Tuesday 29 November 2011

Day 3 - Favourite Regular Series Book

30 Days of the Baby-Sitters Club
Day 3 - Favourite Regular Series Book

This is another one that I find myself thinking of in terms of "then" and "now". Thinking back to when I was a child, the two books that really stand out to me (other than Kristy and the Baby Parade, which was inexplicably one of the first BSC books I ever read) are two winter-related books from the early #90s - Mallory's Christmas Wish and Claudia and the First Thanksgiving. I think Claudia's story excited me so much because it dealt with history, censorship, acting and a holiday I'd not heard much about, due to being British. Mallory's story was the first BSC book I ever read and I adored her huge family. Something about this book has just stuck with me over the years. 

Now, however, I'd have to say that my favourite book features my new favourite character - Mary Anne. Mary Anne Saves the Day is probably my favourite BSC book that I read for the first time as an adult. I know, it's terrible to admit that I didn't read a lot of the original books until now, but since I was a child of the nineties, not the eighties, I didn't start reading the BSC books until 2000, which was when I turned nine. By this point, most of these books were in scarce supply in Britain, as they were focusing on issuing the later-series books. As a result, this was one book that I sadly never got the chance to experience when I was a child, but I loved it as an adult. On a similar vein, other recent favourites (some of them rereads) have been Dawn and the Impossible Three, Kristy and the Snobs and Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye. As much as I have fond memories of the later-series books that I grew up with, there's no doubting the quality of Ann's originals.

Confused by the covers? These are what those of us across the sea had to contend with. I actually now generally prefer the US editions, but the books in the #90s had some nice cover-art. The early stuff, such as Mary Anne Saves the Day? Not so much. Poor Mary Anne!

What was your favourite Baby-Sitters Club book? Has this changed now that you're an adult?

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