Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery: A Graphic Novel

The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #13

by Cynthia Yuan Cheng (Illustrator), Braden Lamb (Colors), Hank Jones (Colors)

A brand-new Baby-sitters Club graphic novel adapted by newcomer Cynthia Yuan Cheng!

Mary Anne should never have thrown away that chain letter she got in the mail. Ever since she did, bad things have been happening to everyone in The Baby-sitters Club. With Halloween coming up, Mary Anne's even more worried -- what kind of spooky thing will happen next?

Then Mary Anne finds a new note in her mailbox: Wear this bad-luck charm, it says. OR ELSE. Mary Anne has to follow the note's instructions. But who sent the charm? And why did they send it to Mary Anne?

The BSC might never see an end to their bad luck if they don’t solve this mystery soon!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Comics

170 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2022

About the author

Cynthia Yuan Cheng (they/them) is a Taiwanese American cartoonist and illustrator living in New Jersey. They love to create funny-bittersweet autobiographical and slice of life fiction stories that make readers feel hopeful for a brighter tomorrow.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

For unlucky number 13 in the graphic novel series, the Baby-Sitters Club panic about bad luck and superstitions when Mary-Ann won't forward a chain letter and is anonymously sent a bad-luck charm. And it's all just in time for Halloween!

From my perspective, it's too cheesy what with all the convolutions necessary to make the plot work and still deliver a pat ending, but I know children are a cowardly superstitious lot so this will probably thrill their little fears and assumptions.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork was absolutely lovely, as it always is, but honestly, the story was a bit ho-hum for me. I remember reading the original novel and being bored with it as well. Do kids these days of email and texting even know what chain letters are? I barely understood the concept or the point when I was a kid reading the original installment. Still, I did like the lesson at the end - how kids should work out their problems by *talking* to one another, instead of pulling elaborate pranks meant to upset or humiliate (or other terrible thing that people do to one another).

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art style was not my favorite, and the continuity error (incorrectly stating that sixth grader club members Mallory and Jessi were in seventh grade) bothered me. I need a sequel about the Baby-Sitters Club deciding to start a coven after reading all those witchcraft books.

[ChrissiesPurpleLibrary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was my least favorite of the series so far. This edition dealt with witchcraft, superstition, the babysitters researching spells and even casting spells. I prefer not reading books with these types of aspects within them. Although, there was a subtle nod to having faith and light. But honestly it felt unauthentic to me. Personally, I wasn't triggered but I was concerned for younger audiences reading this book with such flagrant descriptions of witchcraft, although subtle and not as offensive. It gave me pause for concern.

CW/TW: some uses of witchcraft and spells

[aarya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read via library.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite BSC books, so there was no doubt that I was going to love the graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by Cynthia Yuan Cheng in their series debut. Also I kind of really love that this book is number 13 in the series, oOoOoOoOo spooky!

The story, as always, is tons of fun; it follows the book pretty faithfully, though the beginning's been changed slightly to show why Mary Anne is the target of the bad luck. I liked this change, the early books really set up how Mary Anne is breaking out of her shell and sticking up for herself, and I like that it was reflected in this version. It also made the ending a little less shallow, which I appreciated. The artwork was good - I always have a hard time with a change of artists (see: the Lumberjanes series), and while the Baby-sitters Club artists have been similar enough that it's not jarring, it still took about half the book for me to really warm up to it. I also didn't love the designs for Cokie and Grace, the bane of the BSC, but that could be because Marla Sokoloff lives rent-free in my head as Cokie. That said, I loved so many little things: the facial expressions (especially the ones of incredulity), the lesser detail of characters in the background, all the costumes at the Halloween Hop. And there were a few parts where I laughed out loud, like the scene where Claud and Mal babysit for the Pikes. Claire was cracking me up!

I'm sure Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery will be met with as much love and excitement as the previous BSC graphic novels, it fits nicely among the series and adds a fun, spooky story (that we've missed out on with the books skipped!) that is sure to be a hit. As biased as my 5 star ratings are for BSC, they're also pretty true for the graphic novel series. These books are awesome!

[Addison Dziuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book but I read the chapter book before I read the graphic and it didn't have as much mystery as the chapter book but I do still recommend it was going to give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half stars but you can't.

