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.
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| 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?
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This is such wonderful news! I loved the BSC more than the Sweet Valley series though I did read SVT over the HS spin-off. It seems like they could have redesigned a better cover or the re-release though. I’m surprised they went with something so clip-art -ish in feel.
I read some Baby-Sitters Club books. I don’t think I ever read a Sweet Valley book. But over those two I preferred the Box Car Children series. All mysteries. Which I really enjoyed.
I’m glad to see they are re-issuing these. I am much out of touch with pre-teen literature today. But I agree that a return to something ‘innocent’ would be a good thing.
I read both. In elementary school, I read both Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins, and then moved on to Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley University in middle school, when I felt I had outgrown the others. I was a big BSC fan though; I belonged to the fan club and the book club (they mailed me the new books every month so I didn’t have to go out to the store to buy them), and I met Ann Martin and she signed my hardcover copy of "Kristy’s Great Idea". I still have all of them somewhere in my parents’ house; I think I got up to around 90 (around the time when Dawn leaves and Abby joins) before I quit collecting them.
I read everything! I loved BSC, I read all of the Sweet Valley Twins, High and then Senior Year. Nancy Drew was my mother’s favorite that she passed to me. Being from the midwest, I was also a fan of Little House on the Prairie, the Laura and Rose years. Anne of Green Gables was also a good read. Anyone remember RL Stine books? Goosebumps and Fear Street? Anything by Joan Lowery Nixon was also part of my early teen years. I suppose I should also toss in the Harry Potters and the Chronicles of Narnia to round out the bunch.
After cleaning through my favorites at the library, I actually just started to read whatever I hadn’t read on the shelves in alphabetical order. I can’t wait to introduce all of my favorites to my children someday. I’ll be searching for the E-Bay lots with a fury.
I was WAY into BSC as a kid. I’d go to the library every week and borrow 5 of them at a time haha! Not sure how I feel about the new covers. It sort of takes away from the branding that was once BSC…I don’t know. 🙁
Sad to say, I can’t even remember what happened in those books but I remember reading through them like crazy!
Two interesting pieces of Babysitters Club news:
1) Scholastic just released a prequel to the series which is getting pretty good reviews in the Young Adult circuit.
2) The first couple of books were actually re-released as graphic novels a couple of years ago so there are actually kids in the new generation that are aware of our old standby teen books.
Hoping that this new run of BSC books does better than the Sweet Valley rerelease a few years ago – interest in that series bottomed out fast and they only got as far as book #6 (Dangerous Love).
I was obsessed with BSC! My sister & I used to hide candy all over our bedroom a la Claudia 🙂 Still have all of the books packed away at my mom’s house. I hate the new cover! How else will readers get a visual of Stacy’s rad outfits?!
I LOVED the BSC books – I read them way beyond when I should have (I think I kept buying them off and on until I was 16 ish). I loved the innocent world to escape to. I have them all as ebooks and they’re fun to read again when I’m bored. The LJ community BSC Snark is a RIOT for what it’s worth.
I’m curious to read the prequel, I wonder if they’ve updated BSC land to the 2000’s with cell phones, laptops and ipods or if they’re still kicking it old school with the coolest thing being Claudia’s OWN line that didn’t have call waiting. 😉
Please please please tell me where you managed to find the ebooks!!!
Email me @ corey atttt coreyann.com and I’ll tell you the secret lol.
I would love to find out where to get the ebooks!!! I am giving my grandaughter an ereader for Christmas and this is one of her favorite series!! I can’s find them anywhere that doesn’t cost a ton of money…..tried to find a torrent but so far no luck…..
Thank you!!
I never read the baby sitters club or Sweet Valley, I’m not really a girly girl so those series never appealed to me, but I did LOVE the Box Car Children. I must have read books 1-60ish. They too went in to the mid hundreds. Such good memories….
I loved the BSC and Sweet Valley High! That’s so crazy that they’re re-releasing BSC…
That’s great that they are reissuing them, but the new cover is hideous! BSC was one of my favorite series. We even tried to start our own BSC, although that failed horribly because we lacked the leadership of Kristy. I stopped reading around the time they introduced the twins, which I think was only a year or so before I started college.
