Ann Martin: Mallory Pike, No.1 Fan

I had taken Alice Anderson from the library because I needed to do a book report. It looked interesting, but I never expected it to be so hysterically funny. It doesn't sound like it would be, but it is.Alice 's brothers are always getting in messes. WhenAlice tries to help them out, she ends up in worse trouble.

In the last chapter I had read,Alice 's brothers wantAlice to perform the lead role in the town play because they think some big talent scout is in the audience, so they lock the nasty lead actress in the closet. WhenAlice hears what they've done she goes wild trying to get the closet door open. She succeeds in setting the actress free, but accidentally knocks over the man who plays the back half of the mule.Alice is the only one who can fit the mule costume, so she takes his part, and makes her brother, Sven, put on the maid's costume and take her small part. Sven keeps forgetting the lines, soAlice whispers them to him from the back of the mule outfit, which makes everyone in the audience laugh.

Crazy things like that are always happening toAlice . But the cool thing about the book is the way her family sticks together. No matter what happens, Mrs. Anderson, the mother, always manages to make a big dinner and the family sits arOund laughing about whatever it was that went wrong.

I stretched out on my bed and opened Alice Anderson. In a second, I felt as if I were there with theAndersons . Henrietta Hayes, the au8 thor, had to be a genius. How could she think of so many funny things to write? Her characters were so happy and full of fun. Just reading the book gave me a great feeling.

When I reached the last pages, my eyes brimmed with tears. Nothing sad had happened. I was just touched by how Alice's brothers saved all their money to buy her a train ticket to Hollywood. And then Alice cashed it in so their youngest brother, Evan, could have an emergency operation. (He'd fallen through a weak spot in the ice while ice fishing to earn money for Alice's ticket.) In the end, Evan was all right, and the family sat around the big dinner table laughing and having a good time.

Maybe tears filled my eyes because the book was over. I hate when a good book ends.

One way I judge whether or not a book is great is if I feel I know the author when I'm done reading. If I do, then it was a great book! I definitely felt that I knew Henrietta Hayes. It was as if we were friends. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her book, just the way you'd tell a friend who'd written something great.

I wiped my eyes and took a sheet of my good stationery from my top dresser drawer. In my best handwriting, I began a letter to Henrietta Hayes.

I opened to the title page of the book, and turned it over. The address of the publishing company was printed there. (It's there in any book.) Publishing companies pass people's letters on to authors. I knew this because I'd once written to Amelia Moody.

After copying the address onto an envelope, I put the letter inside and sealed it. Mom usually has stamps, so I'd borrow one from her and drop the letter in the mailbox on the way to my BSC meeting.

Oh! I can't believe I haven't mentioned the BSC to you yet. It stands for Baby-sitters Club. Along with writing and books, it's one of the most important parts of my life. And at that very moment, I was dangerously close to being late for a meeting! Chapter 2.

Even though I'm no athlete, I slid into my BSC meeting like a baseball player sliding into home base. "Made it!" I cried, watching the digital clock in Claudia Kishi's bedroom change from5:29 to5:30 .

Kristy Thomas, the club president, called the meeting to order. "That was awfully close," she said. Kristy is a fanatic about being on time. Every meeting must start at five-thirty - sharp! Five-thirty-one is not acceptable. (If you're late you get the dreaded Look from Kristy. You know that expression, if looks could kill? Well, her Look definitely could.) "I was finishing a great book and I lost track of time," I explained. "But I'm here." Before I go on, I should explain to you what the Baby-sitters Club is all about. We meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon from five-thirty untilsix o'clock . During that time parents who need reliable baby12 sitting can call and reach a group of sitters all at once. One of us is bound to be free to take the job. It saves them a lot of calling. We're very popular with parents around here.

The BSC was Kristy's great idea. It came to her one day when her mother was trying to find a sitter for her younger brother, David Michael, and not having much luck. Kristy told her idea to her best friend, Mary Anne Spier. Then they told their friend Claudia. Claudia told her new friend Stacey McGill, and the BSC was born. They put up some fliers around Stoneybrook and, almost instantly, the club was successful.

Business grew so much that they added another member, Dawn Schafer, who had recently moved to Stoneybrook fromCalifornia . Five sitters worked fine, but after awhile Stacey had to move away. (Although she eventually came back, at the time we thought Stacey was gone forever.) That's when Jessi and I were invited to join. We're junior officers since we're eleven and the others are all thirteen. We baby-sit only on weekends or during afternoOns (unless we're sitting for our own siblings), but that frees other members to take more evening jobs, so it works out well.

Recently, we've had another staff switch. Dawn went back toCalifornia to stay for awhile with her father and brother. (Her parents are divorced.) In her absence, Shannon Kilbourne is filling in. Before Dawn left,Shannon was an associate member, which meant she didn't come to meetings regularly. Instead, we'd call her up when we needed her to take sitting jobs no one else was free for. Now, she attends meetings.

Let me tell you about the members of the club. I'll start with Jessi, since you already know a little about her. As I've said, she's a talented ballerina and my very best friend. Like me, she loves to read, especially books about horses. Unlike me, she doesn't have a huge family. Her family consists of her mother, father, her younger sister Becca, and her little brother Squirt (his real name is John Philip Ramsey, Jr.). Jessi's Aunt Cecelia lives with them, too. She takes care of Becca and Squirt while Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are at work.

Jessi moved to Stoneybrook from Oakley, New Jersey. (She moved into Stacey's old house!) The move was difficult for the Ramseys. They are African-American, and their neighborhood back in New Jersey was comfortably integrated. Stoneybrook is mostly white, and some of the Ramseys' new neighbors weren't exactly happy about a black family moving in. Experiencing this kind of prejudice was painful for Jessi's family. (When I think of people hurting Jessi's feelings like that, I get furious.) But the Ramseys waited it out, and now their neighbors know them as the nice people they are.

The best way to describe Jessi is to say she looks like a dancer. She's slim, with long legs, and she moves gracefully no matter what she's doing. She has big brown eyes with long lashes. Her dark hair is usually pulled back, dancer-style, in a ponytail or bun.

Next, I'll tell you about Kristy Thomas. I think of Kristy in terms of opposites. Here is Kristy opposite number one: small physical size, huge personality. She is a petite person, the shortest one of us~ Yet she has a big presence. Kristy doesn't keep anything to herself. She lets you know exactly what she's thinking - and she's always thinking something. Great ideas are Kristy's trademark.

Kristy opposite number two: super casual appearance even though she can afford to dress like a model. Kristy likes to wear jeans, a T-shirt or turtleneck, and sneakers. Her shoulder-length brown hair is usually back in a ponytail. Sometimes she wears a baseball cap. I've never seen her wear makeup. Her carelessness about her appearance seems like an opposite because her stepfather, Watson, is a millionaire! Kristy's father abandoned the family not long after her younger brother, David Michael, was born. She has two older brothers, Sam and Charlie, which meant there were four kids for Mrs. Thomas to support on her own. It wasn't easy, but she managed. Then, not long ago, she met Watson, fell in love, and married him.