Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Oh, my heart! It took me awhile to finally get hold of this and read it, but I am so glad I did. I've had the worst week, topped off by the fact that I think I have bronchitis again. I finally bought this on my Kindle, and it made me so happy! It was just nice to revisit the BSC via a book I have NEVER read before! What made it so good? I can't even begin to describe it, I just know that it was. I know that going back to my childhood, and to some of my favorite characters of all time, was therapeutic. So thank you Ann Martin, for bringing us all back to Stoneybrook for a little while!
I was very excited to here that a new Babysitters Club book was coming out and I checked it out from the library right away. I will admit this isn't the greatest book you'll ever read, but if you were a fan of the series growing up you should definitely check it out. It was really cool to see the girls before the BSC was formed; it's interesting the dynamics between the girls this summer, and the fact that no one even knew Stacey yet! I didn't think the writing was too childish, it was an easy read, yes, but not something I felt like I was way too old to be reading. Honestly, it made me want to go re-read all my old books (I seriously have almost all of them packed up in my parents' shed). The only thing I had trouble with was trying to rememeber what it felt like to be their age--what I was doing the summer before 7th grade. Was I more like Mary Anne and Kristy, holding on to childhood on one hand but having some adult responsibilities, or was I more like boy-crazy Claudia? It was only 12 years ago but it seems like so much longer!
This book was good for a trip down memory lane and all the nostalgia associated with the BSC - but it didn't feel quite as charming as the originals :( But that could be because I'm waaaay too old for this book, so I'm probably not the target audience.
Sweet nostalgia...
So glad I read The Summer Before! It makes me want to reread the series I fell in love with years and years ago. Maybe I'll reread with my own daughter in a few years :-)
So glad I read The Summer Before! It makes me want to reread the series I fell in love with years and years ago. Maybe I'll reread with my own daughter in a few years :-)
I must have read at least fifty of these books as a child and after coming across them in a charity shop at the age of sixteen and rediscovering the joy of the adventures of these preteen babysitters, I started to recollect the books. I now have half a shelf full of these colourful little novels sitting on my bookcase that I revisit when I'm in need of some light relief to destress myself. So when I heard that a prequel was being written I was naturally excited at the premise of it. Although many BSC fans would like to hear about the lives of the characters as adults, writing about children is what Ann M. Martin does best. The Summer Before did not disappoint.
Martin seemed to slip back into the voices of the characters very easily. I particularly liked Stacey's story as it showed her as a normal girl, dealing with the problems of broken friendships and moving house. A lot of the BSC books focused on Stacey's diabetes or her boyfriends or how "sophisticated" she was. In The Summer Before she was just a regular preteen girl and I felt that she was very realistically portrayed. I also enjoyed Claudia's story and the excitement yet disappointment of having your "first love." This was also very natural, although it would have been nice to see more of Claud's relationship with her sister Janine. Mary Anne has to cope with convincing her dad that she's old enough to babysit, and although she came across as less mature than the other girls this was in fitting with her character in the regular series. It was nice to watch Mary Anne grow and become more confident with babysitting and talking to her dad. Kristy's story was my least favourite as it seemed a bit out of the blue for her to suddenly expect her dad to visit, but it did kind of tug at heart strings. I could never imagine what it would be like to be missing one parent and have no way of contacting them, but her emotions seemed believable to me.
All in all, this was a fantastic book and was definitely worth waiting for. I only wish Ann M. Martin was creating more new Babysitters Club books as she definitely hasn't lost her touch. 10/10
Martin seemed to slip back into the voices of the characters very easily. I particularly liked Stacey's story as it showed her as a normal girl, dealing with the problems of broken friendships and moving house. A lot of the BSC books focused on Stacey's diabetes or her boyfriends or how "sophisticated" she was. In The Summer Before she was just a regular preteen girl and I felt that she was very realistically portrayed. I also enjoyed Claudia's story and the excitement yet disappointment of having your "first love." This was also very natural, although it would have been nice to see more of Claud's relationship with her sister Janine. Mary Anne has to cope with convincing her dad that she's old enough to babysit, and although she came across as less mature than the other girls this was in fitting with her character in the regular series. It was nice to watch Mary Anne grow and become more confident with babysitting and talking to her dad. Kristy's story was my least favourite as it seemed a bit out of the blue for her to suddenly expect her dad to visit, but it did kind of tug at heart strings. I could never imagine what it would be like to be missing one parent and have no way of contacting them, but her emotions seemed believable to me.
