Sit Me Baby One More Time Ep 01 - Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1)

Summary

Podcast Title: Overdue
Host/Authors: Andrew and Craig (Headgum)
Episode: Sit Me Baby One More Time Ep 01 - Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1)
Release Date: July 18, 2025

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Introduction

In the inaugural episode of Overdue, Andrew and Craig dive into the beloved classic Kristy's Great Idea, the first installment of The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin. This episode sets the stage for their journey through the extensive series, exploring the origins, characters, and enduring legacy of the franchise.

Recap of Episode Zero

Before delving into Kristy's Great Idea, the hosts reference their initial discussion in Episode Zero, where they explored Ann M. Martin's impact and the series' impressive sales across numerous entries. They highlight how The Baby-Sitters Club was a cornerstone of the late 20th-century Scholastic boom, becoming a staple in grade school classrooms throughout the 80s and 90s.

Craig [01:31]: "Well, and just how it was part of the, you know, late 20th-century Scholastic boom that came out of it, roaring out of the 80s into your, you know, grade school classroom in the 90s."

Publication and Reprints

Andrew and Craig discuss the publication history of Kristy's Great Idea, noting its original release in August 1986 and subsequent reprints in 1995, 2001, 2010, and 2020. They examine subtle updates made in reprints, such as the transition from Rainbow Bright to My Little Pony, and minor textual changes like Christy's exclamation from "Hooray" to "Hooray," perceiving these as corrections rather than significant updates.

Andrew [02:38]: "They've had these little subtle updates where they update technology or they update the years and things to make the book seem more like modern and contemporary."

Structure and Narrative Techniques

The hosts analyze the book's structure, appreciating how Martin introduces Christie and her friends, sets up the formation of the Babysitters Club, and explores their babysitting adventures through diary entries. They commend the clever narrative shifts that offer insights into different characters' perspectives without revealing too much.

Andrew [05:05]: "Chapter one. We're introduced to Christie mostly... She's going to make a Babysitter's Club."

Craig [05:59]: "Christie is like telling us what she read in the journal. But you get like one graph of the journal from the other character, which is kind of clever."

Character Analysis

Christy Thomas

Christy is portrayed as entrepreneurial and proactive, driven by her desire to stabilize her friendships amidst her mother's remarriage. Andrew praises Christy's initiative in forming the Babysitters Club as a means to address both a social need and her personal concerns about changing family dynamics.

Andrew [10:31]: "They gotta stick together. What might make them think about not sticking together? I can't wait to find out."

Marianne, Claudia, and Stacey

• Marianne Spear: Lives across the street and deals with a strict, controlling father due to the tragic loss of her mother. Craig identifies Marianne's father's strictness as a complicating factor for her participation in the club.

  Andrew [26:39]: "It might be one of those where you just have to forget them, or you're just going to have to deal with it."

• Claudia Kishi: The vice president with a genius-level IQ of 196, Claudia often acts as the pedant of the group, focusing on grammar and details, which adds both humor and depth to her character.

  Andrew [28:20]: "She is a walking Internet commenter... sometimes she makes me want to barf."

• Stacey McGill: The new member from New York City dealing with a diabetes diagnosis. Stacey's introduction brings diversity to the group, and her relationship with Christy evolves as they navigate personal and group challenges.

  Andrew [33:03]: "She goes out of town, but then they see her in town... which is going to spur a conflict."

Themes and Insights

Overcoming Challenges Together: The formation of the Babysitters Club serves as a metaphor for friendship and collaboration. The girls face various babysitting assignments that test their abilities and strengthen their bonds.

Family Dynamics: Christy's strained relationship with her mother's suitor, Watson, reflects the complexities of blended families. The hosts appreciate how Martin subtly addresses these issues without making them overtly the story's focus.

Personal Growth and Conflict Resolution: The episode highlights the importance of communication and understanding in resolving conflicts. Christy's acknowledgment of her flaws and her efforts to improve exemplify the characters' growth.

Andrew [19:08]: "No one. Nobody's perfect. That's true."

Plot Synopsis

Kristy's Great Idea follows Christy Thomas as she spearheads the creation of The Babysitters Club to help her family cope with the frequent introduction of her mother's boyfriends and the potential instability they bring. The club aims to provide reliable childcare while fostering strong friendships among the members.

Key plot points include:

• Formation of the Club: Introduction of Christy and her friends, their decision to start the Babysitters Club, and their initial meeting where they draft bylaws and design a logo.

  Andrew [35:47]: "Need a babysitter. Save time. Call The Babysitters Club, 555-3231."

• First Babysitting Assignments: Each member takes on different babysitting jobs, encountering unique challenges such as mistakenly babysitting dogs and handling difficult children with ease.

• Conflict and Resolution: Internal tensions arise when Stacy's sudden engagements and Watson's overbearing behavior threaten the stability of the club. The girls confront their issues through open communication, affirming their commitment to each other.

  Andrew [50:14]: "Christy keeps asking all these follow ups, and she's like, I can't get, I don't know, any definite information."

• Success and Continuity: Despite the challenges, the Babysitters Club successfully navigates their first year, culminating in a celebratory pizza party that reinforces their friendship and sets the foundation for future adventures.

  Craig [51:38]: "Things were okay with Watson. The Babysitters Club was a success."

Notable Quotes

• Andrew [02:51]: "Is that fair use? Is that sampling? Are we. Listen good."

• Craig [05:46]: "It's pretty clever shifting actually because..."

• Andrew [10:31]: "They gotta stick together. What might make them think about not sticking together? I can't wait to find out."

• Andrew [19:08]: "No one. Nobody's perfect. That's true."

• Craig [35:42]: "What do you think about their flyer, Andrew? Any notes on their flyer that they come up with?"

Critical Analysis

Andrew and Craig commend The Baby-Sitters Club for its relatable characters and thoughtful exploration of teenage friendships and family issues. They appreciate Martin's ability to balance humor with emotional depth, making the book both entertaining and meaningful. However, they also critique the series for its lack of evolving challenges, noting that the characters sometimes remain static across the extensive series.

Andrew [55:34]: "We've discovered that it's garbage."

Craig [55:02]: "What else?"

Conclusion

The first episode of Overdue effectively sets the tone for an engaging and insightful exploration of Kristy's Great Idea. Through detailed discussions and thoughtful analysis, Andrew and Craig provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the book's characters, themes, and its place in literary history. As they embark on their journey through The Baby-Sitters Club series, they promise to uncover the nuances and enduring appeal that have captivated generations of readers.

Stay tuned for their next episode, where they will delve into Claudia's storyline and the intriguing phantom phone calls that add another layer to the series' rich tapestry.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Andrew [02:38]: "They've had these little subtle updates where they update technology or they update the years and things to make the book seem more like modern and contemporary."

• Craig [05:46]: "It's pretty clever shifting actually because..."

• Andrew [10:31]: "They gotta stick together. What might make them think about not sticking together? I can't wait to find out."

• Andrew [19:08]: "No one. Nobody's perfect. That's true."

• Andrew [35:47]: "Need a babysitter. Save time. Call The Babysitters Club, 555-3231."

• Andrew [50:14]: "Christy keeps asking all these follow ups, and she's like, I can't get, I don't know, any definite information."

• Craig [51:38]: "Things were okay with Watson. The Babysitters Club was a success."

