Dawn on the Coast

 Book #23, Graphix #19

Original Book - Writer: Jan Carr (ghost writer)/Ann M. Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Arley Nopra

Basic plot

Dawn visits her Dad and brother in California and feels she fits right in there, which gets her thinking she might want to move back there.

Things that are kept the same

• All the chapters begin with a postcard. 
• Dawn is preparing for a trip to California to visit her Dad and brother, Jeff. She is organised with a list of things she needs in contrast to her mom who comes in the door scattering her things everywhere.
• Before she leaves she has a slumber party with the BSC. 
• Her dad, Jeff, and her best friend, Sunny, meet her at the airport. 
• The next day Dawn, her dad and Jeff go to a local theme park, they have a great time and Jeff takes loads of photos of Dawn. 
• Afterwards Dawn goes to Sunny's house. Sunny surprises her that she has started her own babysitting club the We ❤︎ Kids Club, with school friends Maggie and Jill.
• The club is run more casually than the BSC, with no officers or notebooks, the girls chat and have healthy snacks. Dawn books a babysitting job with an old client Clover and Daffodil Austin.
• Meanwhile in Stoneybrook, Mary Anne and Claudia have a big sitting job for the Newtons, Perkinses and Feldmans together. 
• Dawn spends day at the beach with her family and We ❤︎ Kids Club. She chats with her dad, and has some mixed feelings about Jeff being able to live in California and not her, she calls her mom that evening which makes her miss her.
• She babysits Clover and Daffodil, they have a fun day at a carnival. 
• Back home Jessi has babysitting job at the Brewers, Karen is convinced the third floor ghost Ben Brewer is warning her away, though Jessi suspects the "ghost" is Sam playing tricks.
• At another meeting of the  We ❤︎ Kids Club, Dawn begins to picture herself with a life in California again, after the meeting she runs home to talk to her Dad. He tells her if it is something she wants they could work it out.
• Dawn writes a pro/con list for California vs Connecticut, she tries to call Mary Anne as she thinks she would help advise her, but she is not in. She also realises she really wants to talk to her mom. 
• Kristy and Mallory babysit the Pikes, Nicky is having a hard time feeling left out by the Pikes, so he goes to his hideout, Dawn's secret passageway. Kristy goes to talk to him later and he says how he misses Dawn.
• Dawn talks to Sunny, who thinks it's obvious that she should stay. That evening Dawn wishes she could have all her favourite people nearby.
• Dawn makes her decision that she has to go back, Connecticut is her home now. Her Dad understands, but Jeff is upset at first, he does eventually comes around, her.
• She babysits the Austins one more time and has a goodbye party with the  We ❤︎ Kids Club
• Dawn flies back and the whole BSC and her mom greet her at airport. 

 

Things from other books/ Other things to note

• This is only Dawn's 2nd graphic novel, but in the original series she had two other books that were not adapted and so we see things in this book that were established in others, such as Nicky using the secret passage (original book #9)  and Jeff moving back to California (original book #15, and which was barely referenced in the Graphix).  
• While at this stage Dawn ultimately decides Stoneybrook is her home, later on in the book series she does move back to California

Things that are changed

• At the sleepover at Kristy's house there is less of the Brewer family interaction, like Karen doesn't join them watching the movie. 
• On the plane ride over, Dawn has a rude Flight Attendant who ignores her requests and gives her vegetarian meal to another passenger and doesn't even apologise and gives her standard meal instead. She does at least have a nice seat mate, Tom, who gives her a list of plays to check out.
• The biggest most obvious change is that the theme park Disneyland now becomes Wander Land. In the book there is big list of all the famous rides they want to go on, and they watch old Mickey Mouse cartoons at the end of the day. While that is presumably okay to list in books, in a visual medium they had to change it, so Wander Land has areas such as Space Land and Sea Land, there are also some people with souvenir bear ear headbands, clearly a nod to Mickey Mouse ears.
• When they all go to beach, Dawn comments how the group are all blonde, her dad jokingly calls them the 'Blond Convention', in the Graphix they have more varied hair colour so this is left out of the graphix.
• After Jessi babysitting at the Brewers, Mrs Brewer wonders out loud how another child would fit in, Kristy questions what she means, but Mrs Brewer dismisses it and moves on. This is foreshadowing the next book "Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise" it's not referenced in the graphix but it is confirmed that book will  adapted into graphic novel.
• The original book was published before airport security was tighter so Mr Schafer and Jeff  go all the way to boarding and they get delayed at metal detectors because Jeff has a jack knife on him (doesn't delay them too much though!).
• On the plane Dawn sees the bad flight attendant again and as plane isn't full switches seat as soon as she can.

Final Thoughts

I really like the cover of this graphic novel it's really pretty. I also like the postcard designs, and having a different location than other BSC books makes some fun things for visual medium. One downside of the visual medium is not being able to reference Disney Land, it feels odd and while I am excited that the 1st Summer Special "Babysitters on Board" is being adapted to graphic novel, it will also feel strange for that not be able to go to actual Disney World as that was big part of the book.

Jessi Ramsey, Pet Sitter

 

Book #22, Graphix #18

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Ellen T. Crenshaw

Basic plot

Jessi takes a pet sitting job at the Mancusis' they have a lot of pets and it's more of a handful than she expected! Meanwhile the BSC have problems when the girls decide they don't want to do their officer roles anymore.

Things that are kept the same

•  Jessi is looking forward to quiet week because her ballet classes are on a break and her regular sitting charges, the Braddocks, are away.
• At the BSC meeting, Kristy is being particularly bossy annoying the other girls.When the Mrs Mancusis rings to ask about pet-sitting job (because their pet-sitter pulled out last minute), Kristy tells the rest of the girls they don't do pet-sitting jobs but relents when the other girls push back and Jessi says she will take the job.
• Jessi meets the Mancusis' and their many, many pets! Including 3 dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish, turtle and a snake. They will be on holiday for a week, they leave instructions and Jessi will come over twice a day to look after the pets.
• Some of the other BSC bring clients over to Mancusis' house while on sitting jobs, Claudia brings over Jamie Newton and Nina Marshall while Jessi is pet-sitting, Jessi notices one hamster seems to be isolated from the others. While walking the dog they find Chewy the Perkins' dog who has escaped and they get him back to his house.
• Mary Anne brings over the Marshall's on her sitting job, while there Mary Anne accidentally lets Barney the snake loose, they are freaked out but luckily together they are able to capture him. 
• Kristy doesn't visit but has a pet related job, as she tries to help Jackie Rodowsky with his campaign for class pet carer, but she ends up taking over things and makes her realise she was  being too bossy.   
• At the BSC meetings, things have gotten tense because of Kristy's bossiness, when she tries to introduce a checklist for reading the club notebook, the girls start to argue and upset they don't trust them to read it, and say they no longer want to do their club positions. This continues into next meeting and re-elections are called for. Jessi and Mal want to stay as neutral as possible.
• On the day they are meant to have special meeting to vote, Jessi is worried about the hamster on it's own, she asks her mom to take her to the vet. It turns out the hamster is pregnant. 
• At the rescheduled BSC meeting, the girls end up voting everyone back into same roles realising those were best suited to job, Kristy apologies for being bossy and the girls make up.
• They all visit the Mancusis' and the hamster has started to have the babies. Jessi is excited to tell the Mancusis' on their return and she is more excited when her parents agree she and Becca can have one as their first pet, when they are ready for new homes.
• At the BSC meeting she checks about homes for the other hamsters on the Mancusis' behalf and Mal and Jackie will each get one too. 

 

Things from other books/ Other things to note

• Kristy has the rule about no pet-sitting job, since her disastrous first job with dogs, Buffy and Pinky, in book 1 (Kristy's Great Idea). Nice reference here to that.
• It's odd in both the book and graphix, they say how Dawn is perfect treasurer and never reference the fact that Stacy, the maths whiz, was the original treasurer and Dawn originally was alternate officer and only took on the role due to Stacy moving away.  If I am remembering right, Dawn was very happy to give back her duties when Stacy moved back.

Things that are changed

• In the first chapter some of Jessi's internal monologue is redone to conversations with her family. Becca plays at being a cat which comes up later again when she visits the Mancusis' house. 
• Some of the animal descriptions are bit different to the visuals in the graphix, like no Siamese cat, and Chewy is a black labrador in the book but brown in the graphix.
• The Mancusis' specifically say that Jessi can have friends over to help in the graphix, probably to address the fact in the book that random people keep coming to the house, without the Mancusis' knowledge!
• The way Barney the snake gets loose is changed a bit in the graphix. Mary Anne takes lid off to take a closer look and gets startled by a sudden movement and Barney escapes, rather than in the book where she wanders off to see Frank the bird and forgets to put lid back on. (Either way a bit strange Mary Anne decided to take a closer look in the first place!)
• Kristy's babysitting chapter with Jackie, doesn't get it's own chapter in the graphix, instead at one of the meetings Kristy is struggling to update the notebook and it is later at the election meeting that Kristy talks about the job and realization she was too bossy. This was a good move as it means Kristy learning her lesson was closer to the end and something she had to think about, also it ties in about the notebook issue as the girls are pointedly saying they are ready to read the notebook when Kristy hasn't updated it yet.
• In the book, Jessi calls Kristy to say she won't make the meeting, while the hamster is being examined and her mom tells her the revelation that it's a girl and pregnant. In the graphix, she calls Kristy before and is there for the actual examination.
• Jessi calls the hamster Misty after finding out it's a girl, in the Graphix she gets the idea from Becca. 
• The last chapter leaves out Jackie calling to say he didn't get class carer and Kristy talking to his mom about letting him have a hamster (instead it's just mentioned that she would talk to Mrs. Rodowsky about getting a hamster) 

Final Thoughts

The premise is ridiculous one, an 11 year old looking after that many animals and only going twice a day, but it is still fun book one of my earliest that I owned. Again the graphix doesn't change much, but I appreciate the little changes they do make, like tying the Kristy notebook and her job with Jackie more into the problems the girls are having. 

Mallory and the Trouble with Twins

 

Book #21, Graphix #17

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Arley Nopra

Basic plot

Mallory gets a babysitting job for troublesome identical twins, Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. At home she wants to her parents permission to get a new look, including piercing her ears.

Things that are kept the same

• Mallory and her family have a trip to the mall. She watches ear-piercing, wishing she could get hers done as well.
• At the BSC meeting, Logan joins them. Mallory is offered a regular job with the Arnold twins.
• The first time sitting for the twins, starts okay until she mentions they look cute, like bookends. Then the girls take off their identification bracelets and run around the place, so Mallory doesn't know which one is which and they speak in a special twin language.
  
• This continues to be the same on further sitting jobs, with their identical outfits she can't tell them apart.
• Claudia sits for the girls and they switch places again, she gets in trouble when she sends Carolyn off for Marilyn's important piano lesson and only finds out they tricked her after the piano teacher rings.
• At the next meeting they discuss the twin problem but don't come up with any solutions.
• At the next sitting job, when the girls speak their twin language, Mallory starts speaking in Pig Latin to show how it isn't nice to be left out. The girls are interested in learning the language, so she has a breakthrough and they even point out the moles on their face that can help tell them apart.
• Kristy babysits her siblings, when Karen and Hannie dress up the same they soon get bored of being lookalikes.
• Mallory realises the twins want to be individuals and sets out to help them.
• Mallory, Dawn and Mary Anne help out at the twins birthday party, after getting all identical presents, they are delighted to receive Mallory's individually picked presents.
• The next time she babysits, she talks with the girls and together they talk to Mrs Arnold about letting the girls dress differently.
• The talk having gone so well, Mallory decides to also approach her parents about what she would like. They agree to a new haircut and getting ears pierced.
• Mallory then goes shopping with the Arnolds so they can pick out their new looks. They are much happier and easy to deal with now.
  
• Jessi also gets permission to pierce her ears and Claudia to get an extra hole, so the BSC do an outing to mall to get them together.
• At the next BSC meeting they exchange gifts of earrings.
  

Things from other books/ Other things to note

• Nothing stood out as an addition from other books

Things that are changed

• This is a book that stuck very close to the source material. Mallory tends to give a lot of descriptions in her chapters but these are mainly captured visually instead.
• Mrs Arnold is described as fussy (lots of frills and extra accessories) in the book, but doesn't appear like that in the graphix.
• On one of Mal's jobs in the book, the girls have already switched bracelets, Mrs Arnold takes one look at them and tells them to switch them back. Mal wonders how she can tell them apart. 
• In the book, at Claudia's job after discovering the switch, she draws a smiley face on the back of Marilyn's hand so she could tell them apart for the rest of the day.
  
• In the chapter about Kristy babysitting her siblings there is a long piece about the Brewers being away at an estate sale, and about what an estate sale is. Which isn't essential to plot, but an odd detail I noticed this time around.
• There are some subtle changes that put a different spin on things, like when Mal is asking her parents for the things, and says that she feels like a baby and her parents comfort her, in the graphix she has a little smirk, implying that she is manipulating them.
• In the book after three girls get their ears pierced, Dawn suddenly decides she wants to do it too and has to ring her mom for permission. Dawn gets 2 holes in each ear.

Final Thoughts

After not getting an episode in the netflix series and having her first book incorporated into "Dawn and the Impossible Three",  Mallory finally gets a graphix of her own. Mal sometimes get a bad reputation, being whiney or boring, but I actually quite liked her growing up and think she does best in the early books. It's nice to see her viewpoint, and while the graphix sticks closely to the original book, it's fun to see some visuals, the twins are indeed very cute in their matching outfits, but also in their new looks. Mal's new haircut also looks quite stylish.

Kristy and the Walking Disaster

Book #20, Graphix #16

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Ellen T. Crenshaw

Basic plot

Kirsty starts a softball team for the kids in the neighbourhood who can't join other softball teams, need extra training and confidence, including accident prone Jackie Rodowsky.

Things that are kept the same

• Kristy's siblings and other kids in the neighbourhood take an interest in playing softball, but for a variety of reasons they can't join the little league. 
• Amanda Delaney tells Kristy about a boy her age, Bart Taylor, that has a softball team.
• Kristy goes to talk to him, he doesn't have space in his team for all the kids, and Kristy decides to start her own team. She also has a crush on Bart.
  
• She gets more kids interested in joining including Jackie Rodowsky the so named 'Walking Disaster'
• The team also incudes the 2 Brewer kids, David Michael Thomas, the 2 Papadakis,  3 Pikes kids, Matt Braddock (who is deaf), Jamie Newton and Myriah and 2 and half year old Gabby Perkins.
• Watson helps her with some of the organising.
• The kids vote to name the team Kristy's Krushers, and get t-shirts with ironed on letters, but Karen Brewer insists on spelling Crusher correctly with a "C" on her shirt.
  
• The Pike triplets, who are in Little league, have a game against their siblings and Matt, and are impressed at how they do.
• Practices go well, even though Clare Pike will sometimes through tantrum or Jackie will have an accident (like knocking out his tooth or braking school window).
• Kristy takes Shannon (the dog) for a walk hoping to run into Bart. They meet and arrange for their teams to have a game.
• Vanessa Pike, Hayley Braddock and Charlotte Johanssen form a cheer-leading squad.
• Bart's team come to check out their competition, and while Bart is distracted they laugh and call the Krushers names.
• On game day, Nicky Pike is sick and can't play, the BSC help keep the kids occupied while Kristy concentrates on the game.
• Jackie knocks into refreshment stand and after being laughed at pretends to hurt his leg. After Kristy talks to him, he finishes up the game.
• In the end they are beaten by Bart's Bashers, but they put up a good fight and wasn't the walkover that they were expecting, so they are impressed.
• Kristy walks home with Bart, they both admit to being competitive. Bart tells her the team is clearly dedicated. They hold hands and talk about going out sometime.
  
• When Kristy gets home, she tells Watson about Bart, then she calls Jackie to tell him, how proud she was of him at the game.
  

Things from other books/ Other things to note

• Nothing stood out as an addition from other books.
• At one point, Kristy calls Archie "Red" in the original book this is just a nickname because of his red hair, but in the graphix it doesn't make sense because his hair is coloured brown.
• Jessi babysits the Barretts in the original book at one point, this is changed to Braddocks in the graphix, but in her club notebook entry they forget to change names at the end and reference Buddy and Suzi.
  

Things that are changed

• In the book it says Kristy and Bart talk some more and she thinks about starting team, only after she babysits Rodowskys she definitely decides to do it. In the Graphix, Bart is the one to suggest she starts a team herself.
  
