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The BSC
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- The Ace: They are always exceptionally good at nearly everything they do. All their activities are always successful. They also tend to be the absolute Ace at their respective hobbies (Kristy with sports, Jessi with ballet, Claudia with art), with all the others gushing over how talented they are. In Claudia and the New Girl, Claudia enters a sculpture contest, and even if her sculpture wasn't finished, she's so talented that she gets an honorable mention anyway. The books where they don't come out on top (like Mallory and the Dream Horse or Kristy and the Baby Parade) are very rare, unless it's Mallory, and even she wins the first prize for a short story contest in Mallory on Strike.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn:
- The three Childhood Friends and original neighbors: popular fashionista Claudia (Beauty), organized and responsible Mary Anne (Brains), and Passionate Sports Girl Kristy (Brawn).
- Mary Anne and her two best friends: Mary Anne is still the Brains, Kristy is still the Brawn, and Dawn is always described as gorgeous (Beauty).
- Four-Girl Ensemble: Out of the original four members, Mary Anne is the sweet Naïve Everygirl (though not ditzy), Kristy is the tomboy, Claudia is the pretty fashion lover, and Stacey is the sophisticated one who is admired because she's from New York City.
- Flanderization: All of the girls' quirks suffered this to some degree with the ghost writers, most notably Kristy's bossiness, Dawn's passion for environmental causes, and Claudia's bad spelling. Averted with Mary Anne's crybaby tendencies which were always extreme, even in the first book.
- Friend to All Children: Obviously, they love their babysitting job because they love kids.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Each pair of best friends: Kristy and Mary Anne, Claudia and Stacey, Dawn and Mary Anne, Jessi and Mallory.
- Jerkass Ball: They are portrayed as very nice girls most of the time, but all of them have their bitchy moments, and, depending on the book, they can Take A Level In Jerkass for the sake of the plot. It happens less often to Mallory and Jessi, because they get into less fights with the others.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: The first 10 books have the original five girls age normally. They were in seventh grade in the first 6 books, have their summer holidays in books 7-9, and start eighth grade in the 10th book.... but once that's happened, the passage of time stops and the girls spend literally dozens of birthdays, holidays, and summers in eighth grade. They finally finished middle school in the last book of the Friends Forever spinoff (which is really the Grand Finale to the entire series).
- Three Plus Two: Kristy, Mary Anne, and Claudia have been friends and next-door neighbors since childhood. To form the club, they are joined by New Transfer Students from out of state Stacey, and Dawn soon after. By book #14, the younger members Mallory and Jessi also join the club, and later Logan and Shannon come on as associate members.
- Town Girls:
- The three Childhood Friends and original neighbors: Passionate Sports Girl Kristy (butch), The Fashionista Claudia (femme), and Naïve Everygirl Mary Anne (neither).
- Mary Anne and her two best friends: Kristy is still the Butch, Mary Anne is the romantic and sensitive Femme, and Dawn is the Neither, a Granola Girl who is not as ladylike as Mary Anne but not exactly a tomboy either.
- True Companions: No matter what happens, the girls are there for each other.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: All these thirteen-year-old girls seem way too mature for their age.
Regular Members
Kristy Thomas
Kristin Amanda Thomas
Known informally as Kristy, and rarely called anything else. Founded the club in the first book Kristy's Great Idea, and became the President, renowned for having an endless stream of "great ideas" (including the Kid-Kits, and many one-off events such as the Mother's Day Surprise, the various day camps they ran, and so on). Her father ran out on the family when she was very young, and in Kristy's Big Day, her mother got remarried to a "real live millionaire", Watson Brewer. Tomboyish and sporty, Kristy founded a kid's softball team for many of their sitting charges in Kristy and the Walking Disaster. In later books, she had a bit of a romance with the coach of the Krushers' rival team, Bart of Bart's Bashers.
- Academic Athlete: Kristy has the management skills to create the club and be its president. Her sport is softball and she even starts a kids' team. She's also a good student; in Kristy's Big Day, it's noted that she consistently earns straight As.
- A-Cup Angst: Kristy is the only 8th-grade BSC member to not wear a bra and sometimes feels bad about it.
- Ambiguously Bi: Some fans suspect that Kristy fits this trope. She could occasionally be persuaded to wear a dress, and did have an on-off "boyfriend" named Bart, but never seemed to take as much of an interest in him as the other girls did with their own boyfriends (then finally broke up with him.) And in the movie, as The Nostalgia Chick noted, there's what can only be described as a Longing Look between her and Claudia. Then again, though, there's her crush on Bart later on.
- Brainy Brunette: Kristy has brown hair and is a very intelligent, driven young girl.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: She has shades of this in the earliest books in the series, when she is flat-out opposed to her mother's developing relationship with Watson. She insults the man, refuses to eat dinner when he treats them, and is generally unpleasant. It seems to be less a matter of her disliking Watson personally and more of a desire to keep her fractured family from experiencing any additional changes. Happily, she warms up to him in time (finally meeting Karen and Andrew helps), and in a later book admits that she loves him a lot.
- Brutal Honesty: Lampshaded by other characters and even Kristy herself since the very first book. It sometimes causes a bit of problem between Kristy and her friends, who tend to get annoyed by her tactless ways.
- Control Freak: Kristy's organization and strong personality allow the club to run smoothly and let the girls accomplish many things that pre-teen girls would often find difficult. On the other hand, she can sometimes run too tight a ship — she has a special glare for members who show up one minute late to a club meeting!
- Cool Big Sis: Is seen this way by her stepsister Karen.
- Daddy's Girl: Both her biological father and stepfather seem to favor her over her brothers, although in the first case it's probably because she's the only girl and in the latter case, it's because she took the longest to warm up to him. It also could be a bit of a skewed perspective because she's the main character.
- Death Glare: Kristy's "Look" tends to quiet other members.
- Disappeared Dad: Kristy's father, Patrick Thomas, abandoned his wife and four children and almost never calls or writes.
- Hates Wearing Dresses: In the film she mentions that she felt like a pencil when she was wearing a dress her dad bought for her. In the books while she much prefers pants, she doesn't have a problem with dresses at all. In fact in Kristy's Big Day Kristy is pretty excited to get dressed up for her mother's wedding.
- Hot-Blooded: Often loud and impulsive, with many power-hungry tendencies.
- I Have Brothers: This is never stated or invoked, because Kristy is a bulldozer of a human being and never would need brothers to pursue sports she's interested in, but it is literally true, and her two older brothers have no qualms about playing softball or even football with their thirteen-year-old sister.
- I'm Not Pretty: Kristy believes she's plain looking especially compared to Stacey, Claudia, and Dawn. She even thinks she's not as pretty as Mary Anne, who is rather plain herself.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Often seen as a bossy Control Freak but, while her flaws can get annoying, Kristy is a nice person who loves children and cares about her friends.
- Limited Wardrobe: Her "uniform"—an outfit she wears all the time—consists of a turtleneck under a sweater, jeans, sneakers and at the meetings a director's visor.
- Kendo Team Captain: Of the children's baseball team she coaches, the Krushers.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: After her mother remarries and adopts a baby with her second husband, the Brewer-Thomas family fits this trope, though a blended version of it.
- Middle Child Syndrome: She's too young to hang out with her high school age brothers and too old to play with elementary- and preschool age brother, sister, and stepsiblings. It's not extreme — Sam and Charlie do invite her to play contact sports with them, and the kids are happy to include her in their games — but there's a still a sense of not quite belonging. Notably, she's the only one of her siblings in middle school.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In most books, identified only as "Kristy".
- Outdoorsy Gal: She's an enthusiastic baseball player.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Kristy loves sports, and even coaches a softball team for small children. She calls them Kristy's Krushers, and it includes many of the club's sitting charges.
- Rags to Riches: Via her mother's second marriage. It changes very little about Kristy herself, though.
- Tomboy: Justified, due to her growing up with three brothers and no female siblings until her mother remarries.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- Tomboy to Mary Anne's Girly Girl. She's a loud and bossy Passionate Sports Girl who couldn't care less about clothes and boys. Mary Anne is utterly sensitive, romantic, cries easily, hates sports and loves sewing and knitting, has a fondness for kittens, and after her father stopped being so strict (book 4), she starts caring about her clothes, hairstyle and appearance, unlike Kristy.
- She's also the Tomboy to her neighbor and later club member Shannon's Girly Girl. The reason why Kristy disliked Shannon at first was that the latter is a blond, rich and snobby fashionista, though they start an Odd Friendship by the end of the book.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Her default hairstyle in official art is a ponytail, to illustrate her being a tomboy. Nearly every doll version of her had this.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Kristy is the most tomboyish of the club members, to the point she always wears jeans and sneakers at meetings and almost never skirts, complaining when people try to convince her to dress up. However, she was eager to be a bridesmaid for her mom's wedding and excited about dressing up, likes babysitting (which is traditionally considered feminine), and proclaimed beauty contests to be fun despite thinking they're sexist. In the first books—despite being said to have a tomboyish personality—she is said wears skirts and similar clothes to her best friend Mary Anne; by the later books she is almost always in jeans, sweatshirts and turtlenecks, sneakers, and her Tomboyish Baseball Cap. Also throughout the entire series, she wears the color pink and has no problem with it.
- Tomboyish Baseball Cap: On book covers, Kristy is always seen wearing baseball caps or visors. Softball is her fave sport.
- Two First Names: Kristy Thomas.
Claudia Kishi
Claudia Lynn Kishi
Vice-president of the club, by virtue of being the only one with her own private phone line. Additionally, her junk food habit means that she always has snacks stashed in her bedroom that the other girls can eat during their meetings. Artistic, flighty, and hopeless at school, Claudia defied the "model minority" stereotype to an extent. Her family was very conservative, and she often felt as though she was being compared unfavorably to her genius older sister, Janine. She had many casual boyfriends, but few serious ones.
In Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout, she's briefly sent back to the seventh grade, and returned to the eighth grade with her friends in Claudia Makes Up Her Mind.
- Affectionate Nickname: Her grandmother Mimi frequently calls her "my Claudia". She gets very upset during their fight in Mary Anne Saves the Day when she hears her use it for Mary Anne.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Janine, particularly in early books; she thinks Janine is boring and nerdy, while Janine thinks she's lazy and won't learn.
- Asian Airhead: Early books treated this very mildly; later books made her seem almost borderline developmentally delayed, to the point she's sent back to the seventh grade to try and improve.
- Big Eater: She is a model-thin junk food addict.
- Book Dumb: She's hopeless at school, hates math, and has serious spelling problems. However she likes to read Nancy Drew, which aren't approved of by her parents, and is in general loves reading novels. She even states the Nancy Drew books teach critical thinking and problem-solving.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: The most stereotypical example. Besides art, her main interests include clothes and boys, she hates studying, whines every time she has homework, thinks her parents don't understand her, hides things in her bedroom her parents don't approve of, and acts bratty to her older sister because she's jealous of her.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Claudia's books for a long time were titled Claudia and [Noun Phrase]. The first one to avert this was #56, Keep Out, Claudia!, her ninth narrated title. Out of the books she narrates in the main series, fourteen out of twenty-one books—two-thirds—have this title styling, which can be very noticeable if a reader focuses on Claudia-focused books. There's two more that have the pattern in the Friends Forever series.
- Deadpan Snarker: All the girls are snarky at times, but she's one of the snarkiest the BSC has. She gets even snarkier whenever she talks about her sister Janine.Stacey: [The local department store] lost their Santa Claus.
Claudia: Disappeared between men's shoes and kitchenware, huh? I know that area. It's like the Bermuda Triangle. - The Fashionista: Claudia is very creative and loves both fashion and art. She makes a lot of her own outfits and jewelry.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish one to Janine's responsible.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Janine. She and Janine argue often, because Janine thinks she's lazy and refuses to learn, while Claudia thinks Janine only cares about her academics and is boring and snotty. Claudia and Mean Janine shows this in detail—as well as them coming together and understanding each other when their grandmother Mimi has a stroke.
- Held Back in School: From books #101 (Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout) to #113 (Claudia Makes Up Her Mind), Claudia is impossibly sent down a level to the seventh grade.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Like her best friend Stacey, she's very boy-crazy.
- Identical Grandson: In one book, Claudia is shown pictures of her beloved grandmother Mimi as a teenager, and the resemblance is so strong that "we could have been twins."
- Informed Ability:
- Her artistic talent, which - due to the medium - is rarely shown; but is focused on in selected books. It's more seen in the shows and the graphic novels.
- She's supposed to have a "cool" fashion sense and style but based on the descriptions most of her outfits can seem ridiculous to modern students.
- Even though she gets bad grades, Claudia is repeatedly referred to as Brilliant, but Lazy (she just doesn't apply herself, etc.) The "brilliant" part is rarely seen.
- In-Series Nickname: She's often called "Claud" for short.
- Like Goes with Like: In one of the Super Specials, there's a Japanese boy introduced solely to be a love interest for Claudia because she's Japanese-American. She even notes in the narrative that she knows her parents are hoping she'll eventually marry a Japanese boy.
- Popular Is Dumb: Like Stacey, she's quite popular at school. Contrasting with her sister’s Intelligence Equals Isolation.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: In the Gabriella Epstein graphic novel adaptation, her bangs are pink.
- Self-Deprecation: Tends to be very insecure about her lack of book smarts, especially in comparison with her sister. Sometimes she mocks herself for it.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Janine; Janine is smart but antisocial, while she is artistic and has lots of friends but is bad in school.
- Sweet Tooth: She hides junk food all over her bedroom because it's forbidden (and always shares it with her friends).
- Took a Level in Kindness: In the first books, she looks down on Kristy and Mary Anne because they are too "childish" and not as cool as her and Stacey; she also can be a complete brat to Janine (especially in the book ironically titled "Claudia and Mean Janine"). She becomes more easygoing later on, and nicer to both Janine and her friends.
- The Unfavorite: She sees herself as this compared to her Teen Genius older sister Janine, while Janine feels the same compared to pretty, popular Claudia.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: The way her clothes are described, it's like she never wears the same thing twice. Could be limited though: she once mentioned she's wearing the same outfit, but with different jewelry.
Mary Anne Spier
Mary Anne Spier
The secretary of the club, as she is extremely organized and had very neat handwriting. Was raised by her father, her mother having passed away when she was very young. In early books, her father Richard was very strict, but he gradually loosens up as time passes. She was Kristy's next-door neighbor before Kristy's move, and throughout most of the books is her Shrinking Violet best friend. She was the first of the club members to have a steady boyfriend, club associate officer Logan Bruno, whom she meets in Logan Likes Mary Anne. Becomes stepsisters with Dawn in Mary Anne and the Great Romance when their parents marry each other.
- Author Avatar: Ann M Martin identified her as such.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mary Anne is very sweet and shy but she gets ''extremely'' vindictive when pushed too far.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Why normally shy, quiet, and withdrawn she gets extremely vindictive when pushed too far.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Not always, but she comes off as this in some books where she seems to weaponize her passivity and Prone to Tears tendencies to get away with saying mean things or to avoid getting yelled at. In "Stacey's Mistake", she badmouths Dawn to impress Stacey's friends of New York, and when Dawn calls her out on it, Mary Anne starts crying.
- Brainy Brunette: She's a good student and has brown hair.
- Daddy's Girl: She wasn't very happy about it at first, as her father was always overprotective, but they become much closer over the years. In fact, Mary Anne's book in the Portrait Collection depicted them as being a close pair where he was very doting and humored her.
- Extreme Doormat: Mary Anne tends toward this in several books. Lampshaded in one book where she agrees to help an old lady around the house in exchange for sewing lessons, and soon is taking calls from her at all hours of the day, even interrupting a date with Logan to go over and help her with something. It doesn't occur to her to say no until Logan insists.
- Girl Next Door: Like Kristy, Mary Anne is a fairly normal, down-to-earth and pretty girl. Contrast this with Claudia, Stacey, and Dawn, who are all described as unique, trendy (Claudia and Stacey), and gorgeous.
- Girlish Pigtails: In the early books, this was the only hairstyle her father permitted for her until he lets her loosen her hair.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Towards Logan, who resembles her favorite movie star. A chapter in a Super Special reveals that the feeling is mutual.
- Important Haircut: Her friends do not take it well when, after wearing her hair long (pigtails at first), she decides to get her hair cut into a bob and get new clothes and makeup.
- Introverted Cat Person: She's the shyest of the group and has a pet cat that she adores.
- It's All About Me: Not badly, but Mary Anne does display this trait in Babysitters' Island Adventure towards Jessi (after MA's fight with Dawn) when Jessi is nervously calling about the whereabouts of her younger sister (who was in the same party as Dawn) and MA answers "I don't know and I don't care" and then later when it turns out the two sitters and their charges are lost at sea, Mary Anne starts crying about how Dawn could be dead, never minding pleas that Jessi's younger sister is missing too and could be upset. Mary Anne replies, "Dawn is my sister too". Dawn confronts her about this in "Farewell, Dawn" when Dawn points out that just because Mary Anne is afraid to act on her wants, everyone has to be the same way.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Her beloved kitten, Tigger.
- Missing Mom: Mary Anne's mother died when she was very little. It's implied she died of cancer.
- Naïve Everygirl: She's very insecure, vulnerable, can barely talk to strangers, and is surprised when a cute boy like Logan actually likes her back.
- Official Couple: With Logan. They finally break up in the Friends Forever series.
- Prone to Tears: Mary Anne is so sensitive she'll cry at long-distance telephone commercials.
- The Quiet One: The quietest and shyest of the members.
- Shrinking Violet: Her defining trait. Often other characters point out the differences between her and Kristy: Shy, quiet Mary Anne is the polar opposite of loud and outspoken Kristy, but they are still best friends.
- The Snark Knight: For the one later Flanderized as the sweet, sensitive one, Mary Anne sure releases the snark sometimes. Her "apology" note to Kristy after the girls fight in Book #4 (to her credit, she immediately recognizes it's rather passive-aggressive and decides not to send it):“Dear Kristy, I’m sorry you’re the biggest, bossiest know-it-all in the world, but what can I do about it? Have you considered seeking professional help?”
- Tender Tears: One of her defining traits; she's said to cry at the drop of a hat, which is used against her in Mary Anne Saves the Day.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: She loves sewing (even teaching a class to some of her sitting charges at one point and taking lessons herself from an elderly neighbor) and knitting (which Mimi taught her and she, in turn, taught Claudia).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Kristy's Tomboy. She's utterly sensitive, romantic, cries easily, hates sports and loves sewing and knitting, has a fondness for kittens, and after her father stopped being so strict (book 4), she starts caring about her clothes, hairstyle and appearance, unlike Kristy who couldn't care less.
- Youthful Freckles: The graphic novels added freckles to her face (likely to mark her differently from the brown haired Kristy), the original novels never mentioned Mary Anne having freckles.
Stacey McGill
Anastasia Elizabeth "Stacey" McGill
Treasurer of the BSC. Originally from New York City, Stacey moved to Stoneybrook when her father was transferred there (in part because they wanted to move). Frequent attention is paid to the fact that she is diabetic, and she is hospitalized multiple times throughout the series. She's often described as chic, sophisticated and "boy-crazy"; Stacey, like Claudia, had many boyfriends but few long-lasting relationships. She is the treasurer of the club because she has a gift for mathematics. She moved back to New York in Goodbye, Stacey, Goodbye when her father was transferred back, but returned to Stoneybrook in Welcome Back, Stacey when her parents divorced and her mother decided that she preferrs living in the small-town environment. She quits the club to spend more time with other friends in Stacey vs. the BSC, but she rejoins in Stacey and the Bad Girls on probation, which is cleared up by Farewell, Dawn
- 10-Minute Retirement: Stacey quits the BSC completely in book #83 Stacey vs. The BSC and returns only four books later in her very next narrated book, Stacey and the Bad Girls.
