They're out to retroactively ruin my childhood

[kellinator]

raptorgirl linked to a couple of blogs dedicated to making fun of the Baby-Sitters Club: BSC Headquarters and What Claudia Wore. And they're hilarious, but I need to stay the hell away from him because... I loved those books. From like fourth to sixth or seventh grade. I obsessed over them, made the other girls sign contracts saying they'd replace my copies if they messed them up before I'd let them borrow them. Mary Anne was my favorite, until towards the end when I changed my mind and decided it was Kristy. And I did have a tiny inkling that Dawn was a bitch. And I abruptly stopped reading them once I went to TIP (academic summer camp) for the first time... we went to the bookstore, and the newest one was there, but I just didn't want to buy it, it was so weird, it might even have been the moment I started growing up. So even though the snark is totally deserved, I just dunno if I wanna go there. That's my childhood.

Comments

Huh?

[dellaran.livejournal.com]

...

When did you go to TIP?

Re: Huh?

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

1991-94. First session.

Re: Huh?

[dellaran.livejournal.com]

I was there in '81-'84 (the first four years of the program). It was far and away the best thing my parents ever did for my education.

I'm glad to know that you're a TIP alum. I think you're the only one I'm in touch with these days.

[athenalove.livejournal.com]

The baby-sitters club! My mom hated those books because she was too broke to buy them & I was so happy when our school library got them in!

[ilexx.livejournal.com]

i was kinda like that about Sweet Valley High, actually.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

Ew.

[adric]

Oh gods, Sweet Valley High was horrible, espeically the watered down 'Twins" series. Euch.

[melfinatheblue.livejournal.com]

Hey, another TIP alum! I loved that program.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

And here I thought you would end the post with, "And now they're going to make a movie about the Babysitters Club, starring Hilary Duff and the Olsen Twins!"

Realize that you made me do this.

[adric]

1990-1993 telly series: http://imdb.com/title/tt0125602/

1995 Movie: http://imdb.com/title/tt0112435/

The latter has video clips, it is alleged.

Re: Realize that you made me do this.

[reannon.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

I was KIDDING, Hollywood!

Wait, what?

[adric]

You switched from Mary Anne (duh) to Kristy ?

I am going to have to seriously reevaluate our relationship.

And yes, Dawn was a bitch. Obvious even before the cruise ship.

[raptorgirl.livejournal.com]

I actually stopped reading on a Dawn book...#57, "Dawn Saves the Planet" or whatever. It was so dreadfully dull that I could barely get through it (I'm not even sure I did), and it completely dried up whatever interest I had left in the series. It's weird how you just wake up one day and you don't care anymore. I had just started high school, so I was older than the girls in the books. It felt like the right time.

[dustyskinandall.livejournal.com]

I only read a few of them. I stopped when I realized none of them were going to come out of the closet.

[relevantpink.livejournal.com]

i. loved. the babysitters' club. ragermouse and i swapped them obsessively. i was just thinking of them the other day. some things never leave you!

[alison-says.livejournal.com]

I haven't thought about those books in *years*. Heh, I loved those and SVH. I don't remember a damn thing about them now though (I don't even vaguely remember Dawn, Mary Ann, or Kristy . . ). My rapid-eject memory does serve a purpose at times.

[bouncepogo.livejournal.com]

Oh wow I was a HUGE BSC fan! My friends and I had our own BSC club where we were each one of the people from the books. I soo did not want to be Claudia, ever. My best friend and I switched back and forth between each other on being Kristy or Mary Ann.

What is this TIP camp everyone is talking about??

[sertrel.livejournal.com]

http://www.tip.duke.edu/about/index.html

Basically, these summer programs were associated with regional academic talent search programs. In the 7th grade, lots of kids would take the SAT or the ACT, and if they scored high enough, they could attend these summer programs at universities across the country and take high-school level classes during the summer. Most programs had a residential component, where the kids lived in the dorms on campus.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Best newlywed icon ever!!

[miakatima.livejournal.com]

yeah... i was a huge fan of BSC. *^_^* i think my favorite was claudia, though it's hard to remember now. i stopped reading sometime around bonus book 7, or whatever those huge books were called.

[lindsaygail.livejournal.com]

Wow, those are great. Thanks for posting them. I was a huge BSC fan also, I kept buying them somewhere up to the #40s. I also had a growing up moment when I stopped reading them in 8th grade. My school had a used book exchange and I brought in a giant stack of them to give away. A younger girl saw them and shrieked, "You're giving away your Baby-Sitters Club books?!?!?" I felt very wise and old. I thought, "Yes, my child, and so will you one day."

[at-teawithsatan.livejournal.com]

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