• In the book she also thinks about asking Watson for help, but in the Graphix he just starts to take interest and clearly it's him trying to build more of a relationship with Kristy. There is bonding in both books but it is more focused in the Graphix, like we see him being pleased Kristy asked him to help and when she makes a comment that Watson must really like softball the BSC share knowing looks. He is also first to know about her crush on Bart so when she blurts out at the end that they may go out sometime, seems more of a payoff.
  
• Babysitting chapter is left out of graphix. Mary Anne babysits the Perkins and Jamie Newton comes over and she tells them about Kristy's team.
• In the Graphix they cut back the team to 13 kids rather than 20 in the original book. They leave off  Buddy and Suzi Barrett, Nina Marshall, Max Delaney and the 3 Kuhns (who first appeared in this book).
• Because of this, Max earlier in story still plays game at Brewers but says he he doesn't like playing enough join team and also why Jessi babysitting job was changed from the Barretts to the Braddocks.
• The Bashers have girls on the team as well, not just boys like in the original book.
  
• In the game against the Bashers, because Gabby is so young the pitcher stands closer and pitches wiffle ball, in the graphix they add Karen as pinch runner so she runs the bases for Gabby.
• As well as holding hands in graphix Bart also kisses Kristy on cheek at the end.
  

Final Thoughts

This is a book I didn't own originally, think I got it from library, but I didn't re-read it lot,wasn't one that was super interesting to me. The graphix is basically the same as the original but it's interesting how they make small changes in the graphix or how the visuals can make more emphasis on something. In this case the subplot with Kirsty and Watson is more developed. It makes reading it more enjoyable.In both books having a 2 and half year old playing seemed silly, now that I have had a child that has been age, it is even more ridiculous! They made slight improvement with getting Karen to run for her in the game, and I guess it be hard to leave her out, it would be noticeable in the story unlike some other players. As always I enjoyed the graphix, though it is a pity a couple of mistakes slipped, as they pay a lot of attention to details usually.

Claudia and the Bad Joke

Book #19, Graphix #15

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Arley Nopra

Basic plot

While babysitting a new client, a practical joke goes wrong, leaving Claudia with a broken leg and questioning if she wants to continue with babysitting.

Things that are kept the same

• The BSC go to comedy film festival, afterwards lots of people in Stoneybrook are enjoying practical jokes.
• Claudia gets a job babysitting a new client, Betsy Sobak. She talks to some of her old babysitters who tell her they stopped babysitting because of all her practical jokes, which makes Claudia nervous.
• On the day of the sitting job, Betsy looks innocent enough but soon the jokes begin, Claudia gets given a drink with fly in her ice and hot chewing gum. Playing outside seems like a safer option but during a swinging contest, Claudia's swing breaks and she lands badly on her leg.
• Betsy is sorry, she knew the swing was broken, but then forgot about it when it didn't break straight away and got excited by contest.
• Betsy rings for an ambulance as Claudia's instructed and Dawn and Mallory who are babysitting nearby.
• Claudia is taken to hospital, she has a bad break and will have stay in hospital in traction for a week.
  
• She gets a lot of visitors, but in the quiet moments, she starts to think about what if it had been her arm that broke and she couldn't do art.
• She thinks babysitting might be too dangerous and wonders if she should quit the BSC.
• The BSC have to deal with practical jokes from their clients, they secretly declare a practical joke war on Betsy. It doesn't seem to have affect on her until Kristy tricks her at movie theater, she switches seats and Betsy starts to worry when she can't find her and gets embarrassed in front of classmates.
• After Kristy explains how her jokes can embarrass people and they have consequences.
• They go to Claudia's house so Betsy can apologize in person.
• After their talk Claudia comes to decision to stay in the club,
  

Things from other books

• Nothing stood out as an addition from other books.

