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The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #3
Mallory and the Ghost Cat
While baby-sitting for the Craines, Mallory investigates the cat cries she has been hearing--even though the Craines have no cat--and discovers a mysterious white cat living in the attic. Original.
168 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1992
28 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,102 books3,047 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 35 reviews
May 18, 2016
this is my first time reading this book.
in our third ghostwriter Ellen Miles-penned mystery, mallory starts babysitting for a new family, the craines. she hears sad meowing in the attic and finds an all-white cat there, whom they call ghost cat. ghost cat does a couple slightly weird things, like running out of the laundry room and while mal looks for him upstairs in the attic he somehow reappears asleep in the laundry room. then mal and the girls find some old letters from kennedy graham, a man who had lived in that house many years before and his white cat. there is a photo of kennedy graham with the letters, and when someone responds to the craines' newspaper ad about finding a cat, he arrives to pick up ghost cat and he looks exactly like kennedy graham. meanwhile, in a far more interesting plotline, mal's great uncle joe comes to stay with the pikes (ill-advised to begin with considering how many people live there) and he is really mean and not at all like mr. pike remembered him, due to his alzheimers.
highlights:
-this william carlos williams-style poem by vanessa pike: "plates and napkins, forks and knives. these are the settings for our lives."
-I think mr. pike had a crush on uncle joe when he was growing up. when he tells his kids about uncle joe, he talks about how he looked like a cowboy with his rugged face and clear blue eyes (and then his wife interrupts him to change the subject -- she seems to know he has a creepy crush on him).
-the pike boys' rap: "we're the rappin' pikes, and we're here to say / we're hip, we're def, we're cool in every way. / I'm byron, I'm adam, I'm jordan, I'm nick / for a real happenin' dude, just take your pick!" "I'm a real jammin' dude and the girls agree / there's no cooler guy than jordan p." "so, hey, don't be jive / give the pike high five!"
-when claudia shakes his hand and says, "you must be uncle joe," he says, "my name is mr. pike. young people. no respect for their elders." brutal, dude.
-uncle joe doesn't remember mr. pike's name. it's really sad. this plotline is mostly handled really well.
-dawn runs tests on ghost cat to see if he's a ghost. seriously, this is so dumb and dawn-ish and I love every second of it.
-mrs. pike keeps making bland food (boiled cabbage, skinless chicken breast, etc) for uncle joe because she assumes he only likes that because he's old. but at the retirement home where he ends up, mallory sees him putting hot sauce on everything because he apparently hates bland food.
-the craines get a new cat, a white cat with blue eyes, and the girls mention the cat is deaf because most white cats with blue eyes are. I like that they mention this genetic abnormality because it's so interesting. cat genetics, man!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-uncle joe finally starts acting like the uncle joe that mr. pike remembers and he says that he's sorry to leave as he's getting accustomed to the pike family. this seems weird and unrealistic to me. I'd think he would either have ups and downs throughout the time he stayed with them (most likely) or he would be miserable and stay that way.
-the ghost cat plotline is so stupid. and it's not really resolved. the resolution is just that the guy who picked up ghost cat might be a ghost, indicating that ghost cat might be a ghost. I like mysteries that are about people doing crappy things to each other and getting found out (like Beware, Dawn!). this is not really a mystery.
in mallory's kid kit:
-angelina ballerina
-stuffed elephant
-sequined tiara
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
in our third ghostwriter Ellen Miles-penned mystery, mallory starts babysitting for a new family, the craines. she hears sad meowing in the attic and finds an all-white cat there, whom they call ghost cat. ghost cat does a couple slightly weird things, like running out of the laundry room and while mal looks for him upstairs in the attic he somehow reappears asleep in the laundry room. then mal and the girls find some old letters from kennedy graham, a man who had lived in that house many years before and his white cat. there is a photo of kennedy graham with the letters, and when someone responds to the craines' newspaper ad about finding a cat, he arrives to pick up ghost cat and he looks exactly like kennedy graham. meanwhile, in a far more interesting plotline, mal's great uncle joe comes to stay with the pikes (ill-advised to begin with considering how many people live there) and he is really mean and not at all like mr. pike remembered him, due to his alzheimers.
highlights:
-this william carlos williams-style poem by vanessa pike: "plates and napkins, forks and knives. these are the settings for our lives."
-I think mr. pike had a crush on uncle joe when he was growing up. when he tells his kids about uncle joe, he talks about how he looked like a cowboy with his rugged face and clear blue eyes (and then his wife interrupts him to change the subject -- she seems to know he has a creepy crush on him).
-the pike boys' rap: "we're the rappin' pikes, and we're here to say / we're hip, we're def, we're cool in every way. / I'm byron, I'm adam, I'm jordan, I'm nick / for a real happenin' dude, just take your pick!" "I'm a real jammin' dude and the girls agree / there's no cooler guy than jordan p." "so, hey, don't be jive / give the pike high five!"