- '80s Hair: Stacey is described as having curly permed blonde hair through the whole of the series, even through the 90s. Averted in the updated graphic novels, where she first has long hair and then a short bob, both with naturally wavy hair.
- All of the Other Reindeer: In New York, after being diagnosed with diabetes (and therefore missing a lot of school and losing all her friends due to the issues she had, including an accident at a sleepover. It's the main reason why she and her family moved to Stoneybrook in the first place. Stacey does manage to repair her friendship with Laine Cummings, but even after she moves back to New York she's never really accepted back into that social circle. One of the major reasons she decides to move back to Stoneybrook after her parents get divorced is that Laine is her only friend in New York, while in Stoneybrook she has the club. (And later she falls out with Laine.)
- Big Applesauce: Stacey (and the writer) is constantly reminding the readers how awesome New York is and that she's from there. The other members make a big deal out of Stacey being from the city as well.
- Big-Breast Pride: Stacey mentally snarks at how much smaller Mary Anne's chest is in her bikini top than her Buxom Beauty Standard figure in Boy Crazy Stacey, even though they're both near the same age.
- Big Sister Mentor: To Charlotte Johanssen, her favourite sitting charge. They're both only children who experience social isolation - Stacey because of her illness, Charlotte because of being ahead of her classmates.
- Broken Ace: She's pretty, smart, popular, can give fashion advice to her friends, and is also a good student who excels at maths. But she's also struggling with diabetes and has a Dark and Troubled Past, as she was ostracized by all her old "friends" in New York. She tries to hide the "broken" part for most of the first book.
- The Bus Came Back: After being Put on a Bus, she comes back to Stoneybrook with her mother in the book Welcome Back, Stacey!.
- Cool Big Sis: To Charlotte. In later books they sometimes even call each other "Big Sis" and "Little Sis."
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Stacey does not like being called Anastasia.
- Embarrassing First Name: Stacey doesn't tell anyone her real name is Anastasia for a long time.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Her father calls her "Boontsie".
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Blonde, pretty, smart, fashionable and very popular at school. While she wasn't that popular when living in New York, she's seen as the "sophisticated New Yorker" in Stoneybrook.
- The Fashionista: It is stated repeatedly throughout the series (at least once a book) that Stacey is glamorous, trendy, and loves clothes and shopping.
- Friendless Background: In New York, the run up to Stacey's diagnosis with diabetes was full of instances of her getting sick, including fainting at school and wetting the bed at a sleepover. Stacey was constantly being dragged out of school for more doctor's visits and tests. Because none of her friends knew what was going on—just that she was somehow sick, possibly contagious, and missing enough school that she almost had to repeat sixth grade—they started ostracizing her, especially after the bed-wetting incident. One of the reasons her father accepted the transfer to Connecticut was to get Stacey away from the bad memories.
- Good with Numbers: She's the club treasurer on account of being a math whiz.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Stacey is the most boy-crazy of the sitters and has a bevy of boyfriends and crushes, including on a older teenaged lifeguard and a student teacher. The eighth book is even called "Boy-Crazy Stacey".
- Informed Attribute: She's said to have permed hair, but often the cover illustrations don't depict her hairstyle or even the shorter cut she gets in Claudia and Mean Janine.
- In with the In Crowd: Stacey starts hanging out with the more popular students of Stoneybrook Middle School when she starts dating Robert Brewster, who plays on the basketball team. Time with them makes her think the BSC is immature and childish compared to the cooler kids, and she ends up quitting altogether because of it—and then rejoining soon after.
- Odd Name, Normal Nickname: Stacey's real name is Anastasia. She's ashamed of it and didn't tell anyone her real name for a long time.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: We don't even learn that Stacey is a nickname until Dawn takes her place as treasurer; Kristy wants to use their full names for a quick ceremony transferring the office.Kristy: Is 'Stacey' your real name?
Stacey: No, it's fake. - Only Six Faces: She and Dawn are both pretty girls with long blonde hair and cannot be differentiated on the book illustrations without paying attention to Stacey's perm (if it's shown at all). This isn't so in the graphic novels; while Stacey did start with long blond hair, after Dawn joined she was made different by having a short bob, while Dawn is now the one with long blonde hair.
- Potty Failure: Before she was diagnosed, Stacey wet herself at a sleepover, embarrassing herself in front of her friends.
- Plot-Inciting Infidelity: In Stacey's Broken Heart, she breaks up with her longest term boyfriend Robert when she learns he's been kissing another girl.
- Plucky Girl: Stacey is a gutsy, outspoken, perky teenager who works for her goals and is willing to argue her case.
- Put on a Bus: Twice with the club, both times returning.
- When Stacey's father gets transferred back to New York; she leaves and moves back. Several books later Stacey's parents divorce and she and her mother move back to Stoneybrook.
- Stacey quits the club completely in Stacey vs. the BSC, but rejoins four books later in Stacey and the Bad Girls.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Stacey vs. the BSC. Due to her focus on her new boyfriend Robert and his friends—and feeling the BSC (except Claudia) are more immature—she starts skipping out on sitting jobs and responsibilities to hang with him and his friends. She's caught out and this culminates when she both does not invite the BSC to a party and forgets to support her favorite sitting charge Charlotte. She then fights with the others and quits the club completely (while Kristy is simultaneously kicking her out as well).
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: In Kristy's Big Day, she confesses that she watches Mary Poppins once a week, totaling hundreds of times.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Regularly crushes on other guys and has crushed on two older guys—a lifeguard and a student teacher.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Stacey quits the BSC at the same time Kristy is kicking her out from it at the end of Stacey vs. the BSC.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Stacey's dad is a workaholic, which is part of the reason for her parents divorce.
Dawn Schafer
Dawn Read Schafer
- Bratty Teenage Daughter:
- In Dawn and the We Love Kids Club. She was so upset by her father deciding to remarry that she steals his credit card and flies back to Connecticut alone. Considering her dad does break up with his fiancee shortly afterward (though they do eventually get married, see below) and that Dawn practically threw her mother at her second spouse Richard, yeah.
- In Here Come the Bridesmaids! when her father is getting remarried, she all but pitches a fit because her stepmother-to-be doesn't want to have Mary Anne as a bridesmaid along with Dawn. Remember, Mary Anne is Dawn's stepsister on her mother's side and is not remotely related to Dawn's father, let alone his new bride. However, Dawn never asked if Mary Anne could be a bridesmaid—she just assumed that Mary Anne would be sharing the moment with her and bought her a dress. To Dawn's credit, she never brings up her (frankly, stupid) assumption to her father or stepmother. Mary Anne still ends up wearing the bridesmaid dress because she assumed it'd be a church wedding and not a beach wedding and didn't pack appropriately. One has to wonder just what Dawn's father and stepmother thought about that.
- Characterization Marches On:
- In early books, Dawn is into healthy food and "prefers" to not eat red meat, but still eats chicken and fish. By later books, she is a strict vegetarian who doesn't eat any meat at all and is rude to her friends when they do.
- Her first book had her convince her just-as-health-food conscious mother that they need to serve things like hot dogs at their barbeque because those kinds of foods are what most residents of Stoneybrook eat. Later, she makes a big deal out of even cold cuts being served.
- In the very first book where she appears, according to Mary Anne (the narrator), Dawn is "not exactly pretty" but pleasant-looking; then it became "pretty good-looking". In later books she is always described as drop-dead gorgeous.
- Books like Jessi Ramsey, Pet Sitter and Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise also describe her as very organized—not as organized as Mary Anne, but significantly more so than the other club members (which is why she's a good treasurer in the absence of Stacey.) She's written this way mostly as a contrast to her mother. After her mother marries Mary Anne's father, she loses this trait and becomes much more casual and unconcerned with any kind of neatness so that she and her mother contrast Mary Anne and her more neatfreak father Richard.
- Clingy Jealous Girl:
- Shows a dose of this in Mary Anne's Makeover, in which she admits that she's jealous of all the time Mary Anne's been spending with her father and that it makes her miss her own terribly. Dawn comes off as being resentful of Mary Anne for having her father around, apparently forgetting that he is Mary Anne's only living parent.
- She takes this up a notch when her dad gets engaged to his girlfriend. She's so upset about it (thinking her father is rejecting her) that she actually steals her dad's credit card and flies back to Connecticut alone, without telling a soul. Yeah, she's lucky that stunt didn't get her grounded for a century (though she DID have to pay her father back for the plane ticket she secretly charged as well as the one he had to buy in order to fly her back to California).
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: For her mother Sharon, who constantly forgets things.
- Cool Big Sis: Most of the time she gets along with her younger brother Jeff and he looks up to her.
- Country Mouse: In Stacey's Mistake when the girls go to visit Stacey in New York; she's scared of everything and nervous about crime.
- Daddy's Girl: She's very close to her father, to the point that she eventually ends up moving back to California because she misses him (and Jeff and California itself) so badly.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Dawn Read Schafer.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Her father's pet name for her is "Sunshine". Part of the reason it embarrasses her is because it's also her California best friend's full first name (she even mentions at one point that she's going to have to ask her dad not to call her that when Sunny is around because it would be both embarrassing AND confusing).
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Played With. She has the stereotypical "California Girl" looks (a blonde Granola Girl with long hair) but starts out being described as "not pretty" but pleasant-looking. This stands in contrast to later books where she is described as drop dead gorgeous and can be mixed up with Stacey on the book illustrations.
- Granola Girl: She loves the beach and California living, is a health food nut, an environmentalist, and a strong opponent of guns and violence.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's described as a really beautiful 13-year-old girl with very long blonde hair, so light it looks almost white. Dawn is also a very idealistic Granola Girl who cares about environment.
- Indifferent Beauty: She's as beautiful as Claudia and Stacey, but unlike them, she doesn't care much about fashion and appearance.
