What do you think?
Rate this book
The Baby-Sitters Club #129
Kristy at Bat
Kristy and her stepdad enjoy an all-star week of a lifetime when she spends spring vacation with famous major leaguers at Bill Bain's Dream Camp. Original.
160 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
37 people are currently reading
554 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,098 books3,046 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...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 5, 2025
3.5 stars
August 16, 2022
This installment was more of what I remembered from the series.
March 7, 2025
Kristy sports books are boring but this one had a few touching and fun moments so it wasn't that bad. Watson and Kristy are going to a father daughter baseball camp run by Bill Bain a hero of Watson's. As soon as I read that part all I could think of is never meet your heroes and I was right. Anyway touching moment one is the fact that they are attending a father daughter camp. I mean I can still remember Kristy hating Watson, now she's fully embraced him as a father figure. They arrive at camp are assigned to a team that Bain is coaching along with a lady who played for the Georgia Peaches during WWII which was cool even though the real team was from Rockford. The coaches have no idea what to do so Kristy is annoyed and organizes the teams and has inner monolog about how lousy they are which cracked me up. Anyway Bain never shows up for practice and when he does he distracts everyone. One day he yells at the coaches for being terrible and Kristy tells him off and I love it. Watson is mad at her though. This is why you should never meet your heroes. Anyway they sort things out in the end and Kristy wins best coach award.
The b plot involves David Michael trading baseball cards and getting conned a few times until Abby teaches him about what is really important which is sentimental value not monetary. Another sub plot has Vicki a friend Kristy meets at camp standing up to her dad about how much she dislikes baseball. This one was both boring but also touching. Kristy kept thinking of her dad who taught her how to play baseball and if he would be proud of her or be at camp with her but also feeling guilty like she's betraying Watson. It's sweet and also sad. And so ends Kristy's books in the original series. Only two left to go.
The b plot involves David Michael trading baseball cards and getting conned a few times until Abby teaches him about what is really important which is sentimental value not monetary. Another sub plot has Vicki a friend Kristy meets at camp standing up to her dad about how much she dislikes baseball. This one was both boring but also touching. Kristy kept thinking of her dad who taught her how to play baseball and if he would be proud of her or be at camp with her but also feeling guilty like she's betraying Watson. It's sweet and also sad. And so ends Kristy's books in the original series. Only two left to go.
Read
January 1, 2018What's this? A babysitters's club book that I didn't read in childhood?
Kristy at Bat is a cute book with 2 storylines: 1. Kristy and Watson go to a baseball camp together 2. David Michael learns what's REALLY important while trading baseball cards on the playground.
I like the relationship that Kristy has developed with her stepfather Watson. He's a good guy and it's fun reading about them playing baseball together. I also like when Abby has an important part in books. She's a fun character!
Kristy at Bat is a cute book with 2 storylines: 1. Kristy and Watson go to a baseball camp together 2. David Michael learns what's REALLY important while trading baseball cards on the playground.
I like the relationship that Kristy has developed with her stepfather Watson. He's a good guy and it's fun reading about them playing baseball together. I also like when Abby has an important part in books. She's a fun character!
March 19, 2012
Heh I liked this one. Bitchy Kristy at her finest.
November 7, 2019
this is my first time reading this book.
in this sports go sports story by ghostwriter Ellen Miles, kristy goes with watson to dream camp, a baseball camp hosted by bill bain, a famous old baseball player and watson’s hero. attendees get coached by and play alongside famous coaches and ballplayers. right before camp starts, kristy has softball tryouts and assumes she’s a shoo-in even though she plays badly (but she’s too arrogant to understand that you have to actually play well to make the team). she makes second string and is mortified. at the camp, grapples with three things: 1. she doesn’t feel good enough to be at the camp, since she’s only on second string at sms; 2. bill bain doesn’t seem to have any interest in actually engaging in the camp so watson’s bummed out all the time; 3. playing baseball reminds her of her biological dad, and then she feels guilty and disloyal because she’s thinking about him when spending time with watson. resolutions for each, in order: 1. most of the coaches at the camp are players who have little experience coaching, so kristy steps in and does a great job. she ends up feeling better about herself when she realizes she might not be a great player, but she’s a great coach; 2. when bill bain finally shows up in the cafeteria, watson approaches him, but bain brushes him off and is a jerk. bain later comes to practice and his presence is so unusual that everyone notices him and plays poorly because they’re distracted. he insults the coaches, and then kristy tells him off in front of everyone. watson is really mad at her until bill bain later apologizes to the whole camp for not being present and says kristy was right; 3. kristy realizes that she’s building baseball memories with watson, and it’s not actually disloyal to him to think about her biodad. a dream camp subplot is that kristy befriends a girl named vicki whose father pushes her to be an overachiever, and kristy helps her have a difficult conversation with him about giving her more space. and because every plot in this book has to be about baseball/softball (like I said, sports go sports) the babysitting subplot is that david michael gets swept up in trading baseball cards with a jerk kid who only cares about monetary value of cards, until abby teaches him (d.m., not the jerk) that the emotional value of cards is just as important.
highlights:
-kristy feeling disloyal to watson and thinking about her dad a lot is actually a really interesting plot, and it’s handled very well. I appreciate that the resolution doesn’t come from some event or a-ha moment, just kristy eventually lets her feelings go. *tears* my bsc member children are growing up!
-emily michelle has a playdate with a kid named dakota. we are so late in the series that kids are being named dakota!
-one of the coaches was on the rockford peaches. it’s a little unrealistic but I think it’s cool that ellen miles specifically took the opportunity to make sure there was a female coach and tie that plotline in with an actual female professional baseball team
-kristy’s coach realizes he left some items back at the hotel, and kristy thinks, "if I were matt, I might have checked over the equipment bag before I brought it out to the field. but that's just me. I like to be organized." I love her so much. she is just so damned kristy.
-vicki's dad brags about her nonstop, and I’m just thinking about brian in dream daddy:
-when kristy tells off bill bain: bain says to the coach, "can't you run the simplest drill?" and kristy responds "we were running it just fine until you showed up!" YEESSSSSS KRISTYYYYY!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-kristy narrates something about how mary anne used to be the only bsc member with a steady boyfriend but for a while it wasn't the case because claud was dating josh. but stacey is still steadily dating ethan, so....?
-a reference to jake and laurel kuhn's "baby sister" patsy. she is 5.
no outfits.
snacks in claudia’s room:
-doritos (n.s.)
in this sports go sports story by ghostwriter Ellen Miles, kristy goes with watson to dream camp, a baseball camp hosted by bill bain, a famous old baseball player and watson’s hero. attendees get coached by and play alongside famous coaches and ballplayers. right before camp starts, kristy has softball tryouts and assumes she’s a shoo-in even though she plays badly (but she’s too arrogant to understand that you have to actually play well to make the team). she makes second string and is mortified. at the camp, grapples with three things: 1. she doesn’t feel good enough to be at the camp, since she’s only on second string at sms; 2. bill bain doesn’t seem to have any interest in actually engaging in the camp so watson’s bummed out all the time; 3. playing baseball reminds her of her biological dad, and then she feels guilty and disloyal because she’s thinking about him when spending time with watson. resolutions for each, in order: 1. most of the coaches at the camp are players who have little experience coaching, so kristy steps in and does a great job. she ends up feeling better about herself when she realizes she might not be a great player, but she’s a great coach; 2. when bill bain finally shows up in the cafeteria, watson approaches him, but bain brushes him off and is a jerk. bain later comes to practice and his presence is so unusual that everyone notices him and plays poorly because they’re distracted. he insults the coaches, and then kristy tells him off in front of everyone. watson is really mad at her until bill bain later apologizes to the whole camp for not being present and says kristy was right; 3. kristy realizes that she’s building baseball memories with watson, and it’s not actually disloyal to him to think about her biodad. a dream camp subplot is that kristy befriends a girl named vicki whose father pushes her to be an overachiever, and kristy helps her have a difficult conversation with him about giving her more space. and because every plot in this book has to be about baseball/softball (like I said, sports go sports) the babysitting subplot is that david michael gets swept up in trading baseball cards with a jerk kid who only cares about monetary value of cards, until abby teaches him (d.m., not the jerk) that the emotional value of cards is just as important.