-when claudia shakes his hand and says, "you must be uncle joe," he says, "my name is mr. pike. young people. no respect for their elders." brutal, dude.
-uncle joe doesn't remember mr. pike's name. it's really sad. this plotline is mostly handled really well.
-dawn runs tests on ghost cat to see if he's a ghost. seriously, this is so dumb and dawn-ish and I love every second of it.
-mrs. pike keeps making bland food (boiled cabbage, skinless chicken breast, etc) for uncle joe because she assumes he only likes that because he's old. but at the retirement home where he ends up, mallory sees him putting hot sauce on everything because he apparently hates bland food.
-the craines get a new cat, a white cat with blue eyes, and the girls mention the cat is deaf because most white cats with blue eyes are. I like that they mention this genetic abnormality because it's so interesting. cat genetics, man!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-uncle joe finally starts acting like the uncle joe that mr. pike remembers and he says that he's sorry to leave as he's getting accustomed to the pike family. this seems weird and unrealistic to me. I'd think he would either have ups and downs throughout the time he stayed with them (most likely) or he would be miserable and stay that way.
-the ghost cat plotline is so stupid. and it's not really resolved. the resolution is just that the guy who picked up ghost cat might be a ghost, indicating that ghost cat might be a ghost. I like mysteries that are about people doing crappy things to each other and getting found out (like Beware, Dawn!). this is not really a mystery.
in mallory's kid kit:
-angelina ballerina
-stuffed elephant
-sequined tiara
no outfits. no snacks in claudia's room.
December 31, 2021
Sometimes the Baby-Sitter’s Club books seem to have too many things happening in them or the two plots don’t work together at all. This book didn’t feel like that to me.
The mystery part of this book involves a strange cat that Mallory and her babysitting charges, the Craine girls, find after hearing sad meowing from the Craines’ attic. Their theory that this cat might really be a ghost is only strengthened when they find a box of letters in the attic from the former resident of the Craines’ house, Kennedy Graham, about his beloved cat Tinker. Could this strange cat they found be the ghost of Tinker, crying for his master?
The other plot of this book is that Mallory’s Uncle Joe has come to visit the wild Pike family for a month. He’s an older man so the kids have to be on their best behavior. They’re all pretty excited to meet the uncle they’ve heard so much about from their father, John. The legendary Uncle Joe was known for finding nickels in children’s ears, way back when.
Unfortunately, the Uncle Joe that arrives at their house from the nursing home is not the same man in the stories of John Pike. He’s very gruff and rude, doesn’t bother to learn any of the kids’ names, and doesn’t seem to appreciate the drawings, poems and extra care from the children. He also has a hard time remembering things, even his own nephew’s name. The parents soon explain to the children that Uncle Joe is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. I liked how this was handled. The author didn’t hold back from the sad truth that Uncle Joe won’t get better. While the children, even Mallory, can only understand so much of this, they immediately feel empathy for their uncle and adjust their mindset and behaviour towards him to help him feel a little more comfortable and respected.
Probably my favourite part of this book was when Dawn, Official Ghostbuster of Stoneybrook comes to test whether or not Ghost Cat is really a ghost. I found the different tests and Dawn’s clear enthusiasm for her job hilarious. I think Dawn and Mallory are actually my favourite babysitters so it was awesome to have them in a book together. I also loved the fact that Mallory was reading and enjoying Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, one of my favourite books. She even mentions that one of her favourite parts was when Meg was with Aunt Beast, which was one of my favourite parts too!
Overall, I really enjoyed this Baby-Sitter's club book.
The mystery part of this book involves a strange cat that Mallory and her babysitting charges, the Craine girls, find after hearing sad meowing from the Craines’ attic. Their theory that this cat might really be a ghost is only strengthened when they find a box of letters in the attic from the former resident of the Craines’ house, Kennedy Graham, about his beloved cat Tinker. Could this strange cat they found be the ghost of Tinker, crying for his master?
The other plot of this book is that Mallory’s Uncle Joe has come to visit the wild Pike family for a month. He’s an older man so the kids have to be on their best behavior. They’re all pretty excited to meet the uncle they’ve heard so much about from their father, John. The legendary Uncle Joe was known for finding nickels in children’s ears, way back when.
Unfortunately, the Uncle Joe that arrives at their house from the nursing home is not the same man in the stories of John Pike. He’s very gruff and rude, doesn’t bother to learn any of the kids’ names, and doesn’t seem to appreciate the drawings, poems and extra care from the children. He also has a hard time remembering things, even his own nephew’s name. The parents soon explain to the children that Uncle Joe is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease. I liked how this was handled. The author didn’t hold back from the sad truth that Uncle Joe won’t get better. While the children, even Mallory, can only understand so much of this, they immediately feel empathy for their uncle and adjust their mindset and behaviour towards him to help him feel a little more comfortable and respected.
