Baby-sitters Club eBooks

The Classic Baby-sitters Club Returns on eBook!

Millions of girls have read The Baby-sitters Club—and now it’s your turn!

When Kristy Thomas has the great idea to form a baby-sitters club—a chance to earn money and spend time with her friends, all while doing something they love to do—she has no idea how much the club will change everything. Crank calls, uncontrollable toddlers, wild pets, untruthful clients. . . running a business is hard work! Kristy and her co-founders, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, are sure they can handle anything. but only if they stick together!

The bestselling series began in 1986, and ever since then, girls all over the world have become best friends with the BSC. Now, the baby-sitters are back!

The first twenty books in The Baby-sitters Club series are now available with their classic cover look—exclusively as eBooks! And as if that weren’t enough to make you hyperventilate, each also includes a special letter from author Ann M. Martin. Join the girls in Stoneybrook and see what all the fuss is about. This is one club that everyone’s invited to join, so don’t miss out!

 

Debby Ryan Interview

Debby Ryan Jessie Interview

In the TV show Jessie, Debby Ryan stars as Jessie, a starry-eyed teenager born and raised in a military family, who ventures to New York City and becomes a nanny to 4 kids. Born May 13, 1993, Ryan was actually raised in a military family and spent her early years in Alabama, Texas, and Germany.  Read our interview to find out more about her early life, and her life as an actress now.

Scholastic Helps Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Scholastic Helps Schools and Libraries Devastated by Hurricane Sandy

When Hurricane Sandy hit, lots of classrooms and libraries were flooded. If you have ever dropped a book in the bathtub, you know that water destroys books, so many places had to throw away all their ruined books! Scholastic announced that it will donate one million books to schools and libraries and is working with the nonprofit Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc. to help distribute books to the schools and libraries in the hardest-hit areas of the tri-state region that need them the most. 

Maybe you can't donate a million books, but you can help too by making a donation of your own to the libraries of New York City whose children's books have been destroyed. If you have any new or good quality used children's books to donate, you can send them to:

Urban Librarians Unite
45-06 Queens Blvd. Suite 120
Sunnyside, NY 11104

You can even host a book drive and collect books to send. Let's all try to help the kids whose libraries lost all their books!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Your Book Recommendations

I don't know if you've noticed, but I recently discovered how to make Wordles and now I want to Wordle everything! I was looking at your book recommendations on the Reading Buzz Board and I knew they would make an awesome word cloud.

Check this out! YOUR book recommendations in glorious word-cloudy color!

Cool, right? Have you read all of these? Are your favorites on this list?

I need your help for next month's Book Wordle. Leave a Comment with the title of the book you are reading right now. In December, I will make a Wordle of all our reads for the whole month. If everybody on the STACKS leaves a Comment, it's going to be an epic Wordle!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

LEGO: The Movie Contest

LEGO: The Movie Vehicle Design Contest

Imagine you're playing with your LEGOs, and you build this crazy awesome thing, and you're like, "Whoa, this thing is so crazy awesome it should be in a movie!" And then the directors of LEGO: The Movie come and take your crazy awesome LEGO thing and actually put it in their movie! Like, actually in the movie in the movie theater on the giant screen for the whole world to see! Just imagine that for a second. Pretty sweet.

Now, go build your crazy awesome LEGO thing because that dream could be possible if you enter the LEGO Vehicle Design Contest. There are some rules of course. Be sure to watch the video with the directors telling you what kind of crazy awesome LEGO thing they want. "The crazier the better!"

The deadline is December 1, so get started now! What are YOU going to build? Leave a Comment with your crazy awesome LEGO ideas.

Who Said It? Author Trivia Quiz

Who Said It? Author Trivia Quiz

I know you guys love your authors, and many of you will probably grow up to be authors. But when they are not writing books, what do authors say in real life? You know your favorite books inside out and backwards, but can you guess which authors said these quotes?

