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The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #2
Beware, Dawn!
When Dawn starts getting threatening notes and odd phone calls while she's baby-sitting, she doesn't know what to do. The notes are signed "Mr. X," and they're beginning to get scary. Normally, she'd tell the rest of the BSC, but this time things are different.
The kids at Stoneybrook Elementary are having a Sitter of the Month Contest. The Sitter of the Month has to be someone who is in control--someone whose jobs always go smoothly. Dawn doesn't want to blow her chances at winning. But what if she's in real danger?
The kids at Stoneybrook Elementary are having a Sitter of the Month Contest. The Sitter of the Month has to be someone who is in control--someone whose jobs always go smoothly. Dawn doesn't want to blow her chances at winning. But what if she's in real danger?
105 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1991
36 people are currently reading
496 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,098 books3,046 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
August 19, 2025
Actually a reasonably suspenseful mystery, even if the payoff was a bit meh
May 13, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
another mystery, also ghostwritten by Ellen Miles (I think she wrote most of the mysteries). the main plot involves an anonymous person (mr. x) harassing the baby-sitters while they sit -- calling them and hanging up, leaving creepy notes and other gross or scary items at the door while playing ding dong ditch, etc. in the vaguely connected subplot, the kids decide to have a contest to pick their favorite baby-sitter/sitter-of-the-month. it turns out that mr. x is mel tucker, a bratty neighborhood kid who got in trouble with his parents for bullying the hobarts. his parents had found out about it thanks to the bsc's intervention, so he became mr. x to get revenge. the way it was connected to the sitter-of-the-month plot was that the kids were so excited about the contest that they were willing to tell mel who was babysitting them without getting suspicious.
highlights:
-ben hobart calls mallory a "bonzer sheila" to his friend. oh, aussies.
-dawn suggests at the brewer-thomases' house that they play let's all come in, which is karen's silly hotel dress-up game. dawn makes up characters including bruce stringbean (david michael in a white t-shirt with rolled-up sleeves and jeans, with a red bandana in his back pocket) the rock n roll star, darryl blueberry the baseball star, and ladonna the glamorous singer. I definitely chuckled.
-dawn thinks the letter she starts writing to jeff isn't cool enough so she scraps it and writes, "dearest little bro, what's up? what's fresh? everything's cool back here in stoneybrook. what's happening out there in sunny cal?"
-snake boy loose in san francisco: the monster movie that jessi and becca watch. I seriously dig this movie name.
-kristy doesn't get harassed by mr. x the way the other baby-sitters do (since she doesn't live and hasn't been sitting in the same neighborhood as the other baby-sitters), but she experiences a couple red herrings when sitting at the kormans': her mom calls and doesn't respond for a second, so kristy thinks the caller hung up. then mr. papadakis rings the doorbell and immediately ties his shoe, so kristy thinks no one is there. I liked this semi-pointless chapter -- it felt like a scene in a horror movie where a character keeps thinking they're going to get killed (and the viewer thinks it too, because of dramatic music or something), but nobody is there and meanwhile the killer is stalking someone else instead.
-at one point mr. x leaves dead flowers without the flower (just stems) on a doorstop. this is pretty creepy. mel is seriously depraved/has some serious problems. on the bright side, his parents seem to realize that. the baby-sitters comfort him once they find out he is mr. x (because he starts crying and freaking out about the prospect of getting punished), and his parents say they want to send him to a psychiatrist to work out whatever's going on with him.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-this sitter-of-the-month thing is the worst. how could you possibly TELL all the sitters you're doing this? it's cruel! forcing them to compete with each other like that! stupid kids. also the way it's resolved is INANE AS HELL. it's a seven-way tie with all of the bsc members winning. "you're all our favorite sitters!" this is such an annoyingly 1950s sitcom way to wrap this up. I know this is a bsc book and ann is all about 1950s squeaky clean crap, but it's still seriously annoying.
-the notes are written in letters cut out from a magazine, which dawn seems to think is so unusual. but that's exactly what the letters were like in Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery. on the bright side, at least cokie mason wasn't the culprit in this book -- apparently the bsc ghostwriters CAN have a somewhat original idea!
-manipulative becca gets jessi to let her watch the snake boy monster movie by bringing up the sitter of the month contest. becca is mostly a good kid so this irritates me. also more proof that the baby-sitters should rise above this idiotic contest.
