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.
