he starts doing really well and getting good grades.
Karen, of course, is jealous because her class doesn't have a computer and she is not the center of attention so she starts accusing him of showing off. Well excuse me Karen, you have done nothing but show off for all of these books and I have absolutely seen you brag about your grades all the time. The book ends without a resolution and Karen still being angry with David Michael for finally having a good life.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun throwback to 90s Nickelodeon type shows. Silly stunts and all.

Also fun throwback to when computers were huge deals and the internet was new. With modems!

Boo on Karen being so jealous of, and mean to, David Michael. Poor guy finally does well in school and is enjoying time with Watson, and Karen can't stand it. 🙄

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lmao I am reading this thirty (ew) years after it was published, and oh man, I forgot about the ~awe of computers and going on the internet and IMing someone. Oh, how technology has exploded.

[Moria Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was OK. Not one of my favorites. Worth reading though.