Baby-Sitters Club Books In Order

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Super Mystery Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever Super Special Books

Publication Order of Baby-Sitter’s Club Readers Request Books

Publication Order of The Baby-Sitters Club Portrait Collection Books

Publication Order of Baby-Sitters Little Sister Books

Publication Order of Baby-Sitters Little Sister Super Special Books

Publication Order of Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphic Novels Books

The Baby-Sitters Club books are novels for children that were published in the 80s. The books follow the exploits of a group of young girls who operate a babysitting service.

+The Story

These novels have been around since 1986. The original author wrote the first few titles. Several dozen other novels in the series have since been written by ghostwriters.

The baby-sitters club tells the story of friends Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Kristy. When a personal issue arises at home involving her brother, Kristy decides to solve it by bringing her friends together to open a babysitting service.

These books are written from the POV of the protagonist, with each book focusing on the adventures of a particular member of Kristy’s babysitting operation.

While babysitting is at the center of these books, Ann M. Martin uses the opportunity to tackle issues that affect young girls like sibling rivalry, divorce, and peer conflicts. Because of the target audiences, these books are pretty short and straightforward.

Each story is designed to deliver a particular message. It is worth noting that, while Ann M. Martin is credited with writing the original baby-sitters club series, she did not create the idea.

That credit goes to the editor of Scholastic (at the time) who came across a babysitting book that was attracting considerable interest from a wide variety of readers at the time.

The Editor contacted Martin and encouraged her to craft a story about babysitting. While Jean (the editor) did originate the baby-sitters club idea, she left it to Martin to generate to work out the details of the story, such as the makeup of the cast.

No one expected the books to become a phenomenon. There should have only ever been four titles in the series. And the author delivered them promptly. However, following their publication, Scholastic realized just how massively popular they had become.

Martin wasn’t surprised when she was asked to add two more books to the four she had already written. But she was probably surprised when those two books became twelve, and
even then Scholastic showed no signs of stopping.
And Scholastic had good reason to keep going. There are few children’s books that have garnered as much interest from young readers as the baby-sitters club.

Martin initially created for protagonists who would take center-stage as members of the baby-sitters club. Over time, the likes of Mallory, Dawn, Jessica, and Abigail came into the picture.

Ann M. Martin based the original characters on people she knew, one of whom was her childhood best friend. Because the books were originally written in the 80s and 90s, they are definitely a little dated.

Though, Scholastic took the time to update the books in 2009, adding technological aspects that didn’t exist in the years that the books were first written. However, Martin took the time to assure fans that the changes wouldn’t be too drastic.
For instance, the author refused to give her 13-year-old characters cell phones, instead focusing on eliminating the use of devices like VCRs. Martin’s goal is for the books to remain frozen in time.

Even after all the books that have been written and all the adventures that the kids have undertaken, Ann M. Martin’s characters are always 13-years-old. They will never leave middle school.

Even though Martin only wrote 35 of the original baby-sitters Club books, she had a hand in the production of the various spinoffs of the series.

The books have been commended for instilling positive ideas in female readers about the way the world works. They have also been criticized for maintaining certain stereotypes about the way boys and girls interact.

+Adaptations

Ann M. Martin had the opportunity to see her baby-sitters Club series receive two adaptations. The most popular is the 13-episode television series that was produced in 1990.

A live-action movie adaptation was eventually produced in 1995. The family comedy-drama
which followed the personal trials of young girls as they provided babysitting services for their town of Stoneybrook was positively received.

+The Author

Ann Mathews Martin is an American author born in 1955 to a newspaper cartoonist and a pre-school teacher. Martin spent her childhood in Princeton, New Jersey. She knew she wanted to write from a very young age.

Inspired by the likes of Lewis Carroll and Astrid Lindgren, Martin was initially content to tell stories aloud to her mother who wrote them down for her. Then as she progressed through
elementary school, Martin took up the task of writing on her own.

Her desire to produce children’s fiction can probably be traced back to her love for children. The reason Martin became a teacher is that she couldn’t get enough of children.

She pursued the career for a few years, this including a stint spent helping disabled kids, before finally choosing to focus her efforts on publishing. The author started out working for publishing companies before she wrote her own novels.

Martin based many of the plots of these books on her personal childhood experiences.

The author believes that the babysitter books are popular because they feel so real. The characters in her books feel like real people and, as such, young readers can relate to them. They are able to live vicariously through the wild and diverse girls in Martin’s stories.

+Kristy’s Great Idea

When Kristy decides to open a babysitting service, she calls upon her friends to help her. The girls are happy to come on board. They all love children and they all expect to have plenty of fun.

It helps that there is a lot of money to be made from babysitting.

The girls begin to worry when crank calls start plaguing them while they work. It doesn’t help that two-year-olds are so difficult to deal with, not to mention the animals that come with the babysitting package.

Difficult as babysitting appears, though, Kristy and her friends refuse to give up.

+Claudia and the Phantom Phone calls

Of all the problems Kristy and her friends have faced since opening their babysitting service, the mysterious phone calls are the worst. Someone keeps calling the girls, but no one answers when they pick up.

It doesn’t help that Claudia thinks the jewel thief that has been plaguing the area might be the source of the calls. The girls have a mystery on their hand that they are not so sure they want to solve.