Description
Book Synopsis“We Are the Baby-Sitters Club is the ultimate companion guide for a generation of devout superfans. This book revisits the beloved series through grown-up eyes—but never loses the magic we all felt the moment we cracked open a fresh new book. BSC forever!" —Lucia Aniello, director and executive producer of
The Baby-Sitters Club Netflix series
A nostalgia-packed, star-studded anthology featuring contributors such as Kristen Arnett, Yumi Sakugawa, Myriam Gurba, and others exploring the lasting impact of Ann M. Martin’s beloved Baby-Sitters Club series In 1986, the first-ever meeting of the Baby-Sitters Club was called to order in a messy bedroom strewn with RingDings, scrunchies, and a landline phone. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne launched the club that birthed an entire generation of loyal readers.
Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series featured a complex cast of characters and touched on an impressive range of issues that were underrepresented at the time: divorce, adoption, childhood illness, class division, and racism, to name a few.
In
We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, writers and a few visual artists from the original BSC generation will reflect on the enduring legacy of Ann M. Martin’s beloved series, thirty-five years later—celebrating the BSC’s profound cultural influence.
Contributors include
Paperback Crush author Gabrielle Moss, illustrator SiobhÁn Gallagher, and filmmaker Sue Ding, as well as
New York Times bestselling author Kristen Arnett, Lambda Award–finalist Myriam Gurba, Black Girl Nerds founder Jamie Broadnax, and
Paris Review contributor Frankie Thomas.
One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021, We Are the Baby-Sitters Club looks closely at how Ann M. Martin’s series shaped our ideas about gender politics, friendship, fashion and beyond.Trade Review"Reading this anthology was like having a big, boisterous, long-awaited conversation with friends in which we shared our great love of the series, and filled in the parts of us it failed to mirror. It was a joy, a relief, and a homecoming that I hadn't known I needed. More than a book about a series of books, it is an ode to the child readers we were, and the ways we have learned to name the experiences we couldn't find written." Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me & Girlhood
" We Are the Baby-Sitters Club is a complicated paean to Ann M. Martin's serial magnum opus, grappling with its loose ends and blind spots through the passionate insight of grown-up fans; it's a varied volume of deeply personal literary criticism that takes tween girls' lives and culture seriouslyfinally!" Johanna Fateman, founding member of Le Tigre
"Turns out there were a whole lot of us obsessed with the Baby-Sitters Club! We Are the Baby-Sitters Club is the ultimate companion guide for a generation of devout superfans. This book revisits the beloved series through grown-up eyesbut never loses the magic we all felt the moment we cracked open a fresh new book. BSC forever!" Lucia Aniello, director and executive producer of The Baby-Sitters Club Netflix series
"From brains and bodies to dating and dieting, and from race and representation to the cool, cute, and near queer, this pathbreaking book sheds light on readers' active reception and critical reflections of the pop culture phenoms of their generation. An outstanding work that expertly and insightfully places girls and girlhoods at the center of analysis!" Miriam Forman-Brunell, author of B abysitter: An American History
"One of my happiest moments of 2020 was binge-watching Netflix's The Baby-sitters Club with my seven-year-old nieceit was the first time we ever watched something we were equally invested in. I'm excited to keep the BSC vibes going with this fun anthology, featuring work from Myriam Gurba, Kristen Arnett, and others." LitHub
"We Are the Baby-Sitters Club made me cry, laugh, and appreciate now more than ever the heart and soul of the BSC. Every contribution feels personal and unafraid to challengewith lovethis well-read series. Ann M. Martin teaches kids a unique lesson in emotional literacy that we now get to enjoyfully grownin the works within We Are the Baby-Sitters Club . If the Baby-Sitters Club was in your life in any way, this anthology is a must-read! Katy Farina, bestselling artist of the Baby-Sitters Little Sister series
"The Baby-Sitters Club taught a whole generation of American girls the importance of having a crew. This book is a reunion, a homecoming, an opportunity to connect with all the folks you grew up with but never even knew, a chance to really understand why these seven girls have stayed with us and shaped us for so many years. More than three decades after we joined them for the adventure of a lifetime, We Are the Baby-Sitters Club proves that the best friendships allow us to reminisce, to reflect, and to grow." Brittney Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage
"An explorative collection of essays that sends you right back to those nostalgic moments of childhood." Shannon Wright, cocreator of indie bestseller Twins
"I picked up this collection because I was obsessed with the BSC as a child. I couldn't put it down because, as an adult, I am obsessed with the complexities of gender, friendship, race, and power. This anthology helped me connect my childhood and adult interests in a way that few things have." Ann Friedman, coauthor of Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close
"More than a book about a series of books, it is an ode to the child readers we were, and the ways we have learned to name the experiences we couldn't find written." Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me and Girlhood
Table of ContentsForeword
Introduction: We Are the Baby-Sitters Club: Marisa Crawford and Megan Milks
Say Hello to Your Friends: Girl Groups and Friendship Culture
“Fun with Roleplay”: Kristen Arnett
“The Same…but Different”: Anjali Khosla
“Thirteen Things a Middle-Aged Man Can Learn from The Baby-Sitters Club”: Jack Shepherd
“No Boys Allowed: On Girl Groups, Boyfriends, and Kristy’s Great Anxiety”: Megan Milks
“Could Mary Anne Save the Soul?”: Jeanne Thornton
“Getting Over Claudia and Calories”: Jennifer Epperson
Fashion Statements: Personal Style in the BSC
“What the BSC Wore (And What It Meant)”: Kim Hutt Mayhew
“I Want to Be a Claudia but I Know I’m a Stacey”: Marisa Crawford
“Guess the Baby-Sitter: A Pop Quiz”: Buzz Slutzky
“Scripts of Girlhood: Handwriting and the Baby-Sitters Club”: Kelly Blewett
The BSC and Us: On Seeing Ourselves Reflected (Or Not)
“Let’s Talk About Jessi”: Yodassa Williams
“The Truth About Being a Pre-Teen Diabetic”: Jami Sailor
“Claudia Kishi, My Asian-American Female Role Model of the '90s”: Yumi Sakugawa
“The Different Shades of Jessi Ramsey”: Jamie Broadnax
“‘I’ve Been Thinking About Families Lately’”: Kristen Felicetti
“Kristy and the Secrets of Autism and Ableism”: Haley Moss
“Making The Claudia Kishi Club”: Sue Ding
“Jessi on the Margins: Black Characters Then & Now”: ChantÉ Griffin
Be Bossy: Entrepreneurship and the Business of Babysitting
“Kristy’s Invisible Hand and Das Baby-Sitters Club Kapital”: Myriam Gurba
“Data-Sitters Club Super-Special: Business Is to Successful as Baby Sitter Is to…”: Quinn Dombrowski, Anouk Lang, Katherine Bowers, Maria Sachiko Cecire, Roopika Risam, Lee Skallerup Bessette
“I Am My Own Mr. Mom: Gender, Caregiving, and Labor in the BSC”: Caolan Madden
Great Ideas: The BSC World Beyond Stoneybrook
“Jaded Quitters Club”: Siobhan Gallagher
“Could The Baby-Sitters Club Have Been More Gay?”:Frankie Thomas
“No Ship Too Small: A Deep-Dive into Baby-Sitters Club Fan Fiction”: Logan Hughes
“From Girl Friends to Monster Sitters: How the BSC Spawned a Whole Moral Universe”: Gabrielle Moss
