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Katie #3
Katie's Baby-Sitting Job
Katie was thrilled when Mrs. Stellan called and asked her to baby-sit for the evening. She had never done any baby-sitting before, but she was sure she could take care of four-year-old Annie. After all, Katie had watched her brother plenty of times. This would give her some real job experience - and she'd be paid for it, too!
But Katie's first baby-sitting job doesn't turn out the way she'd planned. Something is missing from the Stellans' house, and though it isn't her fault, Katie's sure everybody's blaming her.
It's bad enough that hardly anyone believes her - but now mean Michelle is telling everyone at school what happened. Katie knows she's got to get to the bottom of the mystery soon. Because if she doesn't, she may never be hired as a baby-sitter again!
But Katie's first baby-sitting job doesn't turn out the way she'd planned. Something is missing from the Stellans' house, and though it isn't her fault, Katie's sure everybody's blaming her.
It's bad enough that hardly anyone believes her - but now mean Michelle is telling everyone at school what happened. Katie knows she's got to get to the bottom of the mystery soon. Because if she doesn't, she may never be hired as a baby-sitter again!
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 14, 2025
A very simple story in which 90% of the book is revolved around Katie trying to solve the mystery of the missing jewelry from the babysitting home. The whodunit was predictable and ended very lackluster. It’s not a horrible story, but there was no real character development or challenges to overcome. Just meh.
April 19, 2024
In 1985 Scholastic Apple Paperbacks released Martha Tolles’s book “Katie’s Baby Sitting Job.” This captivating children’s mystery book is about eighth grader Katie Hart’s quest to earn money from baby sitting. The Stellan family recently moved into Katie's neighborhood and they needed a babysitter for Annie, their four year old daughter. Katie had often babysat her younger brother Jamie, but she had never babysat anyone else. After meeting Mrs Stelllan, she toured their family home, she was shown a collection of Stallan “heritage” jewelry, and she was also shown kitchen as well as entertainment room features. After Katie was hired and during her first session babysitting Annie, Katie noticed the family heritage jewelry case was not where she saw it a few days earlier during the household tour. When Mrs Stallan returned home, Katie asked if the jewelry case with its beautiful pearls, rubies, diamonds, and golden jewelry had been relocated, Much to her surprise Mrs. Stallan said “no.” Katie was shocked and told Mrs Stallion the jewelry case was missing and that she wanted to help find the missing jewelry. With the aid of friends, Katie’s parents, merchants, the Stallans, a yardman man, newspaper delivery workers, and a church administer Katie begins her pursuit to find the jewels. Katie’s detective techniques; her exceptional abilities to see facts in a sea of uncertainties; and her insights about how to discover truth by using logic and powerful reasoning skills are truly amazing. She finds the missing jewels and she teaches others how to overcome the ambiguity of conflicting facts. This is a wonderful book and one I will long remember. (P).
September 27, 2017
This book is good because it gets kids thinking about having a job and being paid for it. I also like this book because it has some mystery to it. I recommend that the book and others in the series are put into a fifth grade book shelf because just a few years after fifth grade, kids may be asked to babysit or they may start a real job.
December 9, 2021
It was a great book. I have had Katie & the boys for years, I never knew there was more books to the set. I wish there was more books.
June 11, 2023
a cute little read frm my vintage YA collection!! it was simple and low-stakes ans sweet. idk thats all i have to say rlly
December 19, 2016
When the Stellans move onto Apple Street, Katie is determined to become their little girl’s babysitter. Finally, they call to hire Katie, but on her very first night of babysitting, Mrs. Stellan’s expensive heirloom jewelry goes missing. Feeling terrible, Katie decides she absolutely must find the thief and bring him or her to justice- whether it turns out to be one of the boys from school, the yardman, or the mean new girl.
This well-plotted middle grade mystery was first published in 1985, a year before the Baby-sitters Club series came into existence. It is the last of three books about Katie Hart, the first of which, entitled Too Many Boys, was published in 1965. Too Many Boys was renamed Katie and Those Boys when it was reprinted in 1974, and it was followed in 1976 by Katie for President. Katie’s Baby-sitting Job makes no real reference to the prior books, nor does it have a definite conclusion to signify the end of a series. For all intents and purposes, it really stands on its own.
As in many of these older Apple paperbacks I have read, I noticed that this one has much more formal-sounding dialogue than a lot of tween series paperbacks being published today. The way the kids talk to each other - and to adults - sounds much more sophisticated and scripted than anything normal kids might say, and there is very little slang. Though the book isn’t particularly deep or layered, the language adheres to a certain sense of propriety and politeness that, though inauthentic, was kind of enjoyable. The tone definitely dates the book - perhaps even further back than the actual copyright - but it also gives the book a retro charm that adult readers of kids book get a kick out of.
