Karen's Surprise

Baby-Sitters Little Sister Graphic Novels #12

by Shauna J. Grant (Adapter), Ann M. Martin

Another graphic novel in this fun series spin-off of The Baby-sitters Club, adapted and illustrated by bestselling author and Mimi series creator Shauna J. Grant!Karen and her classmates are putting on a play about a grand Thanksgiving feast. She wants the starring role, of course, but she is given the worst part of all -- the Thanksgiving turkey! All she gets to do is walk across the stage in a big brown costume and say one or two lines.Will everyone laugh at Karen the Turkey? Not when they see her big surprise!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Fiction, Holiday, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Childrens

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2026

Reviews

[Sakura]

It’s been… quite a while since I’ve reviewed a kid’s book, hasn’t it? I used to do super long reviews for this series… so honestly, why not? Let’s just get right into it.

Karen is excited for Thanksgiving. Why wouldn’t she be?! Not only is she possibly going to get to have TWO feasts on the same day, but her school is also putting on a play for the holiday…. And Karen is sure she’s going to be the star of the play! She practices and practices for the tryouts, getting into an intense rivalry with Nancy. Honestly… I do NOT understand how those two girls are still friends?! All they ever do is fight. It honestly seems like they hate each other 90% of the time. Anyway, Karen stops being friendly with Nancy for a bit, but this does get fixed with it is revealed that the roles of the play will be decided by a random hat drawing, NOT tryouts!

Karen does not get the lead role. In fact, her biggest school enemy, Pamela, gets the part! Karen gets the worst part of all….
A roasted turkey?!

I will say, I’m sure being a kid at school and being forced to play a humiliating role must be awful. Karen takes to it okay… especially feeling better after Kristy tells her how important the turkey is, and suggested that Karen writes a song for the food parts, so they can do more then just walk on to stage. Karen writes a poem to later be turned into a song for the play, and Nanny loves it! However, Karen does have one more surprise….
But this part is a secret!

All the kids at recess brag about what they’ll be doing on Thanksgiving, Pamela owning the stage by announcing that she will be going to a theme park! But Karen, who wants to steal the stage (as always) is able to impress her classmates even farther by telling everyone that she is getting to have TWO Thanksgiving feasts! She even teases Pamela, suggesting that she eats a bigggg snack before going on a rollercoaster. I thought this was pretty mean. Just because Pamela is rude doesn’t mean you should be rude back- what example does this set for kids reading! Anyway, Pamela walks away in a huff.

Back in class, Karen suggests the idea of her song to everyone, and they all love it! Everyone, that is… besides Pamela. That’s because even though she got the lead role, she doesn’t get to sing based on Karen’s song! Karen smirks at this, knowing that Pamela WANTS to sing, but won’t be able to. Again, this is mean! How would Karen feel if Pamela did this to her?

Fast forward a bit, the kids start practicing the play! Pamela is a horrible actress, and can’t remember her lines! Well, at least Karen and Nancy are good at it! (Man, I REALLY don’t enjoy the way they treat Pamela! She’s way too villainized for a literal SEVEN YEAR OLD who just acts pretty much the same as Karen anyway?) The actual play, unlike the rehearsals, goes great! That is, up until the very end, when it’s Karen’s turn to sing! She does great, but…
Then she starts doing a solo dance on stage?!
After the play, her teacher actually has a talk with Karen, explaining to her that what she did was NOT ok. And Karen says she is sorry. Her friends are upset, reasonably telling Karen that she acted like she was making that song so EVERYONE could shine more, but it was really just so she could hog the stage! I was ok with this. I mean, kids do selfish things sometimes, they are still learning. So as long as the book shows it as wrong , I’m okay with it-
No wait, now her entire family is praising her dance skills.
And guess what? Karen doesn’t tell them she wasn't meant to do that…
So crime does pay?
Really?
Ugh, anyways.

A few days later, Karen has her first Thanksgiving feast at her mommy’s house, and it’s lots of fun! Their grandparents come over, and everything is so tasty! Karen tries to save room for her second feast at her daddy’s house, but it’s hard, because everything is just so good! After the feast, Karen isn’t really hungry anymore. So, at her daddy’s house, they wait until pretty late to start eating. All her brothers are complaining about the wait… and Karen feels a bit guilty. They are waiting just because of Andrew and her! But once it’s time to eat… Karen hardly can. She’s just got no room… and then, she announces that she has a horrible stomach ache! She can’t sleep, and she’s just so, so sad… the adults ruined her Thanksgiving!

