Showing results by author "Ann M Martin" in All Categories

When Kristy Thomas has the great idea to form a baby-sitters club - a chance to earn money and spend time with her friends, all while doing something they each love to do - she has no idea how much the club will change everything. Crank calls, uncontrollable toddlers, wild pets, untruthful clients...running a business is hard work! Kristy and her co-founders, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, are sure they can handle anything. But only if they stick together....

Kristy's mom is getting married, and everyone is coming to town to help, bringing their kids with them. Fourteen kids! Kristy is sure she and Stacey, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn can handle it - they're professional baby-sitters after all, and Kristy's mom has offered them a lot of money to take on such a big job.

But will a week of changing diapers, stopping fights, solving mix-ups, and keeping 14 children entertained prove to be too much for the BSC? Can they keep things under control for Kristy's big day?

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has gone away unexpectedly and left her niece, Missy Piggle-Wiggle, in charge of the Upside-Down House and the beloved animals who live there: Lester the pig, Wag the dog, and Penelope the parrot, among others. Families in town soon realize that like her great-aunt, Missy Piggle-Wiggle has inventive cures for all sorts of childhood (mis)behavior: The Whatever Cure and the Just-a-Minute Cure, for instance. What is a stressed out parent to do? Why, call Missy Piggle-Wiggle, of course!

Kristy's up for the best spring vacation ever - a week of baseball with famous major leaguers at Bill Bain's Dream Camp. Together with her stepdad, Kristy enjoys the all-star week of a lifetime.

Missy Piggle-Wiggle is finally starting to feel settled in at the upside-down house, and the families in town have come to trust her magical cures for all sorts of childhood (mis)behavior, just like her great-aunt. But right when everything is going so well, a terrible storm blasts through Little Spring Valley, damaging the upside-down house. Now the house is in need of repair (and isn't happy about it one bit), and money is becoming pretty tight for Missy. And, on top of that, the children of Little Spring Valley continue to need Missy's inventive cures....

Lately, it seems like each of the baby-sitters besides Dawn has been singled out...and she's a little jealous. But now it's Dawn's turn to shine: Mrs. Pike has asked her to help prepare Margo and Claire for the Little Miss Stoneybrook contest! Dawn's going to do everything she can to help her charges win, even if Margo's only talent is peeling a banana with her feet. But then Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia are helping Karen, Myriah, and Charlotte enter the contest, too. It's hard to tell whether the competition is fiercer at the pageant - or in the BSC!

Pep rally, a big game...some of the kids are getting too involved in School Spirit Month. They make fun of the people who don't participate.

Loving the holiday season but hating its commercialism, Mallory coordinates an old-fashioned family Christmas of baking and trimming that attracts media attention, but Mallory begins to fear that the chaotic film crews will spoil her plans.

Danielle's parents are so glad she is home, although still battling leukemia, that they allow the nine-year-old girl to do anything she wants - but she decides to joyride in the family car while Jessi is babysitting for her.

Claudia has always been the most outrageous girl in her class...until Ashley Wyeth comes along. Ashley's really different - she dresses in hippie clothes, wears six earrings and work boots, and is the most fantastic artist Claudia has ever met. Ashley says Claudia has artistic talent, too, but thinks Claudia should spend more time on her "calling" and stop wasting time on the Baby-Sitters Club. The baby-sitters are sick of Ashley Wyeth, and they feel like Claudia is a traitor. Claudia has to decide: either the BSC or the new girl - one of them's got to go!

When Abby spends a week with her grandparents at their summer house, she learns wonderful things about her family for the first time, as well as one piece of unhappy news.

Back-to-school brings an exciting new challenge for Kristy. She's been selected to be a teacher for a week! Team-teaching a gym class with her arch rival, Cary Retlin, Kristy learns a few lessons she never knew she needed.

Worrying about her stepfather after a heart attack forces him to quit his job for a less stressful lifestyle, Kristy wonders if Nanny's departure, an outbreak of the flu, and the arrival of Karen and Andrew will disturb the peace.

Preparing for her Bat Mitzvah with her twin sister, Abby is falsely accused of cheating on a math test and suspended from school, and she decides to hide the truth about the test and the suspension.

Jessi knows a secret language! She learned it from Matt Braddock, the BSC's newest charge. Matt's been deaf since birth, and he uses sign language to speak. Since Jessi is Matt's baby-sitter, she's been using sign language, too. Soon all the kids in Stoneybrook want to learn to sign...which keeps the baby-sitters busy. Jessi's the busiest of all: she working on another secret just for Matt. Will she be able to keep the secret and pull off her special event?

When Mary Anne tries to get Jenny Prezzioso - a fussy little girl known as "Miss Priss" - to join a kickball team, she faces opposition from the kids and from Jenny, who does not want to play....

Joining the Mathletes and feeling confident after her first math meet triumph, Stacey is troubled when her father gets tickets to a huge rock concert on the same night of the Mathletes championship.

Claudia's not worried when she hears her newest baby-sitting charge, Betsy, is a great practical joker. After all, how much harm can one girl do? As it turns out - plenty! Claudia breaks her leg because of one of Betsy's mean jokes...and now she's talking about quitting the club. Baby-sitting might be too dangerous. The rest of the BSC decides that Betsy needs to be taught a lesson - and the joke war is on!

Mallory is delighted when the subject of the new Short Takes class turns out to be children's literature, but she is bitterly disappointed by the new young teacher, Mr. Cobb, who unintentionally favors the boys in the class, until Mallory decides to stand up for her rights.

Learning that her friend and English partner Amelia Freeman has died in a tragic accident during spring break, a devastated Mary Anne is unable to overcome her sorrow and decides to do something special to remember her friend.