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This summary provides a comprehensive overview of the first episode of Overdue, capturing the hosts' key discussions, insights, and memorable quotes to offer listeners a clear understanding of the content without requiring prior knowledge of the podcast.

Transcript

[Andrew]

This is a Headgum podcast.

[Craig]

While Andrew and Craig believe the joy of discovery is crucial to enjoying any well told tale, they will not shy.

[Andrew]

Away from spoiling specific story beats when necessary.

[Craig]

Plus, these are books you should have read by now. Sit me baby, One more time. Boom. It's a podcast from the boys that overdue a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read. My name is Craig.

[Andrew]

My name is Andrew. Is that fair use? Is that sampling? Are we. Listen good.

[Craig]

It's a. It's called a reference.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Okay. It's a reference.

[Craig]

It's an oblique reference to a. To a hit song that everybody remembers fondly.

[Andrew]

Yeah, everyone loves that song.

[Craig]

Yeah. What song? Who knows? But you figure it out.

[Andrew]

We're talking about. We are talking about the Babysitters Club series by Anne M. Martin. This is our first episode that's about a book in episode zero. The recap of that is that we talked about Ann M. Martin and the series and its storied history and how many copies it may or may not have sold across all of its hundreds and hundreds of entries.

[Craig]

Well, and just how it was part of the, you know, late 20th century scholastic boom that came out of it, roaring out of the 80s into your, you know, grade school classroom in the 90s.

[Andrew]

Mm.

[Craig]

And just some of these franchises just didn't quit until this one did. And then they sort of brought it back.

[Andrew]

But it does. Yeah. It enjoys some continued activity, definitely.

[Craig]

For sure.

[Andrew]

But so it's not like Goosebumps where Jovial Bob is still.

[Craig]

And no one else.

[Andrew]

Those things.

[Craig]

Yeah, no one else.

[Andrew]

No one else.

[Craig]

So again, we're going to read eight Babysitters Club books. We are going to meet a different babysitter in each one. And we figured, why not start with the first one? Book number one, Christie's Great Idea.

[Andrew]

Yep.

[Craig]

I did have to double check and correct my. Nope. I have it here in my notes. Right here. My notes say Christie's big idea. Right at top.

[Andrew]

No, it's Christie's great idea. I mean it. Yeah, because it's not a big idea, but it is a great idea.

[Craig]

It is a great idea.

[Andrew]

It solves problems. It addresses a market need.

[Craig]

Yes. It was first published August 1986. I have notes on the several reprints here. September 1995, September 2001, March 2010, May 5, 2020. My digital edition does not cite which, like reprinting it's using, but I did check against the update of Rainbow Bright to My Little Pony. So I do think it is, you know, text from one of the reprints.

[Andrew]

In it, I did not notice any. And nothing jumped out of something, Though something I was primed to notice for the Goosebumps scene series because I'd read most of them before, was Scholastic's quiet little updates of things, which it does. Which it has done in all kinds of these 90s books that we've read and some. Even some of the ones we've considered reading that we haven't done yet. Like the Kid who Ran for President.

[Craig]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew]

Which. Oh, man. Maybe that's a good one for November.

[Craig]

Maybe. Oh.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

They.

[Andrew]

They've had these little subtle updates where they update technology or they update the years and things to make the book seem more like modern and contemporary. But that I didn't see anything like that in the Babysitter's Club. It would be maybe like the most outdated thing in the book is that they're all sitting around using a landline phone.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And it would be hard to adjust that without changing the book pretty significantly.

[Craig]

Yes. Yes. It does not feel like I'm reading a book set in the present day.

[Andrew]

Yeah. It seems mostly. Yeah, mostly. As it would have been in the 1900 and 80s.

[Craig]

According to the Babysitters Club fandom.com wiki, the only major changes between reprints were that change from Rainbow Bright to My Little Pony. As a reference, Christie says hooray instead of Hooray.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Craig]

Don't know what that's about.

[Andrew]

That seems like less like an update, more like a correction. What's Hooray?

[Craig]

And there's like, slight change in the description of some of the clothes that the girls wear at one point. May, may or may not have had to do with what the COVID was doing. I don't know. And that their handwriting changed in a later reprint. I'm not sure what that means.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I don't know if, like, maybe our.

[Craig]

Digital edition doesn't have some handwriting for the diaries or something.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah. Because. Okay, so the structure of the. Of the book and we'll. We'll figure out what the conventions of the. Of the forum are as we read more of them. But the structure of the book is like, chapter one. We're introduced to Christie mostly.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

Like, and this is the book that's setting up the Babysitters Club. So there's some extra table setting that's happening, but we're introduced to Christy and her friends and she's going to make a babysitter's club. That happens in the first couple chapters. And then the middle part of the book is all the various babysitters going out on different assignments.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

And writing down their adventures in a diary. This is a way for the book to perspective shift without really.

[Craig]

It's pretty clever shifting actually because.

[Andrew]

Because there are a couple of points where it's like Claudia told me that her stomach felt like a roller coaster or something. Yeah. You get into Claudia's head, but it's Claudia relaying this to Christy who's telling it to us.

[Craig]

Yeah. Christie is like telling us what she read in the journal. But you get like one graph of the journal from the other character, which is kind of clever.

[Andrew]

And.

[Craig]

And then in this. And then it has to resolve the like the A plot and the B plot of the book. Yes.

[Andrew]

Which is the babysitters club has been created.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

There's interpersonal tension.

[Craig]

Yes. Like any business venture.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And also Chrissy's mom is going to get remarried.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Suitor.

[Craig]

A suitor. He's got. He's bona fide suitor.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And so there is kind of this like. Like maybe two chapters that are like the dark. The dark of the night, like you know, sad third act in a four act structure kind of thing where the.

[Andrew]

Friends have briefly fought within makeup.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

You know, Spider man, stronger than and stronger than ever.

[Craig]

Hung up his clothes and whatever.

[Andrew]

That's the thing about being bit by radioactive spider is like you have to be bit by radioactive spider and you have to want it. Those are the two things.

[Craig]

The magical thing about Spider Man 2 movie that's very old is that it does work, even though it makes no sense.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Like it's a very good movie but the mechanics of his powers don't work because he's sad about it. Like doesn't really make any sense.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

I have some info on the. The COVID artists for the various editions of this book. The original guy, Dale Dyer, 1986. He did the first two books and I think maybe did some concept art for other ones then this isn't like.

[Andrew]

This isn't like a Stephen Jacobus. I think that's his name. The Goosebumps.

[Craig]

No.

[Andrew]

Guy who did like all of the original run. Yeah.

[Craig]

Hodges Swallow. I could not find a pronunciation of this. Hodges Swallow did the 95 reprint of this book, but had actually done like book 5 through book 131 of the original run.

[Andrew]

Tim Jacobus. Tim.

[Craig]

Okay, sorry.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Craig]

Plus reprints of 1 through 4. And Hodges did all of the like the mysteries and the super specials and the super mysteries and the portrait collections, etc. Etc.

[Andrew]

Yeah. For more. For more on what all those words mean.

[Craig]

Visit revisit episode 00 and then Sumidi. Call Sumidi. Kalina has done some of the more recent ones. One of the reasons I wanted to shout this out is just, you know, I think these covers do. Like. I've never. I don't think I've ever read a Babysitter's Club book before doing the series, but I could kind of describe the vibe of a Baby Sitters Club cover to you.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah. It has. It has an aesthetic.

