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The Baby-Sitters Club #117
Claudia and the Terrible Truth
In one of the strongest Babysitters Club books ever, the club must deal with a client who is abusive toward his children. Ann M. Martin addresses a difficult and important topic in her characteristic sensitive and informed style.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1998
96 people are currently reading
659 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,124 books3,085 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 45 reviews
September 4, 2018
this is my first time reading this book.
in this SERIOUS ISSUE book by ghostwriter Ellen Miles, claudia starts sitting for the nichollses, the family that moved to town in Abby and the Best Kid Ever. the kids are terrified of their dad, who gets mad at them for the slightest thing, like touching his briefcase or reading in bed. at one point claudia leaves out the peanut butter and when he comes home he screams at the kids, and when claudia says she was the one who did it, he says it’s no problem and he thought it was one of his “dumb, slobby sons.” one of the kids calls kristy’s little brother andrew a dummy, not realizing that it’s not normal, because that’s what his dad always calls him. claudia gradually discovers the kids have even more rules they must abide by, like they’re not allowed to talk during mealtimes, not allowed to have stuffed animals, etc. all of this together is still not enough for claudia to feel that she has to intervene, but one day she hears the unmistakable sound of the dad hitting one of the kids. she tells her mom, who talks to mrs. nicholls (she works at the library with her). mrs. nicholls defends him and promptly cancels all her bsc appointments. claud gets a call from erica blumberg who had ended up babysitting for them and is concerned because one of them has a black eye and the other has bruises on his arm. claudia calls her mom and then goes to the nichollses to help erica and finds mr. nicholls is already home. this part is pretty tense and scary. but basically, mrs. nicholls finally owns up to the fact that her husband is an abusive pos and claudia’s parents help her escape with the kids. they go to stay with mrs. nicholls’s sister in upstate ny. mr. nicholls calls claudia at midnight and says “give me back my wife!” and claudia does nothing about it (see lowlights for thoughts on this). then the bsc and erica talk about how they all handled the situation and agree that they should’ve told an adult sooner, the second they suspected something. two subplots include claudia babysitting baby lynn, and the bsc kids marching in a st. patrick’s day parade.
highlights:
-the one thing I can think to put here is that the way claudia and emily and the bsc members behave is developmentally appropriate for middle schoolers who have to deal with a situation like this. reading the book I kept getting mad at claudia for not speaking to her mom about the nichollses sooner, but 13-year-olds are just starting to grow out of the “grownups are always right” mindset and are still relatively likely to doubt their guts about sketchy adults. there was an extremely skeevy dean of students at the school I went to for middle school and early high school and he did a lot of things that in retrospect I can tell were him projecting his gross pedophilia onto me, but at the time I wanted to believe that grownups wouldn’t be that way, so I just wondered why he targeted me (and the other busty kids at the school).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the subplot where claudia is babysitting baby lynn while russ and peaches are away doesn’t go anywhere and is totally pointless.
-claudia's mom brings baby lynn to the library where one of the assistants in the children’s room watches her. uhhh, free babysitting? no way that’s acceptable. a librarian never would have written that, since we know how frequently people treat the public library as a free babysitting service.
-mr. nicholls yells at his wife when she's getting ready because he thinks she's taking too long, and then turns to claudia and says, "women." does he really think this 13-year-old girl is someone he could say that to and she would relate? I don’t buy it.
-why does it have to get to a point where claudia knows he's physically abusing the kids? he's clearly emotionally abusing them. claud should have intervened after the first sitting job. this is developmentally appropriate (see highlights) but I think the book spreads the harmful message that it’s not abuse until it’s physical abuse, which is just not true.
-claud asks her mom why mr. nicholls abuses his kids and her mom says lots of people who hurt their kids were abused when they were kids. this seems like an ill-advised thing to say, since it implies that everyone who abuses was abused, and that’s just not true.
-the night after mrs. nicholls and the kids escape, mr. nicholls calls claudia at midnight to say "give me back my wife!" kristy later suggests that if mr nicholls calls again they will have to change the business number. that’s not enough! why didn’t they file a restraining order? that’s stalking/harassment, and definitely grounds for legal ramifications.
-at the end they say mr. nicholls is going to counseling and hoping to get better so he can rejoin the family. it’s nice that they pretend like there’s a way to wrap up this story, but there isn’t. this guy is probably too far gone to ever be a decent human.
jackie disasters:
-lets pow the dog out while bo the dog is in the backyard, so they start chasing each other and knock over paint and spilling it onto themselves
snacks in claudia’s room:
-junior mints (n.s.)
