"Everybody used to love Karen. She was cute. She was the little sister. But now baby Emily is in their family, and Karen feels left out. Then Emily gets sick and everybody has to take care of her. Even Karen. And that's when Karen finds out that being a big sister is the most fun of all!" -- Back cover.

"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-sitters 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?"--P. [4] of cover....

Flora worries about her first Thanksgiving without her parents, while Ruby worries about getting a part in the school musical, and their new friends, Olivia and Nikki, are adjusting to big changes in their families.

Pearl writes an essay about her complicated summer during which her father lost his job, her sister was her junior camp counselor, and she had an explosive fight with James Brubaker the Third.

Stacey is more interested in Scott than baby-sitting, which leaves Mary Anne doing the work of two sitters.

Shirley, a fourth-grader with dyslexia, struggles with her feelings of inferiority as she compares herself to her intellectually gifted older brother and newly adopted Vietnamese sister.

Valentine's Day is Abby's least favorite holiday. Mushy stuff like valentines, red hearts, and a school dance turn her into a Valentine's Scrooge. When Ross Brown, a perfectly nice guy in Abby's English class, invites her to the dance, Abby tries to set him up with her twin sister, Anna.