Kathryn's Inbox

The BSC Grapix series is back with another fine adaption of another beloved Baby-Sitters Club title. Old fans often remember this particular title with a special kind of nostalgia. After all, this is the novel that introduces readers to Sea City, a location that would appear in the series several times. It also features beloved original character Stacey in her second adventure, and one that is a lot more lighthearted and fun than her previous story. And if that wasn't enough, it is also the first time that we see the two most different original members of the club--Stacey and Mary Anne paired together, and they make for a surprisingly strong pairing. Anyway, for the uninitiated, the plot for this one is pretty straightforward. Stacey and Mary Anne accept a two week baby-sitting assignment to accompany the Pike family (yep, that's the one with eight kids,) to their favourite holiday spot in Sea City, New Jersey. While they are there, Stacey develops a crush on an older ...

Who would have thought that back in 2006 when the first novel of the Baby-Sitters Club series was re-imagined as a graphic novel that it would prove so successful that BSC Graphix has become an entire series and the publisher is now up to book number six. As devotees of the series know, this is the book where things started to change for the members of the club. With the original, it's probably the point where author Ann M Martin and her publisher, Scholastic, realised that they had a hit on their hands, and the potential to create a much longer series, with the stories alternating between the characters. And what better character to return to than Kristy, who had started the club, and unlike the others whose problems had largely been resolved, had a number of life changes ahead of her, with her mother about to remarry Watson Brewer, her millionaire boss. In the original series, it's a great turning point. As far as the graphic novel goes, it works on one level, and...

BSC Graphix is back. Several years after Scholastic re-imagined four of the early Baby-Sitters Club series as graphic novels, the series has made a surprising but welcome return. This time around comic book artist Gale Galligan is the author/illustrator, taking the reins from Raina Telgemeier. Dawn and the Impossible Three  is the first novel to be told from the perspective of Stoneybrook newcomer, Dawn Schafer. Dawn's life isn't easy at the moment. Along with her brother Jeff, she has been relocated from sunny California to a small town thousands of miles away. Although homesick, she tries to make the best of the situation, first by making friends with Mary Anne and joining the Baby-Sitters Club. If club president Kristy (who is Mary Anne's other best friend,) would give her a chance, things would be much easier. Anyway, Dawn finds herself stuck with a pretty heavy duty challenge baby-sitting for the Barrett's, a single parent family with three kids and a mot...