OMG, BSC.

So I'm lolling around in bed, ostensibly catching up on the news and actually half-watching episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and come upon this. I mean, THIS:

Ann N. Martin is, after years of inactivity re: The Baby-Sitter's Club series, coming out with a 224-page prequel, or, as Kim Hutt aptly notes on her blog, "what claudia wore," a Super Special. This makes me wonder what ANM has been up to all of these years, though all it could amount to might be a break (she wrote the first 60 of the 213 book series) or perhaps going through each installment to line edit out any mention of Walkmens or scrunched tube socks.

More importantly than ANM's current occupations (which realistically probably have a lot more to do with siccing her lawyer batallion on leakers and squeekers than anything that I could construe) is whether or not a new generation of young girls is even going to be interested in reading these books. Surface-level updates aside, it sounds like the series isn't changing all that much, which makes me wonder if the trivialities (intricacies?) of Kristy not wanting to wear dresses and Dawn crushing on a ninth-grader - hard - will even be able to hold a candle to today's pronounced romance that is Twilight, or even the Harry Potter series. Or if today's generation should care. Sappiness aside, aren't these books a little, well, patronizing? Even for 8-10 year-olds (who are the main age demographic that the new ones are aimed at)?

Gender marketing issues aside, I'm excited to see how these books "do" which, by most modern standards means how many copies will sell. But what I'm looking for, what'll convince me that the BSC is officially back, is when one particular kick-ass little girl that I know actually wants to recount or talk about the stories themselves. Even if she's saying that they suck.

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Explanations, Breaks, and Personality Makeovers: A Babysitter's Club Revamp Wishlist via Jezebel.com

Comeback Planned for Girls' Book Series via NYTimes.com