Kristy's Mystery Admirer

The Baby-Sitters Club #38

by Ann M. Martin

Of all the BSC members, Kristy's the last one anyone would expect to have a secret admirer. But someone is sending her mushy notes with hearts all over them!

Kristy and Shannon are pretty sure the letters are from Bart, Kristy's rival softball coach. But then the notes Kristy receives from her mystery admirer start getting a little weird. . .and creepy.

Is Bart pulling a practical joke on Kristy? Or do the strange notes mean something more serious? Only the Baby-sitters Club can find out!

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Contemporary, Juvenile, Mystery

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

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

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 estrellas.

[Hallie]

Finally Ann M. Martin gives the people what they want--some Kristy and Bart scenes! Bart wrote some of the corniest love notes I've ever read in my life but I'm still here for it. The Bashers and the Krushers play against each other over and over again and the Krushers have won several times now but Kristy still has to field dramatic phone calls from children who seem to have no memory of those wins. For some reason this book is set near Halloween so there's several funny scenes that involve the costumes the characters choose. Personally, I think the Halloween Hop should have been an entire book because that was the most interesting part of the story.

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is my first time reading this book!

kristy gets mystery admirer notes that are very lovey-dovey and wonders if bart, coach of the bashers, is the one sending them. eventually the letters start to get mean and creepy, and she believes that an escaped mental patient is sending them to her with the intention of kidnapping her for a huge ransom from watson. because she is dumb. and she had talked loudly about the letters in front of cokie, and cokie was paying a lot of attention to her while she was talking, all on the same day she got the first letter. and she refused to put two and two together in spite of the fact that this is almost the exact same plotline as Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery in which cokie and co were the perpetrators of creepy letters.

highlights:
-what bart plays in his band: "guitar. electric, acoustic, any kind." kristy asks if he's "had any...what are they called?" and bart replies "gigs. yeah, a couple. we could get a lot more, though, if we could find a place to practice." I love this exchange.
-about her first mystery admirer note, which has a tiny heart dotting the i in her name, kristy says "this look's like it's from a girl." it's obviously wishful thinking on her part. shannon says, "a girl who wants to go steady with you? kristy, grow up." as though kristy isn't obviously super gay.
-buddy barrett has a crush on shannon kilbourne and it's cute. also some weird barrett family drama (something suzi did) is hinted at but not resolved -- huh?
-krusher cheerleaders' halloween costume for the krushers/bashers world series is the three stooges including wigs for the hair
-when shannon says, "you want to look good for bart, don't you?" kristy responds, "I just want to look like myself. and if I'm going to look good, I'll look good for me." YES!
-claudia goes to the dance with a guy named woody jefferson. I'm sorry, but that is NOT the name of an 8th grader.
-vanessa asks mallory, "do poetesses wear berets on their heads and look raggedy?" to which mallory replies, "nope. those are starving artists." LOL.
-mary anne mentions the ransom of red chief by ohenry. I was in a play version of it in 7th grade!

lowlights/nitpicks:
-bart tells kristy she should wear skirts more often, not that unlike travis the turd sandwich in Dawn and the Older Boy
-kristy says she thinks mary anne and logan have been having some problems...foreshadowing Mary Anne vs. Logan
-kristy keeps calling stacey and claudia "distant" aka her word for cool. at some point she calls stacey's hat VERY distant. I think her not caring about fashion should mean she doesn't know what hats are VERY distant.
-kristy says she's the only club member who doesn't wear a bra. does she mean including mallory and jessi? I guess some 6th graders have bras, but if they do I imagine kristy would too, even if she hasn't grown boobs at all -- social conventions make girls wear bras around when they turn 12/13.
-kristy says that she wishes her father were present in her life, like watson and dawn's father are present in their kids lives, "and mr. schafer and dawn are even separated by three thousand miles." this implies that kristy's dad doesn't also live in california. he does.
-kristy is dumb and condescending: because dawn is the alternate officer and therefore doesn't have duties at most meetings, kristy says "we let her answer the phone a lot." kristy doesn't ACTUALLY have responsibilities, other than glaring at everyone when they talk about non-business matters for more than a second. claudia doesn't ACTUALLY have responsibilities, other than finding junk food at the beginning of the meeting.
-shannon's parents won't let her get a nose job, and kristy says, "they aren't strict. they just think she should wait until she's an adult before she makes a decision like that." could that possibly mean they were strict? I think not wanting your THIRTEEN YEAR OLD to get a nose job is perfectly reasonable.
-nicky signs to matt "swim" when he meant to sign "run" but the sign for swim is clearly swimming and doesn't look like the sign for running (these are not easy to confuse signs)