Her mom comes over, and the adults apologize for what they did. They know it was wrong to want to have two feasts on the same day… none of them were willing to budge, but they ended up hurting their children! So, they promise to never do this again. And honestly, I was pretty mad at them for doing this, it was quite dumb. So I’m glad they said sorry.

But thennn, finally, Karen goes back to school. Her stomach feels normal again, but she really doesn’t want the other kids to find out what happened! Pamela is back, bragging about her fun theme park visit… and overcome by temptation, Karen brags about her day too, completely lying and leaving out the bad part, that only her closest friends know. Yay! Deceiving all her classmates.
The end.

Mannn, as usual, Karen is a brat. Like really. I do NOT know who in the world this series is a good influence for? As a not-small-child reading this, I find it quite disappointing and odd. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the art. I can’t say the book wasn’t entertaining at all, but I wouldn't recommend it for young kids!

(This book contains holidays (Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, Kwanza and Hanukkah!)! It also contains a kid acting like a brat, bullying, and mentions of ‘barf’. I would give it an age rating all 10+ just cuz she’s such an awful influence lol)

[Dawn]

This summer release is weirdly all about Thanksgiving. At school, Karen’s class is planning a play about Thanksgiving. At home, her parents are fighting over who gets to have Karen and Andrew for the holiday. I distinctly remember the cover of the original book with their silly food costumes.

Dramatic Karen doesn’t get the part she wants in the play. She writes a poem to give herself a bigger part, and then plans a surprise dance solo as well. She is scolded by her teacher, but her family lavishes her with praise. Meanwhile, her parents decide to split their time with Karen and Andrew on Thanksgiving. Karen is excited to have two Thanksgivings, but eats so much she makes herself sick. Her parents apologize for being selfish and promise to be better coparents. Back at school, she lies to her classmates, pretending her Thanksgiving was great, to try and one up Pamela’s trip to fakeDisneyWorld.

[Marie]

Nostalgia overload. The drawing style was enjoyable but the story was lacking due to omitting certain plot points from the original book. Probably due to controversial subject matter and copyright issues.

[Caroline]

3.5 - very simple, I think with the more recent Babysitter adaptations they are really for much younger audiences. There are two main messages - one about how Karen's divorced parents handle sharing Thanksgiving, which is important for both children and adults navigating celebrations - and one about Karen adding an extra, self-centered part to her classroom's Thanksgiving play. In the original book, Karen is given more of a punishment for her actions, but the scene is so quick with little afterthought that I think it would be confusing to children who haven't read the original and perhaps give them ideas that they can get away with whatever they want. Rather than discussing how Karen's actions might be a cry for attention in a difficult holiday setting, the adults focus more on the Thanksgiving celebration they have planned. I would have liked to see more of an integration with the divorce and the play plotlines, perhaps Karen writing lines about divorced parents rather than a song about a turkey amid the play's story about a traditional family. But the illustrations are cute and the Thanksgiving vibes are captured well.

[Kristen]

I appreciated the description of Thanksgiving including the negative treatment of Indigenous people by the early settlers. I enjoyed the plotline about Karen's play - it was my favourite part. I also liked the festivities surrounding Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season (though this was super weird for me because as a Canadian, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October which is no where near Christmas).

I'm confused as to what medicine Karen's stepdad is going to give her to help her feel better after eating too much? This is not a situation that requires medicine.

The adults were so unbelievably selfish and clueless in this one. I understand adults make mistakes but this was a bit much.

Once again (just like in a previous Little Sister graphic novel), it irrationally bothers me that for copyright reasons they had to make up a fake theme park instead of Disneyland/Disney World.

[Katie]

Lots happening in this one. Karen's in her class Thanksgiving play and she's upset that she's not the star so she makes it about herself by adding a little dance to her part. No harm done and she wasn't really punished. Then her two families fight over where and when to have Thanksgiving, so the 4-year-old and 7-year-old Andrew and Karen have to eat two full Thanksgiving dinners. They are overstimulated and sick and sleepy. Gladly, the parents acknowledged their mistake and promised not to do it again. It's nice how they show the struggles the kids have with their multiple families, even if they are privileged.

3 stars instead of 4 stars like the original. I don’t think this captured Karen’s emotions about being torn between her two families as well as the book did.

