Chan Chau

A new family moves to Stoneybrook and is looking for a babysitter for their two children, Haley and Matt. Matt is Deaf so their mom helps Jessi to learn some basic sign language to communicate with him. Meanwhile, Jessi is also working hard at her ballet class as a big show is coming up soon.

This book does a nice job of communicating information about deafness and hard of hearing to young readers without being overly didactic. It also shows not just acceptance, but true inclusion as Jessi, show more the other members of the BSC, friends, family, and neighbors all work to make sure Haley and Matt are both welcomed with open arms. The subplot about Jessi's dance recital also subtly provides a good message about working hard and being a good sport. show less

Oh, my, there is soooo much going on in this overstuffed outing: ailing pet Definitely needs an entry on doesthedogdie.com, mean girls, pranks, chicken pox, and spoiled brats. There are 40 different sitters, siblings, parents, neighbors and children in 158 comic book pages -- as many as a Marvel Comics superhero team book!

A couple chapters could have been left out or expanded into their own adaptations, and the ending works itself out a little too well, but I still enjoyed the whole thing show more and look forward to the next.

The new artist is pretty good at bringing their own flair to the Raina Telgemeier style that kicked off the series. show less

It's nice to have a BSC book that concentrates almost entirely on one member! Even so, 30 (thirty!) other characters manage to make appearances throughout the book.

Jessi starts at a new ballet school and has a brief, mild conflict with a couple other dancers that doesn't amount to much. She also takes on a new babysitting job where she agrees to start learning ASL as one of the children, Matt, is deaf. But Jessi finds she needs to pay more attention to his sister, Haley, who is having some show more sibling issues with resentment and coping. Eventually, the two storylines come together for a feel-good night at the ballet.

It was all quite enjoyable, but I wondered a bit about the representation. Deaf reviewer Leigh Ann recently posted a very sharp critique of the original 1988 novel on Goodreads. In updating the story for this graphic novel over three decades later, some -- but not all -- of the problems Leigh Ann highlights seem to have been remedied or softened. show less

After her mom's re-marriage, Kristy Thomas now lives in a new neighborhood very unlike her old one. In this wealthier part of town, Kristy meets kids she considers "snobs." It's bad enough having to babysit little ones with bratty attitudes, but it's worse when girls around her age start pulling mean pranks. None of that compares to when the family dog Louie gets sick though...

This was another good addition to the ongoing series. I much preferred it to the previous title. There's yet another show more (fourth?) adaptor/illustrator, and I liked this person's style better. We also went back to seeing the BSC notebook and a couple of vignettes from the point-of-view of other sitters, even if Kristy was the overall protagonist of this particular title.

There is a sad storyline about an older pet getting ill, which will bring tears to your eyes. Unfortunately, this is something that a lot of kids have to deal with, so better they find it first in the pages of a book. show less