Baby-Sitter's Club : Kristy's Great Idea (Baby-Sitters Club (Graphic Novels))

Baby-Sitter's Club : Kristy's Great Idea (Baby-Sitters Club (Graphic Novels)) Martin, Ann M. and Raina Telgemeier Date: 01 April, 2006   —   $8.99   —   Book product page Rating:

While watching her mother struggle to find a babysitter for her younger brother, twelve-year old Kristy Thomas comes up with the Babysitters Club.  Instead of calling around town looking for one babysitter, parents can call one number and reach up to four reliable babysitters.  With the help of Kristy, two childhood friends, and one new friend, the Babysitters Club becomes a success.

If this plot sounds a little too familiar to you, it should.  Twenty years ago, readers were introduced to Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey, better known as the founding members of the Babysitters Club.  Ann M. Martin's original book, Kristy's Great Idea, spawned what was, arguably, Scholastic's most popular series.  The books featured a group of middle schoolers who babysat for families of Stoneybrook, CT.  The characters were not only multicultural (in addition to Claudia, who was Japanese the series also later introduced African-American and Jewish characters), but were also diverse in other ways.  The girls had an array of interests, from painting to baseball to ballet, and also featured characters who were diabetic and asthmatic.  Each first person book was told from the point of view of a different character.  Although this is relatively common for juvenile series, now, at the time, it was quite unique.  Now, Scholastic is introducing the Babysitters Club to a whole new generation, in graphic novel format. 

I have had four major obsessions in my life: The Boston Red Sox, Broadway Musicals, Judy Garland movies, and the Babysitters Club.  For the first three years of the series' existence, my parents brought me to Walden Books every month so I could buy the latest books.  I can tell you what I was doing in my life when Kristy's mother got married, Mary Anne met Dawn, Stacey moved back to New York, Mallory and Jessie joined the Babysitters Club, and when Claudia's beloved grandmother died. The idea of reliving at least some of these experiences was exciting although I was worried whether or not my beloved series would be ruined.  My worries were unfounded.  I devoured this Kristy's Great Idea as quickly as I devoured the original in 1986.

The plot and character development are almost exactly the same. A lot of the expository, however, we now get, visually, although some of Kristy's thoughts still remain as written words.   We now see facial reactions to Stacey's odd comments, instead of only hearing Kristy's thoughts about them.  Kristy's rude treatment of her kind and future stepfather, Watson, seems so much  harsher actually seeing it.  The illustrations are wonderful and depict the four girls almost exactly as I pictured them, especially Kristy and Mary Anne. There have been some minor updates for the 2006 audience, although nothing that actually affects the plot.  Kristy sports a t-shirt which says, "Stoneybrook 06" and sophisticated Claudia's clothes do not represent mid-1980s fashion.

This would be a wonderful recommendation for graphic novel readers in upper elementary and lower middle schools.  The girls are realistically portrayed, all possessing faults while still being extremely likable.  I'm curious how far in the series these will go.  I see that the second book will actually be the third book from the original series, The Truth about Stacey, which was one of the best Babysitters Club books.  I'm looking forward to that, and once again visiting with my old friends from Stoneybrook.

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit