Kristy's Big News

The Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever #1

by Ann M. Martin

It's a bridesmaid surprise!

Kristy's father left her family when she was little. Now, years later, he's called with some surprising news: He's getting married! Kristy and her brothers Sam and Charlie must head to California for the wedding--and to meet their new stepmom. Kristy doesn't know what to expect. It's been a long time since she's seen her father. And now she's supposed to be his bridesmaid!

What will Kristy do?

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Contemporary, Collections, Realistic Fiction

136 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

warning: i am really into the babysitters club books. i started reading the original series shortly after the first book was released, in the summer of 1986. i was seven then, a fairly typical target age for the series. but i am almost thirty now & have yet to give them up! my childhood was such a total suckfest that i like to go back to re-visit the babysitters club books every now & again to re-live some of the better parts of being a kid.

the "friends forever" series was long after my time. the original series ended with book #131, when mary anne's house burnt to the ground. by that point, in addition to the regular books, there were fifteen super special, over thirty mystery spin-offs, four super mysteries, a portrait collection, special edition books starring associate members, an entire enormous spin-off series about kristy's stepsister, karen, & even a spin-off from that series, focusing on karen's classmates. "friends forever" is a short series of twelve regular books & two specials bookending them, starring the original four members of the club: kristy, claudia (my fave as a kid--we even have the same birthday & [original--before i changed my name:] middle name), stacey, & mary anne. the "friends forever" books are somewhat similar to the "california diaries" series, another BSC spin-off starring california dawn & her dysfunctional buddies, in that it emphasizes the inter-personal difficulties & complications of early adolescence more than babysitting or the girls' bizarre over-involvement with neighborhood children. i had never read them before, considering them BSC Lite, but i scored the whole lot of them for like $4 off ebay, so i figured i'd give them a whirl.

dude! they are awesome! like crack. i never read the sweet valley high series (i was totally creeped out by ANYTHING that seemed remotely sexual when i was a kid, even prince, who i now love) but this series seems like it appropriates the drama of sweet valley high & cleans it up for a middle school (or 29-year-old anarcha-feminist?) audience. kristy's big news in this book is that her deadbeat biodad, patrick, calls from california to say he is getting re-married, & he wants kristy & her two older brothers to attend the wedding. he forgets about poor david michael, who was just a baby when patrick walked out, altogether. at first charlie, kristy's oldest brother, refuses to go. he is PISSED. but kristy talks him into it & the whole experience is really awkward. charlie is a grumpus the whole time, while sam, the middle brother, jokes around & tries to make everyone happy. patrick lavishes attention on kristy, & she is conflicted between anger at him for suddenly wanting to be a dad now that it's convenient for him, versus all those kid feelings of wanting to think your parents are okay people, despite all evidence to the contrary. DUDE, I SO RELATE! kristy really likes patrick's fiancee, zoey, & even thinks maybe zoey is too good for patrick. charlie & patrick finally have a big fight, all the kids stand in solidarity with each other, but then they decide you only get one dad & they might as well go to the damn wedding. so they do. but they still kind of think patrick sucks. i relate to everything they are feeling, & i think they make really mature choices (attending the wedding so as to not wreck it for patrick, even though he's a douche)--i just question whether teenagers would really be this mature. i know people ten or twenty years older that wouldn't be able to handle it.

i was surprisingly into this book, considering that kristy always bored the pants off me during the BSC days. but it was really interesting to see her relationship with sam & charlie fleshed out a little bit more, & to see them interact with patrick & react to the fact that he abandoned them as children. that is what i like about this series: it seems to answer some lingering questions & fill in some gaps from the regular BSC books. kristy always seemed to really have it together, despite having this big trauma in her past. even in her own books, she could be a bit of a caricature, just talking about sports & bossing everyone around all the time. she seemed more like a real 13-year-old kid (yes, the time warp is still in effect; supposedly this book takes place during the summer before 8th grade AGAIN!) going through some real turbulent emotions this time.

i can't believe i wrote so much about a BSC book. everyone will defriend me now.