Things that are changed

• While we do see Ashley Wyeth visit Claudia in the hospital in the graphix, in the book they also have a few phone calls.
• Claudia mentions Dawn often stays for dinner after the BSC meeting as she doesn't like being home alone so much now Jeff's in California and her mom works long hours.
• They cut out some extra scenes of Mimi helping Claudia with homework.
• Claudia gets a prank phone call that goes wrong. In the book its is "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" (an old joke) in the graphix it's "when was the last time your toilet was flushed."
• Mary Anne brings Claudia a stuffed teddy in the hospital rather than sneaking in Tigger the cat for a visit.
• While those were all small things, the biggest difference I noticed was that in the original book Betsy is more responsible in the swing incident. She suggests going to swing and tells Claudia to sit on the broken one, she thinks it will break straight away and frowns when it doesn't and then forgets about it when Claudia suggests the contest. In the graphix Claudia suggests they play outside and then they start swinging, Betsy still apologizes after the accident saying she knew it was broken. But it really doesn't have the same set up or affect.
  

Final Thoughts

This book was fine, it's not one of my favourites, but still fun to see it in graphix. I do think Betsy in the book is more to blame for the accident, think they could have shown that more in the graphix. In both book and graphix, Kristy playing tricks at her at the movies in front of her classmates is what leads to the talk and resolution with Claudia, but I do think making a kid think they have been abandoned in a public space is too mean (and potentially traumatising!). Not the BSC's most responsible moment!

Stacey's Mistake

Book #18, Graphix #14

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Ellen T.Crenshaw

Basic plot

Stacy invites the BSC to New York to visit and help with a big babysitting job. Things don't go as great as she hopes.

Things that are kept the same

• Due to a big meeting happening and lots of parents wanting Stacey to babysit their kids, Stacey gets the idea to invite the BSC to stay for a long weekend with her in New York and help out with babysitting.
• Stacey goes to meet the BSC at central station, she is happy to see them, but is frustrated when they manage to miss the meeting point and Claudia bringing a huge bag means they have to bring it back to apartment before doing anything else.
• They go out for food and shopping, but at times Stacey is embarrassed by her friends, Dawn is scared of everything, Mary Anne keeps quoting tourist guide books and Kristy is being a loudmouth.
• The girls meet the clients, and get ready for party with Stacey's New York friends.
• Claudia is jealous of Laine and they start sniping at each other. The BSC find it difficult to mix with Stacey's New York friends but eventually loosen up. Mostly they have fun, but Mary Anne makes fun of Dawn's fears and Claudia cuts in on Kristy and a boy dancing.
• After the party things are tense between the friends, Laine decides not to stay the night. Stacy calls for truce until the babysitting job is done.
• The next day they take the kids to the museum, they lose one kid when he wanders off, which scares them, but luckily they find him again. Then they spend the afternoon in Central Park.
• Laine's producer father gets them all tickets for a broadway show, Claudia and Laine make up and the girls spend  a great evening together.
• After a late night staying up talking, they say their goodbyes at the train station the next day.
  

Things from other books

• Nothing stood out as an addition from other books.

Things that are changed 

• In the books Jessi and Mallory were Stacey's replacement when she left, so she didn't know them as well, but in the Graphix they joined beforehand, so they get invited to New York as well. They get a little bit extra to do, at the party they feelout of place being younger than everyone else.
  
• In the books the big meeting is about homelessness and there is minor homeless character Judy, who shows up somtimes. Instead in the Graphix it becomes a fundraiser for Rosensterns Players Community Theatre run by Ms Shah. Maybe the homelessness cause was considered too big and too vague to feasably have the parents be able to tackle it after one meeting. 
• Due to this change there is also some other references to homeless people that is left out such as no Judy here and a conversation Dawn has in central park with Stacy about being nervous about muggers and homeless people is changed. During the updated conversation Stacey tries to see things from Dawn's point of view being nervous in the city which is nice, but misses out on Stacey's point that just because there are homeless people living in the park doesn't mean they're going to hurt you.
  
• The girls send postcards like in the original book, there are some minor changes to some, such as Claudia asks to go vintage shopping rather than to Bloomingdales.
  
• The biggest change is the chapter they go to lunch and shopping. In the original book they go to Hard Rock Cafe and Bloomingdales, in the Graphix they get lunch from a food truck in Union Square and go vintage shopping. Perhaps it is an issue of naming and depicting brands in the graphix that is the reason for the change.
• Instead of Stacey is getting embarrassed by the BSC making exclamations over the half cadillac in the Hard Rock Cafe building, she is embarrassed by Jessi dancing to a street band, especially when Kristy joins in too.
• In the graphix, at the shops Mary Anne has to buy a cardigan when security sees her accidentally rip it while trying it on. In the original book, security guard confronts Mary Anne after she pockets some tester make-up thinking they are free to take.

