Graduation Day: The Babysitters Move On
Written: Feb 06 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The end of the Babysitters Club, a good farewell
Cons: Some loose ends left, not all favorite characters make an appearance
The Bottom Line: Any fan of the series needs to read this book for the closure, but others shouldn't bother.
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| jenninca's Full Review: Graduation Day (Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever ... |
Back in 1988, when I was in sixth grade, Ann M. Martin created a new series called The Babysitters Club. It was about four seventh grade girls who get together to form (surprise!) a babysitting club. What was meant to be a short series expanded over the years, and I have read more books in the series than I care to admit.
After 15 years and more than 200 books, it's time to say good-bye to the Babysitters Club. The second super special book in the Babysitters Club: Friends Forever series marks the end of the series about Kristy, her friends, and their babysitting business.
In Graduation Day, Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Abby are getting read to graduate from Stoneybrook Middle School (it only took them a dozen years or so!). An annual Stoneybrook tradition is for each eighth grader to write a letter to his/herself, which will be mailed back to them when they finish high school. The girls are having a very difficult time doing this.
Kristy is afraid that graduation will spell the end of the BSC, so she doesn't want to do anything that marks the end of the year.
Claudia is in danger of flunking science, so she's afraid she's not even going to pass eighth grade. How is she supposed to write a letter about the end of eighth grade when she's not really sure she's at the end of it?
Mary Anne is trying to write about the important people in her life, and she's not sure how to include her ex-boyfriend, Logan. She realizes that things aren't patched up between them as she once thought they were.
Stacey is trying to write about her defining moments, and keeps coming back to her diabetes and her parents' divorce. She is trying to find a defining even that is positive.
(Abby drops out of the Babysitters Club at the start of the Friends Forever series, so she's not really featured much in this book.)
To get all the neighborhood kids involved in remembering, the BSC hatches a plan (but it's Mary Anne's idea rather than Kristy's, for a change). They're going to put together a neighborhood time capsule that will be opened by Adam, Byron, and Jordan Pike right before they go off to college in seven years. Each child gets to put in one item with a description of why it's significant.
Everyone who's ever been a member of the Babysitters Club shows up for the festivities. Dawn flies in from California. Mallory has come home from boarding school for the summer. Jessi takes time out of her ballet program, where she is preparing for a world tour. They all show their support as Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Abby get ready to graduate.
Many favorite babysitting charges put in a final appearance--the Pike kids, Jackie Rodowsky, Charlotte Johannsen. But many are pretty much ignored. Jamie Newton, Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold, the Kuhns, and Haley and Matt Braddock are mentioned but never get to talk. David Michael, Karen, and Andrew only get a couple of mentions. All other sitting charges are absent. There's no Barretts, Jenny Prezzioso, Nina Marshall, Perkins girls, Hobart boys, Papadakises, Delaneys, Becca Ramsey, or anyone else. Didn't they at least merit a sentence or two?
At the end of the book is a special section featuring BSC fun facts and a timeline. Did you know:
* The original Babysitters Club series spawned four other series: Babysitters Little Sister, Babysitters Club Mysteries, California Diaries, and Babysitters Club: Friends Forever?
* The Babysitters Club was originally supposed to be a four-book series?
* If you were to read a page a minute, it would take almost 22 days of non-stop reading to read all the BSC books (original series only)?
*Ann M. Martin admits to having ghostwriters!? She lists 15 other people who have written BSC books.
So, is this really the end of the Babysitters Club? While Kristy worries about the club breaking up when they get to high school, the club is still intact at the end of the book. Could there be a BSC: High School Days series? I hope not. What I would like to see, though, is a book set four years from now, when the girls get their letters back. In such a book, it could be seen how long the club lasted and what the girls are doing with their lives. That's a book I would find interesting to read, and I think it would be great fun to write.
Good bye, babysitters! The pre-teen girls of America will miss you! And oddly enough, so may I.
Recommended:
Yes
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jenninca
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Location: Dallas, TX
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