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 4 out of 5]

in this actually interesting book that portrays complex emotions in response to nuanced situations by ghostwriter Nola Thacker, kristy’s deadbeat dad, patrick, is getting married and asks charlie, sam, and kristy to fly to california to be in the wedding. obviously he has a fourth kid, david michael, but it’s not really explained why he doesn’t invite him, and d.m. is really bummed about it (see highlights). charlie doesn’t want to go, but their mom says kristy and sam can only go if charlie does, so he reluctantly agrees. they get to patrick’s house, which is in sausalito, a place so fancy that it has its own pepperidge farm cookie AND it has macadamias in it, which are probably the most expensive nut:


even aside from being in famously expensive marin county, the house is huge and gorgeous and patrick’s car is an audi. which doesn’t really fit the picture of the guy who abandoned his family because he didn’t want to be tied down. they find out that patrick is the head chef at a restaurant owned by his bride-to-be, zoey. kristy ends up really liking zoey in spite of herself, because zoey is actually pretty cool. she puts patrick in his place when need be, and she really listens to kristy and is sympathetic to her role in this whole thing. she even listens to kristy explain the whole dad abandonment thing from her perspective, and she’s like, “it’s a shame your dad was a jerk back then, but he’s grown up and is a decent man now.” kristy is confused when she realizes she actually likes zoey more than she likes patrick. still, kristy and her brothers are literally the only members of patrick’s family who are going to be in the wedding. patrick then asks charlie and sam to be his best men, and sam agrees but charlie doesn’t. after charlie mopes around a lot for the whole book, finally he says something that pisses patrick off enough that he snaps at him. kristy has been trying to get charlie to be nicer to patrick, but still, in this moment she takes charlie’s side and yells back at patrick. sam is really mad at charlie, because though he is mad at patrick for abandoning their family, he still wants to have a relationship with his dad (which is reasonable) and charlie is ruining it. finally charlie gets it together enough to go to the rehearsal dinner and pretend to be okay, because he thinks patrick should have SOMEONE in his family on his team. and then charlie makes a toast at the wedding. and all is okay, I guess. though we never really find out if the thomas kids end up having a relationship with their dad after this, so who knows? maybe this was closure, not the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

highlights:
-david michael actually wants to go to the wedding and is really upset that he wasn’t invited. did patrick forget he existed? did he think it was okay to not even mention d.m. in his invite because he was a baby when he left? this is a nice touch, because it is so damn harsh and cruel and really makes you think patrick is a jerk.
-watson makes gnocchi from scratch. it’s a very charming moment
-charlie says he doesn't owe patrick anything, and he doesn't have anything to say to him. but he doesn't want kristy and sam to miss the opportunity. this book is full of nuanced human experiences, handled pretty well.
-patrick sends car keys in the mail along with the plane tickets and gives directions to find the car parked in the airport parking lot because he and zoey aren't able to pick them up. like, really? patrick is not gaining any sympathizers. I love how damn harsh this book is!
-charlie is not afraid to tell it like it is. patrick says "it's been so long," and charlie says, "whose fault is that?"
-the tuxedo shop is called the tuxedo cat and there's an actual tuxedo cat who lives in the store.
-the tuxes patrick and sam pick out are ugly yellow-orange ones with ruffled shirts, so I’m definitely picturing this:

-at the tuxedo cat kristy holds up a tuxedo to her body to admire herself in a three-way mirror and thinks that she'll try the look herself one day. I <3 my gay kristy.

lowlights/nitpicks:
-how can kristy define zoey's outfit as including a chemise and espadrilles? there is no chance kristy knows what either of those words mean.
-zoey says patrick is happy to have his kids around and charlie says "then why can't he tell us that himself?" and zoey says she doesn't know but that he should. but it seems like patrick can't win with charlie. like, I appreciate how real they get, but there’s a point where I am reminded that charlie is 17 and shouldn’t be acting like such a whiny baby.
-zoey offhand mentions that they are going to have kids one day, but she also says earlier that she's over 40. that seems weird to me, but okay...

outfits
claudia outfit:
-"...who was...wearing cutoff jeans over bicycle shorts, and suspenders she'd decorated with buttons. Beneath that, she was wearing a paint-splattered T-shirt, which she called her tribute to Jackson Pollock."

zoey outfit:
-"Zoey was wearing baggy khaki pants and a bright green crocheted vest over a yellow-and-blue striped cotton chemise. Heavy espadrilles with colorful ribbons were on her feet. Her only jewelry was a ring with a small, square-cut emerald that hung on a gold chain around her neck."