-milky way miniatures (n.s.)
-chips ahoy in a shoe compartment in her closet
-oreos in her left-hand desk drawer
-sour patch kids (n.s.)
-peanut m&ms under her bed
-triscuits behind a dictionary on her bookshelf
in this SERIOUS ISSUE book by ghostwriter Ellen Miles, claudia starts sitting for the nichollses, the family that moved to town in Abby and the Best Kid Ever. the kids are terrified of their dad, who gets mad at them for the slightest thing, like touching his briefcase or reading in bed. at one point claudia leaves out the peanut butter and when he comes home he screams at the kids, and when claudia says she was the one who did it, he says it’s no problem and he thought it was one of his “dumb, slobby sons.” one of the kids calls kristy’s little brother andrew a dummy, not realizing that it’s not normal, because that’s what his dad always calls him. claudia gradually discovers the kids have even more rules they must abide by, like they’re not allowed to talk during mealtimes, not allowed to have stuffed animals, etc. all of this together is still not enough for claudia to feel that she has to intervene, but one day she hears the unmistakable sound of the dad hitting one of the kids. she tells her mom, who talks to mrs. nicholls (she works at the library with her). mrs. nicholls defends him and promptly cancels all her bsc appointments. claud gets a call from erica blumberg who had ended up babysitting for them and is concerned because one of them has a black eye and the other has bruises on his arm. claudia calls her mom and then goes to the nichollses to help erica and finds mr. nicholls is already home. this part is pretty tense and scary. but basically, mrs. nicholls finally owns up to the fact that her husband is an abusive pos and claudia’s parents help her escape with the kids. they go to stay with mrs. nicholls’s sister in upstate ny. mr. nicholls calls claudia at midnight and says “give me back my wife!” and claudia does nothing about it (see lowlights for thoughts on this). then the bsc and erica talk about how they all handled the situation and agree that they should’ve told an adult sooner, the second they suspected something. two subplots include claudia babysitting baby lynn, and the bsc kids marching in a st. patrick’s day parade.
highlights:
-the one thing I can think to put here is that the way claudia and emily and the bsc members behave is developmentally appropriate for middle schoolers who have to deal with a situation like this. reading the book I kept getting mad at claudia for not speaking to her mom about the nichollses sooner, but 13-year-olds are just starting to grow out of the “grownups are always right” mindset and are still relatively likely to doubt their guts about sketchy adults. there was an extremely skeevy dean of students at the school I went to for middle school and early high school and he did a lot of things that in retrospect I can tell were him projecting his gross pedophilia onto me, but at the time I wanted to believe that grownups wouldn’t be that way, so I just wondered why he targeted me (and the other busty kids at the school).
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the subplot where claudia is babysitting baby lynn while russ and peaches are away doesn’t go anywhere and is totally pointless.
-claudia's mom brings baby lynn to the library where one of the assistants in the children’s room watches her. uhhh, free babysitting? no way that’s acceptable. a librarian never would have written that, since we know how frequently people treat the public library as a free babysitting service.
-mr. nicholls yells at his wife when she's getting ready because he thinks she's taking too long, and then turns to claudia and says, "women." does he really think this 13-year-old girl is someone he could say that to and she would relate? I don’t buy it.
-why does it have to get to a point where claudia knows he's physically abusing the kids? he's clearly emotionally abusing them. claud should have intervened after the first sitting job. this is developmentally appropriate (see highlights) but I think the book spreads the harmful message that it’s not abuse until it’s physical abuse, which is just not true.
-claud asks her mom why mr. nicholls abuses his kids and her mom says lots of people who hurt their kids were abused when they were kids. this seems like an ill-advised thing to say, since it implies that everyone who abuses was abused, and that’s just not true.
-the night after mrs. nicholls and the kids escape, mr. nicholls calls claudia at midnight to say "give me back my wife!" kristy later suggests that if mr nicholls calls again they will have to change the business number. that’s not enough! why didn’t they file a restraining order? that’s stalking/harassment, and definitely grounds for legal ramifications.
