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The Baby-Sitters Club #19
Claudia and the Bad Joke
Claudia's not worried when she hears her newest baby-sitting charge, Betsy Sobak, is a great practical joker. After all, how much harm can one little girl do?
Plenty. Claudia breaks her leg as a result of one of Betsy's mean joke... and now she's talking about quitting the club. "Baby-sitting," she says, "is just too dangerous." Kristy thinks Betsy needs to be taught a lesson. She also thinks the Baby-sitters are just the ones to do it.
Watch out, Betsy Sobak! The joke war is on!
Plenty. Claudia breaks her leg as a result of one of Betsy's mean joke... and now she's talking about quitting the club. "Baby-sitting," she says, "is just too dangerous." Kristy thinks Betsy needs to be taught a lesson. She also thinks the Baby-sitters are just the ones to do it.
Watch out, Betsy Sobak! The joke war is on!
141 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1988
202 people are currently reading
1253 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,112 books3,055 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 126 reviews
August 19, 2022
This is a middle grade, and this is book 19th in the Baby-Sitters club series. I read this book when I was younger, but I am re-reading the series by listening to the audiobooks as an adult. I enjoyed this one. I feel there was a good lesson in the book. I enjoyed the narrator.
January 31, 2021
Betsy, Dark Lord of Nightmares
One theme the Baby-sitters Club series tackles more than others is fear. The girls have dealt with fear in many forms: paranoia (Dawne in Stacey's Mistake), fear of a real threat (Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls), fear from superstition (Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery & The Ghost at Dawn's House), and fear of social rejection (Kristy in Kristy and the Snobs & Jessi in Hello, Mallory). But this is the series' most direct confrontations with fear. It finally graduates from "theme" to "topic".
Claudia deals with fear during the events of a deeply insipid and unlikely plot involving the children of Stonybrook becoming obsessed with practical jokes after a slapstick movie program at the local library. I call the plot "unlikely" for two reasons: a) Even stupid little kids cannot collectively be this lame, and b) as much as I hate to admit it, the idea that a public library program could have this widespread an effect on the kids of an entire town is utter nonsense, however optimistic.
Be that as it may, Claudia gets stuck babysitting a little girl -- Betsy -- who even before the slapstick filmfest was a searingly obnoxious practical jokester. Claudia learns this the hard way when one of Betsy's jokes lands Claudia in the hospital with a broken leg. During her recovery, Claudia struggles with whether to quit the babysitters club. Her injury has her spooked. What if she'd broken her hand or her arm and it affected her ability to pursue her art? Is babysitting worth that?
Fear can be rational or irrational: rational when it is a useful and protective response against something harmful, and irrational when it is out of proportion to the threat the object of fear poses. To fear babysitting because it may lead to debilitating injury seems irrational on the surface. But when an injury is sustained, the fear is suddenly based on something real. But does that mean it's suddenly rational?
Mimi certainly doesn't think so, nor do the other members of the Baby-sitters Club. The girls are flatly against Claudia quitting, and Mimi gently tries to coax Claudia to stay in the club by appealing to her good sense and emphasizing what she would be giving up. But is Claudia truly being nonsensical or irrational?
Rational fear is proportionate to potential harm. So how do we calculate potential harm? To me, potential harm is a function of the consequences of that harm and how likely the harm is to be exacted. The consequences of an airplane crash are high: almost certain death. But the likelihood of a crash is so low that a serious fear of flying is considered irrational. On the other hand, the likelihood of pain during an injection is almost guaranteed, but the level and duration of the pain are so low that the fear of needles is also considered irrational.
But what if you survived a major plane crash? What if you received an injection that somehow caused inordinate pain or other complication? Does that rationalize the fear? Well, no, it doesn't. While it certainly makes it understandable, the fact that something happened doesn't change the potential harm of that thing in the future. But that's how we learn, isn't it? We do something, we suffer a bad consequence, and we avoid doing that thing again in the future. How do we determine it is a good idea to overcome the aversion response?
Well, you can reaffirm the old rationalization. For Claudia, this would be to remember that kids babysit every day and almost never end up with broken bones as a result. But it's amazing how ineffective knowledge can be at influencing emotion. (It's also amazing how much knowledge can influence emotion, but I'd call the relationship unreliable.)
But the other way -- the way that works for Claudia -- is to take Mimi's advice, which is to consider the opportunity cost of letting the fear influence the decision. She never tells Claudia what to decide either way, but Mimi gets Claudia thinking about the value she places on babysitting. Membership in the club is paramount in her social relationships and her place in the community. Ultimately, these things are as important to Claudia as her art is. So at the end of the day, Claudia realizes she was choosing to definitely lose something important to her out of fear of possibly losing something important to her.
This is what kicked Claudia out of her funk and put her back in the club. (This is also why Mimi is the best character in the whole series.) Overcoming fear is possible when the consequences of having the fear are themselves scarier. In these cases, the only thing to fear... is fear itself.... oh my god, I just realized this whole review was just me confirming an old cliché. Whatever, I'm not rewriting it bye.
*************************************
Homework: Eat a mushroom. Mushrooms are horrifying, and if you can eat one without throwing up and dying, you are very strong.
<< #18: Stacey's Mistake
#20: Kristy and the Walking Disaster >>
One theme the Baby-sitters Club series tackles more than others is fear. The girls have dealt with fear in many forms: paranoia (Dawne in Stacey's Mistake), fear of a real threat (Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls), fear from superstition (Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery & The Ghost at Dawn's House), and fear of social rejection (Kristy in Kristy and the Snobs & Jessi in Hello, Mallory). But this is the series' most direct confrontations with fear. It finally graduates from "theme" to "topic".
Claudia deals with fear during the events of a deeply insipid and unlikely plot involving the children of Stonybrook becoming obsessed with practical jokes after a slapstick movie program at the local library. I call the plot "unlikely" for two reasons: a) Even stupid little kids cannot collectively be this lame, and b) as much as I hate to admit it, the idea that a public library program could have this widespread an effect on the kids of an entire town is utter nonsense, however optimistic.
Be that as it may, Claudia gets stuck babysitting a little girl -- Betsy -- who even before the slapstick filmfest was a searingly obnoxious practical jokester. Claudia learns this the hard way when one of Betsy's jokes lands Claudia in the hospital with a broken leg. During her recovery, Claudia struggles with whether to quit the babysitters club. Her injury has her spooked. What if she'd broken her hand or her arm and it affected her ability to pursue her art? Is babysitting worth that?
Fear can be rational or irrational: rational when it is a useful and protective response against something harmful, and irrational when it is out of proportion to the threat the object of fear poses. To fear babysitting because it may lead to debilitating injury seems irrational on the surface. But when an injury is sustained, the fear is suddenly based on something real. But does that mean it's suddenly rational?
Mimi certainly doesn't think so, nor do the other members of the Baby-sitters Club. The girls are flatly against Claudia quitting, and Mimi gently tries to coax Claudia to stay in the club by appealing to her good sense and emphasizing what she would be giving up. But is Claudia truly being nonsensical or irrational?
Rational fear is proportionate to potential harm. So how do we calculate potential harm? To me, potential harm is a function of the consequences of that harm and how likely the harm is to be exacted. The consequences of an airplane crash are high: almost certain death. But the likelihood of a crash is so low that a serious fear of flying is considered irrational. On the other hand, the likelihood of pain during an injection is almost guaranteed, but the level and duration of the pain are so low that the fear of needles is also considered irrational.
But what if you survived a major plane crash? What if you received an injection that somehow caused inordinate pain or other complication? Does that rationalize the fear? Well, no, it doesn't. While it certainly makes it understandable, the fact that something happened doesn't change the potential harm of that thing in the future. But that's how we learn, isn't it? We do something, we suffer a bad consequence, and we avoid doing that thing again in the future. How do we determine it is a good idea to overcome the aversion response?
Well, you can reaffirm the old rationalization. For Claudia, this would be to remember that kids babysit every day and almost never end up with broken bones as a result. But it's amazing how ineffective knowledge can be at influencing emotion. (It's also amazing how much knowledge can influence emotion, but I'd call the relationship unreliable.)