All in all, this was a fantastic book and was definitely worth waiting for. I only wish Ann M. Martin was creating more new Babysitters Club books as she definitely hasn't lost her touch. 10/10
Ah, memories. I grew up reading this series and absolutely loved it, so I was excited to hear about this prequel coming out. I was not disappointed. It was interesting to read about what was going on in Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacy's lives before the BSC started. I feel that Martin neglected Stacy a little bit though. I wish she would have added in one more chapter from Stacy's viewpoint that showed more than her first interaction with Claudia. Overall, it was a good, easy read. It was definitely my guilty pleasure of 2010. :)
I’ve always loved the BSC and I think somewhere along the line, I’ve read all of the books in the series, so when I found out there was a prequel, I had to pick that up to, if only to complete the series.
This book follows 4 storylines about the original members of the BSC and what they are going through in their lives before the formation of the club.
Kristy - wants to believe that her father will come back in her life. I thought this storyline was okay, but it seemed slightly out of character for Kristy to be so emotional. I felt for her though, and I really like the way this storyline was resolved.
Mary-Anne - tries to show her father that she’s more grown up than he believes her to be. I was surprised by this one. I liked Mary-Anne a lot more than I usually do (she’s probably my least favorite sitter) and I was pleased that she could show some backbone. It was a nice prequel about how she was introduced to babysitting as well.
Claudia - navigates her first crush. I didn’t care for this storyline at all. It seemed a little unrealistic that Claudia’s parents would allow a seventh grader to go everywhere all summer long with a freshman in high school. Or that Janine would like the same guy. I’ve always seen Janine as an almost female Sherlock Holmes - cerebral and detached - so to see her over the moon about a guy was odd. For all Claudia’s talk of how much more quickly she had grown up than Mary-Anne and Kristy, I thought she was the least mature of the 3.
And then Stacey - moves from NYC to CT. Stacey always was my favorite so maybe that’s why I liked her storyline the best. I liked seeing her with the kids she sat for in the city and I thought she handled the bullying from her former friend well. I also liked that her storyline ended with her meeting Claudia, who becomes her best friend.
Overall a cute prequel with more background information about characters we all know and love.
This book follows 4 storylines about the original members of the BSC and what they are going through in their lives before the formation of the club.
Kristy - wants to believe that her father will come back in her life. I thought this storyline was okay, but it seemed slightly out of character for Kristy to be so emotional. I felt for her though, and I really like the way this storyline was resolved.
Mary-Anne - tries to show her father that she’s more grown up than he believes her to be. I was surprised by this one. I liked Mary-Anne a lot more than I usually do (she’s probably my least favorite sitter) and I was pleased that she could show some backbone. It was a nice prequel about how she was introduced to babysitting as well.
Claudia - navigates her first crush. I didn’t care for this storyline at all. It seemed a little unrealistic that Claudia’s parents would allow a seventh grader to go everywhere all summer long with a freshman in high school. Or that Janine would like the same guy. I’ve always seen Janine as an almost female Sherlock Holmes - cerebral and detached - so to see her over the moon about a guy was odd. For all Claudia’s talk of how much more quickly she had grown up than Mary-Anne and Kristy, I thought she was the least mature of the 3.
And then Stacey - moves from NYC to CT. Stacey always was my favorite so maybe that’s why I liked her storyline the best. I liked seeing her with the kids she sat for in the city and I thought she handled the bullying from her former friend well. I also liked that her storyline ended with her meeting Claudia, who becomes her best friend.
Overall a cute prequel with more background information about characters we all know and love.