Four friends and baby-sitting-- what could be more fun?

The Baby-sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea

Ready, kids? This is the one that started it all. There's only one word for it: CLASSIC.

The original Fab Four are just beginning their seventh grade year. One evening, Kristy's mom brings home a pizza because she has to ask a favor of her older kids: David Michael's baby-sitter has canceled and she needs someone to watch him after school the next day. Charlie, Sam, and Kristy are all busy. Poor Mrs. Thomas has to let her pizza get cold while she calls everyone in the neighborhood looking for a sitter. It takes, what, five minutes to eat a slice of pizza? Why couldn't she eat and then call? I highly doubt that if she doesn't call RIGHT NOW she's going to miss out on the last available sitter in Stoneybrook. But let's overlook that, because it brings the world KRISTY'S GREAT IDEA.

Make one call, reach a whole bunch of sitters! Genius in its simplicity. So Kristy flashes her idea to Mary Anne through the window that night (MA is not allowed to talk on the phone at this point. I never really understood this. What is so bad about talking on the phone? I mean, especially if she's done her homework and everything? What does Mr. Spier think she should be doing with her time? It must have been awfully boring to be Mary Anne.) Anyway, MA loves the idea, so they bring it up with Claudia the next day as well. Claud also loves it, and suggests one more member, her new friend from New York, your favorite and mine, Stacey McGill. They decide to meet MWF from 5:30 to 6 in Claud's room, since she has her own phone number and they choose officer positions: KT is the prez, obvi, Claud is her Veep, MA gets to be secretary, and Stace, the alleged math whiz is the treasurer. Throw in some advertising and we're off and running!

Let us vignette the first BSC jobs of each member, shall we?

• KT: Ha! Doesn't even get to watch kids. She ends up supervising two giant St. Bernards named Buffy and Pinky. That'll teach the girls to get more info upfront from new clients!
• CK: Watches Jamie Newton... and his 3 obnoxious cousins, which Mrs. Newton conveniently forgot to mention on the phone. Ha! I like this devious side of Mrs. Newton. I always imagined her as kind of a young, hip stay-at-home mom. I think we could be friends. Anyway, Jamie's cousins, the Feldmans, try to terrorize Claud by running around the room, screaming, jumping on the couch, and pretending to shoot her. Claud ignores them all and begins reading to Jamie. They fall for it and all calm down. Yay, Claud!
• SMcG: Gets to sit for David Michael, but spends most of her time at the Thomas house flirting with Sam. Sigh. I always kind of liked Stacey and Sam together... maybe because I had a monstrous crush on my own best friend's older brother.
• MAS: And MA's first BSC job is caring for Karen and Andrew, Watson's kids. Karen is not nearly so annoying in this book as she quickly becomes. Basically, Watson's cat is really old and fat and mean and his neighbor Mrs. Porter (aka Morbidda Destiny) hates him, which to me means you should just keep the damn cat indoors, especially with a baby-sitter in charge, but no, MA lets him come outside to play with the kids, he eds up digging in Morbidda's garden, and Karen is convinced Morbidda put a spell on him by calling him "rapscallion." MA is spooked, because, frankly, MA is kind of a dingbat.
  
  In other news, the Fab Four get in their first fight after Kristy accuses Stacey of lying about her whereabouts over the weekend. Stace is really cagey about her diet and her trips to NYC to visit doctors. She doesn't want the others to know about her diabetes. Then they all start yelling at each other about things like "Kristy has no tact," "Claudia loses her temper," and "Mary Anne is a crybaby." All of which are true. Soon enough though, all is forgiven, and at the first official BSC slumber party, Stace comes clean about her illness and gives us the Cliff's Notes version of what we'll find out in The Truth About Stacey, and the BSC is way more awesome than her friends in New York, and they just tell her they love her and they'll stop offering her candy.
  
  And in still another plotline, Kristy has trouble adjusting to Watson, even though he's clearly awesome. You know who else is awesome? Kristy's mom. Seriously, I just think she's the greatest. I mean, she's raised four kids on her own with no child support, working full time to support them, and she still finds the time and energy to spend a little alone time with each kid every day, to stay involved in their lives, and to have a social life of her own. She deserves a Watson. Brava, Mrs. Thomas, brava. But Kristy doesn't like Watson, or anyone her mom has ever dated, because she doesn't want their family to change. She avoids him, and at times is actively rude to him (and Mrs. T calls her on it, because Mrs. T is awesome.) She refuses to sit for Karen and Andrew despite his repeated requests, until an emergency leaves him needing a sitter now and Kristy as the only BSC member available. Of course, she ends up loving Watson's kids, and even comes to terms with Watson himself, after he proposes to her mother and has them all over to the mansion for fondue. Dude, I'd fall in love with someone who had me over to his mansion for fondue. Just saying.
  
  To conclude, then, just a list of some of the little things in this book that make it PHENOMENAL. Seriously, one of the top 10 of the entire series. Love it!
  
  1) Kristy has to write a 100 word composition about decorum after jumping out of her chair and shouting hurray when the school bell rings in the opening scene. a) I love that scene, I've always remembered it, but b) the way she carries on about it, you'd think she had to write one million words. I mean, I've probably written 100 words just describing the scene, and it took me all of 35 seconds. And Kristy can't even make it to 100. She gets to 98 and has to add "THE END" to make it 100. (Actually, as a kid I totally thought that was hilarious, even though it would never have flown with any teacher I ever had.)
  
  2) Sam is really proud of being in the Math Club. He brags to Watson about how they won three Math Meets in a row. Bwah! Sam is a math nerd! No wonder he hits it off with Stacey.
  
  3) Janine lectures Kristy on her misuse of the word hopefully! I am ALWAYS trying to teach people to use that stupid word correctly (or, even better, not at all.) Janine and I are genius twins! I wonder if there's another scene in a later book where she tries to teach the BSC the difference between nauseated and nauseous, another one of my pet peeves. She probably does, because Janine is AWESOME like that.