[Jessica Carruba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good one, but not at the top of my list for the series. Not ending it with 13 chapters or involving more of Karen and Morbidda Destiny were missed opportunities.

[Jennifer Sherwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books in the series.The only thing is I’m disappointed it didn’t have Kristy’s visor and Claudia’s junk food.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story, didn't like the illustrations as much in this volume though.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars (I liked it)

So I did not read the babysitter's club books growing up, only the little sister ones. Or so I thought, but as soon as I started this one, the chain letter plot was so so familiar. I don't know if it's just because I remember when chain letters were a big thing and that is where my nostalgia is coming from but it definitely made me think of when I was a kid.

As some other reviewers said, they go a bit overboard with the bad luck in this one. I also don't love the steady boyfriend thing. I just think it's a little bit too mature for elementary students but the illustrations appeal most to upper elementary so there is a bit of a misstep there.

This book has a new illustrator and I didn't mind the change as much as I did with some of the other ones. There are some differences for sure but it's similar enough that you still recognize all the characters.

[sana ୨୧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

omg, i was trying to return this book to libby and it, for some reason, clicked on the final girl support group (which i’m still reading and am at 40%) and returned that one when i’d gotten it from putting a hold. now, i’d have to wait eight more weeks if i decide to continue reading it on libby. this is awful.

[Jmay]

Dang these girls jump around from witchcraft to Christianity with no hesitation

[Penny Geard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun nostalgia as always. Although this version (or maybe just my age?) did make me think that the bsc girls were just as bitchy as the other girls they were having drama with.
Also, I found it funny that it still started with a chain letter since I don't think chain letters (or even chain emails!) are really a thing anymore but I guess including social media in the story would have been too hard.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! I do recommend.

[sydney]

so cute! I’m reading a bunch of graphic novels for work so sorry for the updates 🫣🫶🏻

[Alantie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, first things first, this was always one of my favorites of the original series. I’d read it over and over when I was a kid, I loved the spooky story and I’ve always related to Mary Anne so it made sense when I decided to give the graphic novel reboot series a try I’d start with this one.

The art is overall just ok. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing earth shattering either. Just ok. I did like the design for the costumes for the Halloween dance, those turned out cute. Can’t help but notice that Logan was given a definite overhaul appearance wise, since in the original books he’s a blondish brown haired blue eyed guy from Kentucky who looks like Mary Anne’s actor crush Cam Gary. Stacey also seems to have a new design sporting short hair - I guess to make her and Dawn more distinguishable? The other characters are pretty true to their original descriptions.

Most of my reservations with this adaption is it has some changes from the original story, and those changes impact the plot and Mary Anne’s character.

There’s an additional scene in the beginning of the story with Mary Anne confronting Cokie and Grace, leading them to be embarrassed in front of the rest of the school, not something that’s in character for Mary Anne at all. It’s this scene, more than jealousy of Mary Anne for dating Logan that’s given the weight behind Cokie and Grace’s prank, and I’m not sure why. Are we not able to have girls being petty and jealous over a guy anymore? Logan is still a factor in Cokie and Grace’s motivations, but very downplayed compared to the original story which is frustrating.

Mary Anne also doesn’t quite feel like herself in this, I’m not sure if it’s due the format or what, but she doesn’t feel like the shy sensitive conflict adverse girl I know and love from the original story. Mary Anne watching horror movies, voluntarily? Maybe my memory is bad, but I don’t feel like that’s something she ever did.

For the most part the rest of the story follows the original nearly word for word and story beat. They included the babysitting picnic dinner with the Pikes, the robot costume that Dawn makes with Jackie, and Jessie helping Jaime getting over his fear of Halloween, all done very cutely.

All things considered, this isn’t terrible, but the changes to the plot and characters are disappointing and do impact the vibe of the story which is why I knocked off stars. I’ll probably check out a few more of the graphic novels but I hope there aren’t quite as many changes in the rest of the series.

[Dramapuppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original wasn’t my favorite BSC novel and this adaptation isn’t my favorite BSC graphic novel. It’s fine. But barely any actual babysitting.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good book but the story didn't seem to hit in the same way as the others have. I'm starting to feel as if the publishing company is attempting to get too many of these written at once and are caring more about quantity than quality. This seemed a bit rushed in both the art style and the average story. I didn't feel as if anything impactful happened to the BSC this time around. If it were in a TV show, it would probably be a filler episode. That's not a bad thing but it is something to consider.

[Julesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read any of The BSC books before because by the time they were published, I was an adult and had other reading interests.
I am having an absolutely fabulous time reading these BSC books in graphic novel format.
I enjoyed the story but Ms. Cheng's artwork is PERFECT!
She perfectly depicts the scene and emotion. Not overly-complicated drawings, very clear lines.
For several comical panes I had quite a chuckle.
I really am looking forward to more BSC graphic novels with hopefully Ms. Cheng work.

[✨Evi~Semi-hiatus · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was pretty good it was so cute that Mary Anne and Logan danced together in their Halloween costumes <3

BUT IT WAS NOT COOL THAT SOMEONE STARTED A RANDOM CHAIN!

Mary Anne was fearless and confident in this book. <3

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Sakura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awhh… despite Mary-Anne being my favorite babysitter, this is a book in the series that doesn’t really hold a special place in my heart. The art is just fine, but…
I mean, I don’t like the whole Halloween theming.
My family doesn’t do the holiday, so just that alone makes me a little uncomfortable. Add that with the actual witchcraft and this book just… really goes downhill.
I get where they were trying to go with the book, and there is a lesson in the end and everything. There’s even a little nod to faith with a mustard seed necklace, but none of this is enough to save it for me.
The way the girls act is upsetting, and yeah. I just don’t really like it. One thing I did misremember is that I thought her and Logan fought a lot in this book- but they don’t really fight at all. He was overall quite sweet here.

This book is no ‘Claudia and the New Girl’, but I still don’t really like it. It’s very lacking in overall interest, and what it does have mostly takes away from the plot. Wouldn’t recommend for younger kids.

(This book contains depictions of witchcraft, as the girls try to cast spells and read old books about it. The book is riddled with superstitions, and also covers Halloween. Besides this there are crushes, and Mary-Anne has a boyfriend. I would give this book an age rating of 11+)

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book fell really flat for me.

Granted, I’m not the intended audience for the series, but I felt as though this book—more than the others I’ve read leading up to this one—just felt uneventful. While there was a storyline and conflict, the stakes just seemed so low and the outcome was rather predictable. (In that sense, it was rather frustrating to read the book and see the members of the BSC take so long to really “figure it out.”) So, too, the ending felt like it packaged things up too nicely and easily.

One of my least favorite of the series so far.




** another complaint I have—and this is one that is an overarching one for the series, appearing in some books more than others—is just the lack of consistency regarding the characters. In terms of their ages, it seems like some things are rather childish—such as talking about potential concoctions to make to undo their bad luck in this book—and then other things they do seem unrealistic and too mature for kids their age.

[Abigail Mohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved these books as a kid and am trying to finish my reading goal for the year, so this seemed like a good choice! This was cute, and I remember loving this story when I was younger. Middle schoolers are so dramatic 😂 and I can definitely see me and my friends getting into some of the same situations when we were younger. The artwork, as well, was super cute and worked well for the graphic novel format. Might be checking out some more of these books as I try to bust out more short reads to finish my goal for this year!

[Linda Naquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was always one of my favorite BSC books, I probably reread it dozens of times growing up! Even as a little kid, I always thought they should've done something meaner to those horrible girls Grace and Cokie. It's decades later and my need for vengeance still hasn't been satisfied, but I still loved this book.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this one didn’t work for me. The whole superstition thing was silly, as was the grudge of the kids who were embarrassed at ring called out for bullying. I wanted more babysitting and less elaborate pranks in the graveyard, which honestly sounds crazy when I read it. Maybe it works better in sequence? I jumped here from one of the first ones.

[Crystal books_inthewild · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great graphic novel adaptation of the original- I really love how these stick very true to the original novels, and I LOVE the illustrations.

This one is a 3.5 for me- mostly because I felt the superstition/curse/bad luck theme went quite overboard, and wasn’t really redeemed fully. Since I preview these for grade 4/5 students, I had hoped that at some point there would be a time when the girls had more guidance from a parent/teacher/adult- just to have those conversations. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall though- great story, characters, graphics!

[chloe ! · Rating 5 out of 5]

woahhhhh

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series, but it was still a cute and fun read.