- This article is about the original novel. For the graphic novel see Claudia and the Bad Joke (Graphic Novel).
Claudia and the Bad Joke is the 19th book in the original The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Back Cover[]
Claudia's not worried when she hears her newest baby-sitting charge, Betsy Sobak, is a great practical joker. After all, how much harm can one little girl do?
Plenty. Claudia breaks her right leg as a result of one of Betsy's mean jokes...and now she's talking about quitting the club. "Baby-sitting," she says, "is just too dangerous." Kristy thinks Betsy needs to be taught a lesson. She also thinks the Baby-sitters are just the ones to do it.
Watch out, Betsy Sobak! The joke war is on!
Summary[]
Main Plot[]
There is a practical joke war going on in Stoneybrook due to a slapstick comedy festival at the Stoneybrook Public Library. Claudia gets caught up in it the worst when she sits for Betsy Sobak and breaks her leg as the result of a joke. Now the club has to convince Betsy that jokes that hurt people are not jokes at all.
Subplot[]
Since Claudia broke her leg, she has a lot of time to sit and reflect on her life in baby-sitting. She starts to wonder if maybe she should just quit the BSC and focus on her art, like she had contemplated doing in book #12 . In the end, she realizes she would miss the kids too much and stays in the club.
Characters[]
Claudia's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Betsy Sobak
- Jamie Newton
- Myriah and Gabbie Perkins (mentioned)
- Charlotte Johanssen (mentioned)
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo and Claire Pike
- Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett (mentioned)
- Becca Ramsey (mentioned)
- Haley Braddock (mentioned)
Teenagers
- Cathy - 14 year old in the hospital with a bad elbow break
- Ashley Wyeth
- Diana Roberts
- Gordon Brown
- Stacey McGill
Adults
- Cookie Sobak
- Dr. Johanssen (mentioned)
- Mrs. Newton (mentioned)
- Mrs. Perkins (mentioned)
- John Pike (mentioned)
- Mrs. Barrett (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Public Library
- Kishi House
- Sobak House
- Stoneybrook General Hospital
- Pike House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, A Wrinkle in Time, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (books)
- The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, The Parent Trap, Swiss Family Robinson, The Red Balloon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, (movies)
- Sleeping Beauty
- People, Tigerbeat, Seventeen, and Vogue (magazines)
- Wheel of Fortune, Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy
- Wyken, Blynken, and Nod, The Owl and the Pussycat, Jabberwocky (poems)
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- When talking about the good times Claudia had with the BSC, everyone brings up the events of: Stacey's Mistake, Lucy Newton's christening from Claudia and Mean Janine, and the trip to Disney from Baby-sitters on Board!
Inconsistencies
- When Claudia’s homeroom teacher calls her house in chapter 8, Kristy gets on the phone. Homeroom students are grouped by grade and last name; since Kishi and Thomas are 9 letters apart in the alphabet, it’s unlikely that Claudia and Kristy would be in the same homeroom.
- Claudia mentions that Mallory was not part of the BSC when they went to Disney World, but she and her family did go on the trip.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Claudia and the Bad Joke, trouble starts when Betsy Sobak is carried away by the practical jokes she receives from McBuzz’s Mail Order. When I was young, I loved to order things through the mail—from the backs of cereal boxes, from comic books, and, best of all, from bubblegum wrappers. My prize possession was a piece of fool’s gold, which came in a little gray flannel sack. It cost twenty-five cents, but I thought it was very valuable. Back then, hardly any catalogues came in the mail.
But every fall, Sears Roebuck sent out its Christmas catalogue, The Wish Book. I pored through it, turning down the corners of pages on which I saw toys I wanted. Today, I still do most of my shopping through catalogues. I just love getting things in the mail, although it’s been a long time since I ordered a practical joke.
Trivia[]
- A 2022 reprint was released on February 1 [1].
- The library hosts a slapstick film festival.
- The Sobaks are new clients to the BSC, Claudia knows other teens that would also sit for her.
- Dawn has been eating at the Kishis' for dinner from time to time if her mom is working late since Jeff left.
- Claudia gets an 81% on her math test.
- Claudia was Betsy's first babysitter from the Babysitters Club.
- McBuzz's is brought up later in Karen's Big Joke.
- The BSC has taken a first aid course sometime prior to this book.
- Claudia thinks her parents are dorks but every now and then they come through.
- The Clive Baity's Traveling Circus comes to town.
- Dawn calls Jeff for jokes on how to get back at Betsy.
- She borrowed a fake spider from Buddy Barrett.
- Claudia is afraid of being held back in chapter 12. In Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout, she is sent back to the seventh-grade.
- Claudia takes phone calls from Stacey in this book.
- Kristy asked Sam to help her handle Betsy.
- Mr. Pike and Mrs. Kishi went to get coffee together when Claudia was staying at the hospital.