2 stars
Not a fan of this one. I’ll admit, I never got into the Baby-Sitters Club series as a kid so I’m probably missing out on some of the nostalgia of this reboot.
Kay Farina’s illustrations were great. The cutesy style fit well with the story and characters.
However, I did not like Ann M. Martin’s original plot. Karen comes off as a complete jerk. While I don’t believe all books need a good moral, Karen openly lies, spies on people, and accuses her gray haired, cat loving, garden growing (presumably widowed) neighbor of witchcraft. She repeatedly breaks the rules, bullies her friend into doing the same, and is straight-up rude to Mrs. Porter (whom she refers to as Morbidda Destiny) who’s just minding her own business and has been nothing but nice to Karen and her family.
I did like the opening depicting Karen and her brother having a positive experience with their divorced parents, but that detail quickly gets lost amongst the witch accusations. I can do without any further rehashings of people thinking every old woman who lives alone is a witch.