Kristy and the Secret of Susan (The Baby-Sitters Club, #32)

by Ann M Martin

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that these books were written in the late 80s/early 90s. Kristy means well but I found her to be pretty condescending towards Susan's parents throughout the book. You could also tell that she was being pretty naive. Susan is Kristy's charge through this book and Susan is autistic. Kristy makes some pretty harsh judgements about how Susan's parents have decided to care for her.

In the end, Kristy did have a come to Jesus type meeting with Susan's father and it all ended pretty well. Really that should have been expected but I was still glad to see the subject addressed.




My heart breaks for Claudia a bit in this one. I think at some point in our lives (usually when we are pumped FULL of hormones) we look around at our family and cannot find ourselves in them. It's disconcerting at any age. There have been times in my adulthood where I've felt on the outside of things. The problem for Claudia was that she was only taking into consideration the evidence that supported her theory. There was a lot she was missing and naturally all of it came to light by the end of the book.




Funny how a year apart from someone can either really deepen your feelings for that person or really cool them down. The title "Mary Anne and Too Many Boys" is SO misleading. It's one boy besides Logan. I feel like dating in fiction is different than it is in real life. Maybe I'm just very conservative or it's a Midwest thing but I've never heard of anyone going on dates with multiple people at a time and being so casual about it. I could be very wrong about that but that has been my experience.

Regardless, it was actually really nice to see Mary Anne work through her own feelings on the subject and make a decision that best suited her and her situation.




I'm really liking the BSC books with touches of the paranormal or a mystery. Sure by the end of it everything is explained and all have a good chuckle about it but I really enjoy it while its happening. Honestly, I was surprised that this book would be Stacey's book because she's so level-headed and grounded. I could have seen this being more of a Claudia or Dawn storyline. The fact that it was Stacey just made it all the more fun!




I struggled with The Baby-Sitters' Island Adventure hardcore. I just could not bring myself to care much about it. Once I forced myself to get busy with it, it wasn't too bad. I'm having struggles with the "reality" part of the books. I think this is part of the trap of being an adult, reading books from my childhood, and trying to love them the same way. I just cannot imagine that any mother would let their 4 year old on a boat where the oldest person is 13/14. Is this a thing on the coastal states? Maybe because I'm landlocked this seems banana pants to me.

Either way, it was still a pretty decent read once I got through it. Not my favorite; not the worst. It was very middle of the road for me.