[Craig]

All of these illustrators have pages in the Babysitters Club wiki and on the Dale Dyer page where it talks about what books he illustrated and the fact that. That he is an ornithological illustrator of birds as well. There's just a. There's just a comment at the bottom. The COVID for the third book is not actually by me, long story. And I don't know the name of the illustrator. Signed Dale Dyer. He's in the comments in 2020.

[Andrew]

He said the record straight. When in 2020?

[Craig]

October 2020.

[Andrew]

Okay. Yeah, we all had a lot of time on our hands in October 2020.

[Craig]

And he's like going back and forth with people about the different shoots and how it looked like, you know, maybe they used Kirsten Dunst as a model for one of the kids. And he. He cops to that. He says he directed the photo shoots for the first covers and didn't realize until recently that the little girl grew up to be Kirsten Dunst. I did not took this at all.

[Andrew]

And then drew them, I guess. Huh. Okay.

[Craig]

I have no idea, man.

[Andrew]

Interesting. I mean, I just. That they took photo. That they had photo shoots implies that they had like real kids sitting around in poses and then they just did artistically altered versions of them. But I don't know, man.

[Craig]

Weird. But that's it. I have a blurb for this book. Do you want to hear it?

[Andrew]

Yeah. Blurb it.

[Craig]

When Christy Thomas has the great idea to form a Baby Sitters club. A chance to earn money and spend time with her friends, all while doing something they each love to do. She has no idea how much the club will change everything. Crank calls, Uncontrollable toddlers, wild pets, untruthful clients. Running a business is hard work. Christy and her co founders, Marianne, Claudia and Stacey, are sure they can handle anything, but only if they stick together. So that kind of paints a portrait for you of what lies ahead.

[Andrew]

Yeah, they gotta stick together. What might make them think about not sticking together? I can't wait to find out.

[Craig]

I did like in the very beginning of the book, like, literally the first paragraph, when Christie's like, the babysitter's club. I'm proud to say it was totally my idea. What do you think of Christie?

[Andrew]

Yeah, I was going to ask, what do you think of Christie? I like Christie. I think she is entrepreneurial. I think she has a lot of recognizable, like, 80s and 90s kid problems, especially around, like, her divorced mom.

[Craig]

I identified with her, like, whole thing there. We'll talk about that. Yes.

[Andrew]

And, yeah, I also, like, I really buy the. One of the big divides in the book is kind of this schism between her and her friend Marianne being a little young for their age or like, not as, quote, grown up as their friends Claudia and Stacy.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Like, not keeping them from being friends, but sometimes coming up in the heat of an argument about something else.

[Craig]

Yeah, the. I like.

[Andrew]

And I get. I get that, like, this is a. They're in seventh grade at the beginning of this book, and that is a. That is an age where people are still, like, hitting all those. All those marks of puberty at, like, very different rates. You know, Like, I think we all had at least one kid in, like, that seventh to, like, 10th grade range who, like, hit puberty really late, but then came back to school, like, after one summer having, like, shot up a foot and like, suddenly caught up with everybody.

[Craig]

Well, and I also. Yeah, I remember, too, the. The middle school as a. As an era when, like, some friends were trying to be in relationships and other people were like, what are you talking about? I have to go play PlayStation in the basement. Like, I don't understand how you would. Who are you talking on the phone to for four hours? What do you even say?

[Andrew]

Some of us smooched women and play PlayStation.

[Craig]

I. That's what I'm saying.

[Andrew]

I'm thrilled. Thrilled to tell you we don't all.

[Craig]

Learn how to make those two skills go together at the same rate, you know? And. And the. The thing I really liked, in the way that Martin drives us home through Christie's perspective, is the little anecdote about Claudia, you know, saying that Claudia is going boy crazy and that Marianne and Christie aren't there yet. And from Christie's perspective, she's like, these are the same boys from last year. We all agreed that the boys last.

[Andrew]

Year were bad, were gross, and they're all the same boys doing the same stuff. And now the perspective on boys is totally shifted.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

It's been a vibe shift.

[Craig]

There's a vibe shift. So I really like that as a as an underlying tension. Because when Claudia and Stacy kind of break off, it makes a lot of sense without the book having to do a lot of work.

[Andrew]

And I think there's also probably. If we were a. If we were different hosts of a podcast, we probably would be like, yeah, Christie's totally gay.

[Craig]

Maybe.

[Andrew]

And maybe she would be. She would be that now if the Baby Sitters Club are being relaunched in 24. But I like to read it as Christy is question mark. And she's just, like, not there yet, like, hormonally or mentally or whatever. And we're just, like, still figuring that out. Interesting to encounter it as a growing up thing rather than every one of these kids needs to have a defined sexuality, like, as soon as we can figure it out.

[Craig]

Yeah. Like, the idea of just, like, not even knowing what path to walk down if you want to go down one at all, is kind of interesting. Yeah. And this kind of setup with Christie's family is interesting. So Christie's dad, she's got two older.

[Andrew]

Brothers, one younger brother, and then a dad who is pretty much entirely out of the correct picture.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And I'm sure if we read enough of these, we would eventually hit him coming back. Yeah. And either, like, humanizing him or, like, taking him out of the picture entirely. So that Watson can be dad now.

[Craig]

But. And I like some of the dynamics in Christy's family where, like, the mom works all the time. So she has this, like, week weekly schedule for who's gonna watch the little. Is it David Michael? Is that the kid's name? I think where, like, each sibling has to spend one day babysitting him, and the other two days are free for alls, which means you can still be in the house, but you're not responsible. It's. I love it.

[Andrew]

Things that Christie's mom has set up where she makes sure that every one of the kids gets their own free time.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

And. And nobody gets, like, stuck, like, by default with the emotional and physical labor of babysitting. That's smart. I think Christie's mom's habit of going through and having a good night check in every night with every kid.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Even though Christie's a little eye rolling about it, because that's just the age that Christie. That's. That's smart. She's. She's. She's making it happen. She can have it all.

[Craig]

I do like that. Christie's mom does have a tell, which is ordering pizza.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

She does order pizza when she needs something, which is. I appreciate that.

[Andrew]

Which book? What was It. That Colleen Hoover book where it had, like a spunky little brother.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And every time something like somebody was gonna die of cancer in the next two months, they had lasagna. Yeah. And they called it Bazania.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

That was the only thing we liked about the book was Bazaar.

[Craig]

Oh, my God.

[Andrew]

I don't know why there's so many better books that I don't remember anything about. But I remember Bazan from the one stupid Colleen Hoover.

[Craig]

It should have been called Bazanya, that movie.

[Andrew]

I think that we need to do a long read of Colleen Hoover books called Hooverville.

[Craig]

That it ends with us. Movie is making a lot of money. And I don't know a single person who's seen it, but it's making a lot of money.

[Andrew]

It was AI.

[Craig]

AI did it, I guess AI. And Raph from Jane the Virgin directed it and he's in it. Okay, so good.

[Andrew]

Good work.

[Craig]

You know, Good work if you can get it. I suppose. So what? We also meet her at school, Christy. And her deal is that she will say things without thinking about it. She will just kind of blurt out her feelings and her thoughts.

