Karen's Candy

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #54

by Ann M. Martin

Karen, Hannie, and Nancy, the "Three Musketeers," enter a local candy store's Halloween fundraising contest and are certain of their victory until they discover that their archenemies, the "Milky Ways," are also contestants. Original.

Genres: Halloween, Childrens, Middle Grade, Chapter Books, Fiction

10 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read this one, so I forgot what happened - it's cute! I loved the plot with Pamela (though I love any Little Sister book with Pamela, even if she is a pill) and how Karen and her kind of formed a friendship at the end.

Except that it made me weep that the Halloween candy (from a specialty store, no less!) was so cheap. $7.50 for three bags of 20 candy? Sign me up!

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rivalry between Karen and "best enemy" Pamela comes to a head over a candy selling contest. Yikes at Karen actually slapping Pamela on the cheek. Good on Pamela for not tattling. And I like how they actually work together at the end with the two-person ghost costume so they can march in the parade despite the principal saying they couldn't.

[Teresa Granado-Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kristy makes an appearance in this one. She helps Karen and Andrew create Halloween costumes

[Tonia Christle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Karen, but this book was just okay for me. My favorite part was when Karen, Nancy and Hannie were selling candy to Nancy's mom and they kept calling her "madame."

[Mila · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very entertaining. I cannot belive that Karen and Pamela are finally getting along.

[JH · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the low-stakes competition between Karen and friends and her “best enemy” Pamela and her friends. There was even an actual fight!

[Athalia Stoneback · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story. Karen gets in trouble, but learns her lesson. A relationship she has changes for the better.