The Baby-sitters Club is a series of children's books, written by Ann M. Martin and published by Scholastic between 1986-2000, which sold over 175 million copies.
The series is about a group of middle school students living in the fictional town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. They run a business called the Baby-sitters Club that helps parents find babysitters from the club available for jobs by calling during their club meetings. Meetings take place Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The club runs financially on dues and fundraising, and the babysitters write diaries of their jobs to help each other. The members of the club are also best friends, although they go through many conflicts throughout the series.
The club starts out with four members (Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey McGill), eventually expanding to ten. All of the main characters are thirteen, with the exception of junior members Mallory Pike and Jessica Ramsey, who are two years younger. When the club was founded (in 1986), the four members were in the seventh grade, but ten books later (1988), they are promoted to the eighth grade. From there, they are frozen in time until the very end of the series (2000), in which they graduate from middle school.
The Baby-sitters Club series is currently out of print. However, it may be considered for reprinting in the future.
Structure of the books
With the exception of Super Specials and Super Mysteries, the books are written and narrated from one character's point of view. The books generally follow this format:
- Chapter 1: Introduction to self; Beginning of plot
- Chapter 2: Description of club and members
- Chapters 14-15: Conclusion
Main characters
Kristy Thomas
Kristin Amanda Thomas
- Club position: President
- Appearance: Shoulder-length dark brown hair usually worn in pony-tail, brown eyes
- Favorite sitting charges: David Michael (brother); Karen and Andrew Brewer (stepsiblings), Emily Michelle (adopted sister); Jamie and Lucy Newton
- Birthday: August 20
- On the BSC: "We're a great group. (I'm not bragging, I'm just being honest.) We're all different, but our differences work together to bring out the best in each of us... which, of course, helps make us good baby-sitters."
Claudia Kishi
Claudia Lynn Kishi
- Club position: Vice President
- Appearance: Long jet black hair, almond shaped brown eyes, creamy complexion
- Favorite sitting charges: Jamie and Lucy Newton; Myriah, Gabbie, and Laura Perkins
- Birthday: July 11
- On the BSC: "One of the very nicest things about the Baby-Sitters Club is how it has made good friends out of all the members."
Mary Anne Spier
- Club position: Secretary
- Appearance: Long brown hair worn in braided pigtails until book #4, Mary Anne Saves the Day (she cuts it short in Mary-Anne's Makeover ), brown eyes, short for her age, wears reading glasses
- Favorite sitting charges: Myriah, Gabbie, and Laura Perkins; Jenny and Andrea Prezzioso
- Birthday: September 22
Stacey McGill
Anastasia Elizabeth McGill (known as "Stacey")
- Club position: Treasurer
- Appearance: blonde hair, sometimes permed, blue eyes, slender, tall
- Birthday: April 3
- Favorite sitting charges: Charlotte Johanssen (nicknames Charlotte as her "almost sister"), Henry and Grace Walker (in New York City, not BSC charges)
Dawn Schafer
Dawn Read Schafer
- Club position: Alternate Officer
- Appearance: Light blond hair, blue eyes.
- Birthday: February 5
- Favorite sitting charges: Buddy, Suzi and Marnie Barrett; Nina and Eleanor Marshall
Mallory Pike
- Club position: Junior member, Honorary member #69-74 & 126-end
- Appearance: Curly reddish brown hair, wears clear braces and glasses.
- Birthday: May 2
- Favorite sitting charges: Her 7 brothers and sisters
Jessi Ramsey
Jessica Davis Ramsey (known as "Jessi")
- Club position: Junior member
- Appearance: curly black hair, brown eyes, long eyelashes, tall and slender. Wears glasses for reading.
- Birthday: June 30
- Favorite sitting charges: Her brother and sister (Becca and Squirt); Haley and Matt Braddock
Logan Bruno
- Club position: Associate member
Shannon Kilbourne
Shannon Louisa Kilbourne
- Appearance: Wavy dark blond hair, piercing blue eyes, high cheekbones
- Club position: Associate member, Alternate Officer #68-81
Abby Stevenson
Abigail Avigail Stevenson (known as "Abby")
- Club position: Alternate Officer: #90-98, #100-end; President: #99
- Appearance: Long, curly brown hair, brown eyes
- Birthday: October 15
Stoneybrook
Stoneybrook is a fictional small, old-fashioned town in the state of Connecticut in The Baby-Sitters Club series. It is the hometown of many of the characters and the Baby-sitters Little Sister series as well.
The town is assumed to be near Stamford, Connecticut. Several adults in the town commute to Stamford, and Jessi Ramsey takes her ballet classes there. They also often go shopping there.
Early in the series, new BSC clients move to town, such as Ben, James, Mathew, and Johnny Hobart, Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett, and Myriah, Gabbie, and Laura Perkins.
Stoneybrook's public schools include Stoneybrook Elementary, Stoneybrook Middle School, and Stoneybrook High. Private schools include Stoneybrook Academy (which Karen Brewer and several other charges attended) and Stoneybrook Day School (where Karen's neighbor Amanda and Max Delaney and associate member Shannon Kilbourne attended school).
Karen Brewer's father and Kristy Thomas' stepfather Watson Brewer owns a mansion in an upscale subdivision of Stoneybrook. The families of Hannie Papadakis, Amanda and Max Delaney, and Shannon Kilbourne, among others, also live there.
Karen Brewer's mother and stepfather Seth reside in a regular middle-class neighborhood, of which the family of Nancy Dawes also resides in. The majority of the members of the Babysitter's Club also live in a middle-class neighbourhood. Mallory and Stacey live behind each other (their backyards touch). Bradford Court, where Claudia lives (and at the beginning of the series, Mary Anne and Kristy too) is within walking distance of almost all of their houses and within SMS (Stoney Brook Middle School). Mary Anne and Dawn live on Burnt Hill Road.
Others have moved away. Corrie Addison and her ten-year -old brother Sean used to live in Stoneybrook. They now live in Seattle.
Books
- Main article: List of The Baby-sitters Club books
Super Specials & Readers' Requests
- Super Specials: Super Specials were an extended version of the regular series, with several members of the BSC (plus at times, their friends and/or sitting charges) narrating (chapter-by-chapter changes of narrators). Super Specials centered on a larger-scale plot, usually with at least three subplots. For example, in #7: Snowbound , some members of the BSC are baby-sitting when a snowstorm hits Stoneybrook and the larger area, and the others are spread out. Dawn is stuck at the airport waiting for Jeff with her mother, and Kristy is stuck at home with Bart. The members narrate their experiences and usually, the next chapter would bring on an entirely different plot or an extension of the previous chapter, only with a different narrator.
- Readers' Requests: Those were special books featuring associate members Logan and Shannon, and their personal lives away from the BSC.
Mysteries & Super Mysteries
- Mysteries: These resemble the style of the regular books (single narrator), only the plot of the book mainly focuses on solving a mystery, with a small subplot.
- Super Mysteries: those resembled the style of Super Specials (multiple narrators), only the plot of the book was mainly focused on solving a mystery (or two), with a few small subplots.
Portrait Collections (1994-1997)
- Portrait Collections: These are autobiographies of the BSC members (Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, Dawn, and Abby). Mallory and Jessi were not included because the autobiographies were an 8th grade project only.
Baby-sitters Club: Friends Forever (1999-2000)
- Baby-sitters Club Friends Forever: These books are an extension of the original series, which focused more on the original four members (Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey). They were set following the fire at Mary Anne's house, which drastically impacted the lives of the BSC members, and concluded with a final Sup
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