[Andrew]

Christy has. Christy has an acknowledged, widely acknowledged mouth on her.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

As she and many other characters say.

[Craig]

She does get assigned writing an essay on decorum.

[Andrew]

Yes. I thought this was funny.

[Craig]

The hundred word essay.

[Andrew]

Well, just that. Well, a hundred word essay is funny. And even if I were tasked with writing a hundred word essay, I would write a sentence and be like, all right, time for a break. Because this is how my brain. But yes, she. The day is hot. She is bored. The bell rings. She jumps out of her chair in the middle of the classroom, is like, yeah, time to go. And the teacher is like, christy, could you see me after class to write 100 word essay about decorum. And so Christy has to go home and look up what decorum is, and then she has to look up what two of the words in the definition for decorum mean. And then she finally figures it out.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

She has a pretty good sense of it from context.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

But. Yeah, well.

[Craig]

And it's. It's a thing that crops up more than once in the book where she is in an emotional situation with her family or with her friends, and she can't help herself from saying the thing that is her big feeling. Right. Which is kind of. I like this as a goofy little way to set that up. She has one more than one. But, like, there's one really big blow up with her mom's boyfriend, Watson, and then there's One blow up at Stacy, who will talk about how she enters the club in a little bit. And then, like, at the end of the book, Christie's thing is like. Yeah, so some of the things that happened did make me feel bad, and I didn't like that. But also, I will cop to being a big mouth with my feelings, and that. That can cause trouble, and I'm gonna work on that. I'm gonna be a better person, which is nice. You know, nobody. Nobody. Pobody's nerfect.

[Andrew]

You know, Pobody is nerfic. That's true.

[Craig]

Do you want to lay out any more about the family scenario, Andrew, before we dive into the founding of the club?

[Andrew]

Christie's mom is dating this guy named Watson four months, and for she. They've been dating for four months. That's not very long at all, actually.

[Craig]

No, it's very not long at all. Off and on for four months is what the book says.

[Andrew]

Off and on for four months, and by the end of the book, they're engaged. That's so fast.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

I didn't clock that it'd only been four months.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Well, I think maybe Christy was right. Christie was right about. About thinking that this is moving too fast. Okay, Interesting.

[Craig]

Christie.

[Andrew]

Anyway.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Christie's mom is speed dating Watson, and Watson is hanging around a lot. And Christy doesn't really like him. But it's mostly. It's not really about Watson. It's about her not liking any of her mom's boyfriends. And it's left as mostly subtext, which I like.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

I think other. Other books will maybe help make this. Make it text a little bit more. Like. I think there is more to dig at. But the subtext is she just doesn't like any of these guys because her dad left. He doesn't talk to them. What they have now is working. Why mess it up? And, like, why make mom or any of us, like, miserable by trying to change stuff up? And it's. I like that because. Partly because it is. I don't know, it's just. It is like, a subtle way. Like, Christy being adult enough to, like, be thinking about her mom in this way, but not really adult enough to, like, articulate it directly.

[Craig]

Mm.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And it doesn't feel overly selfish either. It doesn't feel overly whiny. Like she is worried about, like, insignificant parts of her life changing or something like that, you know?

[Andrew]

Well, and also like, she. She does say everything. We're all happy now. Every. Everything's working out. Like, thinking that because she is. Is Mostly happy. And because they have, like, a routine that is working that. Oh, her mom must be happy, too. And why does she want to mess up this.

[Craig]

Yes. Yes.

[Andrew]

And not really, like, not really being able to quite make that leap to, oh, my mom is a woman. My mom is a sexual being. My mom needs emotional and physical, like, caretaking.

[Craig]

Yeah. Or just be, like, interested as needs.

[Andrew]

My mom has needs that aren't being met.

[Craig]

You know, interested. To talk to another adult at the end of the day, perhaps. About anything. Yeah. I don't. I don't really remember too much about any of the guys that my mom dated after my parents split up. There was a few years where she was, like, I met a few of them, but none of them made, like, a really big impression. None of them got Eva. I don't think she dated anybody for four months. I don't think any. Anybody stuck around that long.

[Andrew]

Well, and then you. Because you wouldn't eat the Chinese food that they brought over. And you said they were terrible fathers.

[Craig]

But it is a weird experience where it's just, like. It's not. Especially if you have grown up with two parents and then you're living with one and then, like, another, that other adults just keep coming in and you have to meet them. And, like, that's not. It's not a skill that you're prepared to develop to meet an adult who does not actually have authority over you, but you still have to, like, think about them as people.

[Andrew]

Yeah. You. And, like, they don't have authority over you except in, like, the social pecking order, where adults are, like, legally recognized entities and kids are not.

[Craig]

But. But you're just old enough to be, like. But in the family pecking order. I was here first. What? Are we here first? Yeah.

[Andrew]

Just because a court of law would recognize the adult as having more, like, power and autonomy.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Doesn't mean that they've had that in your house.

[Craig]

Yeah. And so, you know, I thought that this was an interesting kind of depiction of that whole situation. And it also, for me, explained why Christie is pouring so much energy into. I had a great idea for something that would draw my friends back together and be really strong to help help us get through this school year, as this thing is, like, you know, my mom has been dating this guy over the summer, and now the school year starting, and I'm worried that things are going to change. Let me, like, double down on friendship.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And my favorite thing, which is babysitting.

[Andrew]

Well, so that's the other thing about Christy that I really like is the babysitter's club is born of observing her mom struggling to find somebody to watch David Michael and David Michael feeling bad about being trouble for their mom. And Christy is like, there's gotta be a way for organized labor to.

[Craig]

This gotta be a better way.

[Andrew]

There's gotta be a better way. And so, yeah, it's not about Christy. Like, there's a version of this, this book or, you know, it's a common archetype in a lot of kids stories where there's, like, a bike or some, like, thing that the kid wants, but the kid has no way of earning. Has no earning power because they're a kid.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And then they figure out, like, a lemonade stand or some kind of, you know, some kind of scam to get the money that they need to get. Did we read where the Red Fern Grows for the show?

[Craig]

I'm fairly certain that I read it. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Like, that's the motivating thing in that is like, the boy wants the dogs. The boy does all the stuff to.

[Craig]

Get the money to get the dogs. Yes. But no, this is like, she identifies a social need.

[Andrew]

Yes, there is a. There is. The social safety net is letting us all down here. We need affordable, reliable childcare in the city of Stony Brook, Connecticut. What can I do to help?

[Craig]

And, like, the best thing is, like, they're like, okay, we're going to do this for a week, a few weeks, and then we're going to throw a pizza party. Like, that's what we're going to do just to celebrate a good job.

[Andrew]

Everybody's going to pay. Like, we could. We could call them dues. Everybody's going to take a portion of their pay, put it into a pot. That then benefits the entire group.

[Craig]

Now, it is strange that they were having these conversations on the clock. You know, usually if you're doing that type of organizing, you want to do it a little bit, you know?

[Andrew]

Well, I'm sure they set up, like, email ad, like, email addresses on another domain or they weren't using, like, workplace resources to organize. I also don't. I don't think Connecticut would be a right to work state. But what if Stacy was like, I'm not paying for this pizza. I'm not going to eat the pizza. I'm not paying for the pizza.

[Craig]

Okay, so we. We should talk about the other girls, I think, because now that the club is going to get together.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Craig]

Christy is closest with Marianne, who lives across the street. They have a cool flashlight code together.

