The Baby-Sitter's Club: Kristy's Great Idea

Martin, A. & Telgemeier, R. (2006). The Baby-Sitter's Club: Kristy's Great Idea. New York, NY: Graphix.

Plot Summary:
After seeing her mom struggle to find a babysitter for her little brother one night, Kristy had an idea. Why not only have one number people can call to reach many baby-sitters? It was this idea that formed the Baby-sitter’s Club. Kristy invited her friends Mary Ann and Claudia to join the club and Claudia recommended a new girl in town, Stacy to join as well. They decided that they would meet once a week at Claudia’s, because she had her own phone line in her room. Each girl decided to take a position in the club: Kristy as president, Claudia as vice president, Mary Ann as secretary, and Stacy as treasurer. The girls went out on their first jobs as part of the club and made notes about their experiences in the club notebook. In the meantime, Kristy’s mom has become very close with her boyfriend, Watson. This infuriates Kristy so much that she refuses to be civil to Watson and will not babysit his kids. In an emergency situation though, Kristy is forced to babysit Watson’s kids and grows to like them and Watson very much. The girls don’t know very much about Stacy and get concerned when they catch her in a lie, but it turns out that Stacy was embarrassed to tell them about her having diabetes. The girls embrace Stacy’s secret, which makes them all closer as friends and as members of the baby-sitter’s club.

Review:
I read so many of these books as a tween. It had been awhile since I’d read this one, so I was happy to re-read it in graphic novel format. My curiosity has me tempted to re-read the actual book to see what, if any, changes were made. I think these books transfer to graphic novel format really well. Kristy’s tween dramatics are great as illustrations, Telgemeier did a wonderful job with her many facial expressions. It was also great to see all of Claudia’s interesting clothing combinations. I’ve been spoiled by all the full color graphic novels I’ve been reading lately, so I was a little disappointed to learn that this one was only in black and white. But, that was quickly forgotten as I got swept up into the story and illustrations.

Genre:
graphic novel

Reading Level:
Ages 9 - 12

Subjects/Themes:
divorce, diabetes, friendships, babysitting

Series Information:
First book in the Baby-Sitter's Club graphic series.

Character Names/Descriptions:
Kristy Thomas: seventh grader; comes up with the idea for the Baby-sitter's Club; is president of the Babysitter's Club; is upset her mom is dating Watson
Mary Anne Spier: seventh grader; secretary of the Baby-sitter's Club; lives with her father, her mother is deceased; her father is overprotective
Claudia Kishi: seventh grader; vice president of the Baby-sitter's Club; the club meets at her house; has a book smart younger sister; her grandma Mimi lives with her family; funky dresser
Stacey McGill: seventh grader, treasurer of the Baby-sitter's Club; is new to town, just moved there from New York; has diabetes
Watson: Kristy's mom's boyfriend; has two young children

Annotation:
After seeing her mom struggle to find a sitter, Kristy comes up with an idea for her friends to start a baby--sitter's club.