But the other way -- the way that works for Claudia -- is to take Mimi's advice, which is to consider the opportunity cost of letting the fear influence the decision. She never tells Claudia what to decide either way, but Mimi gets Claudia thinking about the value she places on babysitting. Membership in the club is paramount in her social relationships and her place in the community. Ultimately, these things are as important to Claudia as her art is. So at the end of the day, Claudia realizes she was choosing to definitely lose something important to her out of fear of possibly losing something important to her.
This is what kicked Claudia out of her funk and put her back in the club. (This is also why Mimi is the best character in the whole series.) Overcoming fear is possible when the consequences of having the fear are themselves scarier. In these cases, the only thing to fear... is fear itself.... oh my god, I just realized this whole review was just me confirming an old cliché. Whatever, I'm not rewriting it bye.
*************************************
Homework: Eat a mushroom. Mushrooms are horrifying, and if you can eat one without throwing up and dying, you are very strong.
<< #18: Stacey's Mistake
#20: Kristy and the Walking Disaster >>
September 4, 2020
1 Star...MAYBE a 1.5??
Idk...this book really went downhill. Maybe it was the racist comment, maybe it was Claudia making fun of Cathy and then doing the exact same thing later in the book. Either way, this book was a major flop and dampened my view on the Baby-Sitters Club series.
Idk...this book really went downhill. Maybe it was the racist comment, maybe it was Claudia making fun of Cathy and then doing the exact same thing later in the book. Either way, this book was a major flop and dampened my view on the Baby-Sitters Club series.
February 27, 2010
i was never crazy about this one. apparently practical joke fever has swept over the youth of stoneybrook, perhaps inspired by a slapstick film festival at the town library. i really enjoy the idea that every child in stoneybrook is anxiously anticipating a free film at the public library. how quaint. anyway, the kids find the films hilarious & start yukking it up with joy buzzers, whoopee cushions, water-squirting flowers, et al. claudia is less amused by all the practical joking going on (perhaps she finds these types of antics less sophisticated than dressing up like mrs. frizzle or a human watermelon), but no matter.
a new-ish client named mrs. sobak (this is the sobaks' first appearance as an official client in the series, but in a previous book, logan answered the phone to find mr. sobak on the other end, perplexed as to why a boy was answering the phone at a BSC meeting, so perhaps the sitters have sat for the sobaks before) calls, looking for a regular sitter for her eight-year-old daughter, betsy. some of the sitters are confused, because they know there are kids in betsy's neighborhood (she lives next door to the rodowskys--i'm surprised the street isn't a smoking crater in the ground by now, once she & jackie put their heads together) that sit regularly for her. this is before the sitters have a lock on the child care for every family in town, i guess. but they shrug it off & claudia takes the job.
at school, some of betsy's FORMER regular sitters corner claudia to inform her that betsy loves to play practical jokes. they basically say that they will pray for claudia's health & well-being, but they never expect to see her alive again. claudia is distressed by this information, but she's an experienced sitter who has never yet met a kid she couldn't handle.
at her first job with betsy, claudia notes that she is wearing one of her father's old white dress shirts, decorated with sequins. i thought that was such an awesome fashion idea when i was a kid. unfortunately, my dad worked at an oil refinery & mostly wore harley-davidson t-shirts. i often stole his shirts (which hung to my knees because he was 6'4"), but i didn't dare sew sequins on to them. betsy sounds like she's dressed like mork from "mork & mindy", crossed with dennis the menace. mrs. sobak hustles out the door & betsy starts right in with her jokes. i believe she does the ol' plastic fly in the fake ice cube gag, & there's something with disappearing ink that gets splattered all over claudia's sequined shirt. eventually claudia suggests that they play outside, thinking betsy will be flummoxed when she's cut off from her supply of practical joke merchandise in the house.
what claudia doesn't know is that betsy has messed with the swing set somehow. claudia suggests a swinging contest, & betsy is so excited, she forgets that claudia is sitting on a trick swing. the chain gives way in mid-arc & claudia loses her battle with gravity, breaking her leg in the process. thankfully, betsy is good at following instructions, & she runs off to call an ambulance & to alert dawn, who is sitting next door, to pinch-sit while claudia is rushed to the hospital.
the whole rest of the book is kind of boring. claudia has to stay in the hospital for a ludicrously long time--like a week. i don't get this. what can they do for her besides set the bone & put on a cast? it's not like she had an infection or internal injuries. she has to keep her leg elevated, but she can do that at home. even when she's released into the care of her family, she isn't allowed to go to school for another week or two. & she obviously can't babysit. during her time off from babysitting, she starts wondering what would have happened if she'd broken her arm or hand instead & imperiled her art career. as if no artist in the history of the world has ever broken their hand, arm, or wrist at some point. as if perfectly nimble, uninjured hands & arms are crucial for making art. i do silkscreening, sewing, & other kids of art, even though i have rheumatoid arthritis & have broken a few fingers. it's painful a lot of the time, but whatever. but we need this delusional behavior on claudia's part to have our big A-plot conflict: will claudia quit the babysitters club?
the B-plot involves betsy continuing to play practical jokes on the other babysitters that step in the fulfill claudia's sitting commitments. the BSC can hardly even believe that mrs. sobak dares to call them with more jobs after ther daughter broke claudia's leg, but they sit for betsy anyway & betsy zings them with dribble glasses & rubber rats & such forth. kristy finally gets betsy to realize that practical jokes aren't all fun & games by tricking her with a bloody rubber thumb at the movies & embarrassing her in front of her classmates. they have a heart-to-heart about claudia's broken leg, betsy goes to claudia's house to apologize, claudia realizes that she misses a lot of the kids she sits for, her cast comes off, & she starts sitting again. kind of boring.
a new-ish client named mrs. sobak (this is the sobaks' first appearance as an official client in the series, but in a previous book, logan answered the phone to find mr. sobak on the other end, perplexed as to why a boy was answering the phone at a BSC meeting, so perhaps the sitters have sat for the sobaks before) calls, looking for a regular sitter for her eight-year-old daughter, betsy. some of the sitters are confused, because they know there are kids in betsy's neighborhood (she lives next door to the rodowskys--i'm surprised the street isn't a smoking crater in the ground by now, once she & jackie put their heads together) that sit regularly for her. this is before the sitters have a lock on the child care for every family in town, i guess. but they shrug it off & claudia takes the job.
at school, some of betsy's FORMER regular sitters corner claudia to inform her that betsy loves to play practical jokes. they basically say that they will pray for claudia's health & well-being, but they never expect to see her alive again. claudia is distressed by this information, but she's an experienced sitter who has never yet met a kid she couldn't handle.
at her first job with betsy, claudia notes that she is wearing one of her father's old white dress shirts, decorated with sequins. i thought that was such an awesome fashion idea when i was a kid. unfortunately, my dad worked at an oil refinery & mostly wore harley-davidson t-shirts. i often stole his shirts (which hung to my knees because he was 6'4"), but i didn't dare sew sequins on to them. betsy sounds like she's dressed like mork from "mork & mindy", crossed with dennis the menace. mrs. sobak hustles out the door & betsy starts right in with her jokes. i believe she does the ol' plastic fly in the fake ice cube gag, & there's something with disappearing ink that gets splattered all over claudia's sequined shirt. eventually claudia suggests that they play outside, thinking betsy will be flummoxed when she's cut off from her supply of practical joke merchandise in the house.
what claudia doesn't know is that betsy has messed with the swing set somehow. claudia suggests a swinging contest, & betsy is so excited, she forgets that claudia is sitting on a trick swing. the chain gives way in mid-arc & claudia loses her battle with gravity, breaking her leg in the process. thankfully, betsy is good at following instructions, & she runs off to call an ambulance & to alert dawn, who is sitting next door, to pinch-sit while claudia is rushed to the hospital.