[Andrew]

They have flashlight Morse code.

[Craig]

Because Marianne's dad is strict, very controlling. Yes.

[Andrew]

Because her mom died when she was really little.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

And it's not. I think once we get our first Marianne book, it will become a little clearer whether he's like, controlling bad people because I care so much about you and you're all that I have left, or I'm strict because I'm just a cold, distant grown up.

[Craig]

It might be.

[Andrew]

Imagine being a child anymore.

[Craig]

It might be recency bias. But like, my most. The frame of reference I had for it was like, we watched 10 Things I Hate about you a few months ago. And that, like, that controlling dad is like, you know, he's a decent guy, but his controllingness does move the plot along. And, like, that is certainly what Marianne's dad is doing in this book. Like, it is a complicating factor for her, her participation.

[Andrew]

We never actually.

[Craig]

We know we don't never meet him.

[Andrew]

We never hear about him except, like, through secondhand sources. So.

[Craig]

Yeah, and that's. That's mostly Marianne's deal is like, she.

[Andrew]

She's a crybaby.

[Craig]

She's a bit of a crybaby. She kind of like youngs Christie down. Like when Claudia kind of when. When they're fighting with Claudia and kind of Claudia is kind of poo pooing Christy and Marianne for being little girls. Sort of like not having grown up yet.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

That Marianne is the one that's kind of bringing Christie down and Claudia's eyes, I think a little bit.

[Andrew]

A little bit.

[Craig]

Not that that's a fair assessment. That just seems to be what's going on. Claudia has a sister named Janine who.

[Andrew]

Janine, who's a walking Internet commenter. Janine is the worst. That's the thing about Janine is that the book is like, Janine's a genius. Janine is so smart. Nobody's ever been 199. She's. What's the thing about, like, her friend being a computer?

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

It is. Yeah. Okay. This is because Janine is a real life genius. An average person has an IQ of 100. An above average person has an IQ of 120 to 140. A person with an IQ of 150 is considered a genius. Janine's IQ is 196. Sometimes she makes me want to barf.

[Craig]

Mostly she exists to be a pedant about grammar.

[Andrew]

I know. This is what makes her an Internet commenter. Christy, you should say, david Michael, you may not play outside today. If you say he can't, it means he's physically Unable to. And that's not true. What you mean is that he does not permission to play out of doors. Jeanine. Sounds like a textbook. Her best friend is this 14 year old math nerd who's going to graduate from high school in the spring. Her second best friend is her computer.

[Craig]

Christie's very funny. I like Christie's sense of humor a lot.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So yeah, Janine is just. She does this like three or four times where it's like, I just. I have, I have more of a comment than a question about the grammar of your babysitter's club logo.

[Craig]

I do. It is a very 80s 90s thing to me as a person who grew up in the 80s and 90s to like have IQ used this way in a story.

[Andrew]

Like it just have it not treated as the bunk that it is.

[Craig]

Yeah. To at best a context specific tool for how well people take a certain type of test. Right.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Did you.

[Andrew]

I just love, I love that all the number like IQ and BMI are the two big ones.

[Craig]

I think. Yes.

[Andrew]

All the numbers that are supposed to define who you are as a person in one number are just garbage.

[Craig]

You know what I like and I think that's beautiful.

[Andrew]

We've discovered that it's garbage.

[Craig]

Myers and Briggs were like no numbers man, just letters. You're all just a bunch of letters.

[Andrew]

Only letters. And these four letters are all you need to know for the people to avoid on Twitter.

[Craig]

What do you think the. The person. According to the world record books right now, the highest IQ on the planet in 2024 is Andrew.

[Andrew]

Is it like Ignatius Quibblesmith?

[Craig]

Well, what do you think? What do you think the number is?

[Andrew]

Oh, what do I think the number is? Like 308.

[Craig]

Not. Not bad. 276.

[Andrew]

Okay. Yeah.

[Craig]

South Korean Professor Younghoon Kim has the current highest IQ in the world. For what if he's. For what that's worth.

[Andrew]

If he's so smart, Craig, why doesn't he have his picture on bubblegum cards?

[Craig]

I don't know. And last but not least, we have Stacy. Stacy is from New York City.

[Andrew]

New York City. That is the reaction that they all have. I like, they all have this very like 80s reaction to somebody being from New York. It's like, oh, New York, New York. Like they're, they're starstruck by this big city girl who's come to Stony Brook, Connecticut.

[Craig]

It's just like. So Stony Brook is a place in Connecticut. I don't think it's actually the Stony Brook of this.

[Andrew]

I think this is A dairy main situation.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Where it's like a composite of different Connecticut suburbs.

[Craig]

But let's say it was the real Stony Brook. That is a mere mile, one hour and 15 minutes from New York City. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Is there like a train? Like, yeah, you could just close this to the nearest.

[Craig]

Probably just take the Acela, right?

[Andrew]

Like, yeah. I don't know where the ASLA stops. Well, maybe north of New York City, because I have never done. Well, I mean, Boston, I guess it terminates in Boston.

[Craig]

But the like though, you're right. The way that these people in this book react to news of her being from New York City is like the way. I don't know, man. Like now I'm thinking it's like the song.

[Andrew]

It's like the Taylor, the horrible Taylor Swift song, welcome to New York. It's that mentality about New York where this is the nexus of all culture that we all aspire to go to. And Stacy has been there.

[Craig]

City with pizza.

[Andrew]

Yeah. You could get pizza any time of the day or night.

[Craig]

Oh my God, can you imagine, man? They have trash cans there.

[Andrew]

Well, now they do. And she, the thing invented them like this.

[Craig]

Stacy enters the group in an interesting way. Like, Claudia has made friends with her separately from Marianne and Christie. And it's like, I think she'd be a good fit for the club. So we've already got her coming in as like, Claudia is the one that Christie is hoping the club will draw back in, but now she's not sure what to do with this fourth person.

[Andrew]

Well, she's. She's like preemptively worried about Stacy being more of Claudia's friend because that probably means that she's going to be more grown up and have more in common with Claudia than with her and Mary.

[Craig]

Real fear for a kid. And she is. Stacy is being kind of cagey about why they left New York City. She says it's for like her dad's job, but she doesn't really answer any follow up questions.

[Andrew]

Yeah, and I didn't remember because I like, you already have a divorced one. Like Christy is the one with the family who's divorced. Marianne is the one with the family struck by tragedy. So what's Stacy's deal gonna be? It can't be one of those, because we already have one of those.

[Craig]

I don't remember if Claudia is. Is she the daughter of immigrants?

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Craig]

Yes. Yep. And so like, yes, you got a couple different experiences. And you're right. Like I'd forgotten from our research episode, like what the thing was. And so she's from New York and she's on a diet. Which the girls are like, why are you on a diet? What's that about?

[Andrew]

Christy specifically is like, diets are stupid.

[Craig]

Diets are stupid.

[Andrew]

Diets are stupid. And then she thinks to herself, and you're stupid for being on a diet.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Like she's, she's not as skeptical of Stacy as she is of Watson. Like, I think she wants to be friends with Stacy, but she is like, why? Who is this thin girl from New York and why is she on a diet?

