For many a young girl in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, one of the first book series they were introduced to was The Baby-Sitters Club. The series, first written by Ann M. Martin, has sold over 180 million copies. Interesting fact, though? Martin only wrote the first 35 books by herself, the rest were either cowritten or completely ghostwritten! In fact, Scholastic wanted to create a series about babysitters and enlisted Martin to write it, rather than Martin coming up with the idea, writing it, and selling it as you might think.Â
If you were a reader of these yourself, you may remember looking forward to the Super Specials (Winter Vacation was especially memorable) and the Mysteries for a slightly different spin on the traditional books. And, though the books focused more on general plot than too much character development, every reader probably had one baby-sitter they identified with most. Were you a Kristy? A Claudia?
Thanks to the books’ popularity, there have been multiple iterations produced for TV and film as well, including a new version on Netflix that debuted in 2020. Let’s take a look at how each one has portrayed our favorite baby-sitters.
Kristy Thomas
The leader of the group and President and founder of the club, Kristy is a bit of a tomboy and likes things to go her way, which some may call being "bossy." She just likes to get things done, though, you know? Look at that phone action in all three versions, come on.
Portrayed by: Avriel Hillman, Schuyler Fisk, Sophie Grace
Claudia Kishi
The Vice President of the club, Claudia is known for being the artistic one. She has an older sister she has trouble relating to, and generally is the trendy, fun one of the group. She's second-generation Japanese American in the books, but it's only in the Netflix version that she is supposedly actually portrayed by someone with that heritage.
Portrayed by: Jeni F. Winslow, Tricia Joe, Momona Tamada
Mary Anne Spier
The Secretary of the club, Mary Anne is the shy and sensitive one who has trouble speaking up for herself in general, and in particular speaking up to Kristy, her best friend. A classic '90s girl (Rachael Leigh Cook) played Mary Anne in the movie version - for the Netflix version they have updated Mary Anne to come from a mixed race background.
Portrayed by: Meghan Lahey, Rachael Leigh Cook, Malia Baker
Stacey McGill
The Treasurer of the club, Stacey is a sophisticated big city transplant, and the most boy-obsessed of the group. She also struggles with diabetes and parents who are on the verge of splitting up. Sophisticated, pretty, worldly, but with deeper things going on, she has stayed fairly similar in all adaptations.
Portrayed by: Jessica Prunell, Bre Blair, Shay Rudolph
Dawn Schafer
An alternate officer in the club, Dawn is the resident do-gooder who is a vegetarian and environmental activist formerly from Los Angeles. Another classic '90s girl portrayal in the movie version here (Larisa Oleynik), Netflix also updated her background to be Latina rather than just blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
Portrayed by: Melissa Chasse, Larisa Oleynik, Xochitl Gomez
Mallory Pike
An eventual junior officer of the club, Mallory is the oldest in a large family. She often struggles with feeling unattractive and like her parents treat her like a baby. She was only just introduced in the Netflix series - will she have glasses like every other version? Will she finally become likable? Time will tell.
Portrayed by: Meghan Andrews, Stacy Linn Ramsower, Vivian Watson
Jessi Ramsey
An eventual junior officer of the club, Jessi is best friends with Mallory, and is an experienced ballerina who aspires to be a professional dancer. Jessi's the youngest member of the club and, let's be honest, was kind of annoying sometimes, but maybe they'll turn that around in the Netflix series as well.
Portrayed by: Nicole Leach, Zelda Harris, Anais Lee
Which baby-sitter did you identify with and look forward to reading about the most? Do you like how that baby-sitter has been portrayed over the years in the various film and TV adaptations? And which filmed version is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
- The idea for the series originated with Scholastic editor Jean Feiwel, who saw the popularity of a novel called Ginnie’s Baby-sitting Business and thought they should make a series about babysitting.
- The series was originally planned as a four-book series, but after the first four were fairly successful, Scholastic ordered more and more.
- When publishing of the series ceased in 2000, there were 213 total novels published.
- There were three different spin-offs, but the most popular one was Baby-Sitters Little Sister, which had 128 total novels published.
- Ann M. Martin estimates that she wrote 60 to 80 books in the series, though she only wrote 36 of them by herself.
- The idea for the series originated with Scholastic editor Jean Feiwel, who saw the popularity of a novel called Ginnie’s Baby-sitting Business and thought they should make a series about babysitting.
- The series was originally planned as a four-book series, but after the first four were fairly successful, Scholastic ordered more and more.
- When publishing of the series ceased in 2000, there were 213 total novels published.
- There were three different spin-offs, but the most popular one was Baby-Sitters Little Sister, which had 128 total novels published.
- Ann M. Martin estimates that she wrote 60 to 80 books in the series, though she only wrote 36 of them by herself.
