Ann M Martin

Claudia's sure it is the phantom phone caller who has been operating as a jewel thief in the area. So she and the baby-sitters decide to take action against him and get some very mixed results.

"Claudia's sister, Janine, is too busy being smart to be nice to anyone--even their grandmother, Mimi. But Claudia doesn't have to see Janine too much this summer, since the Baby-sitter's Club is starting a new play group. It's going to be so much fun! But then Mimi has a stroke, and the whole summer changes. Now Claudia is 'Mimi-sitting, ' and Janine is no help at all. How can the Kishi sisters get along when Janine is always so mean?"-- Provided...

"Yay! Mrs. Colman's class is putting on a Thanksgiving play. Karen wants to be the star, of course. But Karen is given the worst part of all--the Thanksgiving turkey! All she gets to do is walk across the stage in a big brown suit. Will everyone laugh at Karen the Turkey?" Not when they see her big surprise!" From back cover.

Belle Teal Harper is from a poor family in the country, and beginning fifth-grade is a challenge as her grandmother's memory is slipping away, her brother and father are fighting again, and she becomes involved with the two new children in her class.

"When Kristy Thomas has the great idea to form a baby-sitters club--a chance to earn money and spend time with her friends, all while doing something they each love to do--she has no idea how much the club will change everything. Crank calls, uncontrollable toddlers, wild pets, untruthful clients...running a business is hard work! Kristy and her co-founders, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, are sure they can handle anything. But only if they stick...

The members of the Baby-sitters Club split their time between babysitting and investigating the spooky noises behind Dawn's bedroom wall.

Stacey McGill is moving back to New York, and her friends must face the sadness of saying good-bye, hunt down the perfect farewell gift, and take on the difficult task of filling Stacey's place in the Baby-sitters Club.

Feeling isolated as the only African American in her sixth grade class, Jessi gains a sense of belonging by participating in the Baby-sitters Club, learning sign language in order to communicate with a deaf child, and dancing in a ballet.

"Mary Anne should never have thrown away that chain letter she got in the mail. Ever since she did, bad things have been happening - to everybody in the Babysitter's Club! Then Mary Anne finds a new note in her mailbox: Wear this bad-luck charm, it says. OR ELSE. Mary Anne's got do what the note says. But who sent the charm? And why did this person send it to Mary Anne?" -- Back cover.

Eleven-year-old Mallory is excited when it looks like the eighth-grade girls will invite her to join their Baby-sitters Club and she might become best friends with the new African American girl in the neighborhood, but the club members have to learn some lessons in fairness first.