Showing results by author "Ann Martin" in All Categories

In 1929 Earl and Edie Reddington leave Arkansas for the promise of ranching in western Oklahoma, only to face the one-two punch of the stock market crash and the Dust Bowl. When they are finally able to retreat to family in Arkansas, they pour all of their resilience into family and building a thriving cattle ranch of their own. Through financial worries, black blizzards and a world war, they cling to each other, raising their children and facing whatever comes their way.

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....

Stacey doesn't like to tell everyone that she has diabetes. Her friends in the Baby-Sitters Club are supportive, but Stacey has lost other friends who didn't understand her condition. Stacey's parents don't seem to understand, either; they're constantly taking her to new doctors. The truth is, she likes her doctor and just wants to spend her time being a normal girl and hanging out with the Club. Can Stacey find the courage to be honest - with everyone?

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?

Stacey and Mary Anne are baby-sitting for the Pike family for two weeks at the New Jersey shore. Things are great in Sea City: There's a gorgeous house right on the beach, a boardwalk, plenty of sun and sand...and the cutest boy Stacey has ever seen! Mary Anne thinks that Stacey should leave Scott alone and focus on the Pike kids, but Stacey's in love. Looking for reasons to hang around his lifeguard stand takes up all of her time, which means Mary Anne has to do the job of two baby-sitters.

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?

Mary Anne has never been a leader of the BSC. So when a fight breaks out among the club's four members, Mary Anne feels a little lost, unable to depend on Kristy, Stacey, or Claudia anymore. Sitting by herself in the cafeteria is bad enough; when Mary Anne has to baby-sit a sick child without any help from the club, she knows someone has to take action. It's time for Mary Anne to step in and save the day!

When Kristy sees how much her little brothers and sisters want to play on a softball team, she organizes a ragtag team of her own. They may not be champions, with Jackie Rodowsky, walking disaster, on the team, but at least they have team spirit! Now Bart's Bashers have challenged Kristy's Krushers to a game. The Bashers really are lean and mean...but the worst part of it all is that Kristy has a giant crush on the Bashers' coach.

At long last, Dawn's mother and Mary Anne's father have decided to get married!

Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey try to be prepared for anything when they baby-sit. So when they hear about the Phantom Caller, a jewel thief who's been breaking into nearby homes, they come up with a plan to keep their kids safe. But when Claudia and the other girls start receiving creepy phone calls while they're out on jobs, they start to get really spooked. Will the mystery caller scare off the BSC?

Claudia's sister, Janine, is too busy being smart to be nice to anyone - even their grandmother, Mimi. But Claudia doesn't have to see Janine too much this summer, since the Baby-Sitters Club is starting a new play group. It's going to be so much fun! But then Mimi has a stroke, and the whole summer changes. Now Claudia is "Mimi-sitting," and Janine is no help at all. How can the Kishi sisters get along when Janine is always so mean?

As the newest member of the BSC, Dawn is eager to prove herself. So when a big job comes along, she jumps at the chance to show everyone what she's made of. The Barretts are even more challenging than Dawn expected. The house is a mess, Mrs. Barrett is unreliable, and the kids are out of control. Dawn knows she's a great baby-sitter, but this is impossible! She only knows one thing for sure - a member of the BSC never gives up!

Mary Anne used to have to wear her hair in braids, keep her room painted pink, and ask her dad before she did anything. But not anymore. Mary Anne's been growing up...and the Baby-Sitters Club members aren't the only ones who have noticed. Logan Bruno likes Mary Anne! He has a dreamy southern accent, he's awfully cute - and he wants to join the Baby-Sitters Club. The baby-sitters aren't sure Logan will make a good club member. And Mary Anne thinks she's too shy for Logan. Life in the BSC has never been this complicated - or this fun!

Claudia has a sad good-bye to make. Her grandmother, Mimi, has just died. Claudia understands that Mimi was sick for a long time, but she's still mad at her grandmother for leaving her. Who will help Claudia with her homework...and share "special tea" with her?

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!

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!

Mary Anne should never have thrown away that chain letter she got in the mail. Ever since she did, bad things have been happening - to everyone in the Baby-Sitters Club. With Halloween coming up, Mary Anne's even more worried - what kind of spooky thing will happen next? Then Mary Anne finds a new note in her mailbox: Wear this bad-luck charm, it says. Or else. Mary Anne has to do what the note says. But who sent the charm? And why send it to Mary Anne? If the BSC doesn't solve this mystery soon, their bad luck might never stop!

A bunch of kids at Stoneybrook Elementary have pen pals at a school in New Mexico. The baby-sitters love hearing the letters that Charlotte, Becca, and the Pike kids get from their new friends.

Oh no! Stacey McGill is moving back to New York! That means no more Stoneybrook Middle School, no more Charlotte Johanssen, and worst of all...no more Baby-Sitters Club!

Mallory and Claudia are helping Stacey unpack from her move back to Stoneybrook when they find an antique trunk in the McGill's attic. Stacey doesn't want the dusty thing, so she gives the trunk to Mallory...who finds an old diary at the bottom of it. The diary belonged to Sophie, a girl who lived in Stacey's house in the 1890s. As Mallory reads deep into Sophie's diary, she discovers a mystery on their hands to solve, because Stacey's house isn't big enough for her, her mom...and a family of ghosts!