Kristy's Mystery Admirer is the 38th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.
Back Cover Summary[]
Of all the Baby-sitters, Kristy's the last one anyone would expect to have a secret admirer. But someone is sending her mushy notes with hearts all over them!
Kristy and Shannon are pretty sure the letters are from Bart, Kristy's rival softball coach. But then the notes Kristy receives from her mystery admirer start getting a little weird...and creepy.
Is Bart pulling a practical joke on Kristy? Or do the strange notes mean something more serious? Only the Baby-sitters can find out!
Summary[]
Shannon Kilbourne finds a letter for Kristy in her mailbox one day, and it turns out to be a love letter from a secret admirer. A couple more letters come and the BSC is sure that they are from Bart Taylor, coach of the Bashers, but Kristy is not convinced and thinks that they are from her older brother Sam who is a notorious practical joker.
One day Kristy brings the notes to school and the BSC discuses them at lunch, with Cokie Mason sitting behind them. The next letters that come become slightly more disturbing. They makes statements such as "I want to spend eternity with you—so I'm coming to get you." Now Shannon thinks that it is Bart, but that he is trying to unhinge Kristy so the Bashers can win. Bart admits to sending the nice letters but it soon becomes clear that Cokie Mason was the one sending the fake threatening ones.
Subplot[]
Characters[]
Kristy's Family
- Kristy Thomas
- David Michael Thomas
- Sam Thomas
- Charlie Thomas
- Karen Brewer
- Andrew Brewer
- Emily Michelle Brewer
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
- Watson Brewer
- Nannie
BSC Members
- Claudia Kishi
- Stacey McGill
- Mary Anne Spier
- Jessi Ramsey
- Mallory Pike
- Dawn Schafer
- Shannon Kilbourne
Kids
- Jackie Rodowsky
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire Pike
- Matt and Haley Braddock (mentioned)
- Charlotte Johanssen (mentioned)
- Laura, Myriah and Gabbie Perkins
- Jamie Newton (mentioned)
- Jake Kuhn (mentioned)
- Buddy, Marnie, and Suzi Barrett
Teenagers
Adults
- Caroline Kuhn (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Elementary School - just the playground
- Kishi House
- Brewer/Thomas House
- Perkins House
- Pike House
- Barrett House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Sesame Street
- the Three Stooges, Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstein, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz (costumes)
- TV Guide
- The Cat Ate My Gym Suit
- Meryl Streep
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- On page 22, Kristy narrates that Claudia broke her leg which happens in Claudia and the Bad Joke.
- Stacey learns about the prank at the graveyard from Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery.
Inconsistencies
- Kristy says that Bart has never been to a dance with her before. But they went to a dance together at SMS in Dawn's Wicked Stepsister,
- Mallory's hair is described as red when it should be reddish-brown.
- On page 132 and 136, Cokie's name is written as Cokie Gray when it should be Cokie Mason.
- In chapter 4, Kristy says that Andrew attends Stoneybrook Academy. Andrew is four and in preschool. Stoneybrook Academy is not mentioned to have preschool classes in any other book. And Andrew isn’t said to be attending Stoneybrook Academy in any other book.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Kristy’s Mystery Admirer, Cokie Mason rears her ugly head again. Cokie (who would never admit that her real name is Marguerite) has long been the sworn enemy of Kristy and her friends. Even though Cokie is a “bad girl,” she’s a fun character to write. Cokie can do things that the members of the Baby-sitters Club would never do. In the Baby-sitters Club movie, she was given a particularly big role. It was a lot of fun to cast her — to find an actress to play Cokie’s part. I very much enjoyed seeing Cokie come to life on the screen. In case you’re wondering, I named Cokie after somebody I went to high school with. However, unlike Cokie Mason, the real Cokie was a very nice person. Who knows—maybe someday Cokie will have a book of her own!
Trivia[]
- In the book, Kristy said there was talk of Stacey going to a doctor in New York, But Stacey is not absent at all in the next couple of books, but she finds out that she is a brittle diabetic, so we know that she did go to a doctor. Stacey found out that she’s a brittle diabetic in Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook, so she likely went to the doctor behind-the-scenes around that book.
- Karen Brewer and her friends go as characters from the Wizard of Oz. The book lines up with the events in Karen's Ghost.
- A kid named Ox at Stoneybrook Day set the sprinkler system off when he tried to hang from the pipes.
- Kristy plays field hockey from time to time (and she wears the skirt).
- Stacey hasn't been feeling well.
- Bart is part of a band.
- This is one of the few times we see Shannon on the cover.
- The Brewer/Thomas family has a paper girl that likely walks the paper to the door.
- Kristy invited Bart to the Halloween Hop.
- Mrs. Prezzioso bought Jenny a pair of pants.
- Matt Braddock is going to be a Halloween play at his school.
- Cokie's friends in this book are Bebe and Lisa.
- Kristy forgets to call a BSC meeting to order.
- Sam likes to take credit for his notes and would stop after two letters if it was him.
- Jobs that were lined up but we don't see is for: Rodowskys, Kuhns, Perkinses, and the Prezziosos.
- Buddy has a crush on Shannon.
- There is a SMS teacher named Ms. Mandel. In Karen's Pen Pal, Ms Colman has a friend by the same name.
Gallery[]