-at the end they say mr. nicholls is going to counseling and hoping to get better so he can rejoin the family. it’s nice that they pretend like there’s a way to wrap up this story, but there isn’t. this guy is probably too far gone to ever be a decent human.
jackie disasters:
-lets pow the dog out while bo the dog is in the backyard, so they start chasing each other and knock over paint and spilling it onto themselves
snacks in claudia’s room:
-junior mints (n.s.)
-milky way miniatures (n.s.)
-chips ahoy in a shoe compartment in her closet
-oreos in her left-hand desk drawer
-sour patch kids (n.s.)
-peanut m&ms under her bed
-triscuits behind a dictionary on her bookshelf
January 13, 2026
This book has a heavy subject, at parts, I had to put it down and take a break. This is a good book for any age and is relaxing and easy to read. Overall good read.
August 10, 2019
Oh wow. Trouble. The Babysitters Club has a new client, the Nichollses. Yay, new clients, right? Wrong. Mr. Nicholls is strange, yells and calls his two paranoid sons Joey and Nate names, and punishes them for the smallest things. One day, when rushed out of the Nichollses house, Claudia overhears Mr.Nicholls yelling at Joey and Nate, and then Claudia hears a slap. She calls a meeting of the bsc, and they talk about what to do. Later, Erica Blumberg calls Claudia while sitting for Joey and Nate, because they both have been hurt. They make up excuses for the injuries but no one is buying it. Will Claudia and the BSC help fix the situation? Or will the Nicholls household be in crisis forever? Find out in The Babysitters Club book #117, Claudia and the terrible truth!
August 30, 2017
This book was amazing, and I wish I had read it back in the day.
September 6, 2016
A pretty realistic book with a serious tone for a BSC book!
February 24, 2012
made me cry...
September 27, 2016
I love BSC books! I haven't picked one up in awhile and I am glad I did, :D
May 22, 2018
One of the more heartbreaking books in the babysitter club series, but does teach an important lesson
July 8, 2020
Four stars for Claudia's mom being the unexpected hero
June 27, 2011
i think this book takes the prize for the most special of the very special episode babysitters club books. when the addisons moved away in abby & the best kid ever, the nicholls family moved into their place. there was some foreshadowing in the abby book about mr. nicholls being a little bit gruff & uptight & having a lot of rules. the addisons recommended the babysitters club to the nichollses, should they even need a babysitter for their sons (joey & nate, ages five & seven). mrs. nicholls is working at the public library with claudia's mom & apparently mr. nicholls is out of work & always going on job interviews. he does indeed call the club & claudia takes the first job.
she notices that the boys are kind of meek. she suggests that they go next door to play with stephen stanton-cha, & the kids are like, "um, we're not allowed to go anywhere without dad's permission." claudia's all, "whatever, i take kids i babysit for to friends' houses all the time. it'll be fine as long as we leave a note." i do have to say that that's maybe something you'd want to check in with the parents about, especially if it's your first time babysitting for new clients. anyway, she finally talks the boys into it, & they have an okay time until they get really nervous & start peering out the window for their dad's car. claudia gets the hint & takes them home. mrs. nicholls arrives home first & has no problem with claudia having taken the boys next door--until she admits she didn't get mr. nicholls's permission first. mrs. nicholls mutters something about how "what he doesn't know won't hurt anyone." claudia thinks this is weird, but doesn't comment on it.
the nichollses call the club again & specifically ask claudia to be their regular sitter. apparently the boys took a shine to her. she agrees...oh, & i almost forgot. there was all this weird shit at the beginning of the book about peaches & russ going on vacation & leaving baby lynn with claudia for the week. even though the school year is in & claudia has to go to school every day, plus babysitters club meetings, plus these jobs with the nicholls family, plus homework. janine is also in school, & both mr. & mrs. kishi work. who the hell is looking after this baby? we only really see claudia taking care of her for like an hour right after she is dropped off, but there's all this build-up (several chapters' worth about claudia's big sitting job for her niece). & then suddenly lynn is gone. what the hell is that about? claudia does make some comment about how she finds it hard to believe that anything bad could happen in a world with lynn in it. well, believe it claudia. maybe that was supposed to be foreshadowing or something? let's just assume that claudia stuffed lynn inside a hollow book & forgot about her.