- Informed Attribute: Dawn is usually described as being the "individual" of the group, but at times she changes herself to attract boys. For instance, in Dawn and the Older Boy, she cuts her hair so a boy will like it better.
- It's All About Me: At her worst, she ignores other people's wants and needs . Most notably in Dawn Saves The Planet and Mary Anne's Makeover.
- New Transfer Student: She comes to Stoneybrook Middle School in the middle of seventh grade and befriends Mary Anne while she is in the middle of fighting with the others in the BSC.
- Only Six Faces: She and Stacey as the blondes of the club; the book covers often depict them as two pretty girls with long blonde hair, without the perm that Stacey is said to have, and only thier style of dress can tell them apart.
- Put on a Bus: She moves back to California for good in Farewell, Dawn; unlike Stacey, she does not return to stay though she visits and narrates a few books before becoming one of the major narrators of the California Diaries series.
- Race Lift: For the 2020 series, Dawn is first played by Latina-American actress Xochitl Gomez and later by Kyndra Sanchez
- Sixth Ranger: More like fifth ranger. She joins the club at the end of the book Mary Anne Saves The Day, becoming the official fifth member. Kristy eventually dubs her the Club's Alternate Officer, meaning her job is to do the job of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer if they're absent from a meeting.
- Soapbox Sadie: often; she lectures about junk food and environmentalism, to the point it comes off as over the top. Infamously played straight in Dawn Saves The Planet, where by the end it blows up in her face.
- Straw Vegetarian: She starts off reasonable enough, being a vegetarian but telling her mother in one early book that most of their neighbors in Connecticut are going to expect meat at their barbeque and eating sweets with the rest of the club. Flanderization has her become so gung ho about being against unhealthy food and eating meat that she prepares a carrot cake with yogurt frosting instead of a vanilla with chocolate frosting and make faces at her friends eating meat around her.
Mallory Pike
Mallory Pike
First introduced in The Truth About Stacey as a ten-year-old client, she is invited to join the club at age eleven in Hello, Mallory!, after Stacey moves back to New York. The oldest of eight kids, Mallory is described as very responsible with children. Despite this, at first the club is hesitant to let her join because of her age, making her do a number of difficult tests before finally relenting and letting her and her best friend Jessi join the club. As she is the only one in her family with red hair, glasses and braces, Mallory often feels unattractive and an ongoing plot arc of hers was trying to convince her parents to let her spice up her look with contacts, pierced ears, and a new wardrobe. She is forced to leave the club for a while when she comes down with mononucleosis in Get Well Soon, Mallory. She rejoins the club in Kristy and the Copycat, but then leaves for good in The All-New Mallory Pike when she leaves for boarding school.
- All Girls Like Ponies: She's a bookworm who especially loves reading horse stories.
- Ascended Extra: She started out as a baby-sitting charge, because her family, the Pikes, are a frequent client of the Baby-sitters Club since the first book.
- Ascended Fangirl: She has always admired the girls and was excited when they asked her to join the club.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Mallory wears glasses and her friends (and the old book illustrations) depict a sweet and adorable girl.
- Bookworm: Mallory is an avid reader, and she also like to write stories.
- Butt-Monkey: It feels like Mallory is almost never allowed to be happy or succeed. A list of the tragedies that befall her can be found here
. These include: getting mono, her father losing his job, insulted by her younger siblings when she has to do tons of housework and caring for them, fails at horseback riding, and embarassing herself when she's put in charge of an eighth grade class. She eventually goes to boarding school to get away from it all. Her very first book has her fail to join the BSC when they put her through a bunch of tests none of the rest of them did, and when she and Jessi join Dawn is resentful that they got a ceremony. - Cool Big Sis: She's very good with children, due to her experience with seven younger brothers and sisters.
- Friendless Background: She had no friends before meeting Jessi and joining the BSC.
- I Am Not Pretty: How Mallory sees herself. However, other sitters say that she's cute or that she'll be beautiful when she grows into her looks.
- Inconsistent Coloring: At least one book calls her hair dark brown ("chestnut brown" according to her mother). But the book covers and live-action adaptations all depict her with red hair.
- In-Series Nickname: She's often called "Mal".
- Massive Numbered Siblings: The Pikes have eight children, including identical triplets.
- Meaningful Name: This is most likely completely unintentional, but "Mallory" is Norman French for "unlucky" and fans of the series see her as the resident Butt-Monkey and
Memetic Loser. Most of her family are renamed in the French-Canadian versions (though, oddly, not Vanessa); Mallory becomes Marjorie, which like most of the names is a bit unusual and old-fashioned but not meaningful. - Most Writers Are Writers: She is an aspiring writer.
- Naïve Everygirl: The typical insecure tween girl. She sees herself as ugly and feels like her parents treat her like a baby even if she's the oldest.
- Off to Boarding School: In The All-New Mallory Pike. In this case, however, going was her decision after issues at school.
- Only Sane Woman: In many books where the club members are fighting, Mallory and Jessi serve as this. She's also usually the sanest one in her family.
- Redheads Are Uncool: As Mallory is the only one in her family with red hair, glasses and braces, she often feels unattractive and an ongoing plot arc of hers was trying to convince her parents to let her spice up her look with contacts, pierced ears, and a new wardrobe. She also feels like her parents treat her like a baby.
- Self-Deprecation: With her insecurities about her age (she's only eleven!), looks (she has braces and glasses), and often feeling frumpy and awkward.
- Sixth Ranger: She joins the club along with Jessi in the book Hello, Mallory.
- Straw Fan: In Mallory Pike, #1 Fan, she comes across like this.
- Team Mom: She acts like this for her seven younger siblings, most notably in the book where their father loses his job; she helps them form 'the Pike Club' to deal with the situation on their own terms.
- Those Two Girls: Initially with Jessi; they're rarely seen apart, and in books where they don't narrate they're often referred to collectively as the junior members. This changes when Mallory goes off to boarding school.
Jessi Ramsey
Jessica Davis Ramsey
Jessi moved to Stoneybrook from Oakley, New Jersey at the beginning of the sixth grade, coincidentally into Stacey's old house. She has an eight-year-old sister called Rebecca or "Becca," and a baby brother named John Phillip Ramsey Jr., better known as "Squirt." Jessi is incredibly talented at ballet, and when she grows up she wants to become a professional ballet dancer. She has been doing ballet since she was four, and was admitted into a special ballet school in Stamford. She has had the lead role in several productions at that school. In book #115, Jessi's Big Break, she had an opportunity to join the Dance New York program and study ballet under David Brailsford for 3 1/2 weeks. Toward the end of the story, she was also given a chance to join the Dance New York program full time, but she decided to accept it when she was a little older.
- The Ace: All the BSC girls are this to some extent, but Jessi really stands out. She's a Cunning Linguist and a ridiculously talented ballet dancer who always gets the lead roles in productions at her ballet school (despite being the youngest in the class). After taking only a few synchronized swimming lessons, she obviously wins a gold medal at the end, despite her lack of experience. However, later books tried to avert this and make dancing Jessi's only talent. One book states that Jessi can't sing well. Another aversion happens in a Super Special when Jessi doesn't get the lead role in a play because she's not as good at acting and singing. Her exit from the club is her starting to take full time ballet lessons and no longer having time for baby-sitting.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the graphic novels, Jessi's hair is now drawn naturally curly rather than straightened; she is also shown wearing a protective bonnet to sleep.
- All Girls Like Ponies: She likes ponies and horse themed books, but not as much as Mallory.
- Bookworm: When Jessi and Mallory become friends, they bond over their shared love for books, especially horse stories. This was less emphasized in Jessi's later books as while Mallory is an aspiring writer, Jessi's primary activity is ballet.
- Characterization Marches On: In Jessi's first appearance (Hello, Mallory), we learn that she loves to tell jokes, and apparently "knows more jokes than anyone in the world”. This trait is pretty much forgotten in later books.
- Cool Big Sis: She's very close to her little sister Becca and frequently takes care of her 14-month-old brother Squirt.
- Cunning Linguist: As we learn in Jessi's first book, she is "good at languages": she becomes fluent in Spanish after just a one-week holiday in Mexico, and immediately able to learn sign language in order to communicate with Matt, a deaf boy.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Essentially Mallory 2.0 before later books explored her character.
- Friendless Background: Of the Newcomer variety (she had lots of friends before moving). Doesn't help that many people are racist towards her and her family.
- Leg Focus: Mallory notices her legs the first time she meets Jessi.
- Naïve Newcomer: She is shocked by the blatant racism she and her family receive when they move to Stoneybrook and the meaness of their neighbors. Averted in the Graphic Novels, where the more diverse Stoneybook doesn't need to remark about how unusual it is that a black family has moved in.
- New Transfer Student: Jessi was born in Oakley, New Jersey; she and her family move to Stoneybrook when she's 11.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: No one calls her Jessica, except her Aunt Cecelia and her ballet teacher, Mme. Noelle.
- Only Sane Woman: Like Mallory, she doesn't go overboard on something like many of the other girls.
- Sixth Ranger: She joins the club along with Mallory in the book "Hello, Mallory".
- Those Two Girls: With Mallory; they're rarely seen apart, and in books where they don't narrate they're often referred to collectively as the junior members.
- Token Black Friend: As every single book will state, she is the only black member of the BSC and the only black girl in the entire sixth grade.
Abby Stevenson
Abigail Stevenson
The final Sixth Ranger, taking over after Dawn left and Demoted to Extra as soon as Friends Forever started up. Abby moved with her mom and twin sister, Anna, from Long Island to Kristy's neighborhood in part for her mom to distance herself from Abby's father's death. Abby is a big joker, a natural athlete, asthmatic and allergic to half the things in any given room.
- Alter Kocker: Abby's Grandpa Morris and Gram Elsie in Abby and the Mystery Baby. Less so in other appearances.
- Blithe Spirit: Greatly enlivens BSC meetings with her jokes and her refusal to take Kristy too seriously.
