Raina Telgemeier

{My thoughts} – The Baby-Sitters Club gets more then they bargain for when they all end up mad at one another. Mary Anne keeps trying to make peace by writing apology letters but no one seems to take them seriously. They end up running the club in a poor way, it’s extremely unorganized, and no one is really speaking to one another. It is almost like they are constantly trying to sabotage one another.

Mary Anne ends up making friends with the new kid in school. Her name is Dawn and they get along well. It comes out eventually that she’d made friends with her to make the members of the Baby-Sitting Club jealous, but in the end that doesn’t really matter.

The entire Baby-Sitters Club eventually makes up with one another. They become friends again and find a way to work through the things that had upset them to begin with. Best of all they invite Dawn to be a member. I think that’s pretty neat, because she’d helped Mary Anne with a baby-sitting job and everything turned out really well, even though Mary Anne was struggling with the desire to panic the entire time.

This was a nice addition to the storyline and it helps the readers get to know Mary Anne a lot more. It also introduces us to Dawn a new member of the Club! I look forward to reading the next book in the series soon!… (more)

{My Thoughts} – I haven’t read the first in this series, but I thought it’s just a graphic novel so I don’t think it will be difficult to follow along with the premise of the book. I couldn’t have been more right. I had no problem understanding what was taking place in the book, even without reading the first in the series. I may need to track the first book down and read it, as this was an okay read. I usually stay away from graphic novels because comic like stories/ situations are almost always lost on me.

Raina is an interesting character that knows what she wants and that’s to not be bothered by her sister Amara or their little brother. This book is about a trip that the children and the mother take to go to a family reunion. The bickering in the car between the siblings is priceless. It is spot on to what you’d hear in a car between children of those ages. I have a 10, 9 and 7 year old and some of the things they say, well this book had that stuff written out with a nicely tied bow.

I think that for the most part it is well written. It follows the guidelines of what I think a graphic novel should look like and it was a nice quick and fast read. However, I don’t see myself reading many more books in this style. I do not really find the style to be up my alley. I enjoy having a well built story and I just don’t feel like that is what you get when you read a book like this. I do think it is well written and the author conveyed what they’d needed to in the way they needed to, but like I said, it just isn’t the type of book for me. I’d never read one before and thought I’d give it a try.

If you like to giggle and are into comics, I am sure you will enjoy this book. I did giggle quite a bit, but I just wish there was more, and not quite so little in terms of building the story. I know I know, I always want more! :}… (more)

{My thoughts} – I may be one of few people from my generation that has never actually read the original books by Ann M. Martin. I did how however watch a few episodes of the television adaptation years ago when it was airing. I don’t even recall if it was on for more then a season or not but that would have been back in the 1990’s. That was the first time I’d ever really been introduced to The Baby-Sitters Club.

Kristy’s Great Idea is about a girl that comes up with a business opportunity for her and her close friends. The idea is that they create a club of baby-sitters so that when people in the neighborhood need a sitter they can call them. There ends up being for girls in the club and they all work around each other’s schedules to help make sure that everyone that needs a baby-sitter gets a baby-sitter.

This book also goes over some challenging issues that youth faces. The biggest being responsibility. Baby-sitting is a huge responsibility and sometimes you can end up in over your head. It discusses topics such as divorce, lying, diabetes, single parents, loss of a parent, parents getting remarried and more. I think all of the things discussed in this book are important issues that need to be addressed even today in our modern society.

I really like how the text and the illustrations go together so nicely in this book. The illustrations help the reader to better understand the book and what is going on. It’s an east to follow storyline and I am sure that even the most reluctant reader will be able to enjoy this book.… (more)

{My thoughts} – Stacey is one of the four main baby-sitters and in this book we get to learn more about her and the disease she has called diabetes. She is struggling with it so much because her parents are trying to control everything about her life. I couldn’t imagine being her age and feeling so powerless, however, I am sure it is a very common occurrence with sick children.

The Baby-Sitters Club is also having some issues. They are losing business to the new Baby-Sitters Agency that has started up. The biggest problem is that the agency has older children that can stay out baby-sitting later and parents prefer that over the younger children with earlier curfews. Eventually though the parents start getting complaints from their children and then the parents have a choice to make.

I really enjoyed reading about Stacey some more. I also like how the Baby-Sitters Club was able to deal with their conflict with The Baby-Sitters Agency. I think this book has a lot to offer to children and that it is well worth the time spent reading it.… (more)