The Baby Sitters Club: Memories

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So when I was about 7 years old, I was in the library with my mom and was looking for a new book to read. I saw a bunch of pastel colored books that were all grouped together in the M's in the juvenile fiction section. I had no idea what they were, but I remember my mom calling me to hurry up so we could check out. I randomly grabbed two books, an orange one and a pink one. I came back home to read #25 Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger and #24 Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise. I had no idea what I would be sucked into.

To this day, I am still a huge BSC fan. What made these books so appealing? Well, for one their addictive. I mean when you're that age and they were publishing BSC books by the wazoo every month, you HAD to have them. It got to the point to where my parents started to limit how many BSC books I could read a month. I would check out around 10 each visit to the library and then stack them up in a pile and read them in order (sounds quite familiar...) I totally loved them. They are also comfort reads. I mean really you know pretty much what's going to happen in each book, yet you can't stop reading. There's food, and stories, and lots of fun. Plus I didn't baby sit but if I did, I would want to do it just like them.

I even dressed up as Claudia for a character parade we had in our school. I put my hair up in a side ponytail (that Claudia wears on EVERY SINGLE book, except book #2 where she has her hair in braids, and also does not look Japanese at all), wore a big sweatshirt, bangle bracelets, leggings, and wore 2 pairs of socks that had those slouch things going. I was hip. Hah.

But seriously for a certain time in my life, everything was Baby Sitters Club. I really wanted to start a club of my own (as did many other girls I'm sure). I had all the books, watched the videos, bought the game, wanted the dolls. These books really defined my childhood. Even to this day I still enjoy going back and reading these books. They bring back tons of memories, plus I love reading about Claudia's fashion choices which seemed so cool back then and is now just plain...tacky.

I never read the Friends Forever series. In fact I think I stopped reading them about the time Abby came into the picture. This was mainly because I didn't like her character. Other random thoughts

1. In every single book, it HAD to be pointed out that Jessi was black and Mal was white. Every book.
2. I did not like Abby.
   
3. I was NOT a fan of the movie.
   
4. However I was a fan of the TV show.
5. Did anyone else have trouble reading some of the cursive writing? Jessi's was the worst. And I hate Claudia's misspellings.
6. Dawn's vegetarianism/no sugar seems to have fluctuated throughout the series. When she's first introduced, I clearly remember her eating meat and candy.
7. How come Jessi and Mallory only got one Mystery book each yet Abby got several?
   
8. Would you really let an 11 year old take care of your kids?
9. Were the Pikes Catholic?
   
10. If I were Dawn's mom, I'd be pretty depressed. I mean BOTH of my kids don't want to live with me.
11. Stoneybrook seems to be a very white WASPY town. One Asian family, one black family, I think someone is Jewish?

I have more thoughts, but my mind is blank right now. What other memories do you have about the Baby Sitters Club?