- Daddy's Girl: Abby's Book makes it clear that Abby and Anna were both extremely close to their late father.
- Disappeared Dad: Abby's father was killed by a drunk driver prior to her series debut.
- Genki Girl: Just as outgoing and enthusiastic as Kristy, but more easygoing.
- Informed Judaism: She and Anna have their bat mitzvah in one book, but in other books it is generally only mentioned in passing (if at all) that the Stevensons are Jewish.
- New Transfer Student: Abby moves to Stoneybrook with her mother and her sister when she's 13.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Usually called just "Abby".
- Passionate Sports Girl: She's very athletic like Kristy and soccer is her favorite sport.
- Pungeon Master: She's always making silly puns and corny jokes.
- Sixth Ranger: The last sitter to join the BSC, replacing Dawn.
- Technician Versus Performer: According to Kristy, Abby is a natural athlete, while Kristy is a sportsperson.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy compared to her twin sister Anna, who is quiet and loves to play the violin.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She doesn't hate the idea of getting dressed up and owns a few dresses.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Abby's mother is like this. Possibly justified to an extent, since she's a single parent with two teenagers to support.
Associate Members
Logan Bruno
Mary Anne's boyfriend and an associate club officer (basically a member who doesn't have to go to meetings). He moves into town from Louisville, Kentucky and is immediately smitten with the shy yet intelligent Mary Anne.
- Big Brother Mentor: To the club members sometimes.
- Big Man on Campus: Implied many times to be popular at school.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Mary Anne initially likes him because he looks like her favorite actor.
- Chick Magnet: In addition to Mary Anne, there's also Cokie (in "Mary Anne Misses Logan") and even her friend Grace, according to "Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery". In the same book he's specifically stated to be a Chick Magnet among many girls at their school.
- Control Freak: Not a trait that is always present, but it's the reason why he and Mary Anne break up for a while.
- Cool Big Bro: His style of dealing with kids, stemming from having two younger siblings of his own.
- A Day in the Limelight: Logan's Story and Logan Bruno: Boy Baby-Sitter, two books where Logan narrates the story himself.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Logan assumes you (the reader) assume he's this. When he does the typical chapter two description of the club members in his two books, he, just like the girls, describes Claudia and Stacey as beautiful and fashionable — then he stops, and explains that just because he finds girls other than Mary Anne attractive doesn't mean that he's going to cheat on her or that he likes them better than Mary Anne, that Mary Anne is his girlfriend and that she's amazing, etc.
- Lovable Jock: He's on the Stoneybrook Middle School football, baseball, volleyball, and track teams, and also a very nice guy.
- Nice Guy: How he's usually portrayed, except in Mary Anne Vs. Logan where he acts like a controlling jerk. He reverts back to that to the point of becoming super-overprotective and smothering after Mary Anne's house burns down, which leads to her finally being unable to take it anymore and breaking up for good in the Friends Forever series. It's implied he's learning this from his father, who's rather pushy himself.
- Off to Boarding School: He's almost sent away to his dad's old boarding school but he and Mary Anne manage to talk his father out of it.
- The One Guy: The only male member of the BSC.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Enjoys baby-sitting, despite the stereotype that it's a "girly" activity.
- Sixth Ranger: Somewhat. He never becomes a full-time member of the club, just an associate. It's implied that this is because having a boy in the room stifles the girls' ability to confide in each other.
Shannon Kilbourne
Shannon Louisa Kilbourne
The second associate club officer, Shannon was invited to join the club on a more permanent basis, but declined as she was too busy with her other extra-curricular activities to commit to the club meetings. Shannon is introduced when Kristy moves across town to live with her new rich stepfather, and was originally portrayed as a "snobby" foil to Kristy. Shannon becomes a full member of the club temporarily in books 67 - 81, when she replaced Dawn as the alternate officer.
- Ascended Extra: Unlike Logan, who is both Mary Anne's boyfriend and the other girls' classmate and thus often present during school plotlines or crowd scenes, Shannon is just a neighbor of Kristy's, and later, Abby's. She's usually just a footnote in the explanation of an Associate Member of the club is, but there was a brief stretch of books (including Mysteries and at least one Super Special) where she replaced Dawn as the Alternate Officer and was a regular at club meetings and babysitting B-plots. She also makes a random guest appearance in Dawn's Family Feud, while Dawn and Mary Anne are on vacation, to help Claudia sit for the Barrett-DeWitts.
- A Day in the Limelight: Shannon's Story.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Shannie. She doesn't mind her charges calling her that in her initial appearance, but it embarrasses her when her mom uses it.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Lampshaded in the book where Kristy reminisces about how she first met Shannon (whom she intensely disliked at first) and snarks about the trope in relation to Shannon and her friends, who are all blonde.
- Extracurricular Enthusiast: An overachiever who attends a private school, involved in many extracurricular activities.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ends up bonding with Kristy when Kristy's dog passes away, despite having been engaged in a vicious prank war with her before that.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Being a Rich Bitch was her original characterization in Kristy and the Snobs, but she gets better after Character Development, and she and Kristy eventually become friends.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted; Kristy's brother names their new dog Shannon after the human Shannon. Most books featuring both point out this confusion.
- Rich Bitch: She started out as this, although it was less because she genuinely looked down on Kristy and more because she didn't want Kristy and her friends to take away her babysitting jobs.
- Silk Hiding Steel: When Kristy and the BSC first babysit for the Delaneys, the children boss them around and treat them like servants. Kristy ends up going along with it, getting them drinks and so on. When they try this on Shannon, who has been babysitting them for years, she just lifts an eyebrow and they meekly get their own drinks.
- Sixth Ranger: But like Logan, she never becomes a full-time member of the club.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Kristy's Tomboy. The reason why Kristy disliked Shannon at first was that the latter is a blond, rich and snobby fashionista, while Kristy is a Rags to Riches tomboy who doesn't care about her appearance and can't stand The Beautiful Elite. They start an Odd Friendship by the end of the book.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Shannon gives a puppy as a gift to the Brewer/Thomas family following the death of Louie, and they name the pup Shannon in her honor.
Family Members
Brewer/Thomas Family
Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
Kristy's mom.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Played With. She is around 37, yet her eldest is 17 years old. Kristy freaks out that her mom is too old to have another baby until Jessi points out 37 isn't too old, which likely means she is a bit younger than most of the other babysitters parents who are in their early to mid forties. This is driven by the cover of Karen's Wicked Stepmother where she is shown to be a very pretty woman who looks a bit young to be the mother of three teenagers, much less a senior in high school.
- Age-Gap Algebra: She is around 37 years old while her second husband Watson is a few years older.
- Go-Getter Girl: She is a hard-working mother who took a lucrative job after several years as a stay-at-home mom and raises her children to be independent, well-behaved citizens.
- Good Parents: Shown since the first book that she has a great relationship with Kristy, she also extends this care to her stepchildren.
- Happily Married: After her first marriage fails, she ends up in a happy marriage with Watson.
- Open-Minded Parent: This shows up in the first book when Kristy talks to her about getting in trouble at school, Elizabeth doesn't seem angry and doesn't ground her, just helps to review Kristy's essay about decorum.
- Sudden Name Change: Called Edie Thomas in the first book. In later books she's Elizabeth.
Watson Brewer
Kristy's stepdad.
- Amicable Exes: With his first wife Lisa. Kristy describes their divorce as friendly, and Watson goes out of his way to help her when she's injured and her second husband is out of town, but the "Little Sister" spinoff series shows that there's still tension there.
- Happily Married: To Kristy's mom Elizabeth, from "Kristy's Big Day" onwards.
- Nice Guy: In the first book he is friendly to Kristy, despite her being a total brat to him. In fact, even Kristy starts to like him very soon and accepts him in her family.
- Non-Idle Rich: A millionaire with a mansion, but he still works. He only temporarily quits the job when he has a heart attack so he could take care of the kids.
- Second Love: To Elizabeth, after her first marriage fails.
Charlie Thomas
Kristy's oldest brother. When the Thomases move to Watson's neighborhood, the club starts paying Charlie to drive Kristy to and from club meetings so she doesn't have to give it up, since it's too far to walk.
- Cool Big Bro: His younger siblings look up to him.
- Lovable Jock: He's shown to be enthusiastic about football and baseball, and generally a very nice guy.
- Nice Guy: He's always shown as being responsible and caring toward his family. He even invites his new stepmother's grandmother to dance at the California wedding reception.
- Rags to Riches: Like his brothers and sister, when their mother marries a millionaire.
- Team Dad: To his younger brothers and sister. It's revealed in Kristy's Big News that after their father walked out on the family, he quit his school's baseball team in order to take care of them in the afternoons while their mother worked.
Sam Thomas
Kristy's middle brother. He has a mutual attraction going on with Stacey and likes to prank-call the club during meetings.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: He goes nuts over pretty girls, even his younger sister's friend Stacey.
- The Prankster: In several books, especially in the early part of the series, he disrupts club meetings by making prank calls asking for fake sitters.Hello, this is Marmee March. I need a sitter for Amy this afternoon, someone who has experience with little women.
- Rags to Riches: Like his brothers and sister, when their mother marries a millionaire.
- Ship Tease: With Stacey. They flirt and date often through the series, but nothing more than that.
David Michael Thomas
Kristy's little brother and most frequent sitting charge, at least in the first book or two.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Happens more as he grows older; in the first few books, he's still a pretty little guy and very sweet.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The In-Between (he is a sweet boy but prone to some brattiness like most kids his age) to Karen's Mean and Andrew's nice.
- Rags to Riches: Like Kristy, on account of their mother's remarriage to a millionaire.
- Two First Names: Three first names, actually.
- The Unfavorite: Gets this treatment from his father in Kristy's Big News, where he's the only one of the four Thomas kids not invited to the wedding - or even to participate in the phone conversation. In fact, when Charlie calls their father on this later in the book, he seems so dumbfounded as to almost imply that he forgot he has a fourth child.