Probably my favourite part of this book was when Dawn, Official Ghostbuster of Stoneybrook comes to test whether or not Ghost Cat is really a ghost. I found the different tests and Dawn’s clear enthusiasm for her job hilarious. I think Dawn and Mallory are actually my favourite babysitters so it was awesome to have them in a book together. I also loved the fact that Mallory was reading and enjoying Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, one of my favourite books. She even mentions that one of her favourite parts was when Meg was with Aunt Beast, which was one of my favourite parts too!
Overall, I really enjoyed this Baby-Sitter's club book.
November 11, 2010
mallory gets a regular gig sitting for a new family named the craines. they have three precocious little girls: margaret (five years old), sophie (four years old), & katie (barely verbal baby). the craine girls are basically a retread of the perkins girls, for serious. put these two families together & within fifteen minutes, we'll have world peace & a climate change solution that will actually rehabilitate the earth while soothing tensions in the middle east.
anyway, the first time mallory is sitting for the girls, they all go down for a nap on the living room floor (they're getting over colds & mallory suggested sleeping bags to make napping more exciting--remember being a kid, when napping was a chore? now that i'm in my 30s, naps are amazing). mallory is sitting on the couch reading when she hears faint meowing. she wanders around the house looking for the source, but no dice. when the girls wake up, she asks them about their cat, & margaret says that they don't have a cat. very mysterious...
the next time mallory sits for the girls, she asks mr. & mrs. craine if they have a cat. they confirm what margaret said. somehow, sophie has an incredible memory & calls mallory out on checking up on margaret's no-cat claims. anyway, during this job, everyone hears the meowing. they follow it up to the attic (what is up with mallory's obsession with attics? i think she's going to go out like bertha rochester someday), where they find a thin white cat with silvery eyes. apparently it climbed in through a hole in the roof. uh...craine parents? you might want to patch up that hole. if it's big enough for animals, it's big enough for rain, & you're in for a world of hurt. take it from someone who had to have the city condemn the house she rented due to water damage.
time marches on. the next time mallory sits for the girls, they explore the attic again, & mallory finds a hatbox full of old letters written by a former resident of the house. mallory really has a knack for finding antique documents. perhaps she should work for the mormon church. perhaps the biggest mystery in the book is why the fuck a couple of little kids give a good goddamn about these old letters, but supposedly they do, so mallory reads them to the girls. the big news item of yesteryear is that old dude was really lonely until he found a white kitten. he took it in & it became his best friend. all of his letters were about this stupid kitten (maybe he's related to mary anne) until one day the kitten dies. & old dude is destroyed & never recovers & dies a crazy old hermit who thinks the ghost of his cat is haunting the house.
which begs the question...that white cat they found? could it be...A GHOST CAT? oh my god!
mallory suggests that the craines put an ad in the paper about the cat they found, just in case it actually belongs to someone. they do, & mallory fields a call on a babysitting job from some weird old dude who says the cat is his. he also says that he is currently out of town, but will come by the house in two days to retrieve his cat. mallory wonders how he saw the item about the cat in the paper if he's out of town...but whatever.
when the old dude shows up, he is the spitting image of the crazy hermit that wrote the letters! (there was a photo of him in the box with the letters.) even the craine girls see the resemblance. the cat is definitely his--it leaps into his arms when he calls it by its actual name, rasputin. seems like a bit of a sophisticated reference for the BSC target audience, but i appreciate it as an adult, so i'll let it slide. mallory wonders...could old dude have ALSO been a ghost, coming to retrieve his ghost cat so he can have companionship in the beyond? never mind that dawn ran extensive ghost tests on the cat & determined that the cat was in fact a real cat, because it left footprints when it walked through flour & was in no way translucent.
the B-story is all about mallory's uncle joe coming to stay with the pikes for a while. he is actually mr. pike's uncle, & he enthralls the easily-amused pike children with long reminiscences about uncle joe taking him fishing. he hasn't seen uncle joe in years & years & years, & everybody is disappointed to discover that uncle joe has turned into kind of a "grumpy old man," if you will. a grumpy old man in the early stages of alzheimer's, in fact. so uncle joe gets carted away to the old folk's home, where he douses his food in hot sauce & seems a lot happier. the storyline is so unbelievably tedious. i can't write about it anymore.
i'd say this is the worst book of the mystery series, but it in fact merely foreshadowed the horrors to come.
anyway, the first time mallory is sitting for the girls, they all go down for a nap on the living room floor (they're getting over colds & mallory suggested sleeping bags to make napping more exciting--remember being a kid, when napping was a chore? now that i'm in my 30s, naps are amazing). mallory is sitting on the couch reading when she hears faint meowing. she wanders around the house looking for the source, but no dice. when the girls wake up, she asks them about their cat, & margaret says that they don't have a cat. very mysterious...