okay, so now claudia is the regular sitter, & things are still weird. mr. nicholls comes home early-ish one afternoon while claudia is making the boys a snack of peanut butter celery, & he completely hulks out about the penut butter jar being left on the kitchen counter. he is all smiles & rainbows again as soon as claudia admits that she left it there, though he adds that he though one of his "slobby, stupid sons" had been the culprit. claudia is shocked to hear him talk that way about his kids, & is also alarmed when he yells at his wife & calls her a "slowpoke". he asks claudia to report back to him if the boys ever misbehave in any way. the boys let claudia win at checkers & other board games, & they take care not so get their clothes dirty or leave anything in the house anything less than totally perfect. mrs. nicholls also seems very quiet & meek around her husband. claudia doesn't totally know what's going on, but she's not a fan.
one day claudia reports for a sitting job & learns that the boys are being punished. their punishment is to clean the entire house. claudia tries to work with them & turn the cleaning into a game, but she is very disturbed to learn that the transgression in question is that one of them touched mr. nicholls's briefcase. that's it. he just touched it. mr. nicholls comes home in a bad mood & shoos claudia out of the house. she runs upstairs to grab her jacket, & comes back down just in time to hear what she thinks is the sound of mr. nicholls hitting one of the boys. mr. nicholls turns around & sees her & acts all nice, but claudia can tell that the boy's face is all red.
she runs home & calls an emergency meeting of the babysitters club. kristy is all, "accusing someone of child abuse is a really big deal. you didn't actually SEE mr. nicholls hit his son." right. & NOT reporting suspected child abuse & just letting it continue on until you have hard & fast proof is also kind of a big deal, kristy! claudia decides to tell her mom, who goes to work the next day & asks mrs. nicholls about it. mrs. nicholls denies everything, & then calls kristy to cancel the rest of the jobs she'd booked with the babysitters club. claudia tries to put the whole situation out of her mind, but maybe a week later, erica blumberg calls. apparently the nichollses hired her after firing the babysitters club. she's sat for the family three times, & today, mr. nicholls told her the boys were being punished & had to stay in their room. she went up to check on them & noticed that one had bruises on his arm & the other had a black eye.
claudia tells her mom, who grabs mrs. nicholls from work. they rush over to the nicholls' house (claudia stays home, but eventually becomes so curious that she bikes over to see what's happening). unfortunately, mr. nicholls has beat them home. mrs. kishi collects the boys & ushers them & erica out of the house. mrs. nicholls & claudia join her & they drive to mr. kishi's office in stamford. mr. nicholls yells at them a little, but doesn't try to stop them. claudia stays in her dad's office & watches the boys (they dropped erica off in stoneybrook, promising to call later) while the kishi parents go back to stoneybrook for mrs. nicholls's car. they gas it up & grab some snacks & mrs. nicholls takes the boys to her sister's place in upstate new york. she also calls child protective services & takes out a restraining order against mr. nicholls.
that evening, mr. nicholls calls claudia in the middle of the night & screams, "give me back my wife." um. scary. seriously. kristy is all, "if he does it again. we'll change your number. the clients will just have to live with it. you need you getting enough sleep so you can babysit." how about, "we need you to not get stalked by the violent crazy man"? jesus.
there is no real conclusion to the book. claudia doesn't know if the nichollses will get dirvorced or if mr. nicholls will seek counseling or what. i guess it's nice that they didn't try to tie it up in a nice little bow. it's just too bad that nate & joey didn't get to have any personality at all outside of "abused children".
the B-plot is all about some stupid st. patrick's day parade. once again, the babysitters never met a holiday that they didn't feel the need to meddle in. they arrange for their sitting charges to make totally shitty costumes (misshapen shamrocks, leprechaun hats, & a blarney stone) & do some kind of culturally offensive irish jig in the parade. i am so goddamn sick of these kids feeling entitled to march in every parade that comes down the pike. fucking give it a rest, y'all!
she notices that the boys are kind of meek. she suggests that they go next door to play with stephen stanton-cha, & the kids are like, "um, we're not allowed to go anywhere without dad's permission." claudia's all, "whatever, i take kids i babysit for to friends' houses all the time. it'll be fine as long as we leave a note." i do have to say that that's maybe something you'd want to check in with the parents about, especially if it's your first time babysitting for new clients. anyway, she finally talks the boys into it, & they have an okay time until they get really nervous & start peering out the window for their dad's car. claudia gets the hint & takes them home. mrs. nicholls arrives home first & has no problem with claudia having taken the boys next door--until she admits she didn't get mr. nicholls's permission first. mrs. nicholls mutters something about how "what he doesn't know won't hurt anyone." claudia thinks this is weird, but doesn't comment on it.
