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The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #4
Kristy and the Missing Child
Kristy can hardly believe it when little Jake Kuhn is reported missing. Jake is one of the kids on her softball team, and Kristy was one of the last people to see Jake before he disappeared.
Even though the Baby-sitters and all of Jake's friends are helping look for him, Kristy still feels horrible. And when the police can't find Jake after almost two days, things look really serious. Kristy knows she's just a kid, but she'd determined to find Jake, wherever he is . . . .
Even though the Baby-sitters and all of Jake's friends are helping look for him, Kristy still feels horrible. And when the police can't find Jake after almost two days, things look really serious. Kristy knows she's just a kid, but she'd determined to find Jake, wherever he is . . . .
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1992
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,143 books3,112 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 46 reviews
May 26, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
in the first GOOD mystery (ghostwritten by Ellen Miles, who wrote all of the mysteries up to this point), jake kuhn disappears while walking home from krushers practice. kristy blames herself since she was the last person to see him, so she organizes search parties to find him. jake's parents are recently divorced, and mrs. kuhn thinks her ex-husband kidnapped jake, but he is in mexico and no one can get ahold of him. meanwhile mrs. kuhn is acting vaguely weird and maybe a little suspicious, and jake's little sister patsy thinks that she saw her dad's car (an uncommon car) in town. it turns out that oh and in a subplot that I should find inane but for some reason I really enjoy (I think I just like seeing mary anne fail because I hate her so much), mary anne is failing her home ec class until she has an epiphany about how to make jello. seriously. I love it.
highlights:
-this is the first time the bsc sits for the kuhns, even though they've been in all of the kristy books that talk about the krushers (since all three of them are on the team).
-this mystery is actually really interesting. it's a subject that isn't totally pointless like a ghost cat or a missing ring. a kid is actually missing. plus there are some red herrings, and it's hard to predict where the mystery will go. I was actually engaged and interested for this whole book. wild!
-mary anne failing home ec is so dumb and funny. I think part of why I like it so much is because mary anne is someone who is typically depicted as so domestic, what with between being in a serious relationship, enjoying the "sewing arts" with mimi in the early books, and just generally being sensitive and feminine and all that jazz. so when she fails at home ec I really enjoy it. also she is having trouble MAKING JELLO. seriously mary anne, I was making jello on my own when I was seven. I revoke your domesticity card!
-kristy narration: "I didn't have the resources the police did: walkie-talkies, squad cars, computers." I love that computers are considered cutting-edge inaccessible technology. oh, 1992. you funny.
-kristy narration: "all I could think about was jake. where was he? who was he with? was he safe?" I'm sorry, did I just step into hotel la rut?
-there's a great thirteen-year-old moment when kristy is thinking about jake but then looks in the mirror and gets distracted by trying to figure out what she would look like to someone who was about to kiss her. I totally did this! thirteen-year-olds are so funny!
-kristy thinks she wants to wear a dress to the awards night ceremony (a silly superlative ceremony for eighth graders) but then remembers that along with dresses you typically wear slips, pantyhose, and pinchy shoes, so she decides it's not worth the effort. I love kristy.
-at the awards night ceremony kristy wins an award for having worked so hard to find jake. I really like this -- it reminds me of the class protector award. it's a sign of sms students being considerate and thoughtful, not just shallow middle schoolers.
-also erica blumberg's excuse for not doing homework (which led to her winning an award), that her mom composted her homework, made me chuckle.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in naming all of the brewer-thomas family pets kristy leaves out emily junior the rat
-why is mrs. kuhn kind of sketchy about the whole thing? she seems to know where jake is or something -- I kind of expected the mystery to end with her revealing that jake was with his dad and she knew about it but was trying to make him look bad so he wouldn't get custody. but no, she didn't know where he was and her weird behavior is never explained. I guess she was just upset and it made her act strangely?
-there is a reference to security blankets but not to nina marshall, who had a security blanket IN THE PREVIOUS BOOK (Mallory and the Dream Horse). COME ON. I know these books are all written by different people, but same with tv show episodes, and they make the chronology and references work for the most part in tv shows. I should think they would make ghostwriters read each other's manuscripts before writing the books.
-kristy narrates that it would be hard to imagine any father abducting his own son. but THAT HAPPENED. remember mr. barrett kidnapping buddy in Dawn and the Impossible Three?
