Did you like the Babysitters Club by Ann Martin? Or did you enjoy the Babysitters Club graphic novels? If you did, and you are looking for something else in the universe, you can do the Babysitters Little Sister Graphic novel series. As it suggests, these books are for the younger crowd. Characters you probably know from the older formats, are here, but done in simpler text and context. Karen’s Roller Skates is book two in this series. It is a stand-alone tale, but it probably would not have hurt if you started with book one.
Katy Farina’s illustrations are bold with basic details, but nothing is left out. They follow Karen as she and her family (both mom’s family and dad’s family) and friends deal with the excitement of Karen having an accident when she is trying a trick on her roller skates. Of course, Karen is hurt, has to get a cast, but because she is embarrassed how she got hurt,
she makes up a story. And each time she tells it, it gets bigger and wilder. Along the way, a classmate of Karen’s runs into her at the hospital. Where he is because he needs a cast for his leg. His bragging about a famous person he is going to get to sign his cast, starts Karen on a competition to top it.
It is a cute story, but I am not sure if Karen learns a lesson about lying, telling tall tales and competition. The ages it is aimed for (ages 6 to 9) will probably not see issues. The modern language, people and story will relate to them on a level it did not for adult me.
One of my favorite parts of reading the Babysitters Club series for me is the nostalgia. While I was not a reader of the original, I know the era they are from. I know those stories. The fact there was landline corded phone in the first book of the older series, shows how they are dated. But still, there are pieces that show how relevant they are. The idea of divorce parents has been done before, but it still happens today, therefore readers will relate to Karen and her “double family” and her dare-devil-go-get-‘em attitude.
