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The Baby-Sitters Club #2
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls
Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne and Stacey have had some strange adventures since they started the Baby-sitters Club. But nothing's been as spooky as what's going on right now. The baby-sitters have been getting mysterious phone calls when they're out on their jobs. When a phone rings and they pick up, there's no one on the other end of the line.
Claudia's sure it's the Phantom Caller, a jewel thief who's been operating in the area. Claudia has always liked reading mysteries, but she doesn't like it when they happen to her. So she and the baby-sitters decide to take action - with some very mixed results!
Claudia's sure it's the Phantom Caller, a jewel thief who's been operating in the area. Claudia has always liked reading mysteries, but she doesn't like it when they happen to her. So she and the baby-sitters decide to take action - with some very mixed results!
153 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1986
About the author
Ann M. Martin
934 books2,872 followersAnn 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 577 reviews
September 18, 2019
Ayyy, lo terminé hace una semana y se me olvidó actualizar.
July 8, 2016
I know this is an older book and we've come a long way since it was written.
But.
Can. We. Stop. Telling. Girls. That. Boys. Are. Mean. Because. They. Like. Them.
This is a gross and abusive idea to continue to perpetuate. It needs to stop. I am raising two little boys. My 2nd grader had his first crush this year and you know what I told him?
To make sure to include her in all his games at school and to notice and say nice things about her. I told him the absolute worst thing he could do would be to pick on her, tease her, or in any way be physical towards her.
Common fucking sense people. I love, love, love this series...but I'm pretty damn disappointed in this particular book.
But.
Can. We. Stop. Telling. Girls. That. Boys. Are. Mean. Because. They. Like. Them.
This is a gross and abusive idea to continue to perpetuate. It needs to stop. I am raising two little boys. My 2nd grader had his first crush this year and you know what I told him?
To make sure to include her in all his games at school and to notice and say nice things about her. I told him the absolute worst thing he could do would be to pick on her, tease her, or in any way be physical towards her.
Common fucking sense people. I love, love, love this series...but I'm pretty damn disappointed in this particular book.
July 13, 2011
"Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not up to trigonomulus, or whatever it is she does. We can't all be scholars." - Claudia, expressing frustration with both math and her sister, who is an Android being, probably from the future, and possibly "related" to Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Was Claudia described as having almond-shaped eyes:
Thankfully, she did not describe her own eyes this way.
Was Mimi's accent described as rolling:
Yes! Like a "ship at sea."
How many times was the word incredulously used:
Zero!
WWCW:
-Purple pants that stopped just below the knee, held up by suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple plaid shirt with a matching hat, high-top sneakers, lobster earrings
-Extremely anti-climactic outfit for the Halloween Hop: baggy jeans and a new bulky sweater. Really, Claudia? I am disappointed in you.
What About Stacey?
Stacey wore nothing that Claudia deemed cool enough to describe for us. Fail, Stacey, fail.
Quit letting 12-Year Olds Watch Your Goddamn Kids
"Boring!" said Stacey. "Let's put on MTV. At least we can listen to some good music."
Kristy: "Now hear this! No running, no yelling, no jumping - and I mean it. One false move, and I'll punch your lights out."
Mary Anne let out a sigh of relief. "It's just the wind, " she said. "I must not have closed the door all the way." [Ten minutes later, at the back door]: "The door wasn't latched properly! Some baby-sitter I am. Leaving doors open left and right for anybody to walk through."
The Phantom: "It was that baby-sitting book you started bring to school everyday. I checked it each morning. It had all kinds of information in it: times, names, addresses, phone numbers..." Kristy slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. Ah, yeah, Kristy...WTF!
Hilarious!
"I decided I would try to paint a picture of embarrassment. The main color would be red."
Awwwwwwwwwkward
"I don't know whether I was born early or late or on time," said Mary Anne softly. "Dad hardly ever talks about stuff like that. Its times like these I wish I had a mother."
...No one said anything.
Bitch!
"Janine?"
"Hmm?"
"Remember when we used to crawl under Mom and Dad's bed during thunderstorms - "
"But, we were really just hiding?"
"Yeah," I said fondly.
"Very interesting, psychologically." said Janine. "The fear process - "
"Janine?"
"What?"
"Shut up."
Kristy: "How did you know I was going to be baby-sitting at all those places?"
Police Officer: "And, why were you harassing this young lady?"
Phantom: "Which question should I answer first?"
Kristy: "Mine."
Police Officer: [raises eyebrow]
Srsly. Kill Yrselfs!
"Us baby-sitters have to stick together! Through thick and thin."
"Through Phantoms and power failures."
"Through fires and floods."
We put our arms around eachother and headed into the school," [where, hopefully, someone beat you up for being so f*cking cheesy.]
That two-star rating? It has nothing to do w/ the fact that this was a Claudia book. I like Claudia. The plot was f*cking asinine.
Was Claudia described as having almond-shaped eyes:
Thankfully, she did not describe her own eyes this way.
Was Mimi's accent described as rolling:
Yes! Like a "ship at sea."
How many times was the word incredulously used:
Zero!