-kristy refers to louie as "a dog we used to have." eh, ellen miles doesn't really know kristy's voice I guess. kristy would never be so cavalier about louie. she would say something like, "our old dog, louie, whom we all loved but who passed away."
no outfits.
awards we hear about at the award night:
-class clown: justin forbes
-best excuse for not doing homework: erica blumberg (her mom composted her homework)
-most often seen sleeping: someone named jerry
-worst dresser: mr. kingbridge (as an honorary eighth-grader)
-most improved home-ec student: mary anne spier
-award for commitment to finding jake kuhn: kristy thomas
snack in claudia's room
-doritos (n.s.)
in the first GOOD mystery (ghostwritten by Ellen Miles, who wrote all of the mysteries up to this point), jake kuhn disappears while walking home from krushers practice. kristy blames herself since she was the last person to see him, so she organizes search parties to find him. jake's parents are recently divorced, and mrs. kuhn thinks her ex-husband kidnapped jake, but he is in mexico and no one can get ahold of him. meanwhile mrs. kuhn is acting vaguely weird and maybe a little suspicious, and jake's little sister patsy thinks that she saw her dad's car (an uncommon car) in town. it turns out that oh and in a subplot that I should find inane but for some reason I really enjoy (I think I just like seeing mary anne fail because I hate her so much), mary anne is failing her home ec class until she has an epiphany about how to make jello. seriously. I love it.
highlights:
-this is the first time the bsc sits for the kuhns, even though they've been in all of the kristy books that talk about the krushers (since all three of them are on the team).
-this mystery is actually really interesting. it's a subject that isn't totally pointless like a ghost cat or a missing ring. a kid is actually missing. plus there are some red herrings, and it's hard to predict where the mystery will go. I was actually engaged and interested for this whole book. wild!
-mary anne failing home ec is so dumb and funny. I think part of why I like it so much is because mary anne is someone who is typically depicted as so domestic, what with between being in a serious relationship, enjoying the "sewing arts" with mimi in the early books, and just generally being sensitive and feminine and all that jazz. so when she fails at home ec I really enjoy it. also she is having trouble MAKING JELLO. seriously mary anne, I was making jello on my own when I was seven. I revoke your domesticity card!
-kristy narration: "I didn't have the resources the police did: walkie-talkies, squad cars, computers." I love that computers are considered cutting-edge inaccessible technology. oh, 1992. you funny.
-kristy narration: "all I could think about was jake. where was he? who was he with? was he safe?" I'm sorry, did I just step into hotel la rut?
-there's a great thirteen-year-old moment when kristy is thinking about jake but then looks in the mirror and gets distracted by trying to figure out what she would look like to someone who was about to kiss her. I totally did this! thirteen-year-olds are so funny!
-kristy thinks she wants to wear a dress to the awards night ceremony (a silly superlative ceremony for eighth graders) but then remembers that along with dresses you typically wear slips, pantyhose, and pinchy shoes, so she decides it's not worth the effort. I love kristy.
-at the awards night ceremony kristy wins an award for having worked so hard to find jake. I really like this -- it reminds me of the class protector award. it's a sign of sms students being considerate and thoughtful, not just shallow middle schoolers.
-also erica blumberg's excuse for not doing homework (which led to her winning an award), that her mom composted her homework, made me chuckle.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in naming all of the brewer-thomas family pets kristy leaves out emily junior the rat
-why is mrs. kuhn kind of sketchy about the whole thing? she seems to know where jake is or something -- I kind of expected the mystery to end with her revealing that jake was with his dad and she knew about it but was trying to make him look bad so he wouldn't get custody. but no, she didn't know where he was and her weird behavior is never explained. I guess she was just upset and it made her act strangely?
-there is a reference to security blankets but not to nina marshall, who had a security blanket IN THE PREVIOUS BOOK (Mallory and the Dream Horse). COME ON. I know these books are all written by different people, but same with tv show episodes, and they make the chronology and references work for the most part in tv shows. I should think they would make ghostwriters read each other's manuscripts before writing the books.
-kristy narrates that it would be hard to imagine any father abducting his own son. but THAT HAPPENED. remember mr. barrett kidnapping buddy in Dawn and the Impossible Three?
-kristy refers to louie as "a dog we used to have." eh, ellen miles doesn't really know kristy's voice I guess. kristy would never be so cavalier about louie. she would say something like, "our old dog, louie, whom we all loved but who passed away."
no outfits.
awards we hear about at the award night:
-class clown: justin forbes
-best excuse for not doing homework: erica blumberg (her mom composted her homework)
-most often seen sleeping: someone named jerry
-worst dresser: mr. kingbridge (as an honorary eighth-grader)
-most improved home-ec student: mary anne spier
-award for commitment to finding jake kuhn: kristy thomas
snack in claudia's room
-doritos (n.s.)