[Craig]

It is a book about accepting new people into your life. It's kind of cool. So they have their meeting. They don't really follow Robert's Rules of Order, but they do elect officers. An uncontested election for all the officer ships.

[Andrew]

Have you sat in a meeting that actually like uses the. Like obeys the letter of the laws of order? Because it is, it is, it is why it is a boring way to have a meeting.

[Craig]

Yeah, I am not.

[Andrew]

I understand each, why each step of the process is the way it is and oh my God, could we just be humans who are talking to each.

[Craig]

Other for a minute thought about. And this conversation is making me think. I do want to do. I do think I want to program a Roberts Rules of Order episode. At some point.

[Andrew]

We should, we should.

[Craig]

Point of order, Andrew.

[Andrew]

Point of order. Okay.

[Craig]

I'm doing a podcast about Robert's Rules of Order.

[Andrew]

Okay. That would be fun.

[Craig]

All in favor?

[Andrew]

Yeah. Second, it would be more fun than being in a meeting about Rules of Order.

[Craig]

So. And then they start like coming up with their bylaws essentially, and they're gonna draw a logo. I had no idea the logo was diegetic to the book.

[Andrew]

The logo is. Yeah, the, the babysitters club in. In universe logo is the, the logo that's on the book.

[Craig]

Clever. I had no idea.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

What do you think about their flyer, Andrew? Any notes on their flyer that they come up with?

[Andrew]

I thought that their flyer was pretty, was pretty good. You know, you're not. It's not a modern Internet era stuff. So they don't have a URL. They don't have like their insta anything. But it is just like, listen, we're four neighborhood girls with experience. We can babysit, call one number, get four experienced sitters, you know, you wanna.

[Craig]

Yep, just do it. I like that they have a 30 minute window that you can call. That's when they have the access to the phone for sure.

[Andrew]

Isn't it an hour? I thought it was a Full hour.

[Craig]

I thought it was 5:30 to 6.

[Andrew]

I thought it was 5:30 to 6:30, but now I'm gonna look this up while you.

[Craig]

Okay, that's fine. I thought it was only a half hour, which is what made me take a note about it, because that did seem bananas.

[Andrew]

Oh, it is 5:36. Well, it is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5:36. Okay.

[Craig]

And then the. The first time call.

[Andrew]

Yeah, need. Okay, I'll read the flyer out loud because this is. This is foundational sort of text. Need a babysitter. Save time. Call The Babysitters Club, 555-3231. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5:30 to 6, and reach four experienced babysitters. Christy Thomas, president. Claudia Kishi, vice president. Marianne Spear, Secretary. Stacy McGill, Treasurer. Available weekends, after school, evenings. And a flyer.

[Craig]

I love it.

[Andrew]

It's concise. It gets. It communicates the. The service being offered.

[Craig]

Her mom's gonna print it at her job, which is great. Steal that paper. Christie's mom. Yeah.

[Andrew]

I think this is before you would have, like, all the copiers protected by job codes or whatever. So Christy's mom can just do all this.

[Craig]

That's a critical plot point in the. In the book the Firm, and I don't remember when the firm is published, but so then they. We get. Oh, we get this meeting ends on a weird Note.

[Andrew]

Firm is 1991.

[Craig]

Okay, great. So they rolled it out because they saw Babysitters Club.

[Andrew]

Yeah. No, it's the activities of people like Christie's mom, which is why employers had to invent job codes so people wouldn't use company resources to print their flyers for their kids. Yeah.

[Craig]

Entrepreneurial flyers. And so we get a. This meeting ends kind of awkwardly where they all kind of share some of their vulnerabilities. And it ends with Marianne saying that her mom is no longer with us. And they all go, huh, I guess we need to go home now.

[Andrew]

All right, time to go home.

[Craig]

And Christy goes home to a surprise. Watson, Chinese food dinner.

[Andrew]

Watson.

[Craig]

Listen, man, I don't like the pop in. It's not the relationship that we have. Watson not a fan.

[Andrew]

Watson has brought. Watson has brought Chinese food in an attempt to wow everybody.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And win the family over. Specifically. He's working. He's working Christy at this point because he knows that she's the holdout.

[Craig]

Yep. This ends with her calling him a terrible father and running away.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And then she pulls a. Like she says as she's walking down the hallway to her room, I'm sorry that you're such a horrible father.

[Craig]

I just. I like that, you know, Christy has flaws I like, and that they are understandable, you know?

[Andrew]

Yeah. She's Kristen Amanda Thomas. You were asking for it, young lady. That's Christie's mom. I got to my feet. I'm sorry. Watson. Watson, I mumbled. I walked out of the kitchen and started up the stairs. When I was halfway up, I yelled over my shoulder, I'm sorry you're such a terrible father. Then I ran to my room and slammed the door. And then immediately after that, she's like, yeah, I know Watson's a good father. Like, he. Yeah. And she feels bad about it, and she writes a note to her mom that's like, I'm really sorry. She says, dear Mom, I'm sorry I was so rude. I guess I haven't learned much about decorum yet. I hope you had fun on your date. I love you, Christie. And Christie's mom reciprocates very nice, through the exasperation that she must be.

[Craig]

Oh, my God. And then they have their next meeting, and they are going to wait for their first phone call. They sit quietly next to a phone for 20 minutes, waiting for it to. Waiting for it to become 5:30.

[Andrew]

Well, because they took out a little. A little ad in the paper. They passed out all these flyers like they did every. They pulled every lever that was available to a kid in the 80s to get the word out about a small business. Business.

[Craig]

Pretty good.

[Andrew]

And they're hoping that the. They're hoping the demand is there.

[Craig]

Their first call is Christie's mom, which is kind of nice. And I don't remember who's going to babysit. Is it Claudia is going to babysit David? Michael?

[Andrew]

Think so. I know it's not Christy, because Christy's like, I can't.

[Craig]

The.

[Andrew]

For our. Our first job cannot be me babysitting for my own mom.

[Craig]

It's going to be Stacy. Stacy's going to do it.

[Andrew]

Okay. Yes.

[Craig]

All right.

[Andrew]

Oh, yes, it's going to be Stacy because she meets one of Christy's brothers.

[Craig]

Speaking of Christie's brothers, they are calling and prank calling as someone named Jim Bartolini. Some real John Baron stuff going on in these phone calls. And there's a little awkwardness with, like, who is getting assigned where.

[Andrew]

Yeah, like, it's mostly. Mostly just kind of working itself out at this point. They get a call from somebody who asks them to babysit a couple of kids with weird names. What are the names? Pinky and.

[Craig]

Pinky and Buffy or something. Pinky. And it's not the ghosts From Pac man, but it's close.

[Andrew]

Pinky and Blinky.

[Craig]

Pinky, yeah. Is it Pinky and Buffo?

[Andrew]

Buffy. Buffy and Pinky.

[Craig]

Buffy and Pinky, Yes. And they're like twins with those names.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And they. They don't know. I do, like, later in the book that they're asking a lot more. They're asking for a lot more details about the kids to be babysat and any other, like, ancillary things they might need to know.

[Craig]

They actually take down some information. Yes.

[Andrew]

Because of things that. That happen in this. In this first run of. Of babysittings. But, yeah, they all. They all get a job.

[Craig]

One of them, Claudia.

[Andrew]

Claudia babysits Watson's kids, right?

[Craig]

No, the Newton family, which is usually a Christie joint. And.

