Karen's Good-Bye

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #19

by Ann M. Martin

Karen says good-bye to her best friend Amanda who is moving away. And as Amanda's moving van is pulling away, another one is heading for the driveway. Good-bye Amanda, hello Melody.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Friendship, Juvenile

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Ann 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...

Reviews

[Annora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowie zowie, a Little Sister book where Karen is actually a sweet, compassionate kid! I wish more of the LS books were like this vs the ones of her being spoiled and entitled. She didn’t perfectly get her way like she usually does, and so that was refreshing.

[Isabella Vuoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Its about a seven year old girl (Karen) and her best friend (Amanda). Amanda and Karen do so many adventures like swimming, spying on there "EVIL" neighbor who they think is a witch, and so much more. Sadly Amanda is moving away, and Karen is very sad about it. Karen and Amanda go through a pretty sad time. After Amanda moves away she and Karen are still best friends and write each other letters all the time. Now Amanda Delaney's house is for sale and someone bought it. Who could this new neighbor be? Overall the book is a great book and I really enjoyed it. I hope you like this book as much as I did.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bittersweet story about how hard it is to have a close friend move away.

LOL though coz I remember the Delaneys being a bit much with how ostentatious they are with their wealth. But it was cool to see Bill and Melody Korman's first appearance moving to Stoneybrook!

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin #83
Little Sister #19
Ann M Martin knows how to use the different experiences of growing up to write short succinct tales, she is a good author, although her better works are outside the BSC universe.
This one about farewelling a friend was a well told yarn and may be helpful for young people going through a similar experience.
The main character is a bit of a young old bat, but it is probably because she shares all the foibles that we all do, and Martin puts them on display for us to see and maybe think about.

[Laura Pickles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the name of the cat, Boo-Boo. And I really like the Karen books now. They’re super good. I have two more that are Karen’s New Teacher and Karen’s Carnival. They’re super good and good books. I hope you like them too if you get any.

[Grace Castellucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really like the book. It was sort of boriing.

[Uncannypammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book and I really loved it.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember if we ever hear from Amanda again, and I am looking forward to finding out. Also, the introduction of Melody Korman!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the topic of this book. It was very relatable despite the age of the characters. We have all had friends move away and I thought this book did a very good job at depicting that without being very emotional.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen's friend Amanda is moving away, so Karen wants to spend lots of time with her. This puts her at odds with one of her best friends, Hannie, who does not like Amanda. There's not much story here. This is the first of the Karen books in which Karen calls the big house a mansion, which I found a little off-putting, actually, especially since one of Karen's friend Hannie's objections to Amanda is that she's snobby. Still, I'm putting this in my classroom library because the kids really like reading about Karen.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the world before the internet, when a friend moved, it sucked pretty bad. It sucked even more when said friend was moving the next suburb ov-

wait, what?

Amanda is only moving the next suburb over, Karen. Get over it.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish- · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.

[Brian Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen's friend Amanda Delaney was moving away and Karen gave her a little party and presents and they took pictures of Amanda's house and Karen gave Amanda for her present a cake and a photo app of her house. And I like the book and it was really nice.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

lol at Hannie being soooo sad to see the back of Amanda ;) Nice save though, with Aman... A man I once knew! That legit made me laugh out loud.

[Cws]

JEAR2LS-Mar

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which Karen's friend moves away. Incidentally, the summary of this book reminded me of Karen's favorite dress-up game, Lovely Ladies.

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved these books as a child

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never had a neighborhood friend move away, and I have to say I was actually pretty scared of having it happen based on this book. :(

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 9415 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 2.8 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP