Book Review 2015: Kristy's Great Idea

I can't remember if I've mentioned on here about the reading challenge I'm doing this year. I was added to a reading group on Facebook and the challenge was to read books that fit these categories. So yes, on top of my book club (which I've slacked on going to- I've been SO BUSY the past few months), I'm also doing this challenge. What can I say, I love to read. :) So far I've only completed 14 categories from this list, but I'm slowly catching up. And yes, I know I owe you all a ton of book reviews. I'm getting there. Lol.

One of the categories was "A graphic novel". Okay, I'm going to embarrass myself and admit that when I heard the category graphic novel, I thought it was just that- "GRAPHIC". I didn't realize it was a fancy name for a comic book. I'm so embarrassed. After I realized what it meant, I felt better about finding a book that fit that category. Lol. :) Last weekend I spent two hours in Half Price Books (don't judge) and saw this book near the checkout.

I'm not going to lie- I LOVED The Babysitter Club books when I was a kid. I may or may not have started my own babysitters club with a few friends at some point. I think I started reading these books in 3rd grade (which is when the first one was published). I stopped reading them in high school (hey-don't judge, I loved the series), but I found out the series went on being published until I was out of college. If you don't know anything about The Babysitters Club, click here. I had at least the first 75 books in this series, but sadly, due to a flooding incident at my folks' house a while back, all of my books from my childhood (Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden) were destroyed. I can't talk about it, it's too painful. 

Anyways, it seems that someone has turned the first few books of the Babysitters Club series into graphic novels, so I thought I would read the first one and give you my review. 

Kristy's Great Idea by Raina Telgemeier (based on the novel by Ann M. Martin)

This made me want to read the series all over again. No joke. I felt like I was a kid. The artist did a great job with the characters, and she kept true to the book, she didn't try to "modernize" it or update it. Now, it has probably been 25 years (or more) since I've read the first book of the series, but everything came back to me when I started to read this book. I was reintroduced to Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey.

For those not familiar with the books, Kristy's "great idea" is to form a group called The Babysitters Club. It's a way for parents to reach four sitters with one phone call. That way they don't have to call multiple numbers if a sitter isn't available. 

I love how this book took me back to my childhood. No smartphones (or any cell phone), no social media, no laptops. When they were starting the business, they printed fliers to post all over their town. And they ran an ad in the newspaper. There was no Facebook page or Twitter announcement like there would probably be today. The reason they held their meetings in Claudia's room was because she had her own phone line (LANDLINE). I forgot that Kristy was so upset over her mother dating again after her divorce. And that's Stacey's BIG SECRET was that she had diabetes.

It's funny, now that I'm an adult, I'm like, man, 12 and 13 seems awfully young to be a babysitter, but then I remember, I was babysitting at that age.

Obviously the author couldn't use all of the text from the original book, but she captured the main points with her artwork.

I read this in about an hour, but like I said, it was a fun read to take me back. If you were a fan of the series, I definitely recommend checking this out. I think the author has turned a few more books in this series into graphic novels, I would be interested to read those as well.

XOXO!