Karen’s Grandmothers Is The Latest Baby-sitters Little Sister Graphic Novel

It wasn’t often I went anywhere as a child without a paperback in my hand. It was often one of the classic ‘90s choices — Goosebumps or some random horse book from the Scholastic Book Fair — but I would wager that 80% of the time, the book I was reading was a well-worn copy from The Baby-sitters Little Sister series. Oh sure, I knew Kristy and Dawn and Claudia and Mallory, but reading Karen Brewer’s daily adventures was actually my first step into the BSC universe — and she’s finally getting some justice with the latest graphic novel adaptation of Karen’s Grandmothers.

The books I had were my older sister’s hand-me-downs, which means I was reading all about Karen Brewer and her blended family, including big stepsister Kristy Thomas, about eight years after the books launched in 1988. The series was a spin-off of the wildly popular Baby-sitters Club books, and they were also written by Ann M. Martin. They focused on the stories of Karen Brewer, daughter of Kristy Thomas’s stepdad, and were filled with a whole lot more reality than I gave it credit for back in the ‘90s. Going back and forth from her mom’s house (where she had a stepdad) to her dad’s house with her brother Andrew, so much of Karen’s life was split into two. And that felt deeply real to me as a child whose parents divorced when she was 6. I could understand Karen’s desire to keep her parents happy, her wish they would marry each other again, and even the angst she felt at swapping houses every other weekend.

The Baby-sitters Little Sister series has been back in publication over the last few years with updated covers and a few graphic novels, but I’m thrilled the adaptations are continuing. Released on Oct. 2, 2024, Baby-sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Grandmothers, is the debut adaptation of D.K. Yingst, and it features the same bright illustrations BSC readers have come to love from previous iterations of the series as graphic novels.

In Karen’s Grandmothers — one I remember vividly — Karen adopts a grandmother from Stoneybrook Manor and then realizes she’s now a person with five grandmothers. (Think of the birthday money, Karen!) Yingst has taken this chance to add in some Easter eggs through the illustrations of her own grandparents and life growing up, and honestly, rereading it as a graphic novel will give you all the feels.

My 10-year-old has been reading The Baby-sitters Little Sister series for the past year or so, gobbling up the books faster than I can buy them for her, and matching our favorite chapter books to their graphic novel counterpart is just the sweetest. I’ve been able to show her some of my old copies of BSC from the ‘90s to compare illustrations, and there is something truly lovely about watching your kids discover a series that was so near and dear to your heart. From Karen’s terrible haircut she received to the book where she gets so worn out on Thanksgiving from bouncing from house to house that her own parents realize they’re being selfish, I found Karen deeply relatable as a ‘90s kid. She was messy, she was flawed, and she had to apologize a lot — who among us wouldn’t find that refreshing?

The Baby-sitters Club series always felt a little too perfect to me, but I was reading 7-year-old Karen Brewer’s adventures when I was around 7 and 8 and felt like she just got it. Ann M. Martin had this incredible way of making you feel like you knew her characters as your own self and friends, and the graphic novels do the same thing.

These graphic novels are also a great choice if you grew up as a BSC fan and really want your kids to get into it, but they’re maybe intimidated by the chapter books or aren’t big readers. Read Karen’s Grandmothers together and see how they feel — it may just be the perfect way to introduce them to Stoneybrook and all its residents. And the best part? Having them released one at a time gives you that same delightful ‘90s reader feelings. Remember checking your local bookstore shelves to find the latest edition you needed? So good. Been chasing that high ever since.

So here’s to you, Karen Brewer. I hope you get a million more graphic novel adaptations.