June 1, 2023
Kind of an intense plot for a children’s story but the pace was fast and suspenseful and of course everyone turns out okay in the end. :)
November 13, 2010
this one starts low, because it starts a softball game between kristy's krushers & bart's bashers. i wonder if there's anyone who has ever read a babysitters club books that actually found the softball plots remotely compelling. it's a gray, rainy day, & kristy lets jake kuhn (whom she has been training up as a new relief pitcher, & whose parents recently divorced) walk home alone after he explains that his mom already gave him permission.
but mrs. kuhn calls later that evening to ask if jake is with kristy. & then she starts calling his friends all over the neighborhood, trying to find him. she finally concludes that her ex-husband showed up & took him away. he'd wanted to take jake with him on a european business trip, but mrs. kuhn wouldn't let jake miss that much school. she figures mr. kuhn is upset & snatched jake up anyway.
but she still calls the cops, who initiate a neighborhood search, just in case something else happened to jake.
this turns out to be a pretty smart move, because no one can find mr. kuhn. the cops think he may be in mexico. kristy feels really guilty & responsible for jake going missing, since she was the last one to see him after the softball game. she keeps thinking that if she just would have insisted on walking him home, he'd be okay. to make herself feel better, & to help, she organizes students from her school, as well as many babysitting charges, to look for jake. tons of people pitch in to scour neighborhoods. kristy is on a team with mary anne, bart, david michael, karen, andrew, & matt & haley braddock. matt is one of jake's best friends, so he has some pretty good ideas on where to look for him...but they don't find him.
by the time jake has been missing for two days, kristy is becoming extremely concerned. matt suggests taking a look around a formerly vacant lot where some houses are being built. all the boys like to hang around there & watch the construction. it's after-hours, so there are no workers around, so they creep around the lot, calling for jake. & kristy hears him calling back, very faintly, from an unfinished house's basement.
apparently he had taken shelter in the lot on his way home from the softball game, & gone inside the unfinished house to get out of the rain. it was dark in the house, & he fell into a hole in the floor, landing in the basement. but the basement's stairs hadn't been installed yet, & jake hurt his leg in the fall, so he couldn't get out. he tried to call for help from the workers the day before, but they didn't hear him over the sound of their equipment. bart calls the cops, & jake is safely extracted from the basement & returned home. mr. kuhn never had anything to do with his disappearance. he was indeed in mexico--on business. & the business did not involve illegal child smuggling.
the sub-plot involves something about mary anne doing really poorly in home ec & finally bringing up her grade by inventing jello jigglers. in the last chapter, all the babysitters attend the stoneybrook middle school awards night, where mary anne wins "most improved home ec student". i'm sure she is very proud. kirsty wins some special recognition for helping organize the search parties that finally located jake. she gives a cheesy little acceptance speech that knocked at least half a star off my rating.
this book is pretty boring, because you know they're not actually going to feature a kidnapped or murdered child in the babysitters club series (not that that sort of thing is "exciting"--but you just always knew that jake would be found & he'd be fine, so it was kind of anti-climactic). but compare this against books about ghost cats, &...it is a step up.
but mrs. kuhn calls later that evening to ask if jake is with kristy. & then she starts calling his friends all over the neighborhood, trying to find him. she finally concludes that her ex-husband showed up & took him away. he'd wanted to take jake with him on a european business trip, but mrs. kuhn wouldn't let jake miss that much school. she figures mr. kuhn is upset & snatched jake up anyway.
but she still calls the cops, who initiate a neighborhood search, just in case something else happened to jake.
this turns out to be a pretty smart move, because no one can find mr. kuhn. the cops think he may be in mexico. kristy feels really guilty & responsible for jake going missing, since she was the last one to see him after the softball game. she keeps thinking that if she just would have insisted on walking him home, he'd be okay. to make herself feel better, & to help, she organizes students from her school, as well as many babysitting charges, to look for jake. tons of people pitch in to scour neighborhoods. kristy is on a team with mary anne, bart, david michael, karen, andrew, & matt & haley braddock. matt is one of jake's best friends, so he has some pretty good ideas on where to look for him...but they don't find him.
by the time jake has been missing for two days, kristy is becoming extremely concerned. matt suggests taking a look around a formerly vacant lot where some houses are being built. all the boys like to hang around there & watch the construction. it's after-hours, so there are no workers around, so they creep around the lot, calling for jake. & kristy hears him calling back, very faintly, from an unfinished house's basement.
apparently he had taken shelter in the lot on his way home from the softball game, & gone inside the unfinished house to get out of the rain. it was dark in the house, & he fell into a hole in the floor, landing in the basement. but the basement's stairs hadn't been installed yet, & jake hurt his leg in the fall, so he couldn't get out. he tried to call for help from the workers the day before, but they didn't hear him over the sound of their equipment. bart calls the cops, & jake is safely extracted from the basement & returned home. mr. kuhn never had anything to do with his disappearance. he was indeed in mexico--on business. & the business did not involve illegal child smuggling.
the sub-plot involves something about mary anne doing really poorly in home ec & finally bringing up her grade by inventing jello jigglers. in the last chapter, all the babysitters attend the stoneybrook middle school awards night, where mary anne wins "most improved home ec student". i'm sure she is very proud. kirsty wins some special recognition for helping organize the search parties that finally located jake. she gives a cheesy little acceptance speech that knocked at least half a star off my rating.
this book is pretty boring, because you know they're not actually going to feature a kidnapped or murdered child in the babysitters club series (not that that sort of thing is "exciting"--but you just always knew that jake would be found & he'd be fine, so it was kind of anti-climactic). but compare this against books about ghost cats, &...it is a step up.
March 1, 2026
Being the fourth mystery book, the tone of this one is far more serious than the others before it that I read.
Kristy being the president of the BSC deserves to have the first mystery to reflect that she is not just bossy but a very caring and complex person. She runs a softball team for kids that are too young for a baseball team, and she has a crush on Bart, coach of the rival team, and comes from a very large and complicated family.
The day of a game, eight-year-old Jake Kuhn tells Kristy he is allowed to walk home alone, and it ends up raining. That evening, Mrs. Kuhn calls to ask Kristy if she knows where Jake is.
If I had read this as a teenager I still would be just as nervous as my adult self was in reading this book. Some plot points are established early in the book that will make a comeback as we get closer to the end, but the biggest one is the topic that Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn are recently divorced.
Since it is about to be his ninth birthday soon, Jake's dad wanted to take him out of the country on a business trip but no, two weeks is too long for a little boy to miss school. To say that he kidnapped his own son is the first place Mrs. Kuhn goes to place blame and man, it hits differently now as a parent.
Kristy, being the last person to see Jake, is feeling major guilt that she didn't insist on walking Jake home. Yet she isn't the only one because Bart was also old enough to realize he could have made sure a little boy got home as well. Mrs. Kuhn and Kristy's mom go out of their way to make sure Kristy doesn't blame herself and the whole town of Stoneybrook helps out in searching for Jake and offering his family comfort.
Jake has two little sisters and the youngest swears she has seen a car like her daddy's driving around town, and it is heartbreaking to have to see kids handle not being able to see their own parents during a divorce. Kristy mentions that the Kuhns haven't been nasty about it toward each other but right now, Mom has custody and Dad has moved to Texas and is already dating again.
Kristy organizes the BSC members, other kids at the middle school, the elementary school and Bart into doing their own search aside from the police and adults but not interfering and with adult permission from the parents of the club's kids and the middle school principal. It works out well because kids have their own little secrets and know of places that adults wouldn't think to search.
Being that this is a book aimed at middle grade kids, everything works out in the end but most of the book is serious. There are moments of levity on a child's level, and it works well to let us breathe through it as even adult readers. Touching on things as divorce or even parental abandonment and the dangers of children going missing are handled surprisingly well. Having kids know what to do in case a stranger shows up works better if you have a level-headed thirteen-year-old like Kristy explaining it to you.
Kristy and The Missing Child is one of the better BSC mysteries that I have read in this series out of the ones I have recently found in the wild and it is a must-read and add-on to any BSC fans bookshelf.
Kristy being the president of the BSC deserves to have the first mystery to reflect that she is not just bossy but a very caring and complex person. She runs a softball team for kids that are too young for a baseball team, and she has a crush on Bart, coach of the rival team, and comes from a very large and complicated family.
The day of a game, eight-year-old Jake Kuhn tells Kristy he is allowed to walk home alone, and it ends up raining. That evening, Mrs. Kuhn calls to ask Kristy if she knows where Jake is.
If I had read this as a teenager I still would be just as nervous as my adult self was in reading this book. Some plot points are established early in the book that will make a comeback as we get closer to the end, but the biggest one is the topic that Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn are recently divorced.
Since it is about to be his ninth birthday soon, Jake's dad wanted to take him out of the country on a business trip but no, two weeks is too long for a little boy to miss school. To say that he kidnapped his own son is the first place Mrs. Kuhn goes to place blame and man, it hits differently now as a parent.
Kristy, being the last person to see Jake, is feeling major guilt that she didn't insist on walking Jake home. Yet she isn't the only one because Bart was also old enough to realize he could have made sure a little boy got home as well. Mrs. Kuhn and Kristy's mom go out of their way to make sure Kristy doesn't blame herself and the whole town of Stoneybrook helps out in searching for Jake and offering his family comfort.