the next time mallory sits for the girls, she asks mr. & mrs. craine if they have a cat. they confirm what margaret said. somehow, sophie has an incredible memory & calls mallory out on checking up on margaret's no-cat claims. anyway, during this job, everyone hears the meowing. they follow it up to the attic (what is up with mallory's obsession with attics? i think she's going to go out like bertha rochester someday), where they find a thin white cat with silvery eyes. apparently it climbed in through a hole in the roof. uh...craine parents? you might want to patch up that hole. if it's big enough for animals, it's big enough for rain, & you're in for a world of hurt. take it from someone who had to have the city condemn the house she rented due to water damage.
time marches on. the next time mallory sits for the girls, they explore the attic again, & mallory finds a hatbox full of old letters written by a former resident of the house. mallory really has a knack for finding antique documents. perhaps she should work for the mormon church. perhaps the biggest mystery in the book is why the fuck a couple of little kids give a good goddamn about these old letters, but supposedly they do, so mallory reads them to the girls. the big news item of yesteryear is that old dude was really lonely until he found a white kitten. he took it in & it became his best friend. all of his letters were about this stupid kitten (maybe he's related to mary anne) until one day the kitten dies. & old dude is destroyed & never recovers & dies a crazy old hermit who thinks the ghost of his cat is haunting the house.
which begs the question...that white cat they found? could it be...A GHOST CAT? oh my god!
mallory suggests that the craines put an ad in the paper about the cat they found, just in case it actually belongs to someone. they do, & mallory fields a call on a babysitting job from some weird old dude who says the cat is his. he also says that he is currently out of town, but will come by the house in two days to retrieve his cat. mallory wonders how he saw the item about the cat in the paper if he's out of town...but whatever.
when the old dude shows up, he is the spitting image of the crazy hermit that wrote the letters! (there was a photo of him in the box with the letters.) even the craine girls see the resemblance. the cat is definitely his--it leaps into his arms when he calls it by its actual name, rasputin. seems like a bit of a sophisticated reference for the BSC target audience, but i appreciate it as an adult, so i'll let it slide. mallory wonders...could old dude have ALSO been a ghost, coming to retrieve his ghost cat so he can have companionship in the beyond? never mind that dawn ran extensive ghost tests on the cat & determined that the cat was in fact a real cat, because it left footprints when it walked through flour & was in no way translucent.
the B-story is all about mallory's uncle joe coming to stay with the pikes for a while. he is actually mr. pike's uncle, & he enthralls the easily-amused pike children with long reminiscences about uncle joe taking him fishing. he hasn't seen uncle joe in years & years & years, & everybody is disappointed to discover that uncle joe has turned into kind of a "grumpy old man," if you will. a grumpy old man in the early stages of alzheimer's, in fact. so uncle joe gets carted away to the old folk's home, where he douses his food in hot sauce & seems a lot happier. the storyline is so unbelievably tedious. i can't write about it anymore.
i'd say this is the worst book of the mystery series, but it in fact merely foreshadowed the horrors to come.
March 26, 2021
Such a cute nostalgic read as usual
When Mallory takes on a regular babysitting job for a couple week, she discovers there is a MYSTERY going on a the house. Every time she goes to babysit the Craine girls , she always hears a cat upstairs meowing. Even though everyone in the family says they don’t have a cat. What could it be then?
The mystery books are always my favorite to read , this one was no different. I had a fun time with it.
When Mallory takes on a regular babysitting job for a couple week, she discovers there is a MYSTERY going on a the house. Every time she goes to babysit the Craine girls , she always hears a cat upstairs meowing. Even though everyone in the family says they don’t have a cat. What could it be then?
The mystery books are always my favorite to read , this one was no different. I had a fun time with it.
February 15, 2021
3 stars. I swear I remember loving the Mystery series as a child but these first few ones have been seriously underwhelming. This one wasn’t really a mystery at all and the B plot with Uncle Joe felt insignificant. I hope the next one is better because the plot sounds promising but so far these have been duds for me unfortunately.
May 20, 2023
This was adorable. Light mystery, really easy fun read…pretty unputdownable. As someone who didn’t grow up reading BSC, I appreciated chapter two where we get a rundown of all the BSC members, who they are and their roles within the club.
October 18, 2011
I loved ghost stories when I was in middle school. I definitely read this one... although I have to say that my favorite ghost cat story is The Ghost of Opalina - if you can find a copy, it's worth a read!
July 26, 2024
My suspicion grows that the first few books in the BSC Mystery series were intended for the mainline series. Stacey and the Missing Ring could have very well been a main series plot and Beware, Dawn! is barely a mystery at all. So, too, with Mallory and the Ghost Cat, the third mystery.