no outfits (other than barely described halloween costumes)

jackie rodowsky disasters are vague, but include:
-tripping and falling down a bunch of times
-banging his elbow on something

snacks in claudia's room:
-potato chips under the comforter at the foot of her bed
-gummi bears under the comforter at the foot of her bed

[Alison Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time Cokie Mason shows up in a BSC book, it makes me laugh because I remember reading these as a kid and thinking Ann M Martin didn't know how to spell cookie.

This was enjoyable enough on reread, even if the "mystery" as to who was sending Kristy the creepy notes was quite obvious early on. I actually think Kristy's concern that it might have been some nutjob out for her stepfather's money was somewhat understandable, even if I don't think kidnappers give you multiple early warnings before they, you know, kidnap you. But I could totally see a 13-year-old with a rich stepdad thinking it was possible. The idea that it was Bart (will never get over that character name) was kind of silly, but again, teenagers are silly. I kinda wish Bart had been a little more pissed about the BSC suspecting him, but then I guess it would've been harder for him and Kristy to have their romantic lobster dance at the Halloween Hop.

I got a little bored with the baseball stuff, but I did appreciate that Kristy takes on all these kids who are not exactly the best athletes and really tries to pump them up and encourage them. There were also two moments that made me laugh, though probably weren't intended to. In one, Kristy is telling us about her grandmother Nannie, and says that she "doesn't act like a grandmother" because she "goes bowling, wears pants, and has tons of friends" and I was like...LOLOL at the idea that wearing pants and having friends make Nannie ~*not like OtHeR grandmas*~. Then, when Kristy and Shannon are discussing who might've sent the first love letter, Kristy says it looks like it's from a girl because of the stickers and the fact that the letter i in her name is dotted with a heart, and "boys don't do that". Shannon replies, "A girl who wants to go steady with you? Kristy, grow up." LMAOOOOOO yeah Kristy, grow up and live in the real world where gays don't exist!!! I mean, I get that at the time this was published, this is how it would have to be written, but it still cracked me up. Especially since Kristy comes across as such a baby lez. (I'm Sapphic, I can say that.)

I can't recall if Cokie shows up again and does any other bullshit, but after the bad-luck silliness she did to Mary Anne and now this, I hope this little twerp learned her lesson. Mainly because I hate saying the name Cokie in my head.

[Keert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book opens with kristy's krushers winning their first ever game againast bart's bashers. they are elated, though kristy is concerned that bart will be upset that her ragtag collection of misfits beat his little league-caliber players. but bart's not upset, & even offers to walk kristy home. they have a really nice talk & bart suggests that they might see each other soon. they also decide to stage a "world series" between the krushers & the bashers...which will consist of exactly one game. kind of defeats the idea of a SERIES, no? i also wonder what other teams these kids play. do they only play against each other? how boring.

anyway, the next day, shannon calls kristy because she discovered an envelope addressed to kristy in her mailbox. it's covered in stickers in the shape of hearts & flowers, & there's no stamp or anything. she brings it over, & it turns out to be a secret admirer note. kristy is embarrassed, but pleased. shannon immediately suggests that bart wrote it, but kristy doesn't believe it. she thinks maybe her brother sam is behind the notes. until she gets several more, all of which seem very sincere. she acknowledges that it's not like sam to play out a joke so long before looking for some credit. she starts to toy with the possibility that bart wrote the notes, & even invites him to the halloween hop. he accepts.

