Yep, still over here reading “The Baby-sitters Club” books! They have actually been a nice, innocent distraction to… 2020. The second book in the series is “Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls.”
Basically, there’s a Phantom Caller hitting Stoneybrook. It’s a jewel-thief that calls the house, sees if anyone answers (or who answers) before breaking in and pulling a robbery.
The girls in The Baby-sitters Club are worried that the Phantom Caller will call a home they’re babysitting in… and what would they do?
I kind of remember reading this one as a kid and when I was reading it this time, Reading it now, I feel like this plot is such a sign of the times. Only in the late 80s and early 90s were people 1. calling landlines to see who was home and 2. Breaking and entering just for jewelry.
Kim Kardashian is an exception to this rule, of course. But I feel like the fear of getting robbed was so high during that time — I still remember being freaked out by all of the home alarm system commercials that showed people breaking in.
So, how will the sitters handle this? Well, it starts with an emergency club meeting!
They decide to have a system in place to call the police if they suspect the Phantom Caller is lurking nearby. The sitter will call another sitter who’s not working and provide a code word so the non-working sitter knows to call the police.
The club also decides to maintain the record book and make sure they know all relevant information about the homes where they are working — such as the address — just in case they need to provide information to the authorities.
While there is an instance where the girls have to call the police, it wasn’t the Phantom Caller, it was… ..::SPOILER ALERT::.. boys messing with them! Ugh, boys.
However, it should be noted that the Phantom Caller was never actually caught. There’s a part when they say there was a copycat burglar, but the Phantom Caller is still out there!! Baby-sitters beware…
“The Baby-sitters Club” book 3 is “The Truth About Stacey.”
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