I was a HUGE fan of the Babysitters Club! I liked Claudia the most and always wished I was as cool as Stacey! Such a great series. My mom has actually held on to my books so hopefully one day I can share them again.
I was not a fan of Sweet Valley High. All in for the BSC! And that cover is hideous.
Timely post! I’m moving and just found my box of all my BSC books (and a couple random Sweet Valley ones as well – though I liked the mysteries and specials better than the actual series). I’m completely with you on wanting to pass them down to my daughter some day which is why I still have them… here’s hoping I eventually have a girl and that she’ll want to read them!
Man, I loved these books. I can’t believe I got rid of them back in my "I’m too grown up for these" days. The new cover is blaaaaand.
Oh I LOVED the BSC! I read every single one, I believe. In fourth grade, our school started the Accelerated Reader program, where you’d read a book and then take a test on the computer to see how much information you retained. It started over the summer, and I begged my mom to take me to the school library so I could take more and more tests on BSC. The librarians thought I was goofing around at first because I was on the computer so long. It was then that they realized that I was taking 10 tests at a time! I ended up getting the highest score in my school because of BSC and some Sweet Valley Twins books. My prize? Riding in the actual Blues Brothers car (I’m from Illinois) and having lunch with the teacher of my choice. Guess those were pretty positive incentives for a fourth grader!!
Aughh! I love BSC! I had literally, every one of their books – my favourite treat was to go to Costco with my mom and grab the newest 4-pack. I like the old covers better, too.
I enjoyed both. Albeit I think BSC was more enduring. I think I followed BSC until 120s…
Yknow what’s sad? I tried looking up whatever happened to the "end" of BSC and that’s when they go to High School and seems like they’re growing apart.
I seriously geeked out when I saw that the BSC was back in business. And I’m itchy to get a copy to see what has been updated.
I used to read BSC a lot too. In fact, those were one of the first books I started read on my own when I learned English. My fave character was Claudia.
I loved BSC – those stupid blonde twins and Lila and their vapid lives weren’t half as interesting!
And keep the old covers, I say – the new ones just don’t convey the awesomeness that the series was.
I read a few baby sitter club books and a couple sweet valley high. I prefered baby sitter’s club over sweet valley, but I really LOVED Nancy Drew’s! I read all the series (except for one of the hardcovers I couldn’t get out of the library) up to the hundreds, and then I read all the Nancy Drew Files also up to the Hundreds. I begged my parents to get the 100th edition for me.
omg! I LOVED the Babysitters Club! I started out reading the Little Sister series and then graduated to the Babysitters Club. I collected the books too but it became too expensive so I stopped.
Woah, seeing that cover is a blast to the past! I loved the series too growing up. I’m not sure if I like the new version as well… Go figure, the constant reinvention of the old.
I loved the BSC! I think I read every book at one point or another, either ones I bought or borrowed from the library, or ones I sat in a bookstore and read. I could devour multiple volumes in one afternoon. Brings back so many memories!
I loved BOTH series! I am not feelin’ that new cover though…
I loved the BSC as a kid. However, now that I work with teens, I see how unrealistic it was which makes me sad. 13 year olds are not that responsible…
and I hate the fonts on the new book. It cheapens the BSC experience.
jimmy choo
manolo blahnik
I enjoyed both. Albeit I think BSC was more enduring. I think I followed BSC until 120s…
Yknow what’s sad? I tried looking up whatever happened to the "end" of BSC and that’s when they go to High School and seems like they’re growing apart.
BSC was so much better! I read Sweet Valley as well, but I never had the same love for it. I was sad to discover as an adult that everyone else hated my favorite BSC character – Maryanne. I guess I need to reread and find out what their problem is.
Hey..
All this BSC revival stuff has brought back some funny childhood memories. I’ve included a link to you on my blog entry today about BSC..http://mummydiaries.com.au/blog/?p=299
I loved the books BSC. I still have them all in a box in storage for one day I hope to have a daughter to pass them on to. Such wonderful stories and good messages they sent.
I also loved the R.L. Stein books and Christopher Pike. My all time favorite was Remember Me by Christopher Pike. I always had it checked out of the library and would read it over and over and over.
Trying to find them all now in ebooks is a very time consuming job. I’ve just recently found all the Little House books! Now for the entire BSC books…