TOP 7: Baby-Sitters Club Book Covers
This week the podcast discussed the panelists’ favorite Baby-Sitters Club installments, celebrating the influential young-readers series written by Ann M. Martin and published by Scholastic in the 1980s and 1990s. In the episode, we discussed the merits of the books themselves. But GPCD Panelist and author Jennifer Chen is also an aficionado of the iconic painted covers for the series, most of them created by artist Hodges Soileau. In fact, she liked them so much, so bought the original art for one!
Jennifer has written several articles on the Baby-Sitters Club, including this piece for Electric Literature on her personal favorite books. Below find Jennifer’s recommendations on her personal favorite covers from the series. Did your favorite not make the cut? Drop the title in the comments!
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7. “Kristy’s Great Idea’ (Book #1)
There’s two different versions of this cover, but either one is iconic because it kicked off the series by introducing us to the four original BSC members.
6. “Mary Anne Saves the Day” (Book #4)
As a shy young babysitter, I most identified with Mary Anne and I absolutely love what the Netflix show did with this story.
5. “Dawn and the Impossible Three” (Book #5)
Nothing captures being a babysitter for three young kids than this cover.
4. “Claudia and Mean Janine” (Book #7)
This list is very Claudia Kishi-centric because she was my fictional hero and style icon.
3. “Claudia and the Sad Goodbye” (Book #26)
I can’t even talk about how much this story means to me. Cue: tears. Also, no one rocked a side ponytail better than Claudia.
2. “Keep Out, Claudia!” (Book #56)
At the end of this book, creator Ann M. Martin wrote, ““A recurring theme in the Baby-sitters Club books is that of tolerance and acceptance, rather than exclusion. It’s something the characters feel strongly about, and so do I.” Same, Ann, same.
1. “Claudia and the Perfect Boy” (Book #71)
Claudia’s outfit alone is a reason to love this cover. Again, she was a true style icon.
Disagree with our rankings? Which BSC cover did we forget? Drop a comment below!