Final Thoughts

This was one of my favourite books when I was younger, I thought of it as a mini-special as the BSC went on a trip and they each had some kind of subplot. It was fun to see Mal and Jessi here as well, even if it was more in the background. I like when there is some new things in the graphix which freshen things up. I do find the cover funny as it seems Laine and Claudia's fight will be a bigger part of the book than it is, but it really is a minor thing. I also like Laine's look she looks glam but still a young teenager not supposedy looking like a 19 year old as described in the original book. A very fun graphix.

Karen's Witch

As it is some time until the next Baby-sitters Club Graphix is released in the meantime I thought I'd look at the spin-off series for younger readers the Baby-sitters Little Sister Books, which also has been turned into graphic novel form.

 

Book #1, Graphix #1

Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin 

Graphix Book - Illustrator: Katy Farina

 

Basic plot

Karen is convinced her neighbour Mrs Porter is actually a witch named Morbidda Destiny.

Things that are kept the same

• Karen introduces the reader to her family and explains that she is a two-two.
• Karen is convinced the Brewer's neighbour Mrs Porter is a witch, Morbidda Destiny and she finds her dad's rule of no spying hard to follow.
• At the Brewers while Kristy is babysitting, Karen is startled when Midnight (Mrs Porter's cat) is on their doorstep. 
• Karen is in bed looking out the window feeling sleepy when she sees Morbidda Destiny fly out of window on broomstick. She screams and Kristy comes, she lets Karen sleep in her bed.
• The next day, Karen’s best friend Hannie comes over, they play witches and spy on Morbidda. They hear her muttering about a 12 o’clock meeting and saying midnight, but not sure if she means her cat.
• She tries to set an alarm clock that night so she can see the witches’ meeting but it doesn’t go off so she thinks Morbidda put a spell on it.
• But during the day she sees people going to Morbidda’s house, she runs to tell Hannie the witch’s meeting is happening now.
• They go over to Morbidda’s house to confront the witches but are surprised when Karen’s grandmother interrupts their speech. It is a gardening meeting and grandmother is angry at Karen calling them witches, she tells them to apologise and then marches them home.
• The Brewers have a talk with Karen and make her write and apology note and promise no more spying.
• Karen then packs up and to head back to her mother’s house but she still thinks Mrs Porter is a witch, a clever one.

Things from other books

• Nothing stood out as an addition from other books.

 

Things that are changed 

• As these are targeted for a younger age group, there is less plot to divert from. One of the more obvious change is the original book has 20 short chapters, the graphix has 1/2 the numbers of chapters as they have two chapters condensed into one.
• There is a few inconsequential thoughts that are left out of the graphix, but one that did stick out to me in reference to Seth’s cat and dog Karen says Rocky and Midgie are stupid names, she would have called them Jones and Vance. I have no problem with the pet names though I have always thought that the names would work better switched (i.e. dog should be called Rocky rather than Midgie)
• Hannie actually is not physically described in the book, but we do see a picture of her and Karen and she is portrayed as white, whereas in the graphix she is black.
• The ending has Karen looking knowingly at Mrs Porter’s house thinking that she is a clever witch, in the graphix we see Mrs Porter look out with a smile before closing the curtains. This is a small but fun addition, for young readers it may leave some ambiguity, and she may really be a witch, as an older person, I may read too much into it but feel that Mrs Porter is sometimes lonely and actually has fun with Karen’s imagination.

 

Final Thoughts

I did read these original books when I was younger, when I outgrew them, I found it hard to re-read as I felt Karen was annoying, but the Graphix I actually find fine to read. I think the drawings are cute, and I have more empathy for her as she is just a young kid still needing to figure things out, which reminds me of my daughter who is the same age. I am reading the graphix with my daughter who really likes them so that probably gives a new light on them too.

So far there are 6 of these graphic novels released, this is probably my least favourite of them, but it is still a cute book and I really like Katy Farina’s drawings, really brings characters to life.