highlights:
-kristy feeling disloyal to watson and thinking about her dad a lot is actually a really interesting plot, and it’s handled very well. I appreciate that the resolution doesn’t come from some event or a-ha moment, just kristy eventually lets her feelings go. *tears* my bsc member children are growing up!
-emily michelle has a playdate with a kid named dakota. we are so late in the series that kids are being named dakota!
-one of the coaches was on the rockford peaches. it’s a little unrealistic but I think it’s cool that ellen miles specifically took the opportunity to make sure there was a female coach and tie that plotline in with an actual female professional baseball team
-kristy’s coach realizes he left some items back at the hotel, and kristy thinks, "if I were matt, I might have checked over the equipment bag before I brought it out to the field. but that's just me. I like to be organized." I love her so much. she is just so damned kristy.
-vicki's dad brags about her nonstop, and I’m just thinking about brian in dream daddy:
-when kristy tells off bill bain: bain says to the coach, "can't you run the simplest drill?" and kristy responds "we were running it just fine until you showed up!" YEESSSSSS KRISTYYYYY!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-kristy narrates something about how mary anne used to be the only bsc member with a steady boyfriend but for a while it wasn't the case because claud was dating josh. but stacey is still steadily dating ethan, so....?
-a reference to jake and laurel kuhn's "baby sister" patsy. she is 5.
no outfits.
snacks in claudia’s room:
-doritos (n.s.)
July 22, 2011
the last kristy book & it's all about baseball. dear god, what have i done to deserve this? kristy tries out for the girls' softball team. you may recall that she made the team last year, as seen in kristy & the copycat. she's still 13, still in eighth grade...& trying out again. she feels pretty confident about making it on to the team, since she played last year & coach wu knows her strengths & abilities. so she doesn't really bust her hump at try-outs. she knows she has played better, faster, with better connections at the bat. but she sees the try-out as a formality & just wonders where the coach will put her. she's hoping for first base.
when the team lists are posted, kristy notices a girl looking at the list & feeling sad because she was put on the second-string team. kristy tells her not to worry because second-string is a great place to practice skills, & coach wu spends equal time with both teams. second-string also plays games against other second-string teams. kristy is less pleased when she finds that SHE has been placed on the second-string team, in left field. she stands there in shock until coach wu wanders over & asks kristy to come chat in her office for a minute. coach wu explains that kristy's try-out wasn't the best--other girls played better & worked harder. coach knows kristy is a good player, but she only made a second-string effort at the try-out. kristy does her best to accept this disappointment & move on.
watson has signed himself & kristy up for a dream baseball camp for fathers & daughters. he is crazy excited about it because his favorite player, bill bain, is one of the coaches. kristy had been excited until she found out about placing on second-string. now she is worried that she's not as great of a player as she thought she was, & will be a big disappointment to her teammates at dream camp.
kristy makes a friend at dream camp right away. her name is vicki & she's 12 years old. vicki's father boasts constantly about vicki's many accomplishments. she's editor of her school newspaper, she gets great grades, she plays violin, etc. his boasting clearly embarrasses vicki but he seems not to notice. vicki, kristy, watson, & vicki's father are all on the blue team together, coached by a retired pro baseball player named matt adamec, a former member of the geargia peaches named gloria, & bill bain himself. watson is over the moon about this, & kristy is looking forward to playing some baseball.
but the coaches are kind of disorganized. bill bain doesn't even show up for the first practice, & when matt tells the player to split into two scrimmage teams, everyone just kind of stands there not knowing what to do. kristy takes charge & divides everyone up. she also finds herself wandering around, offering up various tips for batting & fielding. everyone seems grateful for her input.