but this doesn't stop her from bringing the notes to school & hollering about them in the cafeteria where anyone can hear her. so surprise surprise, the notes suddenly take a turn for the weird. stuff like, "violets are blue, roses are red, i'll remember you when you are dead." kristy is freaked. she worries that bart wrote the notes & that he's a psycho, & then she worries that he DIDN'T write the notes, & some random psycho is after her. she suspects that maybe someone wants to kidnap her & hold her for ransom, since watson is so wealthy. not that any of this encourages her to, you know, say something to her parents. she doesn't want to worry them. even though if she is actually a target for a kidnapper, any of her other siblings could be as well, including small children that would have a harder time fighting back against an abduction. kind of a child safety oversight here.

then shannon suggests that bart wrote the notes to psyche kristy out & cause her to be too distracted to lead the krushers to victory in the upcoming world series. shannon stops speaking to bart at school, & kristy rebuffs his invitations to walk home together & won't take his calls. but she also doesn't make the effort to cancel their date to the halloween hop. she is still concerned that the scary notes are actually from a psycho kidnapper.

finally bart ambushes her at home & makes her tell him what's going on. he admits that he wrote the nice notes, but he too is freaked out by the scary notes.

kristy notices cokie mason & her clique at the world series game, & goes over to ask why the hell they're there. an extremely labored & unrealistic conversation ensues. cokie says she came to cheer on the krushers because kristy has looked sad at school lately. kristy says, "i'm not sad! i have a boyfriend." what? cokie says, "aw, you must really like each other," & kristy bafflingly says, "we plan to spend our lives together." what the fuck? this is just a set-up so cokie can say something about "eternal togetherness," which is a line from one of the scary notes, hence incriminating herself. kristy forces a confession out of cokie, she coaches her butt off during the world series, & the krushers win. she lets her friends know that there's no kidnapping plot afoot after all, & that cokie was just trying to get kristy back for embarrassing her in the graveyard the previous halloween in front of logan (book #17 call-back).

bart finds some lobster costumes in his attic, & he & kristy wear them to the halloween hop. they win for "most unusual costume," & bart kisses kristy on the cheek in front of everyone. happy endings all around.

kind of a yawn. but i'm sure i was on the edge of my seat when i was like nine years old.

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!

[✨Jordan✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kristy and the gang are enjoying babysitting and school. Kristy also enjoys coaching her baseball team of misfits. All the kids too bad to join a real team, deaf, klutzes, or simply too young to join yet. Her opposing team is called the Bashers and her crush Bart is the coach of that team. When Kristy starts receiving anonymous love letters from someone , her and her friends suspect it must be Bart. She smiles and gets butterflies. No one has ever taken this kind of interest in her before. But when the notes turn sinister and creepy...does that mean the notes are really from Bart? Or someone else?

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really really really hate the trope that uptight women just need romantic attention to calm down but that's exactly what happens to kristy in this book and god help me, i fell for it. she and bart are so cute together! i checked this one out because it has a halloween element and it might be the only kristy book i've enjoyed reading. it's nice to see some softer parts to her.

[Christie Maliyackel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this was so nostalgic, I so wished to be transported back to the 90s. My favorite part of all was when the group all trooped down to the den to turn on the computer and insert a disk to save a note. A separate room for the one computer! A disk! All of it 😍

[Swankivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A boy mystery again?? I kinda liked Kristy most of the time because she wasn't as empty-headed and silly about boys as the rest tended to be, but this time Kristy's got a secret admirer. She's wondering for some of the book whether it's Bart, the guy who coaches Bart's Bashers (rivals to her Kristy's Krushers). Despite being opponents, they've been getting along well based on common interests (wow, refreshing--people who have something in common like each other?). So when Kristy starts getting weird love notes from a mysterious someone, she's assuming it's him and gets all braggy about it until the notes turn super weird and sound like they could even be death threats.

