When I was a kid, I loved The Baby-Sitters Club. The first weekend of very month, my parents would give me a few dollars (man, back in the day when you could get a book for a few dollars — I feel so old) and I’d run out and buy the latest book in the series. I adored the idea of a club for baby-sitters that was run like a business with positions like secretary and treasurer. I loved the idea that they met once a week and took calls from parents who wanted to pay them to watch their kids. Maybe it was because I’ve never babysat for kids myself, and I thought the idea was so glamorous.

As were the characters. Tomboy Kristy, artsy Claudia, wallflower Mary Anne (who totally took a step up the cool ladder when she got her boyfriend, Logan), sophisticated Stacey, hippie Dawn, bookworm Mallory, dancer Jessie. There were so many of them! And so many kids to babysit too.

Anyway… I loved the books. I read them from elementary through junior high. And then I stopped because I outgrew the characters. The series itself ended in 2000. But then I discovered a little while ago that Martin wrote a prequel this year to the series called The Summer Before, all about the summer before Kristy’s Big Idea (book one in the series). And I had to read it. It just reminded me so much of my youth that I couldn’t pass it up.

So I got it from the library and reading it again brought back so many memories of the series and when I was a little girl. The story itself wasn’t anything special. Sort of an introduction to the 4 original members of the club. Thinking on it now, I wonder if this book is Martin’s attempt to capture those girls who so loved The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the BSC of the current generation). Perhaps they’re hoping to renew interest to the series and bring new stories out soon.

I have to say that I like that idea. I think the BSC is good for young girls today. Certainly tamer than Gossip Girl and the other “Mean Girl” type series that are out there now. You’re not going to find Kristy worrying about teen pregnancy the way you might expect Serena Van Der Woodsen to have a new bedfellow every week. And, as a mom, I think I’d prefer my pre-teen to be reading the BSC.

Anyway, I wouldn’t say this book was great reading, but it was great for a trip down memory lane to those of us who grew up on the BSC series. Finally… a plug for a blog called BSC Headquarters (www.claudiasroom.blogspot.com — genius domain!) I discovered a while back that is all about the BSC — the author, Tiff, is rereading the BSC books as an adult and offering her thoughts on the series now that she’s older. I find it to be a lot of fun.