kristy outfit:
-"I was in cutoffs and a Cynthia Cooper WNBA shirt."

mary anne outfit:
-"Mary Anne was in khaki shorts and a faded polo shirt."

stacey outfit:
-"Stacey had opted for linen overall shorts and a ribbed sleeveless undershirt the exact color of her eyes.

no snacks in claudia’s room.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So apparently I'm experiencing a bit of a Baby-Sitters Club redux right now. This is the first book in the "Friends Forever" series, which came out right after the original series ended with Mary Anne's house burning down. This series is a bit different as it focuses on the four original characters. Also, the new series doesn't really focus on baby-sitting. In fact, in this book there is no mention of anyone ever even having a baby-sitting job. There are two mentions of a BSC meeting, but they barely talk about the actual baby-sitting and it seems like the meetings are mostly just there for the social aspect. Kristy even mentions that the BSC "doesn't meet as often as they used to." Weird. I guess this was something that was covered in "Everything Changes," the first super special of the series, which I haven't been able to get my hands on yet.

Anyway, the premise of this book is that Kristy's deadbeat father is getting re-married, and he wants Kristy and her older brothers Charlie and Sam to come to his wedding in California. He doesn't invite David Michael, her younger brother, for some inexplicable reason. People keep saying it's because he's too young, but I'm not buying it. Anyway, after much fighting and arguing and pouting, all three of them end up flying out to California to spend a week with their dad and his fiancee before the wedding.

I actually felt like this book covered a pretty sensitive issue, and I thought it was handled well. Certainly having your father abandon you when you are young is traumatic enough, but then to have him suddenly reappear and want to be part of your life years later would be extremely difficult. Especially as a teenager, as Charlie so eloquently demonstrates. I thought the writer did a nice job of portraying Kristy's conflicting emotions about her father and the whole event.

Anyway, a good, quick read. I read the entire book in one sitting. Just like old times. :)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Friends Forever spin-off starts off with quite a bang with this book! Kristy's deadbeat dad Patrick is getting married, and invites Kristy, Sam and Charlie to the wedding. Kristy's relationship (or lack thereof) with Patrick has always been heartbreakingly fascinating to me, probably stemming from my childhood love of the BSC movie where that part of the plot is the most interesting.

This book is surprisingly deep for a BSC book, and I loved that Sam and Charlie's characters were fleshed out so well here. (In particular, we realize that Sam's constant joking in serious situations probably comes from Patrick). To this day, I still want to know why Patrick left out David Michael from the invites. It's clear that Patrick has no relationship to look back on with DM as he was just a baby when Patrick split, but he doesn't even acknowledge that DM exists. Kristy and company say things about him, and Patrick doesn't even respond. The whole thing is just really bizarre.

[Michaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just felt weird and unnatural to me. I’m not quite sure why.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One good thing about rereading old childhood favourites is I discover new spin offs from beloved originals some are weird and don't feel right like California Diaries, and others like this are a bit better. I guess it's supposed to take place a bit further in the future from the original series, the girls are 13, they still have club meetings only not as often. Unlike Dawn's spin-off this one wasn't trying to show edgy moody teenagers, but seems to be staying fairly close to their usual form. One day at dinner a telephone call shakes up the Thomas/Brewer household. Kristy's deadbeat dad is getting remarried (could've sworn the original series had him remarried already from book one but whatever) and he wants his three older children to come to California for the wedding. This leads to a few tense moments, Charlie is furious and refuses to go, poor David Michael wonders why his dad didn't ask him (which was both heartbreaking and rage inducing. Way to be an even worse dad than you already are). Finally their mom steps in and says if Charlie won't go, none of them will. Charlie relents and it's off to California. There they discover their father is quite well off living in a big beautiful house with a waterfall in the garden. He is a chef ow, no longer a sports writer and his bride to be Zoey owns a restaurant. Despite some feelings of guilt Kristy immediately likes Zoey. Sam enjoys spending time with his dad and Charlie tries to control the rage bubbling just under the surface. They go along on some adventures from picking out wedding outfits to trying to arrange seating for Zoey's family including her much married father. But eventually the polite calm is shattered and everything blows up the day before the wedding. It was a good start to the series. It felt like a slightly grown up version of BSC only without trying hard to be edgy, we'll see what the next books are like. It appears to have been updated from the 80's at least which is sort of weird when you consider this is only about a year from the original BSC books. Princess Diana's death is mentioned as is the WNBA which wasn't around back then. I liked that it focused more on one character and we really got to know Kristy and her brothers a bit better, instead of just snippets here and there and I can't wait to see how the rest of the series plays out.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good and emotional book about how Kristy and her two older brothers deal with their estranged father Patrick suddenly calling them out of the blue to invite them to his wedding. Their dad's a jerk (like did he legit forget David Michael), and I like the clear-eyed way Kristy observes his fiancee Zoey, who seems an awesome woman overall, entering into the relationship with both eyes wide open. So even though Kristy and her brothers aren't completely sure what Zoey sees in their father, they respect her enough to trust she's making the right decision for herself. And I like how Kristy notices that Zoey kinda has Patrick's number and gets away with calling him out on stuff (whereas he gets pissed off when Charlie tries calling him out), and also how Kristy reflects that maybe Zoey being so serious also makes her kinda attracted to Patrick's child(ish)-like approach to life. LOL I'm clearly not a fan of Patrick and I think Zoey could do better (you're 40, Zoey, my friend, you know better!), but I like that the book gives a nuanced portrayal of this story.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author in this one really wrestled with the complexity of emotions in seeing a parent who walked out of their lives when they were little, for better or worse. As a reader, I liked that it left you a bit unsettled. Also as a reader, though, I find myself wondering a lot more about the "why." And though I understand Life doesn't always give us satisfying explanations, and maybe that was the point, I would have at least liked some sort of rationale behind everything that happened. How can a father just invite his kids back into his family without any acknowledgement of what he did, like no time had passed? ("I had to" walk out and "you didn't keep in touch with *me*" don't really seem like much. Did Patrick not come up with some sort of rationalization over the years for what he did? Does he feel bad about it? We never know because he isn't developed enough.) And can't the writer throw us a bone about why David Michael wasn't invited from the guy who didn't invite him? Every time they got close to having any sort of talk, the writer seemed to pull back, which was frustrating.This book is written for tweens, assumedly, so you would think there would be a little "more," so to speak, since kids have a little more trouble with uncertainty. It all just felt like the author was avoiding the issue because she didn't feel like doing the hard work of inventing a back story.

I did appreciate all the baseball talk - though I can't see why anyone would want to walk down the aisle to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only is this book actually great (it's layered, dealing with a lot of complicated emotions - plus it's nice to see more of Charlie and Sam) but I actually enjoyed that the story didn't get interrupted by silly baby-sitting chapters. I missed the other girls, they're pretty much only mentioned in passing, but keeping the flow of the story and the emotion made it seem that much more impactful. I also liked that this book didn't try to make Patrick into some kind of a saint now. He still sucks. He didn't pick up his kids from the airport, he sulked because his ugly tux choice got vetoed, he had a temper; and I liked that Kristy liked his new wife more than him. It was an interesting story, and it's too bad that it's a book that a lot of people probably missed out on.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never read all of these, as I was getting a little too old for the series by the time they started. I did read one or two, but then life happened and here I am, reading most of them for the first time as a 33 year old woman! Yeah! ADULTING!

Anyway, I do like what I have read of these. They're a bit more mature than the regular series, but not quite as mature as the California Diaries. This one dealt with Kristy's father, Patrick, remarrying and wanting to actually see his children. I really especially enjoyed Charlie in this one, and the story overall wasn't bad.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it's because I read so many BSC books in a row, but I loved this book so much. I feel like the structure of the series (and the never ending repeat of the same year) have never allowed for Kristy to heal or move on from her father leaving her family when she was a kid. This book finally closes that hole a little bit, which was so satisfying. And I was so satisfied with Kristy's conclusion on her feelings about her father, because it's so realistic, and so earned for Patrick.

Surprisingly, so, so, well done.

[Lianna Kendig · Rating 1 out of 5]

(LL)
You don’t get to pick and choose when you want your kids in your life. Patrick abandoned his kids: he didn’t write, visit, call, or anything for seven years. Divorce happens, so he should have still made an effort to be in his FOUR KID’S lives. He did none of that and then wanted his kids to forget and forgive and be IN his wedding.
This book reinforced and rewarded toxic behavior and I can’t stand by that.

