Club-Read: The Karen Tax: Baby-Sitters Little Sister #06: Karen's Little Sister

One thing I will say that bugs me about BSC is due to the structure of the series we really just move on from certain events and it takes a long time for that event to really matter in the grand scheme. Like, you'd almost forget at this point that the Thomas-Brewer family adopted a two year old Vietnamese girl. So leave it to the Karen books to be the series that actually talks about this. Which I guess if there's any benefit to the Karen books existing it's that we can at least build on some of that continuity for the Thomas-Brewers that the main series drops the ball on. So let's finally get a book focused around the arrival of Emily Michelle and how that affects Karen. Time for Karen to get jealous over a toddler. I expect nothing less. Let's talk about Karen's Little Sister. 

Interestingly, this is one of the Little Sister books that didn't get a graphic novel adaptation. The likeliest reason is that the mainline graphic novels have yet to make it to Kristy's Mother's Day Surprise at this point, so I could see the reasoning being that they wanted to avoid some confusion as to why the Little Sister books introduced Emily Michelle while she's yet to arrive in the mainline graphic novels. Feels like something they could easily circle back around to after she debuts in the mainline, so not really a big deal to be honest. Both covers are decent. The reprint is fine and sells the concept easily. Karen is jealous and frustrated that Kristy has been giving Emily Michelle more attention than her. The art's cute and does what it needs to do. But the original is the best here. It's the shirts. It's such a goofy little addition that makes this such a fun piece. And of course Karen's has to stand out. Kristy and Emily Michelle get the yellow with red text while she goes red with yellow text. It's very cute. Also there's a little bird on the ground, so that makes this a 10/10 piece. Doesn't quite sell Karen's conflict, more the resolution, but it's a solid work.

Karen starts the book by really wanting a pet of her own. She has dogs and cats at both houses, but neither are really pets that she can claim being her own. She and Andrew head to the "big house" AKA Kristy's house where everyone is paying more attention to Emily Michelle, who is mainly crying and maybe sick, maybe not. Watson, Elizabeth and Nannie head out, while Charlie and Sam head out as well, leaving Kristy in charge. And off the bat, Karen and Andrew are none too pleased. Everyone's more focused on Emily Michelle, while they feel left in the cold. They also used to be the youngest and second youngest in the family, but now they've been upended. So yeah, this book is going to be about the Brewer spawn not being happy that there's a new kid in the family hogging their spotlight. Yep, this feels like a Karen book alright.

The next morning, Karen is not in a good mood. Emily Michelle cried throughout the night, and she still feels ignored. Made no better when the rest of the family are dealing with getting Emily Michelle to the doctor to check on her ear infection. Also she had the rest of Karen's cereal and spills milk on her blouse, so I'd like to think if this was more cartoony Karen would be staring literal daggers at a two year old. After returning from the doctor, Karen and the rest of the family learn that Emily's ear infections have gotten so bad that she needs tubes in her ear for quite some time and that they'll be put in her in two weeks time, which again has Karen frustrated because she knows that this means even less attention towards her. Watson notes that Emily doesn't speak much for a two year old and maybe the issues with too much fluid in her ears might affect her hearing as well. Karen tries to get their attention with somersaults, but that doesn't work either. 

Karen returns home, still not happy about how little attention she got. She asks her mother and stepfather Seth if she can get a pet. They agree, so long as it's a small pet that isn't another dog or cat since that would be redundant I guess. However, as sort of dark luck would have it, Karen soon finds a baby bird on the ground, still alive, but with no mother bird to help it. So she and her family take the bird to take care of it while it recovers. So in case you thought the bird on the original cover was a random call, that's not the case. Still makes the cover amazing though. They set up a nest and Karen administers drops every couple hours. She also tries to come up with a name for the bird, which she ultimately calls Magic Tastee, Karen's favorite ice cream. Which, yes, is a weird name for a bird, but I've heard worse, normally from R.L. Stine. Karen, more importantly, is very happy to have a pet, even though her mother tells her that she's going to have to let the bird fly free, but Karen's too wrapped up in the life of a potential pet owner that she's not willing to even consider that yet. In fact, she's already considering a future where Karen will become famous with her pet sparrow for reasons. 

Kristy calls Karen later to update her on Emily Michelle, who is going to be going in overnight to get the tubes in her ears, to which Karen begins to realize that she was being a bit too much of a little shit towards Emily and now hopes that she recovers. She makes a card for Emily, hoping it'll make her feel better. At the big house, she talks with Kristy over the whole situation, who makes her feel better due to now being a middle child, so that gives her something to feel unique about. Everyone heads to the hospital for Emily's operation. It all goes well and they head home, now with Karen bonding with Emily much more. So everything seems to be wrapping up in a mega happy ending. Hm, much quicker than usual. It's almost like I'm forgetting about a subplot-Oh right the bird. Magic Tastee can fly now, so he finally leaves Karen's house, but doesn't appear to at least leave any time soon, so while he's not her pet, at least things are still not bad. Kristy and Emily show up later and give Karen a shirt like the one on the cover. She also gets to get another pet. A rat named Nicodemus. Which is absolutely on brand for this kid.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is two Karen books in a row I really liked. Am I turning around? Has the agent of chaos become a character I actually like? Not really. In the end this is still a young kids book, but what it does it does quite well. I think what saves this book is that it isn't just a whole book of Karen being jealous over Emily Michelle. It's prominent, and it is still important to the story itself, but I like the arc she has in realizing that ultimately she let her jealously get the better of her and that she actually does want Emily around. It's cute stuff. So the book instead gives us a story involving Karen watching over a baby sparrow. Which in turn gives us the first stuff with Karen's other family, her mom and stepfather Seth and Seth honestly comes off as a pretty cool guy in his own right. Won't take Watson out of my "coolest dude of these books" spot, but he's close. 

I will say the resolution is a bit goofy, given that Magic Tastee sticks around, but this is still a book for little kids so I was never expecting it to be this massive gut punch of a book. Nah, save that stuff for the main series. So once again, the Karen books are doing fine in terms of being good books that haven't felt like a chore to read. And the plots, as simplistic as they are, do work and I could see being the stuff that could entertain young kids who might not be fully ready for the BSC books. It'll be interesting to see how long my feelings towards these books remain overly positive, but time will tell. Karen's Little Sister gets an A. 

Next up, it's the seventh book in the Little Sister series and Karen's turning 7. Oh Ann M. Martin you sly dog, was that intentional?