Book Review: Claudia Kishi Live from WSTO

A Fair Trade Book

Title: Claudia Kishi Live from WSTO (Baby-Sitters Club #85)

Author: Ann M. Martin

Author's web site: https://www.scholastic.com/thebabysittersclub/

Date: 1995

Publisher: Apple Scholastic

ISBN: 0-590-48236-X

Length: 135 pages

Quote: “Having an open mind is one thing, but letting bats fly around inside it is something else.”

Claudia has never been much of a radio person. She just wants to try something new. So she applies for a job as student disc jockey at the town radio station and, to her surprise, she’s picked.

So is Ashley, the worst friend she’s been avoiding. Both Claudia and Ashley are visual artists, but Ashley is humor-impaired and highly competitive—which means that, when the girls are ordered to agree on the features they want to do on “their” show, Ashley won’t agree with Claudia about anything.

Kristy, founder of the Baby-Sitters Club, first thinks the whole idea of a radio show is boring, but then wants to be on the show. BSC fans know Kristy. She doesn’t consciously think she wants to take over the show, but anyone else might understandably think that.

But BSC fans also know BSC books. The girls make every mistake apprentice d.j.’s ever make. Because they’re kids, people think they’re adorable anyway. The radio station is low on money and, as so many really local radio stations were in the 1990s, about to have to shut down. Because Stoneybrook, the home of WSTO, is a very rich neighborhood on the Mythical Planet of Nice, the kids are able to transmit an appeal for funds to a wealthy sponsor who can keep the station on the air for another six months at least. And Kristy gets to be on the air before the children’s show ends. You knew all that was coming. In order to preserve some suspense, I won’t mention how the story ends for Ashley, although you can probably guess that too.

It’s another nice, wholesome BSC book for your collection, and if you buy it here you may order a unique doll dressed by hand as either Claudia or Ashley on the cover. (Dolls dressed to match children's books cost $20 per "normal size" doll, up to one foot high; for larger dolls, you'd have to choose and ship the doll, and the price would be based on the size.)

With or without a doll, any book by Ann M. Martin will cost $5 per book + $5 per package, plus $1 per online payment (offline, the post office collects its own surcharge). Because at least six, more likely eight, BSC books fit into one package this is a pretty competitive price; for eight BSC books you'd send a U.S. postal order for $45 to P.O. Box 322, or a Paypal payment of $46 to the Paypal address you can get from salolianigodagewi @ yahoo, and we'll send $8 to Martin or a charity of her choice.