[JH · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title and cover of this book are awful, so I hels off on reading for a while. But when I did i was so pleased to see more interaction between Kristy and her older brothers, as well as dealing with emotions tied up with her bio dad, Patrick. There was a lot of personal growth, and realistic teenage emotions. I also really enjoyed seeing a trip that involved just a small group of characters (no "and Watson decided to bring everyone!").

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

I HATED how much Kristy's father reminds me of my own father -- living in Sausalito, the "clean as you go" rule for cooking, making choices without thinking about the repercussions -- but I felt like this was very true-to-life.

I felt very connected to Charlie in this book, as an eldest sibling. Can we get a Charlie spin-off series?

[Corinne Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this before, when I was a teenager. (I loved the BSC-- still do.) And then I read it earlier this year. I absolutely loved it. The family dynamic is complicated. In fact, most of the series (as I've read it before, like I said) is a little more complicated. It's much less "campy" than the original series was. But, like I said, I loved it.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up really appreciating how this story explored the complex feelings kids have around parents, particularly in cases like Kristy's family where her dad just up and left and it's implied that he hasn't even paid much in the way of child support, but is now asking for (some of) his kids to emotionally support him as he gets married again.

[Leah Wallin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

[Aaliyah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book I lokied how In the end she ends up liking her step mum.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to find out what the BSC was up to (30 years later)! I was obsessed as a kid.

[Laura Rayner]

It's a summer change for the Baby-sitters Club, with major changes in the look and focus of Ann M. Martin's classic series. Throughout the summer, members of the club share feelings about who they are and where they are going in a special journal. Four members drop out of the club, bringing the group back to its original characters: Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey. Four Friends Forever.

[Kireja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that this book didn't bore me with long descriptions of all the characters and their respective roles in the BSC (although these descriptions are helpful to readers who are not reading the books in order). Instead, this series follows the interpersonal relationships and the experiences that the four main characters (Kristy, Claudia, Stacey and Mary Anne) have as they grow up.
This book centers around family relationships- namely Kristy and her brothers relationship with their estranged father. I really liked the fact that the author showcases the diverse emotions that a person can feel and the different ways in which they can come to terms with their situation(s). This story made me wish that there was a book (told through the POV of Kristy's mother Elizabeth) which would give us Kristy's backstory (her early childhood and life immediately after Patrick left). I liked this book better than some of the books in the original series.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahh, The Baby-Sitters Club. Books from my youth!

I never got into the Friends Forever series. I vaguely remember reading this one, at least up to the part where Kristy, Patrick and the rest were eating lunch together.

This has a different feeling to the original Baby-Sitters Club books. It's slightly more mature, and for once the cover model looks thirteen as opposed to twenty-five. And, of course, they're being ghostwritten.

I'm curious as to why Patrick didn't invite David Michael to the wedding. Was it because he left when David Michael was a baby, and thus didn't feel attached or obligated to inviting him? Or was David Michael not actually his son- did Elizabeth have an affair? Perhaps with Richard Spier or John Pike? John is a baby machine, after all...

But yes. It's a Baby-Sitters Club novel. What else can be said?

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friends Forever. The "New" BSCult. Book the First: In which Kristy (no longer the malevolent dictator, K. Ron, thanks to the Cult thinning out its members and chillaxing some), Sam, and Charlie are invited to OMGCALIFORNIA for their biodad Patrick's wedding. K-dawg is understandably confused and angry. Charlie's reaction is pretty much what mine would have been, since I also have no biodad. Chuckie is royally pissed. I mean, dude has a lot of anger. It's totes justified, though. He's all, "I'm not going." and Liz is all, "K and Sammy can't go either." K. Ron rears her ugly head briefly and convinces Chuck to go. Things get awkward. Oh, and it was mega-shitty of Pattyboy to totally forget he has 4 kids. He didn't invite DM.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

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

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

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

[Sella Malin · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't like these books much.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a review, just a question. Why does the Kristy on my cover have a different expression? Everything else is the same, same person, hat, flowers, colors.

[Love Peace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read like a gazillion times, right after tales of a fourth grade nothing.