Karen Brewer
Daughter of Kristy's stepfather Watson from his first marriage. Neither of the girls has ever had a sister, which helps them to bond.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Though Kristy gets along well with her.
- Author Avatar: The author describes her as the kind of child she'd love to have been.
- Bratty Half-Pint: She's quite bossy, rude, talkative, and loves to scare people.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: the blonde to her friends, Hannie (brunette) and Nancy (redhead)
- Daddy's Girl: To Watson, even if most of the time she lives with her mother.
- Genki Girl: The opposite of her shy brother Andrew.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She has two identical stuffed cats, Moosie and Goosie, one at each of her parents' houses.
- Middle Child Syndrome: She is the Jan Brady of her blended family on her father's side, between straight-As, super-ambitious Kristy and adorable two-year-old Emily Michelle. Sometimes she has a hard time coping with it, especially because her daddy, Watson, dotes on his stepdaughter Kristynote and adopted daughter Emily, who live with him full time, while his custody arrangements with Karen's mother means she only gets to see him every other weekend or, in later books, every other month.
- Ms. Imagination: Her wild and active imagination (especially with scary stories) is probably her defining trait, and sometimes it can get out of hand.
- Mouthy Kid: One of the mouthiest kids of the entire series. It is lampshaded that she never keeps her mouth shut, something she has in common with Kristy.
- Nice Mean And In Between: She is the Bratty Half-Pint who talks too much and isn't tactful and can push her friends to do things they don't want to do. All in contrast to Andrew's Nice and David Michael's In-Between.
- Nightmare Fetishist: She loves to tell stories about ghosts and witches, and has most of the babysitters convinced.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Andrew. Despite this, they get along pretty well most of the time.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: So bright that she has already skipped a grade in school.
Andrew Brewer
Karen's little brother.
- Nice Mean And In Between: He is the shy, sweet, easygoing, quiet Nice to David Michael's In-Between and Karen's Mean.
- The Quiet One: In contrast to his sister, he doesn't talk too much. In the first book, Kristy's mom notes that part of the reason he doesn't talk is because Karen talks for both of them.
- Shrinking Violet: Usually very shy.
Emily Michelle Brewer
A two-year-old Vietnamese girl adopted by the Brewer/Thomas family.
- Cheerful Child: She's pretty giggly and loves to laugh.
- Daddy's Girl: After Watson has his heart attack and temporarily quits his job to be "Mr. Mom", Kristy notes that he and Emily have become very close (a fact that Karen is shown to be quite jealous of at times, particularly in the Little Sister spin-off series).
- Happily Adopted: A Vietnamese child adopted by Kristy's family. This may be because she's a toddler, though.
Kishi Family
John and Rioko Kishi
Claudia's parents.
- Happily Married: One of the few parents of the gang to be in a happy marriage since the beginning.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child:
- They are both conservative, unlike the free-spirited and unconventional Claudia. Rioko is also a librarian, in contrast to Book Dumb Claudia. The only books Claudia likes (Nancy Drew) are disapproved by her parents.
- This can also be applied to their eldest Janine, while they struggle to be supportive of Claudia or show appreciation. Janine doesn't find it difficult to defend her or back her up, even reminding them to celebrate Claudia's own achievements like getting a spot at the radio station.
- Parental Favoritism: Claudia think they like Janine better, but it turns out they love her more she realizes. One can say they don't understand Claudia very well and can seem at worst, dismissive of their younger daughter's interests in art and babysitting (and Claudia feels the need to hide her Nancy Drew books).
- Parents as People:
- Seem to be kind people and they clearly love both Claudia and Janine. However they are unintentionally neglectful to Claudia who believes herself to be The Un-Favorite. In Claudia and the Middle School Mystery, they didn't even believe Claudia when she told them she didn't cheat on a test, unlike Janine who actually trusted and supported Claudia.
- In the spin-off sequel series book Claudia and the Disaster Date, Rioko told Claudia that she wanted to become a writer but didn't feel talented enough to write a novel so she became a librarian and tries to read books that voice things she'd like to be able to express.
Janine Kishi
Claudia's older sister, a certified genius and high school student who takes additional classes at the local community college.
- Always Someone Better: She is seen this way by Claudia, who knows she will be never as smart as Janine no matter how much she tries.
- Asian and Nerdy: In contrast to her sister's Asian Airhead, Janine is bookish, studious, and often on her computer.
- Big Brother Instinct: Never accuse or frame Claudia for cheating on a test and expect to get away with it.
- Character Development: She starts to come out of her shell a little more as the series goes on. Claudia even notes that after Mimi's death she spends less time at her computer.
- Cool Big Sis: She has her moments, and reveals to Claudia that she too has a hidden candy stash in her room. She also defends Claudia to their parents or against unfair faculty.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: With Claudia. She's the "smart one" and the rivalry is particularly emphasized in Claudia and Mean Janine. They start getting along better in later books.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to Claudia's Foolish.
- Hidden Depths: In the 2020 show, when Mimi post-stroke is speaking only in Japanese, Janine can communicate with her where Claudia can't; she learned Japanese, and Claudia is surprised that Janine knows the language.
- Insufferable Genius: She's a certified genius, and occasionally the club members regard her as being somewhat intolerable.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: She's secretly jealous of Claudia because she has a lot of friends. According to the first book of the series, her only friends are a 15-year-old math nerd and her computer.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: She has a fondness for long or esoteric words, to the point where Claudia sometimes completely misunderstands her.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Claudia; she's the smart responsible one to Claudia's artistic and lack of academic interest.
- Teen Genius: She's only a high school student but has an enormously high IQ and takes extra courses at the local college.
Mimi Yamamoto
Claudia's grandmother and Rioko's mom. She's also close to Mary Anne. She has a stroke in #7, Claudia and Mean Janine, and struggles with her recovery until #26, Claudia and the Sad Goodbye, where she passes away.
- Asians Love Tea: Mimi is a native of Japan, and she frequently shares cups of her "special tea" with Claudia, her sister Janine, and their motherless neighbor Mary Anne. It's indicated to be tea of Japanese origin, and is only served in Japanese cups with no handles.
- Character Death: Has a stroke in one of the early books, and eventually dies in book 26.
- Cool Old Lady: Very sweet and kind, Claudia and all her friends adore her, especially Mary Anne. She is also very nonplussed about Claudia's fashion choices, like her skull earrings.
- Granny Classic: Illustrations and descriptions of her give her this vibe, albeit sometimes wearing a kimono for special occasions.
- Kimono Is Traditional: She wears a kimono for special occasions.
- Meaningful Name: "Mimi" is the Japanese word for "ear." Mimi is the family member that Claudia can count on most often to listen to her and be understanding of her problems.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: It's mentioned a couple times that "Mimi" is a nickname. We never do find out what her given name was. In one Super Special, a postcard for her is addressed to "Mrs. L. Yamamoto."
- Parental Substitute: To both Mary Anne (whose mother died when she was very young) and to Claudia (whose parents are alive but don't really "get" her). In one instance, when the girls are discussing when Mrs. Newton might give birth, Claudia, Stacey, and Kristy can all parrot off exactly what time they were born down to the minute, while Mary Anne doesn't know. Claudia immediately thinks to ask Mimi, who has lived across the street from Mary Anne's family since then, and while she can't tell her the exact time, she does remember that the Spiers left for the hospital around dinner time, and is able to give her a good ballpark figure.
- Posthumous Character: While she passes away fairly early in the series (#1 was published in 1986, Claudia and the Sad Good-bye in 1989, and the series finale in 2000), Claudia and Mary Anne both think about her and recall anecdotes about her often. She's always included, too, with books that take place before the series, like Baby-Sitters Remember and the Portrait Collections.
- Scatterbrained Senior: After the stroke, she easily confuses the words and has trouble even with the simplest things. She gets slightly better, but then she gets worse again in the books before her death.
- Strong Family Resemblance: When she was younger, she looked like Claudia.
- Team Mom: Well Grandma, she serves a grandmotherly role to the whole club.
- Time Marches On: For her backstory. In the 1980s series, she grew up in Japan and was living there during World War II. This gives Claudia anxiety when she visits the Pearl Harbor memorial in Special #13, Aloha, Baby-sitters! and stresses about what Mimi did while in Japan durng the war (as she was an adult) and what she thought of the attack. But for the 2020 Netflix series, Mimi's timeline is moved up; she was now a child during World War II and living in America, and her family were forced to go to the Japanese Internment camps; she flashes back to this after the stroke.
Pike Family
Adam, Byron and Jordan Pike
Mallory's younger brothers who are identical triplets.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: They are noisy and mischievous, and sometimes Mallory is annoyed by their antics.
- Big Brother Bully: All three to Nicky; they ignore him, refuse to let him be part of the group, and when they create the "bizzer sign" (where they point at others and go "bzzz") they do it to him often. They do this to their younger sisters too, such as informing Claire that all the dinosaurs are dead (which is, of course, true- but can still be quite traumatizing to a five-year-old!). Byron is a little more kind that Adam and Jordan, however.
- Big Brother Instinct: Byron after Mallory leaves. He tries to help the younger kids with homework and is okay with sharing a room with Nicky after she moves out.
- Big Eater: All of them, but Byron especially.
- Same-Sex Triplets: Identical triplet brothers.
- Trickster Twins: Trickster Triplets, actually.
Vanessa Pike
The second-oldest Pike girl.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Vanessa speaks in rhyme often, which drives everyone crazy.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Her rhymes and obsession with poetry make her this.
- Ditzy Genius: She has a keen take on poetry and is shown to be intelligent, but she often gets distracted to the point of cluelessness.
- Ms. Imagination: Very creative and often lost in her own world.
- Rhymes on a Dime: She wants to be a poet, and feels that this requires her to speak only in rhyme (especially during Boy-Crazy Stacey). She eventually stops speaking in rhyme in later books, though this doesn't stop her family from mentioning how much she used to do it.
