definitely not my fave--not when i was a kid & not now. kristy has moved to her fancy new neighborhood, where everyone is rich. one day she's taking louie (the family collie) for a walk when she meets shannon kilbourne walking her purebred bernese mountain dog, astrid of grenville, & amanda delaney, strolling up the sidewalk carrying her $400 persian cat, priscilla. amanda is sure to announce how much the cat cost. later in the book, amanda says that the fountain in her house foyer cost $2000. are the delaneys new money or what? everyone knows it's not classy to announce how much something cost, ESPECIALLY if it was expensive. quite the faux pas, young amanda.anyway, shannon & amanda look down their noses are scruffy old louie & kristy is pissed. she thinks all these rich kids are snobs, & she lets them know the next morning while she's waiting for her bus to public school. never mind that her parents are paying for her to keep attending stoneybrook middle school even though she's in another school's district now. therefore, i don't know why a bus comes out to pick her up. when i was in elementary school, the levy failed & the school canceled bus service for everyone. wish i lived in a district that could dispatch a bus to a whole separate neighborhood just to pick up one kid. anyway!kristy starts babysitting for a few families in her neighborhood, including the delaneys & the papdakises. shannon is pissed that someone is infringing on her sitting turf & starts pranking kristy. for example, she calls & says the papadakises house is on fire. which couldn't be less funny. the kids are all panicked & crying. that made me think that shannon was a shitty babysitter, traumatizing the kids like that. she also has a pizza delivered to kristy while kristy is sitting for the delaneys. prank fail. kristy gets her back by ordering diaper service to shannon's house. double prank fail. wouldn't they just cancel the diaper service? kind of pain in the ass, but only for about one minute. i don't get it. i also don't get why the diaper service wouldn't require a deposit. anyway.let's speed this up: the delaneys are spoiled brats. kristy bungles her sitting job with them, but stacey uses reverse psychology, weirds them out, & gets them to behave. louie is really sick & eventually the vet recommends that he be put to sleep. everyone in kristy's family is really sad. kristy & shannon patch things up somehow (they talk, but i don't really get it) & shannon gives kristy's family a puppy. david michael calls it shannon. the babysitters club invites shannon to be an associate member. she accepts. hugs all around. i almost fell asleep reading this shit. it was boring when i was eight & it's boring now. i really don't like the kristy books.
Kristy clashes with her new neighbors; pet death.Kristy doesn’t fit in in her new neighborhood. Louie, her old, sick collie, looks scruffy and bedraggled next to next-door neighbor Shannon Kilbourne’s well-groomed Bernese mountain dog, Astrid of Grenville. The Delaney kids are snotty and demanding. And Shannon and her sister Tiffany keep playing practical jokes on Kristy while she baby-sits, such as ordering unwanted pizzas or calling her to tell her the house is on fire when it isn’t. Kristy finally figures out that Shannon used to be the main baby-sitter of the neighborhood, and she’s territorial. Shannon feels bad for Kristy when Louie dies (event planner Karen invites the Kilbournes to Louie’s funeral), and gives her one of Astrid’s puppies. David Michael names the puppy Shannon. Kristy asks Shannon to join the BSC, but she is too busy to make the time commitment; she agrees to be an associate member like Logan.I always forget how good this one is. The babysitting turf war and death of a pet plotlines are unrelated except when they’re not; they interact in some surprising, fun ways, and give each other perspective. Shannon’s meanness is sufficiently justified to make her transition from villain to hero believable (Kristy would act just the same way if she were a solo baby-sitter facing down a presumptuous club). Louie’s suffering and the family’s attempts to prolong his life, and their decision to put him down, are heartbreaking, especially on behalf of poor David Michael.Stop the Presses: Kristy misses a meeting to take care of Louie, letting Dawn take over as president.Timing: Early in the school year. Kristy explains that, what with the BSC activities over the summer, she didn’t really start interacting with the snobs until early in the school year. (Her first encounter with Shannon, in which Shannon amusingly calls her "jerk-face," takes place while waiting for the school bus.) The events seem to begin before or simultaneous with the events of book #10, and of course they conclude later (since Logan is already an associate member).
What do You think about Kristy And The Snobs (1996)?
I read about 20-25 of these books. I read them in fifth and sixth grade. I strongly remember wanting to read these because they seemed cool and my older sister read a few of them. I remember that our library had a little display of them and I also bought a lot of them through the book catalogs we got at school. I remember most strongly the set up of the books; each book started explaining the club and describing each of the members. I also strongly remember the covers.I remember how in this one Kristy had trouble with the snobby neighbors that lived around her. Even though her father had a lot of money, she wasn't snobby like they were. I think I remember this one because it dealt with some of the same characters as the Karen books.
—jacky
The title notwithstanding, this story is more about life with a beloved pet than about dealing with life in a new neighborhood. There is less about Kristy's old neighborhood with its familiar kids and more about her new home. This book is clearly trying to expand the Baby-sitters Club purview by introducing more characters (new kids as well as neighbors etc). In addition, it attempts to address the once-in-five-books-or-so heavy topic that is a pattern in this series (illnesses, divorce, accidents etc). I didn't enjoy this book all that much even though Kristy is one of my favorite characters.
—Idea Smith
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
—April