WWCW:
-Purple pants that stopped just below the knee, held up by suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple plaid shirt with a matching hat, high-top sneakers, lobster earrings
-Extremely anti-climactic outfit for the Halloween Hop: baggy jeans and a new bulky sweater. Really, Claudia? I am disappointed in you.
What About Stacey?
Stacey wore nothing that Claudia deemed cool enough to describe for us. Fail, Stacey, fail.
Quit letting 12-Year Olds Watch Your Goddamn Kids
"Boring!" said Stacey. "Let's put on MTV. At least we can listen to some good music."
Kristy: "Now hear this! No running, no yelling, no jumping - and I mean it. One false move, and I'll punch your lights out."
Mary Anne let out a sigh of relief. "It's just the wind, " she said. "I must not have closed the door all the way." [Ten minutes later, at the back door]: "The door wasn't latched properly! Some baby-sitter I am. Leaving doors open left and right for anybody to walk through."
The Phantom: "It was that baby-sitting book you started bring to school everyday. I checked it each morning. It had all kinds of information in it: times, names, addresses, phone numbers..." Kristy slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. Ah, yeah, Kristy...WTF!
Hilarious!
"I decided I would try to paint a picture of embarrassment. The main color would be red."
Awwwwwwwwwkward
"I don't know whether I was born early or late or on time," said Mary Anne softly. "Dad hardly ever talks about stuff like that. Its times like these I wish I had a mother."
...No one said anything.
Bitch!
"Janine?"
"Hmm?"
"Remember when we used to crawl under Mom and Dad's bed during thunderstorms - "
"But, we were really just hiding?"
"Yeah," I said fondly.
"Very interesting, psychologically." said Janine. "The fear process - "
"Janine?"
"What?"
"Shut up."
Kristy: "How did you know I was going to be baby-sitting at all those places?"
Police Officer: "And, why were you harassing this young lady?"
Phantom: "Which question should I answer first?"
Kristy: "Mine."
Police Officer: [raises eyebrow]
Srsly. Kill Yrselfs!
"Us baby-sitters have to stick together! Through thick and thin."
"Through Phantoms and power failures."
"Through fires and floods."
We put our arms around eachother and headed into the school," [where, hopefully, someone beat you up for being so f*cking cheesy.]
That two-star rating? It has nothing to do w/ the fact that this was a Claudia book. I like Claudia. The plot was f*cking asinine.
January 18, 2023
The one where Kirsten Dunst posed for the cover! That’s right, her very first modeling job was as the little blonde toddler:
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...
And that’s not all—this is also the first book starring my favorite character/old fictional BFF, Claudia Kishi. That girl was a straight up style icon, plus she knew about the importance of junk food stashes and Nancy Drew mysteries. What a total blast this was.
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...
And that’s not all—this is also the first book starring my favorite character/old fictional BFF, Claudia Kishi. That girl was a straight up style icon, plus she knew about the importance of junk food stashes and Nancy Drew mysteries. What a total blast this was.
May 12, 2020
The babysitters are hounded by phantom phone calls while looking after their young charges and immediately think that its the local infamous burglar known as the phantom phonecaller. Hilarity ensues as the girls get increasingly worked up during their sitting jobs, with rather inventive methods for detering burglars.
I almost forgot how dramatic Claudia can be while I was reading this. Her love of Nancy Drew leads her imagination to run riot at times. She was never one of my favourites as I couldn't relate to her love of art, but I admit that her grandmother Mimi is my favourite adult. Every time she says 'my Claudia' my heart breaks a little. Also, not loving the Janine hate. Just because she's smart the other girls think she's boring and try to avoid her. Not cool girls. Janine will be the one bringing in the cash when she grows up, you want her on your side.
The plot has a cute little mystery that is obviously not deep, or have any real purpose. But hey, it's for kids and I loved this growing up. I'm not sure on all the boy crazy stuff these days - it feels a little dated, but otherwise... yeah. Classic 198os kids literature.
I almost forgot how dramatic Claudia can be while I was reading this. Her love of Nancy Drew leads her imagination to run riot at times. She was never one of my favourites as I couldn't relate to her love of art, but I admit that her grandmother Mimi is my favourite adult. Every time she says 'my Claudia' my heart breaks a little. Also, not loving the Janine hate. Just because she's smart the other girls think she's boring and try to avoid her. Not cool girls. Janine will be the one bringing in the cash when she grows up, you want her on your side.
The plot has a cute little mystery that is obviously not deep, or have any real purpose. But hey, it's for kids and I loved this growing up. I'm not sure on all the boy crazy stuff these days - it feels a little dated, but otherwise... yeah. Classic 198os kids literature.
December 27, 2020
Claudia, I blame you for my obsession with getting a phone in my bedroom as a kid, along with my own private phone number. You’re also responsible for me making sure there’s always some junk food hidden in my bedroom, in case of emergency.
Claudia’s fashion choices also started my love of all things quirky, something that’s followed me into my adult life. I still buy weird and wonderful earrings because of Claudia, coming up with combinations that make other people look at me like I’m weird but not always wonderful. My current favourite pairing is a shark in one ear and a human skeleton in the other (the shark won).
