I was SO EXCITED to see Ann M. Martin plans to write more Baby Sitters Club books appealing to younger readers in the NY Times .  Dibbly fresh, as Claudia Kishi would say.

I read a lot as a child, and spent most of my time between the ages of 8 – 10 in Stoneybrook, CT with Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, and Mary Anne developing unrealistically high expectations of  my life at thirteen years old and babysitting.

My friends and I traded books, and would read them religiously. As I got older, I realized the silliness of the books.  They were outdated (constant references to perms, leggings, over-sized shirts), lacked subtlety (half the character’s parents were divorced, the ethnicity of every “diverse” character was explained),  and were unrealistic (13-year olds regularly baby sat 10-year olds, always met boyfriends on vacations, had practically no adult supervision ever).

But I still love them, the way I love kitchy, dramatic reality shows.

I shall blog more about some of my favs: Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew and so on. Oh I’m so happy that even students today are reading the old Baby Sitters Club books. I was in a classroom and I saw one student with the older books and another student with the graphic novels. Hey I say – at least they’re getting the jist of it. I’m game!

Children’s literature has changed a vast amount since I’ve grown up in a positive and negative way. Not all girls and boys want to read about magic. Not all boys and girls want to read about typical lives etc.etc.