Chapter I

 

Introduction to the Baby-sitters Club, or, how I got mixed up with it in the first place

 

 

The first Baby-sitters Club (BSC) book was published in 1986 and led to a world-wide children’s literature phe­nome­non.  Ann M. Martin was originally commissioned by Scholastic editor Jean Feiwel to write four BSC books, and when the final book came out over 14 years later, the titles numbered over 360, counting spin-offs.  The author wrote all the outlines but had other children’s book authors help her out with the text of each book, after which Ann and her editor then would make the books consistent with Ann’s own work.  As a result, the reader has the feeling that each book is written by one author, which is one aspect making this series so ap­pealing and so popular.  As of today, over 150 million BSC-related books have been sold in 19 different lan­guages, and the BSC Fan Club numbers 60,000 members.  Equally impressive is the fact that over 1,000 real-life baby-sitting clubs modeled on the se­ries have sprung up by young readers around the country.

 

Merrill’s Companion to the Baby-sitters Club evolved from the Girls’ Series Companion, published by the So­ci­ety of Phantom Friends.  When I sent in fairly detailed information about the BSC in preparation for the Girls’ Series Companion’s most recent edition, the editor was unable to allot so much space to it, since the scope of the series is so massive.  And so, it was suggested I create my own separate volume just for the BSC.

 

When I first joined the Phantom Friends back in 1987, I was already familiar with series I had read in my child­hood, such as Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys, but like most other PFs, up to this time I had no knowledge of current children’s series.  However, at the 1989 PF Reunion, our president Kate Emburg gave a speech about how we should not make the mistake--just because we are older folks collecting series books for their nostalgia value--of neglecting or ignoring the new series that kids are read­ing now, because, in terms of collecting, “these modern-day paperback series will be the Nancy Drews and Judy Boltons of tomorrow.”

 

Another Phantom Friend, John Tonner, recommended I try the Baby-sitters Club, since he and I know a great many girls of that age through our connections with theater and knowing kids who have been actresses in the mu­sical Annie.  He also pointed out that since I had been a teacher for many years, plus the fact that we had also both been Girl Scout leaders in earlier days, he predicted that I would enjoy this series as much as he did, due to our familiarity with the personalities of middle school age girls.  And so, it was time for me to put aside the old traditional series book snobbery (“if it ain’t in hardback, I ain’t interested”) behind me, and I bought a box set of the first four BSC books.  Needless to say, I was hooked immediately.  I then went out and bought books 5-24 all at once--which is how many were out in the summer of 1989--and devoured them all in numeri­cal order.  Ever since then, I purchased each volume when it came out and read them all in continuing chrono­logi­cal sequence.  Most of the time it was one BSC book and one Little Sister book every month, plus occa­sional spe­cial books, until the entire BSC series and all its spin-offs came to a close in November 2000.

 

I particularly like the fact that despite the diverse personalities of the girls, they all show a loyalty to one an­other and help one another out.  The BSC books have a positive outlook (unlike other popular series such as Sweet Valley High, in which the main premise of the books seems to be kids being snotty to each other) and I have recommended these books to parents of kids I know as a series in which the characters are good role mod­els.  Other good modern-day paperback series I have enjoyed over the years have been the Saddle Club, Camp Sun­nyside Friends, Pen Pals, the Treehouse Times, Forever Friends, etc., but, except for the Saddle Club, the Baby-sitters Club is the only series I have collected that encompasses several dozen books.  

 

When BSC collectibles began to appear, I guess it was inevitable that I would get into the memorabilia, in the spirit of Little Orphan Annie collectibles that occupy an entire floor of my house.  This Companion will deal extensively with the books from a collector’s point of view as well as peripheral items relating to the BSC, inas­much as, to me, a series book is a collectible in its own right.  This is a great deal of series books’ mystique.

 

And so, fans, grab your Kid Kits, let’s go to Stoneybrook, and we’ll examine “everything BSC” in detail.