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March 24, 2006
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I have this fantasy that I just can't let go of...
In this fantasy, I own EVERY SINGLE Baby-Sitters Club book, numbers 1 through 131, plus all 12 super specials. I sit down one Friday afternoon, pick up Kristy's Great Idea, and start reading. I don't stop reading, except to sleep and to get myself a little ice cream, until I've finished The Fire at Mary Anne's House. I figure out in advance where the super specials fit into the series using my old trick of looking at the beginning to see which books are listed as already published at that point.
And maybe, just maybe, I even read the Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever series.
This dream will probably never be realized. It seems that it's nearly impossible to find the older books, and although I don't remember giving my permission for this, my collection of the first 63 books seems to have disappeared from my parents' house. But I'm dying to reread them. I'm dying to find out what happened that caused Dawn to move back to California, what made some Jewish girl named Abby join the club, and why Mallory went to boarding school.
I started reading the BSC books in 1987, when they were first published. My baubie worked at Target for awhile, and she got them for me as soon as they came out. This continued on long after my peers had moved on to R.L. Stine books, because as with most things in my life, I just plain Could Not Let Go. Most people my age stopped reading somewhere around 39, Poor Mallory. Not me. I kept on going until my sources had dried up and I had no way of acquiring the books. And until my senior year of college, I could list the titles of the first 44 books IN ORDER, from memory.
And now, 13 years after I stopped reading, I'm still tortured by my curiosity about the fate of my five favorite girls (I was never much of a fan of Mallory or Jessi's). Too bad there aren't any used bookstores around here where we can go to try and scrounge them up...
Posted to Books at March 24, 2006 09:30 PM
Comments
I had no idea that a Jewish girl named Abby ever joined the club. But my parents did everything they could to encourage me to read anything BUT the BSC and SVH and all that. There were a few series I got away with - I think because they were less trendy - but the Babysitter's Club books were books that had to be borrowed from friends and read with the little bit of light that crept into my bedroom after bedtime.
I was so uncool.
Posted by: Jenny at March 24, 2006 11:04 PM
Have you seen claudiasroom.blogspot.com?
I was pretty into the regular BSC books, but I really, really, really loved the Super Special where they were camp counselors. I LOVED it. I always wanted to go to sleepaway camp and that book confirmed all of my suspicions about how terrible and wonderful it was.
Posted by: Kathy at March 24, 2006 11:25 PM
Yeah, I'm like Jen..I loved the BSC books and used to read them voraciously...until my dad wouldn't let me read them anymore. >_> Even after that, I'd read one for fun every so often. Good times!
Ahh, Rebecca! I was talking to the lab manager today and she said that she was Oberlin '03..I wonder if you know her. ^_^ Her name is Aqila Mayle, or Kiki! ^_^
Posted by: Katharing at March 25, 2006 10:07 AM
bean - I was a teen girl series whore. I owned every BSC book, the Sleepover Friends books, the Saddle Club books, the Camp Sunnyside books, the Gymnasts books, and some of the Sweet Valley books, which I never liked all that much. You could have come over every day and read with me...
Kathy - oh my god, I've never seen that blog. Wow. I liked that Super Special (#2) as well -- I brought it with me to camp every single year. It really was pretty acurate, actually...
Katharing - I don't think I know her. I wasn't very social as a student (what a shocker). And if she was in the sciences... But I bet we knew people in common. She might know Leila Green or Matt Ragusa, who were both '03 science majors. They were two of my favorite people here at Oberlin. Then again, the name sounds familiar. If she did theater stuff, I might know who she is because I was on a board that decided which student plays to fund.
Posted by: Rebecca at March 25, 2006 11:10 AM
The series I got away with were The Saddle Club and No Way Ballet. Hanging out with you and reading the BSC would have been the shiznet, Pie.
Posted by: Jenny at March 25, 2006 01:58 PM