confession: i was a baby-sitters club tragic. i even read the babysitter's 'little sister' books. i had the 'summer vacation' special eds. i was browsing at readings bookshop in carlton the other night and saw the summer before, a new release which tells the story of kristy, mary-anne, claudia and stacey (as you might have gathered) the summer before they formed the babysitters club. for only $4.99! bargain!
as an aside, there should be an apostrophe after babysitters, yes? and i could spell babysitters as one word: as in the babysitters' club? though wikipedia spells it with the hyphen...hmm. i will bring it up with my editing teacher this week.
grammar aside, it got me thinking about what the babysitters club members would be doing as older teenagers or adults...
would kristy be coach of the middle school softball team, still beating off the advances of that semi-boyfriend of hers? or would she have taken her incredible skills for leadership and have joined the navy, quickly rising through the ranks to commander in chief?
would mary-anne be married to logan (yes, i remember that her ever-so-dreamy boyfriend is called logan) raising some brats and be teaching kindergarten? or would she have thrown off the shackles of her father's house and gone to oxford to study the romantic poets and become a lesbian?
claudia? maybe she managed to get a scholarship to a fine arts college even though she isn't academic at all and now be a famous artist, or would she be the visual merchandising employee at the stoneybrook mall?
and stacey - she might have realised that NYC is, in fact, much cooler than this backwater in connecticut and she'd have high-tailed it back to the big smoke and fallen in with serena van de woodsen and blair waldorf.
then there is dawn: now on a greenpeace boat fighting the good fight against global warming and whaling. either that or hanging out, stoned, on some californian beach with some dude called zeus.
mallory: head librarian at the stoneybrook public library or the next j k rowling?
jessi: does she become a lead ballerina for the american ballet company or does a teenage pregnancy ruin all her chances?
so, scholastic...if you want me to write any books about the baby-sitters club: the later years, just email me at beantherereadthat@gmail.com.
Oh GAWD I loved these books. I even took to wearing two different earrings like Claudia. A cactus and a cowboy, shit like that. Tragedy!
ReplyDeleteLove your predictions!
Hilarious - My 8 yr old is reading them at the moment - her teacher has brought all her old copies to school for Emma to use as her readers - how cool is that. Now everytime we pass an opp shop I pop in in the hope of finding one. Did you see the movie? Can I order in the new book through Sun?
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the BSC.
ReplyDeleteAnd your predications are hilarious!
I esp love Dawn/stoned on the beach. So her!
Hahaha, I too was a BSC uber-fan! I wish I still had my books (I think after my young sister didn't get into them, they were passed on to someone else :( )
ReplyDeleteGreat predictions and think they'd be pretty much spot-on! Would love to hear your thoughts on the prequel
I'm sure you've already seen it, but the What Claudia Wore blog still gives me a laugh and a rush of nostalgia
http://www.whatclaudiawore.com/
oh em gee!
ReplyDeletewhat claudia wore = absolutely hysterical. i am going to go and live there.
thank you so much for passing that one on. review of 'the summer before' to come.
By a strange coincidence, I was offered a review copy of The Summer Before last week. Obviously, I jumped at the chance. :D
ReplyDeleteThe grammar situation has always bothered me, actually. On the UK version I have, it's spelled 'Babysitters Club'. I much prefer that to the hypenated state of affairs on some editions, although I would feel more comfortable with an apostrophe too. (Yep, total geek here...)
I reckon your predictions are spot on! I too was an obsessive (to my parents' despair) - my favourites were the big, fat special editions, like when they went to California or summer camp. My mum seized her chance when I left for uni and gave my enormous collection away to a besotted ten-year-old, along with all my Sweet Valley Highs, and I've never really got over it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of SVH, it was announced earlier this year that original author Francine Pascal is doing a 'where are they now' book, due out next year, when the twins are 26 years old! This rocked my world, I'm betting that Jessica is in PR and has already been married and divorced at least once in a Britney-style Vegas wedding, and that Elizabeth is a publishing assistant, probably in New York, probably still with Todd (second only to Logan in the sweet, plodding boyfriend stakes). Roll on 2011!