the whole rest of the book is kind of boring. claudia has to stay in the hospital for a ludicrously long time--like a week. i don't get this. what can they do for her besides set the bone & put on a cast? it's not like she had an infection or internal injuries. she has to keep her leg elevated, but she can do that at home. even when she's released into the care of her family, she isn't allowed to go to school for another week or two. & she obviously can't babysit. during her time off from babysitting, she starts wondering what would have happened if she'd broken her arm or hand instead & imperiled her art career. as if no artist in the history of the world has ever broken their hand, arm, or wrist at some point. as if perfectly nimble, uninjured hands & arms are crucial for making art. i do silkscreening, sewing, & other kids of art, even though i have rheumatoid arthritis & have broken a few fingers. it's painful a lot of the time, but whatever. but we need this delusional behavior on claudia's part to have our big A-plot conflict: will claudia quit the babysitters club?
the B-plot involves betsy continuing to play practical jokes on the other babysitters that step in the fulfill claudia's sitting commitments. the BSC can hardly even believe that mrs. sobak dares to call them with more jobs after ther daughter broke claudia's leg, but they sit for betsy anyway & betsy zings them with dribble glasses & rubber rats & such forth. kristy finally gets betsy to realize that practical jokes aren't all fun & games by tricking her with a bloody rubber thumb at the movies & embarrassing her in front of her classmates. they have a heart-to-heart about claudia's broken leg, betsy goes to claudia's house to apologize, claudia realizes that she misses a lot of the kids she sits for, her cast comes off, & she starts sitting again. kind of boring.
February 2, 2016
this is the first time I've read this book!
when claudia is sitting for new client betsy sobak (who is a huge prankster), she badly breaks her leg as a result of betsy being a little jerk. she considers quitting the club because she thinks it's dangerous to baby-sit. the rest of the club tries to out-prank betsy.
highlights:
-the opener to the book is kristy saying she's never been hit in the face with a pie.
-kristy's obsessed with the idea of wearing food. "like, to hang grapes from your earlobes, or make a vest out of teabags." haha kristy I love you so much ya freak.
-claud says she thinks adults have a stock of jokes they learn when they turn 21. this is when she is scared of the cast cutter saw at the hospital and her mom says that they haven't lost a limb yet and then the doctor says the exact same thing. grown ups like dad jokes!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in general, I think it is astonishingly irresponsible and awful that the baby-sitters play into betsy's practical joke game. how could they not just say, "hey, did you notice that your practical jokes got our friend claudia hospitalized? could you stop now?" and if she doesn't stop, tell her smug idiot mom that BETSY IS A JERK. she is obviously unwilling to listen and won't believe that her daughter is as awful as she is, but seriously, she tricks claudia into using a swing that seriously injures her, and that is not enough to make betsy stop pranking people. this is some nanny 911 crap.
-it's spelled double stuf oreos, not double stuff oreos. ann, you spelled it right in Jessi's Secret Language so I don't really get this. different editors?
-claud gives flowers to cathy the whiny baby 14-year-old she's sharing a room with in the hospital. this is a little dumb and tacked-on, like they're trying to make us think that claudia is this altruistic kid.
no outfits. I hate claudia books without outfits.
dawn's kid kit:
-old maid
-mad libs
-Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
non-betsy or pike pranks:
-kristy squirts invisible ink on mary anne's sweatshirt
-claudia gets a call asking for prince albert in a can
-sam goof calls bsc meeting twice
pike pranks:
-margo springs out from behind bushes to shout boo at jessi and mary anne
-nicky shakes mary anne's hand with a buzzer
-is your refrigerator running call to mary anne (vanessa is the caller)
-asking for "rita book" call to jessi (vanessa is the caller)
-claire shoots jessi with a water gun
-rubber spider in claire's room for jessi
-fake barf in the bathroom for mary anne
-chocolate-covered tennis ball "sundae" for nicky made by triplets
-nicky pulls chair out from jessi making her fall
-jessi gets a call from "queen elizabeth" for "prince charles" and jessi says he can't come to the phone because he's waxing his yacht (probably vanessa is the caller)
betsy pranks:
-fly ice cube and dribble glass for claudia's apple juice from betsy
-spicy gum in wrigley's wrapper for claudia from betsy
-betsy tells claudia to use the broken swing and she breaks her leg
-betsy pretends to have left the house and jumps out of her hiding place and yells boo at mallory
-mallory pretends she has beauty powder but it's sneezing powder and it makes betsy sneeze
-betsy pretends she sneezed out a tooth
-mal scares betsy w/ fake slug and fake rat
-betsy scares mal w/ fake snake and fake cockroach
-betsy puts slime in dawn's kid kit
-dawn pretends to faint then yells boo when betsy checks on her
-betsy has dawn sit on a "pooh-pooh" cushion
-dawn pretends she sees a mouse and shrieks
-betsy uses a fountain pen that squirts water at dawn
-dawn uses a rubber spider on betsy
-betsy uses a fat rubber toad on dawn
-betsy uses shaving cream as whipped cream on dawn's sundae
-betsy sneakily squirts kristy with her fountain pen (water)
-betsy takes money from kristy with a hand buzzer
-kristy switches seats at the movie while betsy is getting popcorn
-kristy puts a fake bloody thumb in the popcorn
snacks in claudia's room:
-butterfinger bar in the drawer of her jewelry box
-double-stuf oreos in a shoebox labeled PANT BRUSHES
-doritos behind a pillow under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
-m&ms under her bed
-tootsie rolls behind her pillow
when claudia is sitting for new client betsy sobak (who is a huge prankster), she badly breaks her leg as a result of betsy being a little jerk. she considers quitting the club because she thinks it's dangerous to baby-sit. the rest of the club tries to out-prank betsy.
highlights:
-the opener to the book is kristy saying she's never been hit in the face with a pie.
-kristy's obsessed with the idea of wearing food. "like, to hang grapes from your earlobes, or make a vest out of teabags." haha kristy I love you so much ya freak.
-claud says she thinks adults have a stock of jokes they learn when they turn 21. this is when she is scared of the cast cutter saw at the hospital and her mom says that they haven't lost a limb yet and then the doctor says the exact same thing. grown ups like dad jokes!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-in general, I think it is astonishingly irresponsible and awful that the baby-sitters play into betsy's practical joke game. how could they not just say, "hey, did you notice that your practical jokes got our friend claudia hospitalized? could you stop now?" and if she doesn't stop, tell her smug idiot mom that BETSY IS A JERK. she is obviously unwilling to listen and won't believe that her daughter is as awful as she is, but seriously, she tricks claudia into using a swing that seriously injures her, and that is not enough to make betsy stop pranking people. this is some nanny 911 crap.
-it's spelled double stuf oreos, not double stuff oreos. ann, you spelled it right in Jessi's Secret Language so I don't really get this. different editors?
-claud gives flowers to cathy the whiny baby 14-year-old she's sharing a room with in the hospital. this is a little dumb and tacked-on, like they're trying to make us think that claudia is this altruistic kid.
no outfits. I hate claudia books without outfits.