Nicky Pike
The youngest of the four Pike boys, and the only one who isn't a triplet.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: The triplets see Nicky as this, since he's the only brother in the family who isn't a triplet and he desperately wants to hang around with them. He's occasionally this to Mallory, particularly when he's bickering with Claire.
- Butt-Monkey: Especially when the triplets are around, who isolate him from them.
- Middle Child Syndrome: He has a particularly isolating case. The eight Pike kids are four girls (Mallory, Vanessa, Margo, and Clair) and four boys (Nicky and the triplets). So Nicky is the odd man out, especially since in the early books he shares a room with the triplets. His three brothers don't want anything to do with him; Claire and Margo are inseparable and consider themselves best friends; and Mallory and Vanessa are older and spend more time with their friends. On top of that, Mallory mentions in her first book that Nicky is going through a phase where he "hates girls" (and thus tends to steer clear of his sisters even when they DO express interest in playing with him).
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His full first name is Nicholas, but he is virtually never called that.
Margo Pike
The second-youngest Pike, best known for her easily-upset stomach.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: As the second youngest, she can often get on the older Pike kids' nerves, especially the triplets.
- Big Sister Instinct: Can be pretty protective of Claire, whom she sees as her best friend.
- Flanderization: In Boy-Crazy Stacey, Margo almost gets carsick on the way to Sea City but feels better once she moves to the front seat. Somehow, this turned into her only character trait, to the point where it was surprising she could walk down the street without getting sick.
- Those Two Girls: Often paired with Claire, as the two youngest members of the family.
Claire Pike
The youngest of the eight Pike children.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: On her worst days, she can be the most annoying of Mallory's siblings.
- Bratty Half-Pint: She is prone to throwing tantrums.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She's said to be going through an extremely silly phase, calling everyone "Silly-Billy-Goo-Goo" and running around the house naked.
- Genki Girl: Sometimes.
- The Nicknamer: In some of the books she does this, dubbing her parents "Moozie and Daggles" and tacking "silly-billy-goo-goo" onto other people's names.
- Those Two Girls: Often paired with Margo, as the two youngest members of the family.
Spier/Schafer Family
Richard Spier
Mary Anne's father.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sharon called him "Richie" in high school (and still does occasionally after they re-meet).
- Defrosting Ice King: Becomes much nicer in later books (though to be fair he wasn't so much mean as he was a grieving widower trying desperately to hang on to the only family he had left).
- Doting Parent: Mary Anne's book in the Portrait Collection reveals a very cuddly, doting, loving father who comes close to spoiling Mary Anne and humoring her wants for glasses or knowing how she'd want a woman for the Mother's Day tea party to avoid teasing and comforts her.
- Happily Married: He was this with Mary Anne's mother until her death. Eventually with Sharon.
- High-School Sweethearts: With Sharon. They used to date in high school, lose touch after Sharon moves to California, meet again in Stoneybrook as adults, start dating again, get married.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Illustrations in the current day reveal him to be balding and a bit plain faced while Mary Anne's book showed his younger self as very handsome with a lush head of hair.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: He has two sets from two different marriages.
- With Mary Anne's mother's parents, he got into a custody battle with them over Mary Anne, but after 13 years he and his former Mother-In-Law are amicable enough to the point where she defends his diet to the Straw Vegetarian Mr. Schafer (even pointing out that Richard is thinner than Jack). To clarify, this is Richard's first wife's mother snarking in his defense at Richard's second wife's ex-husband.
- Sharon's parents disapproved of him in high school, because his family was working class, and they convinced Sharon to go off to college in California, hoping they'd grow apart. When they meet him again in Dawn and the Impossible Three, they are pleasantly surprised to find out he's a successful lawyer and we never hear of them objecting to him again.
- Obsessively Organized: As Dawn discovers in "Dawn's Wicked Stepsister". Among other things, he arranges his socks in the drawer in alphabetical order by color.
- Opposites Attract: He is organized and a perfectionist, Sharon is messy and absent-minded.
- Parents as People: Tries his best with Mary Anne, because he was raising her alone as a single parent and ends up becoming very strict. Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic explains that he was so overwhelmed by the death of Mary Anne's mother that he sent her to live with her grandparents for a time, and that they, also grieving the death of their only child, were so unwilling to give her up that they threatened to sue for custody if he turned out to be a bad parent, which led to him severely overcompensating by trying to raise Mary Anne perfectly. He gets better.
- Self-Made Man: He comes from a poor family, but becomes a successful lawyer.
Sharon Schafer-Spier (nee Porter)
Dawn's mother.
- Alliterative Name: Averted with her maiden name, Sharon Porter. But played straight after marrying Jack Schafer (Dawn's father) and later Richard Spier.
- Amicable Exes: She and Dawn's father don't interact much but they seem to be on good terms.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: She came from a wealthy blue-blooded family and spent at least 13 years as a affluent suburban housewife but is also a vegetarian and somewhat hippie-minded.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She has always the head in the clouds, and often doesn't even know what she is doing.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Her father didn't like Richard when she was dating him in high school.
- First Girl Wins: Was Richard's high school girlfriend. After his wife dies, he meets his first love Sharon and ends up with her.
- Granola Girl: Dawn mentions her mother is a vegetarian like her.
- Happily Married: She ends up happy with Richard.
- High-School Sweethearts: With Richard. They used to date in high school, lose touch after Sharon moves to California, meet again in Stoneybrook as adults, start dating again, get married.
- Open-Minded Parent: In contrast to most of the other girls' parents, she seems to let Dawn do her own thing within reason, and even suggested that Dawn get her ears pierced two more times (compared to Richard, the Pikes, and the Rameseys are more reluctant to let their girls have just two holes in their ears).
- Opposites Attract: Richard is organized and a perfectionist, Sharon is messy and absent-minded.
- Really Gets Around: In early books, before settling with Richard, she had many different boyfriends.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She dated Richard in high school, back when he was a young man from a working-class background and they marry when they are both single with their own children. One can see, in contrast to her parents, she found him down-to-earth and based on what he wrote in their yearbook was a literary romantic.
- Uptown Girl: Her parents were rich and didn't approve her relationship with Richard, who came from a poor family. They changed their mind after meeting the adult Richard as a Self-Made Man.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child:
- Sharon is known for being a messy and absent-minded Cloudcuckoolander while Dawn is way more mature.
- Inverted with her parents who are snootier and old-fashioned while she lived a more bohemian lifestyle.
- Womanchild: She needs her daughter to take care of her and she is very disorganized to the point of leaving her shoes in the fridge. Dawn even references this trope at one point, telling Mary Anne that living with her mother is like living with a very tall child.
Jeff Schafer
Dawn's 9/10-year-old brother. Best friends with the Pike triplets, Jeff is usually a comedian with a deep love of stupid jokes, but he does have a serious side. Having originally moved out to Stoneybrook with his mom and sister, his increasing homesickness for California and his father (and resultant acting out) led to his parents agreeing to split custody so that he could move back home.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: With some nuance. He annoys Dawn, but they're still very close and rely on each other quite a bit. He's absolutely thrilled when Dawn follows him in moving back to California.
- Deadpan Snarker: As much as the BSC ever gets, he has to answer everything with a joke.
- Hidden Depths: He is an incurable joker and he gets 10x more immature when with the Pike triplets; but when the situation gets serious, he's actually really good at wrangling younger children and can be incredibly resourceful and responsible. He stops the DeWitt boys from making a mess in the men's bathroom when Kristy sends him in to check on them, and in Baby-Sitters' Island Adventure, he spends a lot of time distracting the younger kids like Jamie and even manages to catch fish for them to eat.
Jack Schafer
Dawn's father, who still lives in Palo City, California.
- Characterization Marches On: In his first in-person appearance in Dawn on the Coast, he's very organized and matter-of-fact, as a contrast to Dawn's flighty and absent-minded mother. In particular, he sits the children down and plans out a Disneyland trip with a systematic sequence of events not unlike a war campaign. In later appearances, he (like Dawn herself) became much more casual and jokey, to contrast with Mary Anne's father.
- Disneyland Dad: Dawn names this trope almost word for word when she discusses her first summer visit to him after moving to Connecticut, but her mom points out several books later that this is only the case because he was the non-custodial parent at the time. Sharon tells Jeff point-blank that living with his father is not going to be like visiting him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jeff gets it from here. It can get a little uncomfortable when the target is shy Mary Anne, his ex-wife's stepdaughter and child of her New Old Flame.
Carol Olson
Jack's girlfriend, whom he marries in Here Come The Bridesmaids! Dawn and Jeff initially didn't like her, but she's pretty patient with them. She and Jack have a daughter together, Elizabeth Grace Schafer-Olson— or Gracie, for short.
-
Dye Hard: According to Jeff, she changes her hair way too much. - Good Stepmother: She's incredibly patient with Dawn and Jeff's initial dislike of her, much like Watson Brewer. She pays a ton of attention to them and is pretty generous about driving Dawn's six friends around when they're visiting.
- One of the Kids: She is younger than Dawn's father (young enough that Dawn offers to let her borrow her rollerblades when Carol can't find hers) and is pretty cool and open-minded, but she is an adult and aware that she has to be responsible around her boyfriend's kids and their friends.
McGill Family
Maureen Spencer
Stacey's mother.
- Housewife: Before the divorce, she didn't have a job.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: She loves shopping like Stacey. The divorce happened also because her husband accused her of wasting money.
- My Beloved Smother: Downplayed, but she can be overprotective after Stacey is diagnosed with diabetes.
- Open-Minded Parent: Played with. When Stacey gets arrested with her "bad girl" friends at a concert after they were revealed to be drinking wine and Stacey pleaded with the police to let her go because she wasn't drinking due to her diabetes, Maureen takes her side and gets her out, but not without telling Stacey that she should have been savvier about the crowd she was running around with after letting her venture Manhattan.
- The Maiden Name Debate: Maureen goes back to her maiden name, Spencer, at the end of Stacey’s Problem.