This is the first BSC mystery and, given Claudia’s love of all things Nancy Drew, it’s only fitting that she’s the one to tell it. A jewel thief, known as the Phantom Caller, has been getting closer and closer to Stoneybrook. This book seems so tame as an adult but I remember it scared me as a kid.
It’s time for some emergency BSC meetings. Our favourite babysitters, who are always prepared, come up with codes to use if they find themselves at a babysitting job when the house is being robbed. Now, if only they can remember what words they’re supposed to say.
We also tag along for babysitting jobs with Jamie (Hi-hi!) Newton (along with his cousins Rob, Brenda and Rosie Feldman), Nina and Eleanor Marshall, Karen and Andrew Brewer, Charlotte Johanssen, David Michael Thomas, and Claire and Margo Pike (although we only hear that this job has been scheduled; we don’t actually get to hang out with the Pike girls).
Watson has bought Karen a book called The Witch Next Door. This kid does not need this sort of encouragement. She already believesMorbidda Destiny Mrs Porter next door is a witch. In this book the curse Karen is obsessed with is the multiplication of her freckles.
Kristy reminds up she’s a professional babysitter:
Stacey uses a TV remote control when she’s babysitting Charlotte. When this book was published, remote controls were a revolutionary idea for me. If we wanted to change the channel we had to get up off the lounge, walk across the room and turn the dial on the TV. I’d also never heard of cable TV before I read this book. Then, when Stacey turned on Channel 47, my mind was blown. We had 5 TV stations in Australia at the time.
Claudia has an actual conversation with Janine, who doesn’t annoy me anymore. She also spends time with her grandmother, Mimi, one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. I adored Mimi. Even now, she melts my heart every time she says, “my Claudia” and her wisdom stands the test of time.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
Claudia’s fashion choices also started my love of all things quirky, something that’s followed me into my adult life. I still buy weird and wonderful earrings because of Claudia, coming up with combinations that make other people look at me like I’m weird but not always wonderful. My current favourite pairing is a shark in one ear and a human skeleton in the other (the shark won).
This is the first BSC mystery and, given Claudia’s love of all things Nancy Drew, it’s only fitting that she’s the one to tell it. A jewel thief, known as the Phantom Caller, has been getting closer and closer to Stoneybrook. This book seems so tame as an adult but I remember it scared me as a kid.
It’s time for some emergency BSC meetings. Our favourite babysitters, who are always prepared, come up with codes to use if they find themselves at a babysitting job when the house is being robbed. Now, if only they can remember what words they’re supposed to say.
“Have you found my b- I mean, did you see my - Have you found my … my …”In between all of the phone calls where the caller doesn’t speak (what is it with creepy phone calls and babysitters?), we’re also watching boys make food sculptures from their cafeteria food and preparing for the first school dance of the year, the Halloween Hop. Claudia is pining over Trevor Sandbourne, resident poet and cute shy guy, but is sitting back hoping and waiting because a girl can’t possibly ask a boy to a dance. The world as we know it would end!
We also tag along for babysitting jobs with Jamie (Hi-hi!) Newton (along with his cousins Rob, Brenda and Rosie Feldman), Nina and Eleanor Marshall, Karen and Andrew Brewer, Charlotte Johanssen, David Michael Thomas, and Claire and Margo Pike (although we only hear that this job has been scheduled; we don’t actually get to hang out with the Pike girls).
Watson has bought Karen a book called The Witch Next Door. This kid does not need this sort of encouragement. She already believes
Kristy reminds up she’s a professional babysitter:
“One false move and I’ll punch your lights out.”Mary Anne sets prowler traps, Home Alone style. She also reads The Secret Garden. BSC books informed a lot of my own choices growing up. I read The Secret Garden for the first time because Mary Anne did and it ended up becoming one of my favourite books.
Stacey uses a TV remote control when she’s babysitting Charlotte. When this book was published, remote controls were a revolutionary idea for me. If we wanted to change the channel we had to get up off the lounge, walk across the room and turn the dial on the TV. I’d also never heard of cable TV before I read this book. Then, when Stacey turned on Channel 47, my mind was blown. We had 5 TV stations in Australia at the time.
Claudia has an actual conversation with Janine, who doesn’t annoy me anymore. She also spends time with her grandmother, Mimi, one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. I adored Mimi. Even now, she melts my heart every time she says, “my Claudia” and her wisdom stands the test of time.
“You know, my Claudia, that in order for things to change, you must change them. You will grow to be an old woman like me, if you wait for others to change things that do not please you.”My biggest revelation, rereading this book after so many years, was discovering that “no problem” was considered slang in 1986. Go figure!
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
October 16, 2018
Irresistible re- read of 2018
Claudia Kishi, BSC 's vice-president takes the role of main protagonist in book 2. I liked the focus on a younger sibling feeling she cannot live up to an older sister's shadow. On top of it the girls ( who are in 7th grade) become obsessed with a local news story about recent B&E 's. Of course, overactive imaginations lead to some pretty crazy things happening. But there's also plenty of room for teen angst as Claudia worries if her poet crush will take her to the Halloween Hop.
