Karen's Cartwheel

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #29

by Ann M. Martin

Eager to make her school's special gymnastics team, for only the very best gymnasts, Karen practices to perfect the one thing she cannot do--a cartwheel.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Sports

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though she struggled with turning cartwheels, Karen was shocked and devastated when she was not selected for the invitational gymnastics team. As she modestly stated, "I am usually the best at anything I try." I knew she was saying that to brag, but it also sounded like she may be afraid of taking risks and of trying new things if she cannot guarantee immediate success.

Mrs. Porter (of all people) gave Karen a sweet pep talk and helped her see she could do gymnastics simply because she enjoyed it. I was surprised about how much Mrs. Porter knew about Karen's life since Karen tended to avoid her. I liked the lesson here. I hope Karen continued to pursue gymnastics and other hobbies/interests simply because they're fun.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen learns a valuable lesson about how she can't always be the best at everything she does. I like how when she watches the invitational team perform, she realizes that she really wasn't ready for team after all.

I like that we see Mrs Porter (nee Morbidda Destiny) be all grandmotherly to Karen. Even though Karen refuses to accept that she's not a witch.

And I like that Karen, Nancy, and Hannie all did odd jobs to earn money to buy a trio of dolls (one for each of them) that they'll pretend are sisters. The only thing I didn't like was that they ended up picking dolls that looked identical, when I preferred their earlier plan of each getting a doll sister that looked like them (blond hair, red hair, and black hair).

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book because for some reason the plot about the Doll Sisters has really stuck with me, especially when they're buying them and Karen's dad is all confused because they're called "Terry Dolls", not "The Doll Sisters" lol. I completely forgot the main story about the invitational gymnastics class, and Karen's desperation to get into it. I gotta say, I love books where things don't always work out for the main character.

[Mike Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!❤️

i liked how karen realized that she was not very good at gymnastics.I disliked the fact that karen and her friends fight a lot. But i get it because that is just the way life is. I also like the book 📚 because i LOVE ❤️ gymnastics. overall this is a great book 👍

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen is such a pest in this book. She can’t do a cartwheel though she was trying, and felt disappointed she didn’t get chosen for finals at her gymnastics class. The focus wasn’t really on this cartwheel though. It was more about the three musketeers raising money to buy 3 identical dolls from a new toy store and make them doll sisters

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen's cartwheel was really good because when ever there was a problem there was a very good soultion witch we could all learn

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those rare times when I was on Karen's side. She should have gotten to keep the money she earned.

[Braydee Raden · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really good and it just didn’t just talk about one thing it talked about a lot of other things other then one😁😁😁

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those rare times when I was on Karen's side. She should have gotten to keep the money she earned.

[Ja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to borrow these Baby Sitters series books from the library when I was in grade school and this book is the only one I bought out of the idkowmanybooks I read so I got to read this book over and over.

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

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

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

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved these books as a child

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen becomes Creepy McStalker to try and force her gymnastics teacher into a spot on a local team when she can't do a simple cartwheel.

[Hannah S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't do cartwheel's either,so she's just like me.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14138264