- This article is about the original novel. For the Netflix episode, see Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls (episode).
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is the second book in The Baby-Sitter's Club series by Ann M. Martin. The baby-sitters receive mysterious phone calls while babysitting, and Claudia is sure it's The Phantom Caller, a sneaky jewel thief. At the end, they discover that the mysterious caller is far from being the Phantom Caller.
Back Cover
Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey have had some strange adventures since they started the Baby-sifters Club. But nothing’s been as spooky as what's going on right now. The baby-sitters have been getting mysterious phone calls when they're out on their jobs. When a phone rings and they pick up, there's no one on the other end of the line.
Claudia's sure it's the Phantom Caller, a jewel thief who's been operating in the area. Claudia has always liked reading mysteries, but she doesn't like it when they happen to her. So she and the baby-sitters decide to take action — with some very mixed results!
Main Plot
Claudia has been read The Phantom of Pine Hill, the 42nd volume in the Nancy Drew series and very spooky according to Claudia. Mimi walks in to help Claudia with her homework, and Mimi tells Claudia about when she was a child in Japan. Claudia gets a phone call from Stacey McGill about phone calls for the BSC, and Claudia goes back to read The Phantom of Pine Hill.
At Kristy's house for the weekend, Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey are bored. Mary Anne has her glasses on and has a copy of the Stoneybrook News. She then spots that the Phantom Caller, the sneaky jewel thief that robbed homes in Mercer, is on a rampage to Stoneybrook! Claudia could not believe it. She was sitting for the Marshalls' then the phone started to ring, and when she called, the caller hanged up! Kristy then tells everyone that in 5th grade, her worst enemy, Alan Gray, pulled a prank on her, and Alan had a crush on her ever since. But, Claudia, still angry about the Phantom Caller, tells Kristy to start the first emergency meeting of the BSC, and Kristy agrees.
Subplot
The BSC is getting ready for the school dance and deciding if they should go or stay home. They wonder what to wear and who to ask. Claudia has her eyes on her recent crush, Trevor Sandbourne! Will he notice her?
Characters
Claudia's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Nina and Eleanor Marshall
- Jamie Newton
- Rob, Brenda and Rosie Feldman
- Karen and Andrew Brewer
- Charlotte Johanssen
- David Michael Thomas
- Margo and Claire Pike (mentioned)
Pre-teens
- Trevor Sandbourne
- Alan Gray
- Alexander Kurtzman
- Lauren Hoffman
- Miranda and Mariah Shillaber
- Dorianne Wallingford
- Emily Bernstein
- Howie Johnson
- Pete Black
- Rick Chow
Teenagers
Adults
- Mr. and Mrs. Marshall
- Mr. and Mrs. Newton
- Mrs. Diane Feldman
- Mr. Feldman
- Watson Brewer
- Morbidda Destiny
- The Goldmans
- Officer Drew
- Officer Stanton
- Mr. Benjamin Taylor (on the PA)
- Mr. Johanssen
- Mrs. Gordon - Janine's carpool driver (mentioned)
Locations
- Kishi House
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Newton House
- Marshall House
- Brewer Mansion
- Thomas House
- Johanssen House
- Renwick's (mentioned)
Pop Culture and Real-Life References
- The Phantom of Pine Hill, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Secret Garden (books)
- Smurfs
- Peter Rabbit
- Superman
- Tarzan
- The Muppet Show
- Ramona Quimby
- I Love Lucy
- The Love Boat
- The Wizard of Oz
Continuity and Inconsistencies
Continuity
- Claudia talks about the letter her parents got in Kristy's Great Idea on page 2.
- Lisa's ankle is still broken from Kristy's Great Idea on page 63.
Inconsistencies
Differences in the Reprints
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader letter
Dear Reader,
When I was young, my friends and I used to baby-sit a lot, and sometimes my best friend, Beth, and I would get scared when we were sitting at night. We thought we should develop a telephone code so that we could alert each other in case of trouble. The way the code was supposed to work was that if I sensed trouble I would call Beth, give her a code word, and then she would call the police for me. Of course, we never had a phantom phone caller like Claudia did, and we never had to use our code, but we had a lot of fun scaring ourselves. Later, when I began to write the second Baby-sitters Club book, I remembered my sitting adventures with Beth and used them to help tell the story.
It’s okay to be afraid when you’re baby-sitting at night. That’s natural. I know I was sometimes scared even when I didn’t need to be, and that was because I read a lot of mysteries, especially Nancy Drews, just like Claudia. Since I liked reading mysteries so much, I decided I would try to write one. So Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls became the first mystery in the Baby-sitters Club series. Several more followed, and they were so popular that soon we launched the Baby-sitters Club Mysteries.
Trivia
- Kirsten Dunst, a famous actress, revealed in an interview that her first cover job was posing for the Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls book cover, when she was a little girl.[1]
- Ann M. Martin said that she and her friend made the same secret code used in the book.[2]
- On the dedication page it reads "This book is for Brenda Bowen and Jean Feiwel with gratitude."
- Janine's IQ is revealed to be 196.
- Claudia hasn't been doing any of her homework since school started.
- Claudia doesn’t think she could live up to Janine in school even if she tried.
- Claudia thinks Sam is too old for Stacey.
- It's only been 2 months since Stacey moved to Stoneybrook.
- Mary Anne uses her reading glasses in this book.
- Trevor is in Kristy's math class; he sits behind her and next to Alan.
- Headlines Mary Anne reads from the paper includes: a fire at the mall, a sale at Taylor's, get a flu shot by November, and Angry Pig Goes Hog Wild, Depressed Trucker Drives Self Crazy, along with the phantom phone caller.
- Jobs lined up but not seen: Claudia for the Marshalls, Claudia for the Willis', The Willis family is never seen, and they’re not mentioned again.
- Watson just gave Karen the book "The Witch Next Door" which appears later in the series.
- Mary Anne makes her own burglar alarm.
- Sam went on a date to the movies with one of his classmates.
- Halloween Hop dates include: Stacey and Pete, Kristy and Alan, Claudia and Trevor
- Kristy threatened to punch the Feldmans
- The BSC watches reruns of older shows late at night.
- Janine hides candy in her room.
- Claudia is allowed to baby-sit until 9:30 p.m. on school nights.
Alternative Covers
International Covers