Claudia Kishi, BSC 's vice-president takes the role of main protagonist in book 2. I liked the focus on a younger sibling feeling she cannot live up to an older sister's shadow. On top of it the girls ( who are in 7th grade) become obsessed with a local news story about recent B&E 's. Of course, overactive imaginations lead to some pretty crazy things happening. But there's also plenty of room for teen angst as Claudia worries if her poet crush will take her to the Halloween Hop.
January 25, 2019
Find Out Which of These Serial Killers Is Behind You Right Now, but First the Traffic and Weather. Diane?
It is 1986, and Claudia has a stalker. On the outside, he is your usual emotionally-stunted pre-teen masturbator who teases and publicly torments her and gets away with it under the Boys Will Be Boys Clause that has existed since sex-differentiation became a part of biology.
But underneath, he is a twisted misogynist who steals the girls' private register filled with their schedules, including the addresses and phone numbers of all the places they would be on the job. He uses that information to place creepy hang-up phone calls and peer through windows. Claudia gets so upset when she discovers his leering eyes while babysitting at a stranger's home that she calls the police, who instead of apprehending the boy and taking him away, bring him into the house and force Claudia to interface with the little predator-in-training. Gross, guys.
But I'm not interested in the little deviant or the disturbing courtship rituals of underage heteros, including the fact that Claudia agreed to go to the Halloween Dance with this boy in the very same conversation she had with him in police custody. (Ten to one your girl grows up to marry a serial killer in prison.) No, I am interested in why he was able to get away with it for so long.
In what is clearly the most insipid plot in the series so far, towns near Stoneybrook that are nonetheless not Stoneybrook are being hit by a serial burglar who targets rich families by calling their homes to ensure they are not around when he plans to strike. The local media dubs him the "Phantom Caller", a name that alone gives this incompetent, petty criminal far more mystique than he deserves.
Claudia is apprehensive about the Phantom caller, which is normal for a young girl with a bit of imagination. She calls an emergency meeting of the Baby-sitters Club, and it is here that Claudia's misguided fear turns into full-on mass panic. It is a prime example of fear as a contagion in a community dynamic. First one person was a little nervous. Within minutes, four people were making plans to protect themselves with ideas for traps, a communication system for contacting one another in code and calling the police, and otherwise preparing for Terror Alert Red.
What's funny is the the Phantom Caller became immaterial early on. The girls wisely acknowledged that he was unlikely to be a threat. Instead their fear turned to an even more ominous "Anything Can Happen When You're Alone in the House," which, while true, started and remained fully irrational. Yes it was smart for these four young women to have a safety plan in place. But there are two reasons that hatching this plan in a panic was ultimately detrimental.
1) Kristy became a danger to herself, her charges, and her charges' family. Apropos of nothing, Kristy -- or was it Mary Anne?... when Kristy's not being an active bitch, I have trouble telling them apart -- well, one of them booby trapped the house she was sitting in. Though not as sadistic, this was some real Kevin McCallister bullshit: pots and pans at doorways, marbles, complex mechanisms for turning on loud music when a door was opened. Not only is this dumb kid stuff, but the dog set off one trap, and when the parents came home early, they could easily have killed themselves. It didn't stop a crime, but it did get Kristy Anne all worked up and could have damaged the family's property or the family members themselves.
2) Claudia's stalker. Yeah, remember him? The only reason he was able to do what he did is because the girls' safety plan included bringing their club materials to school with them. Not only did they give him the materials they needed, but when the mysterious phone calls began, Claudia and Kristy Anne's panic was so focused on the Phantom Caller than they didn't consider the possibility of any other threat. Do you think Claudia would have gone to the Halloween Dance with her stalker if she were able to acknowledge that he was the source of her fear the entire time? Of course not! She still attributed her and her friends' panic the Caller, effectively absolving the stalker of his contribution. How else could the stalker's actions become the silly misunderstanding they were ultimately framed as?
I am not victim blaming here, simply acknowledging that the whole situation was ultimately made worse by the culture of fear they invited to take over the Baby-sitters Club.
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is an unintentionally timely piece of literature considering it was published in the midst of an ongoing nationwide moral panic. Take your pick. Child sexual abuse allegations, HIV/AIDS, or my personal favesies: Satanic Panic. But Ann Martin doesn't seem to make the connection. The thread is never brought to its conclusion. Instead the Babysitters end up fine, none of their misbegotten fear has any negative ramifications, and two of the girls go off to dance with boys who invaded their privacy and violated their trust.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Too bad nobody is listening.
**********
Homework:
Recount a time when the local news made you crazy for no good goddamn reason and what you did to help other people become crazy too.
Further Reading:
Did you know that fear of crime is often disproportinate to local crime rates and does not tend to diminish even when crime rates decrease?
Curiel, Rafael P, and Steven Bishop. “Modelling the Fear of Crime.” Proceedings of the Royal Society A, vol. 473, no. 2203, 7 Dec. 2017, doi:10.1098/rspa.2017.0156.