[Hope Burmeister]

This was another cute graphic novel in the Babysitters Little Sisters series. The most interesting part of the book was the “two thanksgivings in one day” storyline. It reminded me of having lunch at one house and dinner at another house on Christmas Day. I can relate to feeling full but as a child, you probably can’t control your portion size as well. The Thanksgiving play was slightly less interesting, especially how Karen selfishly took the limelight as usual. Another instance of Karen being Karen. Overall, it was a good read but not my favourite in the series.

[Andrew Dittmar]

Karen's Surprise (Babysitters Club Little Sister graphic novel, #12), created by Ann M. Martin, adapted by Shauna J. Grant



Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!

Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a small piece of paper with the book.


Started June 19th, 2026.
Finished June 19th, 2026.


June 19th, 2026 (after midnight): read chapter 1 (pp. 1-9) in physical copy.

June 19th, 2026 (daytime): read chapters 2-10 (pp. 10-120) in physical copy.

[Ashley]

See my review of the novel from 2 years ago because my feelings still stand - Karen's parents suck!

Loved the art in this (and thought that Karen was ADORABLE in her little turkey costume) but I don't feel like the graphic version really focused on the play and Karen's extra verses in the song, so it wasn't abundantly clear that she was a stage-hog. But I still really liked this, it was a good adaptation.

[Molly]

Ok, but why are Watson and Lisa the actual worst? No wonder Karen is so attention-seeking; her parents seem to generally ignore her and put their hang-ups above their kids' needs. Somehow, I think the graphic novels have made Karen more relatable and likeable than the original books. I appreciate that these books address how difficult it can be for kids of divorce and navigating two families.

[Kris]

2.5 stars

The art is cute, and I'm glad they acknowledged some of he problematic aspects of Thanksgiving, but Karen learns absolutely nothing in this one. Karen hogs the stage when she isn't supposed to, and she lies to her friends about her Thanksgiving, and neither of these things have any consequences. I'm glad that the parents apologize when they screw up, but Karen should, too.

[Natalie]

I never read the Little Sister series as a kid so I was pleasantly surprised to find this was a Thanksgiving story!

I do enjoy Karen and how dramatic she can be at times. Her situation is relatable too. And the art was super cute!

[Grace H.]

Really, really good. I loved it. I read it pretty quick in 1 day. I would probably read it again and you can definitely tell who the jerk is. I really love the play. Karen is really creative and her stomachache was kind of funny, but yeah. It was really good.

[Carina]

I liked this book because I’m a fan of holidays! I love dressing up for holidays, eating special foods, and seeing my grandparents - just like Karen does in the book. I’m glad that I didn’t have to be a turkey in a school play, though!

[Jourdy]

Definitely a selfish act on the parents to have their kids go to two celebrations on the same day. But I’m glad Karen had fun at her play.

[Shelina]

She definitely didn’t think it through how her surprise would be received, but that’s how children are. The child mindset was well-written.

[Lindsay]

As someone who does go to two Thanksgivings, it’s not that great.

[Brian]

Karens class is doing a school play for Thanksgiving and Karen is forced to play the role of Turkey so she Decides to spice it up. This was a very cute but very short read.

[Sarah]

Cute story but I didn’t love this art style.

[Geiosh A]

I really enjoyed this book so good I love going to my mom's house for Thanksgiving I love my brother picks me up and I get to eat my mom's food

[Kiri]

Two Thanksgiving dinners? Just the thought makes my stomach hurt! Poor Karen and Andrew, but at least the families talked it out in the end.

[Alyson]

Parts were good, parts were irritating--what can I say? See https://www.eatreadandbemommy.com/202... for details!

[Jennifer Brown]

Cute story with a message to all ages!

[Olivia Drabant]

The first few books were good but now, all books 8-12 gotten worse and worse. This problem in the book only lasted a few pages. Not the best book she made

[Steph]

I agree with Karen- being a two-two is sometimes hard.

[Courtney]

Cute illustrations and great book for kids in blended families.

[Alex]

I love these graphic novel adaptations!

[Ella Falkos]

It wasn’t the fantastic book but it was alright.

[Anoushey]

it is a really good book if you like graphic novels and comics!! :)

[Arianna Carranza]

This is honestly one of the worst books of the series because Karen doesn’t really learn her lesson. I know it must be hard to be a turkey but making a special dance just for you is just being a brat.