Other quirks also date the book. There is a lot of talk of the mothers of the kids in the story hiding their various valuables when they go out of the house. These days, I think they’d be more likely to keep their valuables in a safe, or to have security systems installed to prevent theft. I also find it hard to believe that names like Dick or Sarah Lou would have been very popular in the 80s; it’s likely these names were chosen for the first book in 1965, when those names were more common.
Still, though, it amazes me how much of this book is still relevant today, as is. Kids still desire money to buy things - maybe not Christmas presents for friends, as Katie does, but certainly other items like cell phones and video games - so Katie’s motive for becoming a babysitter in the first place is something kids can definitely still relate to. The mystery, too, remains plausible, and I think Katie’s approach to solving it is much more believable than in some other middle grade mysteries. I also like that the mystery isn’t too terribly scary; I would have read this as a kid and had no trouble sleeping afterward, which means it is really very tame.
Finally, I think it’s nice that the book actually resolves Katie’s issues with the new mean girl in the neighborhood in a positive way. So many tween books seem to glorify and even promote this kind of enmity between “geeks” and “popular girls,” but this story really sees both girls as people and allows them to make up for their flaws and assumptions about one another. Sometimes I suppose it can be enjoyable to love to hate a fictional character, but I think kids also appreciate fully-developed characters in whom they can see aspects of themselves, good and bad.
Katie’s Baby-sitting Job is definitely out of print, but there are a good number of used copies out there in cyberspace. I’d recommend it to girls who enjoy the Baby-sitters Club, and to anyone looking for a nice escapist trip down memory lane.
This well-plotted middle grade mystery was first published in 1985, a year before the Baby-sitters Club series came into existence. It is the last of three books about Katie Hart, the first of which, entitled Too Many Boys, was published in 1965. Too Many Boys was renamed Katie and Those Boys when it was reprinted in 1974, and it was followed in 1976 by Katie for President. Katie’s Baby-sitting Job makes no real reference to the prior books, nor does it have a definite conclusion to signify the end of a series. For all intents and purposes, it really stands on its own.
As in many of these older Apple paperbacks I have read, I noticed that this one has much more formal-sounding dialogue than a lot of tween series paperbacks being published today. The way the kids talk to each other - and to adults - sounds much more sophisticated and scripted than anything normal kids might say, and there is very little slang. Though the book isn’t particularly deep or layered, the language adheres to a certain sense of propriety and politeness that, though inauthentic, was kind of enjoyable. The tone definitely dates the book - perhaps even further back than the actual copyright - but it also gives the book a retro charm that adult readers of kids book get a kick out of.
Other quirks also date the book. There is a lot of talk of the mothers of the kids in the story hiding their various valuables when they go out of the house. These days, I think they’d be more likely to keep their valuables in a safe, or to have security systems installed to prevent theft. I also find it hard to believe that names like Dick or Sarah Lou would have been very popular in the 80s; it’s likely these names were chosen for the first book in 1965, when those names were more common.
Still, though, it amazes me how much of this book is still relevant today, as is. Kids still desire money to buy things - maybe not Christmas presents for friends, as Katie does, but certainly other items like cell phones and video games - so Katie’s motive for becoming a babysitter in the first place is something kids can definitely still relate to. The mystery, too, remains plausible, and I think Katie’s approach to solving it is much more believable than in some other middle grade mysteries. I also like that the mystery isn’t too terribly scary; I would have read this as a kid and had no trouble sleeping afterward, which means it is really very tame.
Finally, I think it’s nice that the book actually resolves Katie’s issues with the new mean girl in the neighborhood in a positive way. So many tween books seem to glorify and even promote this kind of enmity between “geeks” and “popular girls,” but this story really sees both girls as people and allows them to make up for their flaws and assumptions about one another. Sometimes I suppose it can be enjoyable to love to hate a fictional character, but I think kids also appreciate fully-developed characters in whom they can see aspects of themselves, good and bad.
Katie’s Baby-sitting Job is definitely out of print, but there are a good number of used copies out there in cyberspace. I’d recommend it to girls who enjoy the Baby-sitters Club, and to anyone looking for a nice escapist trip down memory lane.
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December 30, 2020While the last one is more unrealistic in plot (middle-schoolers finding actual criminals), this plot is actually pretty realistic. The steps taken by the characters are realistic to the age, with nothing they do really being beyond reality, and Katie's age of 12 or 13 isn't outrageous that she couldn't be baby-sitting a three year old on weekends and afternoons. Especially not considering they live very close to her own house, and her mother has just had a baby, and is therefore home most of the time, in case anything happened. Read the rest on my blog.
Want to read
June 26, 2011Since I'd already read another Katie book I'm releasing this one.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews