Shortly after Netflix announced the cancellation of its Baby-Sitter's Club series, I read an interview with showrunner Rachel Shukert that basically reached through the screen and punched me in the gut.
The Baby-Sitters Club showrunner @RachelShukert on the expectations of stories about girls on TV: https://t.co/wgcy5b7Qo6
Shukert tells Vulture that honest stories about tween girls make people uncomfortable (think: the Turning Red discourse), which is really unfortunate because it's such a challenging and pivotal time in our lives.
And then Shukert goes on to say, "I think female audiences are trained to not take their own stories as seriously. Stuff men were obsessed with when they were nine is treated like Hamlet. How many Spider-Man movies are there? How many Star Wars?"
Not to say that people of all genders can't enjoy Star Wars or The Baby-Sitter's Club, but if you look at the way these franchises have been marketed, there's definitely a distinction. And maybe there shouldn't be.
It's so common for our culture to look down on things that mainly young girls enjoy, but that doesn't mean that they don't have value. I couldn't stop thinking about the interview, and I started to wonder what I'd find if I gave my once-beloved The Baby-Sitter's Club books another look.
In total, I read seven classic BSC books — one from the point of view of each club member. Here are the books I read, along with the things I noticed about each main character, and why they all still inspire me as a thirtysomething:
1. Kristy Thomas | Kristy's Great Idea
First things first, Kristy is iconic because she's a great leader, and she's not even a tiny bit shy about it.
And Kristy's "great idea" (the BSC, obvi) *is* so great because she figures out a way to solve a problem that a lot of people experience.
At dinner time one night, Kristy watches as her mom makes phone call after phone call trying to get a babysitter for her youngest brother David-Michael. As her mom's food gets cold, Kristy gets inspired. What if she could gather a group of reliable sitters and streamline the process of finding childcare? She enlists her friends Mary Anne and Claudia, plus Claud's new friend Stacey, and the BSC is born.
Noticing a problem and finding a creative way to solve it is how a lot of entrepreneurs get their start. And as a babysitter and a family member, she's chosen a problem to solve that she's very familiar with. If you told me that Kristy went on to found a big business like Care.com or Sittercity, I would believe it 100%.
2. Mary Anne Spier | Mary Anne Saves the Day
Mary Anne is always described as shy, sensitive, and timid, but actually, she stands up for herself and her friends a lot. She might not be the life of the party, but Ms. Spier is no doormat.
In fact, because Mary Anne tends to be more reserved, I think her words hold even more power when she does speak up.
It's always clear that it's not so easy for Mary Anne to speak her mind. Other characters always notice she's a little out of her comfort zone when she has to raise her voice. And I think that in a weird way, this gives her more power. She's not always chatting, so when she talks people know it's important — and they listen.
Her character reminds me a lot of the lessons in Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Our culture is so obsessed with extraversion, but introverts have their own kind of power and bring something unique to the table that shouldn't be ignored.
3. Claudia Kishi | Claudia and the New Girl
Claudia is an artist, and she's fearless when it comes to expressing her vision.
And she also deals with the tension that can come up when the work you do for money is not the same as the work that you want to do for joy and fulfillment.
I think most creative people can probably relate to this conflict. For example, in Claudia and the New Girl, Claud befriends Ashley, the titular new girl. Ashley attended a prestigious art program, and Claudia is a little bit in awe of her. Throughout the story, Ashley encourages Claudia to ditch the BSC so she can give more time to her art, implying that the club is stunting her creative growth.
Who hasn't wondered what they could create or achieve if they didn't have to have a day job? Claudia's situation is a little different because she doesn't need her babysitting cash to survive. And she does waver in her commitment to the club — even missing a meeting.
In the end, Claudia decides that her best life is a balanced one, which I found really relatable. As much as many of us would love to devote more time to our crafts, we also need to live. Finding balance can be tricky, but Claudia's example can remind us that it's worth it.
4. Stacey McGill | The Truth About Stacey
Of all the BSC girls, Stacey goes through the most changes. Her life is basically a roller coaster (v. relatable for anyone who's living through a pandemic), and Stacey is the uncontested queen of rolling with the punches.
