Karen's Chicken Pox

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #114

by Ann M. Martin, Susan Tang (Illustrator)

From the bestselling author of the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club comes a series for a new generation!

Stay away, spots! Halloween is coming! There will be a party at school. and Karen, Hannie, and Nancy have planned the best costume ever. Then Karen’s little sister gets the chicken pox. It is very contagious. Karen does not want to catch chicken pox. If she does, it will ruin Halloween. And that would be really scary!

Genres: Middle Grade, Halloween, Childrens, Fiction

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1999

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

[Pastel Paperback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extra star just for that cover. Puts me right in the Halloween mood.

[Alyssa Ivankovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book during the Halloween season for nostalgia purposes, to read about autumn time before smart phones and devices . There were some good parts, like when Karen and her grandmother Nannie sat at the table eating “peanut butter and crackers “ after school, and how excited Karen was to go to the craft store to buy supplies to make her costume. That was nice to read . What irritated me about the book (and a running theme of alot of books in her series) is how the dad is stubborn about listening to Karen. He wont let Karen stay away from her chicken poxed infected sister . Its not karens Responsibility to parent his child. And then of course she gets sick ! Just like in “karens bday party” her two parents couldnt get it together for just one day to make karen happy. The parents are stubborn people.

I also had a problem with the names the ghost writer for Ann M Martin , or Ann M Martin herself had for karens friends and family : nancy, nannie, and hannie. After a while , i got confused . Couldn’t the author think of more different names for the characters ? 3 stars for nostalgia and an awesome cover.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am confused about how Andrew already had chicken pox. Did he not get the vaccine like Karen? If he did get the vaccine, Karen would know that kids who got the chicken pox vaccine could still get the chicken pox. (She was surprised to hear Emily Michelle got the chicken pox after getting the vaccine.)

The way Karen's big house family talked about chicken pox in 1999 felt eerily similar to how we talk about COVID-19 today. "'Emily will also have to be quarantined for a few days,' said Daddy. 'That means being kept apart from other people.' . . . [Elizabeth said], 'We know that [chicken pox] are very catching without the shot. That is the reason for the quarantine. We do not want to take the chance of exposing anyone who is not protected.'"

Lastly, I liked that Karen enjoyed pretending to be Wednesday Addams. I bet she could make a Wednesday Addams costume similar to her yearly witch's costume. "I can watch The Addams Family any time of year. But they are definitely best at Halloween. I like to make believe I am Wednesday Addams. I cross my arms, snap my fingers, and sing the theme song. I love the part about how 'they’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky.' I know the whole song by heart."

[Looney · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5/5

[Em's Adventures · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this may have been my very first Ann M Martin book but I am not 100% certain. Reading it feels the most nostalgic out of all the books so far so my rating may be a little biased!😄

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Karen has lots of fun Halloween plans but things go awry when Emily Michelle, then Karen herself, come down with chicken pox.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13104014

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter enjoyed this book.

[Elaine Hebert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that it was about Halloween