<< #1: Kristy's Great Idea
#3: The Truth About Stacey >>
It is 1986, and Claudia has a stalker. On the outside, he is your usual emotionally-stunted pre-teen masturbator who teases and publicly torments her and gets away with it under the Boys Will Be Boys Clause that has existed since sex-differentiation became a part of biology.
But underneath, he is a twisted misogynist who steals the girls' private register filled with their schedules, including the addresses and phone numbers of all the places they would be on the job. He uses that information to place creepy hang-up phone calls and peer through windows. Claudia gets so upset when she discovers his leering eyes while babysitting at a stranger's home that she calls the police, who instead of apprehending the boy and taking him away, bring him into the house and force Claudia to interface with the little predator-in-training. Gross, guys.
But I'm not interested in the little deviant or the disturbing courtship rituals of underage heteros, including the fact that Claudia agreed to go to the Halloween Dance with this boy in the very same conversation she had with him in police custody. (Ten to one your girl grows up to marry a serial killer in prison.) No, I am interested in why he was able to get away with it for so long.
In what is clearly the most insipid plot in the series so far, towns near Stoneybrook that are nonetheless not Stoneybrook are being hit by a serial burglar who targets rich families by calling their homes to ensure they are not around when he plans to strike. The local media dubs him the "Phantom Caller", a name that alone gives this incompetent, petty criminal far more mystique than he deserves.
Claudia is apprehensive about the Phantom caller, which is normal for a young girl with a bit of imagination. She calls an emergency meeting of the Baby-sitters Club, and it is here that Claudia's misguided fear turns into full-on mass panic. It is a prime example of fear as a contagion in a community dynamic. First one person was a little nervous. Within minutes, four people were making plans to protect themselves with ideas for traps, a communication system for contacting one another in code and calling the police, and otherwise preparing for Terror Alert Red.
What's funny is the the Phantom Caller became immaterial early on. The girls wisely acknowledged that he was unlikely to be a threat. Instead their fear turned to an even more ominous "Anything Can Happen When You're Alone in the House," which, while true, started and remained fully irrational. Yes it was smart for these four young women to have a safety plan in place. But there are two reasons that hatching this plan in a panic was ultimately detrimental.
1) Kristy became a danger to herself, her charges, and her charges' family. Apropos of nothing, Kristy -- or was it Mary Anne?... when Kristy's not being an active bitch, I have trouble telling them apart -- well, one of them booby trapped the house she was sitting in. Though not as sadistic, this was some real Kevin McCallister bullshit: pots and pans at doorways, marbles, complex mechanisms for turning on loud music when a door was opened. Not only is this dumb kid stuff, but the dog set off one trap, and when the parents came home early, they could easily have killed themselves. It didn't stop a crime, but it did get Kristy Anne all worked up and could have damaged the family's property or the family members themselves.
2) Claudia's stalker. Yeah, remember him? The only reason he was able to do what he did is because the girls' safety plan included bringing their club materials to school with them. Not only did they give him the materials they needed, but when the mysterious phone calls began, Claudia and Kristy Anne's panic was so focused on the Phantom Caller than they didn't consider the possibility of any other threat. Do you think Claudia would have gone to the Halloween Dance with her stalker if she were able to acknowledge that he was the source of her fear the entire time? Of course not! She still attributed her and her friends' panic the Caller, effectively absolving the stalker of his contribution. How else could the stalker's actions become the silly misunderstanding they were ultimately framed as?
I am not victim blaming here, simply acknowledging that the whole situation was ultimately made worse by the culture of fear they invited to take over the Baby-sitters Club.
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is an unintentionally timely piece of literature considering it was published in the midst of an ongoing nationwide moral panic. Take your pick. Child sexual abuse allegations, HIV/AIDS, or my personal favesies: Satanic Panic. But Ann Martin doesn't seem to make the connection. The thread is never brought to its conclusion. Instead the Babysitters end up fine, none of their misbegotten fear has any negative ramifications, and two of the girls go off to dance with boys who invaded their privacy and violated their trust.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Too bad nobody is listening.
**********
Homework:
Recount a time when the local news made you crazy for no good goddamn reason and what you did to help other people become crazy too.
Further Reading:
Did you know that fear of crime is often disproportinate to local crime rates and does not tend to diminish even when crime rates decrease?
Curiel, Rafael P, and Steven Bishop. “Modelling the Fear of Crime.” Proceedings of the Royal Society A, vol. 473, no. 2203, 7 Dec. 2017, doi:10.1098/rspa.2017.0156.
<< #1: Kristy's Great Idea
#3: The Truth About Stacey >>
May 14, 2022
Another comfort reread!
Claudia is so cool! I liked when she described doing her art and talked with Mimi about Janine. The scene where she finally connects with Janine at the end is very sweet. I could do without the "boys tease you because they like you" narrative though. A bit spooky! Boo-boo and Morbidda Destiny have cameos again to my delight.
Claudia is so cool! I liked when she described doing her art and talked with Mimi about Janine. The scene where she finally connects with Janine at the end is very sweet. I could do without the "boys tease you because they like you" narrative though. A bit spooky! Boo-boo and Morbidda Destiny have cameos again to my delight.
August 22, 2022
3.5 stars.