dawn's kid kit:
-old maid
-mad libs
-Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
non-betsy or pike pranks:
-kristy squirts invisible ink on mary anne's sweatshirt
-claudia gets a call asking for prince albert in a can
-sam goof calls bsc meeting twice
pike pranks:
-margo springs out from behind bushes to shout boo at jessi and mary anne
-nicky shakes mary anne's hand with a buzzer
-is your refrigerator running call to mary anne (vanessa is the caller)
-asking for "rita book" call to jessi (vanessa is the caller)
-claire shoots jessi with a water gun
-rubber spider in claire's room for jessi
-fake barf in the bathroom for mary anne
-chocolate-covered tennis ball "sundae" for nicky made by triplets
-nicky pulls chair out from jessi making her fall
-jessi gets a call from "queen elizabeth" for "prince charles" and jessi says he can't come to the phone because he's waxing his yacht (probably vanessa is the caller)
betsy pranks:
-fly ice cube and dribble glass for claudia's apple juice from betsy
-spicy gum in wrigley's wrapper for claudia from betsy
-betsy tells claudia to use the broken swing and she breaks her leg
-betsy pretends to have left the house and jumps out of her hiding place and yells boo at mallory
-mallory pretends she has beauty powder but it's sneezing powder and it makes betsy sneeze
-betsy pretends she sneezed out a tooth
-mal scares betsy w/ fake slug and fake rat
-betsy scares mal w/ fake snake and fake cockroach
-betsy puts slime in dawn's kid kit
-dawn pretends to faint then yells boo when betsy checks on her
-betsy has dawn sit on a "pooh-pooh" cushion
-dawn pretends she sees a mouse and shrieks
-betsy uses a fountain pen that squirts water at dawn
-dawn uses a rubber spider on betsy
-betsy uses a fat rubber toad on dawn
-betsy uses shaving cream as whipped cream on dawn's sundae
-betsy sneakily squirts kristy with her fountain pen (water)
-betsy takes money from kristy with a hand buzzer
-kristy switches seats at the movie while betsy is getting popcorn
-kristy puts a fake bloody thumb in the popcorn
snacks in claudia's room:
-butterfinger bar in the drawer of her jewelry box
-double-stuf oreos in a shoebox labeled PANT BRUSHES
-doritos behind a pillow under her bed
-pretzels under her bed
-m&ms under her bed
-tootsie rolls behind her pillow
October 20, 2018
Frankly, Ann was phoning it in at this point. Send in the ghostwriters.
January 21, 2021
okay let's get the biggest gripe out of the way--the bsc attends a free slap stick film festival at their local library VOLUNTARILY and according to claudia, it seems like everyone in stoneybrook who's under 16 is there. as a librarian for this age group i would just like to a) call shenanigans and b) possibly get the contact info for whoever set this up so i can learn a thing or two, i guess.
pranking fever takes over the town and a new client is so into it that she makes claudia get on a swing that she knows is broken and claudia, my sweet baby angel claudia, gets her leg broken so badly that she has to be in the hospital for a week! i want to sue this child! claudia has an existential crisis and doom spirals herself into thoughts of breaking her arm or hands, making her unable to create her art. she even thinks of quitting the club because baby sitting is too dangerous. as usual, when she brings this up to her friends, kristy shuts her feelings right down.
claudia decides not to drop out of the club but a more honest choice would have been to peace out after all this. at this point, stacey is in new york, kristy remains an emotional terrorist, and it seems like mostly everyone just wants claudia to stay because she's got the phone line in her room. now that she no longer faces any mobility issues, claudia should run the hell away from these girls.
pranking fever takes over the town and a new client is so into it that she makes claudia get on a swing that she knows is broken and claudia, my sweet baby angel claudia, gets her leg broken so badly that she has to be in the hospital for a week! i want to sue this child! claudia has an existential crisis and doom spirals herself into thoughts of breaking her arm or hands, making her unable to create her art. she even thinks of quitting the club because baby sitting is too dangerous. as usual, when she brings this up to her friends, kristy shuts her feelings right down.
claudia decides not to drop out of the club but a more honest choice would have been to peace out after all this. at this point, stacey is in new york, kristy remains an emotional terrorist, and it seems like mostly everyone just wants claudia to stay because she's got the phone line in her room. now that she no longer faces any mobility issues, claudia should run the hell away from these girls.
April 1, 2021
I wanted an itty bitty book to squeeze in for the last day of March and this hit the spot! This was a frightful premise where Claudia breaks her leg because a babysitting charge keeps pranking her until it goes too far! I thought Claudia handled her situation well and I can see why a broken bone would make her consider leaving BSC. I liked all the aspects of her hospital stay and found it neat as someone who has never thankfully been a patient. I thought the practical jokes were a major 80's staple with whoopee cushions, fake vomit, and hand buzzers that hasn't retained its popularity in the 21st century. I didn't like the little prankster responsible for Claudia's injury but I'm happy she learned her lesson in the end. I found a few more BSC books at a used book store but they've got nothing left for me to take! My new library has digital copies of the books I'm missing and I can catch up on the gaps! These books bring me such comfort and I'm happy to have discovered them later in life. I wish they weren't so hard to find. Like poor Claudia Kishi, I hope I can get more books I'm missing in my thrifting adventures. To wish me luck, I guess you could say...
July 7, 2020
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!
January 17, 2021
This is why I never babysat when I was younger, and why I never wanted kids of my own. Betsy Sobak is a little nightmare and deserved way more than a few jokes played on her.
In general, I loathe "pranks." I find them mean-spirited and I think finding humor in embarrassing someone else is cruel and gross. And Betsy's "prank" causing Claudia to break her leg is a great example of how dangerous they can be, too. I get that for little kids, playing jokes on people is a way to exert some kind of agency, but it's not something that should be encouraged. It was frustrating in this book that Betsy's parents apparently had no idea at all about how their kid behaved...maybe because none of the sitters ever said a damn word to them! And while I can understand the BSC members wanting a little revenge, it did strike me as inappropriate for them to sink to a little kid's level when they're supposed to be the responsible ones in charge. What if one of their jokes had caused injury or illness? How would they have explained that to the parents?
(Speaking of the Sobaks, did the parents ever apologize to Claudia?? Late in the book, when Betsy comes over to apologize in person to Claudia, we learn that Betsy did send her an apology note while she was still in the hospital...but did the parents call to apologize for their daughter's behavior? Or to offer Claudia's parents to pay the medical bills?)
Yeah, this one kind of bothered me, especially because there doesn't seem to be much of a message to it beyond "pranks can be bad" which isn't exactly Earth-shattering. This is definitely one of the weaker ones in the series. IMO. Too bad, because I like Claudia.
In general, I loathe "pranks." I find them mean-spirited and I think finding humor in embarrassing someone else is cruel and gross. And Betsy's "prank" causing Claudia to break her leg is a great example of how dangerous they can be, too. I get that for little kids, playing jokes on people is a way to exert some kind of agency, but it's not something that should be encouraged. It was frustrating in this book that Betsy's parents apparently had no idea at all about how their kid behaved...maybe because none of the sitters ever said a damn word to them! And while I can understand the BSC members wanting a little revenge, it did strike me as inappropriate for them to sink to a little kid's level when they're supposed to be the responsible ones in charge. What if one of their jokes had caused injury or illness? How would they have explained that to the parents?
(Speaking of the Sobaks, did the parents ever apologize to Claudia?? Late in the book, when Betsy comes over to apologize in person to Claudia, we learn that Betsy did send her an apology note while she was still in the hospital...but did the parents call to apologize for their daughter's behavior? Or to offer Claudia's parents to pay the medical bills?)
Yeah, this one kind of bothered me, especially because there doesn't seem to be much of a message to it beyond "pranks can be bad" which isn't exactly Earth-shattering. This is definitely one of the weaker ones in the series. IMO. Too bad, because I like Claudia.
April 6, 2021
Another great book about the babysitters club only this time it involves Claudia. The babysitters club go to a free movie at the local library only the movies are all practical jokes. Claudia and some of her friends hate practical jokes (I know I do especially April fools day). Anyways they have a new client named Betsy who loves to trick people and pull jokes only when Claudia is babysitting for her, they decide to swing on the swings and Claudia falls off and breaks her leg. It boggles my mind that this child is allowed to continue doing this plus the parents it seems have no remorse for her actions. I dunno I felt bad for Claudia, it really did change her life for a while and also her perspective on babysitting.
May 5, 2017
I used to love the Babysitter's Club! My friends and I used to swap them between us when I was in primary school. They were so popular at the time, there was a waiting list at the library if you wanted to read them in chronological order! I used to be allowed to buy one book a week on a Friday when I was younger; this was usually an Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Point Horror or one of these! I would love to revisit them at some stage, just for nostalgia's sake!
July 14, 2020
One of the books that actually remind me of how young the girls are - surely a practical joke monster could have been handled better?
September 10, 2016
Claudia breaks her leg due to a prank executed by one of her baby sitting charges. She has an internal crisis about her identity as a baby sitter and an artist, while her fellow baby sitters wage war on the client who caused the prank in the first place. I read this book when I was about nine. I remember I left it at a friend's house and was furious when she later pretended it was her book (even going so far as to write her name in the cover!)