[Andrew]

Oh, because Christy feels weird about it. Right.

[Craig]

Both because she took one of her clients and because Claudia answered the phone outside of the window on her own.

[Andrew]

Yes. Because the phone is in Claudia's room, which is why Claudia is the vice president, because you got to balance the tickets.

[Craig]

So Christy takes the. Takes the dog job. It turns out that the. That the kids are dogs.

[Andrew]

It turns out that it's a dog job. Yeah.

[Craig]

Yeah. Which is.

[Andrew]

She doesn't realize until the person has, like, got one foot out.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And it goes essentially fine.

[Craig]

The person's like, behind that door are my guitar. The. My two little sweet darlings.

[Andrew]

Yes. Behind that door in the laundry room. And Chrissy's like, man, this is. What did they do? She notices there's a bunch of breakable stuff in the house. None of the telltale signs of children, and she keeps thinking it's weirder and weirder until she finds out that they're dogs.

[Craig]

Yeah, that's funny. It's a good little bit.

[Andrew]

And then they gently inform this woman, hey, we're not dog sitters. Sorry.

[Craig]

Claudia is the one where the kids try to break her. Right. They try to, like, declare that she's the worst babysitter and, yes, freak her out and be mean, but she just. She.

[Andrew]

She ignores the. The troublemaker. She's just quietly reading a book to the. The kid who's being quiet. And then all the other kids, against their. Like, against their own will a little bit, are drawn in by this quiet reading time. And Claudia has tamed the. The beasts.

[Craig]

I did, like, there's a beat at the beginning of that chapter when Claudia first arrives and the kids are kind of being jerks to each other, and she's not sure if she has authority yet. Like, that feels like a very true moment. For a babysitter or for a teacher or someone where it's like, okay, who, under whose guardianship is the child right now, and I'm a guest in your home and things like that. It's very, very observant.

[Andrew]

And then Marianne babysits Watson's kids.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Because Christy does want to do it.

[Craig]

Correct.

[Andrew]

But she is very interested about to see how it goes because she is curious about Watson's kids. She just doesn't want to give Watson the satisfaction of doing a favor for him.

[Craig]

And it's a fun job. Right. Like, what are the, what are the wrinkles on this job?

[Andrew]

Marianne. They have a big fat cat who's kind of nasty.

[Craig]

Boo. Boo.

[Andrew]

Boo boo the cat. And then they have an old lady neighbor who the kids both think is a witch because she uses like four syllable words that they think are magic.

[Craig]

Yes. And.

[Andrew]

And these are both younger kids. Like, I think they're like what, like three and five.

[Craig]

Three and five or three something. Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew]

They're, they're, they're younger than.

[Craig]

And their mom is still in the picture.

[Andrew]

Siblings. Yeah, they're just Watson and, and the kid's mom are divorced. But like mostly amicably. She's getting married already. This is probably why Watson feels like he needs of a bunch put a ring on the first available thing.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Is because of this quote unquote amicable. Amicable divorce that he sad with his first wife.

[Craig]

And I, I two things I like in this chapter. Overall, it's like Marianne again is kind of the least active of the four as a character. So I'm interested to get her perspective in a future book. But I do like that this is a way that we get to meet Watson's deal without it being Christy giving us the details first.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And you've also got to establish like, these kids are sweet. They're going to be great.

[Craig]

It's going to be.

[Andrew]

The whole family dynamic is pretty good.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

That get. That lays the groundwork for Christie to come into it later and be begrudgingly won over by these people.

[Craig]

And, and you. The. You the reader are kind of like, I want Christie to get there. Like, I know that she can because.

[Andrew]

Because none of like, all of these girls are like, good with good.

[Craig]

Yeah, they are too.

[Andrew]

They babysit when they're babysitting human children.

[Craig]

I want to give a shout out to this one moment from Marianne. So this is Karen. The little Watson's daughter is complaining about the old lady witch who lives next door.

[Andrew]

She wants to talk to the witch's manager. Yes.

[Craig]

Jeez. It's Mrs. Porter, and she's an honest and truly witch. Mrs. Mrs. Porter isn't her witch name, though her witch name is Morbida Destiny. The big kids on the street told me so. And she eats toads and cast spells and. And flies to witch meetings on her broomstick. Every night, Marianne stared at the house, nibbling away at her nails again. She wasn't sure what to tell Karen. If she told her the stories weren't true, she probably wouldn't get off to a very good start as a babysitter. If she agreed with Karen, she'd practically be lying to her. At last, she asked, do you believe in the stories about more Mrs. Porter? I just like that she again, rather than take a step, stand on a situation she knew was unwinnable, you just ask a kid another question that acknowledges what they're potentially feeling rather than, you know, poke a bear or, you know, get off on the wrong foot when you know you need.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah. Like trying to be like, what. What is the way to. To solve this problem? While also like staying on the kids level and having them be comfortable with you.

[Craig]

Yep. Because you never want.

[Andrew]

If you, if you lose the consent of the governed in a babysitting situation, it is like you're not gonna get that job back.

[Craig]

Yes. And then there's the kind of, the, as I mentioned, the kind of bummer third act where they are planning for this pizza party, but people keep dropping out. Stacy says she's not going to be around. Marianne says she's not allowed. And the thing with Stacy, Andrew, I was having, like, I was having trouble trying to recount this. She went out of town, but then they saw her in town or something or they called her mom.

[Andrew]

So, okay, so Christy calls Stacy's house to see if she's around for the pizza party.

[Craig]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Stacy's mom picks up and answers when Christy asks if Stacy is there. There's a pause and then Stacy's mom comes back on and says, stacey's not here, man. And. But then Christy is talking to Marianne and Marianne says, I just saw the car drive into the house and Stacy's here.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

And so Christy's like, oh, no, I've been had.

[Craig]

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Which is going to spur a conflict. Right. The two things, the two things that Christy doesn't want to have happen, that. That happen are she does wind up having to babysit the Watson kids. Gets along well with them because his ex wife broke her foot or something. Broke her leg, and then they Have a meeting against everybody's will. And Christy accuses Stacy and Stacy's mom of lying. Oh, and then her mom got engaged.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

So a lot of things are not going the way that Christie wants, but then they just make up and it's kind of okay. Like, I don't really know. It. It resolves pretty quickly when everybody's sad.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Because, I mean, it's. It's a. At the end of the day, it's a kid's book. Like, you can do a couple chapters of being sad. You're not gonna do multiple books of being sad or.

[Craig]

No.

[Andrew]

I don't know. Especially you're just now meeting these girls. You. You don't. You want the. And the very next thing you're gonna do is, like, send your readers through the heads of, like, all of these girls in succession. You want the readers to be on board with all of them.

[Craig]

Yep. Yep.

[Andrew]

And, like, interested to learn more and not. I don't know. You don't. You don't want to have to be, like, winning somebody into your corner right off the bat.

[Craig]

Yeah, you can.

[Andrew]

You can be more complex. You just don't want to do it in your very first. In, like, the very first ending of your very first book.

[Craig]

The. The concerns that I think Christy is dealing with with her mom as they talk about the engagement are like, does this mean he's moving in? And she's like, no, maybe we would move to his house, but maybe not. Maybe we would move away, but maybe not.