- Trophy Wife: Kristy referenced her housewife role as allowing her to "take really good care of herself" and Maureen is presented as an attractive blonde woman, pretty much Stacey in 30 years.
Edward McGill
Stacey's father.
- Workaholic: Accused of being one by both his wife and his daughter.
Ramsey Family
Janice and John Ramsey
Jessi’s Parents
- Housewife: Janice was one until she went back to work in advertising.
Rebecca "Becca" Ramsey
Jessi's younger sister.
- Nice Girl: Most of the time she is a sweet girl, though she has her bratty moments as well since she is only 8.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Like her siblings. Nobody calls her Rebecca.
- Shrinking Violet: More shy compared to Jessi (though it's rarely an issue), and has Stage Fright.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She is stated to look like a younger version of Jessi.
Stevenson Family
Rachel and Jonathon Stevenson
Abby’s parents.
- Disappeared Dad: Jonathon Stevenson died prior to Abby's introduction into the series.
- Workaholic: Ever since her husband's death, Rachel throws herself into her work causing Abby and Anna to teach themselves.
Anna Stevenson
Abby’s twin sister.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Anna wears her hair shorter then Abby and has a different style of clothing.
- Identical Twin Mistake: Ross, a classmate that has a crush on Abby, gets the two mixed up in Abby's Un-Valentine.
- Trickster Twins: When they were younger she and Abby have switched places before.
Kilbourne Family
Ted and Kathy Kilbourne
Shannon’s parents
- Housewife: Kathy doesn’t have a job until around Kristy and the Sister War where she decided to go back to school for an education degree at the local university.
- My Beloved Smother: At least in Shannon's Story, Kathy is tries to be involved in Shannon's life by more going on the same school trip as her.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: According to Shannon her dad is never home and has missed his daughters events before.
Tiffany Kilbourne
Shannon’s younger sister
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Shannon in Kristy and the Sister War, although she wanted to spend more time with her older sister.
Maria Kilbourne
Shannon’s younger sister
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Shannon in Kristy and the Sister War, although she wanted to spend more time with her older sister.
Bruno Family
Lyman and Louise Bruno
Logan’s parents
- Housewife: Louise doesn’t have a job
Kerry Bruno
Logan’s younger sister.
Hunter Bruno
Logan’s younger brother.
Other Characters
Sitting Charges
Charlotte Johanssen
One of the sitting charges. She's an extremely bright child. She and Stacey become very close and regard each other as honorary sisters.
- Brainy Brunette: She has brown hair, and is a very smart student.
- Canine Companion: Her schnauzer, Carrot.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: In the third book it's revealed that she's bullied by her classmates for being so smart. She gets to skip a grade, which resolves the issue.
- Loner-Turned-Friend: After Stacey helps her out of her shell, she becomes a little more extroverted and finds a lot of friends (like Becca, Jessi's sister).
- Shrinking Violet: She's very shy, especially in her early days.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: As noted above, Charlotte initially has trouble getting along with her classmates because she was much smarter than them.
Jamie Newton
A longtime sitting client, who regards Kristy and Claudia as his favorite sitters. He stays with Kristy when his mother gives birth to his baby sister Lucy.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Sometimes; he tries to act mature, but still has a childlike and playful personality that makes him very cute.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards Lucy.
- Cheerful Child: A very friendly four-year-old kid, and rarely in a bad mood.
- The Cutie: Usually very sweet and affectionate. All the sitters find him adorable.
Myriah Perkins
The eldest daughter of the family who moves into Kristy's childhood home after Kristy's mom remarries and the Thomases move to Watson's mansion.
- The Ace: A multi-talented little girl, Myriah loves singing, dancing, and swimming. She also knows gymnastics.
- Adorably Precocious Child: The reason why she and Gabbie are unanimously adored by all the sitters.
- Cheerful Child: She's usually upbeat, outgoing, and adorable.
- Genki Girl: But not in an annoying way.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: She's very bright and acts much more mature than her age.
Gabbie Perkins
Myriah's younger sister.
- Adorably Precocious Child: As smart and precocious as she is, Gabbie is still a cute and huggable two-and-a-half-year-old little girl.
- Cheerful Child: Like her sister, she has a very happy and friendly attitude.
- The Cutie: Very much so, she often says cute things like "toshe me up" ("pick me up & give me a hug").
- Full-Name Basis: She always calls people by their full names.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: She's two years old, and yet speaks in complex full sentences and acts more like she's around TEN!
Jackie Rodowsky
An extremely klutzy and unlucky kid with red hair.
- The Chew Toy: He tries his best, but nothing ever goes right for him. Even the sitters seem to pity him, despite being annoyed by all the troubles he causes.
- Friend to All Living Things: In his first appearance, he has a pet grasshopper named Elizabeth, and in another book he ends up adopting a hamster, because he really wanted a pet.
- The Klutz: Very accident-prone, and bordering on Lethal Klutz because he is a danger to himself and people around him.
- Middle Child Syndrome: Both his brothers (older and younger) are involved in many activities while Jackie is always at home because he's too clumsy to do anything. As a result, he gets much more focus than them, because the sitters usually have to look after only him.
- Nice Guy: Despite many of the sitters not wanting to sit for him most of the time, they all agree that he's a nice kid.
- The Pig-Pen: Nicknamed "Pig-Pen" in Kristy and the Walking Disaster because how messy and untidy he looks compared to all the other kids.
- Redheads Are Uncool: Downplayed. While Jackie is a living mess, his equally redheaded brothers are normal kids who never get in trouble.
- Secondary Character Title: In Kristy and the Walking Disaster. The "walking disaster" refers to him and he has a big role in that book, but the book doesn't focus just on him but the entire Kristy's Krushers team.
- Walking Disaster Area: He attracts messes and disasters just by existing. He was even nicknamed "the Walking Disaster".
Friends and Classmates
Cokie Mason
A classmate of the girls who resents them and tries frequently to make them look ridiculous.
- Alpha Bitch: The mean girl that frequently antagonizes the club.
- Book Dumb: The book Mary Anne Misses Logan makes it pretty clear that she's a bad student. At one point, she mentions that she read four Beatrix Potter books when she was ten and it took her a week, not seeming to realize that it would take most ten-year-olds an hour to read them.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Every time she tries to prank the club.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Well, she wouldn't go that far, but she seems quite certain that she could have Logan for herself if she could just get Mary Anne out of the way. Dialed up in The Movie.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Marguerite.
- The Rival: To the club, but especially Mary Anne.
Grace Blume
Cokie's best friend.
- Beta Bitch: Cokie's best friend and sidekick who also hates the BSC.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Actually becomes friendly with the girls on occasion.
- Rich Bitch: She's apparently rich, at least according to the book Kristy for President.
Alan Gray
One of the girls' classmates, a practical joker who nurses a crush on Kristy.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Kristy in early books. He teases her because he has a crush on her and there were hints she actually liked him back, despite her disdain for his antics. She even went to two school dances with him. However the Ship Tease ends after Kristy's love interest Bart is introduced, and Alan eventually goes on to end up with Claudia.
- Class Clown: Kristy describes him this way.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In elementary school, he teases Mary Anne about bringing her father to the Mother's Day event. After Kristy tells him off and explains that Mary Anne's mother died, he promptly apologizes, saying he'd never have made fun of her if he knew.
- Loving Bully: To Kristy.
- Stalker with a Crush: At the end of Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, it turns out the "phantom'' was Alan who stole the BSC record book, made several calls to houses where Kristy was sitting, only to hang up the phone every time, because he was too worried to ask her out. Another boy Trevor was doing the same with Claudia.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Kristy may find him annoying, yet she acknowledges he's fun and even invites him to Mary Anne's surprise party. She describes him in one book as "fifty percent pesty and fifty percent fun."
Pete Black
One of the girls' classmates, who is on friendly terms with them.
- Abhorrent Admirer: To Laine in Stacey's Ex-Best Friend, who thinks he's just a kid and makes it clear she is not interested.
- Academic Athlete: Stated to be a jock in some books, and eventually becomes eighth grade class president.
- Amicable Exes: In the first few books he was a potential Love Interest to Stacey, but in later books they are just good friends.
- Depending on the Writer: He's mentioned a lot, but his personality varies depending on what type of boy they need in a specific book. The only constant thing about him is that he's a relatively good guy.
- Hidden Depths: Kristy believes him to be very immature in Kristy for President, but he proves to be more clever then they give him credit for in more than one book.
Bart Taylor
Kristy's sort of Love Interest who lives in her new neighborhood.
- Friendly Rivalry: He and Kristy coach for two softball teams that are rivals, but they are cordial to each other.
- Lovable Jock: He is into sports and a nice, friendly person.
- Stalker with a Crush: He sent Kristy three loves notes, like "Dear Kristy, I love you, I love you, I love you", with hearts all over them, signed by "your mystery admirer".
Laine Cummings
Stacey's ex-best friend from New York.
- Affectionate Nickname: She and her boyfriend give each other ridiculous nicknames in Stacey's Ex-Best Friend.
- Evil Former Friend: To Stacey, after their fight in Stacey's Ex-Best Friend.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: When Stacey moved to Stoneybrook, she and Laine were in the We Used to Be Friends phase, because Laine turned against Stacey because of her diabetes. After they make peace in the third book, Laine is portrayed as a likable and good friend… until the 51st book, where she Took a Level in Jerkass again and Stacey ends their friendship for good.
- Informed Attribute: In Stacey's Mistake, Stacey once mentions that Laine is extremely intelligent (when comparing her to her other Book Dumb friend Claudia). This is never brought up again.
- Only Friend: Stacey had no other friends in New York besides Laine. The other people she knew were only Laine's friends.
- Rich Bitch: Her family is very rich and Laine becomes a snob in her last appearance.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Despite being friendly in most of her appearances, in Stacey's Ex-Best Friend, she suddenly turns into a snobby, conceited brat who looks down on Stacey and her friends in Stoneybrook, though her getting a 15 year old boyfriend and getting to go to trendy high-school parties might have a lot to do with that.