bill bain puts in an appearance at dinner & watson rushes over to introduce himself. kristy doesn't know what exactly is said, but watson comes back to his seat at dinner looking embarrassed & disappointed. he blames himself for interrupting bill bain during mealtimes. but the next morning, he chooses to leave the memorabilia he'd hoped to have signed in his room. kristy is upset that bill bain was rude to watson, & he's STILL not coming out to coach their practices. & gloria & matt are still not that organized (although they are good coaches), so kristy has a few more opportunities to put her own organizational skills to the test.
vicki confesses to kristy that she really doesn't like baseball. she likes it in that it's a chance for her to spend quality time with her dad (he loves baseball), but she doesn't think she's good at it & she doesn't really enjoy playing. she tells kristy that she has a lot of extra-curricular activities that her father is proud of, but that she doesn't really enjoy. kristy encourages vicki to be truthful with her dad & ask to take on some activities that she actually enjoys. vicki is nervous & asks that kristy accompany her. kristy grudgingly agrees, & luckily, the talk goes great. vicki's father is at first disappointed & embarrassed that he thought he was giving vicki a great vacation at dream camp. he'd never realized that she didn't care for baseball. but vicki says she's having fun--she just wants to quit softball when she goes back home.
can i just say that, when i was a kid, disappointing my parents was like the WORST thing i could possibly do? if my dad shelled out a bunch of cash to take me to baseball dream camp, i never would have told him i didn't like baseball. even if it went as well as vicki's talk with her dad went, i would still be crushed by the guilt of making him feel an iota of disappointment. but maybe that's just me being totally maladjusted.
bill bain finally shows up at the second to last coaching session. he's pretty gruff & impatient, & kristy tears him a new one. she yells at him in front of everyone, saying that he's a hero to a lot of the people at camp, but all he's been is rude & disrespectful to them, & it's ruining their week. bill bain is surprised, but kristy is even more surprised when watson is angry with her for yelling at bill bain. kristy thought she was sticking up for watson & doesn't get why he's mad.
but the next day at breakfast, bill bain shows up & thanks kristy for telling him what for. he says he realizes now that he has been rude & disrespectful to the campers, & he's going to coach his ass off for the rest of the week (which is like one day). he signs all of watson's memorabilia & gives him a signed photograph of himself with joe dimaggio. watson is over the moon & forgives kristy.
the blue team wins the big game at the end of the week, thanks in no small part to a home run from kristy & a triple from watson. all week kristy had been feeling weird, thinking about how her father (her actual father, the one who ran out on the family) taught her to play baseball & would love to see her at dream camp looking so professional in her uniform. then she feels guilty thinking about patrick when watson is the one who is actually at camp with her. she finally makes her peace with this conundrum, acknowledging that she'll always be grateful to patrick for instilling in her a love of baseball, & she'll always be grateful to watson for being the father that she didn't have.
the B-plot focuses on david michael's newfound love of collecting baseball cards. at first, he keeps his cards in a shoebox. some kids are doing swaps on the playground & david michael is shamed by a boy named barry, whose collection is housed in fancy plastic sleeves. barry knows a lot about how much different cards are worth. in fact, the babysitters are somewhat taken aback to find that barry seems to ONLY care how much cards are worth, while the other kids get more excited about cards featuring their favorite players.
david michael gets a fancy new case for his cards & proudly shows it off at the next swap. barry offers to give him two copies of a card of a player david michael likes a lot in exchange for one card that barry needs to complete his collection of didgers cards. david michael agrees, but when he looks up the cards' values in his value guide at home, he discovers that barry ripped him off. the one card david michael gave away was worth at least ten times as much as the cards he got in return. he's angry with himself for making such a dumb trade.
when abby sits for him, she tries to show him that he made a good trade if he got a card of a player he likes a lot. she wants him to feel that a card's emotional value is worth more than its financial value, but david michael is getting all hung up on the cards' financial worths. abby gets her baseball card collection & accompanies david michael to the swap. she shows off a few cards & talks about how much she loves the players & fond memories she has of some of the amazing plays they've done. a lot of the kids get into it & start talking about their own favorite players, but barry is unimpressed because none of the cards abby has shown are really worth anything. so abby takes out her 1977 reggie jackson card. she knows it's worth more than probably any card barry has ever seen. he is staggered for a moment, but then recovers & tries to facilitate a swap. abby says she'll never swap that card away because reggie jackson was her dad's favorite player & he gave her that card before he died. this finally gets through to david michael, i guess, & he realizes that having a collection with emotional value is more fun & more worthwhile than having a collection worth a lot of money.
when the team lists are posted, kristy notices a girl looking at the list & feeling sad because she was put on the second-string team. kristy tells her not to worry because second-string is a great place to practice skills, & coach wu spends equal time with both teams. second-string also plays games against other second-string teams. kristy is less pleased when she finds that SHE has been placed on the second-string team, in left field. she stands there in shock until coach wu wanders over & asks kristy to come chat in her office for a minute. coach wu explains that kristy's try-out wasn't the best--other girls played better & worked harder. coach knows kristy is a good player, but she only made a second-string effort at the try-out. kristy does her best to accept this disappointment & move on.
watson has signed himself & kristy up for a dream baseball camp for fathers & daughters. he is crazy excited about it because his favorite player, bill bain, is one of the coaches. kristy had been excited until she found out about placing on second-string. now she is worried that she's not as great of a player as she thought she was, & will be a big disappointment to her teammates at dream camp.
kristy makes a friend at dream camp right away. her name is vicki & she's 12 years old. vicki's father boasts constantly about vicki's many accomplishments. she's editor of her school newspaper, she gets great grades, she plays violin, etc. his boasting clearly embarrasses vicki but he seems not to notice. vicki, kristy, watson, & vicki's father are all on the blue team together, coached by a retired pro baseball player named matt adamec, a former member of the geargia peaches named gloria, & bill bain himself. watson is over the moon about this, & kristy is looking forward to playing some baseball.
but the coaches are kind of disorganized. bill bain doesn't even show up for the first practice, & when matt tells the player to split into two scrimmage teams, everyone just kind of stands there not knowing what to do. kristy takes charge & divides everyone up. she also finds herself wandering around, offering up various tips for batting & fielding. everyone seems grateful for her input.
bill bain puts in an appearance at dinner & watson rushes over to introduce himself. kristy doesn't know what exactly is said, but watson comes back to his seat at dinner looking embarrassed & disappointed. he blames himself for interrupting bill bain during mealtimes. but the next morning, he chooses to leave the memorabilia he'd hoped to have signed in his room. kristy is upset that bill bain was rude to watson, & he's STILL not coming out to coach their practices. & gloria & matt are still not that organized (although they are good coaches), so kristy has a few more opportunities to put her own organizational skills to the test.
vicki confesses to kristy that she really doesn't like baseball. she likes it in that it's a chance for her to spend quality time with her dad (he loves baseball), but she doesn't think she's good at it & she doesn't really enjoy playing. she tells kristy that she has a lot of extra-curricular activities that her father is proud of, but that she doesn't really enjoy. kristy encourages vicki to be truthful with her dad & ask to take on some activities that she actually enjoys. vicki is nervous & asks that kristy accompany her. kristy grudgingly agrees, & luckily, the talk goes great. vicki's father is at first disappointed & embarrassed that he thought he was giving vicki a great vacation at dream camp. he'd never realized that she didn't care for baseball. but vicki says she's having fun--she just wants to quit softball when she goes back home.
can i just say that, when i was a kid, disappointing my parents was like the WORST thing i could possibly do? if my dad shelled out a bunch of cash to take me to baseball dream camp, i never would have told him i didn't like baseball. even if it went as well as vicki's talk with her dad went, i would still be crushed by the guilt of making him feel an iota of disappointment. but maybe that's just me being totally maladjusted.