Mallory is sitting for the Craines, new clients, when a mysterious meowing sound in the attic proves to be a cat that's taken refuge from the cold. But a series of old letters from a man who once lived in the Craines' house raises questions as to whether the cat is in fact a ghost. The B-plot involves John Pike's uncle Joe coming to stay with the Pike family and how the kids deal with his Alzheimer's. The Uncle Joe plot is, frankly, the A-plot; it seems to take up more pagetime, is introduced first, and has more emotional heft. And it's pretty good emotional heft. Mallory and the other kids' approach to Uncle Joe is realistic and affecting. The ghost cat plot is kind of silly but it's fun (especially Dawn the ghostbuster) though it's left unresolved but even that is fun in its way. Not a cracking good mystery but a pretty decent BSC book!
Mallory is sitting for the Craines, new clients, when a mysterious meowing sound in the attic proves to be a cat that's taken refuge from the cold. But a series of old letters from a man who once lived in the Craines' house raises questions as to whether the cat is in fact a ghost. The B-plot involves John Pike's uncle Joe coming to stay with the Pike family and how the kids deal with his Alzheimer's. The Uncle Joe plot is, frankly, the A-plot; it seems to take up more pagetime, is introduced first, and has more emotional heft. And it's pretty good emotional heft. Mallory and the other kids' approach to Uncle Joe is realistic and affecting. The ghost cat plot is kind of silly but it's fun (especially Dawn the ghostbuster) though it's left unresolved but even that is fun in its way. Not a cracking good mystery but a pretty decent BSC book!
November 3, 2017
So all of the mystery books are more or less ridiculous. This is no exception. I can not, however, give it less than three stars because it actually deals with Alzheimers.
That is not something you see much in kids books like these.
The actual plot is silly, because BSC mystery book, about a cat that Mallory and the kids think is a ghost. It wasn't the worst plot though, not by far, and my cat was laying on my lap while I read it so bonus points!
I did appreciate that this is the book that introduced the Pike's Uncle Joe, who stays with them awhile. He has early stage Alzheimers though, and starts to become too much to handle. They have to take him back to the nursing home, where he can get the best care possible.
My mamaw died this past January of complications from Alzheimers. She spent three years happily in the nursing home, having fun and getting great care, before she passed away. So this hit home.
All the feels. Damn you, Ann Martin!
That is not something you see much in kids books like these.
The actual plot is silly, because BSC mystery book, about a cat that Mallory and the kids think is a ghost. It wasn't the worst plot though, not by far, and my cat was laying on my lap while I read it so bonus points!
I did appreciate that this is the book that introduced the Pike's Uncle Joe, who stays with them awhile. He has early stage Alzheimers though, and starts to become too much to handle. They have to take him back to the nursing home, where he can get the best care possible.
My mamaw died this past January of complications from Alzheimers. She spent three years happily in the nursing home, having fun and getting great care, before she passed away. So this hit home.
All the feels. Damn you, Ann Martin!
February 26, 2018
I'm finally feeling better, but I had so much fun re-reading BSC books during the last two weeks that I think I'm going to continue. =) My next goal is to re-read all of the mysteries!
This is the only Mallory-penned mystery, which I always assumed was because they realized how ridiculous it was for eleven year olds to solve mysteries. (Thirteen year olds, though - much more likely. Ha.) I love the Uncle Joe subplot in this, and the kid in me loved the idea of a ghost cat. I also love that the "mystery" is never fully solved in the end.
By the way, do the Craines ever appear in another book?
This is the only Mallory-penned mystery, which I always assumed was because they realized how ridiculous it was for eleven year olds to solve mysteries. (Thirteen year olds, though - much more likely. Ha.) I love the Uncle Joe subplot in this, and the kid in me loved the idea of a ghost cat. I also love that the "mystery" is never fully solved in the end.
By the way, do the Craines ever appear in another book?
December 15, 2019
This is a weak-ass BSC Mystery, the ghost cat is far-fetched and the "mystery" is kind of non-existent, but I do still appreciate the simplicity of the early Mystery books - they're still believable in that regard.
Actually, I much prefer the B-plot (Mallory's great Uncle Joe comes to visit the family, but he's nothing like her dad remembered; turns out her's in early stages of Alzheimer's) and think that it would be better off as a main story in the regular series. Especially considering I don't recall ever seeing the Craine girls again.
Actually, I much prefer the B-plot (Mallory's great Uncle Joe comes to visit the family, but he's nothing like her dad remembered; turns out her's in early stages of Alzheimer's) and think that it would be better off as a main story in the regular series. Especially considering I don't recall ever seeing the Craine girls again.
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July 29, 2020Ghost cat
As 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.
As 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.
