Ok, guys why do YOU like the series?

[Deleted]

Why do guys like the series? I suspect it's probably 'cause it's about friendship? Which is something everyone likes.

[virgoscorpio]

I guess I just connected more with girls growing up, and I could relate to them more.

[supprazz]

I first got into Baby Sitters Little Sister cause I was just a year older than Karen, in grade 3, but the friends I could relate to the most were in grade 1 and 2 though I did have friends my age, finding it hard to relate to them. I thought Kristy was sweet from the books I did read, and after about a year of reading and collecting the books, my mom got me the Claudia and the Missing Jewels video and I was excited for seeing Karen and liked the club and had read a couple of books starting that school year that included Kristy's Big Day. Then I ordered a set of 3 BSC books from Scholastic that included Keep Out Claudia. I don't remember loving the series right away, but at first I generally liked them, and the more books I read, the more I kept getting hooked on the past BSC books and the future and loved how they were written or what would happened. I loved babies and kids younger than me too that time and wanted to become a babysitter or teacher, so I liked reading about all those things. As I was approaching 10, 11 and continuing to read the books I already had past 12 when I stopped buying the books, I was more interested in the sitters lives and them growing up and dating and the friendship dynamics and things like that.

[greer]

I started reading it right after first grade ended, and got three books a month through the book club. I liked reading about the clients a lot when I was little, and liked the friendships and boy stuff as I got older. And now it's just such a part of my psyche.

[virgoscorpio]

I think that the series was so successful and captivating because you could really get into the characters. There was a lot of character development because there were what -- around 20+ books narrated by each character (less for Mallory, Jessi and Abby).

[u4me]

I can't remember how old I was when I started reading it, but I feel like I was a little on the older side. Not a teenager or anything, but probably around age 10 or 11.

I can't remember the first BSC book I read, but I know it was a super special. I'm not even sure I read the entire thing.

I was spending the night at a friend's house, and they had a BSC SS in their bathroom. I'm thinking it was SS #1, Babysitters on Board, but I'm not positive. I picked it up and thumbed through it and my friend said that she liked the books. I guess I started getting them at the library after that and the rest is history!

[greer]

I like the development of the whole world. There's a definitely mythology, with the bands, tv shows, celebrities, etc. that exist only in the BSC. That sort of thing has always appealed to me.

[BuckinghamAlice]

I enjoyed them as a kid because they were all such close friends and they all lived this life that I could only imagine... they had money, people trusted them with their kids, they were able to walk home from school, etc. I read a lot as a kid, and BSC books were one thing I really enjoyed. I started rereading them fairly recently (as what you might call an adult) because I had been on this big kick of rereading books I loved as a kid, and the BSC (along with American Girl) seemed the most full of happy memories.

[Amalia]

I got into it mainly because of Mary Anne. So then I started reading more and more of the books just to read about her.

[wenonah4th]

It's one of my guilty pleasures. I love children's books to begin with, and frankly, grown-up mental junk food just doesn't do it for me. Romance novels are disrespectful to men in general and my darling dear in particular! So...the BSC is my mental junk food instead, as it was when I was a girl.

[supprazz]

I was into little sister first and thought kristy seemed sweet, but when mom bought me claudia and the missing jewels for karen, I thought Claudia was sooooo awesome for her jewelry making and started doing it a few months later, I was starting to read the novels from the library, classroom, and would buy them from the stores, book fairs and scholastic and the rest was history.

[bookwormv1]

I read them at first because my sister had read them when she was younger and I wanted to be like her. Then I started reading them when I was in year 9 last year and I just enjoy the characters and the cuteness and the combinitation of reality/surrealness because their lives are written as though they're real but they're so ridiculously not.

[celaeno]

As a kid in elementary school, I think I liked them because I preferred reading about teenagers doing teenager-y things (like going on dates, going to the mall) than I did about kids my own age. The comfort/familiarity factor is probably what kept me reading them for a long time. Sometimes starting a new book could be intimidating because you never knew if the story would be interesting, or if it would be beyond your reading level, whereas picking up a new BSC book just felt like I was continuing a book I was already reading. I knew the book wouldn't be too difficult for me.

Now as an adult, I guess the comfort/familiarity factor is, again, why I'm reading them. When life is stressful, picking up a BSC book is just so familiar. The BSC series is also large enough that it created its own universe, with literally hundreds of characters, with so many different friend and family connections and various side stories creating a thread throughout the books. I enjoy when fictional universes are so comprehensive that you need a wiki to keep track of it.

I think the fact that the BSC has a large online community keeps me reading - I think 3 or 4 years ago is when I first dusted off the BSC books in my parents' attic, and I probably wouldn't still be reading if I hadn't gotten connected to the online communities that still actively discuss the series.

[supprazz]

I didn't care for the dating plots till I stopped buying them end of 95' and would re-read those. Love them better now. I had liked the plots related to being teased for being different and the holiday ones, especially if there were trips or fun crafts

[booboobrewer]

Was the question directed at guys, not "you guys"? ;D