bill bain finally shows up at the second to last coaching session. he's pretty gruff & impatient, & kristy tears him a new one. she yells at him in front of everyone, saying that he's a hero to a lot of the people at camp, but all he's been is rude & disrespectful to them, & it's ruining their week. bill bain is surprised, but kristy is even more surprised when watson is angry with her for yelling at bill bain. kristy thought she was sticking up for watson & doesn't get why he's mad.
but the next day at breakfast, bill bain shows up & thanks kristy for telling him what for. he says he realizes now that he has been rude & disrespectful to the campers, & he's going to coach his ass off for the rest of the week (which is like one day). he signs all of watson's memorabilia & gives him a signed photograph of himself with joe dimaggio. watson is over the moon & forgives kristy.
the blue team wins the big game at the end of the week, thanks in no small part to a home run from kristy & a triple from watson. all week kristy had been feeling weird, thinking about how her father (her actual father, the one who ran out on the family) taught her to play baseball & would love to see her at dream camp looking so professional in her uniform. then she feels guilty thinking about patrick when watson is the one who is actually at camp with her. she finally makes her peace with this conundrum, acknowledging that she'll always be grateful to patrick for instilling in her a love of baseball, & she'll always be grateful to watson for being the father that she didn't have.
the B-plot focuses on david michael's newfound love of collecting baseball cards. at first, he keeps his cards in a shoebox. some kids are doing swaps on the playground & david michael is shamed by a boy named barry, whose collection is housed in fancy plastic sleeves. barry knows a lot about how much different cards are worth. in fact, the babysitters are somewhat taken aback to find that barry seems to ONLY care how much cards are worth, while the other kids get more excited about cards featuring their favorite players.
david michael gets a fancy new case for his cards & proudly shows it off at the next swap. barry offers to give him two copies of a card of a player david michael likes a lot in exchange for one card that barry needs to complete his collection of didgers cards. david michael agrees, but when he looks up the cards' values in his value guide at home, he discovers that barry ripped him off. the one card david michael gave away was worth at least ten times as much as the cards he got in return. he's angry with himself for making such a dumb trade.
when abby sits for him, she tries to show him that he made a good trade if he got a card of a player he likes a lot. she wants him to feel that a card's emotional value is worth more than its financial value, but david michael is getting all hung up on the cards' financial worths. abby gets her baseball card collection & accompanies david michael to the swap. she shows off a few cards & talks about how much she loves the players & fond memories she has of some of the amazing plays they've done. a lot of the kids get into it & start talking about their own favorite players, but barry is unimpressed because none of the cards abby has shown are really worth anything. so abby takes out her 1977 reggie jackson card. she knows it's worth more than probably any card barry has ever seen. he is staggered for a moment, but then recovers & tries to facilitate a swap. abby says she'll never swap that card away because reggie jackson was her dad's favorite player & he gave her that card before he died. this finally gets through to david michael, i guess, & he realizes that having a collection with emotional value is more fun & more worthwhile than having a collection worth a lot of money.
April 11, 2021
After underperforming during Stoneybrook Middle School softball tryouts, Kristy made the second-string (middle school J.V.) team. She beat herself up for every mistake she made during tryouts and for not being the best. A few days later, Kristy and her stepfather Watson headed to Bill Bain's Dream Camp in Delaware to spend a week playing baseball with former professional players. Baseball is thought to be a typically male sport, so I was pleased to see that Kristy had a female coach who had played on the Georgia Peaches (a spoof of the Rockford Peaches whose story was fictionalized in the 1992 film A League of Their Own). Kristy was embarrassed to be playing among the greats as she was only a second-string player.
While the coaches at Dream Camp were great at coaching and playing, organization was not their strength. Kristy was great at helping the coaches, organizing her teammates, and showing her teammates how to do drills. At the end of camp, Kristy won a special award for Best Coach.
