When I was a teen I read a lot of the Baby-Sitter Club books, as many as were available at the time. I knew there was a graphic novel version of the series, and a television show- I didn’t know there was this graphic novel j-fiction series spinoff as well- about Karen. She’s the six-year-old stepsister of Kristy (the president of the baby-sitters club). This graphic novel is very cute and lively, with bright animated illustrations by Katy Farina. And this one is about Karen’s passion for roller-skating.
Karen loves roller-skating, especially trying new stunts and tricks. She’s bold and daring, always testing limits. Eager to try out a new trick she saw online, jumping over an obstacle. She succeeds, but falls when turning after her landing, and breaks her wrist (because she forgot to put on her wrist guards). The family all commiserates, she’s rushed to the hospital (I thought it kind of funny the dad carried her everywhere, even though her wrist was broken, nothing wrong with her legs) and gets a cast. Disappointed that she can’t use her skates for two months, but still has to go to school! The family keeps her company on the couch and helps her with things for a while, then the novelty wears off and she’s told to do things for herself now. Which makes her a bit cross, she was enjoying that extra attention (ha).
She meets a boy from her school who has a cast on his leg and is impressed with all the signatures he got on it. Determined to get a better collection of cast signatures, she pesters all her friends and family to sign her cast, then tries to find someone famous to sign it (does the ice-cream truck man count?) She gets paw-prints from dogs and cats, and braves visiting next door with her friend, to ask the old lady that lives there (they think she’s a witch). Each time she asks someone to sign, she tells what happened, making the story increasingly bigger and more dramatic, until everybody is rolling their eyes at her exaggerations. In the end, she learns to tell her story straight, and is nice to the other kid at school with the broken ankle, instead of bragging and showing off like she’s inclined to. I liked this story, even though it ended up being about dealing with an injury and the frustration of not being able to skate for a while!
Borrowed from the public library.
