As is the case with a variety of pop culture relics from the late
1980s and early 1990s, the Baby-Sitters Club series is experiencing
something of a resurgence on the internet. As those who read the series
when it was originally published get older, they might be tempted to go
back and revisit it. This has led to a variety of websites and online
communities devoted to the series and its spinoffs.
This includes several different facets:
Information
Sites
including the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia have created in
internet users an insatiable appetite for trivia tidbits and other
useless factoids. The comprehensive
Wikipedia article
about the books provides everything you might possibly want to know
about the characters, series spinoffs and even a breakdown of the
books' formulaic structure.
Fan-fiction
That there
would be Baby-Sitters' Club fan-fiction should come as no surprise to
anyone, as every series in existence has spawned fan-fiction (even
Sweet Valley High!). More interesting is the prevalence of BSC
slash (or femmeslash, as most of the main characters are female),
much of it pairing the main characters romantically years after the
series ends (i.e. when they're somewhat older than 13).
While
some of it is as archaic as slash can be, there are also some very
poignant stories about the characters coming out to their parents
and, sometimes, struggling with their changing perceptions.
Mockery
One
of the most popular BSC website is a blog called
"BSC headquarters," named for the
club's meeting place in the series. The author, a librarian,
rediscovered the books at work after having read them in her youth. She
decided to re-read them and document the experience, never failing to
tell us how she really feels. It is
written in a very humourous fashion.
References/further "reading":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baby-sitters_Club
http://claudiasroom.blogspot.com
http://community.livejournal.com/babysittersclub
http://www.stoneybrookite.org/
http://community.livejournal.com/bsclove/
http://community.livejournal.com/bscslashfic/
Submitted for BrevityQuest07.