"The idea for the Baby-Sitters Club came to me and I almost choked," #1 Kristy's Great Idea

Ok, so I have to start at the beginning. Since this is the first book, there's really not much rediculosity going on. But a few things did catch my eye, which I'll do my best to point out.

We all know the plot of this one. Kristy watches her mother make four phone calls (Mary Anne, Claudia, and two high school girls) trying to find a baby-sitter since her own ungrateful offspring can't sit for their brother themselves. Kristy is sitting at the Newtons', Mary Anne will be at the Pikes', Claud has an art class, and Charlie and Sam have found some cheap sluts to make out with. Ha ha, just kidding! Are you paying attention? Charlie has football practice and Sam has a Math Club meeting. [Boring.] So, bingo! Kristy's light bulb flickers on and the Baby-Sitters Club is born (and she chokes on pepperoni pizza). She gets together with Mary Anne and Claudia, and Claud's new friend, Stacey. They decide how the club should work, blah blah blah, elect officers, and have their first meeting.

So let's get to the good stuff:

• Kristy shows up an hour early for the very first meeting, and Claudia is sitting on the bed with the phone in her lap. Stacey is there by five, and Mary Anne arrives a few minutes later.
• Their very first baby-sitting job call? It's for David Michael Thomas, on a day his paid sitter can't make it. Stacey takes it, wears yellow number 10s and rainbow clips, meets Sam, and the rest is history.

WTF Moments:

• In a word: Janine. Must post first description of The Genius.

  "Janine is Claudia's fifteen-year-old sister. She's only a sophomore in high school, but she's taking classes at Stoneybrook Univerity. This is because Janine is a real live genius. [As opposed to a dead one.] ... Janine's IQ is 196. ... Janine sounds like a textbook. Her best friend is this fourteen-year-old math nerd who's going to graduate from high school in the spring. Her second best friend is her computer."

So I get that Janine is smart. But if she's so freaking smart, and takes classes at SU, why has Janine never skipped a grade? It seems like in every other book someone's skipping a grade. Charlotte Johanssen skips a grade in a few books, and in this book, Kristy and her mother are talking about Karen being so smart that her kindergarten teacher wants to put Karen in first grade after Christmas.

• When Mary Anne sits at the Brewers' for the first time, she has a run-in with Mrs. Porter. I have two things to say about Mrs. Porter. One, in this book, Mary Anne says Mrs. Porter is all gray and frazzly and looks like a witch from a picture book. On the cover of Baby-Sitters Little Sister #1, there is a drawing of Mrs. Porter, lovingly gardening her witch-herbs. [Although I wouldn't garden in a black dress, gray shawl, and leather gloves.] In that picture, she is not frazzly with a wart on her nose. She is actually quite nice-looking. But the inside picture is a different story.

• Other Mrs. Porter point: "Porter" is Dawn's mother's maiden name, as in, Sharon Emerson Porter. Gasp! Could Dawn be related to Morbidda Destiny??

• Later in the book, Claudia gets all pissy about her dad making her do her homework. She's bitching to Kristy about it on the phone, asking when in her life she would need to know how to multiply fractions. She asks, "Do I need it to go shopping, cook, or baby-sit?" Kristy says no, but I beg to differ. Claud, what about sale prices? What if you're cooking, and decide to double the recipe? What's one and one-third cups doubled? Why, it looks like you're about to multiply a fraction! Learn it and love it, honey.
  

• What's the deal with Claudia having her own phone line? If she's never had a "best" friend before, who is she talking to so much? For parents that don't approve of candy and Nancy Drew, they sure don't mind her spending her every waking moment talking on the phone.
  

Continuity Issues:

• There isn't much for continuity issues but the two points I'm about to make:

• The whole thing with Kristy's dad: when did he leave, is he remarried (and subsequently divorced again), he's a bad father, etc, etc, etc. It's kind of boring, and Kristy is worried about Watson turning out like dear old Dad. No, Kristy, you're better off with Watson, trust me. Didn't you know, he's a millionaire!
  

• The only other part that jumped out for me continuity-wise: "Karen took a few bites of her sandwich, then suddenly looked at me very seriously, her brown eyes glistening." I could swear that her eyes are blue in later books.

Forgive me my grammer and English mistakes. I'm not and never was an English major; I'm just a bored housewife who wants to write about her favorite YA books. I don't think I'll do outfits here; there's other great blogs that do that already. But if any outfits in particular jump out, I just might.