December 31, 2020
(LL)
This wasn’t a mystery. The cat was real; the man who picked her up was real. 160+ pages and the book didn’t even try to make the cat seem like a ghost...it just had Mallory repeat that Ghost Cat (Rasputin) and the owner may have been ghosts the whole time. (That isn’t a mystery at all, it’s just speculation!)
The only reason for three stars is that the topic of Alzheimer’s disease was handled fairly well for a child’s book, but the mystery in this mystery spin off of The BSC not being a mystery can’t be ignored.
This wasn’t a mystery. The cat was real; the man who picked her up was real. 160+ pages and the book didn’t even try to make the cat seem like a ghost...it just had Mallory repeat that Ghost Cat (Rasputin) and the owner may have been ghosts the whole time. (That isn’t a mystery at all, it’s just speculation!)
The only reason for three stars is that the topic of Alzheimer’s disease was handled fairly well for a child’s book, but the mystery in this mystery spin off of The BSC not being a mystery can’t be ignored.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2021
Mallory Pike's family is welcoming her Great Uncle Joe into their house before he moves to the Stoneybrook Nursing Home...but Uncle Joe doesn't act the way they think he will. Mallory is glad to escape to babysit a new family: the Craines. There, Mallory and her babysitting charges find a cat in the attic along with long-forgotten letters. Mallory needs to figure out what's going wrong with her Uncle Joe as well as the mysterious ghost cat.
October 5, 2025
Not as good as some of the other BSC mysteries. While I appreciated some of the stuff about Alzheimer’s and using this book as an intro to the disease for younger kids, the Ghost Cat mystery part was severely lacking. There wasn’t really a mystery, and it didn’t really have a conclusion. A bit disappointing. This book also just wasn’t as much fun as, say, “Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls.”
Read
August 6, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
April 20, 2021
Very very weak on the mystery front, and I found myself mostly disinterested in the underlying storyline in this one. Although I did like the three kids Mallory babysat for throughout.
November 21, 2021
Mallory finds so many missing manuscripts and ancient scrolls that it makes Ben Gates discovering two national treasures seem realistic.
February 20, 2022
I remember thinking this book was super creepy as a kid. It’s not, lol. In fact, nothing was ever solved. I try to view my nostalgic rereads through a nostalgic lens but this one was a bit of a dud.
June 24, 2023
This one was pretty fun. Good story, nice plot around learning about Alzheimer's. Aside from a few mentions of "crazy" and similar phrases, no complaints.
Read
December 13, 2023So like...was Rasputin a descendant of Tinker, and the man who came to pick him up a descendant of Kennedy Graham?
October 3, 2024
Loving the re-visit of one of my favorite childhood series!
April 9, 2021
The "ghost mystery" was a bit stupid in this book, but the dementia storyline was very well done. I am fortunate to have never personally experienced this is my own life, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the portrayal, but I feel that it was sensitively, but firmly handled.
January 10, 2017
Mallory baby sits for three girls who find a cat in their attic. They become convinced the cat is a ghost. It is the stupidest, most pointless, and most boring of all the mysteries. In the meantime, Mallory's great-uncle comes to visit, and her family has to deal with the problems his dementia causes.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I read this on a car trip or something, and I hated it. It was so boring, and such a disappointment because I liked Stacey and the Missing Ring so much, and I was excited to read more BSC mysteries. I was also completely confused about this "mystery". . . clearly there was no ghost, but there was some weirdness going on with the cat's owner that wasn't completely addressed. I chalk up my confused memories to being so bored by this book that I skimmed over most of it.
Dawn creating a bunch of stupid tests to prove the cat was a ghost, some of which involved spreading powder out to see if the cat's paw prints would show up.
Mallory's great-uncle finally pulling himself together long enough to pull a nickle out of Nicky's ear, showing Mallory's family the person he was before dementia took over. As a kid I thought this was so sad because taking care of Uncle Joe was so much work, and he had to live in a nursing home where he could get the full time care he needed. And yet, there was a part of him that remembered his cool tricks, and was clearly happy and youthful. This may have been another reason why I didn't like this book.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Mallory's father has so many great memories of his Uncle Joe that he can't stop talking about. He gets the kids all excited about him, and then of course, everyone (including Mr Pike) is really disappointed with the Uncle Joe who shows up. He's no longer handsome and charming, and talented and funny, the way Mr Pike remembers him. There isn't anything physically wrong with him, but he's confused, he wanders around at night, he ends up in Mallory's (very understanding) neighbor's house, and he's finicky, and short-tempered, and he's clearly not used to being around so many energetic kids. Eventually the Pikes realize that they can't help him, so they cut their visit with him short, and send him back to the nursing home. It's really sad, but it's the way of it. A family with no rules, and eight children to keep track of is just not equipped to provide the care and supervision that Uncle Joe requires.