Jake has two little sisters and the youngest swears she has seen a car like her daddy's driving around town, and it is heartbreaking to have to see kids handle not being able to see their own parents during a divorce. Kristy mentions that the Kuhns haven't been nasty about it toward each other but right now, Mom has custody and Dad has moved to Texas and is already dating again.
Kristy organizes the BSC members, other kids at the middle school, the elementary school and Bart into doing their own search aside from the police and adults but not interfering and with adult permission from the parents of the club's kids and the middle school principal. It works out well because kids have their own little secrets and know of places that adults wouldn't think to search.
Being that this is a book aimed at middle grade kids, everything works out in the end but most of the book is serious. There are moments of levity on a child's level, and it works well to let us breathe through it as even adult readers. Touching on things as divorce or even parental abandonment and the dangers of children going missing are handled surprisingly well. Having kids know what to do in case a stranger shows up works better if you have a level-headed thirteen-year-old like Kristy explaining it to you.
Kristy and The Missing Child is one of the better BSC mysteries that I have read in this series out of the ones I have recently found in the wild and it is a must-read and add-on to any BSC fans bookshelf.
September 15, 2018
I'm sick again, so time to re-read more BSC books!
I always associated this book with being boring for whatever reason when I was a kid, so I don't think I ever re-read it. As such, it's one of the few BSC books that I have no distinct memory of, which made it fun to re-read now.
While this certainly isn't the greatest BSC mystery, it's not nearly as boring as my younger self would have had me believe. It has some truly funny moments (like Kristy pushing her face against the mirror to see what she would look like if someone was kissing her and Mary Anne failing to make Jell-o), but I do think it's weird that no one mentioned the Buddy Barrett disappearance from book 5 - especially because they thought it was Mr. Kuhn who took Jake. Just seems like a good time to make a comparison about that, no?
I always associated this book with being boring for whatever reason when I was a kid, so I don't think I ever re-read it. As such, it's one of the few BSC books that I have no distinct memory of, which made it fun to re-read now.
While this certainly isn't the greatest BSC mystery, it's not nearly as boring as my younger self would have had me believe. It has some truly funny moments (like Kristy pushing her face against the mirror to see what she would look like if someone was kissing her and Mary Anne failing to make Jell-o), but I do think it's weird that no one mentioned the Buddy Barrett disappearance from book 5 - especially because they thought it was Mr. Kuhn who took Jake. Just seems like a good time to make a comparison about that, no?
February 3, 2017
Kristy searches for a child that goes missing on her watch. The whole town of Stoneybrook (including of course, the BSC) turns out en masse to look for Jake Kuhn. I read this book when I was nine, when my family was living in the midwest. In a subplot the BSC prepares for an inexplicable Awards Night at SMS, and Mary Anne "invents" Jello jigglers.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
When I read this book I was living in a community where I could run around to different people's houses, walk to the community center, ride a bike to the park, etc. that all the kids in Stoneybrook do. After I read this book I was super paranoid about disappearing the way Jake does. I always took established routes, and I was constantly calling my dad at home to let him know where I was, and when I was leaving. It especially worried me that Jake was eventually found trapped in a construction site, because even as a kid I understood that if he hadn't been found soon he would have died of dehydration, which I still think is a pretty gruesome death to think about.
I remember the popcorn station Stacey and her set up to try different toppings on their popcorn. As a kid this sounded amazing, and it's actually what I did for my tenth birthday party. I invited a bunch of girls over to watch movies (VHS tapes of course! that's how old I am), and we experimented with different flavors on popcorn. Come to think of it, that sounds like a great party I could throw tonight!
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I remember the Kuhns well from later books. They were the kids Mary Anne was baby sitting when she got in trouble in Mary Anne Breaks the Rules. This is one of the first books they are featured as major characters, and the first time that they are baby sat for by the BSC. It is interesting to read about the Kuhns divorce in this earlier book, especially since some of the same themes that were talked about in Dawn and the Impossible Three are mentioned here, such as parental custody. But while Mrs Barrett was adamant that her ex couldn't have taken Buddy Barrett, Mrs Kuhn instantly assumes that her ex lured Jake into his car to punish her for not letting him take Jake to Europe. She's going to "give him a piece of my mind" when he's had time to get back to Texas. Why wouldn't she call the police immediately if she suspects her ex of taking her child across state lines in violation of their custody agreement? Eventually she does call, but she seems to take her time about it. Maybe she doesn't want to get him in trouble. But still.
Jake goes missing after a Krushers baseball game. Kristy was the last person to see him, and she feels terrible, especially since it was just about to rain before she sent Jake off to walk home alone. I felt so bad for Kristy, especially since she's usually responsible beyond all reason. ("Normally I'm so responsible it's sickening," is how she puts it in this book.) Of course the one time she cops out is the one time a kid goes missing. Incidents like this are what make people control freaks. To take back control in a small way, Kristy organized the BSC charges to create search parties to look for Jake. As a kid I thought this was stupid -- what could a search party of kids do that a search party of adults or police couldn't do? As an adult I sort of see the logic. Kids think like kids, and they know hiding places that adults don't think of. As it turns out, this was the right strategy, as Matt Braddock knows Jake likes to hang out at a construction site scavenging pieces for a clubhouse they want to build. Of course he's fallen through the floor of a half-built house.
Mary Anne is on the verge of failing home ec, which is a plotline I had forgotten about, and one that I have trouble believing. I thought Mary Anne was a whiz at all things needlework. Doesn't she take sewing classes or something? Didn't Mimi teach her to knit? Isn't it all related? I can sympathize with Mary Anne for hating to cook. I had to force myself to cook when I got married and realized that my husband would eat nothing but fast food if I did not provide regular, homemade hot meals. However, I distinctly remember Mary Anne saying in an earlier book that she can cook reasonably well since she is responsible for getting dinner made for her father before he marries Dawn's mother. Since home ec does not require gourmet cooking skills to pass it I can't imagine why Mary Anne cannot scrape a passing grade for this class. She completely freaks out over the correct way to make Jello, which I found funny, since my home ec teacher in eighth grade was constantly hounding us to make Kool-Aid the "right" way.
Some kid named Justin Forbes, who is barely mentioned in the entire series is named Class Clown at the SMS Awards Night. What nonsense. Alan Gray is hands down the class clown of SMS. I can't believe Pete Black thought he even had a chance of possibly winning it, and I really can't believe Justin wins instead. I call voter fraud.
I don't know if it was just my copy of the book, but MR Taylor, the school principal at SMS (who's always been a male, in all the books past and future) is referred to as "she" several times in a paragraph.
I am totally going to have a make-your-own-popcorn-flavor station at our Super Bowl party on Sunday!
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
When I read this book I was living in a community where I could run around to different people's houses, walk to the community center, ride a bike to the park, etc. that all the kids in Stoneybrook do. After I read this book I was super paranoid about disappearing the way Jake does. I always took established routes, and I was constantly calling my dad at home to let him know where I was, and when I was leaving. It especially worried me that Jake was eventually found trapped in a construction site, because even as a kid I understood that if he hadn't been found soon he would have died of dehydration, which I still think is a pretty gruesome death to think about.
I remember the popcorn station Stacey and her set up to try different toppings on their popcorn. As a kid this sounded amazing, and it's actually what I did for my tenth birthday party. I invited a bunch of girls over to watch movies (VHS tapes of course! that's how old I am), and we experimented with different flavors on popcorn. Come to think of it, that sounds like a great party I could throw tonight!
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I remember the Kuhns well from later books. They were the kids Mary Anne was baby sitting when she got in trouble in Mary Anne Breaks the Rules. This is one of the first books they are featured as major characters, and the first time that they are baby sat for by the BSC. It is interesting to read about the Kuhns divorce in this earlier book, especially since some of the same themes that were talked about in Dawn and the Impossible Three are mentioned here, such as parental custody. But while Mrs Barrett was adamant that her ex couldn't have taken Buddy Barrett, Mrs Kuhn instantly assumes that her ex lured Jake into his car to punish her for not letting him take Jake to Europe. She's going to "give him a piece of my mind" when he's had time to get back to Texas. Why wouldn't she call the police immediately if she suspects her ex of taking her child across state lines in violation of their custody agreement? Eventually she does call, but she seems to take her time about it. Maybe she doesn't want to get him in trouble. But still.
Jake goes missing after a Krushers baseball game. Kristy was the last person to see him, and she feels terrible, especially since it was just about to rain before she sent Jake off to walk home alone. I felt so bad for Kristy, especially since she's usually responsible beyond all reason. ("Normally I'm so responsible it's sickening," is how she puts it in this book.) Of course the one time she cops out is the one time a kid goes missing. Incidents like this are what make people control freaks. To take back control in a small way, Kristy organized the BSC charges to create search parties to look for Jake. As a kid I thought this was stupid -- what could a search party of kids do that a search party of adults or police couldn't do? As an adult I sort of see the logic. Kids think like kids, and they know hiding places that adults don't think of. As it turns out, this was the right strategy, as Matt Braddock knows Jake likes to hang out at a construction site scavenging pieces for a clubhouse they want to build. Of course he's fallen through the floor of a half-built house.
