Kristy and the Dirty Diapers is the 89th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.
Back Cover Summary[]
When a local business, Davis Diapers, offers to sponsor the Krushers, Kristy accepts. She figures the new uniforms will give her team a big boost. But instead of being psyched, the Krushers fall apart: Mr. Davis bosses them around, and their new uniforms say DIAPERS — in huge, red letters. And that's not Kristy's only problem. With Dawn in California for good, the BSC is way overbooked.
But the new girl on Kristy's block likes baseball and kids. Maybe she can help...
Main Plot[]
A man offers to sponsor Kristy’s Krushers, and Kristy accepts his offer without asking her team for their opinion. But the sponsor is bossy, and the team loses spirit.
Meanwhile, a new family moves in two doors down from Kristy. The family is a woman with two daughters in middle school. Since Dawn moved to California permanently and Shannon can’t take Dawn’s place, the BSC is overworked. Can the new girls help?
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
- Abby Stevenson
- Shannon Kilbourne
Kids
- Linny and Hannie Papadakis
- Buddy and Suzi Barrett
- Bobby Gianelli
- Jackie Rodowsky
- Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, Claire Pike
- Laurel, Patsy, and Jake Kuhn
- Matt Braddock
- Gabbie and Myriah Perkins
- Nina Marshall
- Druscilla Porter
- Maria Kilbourne (mentioned)
- Charlotte Johanssen (mentioned)
- Melody Korman (mentioned)
- Timmy and Scott Hsu
- Hunter Bruno (mentioned)
- Lucy and Jamie Newton
- Rosie Wilder (mentioned)
- Sheila Nofziger
- Moon Pinckney
Teenagers
- Bart Taylor
- Al Hall - Kelsey Middle School student
- Amanda Kerner - Kelsey Middle School student
- Jacqueline Vecchio - Kelsey Middle School student
- Karl Schmauder - Kelsey Middle School student
- Trevor Sandbourne
- Austin Bentley
Adults
- Seth Engle (mentioned)
- Mrs. Gianelli (mentioned)
- Mr. Rodowsky (mentioned)
- Sylvia Steinert - Stevenson's decorator
- Mrs. Hobart (mentioned)
- Mrs. Prezzioso (mentioned)
- Tabitha Porter (Morbidda Destiny)
- Neil Davis
- Mr. Papadakis (mentioned)
- Mrs. Korman (mentioned)
- Mr. Hill (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Thomas/Brewer House
- Kishi House
- Stevenson House
- Stoneybrook Elementary School
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Gilligan's Island
- The Lorax, Esio Trot, Tiffky Doofky, I Am the Cheese, Charlotte's Web (books)
- Seventeen Magazine
- Barney
- Monopoly Junior, Boggle (game)
- Little House on the Prairie
- Daffy Duck
- Grieg (composer)
- Robin Williams
- Boy Scouts
- The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz (movies)
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- This is first book without Dawn since she moved in the previous book.
- Kristy recalls that Stacey is on probation in the BSC since she came back in Stacey and the Bad Girls.
- All of the hotels that Ms. Steinhert mentions have been mentioned or shown in a previous book.
- Moon and Sheila were both previously seen in Sea City, Here We Come!.
Inconsistencies
- On page 10 Shannon brings Buddy and Suzi to Krushers practice but on page 13 she leaves with the Kuhn kids.
- The Engle family is misspelled as Engel family on page 61.
- In this book Anna says that "Abby would never dream of actually playing on a team." Yet in Abby the Bad Sport, Abby says that in Long Island, she was the star forward, co-captain, and leading scorer on her school's soccer team.
- Some of the Krushers get irritated with Kristy because she arranged the sponsorship behind their backs. Kristy admits she should’ve called a team meeting first; she says that’s how she’d introduce new ideas in the BSC. But in book 72, Kristy tries to get the BSC on the news after the We Love Kids Club becomes famous in California; the BSC is irritated because Kristy didn’t discuss the idea with them first. Furthermore, it’s in this book that Claudia says Kristy is always lecturing them about group decisions.
- Abby and Anna go to Stoneybrook Middle School, when they should go to Kelsey Middle School since Kristy’s mom had to pay to keep her in SMS. The twins couldn’t go to Kelsey because they don’t have an orchestra for Anna, but it’s possible that Mrs. Stevenson has to pay the out-of-district fees.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear reader:
Kristy and the Dirty Diapers is the first book in which Abby Stevenson, the new member of the Baby-sitters Club, and her twin, Anna, appear. When we decided to fill Dawn’s spot in the club with a new character, we also decided to let our readers name the character. Over the years we’ve received many letters from kids suggesting new characters, or names for new characters. So my editors agreed to run a contest to name the new character. Because it takes a year or more to make a book, and because we were already writing about the new character, we had to call her something until the contest was over. So guess what — we called her Lucy Ricardo (after my favorite TV character) and we named her twin Ethel (after Lucy Ricardo’s best friend). I wrote ten manuscripts using the names Lucy and Ethel Ricardo before the contest was over. We had to go back through all those manuscripts before they could be published and change every Lucy and Ethel to Abby and Anna! It was a lot of work, but running the contest was a lot of fun, too. Welcome to the series, Abby and Anna!
Trivia[]
- This is the first appearance of Abby Stevenson and her family in the main series.
- The working title of this book was Kristy and the Krushers [1].
- The bleachers at Stoneybrook Elementary School were destroyed by a summer storm.
- Kristy is seriously thinking about being a sports reporter.
- Logan is in football, baseball, volleyball, and track.
- The houses in Mercer are getting expensive.
- Shannon worries about her parents' marriage.
- Stacey carries raisins and packets of honey with her.
- Abby becomes the assistant coach of the Krushers.
- Before the Stevenson's moved in the house has been empty "for ages."
- Shannon is part of the astronomy club and Logan has football practice every day.
- Kristy says that she gets her forceful personality from her mother.
- Sam and Charlie have "company behavior" according to Kristy.
- Abby wears a skirt on page 75.
- Watson's house is within the Kelsey Middle School district. Mrs. Stevenson decides to send Abby and Anna to SMS and pay the fee so they can go there because there's a good orchestra program at SMS.
- This is one of the few books Kelsey Middle School students are mentioned in.
- Anna is in Kristy's math class and Abby is in her English class.
- The BSC listens to R&B and pop music.
- They Addisons are mentioned briefly in chapter 11.
- Stacey carries raisins and packets of honey if she has a insulin reaction.
- Jessi talks to Anna about classical music.