The Pike boys write a rap that is exactly as horrible and awkward as any white woman writing about rap in the nineties could be.
Mallory baby sits for a family with three little girls, where she finds her stupid ghost cat. The girls have an aunt who normally looks after them, whom they call Aunt Bud, which I think is precious. (Their dad calls her Bud, because they're buddies, and the little girls are all buds together. It's so sweet, especially given my fondness for nicknames.) Aunt Bud has a motorcycle and Mallory is convinced that she is some gang-banging chick with a leather jacket and tons of tattoos. When she finally gets to meet the famous Aunt Bud her first thought is, "What if she offered me a beer?" I know the kids of Stoneybrook are a pretty sheltered, pretty naive bunch, but the Pike kids seem especially clueless.
Reading about Mallory's weird need to make a "ghost cat" out of a situation that clearly had an actual, live cat made more sense as an adult. She's desperate to distract herself from her family's problems with taking care of Uncle Joe. It's still a stupid premise for a mystery, but as an adult I understand the need to be distracted from your own problems by creating another set of problems that don't seem as important. It's especially amusing to read since I realized that the Crane girls think the idea of the ghost cat is all a hilarious game, not realizing that Dawn and Mallory are taking it really seriously. It's funny that three little girls know the idea of a ghost cat is stupid, and their teenage baby sitters don't. The end of the story was ridiculous. The cat has an owner that comes to get the cat and supposidly he looks exactly like the house's previous owner who lost his cat, or some stupid plot device. And then Mallory continues hearing meowing coming from the attic, and she's sure there is still a ghost. But the reason why the cat ended up in the attic in the first place is because there's a hole in the roof and the cat climbed in through the hole. So another cat could have found its way into the attic. Why isn't the family freaking about an expensive roof repair instead of caring about ghost cats?
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I read this on a car trip or something, and I hated it. It was so boring, and such a disappointment because I liked Stacey and the Missing Ring so much, and I was excited to read more BSC mysteries. I was also completely confused about this "mystery". . . clearly there was no ghost, but there was some weirdness going on with the cat's owner that wasn't completely addressed. I chalk up my confused memories to being so bored by this book that I skimmed over most of it.
Dawn creating a bunch of stupid tests to prove the cat was a ghost, some of which involved spreading powder out to see if the cat's paw prints would show up.
Mallory's great-uncle finally pulling himself together long enough to pull a nickle out of Nicky's ear, showing Mallory's family the person he was before dementia took over. As a kid I thought this was so sad because taking care of Uncle Joe was so much work, and he had to live in a nursing home where he could get the full time care he needed. And yet, there was a part of him that remembered his cool tricks, and was clearly happy and youthful. This may have been another reason why I didn't like this book.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Mallory's father has so many great memories of his Uncle Joe that he can't stop talking about. He gets the kids all excited about him, and then of course, everyone (including Mr Pike) is really disappointed with the Uncle Joe who shows up. He's no longer handsome and charming, and talented and funny, the way Mr Pike remembers him. There isn't anything physically wrong with him, but he's confused, he wanders around at night, he ends up in Mallory's (very understanding) neighbor's house, and he's finicky, and short-tempered, and he's clearly not used to being around so many energetic kids. Eventually the Pikes realize that they can't help him, so they cut their visit with him short, and send him back to the nursing home. It's really sad, but it's the way of it. A family with no rules, and eight children to keep track of is just not equipped to provide the care and supervision that Uncle Joe requires.
The Pike boys write a rap that is exactly as horrible and awkward as any white woman writing about rap in the nineties could be.
Mallory baby sits for a family with three little girls, where she finds her stupid ghost cat. The girls have an aunt who normally looks after them, whom they call Aunt Bud, which I think is precious. (Their dad calls her Bud, because they're buddies, and the little girls are all buds together. It's so sweet, especially given my fondness for nicknames.) Aunt Bud has a motorcycle and Mallory is convinced that she is some gang-banging chick with a leather jacket and tons of tattoos. When she finally gets to meet the famous Aunt Bud her first thought is, "What if she offered me a beer?" I know the kids of Stoneybrook are a pretty sheltered, pretty naive bunch, but the Pike kids seem especially clueless.
Reading about Mallory's weird need to make a "ghost cat" out of a situation that clearly had an actual, live cat made more sense as an adult. She's desperate to distract herself from her family's problems with taking care of Uncle Joe. It's still a stupid premise for a mystery, but as an adult I understand the need to be distracted from your own problems by creating another set of problems that don't seem as important. It's especially amusing to read since I realized that the Crane girls think the idea of the ghost cat is all a hilarious game, not realizing that Dawn and Mallory are taking it really seriously. It's funny that three little girls know the idea of a ghost cat is stupid, and their teenage baby sitters don't. The end of the story was ridiculous. The cat has an owner that comes to get the cat and supposidly he looks exactly like the house's previous owner who lost his cat, or some stupid plot device. And then Mallory continues hearing meowing coming from the attic, and she's sure there is still a ghost. But the reason why the cat ended up in the attic in the first place is because there's a hole in the roof and the cat climbed in through the hole. So another cat could have found its way into the attic. Why isn't the family freaking about an expensive roof repair instead of caring about ghost cats?