This is where I don't get it. Kristy tells no adults that she's getting DEATH THREATS. And she assumes the weird notes are coming from the same person who wrote the nice notes, and starts treating Bart like crap because he might have written the nice ones and now might be writing the freaky ones. She's also got alternate plots of who might want her dead in her head. But the big plot hole I have a problem with is this--the notes DO turn out to be from two different people (the nice ones actually from Bart, the mean ones from a girl she embarrassed in a previous book), and yet the nice notes stopped immediately at the time that the mean ones started. Contrived mystery anyone?

But I guess everything's fine because a staged conversation makes the petty mean-note-sending girl admit her responsibility, and Kristy gets to go to a dance with her new softball-coaching boyfriend. They wear lobster costumes. That's another story.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Was glad to see The Krushers back in action :)

[Tiffany Spencer]

Kristy and the Mystery Admirer
After a game between the Krushers and the Bahsers-the Krusher’s win finally-, Bart offers to walk Kristy home. The walk is a little awkward at first, but then Bart starts to tell this story abou a boy who was clowning around in the locker room and broke a pipe that set off the water sprinklers. Then Kristy tells a story about someone-a girl- that had to wear a skirt doing field hockey. Bart tells Kristy she should wear a skirt more often. He asks her about school and the club. Kristy asks about his brother (Kyle who often gets on his nerves) and she finds out he has a band. When they get to her house, she says she’ll see him at the next game. He says maybe he’ll see her before that.

At the meeting, Dawn gets a job with the Kuhns and as sual it’s busy and the phone continuously rings. Mrs. Pike also calls wanting two sitters and Mal and Jessi get the job. When Kristy gets home, David Michael tells her Shannon called 4 times so she calls her back. Kristy takes the call in the closet. Shannon tells her that a letter was left by mistake at her house with Kristy’s name on it and it has hearts and flower stickers. It appears to be a love letter. She tells Shannon to bring the letter over later. Later Kristy reads the note and it says she’s beautiful, she’s the nicest girl he knows, and he’d like to go steady. Kristy bets it’s Sam. Shannon thinks it’s Bart. Kristy says if it’s from a boy why are the hearts dotted with hearts (GOOD QUESTION). Kristy says no boys do that. Shannaon says maybe je just wanted the envelope to look nice. Kristy says then if it’s Bart why did he leave the letter in HER (Shannon’s) mailbox. She says that she can’t answer and suggest she call Bart to see if he drops any hints. So, she does. He doesn’t.

Kristy gets another letter the next morning. No girly stuff on this one. It says they can’t stop thinking of her. Maybe they’re in love but they just don’t know. It says Kristy is as beautiful as a snow capped mountain. Then she gets another one that stresses how much they love her. Stacey has a job at the Perkins. Myriah and Gabby have a Krishers practice. It’s a good practice. The girls are no problem. Kristy tells Stacey later she and Bart decided to have a World’s Game. Kristy wanted three games. Bart said that would be too much pressure. So, they agree on 1. Kristy says she doesn’t think Bart’s the admirer but she did invite him to the upcoming Halloween Hop.

They talk about the Hop at lunch. Maryanne is going with Logan, Stacey wants to ask a new boy in English class, Dawn is going alone, and Claudia wants a boy named Woody to ask her. Kristy gets out herlettrs but puts them back when Cookie and Grace look at them and laugh. Kristy wonders why they’re typed and they tell her it’s because they (Bart) can disguise his writing. Cookie and Grace then get up and leave. The talk turns to the prank Cookie and Grace played on them last Halloween. Later, Kristy watches David Micheal and Emily. Another letter comes for Kristy. This one is weird. It says I love you but before. Love is fickle and so are friends Watch out for your secret admirer.