Answer choices are E.B. White, author of Charlotte's Web, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series, and Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Match each author with the correct quote below.

Writing Prompt: Mythical Creature

Writing Prompt: Mythical Creature

Would you like to be an angel . . . or an alien . . . or a vampire? How about a unicorn . . . or a mermaid . . . or a basilisk (like the deadly snake in Harry Potter)?

Welcome to the world of mythical creatures! Webster’s Dictionary defines a mythical creature as “a monster renowned in folklore and myth.” Many mythical creatures have supernatural powers, some good and some evil. In literature, they range from the Greek and Roman gods, to creatures in fairy tales, to Edward from Twilight (for ages 12 and up)!

Well, today’s Write On Writing Prompt comes to us from Shadow Princess who has been thinking about mythical creatures herself.

What kind of mythical creature would you be?

I would be a fairy! What about you guys? What mythical creature would YOU be? Let us know in the Comments below. Let’s see how many crazy answers we can get!

— Ratha, Stacks Writer

Teen Choice Giveaway

It's time again for a new STACKS Blast Sweepstakes, and this month's prize is a good one! For December, we are offering you a chance to win 2 items from the swag that celebrities got at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards! But, here's the thing. You can ONLY enter if you subscribe to the STACKS Blast Newsletter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! What are you thankful for in 2012?

Leave a Comment, and have a wonderful day!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Warriors Readalikes

Warriors Readalikes

You know when you find an amazing book, and you never want it to end? How do you find another book to read after that? Our answer: Readalikes to the rescue! We hope our Readalikes will rescue you from the what-to-read-next question, and help you find lots of new amazing books.

Today's Readalikes are for the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. For generations, four Clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by the powerful ancestors. But the warrior code is threatened, and the ThunderClan cats are in grave danger. The sinister ShadowClan grows stronger every day. Noble warriors are dying -- and some deaths are more mysterious than others.

Get Goosebumps at the Zoo

Zoos Giving You Goosebumps?

The days following Halloween are always sort of a let-down. After spending all of that time picking out your costume, sniffing out the largest possible pillow case to haul your load of candy, and giving yourself a good fright with an overdose of scary movies, in just a few fun-filled hours it's all over, and there are a full 364 days left until you get to do it over again next year. But just because October 31 is now behind us doesn't mean that the scares need to stop. Fun-size candies may come and go, but you can get Goosebumps from fright-master R.L. Stine all year.

Thanksgiving Would You Rather?

Thanksgiving Would You Rather?

Gobble Gobble, Splotters! With Turkey Day right around the corner, we cooked up some delicious Thanksgiving Would You Rather with a question based on STACKS Staffer, Sonja's own personal experience. (Her sister makes a sweet potato dish with pineapple and marshmallows!!) 

Would you rather . . .

1. Eat sweet potato casserole with pineapple and marshmallows OR eat roasted crickets? (Sonja would actually rather eat crickets!)
2. Eat Thanksgiving dinner in your underwear OR wearing a giant rubber turkey on your head?
3. Jump into a pool of cold cranberry sauce OR warm gravy?
4. Watch football OR go shopping?
5. Eat burnt pumpkin pie OR delicious stuffing that might have a few dead bugs in it? 
6. Be a turkey on Thanksgiving Day OR a pumpkin about to get carved for Halloween?
7. From eating too much, spit up turkey OR spit up creamed spinach?
8. Be on your best behavior at the grown-ups' table OR eat at the kids' table and get peas thrown at you by your 3-year-old cousin?
9. For vegetarians: eat Tofurkey OR skip the turkey altogether and just eat all the yummy veggie side dishes?
10. If you could only choose one dessert, would it be apple pie OR pecan pie?

I’ll leave you with the famous song (sung to the tune of "Oh My Darling, Clementine") . . .

Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Did you ever wonder why
People eat you on Thanksgiving
Instead of chicken pot pie?

Leave your answers in the Comments below! Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

—Ratha, Stacks Writer