Mary Anne is on the verge of failing home ec, which is a plotline I had forgotten about, and one that I have trouble believing. I thought Mary Anne was a whiz at all things needlework. Doesn't she take sewing classes or something? Didn't Mimi teach her to knit? Isn't it all related? I can sympathize with Mary Anne for hating to cook. I had to force myself to cook when I got married and realized that my husband would eat nothing but fast food if I did not provide regular, homemade hot meals. However, I distinctly remember Mary Anne saying in an earlier book that she can cook reasonably well since she is responsible for getting dinner made for her father before he marries Dawn's mother. Since home ec does not require gourmet cooking skills to pass it I can't imagine why Mary Anne cannot scrape a passing grade for this class. She completely freaks out over the correct way to make Jello, which I found funny, since my home ec teacher in eighth grade was constantly hounding us to make Kool-Aid the "right" way.
Some kid named Justin Forbes, who is barely mentioned in the entire series is named Class Clown at the SMS Awards Night. What nonsense. Alan Gray is hands down the class clown of SMS. I can't believe Pete Black thought he even had a chance of possibly winning it, and I really can't believe Justin wins instead. I call voter fraud.
I don't know if it was just my copy of the book, but MR Taylor, the school principal at SMS (who's always been a male, in all the books past and future) is referred to as "she" several times in a paragraph.
I am totally going to have a make-your-own-popcorn-flavor station at our Super Bowl party on Sunday!
March 28, 2021
Kristy and her Krushers (her baseball team she coaches) are having a match against their rivals the Bashers. Once the game is over everyone starts heading home and a heavy rain starts happening. One of Kristys kids on the baseball team (Jake) says he has permission to walk home by himself and so he takes off for home in the rain. An hour later Kristy receives the terrible call from Jakes mom saying that he never made it back home and that nobody knows where he is.
I love me a good mystery and I can honestly say that even though this is a middle grade book that I genuinely was shocked by the ending. I’m not going to lie, my eyes where on the dad so when it ended differently I was surprised in a good way.
I love me a good mystery and I can honestly say that even though this is a middle grade book that I genuinely was shocked by the ending. I’m not going to lie, my eyes where on the dad so when it ended differently I was surprised in a good way.
April 29, 2009
The thing with these BSC mysteries is, well, it's the BSC. And the kid is a well-known one, not one just created for the book in order to go missing. So you know he's going to be found alive because oh hai, BSC. And that he's going to be brought home all safe and sound because he's a recurring character with siblings who have not gone missing.
July 27, 2024
This feels like the first true mystery that was purpose-written for the Mystery series. Jake Kuhn, a seldom-seen Krusher has gone missing and his mother jumps right to non-custodial parent abduction due to the contentious divorce the Kuhns are going through. Kristy feels guilty because she was the last to see him before he went missing.
Kristy’s anxiety feels realistic especially her guilt at facing Mrs. Kuhn for the first time. There is some nice development of the Kristy/Bart relationship as Bart was also there when Jake set out to walk home by himself. The other kids’ fears also feel realistic and it’s a nice opportunity for the series to drop a lesson about safety in there. It has a nice resolution and some nice character moments that show Kristy’s strengths.
Nitpicks: the ghostwriter seems to have forgotten or not realized that Mrs. Barrett is a single mom because they refer repeatedly to the Barrett “parents” in a way that implies they are a co-parenting unit. Ironic since Buddy was the last BSC charge to be suspected to be involved in a family abduction.
I also don’t believe for a second Mary Anne could fail home ec. This subplot could so easily have been given to somebody else.
Kristy’s anxiety feels realistic especially her guilt at facing Mrs. Kuhn for the first time. There is some nice development of the Kristy/Bart relationship as Bart was also there when Jake set out to walk home by himself. The other kids’ fears also feel realistic and it’s a nice opportunity for the series to drop a lesson about safety in there. It has a nice resolution and some nice character moments that show Kristy’s strengths.
Nitpicks: the ghostwriter seems to have forgotten or not realized that Mrs. Barrett is a single mom because they refer repeatedly to the Barrett “parents” in a way that implies they are a co-parenting unit. Ironic since Buddy was the last BSC charge to be suspected to be involved in a family abduction.
I also don’t believe for a second Mary Anne could fail home ec. This subplot could so easily have been given to somebody else.
July 21, 2017
I had literally just mentioned in a previous book that I HATE the softball stuff in a lot of the Kristy books. It's always so boring, so naturally this one starts off with plenty of it and drags out some more later on for good measure. I do remember this book vividly from my childhood though, and it always blew my mind that nobody checked the construction area RIGHT BY THE SOFTBALL FIELD for Jake. They just auto-blamed the kids poor dad, who wasn't even in the country at the time of hid disappearance.
The Stoneybrook Police Department clearly leaves something to be desired.