Kristy calls Shannon and worries (to her) that Bart might be crazy. Shannon tho says she doesn’t think so. But if he is Kristy’s invited a pycho to the dance. The Pikes sit around discussing their ideas for Halloween costumes. Claire wants to be a giraffe. Vanessa wants to be a poet. Margo wants to be a clown. Nicky wants to be a hobo and Jordan wants to be a headless Mummy. The triplets then get an idea from a spool of thered. They’ll have a haunted house and charge either 10 cents or 25 cents. They say even Nicky can help. They all can help. Vanessa says there will be a part of the house where they can blind fold the guest and make them stick there hands in questionable foods. They can also play sound effects. Then they talk about the World Series. Since it’s right before Halloween Vanessa says the cheerleaders can wear costumes. Some of them go outside to pratcie (Claire, Margo, and Nicky). Vanessa and Haley decide they should have costumes for a group of 3. Charlotte and Haley come by and they decide they’ll be the 3 Stodges. So by the next meeting, Krsity’s gotten four more letters that have her so distracted she doesn’t even call call the meeting to order. One of them is a love poem that goes Violets are blue. Some are red. I’ll

remember you even when your dead. There’s another about death and the last says he wants to be with her forever and is coming to get her. They throw around some suspects. Sam is one of em, but Kristy says it’s not his style. After the second note he’d find a way of letting her know it was him. Then Krist y still thinks it could be Bart-even tho the others don’t-. She wants to uninvite him to the dance, but Mallory says she doesn’t even know it’s him. Kristy says but she doesn’t know its not him either. Then she has a thought that what if it’s really a pycho and he’s after her because she’s Watson’s daughter and he wants to kidnap her for the radmsom. Later that night, she closes her door (her mom and Watson don’t like them to do this) and she tries to do the same to her window. But then she thinks the kidnapper could just break the glass. So, she makes a plan never to be alone and always be with a group of people.

Shannon and Kristy walk to practice and Kristy tells her about the lunatic theory. Shannon has another theory. She thinks Bart is trying to pych her out because of the World Series and make her so crazy she’ll be distracted. Umm but she’s not PLAYING in the game. Then she makes Kristy angry by saying besides if the lunatic wanted someone it would be Karen and Andrew Watson’s REAL kids. In the middle of the game, Shannon gets hit in the bead by Buddy with a ball. When she tells him it’s ok and keeps smiling at him (which is just WRONG) we see he starts to get a crush on her. All the while Kristy is giving Bart the cold shoulder. Bart calls later but Kristy tells him she’s busy and hangs up the phone in his face.

One of the other baby sitters had another theory and that was that maybe Bart is sending Kristy the letters because of the argument they had over how many games they should have. UMM but he won the argument. Weirdly the next chapter starts off as it’s being told by Maryanne whose about to take the Barett’s to practice, but reverts to Kristy abruptly. Before Kristy leaves for a game, she gets another letter that tells her he’s coming for her sooner than she thinks and when he does all that will be left of her is (and there are finger nail clippings in the letter). Needless to say everyone is distracted during the practice game. Buddy tho is happy Shannon came to see him play and wanted to keep his ball (on the last practice). Suzy keeps trying to tease him but he keeps shutting her up and saying that if she doesn’t stop he’ll tell about who you what. Bart again offers to walk Kristy home, but she turns him down again.

Bart comes by and he admits he wrote the nice letters, but not the crazy ones. The Krushes win the World Series game, Charlotte, Hailey, and Vanessa’s costumes are a hit. Kristy finds out that Cookie wrote the notes to get back at her for embarrassing her in front of Logan. She tells Cookie that there won’t be one person at their school and Shanon and Barts that won’t know what she did. After the game, Kristy worries that Bart won’t want to go to the dance with her because her team beat his, but he’s cool with it. Shannon comes by later to help her with hair and makeup for the dance, but Kristy and Bart decide to go as lobsters. Bart’s parents had lobster costumes they wore to a party. In the attic.