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
The book begins when the library shows films of people getting hit in the face with a pie. Even as a kid this sounded incredibly stupid, and a terrible waste of time.
Claudia getting her friends to sneak in junk food to her hospital room, and sharing her flowers with her cranky roommate, which is something I never would have done. In this book Claudia is a way better person than I am.
The baby sitters going to war with Betsy Sobak even though they don't tell her about it. I also remember that Betsy makes someone a sundae with shaving cream, which to me was more mean spirited and horrible than even Claudia's broken leg. (The broken leg was an accident, but the shaving cream sundae was intentional.)
Claudia getting her cast cut off her leg. She dreads having the saw so close to her (which I could relate to) and she can't believe that she can't just jump up and start using her leg once the cast is off. It hadn't occurred to me until I read this book that keeping your limb in a cast would mean you weren't using the muscles, which would mean you couldn't use the limb again without some major physical therapy. I'm glad this book pointed out such a thing to me because it made me extra, extra careful about not breaking bones.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I can dimly remember a time when I thought practical jokes were funny, but for years I have been adamantly against them. I wonder if reading this book changed my mind because I hated all the so-called jokes described here, even the ones that didn't seem too harmless like Dawn's fainting act, or Kristy's disappearing ink pen.
Claudia's parents are disappointed in her B-minus on a math quiz, which made me think that the reason Claudia doesn't try harder to be good in school is because she knows that no matter what she does, it will never be good enough for her tiger parents and their high expectations. I would have been THRILLED with a B-minus in math when I was thirteen. I never once made a math grade that was higher than a C after fifth grade.
Betsy Sobak is totally an oops baby. Her sister is 23, and has a child of her own. Betsy's parents don't pay any attention to her, let her run wild and drive away all her baby sitters. Even when she maims the teenage girl put in charge of her they barely notice. Betsy is going to have some issues when she realizes her parents really, really didn't want another child so late in life. In fact, that's probably why she plays these dangerous, mean jokes, because she knows something is wrong with the way her parents treat her, and she is desperate to get their attention. She is also sneaky in a way that most eight year olds aren't, and she does things that aren't exactly practical jokes, like pretending that someone was at the door, and then hiding from her baby sitter, then jumping out to scare her. To me that's not really a "joke", it's a cry for help. To pretend that someone showed up and rang the doorbell, then to disappear and listen to your sitter search the whole house for you and start to panic, and then frighten her is the work of a sociopath. I hope to god she and Sean Addison don't hook up in high school, or things could get scary for the happy town of Stoneybrook.
Claudia is pissed when she breaks her leg because of Betsy's jokes, and I don't blame her. I can't believe her parents didn't sue the Sobaks, or at the very least call them and yell at them. There is no mention at all of how the adults handled this situation, or if Cookie Sobak even acknowledges her daughter's role in it. If my daughter got her leg broken so badly that she had to stay in the hospital for a week (racking up quite a bill I would imagine) and she had to miss school for a few weeks (especially if I thought she made bad grades) I would not just let it go. At the very least I wouldn't allow my daughter to baby sit for Betsy again. I'm surprised that the BSC continues to sit for her, even if they do want to get back at her for what she did to Claudia. There's really no hesitation when they decide to sit for her again -- they just jump right in. When Becky continues her pranks on them even when the explicitly tell her not to I am pretty concerned for her. She desperately needs mental help, or possibly a psychiatric ward.
Claudia's homeroom calls her while she at home recovering. Her teacher puts the call on speakerphone, and aims the receiver of the phone at the class so they can shout "Hi" and "Good-bye" at Claudia. Kristy and Mary Anne planned the whole thing, and were hoping Claudia would come home on a school day so they could surprise her. In this day and age this is the saddest, most pathetic thing ever, but Claudia is living in 1988 and she is thrilled. I know this scene was written to show how popular and "with it" Claudia is, but it makes her sound so dorky.
Claudia mentions very briefly that she has thoughts of becoming a clothing designer, which from what I recall, is the only time she expresses something like this in the entire series. I think it's the perfect career choice for her, and I wish the series had focused more on it, even though Claudia's heart is clearly in mediums of art like sculpting and painting. Still. . . with her love of "wild" clothes, and her interesting outfit combos, I think fashion design would be an amazing career choice. If Claudia ever grows up I like to envision her and Janine starting an online clothing company like Modcloth but way better, and making millions of dollars to the delight (maybe) of their parents. To this day I feel like the spirit of Claudia whispers in my ear when I buy clothes, or (most especially) when I choose my clothes in the morning. (Try not to wear the same outfit twice, black and white is fine but don't be afraid of colors, if you wear it with confidence you will pull it off, etc.) I think Claudia, a fictional character, has had more influence on my fashion choices than any real life designer.
I thought it was funny that in this book Kristy makes notes in the BSC notebook where the members write up their jobs. They look to be about reimbursing club members for business expenses with money from the club treasury, which is so fiscally responsible and adorable. I know that most of the events the BSC is involved with are paid for with the treasury funds, but you don't hear much about unexpected club expenses. Kristy noting it in the notebook, and making Dawn keep a record of it seems a bit much for middle school girls running a lowly baby sitting club, but is a sign of great things to come from future CEO Kristy Thomas.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
The book begins when the library shows films of people getting hit in the face with a pie. Even as a kid this sounded incredibly stupid, and a terrible waste of time.
Claudia getting her friends to sneak in junk food to her hospital room, and sharing her flowers with her cranky roommate, which is something I never would have done. In this book Claudia is a way better person than I am.
The baby sitters going to war with Betsy Sobak even though they don't tell her about it. I also remember that Betsy makes someone a sundae with shaving cream, which to me was more mean spirited and horrible than even Claudia's broken leg. (The broken leg was an accident, but the shaving cream sundae was intentional.)
Claudia getting her cast cut off her leg. She dreads having the saw so close to her (which I could relate to) and she can't believe that she can't just jump up and start using her leg once the cast is off. It hadn't occurred to me until I read this book that keeping your limb in a cast would mean you weren't using the muscles, which would mean you couldn't use the limb again without some major physical therapy. I'm glad this book pointed out such a thing to me because it made me extra, extra careful about not breaking bones.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
I can dimly remember a time when I thought practical jokes were funny, but for years I have been adamantly against them. I wonder if reading this book changed my mind because I hated all the so-called jokes described here, even the ones that didn't seem too harmless like Dawn's fainting act, or Kristy's disappearing ink pen.
Claudia's parents are disappointed in her B-minus on a math quiz, which made me think that the reason Claudia doesn't try harder to be good in school is because she knows that no matter what she does, it will never be good enough for her tiger parents and their high expectations. I would have been THRILLED with a B-minus in math when I was thirteen. I never once made a math grade that was higher than a C after fifth grade.
Betsy Sobak is totally an oops baby. Her sister is 23, and has a child of her own. Betsy's parents don't pay any attention to her, let her run wild and drive away all her baby sitters. Even when she maims the teenage girl put in charge of her they barely notice. Betsy is going to have some issues when she realizes her parents really, really didn't want another child so late in life. In fact, that's probably why she plays these dangerous, mean jokes, because she knows something is wrong with the way her parents treat her, and she is desperate to get their attention. She is also sneaky in a way that most eight year olds aren't, and she does things that aren't exactly practical jokes, like pretending that someone was at the door, and then hiding from her baby sitter, then jumping out to scare her. To me that's not really a "joke", it's a cry for help. To pretend that someone showed up and rang the doorbell, then to disappear and listen to your sitter search the whole house for you and start to panic, and then frighten her is the work of a sociopath. I hope to god she and Sean Addison don't hook up in high school, or things could get scary for the happy town of Stoneybrook.
