If you were a girl growing up in the 1980s/1990s, chances were you had a bookshelf filled with The Baby-Sitters Club novels. The bestselling series, created by Ann M. Martin, spawned dozens of books and spinoff series about girls and female friendship. The stories centered on four best friends (which was eventually expanded to include more girls): sporty and ambitious Kristy, creative and artsy Claudia, shy and sweet Mary Anne, fashionable and boy-crazy Stacey, and vegetarian and eco-conscious Dawn.
Now, a whole new generation of kids will get to know the The Baby-Sitters Club, as Netflix is rebooting the franchise for a ten-episode series. The series, produced by Walden Media, has landed Rachel Shukert (GLOW) as a showrunner and Lucia Aniello (Broad City) as a director and executive producer.
The project is moving forward with a seal of approval from Martin herself, who said, “I’m amazed that there are so many passionate fans of The Baby-Sitters Club after all these years, and I’m honored to continue to hear from readers—now grown, who have become writers, editors, teachers, librarians, filmmakers—who say that they see a reflection of themselves in the characters of Kristy and her friends. So I’m very excited about the forthcoming series on Netflix, which I hope will inspire a new generation of readers and leaders everywhere.”
The series became well known for tackling topics like divorce, racism, illness, entrepreneurship, jealousy, and puberty, and it spawned an HBO series in 1990, as well as a feature film in 1995, which starred Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That) and Larisa Oleynik (The Secret World of Alex Mack). It also inspired a run of graphic novels illustrated by Raina Telgemeier (Smile).
The Netflix series will be set in the present and will explore modern issues in addition to the classic themes touched on in the book series, but a certain breed of The Baby-Sitters Club fandom eagerly anticipates something we’ve long known to be true: Kristy Thomas is canonically queer, and no one can dissuade us.
The president of the club, Kristy, is a headstrong tomboy who favors sporty looks and even started her own softball team. Let’s read between the lines, y’all. Martin, who is openly queer, has never made a public statement about Kristy’s sexuality. It’s 2019, folks: Make Kristy queer already!
Were you a fan of BSC growing up? And did you, like me, believe that Kristy had a raging crush on Mary Anne? Let’s discuss.
(via Deadline, image: Scholastic)
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