At the dance, Dawn goes as Alice, Stacey just dresses up, I think mal goes as a clown. Kristy and Bart win an award for the most unusual costume. The prize is a large pizze coupon with everything on it. On their last slow dance, Bart kisses Kristy on the check. They all tease her about it later at a sleepover Kristy has. Jessi asks is Kristy in love but she doesn’t answer and they all drop it. Then they hear a scream, but it’s just Karen having a nightmare. Kristy previously said telling everyone was enough but she changes her mind. She finds a note on her bed that says “he’s coming for her at 3 Am but it turned out to be just from Shannon (who didn’t go to the dance and had to wait for them in Kristy’s room). She decides (Kristy)) to take Shannon’s note (cut out from magazine letters) and put it in Cookie’s locker. Maybe she’s not really over there war after all.


My Thoughts
No one connected the pieces and I find that interesting that a couple of times Grace and Cookie’s prank came up -that was played on Maryanne last Halloween- and they didn’t even think twice that Cookie was at it again. I hadn’t read this book in YEARS and even I knew not that long into the twisted letters that it was Cookie. I was just waiting for the light bulb moment were one of em goes “Oh, you know what? Didn’t this happen before. I know who did this.” Then there’s the Krushers Bashers games descriptions wchich thankfully didn’t seem that long in this one, but could definitely be shortened. Bart and I kinda miss the days when guys actually wrote you love letters.

Rating: 5

[Avery Talks · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was super calming until Kristy got fingernails in the mail....

[Mackenzie Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book, I was at the edge of my seat for the whole story and it was not too long so it was a relaxing read. The only thing that I did not like was that I didn’t have a cool way for you to find who was sending the scary notes or the good notes. Like Cokie kind of flat out explained that SHE was the one who sent the scary letters, and she was the one who was trying to scare the Baby-Sitters Club in Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery. Other than that it was a great book!

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Halloween again in this town that literally stands still. I've lost track of how many Halloweens there are in this series. But despite it being Halloween this book has a romance theme sort of. Since it's a Kristy book it revolves around the Krushers and Bashers. One day Shannon calls her and brings over a love letter. She recieves a few more before they begin to take a turn for the weird including one with nail clippings. Eww. Poor Bart has no clue what's going on at first and everyone ignores or gives him dirty looks. Poor guy. Buddy Barett develops a crush on Shannon which is adorable and accidentally beans her in the head with a fly ball. Kristy also annoyingly uses the word distant. It's like fresh and since I was the same age as them when the book originally came out and I never heard any if these words. Maybe I was as cool as the BSC. No one is apparently. Anyway it turns out Bart wrote the nice letters and Kristy who practically showed the letter to everyone at school soon realizes that good ol Cokie Mason wrote the letters. I'm worried about her saving and sending toe nails is serial killer stuff. Girl's got some serious issues. The b plot is mostly Halloween costumes and parties which is the only part I actually remember. The three cheerleaders dress up as the three stooges which is hilarious and Kristy and Bart are lobsters at the SMS Halloween dance. A decent book at least future serial killer Karen wasn't around enough to annoy me, but Claire Pike as always filled in just fine with her tantrums and silly billy goo goos. Why do people think this is cute? It's not. Oh well onto the next one in the series.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of not so many BSC books I have read, this is one of the most entertaining ones.
The story started with a match between Krushers and Bashers and I immediately fell in love with these non-athletic kids. It was a good alternative to the usual book opening of describing the Babysitters Club itself.

Despite of obvious storyline (yes I know, this is not an adult detective novel), I found the storyline very enjoyable, and I couldn't put down the book till I reached the end.
My little bit of disappointment was when BSC girls decided to give Bart silent treatment when they thought he was the one sending all the creepy letters to Kristy, even before finding any proof (regardless of whether he was or was not the sender - I'm not going to spoil the story here). I would have thought that BSC girls who should be wiser and more mature than any other girls their age would know better than accusing someone without proof.
But again, they're a bunch of 13 year olds. So I won't hold it against them!

PS: I love Claire's "nofe-air! nofe-air!" (she meant 'no fair')

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.

I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.