Claudia is pissed when she breaks her leg because of Betsy's jokes, and I don't blame her. I can't believe her parents didn't sue the Sobaks, or at the very least call them and yell at them. There is no mention at all of how the adults handled this situation, or if Cookie Sobak even acknowledges her daughter's role in it. If my daughter got her leg broken so badly that she had to stay in the hospital for a week (racking up quite a bill I would imagine) and she had to miss school for a few weeks (especially if I thought she made bad grades) I would not just let it go. At the very least I wouldn't allow my daughter to baby sit for Betsy again. I'm surprised that the BSC continues to sit for her, even if they do want to get back at her for what she did to Claudia. There's really no hesitation when they decide to sit for her again -- they just jump right in. When Becky continues her pranks on them even when the explicitly tell her not to I am pretty concerned for her. She desperately needs mental help, or possibly a psychiatric ward.
Claudia's homeroom calls her while she at home recovering. Her teacher puts the call on speakerphone, and aims the receiver of the phone at the class so they can shout "Hi" and "Good-bye" at Claudia. Kristy and Mary Anne planned the whole thing, and were hoping Claudia would come home on a school day so they could surprise her. In this day and age this is the saddest, most pathetic thing ever, but Claudia is living in 1988 and she is thrilled. I know this scene was written to show how popular and "with it" Claudia is, but it makes her sound so dorky.
Claudia mentions very briefly that she has thoughts of becoming a clothing designer, which from what I recall, is the only time she expresses something like this in the entire series. I think it's the perfect career choice for her, and I wish the series had focused more on it, even though Claudia's heart is clearly in mediums of art like sculpting and painting. Still. . . with her love of "wild" clothes, and her interesting outfit combos, I think fashion design would be an amazing career choice. If Claudia ever grows up I like to envision her and Janine starting an online clothing company like Modcloth but way better, and making millions of dollars to the delight (maybe) of their parents. To this day I feel like the spirit of Claudia whispers in my ear when I buy clothes, or (most especially) when I choose my clothes in the morning. (Try not to wear the same outfit twice, black and white is fine but don't be afraid of colors, if you wear it with confidence you will pull it off, etc.) I think Claudia, a fictional character, has had more influence on my fashion choices than any real life designer.
I thought it was funny that in this book Kristy makes notes in the BSC notebook where the members write up their jobs. They look to be about reimbursing club members for business expenses with money from the club treasury, which is so fiscally responsible and adorable. I know that most of the events the BSC is involved with are paid for with the treasury funds, but you don't hear much about unexpected club expenses. Kristy noting it in the notebook, and making Dawn keep a record of it seems a bit much for middle school girls running a lowly baby sitting club, but is a sign of great things to come from future CEO Kristy Thomas.
June 23, 2024
I used to read this over and over as a kid, hyper-fixating on the dreadful idea of breaking a leg. Now I'm 34 and have just recently broken my ankle after tripping on a rug; all I could think about was "I must re-read that book when Claudia broke her leg" I guess for some sort of full-circle closure for myself.
I used to think I was so grown up reading the BSC books! It's been at least 20+ years since I last picked one up. I don't know how fair it is for me to give it a starred review now. I think the high point of these books is the friendships - in particular I felt like Dawn was especially kind to Claud, reassuring her all through the ambulance ride and in the hospital; telling her that it's okay to cry but that everything would be okay. I think Dawn was my favorite of the group anyway, although I must have blocked out the reason why she ate healthy food was so she didn't get pimples lol
I always despised the practical jokes in this book, and I wish the pranking hadn't gone on so long; not to mention that the Club shouldn't have been retaliating anyway. I cringed through all that, especially with Kristy. I seem to remember at least a few BSC books where the girls have hard conversations with the parents about issues needing to be dealt with their kids, and I would have preferred to see that here.
But the main reason I picked this up was because of the broken leg - and I was surprised that Claudia didn't feel pain initially! Lord, I think I lay in the floor crying for at least ten minutes before I could get hold of a phone to call somebody, and nearly passed out before I could finish dialing. I didn't have to spend a week in the hospital at least. At first the book was making it sound like Claudia was only going to be in a cast at home for a week or two, but in the end it was around three months. I've currently got six weeks in a cast left myself, and I can relate to Claudia's boredom! She certainly "hobbled" around on her crutches a lot more often than I feel able to, but then again, she's 13 and I am not.
I used to think I was so grown up reading the BSC books! It's been at least 20+ years since I last picked one up. I don't know how fair it is for me to give it a starred review now. I think the high point of these books is the friendships - in particular I felt like Dawn was especially kind to Claud, reassuring her all through the ambulance ride and in the hospital; telling her that it's okay to cry but that everything would be okay. I think Dawn was my favorite of the group anyway, although I must have blocked out the reason why she ate healthy food was so she didn't get pimples lol
I always despised the practical jokes in this book, and I wish the pranking hadn't gone on so long; not to mention that the Club shouldn't have been retaliating anyway. I cringed through all that, especially with Kristy. I seem to remember at least a few BSC books where the girls have hard conversations with the parents about issues needing to be dealt with their kids, and I would have preferred to see that here.
But the main reason I picked this up was because of the broken leg - and I was surprised that Claudia didn't feel pain initially! Lord, I think I lay in the floor crying for at least ten minutes before I could get hold of a phone to call somebody, and nearly passed out before I could finish dialing. I didn't have to spend a week in the hospital at least. At first the book was making it sound like Claudia was only going to be in a cast at home for a week or two, but in the end it was around three months. I've currently got six weeks in a cast left myself, and I can relate to Claudia's boredom! She certainly "hobbled" around on her crutches a lot more often than I feel able to, but then again, she's 13 and I am not.
February 14, 2022
Claudia and the Bad Joke is the 19th book in the Baby-sitters Club series. It's about how a kid they're babysitting for (Betsy) plays practical jokes, and then it goes wrong and Claudia breaks her leg.
Claudia worries that she might break her arm the next time she babysits, and then she wouldn't be able to draw or paint, which she loves, so she thinks about dropping out of the club.
Claudia says to Betsy: "You know, if YOU didn't play so many tricks, you wouldn't have to worry about other people wanting to trick you back. Wouldn't that be nice?"
I like this book because it has some funny parts, and it's about girls around my age.
Claudia worries that she might break her arm the next time she babysits, and then she wouldn't be able to draw or paint, which she loves, so she thinks about dropping out of the club.
Claudia says to Betsy: "You know, if YOU didn't play so many tricks, you wouldn't have to worry about other people wanting to trick you back. Wouldn't that be nice?"
I like this book because it has some funny parts, and it's about girls around my age.
June 29, 2022
Not my favorite. Too much focus on the little jerk kid. I prefer when they all have different jobs.
January 17, 2024
Claudia and the bad joke is funny because in the book, this is one character Claudia babysitters for a prankster. Betsy's jokes aren't too harmless until Claudia suggests they go outside and have a swinging contest on her swinging set. Betsy knows that the swinging that Claudia is getting on is broken, but she doesn't tell her. So when Claudia started to swing, the chain broke, and when she falls on the concrete, she broke her leg and ended up in the hospital. Claudia had to walk with a cast of a week or more, so she was thinking of quitting so her friends let her have a break from babysitting, and her friends gave her a week to decide (no pressure) A few of her friends took up jobs for babysitting Betsy but when her mom calls them Claudia was surprised that she called. Claudia said SERIOUSLY?! HER DAUGHTER NEARLY KILLED ME AND SHE HAD THE NERVE TO CALL US AGAIN?" And her friend Dawn sayed,"she didn't nearly kill you." By the end, Claudia's leg is healed, but she still needs to use cuches and go for physical therapy to get straight back on the leg she broke, and Betsy leanings that may be funny for her may not be as funny for other people.
May 2, 2022
Ahh this was a fun one. 😂 And another one I don’t remember reading as a kid. I probably would’ve loved it then though. Practical jokes really appealed to me at that age, although I never got as into it as the kid in this book did. 🤣 My favorite part was Mary Anne sneaking her kitten into the hospital to cheer Claudia up. 🐈
April 10, 2020
Not one of their best, I'll say. This one is all about a new trend coming to Stoneybrook - practical jokes.