I so wish Kristy didn’t agree to attend the dance with that annoying twerp (“a boy who teases you secretly likes you” is not a fun trope!). Claudia remains the coolest. Read via audio (narrated by Elle Fanning).
I so wish Kristy didn’t agree to attend the dance with that annoying twerp (“a boy who teases you secretly likes you” is not a fun trope!). Claudia remains the coolest. Read via audio (narrated by Elle Fanning).
November 2, 2019
If you ever get a call from me asking about a blue ribbon, you'll know what to do.
December 2, 2022
School is a complicated mess. Give me Nancy Drew any day.
claudia was my favorite baby-sitter character as a child, she still is but i think i see myself in mary anne now that i'm older. i love how claudia likes mystery books and just how cool she is. she'd definitely be one of those girls with aesthetics and she'd probably be famous in 2014 tumblr 🤭 plus her name is really pretty! one of the coldest names in books, like bro how am i supposed to compete with someone named claudia kishi??
claudia was my favorite baby-sitter character as a child, she still is but i think i see myself in mary anne now that i'm older. i love how claudia likes mystery books and just how cool she is. she'd definitely be one of those girls with aesthetics and she'd probably be famous in 2014 tumblr 🤭 plus her name is really pretty! one of the coldest names in books, like bro how am i supposed to compete with someone named claudia kishi??
February 21, 2020
Well, well, well.
Little Miss Perfect Kristy isn't so perfect after all. Ha!
I honestly really loved this! My only gripe is that although I understand this book is a bit aged, can we please let the whole boys-are-rude-to-girls-because-they-like-them thing die?
Also! This story line wouldn't be very feasible in our modern age of technology - that makes it even better!
Little Miss Perfect Kristy isn't so perfect after all. Ha!
I honestly really loved this! My only gripe is that although I understand this book is a bit aged, can we please let the whole boys-are-rude-to-girls-because-they-like-them thing die?
Also! This story line wouldn't be very feasible in our modern age of technology - that makes it even better!
October 1, 2019
I blame Paperback Crush for this foray into my childhood. The rereads of my beloved Babysitters Club did not disappoint. What a joy it was to be reunited with my favorites from this beloved series that marked my childhood.
January 6, 2010
another classic of my childhood. i remember this one came out around halloween--veyer thematic, as the entire premise is that claudia has a crush on the school poet, travor sandbourne, & hopes that he'll ask her to the halloween hop. in the meantime, a local robber called the phantom caller has been calling the homes of rich people & then breaking in & stealing jewelry when no one answers. the babysitters are concerned that someone may rob the houses where they are babysitting, or that parents will get word of the phantom caller & not allow them to babysit anymore for fear of their safety. this is probably the first example we have of the long tradition of the babysitters doing really dumb shit in an effort to avoid parents looking out for their welfare & safety. this only becomes more pronounced in the mystery series, when people occasionally try to kill the babysitters but they still don't bother to talk about it with their families. nothing ever goes so far as they did in the sweet valley series (where the twins are the victims of attempted murder & kidnappings every other day, but never seek counseling or show any effects whatsoever), but still!
anyway, claudia & kristy get phantom phone calls while they are babysitting & of course it ends up being trevor & alan gray calling & trying to muster up the courage to invite the girls to the halloween hop. because every middle school boy decides the best way to ask a girl out is to call her while she's babysitting. what? this makes no sense. but it wraps up the plot, so we'll go with it.
fun fact: the little girl on the cover is kirsten dunst. apparently she modeled for books as a small child.
anyway, claudia & kristy get phantom phone calls while they are babysitting & of course it ends up being trevor & alan gray calling & trying to muster up the courage to invite the girls to the halloween hop. because every middle school boy decides the best way to ask a girl out is to call her while she's babysitting. what? this makes no sense. but it wraps up the plot, so we'll go with it.
fun fact: the little girl on the cover is kirsten dunst. apparently she modeled for books as a small child.
January 6, 2016
the bsc get phone calls with hangups at their babysitting houses. they think it's connected to the local burglar who uses this method to find out if people are home before breaking in and taking their jewelry. turns out it's just boys (alan gray -- barf!-- and trevor sandbourne, the shy poet) who want to ask kristy and claudia to the halloween dance but are scared to do it at school/call them at their homes.
highlights include an early example of claudia and janine being almost friends (janine hides junk food in her room too! what a revelation!), mary anne's rigging of anti-burglary devices including a doorstop that turns on a tape deck blasting "poundin' down the walls" by the slime kings (I want ann m martin to name my next band and all our songs), the description of classmate alexander kurtzman "who carries a briefcase and wears a jacket and tie, and lives to obey rules," and the description of sam thomas's date: "you should have seen who--or maybe I should say what--he took to the movies last friday. she's a freshman in high school and she had spiky yellow hair with green stuff at the ends, and these little lace gloves with the fingertips cut out. now, what is the point of wearing gloves if--" thanks, konservative kristy!
one claudia outfit (too few! esp. considering this is a claudia book! at least the outfit is RIDICULOUS)
-Today, for instance, I’m wearing purple pants that stop just below my knees and are held up with suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple-plaid shirt with a matching hat, my high-top sneakers, and lobster earrings.