The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.

Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!

[Mary Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Baby Sitters Club books I have ever read. Normally, I'm not a major Kristy fan, but in Mystery Admirer, I enjoyed her. Probably this is because Kristy actually behaved like a 13 year old girl instead of a 30 year old tyrant of a baby sitting club. I enjoyed all of her scenes with Bart and Shannon and their date to the Halloween Hop was so cute.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was slow at first, but in the end it was shocking and mysterious. It’s almost official that Kristy may be one of the best BSC, and it’s official that Shannon is too mean to Kristy for a person to stand. However, what Kristy gave me some ideas for some writing projects.

[Nicky (burialshroud) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When someone sends you an envelope full of nail clippings, it's time to call the police. Dreading seeing what Cokie does next because this has got to be an early warning sign that she's a serial killer.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cokie was such a bitch. Also, 'Cokie'? What the hell kind of nickname is that?

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The girls really are very, very naive. *sigh* I hope I wasn't quite as clueless back when I was 13.

[Kirstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, Ok, I would understand Claudia having a secret admirer, or even Stacey..But..KRISTY?! REALLY??????

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t stand Cokie’s character. 😐

[Raine Villanueva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kristy is not just a Baby-Sitters Club President who has lots of ideas, she can also coach her very own softball team for the kids in Stoneybrook!

One day in October, Kristy watched the kids who are in her team, Kristy's Krushers playing softball against Bart's Bashers. After her team won the game, the coach of the rival team, Bart Taylor, is talking to Kristy while going home to her Mansion.

That night after the BSC Meeting and dinner, Shannon, the associate member of the BSC, bought a letter with stickers of hearts and flowers and gave it to Kristy. On the following day she receives more and more love letters, and Kristy believes that it was from Bart, who is her possible secret admirer, and the other letters are written by Kristy's older prankster brother Sam.

She bought her love notes to the other BSC members during recess at school, and Cokie Mason overheard their conversation, and later on, Kristy's new love notes are getting weird.

I liked the story regarding to Kristy and Bart, but I disliked the Halloween Hop scene where they are wearing unusual costumes. Do I ever think that Kristy is in love with Bart?

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know there are only so many storylines a series with 100+ books can have (not including specials, mystery spin-off series, etc), but the fact that this mystery has the same perpetrator as the last book that took place during Halloween (Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery) feels really lazy. I'm just going to assume literally any time anything bad happens that Cokie Mason had something to do with it.

Reveal: Bart did send the romantic messages to Kristy, and Cokie Mason sent the creepy messages after Kristy brought the love letters to school.

2.5 stars, rounded down.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was painfully obvious who was sending the messages (especially after what happened "last year" with the BSC vs Cokie) but I still liked seeing Kristy (and Bart) figure out the truth. Cuuuuute!

I also read Karen's Ghost at the same time, because they take place together. Kristy takes Karen and her friends trick-or-treating, and Karen mentions "Kristy did not do anything but eat. She had been to a dance at school the night before. I think she has a b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d." Hahaha.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Mission #71
BSC #38
So Kristy gets some love letters and then well they turn more sinister and threatening, but in reality without too much thinking you know the answer to the mystery presented, but the answers to the hidden mysteries are not so clear.
- Why would you accuse and cut someone off without any evidence?
- Why wouldn't you tell your parents about such vile threatening letters?
- Why does nothing happen to the guilty party?
There are some disturbing moments in this book, and not the letters.
Anyway a look at "young love" in a G rated universe, with well some alarming sides.

[Jennifer Maloney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. This was cute enough. Your average BSC book. Kristy’s getting mystery admirer notes that start getting kinda scary! Who could it be?

I liked seeing more of Shannon and Bart in this one. We don’t usually see much of them. So that was fun.

I can’t remember if I’ve read this one before although it does seem like the kind of storyline I would’ve loved as a kid. I would always just get random ones from the library though, so I probably missed some here and there. I did always like the love ones and the mystery ones though, and this one’s got both!