It's not something I'm really crazy about and that was the sole theme of the book so it didn't hold my interest.
It's not something I'm really crazy about and that was the sole theme of the book so it didn't hold my interest.
October 18, 2025
I liked this much better as a book than the graphic novel. I liked seeing the childish ways the babysitters react to the prankster kid, and Claudia’s real fear after her accident.
February 8, 2023
Read via audio (narrated by Ali Ahn).
February 24, 2023
Before I get to my actual review, a quick disclaimer: Ever since I learned that Netflix was reimagining one of my favorite childhood book series, I had decided that I would be embarking on a re-read of this series, reliving a series of books that helped to shape me into a voracious reader. I am so excited to embark on this travel back in time. I don't expect to be mentally stimulated -- I mean, I'm not exactly a pre-teen middle-schooler these days -- but I make no apology for choosing to enjoy this series from the perspective of adulthood. Don't expect me to have any sort of psychoanalyst or feminist sermonizing on the appropriateness of the situations or the effects on a young girl reading these books; there's plenty of that to go around already. I'm here for the nostalgia and the meander down memory lane.
*************
What I liked about Claudia and the Bad Joke:
The message on pranks - My heart is too soft for prank-pulling, and even as a child, this book sat the wrong way with me. Pranks upon pranks, and they lead to hurt feelings or worse. Don't mistake this for a lack of a sense of humor, because that I have, but pranks feel mean-spirited to me and therefore I don't find them funny.
Claudia and Mimi - Every scene we get with them warms my heart, the love, the compassion, the understanding.
What I didn't care for:
The prank war - I understand why they did, but the sitters matching Betsy prank for prank still bothered me. I was over the description of pranks by about page 30. And it seemed never to end.
What left me conflicted:
Oh, Claudia - I understood her concern and her rampant thoughts, but wow is she dramatic about these things. Is it her adolescent immaturity? Or just her nature as an artist? I couldn't say. But it sure seems where there is drama, somehow Claudia is involved with her art and threatening to quit the Club. Drama is not my thing.
I wasn't far off with my original rating of 3 stars, based entirely on my distaste for pranks. I did decide to give it another half star mainly because I appreciated the message that pranks can hurt people in lots of ways you don't anticipate. This was a fast read, though, that I wasn't sorry to close.
*************
What I liked about Claudia and the Bad Joke:
The message on pranks - My heart is too soft for prank-pulling, and even as a child, this book sat the wrong way with me. Pranks upon pranks, and they lead to hurt feelings or worse. Don't mistake this for a lack of a sense of humor, because that I have, but pranks feel mean-spirited to me and therefore I don't find them funny.
Claudia and Mimi - Every scene we get with them warms my heart, the love, the compassion, the understanding.
What I didn't care for:
The prank war - I understand why they did, but the sitters matching Betsy prank for prank still bothered me. I was over the description of pranks by about page 30. And it seemed never to end.
What left me conflicted:
Oh, Claudia - I understood her concern and her rampant thoughts, but wow is she dramatic about these things. Is it her adolescent immaturity? Or just her nature as an artist? I couldn't say. But it sure seems where there is drama, somehow Claudia is involved with her art and threatening to quit the Club. Drama is not my thing.
I wasn't far off with my original rating of 3 stars, based entirely on my distaste for pranks. I did decide to give it another half star mainly because I appreciated the message that pranks can hurt people in lots of ways you don't anticipate. This was a fast read, though, that I wasn't sorry to close.
July 30, 2019
I broke my ankle in 2nd grade. We were sitting on the floor doing math problems (why, I have no idea) and my teacher told us to hurry up and get to our seats. In my haste, I jumped over a chair and tripped over someone's math book and bam broken ankle. I don't remember a whole lot after that, except rolling out to my mom's car on an office chair and then having to twist my ankle all around for the x-rays (why must they be so cruel?!). I had to hobble around on crutches for what felt like forever but was probably only about 6-8 weeks? After I got the cast off, I remember how weak and ucky my leg looked lol. And we had a family trip to DisneyWorld planned for almost exactly a month after I got my cast off, so I had to go out and walk around the neighborhood every night with my mom to get my strength up. The first day we were at Disney, my then 4 year old sister and I both had to be carried out lol.
All that to say that this BSC book really hits close to home for me! :) That Betsy Sobak is a little snot and she should have all her joke stuff taken away from her! I mean, come on. Yeah, she's cute and all...the door was opened by a friendly looking girl with brown hair, which had been pulled into two ponytails and tied with big blue ribbons. She was wearing a very snazzy pair of red pants that were held up by red suspenders. Under the suspenders was a blue-and-white-striped T-shirt. The legs of her pants ended in cuffs, and on her feet were running shoes tied with purple laces.
But she's a menace to society with those joy buzzers and shaving cream sundaes. I don't blame Claudia one bit for wanting to quit baby-sitting after this either; I never wanted to do math again after that hah! The BSC'ers really acted their age in this one, which was refreshing to see but also super frustrating. They're supposed to be Super Sitters; why would they stoop to the kid's level and play all these pranks on her? And Kristy letting her get "lost" at the movie theater? No. They should have gone to the parents, first thing. For shame Kristin Amanda Thomas, for shame.
Blogged: SeeJennRead
All that to say that this BSC book really hits close to home for me! :) That Betsy Sobak is a little snot and she should have all her joke stuff taken away from her! I mean, come on. Yeah, she's cute and all...the door was opened by a friendly looking girl with brown hair, which had been pulled into two ponytails and tied with big blue ribbons. She was wearing a very snazzy pair of red pants that were held up by red suspenders. Under the suspenders was a blue-and-white-striped T-shirt. The legs of her pants ended in cuffs, and on her feet were running shoes tied with purple laces.
But she's a menace to society with those joy buzzers and shaving cream sundaes. I don't blame Claudia one bit for wanting to quit baby-sitting after this either; I never wanted to do math again after that hah! The BSC'ers really acted their age in this one, which was refreshing to see but also super frustrating. They're supposed to be Super Sitters; why would they stoop to the kid's level and play all these pranks on her? And Kristy letting her get "lost" at the movie theater? No. They should have gone to the parents, first thing. For shame Kristin Amanda Thomas, for shame.
Blogged: SeeJennRead
June 25, 2016
Posted originally on my blog:
The Writer's Inkwell
For a Baby-Sitters Club book, this book kind of feels like it's all over the place. Especially since the majority of Claudia's story is her whining about how dangerous baby sitting is. Claudia's whining aside, the rest of the club is determined to do everything they can to teach Betsy Sobak a lesson. Now, I'm all for trying to teach a little girl that playing jokes on people all the time is wrong. But these girls declare war on this little girl and all in the name of Claudia.
While I appreciate the girl's dedication to their friend who was injured because of one of Betsy's pranks, their idea is immature at least. Why didn't anyone just tell Betsy's mother the truth? Not once do any of them attempt to approach the parents. Instead they just assume her mother will just turn a blind on, so they embark on a joke war. But what's sad is, these girls have nothing on this little girl and she basically shames three of them before Kristy finally manages to out prank Betsy. Which by itself was merely a situation of circumstance, as Betsy was not at home and embarrassed in front of her peers.
But are the girls embarrassed by their childish behavior? Nope. Not one single one of them feels ashamed to gang up on a little girl. It really leaves you with an icky feeling because these girls are supposed to be role models and so far, I've found at least a dozen examples of why they shouldn't ever be trusted to watch someone's children. While I appreciate the idea behind the plot, I felt there could have been a better way to handle the Betsy Sobak situation... perhaps using Stacey's reverse psychology?
The Writer's Inkwell
For a Baby-Sitters Club book, this book kind of feels like it's all over the place. Especially since the majority of Claudia's story is her whining about how dangerous baby sitting is. Claudia's whining aside, the rest of the club is determined to do everything they can to teach Betsy Sobak a lesson. Now, I'm all for trying to teach a little girl that playing jokes on people all the time is wrong. But these girls declare war on this little girl and all in the name of Claudia.