[Andrew]

Chrissy keeps asking all these follow ups, and she's like, I can't get, I don't know, any definite information. And Chrissy's like, can you tell me, like, literally any. Can you speculate for me a little bit about what might happen?

[Craig]

One of the things that helps is she's like, okay, we're not getting married tomorrow. It will be a while.

[Andrew]

Which Christie's psyched about.

[Craig]

Yes, it's true.

[Andrew]

Tomorrow would be too fast.

[Craig]

And as I said earlier, the girls all kind of get together and name the various ways in which they were wronged to each other. It's very restorative justice. Like, they all get together and say, like, you made me feel bad for this. I admit that I made you feel bad for this. I will pass the torch. And the next person can say their thing. It's very.

[Andrew]

And Claudia says a thing that's like, yeah, I'm mad at you, but it's because we're friends, and if we weren't friends, you wouldn't be worth like, getting mad at.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

It's a very, like, nice little bit of, like, we are. We are in conflict because we care about each other thing. Which is. Which is affirming because the book opens with Christy feeling this rift between.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Her and Marianne and Claudia.

[Craig]

Yeah. And then that is when we get Stacy coming clear with her diagnosis that she is having a hard time with her diabetes diagnosis. Her. Her mom is not handling it well. Her school was not handling it well.

[Andrew]

And then Christy has a redeeming moment with. With Stacy, because even though she has accused Stacy and her mom of lying, she's the one who is like, yeah, I've got, like, a cousin with diabetes. Like, it's. It's. It's. It's a bummer that you have diabetes. Like, it's a bummer for you, but it's not like we're gonna treat you any differently, and we're not gonna go, like, tell everybody.

[Craig]

Yep. Yep.

[Andrew]

And that brings Christie up in both Claudia and Stacy's estimation, which is important.

[Craig]

Yeah. And then it ends with their little pizza party because Marianne had a talk with her dad and was like, listen, what if we split my earnings? And I can do 50, I can do what I want with half of it, and then, yeah, you can sock the rest of it away. That's fine. Which is just smart. You know, your kid. Do that if you want or don't. I don't know. You're a kid. Whatever. Yeah. And spend it all on pizza or arcade games or whatever. Chrissy says. I felt deliciously scared because that pizza. I bet. And happy. We were friends again. Things were okay with Watson. The Babysitters Club was a success. I, Kristen, Amanda Thomas, had made it work or helped to make it work. I hope that Marianne, Claudia, Stacy, and I, the Babysitters club, would stay together for a long time. Little did she know they would stay together for at least 130 books for maybe more years.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

What. Which of the babysitting situations, Andrew, would you. If you had to choose, which would you tackle?

[Andrew]

Which would I like if I'm the babysitter.

[Craig]

Yeah. If you're in the club and these options are ahead of you.

[Andrew]

I mean, I think I'd prefer to babysit the divorced moppets.

[Craig]

Yeah. I mean, they're the nicest ones, Right?

[Andrew]

Yeah. I don't. I don't really want to. Like, I could take care of animals, but I wouldn't want to.

[Craig]

Yeah. I think I would pick. And we didn't really talk about this. We didn't really talk About Stacy's babysitting gig. I would probably take that one, which is the little boy, David Michael, playing Candyland with him. Just hanging out.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

But also.

[Andrew]

Also being. And also being boy crazy.

[Craig]

Well, that's. Yeah.

[Andrew]

For Christie's brother.

[Craig]

That's true.

[Andrew]

Christy. Christie. Begrudging.

[Craig]

I don't want that.

[Andrew]

Is attractive.

[Craig]

I don't want that part. But that is the thing that happens on Stacy thing, which is the awkwardness of. For Christy, of Stacy and her brother Sam's brother Sam.

[Andrew]

Christy's brother Christie's brother Sam.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Or even. Even at the end where Christy's being like, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna nail all this being adult stuff, like, thinks to have the slumber party at their house so that Stacy can make eyes at Sam and vice versa.

[Craig]

According to Sam, Stacy was a friend. Foxy chick. According to Stacy, Sam was a gorgeous hunk.

[Andrew]

See, I think I. I know that the language hasn't been updated too much because it left Foxy chick.

[Craig]

Also with Stacy is wearing a cool skirt with the number 10 all over it, which does actually sound really cool. And Sam is wearing a shirt that says, I know you are, but what am I?

[Andrew]

That's pretty sick, actually. But, yeah, no, they didn't update the book to be like, Sam said that Stacy was bae.

[Craig]

No, it did not. They did not. All right, well, that's our first book, Andrew.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I enjoyed this. I'm looking forward to getting into more of them. I can see, though, where you would do 50 or whatever of these, however many Anna Martin did before she left it fully to the Ghost Riders and be like, I cannot.

[Craig]

What else?

[Andrew]

Think of more, like, emotional stakes for these four preteen girls to have. Especially, like, it would be a thing where it would be easy to coast without doing all the little touches that I think we liked about this, especially.

[Craig]

As it became clear that they were never gonna really grow up like that. Like, that's a thing that calcifies in the. In the series. And then you can. The types of challenges you can throw their way can't evolve, at least not in the way that you might if they were actually growing up.

[Andrew]

So. Yeah.

[Craig]

All right, well, next time, we are going to talk about Claudia and the phantom phone calls.

[Andrew]

Ooh.

[Craig]

So these. First.

[Andrew]

A good ghost.

[Craig]

We're gonna go through these first four books in order, so get ready for that. So that'll be next month. I hope that you all enjoy. You can.

[Andrew]

Maybe one more time. This is the Patreon.

[Craig]

Well, no, it's just.

[Andrew]

No, it's different now. It's different now.

[Craig]

Okay, so if you want to tell us which of the, you know, we didn't really talk about, like, which babysitter are you? We'll. We'll probably have that conversation moving forward. But if you, the listener, want to weigh in, you can send us an email. Overdue [e-mail]. hit us up on social media. At Overdue Pod, we spend most of our time on Insta, as Andrew said, or Blue sky, which these girls have never heard of.

[Andrew]

Blue Ski.

[Craig]

Blue Ski. Our theme song is composed by Nick Lauren. Just Andrew. Folks want to know more about the show. Where do they go?

[Andrew]

Overdue Podcast.com is our Internet website. We have the schedule for whatever month it is of books that we're reading. When you hear this, whenever that is, we also. Many of you will know about this already, but patreon.com overdue pod is our patreon project. You can get access to these episodes early and all kinds of other stuff. Yeah, including access to our Discord community. You support the show. You buy us equipment and books. You make it possible for it to exist. So. Patreon.com overdue pod cannot oversell it enough. It's crucial.

[Craig]

The podcasters club is what we are.

[Andrew]

Yeah, the podcasters club. I'm the president.

[Craig]

I'll be the secretary.

[Andrew]

Sure. Because you're good at writing stuff down or whatever.

[Craig]

Whatever they say.

[Andrew]

Yeah. They all slot into different positions. Really? Like, they all want exactly the position that they got, which is lucky.

[Craig]

Yes, it is lucky. That doesn't always work out. Sometimes you lose an election and you have to go away. Yeah, sometimes.

[Andrew]

Or you just have to, like, storm Claudia's room until they overturn the result. All right, that's it.

[Craig]

What do we say at the end of every episode of Sit Me Baby One more time, your best friends at computer.

[Andrew]

Bye. That was a headgum podcast.