the nichollses call the club again & specifically ask claudia to be their regular sitter. apparently the boys took a shine to her. she agrees...oh, & i almost forgot. there was all this weird shit at the beginning of the book about peaches & russ going on vacation & leaving baby lynn with claudia for the week. even though the school year is in & claudia has to go to school every day, plus babysitters club meetings, plus these jobs with the nicholls family, plus homework. janine is also in school, & both mr. & mrs. kishi work. who the hell is looking after this baby? we only really see claudia taking care of her for like an hour right after she is dropped off, but there's all this build-up (several chapters' worth about claudia's big sitting job for her niece). & then suddenly lynn is gone. what the hell is that about? claudia does make some comment about how she finds it hard to believe that anything bad could happen in a world with lynn in it. well, believe it claudia. maybe that was supposed to be foreshadowing or something? let's just assume that claudia stuffed lynn inside a hollow book & forgot about her.
okay, so now claudia is the regular sitter, & things are still weird. mr. nicholls comes home early-ish one afternoon while claudia is making the boys a snack of peanut butter celery, & he completely hulks out about the penut butter jar being left on the kitchen counter. he is all smiles & rainbows again as soon as claudia admits that she left it there, though he adds that he though one of his "slobby, stupid sons" had been the culprit. claudia is shocked to hear him talk that way about his kids, & is also alarmed when he yells at his wife & calls her a "slowpoke". he asks claudia to report back to him if the boys ever misbehave in any way. the boys let claudia win at checkers & other board games, & they take care not so get their clothes dirty or leave anything in the house anything less than totally perfect. mrs. nicholls also seems very quiet & meek around her husband. claudia doesn't totally know what's going on, but she's not a fan.
one day claudia reports for a sitting job & learns that the boys are being punished. their punishment is to clean the entire house. claudia tries to work with them & turn the cleaning into a game, but she is very disturbed to learn that the transgression in question is that one of them touched mr. nicholls's briefcase. that's it. he just touched it. mr. nicholls comes home in a bad mood & shoos claudia out of the house. she runs upstairs to grab her jacket, & comes back down just in time to hear what she thinks is the sound of mr. nicholls hitting one of the boys. mr. nicholls turns around & sees her & acts all nice, but claudia can tell that the boy's face is all red.
she runs home & calls an emergency meeting of the babysitters club. kristy is all, "accusing someone of child abuse is a really big deal. you didn't actually SEE mr. nicholls hit his son." right. & NOT reporting suspected child abuse & just letting it continue on until you have hard & fast proof is also kind of a big deal, kristy! claudia decides to tell her mom, who goes to work the next day & asks mrs. nicholls about it. mrs. nicholls denies everything, & then calls kristy to cancel the rest of the jobs she'd booked with the babysitters club. claudia tries to put the whole situation out of her mind, but maybe a week later, erica blumberg calls. apparently the nichollses hired her after firing the babysitters club. she's sat for the family three times, & today, mr. nicholls told her the boys were being punished & had to stay in their room. she went up to check on them & noticed that one had bruises on his arm & the other had a black eye.
claudia tells her mom, who grabs mrs. nicholls from work. they rush over to the nicholls' house (claudia stays home, but eventually becomes so curious that she bikes over to see what's happening). unfortunately, mr. nicholls has beat them home. mrs. kishi collects the boys & ushers them & erica out of the house. mrs. nicholls & claudia join her & they drive to mr. kishi's office in stamford. mr. nicholls yells at them a little, but doesn't try to stop them. claudia stays in her dad's office & watches the boys (they dropped erica off in stoneybrook, promising to call later) while the kishi parents go back to stoneybrook for mrs. nicholls's car. they gas it up & grab some snacks & mrs. nicholls takes the boys to her sister's place in upstate new york. she also calls child protective services & takes out a restraining order against mr. nicholls.
that evening, mr. nicholls calls claudia in the middle of the night & screams, "give me back my wife." um. scary. seriously. kristy is all, "if he does it again. we'll change your number. the clients will just have to live with it. you need you getting enough sleep so you can babysit." how about, "we need you to not get stalked by the violent crazy man"? jesus.
there is no real conclusion to the book. claudia doesn't know if the nichollses will get dirvorced or if mr. nicholls will seek counseling or what. i guess it's nice that they didn't try to tie it up in a nice little bow. it's just too bad that nate & joey didn't get to have any personality at all outside of "abused children".
the B-plot is all about some stupid st. patrick's day parade. once again, the babysitters never met a holiday that they didn't feel the need to meddle in. they arrange for their sitting charges to make totally shitty costumes (misshapen shamrocks, leprechaun hats, & a blarney stone) & do some kind of culturally offensive irish jig in the parade. i am so goddamn sick of these kids feeling entitled to march in every parade that comes down the pike. fucking give it a rest, y'all!