The way Stacey comes to terms with her diabetes is also really important because of how it normalizes living with a chronic illness.
For kids with diabetes especially, Stacey's story can be really helpful (though some of the details in the books aren't 100% correct). And I think that anyone with a chronic illness or condition can also relate a lot to what she goes through.
Stacey's diabetes is on her mind a lot, whether she's babysitting or hanging out with the girls. Food is such a big part of the way we socialize, and Stacey can't always eat the same things that others do. Sometimes this causes misunderstandings, like when the BSC initially thinks she's on an extreme diet because she turns down candy. And she doesn't pretend that it's always easy for her.
It's really refreshing to see a character with a chronic illness in children's literature — not just existing, but leading a full and active life. Diabetes is one part of her, and it's important, but she also does so much more.
5. Dawn Schafer | Dawn and the Big Sleepover
Dawn is someone who really wants to make a difference in the world, and her stories can show us ways to marry our work with our ideals.
We also see Dawn juggling school, sitting jobs, and some pretty tough family stuff, like her parents' divorce and her brother leaving to be with their dad.
In one of the books I read, Dawn even has to put her babysitting clients in a wagon and pull them to school so she can talk to her brother's teacher when he's in trouble. This seems to me like way more responsibility than an eighth-grader should probably have, but maybe it was more normal in the '80s? Gen X'ers, please weigh in.
At any rate, Dawn certainly goes through some turbulent times, and she's not always OK with it. And you know what? That's normal too.
6. Jessi Ramsey | Jessi's Secret Language
The Ramseys are one of only a few Black families in Stoneybrook, and Jessi is really honest about the racism that she unfortunately experiences when she moves to town.
Jessi also works to make her community more inclusive overall. She knows how it feels to be left out and doesn't want others to go through it, and she truly makes a difference.
Of the BSC books I've re-read so far, I loved Jessi's the most. First of all, as someone who used to dance, I loved living vicariously through her getting her first pointe shoes. But even more than that, I loved how she went out of her way to make a kid feel more welcome in town.
In Jessi's Secret Language, a new client contacts the BSC. One of their kids is Deaf and uses sign language to communicate. Jessi spends extra time with the family learning sign language and shares what she's learning with the other sitters and other clients. She makes it fun for the other kids to learn how to sign by telling them it's a secret language, and signing becomes a fad with Stoneybrook's kids.
But that's not even all! She's cast in a ballet, and makes arrangements for her Deaf client's class to come to the performance and has someone narrate the action between acts in sign language to make the performance more accessible. Her efforts at inclusion bring a lot of people together, and it's such a great reminder that when we accept and accommodate each other, beautiful things can happen.
7. Mallory Pike | Hello Mallory
We meet Mallory as one of the kids the club sits for. When she later joins the BSC, she has to work extra hard to prove herself.
Mallory is a total underdog, and I, for one, am rooting for her.
Truth be told, I didn't see a ton of Mallory storylines in the books I read, but I remember as a kid feeling like Mallory has a lot of bad luck, and she always seems to be struggling. Plus, she's awkward, has braces, glasses, and a nose she hates, and longs to be cooler.
In my informal research (chatting with my pals about who everyone's favorite BSC-er was), nobody said Mallory was their go-to gal. I think it's because she represents so many of our insecurities, which can be really hard to face as a kid. But as an adult, I kinda love her.
Mallory may not be cool, but she's so incredibly real. Who didn't feel like a complete hot mess when they were 11 (and maybe even still)? She reminds me so much of other characters who I love because of how perfectly they embody my tweenage angst, like Tina Belcher from Bob's Burgers and Barb from Stranger Things.
Side note: As a red-headed kid, I felt a certain kinship to Mal, so imagine my surprise when she describes herself in Hello, Mallory as having dark brown hair! What in the what? Someone needs to investigate.
Finally, I'm so glad that I gave these classic childhood reads another look. I definitely didn't expect these novels about middle school babysitters to be so relevant to my adult life in 2022, but they absolutely are.
