I recently discovered that one of my favorite series while growing up, The Baby-Sitters Club, will be re-issued by Scholastic in April 2010.

A side-by-side comparison of the old and new covers

As you can see above, the re-issue will have new cover designs (which I’m not sure I like…I liked the old covers because they bring back such fond memories), as well as updated versions of the first two volumes and a newly written prequel.

I used to love The Baby-Sitters Club books and had every volume from 1 to the low 60s (including most of the Super Specials, Mysteries, and Little Sister books), when I deemed myself too old for the books at the age of 13 and lost interest. I later discovered that that the series continued to a whooping 131, not including the many spin-offs and special editions. I was saddened to learn that Logan leaves the club, that Dawn moves back to California, and that a new member (Abby) joins the ranks.

Most of my girlfriends preferred the Sweet Valley High books over the immature and often-times naive Baby-Sitters Club. However, I liked the innocent lives of the girls of Stoneybrook, CT better. A life free of soap-opera-like drama, backstabbing, and inappropriate romance. A life where 11-13 year-old girls could be trusted to watch children (would any parent trust this age range to baby-sit anymore?) and important life lessons learnt while baby-sitting.

I always looked forward to passing down my Baby-Sitters Club books to my daughters (if I had any) or to nieces or daughters of close friends, and was devastated to learn that my mother had given the books away. For this reason I was ecstatic to learn of the series’ re-release.

I’m not sure how the current generation of young girls will receive The Baby-Sitters Club. But I like to think that the books will find new lovers, and will offer girls an escape to a more innocent time free of partying teenage stars and sparkling vampires.

Were you a fan of The Baby-Sitters Club? Or did you prefer Sweet Valley High? Are there any books from your pre-teen years that you’d like passed down to future generations?

Have you entered to win a DVD player yet? I have just updated the post to include more specific rules (ie, if you have Twitter you can enter more than once) so be sure to submit your entries by next Wednesday!