October 23, 2017
It's nice to see the BSC come up against things now and then that they can't just deal with on their own. It's a good change of pace, and makes things a little more "real". Sure, it was a little bit cheesy, but the message here was actually a good one. Things aren't always perfect, sometimes bad things happen for reasons we can't always fathom. Child abuse is one of those things, and it was nice to see them need an adult to intervene for a change.
Read
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.
June 26, 2023
My favourite part of this book is that the Baby-sitters Club don't try to solve this problem themselves. Counterfeiters, stalkers, none of these dangerous situations warranted parental (or police) involvement. So, as sad as this book was, it was refreshing to see the girls go to a parent to get help in dealing with it.
August 31, 2017
This is extremely intense and gripping in comparison to other BSC books in the series. I had to stop several times to emotionally process it. Abuse is very well researched and described in an age-appropriate way that still presents it with nuance. I didn't feel like this book was preachy or contrived at all.
January 18, 2021
(LL)
This book did a freaking fantastic job tackling such a taboo topic: child abuse. I heard this was one of the best books in the series, and it delivered. It was perfectly done for the target audience (8-13), which isn’t easy to do without being too graphic or not telling enough for the reader to make sense of what’s happening.
This book did a freaking fantastic job tackling such a taboo topic: child abuse. I heard this was one of the best books in the series, and it delivered. It was perfectly done for the target audience (8-13), which isn’t easy to do without being too graphic or not telling enough for the reader to make sense of what’s happening.
March 18, 2023
When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
May 20, 2023
Claudia is babysitting the new kids in town: Joey and Nate Nicholls. It's not long before she notices something strange with Mr. Nicholls. Eventually she discovers that Mr. Nicholls is abusing Joey and Nate and she takes action to help them. Along with the BSC, Mrs. Kishi, and another babysitter, they help Mrs. Nicholls and the boys leave their unsafe home.
July 4, 2020
Reading BSC books again! I grew up with them so getting to read again was a real treat.
This book was dark for a BSC book and I loved how child abuse, a heavy topic, was tackled. There were a lot of discussion points and I feel it's important for kids to know about these things.
This book was dark for a BSC book and I loved how child abuse, a heavy topic, was tackled. There were a lot of discussion points and I feel it's important for kids to know about these things.
December 7, 2020
Hands down, the BEST BSC book I've ever read. It handled a serious issue responsibly - showing behaviors to look out for - and was clear about what to do. This is such an important book and I do hope the new Netflix series covers it.
April 10, 2021
I read this because I found a website that has a bunch of the babysitters club books which were my childhood, so I'll be reading a bunch of them.
My score is based on what 11 year old me would of rated it, not current me.
My score is based on what 11 year old me would of rated it, not current me.
September 14, 2022
This was really heavy, but honestly perfect. These books have never been afraid to tackle the tough subjects, and this is a very real situation that could happen. I remember reading these books as a child, and the tone is just as important for a 10 year-old as it is for an adult. Perfection.
September 10, 2024
One of the darker BSC plots, but also one of the better BSC books I've read recently because they took the time to focus on the main plot (which was related to babysitting for once). I thought this was surprisingly well and thoughtfully written.
July 4, 2025
Very well written. Character growth is seen in Claudia, and the author did well at portraying what often does happen with children who are being abused. Broke my heart, but also a read that is hard to put down once you start.
November 27, 2019
Review on www.audible.com trigger warning mentions child abuse suggests spousal abuse.
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March 30, 2021Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/claudi...
February 25, 2022
Good subject though uncomfortable matter
August 6, 2022
put me through the wringer
August 16, 2022
Way better than I was expecting. It does get deep and it is really serious/well written.
September 30, 2023
Well this was dark. However, I think it’s a good way for young readers to know how to handle child abuse and that telling a trusted adult is always a good idea.
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October 21, 2023This is the most harrowing BSC novel I've ever read holy crap.
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