While I appreciate the girl's dedication to their friend who was injured because of one of Betsy's pranks, their idea is immature at least. Why didn't anyone just tell Betsy's mother the truth? Not once do any of them attempt to approach the parents. Instead they just assume her mother will just turn a blind on, so they embark on a joke war. But what's sad is, these girls have nothing on this little girl and she basically shames three of them before Kristy finally manages to out prank Betsy. Which by itself was merely a situation of circumstance, as Betsy was not at home and embarrassed in front of her peers.
But are the girls embarrassed by their childish behavior? Nope. Not one single one of them feels ashamed to gang up on a little girl. It really leaves you with an icky feeling because these girls are supposed to be role models and so far, I've found at least a dozen examples of why they shouldn't ever be trusted to watch someone's children. While I appreciate the idea behind the plot, I felt there could have been a better way to handle the Betsy Sobak situation... perhaps using Stacey's reverse psychology?
August 31, 2016
Claudia has a new sitting charge who's really into practical jokes, but when one of them goes awry, Claudia ends up in the hospital with a broken leg. The unrepentant child, Besty, continues to play pranks on the rest of the sitters. How can they turn the tables? And will Claudia ever babysit again, now that she's worried it could endanger her ability to make art in the future?
First off, I gave this a low rating because I don't believe Betsy. She "learns" not to do nasty, dangerous pranks to people only after she gets pranked by her own sitters, but somehow she didn't learn that lesson when she put someone in the hospital. I don't believe a child with that nonexistent of a conscience would learn not to prank others just because she got pranked, and I definitely don't believe Betsy's parents would subject other sitters to their terror child after what happened to Claudia. I also thought Claudia's conundrum over whether she was putting her future as an artist in danger because of babysitting was unfounded. Claudia, you could crush your precious artist hands riding in a car or on a bus. Getting them slammed in a locker at school. Falling off a bench. Burning them in the kitchen. Living life in general. What's special about babysitting that you think it puts you in danger? I mean, having a PTSD-like response to sitting for one kid might make sense, but quitting the club because babysitting is now dangerous is pretty questionable. WILL CLAUDIA LEAVE THE CLUB FOREVER??? stops being an interesting question when she grapples with it throughout the series and always decides to keep sitting.
First off, I gave this a low rating because I don't believe Betsy. She "learns" not to do nasty, dangerous pranks to people only after she gets pranked by her own sitters, but somehow she didn't learn that lesson when she put someone in the hospital. I don't believe a child with that nonexistent of a conscience would learn not to prank others just because she got pranked, and I definitely don't believe Betsy's parents would subject other sitters to their terror child after what happened to Claudia. I also thought Claudia's conundrum over whether she was putting her future as an artist in danger because of babysitting was unfounded. Claudia, you could crush your precious artist hands riding in a car or on a bus. Getting them slammed in a locker at school. Falling off a bench. Burning them in the kitchen. Living life in general. What's special about babysitting that you think it puts you in danger? I mean, having a PTSD-like response to sitting for one kid might make sense, but quitting the club because babysitting is now dangerous is pretty questionable. WILL CLAUDIA LEAVE THE CLUB FOREVER??? stops being an interesting question when she grapples with it throughout the series and always decides to keep sitting.
October 23, 2021
Just seeing Claudia in traction on the cover had me rubbing my hands together gleefully thinking about how hilariously a bone healing was going to warp the timeline, but that joy was quickly canceled out.
Oh my god I am so sick of reading a recap of each babysitter's backstory, Kristy's Silicon Valley founder origin story, how the club works, how professionally it's run and that they have to write in the goddamn notebook even though they all hate it, what happened to Stacey, Shannon and Logan's origin stories, how Mary Anne had to rush someone to the hospital and the goddamn breakdown of every single club position and the KID KIT!! Seriously, it was 918 words of information we already know. I'm going to start redacting the book and seeing how much of it is just unnecessary recap for a serial. Do we really need to know, in a Claudia book, that Kristy's dog Shannon was named after Shannon Kilbourne? No, we don't.
The events of this book were kind of shocking. Claudia's injury is not taken seriously by anyone but Claudia, whose trauma is portrayed as maudlin, when it's actually very legitimate. The fact that the BSC accepted another job babysitting for Betsy, who is clearly a budding serial killer, is unconscionable. Mary Anne's dad is a lawyer! They should have retained Mr. Spier to sue the shit out of this family for Claudia's pain and suffering, the cost of her treatment and rehab, lost income to the club for being out an older sitter for two months, and threatening the future of the club, because how are they going to meet without Claudia? Do these parents even contact Claudia and apologize for their little demon child's actions?
Oh my god I am so sick of reading a recap of each babysitter's backstory, Kristy's Silicon Valley founder origin story, how the club works, how professionally it's run and that they have to write in the goddamn notebook even though they all hate it, what happened to Stacey, Shannon and Logan's origin stories, how Mary Anne had to rush someone to the hospital and the goddamn breakdown of every single club position and the KID KIT!! Seriously, it was 918 words of information we already know. I'm going to start redacting the book and seeing how much of it is just unnecessary recap for a serial. Do we really need to know, in a Claudia book, that Kristy's dog Shannon was named after Shannon Kilbourne? No, we don't.
The events of this book were kind of shocking. Claudia's injury is not taken seriously by anyone but Claudia, whose trauma is portrayed as maudlin, when it's actually very legitimate. The fact that the BSC accepted another job babysitting for Betsy, who is clearly a budding serial killer, is unconscionable. Mary Anne's dad is a lawyer! They should have retained Mr. Spier to sue the shit out of this family for Claudia's pain and suffering, the cost of her treatment and rehab, lost income to the club for being out an older sitter for two months, and threatening the future of the club, because how are they going to meet without Claudia? Do these parents even contact Claudia and apologize for their little demon child's actions?
September 1, 2016
This was one of my least favorite BSC books. (Disclaimer, of course: this is another one that I'm reading for the first time, as an adult. Perhaps my review would be different if I'd read it as a kid.)
The baby-sitters get a new client, who's a total prankster. But, as you can guess by the title, one of her jokes goes awry and Claudia gets hurt. Blah, blah, blah, all the other baby-sitters have to deal with her jokes, blah blah blah. She's a well-meaning brat, blah, blah, blah. She finally learns her lesson.
Meh. The way she learns her lesson ... Man, I wish someone would have shut her up sooner.
It's a fine, quick read for adults, and probably a good book for its intended audience. I mean, it's a Baby-Sitters Club book. They're so bubblegummy and formulaic it's hard to have a *bad* one.
The baby-sitters get a new client, who's a total prankster. But, as you can guess by the title, one of her jokes goes awry and Claudia gets hurt. Blah, blah, blah, all the other baby-sitters have to deal with her jokes, blah blah blah. She's a well-meaning brat, blah, blah, blah. She finally learns her lesson.
Meh. The way she learns her lesson ... Man, I wish someone would have shut her up sooner.
It's a fine, quick read for adults, and probably a good book for its intended audience. I mean, it's a Baby-Sitters Club book. They're so bubblegummy and formulaic it's hard to have a *bad* one.
July 28, 2013
I've always wanted to read this book because the cover always made me wonder what could have happened to Claudia that was so bad. The title also seemed one of the more interesting ones out the Babysitters Club books.
After reading it though there are many things I did not like. Betsy, the little girl Claudia babysat for, was really rotten and a promise mean nothing to her no matter how childish that sounds. Here parents never cared about Claudia's injury and didnt feel bad about rehiring the babysitters. We never found out if Betsy did atop jokes for good or not.
I don't usually complain about these books because they're supposed to be humorous and this one sort of was but it just lacked what mostofthe series had.
After reading it though there are many things I did not like. Betsy, the little girl Claudia babysat for, was really rotten and a promise mean nothing to her no matter how childish that sounds. Here parents never cared about Claudia's injury and didnt feel bad about rehiring the babysitters. We never found out if Betsy did atop jokes for good or not.
I don't usually complain about these books because they're supposed to be humorous and this one sort of was but it just lacked what mostofthe series had.
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