four snacks in claudia's room:
-licorice whips in her desk
-root beer barrels under her mattress
-chocolate bar in her notebook
-saltwater taffy in her pencil jar
highlights include an early example of claudia and janine being almost friends (janine hides junk food in her room too! what a revelation!), mary anne's rigging of anti-burglary devices including a doorstop that turns on a tape deck blasting "poundin' down the walls" by the slime kings (I want ann m martin to name my next band and all our songs), the description of classmate alexander kurtzman "who carries a briefcase and wears a jacket and tie, and lives to obey rules," and the description of sam thomas's date: "you should have seen who--or maybe I should say what--he took to the movies last friday. she's a freshman in high school and she had spiky yellow hair with green stuff at the ends, and these little lace gloves with the fingertips cut out. now, what is the point of wearing gloves if--" thanks, konservative kristy!
one claudia outfit (too few! esp. considering this is a claudia book! at least the outfit is RIDICULOUS)
-Today, for instance, I’m wearing purple pants that stop just below my knees and are held up with suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple-plaid shirt with a matching hat, my high-top sneakers, and lobster earrings.
four snacks in claudia's room:
-licorice whips in her desk
-root beer barrels under her mattress
-chocolate bar in her notebook
-saltwater taffy in her pencil jar
Read
August 9, 2020I read this for pure nostalgia reasons and oh boy, I can definitely tell why I loved this series as a kid. So many memories flooding back, so many things in the books I tried to pick for my own life - not the babysitting part though. And Claudia (or Valerie, as she was called in Finland for some reason) was my favourite back then and yep, can definitely see why I liked her so much.
Reading this as an adult, I can see there are problematic things in this you don't realize as a kid. And it's outdated and perpetuates things no one in this day and age should need to hear. But it's also pure, sweet, nostalgia-filled feel-good fun.
Reading this as an adult, I can see there are problematic things in this you don't realize as a kid. And it's outdated and perpetuates things no one in this day and age should need to hear. But it's also pure, sweet, nostalgia-filled feel-good fun.
November 2, 2020
I found Claudia to be a less sympathetic POV character than Kristy. I was also put off by the fact that no one in the book locks their doors - even as they actively worry about a burglar! I could have done without the whole, "boys tease girls because they like them" trope too.
Read
December 9, 2017Sorry not sorry for enjoying the hell out of this dive into my favourite series circa 1996.
September 22, 2021
3'5/5🌟
Estuvo entretenido. Me ha gustado. Rápido de leer perfecto para desconectar de lecturas más pesadas.
Estuvo entretenido. Me ha gustado. Rápido de leer perfecto para desconectar de lecturas más pesadas.
August 25, 2018
Claudia and that gang are back at it! Babysitting is all fun and games (literally) until someone starts breaking into homes and stealing jewelry. Known as the “Phantom Caller” he calls twice and hangs up without a sound and after that happens you are next in line to be robbed. The girls start getting these strange calls and what unfolds next may not be exactly what they where expecting.
November 22, 2020
Ever since I learned that Netflix was reimagining one of my favorite childhood book series, I had decided that I would be embarking on a re-read of this series, reliving a series of books that helped to shape me into a voracious reader. I am so excited to embark on this travel back in time. I don't expect to be mentally stimulated -- I mean, I'm not exactly a pre-teen middle-schooler these days -- but I make no apology for choosing to enjoy this series from the perspective of adulthood. Don't expect me to have any sort of psychoanalyst or feminist sermonizing on the appropriateness of the situations or the effects on a young girl reading these books; there's plenty of that to go around already. I'm here for the nostalgia and the meander down memory lane
What I liked about Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls:
The slight chill factor - We all think we're so big and bad, but no matter how old we get, one thing goes bump in the night and we're twelve-year-olds again.
Claudia's relationship with Mimi - This resonates deeply with me. I was my Gram's girl when I was young. Everywhere she went, I wanted to go too. She was my favorite person (and still is, in my heart). When I read about Mimi's patience with Claudia, the wisdom she imparts, the closeness of their bond, these are all things I know from my own Gram; she feels so close by to me when I read those scenes.
What I didn't care for:
Claudia's attitude - Yes, I sympathize with the pressures of living in Janine's shadow, but the constant whining about it gets old in a hurry. And then she gets all jugdy toward Mary Anne and Kristy's immaturity, and all I can think is "whining isn't all that adult either, Claudia." I am no fan of hypocrisy. Not even in twelve-year-old fictional characters.
Did Kristy seriously threaten to punch a sitting charge's lights out?? - Kristy, Kristy, Kristy. Things have changed a lot since this was written, but even thirty-some-odd years ago, I am certain parents weren't cool with a sitter punching a kid. Thinking it, maybe, but not saying it. Then again, Kristy seems to lack a filter, so am I really all that surprised? Still. That's no way to keep clients calling you for business and Kristy is typically very conscious of that at least!