While the coaches at Dream Camp were great at coaching and playing, organization was not their strength. Kristy was great at helping the coaches, organizing her teammates, and showing her teammates how to do drills. At the end of camp, Kristy won a special award for Best Coach.
Maybe I’d never be in the major leagues, or even anything better than second string at SMS. But I knew I’d be able to pass on my love of the game. As a coach, I could help produce players who would make it to first string — and even the majors.I'll bet Kristy grew up to coach middle school softball and girls' P.E. (like she did in Kristy in Charge).
October 27, 2017
I guess it's fitting that Kristy's last regular series book is all about baseball. At least it's not about the Krusher's though, so be glad for small miracles! It is about Kristy and Watson attending a father-daughter dream camp together......and I didn't hate it!
I grew up playing baseball too, and though I never played softball (I don't like it much), baseball was a big deal. I used my father's old glove for years, until I got my very own brand new one. My dad taught me to catch, to bat, and to just generally play ball in our backyard. I loved it then, and I love it now, so this made me super sentimental.
I grew up playing baseball too, and though I never played softball (I don't like it much), baseball was a big deal. I used my father's old glove for years, until I got my very own brand new one. My dad taught me to catch, to bat, and to just generally play ball in our backyard. I loved it then, and I love it now, so this made me super sentimental.
Read
July 1, 2022A summer reading slump demands catching up on the BSC books I missed in my youth. This is certainly one of the more chaotic, though I'm not as immersed in the BSC as I was at age 10.
This was one of the more chaotic ones. As an adult it's also fascinating to see the fabricated reasons David Michael needed babysat no less than three times in the course of five days, while the other little kids DIDN'T. Or maybe I'm just jealous of this utopian society where Elizabeth Brewer has a gaggle of teenagers happy to take on the responsibility for a rotating amount of children.
Kristy made second string for the baseball team, but it's okay because she'll be in eighth grade again next year!
This was one of the more chaotic ones. As an adult it's also fascinating to see the fabricated reasons David Michael needed babysat no less than three times in the course of five days, while the other little kids DIDN'T. Or maybe I'm just jealous of this utopian society where Elizabeth Brewer has a gaggle of teenagers happy to take on the responsibility for a rotating amount of children.
Kristy made second string for the baseball team, but it's okay because she'll be in eighth grade again next year!
Read
July 29, 2020As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
Read
December 6, 2023I'm not sure why I'm so drawn to books about baseball, especially having never played baseball in my life. But this one really hit home (lol get it) for me. Is it weird that this might be my favorite BSC book? It's certainly my favorite Kristy book, who was always one of my least-favorite babysitters. When I was a kid, reading Kristy books was kind of a chore, but I genuinely enjoyed this one!
Also, Bill Bain is the epitome of "never meet your heroes." Poor Watson.
Also, Bill Bain is the epitome of "never meet your heroes." Poor Watson.
March 18, 2023
When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
September 11, 2025
This book just feels quintessentially Kristy. She's bossy but organized. She plays softball. She learns to work with her flaws. All of the things I love about her in the BSC except...the babysitting? But she's sort of babysitting adults in this book so it's OK. And I do love her relationship with Watson.
December 5, 2019
Review on www.audible.com please listen to this book
January 21, 2021
(LL)
This one was actually a cute story between Kristy and Watson; however, there weren’t any new lessons or big plot points happening.
This one was actually a cute story between Kristy and Watson; however, there weren’t any new lessons or big plot points happening.
November 11, 2023
I was kind of dreading this one, because ugh, sports, but it ended up being a lot better than I remembered. I really liked Coach Kristy at Dream Camp!
May 1, 2013
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!
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!
April 11, 2025
Aww this one is sweet. I love how
Read
February 1, 2009Remember these, I cant even remember how many if these I read. I think this was my first serial read
January 4, 2014
In which K. Ron and Watson go to some stupid baseball camp and she thinks she's in charge. Stupid k. Ron.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews