Kristy’s Great Idea

Kristy Thomas was having a normal dinner with her family when she had a brilliant idea: she should start a babysitting club! The club would meet three times a week, and during that time, parents can call and reach four babysitters at once. With the help of her friends Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, there is nothing that can stand in the way of The Baby-Sitters Club being created. Together, the four girls promote their new club by distributing fliers, putting an ad in the paper, and creating a logo.  

As the club becomes more and more popular with parents, the girls must learn how to run a business, all while navigating their lives as middle school students. Can the girls overcome their personal struggles and ensure the club’s success? 

Kristy’s Great Idea focuses on the formation of The Baby-Sitters Club and the girls’ adventures in babysitting. This comical and easy-to-read graphic novel is perfect for younger readers. Each page contains one to ten short sentences. These short sentences use easy-to-read vocabulary that makes the book accessible to struggling readers. The colorful and bold illustrations effectively capture the characters’ expressions and creatively portray various scenes. The story is told almost entirely through dialogue, which readers will find interesting and engaging.  

The Baby-Sitters Club sets a good example for young readers because the characters display responsibility and maturity while babysitting. The babysitting scenes remain lighthearted, and the girls respond well to different problems that arise while on the job. For example, when Claudia is faced with three children who are screaming and running around the room, she calmly begins to read to another child, rather than giving in to the chaos or losing her temper. Her decision to do this causes the rambunctious children to settle down and listen to the story.  

This story effectively balances fun babysitting antics with more serious plotlines. For instance, Kristy is shown struggling with her parents’ divorce and rejecting her soon-to-be stepfather, Watson. She lashes out towards her mom and Watson due to her difficult emotions, but by the end of the story, she has grown fond of her future stepsiblings and is supportive of her mother’s engagement to Watson. Kristy’s journey is portrayed in a way that is approachable for young readers, and this story will resonate with audiences who are facing similar circumstances.  

The simple plot, combined with likable characters and the cartoonish art style, makes this graphic novel a great choice for elementary and middle schoolers who are eager to dive into a series. This book contains positive messages about the importance of friendship, determination, and resilience. The overall plot and themes of this graphic novel adaptation are faithful to the original series, with the illustrations making the story more appealing to younger readers. Kristy’s Great Idea is an engaging and easy-to-read introduction to The Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptations.   

Sexual Content  

• Kristy’s mother is dating a man named Watson. The couple becomes engaged by the end of the book.   

• When Stacey learns that she will be meeting Kristy’s older brothers, she is shown smiling with hearts in her eyes. She gets hearts in her eyes often when talking about the older brothers.  

• Kristy’s older brother Sam is shown blushing when he meets Stacey. He decides to stay at home instead of visiting his friend so he can be around Stacey.  

• Stacey smiles as she tells Kristy, “Your older brother is so hot!” 

Violence  

• A four-year-old boy named Jamie falls off a swing. There is an illustration of Jamie being pushed on the swings, and the next panel says the word, “Thump!” Jamie is shown crying, but there are no visible signs of injury.  

• Kristy tells a story about how she broke her ankle last summer. Kristy says, “I was taking our dog, Louie, for a walk. . . I wasn’t actually walking, I was riding my bike. Louie was on his leash running next to me and we came to a tree. Louie went one way, and I went the other, and WHOOOSH!” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• None

Language   

• The word geez is used occasionally. For example, Kristy says, “Geez. . . what if Mom marries Watson?” 

• The word gosh is used occasionally.  

• After Sam prank calls the club, Kristy calls him a rat.  

• Mrs. Porter, a woman who lives next door to where Mary Anne is babysitting, calls a cat a rapscallion after it digs in her garden.

Supernatural  

• Karen, a little girl Mary Anne is babysitting, thinks that her neighbor, Mrs. Porter, is a witch. 

• Karen tells Mary Anne that Mrs. Porter cast a spell on her cat to make it fat. After Mrs. Porter chases the cat out of her garden and up a tree, she touches her nose, and the cat falls to the ground, where it lands on its feet and runs away. Karen is convinced that a spell caused this.  

Spiritual Content  

• None 

by Kelly Barker