I am going to stick with my original four-star rating. This book had mystery and suspense, both of which I enjoy to this day, after getting a taste for it with Nancy Drew and the BSC mystery installments. It also occurs to me just how much certain book series and television shows became part of my personal vernacular. I keep chuckling to myself as I read phrases that I know still use all the time. I love it. It's been so good reliving these memories. I'll be looking forward to each and every one of them.
What I liked about Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls:
The slight chill factor - We all think we're so big and bad, but no matter how old we get, one thing goes bump in the night and we're twelve-year-olds again.
Claudia's relationship with Mimi - This resonates deeply with me. I was my Gram's girl when I was young. Everywhere she went, I wanted to go too. She was my favorite person (and still is, in my heart). When I read about Mimi's patience with Claudia, the wisdom she imparts, the closeness of their bond, these are all things I know from my own Gram; she feels so close by to me when I read those scenes.
What I didn't care for:
Claudia's attitude - Yes, I sympathize with the pressures of living in Janine's shadow, but the constant whining about it gets old in a hurry. And then she gets all jugdy toward Mary Anne and Kristy's immaturity, and all I can think is "whining isn't all that adult either, Claudia." I am no fan of hypocrisy. Not even in twelve-year-old fictional characters.
Did Kristy seriously threaten to punch a sitting charge's lights out?? - Kristy, Kristy, Kristy. Things have changed a lot since this was written, but even thirty-some-odd years ago, I am certain parents weren't cool with a sitter punching a kid. Thinking it, maybe, but not saying it. Then again, Kristy seems to lack a filter, so am I really all that surprised? Still. That's no way to keep clients calling you for business and Kristy is typically very conscious of that at least!
I am going to stick with my original four-star rating. This book had mystery and suspense, both of which I enjoy to this day, after getting a taste for it with Nancy Drew and the BSC mystery installments. It also occurs to me just how much certain book series and television shows became part of my personal vernacular. I keep chuckling to myself as I read phrases that I know still use all the time. I love it. It's been so good reliving these memories. I'll be looking forward to each and every one of them.
August 29, 2024
I was hooked on this book and could not put it down. I think I liked this book more than the first! 🤩
June 5, 2018
Enjoyed reading this aloud with my 6 and 9 year old girls but content has dated and harmful views about boys and girls and relationships. ***Spoiler Alert!*** Had to have a conversation w/ my girls to explain that what's presented as a cute, flattering, and "boys will be boys" type of scenario -- the phantom calls are actually from boys who have crushes on the girls -- was actually textbook stalking behavior which is creepy, totally unacceptable, and often leads to violence. I understand that this book was written in 1986 but I don't want my girls to think that it's ok that this boy was stalking and terrifying this girl and then, when the girl finds out he has a crush on her and wants to go to a dance w/ her, she's totally cool with it and accepts his invitation to the dance. On the up-side: this content did provide a good opportunity to have this important conversation with my girls.
August 16, 2016
I was a little embarrassed reading this book because parts of it that were supposed to be spooky actually spooked me a little bit, which made me feel silly because it's a children's book.
But the thing that really made me not like this book very much was the ending. I think "oh that boy is doing terrible things to you *because he likes you*" is actually a really unhealthy message to send to girls. In the case of Kristy going out with Alan Gray particularly I thought it was deeply problematic. When she told Claudia that even though he'd been making her miserable she was going to go out with him because "*a boy likes me*," it reminded me far too much of why I went out with my first boyfriend, which turned out to be a really terrible situation for me.
But the thing that really made me not like this book very much was the ending. I think "oh that boy is doing terrible things to you *because he likes you*" is actually a really unhealthy message to send to girls. In the case of Kristy going out with Alan Gray particularly I thought it was deeply problematic. When she told Claudia that even though he'd been making her miserable she was going to go out with him because "*a boy likes me*," it reminded me far too much of why I went out with my first boyfriend, which turned out to be a really terrible situation for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2020
While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!
March 31, 2019
I am really having a fun time reading this series as an adult. I have read reviews from people that are upset that some of that subject matter is problematic. I just want to remind people that this was written in 1986!
I loved reading these books when I was a preteen with all my girlfriends-we wanted to be just like them.
I look forward to continuing on with my favorite babysitters and rolling my eyes at the ridiculous preteen drama of 1986, it was a great time to be a kid.
I loved reading these books when I was a preteen with all my girlfriends-we wanted to be just like them.
I look forward to continuing on with my favorite babysitters and rolling my eyes at the ridiculous preteen drama of 1986, it was a great time to be a kid.
July 10, 2020
Can’t stop, won’t stop.
I really love this book because I ADORE seeing Claudia’s life and completely understand her love of mysteries!!! This story itself always makes me think about what I would have done if I were in Claudia and Kristy’s situation at the Newton’s. I’d like to think I’d do the same thing, but it always blows my mind that these two 13 year olds were so responsible. No way was I that responsible at 13!!
I really love this book because I ADORE seeing Claudia’s life and completely understand her love of mysteries!!! This story itself always makes me think about what I would have done if I were in Claudia and Kristy’s situation at the Newton’s. I’d like to think I’d do the same thing, but it always blows my mind that these two 13 year olds were so responsible. No way was I that responsible at 13!!
February 6, 2021
This was fun and I love the covers of these new audio versions.
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