July 27, 2023
At least there was a bit of mystery to this book. While the first book over looked the obvious and the second didn't have any sort of mystery or plot really until half way through, there is so much happening here. The more I read of Mallory as an adult, the more I find I relate to her, most of the time. Her spying antics in two super specials were dumb. Like Mallory I love reading and writing, though my writing dreams faded away and fictional stories turned into daily journals of the good, bad, exciting and mostly dull events of my everyday life. I also admire Mallory's great patience, I had one older brother and as kids I'm pretty sure we couldn't stand each other and only really hung around together because we lived out in the country and it was a long drive or bike ride to get to a friend's house. To deal with seven younger siblings I think I'd want to shoot myself. I always pictured grownup Mallory as living a childfree life after basically raising her siblings on her own since her parents were rather lax with all of them. Anyway onto the story. Mallory accepts a job with the Craines, who are not usual clients. Their aunt who normally cares for them broke her leg and so Mallory finds herself with a steady job caring for Margaret, Katie, and Sophie. While on the job she hears a cat somewhere in the house which is weird since the Craines don't have a cat. The girls and Mallory explore the house and find a white cat in the attic. Even after the cat is found Mallory continues to hear meowing from the attic. Another exploration reveals letters by a man who had his own white cat many years ago and was heartbroken to lose him. A man calls saying the cat is his and named Rasputin, which is an odd name for a cat, but also hilarious for anyone who knows the fate of the real Rasputin who did not go easily in late 1916. The man is identical to the man in the old picture found with the letters which adds to the mystery which never really gets solved. In the subplot Mallory's dad's uncle Joe is coming to stay with him which at first causes excitement until they realize he's a cranky old man. As someone who has worked in nursing homes for years I immediately saw what was happening, but I thought the book did a good job describing how kids react to people with Alzheimer's. It's a very confusing disease for even adults to understand. One moment your mom is cheerful and loving, the next she's swearing and throwing things. In this case Joe doesn't get violent, just cranky, which given he was thrown into a house with eight kids is understandable. But in the end they all come to understand and get along with Joe and the hot sauce part at the end cracked me up. A cute little mystery not too heavy or dark, just some fun, Karen didn't get her way in one chapter so that's always a good time and Dawn as a ghostbuster was pretty funny, too bad she became so horrible in the California Diaries series. But that's for another time.
March 1, 2016
My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
October 14, 2015
We read this book for Super Serials Podcast (E. 016) and it was my introduction to Mallory Pike, one of the junior sitters in the series. (Btw, Mallory is the least favorite of Ann M. Martin.) This book is also part of the BSC Mysteries subset of the BSC Universe.
As usual with BSC, there are two sort of story lines weaving throughout the book: one about a relative staying with the Pike family and the other about this mysterious Ghost Cat showing up to Mallory's babysitting job. The best part of the book hands down is when Mallory and Dawn investigate the ghost potential per square foot in the attic. The rest of the book is full of questionable white triplet rapping and pizza muffins. Not the best BSC, but if you're binging BSC mysteries, may as well read this one too.
As usual with BSC, there are two sort of story lines weaving throughout the book: one about a relative staying with the Pike family and the other about this mysterious Ghost Cat showing up to Mallory's babysitting job. The best part of the book hands down is when Mallory and Dawn investigate the ghost potential per square foot in the attic. The rest of the book is full of questionable white triplet rapping and pizza muffins. Not the best BSC, but if you're binging BSC mysteries, may as well read this one too.
April 29, 2009
Yeah, so this was totally one of the worst of the mystery series. Or at least the worst of the ones I actually read - I think I quit after maybe four or five. I liked the sitting adventures, but mysteries just weren't my thing!
December 2, 2009
I liked this book because it was fun.
Some parts were boring so I just
skimmed over them.My favorite
character is Mallory because she
the same age as me.My favorite
part was when Mallory met the
deaf cat. This is a good book.
Some parts were boring so I just
skimmed over them.My favorite
character is Mallory because she
the same age as me.My favorite
part was when Mallory met the
deaf cat. This is a good book.
April 20, 2011
This book really irritated me.
Why wouldn't you tell your baby-sitting kid that your uncle might have Alzheimer's? Seems like that would have saved Mal a lot of angst.
Why wouldn't you tell your baby-sitting kid that your uncle might have Alzheimer's? Seems like that would have saved Mal a lot of angst.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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