Karen's Brothers

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #17

by Ann M. Martin

Tired of being mistreated by her three older brothers--who refuse to take her to the movies with them or let her play football when they do--Karen decides not to speak to any boys

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Juvenile

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1991

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

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This may be where my journey with ole Karen stops because this book was the highest level of mean girl brattiness we've seen yet. Karen gets mad that boys are excluding her so she makes a We Hate Boys Club and she starts treating people terribly. Pamela and her friends make a We Love Boys Club and so even when Karen starts being kinder to the boys, her bratty wrath is turned on Pamela. The kids were all terrible in this book and it was not fun to read. There was a small amount of redemption when she realized she was wrong in treating the boys so badly and she tried to apologize to them, but she just changed her target. BLAH.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehh, brothers suck, but we love 'em anyway.

[DJB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4⭐ because the topic was a little weird.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this issue of Little Sister, Karen realises she has never gone through a boys-have-cooties stage, and decides to fit in with her classmates a little better. However, Karen is Karen and goes a little bit too far. She ropes her long-suffering friends, Hannie and Nancy, into making a club with her: the We Hate Boys club. Karen stops talking to all the males in her life, including the animals. Strangely enough, she has no qualms about writing Santa a letter, despite that being a form of communication.

Eventually, after realising that her classmates are responding to Pamela (her enemy) and co's We Love Boys club better than to her own, Karen decides to ramp things up once more. She disbands the club, and starts a Brother's Day. Of course, a keen reader would think a Male's Day would be better, but perhaps that would be a little misogynistic. Eventually she apologises and all is right in the world.

Except for Karen, who may never be right.

[Looney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just let the girl play football!

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books in this series are under my reading level, but I like them for a quick read.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen's such a brat, starting a We Hate Boys Club only coz her older brothers won't take her to the movies with them and her 'husband' Ricky won't let her play football with him and his friends. Her classmate Pamela starts a We Heart Boys Club in response, to make the boys feel better, and like Pamela is obviously set up as a 'pick me girl' type villain, but honestly, Team Pamela all the way. And I do like that most of Karen's classmates push back against her attempts to bully Pamela for standing up for the boys. I almost wish Pamela blew Karen out of the water when Karen bullied her into a one-on-one football match near the end, but of course she didn't coz Karen has to win, and then Ricky ends up choosing Karen over Pamela. As Karen herself would say, boo and bullfrogs.

Upping it to 3 stars coz whatevs, Karen is in second (third?) grade, and I can imagine girls that age deciding they hate boys. But really, refusing to talk even to her dad and step dad, to Andrew (who didn't do anything to her at all), and to the male pets in the household is just stupid. And as for the Brothers' Day party she threw to apologize... like obviously it worked out coz this is Karen's book, but like now her dad and teen brothers were all obligated to keep their Saturdays free just so they could eat her cookies and drink her punch to make her feel better. Meh.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

Karen and the case of too many brothers

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.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen can be a bit of a bully. And very heteronormative; I find her marriage to a peer deeply weird. Here one boy plays with someone else for a hot second and she rushes to start a HATE BOYS club and stops talking to her dads and brothers. Eventually she tires of being mean and throws them a party instead. I hope that’s not a spoiler.

I’m glad my kids weren’t this mean.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really captured the essence of second grade girls hating boys haha Karen is always a little brat but this one she works hard at apologizing. Overall a cute read, even if slightly irritating haha

[Annora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Karen was a brat and a bully in this book.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lmao I love that she wouldn't even acknowledge the male pets. Karen, you are ice cold.

[Hannah]

My kids and I discussing that we finally liked Pamela in a book is all my 90s millennial heart wanted in 2025.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14130036

[A]

Listen, Karen may be a brat...but if she decided to bash Pamela Harding's head in during recess, I would simply look the other way 😌

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which Karen decides she doesn't like boys, including her three stepbrothers.

[Jackie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

What young girl did not love the Baby-Sitters Club and Karen, the Baby-Sitters Little Sister?