-dawn is grossed out by the idea of a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. you'd think she'd be more open-minded about food because everyone is grossed out by what she eats.
-dawn thinks that kristy is mr. x. this also pisses me off -- kristy may have problems but she would NOT do something like this. the worst she would do if she were trying to sabotage someone is short-sheet their bed.
no outfits.
claudia's kid kit:
-blocks
-baby puzzles
-teething rings
-rattles
-muggie maggie
dawn's kid kit:
-wiffle ball
jackie disaster:
-knocks over the potted palm tree in their front hall (twice)
snacks in claudia's room:
-orange tootsie pop (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-tootsie roll (n.s.)
another mystery, also ghostwritten by Ellen Miles (I think she wrote most of the mysteries). the main plot involves an anonymous person (mr. x) harassing the baby-sitters while they sit -- calling them and hanging up, leaving creepy notes and other gross or scary items at the door while playing ding dong ditch, etc. in the vaguely connected subplot, the kids decide to have a contest to pick their favorite baby-sitter/sitter-of-the-month. it turns out that mr. x is mel tucker, a bratty neighborhood kid who got in trouble with his parents for bullying the hobarts. his parents had found out about it thanks to the bsc's intervention, so he became mr. x to get revenge. the way it was connected to the sitter-of-the-month plot was that the kids were so excited about the contest that they were willing to tell mel who was babysitting them without getting suspicious.
highlights:
-ben hobart calls mallory a "bonzer sheila" to his friend. oh, aussies.
-dawn suggests at the brewer-thomases' house that they play let's all come in, which is karen's silly hotel dress-up game. dawn makes up characters including bruce stringbean (david michael in a white t-shirt with rolled-up sleeves and jeans, with a red bandana in his back pocket) the rock n roll star, darryl blueberry the baseball star, and ladonna the glamorous singer. I definitely chuckled.
-dawn thinks the letter she starts writing to jeff isn't cool enough so she scraps it and writes, "dearest little bro, what's up? what's fresh? everything's cool back here in stoneybrook. what's happening out there in sunny cal?"
-snake boy loose in san francisco: the monster movie that jessi and becca watch. I seriously dig this movie name.
-kristy doesn't get harassed by mr. x the way the other baby-sitters do (since she doesn't live and hasn't been sitting in the same neighborhood as the other baby-sitters), but she experiences a couple red herrings when sitting at the kormans': her mom calls and doesn't respond for a second, so kristy thinks the caller hung up. then mr. papadakis rings the doorbell and immediately ties his shoe, so kristy thinks no one is there. I liked this semi-pointless chapter -- it felt like a scene in a horror movie where a character keeps thinking they're going to get killed (and the viewer thinks it too, because of dramatic music or something), but nobody is there and meanwhile the killer is stalking someone else instead.
-at one point mr. x leaves dead flowers without the flower (just stems) on a doorstop. this is pretty creepy. mel is seriously depraved/has some serious problems. on the bright side, his parents seem to realize that. the baby-sitters comfort him once they find out he is mr. x (because he starts crying and freaking out about the prospect of getting punished), and his parents say they want to send him to a psychiatrist to work out whatever's going on with him.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-this sitter-of-the-month thing is the worst. how could you possibly TELL all the sitters you're doing this? it's cruel! forcing them to compete with each other like that! stupid kids. also the way it's resolved is INANE AS HELL. it's a seven-way tie with all of the bsc members winning. "you're all our favorite sitters!" this is such an annoyingly 1950s sitcom way to wrap this up. I know this is a bsc book and ann is all about 1950s squeaky clean crap, but it's still seriously annoying.
-the notes are written in letters cut out from a magazine, which dawn seems to think is so unusual. but that's exactly what the letters were like in Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery. on the bright side, at least cokie mason wasn't the culprit in this book -- apparently the bsc ghostwriters CAN have a somewhat original idea!
-manipulative becca gets jessi to let her watch the snake boy monster movie by bringing up the sitter of the month contest. becca is mostly a good kid so this irritates me. also more proof that the baby-sitters should rise above this idiotic contest.
-dawn is grossed out by the idea of a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. you'd think she'd be more open-minded about food because everyone is grossed out by what she eats.
-dawn thinks that kristy is mr. x. this also pisses me off -- kristy may have problems but she would NOT do something like this. the worst she would do if she were trying to sabotage someone is short-sheet their bed.
no outfits.
claudia's kid kit:
-blocks
-baby puzzles
-teething rings
-rattles
-muggie maggie
dawn's kid kit:
-wiffle ball
jackie disaster:
-knocks over the potted palm tree in their front hall (twice)
snacks in claudia's room:
-orange tootsie pop (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-tootsie roll (n.s.)
July 7, 2020
While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!
October 27, 2017
by Andrea Renee Cox
This was an enjoyable children's mystery. I like that it dealt with bullying and stalkers, two things kids today have to be aware of. Pretty well written, though I didn't like the one loose use of "lord." Overall, a fantastic story, one that kids will love, I'm sure.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
This was an enjoyable children's mystery. I like that it dealt with bullying and stalkers, two things kids today have to be aware of. Pretty well written, though I didn't like the one loose use of "lord." Overall, a fantastic story, one that kids will love, I'm sure.
I was not compensated for my honest review.
October 2, 2023
A bit spooky, with the girls being terrorized by and not talking to each other because they're all determined to win a "best sitter" contest the kids have cooked up.
The worst part about babysitting was when someone would call or ring the doorbell and you knew it wasn't your house and who could possibly be there.
The worst part about babysitting was when someone would call or ring the doorbell and you knew it wasn't your house and who could possibly be there.
January 1, 2021
With “Sitter of the Month” around the corner all the girls are a little on edge. They each want to be the favorite sitter and win! Even though they are already amazing babysitters, they start doing things they normally wouldn’t do in the hopes of becoming the winner.
During all of this though, there is a mystery brewing. The girls have been getting creepy letters and phone calls where no one answers each time that they babysit. They have no idea who it could be but the letters are always signed “Mr. X”
I enjoyed this book as I enjoy all of the others. I always get so much childhood nostalgia. They aren’t perfect by any means but I read them for the nostalgia.
Pros:
- I love that at the end of the book the girls always end on a happy and positive note
- I love how the kids only “try new things” to become favorite sitters and not change their personalities because at the end of the day , they were all already great sitters
- I love how when they found out who the culprit was they didn’t make him feel bad about himself or yell at him. They took him home and he is going to get the help he needs
Cons:
- Is it needed to point out that Jessie is black and “different” In every single book? We get it. If you made it this far in the series, then you already know.
- The girls are always so competitive with each other and they KNOW that each time they become competitive if ends bad but continue to always act that way
During all of this though, there is a mystery brewing. The girls have been getting creepy letters and phone calls where no one answers each time that they babysit. They have no idea who it could be but the letters are always signed “Mr. X”
I enjoyed this book as I enjoy all of the others. I always get so much childhood nostalgia. They aren’t perfect by any means but I read them for the nostalgia.
Pros:
- I love that at the end of the book the girls always end on a happy and positive note
- I love how the kids only “try new things” to become favorite sitters and not change their personalities because at the end of the day , they were all already great sitters
- I love how when they found out who the culprit was they didn’t make him feel bad about himself or yell at him. They took him home and he is going to get the help he needs
Cons:
- Is it needed to point out that Jessie is black and “different” In every single book? We get it. If you made it this far in the series, then you already know.
- The girls are always so competitive with each other and they KNOW that each time they become competitive if ends bad but continue to always act that way
November 5, 2010
the book opens with dawn sitting for the younger hobart boys while mrs. hobart is running errands & ben is on a hot library date with mallory. she's helping johnny with some puzzles in "highlights for children" magazine while the older boys play soccer with mel tucker & zach wolfson, the bullies from book #32. dawn overhears mel call the hobarts "crocs," & tells him to stop. he stops, but is not very apologetic. dawn decides she needs to say something to mrs. hobart.
& on with the show! while dawn is sitting for the thomas-brewer clan, the kids let it slip that they are staging a sitter of the month contest. mrs. newton is helping them arrange the judging. dawn had been tired at this job & wasn't putting too much energy into keeping the kids entertained, but after she hears about the contest, she revamps karen's tedious game of let's all come in, adding new characters & making karen work the registration desk for once in her life. karen still makes the youngest child be some rich lady's dog. anyway, the kids have a great time & dawn thinks they may vote for her as sitter of the month.
the other sitters also learn about the contest & start juicing up their sitting to curry favor with their charges. but several of the girls also start receiving creepy phone in which no one says anything, & they get weird notes on the doorstep while they're babysitting, with vague threats formed from cut out letters from magazines. dawn is the first to receive such a note, while she's sitting for the prezziosos. it says something to the effect of, "look out. i'm gonna get you," or something. dawn stuffs the note in her jeans pocket & doesn't tell the prezziosos anything about, because somehow she magically knows that the note is for her.
um...if i'm thirteen years old, & i'm babysitting, & someone rings the bell & leaves a creeppy, threatening, anonymous note on the porch, i am telling the parents IMMEDIATELY. how does dawn know the note is for her, & isn't a threat to, like, kidnap the prezzioso children or anything? all of the sitters are keeping their notes to themselves because they don't want word to spread & jeopardize their chances in the sitter of the month contest, so they don't know that only the babysitters are being targeted by the notes. this strikes me as enormously irresponsible if it were real, & an extraordinarily problematic narrative device since it's fake.
anyway, eventually someone lets something about the notes slip at a meeting. turns out all of the sitters have received them except for kristy. dawn starts to wonder if kristy is competitive enough to have sent the notes herself, to psych out the other sitters & win sitter of the month. but kristy seems invested in catching the culprit, so dawn goes along with her plans. but the girls don't really have any leads on what's going on. they even think maybe it's YET ANOTHER jewel thief. are there really that many jewel thieves in connecticut? for christ's sake.
but finally jamie newton lets the cart partway out of the bag while dawn is watching him. dawn asks if he wants to go for a walk, & he says yes, & then says, "oh no, we have to be home if mel comes over." dawn presses for more information, & jamie confesses that mel has been doing "secret babysitting checks" as part of the sitter of the month contest. dawn realizes that mel is the creepy note-leaver.
she hatches a plot to catch him in the act. she spreads the word that she's going to be sitting at home alone for an out-of-town cousin one night while sharon & richard are out. she speculates that mel will try to scare her by creeping into the secret passage. she says all the kids in town know about the passage & think it's awesome. spreading that around seems like a good way to get murdered in your bed--way to tell people a really easy way to break into your house, dawn. but whatever.
the other babysitters come over & launch their sting operation. when mel starts making noise in the passage, half the sitters creep out to the garage to trap him at that entrance, while dawn & the rest ambush him from the bedroom entrance. they haul him back to the house to await confession. & confess he does.
apparently he was upset with the club for telling on his tendency to bully the hobarts & call them crocs. he got into trouble & has been grounded. sounds like mr. & mrs. tucker are in the running for the shittiest parents in stoneybrook award, grounding their eight- or nine-year-old son & then not even noticing while he's creeping all over town leaving creepy notes at strangers' houses. what the fuck is that about? kristy & dawn fill them in on the details, & they say they're going to take mel to a psychologist. mel is displaying a lot of anger or sadness or both & they don't know where it comes from. kristy helps mel accept the idea of seeing the psychologist. mel tucker is a little bit scary. i would like to know more about what's wrong with that kid. do his parents lock him in the closet at night or what?
an okay book. just a little pat.
& on with the show! while dawn is sitting for the thomas-brewer clan, the kids let it slip that they are staging a sitter of the month contest. mrs. newton is helping them arrange the judging. dawn had been tired at this job & wasn't putting too much energy into keeping the kids entertained, but after she hears about the contest, she revamps karen's tedious game of let's all come in, adding new characters & making karen work the registration desk for once in her life. karen still makes the youngest child be some rich lady's dog. anyway, the kids have a great time & dawn thinks they may vote for her as sitter of the month.
the other sitters also learn about the contest & start juicing up their sitting to curry favor with their charges. but several of the girls also start receiving creepy phone in which no one says anything, & they get weird notes on the doorstep while they're babysitting, with vague threats formed from cut out letters from magazines. dawn is the first to receive such a note, while she's sitting for the prezziosos. it says something to the effect of, "look out. i'm gonna get you," or something. dawn stuffs the note in her jeans pocket & doesn't tell the prezziosos anything about, because somehow she magically knows that the note is for her.
um...if i'm thirteen years old, & i'm babysitting, & someone rings the bell & leaves a creeppy, threatening, anonymous note on the porch, i am telling the parents IMMEDIATELY. how does dawn know the note is for her, & isn't a threat to, like, kidnap the prezzioso children or anything? all of the sitters are keeping their notes to themselves because they don't want word to spread & jeopardize their chances in the sitter of the month contest, so they don't know that only the babysitters are being targeted by the notes. this strikes me as enormously irresponsible if it were real, & an extraordinarily problematic narrative device since it's fake.
anyway, eventually someone lets something about the notes slip at a meeting. turns out all of the sitters have received them except for kristy. dawn starts to wonder if kristy is competitive enough to have sent the notes herself, to psych out the other sitters & win sitter of the month. but kristy seems invested in catching the culprit, so dawn goes along with her plans. but the girls don't really have any leads on what's going on. they even think maybe it's YET ANOTHER jewel thief. are there really that many jewel thieves in connecticut? for christ's sake.
but finally jamie newton lets the cart partway out of the bag while dawn is watching him. dawn asks if he wants to go for a walk, & he says yes, & then says, "oh no, we have to be home if mel comes over." dawn presses for more information, & jamie confesses that mel has been doing "secret babysitting checks" as part of the sitter of the month contest. dawn realizes that mel is the creepy note-leaver.
she hatches a plot to catch him in the act. she spreads the word that she's going to be sitting at home alone for an out-of-town cousin one night while sharon & richard are out. she speculates that mel will try to scare her by creeping into the secret passage. she says all the kids in town know about the passage & think it's awesome. spreading that around seems like a good way to get murdered in your bed--way to tell people a really easy way to break into your house, dawn. but whatever.
the other babysitters come over & launch their sting operation. when mel starts making noise in the passage, half the sitters creep out to the garage to trap him at that entrance, while dawn & the rest ambush him from the bedroom entrance. they haul him back to the house to await confession. & confess he does.
apparently he was upset with the club for telling on his tendency to bully the hobarts & call them crocs. he got into trouble & has been grounded. sounds like mr. & mrs. tucker are in the running for the shittiest parents in stoneybrook award, grounding their eight- or nine-year-old son & then not even noticing while he's creeping all over town leaving creepy notes at strangers' houses. what the fuck is that about? kristy & dawn fill them in on the details, & they say they're going to take mel to a psychologist. mel is displaying a lot of anger or sadness or both & they don't know where it comes from. kristy helps mel accept the idea of seeing the psychologist. mel tucker is a little bit scary. i would like to know more about what's wrong with that kid. do his parents lock him in the closet at night or what?
an okay book. just a little pat.
October 15, 2018
Great!
November 21, 2019
Remember literally the last BSC Mystery that I reviewed where I said I really liked the start of the Mystery series? Well, two books in and we've already hit a stinker. Not that I don't appreciate the simplicity of the story - again, I like the realness of the early mysteries - but Alan Gray did it better. (And I liked his reason more.)
I just find the whodunit very unsatisfying.
Also the "baby-sitter of the month" contest was so contrived and the winner made me want to barf lol.
I just find the whodunit very unsatisfying.
Also the "baby-sitter of the month" contest was so contrived and the winner made me want to barf lol.
May 20, 2023
The mystery was pretty spooky, and Dawn was way more sympathetic to the villain than I am.
I DO like how this book tackles mental health. I like how the book shows the villain is scared that they may need to see a psychiatrist, and I REALLY like how Kristy addresses their fears by saying that psychiatrists help you process tough feelings. So plus points to the book for that.
The sitter of the month contest is a bit meh for my cynical self, but also kinda a sweet gesture from the kids.
I DO like how this book tackles mental health. I like how the book shows the villain is scared that they may need to see a psychiatrist, and I REALLY like how Kristy addresses their fears by saying that psychiatrists help you process tough feelings. So plus points to the book for that.
The sitter of the month contest is a bit meh for my cynical self, but also kinda a sweet gesture from the kids.
November 14, 2021
Literally everything in this book is already covered in previous books. Every single aspect of the plot is recycled, and nothing new is even added.
Books where Dawn’s secret passageway is used to terrorize, trap, or otherwise trick someone to solve a mystery: The Ghost at Dawn’s House, Dawn’s Wicked Stepsister
Books where they’ve been terrorized by anonymous letters and hang-up phone calls: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Call, Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger, Jessi and the Dance School Phantom
Books where they all wildly compete against each other in babysitting to disastrous results: Little Miss Stoneybrook… and Dawn, Jessi’s Baby-sitter, Jessi and the Dance School Phantom, Kristy and the Baby Parade
Books where Dawn’s secret passageway is used to terrorize, trap, or otherwise trick someone to solve a mystery: The Ghost at Dawn’s House, Dawn’s Wicked Stepsister
Books where they’ve been terrorized by anonymous letters and hang-up phone calls: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Call, Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger, Jessi and the Dance School Phantom
Books where they all wildly compete against each other in babysitting to disastrous results: Little Miss Stoneybrook… and Dawn, Jessi’s Baby-sitter, Jessi and the Dance School Phantom, Kristy and the Baby Parade
November 2, 2017
This started SO SLOW. It felt like it took way too long for the actual plot point to kick in. When it did though it really wasn't so bad, and even kind of interesting. Not sure why it was called Beware, Dawn! though when Mr. X was after the whole club, but whatever I guess.
I don't remember this from childhood, so it's possible I didn't read it. I might have, but who knows. I can't remember every stupid mystery they solved. The ending to this was good though, and actually had a kid with real problems who needs a child psychologist. In BSC land? No way! YES WAY!
I don't remember this from childhood, so it's possible I didn't read it. I might have, but who knows. I can't remember every stupid mystery they solved. The ending to this was good though, and actually had a kid with real problems who needs a child psychologist. In BSC land? No way! YES WAY!
March 6, 2024
I vividly remember this book from childhood and I must have read it multiple times because I was ALL about the creepy ones, though the resolution to this one is just a bit sad.
We open with Dawn sitting for the Hobarts and the same bullying from previous books still ongoing. This easily telegraphs the culprit behind Mr. X but as a kid I remember being shocked by this twist. This is ultimately a rehash of numerous frequent BSC subplots - the sitters competing, mysterious letters, etc. I do love when they work together to catch a culprit though Mel is just a little boy who needs some help.
We open with Dawn sitting for the Hobarts and the same bullying from previous books still ongoing. This easily telegraphs the culprit behind Mr. X but as a kid I remember being shocked by this twist. This is ultimately a rehash of numerous frequent BSC subplots - the sitters competing, mysterious letters, etc. I do love when they work together to catch a culprit though Mel is just a little boy who needs some help.
December 21, 2025
I liked this one because it had a lot of babysitting in it - a lot of the different families. The mystery was kindof lame though. The kids that the BSC sit for have decided to hold a contest for the best babysitter of the month. Someone is calling the houses and leaving stuff outside when they babysit but they don't want to tell the others because they don't want to seem like a lesser sitter. It ends up being a little kid that is mad at them for getting him in trouble with his parents for bullying. The kids then decide it's a tie for all of them to be the best sitter.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 29, 2020As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
February 23, 2021
The ending seemed like an afterthought, but I loved that we brought back some of the OG kids/sitting charges from earlier books after a weird string of adding new kids to the mix in almost every book. The mysteries series seem to follow a pretty standard formula (so far), but that's somewhat comforting and doesn't take from the fun of solving the mystery.
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December 13, 2023Until "The Fire at Mary Anne's House" arrives, I'll be reading the BSC mysteries that I do not own.
I loved the idea of the Sitter of the Month contest. That was very cute.
Also,
I loved the idea of the Sitter of the Month contest. That was very cute.
Also,
December 17, 2019
This might be the most boring book I’ve ever read. A bunch of character-free wet blankets wander around the dullest town in the world doing absolutely nothing and being smugly pleased with themselves. I feel sorry for any child who tried to read this attempt at a book.
January 10, 2021
3 stars. I'm disappointed. When it comes to mysteries, Dawn usually has the best books but this one was extremely lackluster and dull. Nothing really happened and there was a lot of filler. The mystery aspect wasn't that good and the reveal was just as bad. Oh, well. Can't love them all.
September 22, 2017
Re-reading BSC books is definitely helping me through this sickness! They were always my comfort reads as a kid, and I guess they still are. =)
June 9, 2018
👼👼Its
amazing
amazing
December 29, 2019
A good book, and generally unpredictable. Not a fan of the whole “baby sitter of the month award”, but other than that, a good mystery.
April 29, 2020
Ahhh nostalgia. Definitely for younger readers, but it was nice to read a book from a series I loved over 20 years ago. Many memories around these books for sure.
June 6, 2020
Nothing special. The mystery is way too similar to the phantom phone calls in one of the earlier stories.
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August 4, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
May 24, 2021
I loved beware dawn and I did not think that Mel did it I though it was some one else
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2022
There was a LOT of babysitting in this book. But I love Dawn POV so I still enjoyed it.
December 31, 2023
Read in one sitting Last book of 2024! Have a nice year everyone!
October 3, 2024
Loving the re-visit of one of my favorite childhood series!
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