Anyway, the softball stuff was hard to muddle through, and so was the b-plot. It was, for some reason, about Mary Anne failing home ec. She saved her grade by making jell-o jigglers, which she believes for awhile that she invented. I used to LOVE making jigglers as a kid, they need to make a come back. I had a mold kit to make dinosaur ones, and it was freaking awesome.
The Stoneybrook Police Department clearly leaves something to be desired.
Anyway, the softball stuff was hard to muddle through, and so was the b-plot. It was, for some reason, about Mary Anne failing home ec. She saved her grade by making jell-o jigglers, which she believes for awhile that she invented. I used to LOVE making jigglers as a kid, they need to make a come back. I had a mold kit to make dinosaur ones, and it was freaking awesome.
June 27, 2020
This was so hard to put down! I was very impressed with this book and the mystery incorporated into it. Kristy has a great, complex character. The whole BSC has great character: each different with their own set of flaws. The mystery itself is realistic, and the author even added multiple red herrings, shocking in a kid’s book if you ask me! A good lesson on kidnapping and abductions is also added to the story in a very educational way. I also loved the side plots, like Mary Anne’s drama with Home-Ec, and Jell-O, and Kristy’s little crush on Bart. So far this is the best BSC mystery, I highly recommend!
April 22, 2021
3 stars. I remember this book scaring me when I was younger. LOL. Like, I was so terrified while reading this. Now, while it was good for what it was, it felt a bit too After School Special as well. It's cheesy but there are some moments that do really work. Kristy being so intent in helping find Jake was great and I liked the discussion the kids had about their fear of being kidnapped. That was all fine. The tone of this was just a bit of a mess and I couldn't stand Mary-Anne here. I get she was worried about failing Home Ec but girl there's a child missing! Priorities. She came across as really out of character and self centered. Overall, this was fine.
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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.
May 10, 2021
Finally, another BSC book with an actual plot that carries the entire book along and has to do (somewhat?) with babysitting. Also, love that character development for Kristy/relationship development between Kristy and Bart, although I have my doubt that it will be sustained in later books. I think the subplot of Mary Anne failing home ec was sort of shoe-horned in there, but it did provide some nice levity because this plot is heavy heavy as far as BSC plots go.
June 5, 2023
A huge storm is about to roll in after Kristy's Krushers face off against Bart's Bashers. Kristy, Bart, and David Michael are heading home when they see Jake Kuhn alone. His mother has allowed him to go home alone, but when Kristy arrives home, she receives a phone call from Mrs. Kuhn: Jake is missing! The police start an investigation while Kristy tries her best to help out as well.
December 21, 2019
I really like this Mystery, even if it's not a mystery that happens to the Baby-sitters Club; there are not really any clues to follow, no culprit to watch. But it's a realistic story, especially with all the kids the girls know, and with a realistic and happy conclusion.
December 31, 2020
(LL)
This was fine. The ending wasn’t great, but I guess for a mystery book written for kids (8-13) it wasn’t too bad. Convenient that Matt had some information that he didn’t share for two days, but it furthered the plot. Nothing exciting.
This was fine. The ending wasn’t great, but I guess for a mystery book written for kids (8-13) it wasn’t too bad. Convenient that Matt had some information that he didn’t share for two days, but it furthered the plot. Nothing exciting.
December 5, 2021
In a book where the stakes were as high as a child being abducted and Mary Anne failing home ec, of course my main takeaway was that I'm into Bart Taylor's strong "high school history teacher who coaches football" energy.
June 21, 2022
Even it's book #4, the characters still being introduced at the beginning so it's okay if you don't read the book from #1. I read it in 2022 - 30 years after the book released and I've watched the Netflix series before read this so I feel like I've known these babysitters already
September 8, 2024
Even in the more perfunctory entries in the series, such as this one, you'll still find some really cute moments, like
May 8, 2017
This is by far the best BSC Mystery I've read, mostly because it has an actual mystery.
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December 14, 2019horrible book doesnt get u to what u want and ur not even able to read on this HORRIBLE APP!!!!
I MEAN LIKE REALLY HORRIBLE
I MEAN LIKE REALLY HORRIBLE
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August 13, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
July 7, 2021
A short interesting read, though not one of my favorites.
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August 22, 2021yoooo kristy got her kisses in this one
September 15, 2021
Definitely my favorite BSC mystery!
February 2, 2023
It was okay.
April 2, 2023
This is nice and heartwarming. Nice to see the small town come together to find Jake. And of course to have things turn out well.
July 13, 2023
Loved this book as a kid. Rereading as an adult is a fun walk down memory lane. I am surprised how well the books hold up and can appreciate them in a new light as an adult.
October 17, 2024
Little dated, but a fun read!
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